i doubt they want you to watch star wars this way, but it's better
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Happy Star Wars day! The original Star Wars trilogy was groundbreaking for its special effects, its world building, its action, and so, so much more. But if you ask George Lucas, it isn't the action, nor the performances, or even the dialogue itself that ultimately carries the story of Star Wars. It is, fundamentally, John Williams' iconic score that carries Star Wars, even without dialogue. By that notion, Lucas compares Star Wars to silent movies, which didn't depend on dialogue to move and entertain. Today we'll look at some of the ways one can experience the Star Wars films... a little differently.
I make reference to two other video essays in this video. The first is called "How Does An Editor Think and Feel?" by Every Frame a Painting, specifically starting at around the three and a half minute mark. I cannot recommend this video enough: • How Does an Editor Thi...
The other is called "How Star Wars was saved in the edit" by RocketJump: • How Star Wars was save...
Credit where credit's due:
-Ken Films Star Wars 8mm reel footage (color): • Star wars on super8
-Ken Films Star Wars 8mm reel footage (b&w): • Star Wars The 8mm Ken ...
#starwars #videoessay - Фільми й анімація
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On there I’ll also be posting bonus material, supplementary clips, extended interviews, and other stuff to lead discussions. Plus more perks to come. Should be good.
Happy Star Wars Day!
Danny Boyd
Stop begging
I’m a one-man show. Asking for help is never easy. Nor is depending on others when I’m used to doing so much on my own. But UA-cam is also my joy and my livelihood. And it’s only possible because of the help I get from my community.
"no wonder star wars dialogue is so mid" please keep this title. it made me chuckle and click the video!
@@Venzynt stop negging.
@@thegoodgeneralagreed. DB is the best.
"you say you're a Star Wars fan but you don't even watch it in the original Japanese dub."
Have you seen the Italian version
The only way I can get through Episode 3 is if I watch the badly translated into Chinese and then back into English sub or dub of Backstroke of the West.
I view it as it's meant to be seen, in the original Klingon.
@@KameronJ7 I see you are a man of culture as well.
It' s somehow dry.....and coarse. I don't like it.
"Star Wars isn't about the dialogue."
Yeah, we noticed George.
😂 for real though the only movie with great dialogue is ep 5
Accurate 😂
@@hylianrowhich George had almost nothing to do with.
@@russianoverkill3715 exactly that's why I said that
Episode IV had tons of memorable lines. Episode V too. Ep I II III VII are just pathetic.
That's what makes the old Lego games so great...following the slimmed down story beats without any dialogue and a touch of slapstick humor make for an iconic and timeless game!
Be careful that you remove the inherent bias just about we all possess for already seeing these movies countless times and preemptively knowing the scenes before they happen. To truly appreciate what a silent SW film is, it is incumbent upon us to beseech someone who has no previous SW film viewing experience
I actually liked to say the dialogue from the movies when playing the Lego games, I immited each character's voice, including females.
@@TactileTherapy did you just learn what a thesaurus is
@@Jeremy-ot6pb Definitely a bot
can you shush? @@TactileTherapy
There is this interview with Harrison Ford where he admits that, in the beginning, he and the others weren't taking Lucas and the movie very seriously... Then there was this music recording, or test screening, the first 20 minutes of the movie with the orchestra
"And we understood we were actually part of something great, and we never made fun of George again"
"And we understood we were actually part of something great, and we never made fun of George again"
Why not both? :D
Makes sense though, because Sci-Fi films were mostly kids films or very low budget TV shows back then, and I'd imagine to them it would be like filming for a new Spy Kids movie in 2024. Star Wars was cutting edge for its time thanks to George and his team.
Ford and Hamill have been making fun of George for years. Although I think affectionately.
@@Simpson17866 because they understood its value? what do you mean
@@ZeroShaneBob Star Wars is still cutting edge. None of the modern special effects beat it.
Star Wars fans can argue about the dialogue, about characters about CGI and the screenplays. But all Star Wars fans universally love John Williams‘ music.
Absolutely. Even the worse movies like prequals or the ones he did in the sequal trilogy the music is still top notch
yes. thank the Maker they didn't go for a 70's disco track
Well, I remember a little heated discussion on Giacchino's work for Rogue One back when it premiered... But aside from that, yeah, universal agreement.
Except the people who say he's just a very clever ripoff artist, for writing too close to his influences.
@@babababad No “ripoff-artist” would ever be allowed near the Vienna philharmonic orchestra let alone conduct them, playing his own music.
Imagine a black and white edit of Star Wars, but the light sabers are in colour
I watch that.
There was a SW Visions episode (called The Duel) on D+ that had the sabers and blaster fire alone in color. It was intentionally made to resemble the visual style of the Kurosawa films. I recommend seeing it!
Ah yes... The Schindler List approach
@@AstralLass469 I just watched the Japanese dub of this after reading your comment and it's one of the sickest things I've ever seen, thank you
Ooh that'd be cool
On silent films: I remember once reading about the international popularity of Mr Bean, as language just isn't relevant to the gags.
You know, once Charles Chaplin met and praised Benny Hill.
Can confirm, most people here might not know a single word in english and still recognize him inmediately
When the teddy bear lost its head, I felt that
When I was in Nepal, I found a Mr. Bean video game at a stall that sold pirated games. Didn't even know Mr. Bean had a video game.
@@DivineEternalOne I hope you bought it.
This is why Genndy Tartakovsky was perfectly chosen to make the original animated Clone Wars. From Samurai Jack (or even from some Dexter episodes) you could already tell he understood Kurosawa-style storytelling.
Tartakovsky made Jedi Council actually feel like it's comprised of the most skilled Jedi masters and who all discuss problems, not just Yoda and Mace Windu.
Makes sense. His newer series Primal is done completely without dialogue, save the occasional grunts and roars.
@@Christian-ri2uf but when it does have dialogue it's still great, loved that modern day episode about those scientists.
There's very little dialog in that series.
Hot take this was the superior Clone Wars. It fits so much better between episodes 2 and 3 and doesn’t really retcon anything. Not to mention you can watch it all in one sitting lol
This helps explain why the prequels are so endlessly meme-able. The prequels have a straightforward visual clarity that, even devoid of context - perhaps from the point of view from someone who has never even seen them, is still crystal clear. Then by adding humorous text (not unlike a subtitle or silent movie text card), these memes are able to convey so much information with just one or a few simple images.
In a similar vein, this video compares the dialogue to Lucas' sound effects. "King of Wooden Dialogue" ua-cam.com/video/S5E-eSdRjXs/v-deo.htmlsi=tS7jvPZvAJrgykwi
You could argue that too with Sam Raimi 'Spider-Man trilogy, it's so memeable, it's a contemporary of the prequels.
Huh, I never thought of it like that. It makes sense that you can meme it because you can get the point across so many different ways with just four photos of two people.
I really appreciate Lucas's purity in terms of direction and writing. Naturality is so underrated compared to how pretentious films often are nowadays, like Dune or EEAAO.
It’s memable because they have stupid dialogue and are bad films not because they’re good
When they started adding actual voice lines to Lego Games, the magic was lost. For the original Police game, that's fair because it's an original story, but for movie games like Star Wars...I haven't gotten any recently
You can actually turn the dialog off
The latest, Skywalker Saga game, has an option in the menu to turn on mumble mode, which is what they call the old dialogue style.
Switching the dialog to mumble mode doesn't fix the problem though, they changed how they adapt the scenes to include the dialog in order to understand the story, removing it leaves an obvious dialog shaped hole. I remember feeling so disappointed when I played the Skywalker Saga and the story was just so boring compared to my memories of the original games.
The dialog existing at all ruins it, whether it's been turned off or not.
@@xipheonj I actually didn't know that, but now that you say it it makes total sense. I picked up Skywalker Saga back when it came out, never actually got around to trying it. I guess the pacing of cutscenes is based around the dialogue being there, and the sheer amount of work required to make the mumble mode a true classic option would be too much.
That's really a shame, then. Less time for slapstick jokes and gags!
Just be honest and say you outgrew them. It's OK to not be a child anymore.
The Kurosawa re-edit of Star Wars is a genius idea...
It really isn’t.
Anyone know where you can watch the whole thing?
So someone made and put it in post on reddit. I just did a web search for kurosawa re-edit of star wars and it came up
@empatheticrambo4890 It's actually insulting to the legacy of Kurosawa.
@@leikeylosh how do you mean?
Rewatching "The Phantom Menace" in theaters yesterday just made me appreciate William's genius even more. The ending victorious music being a remix of Palatines theme (hinting at who really won), subtly putting in some of Vader's theme in Annie's theme ("The ending credits theme" is a good way to hear annie's theme in full), and of course "Duel of the Fates".
The sound editing in that movie is amazing. I rewatched it with the stereo on, and wow, the amount of detail from podracer uniqueness and foreshadowing melodic memes, makes it a great storytelling. Lucas did a good job story telling seperately in a visual, music (auditory), and dialogue ways.
Darth jar jar being removed from subsequent episodes was the buggest mistake George ever made. That would have been the best "if you go back and look," reveals
@@LethinGabbins The "darth Jar Jar" thing is a myth. George described him as inspired by Goofy
@snazzle9764 yea, but there is lots of e idence in episode 1 as well as being palps go to.
Jar jar was the reason the senate voted to give Palpatine emergency powers.
Jar jar was replaced by doku out of nowhere.
I was born 1980 - I have an auditory processing disorder so it was years before I saw it with captions and understood even half the dialog. I didn’t realize I loved original Star Wars so much because it was essentially a silent film.
I noticed about eight years ago that you can tell A LOT about a movie (which cast members in a movie are getting along, Whether the leads have any chemistry, how good the Cinematography is good or not.) by simply WATCHING THE FILM WITHOUT THE SOUND ON.
It has been an educating experience.
Fascinating video, but I would suggest that Ben Burtt's sound design is almost as much a part of the audible legend of Star Wars as John Williams' music. Maybe you could experience the movie without DIALOGUE, but definitely not without SOUND.
Take away: Star Wars is one big music video
I acrually remember liking the music already before I even watched the films, also I played Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and then watched it.
"Space Opera" Lucas says this all the time
That’s a totally different statement. You missed the point of the video
Good one
@@Grant-Shillings the video point is that it’s like silent movie not movie without sound.
"i don't speak Japanese, i took 3 years of it in High School and remember nothing"
that is me but with Spanish lmao
I'm venezuelan, I could teach you, it's very simple compared to japanese.
lo siento
oh my dear french class... I can barly remember you
I took German from 7th grade all the way thru my junior year of college. That’s 9 years. It’s been 6 years since then and I lost the vast majority of it. A second language is like a muscle, you NEED to flex it frequently and treat it like exercising. If you don’t, it will wither away in a heartbeat.
When it comes to second languages, use it or lose it.
If you don't have anyone to speak that second language to in your daily or at least weekly life, it may be a pointless endeavor to learn in the first place, unless you will keep yourself practiced.
When I was less than 10 years old, we had this DVD with Attack of the Clones at home. We used to watch it over and over with my younger brother and it was one of our favourite movies.
We're Polish and the DVD was in English, which we barely spoke or understood at the time.
Same, I'm Scanian Swedish, I didn't understand anything they said in Star wars, Lord of the rings or Titanic lol. But I understood the story, even though I didn't speak english I understood what was happening and I think it affected me.
As a result, when I watch movies as an adult, it matters far more to me what the emotions of the characters are, the tone of their voice, the music, the scenery, the expressions, what they say doesn't matter nearly as much. Yet I still fully appreciate the story lol.
Opera is actually an interesting analogy. Similar ideas of minimal dialog, and mostly emotions are expressed through music, often with words in another language.
Even Lucas called it a space opera, and a soap opera.
Man the OG Lego Star Wars games were *so* good, in fact they were such exceptional games that when they added spoken dialogue to the newer releases I was really sad. I get that they wanted to innovate and stick with the times, and there are lots of great moments in the newer ones too, but the originals were *so* clever and funny and some of the gags to get around zero dialogue were amazing
Adding dialog to move with the times is bs. It just means we want to save time and money by using less nuance and expertise. Probably because the money people are talking louder than the experts.
@@stevecarter8810 Not sure you are making sense. It'd cost a lot more money to hire a bunch of voice actors than a few animators to make silent scenes. The issue IMO is that the budgets for video games is out of control, and everything has to be the "biggest ever" with Hollywood actors, and huge worlds with tons of collectibles, and $40 DLCs. It's hard for a AAA game to be made with any passion when there's shareholders breathing down a studios neck that has 400 plus people, who BTW, all have their own ideas for how a game should be made.
"The times" don't really have much to do with it. Not like a game full of non-dialogue was "the times" when Lego star wars first came out either.
If you watch it silently you'll miss such great lines like:
"I don't like sand..."
Whats wrong with that line?
Think of the context: Anakin has been taught to be a stoic monk for the past 10 years, then he is reintroduced to his lifetime long crush and theyre in a romantic setting. He is socially awkward with his crush, something alot of us can relate to.
@@jaaxlo His 8 years on Tatooine, his male influences were his slave owner and freighter pilots (space truckers). The very first thing he said to Padme was "Are you an angel?". Socially awkward indeed.
@@jaaxlo "It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth."
*KISS*
Yeah, great writing.
I wish they'd reused this line in Dune.
Since Star Wars basically stole everything from Dune anyway, maybe Dune could steal this idiocy back. Or maybe not. Yeah definitely not.
This is silly.
@@Albtraum_TDDC you have an actual argument or are you just gonna whine?
@@thatHARVguy wasn't he like 9 years old at the time? That's not socially awkward time, that's adorable time.
Silence is one of the most powerful tools in cinema. There's a reason why great directors like Dennis Villeneuve favorite other aspects of cinematic communication over dialogue.
The first Star Wars was not "saved" in the edit, that theory was long debunked. Even Marcia herself said that was not the case .
The story was more that Fox had a editor on the movie that started to work on the movie while Lucas and Crew were not even done shooting the thing.
While Lucas was in London shooting the Tantive IV stuff, John Jympson was doing a cut of the movie without the directors feedback, since he was on the other side of the planet.
There was no music, no vfx and placeholders were used.
That was the notorious cut that shooked everybody, including Lucas directors friends. Lucas fired that man and brought in his wife and two pals from his old USC buddy Walter Murch.
They started working on that movie (with Lucas as a uncredited editor) and the whole editing process took them (including the time of the previous editor) 14 months.
Empire Strikes Back was also edited for 14 months. Not my words these are from Paul Hirsch, who worked on Star Wars and Empire, himself.
But nobody said it was saved in the edit.
I recommend the Making of Book by JW Rinzler from each of the OT movies. They are incredible, with so much details about how these movies got made.
That's interesting and makes more sense to be honest. Better than "he made two good movies but was fucking up his passion project until...." story that was being told over and over.
Yeah, see I had remembered that story getting debunked, too. But then when I was working on this video I couldn’t find where I’d seen that, so I thought I must’ve been making it up that it’d been. Guess I should’ve gone with my gut.
@@CinemaStixyour recent community post had many comments arguing this and posting links to the amazing video by Nerdonymous.
@@thegoodgeneral I was making a comment about this, but deleted it now seeing this thread here.
For anyone reading and not wanting the watch the video: _How "How Star Wars was saved in the edit" was saved in the edit (sort of, but not really),_ by Nerdonymous, the biggest fabrication in it was the claim that the Death Star sequence at the end didn't have a time limit of the Death Star blowing up the rebel base until the edit (which is debunked by shooting scripts), and RocketJump try to place Marcia on a pedestal for her editing while also shitting on the deleted Tatooine scenes of Luke and friends, which she had edited and liked, and Lucas didn't even want to film in the first place (only doing so because the studio didn't have confidence to not introduce the main character a.s.a.p.).
On the other hand, Nerdonymous' video is great and filled with info pulled from Making of Star Wars books and gives a lot of behind the scenes insights. Also has a pair of videos Star Wars Apocrypha that cover some lore and behind the scenes of sequels production and is great nerd juice.
Ah, brilliant! Well, it seems my curse that there always seems to be one error in every video that could’ve been avoided by the change of a single line. I was dealing in outdated intel-very bad practice :) I’ll fix it in next year’s compilation and find a way to redirect people accordingly on this one-or hopefully this thread will just rise to the top naturally.
I was not prepared for the Japanese dub in the last third lol
"I don't like dialogue" - Denis Villeneuve
"Star Wars films are silent movies, though!!!" - George Lucas
They're literally on the same line.
David Lynch has entered the chat....
@@phillipemery572 ua-cam.com/video/PALjbTo1D5U/v-deo.html
Nice connection. I've watched Dune part one on mute and it was still incredible
Smart decision to upload this on may the 4th
Why
@Tonyo-man May the 4th be with you.
Your essay made me realize that I never truly grasped how Star Wars is a Space *Opera*. The way you built things up, demonstrating everything that is told and shown by everything else but dialog, ending on those Japanese-dubbed b&w versions, and dropping the term like the cherry on top... it made it click. Thank you.
7:44 My favourite Kurosawa film.
😂
Truly one of his finest.
I like the idea of watching them as a black and white film. Also maybe that is why some of the more cheesy dialogue never annoyed me.
Tbh, a lot of the dialogue sounds better in the mexican/latin american dub of the movies, especially for the prequels, even Darth Vader's voice sounds pretty idéntical to James Earl Jones.
As you say, maybe that's why the dialogue never bothered me.
Sometimes I like to _mess_ a little with saturation while watching in my laptop, and let me tell you... No one is ready for B&W Blade Runner 2049
Many more transform amazingly well too
The Kurosawa re-edit of the Prequels made the dialogue...easier to understand.
Love your channel.
under sand?
@@Music--ng8cd Why would you say something so evil? brb gotta take out this sudden burst of anger on a few unsuspecting kids
@@BlazinInfernape They'll kick your ass
loss pfp lmao
I've felt like George's dialogue is the way it is because it's based on old Japanese movies.
The clip of Williams conducting the main title is so captivating: the couple dozen faces in the background, all rapt, all revealing some different-visceral!-reaction to hearing that brass fanfare. Some swept away in it, others resting deep within themselves, in the place where they first heard it, others reveling in the almost ironic mimesis the theme has taken on in the last five decades. Fifty different reactions, all recognizable, all relatable.
the people who can't help but have little grins are my favorite
One of the best concerts I've seen, I wish I saw it live, well, any John Williams concert for that matter.
@@jesustovar2549 I don't know where you live, but if you can make it to Los Angeles, John Williams does a live show at the Hollywood Bowl every summer.
Many children watch videos over and over.
I listened to the Star Wars score LPs over and over as a child. On my parents' four-channel hi-fi. I had it memorized.
...This is also what made the Lucasfilm video games of the 80s so great. X-Wing shifted the themes around as the battles shifted. You knew you were doing well when the Rebel theme rushed through your Soundblaster and announced your relief ships arriving.
I am the biggest Star Wars fan/nerd/lover and I always learn something new whether from watching one of the shows or movies again, or seeing a video like this. Super insightful and enlightening, thank you very much. This just helped me understand Star Wars more deeply as well as appreciate it even more. It genuinely is the greatest franchise of all time and I think George Lucas’ movies should be watched by all forever!
Star Wars without dialogue is the main way it DOES work. I mean, look at the scene at sunset where Anakin is in the Jedi Temple staring out across the horizon towards Padme's apartment, wondering if he should betray Palpatine or the Jedi.
Episode 3 is a close second to Empire for the best Star Wars film, and it has the best suite of music by a mile. That one scene (Anakin's Anguish I believe it's officially titled) proves categorically that Hayden Christensen is a good actor and Lucas a good director.
It's nice to see more people, over thee past few years, actually understanding and discussing George's artistic vision. His vision is one of the things that Disney will never replicate.
The difference between what most people think and the actuality is that Disney shouldn't try. They should be exploring the space, not trying to emulate a singular vision. That's what made Last Jedi interesting (I'm not commenting on whether it was good or bad or whether it succeeded or not.) Johnson was starting to explore beyond the boundaries of OG Star Wars and it made so many folks uncomfortable. It is also why early Mandalorian is so successful. While it isn't *exactly* Star Wars, it is adjacent enough to still feel like Star Wars while not just being a rip off.
@@just_gut Nah. Johnson was purposely trying to undermine the core philosophies and characters. That's why people hated it. Plus it was just a trash story regardless of the SW backdrop.
Everything SW now is just fan fiction, and like most fan fiction, it's pretty bad with a sprinkling of mediocrity tossed in. It's just a corpse being leeched by vultures unworthy of the IP. If they at least stayed true to the universe's core concepts and could tell good stories it would be ok, but that's too much to ask these days.
@@just_gut The issue with The Last Jedi is it basically took a big dump on everything Force Awakens set up. Johnson should have made his own solo film separate from the Sequel Trilogy. Disney and Lucasfilm also should have had an entire rough draft of a story built up with a start and finish to give the Directors guidance on where the films were going. They rushed all the movies out, and didn't plan ahead, and we ended up with a bunch of crap.
@@just_gut I knew as soon as you mentioned The Last Jedi in anything other than a totally negative light that all of the responses to your comment would focus entirely on that. And lo and behold...
It's such a challenge to have engaging and polite discourse in the Star Wars fandom these days, but I very much respect your effort for trying. I think you've hit the nail on the head with your assessment: Disney's greatest strength is having the financial flexibility, resource pool, and an entire industry's worth of creatives at their disposal in order to tell any number of different stories in the Star Wars universe. Projects like Andor, The Last Jedi, The Mandalorian, and Visions highlight how much room their is to play within the Star Wars sandbox; with creators being given freedom to tell stories which have never been told before in the medium of Star Wars.
The Force Awakens, while successful, is about as much a carbon copy of A New Hope as you could possibly get; and I think it's emblematic of the greater issue that Disney is struggling with when it comes to finding success in their Star Wars storytelling: an overwhelming inability to take creative risks.
People loved Star Wars because of George Lucas' vision for the story. Why not continue to carry on that legacy by giving new creatives the freedom and control they need in order to tell their own stories in the universe? (Plus, when there's enough different types of Star Wars out there, for enough different groups of people, the loud and annoying voices of negativity in the fandom get a whole lot quieter when single projects don't have the impossible responsibility of trying to please everyone).
Disney fundamentally does not understand Star Wars. They are no different from the legions of fanboys who only engage with the very surface level elements of the story. The action, the explosions, the actors and the aesthetics. Disney doesn't care about the ideas that made Star Wars so compelling any more than the fanboys do. The only difference is that Disney wants to use its purchased assets as a vehicle to push their own message and the fanboys want to see more of what they've always seen.
Funnily enough as a non english native speaker my 10 year old me can attest to this hypothesis. The first time I‘ve watched Star Wars it was a copy that was inly available in english. I was still awe struck by the Movie even though the characters I could understand best were the Wookies and Ewoks 😂😂😂
Japanese-dubbed black and white Lego Star Wars is everything I never knew I needed (I know the Lego part was separate, but I’m bathing in dreamland right now).
In all seriousness, who can say enough about the John Williams effect. Masterful. And I love the story about George Lucas asking him to change from Luke’s Theme to the Force Theme for the Binary Sunset scene. Iconic, and so right.
P.S. Some of those black and white shots on Mustafar were stunning!
May the… you know the rest.
"Japanese-dubbed black and white Lego Star Wars"
My life will not be complete until someone makes this happen.
Funny enough, Lego Star Wars content has been the best Star Wars content after Revenge of the Sith. I remember spending my summers watching the games cutscenes uploaded to UA-cam because I couldn't afford the games and enjoying it as much as the original movie.
I was just thinking about this exact idea on my last rewatch, I've always loved the "silent" moments in Star Wars like when Leia and Wicket are about to be shot at by a stormtrooper and you just hear the "silence" of the forest. I was wondering if some passionate editor could be paid to edit Star Wars to remove all dialogue but keep the sound design, so thanks for giving me this glimpse.
My grandmother used to play the piano in Louisiana during the silent film days... She always used to exclaim "Weeeeeeeeeeee!" and it was that passion that she used to play the piano. When I was a youth, I accidentally VHS recorded "The Sting" in black and white. I was initially saddened, but 4 minutes into the film, it really went well, so well, that I watched the movie several times in that de-colorization. I have seen the film a couple more times in its original color, and it is NOT the same...
Negative space is a major element of art. In film, negative space takes on a very different form than it does in static art like paintings or ceramics. Absence of color, music, sound, or dialogue is negative space in film, and it almost always enhances the impact.
Godzilla Minus One is another great example of how a black and white version can be even more effective than full color. It's an excellent movie both ways, but the black and white cut feels so much more impactful because of the character's history.
4:03 unrelated but I just realized this is mirroring Padme taking care of kid Anakin when he left Tatooine (or more like that scene was mirroring this, but because it's a prequel it's really the siblings having echoes of their parents and... forget it)
Which is why Lucas doesn’t care if a lot of the time, the dialogue he writes doesn’t resemble how humans talk.
Well Tarantino dosnt know how actual humans talk either, but nobody seems to bother him about it 😂
Am I the only one who really likes that purple fuzzy dress that Padme wears in episode 3 when Odi wan reveals Anakin had gone evil?
This video made me realize that in that part where Darth Maul, Obi-Wan and Quigon are fighting, it feels so tense. Like even as a kid you can just tell something bad is about to happen. I think it's because of the music. Thanks for the video! I love the style you have and you always have something worthwhile to say.
This... made me respect the films and their impact in a whole new way. IF I could do my life over, I would have focused on music. Part of the reason is because of the subtle way that Lucas used music in this--has impacted why I gravitated towards music at all, in the first place.
Dude. Every video you make is just so well done. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for watching!
:)
I have always felt that the dialogue was almost an afterthought and genuinely didn't notice that some of the lines were absurd until pointed out, because I sort of phased it out of my mind a little.
Slightly embarrassing, but maybe interesting, I didn't think of samurai films when hearing the Japanese dialog. I thought of anime. You could easily replace most light saber duels with a melodramatic tennis match. (And yeah, I get that much anime is the offspring of samurai films.)
I really appreciate you doing essays about Star Wars.
The X-Wing / TIE Fighter games also had dynamic midi music during the missions which changed based on the events happening (enemy ship destroyed, mission goals achieved, etc.).
Oh, yes! Lucasfilm held the *patent* to video games using shifting thematic music matching the pacing of the player and scripted actions.
It's called iMUSE. LucasArts used it in many games, but it was incredibly effective in the X-Wing series.
I have to give it to Lucas. He knew dialogue was his weakest skill in crafting a story, so he worked around it by hiring who would become one of the greatest composers of the century.
Tenet is also a silent movie? *Runs for cover*
Dunkirk is as well
As Patrick Willems said, it's a "vibes movie"
Given that you can't hear any of the dialogue anyway, you'd hope so.
Hi there! I just wanted to stop by and say thanks for another wonderful little reminder of why I love movies. There are as many takes on Stars Wars as there are viewers, or maybe more, but not many I’ve seen have been so pure as this one. Yes, they’re a huge cultural phenomenon, but at heart they’re movies: a particular form of art that gives an audience particular experiences that can’t be had any other way. I love the idea of turning the prequels into Kurosawa films, and just the little clips you showed hit me in a visceral way. Even if I don’t ever watch the whole dubbed version, those glimpses will change the way I watch the prequels from now on. To me, that’s part of the magic of movies. I don’t just get to see them through my own eyes; when I engage with other film lovers I get to see through their eyes too. It’s why I love your channel so much. Thanks for all your great work. I can’t wait to see what you’ll show me next.
This warms my heart, thank you :) I know, it’s so tough talking about Star Wars. It’s so tough just coming up with anything to say about it that hasn’t been said. But when I stumble on an idea, it really gets me going. So, very glad you enjoyed it. And much more to come.
-Danny
7:43 It's like switching to Kurosawa Mode in Ghosts of Tsushima
Why does this video have the ability to play with a pop out player, while every other video on UA-cam doesn’t? Is it doing this for anyone else?
Because you opened it from the opera browser maybe?
Pop out player works for me. Copyright music is the only thing that I've found to not allow the pop out.
I’m opening it from the UA-cam app on my phone, are you doing the same? I’ve never seen a UA-cam video with pop out play on the phone, but think it would be amazing if it was the norm.
I'm so glad I found your channel, you're a kindred cinephile and this is a brilliant essay.
So glad you did too!
7:07 seeing the joy in the people in the audience is awesome
This video serves as one of the best reminders of what we lost.
What have we lost?
inb4 the title inevitably changes from "no wonder star wars dialogue is so mid"
What does it mean?
@@mrtnhrng So I love the channel, and the guy is genuinely insightful, but he always uploads with a really provocative clickbait title (to boost views at the beginning) and then changes them after a day or two.
The video was posed yesterday as "no wonder star wars dialogue is so mid" and, predictably, has now changed to "star wars without music doesn't work very well."
@@AdamFunk Thanks! Tbh, I had to google "mid"... xD
@@mrtnhrng Ope, jk, now it's changed to "when the movie still works without dialogue" a few hours later. Lmao.
That's three titles in two days.
@@AdamFunkyeah, he does it quite a bit....but its not as if others dont do a similar thing, and I understand why he does it. Trialing the videos is important. Regardless, his videos are good and the titles always lead to what the video is about, so I don't mind 😊
Thank you for this nice piece. I've always felt a mark of a great film is that you can follow even if the sound is turned off. Granted, I also believe there are some incredible exceptions to this. I really enjoyed this.
Thank you! I love looking at Star Wars in the light you pose. You are correct. It would've made a great silent film, especially with John William's music.
Thumbnail changes more than I change my underwear.
I only change my underwear once a week.
Thanks for bringing those old b/w reels to light! I don't think this is common knowledge.
I didn't knew about it either, first atrempt of home media, imagine playing the soundtrack LP while the movie is playing in your wall.
Audience: Your dialogue sucks, George
George: (*adjusts glasses🤓) Ummm... ACKtuallyy (*nudges John Williams)
John Williams: (*sigh) YYYYYEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee
I keep explaining this to people. Once they understand this aspect of film, especially Star Wars, they start to get it a little more.
Oof, made a mistake mate.
The second you mentioned, "The role editing played in saving the first Star Wars film."
So basically the regular editing every successful movie goes through. Insane how we're still doing this 5 decades later.
There was a first edition that had... Clunky pacing. You can still find it from the radio play. It wasn't 'regular editing'; it was a last past that made it work.
@@CrissaKentavr The original version was edited by some dude that George then fired. Then the "disastrous" cut that was shown to Spielberg was edited by Marcia and the other 2 dudes.
Editing "saves" every film.
holy, I left the tab open and got 3 different title lol
"Why star wars dialogue was mid" or smth along the line
"Do you agree with George Lucas?" or smth along the line
And now "he said it's basically a silent movie"
I'm not complaining, just glad I managed to witness it
(EDIT) : "no wonder the dialogue in star wars is so mid", there is it, it's back
Fittingly, I was listening with this video playing in the background. But even then, when you said there's really only one way to watch Star Wars as a silent film I could tell by the sound that it was Lego Star Wars. And you are 100% correct.
"quiet film" are always really good. Minimize dialogue but still allow just enough exposition to clear up what's going on.
Music themed for a movie characters scenes is why I luv SYFY CHILDREN OF DUNE Brian Tylor Soundtrack 💯 times over Hans ether blasting background non music for Denis DUNEs
The lengths people will go to not think about anything but a handful of topics is astounding.
this reminds me a lot of FLCL. like the prequels, the actual text is pretty ridiculous, often incomprehensible; but the rhythm, tone, and performances (by the VA, but also by the animators) really set it apart as something great.
that title definitely won't stick haha
5 minutes and it's gone lol
What was the original title?
@@katashley1031”George Lucas calls Star Wars a silent film”
@@katashley1031"no wonder star wars dialogue is so mid"
Danny, this one is beautifully done. Thank you. Seeing the Prequels in B&W with Japanese dubs was sublime. It really underscored your entire point and now feels like the only way I can truly watch those films unbound by my own profound disappointment with them the second the characters open their mouths.
Cool video. I have one of those old reel release's. Pops would throw it on the projector on home movie nights👍
For the first few minutes, I was wondering if you were going to bring up Episode III. Glad you did, it's the best edited of the series and highlights the visual motifs of all 6 movies the best.
Yes! New episode
Time to eat some cinnamon sticks!
Return of the Stix
You wanna buy some death stix?
first title was better
Agreed!
It's just a normal thing for the algorithm
Thanks for this, really appreciate your insights :)
Great video and a japanese edit in b/w or colour makes perfect sense especially for those of us who have already seen the films, partly because we have already seen the movie in colour and in our native language so we probably know most of the dialog so well that we can subconsciously fill in the story details and characterisations.
Cinema Therapy Palpatine video AND Cinemastix video essay? Hell yeah
I was just thinking the same thing! Star Wars must be on everyone's minds atm
May the 4th be with you,@@chloehunter3428.
May the 4th be with you 😊
@@alexmetalsky2061 omg how could I have forgotten, haha. May the fourth be with YOU
watching PACIFIC RIM with Japanese dubbing really helps
I actually without any intention of doing so watched Return of the Jedi without audio almost a decade ago at this point. I was surprised by how good you can follow the story without any audible sound.
One of my childhood friends got his hands on a copy of A New Hope with just the score back in the early 2000s and I was amazed at how easy and entertaining it was to watch.
did... did the video title just change?
It's a shitty tactic to get you to click on the video
What was the previous title?
@@katashley1031”george lucas calls star wars a silent film”
@@ginocappugino I've also heard that some youtubers are just curious to see which title would preform better
Dude changes thumbnails and titles faster than a hummingbird flaps it's wings.
Great documentary! Thanks!
Amazing video, loved thinking about Star Wars in a whole new way!
The dialogue is honestly the worst part of the prequels. The story itself is just fine, but the characters are so dull, awkward, and lifeless that it makes them almost unwatchable. A lot of people argue that Anakin is supposed to sound awkward since he’s a conflicted character struggling with his feelings, but this argument doesn’t work when all the other characters talk like this. I don’t think I’d be able to get through the Phantom Menace if it wasn’t for John Williams’ music. The movie would be so lifeless without it. Anyway, May the 4th be with you.
The problem is just Lucas not being a perfectionist. He would do one, two takes and NEXT! Not giving the actors opportunities to work with a scene until it's "right". If the actor said the line on cue and the camera was running, he used it.
I just came from watching The Phantom Menace and I agree on your point about John Williams carrying the movie, that and the sound effects, visually it looks amazing, the CGI didn't bother me, and the acting is just fine, it's not the most impressive acting ever, but it's decent, not overacted, at least in Ep. 1, Liam is fine, so Ewan does, Jake Lloyd was criticized for no reason, he was just a kid, he acted naturally like any kid of his age, Ian McDiarmid is honestly the best throughout the trilogy.
I wish you could speak spanish, because the latin american/mexican spanish dub is awesome, makes the movies come to live, especially the prequels, even Darth Vader's voice is almost identical to James Earl Jones.
Finally prequel fan, who doesn't ignore problems.
When dooku came out as traitor I nearly leapt to my feet in the theatre and shouted "THAT IS HOW TO ACT". Everyone else might as well have been star wars action figures being bumped together.
I’m of the exact opposite opinion. I love the mild characters. I don’t find anything dull or lifeless about them - western society is just too rowdy and loud. All Hollywood media end up being the identical with the same interchangeable extroverted “relatable” characters. Prequels were refreshing.
George Lucas owes so much of what he has to John Williams. Without his score, Star Wars would have been forgotten as campy 70's cinema.
100%.
Empire is the redeeming film of the original trilogy. Kirshner did a fantastic job of adding just enough of a sense of realism without seeming like a disconnect from the fantasy/sci-fi element.
@@katashley1031 yeah for sure. And without the score, empire would have never been made perhaps.
And boy does Williams "owe" a lot to other composers 😬
And John Williams owes so much to Gustav Holst....
But whose idea was it to use orchestra music? George is a great director.
An excellent, profound video. The genius of film making across cinematography and music.
The music and the cinematography of how the scenes are filmed are what give the Original Trilogy its power.
i.e. Without John Williams great films would just become films
Such a master. The first album I purchased was a John Williams score.
When I moved to LA a coworker invited me to a tribute to Williams at the Bowl. I went and still can't believe what I got to experience; the dropped down a big screen to play a pivotal moment of Jaws while the orchestra played the score live. For a gal who's been a huge fan of his since I was 7 years old, I think I died, lol. Floated right up to heaven. 😂
@@katashley1031 lol that sounds awesome*, hopefully I get to see him live someday, I think he does a yearly performance in a UK theatre, the name alludes me though
*edit: minus the dying part XD
@@katashley1031I envy you, I love his music even before I watched the films.
really enjoy your content. thank you again.
The possibilities of a Black and White Star Wars are there; but, when filming black and white, you would have lit, costumed, and shadowed in an entirely different fashion.
I've always wanted to rewatch Star Wars in a different language ever since Rick Worley mentioned it in his prequels video
I would too if I was that bad at writing dialogue
Seriously, lol.
That title change is insane 🤣
What was the original title?
@@funfuz he was calling it "that's why the star wars dialogue is mid"
@@funfuzat first it was “george lucas calls Star Wars a silent film”
@@Almudron1 Brother could not make up his mind
@@reje3814It was initially the Why the Star Wars films are silent films
7:43 This is excellent! Just like those old Hackassato Fontain movies. It's a nightmare fighting with those things because they practically blind you. Cool noise tho'.
I couldn't help to notice that Disney Star Wars wasn't included...
Thank you.
The sequel trilogy still had John Williams scoring them, and he was still as great as ever scoring those movies (even if I agree with everyone else that Rise of Skywalker is overall horrible). Not to mention Ludwig Göransson's score for The Mandalorian has already become iconic.