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#61 {IRS}Athos

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Posted 16 February 2009 - 07:29 PM

I only read Gemmell's Troy series. I thought it was all right... :shiftee:
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#62 Vortigern

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Posted 16 February 2009 - 10:02 PM

No, it's the Drenai novels you want. Or the Rigante ones, they weren't bad. The Troy series and the Jon Shannow series were not as good. Stick with the Drenai.
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#63 Jeth Calark

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Posted 17 February 2009 - 03:43 AM

But it's science fiction! It's supposed to be futuristic! We can't be using that word "magic"! :shiftee:

Realistically, I can understand your reasoning, Vort, though I still don't agree with it. ;)


Gemmell? Troy? Who? and, wha....oh, I know what Troy is! ;)

#64 Sûlherokhh

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Posted 17 February 2009 - 05:20 AM

Do graphic novels count? Of course. ;)

So go and hit:
  • Elfquest (Vol.1-20 only, the original quest) by Richard & Wendy Pini
  • The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller. The really dark one, Sin City style. It's Frank Miller after all. ;)
  • The Sandman, all volumes (1 to 100something), by Neil Gaiman. Modern Fantasy with a gothic, dreamy twist. Very fine storytelling, intriguing characters. GOGOGETIT! :shiftee:

Oh, before i forget. Anybody know A.Vachss? Well, even if you don't, ThisIsABlast! (free pdf).

Edited by Sûlherokhh, 17 February 2009 - 05:27 AM.

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#65 Vortigern

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Posted 17 February 2009 - 11:44 AM

I would second the Neil Gaiman recommendation, for both written fiction and graphic novels, and indeed films. He has two that I'm aware of: Stardust (which was released in 2007, I think, and was really good though it didn't do so well in the box office) and Mirrormask (which was amazing, really creepy but really good. I don't know if it ever got anything from the box office...)

Star Wars is set "a long time ago in a galaxy far away". That's not the future. Also, the Skywalkers live with a bunch of freaks in a cave in the middle of a desert. How futuristic is that? In all honesty, every time I hear about Star Wars it makes me think: this was George Lucas' childhood fantasy. What a freakin' nerd. I wonder if he had any friends whatsoever... I suppose in a way he kinda showed them, but he's still the one who went running around the playground with snot hanging out of his nose making 'vwing' noises and trying to lightsaber people while they played football at lunchtime.

I would also like to recommend Bagenders. It's a hilarious LotR spoof in which the Fellowship were granted immortality for saving Middle-Earth and eventually ended up living together in a house in Yorkshire that was far too small for all of them, but they try anyway. Sadly it was never completed, but there are two and a half complete series and a few random slashy interludes. As fanfiction goes, it's some of the best I've read.
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#66 Jeth Calark

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Posted 18 February 2009 - 10:18 PM

It's supposed to be futuristic!

Futuristic means "like the future," not the future itself. :thumbsupsmiley:

Soooo, if you lived on a planet-wide desert, how advanced would you be able to get? 'Cause there's only two resources that aren't rare: sand and heat. :)

Ha! That's what you think. You were wrong about that whole "childhood fantasy" thing. He was interested in cars and racing during his childhood and teens (which later manifested itself in his movie American Graffiti). The only thing in his childhood that came close to Star Wars was a TV series called Flash Gordon, a regular staple of the childhood of any man of his age (I remember my grandfather, who's about the same age as Lucas, talking about watching that show as a kid). The script of Star Wars didn't come into existence till 1973, after he made Graffiti.

Here's the Wikipedia article I've been referencing for the past two minutes, if you should seek to dispute me. :)

#67 Vortigern

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Posted 19 February 2009 - 12:20 AM

If only his imagination had improved with age, we might have got a halfway decent film. Can you honestly tell me that anything beyond the special effects and some of the basic ideas was actually any good?
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#68 Devon

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Posted 19 February 2009 - 01:00 AM

Dude, star wars was great until the ewoks started showing up. Downhill from there.

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#69 Jeth Calark

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Posted 19 February 2009 - 03:28 AM

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Everyone's got their opinions. :thumbsupsmiley:

I'm mostly laughing when I see the Empire's "best legion" get beat up by a bunch of kids in fuzzball suits. :)

Are you saying that there was absolutely nothing good in the prequels, Yoda? Cause you and Ed seem to have a little mod going about the Clone Wars. :)

#70 Bart

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Posted 19 February 2009 - 09:56 AM

Episode 1 was average, but 2 was better and 3 was good, in my opinion.
It's just that Anakin is annoying. He's the main character, but other characters (like Obi-Wan) are more interesting in these films.
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#71 Vortigern

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Posted 19 February 2009 - 12:11 PM

That's primarily because Haydn Christensen is a jerk, and has even less acting talent than Keanu Reeves. On the other hand, I cannot deny that I hated him less than the kid who played young Anakin in Episode 1. Child actors as a whole I strongly dislike as there are very few genuinely good ones, just kids with big eyes and silly haircuts who apparently look good on screen.

They also all sucked because the storyline was terrible, and the Gungans are the single most loathsome alien race ever created. Why could they not learn to speak English properly? I appreciate that in Episode 3 they had to figure out a way to make Anakin into Darth Vader and I was OK with that, it was just everything else that was utterly preposterous.
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#72 Jeth Calark

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Posted 19 February 2009 - 04:20 PM

I agree with what 2play just said. When I'm watching Episode 2, I'm constantly thinking, "Let's get back to the exciting part....(wherever Obi-Wan is)" :crazed: Episode 3 was plain awesome.

#73 CIL

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 04:09 AM

Ep. III had a bit much... incest... in it for my taste. That, and it made the confrontation between Mace and Palpatine waaaaay underly dramatic. They made Palpatine look like a huge-time pushover at the end, despite making him look all badass in the earlier minute of the duel. They make it obvious that they intended to have him throw the fight... anyways, I'm not dwelling on that. I'd have to take up half a page with an essay I had to write to keep the Youtube bastards off my ass, pardon the cussing please. Anyways, the book was WAAAAAYYYY more epic. I'll just say that.
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#74 mike_

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 04:26 AM

Incest? ;)

#75 Jeth Calark

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 04:38 AM

What mike said..... ;)

#76 CIL

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 05:47 AM

Okay, maybe not incest, but bed scenes and kissy scenes. People are supposed to be having their limbs cut off and stuff. I'd be Lucas spent more time on the kissy scenes than the duels. Seriously, I imagined a lot more force stuff between Yoda and Sidious, not playing hot potato with 5 ton platforms and deadlocking once.
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#77 Nertea

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 08:28 AM

I think that if you analyze star wars in terms of genre, and compare the way it works to the generally accepted definitions of fantasy and science fiction, it comes out on the fantasy side by a fair bit. That isn't necessarily a bad thing ;).

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#78 Vortigern

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 12:30 PM

Well, there definitely isn't any genuine science involved, that's for sure. There is a magical power that a few talented individuals can use and nobody can explain, there is an evil empire growing and casting a shadow over the galaxy, there is a hero and his band of loyal and worthy sidekicks. It is a fantasy tale, but it's not even a good one. There are lists of what fantasy tales are supposed to contain, and Star Wars ticks about half the boxes, and has nothing else. All the best fantasy tales have about three-quarters of the list plus some extra unusual bits, which is what makes them special. I can't give you any specific examples at the moment, though, because I can't find my damn notes from last semester. (That was part of my course last year.)
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#79 Jeth Calark

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 04:37 PM

@ CIL: What's boring about playing Hot Potato.......with 5 ton platforms? ;)

#80 Bart

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 06:36 PM

About Palpatine being a push-over, I'm pretty sure that was an act to lure his enemies into a sense of security :p
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