How far has George sold out???

[Vermithrax 4]

I have to wonder why those who are griping about "another one of these threads" don't just skip over the thread when they see the title? It's easy and requires no effort, in fact it takes less effort than reading the thread and then typing out a gripe about it. If it doesn't interest you or even irritates you then just stay out of the thread. Perhaps the person who posted the topic didn't see the previous threads, or perhaps he/she is bringing another aspect of it to our attention, it's their right to do so, that's what these message boards are FOR. You can't have a message board and then proceed to gripe and complain about what people post in it. If the OP has a thought they want to express regarding the declining marketing practices of George Lucas then they have every right to express it without being raked over the coals by the Mayberry detachment of the Thread Police. Believe it or not, there are other people who feel the same way, that in a number of cases these noble characters (except Jar Jar) are turning increasingly into the Jedi version of Billy Mays. I mean what's next? Yoda car wax? Obi-Wan Kenobi salad dressing? Infomercials for a Jedi "lightsaber" food chopper?

Okay, so you don't agree. Then post an opposing viewpoint in a manner that demonstrates that we're living in a more civilized age. If you're unable to manage that...then simply DON'T READ THE THREAD!

 

[steveo]

I kind of like the commercial and the product. I wonder if since it's TPM, if when it was originally done in '99 with all the merchandising, if Pepsi still has rights to make money from it.

 

[Robiwon]

One of our members' R2 at that. :lol

I don't mind the commercials and product tie-ins at all. Especially if it gave one of our members some exposure if the above is true. I absolutely love the commercial with the little kid in Vader costume trying to Force move stuff and then dad hits the remote on the car.

I think we should start a "SW TV commercial tie-in" thread. Nothing but tie-ins, LoL!

 

[Solo4114]

In fairness, the cheesy merchandising dates back as early as the first film when you could buy Star Wars shoelaces, Star Wars elastic belts with the words "Star Wars" printed on them in a nondescript font and with a cheap brass buckle showing an X-wing (I actually saw one of these once), etc. ThreepiO's doesn't surprise me, either.

Much of the time, this is just licensing of the brand and imagery, and Lucas just collects the check. They don't control the license very tightly as far as the cheesiness or seriousness of merchandise is concerned. I mean, obviously they don't want the brand on some lead-paint-coated edible toy or whatever, but otherwise they've never really tried to lock down the brand to only serious tributes or particularly cool stuff.

As was said, I'd bash Lucas for plenty, but I don't think he deserves a ton of grief over this, especially since it's been a part of the franchise since the very beginning.

 

[Kerr Avon]

I don't give one rip about the marketting of Star Wars. Hell, I'd be okay with them selling Lightsaber Vibrators that light up in different colors. After all, they need better market penetration in the female side of sales. *badump-ching* Wouldn't bother me one bit.

But CHANGING the movies, making Han shoot SECOND, making Luke scream as he falls, and all that **** that ALTERS the very ESSENCE of the characters.

That **** pisses me off.

 

[Robert McLain]

Seriously? The guy who bought you your childhood memories and all you can do is ***** about him. Without George this place wouldn't have half the props we do. If he wants to put yoda's face on toilet paper.... So what, it's his yoda. If you don't like it don't buy it.

QFT. You nailed it, manthumbsup

Robert

 

[Tremas]

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[Timmythekid]

QFT. You nailed it, manthumbsup

Robert

More precisely, he wouldn't allow his creations to be slapped on everything if nerds didn't keep buying every liscenced POS they see at kmart. WE did this to ourselves, kids.

 

[Commander Max]

So when are we going to see SW suppositories, when George will need them or when the fans need them?

 

[Werstrooper]

tbh I think the merchandise for Pixars Cars and Cars 2 is way worse than Starwars

 

[nickytea]

I'd kill for some of my favorite flicks to have as awesome of merch as Star Wars has.

 

[Shadow345]

I'd kill for some of my favorite flicks to have as awesome of merch as Star Wars has.

I agree

 

[Jeyl]

Seriously? The guy who bought you your childhood memories and all you can do is ***** about him. Without George this place wouldn't have half the props we do. If he wants to put yoda's face on toilet paper.... So what, it's his yoda. If you don't like it don't buy it.

I don't know about you, but a lot of stuff that many talented people have made during my child hood I still like. Star Wars on the other hand is one of those things that got more and more distant the more Lucas tampers with it. Going out of his way to tell me that I was wrong for looking at it in that particular way just bugs me. Sure, it's his right to tamper with his own work, but as a film maker and a story teller, shouldn't our experiences count for something? Was Star Wars not made to entertain? Why can't we just take what he had previously given us and experience what we took out of it again instead of having to change our interpretations of it on every release?

 

[clancampbell]

Must be pretty neat being a billionaire......

......if i was a billionaire, and i'd made the money from fans of a movie series i'd dreamt up, i reckon i'd say a thank you to the fans and acceed to their wishes and release the originals on BD.

We're all different though....maybe because George set out to tell stories and use exciting FX and editing techniques to tell stories, maybe, just maybe, he actually resents that we made him the Emperor of a billion dollar industry......

OK......back to my Psychology for Dummies book......

Rich

 

[Timmythekid]

They'll come, they'll come. From various interviews it's pretty clear that LFL's executive board, Fox, Lucas Liscencing, ****, even that ****** McCallum wants the originals released in an HD format. You can COUNT on it happening.

 

[Funky]

It all comes down to this.
The man is running a business. He's trying to make money. It's not our place to tell him he has enough and to not slap our favorite movie on Bandaids. It's HIS property to do as he wishes. You don't like it? Don't buy the merchandise. You like the movies? Watch them. Hate seeing the commercials? Change the channel and don't give it a second thought.
Griping about this (though I understand it's mostly venting) certainly won't make the Lucas camp change their mind.

 

[NormanF]

I don't care if he licenses this stuff out to anybody with $5 in their hands. I just wish he'd get back to making movies with good stories instead of marketing tools for kids toys. Hi Jar Jar!
Phantom Menace Review

Come to think of it, it would be nice if he would stop going back and changing his older movies to cram more effects in them.

 

[cboath]

They're doing this because they're too cheap to advertise the movie themselves. Sad really.

Then again, there's something to be said, i suppose, for if others are willing to do the work for you and pay you to do it....

 

[Commander Max]

I don't know about you, but a lot of stuff that many talented people have made during my child hood I still like. Star Wars on the other hand is one of those things that got more and more distant the more Lucas tampers with it. Going out of his way to tell me that I was wrong for looking at it in that particular way just bugs me. Sure, it's his right to tamper with his own work, but as a film maker and a story teller, shouldn't our experiences count for something? Was Star Wars not made to entertain? Why can't we just take what he had previously given us and experience what we took out of it again instead of having to change our interpretations of it on every release?

I remember a day when people wanted more special effects in films.
Now we have had just about enough.

My cousin sent me a pic with one her boys playing with the large AT-AT toy. I got kind of sad, if Lucas has his way this kid will never see what started it all. He will see very different films from what got us into all this in the first place.

 

[The Night]

anybody seen the South Park episode on this?
Free Hat (Season 6, Episode 9) - Full Episode Player - South Park Studios
relelvant to the topic and worth a laugh.

in the end they are his movies and he can do what he pleases with them, whether people agree with it or not. and honestly, outside these forums and places with such devoted fan bases most people wont care that much. most wont even notice the few changes