Phantom menace yoda, why did they change him?

yoda in episode 1 was soooo much cooler...he knew how to party


Yoda.jpg

yoda_pirate.jpg
 
I always thought the Prequels ruined Yoda

He should have been so powerful that he never needed to use a lightsaber

That whirling dirvish bunk is the reason I didn't bother to see ROTS in the theater
 
I think that they should have made Yoda more mysterious in the prequels. He should have been in the background seen only fleetly, not in the centre of the action and with lots of dialogue.
 
Apparently, 30 years before ESB, Yoda was a crack addict. Must have been an intervention before AotC.

I really hope we get the Yoda from AotC and RotS for the Bluray release. I thought it worked pretty well.

:lol:lol:lol

Seriously, he looks really messed up in TPM. ROTS Yoda is my fav but ESB Yoda will always hold a special place as this is what I remember as a kid.....but yes he does still look like a muppet...but please don't let George change that! He's already f'ed up enough of the OT

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I still think that the PM Yoda looks like Mark Hammill after his Accident. like in Empire after the Wampa. I think it is the eyes.

Side note, I also like the fact that the word Yoda, is spell checked on here as needing a capital letter!
 
I for some reason always imagine TPM Yoda with a big white mustache. Don't know why... perhaps it was the lighting reflecting off his upper lip or something. In fact... having Yoda WITH a big fat mustache would have been freaking cool.

To me the prequel Yoda always looks angry. Like... angry is the new cool. I see it everywhere... that angry scowling look that doubles for cool and composed. In all honesty I don't think even the digital Yoda was that great.

Found this through google search - not so much the angry look, but more how the CGI version differs:
yodas2.jpg
 
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This always perplexed me as well. I don't buy the 'he's younger' argument either. The likeness just isn't there. We have people on this board that could have done a much better job at sculpting him.

I didn't mind the look of the CG version. It was much closer likeness-wise, but they went a little crazy with the wrinkles.

As much as everyone loved the scenes where he kicked some sith butt, I didn't think it was very fitting to his character. He went from the tiny, unassuming, all-knowing monk creature to a cartoonish monkey flipping around and grunting. I just assumed from the OT that he was so wise and powerful in the force that he would have found other ways to deal with Palp. I guess I'm saying it eliminated the mystique.
 
I thought i'd start a thread on the prequal yoda, what are your feelings on it? me, i thought it was awful, why change it? why use silicone, i think the most shocking thing i found was that Nick dudman had access to the original moulds for yoda from the ranch, and yet they still redone him from scratch, why not do a clay press out of those moulds, slightly change the look if they had to, then remake the puppet we all knew and loved.
Look at how many people have sculpted classic yoda on here, he's been done and redone, i myself sculpted the new version as a commision, but i haven't seen many other versions of the new yoda.
Its been years now, but still that has to be the most jarring thing for me from the phantom menace, have the years softened it for everyone else?.
i've heard rumblings that it'll be replaced with cg yoda for the 3d release, i'm glad if it happens

Oh, I agree completely. That´s one more - point on the Phantom menace list!
I always think: what if they had done him propperly. We sure had to receive a puppet all through the prequels. With some didital extension, maybe. But this would have been the real deal. THEY SCREWED THIS UP, COMPLETELY.

Use Digital "magic" - THAT IS WHY THEY FAIL!
 
I for some reason always imagine TPM Yoda with a big white mustache. Don't know why... perhaps it was the lighting reflecting off his upper lip or something. In fact... having Yoda WITH a big fat mustache would have been freaking cool.

To me the prequel Yoda always looks angry. Like... angry is the new cool. I see it everywhere... that angry scowling look that doubles for cool and composed. In all honesty I don't think even the digital Yoda was that great.

Found this through google search - not so much the angry look, but more how the CGI version differs:
yodas2.jpg

That´s why Nick Dudman is only cabale to do degusting and ulgy things. It was a catastrophy to give the loveable Yoda creature to him. Consists parts that are not in himself. I´ve sudiet the TPM making of Yoda when Stuart Feeborn visit the shop. Did freeze frames when Nick and Stuart stand together. Nick behaves like a complete moron. Stuart is a gentle god. Check it out.
 
Empire for best Yoda. For the sheer range of expression. For the look of authority and gravitas in the image posted above top, unapproached by anything in the PT.

The OT puppet - and the PM puppet for that matter - also had the more convincing skin. Yoda's cgi skin looks unreal in comparison. Makes him look like a moving painting or illustration, which is a problem with a lot of creature cgi. Plus, the animation, as so often, was infected with this cel animation floatiness in the face movements, while the scenes where Yoda flipped around were tragic, just tragic visual messes.
 
As much as everyone loved the scenes where he kicked some sith butt, I didn't think it was very fitting to his character. He went from the tiny, unassuming, all-knowing monk creature to a cartoonish monkey flipping around and grunting. I just assumed from the OT that he was so wise and powerful in the force that he would have found other ways to deal with Palp. I guess I'm saying it eliminated the mystique.

Everyone?? Oh God don't tell me we're in the minority in lacking love for the cartoonish flipping monkey... 'eliminated the mystique' is only the beginning of what it did. It destroyed Yoda for all time as far as I'm concerned. I had to look away from the screen till the whole stupid nonsense was over with.
 
Empire for best Yoda. For the sheer range of expression. For the look of authority and gravitas in the image posted above top, unapproached by anything in the PT.

The OT puppet - and the PM puppet for that matter - also had the more convincing skin. Yoda's cgi skin looks unreal in comparison. Makes him look like a moving painting or illustration, which is a problem with a lot of creature cgi. Plus, the animation, as so often, was infected with this cel animation floatiness in the face movements, while the scenes where Yoda flipped around were tragic, just tragic visual messes.

Oooooh, That is so true!!! I couldn´t have said it better.

CGI Creatures are nothing more than kind of better cartoons.
 
Well, if the Force can alter the appearance of a Sith, then the opposite must be true.

And in Empire he's been living clean. No processed food, drinks or sugar.
 
A few things that totally stand out as being wrong:

- tilt of the eyes : ESB Yoda friendly with the downward angle, TPM upward angle agressive

- eye brow bulge : ESB softer, TPM thicker and stronger, with a visible peak in the middle

- eye position : TPM visible squint, pupils smaller than ESB?

- nose holes : TPM visible, making noser shorter (pig nose), ESB not as much visible from front

- upper and lower jaw : TPM wider than ESB, more pronounced lower jaw in TPM

- mouth : TPM much wider than ESB, triangle mouth/nose different (which is a main "beauty" feature)

The TPM Yoda kind of reminds me more of the late DeForest Kelley than Einstein.

I am sure that all of the above has been pointed out by far better observers than I am, and a sculptor will notice those differences in a split second, so I don´t know why that sculpt came out so different. I think it would have been enough to make a cast of an original Yoda and then simply buff a few areas up and smooth the "skin" somewhat.

Ah, another armchair sculptor here at his keyboard ;)

 
Re:
Phantom menace yoda, why did they change him?
Quote:
Originally Posted by alancastillo1
I so agree with this

I will never forget the adrenaline rush, open mouth, and ear to ear smile on my face when I saw the little fellow do his fight scene like a fit 18-year-old. To me, that really defined the character.

Would have been almost impossible to do with the puppet.

Priceless
It's funny. That almost ruined the character for me seeing him jumping around like a looney tunes character was really ridiculous.

Yoda to me is defined by pulling the X Wing out of the swamp on Degobah after he poetically explains the Force to Luke and it's limitless possibilities.

That scene shows the real power of the force more than being the Tazmanian Devil with a lightsaber.

And yes TPM Yoda looked like crap.

I agree totally. When I was watching the film, my thought he looked liked a grasshopper on speed. i gasped and laughed at the same time. very silly, very silly.
 
The Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park don't look like cartoons....

that´s because in Jurassic Park only were 8 minutes of CGI Dinosaurs.
AND THEY HAD PEOPLE WHO REALLY UNDERSTAND SOMETHING.
I hope my nowadays movie making collegues will soon come back to a normal CGI level.
then I will say:

THAT IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS
 
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