Working at the company that made the test footage, Stargate studios. Very interesting video with a lot of cool facts. You’ve earned yourself a sub
@Syntopikon
6 ай бұрын
Thanks! Even cooler that you work at Stargate. You all have done some phenomenal work on some of my (and certainly others) favorite shows + movies. Entertainment would be far worse off without excellent post-production studios.
@Samlem14
6 ай бұрын
@@Syntopikon I appreciate you saying that. It’s been tough with the strikes and possible another one on the horizon but hopefully we don’t go down that path again. With such a cool history it’s fun to walk around and see all the old models from shows like power rangers or any other weird stuff they have worked on. The founder Sam is a really nice guy and tends to be very hands on with the stuff we work on. Honestly I brought this show up in my interview and he told me if underground would’ve got made it would’ve changed not only this studio but could’ve changed the whole outcome of the Disney deal. Lot of money and a lot of really new effects. The new concept of using game engines as a way to make real time on set effects was pioneered on that show. Even the idea of a virtual wall wouldn’t be here without underworld.
@Syntopikon
6 ай бұрын
Right, I hope that IATSE (and I believe the Teamsters?) are able to figure out a deal that suits them well without having to strike, and that the threats are just a negotiating tactic. I recall checking the trades on an daily basis over the 6 months between May and November to see how it progressed (more than I normally do) - even just as an observer and someone deeply interested in film & film history, it was interesting to see history being made but disheartening to see how many livelihoods were at stake. Besides just admiring Lucasfilm for the movies, it’s also a really interesting company from tech point of view (kind of like Disney is). It’s unfortunate that the costs were so prohibitive at the time, and I think that Sam is right: it would’ve changed the outcome of the Disney deal and the trajectory of Lucasfilm (and, as someone who really liked videos games, also of Lucasarts) for the better. It may have even been interesting if Lucas had pursued a partial sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, which would certainly have given him the funds necessary to see it to completion. Each Star wars movie has seemingly pioneered some sort of advance in visual effects, and I’m sure Underworld would’ve been the same. The virtual wall is a fascinating piece of tech from a layman’s point of view (and I imagine even more so from an experts) and it’s a shame that it seemingly wasn’t possible when Lucas was working on Underworld. I believe he mentioned that it was exactly what he had needed (or perhaps wanted) at the time and would’ve brought the cost down considerably.
@nniicckk1223
6 ай бұрын
It's the exact right time for Disney to stop shitting on starwars. But they're not going to because they fired their old CEO and the new one gave Kennedy more power to continue to burn the franchise to the ground. They've already destroyed the characters I grew up with. Unless they wipe the sequel movies from cannon there is nothing they can do to bring back a huge chunk of the former fanbase.
@OparStanley1008
2 ай бұрын
You deserve more views. I have never ever heard about this Star Wars fact. Frankly, I wish I didn't now. I'm sad this didn't happen.
@MrDameius
6 ай бұрын
Disney has so far come across as first and foremost risk averse with the brand, which ironically has put the brand into a lot of risk through mediocre mainline movies that started as entirely uninspired retread of content in TFA and ending in backlash appeasement "lets just close this out" in Skywalker. At least that is my perception. They had interesting ideas sprinkled throughout that got drowned in rounded edges fan appeasement. Of the non mainline movies, I thought they were competently done but the only one I truly get behind is Rogue One which is essentially a Dirty Dozen in space. That itself is a cool idea but belies the original issue of risk aversion. It isn't that you can't make something that is both good and safe, it is just that it closes the path to true and radical innovation with the exception of maybe technology behind films. Say what you will about Lucas' ability to write dialogue or pacing/editing or any of the other things people have flaked him for, no one questions his skills in world building or the science and art of film making. And it is the second one there in particular that I find lacking in the Disney era of Star Wars. I don't need everything that they do be gold, I don't ever think that will be realistic, but I do want them to push the boundaries of what a Star Wars story can be. That is why I personally feel that their TV runs have been far more successful than the movies -even if they have their own warts. In a series born in WWII allegory and metaphor, Andor serving as a strong anti-fascist story is masterful and is good art as a result. Bad Batch keeps some of that same Rogue One energy which is good but also safe in the same way that Rogue One is safe. Even when Lucas was keeping the narrative/theme safe, such as the fall of the Weimar Republic being the source of narrative focus in the prequels, everything else was set to moonshots. And that is what I want out of the next things Disney do. If they dial back the risk in one area, I really want them to stretch in another. The Star Wars universe exists so far beyond the intensely narrowly focused lens and milieu of the Skywalkers. That includes the events directly formed or impacted by them and Disney would do well to turn their lens to the rest of the universe. I think that is part of the source of the failings of their mainline trilogy. You can't play it safe and tell a Skywalker story in a way that will satisfy audiences. If Disney wants to tread safely on their financial line then they need to look past the Skywalkers and break into the unknown elsewhere to recapture that Lucas magic. And this Underground is shovel ready to allow them to do that and give them a narrative, tone, and style banner to focus around as it looked like Mandalorian was going to do for them before it kind of lost its way a bit. These thoughts are kind of all over the place and I've not thought hard enough on it that my ability to express all of it poor, so apologies for the mishmash of ideas and any repetition. The short of it is basically that Disney purchased Lucas' IP, but not Lucas' secret sauce and without that sauce the soul of Star Wars is missing. That sauce is not unique to Lucas, however, and Disney has the potential to inject it back into the IP if they change the approach they are taking with handling it. But I'm not sure if Disney is willing to do what is needed in terms of risk to accomplish it.
@Syntopikon
6 ай бұрын
This is very well put and your criticism of Disney is also in line with what George Lucas feels: that Disney has played it far to safe and hasn’t broken any new ground, which is something Lucas says he always tried to do in each movie (whether it was an interesting new planet, advances in technology, etc.) The most interesting thing they’ve done is Stagecraft, which is a genuinely groundbreaking piece of tech that Lucas praised, saying it would’ve made Underworld possible at the time. But Disney has always been at the forefront of technology with regards to film, so even that is doing more of what they’re already good at, not anything new. Rogue One is certainly the best of them - I found Solo to be mostly unenjoyable and forgettable, and I’m not a fan of the the need to flesh every character out so much (I think some loose ends make the world seem larger, whereas explainers make it seem smaller). Lucas’s strength certainly does lay in world building. It’s worth noting that Lucas himself has said that he doesn’t much like the writing or directing process. It’s why that he relented as soon as could: directing duties were given to Irvin Kershner on ESB, while writing was done first by Leigh Brackett but, after her unfortunate passing, taken over by Lucas who soon handed it off to Lawrence Kasdan. It’s the creation of the story + world that Lucas excelled at, and what made Star Wars such a wild success. Only a few - I would say JRR Tolkien (who I think is the master world builder) and Eiichiro Oda on One Piece - equal or surpass Lucas and Star Warsrs there. Each new movie did push some boundaries, whether technological or storywise: Star Wars was the initiator, ESB had a more melancholy end + that twist, while Return of the Jedi was in line with his desire for a happy ending. Still, all had something to say (especially re: politics, which Lucas has always been interested in). I think one issue with Disney is the focus on treating it as a franchise before a story. It takes a lot for me to actively dislike a film, and there really aren’t any Star Wars movies (except Solo, I guess) that I actively dislike. But whereas Lucas began with a story and wove a movie and franchise around it, it feels as though Disney starts with the franchise - and what it means to fans - and tries to build a story around that. No Skywalker story will live up to the original. Those were formative films for a lot of people and it’ll be impossible to help them recapture that feeling. Rather, they need to look at Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick for inspiration. The sequel was as cool as the original, but it had Maverick grow up. To an extent, Star Wars needs to grow up (note: not necessarily become more adult, but rather move on from the past). When Disney bought Lucasfilm, Zack Snyder said he wanted to do an R-Rated movie set in the Star Wars universe, but not with the original cast of characters. I don’t necessarily think that the movie needs to be R-Rated, but it does need to move past Skywalker. Like you said, they need to be willing to take the risk. I would hope that the decline in returns from The Force Awakens to The Rise of Skywalker (to the tune of more than a billion) would be enough to show them that something needs to change.
@MrDameius
6 ай бұрын
@@Syntopikon I completely agree about Solo. It is a movie I never wanted to be made, for a lot of the reasons you stated for it. Rereading my comment and your response, made me realize I was vague on the "science and art of film making" point. I remember going into Rogue One talking to everyone I saw it with that it would be cool if they didn't focus too much on the characters/characterizations of the main cast and they all ended up dead at the end but Disney would never be willing to do that. And lo and behold. Then when I saw TLJ I was saying it would be awesome if Rey was truly a nobody because then the universe could expand beyond the myopic view of the Skywalkers but again Disney would never be brave enough to do that and then lo and behold (but jokes on me in the end on this point, lol). So that takes us to the Kenobi show and my thoughts were initially the same as the Solo movie. This shouldn't be made, but I'm also always willing to see Ewan in any role, so now that we have him back and we have to have this show, let's really use his acting chops and push what a Star Wars show can be. I wanted it to take direct inspiration from black and white Swedish art house films and be a slow paced meditation on the nature of power and how the Jedi failed in their own beliefs, failed the Republic, and failed themselves. It would thematically really tie into the messages that TLJ was trying to set up with Luke and Yoda and could be done through basically Obi-Won spending the majority of the show in force meditation communing with the now slain masters. And that could bridge the gap between the Kenobi we left in RotS and the Old Ben we met in ANH. While I knew that was asking too much, I felt that my two other "they'd never do that..." turned out to be true so maybe they'd give us half of that idea and still land in new waters. And while it doesn't have to be that idea in going forward, it is that type of boldness I'm hoping for, yet very much doubting.
@davidmoore1102
6 ай бұрын
1313 needs to be released
@Syntopikon
6 ай бұрын
Seriously. It's unfortunate that it was one of the first casualties when Disney bought Lucasfilm. But considering their deal with Epic, it'd be a waste to not do it.
@jedediahmyers7495
6 ай бұрын
Guys in comments... just watch Andor. It's this. It's almost exactly this. It's a dystopian drama in the seedy underbelly of the galaxy. It's the best written Star War thing in all of the franchise. Without terrible fan-service. Without the clumsy writing. It's so good.
@Jean-Paul-Lane-Valley
4 ай бұрын
Everything that was supposed to be featured in the series found its way in different audiovisual mediums, so it feels like Underworld isn't really necessary. Plus, the setting it presented, while apparently innovative back in the day (it wasn't really) has been done to death nowadays. Hell, even as a "profitable" thing, the "darker" themes and unknown new characters won't help them sell toys, just look at Andor. In fact, Andor is already the best version of what Underworld could have been. I'd rather have Star Wars do something new or not do anything at all. I know everyone likes to pretend that Lucas is a godly creature out of being a contrarian nowadays, but he's a terrible writer and somewhat of a hack creative (watch Red Tails... Actually, no spare yourself the suffering), so imagine Andor with all the awful prequel writing/directing quirks and then you have Underworld.
@Jared_Wignall
6 ай бұрын
This show would have been amazing. It’s a shame not only that George sold his company, but in him doing so the show will likely never be made, considering Disney seemingly wants to do other things. Now I’ve never seen any show with the Star Wars title attached to it under Disney’s ownership as I’ve never had Disney+ and therefore can’t speak about what they’ve made for television, but from what I’ve heard the shows have gotten mixed responses from the audience who’ve watched the shows either from the beginning or as a show goes on, the quality begins to decline, so even if Disney were to make this show, it might not be how we expected it to be and the scripts written already could be changed, and it for the better. Having seen the films they produced I’m not a fan. While I found their standalone films to be the best produced under their ownership, I don’t really watch them much after buying them on Blu-Ray. I don’t consider anything made under Disney to be canon. For me, Episodes 1-6 and the 2003 Clone Wars Microseries are canon, because the microseries fits with the prequels a lot better than the 2008 show does after viewing the 2008 show on Cartoon Network, as well as whatever George approved of regarding books and comics as his stamp of approval is more authentic to me as he is the creator and author of Star Wars. Now, I get why George sold the company as he was more interested in doing other films that wouldn’t make money like Star Wars or Indiana Jones would make, Red Tails is an example of a film he produced that wasn’t a huge hit and would cost the company more money and he also had his employees to think about. He also was going to be a father again and wanted to raise his daughter, so making more Star Wars films or even a Star Wars TV show that would cost a lot of money makes even more sense why he chose to sell his company. He can spend more time with his family, make whatever smaller films he wants and can do other business ventures. Though, perhaps if George still owned Lucasfilm then perhaps they would be able to have an appropriate budget for each episode of a given season, then the show could be underway as scripts were written to where they could at least begin to shoot a season and then finish writing the rest of the series once shooting was underway as 50 out of the 100 reported episodes were written and seemingly in a state that could be made as long as the budget was right. The premise of the show sounded promising and it’s a shame it likely won’t be made, and if it ever gets made, it won’t have George Lucas’s involvement and that’s a bigger shame, but I get him having nothing to do have with anything with the Star Wars title attached to whatever is made anymore. Apologies for the long comment, but this is a show that could have been really good and it’s unfortunate we likely won’t see it. Thank you for the video, keep up the great work!
@Syntopikon
6 ай бұрын
First, thanks for the comment! It’s always nice to find someone that’s willing to have in-depth discussions about movies. I really appreciated our discussion on the Hamill/Skywalker video. I was reading a Vanity Fair article where Dave Filoni talks about Underworld and it seems as though Disney hasn’t fully ended it yet. They’ve taken bits and pieces and put it into other shows & movies, but I think there’s still a good chunk left (there were dozens of scripts finished, after all). The shows have been hit-or-miss, and I’d like to believe Disney and the current crop at Lucasfilm can do better. One thing Lucas found disappointing was that they didn’t try to break new ground, but I’m hoping that they come around to that. Things were messy at Lucasfilm around the time of the sale (the game division was going down the drain, it was almost a decade before the last movie, this particular show was very expensive) so I can understand why Lucas would want to sell. It’s a shame - I wonder if he would’ve considered a joint partnership with Disney instead, where he retained the creative rights but would split the money made with Disney? But, like you said, he wanted to spend time with his family + running the company was a stressful job (especially for someone who didn’t really much like the directing or writing process, but did enjoy being able to tell stories). It’d be nice if he and Disney would be able to work out a deal where he could come back to complete his story with the war-chest that only Disney can provide. A three picture deal that I’m sure would make a LOT of money simply for the fact that it would be the first “George Lucas Produced Star Wars Movie in More Than 20 Years”.
@Jared_Wignall
6 ай бұрын
@@Syntopikon yeah, there were a lot going on behind the scenes. I’m sure if they could find a budget at the time that would work, then the show would have moved forward. Of course if the show happened and was successful, I wonder if George would have even considered coming up with treatments to have when it came to negotiating the sale of his company to Disney, let alone considering selling the company after all. I could see him making the show a priority in his work life and making sure things were going well on a day to day basis after the first season was done and be around as a producer and writer, while making sure to spend as much time as a father as possible, sort of like he did in the 80s where he mainly wrote and produced. It’s a situation that we don’t know what could have happened if George never sold the company and if the show could have gotten off the ground what the results would be, but it’s defiantly interesting to think about.
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