Well, Michael wanted to do the part but he wanted to do it in prosthetics and makeup like âThrillerâ.â George wanted to do it in CGI.
And add Michael Jackson to the long list of people who knew how to make the prequels better than George Lucas did.
It might have saved everything.
Meesa just followinâ orders! Meesa innocent!
I read this yesterday & its kind of sad because at the end of the day, it was the characters as written that sucked, not the people playing them (in ep1, at leastâŚ). when you think about it, in certain ways he did an amazing job as Jar Jar because heâs completely memorable, even decades later. obviously its a shame it was playing a character who is unnecessary to the story, but thatâs not Bestâs fault. & with Jake Lloyd/Anakin, Its a shame to hear he was left fucked up from the vitriol he received over his performance â because his âcharacterâ wouldâve been 100% the same no matter what child played the role, they just wanted someone cute to say the crappy lines.
When they were first teasing the news of prequels they used Prince Michaelâs name to build hype. I bet both parties knew in the end he wasnât truly going to be cast (because of $$$)
Every time I go to Kroger, it seems like âThe Man in the Mirrorâ is playing. Itâs not a bad song, at least the first time, but by the tenth time I was convinced itâs the worst song Jackson ever wrote - and Iâm old enough to remember âThe Girl is Mine.â I asked an employee and she said, âoh yes, it plays every day at 1:00. And at 3. And at 5 and 7 and then I go home.â
Now I need somebody to edit a video so Jar Jar sings âThe Man in the Mirror,â straight up, in Michaelâs voice.
Terrifying.
My favorite Star Wars prequel is Captain EO.
Itâs just not the same if we arenât seeing it at Epcot in 3D.
Heartbreaking⌠Grocery store employees are people too. They deserve better than the same set-in-stone sound track every day. A subscription to SiriusXM costs like $10/mo and would offer varied playlists.
For some reason at my work, weâre still using SiriusXM for store music instead of something actually nice like Pandora or Spotify. Iâm guessing our legal department drafted up the licensing and stuff for SiriusXM once, and donât feel like examining the legality of playing Pandora or Spotify to a few hundred people in our various stores and restaurants.
The Max Rebo Band is sounding a lot better here. And no dancers even had to be fed to a rancor this time.
Believe it or donât - Michael Jackson was considered for not only the role of Q, but alternatively for Wesley Crusher in Star Trek N-G. Michael J politely declined because there was no room in his touring & studio schedule for even the occasional role of Q.
He didnât volunteer for the roles - he was offered them 'cause showbiz - he was flattered but declined. In either case Gene Roddenberry - likely would have vetoed the offers 'cause he pretty much had his mind made up on casting.
The offer to MJ was made by a mid-level casting agent and was dismissed by Majel Barrett before Gene R. heard about it. Gene Roddenberry did hear about it much later - he thought it was funny.
BTW - What I wrote here might not have happened 'cause I likely might have made it up.
(Post July 1st OregonâŚ)
p.s. (as in edit)
Jar-Jarâs character was by far not the worst part of the movie - the concept of the character was not correctly executed. The actor who portrayed Binks did the best with what he had. Even with its faults the movie was still entertaining, especially at the 2nd run Cinema 12 at the times it was totally empty except for friends & me.
Lol, Enjoy the restoration of your civil liberties.
Thanks dude - glad you got the reference & many thanks for liking & responding to my comment.
Absolutely. I had no idea that MJ had all these offers anyway.
Iâll have to look around for interviews and stuff and learn new things now, which is always fun and exciting.
Now Iâm imagining MJ saying âNoooo, meâsa not allowed in gangan city. Youâsa ignorantâŚâ
Absolutely it was the writing that was terrible. I am the only person on earth that liked Jar Jar Binks and it had nothing to do with the character or the writing - it was the technology they used to create him.
Before he became a character on screen using the motion capture technology, there was a TV show that was using this tech, a show on MS NBC. Remember when MS NBC was supposed to be the Tech channel??? remember??? Well, back then, when it first started up, there was this amazing show with a young Soledad OâBrien called The Site. They did great coverage of all kinds of new tech innovation and it was presented in an easy to understand way. It was a lot like what Planet Money is for Economics. They had a character on there, a puppet, that used a similar motion capture technology but the results were much cruder. But I was a huge fan of that show, and when Star Wars came out, I couldnât wait to see a really fluid motion capture character. I loved what they did with the tech. Now motion capture is pretty common, but no one seems to remember how groundbreaking it was at the time.
By the way, one of the best movies that used this technology early on is the Barbie Nutcracker, where they used motion capture on ballerinas to do the dance sequences. Also, they managed to make the plot of the Nutcracker make a lot more sense than in the actual ballet.
So what happened to The Site? Well, Princess Diana died and they interrupted the broadcast of everything on the channel to run 24 hour live coverage for a week. And thatâs when they realized they could make SO MUCH more money just pretending to cover non-news events than actually creating good content about technology.
Itâs cool to like the tech. My issue is that they used it to create a high tech minstrel that both mocks American black history and the idea that the natives need help from outsiders at the same time to such an extent. Jar Jar doesnât become a hero because of his actions, he doesnât change because he falls in with incredible people who make him realize what heâs capable of, he doesnât change in any way, heâs the bumbling fool he was at the start and that doesnât happen in the SW universe.
Agreed. Everything about him as a character was terrible. I just liked what they did with the motion capture technology. It seems like a technology that sneaked in and very few people were aware of it at the time and appreciate how much it has evolved in such a short time. If you look at the clip I posted from The Site and then you watch a bit of Jar Jar - wow - thatâs an evolution in technology that is just jaw dropping to me. But the character was the worst.
