empire strikes back

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Family Guy Creators Tease Just How Their Empire Will Strike Back In Next Star Wars Spoof
15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
The Empire's Last AT-AT Act Of Destruction

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franklinshepard
07/26/09

In reply to Family Guy Creators Tease Just How Their Empire Will Strike Back In Next Star Wars Spoof
Ladies and gentlemen, the first Emmy-nominated animated series for Best Comedy. Cause it's so SMART! and ORIGINAL!
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Cash907Censored
07/26/09

In reply to Family Guy Creators Tease Just How Their Empire Will Strike Back In Next Star Wars Spoof
Anyone watch the Star Wars Spectacular on G4? Is it just me, or was that the most uncomfortable couple of hours that's ever been televised?

Aside from Munn looking smoking hot in her updated Leah outfit, that whole affair was just frightening. It was like the entire audience was given a feedbag full of Valium at the door. Can't say I blame them, given the completely gutless lineup that was put together, but that was just painful to watch.
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
07/25/09

In reply to Family Guy Creators Tease Just How Their Empire Will Strike Back In Next Star Wars Spoof
Blah. I have absolutely zero interest in this - I’ll stick with re-watching Robot Chicken Star Wars I and II.

On a side note - I just bought the second one and there’s like fifteen minutes of hilarious extra scenes! One is of Bossk!
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dredgman
07/25/09

In reply to Family Guy Creators Tease Just How Their Empire Will Strike Back In Next Star Wars Spoof
Ugh, they're doing a second one?! The first was terrible. In fact, while I still do chuckle at Family Guy know and then, over all it's terrible. Seth McFarland is so full of himself, it shows throughout the entire episode which is full of inside jokes, boring drawn-out, minute-long, repetitive jokes, jokes based on obscure cultural/historical references that he thinks he's smart for knowing, and ADD cutaway sketches.

Outstanding comedy my ass.
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edosan
07/27/09

@dredgman: You think THAT'S bad? What about the time I invited Howie Mandel to "Take Your Daughter to Work Day"?
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Bill-Lee
07/25/09

In reply to Family Guy Creators Tease Just How Their Empire Will Strike Back In Next Star Wars Spoof
I wasn't impressed by their first Star Wars "parody". It was less parody and more shot for shot animated remake with Family Guy characters and some lame jokes.
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CodenameV
07/25/09

@Bill-Lee: yes, case in point the "couch" joke which dragged on forever and had little to do with the episode

it's like he's got such an INSTINCTIVE need to make cut-away jokes irrelevant to the "plot" that like an ADD kid he simply *cannot* focus on telling "a star wars parody" for 20 minutes.
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Ed Grabianowski
07/25/09

@CodenameV: So wait, one of you thinks the parody episode stuck too closely to the source material. The other is bemoaning the parts that strayed too far from the source material. Yet you're agreeing with each other.

{headasplode}
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Bill-Lee
07/25/09

@Ed Grabianowski: I think Codename V and I are making the same point from slightly different points of view. The biggest problem with the "parody" is that Seth MacFarlane is unsure what a parody is. A good parody takes a popular work of fiction or even a genre of fiction and points out the flaws and contrivances in that genre. A good example is the scene in Blazing Saddles when Brooks moves his camera just a little bit and shows us that the western town is made up of flats. The Family Guy parody started with a good premise but didn't push it to the next level. It didn't point out the contrivances it merely recreated them in animation. This was in spite of having the perfect device - telling the story from Peter's memory of it.
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Slovenly Muse
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
EVIL DEAD 2!

Not only was it scarier than the original, it was also a whole lot of fun! Best of the series, IMO.
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John Thomas
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
What about 2010. I just recently watched both it and 2001: A Space Odyssey again on HBO and enjoyed the hell out of both of them. But while 2001 was revolutionary in its portrayal of space, much of its power has become dated over the years as the likes of Lucas and Spielberg have made its innovations a common part of how Sci Fi is portrayed. 2001 now feels very s l o w. 2010 doesn't have that baggage and is a more interesting story as well.
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Slovenly Muse
07/06/09

@John Thomas: I agree. I love 2001, but I understand why so many of my friends found it boring and unwatchable. 2010 may not be a better MOVIE (though it definitely is great), but it is more accessible, faster-paced, and mainstream. A worthy sequel indeed!
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Bill-Lee
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
I thought the theatrical release of Aliens was so-so but the director's cut that includes the scene about Ripley's daughter having grown up, lived her life, and died while Ripley was away, was awesome. Including that one scene made Ripley's reaction to Newt way more realistic.
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grime
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
oh io9, you can do SO much better than this.
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Charlie Jane Anders
07/06/09

@grime: How so?
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Julius Seizure - Gall Bladder Free
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
Thank you for "Aliens". Twenty years later I can still feel the energy in the performances - and the theatre.

3D, memorable characters and some of the tightest writing ever.

When the doors opened on Ripley in that exo-suit the audience went dead quiet and at "Get away from her, you BITCH!" we just lost it for a good 5 minutes.
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Purple Dave
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
According to some special feature on the Road Warrior DVD, The Road Warrior is not, strictly speaking, a sequel to Mad Max. They basically decided to take the same character and apply an entirely new setting/story. And if you really think about it, the Mad Max scenario doesn't really mesh with what we see in The Road Warrior, where suddenly everything has switched from a screwy-but-civilized culture where government is still clearly running the show, to a far-flung post-apoc future where civilization has clearly not existed in Mad Max form for the better part of a generation or longer.
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PansyLubooian
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
I must be missing something. There's no other reason to account for why Chronicles of Riddick isn't on this list.
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Charlie Jane Anders
07/06/09

@PansyLubooian: OH yeah... good point... hmm.
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cletar
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
Are there any examples of a third film being better than a second? Or a first?
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Purple Dave
07/06/09

@cletar:
Last Crusade? Army of Darkness? Um... BTTF if you really like cowboys and that one endlessly-repeated song that ZZ Top played at the hoedown?
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This_Charming_Man
07/06/09

@cletar:

Return of the King

Mission Impossible 3
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Purple Dave
07/07/09

@This_Charming_Man:
Meh. Never watched MI3, but The Two Towers is by far the best LotR film. Gondor isn't fit to wipe Rohan's horses' butts.
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RedAntisocial
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
Agree with the whole list, (even the Robocop 2 bit), one missing from the list perhaps is "Batman: The Dark Knight".

While I know it's been listed to death, and it's sci-fi only slightly by some of the tech Batman uses, it still has to count as a sci-fi sequel that didn't suck.
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FrankenPC
07/06/09

@RedAntisocial: Dark Knight NEEDS to be on this list.
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Charlie Jane Anders
07/06/09

@FrankenPC: The Dark Knight was on the list, and then I decided to avoid the arguments we always get into about whether it's science fiction or not.
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DeltaGuy
07/06/09

@FrankenPC: Have we reached a point where we, as a society, can finally be critical about The Dark Knight without spitting on Heath Ledger's grave? Christian Bale's performance was significantly better in Batman Begins than in The Dark Knight, where he gave a one-note performance (both figuratively and acoustically). While Batman Begins was a very tight, coherent story (partially because it was a classic origin story), The Dark Knight's story was so overblown and murky that by the third act it had spiraled out of control into a pseudo-philosophical mess. The Dark Knight wasn't a bad movie, but in crafting a more epic story, the Nolans' overreached, leaving a number of wide, glaring faults. Batman Begins, in comparison, was just a more even film with less a ambitious, but better executed, story, and much better acting by Bale in what should be the most important role of any Batman film.
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hopskipper
07/06/09

@DeltaGuy: I agree. After all the buzz about Dark Knight died down I watched both movies back to back and felt that Batman Begins was a better movie. I loved Dark Knight but BB had much better pacing and when it ended I felt, damn what great movie. By the end of Dark Knight I felt the 3rd act just dragged too slow.
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DeltaGuy
07/06/09

@Charlie Jane Anders: I feel teased, now I'm just interested to see what you would have written comparing it to Batman Begins. I always love reading your opinions, even on the rare times that I disagree with your viewpoint.
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CParis
07/06/09

@DeltaGuy:

Gotta agree with you on The Dark Knight. The story was so rambling, bloated and super-'splody. Bale's performance was dull and unfortunately Ledger got the Oscar because he died. His performance in Brokeback Mountain was much more deserving.
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omgwtflolbbqbye
07/06/09

@DeltaGuy: We're *not* supposed to be spitting on his grave?

Oops.
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goldfarb
07/06/09

@omgwtflolbbqbye: if a recient Vanity Fair article is to be believed, Ledger would probably prefer us to critique the film and his performance honestly...rather than the disgusting beatification going on now...
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Dr Wadd
07/06/09

In reply to 15 Science Fiction Movie Sequels That Don't Utterly Suck
Although it is going to be contentious, I`m going to offer up Escape from LA for the list. While it isn`t as good as EfNY, it certainly isn`t as bad as most people would suggest.

If we're going to allow Blade 2 on the list, surely there has to be a place for the original Dawn of the Dead.
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Charlie Jane Anders
07/06/09

@Dr Wadd: Oh yeah... I had a mental note to include Escape From L.A., and then I forgot for some reason.
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Family Guy Creators Tease Just How Their Empire Will Strike Back In Next Star Wars Spoof

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