Natalie Portman has a very similar stance on the movies as well.  I think that they might have all approached the project thinking that it was going to be incredibly fun to do, as they might have had great memories of the original movies.  But the actual process of making a movie like this can seem like total drudgery.  There's so much blue/green screen work that the actors are totally taken out of their element.  And truth be told the dialogue isn't so great as to show off their acting chops.  Harrison Ford has said as much numerous times. 

Plus as film projects go the pay for these movies isn't that high.  There are definitely residuals from the normal outlets and licensed products though.  But a big selling for the prequels has been "Hey, you're going to be in Star Wars!"

And then there's the fans.  Thinking about it objectively, we tend to be a somewhat....obsessive lot.  I imagine that a good number of Star Wars fans always trying to track down these actors for autographs can seem like a bit much.

There's also something to be said for Ewan McGregor basically being too cool for school.  And it's something that a lot of British people in general are guilty of from time to time.  They love something intensely for a while and then all of a sudden it becomes uncool and they hate it.  I see it all the time with the British music scene.  They'll be completely mad for a new band for about 6 months or so, saying that they're the best band ever, blah blah blah.  6 months go by and all of a sudden they hate said band that they were raving about.  Whu?!  HUH?!?!?!  This kind of about face is the toughest one to understand, but if you're familiar with British pop culture you no doubt know what I'm talking about.

But given most of these things, I can somewhat understand the potential for disillusionment with the actors in the Saga.

It's not totally unexpected that the clips would get pulled offline.  Zeppelin's late manager, Peter Grant, was incredibly protective of the band and their rights.  He was even known for going into record shops and personally confiscating Zep bootlegs back in the day.  This seems like the modern embodiment of the way he did business and represented the band.

The cell phone videos aren't going to eat into DVD sales by a longshot.  I think the band's concern is more about the quality of the sounds and images and their desire to give the fans a proper presentation...and to get paid.

They transposed the keys on the songs down by about one whole tone.  Plant's voice can't hit those same high notes anymore.  That's actually a natural occurrence with voices.  As people age their vocal range tends to diminish.

Found the Galactic Heroes cinema scenes today.  But I keep on thinking WHERE ARE THE COMIC 2-PACKS?!?!?

Hmmmm.  So Incinerator Stormtroopers with Vader and Shadow Stormtroopers with Palpatine, huh?  It looks like they possibly redid the softgoods with Palpatine, but that remains to be seen. 

The one thing I wonder about the Troopers with Palpatine is if they're actually all black, or if they're the grey/chrome troopers.  The photo simply isn't good enough to make that determination.  But at least we know now where some of these troopers are going to be slotted, because it was getting pretty obvious that they wouldn't release some of them in the Basic Figure line.

Quote from: Nicklab on December  9, 2007, 01:01 PM

With a totally subpar kitbash figure?  I think the focus needs to be on a good figure, first and foremost.  Packing a crap figure with a cool accessory is like polishing a turd.

If you recall those accessory sets were only throwing out repacked or kitbashed figures anyway.  Hasbro's focus was actually on new accessories, hence they are called Accessory Sets.

Anyways, I think most of us would have rather of seen the Yavin set than THIS.

I'm very aware of those SAGA packs as well as that Yavin base prototype.  It used the POTF2 Rebel Fleet Trooper mondo-beefcake head on an Imperial Scanning Trooper body.  And it looked TERRIBLE.  I'm glad Hasbro shelved that one.  If they revisit the idea down the road I'm sure we'll get a much better figure than that piece of garbage.  A ladder or two doesn't impress me enough to want such a completely fugly figure.

...Errr, nevermind.

I'm pretty convinced its a new RFT as well as the other two early 2007 BPs don't have a lot of resculpt canidates (outside of a SA AOTC Obi-Wan)

Well, Hasbro also dropped some other hints in other Q&A answers.  Namely that the Saga/TAC wave themes will only run from Episode III through Episode VI for 2008.  With that in mind it helps narrow down the early 2007 Battle Pack characters that might get revisited.  So what does that leave us with in terms of eligible candidates?


___  Betrayal On Felucia - w/ Aayla Secura, Clone Commander Bly & 3 x 327th Star Corps Clone Troopers - TARGET EXCLUSIVE
___  Treachery on Saleucami - w/ Commander Neyo and Saleucami Clone Trooper on BARC Speeders - WALMART EXCLUSIVE
___  The Capture of Tantive IV - w/ Darth Vader, 2 Stormtroopers & 2 Rebel Fleet Troopers (individual head sculpts)
___  Jedi Training On Dagobah - w/ Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Yoda, Spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi & Dark Side Spirit Darth Vader


I think we can rule out the ROTS themed Battle Packs since Wave 1 is a ROTS wave.  Plus that Commander Neyo is due out in a Saga Legends wave.

That leaves Capture Of Tantive IV and Jedi Training On Dagobah as the likely sources.  Based on that I think we're looking at either a new Rebel Trooper or possibly the Obi-Wan Kenobi Force spirit figure with an opaque paintjob.  And either one of those figures would fit into an A New Hope themed wave.