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Off-Topic Chat / Re: Last Movie/Show You Saw?
Last post by Jedi Master Baiter - Yesterday at 12:12:57 amOkay, I know I've only ranted about the prequel trilogy, but I just finished Return of the Jedi and I feel like this deserves a rant as well. I always felt that everyone's rating of this was lesser than New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, but I never read any in depth analysis about it, and I'd like to get my opinion out before delving into everyone else's:
The Good:
-the Endor forest setting (in contrast to ANH Tattoine & ESB Hoth)
-Luke's conflict in trying to convert his father back
-Ian McDiarmid's excellent performance
-Ewoks are cute
The Bad:
-Jabba's palace scene has cheap-looking aliens
-new Death Star? *yawn*
-every Imperial officer has the same rank?
-cute Ewoks killing Stormtroopers
The Odd:
-first time 'TIE Fighters' are mentioned in name
-Ewoks are not mentioned in name
-'Wicket' is only mentioned in the credits
-female rebel pilot is given a male dubbed voice
-random objects in space
The title: Return of the Jedi... okay, I did read someone's opinion of this. They said that it has a possible double meaning: the Jedi have returned as an organization or Darth Vader returns from the dark side back as a Jedi. I never realized this.
I could make an entire essay from the opening credits to the sail barge rescue, but I'll condense it: Luke shows his recklessness. He chooses to be diplomatic, but in doing so, puts others in danger. It's a bit of a character flaw, but whatevs. I'm more interested in what's fundamentally wrong about the Jabba scenes from a production standpoint:
How the hell did Lando get in there? Did Boba Fett not see him? Was he there only for a few days? Who was the guard he replaced?
The aliens in the Max Rebo band segment looked really cheap; especially that blue elephant thing (I don't know his name), Snootles looked okay, and Salacious B. Crumb was a muppet. I think I saw the special edition scene with Jedi Rocks for the first time yesterday and I wasn't impressed, but that's an entirely different post/essay. The thing is... this is 6 years AFTER A New Hope and George still can't manage to make something like this look impressive? I know he was trying to keep the budget low, but couldn't he have just hired Rick Baker to make original monsters this time?
Han Solo wanting to die and get it over with...
I love how meta this is.
Boba Fett getting owned by a blind Han Solo...
So what happened to all the badassery from ESB? Are you telling me the entire Empire is going to be nerfed as well? More on that later...
I like how Luke insists that there is still good in Anakin even though Obi Wan disagrees. In the prequels I felt everyone was too quick to dismiss Anakin and here, too!
Is it just me, or does Leia seem downgraded from a leader to simple female protagonist? During the briefing, she's just sitting there with the A-team (Lando, Han, Chewie, while Luke shows up), she gets "captured" on Endor, and doesn't have any great victory speech/awards to hand out in a ceremony at the end of the film--who's in charge again?
After the sail barge, Harrison Ford's acting is so unenthusiastic. It's almost like he didn't want to be here and would rather be doing Temple of Doom or something.
The first time I watched this as a 10-year old, it was the first Star Wars I actually got bored at, some time at the speeder bikes. I don't know why. This scene wasn't impressive to me and still isn't. The only part that looked cool was the first person view of speeding shots between the trees.
Luke tells Leia she's his sister in a somewhat creepy way. I mean, look at the way he says it in this scene--it's so weird! And I was so disappointed in her response: "Somehow, I know." Yeah, sure you did. A few seconds ago, you were appalled that Vader was Luke's father--wait, does this mean when he told her, she was appalled that Vader was HER father? Also, she had memories of her mother, but Luke doesn't. Either this was retconned by the prequels or she has very unusual force memories or something.
I liked the Ewoks, but was there a way we could have them AND wookies? Or more competent fighters? How they take out Stormtroopers with rocks and slings is just humiliating. My favorite parts were 1) when they were trying to stop an ATST by roping one of its legs and failing, and 2) when two Ewoks and Chewy landed on top of an ATST, lured an Imperial officer out, and Chewy threw him off.
The convo between Luke and Vader was really well done. Except what was Luke expecting Anakin to do when he left with him? Hide? Vader said something along the lines of "the dark side is too powerful" that he "must obey my master." which to me made him seem weak. The "It's too late for me" line really hit hard.
How the hell did the ambush on the rebel fleet even happen? Where did all those imperial ships come from? Was that ever explained? The space was completely empty save for Death Star 2.0 beta and some Star Destroyers. Were they cloaked? Did they hyperspace into their faces?
I was happy to see Admiral (now Captain?) Piett return, albeit a small role now.
Is there somewhere I can read about the whole Imperial wardrobe malfunction that reduced everyone to the rank of Captain? I just find this blunder funny is all. I mean, if George can go back and CGI in aliens why not fix the rank insignia?
Death Star blows up, Empire = defeated. Wait, what? What about the rest of the fleet? What about the capital? What about the Empire's presence in the far reaches of the galaxy? I guess the Emperor was micro-mind-controlling every imperial employee down to the toilet scrubber.
I'd like to think the imperial officers that were captured on Endor were either tried for crimes or converted to Rebels depending on rank, but since we never see them again, I assumed the Ewoks ate 'em.
It's a feel good ending, but it works. I don't think I would have liked Gary Kurtz's dark direction either. I feel if Kurtz and Lucas could have compromised, we'd have had a far better conclusion to the trilogy than we'd ever gotten.
This film concludes the Star Wars saga for me--the sequel trilogy is a Disney byproduct, and I feel sorry that John Williams' effort and talent were wasted on it.
The Good:
-the Endor forest setting (in contrast to ANH Tattoine & ESB Hoth)
-Luke's conflict in trying to convert his father back
-Ian McDiarmid's excellent performance
-Ewoks are cute
The Bad:
-Jabba's palace scene has cheap-looking aliens
-new Death Star? *yawn*
-every Imperial officer has the same rank?
-cute Ewoks killing Stormtroopers
The Odd:
-first time 'TIE Fighters' are mentioned in name
-Ewoks are not mentioned in name
-'Wicket' is only mentioned in the credits
-female rebel pilot is given a male dubbed voice
-random objects in space
The title: Return of the Jedi... okay, I did read someone's opinion of this. They said that it has a possible double meaning: the Jedi have returned as an organization or Darth Vader returns from the dark side back as a Jedi. I never realized this.
I could make an entire essay from the opening credits to the sail barge rescue, but I'll condense it: Luke shows his recklessness. He chooses to be diplomatic, but in doing so, puts others in danger. It's a bit of a character flaw, but whatevs. I'm more interested in what's fundamentally wrong about the Jabba scenes from a production standpoint:
How the hell did Lando get in there? Did Boba Fett not see him? Was he there only for a few days? Who was the guard he replaced?
The aliens in the Max Rebo band segment looked really cheap; especially that blue elephant thing (I don't know his name), Snootles looked okay, and Salacious B. Crumb was a muppet. I think I saw the special edition scene with Jedi Rocks for the first time yesterday and I wasn't impressed, but that's an entirely different post/essay. The thing is... this is 6 years AFTER A New Hope and George still can't manage to make something like this look impressive? I know he was trying to keep the budget low, but couldn't he have just hired Rick Baker to make original monsters this time?
Han Solo wanting to die and get it over with...
I love how meta this is.Boba Fett getting owned by a blind Han Solo...
So what happened to all the badassery from ESB? Are you telling me the entire Empire is going to be nerfed as well? More on that later...I like how Luke insists that there is still good in Anakin even though Obi Wan disagrees. In the prequels I felt everyone was too quick to dismiss Anakin and here, too!
Is it just me, or does Leia seem downgraded from a leader to simple female protagonist? During the briefing, she's just sitting there with the A-team (Lando, Han, Chewie, while Luke shows up), she gets "captured" on Endor, and doesn't have any great victory speech/awards to hand out in a ceremony at the end of the film--who's in charge again?
After the sail barge, Harrison Ford's acting is so unenthusiastic. It's almost like he didn't want to be here and would rather be doing Temple of Doom or something.
The first time I watched this as a 10-year old, it was the first Star Wars I actually got bored at, some time at the speeder bikes. I don't know why. This scene wasn't impressive to me and still isn't. The only part that looked cool was the first person view of speeding shots between the trees.
Luke tells Leia she's his sister in a somewhat creepy way. I mean, look at the way he says it in this scene--it's so weird! And I was so disappointed in her response: "Somehow, I know." Yeah, sure you did. A few seconds ago, you were appalled that Vader was Luke's father--wait,
does this mean when he told her, she was appalled that Vader was HER father? Also, she had memories of her mother, but Luke doesn't. Either this was retconned by the prequels or she has very unusual force memories or something.I liked the Ewoks, but was there a way we could have them AND wookies? Or more competent fighters? How they take out Stormtroopers with rocks and slings is just humiliating. My favorite parts were 1) when they were trying to stop an ATST by roping one of its legs and failing, and 2) when two Ewoks and Chewy landed on top of an ATST, lured an Imperial officer out, and Chewy threw him off.
The convo between Luke and Vader was really well done. Except what was Luke expecting Anakin to do when he left with him? Hide? Vader said something along the lines of "the dark side is too powerful" that he "must obey my master." which to me made him seem weak. The "It's too late for me" line really hit hard.
How the hell did the ambush on the rebel fleet even happen? Where did all those imperial ships come from? Was that ever explained? The space was completely empty save for Death Star 2.0 beta and some Star Destroyers. Were they cloaked? Did they hyperspace into their faces?
I was happy to see Admiral (now Captain?) Piett return, albeit a small role now.
Is there somewhere I can read about the whole Imperial wardrobe malfunction that reduced everyone to the rank of Captain? I just find this blunder funny is all. I mean, if George can go back and CGI in aliens why not fix the rank insignia?
Death Star blows up, Empire = defeated. Wait, what? What about the rest of the fleet? What about the capital? What about the Empire's presence in the far reaches of the galaxy? I guess the Emperor was micro-mind-controlling every imperial employee down to the toilet scrubber.
I'd like to think the imperial officers that were captured on Endor were either tried for crimes or converted to Rebels depending on rank, but since we never see them again, I assumed the Ewoks ate 'em.
It's a feel good ending, but it works. I don't think I would have liked Gary Kurtz's dark direction either. I feel if Kurtz and Lucas could have compromised, we'd have had a far better conclusion to the trilogy than we'd ever gotten.
This film concludes the Star Wars saga for me--the sequel trilogy is a Disney byproduct, and I feel sorry that John Williams' effort and talent were wasted on it.
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Technical & Repair Assistance / Re: How to stop a Famicom from...
Last post by poodude - July 03, 2022, 07:58:56 pmI use Aerospace 303 on all of my consoles. They have never yellowed since. I suggest Retrobriting them first before you coat in 303 to get it as white as possible first. Once its coated with 303 you can't use uv to whiten the console anymore.
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Famicom / Disk System / Re: Best Twin Famicom model ?
Last post by P - July 03, 2022, 04:09:21 pmNot all games supports expansion port controllers however.
If you used the cable that came with the console it sounds like it was actually an RGB cable, not composite.
Was it this cable?
This connector is unique for the French NES and won't fit in any other model of the NES, nor any SFC/SNES. The composite connector on the NES is a yellow RCA (AKA "phono") jack. The French RGB cable looks very similar to the FDS RAM-Adapter cable, maybe Nintendo reused it.
Edit: Posting images doesn't seem to work.
But on the other hand NTSC Famicom/NES also can't be modded to PAL so the only way to play certain PAL-exclusive games is to own a PAL NES as well.
Quote from: Famicom.In.My.Blood on July 03, 2022, 05:33:03 amHum... well, I'm not sure to understand what you mean here, as I never said PAL NES had RGB, but SCART Composite. I used the official Nintendo cable sold with back then, and if the picture's quality is better than RF, I don't know if it's better than other NES/Famicom models which have Composite output too !I learned from this article that the French NES has an internal composite-to-RGB converter so that it can be used on a French TV that only supports SECAM by using RGB instead (since all French TV-sets at the time already had SCART with RGB for exactly this reason). The French NES outputs PAL composite like all other PAL NES systems do, and at the time not all French TV-sets supported PAL, while making a PPU that outputs SECAM composite video would be too expensive for Nintendo.
If you used the cable that came with the console it sounds like it was actually an RGB cable, not composite.
Was it this cable?
This connector is unique for the French NES and won't fit in any other model of the NES, nor any SFC/SNES. The composite connector on the NES is a yellow RCA (AKA "phono") jack. The French RGB cable looks very similar to the FDS RAM-Adapter cable, maybe Nintendo reused it.
Edit: Posting images doesn't seem to work.
Quote from: Famicom.In.My.Blood on July 03, 2022, 05:33:03 amGlobally, PAL consoles have a better RGB picture than other regions models, as it's "pure", or raw RGB (C-Sync), while others are not and need a by-pass (Master System, Mega Drive, or SNES). Once again, I talk here for RGB consoles, not for Composite ones, because I know some NTSC consoles have better Composite picture than PAL models, as SNES Jr., or Saturn Jap VA0/1/2.I'm not sure what you mean, every console is very different regarding these things. PAL SNES does actually not have c-sync since they replaced the csync pin with a +12 V to make SCART TV-sets happy (although I think it has c-sync output internally so it can probably be modded). NTSC SFC/SNES do have c-sync on most models except very late ones (1-CHIP-03 and the Jr) AFAIK.
Quote from: Famicom.In.My.Blood on July 03, 2022, 05:33:03 amNES PAL must be avoided just because you can't make 50/60Hz mod on it (if I'm not mistaken), so you have just 50Hz in-gameYeah since PAL NES uses different CPU and PPU chips from NTSC Famicom/NES, it can't really be region-modded unless you replace the CPU, PPU, CIC (which are all custom parts and not off-the-shelf) and a bunch of other things.
But on the other hand NTSC Famicom/NES also can't be modded to PAL so the only way to play certain PAL-exclusive games is to own a PAL NES as well.
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Technical & Repair Assistance / Re: Just bought an FDS in the ...
Last post by FluffySorbet - July 03, 2022, 12:39:53 pmThanks - had read around a bit but somehow missed that specific article. Might give it a shot just to confirm the thing works when it arrives and get a more perma one after then. Appreciated!
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Technical & Repair Assistance / Re: Just bought an FDS in the ...
Last post by Stephen - July 03, 2022, 10:48:50 amHere's a brief article on the topic from the parent site.
Based on the specs you provided, the adapter you have will work. If you have a multimeter I would recommend checking the output voltage first. Older and cheaper adapters are notorious for unreliable and or variable output.
Based on the specs you provided, the adapter you have will work. If you have a multimeter I would recommend checking the output voltage first. Older and cheaper adapters are notorious for unreliable and or variable output.
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Technical & Repair Assistance / Just bought an FDS in the UK -...
Last post by FluffySorbet - July 03, 2022, 08:50:21 amWondering if a switching power supply (originally came with a Famiclone system) with the following details will do for a Famicom Disk System;
Input 110-240V / 50-60Hz 0.3A
Output: 9V 1A
(I have confirmed the barrel fits a Famicom so the correct size, and it is center negative)
Just want to be sure as to whether this will do for it when it arrives. Thanks!
Input 110-240V / 50-60Hz 0.3A
Output: 9V 1A
(I have confirmed the barrel fits a Famicom so the correct size, and it is center negative)
Just want to be sure as to whether this will do for it when it arrives. Thanks!
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Famicom / Disk System / Best Twin Famicom model ?
Last post by Famicom.In.My.Blood - July 03, 2022, 05:41:07 amQuote from: boye on June 30, 2022, 10:36:54 amI'd personally go for the AN-505 if you can snag one, due to its integrated turbo controllers, (especially handy on a console with hardwired controllers) and its power LED.Thanks for your answer.
To be honest, I find most of these features pretty useless, as I don't use integrated controllers, but officially licensed ones made by Hori and Hudson (far better IMO), plugged in expansion port; power LED is a good thing though.
Beyond that, I prefer the original model design, and I read here and elsewhere those Turbo models could have some reliability's issues.
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Famicom / Disk System / Best Twin Famicom model ?
Last post by Famicom.In.My.Blood - July 03, 2022, 05:33:03 amQuote from: P on June 29, 2022, 02:07:29 pmSeems I was right regarding France, SCART and SECAM. I also learned that the French NES has an internal composite-to-RGB converter which is why you used a SCART cable for your NES (and an RGB one to boot).Hum... well, I'm not sure to understand what you mean here, as I never said PAL NES had RGB, but SCART Composite. I used the official Nintendo cable sold with back then, and if the picture's quality is better than RF, I don't know if it's better than other NES/Famicom models which have Composite output too !
Using the RGB cable doesn't mean it has better quality than other NES or Famicom versions though, and it's actually worse since it's just RGB converted from composite (the NES video hardware doesn't output any RGB, only composite).
Globally, PAL consoles have a better RGB picture than other regions models, as it's "pure", or raw RGB (C-Sync), while others are not and need a by-pass (Master System, Mega Drive, or SNES). Once again, I talk here for RGB consoles, not for Composite ones, because I know some NTSC consoles have better Composite picture than PAL models, as SNES Jr., or Saturn Jap VA0/1/2.
NES PAL must be avoided just because you can't make 50/60Hz mod on it (if I'm not mistaken), so you have just 50Hz in-game
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Famicom / Disk System / Re: Best Twin Famicom model ?
Last post by boye - June 30, 2022, 10:36:54 amI'd personally go for the AN-505 if you can snag one, due to its integrated turbo controllers, (especially handy on a console with hardwired controllers) and its power LED.
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Buy / Sell / Trade / Re: FDS Services (Calibration,...
Last post by Stephen - June 29, 2022, 05:08:41 pmQuote from: P on June 29, 2022, 01:03:17 pmSo Premium is basically making it factory aligned so that it can write disks properly?Conceptually, yes - but to my knowledge no one really has a clear idea of what factory alignment was (quantifiably).
I'm pretty confident factory aligned disk drives were limited only to the 10% margin of error which the RAM cartridge ROM accepts. Why? Because I've calibrated nearly a dozen (and counting) drives straight from Japan.
There are items which we know will deteriorate - like belts. But that's trivial to recalibrate after replacement. Other aspects, such as the head alignment is much less susceptible to that same aging.
I always have to recalibrate the head alignment to get the best and most consistent signal strength. As a result, I actually believe my premium alignment is better than new.
Im on mobile so it's difficult to find, but there's a photo of a woman making FDS disks. I suspect those drives were calibrated better than that generic 10% margin of error. Why? OEM disks are within a more consistent and predictable read strength (after calibrating a drive).