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Black Angel- "precursor" to Empire Strikes Back

WarponyWarpony Too small.The MoonRegistered User regular
edited January 2013 in Debate and/or Discourse
So it is said in Wired magazine that Black Angel is a part of the Star Wars Universe, as it was made by a key person behind Empire Strikes Back and has used many effects and tech stuff that was incorporated into Empire, and was funded by George Lucas. The film itself is a 25 minute sory of a knight returning from the crusades and its transported to a mystical realm where he must rescue a Princess from a Black Knight. The article states that this short inspired Arthurian movies from Excalibur to Legend, but it was only shown in 1980 in Europe and Austrilia before Empire was shown in theaters, not in the USA as it was intended along with said Star Wars film.

Black Angel was never released in VHS much less in DVD, and it was presumable lost until Director Roger Christian (the man behind the film) got contacted by Universal Studios and found the original negative in a tin.

"I wrote back, 'you just made my Christmas for the last 20 years" Christian recalls telling them in gratitude.

Christian debates the way to distribute his lost film would be via download online, but states it would be neat if it could be shown as a theatrical realease along with Empire, even if it means fans having to watch it over again.

Has anyone got any input about Black Angel or heard anything from it until now?

Thanks to Feral for the link to the Wired's article:

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/12/20-12-pl_blackangel/

EDIT: I am sorry for the title, I had thought some might've known about this short film since it has been somewhat of a talk ever since it was shown long ago. Its fixed.

Warpony on

Posts

  • FeralFeral ＭＥＭＥＴＩＣＨＡＲＩＺＡＲＤ interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    This is interesting. I've never heard of this before.

    Just a suggestion: including something descriptive in the thread title. (I suggest "Black Angel: a lost 1980 George Lucas short film resurfaces")

    Here's the Wired link: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/12/20-12-pl_blackangel/

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    Yeah or just put Star Wars in the title because I had no idea if this was spam or some religion thing.

    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • HacksawHacksaw J. Duggan Esq. Wrestler at LawRegistered User regular
    Color me interested.

  • FeralFeral ＭＥＭＥＴＩＣＨＡＲＩＺＡＲＤ interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    I'm blatantly bumping this thread now that the title has been changed because I think people will be interested.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products regular
    I absolutely want to see this.

    Is there any news of when the video will be released onto the tubes?

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  • SammyFSammyF Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    I keep returning to this post to search for a way to articulately and concisely describe what the hell this is because even with the thread title expanded to "precursor to Empire Strikes Back," I still didn't know what the hell the OP was talking about. After finally reading about it from a few other sources, including Feral's helpful link, I feel like "precursor" isn't really the right word at all. For the life of me, though, I'm not sure what word is.

    All I have is "awesome" and "desired."

    SammyF on
  • AManFromEarthAManFromEarth Let's get to twerk! The King in the SwampRegistered User regular
    I went from "wtf is this spam, ignore" to "oooooooooh goddiggidty do I need this in my life" in about ten seconds here.

    Lh96QHG.png
  • PhillisherePhillishere Registered User regular
    SammyF wrote: »
    I keep returning to this post to search for a way to articulately and concisely describe what the hell this is because even with the thread title expanded to "precursor to Empire Strikes Back," I still didn't know what the hell the OP was talking about. After finally reading about it from a few other sources, including Feral's helpful link, I feel like "precursor" isn't really the right word at all. For the life of me, though, I'm not sure what word is.

    All I have is "awesome" and "desired."

    It's basically the Star Wars version of those animated shorts before a Pixar Film.

  • SammyFSammyF Registered User regular
    Except when I think "Star Wars version" or "Star Wars universe" (as the first sentence in the OP reads), I tend to expect that the subject matter will be about Star Wars. There's also apparently an experimental factor at play here that isn't quite as important when it comes to Pixar shorts.

    I wonder if maybe the best way to describe this would be to say that it's a study -- a preliminary work done in preparation for a finished piece used to plan the elements in the later completed work.

  • r4dr3zr4dr3z Registered User regular
    So it's a theatrical opening act?

  • WarponyWarpony Too small. The MoonRegistered User regular
    It was an opening for Empire , but it wasn't ever shown in the US when it first was realeased overseas.

  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    so, wait a minute.
    The film itself is a 25 minute story of a knight returning from the crusades and its transported to a mystical realm where he must rescue a Princess from a Black Knight. The article states that this short inspired Arthurian movies from Excalibur to Legend, but it was only shown in 1980 in Europe and Austrilia before Empire was shown in theaters, not in the USA as it was intended along with said Star Wars film.

    so, is this a literal, in-universe prequel to "Empire" with a cast of heretofore unknown star wars characters? Or is it a separate knight-saves-princess story that was produced by some of the same guys and given some run in european theaters as a sort of curtain-raiser for the feature film?

    NREqxl5.jpg
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    Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
  • SammyFSammyF Registered User regular
    Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote: »
    so, wait a minute.
    The film itself is a 25 minute story of a knight returning from the crusades and its transported to a mystical realm where he must rescue a Princess from a Black Knight. The article states that this short inspired Arthurian movies from Excalibur to Legend, but it was only shown in 1980 in Europe and Austrilia before Empire was shown in theaters, not in the USA as it was intended along with said Star Wars film.

    so, is this a literal, in-universe prequel to "Empire" with a cast of heretofore unknown star wars characters? Or is it a separate knight-saves-princess story that was produced by some of the same guys and given some run in european theaters as a sort of curtain-raiser for the feature film?

    I gather that it's an entirely different narrative universe of medieval legend. It was written and directed by the same person who directed Empire, it sounds like a lot of the same cinematic techniques were used in both Black Angel and Empire, and it was only run in European and Australian theaters before screenings of Empire, but that seems to be where the connection ends.

  • WarponyWarpony Too small. The MoonRegistered User regular
    Yeah, let alone the fact that George Lucas himself fund it so that is what Wired meant I guess.

  • PLAPLA The process.Registered User regular
    Sounds familiar.

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