All right, I think having Yoda as a digital character was pointless.

Lucas wanted him to walk around and be more articulate--just like all of his creature creations--but it doesn't gel well with his future appearences. The way he talks and moves his mouth and the way he walks and looks. I don't think it was a very good idea.


What do you guys think?

Oh Foe Show.

I guess I should have explained that.
I liked the CGI Yoda just fine and he was cool to look at and never bothered me, it was just lacking a lot of things that I liked about Yoda. That puppet was rad.


And regarding a little CG Yoda action in the OT? Why not?

It's fine.

Well I think that ESB's Yoda has never been topped but I think that they did an excellent job with the Ep2 CG Yoda. He had the right movements and the right structure. Sure, like most CG, he wasn't as solid as the puppet but I think he was better than I would have expected, especially as the two previous CG incarnations of Jabba looked nothing like RotJ Jabba.

Would I have preferred a puppet? That depends on how good the puppet was. The puppet in Ep1 was dismal. It not only looked nothing like Yoda, but it didn't seem to have anywhere near the range of expression that the original puppet(s) had. It's amazing to think that so much time had passed and such a huge step backwards was taken with that.

But I'm happy enough with the CG Yoda.

Dogg.

I think it was important because of the end duel. If he became CGI all of a sudden, it wouldn't match. I guess you could say that about all the films now, but for that one film it wouldn't match. I think shots like the one of Yoda on the Clone Ships would look odd since he had to react to the gravity of the ship and all. I think it was the right choice for Attack of the Clones. They need to fix the puppet from The Phantom Menace now. I can believe that he looks a tad different in Empire and Jedi because he has lived in a bog for the last 20 years, is probably ready to die but it holding on to train Luke. But the Prequel Trilogy needs to be consistant now.

I think having a CGI Yoda in AOTC was mostly a good idea considering the amount of movement that was required from him. Obviously the duel with Dooku applies here, but more broadly (I'm with George Lucas on this one) it really is nice to see a wide shot of Yoda walking. The care put into the CGI character's acting performance is obvious and, in my opinion, is about as good as ILM could possibly have done at the time.

I don't see the need for Yoda to have a completely consistent look across the various movies. The guy is 900 years old, any conflicts about his appearance can probably be chalked up to the effects old age has on somebody.

And personally, I don't mind the Episode One Yoda puppet so much. But then, CGI or puppet, it all looks fake to me...

EDIT- I wouldn't like it much if CG enhancements were applied to Yoda in ESB. Frank Oz's performance works fine there.

I'm a huge fan of digital Yoda.

I've always disliked the muppet with Grover's voice talking backwards. Don't get me wrong I still like ESB and ROTJ, but Yoda in those films forces me to really stretch my suspension of disbelief to the limit.

AOTC is the first time Yoda felt like a "real" character to me. He could actually move, and (shock of shocks) emote.

I like the CG Yoda but ESB Yoda had as much, if not much more, emotion.

Dogg.

I don't think I'd say "to the limit," but otherwise I agree. Every time I watch either of the movies I see the same jerky movements that characterize the Muppets. I honestly think that if I hadn't been exposed to Muppets at a much younger age, I'd probably have a much greater problem with the Yoda puppet. As it is, I just sort of accept that that's what he is.