Star Wars [2]

Agreed. And I think a lot of Han's warmth and memorability as a character in ANH comes from Harrison Ford more so than from the script.

Definitely looking forward to seeing if Episode VIII can deliver the missing piece of the puzzle.

I have a feeling episode 8 will try and be different... try and do the 'no, I am your father' shock in a different way.

I have a feeling Rey is going to go dark side, Kylo will be abandoned by Snoke and go on a rage and by Episode 9 both will be redeemed. I even think Rey may kill Leia.

Seen on tumblr, but I googled and it seems legit >link<

I've seen it somewhere before. Somewhere else you'll find that a little boy ran up to him asking for his autograph as Obi-Wan, and he said he'd sign it but only if the little boy would promise never to watch that horrible movie again. The kid's mom was outraged.

new rubbish dialogue reaches me every other day on wadges of pink paper - and none of it makes my character clear or even bearable. I just think, thankfully, of the lovely beard, which will help me keep going until next April even if Yahoo collapses in a week...I must off to studio and work with a dwarf

This sounds like it could have been written by any of the cast of LOTR or The Hobbit movies.

definitely the Hobbit

I wasn't looking forward to it, but the trailer for Rogue One actually looks really good!!

Thanks for reminding me that that was today. Just watched it and it seems to have a lot of potential.



While I'm pretty confident that it'll be an entertaining movie, I'm also really curious to see how it handles the whole insurgency/counterinsurgency theme. This comes up in a lot of Star Wars media because of the nature of the Galactic Civil War (and to some extent the Clone Wars), but I've never been satisfied with any of their depictions of it outside the original trilogy (which is a little different because that took place almost entirely in the galactic boonies). I get that there's a limit to how much you can expect from this kind of property but still.

This does seem more focused on that aspect rather than jedi/sith. Although, there is 1 scene in there that had royal guards and someone kneeling to the central pillar thing.

I don't like it.

Fair enough.

Funny, I wasn't really aware Rogue One was being made. I like the idea of canon and stand-alone.

{{{I like the look of Rogue One more than the last Sw film- is the woman with the short hair and long robe on the rebel side supposed to be the same one as from the original SW? She looks very like her (though obviously must be a different actress) and will we finally get to see Captain Antares? As I presume this about how they got the death star plans in the first place.}}}

You are correct Petty, that's what Rogue One is about. (Hoping for a Vader cameo, though not a significant role for him.)

And I assume that that is indeed Mon Monthma (the lady from ROTJ). Checking Wikipedia, it looks like they got the same actress they cast for Revenge of the Sith, although her only speaking scene in that film was related to the deleted scenes roll (which was terrible, because that was actually a really important scene, helping to establish the origins of the Rebellion).

{{{She certainly looks the part I must say }}}

No need to assume, everything written about her says that is Mon Mothma. Plus, she IS the spitting image.

Of she weren't then they would have a lot of explaining to do!

I also hope for a Vader cameo... if only to easily kill the samurai dude to prove how powerful he was and then let them get away with the plans, only to them pretend to chase them and make it seem real.

I think so long as James Earl Jones is alive, they have to do Vader cameos. Speaking parts. JEJ can name his price for 10 seconds of dialogue.

Eldorion wrote:Thanks for reminding me that that was today. Just watched it and it seems to have a lot of potential.

Hmm...that's now the 4th Death Star we've seen in the series!

That teaser didn't scream 'wow!' to me like any of TFA's did, but it looks like it could be a entertaining flick in the spirit of the PT, it will be interesting to see an actual war in star wars (and I think it's highly likely Disney will crowbar in Vader somehow...I wonder if they'll tie it in with the recently released Tarkin novel, or Star Wars rebels?)...but I hated Monsters and I've heard very mixed things about Godzilla some i'm on the director Gareth Edwards.

*Looks at youtube comments: 'Bring back Jar Jar!, there's too much ethnic minority/british/women/cgi/sand/ in meh 'merican star wars!' backs out retreating into (slightly) saner internet waters...

It's the same Death Star as the original one though, isn't it?

My understanding of the post-Disney buyout canon is that Lucasfilm is trying to have a single, entirely consistent continuity between the movies, books, comics ... everything. I imagine that the Lucasfilm Story Group (yes that is a real thing; the job used to be called "Keeper of the Holocron") did their best to make sure Tarkin stayed consistent with Rogue One in whatever stage of development it was in at the time. Though I wonder how much may have changed once between re-writes, director's input, editing, pick-ups, etc. Even in a producer-driven franchise like Star Wars, I'm sure the story evolved through this process. Rebels is set a few years earlier though, so I'm not expecting much (if any) overlap with that.

Interesting that you bring up the comparison to the prequels. I wasn't really thinking about in those terms, but now that you do, I actually think it's a good comparison. The prequels were trying to do Star Wars in a much different way with a lot of politics and worldbuilding (even moreso than in the original trilogy, which still had lots) and military stuff. It didn't really work, in part because it was also trying to do a lot of other things at once. I'm hopeful that Rogue One, being a bit more focused, can do some of those things much better. Helps that they're apparently aiming for a darker tone, but we'll see how much space fantasy stuff carries through. There's always been a continuum of that for SW media.

I'm getting a little excited about this if you can't tell.

The prequels were trying to do Star Wars in a much different way with a lot of politics and world building (even more so than in the original trilogy, which still had lots) and military stuff. It didn't really work, in part because it was also trying to do a lot of other things at once. - Eldo

{{{It didn't work because none of the so called politics was well explained, or engagingly explained, or even made sense. I still don't understand what the Trade Federation plan was, how it was supposed to work, what the blockade was supposed to achieve, how Jar-Jar was accepted by anyone as a Senetor, let alone followed in a vote as one by the majority and many, many other things about the politics and world building which just don't work, fit together, or are just not coherently presented.

In the original Star Wars all the 'historical' material, was backed up by something visual and tangible which represented it.
When Obi Wan tells Luke his tale of yore, and name drops the Clone Wars, its not, as in the prequels, just two people standing talking exposition, we get the visual introduction of the lightsaber to accompany the tale- a visual link to the talked about Jedi past. And we get Leia's message directly linking what Obi is saying to current events. And as the main character is directly related to the tale through his father and so cares about the information, so does the audience.

And that's another thing lacking in the prequels, the characters are so blandly written, and the conversations so woodenly staged- tight shot on speaker-reaction shot- mid shot on both of them- tight shot on speaker- reaction shot repeat till boredom sets in that we have no vested interest in what's going on because the characters are just telling us they have an interest, there is nothing to back it up. The thing about the prequels is that they are not badly made films, but they do prove that it matters nothing how great the talent is you have working on it; the artists, craftsmen, and crew, if the whole thing is based on a shit script it won't make it any better. The script is everything- bad production can be overcome with a well enough crafted tale, but a bad script cannot be overcome by hugely talented production*

*see also TH }}}}

Eldorion wrote:It's the same Death Star as the original one though, isn't it?

I was merely commenting on the fact that it's the 4th Planet killing circular mcguffin we've seen in the franchise...

My understanding of the post-Disney buyout canon is that Lucasfilm is trying to have a single, entirely consistent continuity between the movies, books, comics ... everything.

On the one hand I like the idea of a unified universe where all the details and nods match up...on that other hand it could stifle writer's freedom and I don't want to have to read a book or comic to understand any of the plots points...

I'm hopeful that Rogue One, being a bit more focused, can do some of those things much better. Helps that they're apparently aiming for a darker tone, but we'll see how much space fantasy stuff carries through.

A mix of the gritty war scope and politics of the PT backdrop together together with the space western/used future feel of the OT designs is what I'm hoping for...

I'm getting a little excited about this if you can't tell.

Well you got excited about TFA and ended up being a tad dissapointed, I on the other hand wasn't too impressed by any of the trailers and really liked it...

Let's wait and see how much freedom Disney is allowing in the spin off films...

@Petty, I'm not here to defend the prequels -- I've done that before, to a small extent, but that isn't my point here. It's just that I think Rogue One might be trying to do some of the same things the prequels did, and what little we've seen so far makes me excited at the possibility, because it wasn't the prequels trying to be different that made me dislike them (I actually liked some of the underlying ideas), but the execution.

Malick says it well:

malickfan wrote:A mix of the gritty war scope and politics of the PT backdrop together together with the space western/used future feel of the OT designs is what I'm hoping for...

On the one hand I like the idea of a unified universe where all the details and nods match up...on that other hand it could stifle writer's freedom and I don't want to have to read a book or comic to understand any of the plots points...

I can't imagine Disney wants that either; they're looking to make movies with mass-appeal here. The other stuff is just the icing on the cake.

Well you got excited about TFA and ended up being a tad dissapointed, I on the other hand wasn't too impressed by any of the trailers and really liked it...

This is a good point. I don't seem to be that great at managing expectations as we get closer to movie releases.

If it means anything, I'm still fiercely skeptical of the Han Solo prequel movie.

Eldorion wrote:
If it means anything, I'm still fiercely skeptical of the Han Solo prequel movie.

As am I...we meet Han in ANH as a self centered, greedy crook, it's only through the course of the film that he becomes a 'proper' hero (though if I'm totally honest...I actually think TFA was the film Han was most interesting in, like Ford himself I always found the character kinda generic and thin)...Disney will naturally want to market the film to the mass audience, and I'm not sure a generic film about a rogueish crook being a roguish crook will be that interesting...

The Obi Wan film that Mcgregor has hinted at though...that I'd be interested in (though equally baffled as to where the storyline would lead)