Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Pre-release)

[cboath]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I'll give you tatooine, but only barely.

It's extremely convcievable that luke may want to return there for example. And i'd imagine more people would be upset not seeing the falcon than seeing it.

I love how people can complain even about innuendo based on a photo (not even rumors)

So, say they boards are a concept shot for Luke's intro. He's been on Tatooine for a long time, living in ben's hut or something trying to talk to him and they need him so Han/Leia (or kids or whoever) fly out to get him in the falcon. At which point they leave together after 5 minutes of screen time and the other 120 minutes never show tatooine again and we never see ben....hardly unoriginal.

Then again, it's all pure conjecture from a couple drawings in the background of a meeting. They could be boards from the OT showing 'this is what we're going for' as well.

Those who want no jedi, no one (or barely anyone) from the OT are going to be way out of luck.

 

[Bryancd]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I no longer care who stars if it even comes out if rebels sucks or is great or any further about the "lost episodes" kill the franchise! build it up bigger than ever the future of these movies and the franchise is influx. let it be!


3:30am last night a human being was killed at my place of employment, The companies only response was to worry about how many workers would be willing to stay to cover the time loss to clean up the mess and allow the police and ministry of labour to finish their investigations.

Sad to even admit I am employed by the Weston Family!

going back to lurking every so often and dropping my fandoms for a while. kind of just want to go wash the filth of my employer away!

Sorry as well, but I think your decision is for the best as your post are borderline trolling. I don't think forums are for you.

- - - Updated - - -

I'll give you tatooine, but only barely.

It's extremely convcievable that luke may want to return there for example. And i'd imagine more people would be upset not seeing the falcon than seeing it.

I love how people can complain even about innuendo based on a photo (not even rumors)

So, say they boards are a concept shot for Luke's intro. He's been on Tatooine for a long time, living in ben's hut or something trying to talk to him and they need him so Han/Leia (or kids or whoever) fly out to get him in the falcon. At which point they leave together after 5 minutes of screen time and the other 120 minutes never show tatooine again and we never see ben....hardly unoriginal.

Then again, it's all pure conjecture from a couple drawings in the background of a meeting. They could be boards from the OT showing 'this is what we're going for' as well.

Those who want no jedi, no one (or barely anyone) from the OT are going to be way out of luck.

It doesn't bother me one iota that they return to familiar places. I like the commonality and familiarity it creates throughout the saga. This "big galaxy" concept is really an EU construct and the EU is a perfect place for exploring that. I would argue the films less so.

 

[Zombie_61]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Shooting starts on May 19 , if they haven't confirmed by now, I wouldn't expect them to be in it (Hamill nor Ford).

Those of us who still enjoy Star Wars in some form would like someone--anyone, at this point--to put the rumors to rest. But movie studios are under no obligation to release information, official or otherwise, before or during any movie's production. Just because no one has officially confirmed Hamill's, Fisher's, or Ford's participation, that doesn't necessarily mean they won't be in the movie; it only means the studio hasn't said whether or not they're in the movie. We'll find out one way or the other eventually; until then it's more wait-and-see.

 

[robstyle]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

its a tight lipped JJ project, you wont find official anything until its forced or leaked, and by leaked I mean no denial based on content such as photos or loose lips.

 

[GiovanniDekkers]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Those of us who still enjoy Star Wars in some form would like someone--anyone, at this point--to put the rumors to rest. But movie studios are under no obligation to release information, official or otherwise, before or during any movie's production. Just because no one has officially confirmed Hamill's, Fisher's, or Ford's participation, that doesn't necessarily mean they won't be in the movie; it only means the studio hasn't said whether or not they're in the movie. We'll find out one way or the other eventually; until then it's more wait-and-see.

If they can manage to keep it under wraps like that, it has got my vote aswell, we still have "Rebels" to look forward to before that anyway.The Power of positive surprise like when I first saw "A new Hope", wouldn't that be something......one can only dream, right.Have been a Star Wars fan for 37 years....will it take me back, to that same moment or something similar?We'll have to wait and see won't we .

 

[Riceball]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

It doesn't bother me one iota that they return to familiar places. I like the commonality and familiarity it creates throughout the saga. This "big galaxy" concept is really an EU construct and the EU is a perfect place for exploring that. I would argue the films less so.

I only don't mind it as long as it's small doses, I thought that Lucas went way overboard with that in the PT with all of those nods and winks to things we've seen before in the OT. I really wouldn't mind it at all if we didn't see anymore of Tatooine, Bespin, or Dagobah outside of maybe a mention of them being huge tourist destinations because of their role they played in the Rebellion and/or re-establishment of the Jedi. I especially don't want to see anymore 7 Degrees to the Skywalkers where everybody is somehow connected to each other.

 

[Solo4114]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I actually started thinking about that a while back, and in retrospect, the PT did bother to show a fairly wide variety of other planets. You had Naboo, Coruscant, Mustafar, Geonosis, and then some of the other more quickly-seen locations like Felucia, Mygeeto, Cato Nemoidia, etc.

I think the problem is less that we see the same places, but rather (A) that the places involved were supposedly backwaters (Bespin and Tatooine, especially, but also Endor), and (B) it seems like SO many things are connected there, especially Tatooine which is supposed to be this nothing planet. The other part of the problem was how connected everyone was. Yoda and Chewie went to high school together, C-3PO was Anakin's shop class project, R2-D2 was Padme and later Anakin's personal droid, blah blah blah. It was the attempt at callbacks, particularly given how frustrating the rest of the trilogy was, that made them cheap.

There's nothing inherently wrong with self-references, but when they're too-knowing and seem shoehorned in, or when the story isn't independently good and relies more on familiarity with previously-seen stuff to keep it entertaining, it just doesn't work.

So, I don't have a problem with seeing old or new places, but it's gotta be done the right way. And ultimately, I do think that the action needs to happen on other planets primarily, even if we see references to the OT ones (and even the PT ones).

 

[cboath]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Planets we went to in the OT:

Tatooine (1/3)
Yavin 4 (1)
Hoth (2)
Dagobah (2/3)
Endor (3)

Not planets, but main sets:
Death Star
Bespin
Death Star II

Alderaan doesn't count because we only saw it from distant orbit. Plus it got shortchanged in the PT for barely showing its surface before getting blown up 40 years later

As Solo points about above - the ONLY planet/place used in both trilogies is Tatooine. That's it. Plus, it's techinically 2 locales a hefty distance apart as I recall - there's not even proof Mos Espa exists in Lukes time.

So, yeah, I don't get people who say expand the galaxy and stop using the same places, they've used tatooine in both. Now, Chewy being pals with Yoda in the PT - meh...same with R2 and 3po to an extent - you knew they were going to be in there at some point. Don't have a problem with the chewy cameo, though i did roll my eyes a bit at annie building 3po. Still, i see why it bothers some. Doesn't have anything really to do with expanding the galaxy though. They've actually done well on that point.

As far as the OT was concerned there weren't too many people you could connect too if you wanted to in the prequels Han, chewy, r2, 3po, yoda, vader, emperor. Luke/Leia come via vader eliminating that. Han's too young in ANH to be there which leaves you everyone possible who couldn've shown up in the PT showing up there. And of those three pretty much had to be there. Anakin could've come from anywhere I suppose, and someone else could've build 3po or he could have just 'been there' without his builder being named...but outside of that...Doesn't bug me too much. Now, fart jokes - yeah that bugs me. So does stuff like Yippee

 

[Solo4114]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

So, yeah, I don't get people who say expand the galaxy and stop using the same places, they've used tatooine in both. Now, Chewy being pals with Yoda in the PT - meh...same with R2 and 3po to an extent - you knew they were going to be in there at some point. Don't have a problem with the chewy cameo, though i did roll my eyes a bit at annie building 3po. Still, i see why it bothers some. Doesn't have anything really to do with expanding the galaxy though. They've actually done well on that point.

I think it's less about expanding the galaxy in terms of the number of locations, but rather the overall feeling that the universe was just...very very small. I think that came about from four things:

(1) the intense focus on Anakin and Obi-Wan (and Padme), with just about everyone else being a bit part. We look at it now and say "Well, of course that's the case. It's Anakin's story." Which is true, but there's no reason the story had to be told just abotu Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, and the three of them running around. They could've introduced other regular characters (non-force users) who would be "heroes" too, acquaintances of Anakin, or other Jedi. We really didn't get that. It was all Jedi, all the time, it seemed.

(2) The reliance on Tatooine as some cosmic center of the galaxy. It's supposed to be a podunk backwater planet, yet 5 of the 6 films in the saga have us visiting it and spending significant portions of time on it. Again, we can look back and say "Well, of course, because, Anakin's story," but Anakin didn't need to be from Tatooine in the first place, didn't need to be a slave, didn't need to have his mom show up at all, etc., etc. His back story and the story of the films could've been wildly different and it still could've worked to lead into the OT.

(3) The interconnectedness of the various characters coming because of a desire to just...show them at all, rather than for anything relevant to the story. I think Anakin building 3PO is a big one here, as is Chewie and Yoda knowing each other. There was also the mention of the Rodian kid that Anakin fights with in a deleted scene being a young Greedo or something. I mean, that kind of stuff really makes the galaxy seem claustrophobic rather than expansive.

(4) what WASN'T shown in the trilogy. You have this huge senate with a bajillion worlds, and a galactic civil war going on...but we hardly see any of it because we spend an entire movie on the TPM, followed by another whole movie on the build-up to the Clone Wars, followed by the very tail end of it. The wars in the PT really aren't shown that much, and seem to be entirely incidental to the story because Lucas was more interested in showing us Anakin's abandonment issues (never mind that HE LEFT HIS MOM OF HIS OWN FREE WILL). Yet it's implied that there's all this big other stuff going on...but we don't get to see it.

All that together, I think, made things feel small, even if, in fact, we visited a number of locations and did see some battles.

 

[drcraig13]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Maybe Tatooine is SW version of Nov 5th 1955.

 

[JD]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

...and then there's this: Rumor: Princess Leia Being Re-Cast | The Star Wars Underworld

Relapse Fears For Carrie Fisher: ?Star Wars? Star Denies ?Buying Drugs? From Shady Los Angeles Apartment | Radar Online

 

[Edwardowan]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Yoda and Chewie went to high school together, C-3PO was Anakin's shop class project, R2-D2 was Padme and later Anakin's personal droid, blah blah blah. It was the attempt at callbacks, particularly given how frustrating the rest of the trilogy was, that made them cheap.

I have to agree in that the prequels didn't need "threepio or R2-D2" at all...in fact, GL had a golden opportunity to introduce new droids for us to like.. at the very least a different protocol droid and a different yet just as lovable and spunky astromech... a different color... now, R2 and Threepio could have easily had cameos by Revenge of the Sith aboard the Tantive IV but those two's involvement with the story and plot of the skywalker clan should only have started at their assignments with the Organa's and Capt Antilles on the Tantive IV and having to take the death star plans to obi wan. after New Hope the droids never really had much of a purpose... they had purpose in New Hope but they were both just sidekicks in ESB and Jedi as well as the prequels. Artoo had plenty of functions but his life form scanner failed to bring results on Hoth, so what did that do? He had no purpose on Dagobah other than the fact that Xwings always carry an astromech... he fixed the hyperdrive in ESB so he had purpose but threepio never did much to help anyone. Artoo in Jedi.. he zapped the cuffs off Leia on the barge, launched the lightsaber so that was cool... delivered lukes message to Jabba... but after that he got blown away at the endor bunker and Han ended up taking care of the door anyway... and Threepio was brought along why? to be a bright shiny golden beacon amongst the sneaking camouflaged rebels. He did translate the "ewokees" though... in the end they were the family droids but they should only have been Luke's droids... not his mom and dad's droids for crying out loud! /end rant

 

[Bryancd]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I still don't find the "small galaxy" argument convincing in regards to the PT, I think it was the correct creative choice for the story being told and I still think the EU created an expectation of the films being able to have such a broad brush. That was an expectation that could never be satisfied. Unless GL made the choice to mold the PT in a similar vein as PJ did for his Tolkien adaptations (and with films of that length) then it makes sense we got what we got.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

The thing people are missing when complaining about the same planets showing up is the Force. The Force could have been directing things so events led to those places. I'm not saying that's 100% it until Lucas says it, but it makes sense.

 

[The Terminator]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Small tidbit of news:

Model makers signing 7 year contracts..... :thumbsup

 

[Solo4114]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I still don't find the "small galaxy" argument convincing in regards to the PT, I think it was the correct creative choice for the story being told and I still think the EU created an expectation of the films being able to have such a broad brush. That was an expectation that could never be satisfied. Unless GL made the choice to mold the PT in a similar vein as PJ did for his Tolkien adaptations (and with films of that length) then it makes sense we got what we got.

I think the bolded part is really the issue. With a story that people found more satisfying, the film might not have felt quite as claustrophobic. Ultimately, almost ten years after the end of the PT, I think that almost every specific complaint about the PT would be eliminated if people felt that the core story of the three films (and each film as a standalone piece) were more satisfying. But because of the story that Lucas apparently wanted to tell (and I'm not even really sure that he had a clear plan from the get-go for all 3 films, so much as just kinda general ideas that took shape as he went), the elements within it end up being unsatisfying.

I think of it this way. When you're watching a good film, you don't really mind the flaws you spot. Sure, there's a question of how the hell Indy could survive strapped to the Uboat in Raiders, or how exactly blocking light would trigger a booby trap, or whathaveyou...but Raiders is such a fun film that these things are less of an issue. By contrast, in an unsatisfying movie, you end up picking it apart and noticing all the flaws. The story doesn't distract you or lull you, so your mind has time to catalog all the screwups and become even more indignant about them.

I do think that, for the story Lucas was trying to tell, the galaxy size fit, as did the intense focus on Padme, Obi-Wan, and Anakin. My point earlier was that I think folks sometimes try to "solve" what's wrong with the PT by fixing this or that ancillary aspect of it, when the real issue is that the underlying story on a macro scale is just...not that satisfying. That choice informs upon everything else -- the lack of "normal" characters, the focus on boring Jedi, the annoying quality of the cameos and connections, the "size" of the galaxy (we really DID see a bunch of new planets, actually), etc. -- to me, it all goes back to the decision to focus the story on Anakin's psychological development and the particular problems Lucas decided to give him. You can't really "fix" the story by tinkering at the edges, and most of the gripes about the prequels are about the stuff at the edges (although Jar Jar was totally unnecessary even for the story he was trying to tell).

But it makes sense, still. The formation of the Rebellion -- including the cut scene with young Mon Mothma -- really ISN'T that relevant, if the focus is on what made Anakin evil. The war itself really ISN'T that important, if what made Anakin evil was his abandonment issues, rather than the toll the war took on him (for example). The rest of the galaxy and the political issues really only need the occasional snap-shot view of them, if Anakin isn't really involved. And if Anakin's from Tatooine, and feels abandonment issues and guilt surrounding him leaving his mother and his mother's death, then yeah, it makes sense to focus the action on Tatooine, backwater though it may be.

So, I think the ultimate sin isn't so much the details as much as it is the overall vision for the story. You fix THAT issue, and suddenly the details wouldn't be as big a problem. Issues like the cameos and the galaxy not "feeling" big would seem minor if the underlying story were simply more interesting. I've said for a while that I think Lucas did -- at least with the latter two films -- an ok job telling the story he wanted to tell. It's just not a story I find very interesting.

 

[Lutso]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

"Lots of" lightsaber hilts and Indiana Jones V?

My head just drooped permanently 2 inches.

 

[astroboy]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I have always said that Lucas' biggest mistake was deciding that Jabba the hutt lived on Tatooine. It made no sense to ever return there in the films. It made no sense that Han would even BE there if he was on the run from Jabba and it certainly made for ain incredibly boring and awkward rescue for the first 3rd of ROTJ.

my suggestion? Give him a space station. design it like the walled city of kowloon and place it in the heart of something like "reaver space".

https://www.google.ca/search?q=wall...--2AWanoDQCg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1344&bih=706

But it was that moment that jedi brought us back to tatooine where things started to fall apart

 

[Laspector]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Remember when there was only ONE movie? Remember a movie that was just about a boy wanting to get off the farm and have some adventure? Remember when Vader seemed like just a muscled henchman? Remember when you had no pictures and you had to just try to remember what the spaceships looked like and what they did on screen? Remember when the only way you had to relive the movie was to listen to the soundtrack. Anyone remember that time?

Sometimes I wish it had just been left at that. As much as I love TESB, these days I would almost be willing to sacrifice it and everything else SW related, if Star Wars could have just remained what is was -- the coolest thing a 12 year old country boy in 1977 had ever seen, and one whose life would never be the same again.

 

[Scott Graham]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Agree completely! It was and is the most bizarre movie of the bunch. The rest of it seems like it's riding a trend and the further it goes the less I'm interested. What keeps me going back to it as an adult is that the design work holds up so well. That's one of the things that I loved about the original movie...and the fact that it was so bizarre and fun. Not about Jedi, but about believing in yourself and the Force.