Lets talk all things Star Wars

[Psab keel]

 

[Ron]

Watching those videos made me cringe. I couldn't imagine spending a dime on something like that. It just seems too corny. Well intentioned perhaps (if I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt) but otherwise painfully uncomfortable to watch, much less experience in person.

Star Wars is more than just the trappings. More than just the environments/ planets. More than X-Wings. And certainly more than a Cruise!! It's the characters. For all the resources available to them and their success at creating theme parks with exciting rides this is shamefully underwhelming.

Right? The Disney "Imagineers" aren't as imaginative as they used to be I guess.

It's not about the locales and the things. It's about the characters and the adventure. When I was a kid playing Star Wars, I imagined myself going on adventures, not sitting on a generic cruise ship with characters I have no emotional connection to.

 

[Psab keel]

Tonally you know what it reminds me of is when you're a kid and your grandparents get you a toy for Christmas and you're so excited because all they ever give you are clothes. Finally they get that you're a kid and couldn't care less about that new sweater!

Then you tear open the wrapping paper to find out it's an educational toy.

 

[Axlotl]

Star Wars is dumb.

 

[Psab keel]

Star Wars has become dumb.

For me to even contemplate paying that kind of money I would need to have a one on one duel with Darth Vader either in the Bespin Carbon Freeze Chamber or the Emperor's throne room, in full Luke Skywalker costume with John Williams music playing.

 

[Ron]

For me to even contemplate paying that kind of money I would need to have a one on one duel with Darth Vader either in the Bespin Carbon Freeze Chamber or the Emperor's throne room, in full Luke Skywalker costume with John Williams music playing.

I swear I was thinking earlier what would be so cool is if you could reenact scenes from the movies in full costume to be filmed that you could keep. Have various sets from the trilogy: Throne room, Bespin, Falcon cockpit, etc. and you get to act out the scenes in place of the character of your choice. Say I want to be Luke in the battle of Yavin. Put me in an X-wing cockpit and film me acting out all of the Luke dialogue, splice it in, and load it onto a dvd for me to keep. I know, it takes some man hours to edit all that. I'm sure they could create a software program that could streamline it. Not saying it's worth $6k but it's a LOT better than anything I saw in those promo videos.

 

[Axlotl]

I swear I was thinking earlier what would be so cool is if you could reenact scenes from the movies in full costume to be filmed that you could keep. Have various sets from the trilogy: Throne room, Bespin, Falcon cockpit, etc. and you get to act out the scenes in place of the character of your choice. Say I want to be Luke in the battle of Yavin. Put me in an X-wing cockpit and film me acting out all of the Luke dialogue, splice it in, and load it onto a dvd for me to keep. I know, it takes some man hours to edit all that. I'm sure they could create a software program that could streamline it. Not saying it's worth $6k but it's a LOT better than anything I saw in those promo videos.

"But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters..."
I would have so much fun reenacting that line.

 

[Riceball]

Oh my gosh I was watching reaction videos this weekend. Awful. I wouldn't pay $600 let alone $6K.

The lightsaber "training" is so hilariously lame.

I don't know if the lightsaber training is really lame or that the trainee is the lame one. All the guy did was simply dodge the lasers, at no point di he try to block the lasers with his lightsaber. Somehow, I don't think that the guy quite understood the purpose of the training simulation. That's unless he was told to simply dodge the lasers and not block them with the lightsaber, in which case I'd agree, it is lame and pointless.

 

[Pepperbone]

I'd pay 600 nothings to be a fly on the wall for when Ann Morrow Johnson and her crew of creative geniuses screened this video and nodded with glee that this was the best thing ever, then proceeded to have cocktails and snacks in anticipation for the big reveal!!

THEN I'd pay another 600 nothings to have a chat with the handful of people in the room who at that moment tried really really hard to not look embarrassed and thought about updating their resumes.

 

[HeartBlade]

Well Disney Parks got butchered when Chapek was put in charge of them. He is a notorious cost cutter who favors money over a quality product. Hell, there is currently a petition from retired imagineers who want him fired.

Retired Disney Imagineers petition Walt Disney Company to fire Bob Chapek | Chip and Company

Recently a petition was started by Retired Disney Imagineers requesting the Walt Disney Company to fire CEO Bob Chapek.

chipandco.com

He apparently cut maintenance staff and reduced the number of times rides were maintained, hence the greater frequency of breakdowns (I remember when it was a mystery how the haunted house and other dark rides worked because they always functioned so well. Now, you can easily find a video where the ride is broken down to see how the effects are achieved).

Not sure if this is his initiative or Iger’s but they also did lead the transition from making rides to focus on meet and greets with the characters (meet and greet technically makes more money per visitor), arguably why Galaxy’s Edge was butchered to just 2 rides with a greater focus on buying stuff and taking pictures with Rey.

And Chapek is now CEO, possibly because Iger went overbudget acquiring IPs so Chapek is in to cut costs.

 

[robn1]

Star Wars is dumb.

Star Wars is and will always be awesome. Disney Star Wars is dumb.

 

[Pepperbone]

Well Disney Parks got butchered when Chapek was put in charge of them. He is a notorious cost cutter who favors money over a quality product. Hell, there is currently a petition from retired imagineers who want him fired.

Retired Disney Imagineers petition Walt Disney Company to fire Bob Chapek | Chip and Company

Recently a petition was started by Retired Disney Imagineers requesting the Walt Disney Company to fire CEO Bob Chapek.

chipandco.com

He apparently cut maintenance staff and reduced the number of times rides were maintained, hence the greater frequency of breakdowns (I remember when it was a mystery how the haunted house and other dark rides worked because they always functioned so well. Now, you can easily find a video where the ride is broken down to see how the effects are achieved).

Not sure if this is his initiative or Iger’s but they also did lead the transition from making rides to focus on meet and greets with the characters (meet and greet technically makes more money per visitor), arguably why Galaxy’s Edge was butchered to just 2 rides with a greater focus on buying stuff and taking pictures with Rey.

And Chapek is now CEO, possibly because Iger went overbudget acquiring IPs so Chapek is in to cut costs.

Ugh...this is not helping.

 

[Ron]

I don't know if the lightsaber training is really lame or that the trainee is the lame one. All the guy did was simply dodge the lasers, at no point di he try to block the lasers with his lightsaber. Somehow, I don't think that the guy quite understood the purpose of the training simulation. That's unless he was told to simply dodge the lasers and not block them with the lightsaber, in which case I'd agree, it is lame and pointless.

Have you played Vader Immortal by chance? I was thinking they could've made it a vr simulation like that. The headset could be shaped like the blast shield helmet. Would have been a lot cooler I think.

I know I'm coming down hard on Disney here but for $6k they gotta do better than this.

 

[Bigdaddy]

"But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters..."
I would have so much fun reenacting that line.

Sorry, I have little self control...

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

If I had an extra $6k laying around I'd be in for some serious tool upgrades/purchases! That just seems like a massive waste of money. Maybe if I had kids and it was actually something really cool, but this is so lame. We rarely went on any vacations, but I have a lot of great memories from doing things around where we lived during the Summer. So money isn't going to make you have a great trip or great memory.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Have you played Vader Immortal by chance? I was thinking they could've made it a vr simulation like that. The headset could be shaped like the blast shield helmet. Would have been a lot cooler I think.

...I'm working on that... >_>

Having tried on and used an Oculus, I am struck most by how I can never quite get it comfortably on my head. I have, on the other hand, done several padding jobs on helmets that I'm happy with -- including with built in headphones. I'm pretty confident I can get the visual mechanism secured to the inside of the blast shield portion of an X-Wing helmet...

And Bigdaddy... I do sincerely love that man.

 

[Riceball]

Have you played Vader Immortal by chance? I was thinking they could've made it a vr simulation like that. The headset could be shaped like the blast shield helmet. Would have been a lot cooler I think.

I know I'm coming down hard on Disney here but for $6k they gotta do better than this.

I've only played around with VR a bit at work and that was to look at car interiors. I haven't done any VR gaming yet and the only VR game that interests me at all is the Star Trek Bridge Commander game. I'm waiting for VR to become more mainstream with more games and lower prices for the hardware. But, I do think that making the saber trainer VR or maybe even AR (the glasses could be "safety glasses") would be a good way to go depending on whether you can actually block the lasers or if you're supposed to just dodge them with a lightsaber in your hands.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

But, I do think that making the saber trainer VR or maybe even AR (the glasses could be "safety glasses") would be a good way to go depending on whether you can actually block the lasers or if you're supposed to just dodge them with a lightsaber in your hands.

That's the neat thing about the Oculus -- it's both. If you're about to walk into a wall or something, the VR fades out to a ghostly overlay of where you actually are. Other games/apps are flat-out AR. I think smart companies will make games that have both immersive-world and AR overlay content. Imagine fighting Vader or Maul or whomever on one of the planets in the GFFA... and then some other opponent tracks you down in your driveway?

 

[Jodo]

Watching those videos made me cringe. I couldn't imagine spending a dime on something like that. It just seems too corny. Well intentioned perhaps (if I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt) but otherwise painfully uncomfortable to watch, much less experience in person.

Star Wars is more than just the trappings. More than just the environments/ planets. More than X-Wings. And certainly more than a Cruise!! It's the characters. For all the resources available to them and their success at creating theme parks with exciting rides this is shamefully underwhelming.

I mean...That’s kind of been their whole thing for the entire franchise during the last 5 or 6 years.

 

[Psab keel]

I agree it's nothing new, but it's something else to see the realization of their goals and not have it come close to all the hype they try and muster up. It's all manufactured. All phony.