Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Pre-release)

[Lost21stJedi]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Look how easily the clones were hidden on Kamino. All they had to do was remove a planet from the archives. Now do that again with a large fleet protecting the area and it seems pretty secure.

Heck, in the real world...we can't even get information out of Area 51 :lol

 

[rodneyfaile]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

A ton of Jedi got killed in episode II, AOTC ... and you know what? ..... they didn't bother really introducing any of them to me in the story. I just saw an unknown person get offed. When Kenobi gets whacked in SW, it was a big deal. Please someone actually write some characters that mean something.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Then that's an ominous foreboding for these sequels, isn't it...?

Not really, 'cause the issue with the PT has for the most part been Lucas' overwhelming involvement and direction of them. He is not going to be in that position for the new movies, but seems to take the approach he used more in the OT - read ESB - or maybe even less than that. He seems to work best as an idea man, as the ability to present the ideas in interesting and engaging ways has clearly been shown to not be his strength.

However, Star Wars without Lucas is the same as a Star Trek. :behave

 

[Jeyl]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

However, Star Wars without Lucas is the same as a Star Trek. :behave

Ladies and Gentlemen, the director of the new Star Wars film.
"I was never really a fan of Star Wars growing up. I watched maybe the first and second movie, but I never really got it. I was barely in my 20s when I saw the films for the first time in theaters in 1997 and I was the only one who wasn't excited about anything. That made it difficult for me since my friends were all Star Wars fans. I enjoyed the prequel movies that I saw, but I never fully understood why this universe was interesting. So now that the reigns have been given to me, I wanted to see if I could make Star Wars more interesting for me to get into. That's what I decided to do. If I couldn't get into it, what was the point in making it? So whenever I get asked about how does it feel making a Star Wars movie, I just tell folks I'm not making a Star Wars movie. I'm simply making a film. It isn't for fans of Star Wars, or even fans of Science Fiction. It's not even for fans of the prequels. All the actors tell me that they didn't do this film because they liked Star Wars, they did it because they liked the Script. And the script is briliant. We brought in Damon Lindelof to do some rewrites and his work was absolutely stunning."

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

That's the new Star Trek director just paraphrased, right? .)

 

[Astrokid248]

Yes. Still might apply for all we know. (My jimmies, they are rustled)

 

[Contec]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Disney just appointed Mattel to do the script and their spokesperson Scott Neitlich has this to say about the script :"And this Script...So Not Final!"

 

[3jack]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

SNIP I'm simply making a film. It isn't for fans of Star Wars, or even fans of Science Fiction. It's not even for fans of the prequels. All the actors tell me that they didn't do this film because they liked Star Wars, SNIP [/I]

I just lost a bit off hope from that one bit of information.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I just lost a bit off hope from that one bit of information.

I believe it was to illustrate that what happened with Trek can also happen with Star Wars - that someone who comes into it with the wrong mindset won't get what made the others great or good or enjoyable. Sure, the movie they make may be good, but will it be what they were supposed to make? The guy making the new Trek basically made it Star Warsy because that's what he brought to it. Does it work? Sure - I liked it, as well as many others. But... it leaves the question: IS IT STAR TREK?

Imagine someone coming into directing Star Wars with a Star Trek mindset. That's like ****ting on that fanbase in a way.

 

[3jack]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Maybe I'm way off the mark here but surely you want to bring someone in who likes star wars? Surely bringing someone in who doesn't understand it is asking for trouble. Same with actors you want people who love the films whether it's the PT or OT as they're the ones who understand what they're doing there. Maybe I am way off the mark though?

 

[Jeyl]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Disney just appointed Mattel to do the script and their spokesperson Scott Neitlich has this to say about the script :"And this Script...So Not Final!"

:lol

What makes it funny is that a lot of studios, writers and even actors would never comment on a script outside of the typical vague "I love the script" or something non-specific. Scott seems like the kind of person who might just break that mold.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Maybe I'm way off the mark here but surely you want to bring someone in who likes star wars? Surely bringing someone in who doesn't understand it is asking for trouble. Same with actors you want people who love the films whether it's the PT or OT as they're the ones who understand what they're doing there. Maybe I am way off the mark though?

I don't think so much "likes" is needed, but definitely someone who "understands" Star Wars. The main feature would be to bring in a great story-teller and who understands what this series is and all that.

Bringing someone in who doesn't seem to understand the series is basically what I've heard being the complaint regarding the new Star Trek. Problem is: Star Trek is not Star Wars and Star Wars is not Star Trek. They each have very specific things working for them and very different styles, pacing and feel.

 

[Contec]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Maybe I'm way off the mark here but surely you want to bring someone in who likes star wars? Surely bringing someone in who doesn't understand it is asking for trouble. Same with actors you want people who love the films whether it's the PT or OT as they're the ones who understand what they're doing there. Maybe I am way off the mark though?

Just because a director never watched the original don't mean it's gonna be a bad movie.
Nicholas Meyer had not watched startrek before he made Wrath of Khan. He just wanted to make a Hornblower movie in space.

Nicholas Meyer, the writer and director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan who along with Harve Bennett is credited with overhauling the franchise at a critical time, spoke about his experiences making the film and how he wanted to create a Star Trek movie that reminded him of the Hornblower series.

Meyer was introduced to Bennett by a childhood friend working at Paramount. "I told her: 'I've never watched Star Trek, I don't even know what it is. It's a guy with pointy ears, yeah?'" Meyer recalled at Twitch Guru. Bennett showed him some of the original series episodes. "I was completely stoked on this idea of making my outer space opera, and I began to think that I had some kind of idea, which was Star Trek was really the outer space version of a series of novels I used to love as a kid, which was the Captain Horatio Hornblower novels...I wanted to do that."

 

[3jack]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Just because a director never watched the original don't mean it's gonna be a bad movie.
Nicholas Meyer had not watched startrek before he made Wrath of Khan. He just wanted to make a Hornblower movie in space.

No he may not make a bad movie but I'd just prefer someone who loves Star Wars to be in charge though. Someone who wants to continue the saga the way the think it should go. Like I said maybe I'm wrong in that thinking I mean look at GL I never wanted anyone else in charge of the PT and look how that turned out :lol

 

[Jeyl]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Maybe I'm way off the mark here but surely you want to bring someone in who likes star wars? Surely bringing someone in who doesn't understand it is asking for trouble. Same with actors you want people who love the films whether it's the PT or OT as they're the ones who understand what they're doing there. Maybe I am way off the mark though?

Even people who didn't know or like Star Trek in the past did put some effort into figuring out what made it tick. When Harve Bennett was given the duties as producer on Star Trek II, he went through every episode looking for material that the next Star Trek film can run on. Nicholas Meyer was able to find his hook for Star Trek after he realized it had a nice resemblance to Horatio Hornblower. And they came out with a pretty dog gone good product.

And even though he didn't like the Star Trek theme, he did like how it was used in TWOK by James Horner. JJ just tossed it in the ending credits.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

No he may not make a bad movie but I'd just prefer someone who loves Star Wars to be in charge though. Someone who wants to continue the saga the way the think it should go. Like I said maybe I'm wrong in that thinking I mean look at GL I never wanted anyone else in charge of the PT and look how that turned out :lol

I still think that is not essential. Just look how that ****ed up the Terminator franchise. Those directors were self-professed "fans", but all they did was **** everything up and make it something else - a mess that was impossible to follow up and the more you try the more the end result comes out a stinker.

Basically... if you get someone who says they "love" Star Wars or are "fans", you will know that you'll basically just get a expensive fan movie that's basically crap.

I want someone who "understands" Star Wars and is a good story-teller and good actor/actress director, 'cause "fans" and those who "love" it usually don't.

 

[Jeyl]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

No he may not make a bad movie but I'd just prefer someone who loves Star Wars to be in charge though. Someone who wants to continue the saga the way the think it should go. Like I said maybe I'm wrong in that thinking I mean look at GL I never wanted anyone else in charge of the PT and look how that turned out :lol

It's a pretty sticky situation when you have someone who LOVES the material mixed in with folks who don't. Even if the work force was 100% in love with Star Wars, they may come up with a pretty mediocre product.

When Star Trek Nemesis was being made, John Logan proclaimed himself to be a big fan of the franchise and worked closely with Brent Spiner in developing the script. TV Guide even had on it's covers "Exclusive Interviews with Patrick Stweart, Brent Spiner and the fan who wrote the movie!". And the only thing Nemesis succeeded in doing was killing the interest in Star Trek as a whole. What made it even worse is that if you look at what was filmed vs what we got, a lot of material that was meant to bring literal closure for the characters were cut from the film. So not only are we left with a bad, bleak movie, but also one that doesn't provide any meaningful closure. It's the worst way you could possibly end an iconic run. Written by a fan.

Another example comes from the prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing. Director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (I'm going to call him Matt) said that he wanted to honor John Carpenter's original movie to the letter. While that's all nice and good, his direction did lead the film into some contradicting areas.

For instance, Matt stated that he no longer has the Norwegians unveil the space craft with thermite charges because realistically, they wouldn't have close to the amount of thermite charges to get through the ice. The issue here is that his movie is going to lead directly into the original, which is still going to depict the Norwegians USING THERMITE CHARGES! And that's just one example.

This doesn't mean that fans of a franchise can't come up with decent or even excellent material. The folks at BioWare who worked on Knights of the Old Republic were huge Star Wars fans and they gave us a product that I consider to be the best Star Wars 'thing' in existence. Also the fan made series Star Trek Phase II was such a good show that one of it's episodes was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. No small feat considering it was nominated besides such giants as Doctor Who, Torchwood and the new Battlestar Galactica.

 

[jme3]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Not really, 'cause the issue with the PT has for the most part been Lucas' overwhelming involvement and direction of them. He is not going to be in that position for the new movies, but seems to take the approach he used more in the OT - read ESB - or maybe even less than that. He seems to work best as an idea man, as the ability to present the ideas in interesting and engaging ways has clearly been shown to not be his strength.

However, Star Wars without Lucas is the same as a Star Trek. :behave

In your statement I was responding to, I read it to mean that "the new boss is the same as the old boss"...

Lucas may not be directly involved and intertwined with every aspect of the production down to how many stitches go into this costume or that one, etc., but we can rest assured that he will remain a very strong influence over the whole affair. I can't imagine anyone not seeking his input to a certain degree on a regular basis, and I'm not sure I'd want it to be any different. I'm in agreement with you that George is a fantastic concept man, from the names he gives to planets and people to his vision of a used galaxy, those have all been stellar in my book. He just doesn't seem able to pull a very good performance from his actors. That's where he's needed help.

 

[seelsa73]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

He just doesn't seem able to pull a very good performance from his actors. That's where he's needed help.

I liked the PT with a few exceptions, one of which was the acting aside from Liam Neeson and Ian McDiarmid in TPM (IK Ian McDiarmid was in all 3, but he sucked as Palpatine though he was fine as Sidious)

The problem was he had the best actors in Hollywood for the PT, yet he wanted them to hold back their performances. So instead of getting Oscar caliber performances based on modern "standards", we got oscar caliber performances based on standards from 40+ years ago. He could have gotten wonderful performances from his actors if he let them do their thing instead of putting limits on them the way he did.

 

[Master Dahark]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

^ The part in Episode III when Palpatine's voice changed and yelled 'No- No- NO' was probably the most ridiculous part in the whole trilogy!

I saw that in the theatre and everyone busted out laughing!

I'd definitely agree, seelsa- Lucas wasn't doing the actors any favors