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Star Wars: Episode VII to be directed by J.J. Abrams **NON SPOILER THREAD** — Page 103

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NeverarGreat said:

None of us (as far as I am aware of) has ever made a Star Wars movie

Well unless Lucas is registered on OT.com, your statement should hold. :D

真実

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 (Edited)

Harmy said:

I don't know, I never expected the prequels to be about anything else but it didn't need to be the sole focus - it may have been better as Obi-Wan's story, with the fall of Anakin as just a smaller part of that story.

It seems daft to me to make any of the OT characters the main focus for the PT.

Not only do we already know their fate (thus making the story redundant) it also adds nothing new of real value.

It would have made more sense to invent brand new characters have them the main focus and have the known story happen in the background with a few twists.

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Bingowings said:

Harmy said:

I don't know, I never expected the prequels to be about anything else but it didn't need to be the sole focus - it may have been better as Obi-Wan's story, with the fall of Anakin as just a smaller part of that story.

It seems daft to me to make any of the OT characters the main focus for the PT.

Not only do we already know their fate (thus making the story redundant) it also adds nothing new of real value.

It would have made more sense to invent brand new characters have them the main focus and have the known story happen in the background with a few twists.

 But that's the thing. With 20/20 hindsight we can say that focusing on known characters was a mistake, but as Harmy says, it was expected that the story was going to be about Obi-wan and Anakin. That's the risk that you take when building backstory for characters that have been ingrained in the public consciousness for twenty years. You're not going to please everyone.

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Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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Even then though the key scenes in that pre-packaged saga aren't there.

Like Darth Vader hunting down Jedi (the stormtroopers did that in ROTS despite spending the whole OT missing non-Force powered principle characters).

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AntcuFaalb said:

IMO, the prequels could never have been great with the choice to focus on the backstory of Darth Vader.

Honestly, who thought "Huh... I'd like to see what he was like as a little boy!" after hearing "Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans, and bring me the passengers. I want them alive!"?

Even post-"I am your father!" and post-redemption, who honestly gave a shit about how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader?

There were many other story possibilites for the PT. The Fall of Anakin Skywalker/Rise of Darth Vader should have been left for a cheap EU paperback novel you'd find in a drug store.

I think that the story of a good man, who becomes a terrible villain, and then is redeemed through a love for his son, is a great story to tell. 

In the OT, we had the last half of it. 

In a timeline with a good PT, we could have had the first half of it.  With the PT that exists in this timeline, it's worse than not having it.  I think the PT was a flawed execution much more than a flawed premise.

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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xhonzi said:

I think that the story of a good man, who becomes a terrible villain, and then is redeemed through a love for his son, is a great story to tell. 

In the OT, we had the last half of it. 

In a timeline with a good PT, we could have had the first half of it.  With the PT that exists in this timeline, it's worse than not having it.  I think the PT was a flawed execution much more than a flawed premise.

Well Lucas wrote PT Anakin as possibly the most unlikeable main character in film history. That is pretty much where PT failed. Everything else that people usually complain about are minor issues to me.

真実

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xhonzi said:

AntcuFaalb said:

IMO, the prequels could never have been great with the choice to focus on the backstory of Darth Vader.

Honestly, who thought "Huh... I'd like to see what he was like as a little boy!" after hearing "Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans, and bring me the passengers. I want them alive!"?

Even post-"I am your father!" and post-redemption, who honestly gave a shit about how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader?

There were many other story possibilites for the PT. The Fall of Anakin Skywalker/Rise of Darth Vader should have been left for a cheap EU paperback novel you'd find in a drug store.

I think that the story of a good man, who becomes a terrible villain, and then is redeemed through a love for his son, is a great story to tell. 

In the OT, we had the last half of it. 

In a timeline with a good PT, we could have had the first half of it.  With the PT that exists in this timeline, it's worse than not having it.  I think the PT was a flawed execution much more than a flawed premise.

That's what I've always said. If you boil it all down, the prequels have a great premise. It was just massively bungled and now we forever have to live with the consequences, because it's not like we're going to see a new version of it for a long, long time. Maybe never.

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END OF LINE

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Once Disney gets past the Sequel Trilogy, puts out a handful of spin-offs, and drifts away from Lucas as a 'creative consultant,' I wouldn't be surprised if they consider remakes of the prequels (although that could lead to, frightening as it is, remakes of the OT as well).  Unless remakes were somehow prohibited by the contract they signed.

I bet within 10-15 years we will start hearing rumors of PT and/or OT remakes.

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The OT was never solely about the redemption of Darth Vader, or even about Luke becoming a hero. Watching the OT I was as much involved in the fight of the Rebels against the Empire as that of Luke's personal story. It wasn't just a background for other character events, rather it was a developing story all of its own.

The PT had none of this. Endless, poorly edited "battle scenes" for the characters supposedly doing something in while not on (horribly monotonous) sit and talk scenes. As RLM put it, people in the ST mostly just sit/walk and talk if not involved in bad CGI pew-pew nonsensical battles.

I don't mind seeing Anakin's fall tote Dark Side if it was one part of a larger story about how the Republic fell and the Empire came to be. One that made some sense and had an emotional impact for the viewer, that is.

Also, I seem to be in the small minority on this but seriously, Anakin became "evil" out of love?! That was not only cliché. It didn't make sense. Anakin should have become Darth Vader out of wanting power. Maybe of a misjudged sense that "his" way was better and had to be enforced even through power and terror; because he wanted vast fleets and armies to make the world as his will. Not because his wife was (supposedly) about to die at childbirth... eh...

What I'm most afraid about the Sequels is that they'll pull of the same soap opera routine as the Prequels did. Not a space adventure, not even a war story in space. Just plain afternoon episodic drama with some CGI crammed in.

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I know it's been mentioned here before, considering how much footage they shot for the prequels, more than the OT movies, they really should just re-edit them completely from scratch.

You could change A LOT, by combining the truly best takes and scenes, rescore, redo all the FX (especially considering all the greenscreen and bluescreen used in 2 and 3.)  They could even drastically alter the plots.

Can't Disney make new edits, just like Lucas did, just far more extreme and higher budget?

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Burdokva said:


The OT was never solely about the redemption of Darth Vader, or even about Luke becoming a hero. Watching the OT I was as much involved in the fight of the Rebels against the Empire as that of Luke's personal story. It wasn't just a background for other character events, rather it was a developing story all of its own.

The PT had none of this. Endless, poorly edited "battle scenes" for the characters supposedly doing something in while not on (horribly monotonous) sit and talk scenes. As RLM put it, people in the ST mostly just sit/walk and talk if not involved in bad CGI pew-pew nonsensical battles.

I don't mind seeing Anakin's fall tote Dark Side if it was one part of a larger story about how the Republic fell and the Empire came to be. One that made some sense and had an emotional impact for the viewer, that is.

Also, I seem to be in the small minority on this but seriously, Anakin became "evil" out of love?! That was not only cliché. It didn't make sense. Anakin should have become Darth Vader out of wanting power. Maybe of a misjudged sense that "his" way was better and had to be enforced even through power and terror; because he wanted vast fleets and armies to make the world as his will. Not because his wife was (supposedly) about to die at childbirth... eh...



What I'm most afraid about the Sequels is that they'll pull of the same soap opera routine as the Prequels did. Not a space adventure, not even a war story in space. Just plain afternoon episodic drama with some CGI crammed in.



Well, the OT is about Luke becoming a hero. I don't know why you think it isn't.

Anakin doesn't become evil. And wanting to stop people from dying is power. I seem to remember the novelisation of RoTJ saying something to the effect that Vader wasn't evil, he just lusted for power too strongly. Fits perfectly with the prequels as far as I can see.

See, wanting to stop your pregnant wife from dying is pretty emotional, especially when compared to the idea you posit, about wanting a bunch of spaceships, which wouldn't have had any emotional impact at all.

That's some bad hat, Harry
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I wonder whether they'll be more of a focus on non-Force-using factions or on Force-using factions.

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I doubt it. The idea sounds dull as dishwater to me, personally.

That's some bad hat, Harry
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Easterhay said:

Burdokva said:


The OT was never solely about the redemption of Darth Vader, or even about Luke becoming a hero.



Well, the OT is about Luke becoming a hero. I don't know why you think it isn't.

See, wanting to stop your pregnant wife from dying is pretty emotional, especially when compared to the idea you posit, about wanting a bunch of spaceships, which wouldn't have had any emotional impact at all.

 

Added bold for clarity. See again the "solely" part (or maybe my English isn't clear enough; "only" then).

Regarding the "emotional impact" of Anakin's fall...

Each to his own. For someone like me who's interested (and studied) history and politics, this was a cringe inducing and ridiculous reason that had no basis in reality. Because we're full of people wanting vast military and political power to save their wives at childbirth, right?  

People who want power lust over it because they want to establish empires, legacies, to rebuild societies and even the world to their own vision; people who are usually idealists (even if their ideas are terribly flawed) and put their ideas before their loved ones. 

People who want to protect their loved ones generally try to put them out of harms way; if anything, they don't go on a quest and attempt to prevent death itself. I really can't establish an emotional connection to a completely delusional character who obsesses over his wife dying at childbirth given their miraculous technology. 

Sorry, but even in a world of  faster-than-light starships and space wizards this sounds implausible, to say the least.

Not to mention it's completely different to the Darth Vader character of the OT.

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I made a Star Wars movie.  Two, in fact, with a third bun in the oven.

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If Disney is to maintain the pace of writing for the years post-OT, then I see no logical reason why they shouldn't include Vader's first years of hunting the Jedi. At 24 it sucks that only like a year ago I realized the timeline outside of the events of the original trilogy, it really strikes me as odd that no one outside of EU writers have bothered to fill the next gen of fans except years afterwards in annoying comics.

Vader's best feats like destroying that Cathedral, blitzing Roan fel, and killing 5 Jedi masters at once would be amazing if recreated. 

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Well given that Leland Chee and others have established ranks of cannon, then there is a slight chance. Its not my fault or any other SW fan who grew up post-seventies that there is a massive gulf of time/discrepancy in the flow of events from the OT and the events that came before.

Lucas should've assumed that what he was building would transcend even the original trilogy. In bringing up the Clone wars (which may have been only a passing mention), he should've assumed that there was a much larger history to the broad setting he created. The EU to varying degrees fulfills this and while I adore the Original trilogy, it fulfills other wonders/musings I've had at the SW universe by and large. Disney at least seems to recognize that the world beyond the OT should be corrected/expanded on, and even if its made and reworked to be entirely separate from the OT, I am ok with this. Keep what works, discard what doesn't work. 

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Just for clarification, and so that I know I wasn't hearing things... "Canon" is now the movies I-VI.  I'm further under the impression that everything else will be reviewed and determined to either be "canon" or "not canon"... and that there will no longer be levels of canon with the exception of the afore mentioned "canon" or "not canon".

Is that accurate?

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i'm just glad george 'hates the OT' lucas is out of the picture. these films will bring balance back to the star wars universe.

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TV's Frink said:

Canon is what you decide it is.

 No, yes.  I understand that.  What I mean is official canon.  LFL/Disney canon.

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vacuum said:

i'm just glad george 'hates the OT' lucas is out of the picture. these films will bring balance back to the star wars universe.

 I hope so, but the more I think about Disney films the more I think Star Wars will become average/generic sci-fi movies. Nothing to make future films stand out.

(mind you, that's still an improvement on the prequels)

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With a good script, good actors, a director with a passion for the source material, and a little luck, yes.

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