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Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Discussion * SPOILER THREAD * — Page 191

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joefavs said:

How bout that Finn teaser?

I thought it was cool.

pat man said:

New 31 second clip.
https://youtu.be/K9-aHfKcelI
Also posted on Star Wars Facebook.

One day we will have properly restored versions of the Original Unaltered Trilogy (OUT); or 1977, 1980, 1983 Theatrical released versions (Like 4K77,4K80 and 4K83); including Prequels. So that future generations can enjoy these historic films that changed cinema forever.

Yoda: Try not, do or do not, there is no try.

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I love the exchange between Han and Finn. There’s a couple shots of the Falcon I’m not sure about, though. I saw the footage from the new Jakku Star Tours sequence earlier in the week and the Falcon did some really awkward things that I’d hoped were just for the ride, but the way it moves here has got me wondering about the film. Hopefully it only looks weird because of how it’s cut.

EDIT: Not news, but I just came across this TFA poster by Phil Noto (if that name doesn’t ring a bell, he’s done a ton of comics; as far as Star Wars goes, he illustrated three of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens books, did the cover for Shattered Empire no. 1, and is currently doing the art for the Chewbacca comic miniseries). I think his style is too sketchy for an official poster, but I’ve got to say I think his composition and color palette beat the pants off of the one we actually got. Basically this but done by someone like Struzan would be the poster in my ideal world.
Alt text

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^^That. That is nice. Commence hi-res search now

May the Force be with you.

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I’m having a hard time deciding whether this is awesome, or cheesy as hell.

I don’t know, there’s just something really weird about a stormtrooper doing an action-pose and standing his ground against someone with a lightsaber. Had this been Phasma I wouldn’t have reacted at all, but this right here is one really brave, or perhaps just plain stupid, stormtrooper.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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It’s difficult to tell how anything from that trailer will actually look in context. Much more so than the previous trailers, it was cut with extremely quick shots and looks more like most modern movie trailers.

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towne32 said:

It’s difficult to tell how anything from that trailer will actually look in context. Much more so than the previous trailers, it was cut with extremely quick shots and looks more like most modern movie trailers.

True, however that’s still a stormtrooper fighting a guy with a lightsaber.

But yes, it could end up being like a 5 second fight that the trailer is blowing out of proportion.
It’s still such a weird image to me though. I guess Abrams might be paying homage to some of the old MacQuarrie artwork of stormtroopers with lighsabers.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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Oh, okay. I assumed you were discussing the execution of it rather than just the fact that it’s a storm trooper fighting a lightsaber (since we’ve been discussing that for a week or two). Yeah, it is not clear why they would be carrying these devices in case they ran into one of the few lightsabers in the galaxy. Either they have other uses or there is indeed a task force for hunting down Jedi (or those who hope to become Jedi?).

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Or jedi are still not very common and/or famous, so lightsabers are just seen as some old antiquated weapons. Thus, the stormtrooper may not assume that the one wielding it has magical forces that makes him a superior combatant.

Ceci n’est pas une signature.

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Frank your Majesty said:

Or jedi are still not very common and/or famous, so lightsabers are just seen as some old antiquated weapons. Thus, the stormtrooper may not assume that the one wielding it has magical forces that makes him a superior combatant.

That would explain the confident stance.
Then again Kylo Ren, or the Knights of Ren in general, may have equipped them with those, whatever they are, weapons.
For all we know they might have killed several jedi before, or they may never have seen one before like you said.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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Frank your Majesty said:

Or jedi are still not very common and/or famous, so lightsabers are just seen as some old antiquated weapons. Thus, the stormtrooper may not assume that the one wielding it has magical forces that makes him a superior combatant.

True. But they’ve still somehow become more common in that scenario, if there’s a standard weapon against them. Could be for similar weapons like the dumb Darksaber things in TCW.

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There was only ever the one Darksaber and that was a literal last minute change. It was originally supposed to be a vibrosword but they never got Lucas’ approval. When he finally found out about it and someone explained what a vibroblade was he nixed it. So they added that weird glow to it in a hurry to try and salvage the scene.

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http://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/star-wars-exclusive-new-look-adam-driver-kylo-ren/

From Empire magazine:
Driver says that he sees Ren as more of a religious fanatic than a villain in the traditional sense. “When they think of their actions as morally justified,” Driver told us, “it makes them dangerous and unpredictable. There’s no level they won’t go to to accomplish what they’re after. I never thought of the character as an evil person."

It’s interesting that they’ve decided to ditch the whole “Sith” thing if the Knights of Ren are religious fanatics. I mean if they’re not followers of the Sith order from either EU or PT, then what exactly are they followers of? Just the Dark Side in general? It’s obviously Vader related, but Vader was Sith in the OT as well, although back then it was somewhat of an empty title. Even so, I’m curious to see how Kasdan and Abrams have written their way around this issue without pissing off the PT fans.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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Some of the worlds tyrants thought they were morally justified, doesn’t make them any less evil in my mind.

The question is, just what is EVIL, really?

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Well I think we can safely assume that Palpatine was just plain “evil.” Vader was however corrupted by evil (the dark side, etc.) and Kylo seems to do evil in an attempt to do good.
Whereas the OT had a very Tolkien-eque approach towards evil, e.g. somewhat symbolic and straight forward, but still representing real-life fairly well but not to blatanly, TFA just seems to go straight for a more realistic depiction of fascism and ideology gone wrong.

I also found an recent interview with Domhnall Gleeson very interesting where he described Hux’s motivation as (and I’m paraphrasing) a need for control and as with all fascists a fear of “individuality.”
Although I appreciate the OT’s somewhat easy way to approach these subjects; such as imperialism, fascism, etc. I do kind of like how TFA seems to take it one step further, as well as making it more topical and relevant to modern day sensibilities. The OT’s somewhat straight-forward Nazi references have been updated somehat and the new focus has become more political and nuanced. We know seem to get more of a focus on what is going on inside the minds of the bad guys.
A lot of these things were implied in the OT, and somewhat explored in the EU, but TFA really seems to have run away with it.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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ZkinandBonez said:

Well I think we can safely assume that Palpatine was just plain “evil.”

I’ll never accept that. No man is 100.100% evil. Palpatine – as spiritually dead as he was – must have had at least one good spark in him. Personally, I believe he loved his mother – in spite of himself, in spite of the darkness he had embraced, he loved her.

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Spoilerboard for 2.4 is up: http://spoilerboard.blogspot.com/2015/11/spoilerboard-update-v24-abc-tv-promo.html. With more and more out there, I am sticking to just looking over Act I stuff.

Regarding that trooper, I’d say we definitely have to wait to see it in context. Honestly, that’s what I’ve been saying since almost the start, and I’m still sticking too it. In different contexts, the same things could look great, or be absolutely awful.

To assess myself, I’d still say I’m quite on the hype-train. My big conern still remains Luke’s lightsaber that is supposedly driving the story. There had better be a good reason it is so important, or otherwise, I guess everything will feel hollow? Empty? Like I don’t think I could be completely satisfied if it’s something minor that doesn’t really make sense. It would almost feel like cheating to get a story out of it if it’s not worthy, if that makes sense.

I also have minor concerns about how much they seem to be mirroring A New Hope. Now, this can’t really be a terrible thing. If it is a very close imitation, yeah, I’d be a little disappointed, but at least it wouldn’t be bad or noticeably sub-par. Also, as someone pointed out, from what we’ve seen so far, we have a desert planet, a forest planet, and a snow planet… Basically the whole original trilogy rolled up into one, which I thought was interesting.

May the Force be with you.

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DuracellEnergizer said:

ZkinandBonez said:

Well I think we can safely assume that Palpatine was just plain “evil.”

I’ll never accept that. No man is 100.100% evil. Palpatine – as spiritually dead as he was – must have had at least one good spark in him. Personally, I believe he loved his mother – in spite of himself, in spite of the darkness he had embraced, he loved her.

When was Palpy’s mom ever mentioned in the prequels?

Robot Chicken’s version of Palpatine’s early life is in my personal canon. 😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KBEEJQEW3o

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Where were you in '77?

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That makes a ton more sense than it somehow being retrieved from the gas giant planet below.

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Apparently CBS is going to air an interview with Lucas about his non-involvement in the ST. The preview makes it sound like Ardnt was indeed staying true to Lucas’s teenager plot outline before Abrams et al took it in another direction. Would be curious to read the Lucas story in a comic or novel some day, but as an Evil OT.com member, I am obviously glad that the films aren’t sticking with George’s plans just for the sake of George’s plans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-PdhARgL0c

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towne32 said:

Apparently CBS is going to air an interview with Lucas about his non-involvement in the ST. The preview makes it sound like Ardnt was indeed staying true to Lucas’s teenager plot outline before Abrams et al took it in another direction. Would be curious to read the Lucas story in a comic or novel some day, but as an Evil OT.com member, I am obviously glad that the films aren’t sticking with George’s plans just for the sake of George’s plans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-PdhARgL0c

Thanks for posting and I agree, I’m glad they changed directions. I read an interview with Lawrence Kasdan the other day (from Wired.com) and it gave me even more confidence that the ST will be a success; even if his involvement ends after TFA.

ReasonTV posted this interesting video about the economy of Star Wars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxKwaG1idBU

“This will begin to make things right.” Lor San Tekka