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MUST each Star Wars Ep. have to have...?

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…the opening scene take place in outer space? I read that was the case somewhere online. I looked back at all the films, prequels and originals, and sure enough, they all start off in space. Same with the Force Awakens.
My question is, does every film have to open with a outer space scene for it to feel like Star Wars?

What about other “must haves” of the Star Wars series?

Does every film have to have someone saying, “I have a bad feeling about this”?

Does every film have to have R2-D2 and C-3PO? I also read that Lucas said that those characters would be in all the films, which is some kind of reference to an Akira Kurosawa film. Which is why those droids are in the prequels even if it doesn’t make any sense, at least in the way their re-introduced. If they weren’t in the prequels would it have felt jarring, and less-Star Wars-like?

What other recurring themes insist on appearing in Star Wars films. And do you agree that the producers should insist on continuing the tradition, or should they break tradition when the story deems it necessary?

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I’m all for shaking things up a bit IF it works well. For example, Casino Royale replaced the opening gunbarrel with one that actually was part of a scene, and it looked and felt great. It shook things up, but in a fun way. It’s successors, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, just tacked on the original style gunbarrel to the end of the movie, which was rather pointless.

When I saw the trailer for TFA where Rey pulled back that small curtain at the beginning, I thought that perhaps that could be the beginning of the movie. The crawl finished and the star field turned out to not be a field of stars at all. I do prefer what we ended up with to that idea though, as the opening Jakku village scene was perhaps the best part of the whole movie.

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The original opening for ESB had the crawl as black letters on a white ground, which was then revealed to be the snowy plains of Hoth seen from a bird’s eye view.

In post-production this was revised so that the opening scene of the film took place in space, with Vader’s fleet dispatching probes to look for the Rebels. This kind of accidentally cemented the idea that a SW movie must have its opening crawl take place against a backdrop of stars.

“That Darth Vader, man. Sure does love eating Jedi.”

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suspiciouscoffee said:

It’s successors, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, just tacked on the original style gunbarrel to the end of the movie, which was rather pointless.

Don’t even get me started on that.

When I saw the trailer for TFA where Rey pulled back that small curtain at the beginning, I thought that perhaps that could be the beginning of the movie. The crawl finished and the star field turned out to not be a field of stars at all. I do prefer what we ended up with to that idea though, as the opening Jakku village scene was perhaps the best part of the whole movie.

I don’t think, especially given how they’re running the ST so far, that they’ll ever stray away from the series’ traditions.

The Person in Question

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Why everybody gotta be related?

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

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ATMachine said:

The original opening for ESB had the crawl as black letters on a white ground, which was then revealed to be the snowy plains of Hoth seen from a bird’s eye view.

In post-production this was revised so that the opening scene of the film took place in space, with Vader’s fleet dispatching probes to look for the Rebels. This kind of accidentally cemented the idea that a SW movie must have its opening crawl take place against a backdrop of stars.

Really? checks youTube really quick
I think I would have liked the original better, but then again, maybe having the opening scene among the stars, better cements the idea that, hey, you’re about to watch a story about STAR Wars.

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Voss Caltrez said:

ATMachine said:

The original opening for ESB had the crawl as black letters on a white ground, which was then revealed to be the snowy plains of Hoth seen from a bird’s eye view.

In post-production this was revised so that the opening scene of the film took place in space, with Vader’s fleet dispatching probes to look for the Rebels. This kind of accidentally cemented the idea that a SW movie must have its opening crawl take place against a backdrop of stars.

Really? checks youTube really quick
I think I would have liked the original better, but then again, maybe having the opening scene among the stars, better cements the idea that, hey, you’re about to watch a story about STAR Wars.

Honestly yeah, I kinda like the continuity it provides. It’s part of the hype of sitting down and seeing the Lucasfilm logo… then the “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”, then the starfield and STAR WARS. It would be weird without it.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

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Somethings I think are essential/have been in all Star Wars films…(I hope)
A Lightsaber v Lightsaber battle.
One ‘major’ battle
Someone speaking in an alien language w/ English subs
*A locked down closing shot (Tradition broken by 7. 8 and 9 better have rotating closing shots too otherwise I’ll be pretty cut)

Personally if 8 or 9 started somewhere else than space I’d feel a little annoyed. Starting in the stars seems ever so appropriate…

Complete Star Wars Poster Collection

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SkyderHouseMafia said:

Someone speaking in an alien language w/ English subs

ESB

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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Voss Caltrez said:

…the opening scene take place in outer space? I read that was the case somewhere online. I looked back at all the films, prequels and originals, and sure enough, they all start off in space.

Wait a minute… you had to look back?

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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Yup. I only had The Empire Strikes Back briefly on DVD, and I never owned any of the other films on home video.

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It’s supposed to be Star Wars. Much of the prequels played out like Robot Wars.

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IV-VII don’t just start in space; more specifically they all start with Star Destroyers. It’s an interesting choice to start each story focusing on the bad guys’ activities.

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Up until Episode VII somebody said, “What the?!” in every film. I’m pretty sure nobody says it in The Force Awakens. I always thought it was a fun little tradition. I wonder if it’ll happen again?

I personally think that Rogue One and the rest of the anthologies will distinguish themselves from the episodic films by not having a crawl. By not having a starfield background they can basically open anywhere they like.

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A few days before The Force Awakens premiered, I was listening to the Star Wars theme and said to my sister “Hey, what if The Force Awakens DOESN’T start off with this music and the traditional text crawl? …Okay that is never ever going to happen. Heads would roll if that happened.” Or something like that. So from where I’m standing, yes, all Star Wars episodes need to start off with the traditional crawl and music. It’s just too ingrained into the series at this point. Though I guess that suggestion earlier that they could mix it up so that the starry background isn’t actually a starry background could be a neat way to change it up without incurring too much Fanboy Rage.

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I think there’s the slightest of possibilities that EpVIII has a cold open. Either way it’s breaking tradition by picking up right where TFA left off.

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It was cute at first in the OT and the 80s Indiana Jones trilogy, but now the “Wilhelm Scream” is in everything.

Not funny anymore, sound people.

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Tyrphanax said:

Voss Caltrez said:

ATMachine said:

The original opening for ESB had the crawl as black letters on a white ground, which was then revealed to be the snowy plains of Hoth seen from a bird’s eye view.

In post-production this was revised so that the opening scene of the film took place in space, with Vader’s fleet dispatching probes to look for the Rebels. This kind of accidentally cemented the idea that a SW movie must have its opening crawl take place against a backdrop of stars.

Really? checks youTube really quick
I think I would have liked the original better, but then again, maybe having the opening scene among the stars, better cements the idea that, hey, you’re about to watch a story about STAR Wars.

Honestly yeah, I kinda like the continuity it provides. It’s part of the hype of sitting down and seeing the Lucasfilm logo… then the “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”, then the starfield and STAR WARS. It would be weird without it.

After analyzing all the opening scenes, you almost need to have the yellow outlined Star Wars logo against the star field, and subsequently, a pan to whatever is taking place in outer space (star destroyer, star ship battles, etc).
However, I really like the idea for the original ESB opening, that it would take place on a completely white background, with the text scrolling, and then when it’s finished, the camera pans to show that it’s really the ice plains of Hoth.
The only problem with that is a white background usually subconsciously implies absence, blankness, something unfinished. But I think it would have been cool to have something different for every film.

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pablumatic said:

It was cute at first in the OT and the 80s Indiana Jones trilogy, but now the “Wilhelm Scream” is in everything.

Not funny anymore, sound people.

I don’t believe you! It’s another trick!

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Hal 9000 said:

And ROTS, if that matters to you.

Ok, I clearly didn’t think this through!

Mark’s Down On Your Syntax said:

I personally think that Rogue One and the rest of the anthologies will distinguish themselves from the episodic films by not having a crawl. By not having a starfield background they can basically open anywhere they like.

I’m undecided how close I really want the anthologies’s opening to be to the rest of the episodes…I think something similar to how The Clone Wars series opened would be nice. Do I want a new/re-worked Main Theme? Probably not. But starting in space with a custom ‘Rouge One: A Star Wars Story’ logo fading into the background I think would be nice.

Lord Haseo said:

pablumatic said:
Not funny anymore, sound people.

Speak for yourself

I still enjoy hearing it - well mixed into the background of a scene that is. It can be pretty jarring occasionally…

Complete Star Wars Poster Collection

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I still wish someone would make a movie with lots of screaming where everyone screamed nothing but the Wilhelm Scream.