Alderaan

Disney has owned Star Wars for 4 years. Nothing has changed. They have already released one film theatrically and on DVD and BluRay, and several others are in production. The time for hoping that they will do the right thing is over. Lucasfilm is obviously busy making the same crap movies they’ve been making for the last 20 years, and it should be clear by now that they have no intention of restoring the OOT any time soon. Anything else is wishcasting.

Lord Haseo said:
Is that some sort of half assed way of endorsing that terrible joke?

No, I thought Silver was responding to me. I’m definitely not going to wade in on any bigoted nonsense. I was just in a bad mood yesterday upon hearing Lucasfilm has no plans to restore the OOT, and felt the appropriate response was to bash the rubbish films they continue to make.

joefavs said:
It’s the journalistic equivalent of “my friend’s friend knows this guy”.

No, it’s really not. That’s not how reputable journalism works. If the WSJ says they spoke to someone familiar with the matter, and that person says Lucasfilm has no plans to restore the OOT, then I absolutely believe that’s the case. If we want to be sure, we can all tweet or email Ben Fritz (who wrote the article) for clarification.

Ben Fritz
Twitter: @benfritz
Email: ben.fritz@wsj.com

The guy was obviously on our side, so be polite and don’t ask who he talked to, because he’s not going to give out his source. But you might be able to get clarification that it was someone who absolutely knows what they are talking about, like more than a receptionist or a 10 year old press release.

Lord Haseo said:

imperialscum said:
As long as they are getting easy billions from boring rehash films like TFA, I don’t think they will be interested in making an effort for scraps like releasing theatrical OT.

That doesn’t even make any sense…

Also you really like to look for any excuse to use the word “rehash”.

I really don’t understand your incessant need to go around every thread on the forum and take umbrage with every single post that criticizes TFA directly or indirectly. Other people will have different opinions than you, so you should probably accept that and move on with life. There is a thread specifically for criticizing/supporting TFA. I think you will save yourself a lot of grief and gray hairs if you limit your policing to that thread.

SilverWook said:

Probably whoever answered the phone at Lucasfilm that day. It’s half assed journalism. It’s already been pointed out in the original thread the inaccurate things they wrote about Adywan.

To be fair, Adywan said he’s unemployed because of health reasons and the journalist said he was disabled. It sounds more like a case of lost in translation. If Adywan wanted to, he could contact the WSJ and ask them to retract that particular line, which I doubt he has done.

The article clearly had a pro-OOT and pro-fan editors slant. Anyone on our side who got offended by the article or took issue with it probably needs to check themselves. My opinion.

Also, if the WSJ is saying “a person familiar with the matter”…that doesn’t mean it was some receptionist or some statement from 10 years ago. It quite clearly means they talked to someone who knows, and that there are no plans to restore the OOT now or any time in the foreseeable future.

SilverWook said:

Thanks for sharing.

It’s a good day to be in a bad mood.

A few months later and hindsight is finally starting to set in.

TFA was an even bigger piece of generic crap than I thought it was in December. Total rubbish, but still better than the prequels.

Very good article this week in the Wall Street Journal. Most likely OT.com was redacted, but Harmy, Adywan, and others were mentioned along with all of the important talking points.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/star-wars-fans-feel-the-force-calling-them-back-to-original-cuts-1461012670

I enjoyed the article until I read the last line:

Lucasfilm currently has no plans to release the original version of “Star Wars,” said a person familiar with the matter.

Not going to bother listening to this. TFA score was very disappointing, but we all know John Williams is one of the best film composers of all time. One can only assume that his score for TFA was bland and derivative because he was taking his cue from the film itself–bland and derivative.

TV’s Frink said:

Regardless of whatever you were trying to say, I would make a terrible director. The difference between us is that I understand my limitations.

Seeing as how we’ve never met each other, and I was not talking about our directorial skills to begin with, your posts come across as quite bitter and sad.

TV’s Frink said:

Bingowings said:

I think there are people on these boards who would make a great film with a fraction of the money.

It’s certainly possible. But I guarantee you it wouldn’t be Alderaan, imperialscum, or myself.

I think it’s safe to say you would be a better sycophant than a director, that’s for sure.

Yoda Is Your Father said:

Well, this thread dried up.

I guess now the holidays are over the film students had to go back to class.

Probably people just have better things to do than talk endlessly about some mediocre (at best) movie.

I think you guys are missing the point. It doesn’t matter how quickly characters could move around the Death Star or Starkiller, but rather it’s up to the filmmaker to create the illusion of the passage of time.

In the original Star Wars, for instance, it would have been ridiculous for R2 and 3PO to land right at Luke’s doorstep when they crashed onto Tatooine. The film created the illusion of the passage of time with the sandcrawler sidequest. Just adding in a small subplot like that can be very effective.

In TFA, nothing like this ever happens. When people need to run into each other, they just do it. It comes across as contrived.

TV’s Frink said:
Disliking TFA is fine, thinking it’s shit is hyperbole.

I think you are misinterpreting my post. The film looks fine, for the most part. It has a high production budget and was made by professional people. I never said it was ****, rather I’ve consistently said it is mediocre because of the (lack of) story.

It was a cash grab. TFA is the new Godfather 3.

TV’s Frink said:

When I hear anyone describe TFA as a fan film, I immediately think that’s someone who has never actually seen a fan film.

That’s why I called it a $350 million fan-film.

Delicieuxz said:
I think it’s described very well as being a fanfic.

TFA is a $350 million fan-film. I like your quote about it paying homage to the original Star Wars films, but coming up short and failing to become a part of them.

TV’s Frink said:
For the record, while I strongly disagree with the idea that that Rey is not the main character, I was not responding to that.

It’s pretty clear that she was intended to be the main character. But a main character has a goal and actively pursues that goal throughout the film. Not just any goal, mind you – she must actively struggle to achieve THE GOAL, emphasis added. None of that applies to Rey after she is kidnapped by Kylo. Her character suddenly becomes “an idea” (turning on its head the cliche of rescuing the damsel in distress).

Typically, the male leads will blow up the bad guys and save the female. In TFA, the male leads arrive to save Rey, but she’s already free and winds up saving them).

That’s great, but it’s just an idea that wasn’t well orchestrated with the rest of the plot. You can’t make a good film with a lot of unrelated ideas, and that’s why TFA plot falls apart, and the film is just mediocre. Rey should never devolve into a cute idea in the last act of the movie … her character should be more strongly defined than that and striving to achieve “THE GOAL” right down to the bitter end.

hydrospanner said:
I thought it was pretty obvious that Rey is the protogontist.

Bingowings said:
Rey is definitely the lead, in the way Luke was. Finn is more like Leia in being a potential love interest and if the Poe Dameron fan theories come to anything it’s a potential triangle with Finn as the critical vertex.

The protagonist has a desire that they actively pursue throughout the course of the story.
Example: Luke wants to travel to Alderaan with Obi-Wan and learn the ways of The Force.
Example: Luke wants to train with Yoda, to become a Jedi Knight like his father before him.

The protagonist also faces a critical choice at the start of the last act.
Example: Obi-Wan dies, but Luke carries on and decides to join the Rebel attack on the Death Star.
Example: Luke defies Yoda’s warning, and aborts his training to run off to Cloud City to save his friends.

In TFA, Rey starts out as the main character. The first act places her in her ordinary world, at home on Jakku.

At the Act I climax, she flees for her life when the First Order attacks, and suddenly she finds herself entangled in the main plot. She eventually has a goal – to get BB-8’s map to The Resistance. So far, so good.

(Extra Credit: the very best kind of protagonist has both an external goal AND an internal goal they are trying to achieve. In the original Star Wars, Luke’s external goal was to get R2-D2 and the Death Star plans to the Rebels. His internal goal was to learn the ways of The Force from Obi-Wan. This is superior story design to TFA, in which Rey’s only goal was an external one…to deliver BB-8 and the map. Someone might be tempted to interject that Rey’s internal goal was to “make friends” or “realize her Jedi powers” or something like that, but she 1) turned down Han’s offer and wanted to return home and 2) she ran away from the vision and otherwise never actively struggled to increase her force abilities until the last 20 minutes of the movie or whatever.)

Anyway, the story then moves into Act II, and this is where “Rey is the main character” starts to fall apart. Han and Chewie take her (and Finn) to Maz’s castle, but then they are attacked by the First Order, and Rey is captured and taken prisoner. From this point forward, she is no longer the main character. She has no idea what Starkiller base is, or whether or not BB-8 made it to The Resistance. She just woke up in some prison, and her goal is to escape. Her story becomes a subplot. She makes no crisis decision heading into the last Act, nothing. From the time she is kidnapped by Kylo, she is no longer the main character in the movie.

So who is? Well, Finn makes a crisis decision to put everyone in the galaxy’s lives at risk so he can reunite with this broad he just met the day before. Han makes a crisis decision to go and save his son. The lot of them are all actively trying to blow up Starkiller before The First Order kills them. And so on.

The plot is an incoherent mess, and imperialscum was unequivocally right with his comment. There is no main character. The script looks to be an amalgamation of several different concepts, written or influenced by various people. Together they turned into a Frankenstein’s Monster, which is what happens when the entire production doesn’t unite behind one singular vision.

TV’s Frink said:
Hilarious.

You are entitled to your opinion on the film, no question, but when it comes to screenwriting knowledge, you don’t seem to have any, so maybe it would be best if you listened more and talked less when these topics come up.

imperialscum said:
There is no real lead. Finn has just as much weight I would say. It is a similar mess as TPM.

This is absolutely and unequivocally true. So does Han Solo.

Now THIS was fascinating! A must watch!

22-minute documentary on John Williams scoring The Empire Strikes Back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu7_dMhdciw

#1 The Empire Strikes Back
#2 Star Wars
#3 Return of the Jedi

#4 The Force Awakens

#5 Prequel #1
#6 Prequel #3
#7 Prequel #2

hydrospanner said:

Alderaan said:

Also look at the execution of the plot on screen. Do you really want to compare the original Death Star attack with Starkiller assault side-by-side? Same plot elements can get boring AND pale in quality to the original.

I did compare it. The Starkiller assault was way better than the Death Star attack in the original. Everyone who likes TFA has even stated as much in their review.

All the lolz

Also look at the execution of the plot on screen. Do you really want to compare the original Death Star attack with Starkiller assault side-by-side? Same plot elements can get boring AND pale in quality to the original.

Frank your Majesty said:
You can’t say that TFN’s story (or plot or whatever you want to call it) is bad because it’s too close to the story of Star Wars, since the story of Star Wars is just great.

Actually, you can. A film that attempts to copy another film, without consideration for how those scenes were orchestrated with respect to dramatic intent, can accomplish both of those things. Similar scenes and plot devices that are used in incongruent ways.

Think of an orchestra, with all of the different sections playing music from different symphonies. They might be playing the music just fine, but it might not all sound good together. Or there might only be half of the symphony playing. The half that plays sounds just like the original, but without the rest, the meaning is lost.

CrazyH said:
“She’s not ready” is not the theme of THIS film.

I didn’t say it was. I was giving an example of good storytelling. The body of a script that matches with its ending. Not only that, but every single detail in that script built toward the climax and they all worked in perfect harmony with each other.

In TFA, the body of the script portrays Kylo as physically impervious throughout the film. The ending shows him getting his ass kicked by two people who didn’t have a clue what they were doing. It’s like taking a pig’s head and stuffing it onto the body of a centipede. They don’t match. It sucks.