The Long Tommorrow looks very interesting. I definitely need to look into that. The other article and the comics it references are pretty telling. I have to say, I’m somewhat disappointed at how a lot of Empire Srikes Back seems to have been lifted from it directly. Some of the storyboards are little more than duplicates of the French work.
I may watch 1977 Star Wars. Haven’t really decided yet.
I can’t do it. I got out the DVD and put it in the on-deck circle (where it’s visible as the next thing I’m going to watch). I looked at it sitting there for over a week and put it away two days ago. I just can’t go backwards. I can’t bring myself to watch it.
It’s the GOUT, which is a huge F-you from Lucas to the original fans, and it’s (to me) an abridged version of the story. I made the switch to the NPR version years ago and I just can’t go back. I thought I could at least this once now that I’d seen how fantastic the Abrams film and new leads look to be, plus the original cast are back. I was wrong.
If Disney ever does the right thing and releases a proper version of the 1977 original and shows the film, actors, entire 77 crew, and the fans respect, I’ll buy it and watch it. Until then, I just can’t watch anything Lucas had a direct hand in making.
With that said: This week has been my personal Star Wars canon. The NPR version during my work commutes. I have about four hours left, which should take me up to Sunday morning. If I get antsy and listen while I’m working, I’ll go back and revisit a few of my favorite episodes.
Driving home yesterday (yes, I pulled over to take the picture).
The electric feel of a Star Wars opening weekend crowd is clearly lost on some. 😉
I agree. Sometimes there’s no substitute for being part of a cultural event. I saw Star Wars more times than I can count back in 77. While it wasn’t the insanity three months removed, during those early days I was part of the mass crowds and 400’ long lines. Same for the midnight showings of Empire (still remember it well). A day off to battle opening day crowds for Return in 83.
No substitute for those markers on the timeline. Looking forward to this one even more. It’s been a very long time coming. Wouldn’t miss it.
msycamore said:
"I wrote a giant script. The original film was basically subtitled The Tragedy of Darth Vader. And in the beginning Darth Vader comes in and kills everybody and in the middle you found out that this kid is actually the son of Darth Vader, and in the end the son validates, vindicates and allows the father to be ahh…" an awkward pause, Lucas scratches his nose and continues.It’s sad that even in an interview like that, he isn’t able to be sincere when describing the writing process of what is essentially a simple fantasy movie. Instead he needs to burp his programmed “Lucasfilm mythology.” The expression on Nolan’s face is basically “What the hell are you talking about.”
Much more sad is how completely fabricated that entire story is. Honestly, he seems mentally ill at times. That original script was nothing like that. Annikin and Vader are two different people and Luke is older than Vader. Vader is just a military general, not some disfigured & cloaked tragic central character. It’s bizarre that he thinks he can repeat that lie continually and it will somehow become reality. The scripts are all out there for anyone who wants to read them. He’s delusional.
A random Reddit post by an anonymous internet user? Hardly confirmation.
TK428 said:
John Boyega on ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, Deleted Scenes, and Whether Han Shot First
He’s fun to listen to in interviews. He has a healthy sense of all this craziness and doesn’t take it too seriously. I particularly like his reply to the who shot first question. He doesn’t even let the guy finish the question before matter-of-factly answering Han, then asks the interviewer “what kind of question is that?”
Nicely done, Boyega.
An extended video to the 60 Minutes piece. Very interesting. A tiny bit more footage.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-ot-how-the-new-star-wars-begins/
I kind of like to think Luke only THINKS he can understand R2, but he really has no idea and is just projecting.
That’s how I’ve always imagined it was.
Might be different with Rey. Clearly she’s much more than a “no one” scavenger girl. We’ll find out this Friday.
Hey Star Wars fans! Here’s a TFA sneak-peek you guys might be interested in:
For their 300th episode, the popular movie review podcast “Comedy Film Nerds” is going to be recording and releasing a review episode of The Force Awakens before the film is even released in North America.
The two hosts (@GrahamElwood and @ChrisMancini) live in California, but are literally flying across the world to Melbourne, Australia JUST to see the movie first and give the fans some info about what you’re about to see. They’ll be seeing the film on what will actually be Tuesday 12/15 in the US.
Then, right after, they’re going to record a live episode in front of the audience that just saw the film, reviewing and discussing all things TFA. It’ll be a mash-up event with Steele Wars, an aussie Star Wars podcast.
These guys are all huge huge Star Wars fans (their podcast’s slogan is legit ‘Han shot first.’), so I definitely think they’ll have some awesome stuff to say.
Anyway, I suggest you subscribe to the ‘Comedy Film Nerds’ podcast on iTunes.
The episode will drop at 11am on Wednesday 12/16 (US Pacific Time [UTC -8:00]).
I’m super excited to hear what they have to say about it. I just feel like I need to know asap whether it’s gonna be awesome or not, haha.
—Lindsay (@MarsOddity)
Posting this in one thread is enough. On that note; posting it in the spoiler free discussion seems an odd decision.
There’s also this, POSSIBLE SPOILER: when Kylo and Finn confront each other Kylo’s mask is knocked off, revealing that he is in some way disfigured. Which is why in the various advertisements and trailers, during that momentary interlude with Finn, we don’t see Kylo’s face; only the back of his head.
Thoughts?
They’ve released a few set pictures of Driver without the mask. Unless that’s deliberate misdirection, it looks like he’s undamaged. I’d be just fine with that. We don’t need everyone in the GFFA to have some sort of physical damage. His story sounds plenty compelling. Less is more.
Aside from the two of you looking to generate several pages of debate team practice, Han isn’t a terribly deep character because Lucas isn’t a deep thinker or writer. I don’t think he had any idea what to do with him after Star Wars. He’s not even part of his first sequel (Splinter). I’ve never read the second writer’s sequel, so I don’t know what direction Brackett was taking him in, if any.
The whole group of Ren could be a sort of radicalized or idealistic break-away faction complicating an already dangerous dynamic.
In the NPR version of Star Wars, there’s a second layer of dishonest military leaders who hint that they could break off from the Empire and further muddy the Empire/Rebellion relationship. They don’t act on it, but they are aware of it and you get the feeling they’ve weighed the possibility.
Maybe The Ren are a similar group, but didn’t err on the side of discretion. They may have decided to take matters into their own hands. Not at all unlike modern day geopolitical relationships.
I agree that Driver comes across as grounded and appreciative. Judging from interviews, people seem to really enjoy working with him. I’ve only seen him in one thing (Here’s Where I Leave You). He was very good in that.
Looking forward to this for sure. I like what we’re seeing and what is being hinted at so far; a character who is a bit unhinged, including his fabricated saber. He appears dangerous for reasons other than misguided power. He looks more like it’s misguided anger.
Swazzy said:
Also, you’ve got to factor in George’s “Vision”, and how there was probably something in the contract that prevented it from being tampered with.
Disney doesn’t give someone 4 billion dollars and then allow them to dictate terms. They’ll release the theatrical versions when they reach an agreement with 20th Century Fox. George has zero say in anything Star Wars.
If I had to guess, they first want to restore the franchise and distance it from his vision, then they’ll correct his mistakes and his mistreatment of the fans.
So will it be:
-Not dubbed but in 3D, by myself plus a four-hour drive
-Or much nearer to my place and with a friend but in French and in 2D?
The drive will be part of the adventure.
I wont be seeing Force Awakens until Sunday morning. I’ll have step lightly around here myself for a few days.
Anyway, Starwars.com is live broadcasting the lead up to the premiere and the red carpet nonsense involved. So as soon as that ends would be the ideal time to cut the cord.
I followed the link and poked around a bit. Really nice to see the respect being paid to the originals. Their Film page uses the original one-sheets for the OT.
To me, that looks like an end scene where she’s somewhat decompressed after the story we’ve just watched. I get the impression it’s her look of inner peace with regard to her new life. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s her bidding farewell to someone as she prepares to pilot the Falcon back to Corellia to return her father’s body for a proper burial.
Did this ever make its way into here?
https://youtu.be/v7BwIyNN9rs?list=PL148kCvXk8pD4i6tww4roNV1R_oAceb-5
He looks great. I really hope we get to see him as a regular person in the flow of the film, not just as some sort of seated in a temple Obi-Wan duplicate with a few Wise Old Jedi lines.
Luke Skywalker, the cocky and passionate focus of the OT, deserves more.
Even in his short statement, Lucas sounds like someone who sees the fans as separate from what he does or wants, which has clearly been the case in the past. It comes across as veiled selfishness. “Sure, it’s fine if you want to make a film the fans will like”. The only thing missing is the Sheldon Cooper haughty look of derision.
Could this be indicative of the new dogfighting cinematography?
If so, I’m psyched.
I agree. Really nice to see they abandoned all that idiotic spinning of the prequels. “This is Red Leader. Assume attack formation and go into your series of triple Salchows”
there was a reason Fox only wanted the middle part of his saga, even then they realised the rest of it was weak.
Except there was no “middle part” of any saga back then. That’s just Lucasian revisionism.
That’s the most important part of this trolling. It was A film, not some sort of “I had it all planned in the 70s, family saga, 12 films, 9 films, 12 films, 6 films, 9 films, 3 films, father-brother-sister” BS.
If he had it all planned out in the 70s, he wouldn’t have hired Alan Dean Foster to write a second story.
I imagine the B.S. levels are going to rise pretty high during these last two weeks.
Yeah…I got a bad feeling about this.
JJ’s AOL interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ekui0QWaCA
He comes across as very grounded. He also takes the high road every time out. By all accounts from what we’ve seen so far, as well as heard from everyone involved, his film is a radical and intentional step back into the original galaxy far far away. Yet every time he’s asked or given the opportunity to discuss how far he’s distanced this from the prequels and why, he never bad-mouths or takes cheap shots at Lucas or those terrible films.
In this current age of lauding angry snark as entertainment, it’s refreshing to see someone so professional and intelligent. His lens flare story is another area where he stays grounded and honest. He’s aware people don’t like them and he’s aware he went too far. He owns the mistake and doesn’t shy away from taking the criticism.
A one year old watching Star Wars at a drive-in movie theater would have to be quite an experience.
Only if its parents brought something interesting for it to play with and put it in its car seat while they watched the movie.
From birth to three months, babies’ eyes can’t focus on objects more than about ten inches from their face. Their eyes can’t accommodate (change shape to change focus). They don’t really start to develop hand\eye coordination until about nine months. By twelve months they can judge distance pretty well. What they can’t do is see or understand something happening on a movie screen three hundred feet away.
