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Broom Kid

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3-Sep-2019
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10-Jul-2025
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909

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Post
#1376607
Topic
The Rise Of Skywalker - Abrams' Vision or Executive Meddling?
Time

“The community” is a very small percentage of the larger audience though. Fandom isn’t as important as it thinks it is, nor does it have the numbers it thinks it does. “Fandom,” and “The Community” don’t represent a lot of power compared to the general audience. Is there some venn diagramming of the “Silent Majority” as you put it and the vocal side of a much, much smaller segment of that audience that self-identifies as “the fandom?” Definitely. Is that venn diagramming all that important to anyone but the people in that self-identified fandom? Not really.

I’m also not sure what it is you’re trying to argue in this context? That if things were different, they’d be different? TFA was liked. A lot. It wasn’t merely “Tolerated” to the level of success it enjoyed.

It’s popularity doesn’t negate or invalidate people’s feelings about the movie though. I’m not saying “Well, it was popular, so your criticisms don’t count” I have problems with TFA as a movie, too. What I’m saying is that trying to reframe its obvious and observable success both financially and critically as a mass exercise in tolerance doesn’t make any sense to me if you’re trying to reflect reality at all, nor does trying to frame TLJ’s reception (which was remarkably good if not AS remarkable as TFA’s) as a result of the general audience’s collective pent-up rage being unleashed.

Post
#1376585
Topic
The Rise Of Skywalker - Abrams' Vision or Executive Meddling?
Time

I still think it’s more than fair to say many opinions on TFA soured over time

Ok, but that’s not really what’s being argued. Opinions didn’t really sour that much between 2015 and 2017, and certainly not to the point where mass outbreaks of “pent up rage” affected the box-office of TLJ to a measurable degree. Even to the extent that some opinions on the film did sour in the two years (more like 1 1/2 considering its popularity) it certainly didn’t sour to the point where anyone could claim its “tolerated” popularity was only kept afloat due to the power of hope that sequels would “fix” it.

This suggested POV seems to be reflecting a small and extremely online subsect of the film’s (exponentially) larger audience.

Also: earlier in the thread, someone suggested Arndt’s character work is what contributed to TFA’s success, but I don’t believe anything about Arndt’s script save for the general structure survived the process. IIRC, the whole reason Kasdan was there was to effectively page-one rewrite everything with Abrams.

Post
#1376568
Topic
The Rise Of Skywalker - Abrams' Vision or Executive Meddling?
Time

People really liked TFA. Nothing makes 900mil+ domestically out of a sense of “tolerance.”

It’s kinda silly to look at the unprecedented success (and critical reception) TFA got and say people only “tolerated” it. They obviously really, really liked it. Liking a movie and hoping the sequel does the stuff you liked EVEN BETTER aren’t mutually exclusive ideas. TLJ didn’t make as much as TFA for multiple reasons, hashed out in multiple discusssions over the last five years, but I don’t think in any way that “pent up rage” from the audience had any real effect on that box-office dip.

Post
#1376522
Topic
2020 Blu Rays - are they worth it?
Time

Damn, that’s wild!

So basically, the only guaranteed way to get ONLY the 2020 blu-rays is to buy the UK 18-disc blu-ray box-set.

I do wonder if the same thing will start happening here in the US - when stores finally burn through all their 2011 repackages, will Disney start issuing the new discs for restock? Or will they bother to even press up new discs at all and just steer folks to Disney+

Post
#1376319
Topic
Popularity of the Original Trilogy enhanced by Prequels?
Time

Star Wars has always been popular. I don’t even know how you could argue otherwise. The fact it wasn’t AS popular when it was just books and video games (even though those books and video games were almost constantly best sellers) isn’t a sign that it was unpopular, just that it’s MOST popular when its movies.

The idea that “Sweaty nerds” kept it alive has always benefited sweaty nerds sense of self worth more than anything. It’s not all that reflective of reality. Star Wars sold billions of toys, books, video games, and more between 1984 and 1998. Nerds don’t move billions of dollars of ANYTHING by themselves. It’s never happened. You hit billions because regular folks like it.

I don’t think the PT enhanced the OT’s popularity. It probably enhanced ROTJ’s reputation more than anything, I will give it that. But the OT, and more generally, STAR WARS was always super-popular. Probably always will be. Even if now it seems like it’s most popular as TV instead of as a Movie. But then again, you could argue TV is more popular than movies now. And at this point, pretty much everything IS TV right now. So Star Wars is probably in a good place in that regard - like it basically always has been.

Post
#1375500
Topic
The Rise Of Skywalker - Abrams' Vision or Executive Meddling?
Time

But a script isn’t the same thing as this overarching “plan” that people keep referencing, which is more accurately a conceptual security blanket for fandom to let them feel like everything is alright, some faceless person at Disney has Kennedy/Abrams/insert-director-here “under control” and they won’t mess up Star Wars.

You can make a good movie out of a subpar script. It’s happened many times. For example: Star Wars. But I’m not even arguing that you don’t need a great script. I’m arguing that constantly suggesting an overarching plan would have made things right is wishful thinking, because this director doesn’t follow plans even when they ARE good, or further, when they’re HIS OWN PLANS.

I don’t want to confuse the idea that “script” = “plan” here, not in the way we’re all constantly talking about “The Plan” as in “Disney should have had a Plan” or “See what happens when Kennedy doesn’t hammer out a Plan.” Do I wish the script had been better? I wish everything had been better. But sometimes collaborative art projects just don’t come together despite everyone’s best intentions. For example: The Phantom Menace.

“The Plan” has become this weird mythological safety net for fandom, and the truth is most everything that fandom loves didn’t really have a plan, and even if there was, it wasn’t really adhered to.

“The Plan” wouldn’t have saved The Rise of Skywalker. It needed good ideas, and all it got were bad ones.

Post
#1375482
Topic
The Rise Of Skywalker - Abrams' Vision or Executive Meddling?
Time

Hal 9000 said:

It’s Disney’s fault for having such a tight deadline. When Carrie passed, they should have pushed it back a year. No one external forced the release date.

Abrams was given a daunting task. I still don’t like what he pulled off, but fault depends on how you frame it.

None of the bad decisions he made were time-based though. He would have had an extra 6-10 months to try finessing his mountain of bad ideas, but they still would have been fundamentally bad. If anything, looking at how that movie was made, it just would have been packed full of even more - and newer - bad ideas than what we got on his deadline.

Post
#1375401
Topic
<strong>The Mandalorian</strong> - a general discussion thread - * <em><strong>SPOILERS</strong></em> *
Time

They also said that Sasha Banks would play Sabine, but she seems to be an original character here.

Does she? She just seems like someone in a hood. That could be Sabine. But it could also be someone we’ve never met before.

But whether some “insider” or not got something right or wrong - Ahsoka is gonna be in this show. No way all that smoke around Rosario Dawson is going to be JUST smoke. Plus Temuera Morrison is definitely in the show. Everyone immediately assumed he was Boba Fett, but it seems a lot more likely to me he’s Rex - especially if Ahsoka is around.

There’s going to be Clone Wars/Rebels characters in this show. Which is fine. It’s all in how it’s executed. Filoni’s shows have consistently figured out how to take ideas that sound pretty bad on their face and make them work. Maul coming back shouldn’t have worked. Ahsoka living past order 66 shouldn’t have worked. The Bendu, etc.

I think if there’s a good way to have Rex, Ahsoka, and Sabine make the leap into live-action on this show, they’ll figure it out, and it’ll probably work just fine.

Post
#1374947
Topic
How many times have you bought the movies?
Time

If/when an official restoration of the theatrical versions is ever put on Disney+, we’ll probably just call them just that: The theatrical versions. I think at that point, if it ever happens, they’ll be so ubiquitous and easily accessible that there won’t be the need for a nickname. If I had to guess, they’d become “the originals” for short.

Post
#1374935
Topic
How many times have you bought the movies?
Time

Z6PO said:

GOUT?

GOUT is the unfortunate acronym the community sort of accepted and kept propagating in the mid 2000s in reference to the 2006 DVDs that had the laserdisc masters included on a bonus disc. It stands for “George’s Original Unaltered Trilogy.”

Apparently it was originally kind of a dumb joke but then people started using it unironically and then it became an accepted sync-standard for restorationists and preservationists. It’s on its way out now though since there are new restorations that don’t base their length and sync on those old laserdisc masters anymore.

GOUT = the 2006 bonus discs.

Post
#1374844
Topic
How many times have you bought the movies?
Time

I can’t believe I haven’t contributed to this list yet. I thought for sure I had, but… nope!

My first copies were technically pirated: The 1984 CBS premiere of Star Wars taped onto VHS, and then copies of Empire and Jedi taped off cable from a friend who had it (our family didn’t get cable until much later)

My second copies were… ALSO pirated: I rented the videos from a rental store, and used an old VCR to dub them.

My third copies were finally legally purchased: The Faces VHS set.

Fourth copies: The Widescreen VHS box set with the hologram cover (one of my first eBay purchases, too).

Fifth copies: The Widescreen SE box set

The Phantom Menace on Widescreen VHS

The Phantom Menace on DVD

Attack of the Clones on DVD

The 2004 DVD set

Revenge of the Sith on DVD

The "Complete Saga’ blu-ray set

The Force Awakens on blu-ray

Rogue One on blu-ray

The Last Jedi on blu-ray (Target exclusive)

Solo on blu-ray

The Rise of Skywalker on blu-ray (Target exclusive)

Post
#1374581
Topic
The Rise Of Skywalker - Abrams' Vision or Executive Meddling?
Time

Tack said:

macesmajored said:

I believe the fault lies with Disney and the make-believe “Lucasfilm Story Group” that they created

I just want to say I really appreciate you giving such a measured take on the situation.

Is sarcasm?

It’s Abrams’ fault. It’s his name on the movie, his name as producer, his name as writer. He made the movie. Acting like a larger plan would have stopped him from making a bad trilogy-ender doesn’t make any sort of logical sense (almost as little logical sense as saying the story group was “make believe,” or further, thinking the story group was anything but canon checkers for the creatives). He abandoned “the plan” TWICE when making TFA (both Lucas’ notes and then Arndt’s treatments) and it became a much-loved, well-reviewed success - the highest grossing (domestic) film in history (and likely will be for the foreseeable future). There being “a plan” for The Rise of Skywalker wouldn’t have mattered one whit, because when he did get the chance to come back, he ignored HIS OWN PLANS (Rey Kenobi, Finn the Jedi, Stormtrooper rebellion) to pursue something completely different. And it didn’t work.

Had Abrams made a good movie out of his new on the fly plans (like he did with TFA), none of us would be talking about plans, or “executive meddling” (he’s the executive doing the meddling at the behest of other executives, btw). But he made a bad movie, and now we’re all trying to figure out how it could have happened. But the truth is it happened because nobody bats a thousand. He’s made bad movies before, and he made a bad movie again, this time to end the sequel trilogy. The idea that Disney could have stopped that with a “well conceived plan” doesn’t make any sense. It’s wishful thinking. The dude doesn’t follow plans no matter where they come from, even if “Following the plan” were some surefire key to success, and it isn’t.

Every movie is a risk, and there isn’t some cheat code or safety net to prevent bad movies from coming out of the creative process. It takes work, talent, collaboration, skill, and luck. Every time. No matter what the plan is.

Post
#1374539
Topic
Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker - Discussion * <strong><em>SPOILER THREAD</em></strong> *
Time

Here’s why the “a little planning” argument fails out:

The problem with The Rise of Skywalker is that the guy who was hired to come in and “fix” it to Lucasfilm’s satisfaction was completely uninterested in following any plan. Including his. Plans only have any worth if someone chooses to follow them. And Abrams wasn’t going to follow it. He didn’t even follow his own.

So you have a creative who doesn’t care about any plan (even his own) and executives unconcerned with making anyone adhere to that plan. Lucas was very much the same way. Guiding visions sound noble but if the person doing the guiding isn’t GOOD AT IT then you still wind up with more bad movies than good.

Plans aren’t laws. Especially not in a creative area. There’s a reason screenwriters are lowest figures on the filmmaking totem pole, and it’s not because they don’t know how to stick up for themselves.

Sometimes movies are just bad because the creatives making them don’t make the right decisions. It’s not a conspiracy or anything. Guiding visions and plans in place are security blankets for fandom. They’re not foolproof ways forward to making good movies, and there aren’t even really that many examples to prove the strength of that assertion anyway. Not that it matters. Security blankets can’t really protect you from monsters, either. But it feels like they can, and that’s THEIR worth.

Post
#1373948
Topic
Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker - Discussion * <strong><em>SPOILER THREAD</em></strong> *
Time

So, if you left TFA thinking “it really seems like they want to hint that Rey’s parents were Kenobis of some sort” you weren’t wrong. That was initially on the table.

https://twitter.com/starwarstuff/status/1303652748223754240

Then Rian Johnson made the case for Rey Nobody really strongly and everyone liked that, and they did that for The Last Jedi. And then Trevorrow’s script got junked, they asked Abrams back, and he decided Rey was REALLY a Palpatine, only to waffle on that throughout production, and then ultimately decide fairly late in the game that she was.

Everyone on the twitters and the forums and all the usual fandom places seem to think this is proof positive that YOU NEED A PLAN (you don’t) but I don’t know. The takeaway here seems to be that if you want to double back on an idea, you better have good answers and a clear vision for how you want to do it. Because if you don’t, it’s not going to work well. Johnson had a pretty strong, clear idea for not pursuing Abrams’ initial “Rey Kenobi” idea (if he even knew that was the idea), but Abrams didn’t have any sort of clear idea for why he was doing anything he was doing, as evidenced by the fact he couldn’t even decide on WHAT it was he wanted to do until deep into production.

Post
#1372216
Topic
<strong>The Rise Of Skywalker</strong> — Official Review and Opinions Thread
Time

$5.99. Per month

$5.99! I can make my own memes for that, we don’t have to sit here and watch Baby Yoda sip soup all–

We’ll pay you 5.99 now… and another 6.99 for Hulu w/ ads and ESPN+

ESPN+ huh? Okay, you guys got yourself a ship.

(ESPN+ those guys must REALLY be desperate this could REALLY save our necks)

Post
#1371508
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

Hal 9000 said:

The suns change position in almost the same way in the theatrical, so if this is jarring it isn’t because of what we did here. I am fairly certain it’s the same footage of the suns even.

It’s a bad cut in the theatrical, too - the only thing that makes it slightly better is that there are figures in the foreground also blipping into existence so theres’ something else drawing attention to the fact the suns are just blinking around the screen. But it’s a bad cut either way. Again, it’s not “suggesting” anything, it’s just jump-cutting celestial bodies across the screen. if there’s a way to cut to something else before cutting back it’ll play better than just BLIP.

I don’t think cutting to the inside of the ship you just heard starting up for a fun moment as Rey and BB-8 leave frame, suggesting new adventures on the way, and then cutting back outside to that ship flying through frame is “random.” I think it honestly makes spatial and storytelling sense to do that. “Rey Skywalker” - They leave frame on the suns. Cut to the inside of the ship you just heard start up. Cut back to the suns, now in different position, a short time later - ship flies through that frame. Time has passed, the feeling of “they’re off on new adventures” is underlined, and iris out.

But I do think the current (and original) cut is just flat-out not good, in either original or fan-edited form right now.

Post
#1371491
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

Anakin Starkiller said:
Yes, there is a through-line, but Carrie Fisher’s death is irrelevant. Leia’s role in the trilogy has always been fairly minor, and her role in DotF could have easily been rewritten around the footage they had. Lucasfilm clearly had a problem with the script itself. I’m inclined to believe it’s the way it handled Kylo.

I don’t think Fisher’s death is irrelevant, There was a strong insistence on figuring out some way to keep her character in the story despite the fact the actor had died. I do agree the handling of Kylo was also a very big problem, but even bigger was the apparently not-up-for-debate guideline that you couldn’t write Leia out of the movie. It simply wasn’t an option. And it should have been. The movie was apparently begun (and re-begun) with Leia being responsible for whatever redemption Kylo was going to have. At no point did anyone even try to concieve of a story where Leia wasn’t in it, or that Kylo wasn’t redeemed. Removing huge, story-changing options like that from the storytelling process really hurt the movie’s potential.

On-topic: Has there been any discussion about moving the Chewie & the Boys chess scene to after Rey says “Rey Skywalker” but before she gets back on the ship? Because I still think that jump cut where the suns literally shift across the screen is not good. Unless that jump cut isn’t in the movie anymore (I haven’t seen the most recent workprint). I think you need a scene placed in there so it doesn’t look like a mistake in editing just occurred. Because that’s what it looks like now. I remember someone earlier saying “it suggests the passage of time” but it doesn’t really do that. It just looks like teleporting suns. That’s not suggesting anything clearly other than “we cut something out of here and didn’t put anything back.”

Post
#1371317
Topic
4K restoration on Star Wars
Time

https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1368118/action/topic#1368118

Broom Kid said:

The UK blu-ray only Skywalker Saga box that was talked about frequently in this thread before the release might be different, but I don’t know that anyone who bought that one (the Wal-Mart link that kept getting posted was essentially a link to import the UK set) has written about it since they got it.

Thanks for the confirmation! It’s good to know.