“A check‽”

“Yeah, but it’s a good check. See, Chris’ mom wrote it to Chris 'cause Chris bought her something — I can’t remember what — then I bought Chris some press-on nails, I gave Chris the difference, and she wrote the check over to me. So I’ll write the check over to you, you keep the difference, and I’ll take the hot dog. So, you got a pen?”

“Get outta here!”

“Wait! I’m starving! You’d rather throw it away than give it to me‽”

“I work on a cash-only basis.”

“But it’s a perfectly good check!”

“No! I’ll make it very clear. You slip me the cash, and I’ll slip you the weiner.”

“But I don’t have any cash!”

“Then I don’t have a weiner!”

Mark’s Down reminds me of a cat — a svelte Abyssinian.

darthrush said:

+1 for Villenuve. All his movies I have seen are excellent. I’d rank them as follows:

1. Prisoners
2. Blade Runner 2049
3. Sicario
4. Arrival
5. Enemy

You need to see the one with the talking fish. You can’t consider yourself a true Villeneuve fan until you’ve seen the one with the talking fish.

I love the Marvel comics — up 'til the post-ROTJ era. Aside from Lumiya, those issues have very little going for them.

ChainsawAsh said:

Mark’s Down On Your Syntax said:

…to obsessively making numbered lists and categories to make sense of certain Tv show timelines (I’m looking at you, Chris Carter…

Ugh, right? I don’t even know anymore which episodes/seasons of X-Files “count” for me anymore…

As far as I’m concerned, the Syndicate was never working with aliens. They were a fully autonomous body in possession of captured/stolen extraterrestrial tech; they were never in thrall to little gray men, and there was never going to be an alien invasion of Earth. Any episode — or element within an episode — which contradicts that premise, I regard as non-canon.

And screw the entire current mytharc, too. CSM’s ash, the moon landings were real, and that Mulder/Skinner catfight never happened.

Handman said:

Oddly enough, that’s not why you were banned.

I know. Still, karma and all that.

ChainsawAsh said:

The X-Files 11x01 “My Struggle III”

Holy fucking shit that was so much worse than I expected, and I was expecting hot garbage. Fuck you Chris Carter. You outdid yourself. Never write anything ever again.

I knew the episode outpaced the worst of Season 7 when that insulting “moon landing hoax” bullshit reared it’s malignant head.

Chris Carter needs to be introduced to Buzz Aldrin right quick.

paja said:

3. No Kardashians

But they’re one of my favourite ST alien races!

I only have one thing I feel like bitching about at the present.

DuracellEnergizer said:

DominicCobb said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

too many competent male characters, to ever make it into a Kennedyfilm production unmolested.

Oh, so you’re one of those people…

Yeah, I’m a person who prefers real characters over feminazi Mary Sues.

The above was inflammatory garbage deliberately tailored to get a rise out of people, plain and simple. Why did I post it? A combination of “holiday cheer”, SADD, my general non-season-specific misery, and a seething anger towards the more condescending TLJ fanboys all conspired to drive me to do it. But I’m not excusing myself; it was an ugly thing to say under any circumstance, it doesn’t accurately reflect my honest opinions about Rey, and I wholly deserved the punishment I got.

It was a hard 31 days for me, banned from the site. It was so hard for me the first several days, I seriously considered creating a sock just to get my fix. But I bore with it, I persevered, and I’ve come out of the experience a humbler man. In future, I’ll know never to make a stupid blunder like that one again.

Since this “quoting in spoilers” thing is a pain in the ass, I’ll post just this and then I’m done with this debate here.

joefavs said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

Rey becomes a master swords(wo)man with next to no training, yes?

The movie actually makes it pretty clear that her skill with a lightsaber is almost completely due to the fact that she was already a skilled melee fighter with her staff.

Because the two weapons are just so alike and handled so similarly.

She effortlessly lifts a shit-ton of rocks with about the same amount of training, yes?

Didn’t Empire teach us that the only thing keeping you from lifting shit is not believing that you can lift shit? Maybe Rey is just more credulous than Luke was.

Another one of Rey’s “not perfect” qualities, I’m sure.

a bunch of Snoke’s highly-trained bodyguards,

Never established as being Force-sensitive.

And she never received real training, which in a properly executed story would’ve given her a disadvantage.

Her parents were nobodies, not Skywalkers or Kenobis or Palpatines or anyone with Force-sensitivity which might explain her innate proficiency, yes? She’s just absurdly powerful and skilled because … Forcedidit.

So the prequel-era Lucas model of super-powerful chosen-one bloodlines is more appealing to you than the Force working in mysterious ways? Wouldn’t’ve pegged you as one of those.

What would’ve been appealing to me is if Rey had never been depicted as being able to use Jedi mind tricks, telekinesis, and various other Force abilities without training period. But they didn’t. Since they didn’t, they should’ve then come up with a damn plausible reason for her uncanny proficiency. Giving her a Force-ful heritage and/or revealing she had received some Jedi training as a child would’ve helped to some degree to rectify this. They didn’t do any of that.

joefavs said:

EDIT: Who the shit is this seasoned Jedi master she’s supposed to have beaten?

edit by moderator

do NOT post TLJ spoilers in here for everyone to see

Luke.

I tasted TFA; it was was like eating an undercooked cake. TLJ looks like the same cake put back in the oven and then left in the oven too long; I don’t need to taste the blackened thing to know its inedible.

edit by moderator

do NOT post TLJ spoilers in here for everyone to see

Rey becomes a master swords(wo)man with next to no training, yes? She effortlessly lifts a shit-ton of rocks with about the same amount of training, yes? She beats a seasoned Jedi master, a bunch of Snoke’s highly-trained bodyguards, and apparently Kylo again, in duels, yes? Her parents were nobodies, not Skywalkers or Kenobis or Palpatines or anyone with Force-sensitivity which might explain her innate proficiency, yes? She’s just absurdly powerful and skilled because … Forcedidit.

That’s what I gathered from reviews I watched/read. Are they wrong?

joefavs said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

joefavs said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

What I don’t like are female characters – or really, characters in general – who have little to no flaws and are nearly perfect at what they do without any rationale behind their perfection.

So I guess you were in the bathroom for the part where the entire second act was predicated on Rey fucking up then.

I haven’t watched TLJ and I won’t watch TLJ.

I don’t know how you can espouse an opinion on TLJ with a straight face, then.

Same way I can determine Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is vile trash.

joefavs said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

What I don’t like are female characters – or really, characters in general – who have little to no flaws and are nearly perfect at what they do without any rationale behind their perfection.

So I guess you were in the bathroom for the part where the entire second act was predicated on Rey fucking up then.

I haven’t watched TLJ and I won’t watch TLJ.

joefavs said:

I cannot tell if that last post was was couched in enough irony to keep Duracell from sucking now.

Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I like strong women, and I support non-radical feminism. When I write female characters, I always try to avoid stereotypical mannerisms and strive to make them intelligent and strong. I wouldn’t want to be in a romantic relationship with any woman who was an airhead or a pushover.

What I don’t like are female characters – or really, characters in general – who have little to no flaws and are nearly perfect at what they do without any rationale behind their perfection. I also don’t like it when characters I’ve loved for close to two decades are eviscerated to prop such characters up.

DominicCobb said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

too many competent male characters, to ever make it into a Kennedyfilm production unmolested.

Oh, so you’re one of those people…

Yeah, I’m a person who prefers real characters over feminazi Mary Sues.

Tantive3+1 said:

Ryan said:

I do hope JJ retcons a lot of what Rian threw away.

Please, no retcons for this.

Either way, the ST will be left an absurd shambles.

This is the only spinoff I have any interest left in seeing:

Of course, I know a faithful adaptation of Tales of the Jedi will never happen. TOTJ is too aesthetically divergent from the OT, with too many competent male characters, to ever make it into a Kennedyfilm production unmolested.

captainsolo said:

Did anyone else feel as badly as I did?

Perhaps had I seen the movie, yes. As it is, though, just going off of others’ reviews and general spoilers, I still feel sickened to the core. I thought the NJO & Legacy eras did a profound job undermining the successes of Luke, Leia, Han, et al. and destroying the future of the SW Universe, but they haven’t wreaked an eighth as much damage as the ST has done.

That’s the best Christmas present I’ve ever received. Thank you, Frink.

ray_afraid said:

Sothis said:

DominicCobb said:

What’s funny to me is people complained that TFA played it too safe, now this did the opposite of that and people are still complaining.

this is too real.

Since when is anything for everybody?

There were people who didn’t like Star Wars in '77.
There were people who liked Star Wars in '77 who didn’t like ESB in '80.
There were people who liked Star Wars in '77 and ESB in '80 but not ROTJ in ‘83.
This has happened with every film. Nothin’ new at all. This is the way everything works.
Nothing is for everybody. No big deal.

Exactly.

My ideal SW film(s) would be a faithful adaptation of the Great Sith War storyline from the Tales of the Jedi comics infused with lots of Bergmanesque existentialism. I’m guessing a lot of SW fans wouldn’t like SW films in that vein, being too tonally and aesthetically different from the other movies, but that’s okay; I wouldn’t disparage them for not finding it their cup of tea. Different strokes and all that jazz.

I think Gillian Anderson would’ve been too short and buxom to play Mara. I always imagine Mara as tall and lithe.

Dat_SW_Guy said:

Since good ol’ George replaced Shaw with Hayden, it might be plausible that force ghosts can change their apperances and limbs.

No. No. That’s not true! That’s impossible!