Humby

Provided Luke and Leia survive Episode 8, it might be best to open Episode 9 with Luke sensing a disturbance in the force. He rushes to the source of the disturbance to find Leia (perhaps best to not see her face?) whom has succumb to injuries sustained in a First Order attack. He utters one word: “Leia…” and along with the audience, has a very emotional response.

I’m not concerned how they actually go about it, because I know they will do it in a way that both respects and honors the late Carrie Fisher as well as her surviving family. But this was just an idea I had. Poor Billie Lourd, to lose your mother and grandmother in a matter of just a day. I can’t imagine being put through what that family has experienced in the last week.

SkyderHouseMafia said:

Haarspalter said:

“Any time someone tells you that a work was secretly brilliant, and needs many thousands of words to explain why, you should be suspicious.”

This is true…but even if a film’s meaning/story ect is very hard to grasp shouldn’t completely negate the quality of that story/meaning ect…
You need to be able to separate between a failure to execute on your ideas and ideas that are a failure.

And I think that most SW fans realize that the prequels are not without any merits. There is some really good subtext in those movies, some very well thought out parallels, and it did a great job expanding and exploring that universe (even if you dislike the creative decisions, like myself). I’ll even go so far as to say that they were all very well structured movies, and they worked together as a trilogy.

But those things alone don’t make a good movie IMO. My issues lie almost solely with execution; the dialogue, the direction, much of the acting, the creative choices, etc. These elements just prevent me from truly enjoying these movies.

And that’s coming from someone who learned to love Star Wars through the prequels. I had seen the original trilogy a few times, but it wasn’t until the prequels that I became a SW fanatic. And that then turned me into a film fanatic. But now, 17 years since the release of TPM, I am equally as passionate about the OT as I was about the prequel films which hooked me. And I can see now that the PT has flaws which I have trouble overlooking, and to me they no longer hold up.

I accept them for what they are and for the role they play in canon. And I even admit that the current EU is doing a great job of both establishing the transition and connections between the two trilogies. But to me they just aren’t very good movies. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some of what they have to offer.

Cheers

Bingowings said:

I’d love it if Maul and Ben ended up as pals and Maul ended up being killed by the Empire.

I think Disney would likely omit Maul, to keep “film only fans” from getting confused. A resurrect or continue on with those characters from the past in the New EU, but keep them out of the films type deal.

I would like to see a completely stand alone story, set perhaps 5 years after Episode III, that starts off on Tatooine with Obi-wan and Owen arguing about Luke’s future. Someone then finds out about Luke, and tries to escape and inform the Empire. Obi-wan then has to hunt this character down and prevent the Empire from discovering Luke’s existence/whereabouts. In the end, Obi-wan returns to Tatooine and Owen thanks him for stopping those events. But Owen is still too stubborn to let Luke go train with Obi-wan.

The Dark Empire said:

The standart stormtrooper “were the elite soldiers of the Galactic Empire (wookiepedia)”. If you let the movie thing that they can not hit something aside, an elite soldier is the best soldier you have. It is very strange to believe that it is necessary to make a design-variant of this elite trooper.

That’s just it though, the key word you used was soldier. Soldiers fight in wars, and by the time of RO and ANH, the war had ended. Yes, skirmishes and battles still ran rampant, but the Empire wasn’t fighting planet wide battles against an opposing army anymore. Their enemies now hid in the shadows, in more volatile environments, and on less inhabited planets, etc. A faceless army is far less useful in fighting these hidden enemies. And so Stormtroopers essentially devolved into armed guards, patrol, law enforcement, etc.

I’m sure the Empire kept a large number of standard Stormtroopers on their bases (just like on the Death Star in ANH) so that they could be called upon if necessary, but large scale army vs army battles were no longer common place like they were during the Clone Wars.

Long story short, when your enemy is hiding, you need your troops to be capable of working in the same way, and thus more specialized troops were trained for more specialized missions. To me, it just seems logical.

Well standard Stormtroopers tend to be more widespread and used simply as patrol, but also for simple attacks when necessary. It makes sense that we only see standard Stormtroopers in ANH, as they were simply searching/patrolling the streets of Mos Eisley, and the Death Star is such a stronghold that the Empire wouldn’t necessarily need to keep any specialized troops on it, especially as it was only just completed right as the movie begins.

In ESB we see Snowtroopers which is great, but once were off Hoth we only see standard Stormtroopers again. To me, it works. Vader and a few Star Destroyers are looking for Han and Leia, and they have the whole thing planned out with Lando. There really isn’t a need to have any specialty troops running around.

Now in RotJ, this time we have a Death Star secretly being built on a planet which has no civilized (or perhaps I should say advanced) populace or major threats-- at least in the eyes of the Empire. Keeping specialty troops around doesn’t seem entirely necessary. But it certainly does seem odd that the Scout Troopers were not camouflaged. One could say that without any major threats on the planet, the camouflage is unnecessary, so they might as well stay white just to increase their own visibility in the woods. But nevertheless, it still seems odd.

This time around in RO, the Empire is hunting a dangerous espionage team, across multiple Imperial occupied planets. It makes sense that they pull multiple types of troopers from their local bases.

That’s a good enough explanation for me, but I know others aren’t always satisfied with that reasoning. Cheers either way!

I would actually love to see Disney completely rehaul the OT adding new ships and troopers, cleaning up effects, and what not (sort of like a special edition done properly). But let me say, I ONLY want that to happen if they ALSO give us the original unaltered versions in HD on the same release.

I’ve always thought of it as Palpatine let his guard down and revealed his true appearance.

He was physically consumed by evil long before the prequels took place, but he used the force to hide his appearance and appear younger and healthier.

But doing so probably required at least a tiny bit of constant focus. So when he was in his weakest moment, about to be beaten, he lost that focus and his true form emerged.

Then he was able to use that to his advantage by saying the Jedi did that to him, and it made the senate feel sympathetic towards him. It also meant that he didn’t have to be constantly drawing from the force to hide his appearance; which, lets face it, sounds like a hassle.

I think what it comes down to is a balance of patience and “upfront-ness”. When someone comes in and starts asking those questions, rather than tell them to screw off and find the answer on their own, explain to them how it is commonly looked down upon to do so, and that we generally expect/hope that patrons will at least attempt to look for the answer rather than expect someone to be at the standby waiting to provide every one of their (often silly, and somewhat easily found) answers.

Then… If they still can’t find an answer, they need just say “hey I looked but could not find an answer, would anyone be willing to answer me this…”

A simple, yet decently courteous, response may change them into a better and more aware community member, rather than just pushing them to hate some of us and continue abusing the boards.

EDIT: Oh, and if they simply do not listen to our “nice” responses, then we can berate the crap outta them 😉

I don’t hate this force tree rumor, I would [obviously] just want it to be executed well. We don’t need Yoda explaining the events of the prequel trilogy to us. Rey doesn’t need to know that stuff. Keep the mythology of the force tree, that’s somewhat enriching to the mythology of the universe, but move on the previous films (prequels and originals, alike). The audience doesn’t need that stuff repeated to them, and the plot shouldn’t rely on having previous films explained to the new characters. Just my 2 cents.

georgec said:

Holy crap, Lando is Marshawn Lynch.

joefavs said:

Humby said:

unamochilla2 said:

If the rumors are true, Solo dies.

Was there anything to substantiate those rumors though?  I always thought that was just over-speculation by super fans, based on Harrison Ford wanting to be killed off back during ESB/RoTJ, and his distaste for the series towards the end of the OT's production.

I think everybody involved in this production wants to see the original characters reunited at some point (hopefully many points) throughout this new trilogy.  It really doesn't seem like it is going to happen in this movie, although I admit that we have seen so little it is hard to tell.  But I don't see Han being killed off before having a chance to reunite with his old friend Luke.

 This is exactly why I'm hoping against hope Han doesn't go out in this one. If he never has another scene with Luke i'll be really upset. I believe the only actual evidence for the rumor were some call sheets that made it look like Harrison Ford wasn't in the last part of the movie. I've got to hope that J.J. and Larry are trickier than that, though, because Han dying is one of the first places everyone's minds went before those call sheets even surfaced. I think it's possible this is a case of everyone seeing what they expect to see.

Here's a thought. If Rey needs to be told by Han that all the stories are true, that seems to rule out the possibility that she knew Luke before he went off the grid. I've seen a lot of speculation that she was training with him at some point between ROTJ and TFA, but if she doesn't know for sure that the Jedi are real, I'd say it might be time to retire that particular theory.

 We see Han and Leia embracing.  I think he may not be in the final act of the movie, he may stay behind with her, and let the younger crew take the Falcon and carry out the rest of their mission (along with Chewie, after all, it would just feel right for Chewie to stay as the sidekick for this younger generation).

So Chewie, Rey, and Finn go off and do their thing.  And that might be when Finn fights Kylo, and Chewie and Rey find him injured, or worse.

unamochilla2 said:

If the rumors are true, Solo dies.

Was there anything to substantiate those rumors though?  I always thought that was just over-speculation by super fans, based on Harrison Ford wanting to be killed off back during ESB/RoTJ, and his distaste for the series towards the end of the OT's production.

I think everybody involved in this production wants to see the original characters reunited at some point (hopefully many points) throughout this new trilogy.  It really doesn't seem like it is going to happen in this movie, although I admit that we have seen so little it is hard to tell.  But I don't see Han being killed off before having a chance to reunite with his old friend Luke.

Finn was about to fight Kylo Ren in that snowy environment.  Rey seems to be crying over someone in a similar environment.  The right side of the figure seems to be hairy like Chewie, but the left side does not.  I think it may be Chewie holding a dead or injured Finn.

He may have been holding a lightsaber, but I still don't think he's a jedi.  It is Luke's old saber, he is holding on to it throughout the movie while they attempt to find Luke, and he happens to use it when the time seems right.  And one of those times is when Kylo Ren attacks him.  He dies, or loses a limb, and Rey and Chewie find him moments later.

All I've seen of Adam Driver is from Girls and his brief (and hilarious) appearance in Inside Llewyn Davis.  

He seems like an amazing actor.  He completely steals the show in Girls.  The episodes that heavily feature him are what keep me watching.

I have a feeling he will fit into the GFFA just as well as any of the original actors.  He has a unique look as well, almost right out of the 70's, depending on how they manage his facial hair and costuming.

I have no doubts about his casting, regardless of the role he plays.

I was never really able to get into Clone Wars, although I loved the animated shorts which kick started the whole thing off.  I've seen a few episodes and didn't hate them, but they really didn't do much for me either.  I think it's because it just reminded me of the prequels which I have grown to dislike more and more.

That being said, I have thus far had a similar outlook on Rebels.  To me it seems that the stories they are telling are just complicating the already convoluted mythos of the GFFA.

But LANDO?  I might have to watch the episode(s) he is featured in just because it's freaking Lando!  And maybe that will help to change my mind and get me into this series.

A lot of people on this thread are being quite shortsighted. This is just a teaser for a movie that is OVER a year away. Don't nitpick the color, don't nitpick the special effects, don't nitpick anything! Nothing you have seen is completed, and all of it is without context. You're setting yourself up to hate the movie, without giving it a fair chance.

Were there a few moments during this teaser that I didn't necessarily like, or felt un-star-wars-y to me? Absolutely. But like I said, all of this is without context.  And even in those particular moments, everything still looked visually impressive.

This movie isn't going to be a carbon copy of the OT cinematography and techniques, nor is it going to confine itself to what you (or I) deem worthy of the GFFA.  It WILL introduce us to new ideas, and at its heart, we will see JJ Abrams' visual style shine through.  And why should it not?  ANH, ESB, and RoTJ all have different directorial approaches. Thirty years later, a new approach by anyone is going to feel very different. You will never accept this film until you accept that fact.  But from the looks of it, Abrams seems to be trying very hard to at least present the film in a way that feels familiar.

For me personally, the only thing that felt out of place in this teaser, was the hooded figure and his (or her) crossguarded lightsaber.  But like I said, we have no context.  And I'm not going to abandon the movie because of an off-putting  2-second clip without context.

---

Other common gripes:

-The soccer ball droid.  Although somewhat silly, I personally feel it looked and felt like it could have been plucked right out of ANH.  And for all we know, it may only have a few moments of screen time.

-The VFX/colors suck! They do? Really? Perhaps it's the compression, perhaps it's the fact that they are (guaranteed) unfinished, but if you really think these VFX are of fan film quality, you're kidding yourself.  And again, the movie is over a year away-- they will look better (but even as it stands, they look far better than most of the prequel VFX).

-The falcon is too thin. I admit, it looks slightly off. But there is very little consistency between the different models used in the OT as well.  Sometimes it looked thick and brick-like, other times is looked flimsy and light.  In terms of dimensions, this looks most like the Falcon from the Second Death Star Battle.  Add the fact that 30 years of renovations could have altered its dimensions slightly, and that from now on, we will have a consistent model throughout the ST, and you can color me happy.

---

Let's try and see the good in this.  For me personally, I grew up on the original trilogy (aka, my bible), but I was still relatively young as the prequels were coming out.  And because of that, the prequels will always have a fond place in my heart.  But I recognize their many faults... and I mean many.  And what JJ Abrams has given us this ridiculously short preview, feels far more like Star Wars than the majority of events in the prequels.  And I can't wait to see where the story takes us.

And yes, I DO wish that we got to see some familiar faces, but in retrospect, I'm glad they held out on us.  It will be far more satisfying when we get a full trailer next year.

Tobar said:

SilverWook said:

Not sure if real...

http://www.sithclan.net/index.php?id=13438

Fake or not, it's reminiscent of the logo for Tron 2 before it became Legacy.

 Boo.

It's just a promotional image, it's not like this will end up in the crawl.  I'm fine with it, and appreciate its simplicity.

NeverarGreat said:

TheBoost said:

I got a lotta hope about the Next Generation. Look at merchandise. I was at Disneyland, and during the entire trips saw two pieces of PT merch. LEGO Star Wars shwag is almost totally OT. Angry Birds Star Wars merch is almost totally OT. Fisher Price Star Wars merch is heavily OT. In all of these cases I'll add "with the notable exeption of Darth Maul."

People complain that Maul should have been the villain throughout the PT, but if he was, Lucas would have totally mishandled him. "Killing" Maul in Episode 1 was the best thing that could have happened to the character.

It's almost like an oxymoron, yet it's completely accurate.  Maul's introduction was handled relatively well in TPM.  He was mysterious, a badass, and the visual embodiment of his role.  But if George decided to extend his role into AOTC and ROTS, he would have stripped away the mystery and come up with equally contrived plot elements as are already present in those films.

All that really needs to be done to fix the Endor ground battle, is to insert some home made trooper vs rebel action.  The Ewoks fighting for the their home is not necessarily unbelievable, it just shouldn't be center stage.  If a bunch of short battle scenes were intercut into the current footage, showing more rebel grounds troops in some action, then it would fix everything, IMO.

imperialscum said:

Well a lot of SFX scenes were improved. Here is a link to the website where I got these anyway: http://www.dvdactive.com/editorial/articles/star-wars-the-changes-part-one.html

For those who don't see the images... it is the exterior of Ben's house shot.

And of course I remember the thread, it was me who started that discussion anyway. :)

Not that what I'm about to say is currently being discussed, but for the record, in that article it stated that the creatures that replaced the Wolfman in ANH were CGI.  They weren't, They were actual costumed characters that were rotoscoped in.

It's pretty likely that most, if not all, of the in-flight/space shots will be done with CGI.  But the rumors of a full size MF likely means that they are really going out of their way to surround the actors with tangible sets and scenery, which is great.

90% of the character based green & blue screen used in the prequels is distractingly noticeable.  It will be nice having actors interacting with real sets.  Not only for aesthetic reasons, but also for the sake of the actors and their performances.

It's also good to see how collaborative this project is (or at least appears to be).

fishmanlee said:

http://geektyrant.com/news/is-this-star-wars-episode-vii-millennium-falcon-concept-art

Notice all of the Original Trilogy photos surrounding those two large pieces of art.  That's a possible small reason for high hopes.

I'm going to avoid these videos from now on, because they are really making me want to avoid this show at all costs.

I don't want to hate the show before it starts, so I think I'm done spoiling myself.  I'll give the show a proper chance, and if it doesn't live up to what I want, I'll just ignore.  But maybe, just maybe, it will satisfy.

That's a great idea regarding House of Cards, I've been meaning to watch that and haven't gotten around to it.  Even if I can't find any scenes to use, at least now I have an excuse to catch up on it haha.  Ideally though, I would love to cut out Howard (although I actually prefer his version of the character).

Jeff Bridges, so far, remains.  Although I'm striving to turn him into more of a secondary antagonist:  A distraction from the overarching Ten Rings/Mandarin plot.  Some of his scenes will be cut for the sake of brevity, for instance, he will less involved in Tony's personal life.

Here's my idea regarding Rhodey getting the suit:  There is a scene in IM2 where he confronts Tony about not having to "do this whole gunslinger act on [his] own."  I will cut the remainder of the scene, fade to black, and follow that scene with Rhodey arriving at the Air Force base in the Mark 2.  Since most of main Iron Man 2 plot will be excised, we can skip all of the animosity that occurs between the two later.

ZariusTwo said:

I got as far as having an idea of seauging the bit where Tony admits he's Iron Man to the press with the big charity gala he attends in armor at the start of Two. I'm excited about your approach with the Mandarin as a real entity rather than as an actor, I havent seen the recent one-shot yet, but I look forward to how it's used.

That's actually a great idea, but in all honesty, I loathe the party scene.  It's funny, but it's so over the top that it takes me out of the movie.  But I'll keep it in mind if I can't get my idea to work.  I actually think I've figured out a way to make it seem as though Tony gives Rhodey the suit, which works, because Tony's mindset and illness.  And this would help me cut out the party scene.

Regarding the Mandarin, I'm still torn, but luckily I have some time to figure it out.  I'm editing under the mindset that he is the real deal.  And if I can figure out a way to keep it like that, then great.  If I can't, then he will remain an actor, and I will just edit the reveal to be a little less silly.  And I will somehow insert parts of the one shot, to at least remind the audience that the Ten Rings are real, and there is a real Mandarin out there somewhere.

ZariusTwo said:

It'd also help if you could establish a timeline for your edit listing the changes

Well to be honest, I'm kind of figuring out the timeline as I go.  I admit that that's probably the wrong way to go about things, but for some reason everytime I try to sit and map things out, I get anxious and just jump back into editing as I go. 

And I didn't think I was going to be able to effectively post clips that represent the film as whole, but maybe I'll try and release one in the next week or so, just to garner some interest.  I can probably show how I've edited some of the Mandarin scenes into IM1.

Johnny Ringo said:

I am interested.

If you turn Trevor Slattery into the Mandarin...you might hit a wall later if/when Marvel reveals the actual Mandarin.

I actually liked what they did with IM3 but I guess it was a bit much for some people.

The more and more I look at it, I think it's likely that I will leave him as an actor, and just cut out some of the more slapstick humor of the reveal.  And don't get me wrong, I loved IM3.  I just enjoy tinkering even more, to test my editing ability, I guess.

Johnny Ringo said:

will you be keeping Terrence Howard AND Don Cheadle?

For the time being, yes.  I'm having trouble finding a way around it, but I am constantly keeping my eye open for a fix.  Obviously if one of them has to go, it's Howard.  But the events around Tony's kidnapping in IM1 are so Rhodey-heavy, that I'm still unsure.  I'm editing under the assumption that there is no fix, but if I find one, I can always retrofit my previous work.