DuracellEnergizer said:
TV's Frink said:
Not that there's anything wrong with those dunes.
God hates sand.
It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.
Thank you, you have been very helpful.
Are gay dunes something I should know about?
Is Dune something I should know about?
Pretty.
You make a good argument about the cantina. My original thought was that Obi Wan stumbles into town at dawn after being out in the desert all night. A bandit demands his money, Obi Wan declines while reaching for his lightsaber to find it missing. Another bandit reveals the saber which he obviously pickpocketed when Kenobi first entered town. Not certain it's a good introduction for Anakin to rescue Obi Wan here. But perhaps he could then take him to get a drink and help him find a pilot. I thought it might be good to show why Obi Wan dislikes Mos Eisley so much...so violated as to have his lightsaber taken after a grueling hike in the desert, which to me corresponds well to his body language when talking about it in ANH. Thoughts?
I know you just want to make lots of money by selling Falcon toys! ;)
I think it's too much to have the Falcon. Otherwise I think Vader should have given the Falcon a fond pat, maybe sat in the cockpit to relive old memories in ANH, or something. I think it's better for Han (and Chewy) to have his own story.
Here is the direction I'm taking: Obi Wan crashes on Tatooine as he is fleeing from his pursuers. He wants nothing to do with the politically-motivated wars. That is what he is running from, as Jedis are desirable fighters. After crashing in the desert at night, he makes his way toward civilization (either toward Mos Eisley or the Lars homestead) with adventure along the way. Either he rescues Anakin or Anakin rescues him from bandits,. Then they go to the homestead. Obi Wan's pursuers are still after him and with Anakin's help, they escape from the planet, having developed a new mission along the way...
The nighttime scenes are going to bring a new dimension, we may not even see much of Mos Eisley. I'm debating whether the cantina should play a role or not. Like ANH, the movie is going to be a robust and complete work on its own, with Anakin well on his way to Jedi-hood, so that in E2 it's something like Luke's appearance in ROTJ. I have "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" on the backburner of my brain in terms of the friendship and focus of the story.
Yes.
What of the notion that Beru is Anakin's sister? One potential issue I see is why Beru wouldn't have told Luke more about him, rather than leaving it to Owen to say he was a navigator, etc.
Should Anakin have his own ship? Or is it a ship he serves on?
How is oil outdated? Natural gas is now supplanting a significant portion of it in the US, but "green" technologies don't provide the same energy and cost. In the absence of oil, won't there be other political pollutants? Whether the railroads or solar panels?
Should the people of the Middle East all move away or accept permanent poverty? Should the whole world aspire for less? If oil stopped tomorrow, and the royals in Saudi Arabia and the UAE found themselves without palaces, I don't think that would solve any problem. I don't know what you have in mind to improve the economic picture of Afghanistan. I suppose if we didn't have a global economy, let alone economies so nationalized, we'd expect the Afghans to be more or less content, more like the Mongolians. I've not heard of a dangerous Mongolian Genghis Khan.
I'm liking the active idea thread and we should strive for constructive criticism only!
I too am having mixed feelings on the naming issue. We don't want to inject needless complications. That's something I'm grappling with in hiding Anakin's transformation into Vader....
Good things I see in the suggestion are giving Anakin roots and a tangible connection to Owen. Neverar makes a good point questioning if Owen would keep the Skywalker name for Luke. Though maybe he wouldn't change it back because Luke Lars sounds silly :P Still, I don't think Owen disliked Anakin at all. He hated that he went away and became something terrible and/or died.
But if not brothers, what should the relationship be between Owen and Anakin? Do we care about Anakin's parentage? (not at all rhetorical, I'm wondering about how you all feel about it)
I agree that people don't attach significance to the name Skywalker. I don't envision Anakin as a savior of worlds.
I don't worry about Vader going to Tatooine to look up his old friend/brother Owen, or poking around there to see if that is where his son ended up. None of that has to be an issue.
Neverar, I'm not positive what you mean about when Anakin left Obi Wan? At least Obi Wan said "I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your father."
Bingowings said:
I think you have it the other way around.
Oil is expensive and ancient technology (the Romans had machines powered by burning oil) being perpetuated to enslave the the majority.
At the moment petrol cars are only needed for rural communities cut off from public transport. If you gave back the amount of money people spend on their cars and oil based power generation there wouldn't be a financial crisis.
And as technology improves all petrol fueled cars should be replaced with vehicles that can be powered by domestic renewable generators.
The majority of plastics should be replaced or recycled.
This is all being held back by a small mega-rich clique of backwards thinking protectionists.
The obsession with maintaining hold on this polluting, expensive and finite resource and selling the arms needed to secure it is the root of most of the problems in the world at the moment.
Ah, if only we were all urbanites, there wouldn't be so many bad turbanites.
There are problems with oil. As there are with minerals, metals, textiles, grains, meat, the internet, etc. I don't understand the unique obsession with oil.
I hope charges are pressed. Terrible what that boy has to live with.
Bingowings said:
Mrebo said:
Bingowings said:
We have been living through a blip in history, The relative comfort the west has enjoyed has been funded from the fading embers of the European Empires and the petrochemical despotism (hydraulic despotism but with oil) of the American empire. It wasn't that long ago we were all torturing women to death for knowing which herbs were good for pain relief or chopping the balls off men for daring to demand their country back. It wouldn't take much for us to go back to that. The political class in Britain seem to be really keen on it and they aren't Arabs or Persians (didn't the token Muslim have to resign for blaming Jews for his bad motoring?). The Oil is the Car, the Car is the Oil.Shun economic prosperity! We'll be back to torturing, holistic medicine, neutering, and all the rest soon enough. Entropy demands it.
Manufactured plutocratic energy monopolies are not a stable basis for economic prosperity. They create economic cycles which inevitably lead to catastrophic (for most of us) financial crises. Leading to threads like this and as you say universal homeopathic provision.
They are good for maintaining a tiny mega wealthy elite but that was true of ancient civilisations the Egyptians, The Aztecs, The Romans etc, almost all of them had some form of human sacrifice.
Oil is a finite and polluting resource that is only currently in use because of the understandable desire of oil dynasties and their creditors to remain as the capstone of the pyramid.
Cheap and abundant fossil fuels mean abundant electricity and the transportation of goods across long distances. I don't know what financial crises due to the use of fossil fuels you are talking about. I'm sure there were those who hated on railroads in the same fashion, and that led to unfortunate editorials in the newspaper or something.
For the oil producing countries of the Middle East, you're right that pinning all their hopes on oil is not a permanent solution. But outside of oil, they don't have much more than sand.
Consider the reservations for Native Americans in the US. Reservations have long been known for their poverty. Now many reservations have casinos (which are otherwise generally illegal in the US). Casinos have many drawbacks and tend to help the people at the top. But it's a whole lot better than what many of them had.
TNG was special, even had the action figures.
Voyager is my favorite though. I like the premise of being lost, detached from the usual settings and people. It felt more intimate, closer-knit comradery. To that end, I think Janeway is my favorite captain, most down-to-earth, and always focused, thinking, weighing choices. When she took risks, there was a method to her madness, always ready to tackle the consequences. And when a tough decision was made, she stuck with it.
Bingowings said:
We have been living through a blip in history, The relative comfort the west has enjoyed has been funded from the fading embers of the European Empires and the petrochemical despotism (hydraulic despotism but with oil) of the American empire. It wasn't that long ago we were all torturing women to death for knowing which herbs were good for pain relief or chopping the balls off men for daring to demand their country back. It wouldn't take much for us to go back to that. The political class in Britain seem to be really keen on it and they aren't Arabs or Persians (didn't the token Muslim have to resign for blaming Jews for his bad motoring?). The Oil is the Car, the Car is the Oil.
Shun economic prosperity! We'll be back to torturing, holistic medicine, neutering, and all the rest soon enough. Entropy demands it.
sean wookie said:
Leonardo said:
I wanna marry a lighthouse keeper.
This just makes me sad Malcolm McDowell isn't in any good movies anymore.
Bingowings said:
Egypt wasn't particularly democratic or pleasant before the 'Arab Slinky'.
True. But at least Mubarak kept the Islamists at bay.
Indeed the torture and repression of the West backed 'democratic' regimes largely created Islamism as it is currently recognised.
My spell check notes that you've misspelled "recognized."
On what basis do you declare that the current Islam is the result of the activities of the West?
TV's Frink said:
There's two things in this world I can't stand - people who are intolerant of other cultures, and the Dutch.
OMG me too! Did I relate the time I was Amsterdam? The hotel room was robbed. While I was sleeping in it. The police officer at the station, the only one there, came out of the back room smoking pot. And he was the only person I encountered in that city who did not speak English. But most of all I hate that I supposedly have an unknown amount of Dutch ancestry. Windmills, wooden shoes, prostitution, pot...the police can have my Dutch DNA.
Warbler said:
Mrebo said:but it doesn't matter if most members of a group don't want to take over the world or install Islamic law everywhere.
this is what I was and still do take issue with. It does matter that most don't want to take over the world. You have to factor that in to how you react to the problem(s) caused by those that do want to take over the world.
CP3S describes the part of the problem well.
I mean, look at Egypt where through the power of democracy, fundamentalists took over. It's not enough to shrug/sigh and say 'well some people are trying to do bad stuff and others aren't.'
That certainly wasn't an adequate response when the Germans were trying to take over the world, and many Germans were complicit or passive. What we don't want to do is what we did to the Japanese, prosecuted by virtue of being Japanese. Or American liberals prosecuted for their communism.
But we don't ignore an identifiable problem. A dangerous authoritarian Islam exists around the world. Like I said, many American conservatives get too heated in their response to it, but it is a real problem.
I had forgotten your use of the name "Traezin." It must have been in my mind as I was thinking of my Darth's name and settled on something similar. It is an apt name for such a character.
It is important to have the story not feel like a repeat of the OT.
Warbler said:
what the heck do you mean it doesn't matter if most members of a group don't want to take over the world or install Islamic law everywhere???
You want us to treat them like they are all nuts, hellbent on world domination??? It is just not right to treat all Muslims like that, when all Muslims are not like that. Would you want all non whites to treat all whites like they are members of the KKK???
First of all, I didn't suggest any of what you're saying. So I don't even need a second of all.
Your logic is faulty. We need to recognize there is a BIG undercurrent of radical Islam in the world (not marginalized and small like the KKK). It doesn't mean you treat Muslims differently or drive them out of the country.
If radical Christians controlled a dozen nations (bahahaha) and carried out terrorist attacks around the world based on their religion, that would be something we should confront head-on too. And that says nothing about persecuting people who identify as Christian. People who suggest that route are lazy and ignorant.
Radical Islam exerts great influence even on non-radicals. It exerts a gravity in the religion. Look at Egypt, where they elected all kinds of radicals into office. When there are so many theocratic governments which happen to be Muslim, it's a flimsy retort to say, well some people are bad.
I've been working more on this lately. For the most part or completely, I think Palpatine will remain in the background. To the extent that he is seen, it will not be as a threat. He is quiet, meticulous, careful, respected, a natural choice to take the top slot when the time comes. He will look like himself, just younger/less creepy - so that his later appearance is accepted as due to advanced age and decades or evil magic, but not entirely startling. There will be the uncomfortable gap between his apparent goodness and his less friendly exterior. It's all about the seduction of the Dark Side.
A main villain will be a Darth. Very charismatic, idealistic, an undercurrent of anger but not sneering and saying evil things - in other words, what Dooku should have been. He will be young (~40). Again, it's about seducing Anakin to the dark side.
And then there will be Darth Vader. A force of great power on the battle field. Nobody knows where he comes from.
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
Maybe she was looking for "virgin sacrifices" or something.
*runs far away from the thread*
At least to get a girl's interest I wouldn't write the line off completely, Warb.
