NeverarGreat

^So it’s a normal katana with a less functional handle. Got it.

imperialscum said:

adywan said:

The Dark Empire said:

I am not looking forward to see shoretroopers, woodtroopers, deathtroopers, watertroopers, sandtroopers or hover tank troopers and what so ever is about to come.

Then you won’t like Episode 4 because they have Sandtroopers 😉

Technically sandtroopers they were just stormtroopers with some extra gear, which is how it should be in most cases. Since stormtroopers were supposed to be elite units, I am still waiting to see regular army. It would be much better instead of some new dumb ideas.

In the OT we get introduced to Snowtroopers and Scout troopers after ep4. So, did you have a problem with those, or is this just because they are something new? Because, if you didn’t have a problem with the introduction of those, then you are being a bit of a hypocrite.

I had no problem with snowtroopers because the change of armour was justified by the extreme conditions. I had no problem with scouttroopers because they were an entirely different type of unit (i.e. not infantry). I have problem with beachtroopers (or whatever) because it doesn’t make sense for them to change armour just because they go to a beach. It is not an extreme condition like frozen Hoth. If stormtroopers did not require to change armour when they went to a very hot place like Tatooine, I don’t see the reason for them to change it when they go to a beach (unless when they go for R&R, but then they need a swimsuit, not an armour).

Small quibble: The films never actually state that Tatooine is supposed to be hot. In fact, Mike Verta is of the opinion that Tatooine was originally graded to look desolate and cold.

BobaJett said:

I am really enjoting reading this thread. Ive learned so much since finding this community. The unfortunate, and perhaps serendipitous at times, thing for me is that Im color blind. I can see the blatent anomalies, but the subtle nuances y’all mention often, I just cant see. My one question is, Isnt it hard for all of us around the world to be completely unbiased seeing as that each of our monitors vary in quality and calibration?

Unless you’re looking at an image in a well-lit room with a properly calibrated screen, the colors will be distorted. I have a dual screen setup, and images that appear saturated and subtle on my calibrated monitor appear blue shifted and washed out on my laptop monitor. That said, I don’t think someone should discount another person’s opinions even when they’re viewing images on an uncalibrated monitor, since a certain number of people will view the final product on less than ideal equipment. A good rule of thumb is to test images on many diverse monitors and TVs to make sure that most of them at least look decent, while making your final determination with properly calibrated equipment.

The past month has been somewhat of an upheaval for me, since I’ve basically moved house. In fact, I just got my workstation set up at the new place yesterday, so unfortunately there are no new updates, and I still haven’t fixed reels 1-3. The new apartment is a better work environment at least. I know you’re all impatient for this project and DE3.0 as am I, but life has a tendency to get in the way. As soon as I reach a milestone, you’ll be sure to know.

@DrDre - Thanks. I was looking forward to your project; it looked great and two 1080 color corrections are better than none, but I understand that it’s rather redundant. Good luck with Raiders!

Lord Haseo said:

In the audiobook the narrator pronounces it “Lah-ah-uke”

Also I don’t think I would call it lazy because having Luke fight an insane clone of himself is pretty bold as it’s a pretty out there concept. I think him fighting another Dark Side user who is more machine than man would have been lazy.

It might have been a serviceable concept if it were given time to breathe in The Last Command, but as it is it’s pretty terrible. Most of Zahn’s writing on the Force makes it feel like a comic book superpower, rather than a spiritual one. Also, this is supposed to be a pics thread, so I’ll comment on this general crappiness:

Awkward composition? Check. Glowstick lightsabers? Check. Dopey Luuke? Check.

If’s for the same reason she has to park so far away from Unkar Plutt’s establishment - a certain royal marriage has allowed the Solos to take all the princess parking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jjA6ZL0Z_k

This sounds like a not terrible direction in which to go.

The sabers are a combination of the SSE and the reel 5 Tech preview. The preview required significant cleanup, but it had a finer grain structure and so fit better with the blu-ray footage without as much de-graining. The sunset currently uses a combination of SSE and blu-ray, since the SSE shot is quite grainy by itself.

GHOSTBUSTERS (2016)

I had watched the trailers leading up to this and they didn’t sell me on the concept, billing it as a continuation of the series with the flavor of a soft reboot. Nevertheless, was intrigued enough to give it a try.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the first half hour of the film, but as it approached the end I became more and more cynical towards it until the end credits scene, when my mood turned to genuine dislike. First of all, I enjoyed the four female leads (and especially Hemsworth’s character), although their humor is more improvisational and ‘messy’ than the humor of the original Ghostbusters cast. However, the film is definitely a reboot except for a single line of dialogue implying the previous existence of ‘ghostbusters’. My main gripe is with the concept of the reboot itself. Simply put, the movie would have worked far better as a continuation and a passing of the torch than as a reboot. Bill Murray’s cameo, at first merely a cameo, becomes a bit part that is entirely unfunny. It was a wasted opportunity, since Murry could have easily been played as the Han Solo of this film, a touchstone for the fan’s love for the original. I don’t hold the original Ghostbusters in particularly high esteem, but after recently rewatching it, it feels naturally goofy, classy, and funny where each scene of (2016) feels more and more contrived.

The movie proceeds almost beat for beat in time with the original Ghostbusters, yet apart from a few improvements over the original (the increased focus on ghostbusting tech being the only example that springs to mind), the movie fails to bring anything new to the table, and will naturally suffer in comparison to the original. In other words: if it aint broke, don’t fix it. The final act of the film suffers the most from these plot appropriations, with events, imagery, and entire characters placed into the film simply because they existed in the original. Now excised from their cultural zietgiest, these elements feel completely out of place and reek of half-baked, emotionally manipulative writing.

(SONY ENTERTAINMENT STAMP OF APPROVAL) out of 10.

STAR TREK BEYOND

I just got out of an early showing, and my review for this is similar to my review of Ghostbusters (2016), albeit to a lesser extent. The film opens on a fun reintroduction of the crew and proceeds to put them through the wringer, more physically than emotionally. Whereas in Ghostbusters my enjoyment declined linearly throughout the film, in Beyond I was happily invested until the revelation of the villain’s plan, when my interest immediately nosedived.

Unlike Ghostbusters, however, I left with an overall good feeling about the film and of the franchise as a whole. The film respects both the original timeline and the Kelvin timeline, and Lin brings an expected increase in quips and action. I could do without the increased action in favor of a more measured, philosophical movie, but that battle was lost with Star Trek (2009) and holding that against it is beating a dead horse. Lin knows that the best thing about Star Trek is the characters, so the movie never goes far wrong.

The best thing about Star Trek is that it leaves you feeling like the future is bright and full of possibility. For me, it is mission accomplished, and I look forward to seeing new worlds and new civilizations in Star Trek 14.

Ranking - Approximate order from worst to best:
Star Trek: Into Darkness
Nemesis
Insurrection
The Final Frontier
The Motion Picture
Generations
Star Trek Beyond
Star Trek (2009)
The Search For Spock
The Undiscovered Country
The Voyage Home
The Wrath of Khan
First Contact

Bingowings said:

ray_afraid said:

Yesss… I know that was brought up years ago. I hope it’s been fixed.

Replacing the conjunction with a pause would have a similar effect. I quite like the line as is. It makes it sound like Lando is desperate to convince and nervousness has broken through the cool. But I wouldn’t rage quit the edit if it was smoothed out.

It’s not a big thing to leave it in, but to me it sounds like he’s trying to remember his lines instead of trying to cover up his nervousness.

I was reading The Salmon of Doubt when I came across a recommendation of this six page piece of writing:

http://hispanlit.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/files/2011/06/Borges-Pierre-Menard.pdf

“He resolved to anticipate the vanity that awaits all the labors of mankind; he undertook a task of infinite complexity, a task futile from the outset. He dedicated his scruples and his nights ‘lit by midnight oil’ to repeating in a foreign tongue a book that already existed. His drafts were endless; he stubbornly corrected, and he ripped up thousands of handwritten pages.” (94-95)

I realized that this bears striking resemblance to the work of those of us in the fanedit and alternate prequels community. I for one have struggled to write an acceptable alternative to the prequels for years, and have come to realize that there are infinite good stories and infinite bad ones. The quest isn’t to merely write a good alternative to the prequels, at least for me. I feel the need to understand the world before Star Wars, to reconstruct a piece of history that never was, instead of writing a modern tale for an ancient time. New wine cannot be poured into old wine-skins, so the trick is to age the wine before committing it to the antique vessel. It is all trickery, but so is writing itself. The dream of creating a foundational story compared to which even the great Star Wars Trilogy appears to be but a footnote is my dream. Perhaps the worst kind of vanity abutted to the worst type of self aspersion, but one can dream, can’t they?

Mike O, I just wanted to let you know that you’re still in my thoughts. I can scarcely imagine what you’re going through, but it’s important to know that all things pass. I believe that you are not your thoughts, attitudes, or actions. You are not broken. You cannot be diminished - not by your thoughts, not by anything. Think of the bravest, strongest, most loving people you know. All that made them truly great is also within you. You can do this. Best wishes, my friend.

I will have to pick it up.

AlsoPedantry

MidTermLurker

BoringMisfire

MildSpoilers

SandalSock

I still haven’t read that one. Kind of gave up after AOTC came out. I did like TPM’s novelization though.

Well it doesn’t outright contradict anything, but it strains credulity to imagine the Emperor coordinating the Death Star 2 trap while also trying to turn Luke to the Dark Side. Apart from being unnecessary, wouldn’t it have been better to just concentrate on one thing at a time so that you don’t half-ass the corruption of the guy you want to replace your right-hand-man?

My primary issue with the Force as portrayed in the Zhan novels is that he interprets it as a literal energy field like shields or holograms, instead of the spiritual force that it should be. It is like if you sailed up to Jesus walking on the surface of a lake and pulled out a religion-cancelling cat, and he suddenly fell into the water. ‘The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force. Unless you’re near a Force-cancelling creature, then our entire religion kind of falls apart’. And what kind of madness is that anyway? ‘Life creates it, makes it grow.’ How can a life form negate its own life force?

Also, the light side and the Dark Side are not analogous to positive and negative flows of electricity. You can’t negate the power of the Force by pairing off every Jedi with a Sith. The Force is with those who have an instrumental part to play in the destiny of the galaxy, and this is why the Emperor could build an Empire and why Luke was able to blow up the Death Star and it is why Vader was able to overthrow the Emperor. There is a Napoleon quote that I think is applicable here:

“I feel myself driven towards an end that I do not know. As soon as I have reached it, as soon as I shall become unnecessary, an atom will suffice to shatter me.
Until then, all the forces of mankind can do nothing to stop me.”

yhwx said:

Does this make it better?

It might!

And now I hate humanity.

There’s that. Though he may have just been pretending to be Khan, and was actually the guy to the right:

JEDIT: Into Darkness would have been 1000X more badass with Cillian Murphy instead of Cumberbund, and playing Khan’s fanatical first officer Joachim.

That Sulu is gay in the Kelvin timeline and straight the Prime timeline implies that the Kelvin timeline diverged from the Prime timeline before Sulu was born, 3 years before Nero arrived. This establishes that the Narada was not the event which split the timelines - the Narada merely traveled through a wormhole to an already existing divergent timeline. This actually makes more sense than the official explanation, because Spock Prime’s ship travels to this same already existing divergent timeline which contains the Narada instead of creating a new ‘divergent timeline’ itself.

There. Another successful application of the Many Worlds hypothesis. My work here is finished.

Anchorhead said:

Smithers said:
I’m currently reading Scoundrels and I’m liking it thus far. I trust Timothy Zahn more than most writers to make a good Star Wars story. I’ll keep you guys posted.

I feel the same way about Zahn. Definitely understands the Star Wars universe. I’ve read all of his Star Wars novels and haven’t been disappointed yet. Hes my go-to when I need a Star Wars fix.

Zahn does a good job with the technology of Star Wars and brings a level of military strategy that elevates even the OT, but whenever he’s trying to rationalize things by resorting to Battle Meditation or Force ‘shielding’, or anything involving Ysalamiri, I can’t help but think

I don’t know if this is getting fixed or not, but I was watching the Grindhouse version of ESB last night and again was bothered by Lando’s flubbed line reading:

‘It’s always been a danger BUT it looms like a shadow over everything we’ve built here, but things have developed that’ll ensure security. I’ve just made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever.’

The word is AND.

Sometimes it’s the little things that annoy me.

dahmage said:

yotsuya said:

I disagree in part.

Someone had to train Darth Maul. That kind of makes it implicit that Palpatine would have a lightsaber and know how to use it.

or this could be further evidence that the Sith idea was slightly flawed. It certainly does change the way the Emperor is viewed in the OT. It is a shame, as i agree that the idea that he doesn’t use or care about lightsabers is more threatening.

This is something I never considered. It would seem that constructing a lightsaber, even if it is a weapon, would be an exercise in patience and precision, not qualities that the Sith would have much interest in. Now I imagine the Jedi trying to evade a Sith warrior who is using some sort of disintegration blaster, which is as effective at melting through objects as the lightsaber but is a ranged weapon. This in addition to telekinesis and the occasional energy bolt would be a very effective offense.

DuracellEnergizer said:

pittrek said:

And why would the Emperor, a guy who shoots lightning bolts out of his fingers need a lightsaber? It’s just stupid.

'Cause as AOTC showed us, lightning can be simply blocked by positioning a lightsaber in front of it.

(Obvious sarcasm, is Obvious.)

Wouldn’t it be much more creepier/scarier/effective if Palpatine would kill the Jedi who came to arrest him by simply breaking their necks with his mind and slowly going away smiling?

Or turning them into crispy critters with his Force lightning. Either would work.

I think it was The Last Command which first showed that Force Lightning could be blocked by a lightsaber. Timothy Zahn has many strengths, but grokking the Force is apparently not one of them. I believe that Lucas got the idea from Zahn, since he lifted much of the plot of Dark Force Rising and used it in AOTC, to much lesser effect. For example, there is a subplot involving an artifact of unknown design, a princess under threat of capture or assassination who must travel under guard to multiple planets, and the suspicious deletion of information from the archives on Coruscant.

There is a lengthy comment on Film Crit Hulk’s TFA essay (http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/06/28/star-wars-the-force-alluded-to) from soletsgettothepoint that I think is worth summarizing and expounding on. They claim that TFA works as a meta-analysis of Star Wars, and the problems of bringing this property back to the big screen after a decade of near-dormancy. For this analysis, Finn can be seen as the symbol for Disney, Rey is Abrams as well as exemplifying the Good side of the Star Wars fan, Kylo exemplifies the dark side of the Star Wars fan, and Han represents George Lucas.

In summary:

The commenter makes the point that Finn wonders why everyone wants to go back to Jakku (read: Tatooine), as if Disney wants to branch out from the same places in the Star Wars universe and make the most of an entire galaxy. Rey still holds out hope that her family (read: George Lucas) will still return for her, though she certainly knows better. She is delusional, but understandably so. It amuses me that Rey is a scavenger of other people’s property and her efforts lead to ever diminishing returns (‘last week it was a half-portion each’). The Falcon represents the original spirit of Star Wars, which ‘hasn’t flown in years’. It is off to a shaky start, and is put through more abuse in this film than in all of the other films combined, but it proves quite resilient. The commenter pointed out that since Han is George Lucas, the Rathtar sequence takes on a whole new meaning. From the commenter: ‘There was a specific reason that there were THREE very dangerous rathtars trying to kill everyone on board. They called the one famous rathtar attack before that a “tragedy.”’ I’d also note that Rey, the ‘good’ star wars fan, is blissfully unaware of the tragic Rathtar attack. I wonder now if making the Rathtars look obviously CG was intentional.

Further thoughts:

I wonder if Rey had an absurd number of magical competencies because she is the epitome of the Star Wars fan, someone who believes that they can do magical things if they simply believe in themselves enough. Rey isn’t realistic, but then again, neither are Star Wars fans. They are naively hoping for a Star Wars that cannot realistically exist, but they keep believing regardless. Kylo is the opposite of Rey, in that nothing is ever good enough for him. He is the offspring of George Lucas, but his greatness is the result of George’s wife, Marcia, though he never mentions her. So who/what does Snoke represent? What about Hux? Where does Poe fit in all of this? It’s a fun theory, so what do you think?