TheBoost

I always wish Chewie got to do more, especially in ROTJ. I want to see him kick some but.

The Abyss.

Dont care for the extra half hour in the "Special Edition." Fells bloated, and the whole 'end of the world' scenario feels forced.

Then again few films stand up to 6 viewings in 2 days. I give it 28/38 balls.

TV's Frink said:

You should have.  Otherwise you are a genderist.

 But Orson Scott Card is a Mormon. Hitting someone for liking his work might be religiously intolerant.

TV's Frink said:

Is it a classic?

Ender's Game is, but I didn't realize any of the sequels/prequels/parallels/whatever are.

Someone at the library told me "Speaker for the Dead" was "brilliant". I almost hit her. 

"Drop Zone" / "Terminal Velocity."

Was 1994 just a good year for skydiving? Was it really becoming popular?

Trying to think of the reasons for these pairings is fun.

"Antz" and "Bugs Life" are both movies choosing the same way (insects) to hide the technical limitations of CGI at the time.

But why were volcanoes in the air in 1997? I have no idea.

 "Speaker of the Dead" is one of the WORST science fiction novels I've ever read. I'd rather read the worst the EU has to offer than this.

SPOILERS

The entirety of all of the conflict, both character based and xenobiology, stems entirely from people being really really really stupid. Not just a few people, but generations of people across the entire society are unable to piece together what the reader no doubt figures out in the first few pages. The hero shows up, calmly explains whats-what to all the morons, and the book ends.

There are so many moments of characters saying "well, this situation doesn't make sense as we understand it, but there's no other possible explanation" and shrugging I started to wonder if I was reading a parody.

How is this a classic?

1989 saw "The Abyss" "Leviathan" and "Deep Star Six" all come out. Scary submarine movies, all inspired by the late 80s mania about finding the wreck of Titanic.

What other matched sets of movies came out at the same time?

No more nonsequitors.

Bane looks kinda sharp.

Frankly, comics-Bane almost looks like a parody of bad 90s design cliches.

I'll spend my lunch break reading the old Star Wars newspaper strips. Happy Birthday "Star Wars!"

No one should post in this thread anymore. We should just let it drop off the first page entirely.

DuracellEnergizer said:

The Empire's speciesist and sexist. Notice the lack of women in the Imperial hierarchy.

 I disagree. In the OOT the Emperor is at least 1/3 female.

timdiggerm said:

It's not entirely baseless though. Please, consider the following:

• The most aliens we see are on backwater worlds, or in the Alliance
• We never see Imperial aliens
• The guard in the Detention Block refers to Chewie as "that thing".

 

Is the Empire inherently speciest within OT-canon? It's not explicitly stated, but it sure is easy to draw that conclusion.

I've said before that going by "Star Wars" and "ESB" it's easy to assume that the Empire/Rebel conflict is a conflict in the galactic human government.

Perhaps instead of a system of oppression of other member-species of the same government body, we're seeing the Imperials bully/ignore species completely outside the political sphere of influence.

(obviously the inclusion of the Ackbars in ROTJ complicates this, but doesn't discount it)

Harmy said:

Well, if we're not counting the EU, where it is clear that the Wookies are being enslaved and considered lesser beings by the Empire. So it is the EU, that made Leia a racist ;-)

 Reason #321 that the EU is wiggity whack.

Bingowings said:

A racial epithet is a description of racially defined superficial difference usually used in some degree of mockery.

The problem with taking a shared history of repression out of the equation is that in almost every case we could propose there does exist a shared history of repression in racial interactions which adds an extra layer of political inference to comments of that nature....

....

There is no defined history of systemic oppression.

A racial epithet would in such an environment have a totally different meaning to that society to that we are familiar with.

Indeed in the future or even in the far distant past of our own species they may have also a totally different meaning.

 Well said.

I wish I had said it. But I was just taking a piss.

TV's Frink said:

The best part was the local time bit.  It would actually follow the rotation of the earth!

Never heard that one before.

I read that American Samoa recently voted that since they're right on the international date line, they now want to be seen as the FIRST to be in the new day, instead of the last as they were previously.

I wondered if God got that message, and when the rapture hits, when they get sucked up.

My favorite musical is "Jekyll and Hyde" which is not widely considered the best nor best known musical.

My favorite rockband is the midly obscure "Savatage."

Not normally the sort of interests I ever expected to cross.

This weekend I learned that not only did Broadway's star of "Jekyll and Hyde" Rob Evans become the touring singer for Savatage's spin-off band "Tran Siberian Orchestra," but also Savatage guitarist Alex Skolnik performed on a 2006 re-recording of the "Jekyll and Hyde" soundtrack.

Odd coincidence. Just ordered the album on Amazon.

Almost forgot to mention my annoyance that they stole the title from Dashiel Hammet's best book. Lack of creativity much?

Bingowings said:

As an outsider on the biological reproduction front I have noticed that some children are living saints and others are demons from hell and often the quality of and effort put into parenting makes very little visible difference.

Not that I'm suggesting that parents should go out their way to be utter gits or that your efforts Boostdad are a waste of time but it is possible that your email pal may be, through no fault of her own, just blessed with a bit more of a child challenge than even your methodical parental routine could contain.

I don't disagree, and never claim to be any sort of parent expert (I have one kid, what the hell do I know?) which is why I never offer advice unsolicited.

It's the specifically asking for advice and flippant dismissal that got my gout.

A few years back I saw "Shadows of the Empire" turned into a fairly watchable little movie using action figures. Pity it was in Portugese.

I think the Thrawn books could be done like that.

TV's Frink said:

Well, now I demand you finish the book and report to us so we don't have to.

 No can do. Put it in the library drop-box this morning. And I owe like, $3.50 in fines, so I'm too embarrased to go back in.

I'm the father of a 2 year old, and I never EVER give parenting advice or any manner of unsolicitied opinion stronger than "have you noticed your toddler has a knife?"

A pal shot me an email. She's expecting her second kid, and her 1st, a two years old like mine, is a hassle, stays up all night, doesn't eat... etc. She asked me how I manage mine.

I shot back the simple truth as I see it. His mother and I make a very strong point to stick to a schedule. Eating, napping, playing, etc. This takes a lot of work, has been ongoing for his entire life, and requires more than a little sacrifice and a certain loss of freedom. I think these familiar routines are the reason my kid is fairly mild mannered. I know that my friend does not particuarly keep routines like this.

She responds with "Well, it sounds like you're sure having an easy time with your kid than I have with mine. I hope my second kid is like yours."

Eek! My kids not 'easy.' We bust our butts on that routine, and I think we reap some benefits. People can raise their kids however they see fit, but she asked me for my thoughts. If all you want is sympathy, don't ask for advice. Don't act like I just got lucky on the 'easy kid' lottery. Arg.

CP3S said:

TheBoost said:

I agree that there's little difference between insulting someone's racial characteristics ('darkie' 'walking carpet') and insulting their race.

Wait, what? No, is NO difference. Calling someone a "darkie" IS insulting their race.

This is the weirdest discussion I've ever had about SW. I am almost pretty sure both TheBoost and Bingo are just taking the piss on this one.

 True. I'm tempted to quibble, but yeah, I'm more or less taking the piss as you say.

Maybe, due to her sheltered upbringing, Leia had never MET a wookie before, and thought he was just a hippy!

or am I trying to hard here?

CP3S said:

Would Han be considered "racey" (which isn't a word. "Racy" is though, but means something different entirely) if he called Lando a "darkie boom-boom"?

And to answer your question on the first bit, yes, Han was obviously taking a jab at the appearance of Jabba and his species when he said that. Is that even debatable?

Some of you guys are trying to drive your point home by saying that these comments are based on appearance, and therefore nothing to do with race (species). What?! The "N" word is a comment on color (appearance). How can we even compare calling a guy with glasses "four eyes" with calling an Asian "slant eyes"? They are not even in the same ball park! All racism has ever been based on has been appearance, "They don't look like us; so they are not as good as us".

I agree that there's little difference between insulting someone's racial characteristics ('darkie' 'walking carpet') and insulting their race.

But this brings up the question, ignoring the EU and PT, are all Huts as slimy and wormy and fat as Jabba? Possibly not.

If old Orson Welles was the only human being you met in a galaxy, would calling him a 'tubby beardo' be racist?