TheBoost

Ripplin said:

All this talk of recoil and such reminds me of a conversation I had with a Star Trek nerd (he likes Star Wars, but not nearly as much) around 15 years ago about how none of these things would really need to recoil because they're just lasers, even if they're powerful. Of course, they start getting into plasma projectiles and canisters (like with Chewie's bowcaster) and whatnot, but still, it is more of a 'looks cool' thing. :p

Not to get too off topic, but the weapons in Star Wars are plainly not lasers based on every single piece of evidence we can observe about them.

This is terrible and pointless. It will only embolden the Rebel Alliance.

I'd never given it much thought, but I believe that Romero intended them, at least loosely, to be one story. I read once that he even has an 'original intent' story that combined the three films.

I think Romero was probably so stoked just to get the money to make "Day" that he didn't waste time thinking "gee, I need to make this a period piece set ten years ago, so as not to confuse continuity."

Remember, this was the 70s. The idea of a 'film franchise' was still a ways off, and no one debated things like continuity.

(I make no claims about "Land" or "Diary" except they sucked)

DuracellEnergizer said:

TheBoost said:

I disagree. ... I'd say reboots are the problem.

Truth is, though, I liked the original DC method of rectifying discontinuity in their comics: just say there are multiple universes with their own seperate histories. No reboots, no retcons, just different worlds. I wish the EU writers would get their heads on straight for once and adopt a similar multiversal framework.

But superheroes had a history of stories about popping in and out of alternate universes.

If Star Wars introduced a multiverse, I would once and for all quit the EU totally.

DuracellEnergizer said:

The dark side is supposed to be seductive, yet Lucas never went and made any dark siders seductive themselves; they all looked old, or deformed, or stereotypically Satanic. I would have done the opposite. I would have cast a woman as Palpatine - preferably young and at least moderately attractive - and brought back Clive Revill to do Palpatine's voice. Instead of snarky and sarcastic, Palpatine would sound calm, sauve, and at times even genuinely remorseful. He would be this great dark father - mother? - figure.

 A sexy Clive Revill Emperor would have been very cool/creepy.

Lucash and his obsession with CGI! Boooo!

UPDATE:

No actual editing done yet, but went through the whole series, taking notes, and I'm even more convinced that the basic story can be conveyed in about two hours.

There'll be some skipping about, and little points, like that Lepidus shows up with no introduction, are OK with me since he shows up with no introduction in the play.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Darth Bizarro said:

 

I don't know, DC comics has done a pretty decent job staying afloat.

Yeah, but DC has always used reboots to bring some measure of sanity to their chaos. The EU hasn't done anything like that yet;

 I disagree. DC reboots have occasionally been useful when it comes to individual stories (I liked the mid-80s Superman reboot) but when it comes to their fictional universe making any sense, they don't help at all. I'd say reboots are the problem.

Look how convuluted Hawkman or Aquaman's backstories are? Or the wierd hoops DC has to jump through over the years with various "continuity altering" events (Zero Hour, Hypertime, Infinite Crisis) that mainly try to fix the mashups from the last event.

I hope "Star Wars" stays away from such things.

Star Wars + Booze = AWESOME!

timdiggerm said:

TheBoost said:

One-eyed monster in the garbage room? Elaborate backstory.

How elaborate are we talking, here? I mean, a monster inside a space-station? I assumed that was not...normal?

 He's actually the exiled prince of his people, sworn for revenge on the Empire. It is he who removed the ray-shielding on the exhaust port, and he escapes with Tarkin's butler on a stolen TIE fighter.

not true, but would make a good EU novel.

Anchorhead said:

It's set during the construction of the first Death Star.  Perry wrote one of only three Indiana Jones novels I've not read, so I know nothing of his style. Anyone familiar with this book?

I read it. Didn't make much of an impression to be honest. It plays very much into the EU concept that every-single-person is in fact pivotal to the Rebellion/Empire conflict.

Grand Moff Tarkin's butler? Secret rebel. Chef at Death Star canteen? Potential Jedi. Guy who flipped switch to fire Death Star? Luke's cousin. One-eyed monster in the garbage room? Elaborate backstory.

ray_afraid said:

TV's Frink said:

Bad ass and badass aren't the same thing - at least I think that's what Ray was going for.

We have a winner!

 Whoopsie!

skyjedi2005 said:

As adaptations go they never get them right, even the best case scenario as in Peter Jackon's Lord of the Rings leaves a lot to be desired.

 Because there is no 'right.'

List any complaint you have with LOTR films, say any change you'd make, and some other fan will say "no that's totally against the spirit of the work!!"

ray_afraid said:

RedFive said:

Hal 9000 said:

I'd say TPM is my favorite of the three prequel films too. At least it feels like a film, whereas the other two feel like surreal video game cutscenes.

I have to disagree.  RotS may seem like an extended video game cutscene, but at least it's a badass one.

That's how I'd describe all of the prequels. Bad ass.

 Really? I'd describe most of the action in AOTC as amatuerish and lacking intensity.

Even though IMHO 'bad ass" is faint praise, I still wouldn't apply it to AOTC.

muddyknees2000 said:

I could easily see them having both.

As for where a scene like this might fit into the film, I believe it would go right after Luke surrenders himself to Vader. Vader gives the order for the troops to search out Luke's remaining friends, but we never see anything come of it, the very next scene is Han, Leia and company attacking the bunker. It would add more urgency if on the morning of the attack it was shown that imperial troops were attacking ewok settlements, looking for them. You don't even need any of the main characters, just show troopers raiding different ewok villages. One of them could be on a lake as per the mcquarrie concept art, thereby bringing the seatroopers into play

 While not in love with the "sea troopers" concept (feels like a ploy for a new action figure to me), this story point is AWESOME, ups the dramatic odds in act three, and makes perfect sense story-wise.

I remember when the TV put a glowing laser dot on the black hockey-ball thing. That was cool. It felt like TRON.

TV's Frink said:

TheBoost said:

TV's Frink said:

If this thread isn't a candidate for the Classic LOL Archive, Reasonable Question/Unhelpful Answer Category, I don't know what is.

But before you arrived it was reasonable... and after you arrived it's still not funny.

 

:-P 

Sorry

 that's firewalled for me, but I'm going to assume it's a sincere, contrite apology without a hint of whimsy.

TV's Frink said:

If this thread isn't a candidate for the Classic LOL Archive, Reasonable Question/Unhelpful Answer Category, I don't know what is.

But before you arrived it was reasonable... and after you arrived it's still not funny.

:-P 

asterisk8 said:

So really this is more about researching great inventions than scientific discoveries, right? Like the discovery of DNA as a double helix is a huge scientific achievement, but wouldn't really fit this list.

 I can roll with DNA. Really it's a project about learning to do research (my kids are first year high school).

I'm going to assign my students a short research project to investigate a great scientific achievment. They have to draw a subject out of a hat.

The more possibilities I have, the less I'm going to bang my head on a wall out of boredon as I grade the 250 projects.

I need your (yes YOUR) help. The topic needs to be moderatly easy to research (my students are not rocket scientists). For example, I considered the Turing Maching as too complicated to assign.

Here's the list so far. Any thoughts of what can be added? It's pretty darn eclectic. Engineering, chemistry, physics, whatever.

Abacus
Bathysphere
Artificial Heart
Cotton Gin
Penicillin
Polio Vaccine
Steam Engine
V2 Rocket
Printing Press
Camera Obscura
Internet
Elevator
GPS System
Air Conditioning
Bronze
Stainless Steel
Trebuchet
Gunpowder
Marine Chronometer
Ibuprofen
Typewriter
UNIVAC
The Chunnel
Large Hadron Collider
Panama Canal
Three Gorges Dam
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Manhattan Project
The Apollo Program
Skylab
Biosphere 2
Airplane
The Gemini Project
Fullerenes
The Periodic Table
Superconductors
Newton’s Laws of Motion
Hubble Telescope
Pasteurization
X-Rays
Scanning Electron Microscope
LASERs
RADAR
Blood Dialysis
MRIs

Warbler said:

I thought this was going to be a thread about the NHL playoffs.    Still can't believe the Flyers got swept.   The whole team should be ashamed of the way they played.

 Wait wait wait... ...

not only is there actually organized play of this 'hockey' as you call it, but there is more than one championship???

Surely this is madness.

Hockey? Isn't that like soccer, but in the snow?

thejediknighthusezni said:

     Zam was interesting as a female hunting another female. SW needs female characters that don't detract from the Leading Lady. I thought that, as a shapeshifter, there could be some dimensionality to the Jedi, as well. If Obi warned Ani that shapeshifters can alter their impression in the force as well as appearance, we could get a sense of Jedi power.

  

 I think it's a bit odd that the fact she's a shape changer actually has no bearing whatsoever on anything, even the scene where she's hiding in a crowd.

Seemed like a reason to throw in a CG effect, nothing more. Pity.

I wasn't gonna watch the trailer, hoping to wait for the final release. But I was weak.

It's FREAKING AWESOME.

Zombie said:

...the original visual effect wasn't complete until it was composited. It wasn't some incidental thing, a final element to the effect that can just be polished up in the digital realm. It was the effect.

Well put sir.

On a side note, S_Matt, I love your avatar. It's totally simple, not exactly iconic, but instantly recognizable. I'm thinking of making a print of that image to hang in my office. Squares would just think it's abstract.