Tobar

Ryan McAvoy said:

Tobar said:

Was reading another interview Dave did for Nerdist and then this awesomeness came up:

Joel Aron and I very consciously decided to make it like what you saw in the ’70s... the blades in the prequels actually... taper to a very specific sword point.

 Huh.

 Yeah I remember seeing that too, probably an early promotional image. Here's the blade as it appears in the new trailer:

Hmm...yeah that explanation for the origin of the X-Wing makes no sense to me. In the opening crawl it's explained that the theft of the Death Star plans is the Rebellion's first victory against the Empire.

And yet their fighters are all worn and show signs of age and heavy use. In my mind, all of the Rebel Alliance's equipment was scrounged second hand. The fighters dating back to the days of the Republic.

They are superior to the Empire's fighters but that's because the Empire decided to cut costs as there hadn't been any real opposition up to that point.

That leaves the Rebellion with superior equipment but facing overwhelming odds by the sheer size of the Imperial fleet.

Bingowings said:

I preferred T3 (at least the highly truncated fan edit I last saw) to T2 which is one of the most overrated and annoyingly awful sequels ever made in my book.

A while ago someone recommended The Stainless Steel Rat.

Anyone have any recommendations for fun Sci-fi novels in the same vein as Star Wars?

Was reading another interview Dave did for Nerdist and then this awesomeness came up:

As an original fan, if you just see a TIE fighter scream across the screen – you haven’t seen that since probably ’96 on a screen of any kind unless you’re watching it at home and it’s never been new. I think we have that to offer. Joel Aron, my VFX lead, has done an amazing job at matching the original effects. Something I’ll talk about – I don’t know if I've told anyone this, so this might be somewhat exclusive: We had the lightsaber rendered – the effect you’ll see in this show, Joel Aron and I very consciously decided to make it like what you saw in the ’70s. And they changed it in updated editions. The blade is a lot steadier in the re-releases and in the prequels. In fact, the blades in the prequels actually are wide and then they taper to a very specific sword point. The lightsabers that we’re putting in Star Wars Rebels are very much the long thin slender blade that is just more like a fencing rapier. Much more like that.

And they oscillate. They actually quiver. Joel found the original guy that did the original effect, rotoed it and everything, because it was on a rod that spun. If you look at really old, original footage of Luke’s lightsaber when he turns it on, it kind of almost goes like that [waves hand] and flickers. That really motivates the humming sound of the lightsaber and how it fluctuates when it moves. Joel’s recreated that really well.

Something else, we put in the old kind of yellow-green flash contacts when the sabers hit in the old movies that weren't as present in the new ones. We've gone very retro with our effects package for Rebels. I think old fans will like that, new fans won’t even know the difference. But yes, it’s always a big consideration. For a lot of kids, Rebels will be their introduction [to Star Wars]. It’s exciting, and it’s a huge responsibility, because we want to set things up well for everything that’s going to come.

Full interview here.

So recently show runner Dave Filoni was interviewed by IGN and the topic of fan skepticism came up:

IGN: Right. There are always going to be those people -- I see them on the comment boards -- especially with the adult fans, where it's like, "Dark dark dark dark dark. It should always be darker."

Filoni: Of course, yeah.

IGN: So let's address that, because when Kilian [Plunkett] is saying, "This show is lighter than The Clone Wars”, what would you say to the people going, "Where's the dark stuff?!"

Filoni: For me, if I go back and look at the original Star Wars, I wouldn't call it dark. I think it has dark moments. I think Empire gets there, I think Jedi has some dark moments. But my intention with the storytelling is to be in that realm. I'll easily say, we are not going to be as dark as finding Darth Maul as a shell of his former self, on a junk planet, screaming, you know? That was dark even for Star Wars. I think the other thing too is I just want this to be Star Wars in the most classic sense -- a serialized television show. I want it to have its epic moments and its mythic moments. I want it to get to places where you know the villains are really villains. But for me at least to kind of map out this show, I think we'll start in a place, not unlike what we did in Clone Wars, which was that it was a bit more fun in the beginning. I think the bad guys still have their tone, but I think, since we're coming at it with a boy in the beginning, that it is a little bit lighter in tone. But then as the world kind of rises up around them and things get more serious, I think it allows us to bring everybody into that world, just like Luke did. Things get more and more progressively intense. But it's always with an eye on, how can we keep the flavor of Star Wars or Indiana Jones? It's going to be a very balanced show.

I would also say that it's different than the previous era of Clone Wars and Star Wars because we were really the only game in town. There wasn't almost anything else being made, certainly nothing else by George Lucas. Now we're looking at all types of Star Wars media coming out. I think that it all can't be the same. I would expect, as is a tradition in video games -- those things seem to be darker -- the new movies, what tone they'll have I don't know; maybe dark, maybe not dark. But I think there needs to be a range. There are other types of movies being made as well in Star Wars, and who knows what realm they'll go into. The good thing is, we're all on the same page at Lucasfilm... and I know more than I'm letting on. [Laughs] Obviously. But I just play it that way. No followup questions!

IGN: [Laughs] Yeah, yeah. I was thinking, ‘Suuuure, they never say anything to you about the new movies!’

Filoni: Yeah, I'm totally in the dark. [Laughs] But everything kind of needs to have it's place and space. I think that way you're addressing it in different mediums, in different formats. The nice thing I can say is, it's all more connected than it's ever been at Lucasfilm. Before, we would change something in Clone Wars and people would be like, "Why are you changing canon?" We're like, "Actually, we're not. This is the way George wants it." Now, that is a unified approach where I'm talking to several different people on different projects, and we're all aware of what each other's doing. We all get great ideas from each other and share ideas, so it's a much more unified effort. So our tone is classic Star Wars, very much I think, I'm hoping, A New Hope, because I find that it's probably the most balanced. I mean, Vader doesn't pull any punches. Certainly, Captain Antilles figured that out. But you still have things like Jawas. I love a movie that can encompass both of those things. I think that when we say "lighter tone," I just mean I hope it's in some ways funny. I think that everyone would agree that something that Marvel has done brilliantly is weave comedy into all of their action movies. They need that. I think with Clone Wars, we weren't nearly as good at that. It was very dark and serious most of the time. So I'm just looking for it to be more balanced now.

You can read the full interview here, it's a great read.

Hah, so on a lark I decided to check out The Ultimate Spider-Man on Netflix. It started off...okay. They utilize the weird fourth wall shattering pause time to talk to the audience shtick that Zach Morris pioneered at Bayside High.

It's set a year into Spidey's career when he's approached by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. for additional training and gear. Turns out Nick is starting a new initiative to start training the Next Avengers and he wants Spidey to help lead this new team he's assembled. The team consisting of Iron Fist, White Tiger, Luke Cage and Nova.

I thought it was a pretty neat concept and made me wish Marvel had Spidey's rights back even more. And then something happened that took me completely by surprise...

AGENT COULSON SHOWED UP! He advises against Spidey's recruitment, citing the reports from the Daily Bugle. Later on, Parker is surprised to find that his new team has been transferred to his high school and Coulson is now his new principle!

It felt like Marvel's attempt to slide Spidey into their new universe, at least in the animated portion of it. Oh yeah and the Fantastic Four were shown to exist in this universe as well.

Star Wars #19

Been re-reading the original Marvel Star Wars run. It gets a bad rap because of the terrible first original storyline. All anyone seems to remember is that dumb green rabbit but there's so much more than that. Once Archie Goodwin took over it really grabbed onto that Star Wars feel and held tight for years. Lots of good stories that are completely overlooked because of one bad first impression.

The Transformers #5

I was never into the Transformers or GI Joe when I was younger but I have friends who are into them as much as I am Star Wars. So I decided to start looking into them. I heard a lot of good things about the Marvel Transformers series and decided to give it a try. Great stuff, definitely superior writing to the show. It's also cemented my affinity for Marvel over DC for good. As in issue 3 Dum Dum Dugan and Nick Fury appear and reference the Marvel Godzilla run. So the Marvel universe contains the most fun super heroes AND Godzilla AND the Transformers? That's no contest, Marvel wins due to pure awesome.

Honestly your best bet in identifying this piece would be to ask somewhere like Yakface. They specialize in Star Wars collectibles.

It's not just about restoring a line of dialogue. That shot interrupts the flow of the film and is wholly unnecessary.

luckydube56 said:

I have no interest in seeing a back story for any of the other OT characters i can think of

 Who doesn't want to see the amazing adventures of Willrow Hood:

Or the exciting tales of Bane Malar:

And just think of the fantastic buddy film you could get out of these two:

And while you think I jest, I would seriously watch all three of these in a heart beat. =|

Good news everyone!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been renewed! Not only that, but the Agent Carter series has been picked up as well!

The daughter of Alan Ladd Jr. is making a documentary about her dad and it only has 8 more days to reach its funding goal!

He's a great guy and his story should be told.

DuracellEnergizer said:

...I have little faith that anyone working for Disney has the gumption/influence to take the initiative.

 Because it's a bunch of Disney people working on and writing all the Marvel films, right?

So right after tonight's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. there was a promo for the sitcom the The Goldbergs. It's set in the '80s and tonight's episode was about the premiere of Return of the Jedi.

Naturally I stuck around. They did a great job of using period accurate props, something other(That 70's Show) shows never bothered with. It was cool that they had some big fans that I always see at Celebration come on the show.

Sadly, the final shot of the show was a theater screen projecting the explosion of the Second Death Star and I'm almost certain it was from an old pan and scan VHS.

So we've been hearing murmurs about these for a while now. Today, Bob Iger revealed to investors that they currently have three standalone films in the works.

They're set to release in-between the episodic entries. The rumored release schedule looks something like this:

2015: VII

2016: Standalone "???" directed by Gareth Edwards

2017: VIII

2018: Standalone "???" directed by Josh Trank

2019: IX

2020: Standalone "???" 

We know Lawrence Kasdan is writing one of the scripts, while Simon Kinberg is writing another. So who's writing the third?

What do you think these standalone films will be about?

Wow, there's just something about 2.0 that feels....magical. I get the same feeling from SWDE. You're really outdoing yourself Harmy.

Another week, another poster!

Don't forget to tune in tonight!

I don't see how seeing as they used her face for Miranda.

Though I do admit it's weird watching Mad Men and seeing the cast of L.A. Noire walking around.

She's also in Chuck where I believe she plays a super spy.

It's great to see Jack back in action but sad to see the trend of characters completely ignoring the obvious to advance the plot is still alive and well. It's plagued the series from the beginning and still bugs the crap out of me.

I also felt a little lost without a recap of what happened in the last season. It's been a while.

Interesting. I don't know where they're getting this main character stuff from though. It's a picture of an action figure. If this is accurate and he does appear it's gonna be as a guest star role.

The first trailer for GOTHAM has just dropped.

I am intrigued....

Esquire put out a great interview yesterday with Roger Christian the set decorator behind the OT. It was so good I thought it deserved it's own thread. Here's a quick excerpt:

ESQ: How did you come up with the initial idea to use scrap metal?

RC: I told George gingerly one day, "I cannot afford to dress these sets, I can't get anything made in the studio," but my idea was to make it like a submarine interior. And if I bought airplane scrap and broke it down, I could stick it in the sets in specific ways — because there's an order to doing it, it's not just random. And that's the art of it. I understood how to do that — engineering and all that stuff. So George said, "Yes, go do it." And airplane scrap at that time, nobody wanted it. There were junkyards full of it, because they sold it by weight. I could buy almost an entire plane for 50 pounds.

Click here to read the entire interview.

Well it's the same creative team behind the show so I'm sure in time we'll be seeing a lot more female characters. Don't forget there's a second main female cast member in the form of the ship's pilot.

You can see a bit more of her in the 30 second version of the trailer.

SilverWook said:

IIRC, they took one of the original Chewie suits out of storage and recolored the fur for TPM.

 There are conflicting reports on that. It's also been said that it was sculpted by John Coppinger for TPM. It certainly looks like it could be a repurposed Chewie costume but you have to wonder how well it would have held up after 15 years.

Edit: Scratch that, just looked up an old interview with Coppinger and in it he confirms it's a repurposed suit.

One of my best days in filmland was being in an original Wookiee suit for the voting scene in The Phantom Menace. It’s a powerful experience being ‘inside’ such an iconic character – grown men and women turn into little children when confronted by a Wookiee. And two years ago I finally got the chance to thank Peter Mayhew for not coming over to the UK to play the part!