Valheru_84

ExNihilo said:

Valheru_84 said:

Current discussions aside, I think this is a fantastic video on why many people can’t accept what they did to Luke’s character in TLJ:

https://youtu.be/c4tTSB_yH8k

I just started watching this guys’s The Lost Jedi series and so far I really like it!

Yeah I’m finding his various analysis and opinion videos on TLJ to be great and he does a pretty good job on presenting and articulating his points in a way that’s not confronting or antagonistic if people with an opposite view were to watch his videos. Here is another good one on what he believes shows that RJ and JJ were not on the same page which obviously led to the many consistency issues and the binning of TFA’s setups:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP6Ckhg9tOk

But yeah, regarding The Lost Jedi series - Holy shit! I’ve listened to part 1 and 2, Disney should have hired this bloke to write the story for TLJ, it’s fricken awesome! Can’t wait to listen to the remaining parts. I also wish somehow that it were possible to make his vision for Episode 8 via a fan edit of TLJ but I don’t think that would be possible 😕

For anyone that is interested in a different take on the story of Episode 8 that is more inline with the OT and what was setup in TFA, I highly recommend checking out the below two videos. The video explains that he’s not trying to say how TLJ should have been done or that he could do it better (personally though I would have loved to see his story made into Ep8 and I felt this way after only the first 5 minutes into it), he makes fan fiction for fun and this is his take on an alternate story set around the same time as TLJ and after the events of TFA:

The Lost Jedi - Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BWlIdbjG60
The Lost Jedi - Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46TVij-rm8g

.Val

Current discussions aside, I think this is a fantastic video on why many people can’t accept what they did to Luke’s character in TLJ:

https://youtu.be/c4tTSB_yH8k

Mrebo said:

Just to note, Val, the actress is Vietnamese.

Ah k, my mistake. I was under the impression she was Chinese.

dahmage said:

Valheru_84 said:

I’d also like to point out that the movie completely ignores the fact that there is logically no way for her to catch and pass Finn (after having turned back earlier) in order for her to distinctly come from the side and smash him out of the way (on top of the mysteriously absent walker fire).

.Val

LOL. um. If you rewatch this, you will notice that flying in the ‘eye’ of the cannon slows Finn down quite a bit. I have no idea why he is flying in there, but he is. And is SLOWS HIM DOWN. therefore it is possible. I have no idea why the walkers stopped firing though.

Again, either enjoy the film, or don’t. but these nitpicks shouldn’t sway you one way or another.

Yeah can’t say I noticed that. If that is the case then it’s not very obvious IMO.

The nitpicks don’t sway me one way or the other. They are all tiny parts of the WHOLE reason I don’t like it but nevertheless I don’t see an issue with pointing them out when it is relevant.

DominicCobb said:
This aside, they were not casting specifically for an Asian actress.

It must be the way the character comes across as to me she feels rather inserted and manufactured for reasons other than story related.

For me the character of Rose feels a bit manufactured and unnecessary. She doesn’t add anything to the main story, really seeming to just be a counterpart for Finn on his pointless side quest to Canto Bight and she only exists in that particular sub-plot to use her “past” to tie in the ‘shades of grey’, ‘animal cruelty’ and ‘oppressed slave labor by the filthy rich’ themes explored there (along with all the prequel level cringe-fest elements). I mean, it just so happens that this random person that stops Finn stealing an escape pod also harks from the very planet and city they need to visit to get this Code Breaker from in order to save the Rebels…

Also I have no problem with the movie having a Chinese character if that character is required for the story and the role is specifically written as having a Chinese or Star Wars equivalent background or more importantly, the best actor for the role just happens to be Chinese. But Rose’s character very much feels like she’s only there partly to put an extra tick in the box of “actor diversity” and that’s a slight to the actress herself who does a good job even if I find the character pointless and lacking in many aspects. It also makes me wonder alongside a number of other recent examples (that are not connected with SW) whether there is something to the talk about an increase in China’s influence on Hollywood due to the amount of money they are investing into it (and therefore a need to appease that demographic)…though in that case, one would have expected Matt Damon’s character in ‘The Great Wall’ to be cast with a Chinese actor, though I’m also sure the choice of Matt Damon was more in line with audience pull than authentic characters for a movie set in China.

Anyway, I think there are many issues with “Rose” and what probably put the nail in the coffin for many people was her actions near the end of the movie in stopping Finn from sacrificing himself to save the Rebels. Finn was actually about to do something that would have contributed something significant and meaningful to the TLJ story and give you a stronger reason to feel something for his character apart from just being “likeable”. But no, RJ can have something play out as you expect it to (btw, I haven’t forgetton the replies to my previous post and will get back to them 😉 ), even when he’s the one leading you to it - at the very last second when you feel Finn’s fate is all but inevitable, Rose comes from the side and smashes him out of the way, denying a noble self sacrifice in the name of the Rebellion. Furthermore, the potential for the crash killing both of them makes this action outright ridiculous as not only did she doom the Rebels but also could have made her action even more pointless by killing Finn and herself in the process and its these matters that turn Rose’s character from being not only pointless but also badly written.

I’d also like to point out that the movie completely ignores the fact that there is logically no way for her to catch and pass Finn (after having turned back earlier) in order for her to distinctly come from the side and smash him out of the way (on top of the mysteriously absent walker fire).

.Val

adywan said:

Valheru_84 said:

The TIE fighters being there and Millenium Falcon dropping in out of no where (with accompanying “WOOO!” except it’s not Han saying it this time) to save the lone ship flying in a straight line (like in a trench) as the last hope in destroying “old Death Star tech” just before it fires on the Rebel base, is an element taken straight out of ANH and mixed into the recycled TESB battle of Hoth.

Valheru_84 said:

I agree that at first I had attributed the scene to that same particular trope but after looking at it in a new light of realisation I am sure this is Luke’s final trench run recycled for this scene, or at least parts of it and the Falcon coming to the rescue out of no where. We just needed Rey to shout over the radio “You’re all clear Finn. Now let’s blow this thing and go home!” and there would be no doubt about it 😉

Except this doesn’t happen in the film. The Falcon appears and draws the fighters off long before the weapon even starts firing and Finn does his Kamikaze run. The speeders are flying in all directions to evade the TIE’s when the Falcon appears.

My memory is a bit dim on the TIEs themselves so I’ll take your word on it but even that aside I’m still certain it’s the trench run / Falcon save repurposed to an extent.

chyron8472 said:

Valheru_84 said:

for all intensive purposes he might as well be traveling down a trench.

for all intents* and purposes.

Cheers, not sure why I always hear “intensive purposes” when someone says that which I’ve then repeated here without even realising it.

DominicCobb said:

The superstructure chase in ROTJ would be the one other time.

This comment just made me realise the chase through the red crystal caves in TLJ is the ROTJ superstructure chase scene recycled, complete with TIEs smashing into parts of the cave / superstructure and the Falcon bursting back outside through a shower of smashed crystals, much like the Falcon bursting back out into space through a fireball as the second Death Star is about to explode.

Unbelievable. The more you look into TLJ, the more you realise how unoriginal it is in so many aspects. While I thought TFA took it a bit far in recreating many ANH beats, I was able to pretty much accept it as a way to safely re-establish the franchise and set the tone and aesthetic of the new trilogy. Overall I enjoyed the movie and having got that out of the way with new story arcs set in motion and plenty of questions to be answered, I was expecting TLJ to be the movie that diverged from the safe rehashed / formulaic approach and cover new ground but that still took its roots from the previous movie. It’s anything but that though - there are new characters, ships and planets but the TFA roots have been discarded and replaced with essentially the same old story of the Rebellion vs the Empire with a Hero’s journey that ultimately must face of against their dark side nemesis, all while recycling as many parts from the 3 OT films as they can.

Having seen TLJ though, I now understand it could never be what I was expecting and that’s because RJ has a compulsion with this movie to do the exact opposite of what is expected. It was a pretty common belief that everyone was expecting TLJ to be the movie that was going to be different, darker and setting new ground after the safe bet that TFA was. So in order to do the opposite he just made another rehash movie (simply disguised a bit better by jumbling it up a bit with the edges blurred) which is what everyone didn’t want. Even the darker themes are subverted by the constant stream of tone killing humour. This movie is literally RJ giving the middle finger to a fandom and it’s expectations, making writing choices solely directed at doing the opposite of what the fandom wanted or expected, no matter the cost to the story and cohesion to the overarching saga and previously established characters and lore.

.Val

Mrebo said:

Valheru_84 said:

TV’s Frink said:

Valheru_84 said:

the lone ship flying in a straight line (like in a trench)

Hahaha, I’m almost willing to concede that you have a point (I don’t really care about this kind of stuff, I like TFA and it’s much more obvious about it) but this is ridiculous.

What’s ridiculous? Think about it a bit more Frink. I’m not saying that flying in a straight line equates to flying in a trench but why is he flying directly into the beam of this weapon about to fire? He can see parts of his ship are melting and at the rate witnessed you would not expect the ship to survive even reaching the weapon, yet he doesn’t move out of the beam to fly alongside it and still aim to crash into the centre of the weapon. He’s not weaving at all to avoid enemy fire from the walkers or TIEs (which is oddly and conveniently missing at this stage). For some odd reason he’s locked into this straight path directly towards the opening of the weapon, much like the exhaust port on the Death Star, so for all intensive purposes he might as well be traveling down a trench.

Totally unrealistic and lacking in sense? Absolutely. If the nearly impenetrable door is being melted hundreds of meters away, it is total idiocy to be in the beam for a long period of time close up. But I chalk that up to dramatic effect.

While it is possible they had the DS trench in mind, it is also possible they did not. There’s really nothing to argue except that it is possible. I think it is very different, and more akin to Randy Quaid flying into a spaceship or the Hulk flying into a portal. It’s a trope we see in many different movies.

I agree that at first I had attributed the scene to that same particular trope but after looking at it in a new light of realisation I am sure this is Luke’s final trench run recycled for this scene, or at least parts of it and the Falcon coming to the rescue out of no where. We just needed Rey to shout over the radio “You’re all clear Finn. Now let’s blow this thing and go home!” and there would be no doubt about it 😉

yhwx said:

Valheru_84 said:

Frank your Majesty said:

Well, how else would a ground assault look like? Walkers have been established as an effective force, if they came up with somehting new, people would ask “where are the walkers?”. Also, trenches are a very common defense against ground attacks and if there wasn’t a rebel base, what else would be the target of a ground attack? And the planet is nothing like Hoth.

I also must have missed the scene in Empire, where the Empire blasts a huge door away, or the TIE fighters joinging the ground attack or where Han flies directly at the enemy force to sacrifize himself, or Luke facing Vader to buy his friends some time.

Umm, just have terrain that doesn’t suit walkers such as in R1 where Cassian is trying to assassinate Jyn’s father?

The TIE fighters being there and Millenium Falcon dropping in out of no where (with accompanying “WOOO!” except it’s not Han saying it this time) to save the lone ship flying in a straight line (like in a trench) as the last hope in destroying “old Death Star tech” just before it fires on the Rebel base, is an element taken straight out of ANH and mixed into the recycled TESB battle of Hoth. Having just written that out, I’ve just realised it is literally the final trench run by Luke from ANH inserted in the battle of Hoth v2 except that it’s a Death Star cannon instead of the Death Star itself and Finn never reaches it in time to destroy it before it fires because of Rose. There’s two subversions right there for you once you realise it’s the Death Star trench run v2 (or should I say v4 since it’s kinda repeated in ROTJ and again in TFA against the Star Killer Base).

TLJ is literally riddled with recycled OT scenes and themes among other elements.

This is really stretching here.

Which part is stretching? It’s all there to be seen if you’ll only look for it…

TV’s Frink said:

Valheru_84 said:

the lone ship flying in a straight line (like in a trench)

Hahaha, I’m almost willing to concede that you have a point (I don’t really care about this kind of stuff, I like TFA and it’s much more obvious about it) but this is ridiculous.

What’s ridiculous? Think about it a bit more Frink. I’m not saying that flying in a straight line equates to flying in a trench but why is he flying directly into the beam of this weapon about to fire? He can see parts of his ship are melting and at the rate witnessed you would not expect the ship to survive even reaching the weapon, yet he doesn’t move out of the beam to fly alongside it and still aim to crash into the centre of the weapon. He’s not weaving at all to avoid enemy fire from the walkers or TIEs (which is oddly and conveniently missing at this stage). For some odd reason he’s locked into this straight path directly towards the opening of the weapon, much like the exhaust port on the Death Star, so for all intensive purposes he might as well be traveling down a trench.

Frank your Majesty said:

Well, how else would a ground assault look like? Walkers have been established as an effective force, if they came up with somehting new, people would ask “where are the walkers?”. Also, trenches are a very common defense against ground attacks and if there wasn’t a rebel base, what else would be the target of a ground attack? And the planet is nothing like Hoth.

I also must have missed the scene in Empire, where the Empire blasts a huge door away, or the TIE fighters joinging the ground attack or where Han flies directly at the enemy force to sacrifize himself, or Luke facing Vader to buy his friends some time.

Umm, just have terrain that doesn’t suit walkers such as in R1 where Cassian is trying to assassinate Jyn’s father?

The TIE fighters being there and Millenium Falcon dropping in out of no where (with accompanying “WOOO!” except it’s not Han saying it this time) to save the lone ship flying in a straight line (like in a trench) as the last hope in destroying “old Death Star tech” just before it fires on the Rebel base, is an element taken straight out of ANH and mixed into the recycled TESB battle of Hoth. Having just written that out, I’ve just realised it is literally the final trench run by Luke from ANH inserted in the battle of Hoth v2 except that it’s a Death Star cannon instead of the Death Star itself and Finn never reaches it in time to destroy it before it fires because of Rose. There’s two subversions right there for you once you realise it’s the Death Star trench run v2 (or should I say v4 since it’s kinda repeated in ROTJ and again in TFA against the Star Killer Base).

TLJ is literally riddled with recycled OT scenes and themes among other elements.

.Val

Frank your Majesty said:

As soon as the gliders start their attack, the planet isn’t entirely white anymore, the red dust makes it look completely different from Hoth, so your problem is basically that there are AT-ATs in the movie.

Sounds like denial to me…

One of the Rebel soldiers as he lines up in the trench, literally picks up some of the white stuff in front of the camera and says “it’s salt”. This is a wink at the audience from RJ that he knows what we are thinking and he acknowledges that he is essentially retreading the battle of Hoth to an extent. The landscape is white (salt instead of snow and ice), there’s a Rebel base built into cliff face tunnels (instead of tunnels into the ice and mountain side), it’s protected by a massive armoured door (instead of an energy shield) which the FO / Empire renewed have to destroy in order to enter the base. All the Rebel troops jump into trenches and even the way it shows them lining up to lean against the trench wall and sighting their weapons down range is reminiscent of watching the Rebel troops do the very same in TESB. You’ve then got the AT-ATs walking towards the base, taking the place of the “chicken walker” AT-STs in this film next to the bigger “gorilla walkers” and a squadron of Rebel ‘ground speeders/gliders’(?) heading out to meet them but prove ineffective (instead of a squadron of air speeders that are at least of some effective use).

It is through and through an alternate and revamped battle of Hoth but just at the end of the movie instead of the beginning. I could tell this just from the trailer as well, I didn’t need to see the movie to know they were borrowing heavily from TESB in this scene.

So the gliders throw up red dust, changing the landscape from white to a mix of red and white - this doesn’t change all the other factors or that it was all white beforehand. If the snow on Hoth wasn’t 10s of metres thick, say instead that it was only a light covering and the air speeders passing overhead blew parts of it away and the walkers churned it up, you’d instead have a landscape mix of brown dirt and white much like the red and white in TLJ but this doesn’t change the other fact that there are so many other similarities that they are hard to miss or ignore.

See, RJ actually wants you to think he is recreating Hoth so that he can pull some more rugs and subvert more expectations that he helps lead the audience down himself until he suddenly changes direction and goes “ah ha! But it’s not Hoth, see it’s salt and it’s red underneath, it’s a big steel door instead of an energy shield, these are gliders not air speeders, etc…”

.Val

The Emperor voiced by Mark Hamill’s Joker:

https://youtu.be/agcc7w8YmHo

It’s an interesting take on the Emperor and actually pretty well done apart from some obvious looping and reversing for lip sync purposes.

Vader is also voiced by Bain which I’m assuming is because this video is a segment of a full movie length fan edit called ‘Star Wars - The Dark Night Rises’, its link is in the above video description.

.Val

SilverWook said:

Yippee-Ki-Yay, Mother Nerf Herder! 😛

Pretty much what I was going to say 😉

Ha ha. For the record, I love cheese…just not in my Star Wars ;D

On another matter, to date I have had 15 people join OT.com now just to ask me for copies of the anti-cheese edits. Pretty sure all of them are one stoppers, never to be seen again once they have a copy. This is fine as at least people are able to better enjoy the PT and helps spread the fact that fan edits exist as well as hopefully the knowledge of where to go if you’d like to try and get a copy of the DSEs rather than paying dodgy profiteers on eBay for copies they can get for free. But seriously, all you people only dropping in for a link - do feel free to stay and find out what else OT.com has to offer and help add to the diversity of its member base 😉

Also a reminder, for anyone still after copies of the anti-cheese edits, just send me a PM (Private Message).

.Val

TESB: The Last Jedi Edition

https://youtu.be/GoLJYGS0ZUI

He does of course forget to add the ROTJ parts… 😉

adywan said:

https://nerdist.com/the-last-jedi-mark-hamill-mo-cap-performance-canto-bight/

Interesting how he says he never had the chance to do mo-cap before, I can only assume he means in film as he’s done both mo-cap and performance capture for Star Citizen in the past year or two. He plays one of the lead characters in it’s single player side of the game, just like he did in Wing Commander many years ago.

Nandi said:

Valheru_84 said:

Nandi said:

Its a joy to read your posts Valheru_84

Can’t tell if you are serious or super sarcastic 😉 (like Father Jessup level)

Serious, your posts are inteligent as well as your observations. You constantly have methodological approach even while trying, in detailed description to explain to others what is obvious to you.

Cheers mate, I appreciate the support 😃

Nandi said:

Its a joy to read your posts Valheru_84

Can’t tell if you are serious or super sarcastic 😉 (like Father Jessup level)

TV’s Frink said:

Valheru_84 said:

DominicCobb said:

DrDre said:

DominicCobb said:

DrDre said:

DominicCobb said:

DrDre said:

DominicCobb said:

Literally the whole point of Luke showing up and making a scene is inspiring hope across the galaxy.

“The Rebellion is reborn today.”

The Resistance won’t be able to fit on the Falcon for long. This is made pretty clear in the film.

Yeah, but that all depends how the FO will rule the galaxy. It’s not two major organisations backed by various systems like in the OT. In ANH many systems were rebellung against the Empire, because it was oppressing the galaxy. Now it’s hundreds of thousands of troops versus fifty people. If the FO are smart, there won’t be a Resistance ever.

Luke didn’t just inspire little kids with brooms. He inspired everyone who sympathizes with the Resistance’s plight, including, as is implied, their allies in the Outer Rim.

Sympathy that will only last if the FO are an oppressive force. The Resistance have no allies. Their socalled allies in the outer rim didn’t answer.

If the FO set up a benevolent form of government, the Resistance will never rise again, and quickly fade into obscurity. That is as decisive a victory as victories can be. It’s completely up to the FO to drop the ball.

First of all, the FO does not control the galaxy yet. They are in the process of picking up the pieces during the course of TLJ, that is why the quest for Luke is so dire (Rey states this outright in the film). Their ruling style is irrelevant. They are a fascist regime that favors the wealthy and corrupt. The only way the gain power is by leveling whole communities. The goal is to stop them before they can take full control.

And the allies didn’t answer because “the spark has gone out.” Luke reignited the spark. That’s literally the whole point of the climax.

According to the info from the film, the FO will take full control in weeks. That seems a very short time frame for our miniscule group of rebels.

But don’t you understand that it’s not just the “minuscule” group anymore by the end because of Luke?

The thing is, who else was there to witness Jake’s actions?

Insisting on calling Luke “Jake” is really silly. I hate the prequels and the Anakin we got was not in any way the Anakin I wanted, but I’m not going to make a show of calling him “Tomakin.”

Your opinion on Luke being done incorrectly is valid. It’s an opinion I completely disagree with, but it’s your right to believe it. Refusing to call him by his actual name just comes off as childish.

I’m only following Mr Hamill’s example 😉

But I agree that it’s probably a bit juvenile for me to use it as opposed to Mark in order to act out a character he can’t accept as the Luke Skywalker he knows. Seeing that I’m not going to watch the movie again it’s not like I have to create an alternate canon to accept him in since I don’t accept the entire movie as canon anyway.

So I’ll just refer to TLJ Luke from here on as “TLJ Luke” to differentiate the character from OT Luke since I clearly have different views on both characters.

.Val

TV’s Frink said:

Hmmm seems unlikely if you think this is on the same level but ok.

It seems you can’t accept my rating of TLJ without having a go at my rationality or honesty, what are you going to attack next when I don’t back down?

Much like you advise people that don’t like the PT to just pretend they don’t exist, maybe you should pretend my rating doesn’t exist if it bothers you so.

I didn’t say TLJ is the same as a fan film but for my purposes of how I see it, it might as well be since it doesn’t seem like a proper SW film that fits in with the rest of them and as part of the saga. Instead it’s a Rian Johnson-fied movie where he’s just done what he wanted irrespective of what came before.

.Val

oojason said:

The missus has just agreed with your assertion 😉

LOL. My wife just rolls her eyes every time she sees me on the forum.

TV’s Frink said:

Valheru_84 said:

It might as well be Rian Johnson’s fan film

Have you ever actually seen a fan film?

Yes

oojason said:

Valheru_84 said:

I think watching TLJ has done something to my brain for me to watch this to the end…

https://youtu.be/ntnarC4ii1s

.Val

Brilliant - reminded me of some of the earlier video edits on youtube back in the day 😃

Maybe it’s done something to your brain as well! (joking ;P )

adywan said:
Which is why i think the term “Mary Sue” should no longer be acceptable to use any more. It may once have been used to mean one thing, but it is more commonly used now in a completely different way by these morons.

Fair enough, I’ve been fine myself with the use of Mary-Sue in understanding it’s origins and original meaning but seeing as the English language constantly evolves and things take on different meanings, maybe it is time to stop using it to try and discourage those that use it in a sexist fashion.

Maybe we could refer to such characters from now on as UCCs - Unbelievably Capable Characters 😛

Matt.F said:

adywan said:
Remove the slapstick Ewok moments during the battle.

I watched Jedi recently with my daughters and the moment that got the biggest reaction from them in the whole movie was when the Ewok hits itself with the bolas. They were rolling around in hysterics.

I know that humour and comedy are often the first casualties of a fan edit, but Adywan I hope that you might be gentle when it comes to snipping away the moments of levity.

Star Wars is a family saga, and us oldies need to be reminded sometimes of the simple moments of comedy or cuteness that delight the young (and the young at heart). Smiles and laughter are part of Star Wars for me, and are one of the reasons why Star Wars works globally regardless of nationality (who knew that Britain’s biggest comedy export of last decade would be Mister Bean - slapstick humour, it’s lowbrow but there’s no denying it’s loved around the world and transcends language barriers). Slapstick and sight gags work globally, and Revisited is for a global audience.

And let’s also remember that the one moment from ESB Revisited that gets the most mentions and praise is the new gag you added, when the AT-AT falls on the Scout Walker. A moment of slapstick that Lucas himself would be proud of.

So be gentle when it comes to removing humour. We need laughter in the world!

Well said and very eloquently. I agree but also agree with what Frink said below. I’d say you do as well but just wanted to remind Ady as to the importance of some levity and humour at times as long as it doesn’t take away from the movie (looks at TLJ):

TV’s Frink said:
Any fan project should be for the person making it first and for the rest of the world (globally, as you said) second.

I obviously strongly disagree with the below part of your next post though Matt, but this is already well represented in the respective thread 😉

Matt.F said:
…with The Last Jedi having so many wonderfully humorous moments

.Val

paja said:

Is it just me or is Gollum from LOTR and The Hobbit the most realistic CG character?

Gollum is in a movie full of CGI characters and human like races (elves, dwarfs, hobbits) but only 1 is actually human. Gollum is also represented in CGI in all movies. Also because his face is not exactly human but that of a magically altered hobbit, it’s a lot easier to accept how he looks than if it was meant to represent the face of a real life human.

Peter Cushing was a real actor in a movie where all humans are portrayed by real human actors, all the other races are clearly alien and portrayed with puppets or masks. He is then represented with CGI in another movie while surrounded by real actors, it stands out like dogs balls even if they didn’t shove his CGI face directly in the camera multiple times. As commented by someone else, they also didn’t accurately capture his mannerisms. If he didn’t actually say anything when the camera was on his face it would have been much more convincing.

Both him and Leia could have just been done with with them looking away from the camera, even just a silhouette in the case of Leia with her hair buns. Heck, they didn’t even need to show Leia, just have her voice and not even that as you’ve already recognised the ship exterior and interior by then. There were plenty enough clues to figure out who’s ship they were on and what the story was connecting into.

.Val