Thanks Warbler!
I’m good man. You?
well, I wish my life were better, but, I’m ok.
Sad to hear that buddy.
Although if you’d said ‘My life is amazing, everything is great, whoop whoop!’ I would have said ‘Who are you and what have you done with Warbler?’ 😉
As far as a possible in universe explanation on the Republic/Resistance/First Order situation… It could be that the New Republic, like the Old Republic prior to the Clone Wars felt that they shouldn’t have a standing army and the plan was to have Luke rebuild the Jedi order to once again be the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy.
So due to past mistakes, the idea of raising an official military for the republic could just be something they see as politically unacceptable and hence we get the Resistance which rises up independently to the fight the First Order after a few initial terrorist type attacks on Republic systems. The Resistance effort would then be secretly supported by the Republic and as stated above it isn’t too hard for the First Order to connect the dots.
That’s a pretty good explanation. I can buy that. But hopefully they’ll explain at least a little in episode VIII because that’s a lot of assumption.
As I’ve said, I’m not looking for prequel-style exposition (I loathe the prequels), but a quick ‘the republic is peaceful, they renounce war and relied on the formation of a new Jedi order.’ would help. Not everybody reads EU (although I just ordered Lost Stars, I’ve heard it’s good).
The Republic probably initially just didn’t think the First Order to be much of a threat with Vader and the Emperor gone. You’d think that once they destroyed the new Jedi order that should have changed… do we have any idea how long ago that happened and how long Luke has been missing?
Well Adam Driver is 32 years old… so even if we assume Ren is the same age as the actor who plays him, his fall to the dark side and the subsequent destruction of the new Jedi Order couldn’t have happened more than what… 20 years ago? So in 20 years the Republic never once thought ‘maybe we should do more about these ‘First Order’ guys than give Leia a few ships’.
Oh, and that tri-bladed saber thing? Still as dumb as it was when they first showed it.
I also didn’t like this when I saw it in the promo material but in the context of the film it worked. Unlike Darth Maul’s double-ended saber, which was simply a case of ‘let’s make something new and cool to sell toys’, Ren’s lightsaber felt raw, uncontrolled, and not quite finished, just like him. It’s a weapon constructed by somebody who wants to be a Jedi/Sith, but hasn’t quite mastered the skill or constrain to do it. It takes skill and wisdom to build a light saber.
Maybe I’m making excuses, but with the above explanation in mind I don’t see it as a tri-blade saber. I imagine those extra blades as vents or something, because he couldn’t quite figure out how to replicate Vader’s light saber without them. Another failure on his quest to be as great as his grandfather.
Kylo Ren (which incidentally is a stupid and terrible name) was only a half-decent villain while he kept his mask on. Once he took the mask off, it was all over. Any scariness or credibility he had went right out the window once his whiny prequel-Anakin true persona was revealed.
Based on your post, you and I obviously have very different opinions of this movie, and that’s cool - each to their own. But your one point I’ve highlighted above really jumped out at me because I felt the complete opposite. As i’ve said, I’d avoided all spoilers, so all I’d really seen was a few promo shots of a guy in a Vader-esque mask and I was like ‘why have ripped off Vader?’ but when I saw his face (young, vulnerable, and not at all vader-like), I began to understand his motivation, his angst, his self-doubt, his grand-daddy issues… that’s when he became really interesting to me. In short, when he became more human*.
I also thought the notion of a character being tempted by the light side and fighting to resist was interesting.
*I know he’s not actually human 😉
As I’ve said elsewhere, the galaxy is in Cold War type situation at the beginning. The Resistance is fighting the good fight, and the Republic is looking the other way, yet supporting them in secret. (Yes, it’s the worst kept secret in the galaxy, but that’s politics for you.) As that sure looked like Coruscant getting vaporized, things have changed drastically.
It’s a good answer, and it goes some way to making sense of it all, so thanks.
But why would they look the other way? The Galactic Empire was awful, whole systems celebrated when it was overthrown. Wouldn’t everybody want to stop the First Order before history repeats itself.
And I don’t mean stop them by supporting a small band of rebels/resistance. I mean go at them, full pelt, and STOP THEM.
I can only presume the same sort of idiots who believed a silver tongued guy like Palpatine pre Episode III thought The First Order could be appeased, or would be content to stay in it’s own sectors. (Plenty of real world examples of this.) The Rebellion might have even been dismantled by the new Republic government. Or dumb enough to sign non agression pacts with the First Order. That Leia and Ackbar seem to be running the Resistance speaks to diplomacy not really working.
All good points.
Even though it’s a reasonable and plausible explanation, I’m still not sure it’s the best set-up for a dramatic work of fiction about good vs evil, but at least I get it now 😃
Thanks Warbler!
I’m good man. You?
As I’ve said elsewhere, the galaxy is in Cold War type situation at the beginning. The Resistance is fighting the good fight, and the Republic is looking the other way, yet supporting them in secret. (Yes, it’s the worst kept secret in the galaxy, but that’s politics for you.) As that sure looked like Coruscant getting vaporized, things have changed drastically.
It’s a good answer, and it goes some way to making sense of it all, so thanks.
But why would they look the other way? The Galactic Empire was awful, whole systems celebrated when it was overthrown. Wouldn’t everybody want to stop the First Order before history repeats itself.
And I don’t mean stop them by supporting a small band of rebels/resistance. I mean go at them, full pelt, and STOP THEM.
You can tell it’s a guy in a suit but the face/mask was augmented with CG… surely? It sure looked like it was anyway.
When I think back to how amazing Yoda still looks in ESB…
I love the Thrawn Trilogy.
You have to remember that it came out ages ago, when there wasn’t really anything star wars related going on. Long before the prequels, and long long before Disney-wars. It was water in the desert for fans, and Zahn knocked it out of the park.
I’m not sure how a new reader would find it today.
Currently reading The Pickwick Papers. Decided it was about time I actually read some Dickens.
It’s good. Surprisingly funny.
I have been away, but TFA has brought me back. Howdy to anyone who I used to hang out with on here.
I haven’t posted on OT.com for a very long time, mainly because I was a bit bored and disillusioned with Star Wars. I’ll always love the OT, but I was just a bit ‘over’ everything else.
So let me start by saying I thought this movie was fantastic… Star Wars is back, baby! I saw it twice in the first two days and have been reading up on it ever since. My love and excitement for Star Wars has been reignited.
Obviously it wasn’t perfect, very few movies are, and this one had a lot of weight on its shoulders. But I think JJ and co pulled it off. Credit where credit’s due.
Of course, this is an Internet forum and complaining is what we do best, so I’ll start with the bits I wasn’t so keen on (but I can let them all slide in the grand scheme of things):
CGI characters. Maz, Snoke, that dude who gives Rey her rations… Prosthetics would have looked better in my humble opinion.
Speaking of Maz, or ‘Orange Yoda’ as I like to call her, she felt a bit… pointless. Maybe it would have been better to have Leia give Rey the lightsaber and explain the force to her? It would have at least given Carrie something useful to do 😉
Starkiller. A lot of people are dissing the familiarity of the plot. Yes, it’s a beat for beat retread of ANH. But I’m actually cool with that. For the first movie of a new trilogy I don’t need a convoluted plot, just take me back to a galaxy far, far away, don’t f*ck it up and I’m happy. But I could have lived without a bigger and badder Death Star in the final act.
The Republic/The Resistance. Aren’t they the same thing? Didn’t the rebels win the war and become the republic? Shouldn’t Leia be President or whatever by now? It just felt a bit weird and complicated.
The CGI monster hijinks on Han’s freighter. That whole scene felt like ‘hey we need some fun action and Han being Han stuff here’. It was kinda cringeworthy, and it’s the only bit of the film where I thought Han Solo fell flat.
Anything not mentioned above, I thought was great. And among the stuff that was great there were some bits that were extra-great…
Luke at the end. Goosebumps. Mark Hamill nailed it without saying a word.
The lightsaber fight in the snow, especially the bit where Rey force grabs the lightsaber away from Kylo Ren… Goosebumps.
Kylo Ren. What a great villain. Conflicted, powerful yet weak, petulant in a dangerous way. Adam Driver nailed it.
Han’s ‘it’s all true’ speech. I thought that was a really nice moment for the character.
Han’s death. I avoided all spoilers for this movie, so I hadn’t heard the ‘Han dies’ rumours, but as Han walked onto that bridge you just knew there was at least a strong possibility that it was coming. I found the moment tense, dramatic, sad, poignant.
To summarise, I can’t wait for episode 8. But I’ll be watching Episode 7 at least a couple more times on the big screen first 😃
P.s did anybody else notice the rectangular dish on the falcon to replace the original round one Lando knocked off in ROTJ? That was a nice bit of attention to detail and probably my favourite of the call backs (some of which I found a little forced and unnecessary).
Ronster said:
The difficulty with getting a stand in for Peter Cushing would be the cheek bones.
Perhaps a couple of green screen Cheek Pads down to the chin would do it.
I think once you have the cheek bones and narrow gaunt chin you have Tarkin / Peter Cushing obviously with the hair do also. Crooked nose prosthetic and so on.
This model re-creation is also pretty real looking...
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/05/you-will-not-believe-these-star-wars-pictures-are-real/
So even if they did do a cgi re-creation they could scan that as a reference so It could possibly be up there with the likes of the schwarzenegger T-800 (terminator 1 model) which was done from scanning a cast that they used to make his fake head where he gouges his eye out.
Personally all CGI is no good though it should be a mix of both real and CGI if they go for a re-creation. especially the eyes are lifeless, so it works for Terminator but not if someone has lines to deliver.
After seeing 'Skinny Steve Rogers' in Captain America and 'Young Michael Douglas' in Ant-Man, I have no doubt they can bring back Peter Cushing. As as long as his family were ok with it, and assuming he didn't hate Star Wars like Alec Guinness, I think I'm ok with it too.
HotRod said:
WTF was Tom Baker doing there??
This link has some good non-answers.
http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-who/28353/the-day-of-the-doctor-who-is-the-curator
Basically nobody knows or ever will know.
Bingowings said:
It's easy to say the PT is bobbins if you think it's bobbins.
Total bobbins.
wabid said:
Leia
She was so hot back then. Impossible to equate the girl in that photo to the woman who goes by the name of Carrie Fisher today in my mind. Just boggles my brain, does not compute.
Anyway, bollocks to recasting. Set it ages after ROTJ so no Han or Leia. Cast Mark Hamill as an old Jedi Master. Yoda lived to 900, why can't Luke?
When I heard he was giving the money to charity I was impressed. Maybe creatively some of us disagree with his decisions over the past 20 years or so, but you can't deny giving away 4 billion dollars makes him a pretty cool dude in my books.
Brad Bird would be good.
John Favreau too.
Rian Johnson could be interesting.
Joss Whedon is an obvious choice but would be good I think. Firefly was closer to the OT than the prequels were and the Avengers proves he can do big blockbusters.
Imrahil said:
I'd rather they didn't use the original characters at all, and set it some other time completely.
They could set it hundreds of years later and still have Luke Skywalker in it... Yoda was 900 years old.
TheBoost said:
I think Luke, now basically grown into Obi-Wan, coming out of his quiet Yoda-like retirement, to help a band of heroes on some sort of andventure is the perfect hook.
That's definitely the way I'd go with it.
Even better if it was a HBO Band of Brothers style mini-series, so you can really develop the characters and what's happened in the years since ROTJ.
ricarleite said:
I am an OLD time user here, almost a decade, but I HAD to come back here and say.... HOLY S***T!!!
Me too dude. HOLY S***T.
Not sure how I feel about this to be honest - could be cool to see Star Wars in non-Lucas hands in my lifetime. Or could be terrible.
Now, a HBO, Band of Brothers style 10-part series about Luke (played by Mark Hamill) training new Jedi, that I'd watch.
'Ted'.
Absolutely shit.
Not funny.
Best thing about it was the trailer.
Seth McFarlene is a hack.
No balls
Trooperman said:
Just saw "The French Connection" in 35mm. Great movie.
On a related note, the last film I saw was Killer Joe. Disturbing and funny at the same time and a tour de force from Matthew McConaughey.
3.5 Pieces of fried chicken out of 4 blowjobs.
Bingowings said:
Yeah I'm no more Cavalorn than I am Troy of Benidorm.
Oh I thought that was you... don't know why.
Anyway, it's a pretty funny article. They basically take the piss out of all the flaws but because Empire is a respected mag they do it in a tongue in cheek respectful way so as not to piss of Ridley.
Hey Bingowings, did you see they namechecked you in August's issue of 'Empire'?
You're mentioned again further down the page.
