fmalover

My greatest fear is that they bowdlerise HK-47.

thebluefrog said:

Prequels barely work in general.

Can people really come up with any prequels outside of SW that enhance the original?

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Technically a prequel because chronologically it takes place before RotLA but has no bearing on the latter.

jedi_bendu said:

I’m reading Dune for the first time to prepare for the film’s release in October.

I am currently halfway through Children of Dune.

jedi_bendu said:

fmalover said:

On that note, that’s one of my many gripes with Star Wars Rebels. Every episode ends in mission accomplished with no casualties for the rebels, thus making the victories of the OT a lot less impactful.

I’d guess you’re against the show existing at all then. You can’t exactly tell a story about the gradual formation of the Rebel Alliance by showing them getting crushed and defeated at every turn. There were always going to be small victories, the events of the OT and Rogue One are just the first major victories.

I’m not saying the rebels should have been crushed and defeated at every turn as you put it, but the fact that they never suffer any setbacks makes the Empire look incompetent. How about two steps forward one step back, then three steps forward one step back, four steps forward two steps back, the Rebel Alliance slowly gaining in strength, occasionally throw in a defeat that sets the Rebellion back from square 50 to square 35, certainly damaging but not enough to erode their determination. It would have made for a much more compelling narrative than the smooth sailing of victory after victory we got.

Servii said:

The fact that the Rebel Alliance is able to so quickly muster a large fleet like that so early in the war makes the fleet in RotJ less impactful.

On that note, that’s one of my many gripes with Star Wars Rebels. Every episode ends in mission accomplished with no casualties for the rebels, thus making the victories of the OT a lot less impactful.

Servii said:

fmalover said:

The way I see it, the Tantive IV and Leia were shoehorned into the movie as per Disney’s demands.

It would have made a lot more sense if the ship escaping from the Battle of Scarif wasn’t the Tantive IV.

It definitely seems like many of the continuity issues at the end of the film were a result of reshoots (the late addition of the Vader hallway scene comes to mind). I’d very much like to see a director’s cut and how the ending was meant to go originally.

I remember reading that originally Gareth Edwards intended for the movie to end with Jyn and Cassian being killed by Vader, but this ending was deemed too dark.

The way I see it, the Tantive IV and Leia were shoehorned into the movie as per Disney’s demands.

It would have made a lot more sense if the ship escaping from the Battle of Scarif wasn’t the Tantive IV.

Servii said:

Ideally, I would have preferred the Sequel Trilogy be made in the 90’s, before the prequel trilogy. But assuming that my hypothetical sequels had to come out in 2015, 2017, and 2019, here’s what I would probably do, off the top of my head:

At the start of VII, the galaxy is in a state of cold war, with the two largest galactic factions, the Republic and the Empire (still just called the Empire), having maintained a ceasefire for about a decade or so. Under the leadership of Gilad Pellaeon, and with the support of the mysterious Knights of Ren, the Empire has shifted away from its sinister past and become a less destructive, if still somewhat despotic faction. In the years since the ceasefire, the Knights of Ren have grown hugely in number, especially since they started recruiting within both Imperial and Republic space, with many former Jedi apprentices having left to join the secretive group.

Rey, Finn, and Poe will still be our main heroes. The protagonist of the trilogy will be Finn, a Stormtrooper who’s fiercely loyal to the Empire, while having a strong code of honor. He develops an unlikely friendship with Rey the scavenger and Poe the Republic pilot.

Covert attacks begin to take place against both the Republic and Empire, with each faction being framed for the attacks on the other. Agents within both governments carry out subversion to weaken the ceasefire and push the factions back towards open war. Finn is perhaps betrayed by one of these corrupt governors and left for dead on a desolate planet, where he meets Rey. After doing some investigating later on, the heroes might mistakingly suspect that the Knights of Ren are behind the attacks.

Leia is the chief executive of the Republic. Han is a Republic general. Lando has settled down as baron of another wealthy city. Luke leads a small, reclusive Jedi Order on a wilderness planet in the Mid Rim, still struggling with what the new Order’s role should be in the larger galaxy, especially with the ongoing cold war and the increasingly prominent Knights of Ren. Our heroes find Luke near the end of VII’s second act, and Finn, discovering his Force sensitivity, begins to train with him.

Eventually, near the end of VII, it’s discovered that these corrupt agents within both factions have been working together to destabilize the galaxy in preparation for a massive invasion. Luke perhaps sensed this imminent attack beforehand, and had investigated evidence of a prior invasion by the same species in the ancient past. Finn, Rey, and Poe discover a scout ship belonging to this species, and the climax of VII will be the start of the invasion of this species in full force. VII ends with the Empire being devastated first, and the Republic bracing itself for the oncoming storm. Gilad Pellaeon is killed. Luke and his apprentices come out of seclusion to defend the Republic, while the Knights of Ren begin to wage fierce guerilla warfare against the invaders that are now occupying Imperial worlds.

The climax of VIII will be the fall of Coruscant. Han or Leia is killed in this attack. By the end, both the Republic and Empire are scattered and in shambles. With the war seeming unwinnable, the Knights of Ren will become increasingly ruthless and desperate in their tactics, veering closer towards the Dark Side.

IX will be about 3 hours long. It will feature the Republic and Empire joining their forces for the first time in their history to repel the invaders.

Finn will now be a full Jedi Knight, leading a group of fellow Knights and padawans to different contested planets in need of being defended or reclaimed. Along the way, they encounter Kylo Ren and some of his Knights (I haven’t decided yet whether Kylo will be related to anyone. I’d also like to work him into the plots of VII and VIII, but I haven’t decided on what his role will be yet.), and the two groups join forces for a while. But it becomes clear through Kylo’s scorched-earth tactics that he is growing increasingly unhinged and aggressive to the point of bloodlust, and that he considers civilian lives entirely expendable as long as the Empire wins in the end.

Kylo becomes more and more obsessed with obtaining hidden knowledge to not just repel the invaders, but to destroy them utterly. This search eventually leads him to Korriban, where he and his Knights recover Sith holocrons and artifacts, and are at last fully consumed by the Dark Side.

The climax of IX will the joint Republic-Empire reclamation of Coruscant. The attack will be a major victory that cripples the invaders, forcing what’s left of their military to flee into the Unknown Regions. In the midst of the battle, the Knights of Ren arrive, using their new knowledge of the Dark Side to devastate the fleeing enemy. As the battle is winding down, the Republic and Empire discover that the invaders had already begun to transport their own civilians to settle on Coruscant and other newly conquered worlds. With the enemy forces in retreat, these civilians are left stranded on the planet, at the mercy of the victorious Republic and Empire. Kylo, being the highest ranking Imperial still alive, orders that they be put to death. Finn, Luke, and the other Jedi object to this, while the Republic overall is split on the issue.

In spite of this, Kylo and his troops (as well as some Republic troops, of their own accord) begin to carry out a purge of the planet, with the Jedi and some of the other Republic troops fighting against them. The situation devolves into planetwide chaos, and taking advantage of this as well as the Republic’s momentary indecision, Kylo assumes absolute control of Coruscant, declaring himself Emperor and Sith Lord. Kylo then kills Luke.

Finn, Rey, and Poe lead a final desperate mission to stop Kylo. Finn battles Kylo in a duel, defeats him, but spares his life, instead handing him over to be tried for his crimes.

In the aftermath of the War, the shattered Republic and Empire are at last dissolved, reformed into a galaxy-wide defensive coalition, prepared in the event that any such invasion or upheaval should happen again. Finn carries on Luke’s legacy as the new leader of the Jedi Order.

Bravo.

JadedSkywalker said:

Doubt he is available though because of Knives out sequels.

A part of me fears this will put Johnson’s SW trilogy on indefinite hiatus, which is a real shame, because I would love to see what he can do with Star Wars unconstrained by a previously established story.

JadedSkywalker said:

The worst aspect of the prequels wasn’t just the unnatural and unbelievable dialog and acting, or the fact that II and III were shot on Video instead of on film. Or the incredible bad cgi in Episode II. The total lack of verisimilitude and a used universe which the OT had in spades made everything look like a cheap 1990s computer game. There was also the moving away from established canon of the OT just because as the creator Lucas could retcon whatever he wanted. Even if 4 different special editions later the prequels and originals don’t inhabit the same mentality or continuity.

On the other hand the Disney movies are bad for lack of imagination and originality but you can have original bad like the prequels, or original bad like a sequel about Darth Maul which thankfully wasn’t made.

Safe filmaking is when you rely on callbacks and nostalgia that’s when you hire JJ Abrams. Lucas was right on the money for saying they made a film for the fans, but he could have worded it fanfilm or pastiche because that is all JJ does. The great remaker/remixer. Who saved Star Trek when it didn’t need to be saved, Saved MI when it didn’t need to be saved, and saved Star Wars when it didn’t need to be saved.

Several characters from the OT return, as well as the Millennium Falcon, there’s X-wings and TIE Fighters, but these movies don’t feel like Star Wars.

By now it’s obvious that Disney was merely appealing to fan nostalgia.

As bad as the prequels are, despite the overuse of CGI, and having a baroque aesthetic which contrasts with the utilitarian aesthetic of the OT, they still feel part of the SW universe.

As flawed as the PT may be, the deep disappointment I felt after watching TFA gave me a newfound appreciation for the movies, and TLJ is the only one of the ST that feels like a natural progression of the saga.

I don’t know about having an outline for the entire ST from the start. Remember the OT was pretty much done on the fly, and Christopher Nolan revealed that his Dark Knight trilogy was done one step at a time, as they had no idea where the story would go after Batman Begins.

First reviews are up.

Looks like this will be a worthwhile adaptation.

Servii said:

Overall, I like your rewrite ideas. Your version of the Imperial Remnant sounds good, and I like what you’re going for with the Knights of Ren and their whole Force Supremacist ideology, but I’d suggest finding additional ways to differentiate this new ideology from the Sith. As they’re described now, they sound like Sith Lite, which is okay, but I think could be made more interesting. One idea (I’m not sure if this is what you were thinking) would be to make the Knights of Ren similar to the Imperial Knights from the Legacy Era: Force users who reject the Dark Side, but serve an authoritarian regime, perhaps out of some sense of a “greater good.” That way, the story won’t require bringing the Dark Side back after RotJ, but will portray a whole new, different corruption of the Jedi ideology that has to be defeated. I wouldn’t have them massacre Luke’s Jedi Order, but I would have them convert most of Luke’s students away from his teachings, leaving Luke disheartened but not totally broken.

Although I liked the Imperial Knights, I always perceived them as a neutral entity who have no quarrel with the Jedi, which defeats the purpose of being antagonists, so I am sticking to my version of the Knights of Ren even if they are merely “Sith lite” as you put it.

Servii said:
I don’t agree with having Kylo Ren as the leader of the IR, though. He can be the leader of the Knights of Ren, but the IR’s leader should be someone the Knights swear fealty to. A Force sensitive, also, but someone older and with more military bearing. Kylo could be basically the chief lieutenant/enforcer of this new Emperor.

I’ve been giving it some thought. I don’t like the idea of the IR being led by an older Force user no one has ever heard of because you have Snoke all over again, so I came up with this solution: the IR is lead by the Triumvirate, a former regional Imperial governor representing the political aspect, a former Imperial Fleet general representing the military aspect, and finally Kylo Ren, the Force user, representing the mystical aspect, with a bit of competition amongst the three.

Servii said:
As for the Imperial Remnant’s technology, I like the idea of more self-sufficient TIE Fighters, but I’m still not on board with the Death Star lasers coming back. The IR’s strength should be through subterfuge and surgical strikes, like you described. So it would be better if they didn’t have world-wrecking technology to fall back on. Their strength would come from their tactical cunning instead of raw firepower. One thing I would be careful to do is to never show the IR’s military power as overwhelming or insurmountable like the Imperial Fleet was. With battle scenes, there should be the sense that the odds are more even now, and that the IR can sometimes lose in pitched battles that the Empire would have easily won. If done well, it could create more tension, because the audience by now is used to seeing underdogs beating the stronger foe, but when the situation is closer to 50-50, it won’t always be clear what direction a battle will take, and you can use that unpredictability to your advantage.

You’re right, I should probably discard the portable Death Star cannons altogether.

Servii said:
As for Han, I’m fine with him being written out, for Harrison Ford’s sake. Though I would like for Han and Leia to have a kid or kids. They wouldn’t have to be Force sensitive, and they can just be minor characters,

I never thought about it, but I like your suggestion of Han and Leia’s children being minor characters with inconsequential roles, which would obviously bother many fans, but would also drive home the point of people not being defined by their bloodlines.

Servii said:
I like your plot outlines, but I would try to flesh out VIII’s climax a bit more. The part of Kylo and the whole IR fleet leaving Coruscant, while a good character moment for Kylo, seems too abrupt from what you described.

I was falling asleep and wanted to wrap it up quickly.

Servii said:
Luke being depressed is fine, but I would rather have Luke’s depression be depicted in a more realistic way. The vast majority of depressed people don’t behave like ST Luke does. They still carry on with their lives, struggling day-to-day while trying to retain some degree of normality. The signs of depression are usually more subtle and easily missed by people. You could have Luke still trying to train his remaining students, but it’s clear he’s lost his old enthusiasm. His room is messier. He seems tired a lot more. Little things like that would go a long way.

Actually that would make Luke a man in denial, which IMO would be far too depressing.

Servii said:

Do you agree with my previous post about Finn’s portrayal as something out of a minstrel show, and that Rey is >essentially on God mode?

Yes, I do. It amazes me that the black main character in the most recent Star Wars trilogy–a trilogy that was marketed as being inclusive–is so disrespectfully written compared to Lando and Mace Windu. John Boyega deserved so much better than that.

I agree on what you said about Rey, as well. I generally try to avoid talking about the issues with Rey’s power level and development, because some people take those criticisms the wrong way. But yes, it’s a significant problem.

I do consider TLJ the least bad of the ST. It’s the only one of the three that tries to rise above being just standard Hollywood schlock, and I appreciate that. TFA is my least favorite Star Wars film, and I’ve discovered that’s partly because I really can’t stand JJ Abrams’ frantic directing style.

BTW, I would appreciate if you checked out the thread titled Your ideal Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. I posted my versions of episodes VII and VIII plus a few additional notes, but I haven’t posted my version of episode IX because the thread has lost steam and I still don’t have a clear vision of it apart from a few vague ideas. Your feedback would be welcome.

Servii said:

From around 2010 to 2015, I had mostly lost interest in Star Wars. I was getting older and becoming more critical of movies in general, but especially the Prequel Trilogy (and RotJ, to a lesser degree) because I was so often surrounded by negativity towards those movies on the forums I visited. Also, I had no interest in the new TCW show, so besides the EU and the upcoming SWTOR, there wasn’t much new content to hold my interest.

So, by the time TFA was about to come out, I wasn’t particularly hyped, but I was optimistic that the movie would be good. All my friends were talking about seeing it. The trailers looked good. The early word of mouth was glowing. So while I wasn’t bursting with excitement in the months leading up to release, I was starting to feel more positively about Star Wars again. I rewatched my old GOUT DVDs for the first time in years. I enjoyed looking at the new merchandise in stores and speculating on the state of the galaxy and what roles the new characters would play. And eventually, my family set a day to go see it. I was nervous that I wouldn’t like it, but I went in already fully believing that the movie was good, and that all there was left to do was for me to simply enjoy it.

I didn’t like it. I thought the dialogue and humor were obnoxious. I thought the acting was mostly underwhelming (through no fault of the actors). I thought the pacing was far too frenetic, especially in the third act. I thought the worldbuilding was cryptic at best. I thought the fanservice was mostly shallow and hamfisted. And I thought the new characters were largely uncompelling. I was enjoying the movie for the first half hour or so, and was fully ready to get invested in these new characters, but somewhere around the time the Falcon or Han showed up, I started to become detached from what was happening on screen.

The character I was by far the most invested in was Finn. I liked him, and was really looking forward to seeing his journey as a defecting Stormtrooper. And I was intrigued by the whole mystery set up surrounding both Kylo and Luke. So, I was disappointed when Finn started to slip more and more into “comic relief sidekick” territory, acting like a well-adjusted, joke-cracking average Joe who gleefully guns down his own former comrades (despite the death of one of those comrades being what broke his brainwashing in the first place). And I was also disappointed that Kylo, a 29-year-old grown man in the guise of a Dark Side warrior, who had a fairly strong introduction at the start of the movie, turned out to be a pathetic, sniveling, emotionally stunted brat. His tantrums in TFA are played almost for comedic effect, and by the end of the movie, watching him flop around pathetically in the snow, I had no interest in the character anymore. As a villain, he was useless, and I felt no sympathy for him, so he failed in both those areas. Snoke was lame and uninspired, as well, and Hux was too young and emotional to be a truly threatening enemy general.

The First Order and Resistance were dull factions, and the state of the galaxy was poorly explained, so I had no investment in the wider conflict or premise, either. Han Solo’s death was both extremely predictable and laughably bad. (What kind of hero’s sacrifice is it to have your hero’s lifeless CGI corpse fall down a bottomless pit? That’s a death for a villain, not a hero.) And by the end, once I realized that Finn was going to stay in that coma and not become a Jedi, my last bit of interest in the new characters was gone. All I had left by the end of TFA was my curiosity about Luke. I held my breath. I wanted so badly for that last scene to make the previous two hours worthwhile. It didn’t.

At the time, I thought I was the problem. After all, the film was getting rave reviews. All of my friends said how much they loved it. Maybe, I thought, I just couldn’t enjoy Star Wars anymore. TFA had all the surface-level trappings of classic Star Wars, so I should have enjoyed it, right?

I do think the film was very polished and pretty, though. Visually, it was very well put together, and the special effects were top notch, obviously (they do have a boatload of money, of course, so this is expected). And the actors did the best with what they were given. The cinematography was quite nice to look at. The color grading was vibrant and appealing.

Then came TLJ. Over the two-year gap, my state of mind about Star Wars veered near complete apathy. I couldn’t bring myself to care, and I thought Star Wars just wasn’t for me anymore, but I still planned on seeing the movie, partly out of curiosity, partly out of a lingering sense of obligation. I had heard beforehand a couple vague rumors about some controversy over a thing Mark Hamill said in an interview about Luke. I went into the movie with low expectations, but still a little hopeful that the story was heading in a worthwhile direction.

I left the theater depressed. Any lingering feelings of investment in Finn’s journey were stamped out by his being made a fool of in his first few scenes. Watching the scenes of pathetic, cowardly, family-abandoning Luke Skywalker were viscerally uncomfortable to watch (and his logical argument for why the Jedi should end is complete nonsense). Poe was made unlikable. Rey was made even more overpowered and less likable. The film, despite being praised as “bold” and “new,” was still heavily derivative of the OT to the point of plagiarism, with the most original parts of the movie (Canto Bight, Poe’s mutiny, etc.) also being the worst. The film reeked of nihilism, recklessly deconstructing what came before while failing to reconstruct anything of value in its place. And while the film sometimes toyed around with interesting ideas, in the end, it failed to commit to them in any meaningful way.

Rian Johnson knew that Snoke was a nothing villain, so he killed him off, but did he really expect us to take Kylo Ren seriously as a solo villain? After it had been established how incompetent, whiny, and nonthreatening Kylo was? And it’s not like TLJ even tried to build Kylo up to be threatening again. TLJ went out of its way to put Kylo beyond redemption, while not bothering to actually make him a strong villain to go along with his new role. So, what was Rian expecting Episode IX would actually do? All that was left to happen was: “Rey defeats Kylo Ren and the First Order.” That was all there was left to see (which makes it all the more baffling that Reylos gush over TLJ so much. The movie goes out of its way to make Reylo not happen). And It was never the “wide open” ending people described it as. TLJ’s ending tries to railroad the story on a particular path, all while cutting off or ignoring many potential plot threads. It fails both as a second film in a trilogy and as a penultimate film in a nine-part saga, and was just a miserable slog to sit through.

I do think the acting was good, though. Mark Hamill and Adam Driver gave great performances. Carrie Fisher was excellent. Andy Serkis did a good job as Snoke, and I thought John Boyega really grew into his role. The special effects were once again great (though not quite as good as Rogue One, in my opinion). The cinematography was some of the best yet, and Rian Johnson is an amazing visual director. As I said before, the film toyed with some interesting ideas and themes that sometimes grabbed my interest briefly. So overall, it was a more engaging, thoughtful film than TFA.

Then came TRoS. There’s not much I can say about this one that hasn’t already been said. I watched it out of morbid curiosity after already hearing all the negative word of mouth surrounding it. It was amusing. The special effects were pretty, and there were some nice shots throughout the film. I liked finally having the new heroes all together working as a team and getting to all have chemistry together. The plot was mostly filler nonsense, and it was clear the writers had mostly just thrown it together, but I thought it was entertaining for what it was. It was fun seeing the great Ian McDiarmid back in his role, also.

I still hated the treatment of Finn in this movie. It was marginally better than the first two, but with most of his side plot from the early drafts of the film having been deleted, he had very little to do besides act concerned about Rey.

Also, Reylo is completely disgusting. The fact that Lucasfilm and Disney market Rey as an ideal role model for young girls, while also pairing her up with the creepy, mind-violating, mass-murdering, authoritarian snake who’s ten years older than her, and having her kiss him for briefly being good, all while trying to wrap the romance in some language about a destined “Force dyad”, is deplorable.

I feel bad for saying all this. I feel bad because of the people who devoted years of their lives working on these movies, who did an amazing job bringing these films to life. The cast, crew, concept artists, designers, and special effects artists all did an amazing job, and deserve nothing but praise for their great work.

The Sequel Trilogy is excellent in every category, except for writing. That’s the sad part of this. They had their chance. They had the original cast back. They had fan goodwill. They had the best artists, designers, and technicians in the industry. They had a clean slate to tell whatever kind of new story they wanted. And this is what we got.

You just expressed my feelings about the ST in general, and TFA in particular, better than I ever could. Seriously, fuck TFA.

The one point where we differ is TLJ. I love that movie and it’s my all-time favourite SW movie.

Do you agree with my previous post about Finn’s portrayal as something out of a minstrel show, and that Rey is essentially on God mode?

canofhumdingers said:

fmalover said:

The moment Poe cracked a joke at Kylo Ren’s expense in front of the stormtroopers and Kylo not reasserting his authority by gut-punching Poe or something at the very beginning of TFA effectively ruined Kylo Ren as a villain right from the get-go, and Kylo’s lashing out whenever come off like the temper tantrums of a spoilt brat. That’s the biggest problem with Kylo Ren, he doesn’t feel the least bit menacing, and as Snoke says at the start of TLJ, he’s bested by a girl who had never held a lightsaber.

That’s kinda the point, and one of the things that made Kylo Ren such an interesting Star Wars villain. Unlike Darth Vader or the Emperor (or even the prequel villains), Kylo is a total wannabe poser. He projects this fearsome persona that evokes his grandfather while in reality he’s a conflicted coward who lacks any real confidence.

I think they could have handled that aspect better without ridiculing him.

The moment Poe cracked a joke at Kylo Ren’s expense in front of the stormtroopers and Kylo not reasserting his authority by gut-punching Poe or something at the very beginning of TFA effectively ruined Kylo Ren as a villain right from the get-go, and Kylo’s lashing out whenever come off like the temper tantrums of a spoilt brat. That’s the biggest problem with Kylo Ren, he doesn’t feel the least bit menacing, and as Snoke says at the start of TLJ, he’s bested by a girl who had never held a lightsaber.

Calling Rey a jack-of-all-trades is an understatement, more like a master-of-all-trades. Hopping onto the Millennium Falcon and she’s an ace pilot, picks up any firearm and she’s a marksman, and of course, a mind probe from Kylo Ren leads to an instant mastery of the Force. Rey is essentially on God mode throughout the ST.

When the Sequel Trilogy was announced alongside Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm I was cautiously optimistic, less so when J.J. Abrams was announced as director of episode VII, because I’ve never liked any movie that was directed by him (Star Trek 2009 was meh and M:I3 is IMO the weakest entry in the franchise despite everyone praising it for revitalising the series), and my bad feeling about Abrams was proven correct, because never before had I ever felt as let down as I did after watching The Force Awakens, which is essentially the first SW movie all over again with idiotic humour. Because of TFA I refuse to watch any movie directed by J.J. Abrams, which is why I haven’t seen TROS and never will. I also call bullshit on those who defend TFA claiming that it had to be like that to earn the fans’trust.

Over the past few days there’s also been another thing that has been bothering me in retrospect about the ST regarding one particular character, and that is Finn. The marketing campaign for TFA gave us the impression that Finn was going to be the protagonist in the ST, which indeed would have made for a compelling story. A former stormtrooper who defects to the good guys and might possibly be Force sensitive? Sure, why not? Instead Finn turned out to be something of a coward, usually running away from combat, and even worse, he’s portrayed as a bumbling buffoon, as if he was in some minstrel show. John Boyega was really done dirty by Disney if you ask me.

I fully expected The Last Jedi to be rethread of TESB just like TFA is a rethread of the first SW movie, but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out not to be the case, and once the credits started rolling I left the cinema with a sense of euphoria. Of course over time the only thing that has come to bother me about TLJ is Rose essentially being an SJW, which is the only thing I would change about the movie, making Rose less overly idealistic.

Of course, in the months prior to TLJ premiering they announced Abrams was returning to direct episode IX, which effectively killed any anticipation I might have had for the movie, and like I stated earlier, I refuse to watch any movie directed by Abrams and will never watch TROS.

I posted on another thread despite its divisive reception among fans, TLJ will be redeemed by the passage of time and be remembered as the only worthwhile entry in the ST, and I stand by that belief.

If I had to describe the ST in a nutshell, it would be this: a filmmaking gem (TLJ) being sandwiched between two turds.

Now that I’m done talking about the movies themselves, I now want to comment on the look and production aspects of the movies. Aesthetically these movies replicate the the look of the OT, but something doesn’t feel right about them, as if they aren’t part of the SW universe, whilst the PT did feel like they belong in the SW universe despite having a baroque aesthetic. I can’t exactly say why, but there’s something about the ST that doesn’t fit with the previous six movies, and I would like to know if anyone else feels the same way.

Finally, in terms of special effects, I remember how they wouldn’t shut up about how they were using practical effects as much as possible compared to the PT’s overuse of CGI, until later on when it was revealed that they used way more CGI than previously thought. Pretty deceitful if you ask me.

Logan (2017).

Despite using X-Men characters such as Wolverine and Professor X, this isn’t a superhero movie and is actually a Western.

JadedSkywalker said:

I see the PC version is available to purchase for under 10 dollars US and with no DRM. But i’m nostalgic for the Nintendo 64 version.

The PC version used voice-acted CGI animated cutscenes whilst the N64 version used slideshow pictures with text and some slight animation. If you ask me the N64 slideshows have aged way better than the CGI cutscenes, and I think that aspect of the N64 version is worth preserving.

I originally posted this on the Shadows of the Empire thread, but I think it also fits this one:

So I dusted off my N64 and started replaying the SotE game.

Way back in the day I only finished it on Easy and Medium. Never played it on Hard and Jedi, and I always assumed that Jedi was the toughest difficulty setting but that’s not the case. Jedi is more of a “kill or be killed” type of difficulty, where enemies are essentially glass cannons that go down in one or two shots but do a lot of damage.

Holy shit this game is tough on Hard. I’m currently stuck on the Ord Mantell junkyard, and this is the difficulty setting is where your blaster does the least amount of damage.

No thanks.

Enough with this fixation on the 1980s!

Anakin Starkiller said:

I really hate it when people think the 1980s was the pinnacle of music and that 2010s/2020s music is the nadir of music.

They’re hardly wrong though, at least in terms of popular music. There’s good music in every decade but in terms of what most people listen to I’ll take 80s rock and pop over 10s and 20s hip hop any day.

On the other hand I have been bombarded with so much 1980s pop music I just can’t stand it anymore.