jedi_bendu

“Why does he get a live action series and I don’t?”

ThisIsCreation said:

jedi_bendu said:

That’s a pretty common criticism. It might not be so much of a problem if the film didn’t also contain an anti-semitic stereotype in the form of Watto and Neimoidians with stereotypically Japanese accents and behaviour.

I think it could be said these were simply oversights and the filmmakers never intended the characters to be seen as racist - they often gave existing accents to alien races (Twi’leks sound French, for example) although that’s definitely questionable in itself. It’s still a totally valid thing to criticise TPM for.

You are 100% right. It doesn’t matter if George had his best intentions in mind, someone involved with the creation of the movies should have realised what was being done. I don’t like the idea of using stereotypes to make the audience laugh at a character, not laugh with.
It has the same issues that the Harry Potter series has when it comes to stereotypes & caricatures of cultures.

I’m not offended, but there should have been atleast some awareness on George & the producers part that they were feeding into something that would be perceived as insensitive.

Thanks, and absolutely, yeah. When making a film, you might not intend something as racist, edgy or offensive in any way, but you should keep an eye out for it, because stereotypes like that can ruin someone’s enjoyment of your movie. It’s like films having underlying political meanings. You could be apolitical and not be writing because of something you believe, but people are going to have a political interpretation of your work no matter what, so you’d be best to keep that in mind. Like, you want to make sure your buddy cop comedy flick isn’t inadvertently advocating for a police state or something like that.*

(*I’ve no example in mind, and in the case of Star Wars, I think George Lucas thinks very deliberately about the political message of his films anyway so that’s not a criticism)

Quattro Bajeena said:

making the Death Star flaw something intentional makes Luke destroying it in SW less meaningful.

Out of interest… how?

Quattro Bajeena said:

JackNapier said:

In my honest opinion TPM and ATOC are both deeply flawed movies for two different reasons. TPM for providing a rather insensitive Jamaican stereotype race of aliens

LOL, are you serious?

That’s a pretty common criticism. It might not be so much of a problem if the film didn’t also contain an anti-semitic stereotype in the form of Watto and Neimoidians with stereotypically Japanese accents and behaviour.

I think it could be said these were simply oversights and the filmmakers never intended the characters to be seen as racist - they often gave existing accents to alien races (Twi’leks sound French, for example) although that’s definitely questionable in itself. It’s still a totally valid thing to criticise TPM for.

ThisIsCreation said:

The issues with dialogue from the prequels is evident in ROTJ. There are lines in ROTJ that sound like something from AOTC.

What lines are you thinking of, out of curiosity?

Stardust1138 said:

I’ll add another unpopular opinion.

Despite how I feel about The Rise of Skywalker I think the more I come to the conclusion if Rey had stayed “Rey Random” then declared herself a Skywalker I might be a bit more forgiving and able to accept the film more.

Honestly, I’d prefer she accepted herself as “just Rey” - that’s powerful - although finding an ‘adoptive family’ of sorts after discovering that your biological parents abandoned you is a good message to send too.

fmalover said:

Ever since Luke’s appearance in The Mandalorian I’ve noticed several videos on YouTube praising the scene and using it as an excuse to throw further shade at TLJ. What’s the deal with that?

Seriously, I don’t understand the online vitriol.

Apparently some people just wanted action hero Luke in the sequels, and The Mandalorian has ‘fixed’ his character by giving him some lightsaber action.

In my humble opinion, they’re all knobheads.

I think CGI in a scene of costumes and puppets would have stuck out like a sore thumb, whether it was 80s special effects or 2000s special effects. Also it seems like the lightman would have guided 3P0 and R2 down the hallway for some reason, in a deleted or alternate scene. Not much room to add that in - I’ve a feeling if George had done that, it would have become another widely hated special edition change.

The Mandalorian season 1 and 2 posters by Joe Kim. From joekimart.com

fmalover said:

I, on the other hand, don’t understand why everyone loves that final confrontation between Maul and Kenobi. Maul obsessed with picking a fight with Kenobi was such a waste of a story arc.

I think Maul obsessed with fighting Kenobi was the only fitting story arc they could have given him. Ever since Maul was brought back from death in The Clone Wars, his purpose has been revenge. He swears to “start with revenge” against Obi-Wan and Sidious, then presumably gain as much power as he can, but the tragedy of Darth Maul is that he can’t even accomplish that. I think his final moments indicate that his wanting to kill Kenobi wasn’t a logical decision; he knows he’s probably wrong in wanting it, especially since Obi-Wan is now an outcast like he is, and knows he himself is a broken man. It’s just that, an obsession and a compulsion. Ever since he fell down a reactor shaft and was stripped of all his potential, Maul’s story has always been directly tied with Obi-wan, and I think it’s one of the best stories told in Star Wars.

Thanks SandMTV. Let’s not contact him in all caps though 😃

Also I’m mostly concerned with the unreleased SW Rebels season 3 and 4 tracks. Did you ask about that?

Here’s an unpopular opinion: my single favourite moment in all of Star Wars is the final duel between Obi-Wan and Maul from Star Wars Rebels. The lighting, the reference to the duel between Kyuzo and an angry samurai in Seven Samurai, the subtext with lightsaber positions only an observant, devoted fan could notice, all the tragic events that have built up to that 3 seconds of combat. I could write an entire essay on how well done it is.

ThisIsCreation said:

The first novel is the only one available in ireland at the moment.

I had to go on ebay and purchase the first comic & test of courage from an american seller…

I’m in NI and sympathise with that, forbidden planet int. is the only good local comic store I know of and the first comic is sold out there - I’m presuming they’ll get it back in stock at some point but they’ve never been very good at stocking SW comics. It was about 3 quid in Forbidden Planet, as far as I can see my only option right now is buying it for about £12 on eBay, from American stores too I think. Choosing to wait it out until the situation improves.

I don’t play games much, but I’ll be sure to get this when it comes out. I know loads of people have been begging for an open world bounty hunter game or something like that for years. And it’s great that EA’s exclusivity has ended and more companies can come on board now.

Well done on this essay; I’m an absolute cinephile, and interested in film history and analysis, so I really enjoyed reading it. I’ve particularly noticed the fantastical approach taken in The Mandalorian, with things like the tracking fob which make no sense to me but are better for the story, and settings like Trask - where we have a fishing town with woollen-jumper-wearing Mon Calamari - ground the show firmly in the fantasy genre. After what you’ve said, I’ll be looking out for more expressionist, surreal locations or features in future content.

I think sci-fi is actually quite hard to define. Yes, Star Wars has never made any scientific sense, but that doesn’t necessarily prevent it from being science fiction. Particularly in movies, a simplistic approach to defining sci-fi is looking at the iconography: Star Wars has spaceships, robots and laser guns, so in a very tight genre expectation of SF, it counts. I personally think what defines sci-fi is having a material cause, or explanation: for example, if a person wakes up one morning and they’ve magically turned into an ant, it’s fantasy; if that person invents a mutation machine that causes them to turn into an ant, however stupid, it’s sci-fi. Star Wars usually does have these material explanations dating back to the original films, like hyperdrives. Although I’d never classify Star Wars as pure science fiction, it’s sci-fi/fantasy to me.

^^^ enough said.

I’m glad this thread was boosted, I love obsessing over posters.

Mocata said:

Noriyoshi Ohrai or bust

What is it with Japanese poster/cover illustrations for Star Wars being so good? This regards book covers rather than posters, but I don’t know where else to rant about it, so - the artwork of Tsuyoshi Nagano is infinitely better than the digital composite artwork for Star Wars books around the early 2000s. It’s such a shame his covers aren’t mainstream, and are instead confined to Japanese editions of the novels. I’m seriously considering visiting Japan one day even if for nothing else than just hunting for Japanese SW books.

I wanted to include images, but be warned they do take up quite a bit of space.

Not one of my favourites from his work, but for example: ‘Balance Point’ by Kathy Tyers…

Cover art by Cliff Nielsen, no harm to him

vs cover art by Nagano.

‘Labyrinth of Evil’ by Matthew Stover, with cover art by Steven D Anderson - again, not bad artwork -

vs cover art by Nagano.

This isn’t an unpopular opinion, but painted posters will always outshine digital image composites. They have more heart, look more exciting, and are more reminiscent of the great original trilogy posters. I know bugger all about publishing, but I really hope that if there’s a reprinting of the New Jedi Order series, they’ll use the Japanese edition artwork. A fool’s hope!

From ‘Jedi of the Republic: Mace Windu #1.’

Rebels Yoda looks positively sexy by comparison.

I’ve a fond memory of seeing North by Northwest in the cinema for the first time. (A few years ago, not 1959) The films you see in the big screen surely have a bigger impact on you. So many iconic scenes! Needs a rewatch I think.

Two films I saw recently I’d like to suggest. A few weeks ago, I saw the 2016 Japanese anime film Your Name, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. 2 days ago, I followed it up with the 2016 Japanese anime film A Silent Voice, and it was ALSO one of the best things I’ve ever seen. While Your Name is magical realist, A Silent Voice is more down to earth and deals with all too common problems of bullying and loneliness. It’s a redemption story; you want to punch the main character at the beginning and hug him by the end. Apparently, it’s also a comfort movie to many people with social anxiety, and there’s a very creative way it depicts the isolation of the main character which resonated with me personally too.

The premise is, a boy who once bullied a deaf girl in elementary school attempts to rid himself of guilt and make things right by reaching out to her. Does A Silent Voice milk its emotional moments for all they’re worth? Yes it does. If I had to make one criticism, it would be that the mothers in the story don’t seem to have aged past 20. The deaf girl, Shoko, is sometimes almost too good a person to be believable, but I think that a struggle to make friends - for whatever reason - probably forces you into being a nicer and more humble person. Your Name and A Silent Voice are on Netflix, I recommend them both.

Yesterday I also watched Mr Smith Goes to Washington, the 1939 Frank Capra film that made Jimmy Stewart a household name. Jean Arthur and Claude Rains shine too, but Stewart is a perfect pick for the awkward and boyish Mr Smith, who is sent to the US senate as an unwitting stooge by corrupt politicians. The film is funny and tragic in turns, and a real crowd pleaser; it would get anyone excited about politics. It’s a film you can get really invested in, and root for the characters, and lines like “No, I will not yield!” which are everyday in the American senate are turned into moments of triumph that put a grin on your face. My only problem is how suddenly it ended - it built up to a climax of anticipation, then suddenly stopped. Prepare yourself for a surprise.

I just wanted to say that I think ‘Imperial City’ - by Joel NcNeely, from the 1996 Shadows of the Empire soundtrack - is one of the best pieces in all of Star Wars music. As this is a soundtrack without a film, McNeely had no visual timing, and could compose just on one tone or feeling, having the listener imagine a scene or setting in their head.

Joel McNeely had only two weeks free in his schedule to compose the entire soundtrack album, and regrets taking on the job at all because of it. I can’t think for a moment why, but it makes all the music in the album more commendable.

I appreciate season 1 as it’s much smaller-scale than we’re used to, showing early operations against the Empire on a local level. But for sure, seasons 3 and 4 are markedly better than 1 and 2; similar to The Clone Wars in that respect.

(And let it be known I like seasons 1 and 2 of both shows anyway)

My guess is they wanted it to feel retro, and closer to the original trilogy than the prequels ever were. A lot of people working on the project probably have nostalgia for that logo. I really liked seeing it.

Hal 9000 said:

One thing everyone can agree on is Greedo got SHOT. You don’t see blasters do that kind of damage very often. Greedo’s brothers (Slotho, Envio, Prideo, etc.) had to have a closed casket funeral. His childhood friend, Walz, committed suicide from grief.

Stop making me feel sorry for Greedo… you’re backing up George’s argument that Han shouldn’t have been a ‘cold-blooded killer’!

In an seriousness, I disagree with the change but I do understand George’s motivation behind it. He didn’t want Han’s easiness around shooting because he felt threatened to be considered ‘cool’ or whatever, but then of course Han goes on to kill a load of stormtroopers and sometimes unarmed Imperial officers on the Death Star; pacifism has always been played fast and loose in Star Wars, especially when on a one-on-one basis. Not least because the original scene, where the explosion happens suddenly in front of Han before the cut, is so much better - and the altered scene throws that pacing off - if I was doing a fan edit, I wouldn’t change it.

It’s a really interesting read, I fully recommend it! George Lucas narrates it himself. I only started it today, but there’s already been many great behind-the-scenes photos and early Alex Tavoularis concept art I’d never seen before.

canofhumdingers said:

I think he was expressing genuine excitement over your discovery.

Yeah, I first thought he was taking the piss because someone had already posted it or something, but literally a couple minutes later I changed my mind. Sorry for my response Chase, it’s hard to read tone over the internet sometimes.