Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

In my view, it's made as a homage, references really. "Remember all this stuff from 32 years ago? How awesome it was? It's safe to feel that 'magic' again."

All the references probably wouldn't have been needed if it weren't for the poor reception to the prequel films. I really can't blame Disney for feeling like they needed to reference the Trench Run, blowing up the death star, the bridge in Empire.

It was like a palette cleanser to get rid of some awful aftertaste before you can move forward on to the next tasting.

 Compel wrote:

All the references probably wouldn't have been needed if it weren't for the poor reception to the prequel films. I really can't blame Disney for feeling like they needed to reference the Trench Run, blowing up the death star, the bridge in Empire.

It was like a palette cleanser to get rid of some awful aftertaste before you can move forward on to the next tasting.

So, I just (finally) saw the movie yesterday, and I think they handled this very well overall. I rather enjoyed that, because the film takes place well after RotJ and all, when these major problems come up, the main characters very tongue in cheek said, "Well, we did this before, feth it, we'll figure it out again"


Of course, there is one question I do want to know:

Well, its not like Wookies are all that uncommon in the galaxy. You think a doctor for a diverse organization like the Resistance would need to be fluent in many common languages.

Yeah, that was a great scene. "Yes, I'm sure it was very scary."

Oh, Chewie-related theory - I'd like to think he had a space hologram chess game against 3PO between movies, and the droid decided to call his bluff on the whole arm thing.

I doubt 3PO would have the stones to actually do that. He seems the overly cautious type. R2-D2 on the other hand...

I suppose either way could explain the arm!

R2 beating Chewie at holochess and Chewie ripping 3PO's arm off as a result does seem very star wars-ey

A moment that made me happy:


*I'm looking at you, Geonosian Arena Scene**

**By which I mean Lucas's awful script.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
How could there be clones anymore? Does Kamino even still exist? Are the cloning facilities intact?

I have no idea if its canon, but the Star Wars Battlefront 2 game had Darth Vader lead the 501st Stormtrooper legion (clones) to crush a Kaminoan rebellion of clone troopers reprogrammed to be loyal to Kamino, not the Chancellor. My assumption was that the facilities were destroyed.

EU is non canon now, and nothing ever destroyed Kamino. But even in the now defunct old EU, there were many, many ways of making clones.

Battlefront games are canon stilll

So yes there was a clone uprising still.

Sorry I just had to come in and say that.

There is actually a list of things that ARE Canon still.

 Asherian Command wrote:


Battlefront games are canon stilll

There is actually a list of things that ARE Canon still.

Yes, and the older Battlefront games are not on the list. Only the latest Battlefront game is one the list...and given that it actually has zero story, plot or soul, it doesn't matter much. Unless we count continuity errors as canon...?

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_canon_media

Battlefront 1 and Battlefront 2 are no longer canon. Hell, even TOR isn't and that game is still getting updates.

Saw the film yesterday (11 days after release, what sort of half arsed fan am I)

All in all its a really good film, just not great.

Theres just a couple of things that bugged me. Firsty starkiller base, aka death star 3. Assuming it can hyperdive from system to system, and ignoring the hoth light surface even when its parked next to a sun. Its drains a sun of all its energy until the sun goes out......

Job done right, everything in that system is dead very quickly after that. The temperature on all planets drops to negative stupid degrees, every living thing dies. Shooting stuff is just a waste.

The first time it fires. Is that meant to be in the same system as the resistance base, if not how the hell did they see it with the naked eye. Does JJ not understand how space works.

Then there's the little things. Why only ties and x-wings? Did the cgi department not have a few extra days to do renders for other craft.

I couldn't help but feel the film went out of its way to NOT tell you stuff, or explain things. Why are the rebels now the resistance, and why are they separate from the republic? Why do all the planets look so similar to other planets we know. Why couldn't they be there own worlds I stead of both light, not tatoi e etc.

I'll still see it again at the cinema, I enjoyed I enough. But it just falls that little bit short of being everything I wanted to see.

I want to see Felucia, the planet that Aayla Secura was assassinated on.



You don't get much more exotic and alien than that.

 Tamereth wrote:
Does JJ not understand how space works.

No he doesn't. Haven't you seen his Star Trek?

 Crimson wrote:

 Tamereth wrote:
Does JJ not understand how space works.

No he doesn't. Haven't you seen his Star Trek?

Theres a good reason why most don't have space physics on in movies. One it takes time and research, two it would look ridiculous and kind of silly sometimes.

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Crimson wrote:

 Tamereth wrote:
Does JJ not understand how space works.

No he doesn't. Haven't you seen his Star Trek?

Theres a good reason why most don't have space physics on in movies. One it takes time and research, two it would look ridiculous and kind of silly sometimes.

...three: I prefer my space movies with actual sound, explosions and pew pew.

 Tamereth wrote:


Then there's the little things. Why only ties and x-wings? Did the cgi department not have a few extra days to do renders for other craft.

The main fleet for the Resistance/republic was at home, defending their world/system when it got nuked. It's all in the novelisation.

So, just like ep4, this is ALL the forces that Leia's cell of the resistance could call on. No doubt, in ep9, we will see the combined remnants of every other cell into a larger fleet (aka - the ROTJ alliance fleet).

 Asherian Command wrote:


Theres a good reason why most don't have space physics on in movies. One it takes time and research, two it would look ridiculous and kind of silly sometimes.

There's narrative conventions and then there are things so stupid it burns. The explosion of Hosnian Prime being instantly visible across the galaxy was definitely the latter.

 chromedog wrote:
It's all in the novelisation.

Which someone shouldn't have to go outside a film to be able to understand/enjoy a film.

 Ahtman wrote:

 chromedog wrote:
It's all in the novelisation.

Which someone shouldn't have to go outside a film to be able to understand/enjoy a film.

They do mention in the film that the Republic Fleet has been lost.

 Eldarain wrote:

 Ahtman wrote:

 chromedog wrote:
It's all in the novelisation.

Which someone shouldn't have to go outside a film to be able to understand/enjoy a film.

They do mention in the film that the Republic Fleet has been lost.

They do, but that whole sequence flys by so fast that it wasn't immediately apparent to me that the First Order had just wiped out both the Republic's capital and the fleet. The first time I saw it, I thought the first Star Killer blast was against a "demonstration" planet (a la Alderan) that just HAD to be in the same system as the Star Killer (because, you know, physics), and that the attack on the Republic's capital was still to come. This is one of the few spots where the movie's brisk pacing sort of lets it down; if you don't catch the one or two sentences that talk about how the beam from the Starkiller can travel through hyperspace, or see the handful of capital ships that go up with the planet, you could easily miss an important plot point like I did!

 Sigvatr wrote:
Oh, the ending for Dark Tower was amazing. It was the only fitting ending to the story.

Indeed, it was spot on.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
It looks like the US military isn't the world's most powerful fighting force after all: Disney's army of lawyers would take them down

George Lucas sorry for 'white slaver' comment: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35209648

Must have been a gagging clause in the contract when he sold star wars to Disney

Heh... or, it's a marketing opportunity! via Twittah:

James Lileks
‏@Lileks
Disney right now: "George Lucas doesn't like the new Star Wars movie. Do we have room for that in the promotional material?"

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 creeping-deth87 wrote:
I don't think you know what originality means.

That's the core problem.

Oh, you two are just adorable.

I'll say it again for what is probably a third time: the film, though heavily inspired by all three films of the original trilogy, is not an "unoriginal remake.' I think in your rush to hive-five each other over your imagined cleverness, you failed to realize that there are more options between "100% never-before-seen originality" and a "total unoriginal remake of stuff we've all seen before."

I think most people would agree that The Force Awakens falls squarely between those two extremes.

Getting really fething sick and tired of your snark. We're not "high fiving each other over our imagined cleverness", I'm SO sorry we have the audacity to disagree with you. The movie is absolutely an unoriginal remake, and I would not agree it falls between the two extremes you mentioned. It's firmly the latter.

Following the Emo Ren, we now have the Very Lonely Luke.

https://twitter.com/verylonelyluke

One time when Leia made me mad, I faked my own death. I threw a crumpled up robe on the ground and walked away.

— Very Lonely Luke (@VeryLonelyLuke) January 1, 2016

I can provide for myself with just a string and a hook in the water And patience So much patience Screw it. I'll Force strangle some fish

— Very Lonely Luke (@VeryLonelyLuke) January 1, 2016

If they asked, I'd join the Resistance. Or the First Order. Or the Jehovah's Witnesses. Come get me. I will accept literally any offer.

— Very Lonely Luke (@VeryLonelyLuke) January 1, 2016

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:


Of course, there is one question I do want to know:

Spoiler:

There's that scene where a Resistance doctor is patching up Chewie, and he's regaling her with his heroics.... how does she understand Wookie? I want an explanation as to how she's managed to spend enough time around Chewie, or Wookiees in general to be able to converse like that

Wookie is clearly a language people can learn. She's (Kalonia is her name) an educated doctor who has been around long enough she's treated lightsaber wounds prior to Finn. Not only that, she works with an incredibly diverse group- the Resistance. So she's had time and opportunity, even before we hypothesise she's spent time on Kashyyyk, previously known Chewie from younger days, had a wookie friend growing up or anything else that might come up in a 30+ year career as a doctor in such an organisation. I imagine many doctors in SW universe pick up alternate languages, having access to time and money to learn them.

It's not like she was left as a 5 year old in a junkyard, unschooled and never traveling, forced to work all day just to get half a ration.

The next movie will be Episode VIII: The Force Unveiled

Which boils down to 90 minutes of a guy standing in front of a power point slide screen explaining all the plot points from Episode VII which were left out of the film but the details appear somewhere else via books or video games. Closing with "And that's why it actually all fits together quite nicely"




I liked TFA but yes there's a lot missing.

I wonder how much of that was deliberate marketing.

It occurred to me after seeing TFA that having such a big gap between episodes 6 and 7, while killing off the old EU, was going to be a big money spinner for Disney... Before seeing TFA, I was curious as to what was going to be different. After seeing the movie, I need to know what happened in those 30 years for things to have wound up as they are. I'm sure I'm not the only one... And that's going to sell a lot of novels.

 creeping-deth87 wrote:

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 creeping-deth87 wrote:
I don't think you know what originality means.

That's the core problem.

Oh, you two are just adorable.

I'll say it again for what is probably a third time: the film, though heavily inspired by all three films of the original trilogy, is not an "unoriginal remake.' I think in your rush to hive-five each other over your imagined cleverness, you failed to realize that there are more options between "100% never-before-seen originality" and a "total unoriginal remake of stuff we've all seen before."

I think most people would agree that The Force Awakens falls squarely between those two extremes.

Getting really fething sick and tired of your snark. We're not "high fiving each other over our imagined cleverness", I'm SO sorry we have the audacity to disagree with you. The movie is absolutely an unoriginal remake, and I would not agree it falls between the two extremes you mentioned. It's firmly the latter.

MY OPINION IS THE UNEQUIVOCAL TRUTH AND I HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR NYARRGGHHH!!!

It's the refresher the franchise needed. Looking forward to seeing it again next week, I've heard the 3d is half decent so may give that a try.

 insaniak wrote:
I wonder how much of that was deliberate marketing.

All of it.

Kasdan made a point doing "less is more" during writing the script.

 plastictrees wrote:

 creeping-deth87 wrote:

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 creeping-deth87 wrote:
I don't think you know what originality means.

That's the core problem.

Oh, you two are just adorable.

I'll say it again for what is probably a third time: the film, though heavily inspired by all three films of the original trilogy, is not an "unoriginal remake.' I think in your rush to hive-five each other over your imagined cleverness, you failed to realize that there are more options between "100% never-before-seen originality" and a "total unoriginal remake of stuff we've all seen before."

I think most people would agree that The Force Awakens falls squarely between those two extremes.

Getting really fething sick and tired of your snark. We're not "high fiving each other over our imagined cleverness", I'm SO sorry we have the audacity to disagree with you. The movie is absolutely an unoriginal remake, and I would not agree it falls between the two extremes you mentioned. It's firmly the latter.

MY OPINION IS THE UNEQUIVOCAL TRUTH AND I HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR NYARRGGHHH!!!

It's the refresher the franchise needed. Looking forward to seeing it again next week, I've heard the 3d is half decent so may give that a try.

Oh yeah, that's totally what I was saying. I have asserted my opinion is the only correct one at every instance in this thread. Yep, totally have not been willing to acknowledge that other people can enjoy the film. Spot on.

This is my theory to explain Rey. She absorbs the powers/abilities of those around her. Maybe even memories. That explains how she could complete Hans sentences and knew where flight switches were in the cockpit better than him. The alien she sold junk to owned the Falcon and she probably absorbed the initial memories of the Falcon from him. Being with Han and Chewie increased those memories/abilities.

This explains how she began to exhibit Jedi powers with no training after being interrogated by Ren. The longer she was with him, the more abilities she would steal. Notice during the saber duel she got better as it went on.

This also explains why she was dumped on Jakku. A remote junkyard where she would have little to no chance of running into Jedi or anyone else with talent to absorb.

It explains the reason Luke had that horrible look on his face when she found him. She would begin to absorb his powers. She does not know about these powers.

She may be or may not be related to Ren. (Though why would Chewie go with her at the end? Life debt transferring to Solo's daughter? More likely Leia asked Chewie to go with Rey because bringing Luke back is important to the resistance.)

Ren could have the same ability to absorb powers. It would explain why Luke disappeared instead of confronting the boy when he turned bad. It also explains Leia's quote that she lost Ben when he went away. She never developed her powers so there was little to absorb until he went to Luke.

I'm not as sure about the Ren thing, but I'm pretty sure about Rey. She absorbs powers/abilities/ maybe memories of those near her and that is a good reason to dump her in the backwoods of space and to keep Luke away from her.