Star Wars 7 shit talk

such as i don't have an original thought in my head

Hell, at this point, I'd be happy with well-done blockbuster filmmaking.

Let Rian Johnson step up the originality level; let's just get a decent modern filmic foothold again, as it were

On a vaguely unrelated note, I just remembered that they gave the Warcraft movie to Duncan Jones, which seems a weird choice until I remember that modern genre franchise filmmaking grabs relatively newer/younger directors that the producers feel will be a bit more readily compliant and without as much a signature stamp. Maybe they took this cue from how the Broccoli family ran the Bond films.

the Warcraft trailer looks abysmal. Odd choice for Jones

No, apparently he'd be in the Darth suit w/ no face mask.

Which on reflection doesn't make any sense for the character, but this is what the actor's daughter born in 1982 said, so load of salt & all that

Yeah, the Warcraft trailer looked like their top priority was to realize the Blizzard visual aesthetic to OCD levels.

Tho I was amused that we see multiple shots of dudes riding gryphons et al, since it's an easy way to do visual grandeur, but also echoes how mounts are/were such a treasured thing in the MMO.

I have a secret hope that they'd find a way to have Robert Clotworthy in a cameo doing his full Jim Raynor-accent, but even Hollywood fan service has its limits.

The second biggest hole in these films is why everyone is not carrying lightsabers. Sure, deflecting blaster rays seems pretty tough, but you'd think they'd still come in handy, like a fancy Swiss Army knife or laser Leatherman.

Every lightsaber is hand-made, usually by its wielder, so there's no mass production mechanism and presumably some secret knowledge about how to build them that is fairly hard to come by. Hypothetically this is why Kylo Ren's saber blade looks so messed up.

yeah there's a whole bit in the Shadows of the Empire novel (don't start) about Luke building his new lightsaber based on a book he finds at Kenobi's old house. Those focusing jewels are tricky

And both a cutscene and Vader's dialogue in Jedi are about Luke constructing his new weapon

apparently Sidious let Vader use his lightsaber as a model when Obi-Wan took Vader's.

But why can only Jedis build them, apparently? Chewbacca was pretty handy, and surely a droid could do it.

Is Han the only non-Jedi we ever see using a lightsaber?

it involves semi-mystical meditating about finding the right crystal or some malarkey

I am sure anyone could make one, but iirc learning how to swordfight is a little more intense than learning how to fire a gun

Yeah, but one would come in handy when you want to open a carcass or, I dunno, a stuck ship door.

yeah there's a whole bit in the Shadows of the Empire novel (don't start) about Luke building his new lightsaber based on a book he finds at Kenobi's old house. Those focusing jewels are tricky

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/c/ce/Darkempire1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20070921214400

I had this Dark Empire graphic novel that included a bunch of stuff about the force and the lightsaber crystal thing. Really don't think the movie will top that graphic novel tbh.

I can't believe the Uptown 1 still has tickets for sale on opening night. IIRC, Blade Runner: The Final Cut wasn't exactly packed when they showed it there either, so maybe the stereotype(s) about DC nerd culture are accurate.

Presumably wielding a lightsabre swiftly results in a Jedi visit - the only non-Jedi we see with one is General Grievious (who has gathered all his from killing Jedi).

this line of enquiry makes as much sense as 'in 2015, why doesn't everyone have a sword'

Yeah but in 2015 open carry culture remains confined to a few states in the US and war zones, in the SW universe, open carry is an intergalactic way of life. So in that context a lightsaber is more like I don't know, Crocodile Dundee's knife?

not a lot of people walking around those war zones with arming swords though are there

can't speak to the US, mb there it's a thing

lots of people walking around in war zones with machetes and other large knife varietals

sure thats p much the same thing

feels like we're just talking past each other

if the galactic empire put a large bounty on information about any possible australians that dundee mofo is gonna get a stormtrooper squadron dropped on his ass

Just sayin', forget using it as a weapon or defense, a lightsaber would be totally handy for chopping down trees, opening doors, cutting holes in ice for fishing, etc.

have you perhaps confused the incredible Star Wars Universe for a fuckin Paul Bunyan story

Paul Bunyan is actually kind of Star Warsy as names go

"one of the slash fic novels published"

can I just say I think this is a misuse of "slash fic"? Isn't "slash fic" fan fiction that usually involves two characters of the same sex doing the deed? Like, Tarkin and Anakin taking a shower and then...

i'm listening, go on

Governor Tarkin: Are they away?
Darth Vader: They've just made the jump into hyperspace.
Governor Tarkin: Finally. Now where were we?

rolled r's

guys I started reading that book yesterday, and although I wasn't able to finish it off in one night due to it actually having a little heft, there are a couple of scenes with Vader and Tarkin co-piloting or flying in tandem and I'm pretty sure they're going to do something in Vader's meditation chamber pretty soon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjSYfwZpj3U

J.J. Abrams, grim reaper

Daniel Fleetwood, the terminally ill man whose dying wish to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens was granted last week, has died at the age of 32.

His wife, Ashley Fleetwood, shared the news early Tuesday morning. “Daniel put up an amazing fight to the very end. He is now one with God and with the force. He passed in his sleep and in peace,” she wrote on Facebook, sharing a final photo they took together.

Fleetwood, a Star Wars fan since childhood, had been diagnosed with spindle cell sarcoma, a connective tissue cancer, and did not expect to live until The Force Awakens’ Dec. 18 release date.

A campaign to allow him to see the film early went viral earlier this month, using the hashtag #ForceForDaniel, and caught the attention of Star Wars cast members like Mark Hamill and John Boyega.

Last Thursday, Ashley Fleetwood announced on Facebook that Disney allowed Daniel to see an unedited version of the film. She also revealed that The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams called the couple personally to reveal that Daniel’s wish would be granted.

Abrams granted a similar wish for a dying fan in 2013, arranging for a Star Trek fan with terminal cancer to see Star Trek Into Darkness before it was released. That man died just days after seeing the film.

Can only imagine his face when preparing to start the film on that one: "Are you sure you're sure? I rented Galaxy Quest yesterday, we could watch that?"

I am dying, please show me the film

I mean, only in the way we are all dying, but... the film

lol

mh, the diagnosis is in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDaFMZfIsV4

i hope this doesn't mean Fanboys II will be made.

best part of Tarkin book so far is the acknowledgment that the Clone Wars cartoon is in canon, so with Tarkin having worked side by side with Anakin and being close to Palpatine, he is pretty sure he knows who Vader is and their.. special relationship

was there some Star Wars novel from the 90s about how Obi-Wan was a slaughterer of Ewoks or something, called My jedi My Savior or something?

I recall someone talking about it on a Star wars themed BBS once and wanted to read it but can't tell if it was real or if htey were pulling my leg

cos y'know fuck the Ewoks

Pretty sure i heard that too

How did you fail to notice the Ewok slippers he wears throughout the first movie?

Ewoks are fucked anyway - something that big blows up in orbit = nuclear winter.

If the fallout doesn't get them, the Gorax surely will.

The "Endor Holocaust" scenario is examined in some detail here

http://www.theforce.net/swtc/holocaust.html

Y'know, if you're not doing anything else

Hypothesis: "Jakku" in the new movies is actually Endor.

Ha, good shout.

There's an opening day showing at 9 AM near our offices. Going to see if I can make a team building exercise out of this.

given the levels of months-in-advance hype i'm kind of imaginging that what jj abrams et al have been working on for years is just this long-running, elaborate marketing plan and that no movie has been made and nothing will ever be released. which would be sort of beautiful, in a way... just this endless fan anticipation and speculation ricocheting around the internet forever and ever....

It's been under-acknowledged how directly this film so far wants to set things in three v familiar SW environments (desert, snowy, forest) as a means of re-establishing a connection. Nice but also maybe too deferential (even if they're not actually Tatooine, Hoth and Yavin IV in this case).

Presumably there won't be much of any new environment but they'll introduce some later in the trilogy? The prequels may have shown too many different locations/ideas in the end. Whether or not they eventually show anything of Coruscant in particular is also interesting.

It's been under-acknowledged how directly this film so far wants to set things in three v familiar SW environments (desert, snowy, forest) as a means of re-establishing a connection. Nice but also maybe too deferential (even if they're not actually Tatooine, Hoth and Yavin IV in this case).

that's a good point. there's a more familiar (and more tactile, perhaps) iconography that signifies a re-setting of the clock, almost.