Official Star Wars Thread

[ShyViolet]

Just thought I would post the first Episode 1 trailer for the heck of it (still can't believe that back in 1999 people actually went to the movies strictly to see this trailer and nothing else) and to contrast it to what we just saw. For crying out loud, there actually appears to be relationships and feelings going on in the ST. The special effects also seem to serve the story, not become the story as they did in the PT.

Well, here it is after sixteen years in all its glory, lousy dialogue and all: (Yeah, OK, I admit Darth Maul and Obi Wan were kind of cool. )

[Randall]

Puppet Yoda!

And that bad Anakin-Obi handshake, so awkward, where Ewan's hand gets caught in his sleeve. Not only did that make it to the film, they put it in the trailer. Yi-yi-yi.

The whole thing feels rather cold, doesn't it?

Glad you liked the Moore Superman reference, Vi.

Thunderbirds is awful? Too bad. Still will watch it, though, maybe online.

The new SW comics look like huge hits. Dark Horse Comics must wonder, "What the heck?" They did well with the franchise, but people took them for granted after a while, even once they started their OT series just before losing the rights.

[EricJ]

Just thought I would post the first Episode 1 trailer for the heck of it (still can't believe that back in 1999 people actually went to the movies strictly to see this trailer and nothing else)

And "The Waterboy", at that.

Should clarify that I never actually saw the Clone Wars movie. I liked the limited series (again, the original score helped tie it in more) and probably would have gone along with a series in that style, but the trailers for the movie looked awful. By that point, the series started and was three or four seasons in before I started hearin that the writing and stories had gotten better (or really good in some cases) and it was really kind of too late to get into it. I maybe thought I would catch-up at some point, but it was never really on at the right time to start getting into it.

...So, you never saw the movie OR the series, then?

Basically, all the cringing you need doing is in the movie pilot (Anakin's spunky impulsive padawan sidekick that he nicknames "Snips"? Jabba the Hutt's talking relative, modeled after Truman Capote?? Don't worry, you'll get used to it...The sidekick, anyway), and the series gets better after that.
While Tartakovsky's series was a "dress 'em up but can't take 'em out in public" bit of 70's Cartoon Network retro-kitsch from a director who couldn't tell the difference anymore, the CGI series was like a Lucasarts game and spinoff comic come to life, albeit in PT canon. The episodes are serialized (the movie was going to be the first four episodes, before Warner wanted the hype), but the seasons are relatively self-contained, since they're not designed to do any longterm damage to the existing movie storylines, so you can pretty much jump in at any season with little difficulty.
And yes, it's basically, "What if the PT had been good?"

[Dan]

Back home from Anaheim. I will hopefully get a detailed report of my experience up, which was fine. I was unable to attend the Rebels season two screening as the line got packed very quickly. My consolation was doing the autograph signing with four of the cast members (Freddie Prince Jr. didn't stick around, presumably busy with something else), though it ate up five hours to get them. Still, their reaction to my drawing I had them sign made the wait worth it. The impression I heard from the season two screening was that it was epic, so I'm looking forward to when they finally start airing.

I did get a number of fun photo ops, including some of the heavy hitters. You'll see them soon enough.

---

They streamed some of the major panels online live throughout the weekend spliced with live coverage from the exhibit floor.

Here's the Day One video that includes the Episode VII panel (everyone lost it when the new droid BB8 appeared) and the Ian McDiarmid spotlight.

[Ben]

Neat! Looking forward to ploughing through that sometime.

I should say that I've seen enough of the Clone Wars movie on TV to know I didn't like it. I came across it around ten minutes in, watched maybe 20 minutes of it and left it on in the background, so can't say I've "seen" it, but saw enough to know it wasn't for me. I just naturally assumed (if it was the first four episodes) that the series wasn't going to be for me either. Rebels has sparked enough interest in maybe catching up with it at somepoint...

Vi...the first time people went to a theater to see a trailer specifically was ten years before Phantom Menace, when Tim Burton's Batman played on the front of a Clint Eastwood picture in 1989. There were reports in that pre-net time of people paying for their ticket, watching the trailer and walking out again! That's what really started the current thing of teasers and trailers attracting audiences, and making known what might be playing with what and when. The next one to really make a thing of its teaser campaign, showing almost a year before the movie came out, was the one for Jurassic Park in 1992. It maybe didn't have the same effect of audiences going to see it specifically (it was quite short and didn't feature any film footage, which Batman, which was just a collection of shots basically, had done), but it did help the film become the biggest thing in the world for a while (until Titanic launched that 18-minute "trailer"...)!

[ShyViolet]

Oh wow, I didn't know that. That's interesting. Btw if anyone here has ever done that hope I didn't offend!

[droosan]

I've never done that for a trailer .. but back in 1995, I bought multiple 'full-price' tickets (at least 5 or 6 times, over the course of two weeks) for A Kid in King Arthur's Court .. just so I could see the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain, which played before it. After the RB credits rolled, I'd walk out.

I still haven't seen AKiKAC to this day .. which is strange if only because Disney's previous adaptation of that Mark Twain story -- 1979's Unidentified Flying Oddball (aka The Spaceman and King Arthur) -- is among my favorite childhood 'guilty pleasures'.

[Ben]

I LOVE Oddball/Arthur...such a great cast, and quote it all the time (if I could blink like Hermes here I would, but Droo'll get that!)

"Luckily", Runaway Brain played with A Goofy Movie over here - although I figured it would be on the eventual LaserDisc (as was the routine at the time and the sole reason I have the Honey, I Blew Up The Kid disc, for the excellent Off His Rockers short), but of course it wasn't!

I had to wait until the Internet came along and I could find a version (eventually with Japanese subtitles) before I finally saw RB! Love the short (I can understand why Droo went back numerous times) and was glad to have a decent official transfer in the Walt Disney Treasures series.

[Dacey]

Just gonna pop in and repeat what I've said elsewhere on the forum: Star Wars Rebels is excellent.

Seriously, the animation is terrific, the characters are instantly likable, and it has a classic Star Wars feel. I loved Clone Wars, but one advantage that Rebels has over it (apart from even better animation) is the use of the John Williams score. For copyright reasons I'm assuming, Clone Wars was never able to have it outside of its advertising.

But I actually think that Rebels has already become a better show than Clone Wars (and understand that's HUGE praise coming from me given how spectacular I found "lost missions" to be), and we have no idea where it's going to go next, which is even more exciting. Add in fan favorites Ashoka and Rex in season 2 (I'm thrilled to see that Rex wasn't "brainwashed" by Order 66), and it looks like things have nowhere to go but up.

[Dan]

Rebels is indeed a very fun show, I feel, and worth checking out. Really enjoy how the character personalities are on display throughout, making them very likable and enjoyable.

---

Day 2 video of the live Celebration stream. Features the panels on Star Wars Battlefront and LEGO Star Wars Droid Tales along with spotlights on Ray Park and Carrie Fisher.

[Dan]

Live Day 3 video, includes the Star Wars Rebels panel (not the season two premiere screening), the live "Smuggler's Bounty" audio drama, the Fan Film Awards (which I went to and had a blast seeing), and the spotlight on Mark Hamill.



Also, tickets are already on sale for next year's Celebration. Which takes place in London.

[Ben]

Oooh...London...

[Randall]

Hmmmmmmm.....

[Dan]

Live Day 4 stream, includes the Rogue One panel, spotlight on Billy Dee Williams, and the closing ceremonies.

[GeorgeC]

The lengths Star Wars fans will go to get tickets for the next movie!

I got the Youtube link from http://www.coasttocoastam.com/pages/sta ... g-in-space

Weird radio show but occasionally something interesting pops up there.

This is kinda neat! I've never seen anybody handle black screen for movie models this way!





P.S. -- There are no visible stars (or any that I can see) because of the intense sunlight in the background. That's the same reason why you DON'T see stars from the surface of the moon, either. Sunlight reflection from the surface of the moon is too intense to see stars! (So take that, moon landing conspiracy advocates!)