Official Star Wars Thread

[EricJ]

Not much of a spoiler...if it is (search your feelings, you know it to be true!)

Yeah, I didn't think it was supposed to be her (Sort-Of Padme, maybe), and they were just going with generic references since they hadn't read any of the geek-buzz either. These are ad execs, people, they don't read IGN.

And just off the subject, I don't know why it didn't occur to me until now:
We've been talking about Abrams as a "new reboot director" only in the context of the Trek movies...Has there been any mention yet of the time Abrams was hired to "reboot" another pop franchise, and sent fans running screaming into the hills or grabbing their pitchforks?
http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/superman ... rman-movie
(The one that Ain't It Cool News took such pains to warn us about ahead of time that Warner had to drop it, and Abrams was so disgruntled, he made sure the character of Hurley on "Lost" looked like Harry Knowles?)

[Dan]

The dramatic Japanese trailer that launched a few hours ago.

[Ben]

OMG...Tie-Fighters arriving against the sun...consider my jaw well and truly dropped.

[ShyViolet]

This is actually really funny! Geek humor...LOL.

[Ben]

True. True.

[Bill1978]

What is the explanation for the Stormtroopers still being a major force? Are they good guys or bad guys? I only ask cause my knowledge of Star Wars is linked solely to the movies. I just assumed when the Emperor was killed, that everything connected to the Empire would have been discarded by the people. I also thought everyone was free. Did I interpret the ending of Jedi totally wrong?

[Ben]

Nope, that *was* the end of Jedi (and the saga) until the sequel trilogy came along...!

Just as with the very first Star Wars movie - a standalone film without any kind of background or added mythology - everything about the films from that first one onwards has been retconned to fit.

Whether Lucas or Disney made them, the new sequel trilogy was going to have to "undo" or re-explain the end of Jedi to make it work.

[Bill1978]

And that is my lingering hesitation about this new trilogy. As much as the trailers have me excited about the movie. And I will see it in the cinema with excitement, I just can't help shake the feeling that this movie will spoil the 'perfect story ending' of Jedi. Hell even the prequel trilogy makes the ending of Jedi that more meaningful and satisfying from a story arc point of view.

[Ben]

Well, the closed ending of Star Wars didn't hinder your enjoyment of Empire and Jedi, did it?

At the end of Star Wars, The Empire - at that point all based on the Death Star - was all blown up: we didn't even know about The Emperor back then (and Vader wasn't Luke's dad, either). The *only* smart thing Lucas did was to keep his main villain, Vader, alive so he could return in a potential sequel.

Forget what Lucas says...EVERYTHING that came after Star Wars in 1977 was retconned on. The most smart thing Disney has done for this new film is hire the same guy that made Empire Strikes Back feel organically grown out of Star Wars: Lawrence Kasdan. This is the one reason I'm allowing myself to get excited, because of his involvement. If anyone can write for Harrison Ford its him (he also co-wrote Raiders), and if anyone holds the power of The Force for real, it's Kasdan.

I have a *good* feeling about this...!

[Bill1978]

No the closed ending of Star Wars didn't prevent me from enjoying the other two, I am just hesitant cause I just feel as a story the series had been satisfactorily completed. I have always felt whenever Lucas talked about it being a 9 part movie, the final 3 would be a bit pointless. As it would require a baddie to come back (out of nowhere) just to be fought and defeated, while not adding much to the story. If the sequel trilogy was made before the prequel trilogy I may not feel this way. Even though the prequels aren't as satisfying as the original, the story told in them does help make the original trilogy ending a lot more satisfying from a storytellers view.

Of course I will probably be blown away by the new movie and will have to eat my hat (I sure hope I do) but I think that if I didn't have this trepidation I would probably ultimately walk away from the cinema disappointed. So it is good that I have this concern.

[EricJ]

After the first trilogy, Lucas's original idea (twenty years before the PT) was that 9 films would be his Kurosawa "Hidden Fortress" tribute of how C-3P0 and R2-D2 stumbled through the entire war from beginning to end.
Which meant that the Battle of Endor in Jedi--the non-SE version, that ended with the Ewok party--would only be a minor but pivotal skirmish, and that another nastier, more ambitious villain would try to pick up the Emperor's pieces for the last three in the trilogy, while Luke is put in the position of having to rebuild the Jedi.

IOW....pretty much like the trilogy we've got now, only without the generational time-difference.

(And I'd be excited about Kasdan too, if we hadn't had The Accidental Tourist, Grand Canyon and Dreamcatcher in those thirty years since Empire and Raiders. Thirty years can mellow a guy, and that whole Steve Martin subplot in Canyon suggests that he's moved on and renounced the Hollywood deal-making of genre action for something more "philosophical". Bad feelings?...Yeah, I got 'em, and not just about Abrams. )

[ShyViolet]

So true Ben about Kasdan knowing how to write for Ford. Han was soooo awesome in Empire: first rescuing Luke and then going from antihero to hero. Also who could forget: "I love you/I know." One of the best Ford lines/scenes ever!

[Ben]

Well, Ford actually apparently improvised that line, Vi!

Eric once again knows not of what he speaks: The Accidental Tourist is great! Anyone that can go from writing megabudget B-movie pastiches to adapting a real human drama obviously has the chops to write anything. Kasdan also made Silverado, one of the best modern westerns and a film that kept interest in the genre alive almost singlehandedly.

[ShyViolet]

Well, Ford actually apparently improvised that line, Vi!
.

Yeah...I actually did remember that after I posted! Lol!

It was still a great scene though!

[EricJ]

Evil Luke?
Hamill talks about the idea with JJ in the room...TEN years ago...

Then again, there is the other Luke theory being thrown around, i.e..

"Kylo, I am your father".
Which suggests that the Order has trained the new Son of Skywalker for their new weapon to "finish what the Empire started", and why the Trailer Voice thinks Vader was such a poor beaten-up martyr

That sounds a LOT more plausible.
Oh, and just checking, do we know for a fact whether Harrison Ford has been cast in Ep. 8?
It's sort of suggests the reason he'd come back for this one. IGABFAT.