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Star Wars Episode 7

WORFWORF The Burninator
in Zocalo v2.0
Reading through the Star Trek Into Darkness thread got me thinking we need a thread about this too.

This is a movie that I've got extremely mixed feelings about.

It's great they've got the original cast back together and it looks like they're going back to making the same way the original trilogy was. Practical effects, real sets, real aliens and puppets etc. (I'm sure there will be CGI but it will be used only for the things impossible to do with practical effects and to enhance things rather than to create the entire world around actors in a green screen studio) Hopefully that will inspire other studios to start making movies that way again too. Also, John Williams is signed up to compose the music.

On the other hand, I don't like the director. I especially don't like what he did with Star Trek and fully expect he'll try to recreate popular moments from the original trilogy and put some clever twists (Luke saying "I am your father" to his evil son etc) on it because "fans love that". No. They don't.

I'm also a big fan of the Expanded Universe. Sure, some of it wasn't that great and there were times when it was inconsistent but those were mostly small things. Star Trek was much worse at that with it's own tv shows. So hearing that Disney are scrapping the EU in favor of the new films didn't exactly please me.

The way I see it, the new movies didn't have to recreate any of those stories, that would have been a terrible idea. Instead it should have been set after the last book series. The actors are the right age for that, so that's no problem. An afternoon on Wookiepedia would have helped the script writers (can't really expect them to read through all the books when they're on a deadline) get an idea of the state of the galaxy, significant events since Return of the Jedi, the names of the original character's kids etc.

It makes no difference to fans who just watch the movies but to the hardcore fans, the people who buy all the merchandise (I don't just mean a few action figures, I mean everything) and who kept interest alive over the last 20 years, are going to love it.

And then when the movie comes out, they can say to new fans, "So you liked Jaina Solo, Ben Skywalker etc? We've just reprinted all these books so you can learn more about them while you wait for the next movie!"

I know they've said the EU remains open for them to drawn inspiration from but what I'm expecting there is just to get a few minor references in the new Rebels tv show but not much beyond that.

Ending my rant there. Anyone else?
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Comments

  • SpiritOneSpiritOne Magneto ABQ NM
    Of all the EU stuff out there, I think Timothy Zahns novels were the best. If they don't draw from those and give us some of the iconic characters he created, they will have done the Star Wars universe an injustice.
  • DarthCaligulaDarthCaligula Elite Ranger
    This is something I've been wondering about, how fans of the EU will feel about all of that stuff from the past 30 or so years just being scrapped. Usually I just laugh about it, but I feel kind of bad laughing at Worf since he enjoys it. Despite my name, I am not really that much of a Star Wars fan. I think it's fun, but I don't really consider it true science fiction or all that grown up. I chose this name years ago because I thought the idea of emperor Caligula being a Sith Lord was funny.
    I've said this before I think, but now I guess there's going to be D canon involved? I wonder if we're going to have old EU fans and fans of the newer movies getting into big flame wars.
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    Most of the harder core fans I've talked to share similar views to what I've posted. Some are curious, some outright refuse to have anything more to do with Star Wars now that Disney have it and a few are letting it ruin what they liked about Star Wars originally.

    Personally, I view the EU as canon. George Lucas had to approve everything when he was running things. While I doubt he read every book (maybe the first few when the EU was getting started) but he did get overviews of everything. He may have made some questionable choices with the prequels but it was still his world and his story he wanted to tell, I can appreciate what he was trying to do even if the execution wasn't up to scratch. So to me, the EU was created under his watch and if he was okay with it, that's the real story of Star Wars.

    The new films, without the original creator, are basically nothing more than big budget fanfilms where the director was lucky enough to get the original cast back together.
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    The new films, without the original creator, are basically nothing more than big budget fanfilms where the director was lucky enough to get the original cast back together.
    They're not even that. They're in all likelihood going to be big budget money making corporate mouse-shaped plastic molds of shite, made by a self-proclaimed nerd who claims to respect the source matierial, but in actual fact has demonstrated no respect for that which he has ended up butchering.

    In short, I'm not expecting much. Though I'll be happy to be proved wrong!
  • FreejackFreejack Jake the Not-so-Wise
    edited August 2014
    They're not even that. They're in all likelihood going to be big budget money making corporate mouse-shaped plastic molds of shite, made by a self-proclaimed nerd who claims to respect the source matierial, but in actual fact has demonstrated no respect for that which he has ended up butchering.
    That's not it at all, rather the Star Wars universe is, without debate, simply the best medium to fully realize the artistic promise of the modern lens flair...

    Jake
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    I suppose you all objected to The Avengers as well?
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    No, because that was Whedon, and he "gets it". Abrams at the very least has got to prove he does, but based on his past works he's got an uphill battle to win me over
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    edited August 2014
    I did enjoy Abrams' tv shows like Alias, Lost, Fringe, Almost Human and I had fun watching his Trek reboots. (That said, he has also a list of cancelled shows, so it's easy to remember only his past successes.) The expectations may be too high and he may run the risk of not meeting them indeed. While I didn't care for the prequels that much, I was glad more SW movies were made to flesh out this rich universe. I don't know how much it really matters if he sticks to written source material that is out there in terms of canon or EU as far as I'm concerned, since I am outside of the SW loop (as a casual fan). I'm sure he will offend someone. ;-) (present company excluded)
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    My comment was mostly directed to the Disney detractors.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    I completely forgot about that. Well, at least the Disney company people are trying to do something.
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    JJ Abrams shows tend to get better when he gets bored of them and leaves other people running them.

    I like The Avengers and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney handled that well, but then Marvel's focus is comics, the movies are just a very profitable side element to that. After Avengers was so successful, they put Whedon in charge of overseeing the MCU to make sure they all link up with each other and the various tv shows they're making.

    I can imagine they'll do the same thing with Star Wars after Episode 7, except it will be Abrams they put in charge of all things Star Wars. Unfortunately, because Disney want to start seeing a return on their investment ASAP, they're rushing the new film out (Lucasfilm wanted at least 3 years, they were originally given 2 which was later expanded to 2 and a half).

    I suspect that's also another reason why the EU was dropped as they were originally going to go through everything to make it all fit together and smooth out any inconsistencies. Must have been taking too long so they just got rid of it all.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    edited November 2014
    Star Wars: The Force Awakens?! Are they serious? I have a bad feeling about this.
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    Yep, me too. This does not bode well
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Some tweeter uncovered the next titles too:

    Episode VIII - The Force Gets Out of Bed
    Episode IX - The Force Makes Coffee
  • SpiritOneSpiritOne Magneto ABQ NM
    It's better than "The Phantom Menace"
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    I'm going to reserve judgement on that until I see it
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    I honestly can't say. Which one is faster, the Enterprise or the Millenium Falcon?
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Depends on how much caffeine is in that Force Coffee.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    edited November 2014
    At least the merchandise is ready. (Not, Darth Vader helmet toaster on back order!!)
  • FreejackFreejack Jake the Not-so-Wise
    LOL, only in SkyMall...

    Jake
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Both the Enterprise and the Millennium Falcon are as fast as they need to be to produce sufficient lens flares.

    Also, if there isn't at least one battle in hyperspace I will be disappointed.
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    You need to realise that you're going to be disappointed whatever happens, that way you can only be surprised
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    Let's not forget the mega deathstar that can destroy an entire solar system. Abrams won't be able to resist the lens flare opportunity of having a star explode!
  • DarthCaligulaDarthCaligula Elite Ranger
    Seriously, I just don't get this whole lens flare thing. I remember reading that lens flare is something that is avoided, because it look bad, and then in Babylon 5 I know that they intentionally put lens flare into the space scenes to make it look more like a camera was capturing it or whatever. Also, in Metal Gear Solid 5, they love to use lens flare like crazy. What's the big deal with this? Am I supposed to be impressed? Um, so you're making it look like it's all fake and being filmed with a camera.... Is that somehow supposed to help with the immersion? I just really don't get this fad. WHOA MAN!!!! LENS FLARE!!!! IT'S SO INTENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    Some lens flare is good and a lot of films use it effectively. JJ Abrams is known for going very over the top with lens flare to the point where you can't see much of what's happening on screen.

    Example
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    The first trailer

    Feels more like a fanfilm than anything else.
  • SpiritOneSpiritOne Magneto ABQ NM
    It's just supposed to be a teaser, and I think it did a good job of doing that.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    edited November 2014
    Bruce Wayne, is that you talking in your Batman voice? Could also be Bane... I'm not sure now. lol Somehow I'm still not confident about the final result. It will look and sound great though.
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    Fairly certain that was Benedict Cumberbatch narrating the trailer.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    I thought the exact same.
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