Star Wars

[TheMightyEthan]

@Dean: you're talking about the quality of the prop, I'm talking about the design. The design of the new ones is overly simplified, though I agree they are probably manufactured better.

[Mr. GOH!]

I kinda like the new helmets. They seem more advanced while still clearly being impossible-to-see-through death's heads.

[Mal]

Clone trooper, Empire storm trooper or First Order storm trooper... I love them all.

[deanb]

The quality is just a side effect of time, which is why it isn't a cheap-looking glossy plastic made from three pieces of vacuum formed plastic. I'm talking about the actual detailing.

 

edit: Colleague shared this with me: https://lightsaber.withgoogle.com/

I found it to not be very sensitive for the phone side in the whole "move phone right/left to deflect" stuff but might give another spin later.

[Mr. GOH!]

The reviews are pouring in and they're very positive. TFA looks to be a pulpy crowd pleaser, which is exactly what it should be.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Mr. GOH!

[deanb]

TEA looks to be a pulpy crowd pleaser, which is exactly what it should be.

 Well duh. Took you guys couple centuries to work that one out instead of throwing it in the sea.

 

 

Star Wars: The Ewok Awakens

 

edit: or Star Wars: The Fucking Article.

 

edit 2: I wonder if this film/trilogy will cover the fact that Luke n Leia's grandfather is the living Force. The subtitling implies it might.

[TheMightyEthan]

 

 

The quality is just a side effect of time, which is why it isn't a cheap-looking glossy plastic made from three pieces of vacuum formed plastic. I'm talking about the actual detailing.

You were talking about how the old ones have stickers for vents. That's prop quality. [emoji14]

[deanb]

The hero helmets featured it too though. The mouth/nose is grilled, so having the flat blue stripes/stickers was a conscious design choice not a production limitation.

 

edit: I'm happy to just agree to disagree btw. I like all the helmets and each have their own touches for their time.

[Mr. GOH!]

Clone trooper helmets look super dumb though.

[TheMightyEthan]

When I'm taking about design I'm talking about what it's supposed to represent in terms of the "real" in-universe object. In-universe I don't think the Storm Troopers were supposed to have fake sticker vents, they're supposed to be real vents, so it's an artifact of the prop and not the design.

 

*Edit - not saying you have to agree with me that the new ones are dumber, just trying to explain what I'm saying because it doesn't seem like it's getting across.

[deanb]

In universe no the stickers for vents aren't a thing. I'm unsure if it's meant to be vents though. The "stunt" (aka mass produced for extras) helmets just had a sticker on which is more obvious with age:

 

The "hero" helmets (worn by Han n Luke, or in close-up shots) were hand painted:

 

As mentioned given that they had the vents around the mouth it was unlikely a production problem to not put vents on the side as well if they wanted to. These are the ones sort of meant to be "what they're actually like" since the most effort went into making them. Given they're hand finished even discounting molding process they could still have got a craft knife to trim in vents if that's what they'd wanted for the design. There's a few differences between the two, such as the stickers and most noticeable is the lower brow on the Hero helmets. Also major issues on asymmetry as the molds quality degraded through the series.

I understand fully that the Empire in-universe didn't decide after the battle of Yevon to fuck up their soldiers helmets. I perfectly understand the in-universe versus practical production differences mean that lightsabers aren't hand crafted by a jedi from a flash gun, and Hans blaster isn't literally a German WWII pistol.

[madbassman39]

With the new movie coming out, are we going to post discussion in this thread or are we going to have a thread for TFA Spoilers? I haven't seen it yet and may not see it until a few days after it arrives and you all have seen it. I just want to know if this thread will be safe or not. I know the spoiler tags work, but I don't have self control, if you weren't intending on having a thread for TFA thats fine, I just want to know where they'll be so I can keep myself out.

[TheMightyEthan]

I figured people would just tag spoilers.

[deanb]

Yeah I'd say tag spoilers.

 

Though if you use the "preview" feature be aware that that doesn't parse the spoiler tags so you'll see:

 

 

Oh my god that bit where

Darth Vader revealed he had a pod racer called Rosebud when he was a child was so left field

 

Rather than

oh my god the bit where

 

aeris got stabbed by Kylo Ren was heart breaking

 

 

[Mal]

Spoiler tags should be fine. Speaking of spoilers, I got smacked in the face with a clip from the movie. Nothing big, just Rey talking. Stay safe...

 

Edit: I might have gotten spoiled? Hard to tell since it is kind of easy to come up with anything short like LUKE I AM YOUR FATHER.

Edited December 17, 2015 by MaliciousH

[TCP]

I'll be staying the fuck out of this thread JUST to be safe. I don't want to stumble in here, forgetting it's out a day early in the UK and they're 8 hours ahead of us, and read Dean dropping a major spoiler like what happened in the Doctor Who thread. 

[danielpholt]

So am I the only one who's seen this yet? I guess this is my FIRST!!!! Comment.

 

I'll be able to write a more in depth opinion of the film when I get a chance to sit down, probably on Sunday. I'll say this, I really fucking enjoyed The Force Awakens. It had everything I'd want from a Star Wars film.

 

Was it perfect? No, it's got one or two niggles but on the whole I'm super excited about the franchise being back, and after watching the prequels over the last 4 days, it's great to see that they've gone back to what Star Wars used to be.

[TheMightyEthan]

Change of plans, going tonight at 7, because fuck waiting and risking spoilers.

[deanb]

So

 

WHY ARE YOU READING THIS IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN THE FILM YET?!?! Message me and I'll stick a temp ban on you if you want. Unless I'm watching the movie at the time that is.

 

[deanb]

Right super seriously I've watched it now, this is not a trial run, this is the real thing. If you've not seen Star Wars yet 

 

CLICK THIS BUTTON FOR EMERGENCY HYPERSPACE JUMP

 

 

 

 

So let's get the cons out of the way first.

• Biggest for me is the ending. Like it was nice seeing Luke n all, but the moment they landed in Ireland I was like "that's Ireland". And to double check I put into Google "stone huts Ireland", and guess what they're called Clochan's and they're found in County Fahan at Dingle Peninsula. Maybe could have put in like a moisture evaporator or something just to make it A Galaxy Far Far Away. I knew the Resistance base was an ex-RAF base, but it was dressed up and you were like "that's a Resistance base" rather than "that's a WWII RAF base".
• It followed much the same footsteps of A New Hope with trappings of Empire. Super weapon, dark lord, a general, rebels about to be destroyed and a last minute destruction of a thermal port.
• The plan of the attack sequence they got pretty close to some classics without actually saying them which was a bit distracting cos you know Akbar doesn't doesn't say "we can't take on a base of that size" he says "we can't take on a base of that magnitude".
• Phasma was piss poor. The lead up media presented her as some large menacing character, but pretty much just a bit part. A stormtrooper with a bit of flair to stand out. And taken care of way too easily. No better than the stormtrooper convinced to let Rey go. Likely a sign of having a bit too many characters I think. Which was a bit of an itch, but not overly so. I think reading up pre-media stuff helped familiarise myself with folks but if you're going in totally raw it'll be confusing.

 

Now for the pros

• It followed much the same footsteps of A New Hope with trappings of Empire. They were great fucking films. Why reinvent the wheel if you have to and it's better than trade negotiations. In fact the symbolism of destroying the senate first isn't lost on me. It's a familiar ground with which to grow new characters and storylines without having to distract too much. The overarching plot is just a familiar frame with which to weave new drapes and want you questioning for more.
• When Starkiller base "explodes" it was cool to see it just pop back into a sun.
• Poe was fun. In fact despite the utter darkness it reached there was a lot of fun moments. That C3-PO bitch slap, the lighter thumbs up, the *whistles n turns the other way* Stormtroopers, C3-PO popping in "Han Solo!".
• The fights were great. tbh I never had a huge beef with the choreographed dancing fights they had in the prequels, I though they looked great, took great skill and showed the Jedi at their very best and well trained. But here was more visceral, two virtually untrained force users hacking at each other and seemed much more solid. I'd say there's some definite changes to how lightsabers react when hitting each other in this film. Seemed like a medieval style fighting you'd get in...well GoT I would guess is likely a large inspiration.
• Gleeson was pretty great too, be nice to see a grand moff fleshed out a bit. Peter Cushing just cuts through everyone and visually brilliant choice. But overall he was in the OT all of maybe 3 minutes.
• JOHN FUCKING WILLIAMS. When Rey returns to the Resistance base and gets off the Falcon and Leia is just standing there nothing is said but Williams writes all the lines with sweeping chorus.
• BB-8 was great, though R2 wasn't in it for much so not much so comparisons will be slim. But yeah, pretty good considering we all know he's the new toy for Christmas.
• Apart from Phasma as mentioned above everyone was pretty damn good so I'm happy. With a film like this and casting some new faces you can end up with a single dud actor who is coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere.
• I look forward to the strong implication of seeing the origins of the Jedi put into film. I imagine similar for the Sith too.

 

Now for the non-filmey things

First of all: "Allah Chewbakar"

Secondly: Ben? Why not Drum?

 

Also when we left the cinema room (I swear there's a proper word for that but it escapes) they've the big 8ft high posters with the faces on along the hallway: leie, rey, finn, han, etc. Right outside the doors for ours was Han. Goddamit.

 

It's not outright stated but seems my thoughts on the whole "the new canon map has the KOTOR planet right on it right next to Starkiller base...I wonder if there's a reason for that" is kinda shown to be true given both feature super weapons which feed on suns.

 

Now for something I've been trying to work out how to sort of word more in-depth past few days. I begin writing and it falls apart. It's a big thought others likely already covered who are much better at wording but basically I've known of the whole Han stuff since Monday. I'm however not one that's massively put out by spoilers, especially not as anally as some folks I know (we had a "youtube party" whatever the kids call em and one lad was like "nope, no Star Wars trailer" even).  And tbh I think it greatly enhanced my viewing of the film. You know going in this is Hans last run, you know what's coming, you know he'll find no redemption with his son, and once he's on that bridge you know what's coming. If you're unaware at that point there would likely be a vagueness, you might guess, but there's the possibility he'll turn good. Or something will happen. Something always does. "he'll talk his way out of it". But you know what's coming, and your heart thumps in anticipation of the moment that's likely bigger than "No, I am your father!" approaches. And they're both gripping the lightsaber, and the suns last light is shining on them, and then it dies out and...it happens.

 

Also that was super Matt Parkman and errr...I dunno..I recognised him from maybe Fringe but not. Something like Fringe.

 

 

 

Also I'm aware Americans do it and I think it's proper fucking weird and stupid but hey this is the first time I've been in a film in the UK and at the rolling of the credits the audience clapped.

Edited December 17, 2015 by deanb
Ho shit used the wrong code! Edit 2: Tweaking some wording. Edit 3: Adding that end bit in.

[deanb]

Right Super jokely I've watched it now, this is kind of a trial run maybe I dunno just having some shits and giggles.

 

 

Finding out that Hans childhood freighter was called Rosebud was informative.

Pretty big twist to find out that Bruce Willis was a force ghost all along.

Should have realised who Kylo Ren really was earlier on when he pulled out his gold lightersaber.

I feel that the big reveal that Darth Vader is Lukes father something a bit deja vu, it's already been done.

I'm still unsure where this all fits in with the Infinity War. In fact throughout I'm just thinking their first move should be calling The Avengers.

 

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Also I'm aware Americans do it and I think it's proper fucking weird and stupid but hey this is the first time I've been in a film in the UK and at the rolling of the credits the audience clapped.

Even in the US clapping for a movie is very unusual. I've never been in a theater where people did it, and agree it's weird and stupid.

[Mr. GOH!]

Only at premieres or special showings with the filmmaker or cast or crew. Otherwise it's weird and disturbing.

 

Every Broadway show I've been to has gotten a standing ovation, which I find very weird. A number of them did not deserve it.

 

Thanks for the spoiler tags, Dean, even though you warned us away from the thread if we haven't seen it. 

[TCP]

I remember clapping at the Michael Moore 911 movie, like.... 2 weeks after it came out.

 

WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING IN THIS THREAD?!??!!

[TheMightyEthan]

I agree with everything dean said in his spoiler post.

 

*Edit - I do want to add:

 

 

Can we please be done with Death Stars now? kthx

 

Also, the map thing was dumb. "We have a map that shows like 1/8 of the galaxy, it's not nearly enough to figure out where it's showing us.". It'd be like if I couldn't figure out where a map of southern Africa fit on a globe.

 

 

*Edit 2 - Also also

it would have been better if Kylo Ren had never taken off his mask. Dude was weird looking, and it instantly took him from sinister villain to love child of whiny teenage Anakin and Snape. Not a good place for a villain to be.

 

 

Overall though it was good, despite my complaints.