Star Wars

[Hot Heart]

[deanb]

Donald Glover. Lando Calrissian.

[deanb]

 

Oooh this looks pretty, but it's £150 :/

[deanb]

So word is the Ghost from Rebels has been spotted in the Rogue One trailers. Probably not gonna have any major cameos, might just be off hand mention at best (still holding out for Hondo though)

[Mal]

Seeing Hondo on the big screen would be amazing. If not Rogue One then the Han Solo movie (which doesn't need to happen but sure).

[deanb]

Yeah, Rebels has a fair few charachters that produce some issues with the films, mainly the four force users who as far as the original trilogy goes aren't a thing. So yeah Kanan n Ezra unlikely to hit the big screen n given the explanations you'd need from a film perspective I can't see Maul popping up any time soon after his slicing in half.

 

Hondo however has no issues with fucking up continuity and yeah would work well in the Han Solo film given he's a associate of sorts of Landos. Be nice to see some reference to Clone Wars/Rebels original characters through the films.

[Mr. GOH!]

I'd be surprised to see any major or central Rebels characters showing up in the movies in any central way. I bet there may be oblique references or visual easter eggs to them, but that's it.

 

Also, I am hyped for Rogue One. Gonna see it at the local Alamo Draft House Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

[deanb]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/rogue-one-disney-ceo-star-wars-political-statements-trump-rebel-facists-a7471446.html

 

This morning I'm facepalming at the idea that Star Wars isn't political.

[TheMightyEthan]

 

 

Frankly, this is a film that the world should enjoy. It is not a film that is, in any way, a political film. There are no political statements in it, at all

 

[Thursday Next]

If he means "this film is not about any single political party or politician", then yeah, fine. But most art is in some way political.

[TheMightyEthan]

He just doesn't want to give up the money from the fascists.

[CorgiShinobi]

The argument could be made that there are no external political statements. That said, the obvious political statements in the entirety of Star Wars can be applied to sociopolitical events of any generations, much like what is being done by those screenwriters of Rogue One.

 

In fact, you could take any Good vs. Evil story of the last 70 years, twist it around your political leaning, and there you have a political analogy! I mean, that's essentially what people do when they compare anyone to Hitler.

[TheMightyEthan]

They apply better to some than others though.  The Empire is plainly a racist totalitarian government, against a pluralist multispecies rebellion.  The Empire is specifically styled after Nazis/fascists.  So sure, you can draw analogies to anything, but some of the lines are shorter than others.

[Mal]

Just saw Rogue One. I won't call it great but you'll nerdgasm.

 

 

Cameos by most of you hold dear. Also grand vistas and superb battles. The kind you imagined when watching the OT and wished the PT had the power to nicely produce. The only CGI "failure" I would say would be Tarkin. It was nicely done but still had the uncanny valley effect. Leia was apparently played by someone and her scene so short that there's little to no uncanny valley effect. Still, holy crap, talk about tech progress.

 

Edit: Apparently Chopper of Rebels is in there. I thought I saw him.

Edit2: The ship was there too. Hard to gauge what happened to them.

 

As for the story, it's fine but how much can you care about the characters when you know they'll all die? There's simply not enough screen time to make me care too much. Still, nice way to get them all killed without having Vader do it. Which is nice. Vader does murder a bunch of Rebel scum viciously while still being true to his appearance in the OT.

 

Edited December 16, 2016 by Mal

[TCP]

I don't know, Mal. I'm not saying it's the best Star Wars film. But I think you can make that argument. I'm incredibly impressed. There's no new characters as great as say, a Han Solo or maybe even Finn or Poe. But they're all good. K2SO might be the best. Baze Malbus and Chirrutt Imwe were also great (despite having to look up their names).

 

I really thought he was going to bring out a light sabre at the end when he was going for the switch, or maybe use the force to push it, but probably best that they didn't.

I missed Chopper, that's disappointing, I'll have to keep my eye out for it when I watch it at home in the spring.
Tarkin was 99.9% there, but Leia looked 100%.

 

And HOLY SHIT, Vader at the end. 

[Mal]

Since I had a day to think about it some more, you can indeed argue that it is top three or even the best. The first third of the film stumbled a bit (one scene seemed out of place but it can make sense considering who we were dealing with) but it picked up after the whole crew gets together. Still, it is a moderately different film from the way my head and trailers hyped it as. What we got should be the better product. In any case it serves as an excellent bridge between the PT, OT and the new expanded universe. For example, all Vader bits were excellent and at one time we got hints of Anakin.

[Mr. GOH!]

I really, really liked Rogue One, even though its clear a lot of the story was subject to reshoots and editing. It definitely did not feel like a main line Star Wars movie, but it felt like a legitimate story about that universe and really did a lot to flesh out what the Empire and the Rebel Alliance actually are. In the OT, the Rebel Alliance feels like a recurring plot device without an independent identity. The Empire is a little more interesting in the OT, but R1 deepens it. It is very, very clear that the high-level production team had read this fantastic essay in the Atlantic about Captain/Admiral Piett in the OT, and I suggest you all read it, too: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/the-ballad-of-admiral-piett/420570/

 

More detailed commentary behind the spoiler tag.

 

 

It's clear R1 had trouble introducing the team and that a lot of the early stuff was changed in re-shoots. Mostly, I wish there had been a few scenes about Bodhi deciding to defect and maybe more of Saw Gerrera. It seems like Gerrera's role was changed substantially in re-shoots, and I feel there's something missing about what,exactly, makes him an extremist who does not work with the Alliance. 

 

But other than that, I have no real complaints. Tarkin looked kinda weird, but Peter Cushing looks weird anyway, so it didn't bother me. I also truly loved that Krennic was a mid-level bureaucrat who thinks he's hot shit. He does not have the gravity or poise of Tarkin, nor imposing physical presence of Vader. He peacocks by wearing an ostentatious  and impractical white cape. He is constantly udnermined by his employees, his peers, his enemies, and his superiors. I mean, I love that Tarkin unceremoniously fires him as soon as the first test of the Death Star and that Krennic has the audacity to then appeal to Darth fucking Vader in the hopes of getting his command back. Vader gives Krennic exactly what Krennic deserves; a Force choke and a bad pun. I mean, what should Krennic expect for leap-frogging over his boss in the Imperial org chart to ask for a promotion from an evil cyborg space wizard? Mendelssohn's portrayal of Krennic is genius; it's clear that Krennic is not as scary, smart, or competent as he thinks he is, but who really wants a seat at the Imperial adults' table. 

 

The battle at the end is fantastic Star Wars stuff and the best in the series. Although the physics of Star Wars battles and technology has never made sense, the battle seems consistent with how such things have always worked in Star Wars. 

 

I really liked the ragtag group, too, even though I suspected they would all die. RIP K-2SO. Their deaths were all impactful and earned, I felt.

 

The only reference I had a problem with was Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan. Seems unlikely they'd go straight from Jedha to Tatooine. But whatever.

 

 

 

This is my third favorite Star Wars movie. In order from favorite to least favorite, mine are: Empire, A New Hope, Rogue 1, the Force Awakens, Jedi, Sith, Clones, and Phantom. The last three are all shit, however.

 

I plan to see it again in a week or so.

[TheMightyEthan]

If the whole movie was as good as the last 1/3 it would quite possibly be my favorite Star Wars movie.  As is it's 5th in my estimation (which is the same as GOH's except I'd put TFA and Jedi before R1, though I'm willing to admit Jedi probably just beats it because of nostalgia).

[Mr. GOH!]

I have tons of nostalgia for Jedi, so it's difficult for me to rank it so low, but every time I see it, or parts of it, I'm reminded of how not good a lot of it is.

[TheMightyEthan]

Ewoks... *shudder*

[deanb]

edit: to save time I'm just gonna wrap the whole thing in a spoiler warning cos it's late. And it lets me be clearer about the Peter Jackson story.

 

 

So off bat I'll say one thing which is this film has helped reverse a bit on the "Darth Vader is so cool/emphatic" kinda path we've been down for a while (and I think Rebels had a slight shot at tugging at the reins on that) and put the "Dark" back in "Dark Lord of the Sith".

 

I'm going through the Empire (magazine not Imperial) podcast atm and they're chatting with Gareth Edwards. Peter Jackson was in town n their editor, the mutual friend, had tried to get him over. In the end Gareth shot off an email n was "we're shooting Darth Vader" n Peter was "I'll be there in 30 minutes". It was the scene on the rebel ship. And the way it's described they did that reveal from darkness in-camera. Man must have been good to watch first hand.

 

So can anyone confirm their feeling that

 

Darth Vaders little tower was the Citadel, the Jedi prison we get a fair shot at in Clone Wars series (and I think the first time Tarkin pops up, though Captain Tarkin at that point.

 

 

Oh, am I alone in feeling that his neck was way off. I need to check some other pictures but pretty sure his neck was much wider than previous, and his cape wasn't properly attached. Krennics cape was pretty dang cool imo.

 

Regarding Saw

 

He's been recently heavily rumoured/practically confirmed to be making an appearance in Rebels so I imagine they'll flesh out a fair bit more there. He was also in Clone Wars, he's been a 'rebel' longer than the rebel alliance, heck even the Empire, have been a thing which I think would explain why he's on the more extreme side of things compared to the likes of Mon Mothma n Bail Organa.

 

 

I gotta say I like how neatly it tied up many elements with a pretty bow for the end. While ages ago I said I'd love it if it finished with pretty much the opening scene of New Hope, I'd say this was amazingly close to that so I'm happy.

 

Oh I loved how this played around with it's non-Episode status in both being a bit darker, but also some of the directorial cues such as the many varied ways of having the Death Star, a spherical object, appear on screen. Kinda bummed, after having my hopes slightly raised, that we didn't get to see the Death Star in hyperspace. Though I guess it would have seemed kinda hilarious which isn't the idea they'd want, but at least it popping out would have been quite imposing. To have maybe say a couple Star Destroyers pop out of hyperspace then *boom* this massive sheet of grey where once was blackness n stars.

 

There was way too many planets imo, and the naming of them with title cards makes me think they realised that but a bit too late into the play. Title cards for planets I'm pretty sure hasn't been in Star Wars before now. Did Yavin 4 even need naming, it's in the first Star Wars film. 

 

Oh there is a slight issue with their kyber crystals, though not major. Every single one shown was larger than any shown previously (in canon), given you can guess none of those would fit inside a lightsaber hilt. And the Death Star crystals were meant to be like...car sized at least. Also Jetta should have gone boom in a much bigger fashion (also established, in canon, that Kyber crystals really like to go boom if exploded and that planet had a chunk of them).

 

K-2SO was great

 

and I feel it fitting he die first, since it sort of go "well I guess he's only a droid, they can get another one" while still being "ow man I liked that guy" and "huh, this raises the stakes a fair bit"

 

 

Oh also, I forget his name, but pretty sure that the blind dude was one of the most force sensitive force sensitives to ever be around cos the dude was more in tune than most Jedi. Like Kanan is currently blind n learning to use the force (and heck, he's been shown recently using the turrets while blind) but he's a fully blown Jedi n still not as good as the blind dude. One of our party left during that first fight for the loo, figured best not to explain what epicness she missed.

 

 

edit 2: oh yeah, remembered one of the easter eggs was a reference to the Dark Saber, while they're searching the data repository. I think it was one or two mentions before "Stardust". Which incidentally if Jyn hadn't been there then no one would have worked it out...

 

 

I'll probably have more thoughts down the line but it's coming up to 1AM.

[Mr. GOH!]

Dean:

 

 

Doesn't Jyn have a small crystal on a necklace? I thought that looked like it would fit inside a lightsaber.

 

[deanb]

Nah, that one was still kinda big.

They're about...this big

 

Also re-reading past posts:
@TCP:

I think it was, in a previous life, a light pike/lance. Though of the "legends" design rather than the yellow temple guard style...since for one those are dual bladed. It's clearly shown having some kind of glow/energy output cos it is slightly lit up on the stalagmite planet.

 

[Mr. GOH!]

Considering the liberties taken with cartoons and that lightsabers are all uniquely constructed (at least I think they are), Jyn's necklace is not far from that size at all.

[Mal]

@Dean

 

 

Vader's castle/fortress is on Mustafar. The Citadel is on another planet. Pretty much confirmed by Pablo Hidalgo. Same with "General Syndulla" being Hera.