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Post by Jeremy on Dec 14, 2017 12:38:20 GMT -8
Well, the whole world is lining up to see a new film this weekend (the one without the animated talking bull). And several forumers here - myself included - will probably be among them. So to avoid spoilers from spreading too far, too fast, I recommend we corral all our thoughts onto its own thread.
(Besides, Star Wars deserves its own thread anyway. Obviously.)
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Post by Zarnium on Dec 14, 2017 18:08:37 GMT -8
Well, the whole world is lining up to see a new film this weekend (the one without the animated talking bull). And several forumers here - myself included - will probably be among them. So to avoid spoilers from spreading too far, too fast, I recommend we corral all our thoughts onto its own thread. (Besides, Star Wars deserves its own thread anyway. Obviously.) I'll slip this in riiiiiiight before we get into the new movie; has anyone else here ever read the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn? It was the most notable post-movie continuity for a long time, and introduced a lot of concepts that were later adapted into the prequels, like Coruscant and the Wookiee homeworld. It was my favorite bit of Star Wars media for a long time, I know I liked it better than any of the movies when I first read it some ten years ago. Some fans are angry that it's being overwritten by the new movies, but... I don't really care. It's not like the books are disappearing from your shelves or anything, you can still go back and read them.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 14, 2017 19:01:38 GMT -8
I didn't read the books, but I remember skimming an unused Episode VII screenplay on the Internet somewhere back around 2006. As you may expect, it was very different from the Episode VII we eventually got. Like everything else, it's been retconned now. But I always wonder what could have been.
Truth be told, I do get some of the disappointment that fans have when series developments are retconned by new productions. These books were marketed as official sequels, and now they're... not. It's like a retroactive ripoff.
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Post by Zarnium on Dec 14, 2017 20:55:23 GMT -8
Kind of, but the original post-movie continuity has had over twenty years to grow, and there's no shortage of material. I'll grant that I'm not really that much of a Star Wars fan so my opinion may not amount to much, but I figure that it's had its day in the Sun and enough time has passed that there's probably more to explore in an alternate continuity than continuing the exact same one. It's hard to produce a continuing story for that long without doing a reboot. Superhero comics do the same thing, right?
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 15, 2017 6:05:39 GMT -8
Sort of, but those are usually full reboots that start over from scratch. Each version has its own distinct continuity, and its own stories that are separate from the others.
This is more of a partial reboot, which acknowledges the film continuity up through Return of the Jedi, but then deviates to a new path. And the new path is now designated as the "official" one, which throws the post-RotJ books into question. It's like how Superman Returns was made as a direct follow-up to Superman II, completely ignoring III and IV, or how Jurassic World ignored anything that happened after the first Jurassic Park.
I haven't really read the books myself, so I've got no personal animus. But I get why some fans are frustrated by the new sequels, especially since Lucas famously announced back in the mid-90s that there would be no more Star Wars films made after the prequel trilogy.
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Star Wars
Dec 15, 2017 6:28:52 GMT -8
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Post by Zarnium on Dec 15, 2017 6:28:52 GMT -8
I guess I'm just not one to care that much about this sort of thing. Like, a lot of Star Trek fans really hate the reboot movies, but I just don't care that much about them one way or another since I'm already satisfied with what we had already, and I lost interest even before the point where the franchise went on hiatus.
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Star Wars
Dec 15, 2017 20:43:15 GMT -8
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 15, 2017 20:43:15 GMT -8
Saw it a few hours ago, and just as I expected, it was a more accomplished effort than The Force Awakens (which I'd classify as just "pretty good"). There's nothing particularly new or groundbreaking in the themes or design of the film, but it's made with care and a fair degree of artistry. The imagery here was, to me, more striking than in the previous film (though I do miss the desert setting), and Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley bring more nuance to their characters than probably exists on the page, lending some effective shading to very familiar story beats. Hamill is better, and more sardonic, than he's ever been in the role, and BB-8, quite frankly, is a better robot sidekick than R2-D2, mostly because its physical design is more versatile. Most of the film's humour lands, and I was particularly pleased that some of the sight gags (notably one involving coin currency) go unremarked upon. I wish they'd give a bit more dimension to Domhnall Gleeson's character, but they seem content to just let him be an incompetent buffoon that Ren and Snoke can verbally and physically abuse. The producers might want to be cautious regarding how silly they render members of The Order, because I often find myself tracking the line between Star Wars and Spaceballs, and there are times where the film dangerously evokes the latter. All that said, a fine film, and I'd probably rank it second behind TESB (keep in mind I've never been quite as fond of ANH as many others. 4-Stars-out-of-5
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Dec 16, 2017 13:02:26 GMT -8
Saw it a few hours ago, and just as I expected, it was a more accomplished effort than The Force Awakens (which I'd classify as just "pretty good"). There's nothing particularly new or groundbreaking in the themes or design of the film, but it's made with care and a fair degree of artistry. The imagery here was, to me, more striking than in the previous film (though I do miss the desert setting), and Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley bring more nuance to their characters than probably exists on the page, lending some effective shading to very familiar story beats. Hamill is better, and more sardonic, than he's ever been in the role, and BB-8, quite frankly, is a better robot sidekick than R2-D2, mostly because its physical design is more versatile. Most of the film's humour lands, and I was particularly pleased that some of the sight gags (notably one involving coin currency) go unremarked upon. I wish they'd give a bit more dimension to Domhnall Gleeson's character, but they seem content to just let him be an incompetent buffoon that Ren and Snoke can verbally and physically abuse. The producers might want to be cautious regarding how silly they render members of The Order, because I often find myself tracking the line between Star Wars and Spaceballs, and there are times where the film dangerously evokes the latter. All that said, a fine film, and I'd probably rank it second behind TESB (keep in mind I've never been quite as fond of ANH as many others. 4-Stars-out-of-5 So it might make your top ten? Good to hear!
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Star Wars
Dec 16, 2017 13:08:34 GMT -8
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 16, 2017 13:08:34 GMT -8
Oh, right now, it's in. But I've still got a lot of films to see. The Shape of Water, Call Me By Your Name, and The Florida Project in particular. But I did very much like it. The fanboy backlash to it makes me laugh, though.
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Post by guttersnipe on Dec 18, 2017 16:39:42 GMT -8
and BB-8, quite frankly, is a better robot sidekick than R2-D2, mostly because its physical design is more versatile This should give you an idea of how much attention I pay to Star Wars, because I Googled "BB-8" and immediately went, "Oh, that's the thing I've been seeing everywhere lately", hitherto figuring it was actually some gadget for streaming TV (I daresay there's already a gizmo with such a design, and if not, George is missing a trick).
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Star Wars
Dec 18, 2017 19:34:52 GMT -8
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 18, 2017 19:34:52 GMT -8
Snipe, George Lucas isn't involved on the creative end of these new Star Wars movies.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 18, 2017 20:01:41 GMT -8
A fact for which millions are thankful.
I saw the new film last night. Loved it. I'll try to have a full review up on the main site tomorrow.
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Post by guttersnipe on Dec 19, 2017 10:42:39 GMT -8
Snipe, George Lucas isn't involved on the creative end of these new Star Wars movies. Ah, well that detail then should give you an idea of how much attention I pay to Star Wars.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 19, 2017 18:30:18 GMT -8
My review of The Last Jedi is now fully operational. It contains FULL SPOILERS, so avoid reading until you've seen the actual film.
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Star Wars
Dec 19, 2017 19:29:29 GMT -8
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 19, 2017 19:29:29 GMT -8
I agree with just about everrything in that review. The only area where we differ is I don't have much time for the silly fanboy backlash. Regardless, The Empire Strikes Back got a mixed critical and fan response when it premiered, and was only recognized (by many) as the finest Star Wars film years later, so who knows what's going on in folks' heads.
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