Star Wars: The Force Awakens [** SPOILERS FROM POST 4472 ONWARD **]

Sad Professor

Qui-gon actually was Obi-wan in earlier drafts until Lucas watched Rob Roy or something and became obsessed with having Neeson in the film. I think he cast Obi-wan too young and regretted it.

Gbear

If anyone hasn't seen them Belated Media's "What if Star Wars Prequels Were Good" series is quite good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgICnbC2-_Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAbug3AhYmw

He hasn't done episode 3 yet.

Kirby

He falls into the same trap as Lucas. Too much fake political intrigue. Not enough swashbuckling.

krudler

Kirby wrote: »

He falls into the same trap as Lucas. Too much fake political intrigue. Not enough swashbuckling.

Episode IV: Civil war, rebellion, young farmboy becomes hero.

Episode V: Rebels running for their live, hero faces down villain, learns devastating truth, ends on dark note.

Episode VI: Epic space battle, final confrontation between father and son, redemption, some teddy bears.

Episode 1: Trade route embargo and tax arguments, diplomats sent to...to... *flips script* this...this is a Star Wars movie right?

rockbeast

krudler wrote: »

The Jedi weren't "guardians of the galaxy" they were a bunch of clueless bureaucrats who couldn't figure out someone who spent a load of time around them was a Sith lord and spend most of the trilogy sitting on chairs squabbling or sensing things are wrong and frowning a lot and stepping in to resolve trade disputes and taxes (!) They're basically SIPTU with lightsabers.

Brilliant:D

Gbear

Kirby wrote: »

He falls into the same trap as Lucas. Too much fake political intrigue. Not enough swashbuckling.

Given that the Jedi were important political figures in the Republic that couldn't be helped to a large extent.

There was no politics in the originals because there wasn't actually any politics going on. There was a totalitarian government in charge. There was a rebellion. Very straightforward.

The giant, galaxy-spanning senate that governed through consensus and the machinations behind the scenes could've been toned down but I don't think they could've been ignored completely without the whole thing becoming a confusing mess.

krudler

Gbear wrote: »

Given that the Jedi were important political figures in the Republic that couldn't be helped to a large extent.

There was no politics in the originals because there wasn't actually any politics going on. There was a totalitarian government in charge. There was a rebellion. Very straightforward.

The giant, galaxy-spanning senate that governed through consensus and the machinations behind the scenes could've been toned down but I don't think they could've been ignored completely without the whole thing becoming a confusing mess.

That's fair enough, in the grand scheme of the whole galaxy being governed then yeah it makes sense to have peacekeepers like the Jedi. I just wish we got more of them doing...well anything really, do you even see a single Jedi bar Qui Gon and Obi Wan even stand up before the climax of AOTC? And they all get wiped out by Stormtroopers ffs, who can't hit a barn door and get their asses kicked by a bunch of ADD riddled teddybears in ROTJ.

The prequels have a great, well mostly, cast, who all look utterly bored for most of it, Liam Neeson, Terence Stamp et all. It's no wonder Neeson nearly quit acting if standing on a blue stage arguing with a tennis ball is where movie making was headed.

maquiladora

Looks like there will be an open casting call for the leads coming to Dublin later this month.



http://www.slashfilm.com/rumored-star-wars-episode-vii-casting-sheet-suggests-main-characters-not-skywalkers-or-solos/

david75

Never have I wished I could be in a film more.
Too bad I'm too old:)

Mr Freeze

david75 wrote: »

Never have I wished I could be in a film more.
Too bad I'm too old:)

3 outta 4 aint bad, at least you are Handsome, Smart and Athletic.

I have no idea what direction they are going with these films now.

david75

When I heard Ronan had auditioned I sort of thought they're gonna make this about kids being trained as Jedi/new Jedi academy Luke comes outta hiding sort of thing.
And the established characters Han etc would just be on the fringe.
Seems it could be something like that.

Tony EH

Star Wars...with Dublin accents?

"Yewiz yizzers bleedin force...yeh feckin ejit"

david75

There's some heads walking around Dublin far stranger than any alien that ever appeared in Star Wars:)

Tony EH

Ain't that the truth. We used to call Isolde's Tower, Mos Eisley.

david75

Greedo was a dub. Name like that he'd have to be

Zubeneschamali

Jabba the Hutt was first played by Declan Mulholland, an Irish actor.

His scene was cut from Star Wars, and put back into the Special Edition with a CGI slug painted over him.

humanji

I heard a rumour from a mate in LA that Jack Reynor had been auditioned and possibly cast for a role (possibly as Luke's son, Anakin). In fairness, thousands will have auditioned by the time they start filming, but he's got a bit of a profile in Hollywood now, especially being in the new Transformers, so there might be some truth to it. And it'd be pretty cool to have more young Irish actors coming to attention in major movies.

thegreengoblin

humanji wrote: »

I heard a rumour from a mate in LA that Jack Reynor had been auditioned and possibly cast for a role (possibly as Luke's son, Anakin). In fairness, thousands will have auditioned by the time they start filming, but he's got a bit of a profile in Hollywood now, especially being in the new Transformers, so there might be some truth to it. And it'd be pretty cool to have more young Irish actors coming to attention in major movies.

Luke's son is called Ben in the Expanded Universe, is this who you mean?

Gbear

thegreengoblin wrote: »

Luke's son is called Ben in the Expanded Universe, is this who you mean?

Presumably loads of those books from the extended universe are considered non-canon?

Most of what I've read about them would suggest that that's a good thing.

thegreengoblin

Gbear wrote: »

Presumably loads of those books from the extended universe are considered non-canon?

Most of what I've read about them would suggest that that's a good thing.

You've opened a can of worms there! There was a debate about canon v non-cannon on another thread before. Some think only the six movies are canon (this is G level for George Lucas!) but there are apparently different levels of canon, etc :rolleyes:

For me, I've bought tons of the Expanded Universe books and most of the Dark Horse comics. I consider them to be 'official' in that if you asked me to tell you the story of Luke Skywalker I would also include what happened to him after ROTJ. But some of the stories can certainly be taken with a pinch of salt.

As far as quality, they can be hit and miss but generally I consider the novels and comics to have been a great addition to the Star Wars universe. If I could recommend anything to you it would be the Thrawn trilogy of books by Timothy Zahn from the early 90s, and also the Han Solo 'prequel' books by AC Crispin which were released in 97/98.

krudler

thegreengoblin wrote: »

As far as quality, they can be hit and miss but generally I consider the novels and comics to have been a great addition to the Star Wars universe. If I could recommend anything to you it would be the Thrawn trilogy of books by Timothy Zahn from the early 90s, and also the Han Solo 'prequel' books by AC Crispin which were released in 97/98.

Books like Tales From Jabba's palace are worth a read too, some good stuff in that.

SweepTheLeg

So can anyone turn up to the open casting? I might go for a laugh. If they say no, I'm gonna assume its because of my acting skills and not that I'm "Not handsome" like required.

humanji

Luke's son is called Ben in the Expanded Universe, is this who you mean?

Could be. I don't even know how reliable to info is, so even if Reynolds is it it, he could be Jarjar Binks' grandson for all we know.

david75

I'm way outside the age range but still wouldn't mind going. You never bloody know!!

thegreengoblin

krudler wrote: »

Books like Tales From Jabba's palace are worth a read too, some good stuff in that.

I'm very fond of those books, particularly Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina. They showed there was a much bigger universe out there and did a great job of expanding on background characters. It would be great to see a couple of them pop up in the new films actually!

jaykhunter

Reading through the conversation of how badly the prequel CGI stands up - whilst I agree, they all have this artificial sheen to them, they still look pretty nice. And remember you're probably viewing it now on BluRay on a huge TV. Not the same TV you had in 2002 or 2005 on DVD. The CGI was much better than the average other film going at the time.

Radiosonde

jaykhunter wrote: »

Reading through the conversation of how badly the prequel CGI stands up - whilst I agree, they all have this artificial sheen to them, they still look pretty nice. And remember you're probably viewing it now on BluRay on a huge TV. Not the same TV you had in 2002 or 2005 on DVD. The CGI was much better than the average other film going at the time.

I thought it looked crap even then. CGI has come on leaps and bounds, but big blockbusters like Titanic were still using miniature models and such -supplemented by CGI - when Episode 1 was in gestation.

Lucas visited the massive set built for Scorese's Gangs of New York, and boasted he could do it all on computer, to which Scorsese replied "And it would look like it was done on computer." George the massive dullard insisted on going all out blue screen before the technology was up to scratch.

Zubeneschamali

jaykhunter wrote: »

The CGI was much better than the average other film going at the time.

The problem is not that it's worse quality than other movies, the problem is that it is badly used.

Lucas just went nuts stuffing CGI in everywhere, so the whole thing looks fake. The Special Edition of Episode IV is spoiled by the same thing, Lucas jumping into perfectly good old shots of sets with actors and costumes and filling them with fakey CGI details.

Radiosonde

Giruilla wrote: »

Seriously, how could they not have included any scenes with Vader.. being Vader? As in that would be the big pay off. Instead we effectively got 8/9 hours of build up for a scene where Vader cries and shouts his girlfriends name! Really don't get how anyone defends the third film too.. that was the worst in my view.

Because they chose Anakin as basically the main character for episodes 2 and 3, which ruled out him completely becoming the villain before the very end of the last one. Some would quibble that they were both the leads, but the overall story is about Anakin's fall, he's the character who really changes over the course of the films. The Obi-Wan character's growth from I to III comes mostly in the form of a beard.

Really, Obi-Wan should have been the main focus of the prequel trilogy, which would have allowed a more fun adventure with the two meeting up in the first movie, their relationship to sour in the second and end with the showdown where Obi-Wan defeats Anakin, and a concluding to the trilogy with an Empire style ending where Vader triumphs and Obi-Wan goes into hiding, setting up Episode IV.

Radiosonde

Why is anyone positive about Kasdan coming on board as writer? It's been 20 odd years since he made a critically well-received film, and his most recent projects were panned. I don't really know Michael Arndt's scripts, but a long past his best Kasdan and JJ Abrams collaborating on the script sounds like a recipe for complete s****.