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

karaokeman

Just look at the opening crawl to any of the originals, and then see the crawl to The Phantom Menace, the former is infinitely more engaging than the latter.

To be fair to Episode I though it was more respecting of traditional effects than Episodes II and III were. Biggest problem I had was Jar Jar (even the name sounds like a toddlers words) Binks.

faceman

Gbear wrote: »

That was due to the lack of building his character though. If it's flashy martial arts with people we don't care about it's crap.

That's why movies with Jet Li or Jackie Chan aren't just people beating the **** out of each other but a story about a character going through some sort of arc or experiencing some sort of growth with bits of enjoyable action punctuating it.

It seems to be part of the shallowness of Lucas' thinking that these are kids films so they can just be mindless tripe.

It will depend on the script and director.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li have starred in some awful movies.

karaokeman

karaokeman wrote: »

Just look at the opening crawl to any of the originals, and then see the crawl to The Phantom Menace, the former is infinitely more engaging than the latter.

To be fair to Episode I though it was more respecting of traditional effects than Episodes II and III were. Biggest problem I had was Jar Jar (even the name sounds like a toddlers words) Binks.

Jar Jar didnt annoy me as much as the Pod race. They even extended that bit. It bored the crap out of me.

Goldstein

Deleted User wrote: »

Jar Jar didnt annoy me as much as the Pod race. They even extended that bit. It bored the crap out of me.

Half the first movie was about that bloody pod race. What an utter waste of time. The movies should have started towards the end of TPM and gone on for another movie after Darth Vader rises.

Bacchus

Goldstein wrote: »

Half the first movie was about that bloody pod race. What an utter waste of time. The movies should have started towards the end of TPM and gone on for another movie after Darth Vader rises.

Would have been cool if Ep II was actually Ep I with Ep II then playing out mostly as Ep III did, reaching the point where Anakin turns, fights Obi Wan and becomes Vader. At this point too, the Jedi have not been wiped out yet by Order 66 or whatever that was - lets assume a large number of them were able to survive like Yoda did. Then Ep III would be about the fall of the Jedi as the remaining ones are hunted down one at a time by Vader. Obi Wan & Yoda could still be involved at this point too in the Jedi efforts to fight back. It could even sow the seeds of the rebellion here.

... anyway, what could have been...

Tony EH

Yeh, there should really have been a film focusing on Vader and the Empire, ahem, organising the galaxy.

Star Wars Episode 3 and 1/2 'What Darth Did Next'

brianregan09

The only thing i loved about Phantom Menace was Darth Maul and they needlesly killed him off when Episode 2 could have been about Obi Wan searching for revenge while trying to train an impressionable Anakin, seeing Obi Wan so determined to get Maul could have influenced Anakin wrongly and drove him into Padme's Arms .....Oh well

.ak

Bacchus wrote: »

Would have been cool if Ep II was actually Ep I with Ep II then playing out mostly as Ep III did, reaching the point where Anakin turns, fights Obi Wan and becomes Vader. At this point too, the Jedi have not been wiped out yet by Order 66 or whatever that was - lets assume a large number of them were able to survive like Yoda did. Then Ep III would be about the fall of the Jedi as the remaining ones are hunted down one at a time by Vader. Obi Wan & Yoda could still be involved at this point too in the Jedi efforts to fight back. It could even sow the seeds of the rebellion here.

... anyway, what could have been...

As great as that sounds, the entire SW saga was written to follow the faith of the Skywalker family.

Aside from Vader killing people and Luke growing up, there isn't much they can do regarding story progression for a final movie in that timeline.

No, I have no problem with the timelime of EP1-3, it's good, infact it's what we all wanted to see. There's a pretty good underscore under episode 3, it ends in a satisfying way I felt.

The issue wasn't with the timeline, nor even the subject of the movies - it was just the execution, and the list therein is endless; poor cgi, slapstick comedy, failure to flesh out the story, poor casting, poor writing, poor cinematography, over indulgence to the fans (everyone wanted to see a gazillion lightsabres, and they got it) .. I could go on.

brianregan09

brianregan09 wrote: »

The only thing i loved about Phantom Menace was Darth Maul and they needlesly killed him off when Episode 2 could have been about Obi Wan searching for revenge

But that is not the Jedi way.

titan18

Corholio wrote: »

Depends who's doing the choreography though. Will be fascinating to see Uwais in something like this all the same.

I'm hoping they're going to have a big hand in it tbh. Iko and Yayan both were the choreographers in The Raid and The Raid 2, so hopefully they'll have an influence on this.

david75

this part hit me in the heart..i can only imagine what its like to see your baby in the hands of someone else..

Lucas also touched upon his one regret from his time on Star Wars and why he's excited about the next film. He said,
"The only thing I really regret about Star Wars is the fact I never got to see it — I never got to be blown out of my seat when the ship came over the screen. The next one, I'll be able to enjoy it like anybody else."


wow..it had to hurt i guess..i can see it in his words..
http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2015/ ... lm-to.html


George Lucas Talks Selling Lucasfilm to Disney, Original Plans for Episode VII
POSTED BY DOMINIC ON 1/12/2015 0 COMMENTS

By: Dominic Jones

A little more than two years ago George Lucas shocked the world when he announced he was selling Lucasfilm to Disney and that Star Wars Episode VII would be released in 2015. Many assumed that the Disney sale was what got Lucas working on the new films, but apparently there's more to it than that. Lucas spoke with USA Today recently about his upcoming animated film Strange Magic, which will be released later this month, and naturally the topic of Star Wars was brought up. Lucas revealed that he originally intended to make Episode VII himself and then sell his company to someone else to make the rest of the trilogy based on his outlines.

According to USA Today,
Lucas already started to develop the next three Star Wars films, but he knew a third trilogy was a 10-year commitment at least. He at first expected to finish Episode VII, release it in May 2015 and then sell the company afterward.

But Disney expressed interest and came along at the right moment, Lucas says. "It's better for me to get out at the beginning of a new thing and I can just remove myself."

As for why Lucas was willing to sell and didn't want to make another ten year commitment is his young daughter. Lucas and his new wife Melody Hobson's daughter Everest Lucas was born via surrogacy in June 2013 and Lucas wants to be able to spend as much time with his young child as possible. He told USA Today, "The time is more important to me than the money."

Lucas also touched upon his one regret from his time on Star Wars and why he's excited about the next film. He said,
"The only thing I really regret about Star Wars is the fact I never got to see it — I never got to be blown out of my seat when the ship came over the screen. The next one, I'll be able to enjoy it like anybody else."

I don't think any of us can blame Lucas for wanting to have the same experience we've all had as a result of his work and hopefully JJ Abrams and crew can make a film that gives Lucas that experience. Also, I think it's fascinating to get this insight into how Lucas originally intended to make the sequel trilogy. We'll never know what a George Lucas directed Episode VII will look like or how different Lucas' vision for the sequels is from what we see on screen beginning December 18th, 2015 (ok, maybe we'll find out the latter 30 years from now in a "Making Of The Force Awakens" book).

Source: USA Today

Kidchameleon

I reckon he'll be disgusted, seeing his baby milked for every penny its worth. For starters, that droid we see in the trailer (the ball droid) is a Disney creation, so it wasn't part of his plans. It was included at the insistence of Disney presumably to sell more merchandise. Although ironically its probably my favorite thing in the trailer.

pixelburp

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I reckon he'll be disgusted, seeing his baby milked for every penny its worth. For starters, that droid we see in the trailer (the ball droid) is a Disney creation, so it wasn't part of his plans. It was included at the insistence of Disney presumably to sell more merchandise. Although ironically its probably my favorite thing in the trailer.

Whereas JarJar Binks was a legitimate creative decision? Not sure we're talking about the same person here, Lucas marketed the sh*t out of Star Wars in his day, the Phantom Menace alone featured an incredible amoun of marketing and merchandise; he has already milked his baby as much as he could. Disney at least know how to market something and make it enjoyable at the same time...

Mr Freeze

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I reckon he'll be disgusted, seeing his baby milked for every penny its worth.

First thing that I thought of here was Ewoks.

Bacchus

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I reckon he'll be disgusted, seeing his baby milked for every penny its worth. For starters, that droid we see in the trailer (the ball droid) is a Disney creation, so it wasn't part of his plans. It was included at the insistence of Disney presumably to sell more merchandise. Although ironically its probably my favorite thing in the trailer.

Yup, he'll have to sit on the sidelines while they turn his billion dollar toy advert into an even bigger billion dollar toy advert.

At least these ones look like they might have some of the heart and soul that made the originals so wonderful. Thank Yoda he never got to make VII, it be just 2 hours of lightsabers whizzing around the place in a frenzy, intercut with a space battle over some currency exchange rate issue in the chamber of commerce of the new republic that is upsetting a race of rabbit like creatures with big eyes and bigger rabbit-droids with blasters, batteries not included!

Kidchameleon

People were worried that Han Solo was going to be recast in a spin off movie. People are delusional if they think things like that wont happen. Disney bought Lucasfilm to make money, lots of money. The will milk the beast dry for sure. I fear that in 30 years time we may look back and realize the prequels were the last installments before Star Wars was ruined. I hope I'm wrong. Certainly the buzz / special feeling of a new Star Wars film will be gone, there will be new films every year now. Probably crossover films :eek:

Liamario

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I reckon he'll be disgusted, seeing his baby milked for every penny its worth. For starters, that droid we see in the trailer (the ball droid) is a Disney creation, so it wasn't part of his plans. It was included at the insistence of Disney presumably to sell more merchandise. Although ironically its probably my favorite thing in the trailer.

Actually, it isn't a disney creation. It's a Ralph McQuarrie creation. It was his original concept for R2D2.

But you keep hating and telling yourself the movie is going to suck.

david75

Thinking about it, the lightsaber duels in the prequels all looked really really choreographed. It looked more like dancing than a fight. If they are going to bring in martial arts experts (im yawning already at the thought) they better make it at least try to look real

pixelburp

Kidchameleon wrote: »

People were worried that Han Solo was going to be recast in a spin off movie. People are delusional if they think things like that wont happen. Disney bought Lucasfilm to make money, lots of money. The will milk the beast dry for sure. I fear that in 30 years time we may look back and realize the prequels were the last installments before Star Wars was ruined. I hope I'm wrong. Certainly the buzz / special feeling of a new Star Wars film will be gone, there will be new films every year now. Probably crossover films :eek:

Uhm, what? You have watched the prequels, right? Because Lucas did a sterling job in destroying the mythology all by himself. Star Wars was 'ruined' the moment Phantom Menace came out. Heck some would argue they were ruined the moment the Ewoks waddled on-screen.

Again, Star Wars has been milked dry already, dunno why you think Disney are somehow going off on a new tangent, sullying an unblemished franchise. Lucas may not have wanted to touch the storylines of the original trilogy but by god he made sure to make as much money as possible from the franchise. You only look outside of cinema to see how much Star Wars garbage was churned out.

Disney like money, but they also know how to make good movies; they didn't get where they are today without understanding that people don't buy merchandise for terrible films. And the moment the Star Wars films stop making money, Disney will stop making them in the first place, so ultimately the power is in our hands.

Kidchameleon

Liamario wrote: »

Actually, it isn't a disney creation. It's a Ralph McQuarrie creation. It was his original concept for R2D2.

But you keep hating and telling yourself the movie is going to suck.

Fair enough. But it was included at Disneys insistence. Their interference is probably the main reason Abrams is jumping ship after episode 7.

johnny_ultimate

Star Wars is the archetypal case of a series that has been aggressively commercialised since very soon after its inception. There's no integrity left to lose, since the series basically kickstarted the era of hyper-commercial, spectacle driven movie franchises, and pretty much ruined Hollywood forever in the process.

Still looking forward to Episode VII though :pac:

faceman

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Fair enough. But it was included at Disneys insistence. Their interference is probably the main reason Abrams is jumping ship after episode 7.

If the film is a success Abrams won't jump ship

Kidchameleon

faceman wrote: »

If the film is a success Abrams won't jump ship

He already has. New director is signed up for episode 8.

Roar

It was always the case that Abrams would only do Episode VII. To say that he's leaving because of "studio interference" is incorrect.

Kidchameleon

Well apparently he had serious bust ups with Disney over creative differences (I cant find a link that doesn't contain spoilers)

Anyhow he's certainly not doing episode 8 its confirmed as Rian Johnson.

Liamario

Kidchameleon wrote: »

He already has. New director is signed up for episode 8.

He never jumped ship, because he never signed up for anything other than number 7 and he no doubt never had any inclinations to do another one in the first place. Let's not also forget that he's heavily involved in the creative process of this new movie, which will have a significant influence on the direction of the rest of the trilogy and maybe even the spin-offs.

happysunnydays

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I fear that in 30 years time we may look back and realize the prequels were the last installments before Star Wars was ruined.

Really?...with the grey hair wrinkles kids mortgages and all, that's what you think will be bothering us all in 30 years from now?

david75

My pals sister was working on the filming in England. She said
Abrams was at war with Disney a lot of the time but it isn't why he's not directing the next two.

pixelburp

david75 wrote: »

My pals sister was working on the filming in England. She said
Abrams was at war with Disney a lot of the time but it isn't why he's not directing the next two.

Ah now here, if we're going into the territory of 'my friend's sister' for evidence of director / studio ructions, there's no hope for this thread!

Who knows why Abrams is doing one movie; sounds like some people want it to be a sign from above that Disney is diddling their favourite movie, but the more boring, likely answer is that Abrams wants to do one Star Wars film while he can, then move to other projects.

Two Star Trek and a single Star Wars film, all things being equal the guy just probably wants a break from multi-picture deals with mega studios; and who can blame him? Nor does Rian Johnson read like the kind of patsy Disney might want had they some feverish desire to control every facet of Episodes VII through IX.

happysunnydays

david75 wrote: »

My pals sister was working on the filming in England. She said
Abrams was at war with Disney a lot of the time but it isn't why he's not directing the next two.

Well, my brother's friend's brother was working on some early production design in England and said everything was smooth, fantastic project to work on!