.As part of the testing process I thought I’d kick off the traditional Star Wars thread.
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series with Ewan McGregor has been confirmed for Disney+ to begin shooting next year.
There’s also been new footage previewed from Rise Of Skywalker, although it’s not online
https://io9.gizmodo.com/new-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-footage-featured-r-1837449069
Sounds like it could be interesting.
That’d be nice and all, except the sequel trilogy was sold to people as a sequel trilogy, precisely, so no, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to not judge them on their own merits, because they were never supposed to be considered as “stand alone”.
I mean, if you look at the debate for Rogue One, then yeah, people actually look at it on its own merits, mostly, because that one IS a stand alone movie.
Oh also, if you guys don’t like “mary sue” characters, probably skip Mulan then… she’s basically girl-anakin in the new movie… xD
Whether they fit together or not is literally the least important thing about these stories.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but I think it’s very subjective. If you’re invested in an episodic series then part of the job of each episode is to fit into the overall series.
If you’re a lifelong buyer of Amazing Spider-Man and the next issue they stick in a reprint of Maus instead, it might be a much better comic in its own right, but Spidey fans would still be justified in feeling they hadn’t got what they paid for.
njerry wrote:
I believe calling a character a Mary Sue is less a comment on the character and more a comment on the laziness of the writer or creator of said character.
That’s literally misusing the term to the point of incomprehensibility.
Don’t be such a Lorcan Sue.
One thing I’m not sure anyone at Disney really picked up on is just what audience they were saying “everything is canon now” to back in 2014. If ever a statement would come back to haunt them, that is the one that has done them in.
The answer to the question of why LFL is reluctant to give out numbers of any kind is that it is now well known as to what will be done with those numbers. For example, some time ago, a book gave a figure for the clonetroopers of 1.3m. The unholy fracas that resulted rivaled the punch-ups over the size of a Super Star Destroyer, yes, really.
So I can see what Lorcan’s getting at too, in that, continuity gets a bit too obsessed over – especially with transfer of characters from the old to the new and the idea that it now counts “more” because it is the “new” and not the “old”. Can I see the point that it was forced having Dr Evazan and Ponda Baba turn up in R1? Yeah, that one was pretty contrast. On the other hand, I only found out from a Mando extra that the droid now running the Mos Eisley cantina is ex head honcho of Jabba’s Palace droid torture chamber! They didn’t hide it, I just didn’t spot it. You can do continuity nods both covert and overt, with the latter tending to hog the attention.
Is there a solution? I think there is: This will never be achieved 100% but, as far as possible, manage the marketing so as to manage the expectations it whips up – you want them high but not too high, not so high that whatever is supplied cannot ever be equal to them.
The other thing I’d probably do is just say: Yes, there is a hierarchy, film/TV = top, everything else = less, it wouldn’t be saying anything that isn’t known, just making it official. Would it hit sales? To a small degree perhaps but you’re talking a fraction of a small fraction, the bulk would likely still go with it.
and a dash of how upset people are about the EU going away
Brexit means Brexit, Lorcan.
In SW I think continuity is not such a big deal
Wait, you were serious? The above GIF still applies.
In SW I think continuity is not such a big deal
Wait, you were serious? The above GIF still applies.
Well for some people it is.
It’s very little discussion about the movies on their own merits.
On their own merits, removed from their cultural cachet of the OT, all Star Wars movies made after 1983 are basically incomprehensible sci-fi gibberish like Jupiter Ascending or Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
Find someone who’s never heard of Star Wars and show them The Last Jedi. I can almost guarantee you that they won’t be able to make heads of tails out of it. That’s one reason these things bomb in China, no matter how much Disney wants to make them happen over there.
Funny you should mention zombie stories in SW….
Wait, is there a novel in the EU that has zombies in? I had no idea
That’s what appeared to happen to Anakin about half way through the prequel trilogy.
Did you mean to type “Lucas” there?
On the other hand, I personally always wanted to be Luke and can’t really understand anyone wanting to be Han.
I always identified 100% with Luke but I wonder if that’s also part of who you are when you watch it. I was a boy under the age of 12 watching the films initially.
The handsome charismatic guy with all the best quips was rather lost on that audience. Maybe if I wasn’t a straight male or if I were a teen or older desperately wanting to be cool my allegiances could change.
True, they wouldn’t be boosted by the name but neither would they get the same level of scrutiny.
Honestly, the only big franchise scif-fi flick that’s been a properly good movie on its own merits is the first JJ Star Trek.
I think Guardians of the Galaxy probably counts.
Whether you like the term or not, it’s a legitimate criticism of a lot of Star Trek characters that they are able to do whatever the script requires them to do whether it makes sense or not. Anakin at age six or whatever is not only a master speedpot racer but can also build his own robots and spontaneously hijack spaceships to eradicate enemy troops or whatever.
The problem with this is that it makes the characters unrelatable; they don’t have as much of a journey if they start out being able to do anything you can imagine. The thing about Luke is that at the start of the movie, he isn’t special at all, and he doesn’t do anything particularly impressive until somewhere in the middle of the movie. He’s got an innate talent as a pilot, but that’s pretty much it. The only time he uses the Force in the first movie is right at the end, when it makes a decisive difference that he is able to connect to it, but it’s not a great feat really.
The only time he uses the Force in the first movie is right at the end, when it makes a decisive difference that he is able to connect to it,
The only time he uses the Force in the first movie is right at the end, when it makes a decisive difference that he is able to connect to it,
I call it luck.
speedpot racer
Racing while high on marijuana joints laced with crystal meth?
Man, that would have made that movie so much better.
The only time he uses the Force in the first movie is right at the end, when it makes a decisive difference that he is able to connect to it,
I call it luck.
Well, I mean, to be fair to Anakin, yes he starts as an OP child… or a prodigy child… and I think that’s fair enough IF that’s the point of your story and character… and beyond that he’s got an entire trilogy of character development, even if that development isn’t super well executed.
Luke is another prodigy, and that’s also fine if a bit repetitive… his character arc is a bit better handled though.
Rey is YET another prodigy, which again, in theory is also fine (though at this point it’s like a broken record but)… I’m not necessarily against it, and I don’t necessarily agree when people call her a Mary Sue (even if she does exhibit quite a lot of natural prowess, some of which don’t make sense). The problem with Rey is that she was very poorly developped. She remains mostly the same throughout the trilogy, as in a confused young woman with a lot of power, and it’s only at the very end that she’s no longer confused. And that’s not the most riveting arc, as far as those kinds of things go. Same is true for most sequel characters though.
At least in the OT you can see a very clearly different Luke in the verious movies, by the third he’s a lot more adult and composed. Same is kinda true with Anakin, except teenage/adult Anakin was miscast so he didn’t act it super well, but in paper it’s there at least. But we know there was really nothing “in paper” about the ST… so that’s really the issue more than anything else… 
Well, I mean, to be fair to Anakin, yes he starts as an OP child… or a prodigy child… and I think that’s fair enough IF that’s the point of your story and character… and beyond that he’s got an entire trilogy of character development, even if that development isn’t super well executed.
Anakin is this boy genius in Ep1 but after he starts hanging with the Jedis In Eps 2 & 3, it’s like his IQ drops through the floor. As Darth Vader, he seemed capable and smart enough but never the levels he had in Ep1.
Rey suffers from the lack of planning for her character, I think. By both teasing a big mystery of who she is but not actually having decided who she was, they painted themselves into a bit of a corner and ended up with various answers that were all divisive for audiences. (I saw Ridley mention in a recent interview that they were kicking around the idea of her being Obi-Wan’s child at one point too.)
Yes, the Luke/Vader revelation wasn’t in place at the time of the original Star Wars either, but even in the first movie Luke still had a clear established story – son of a great lost Jedi, stepping up to take up that legacy – that gave his story much more shape than Rey’s. The Vader revelation was just a twist in that.
Too much mystery and not enough clarity over who a character is can cause the kind of problems Rey had had, I think. As an audience it’s hard to get hold of a character when you’re constantly being teased that you don’t know who they are.
A bit of trivia I’ve just read: if you count all the shots fired over the Star Wars movies, Chewbacca has the best hit/miss ratio and is therefore the best shot in the universe.
No idea if that’s actually true. Is this a known fact in Star Wars fandom?
Star Wars fandom
Fascinating to consider that some Star Wars fan would sit through all the films for the specific purpose of counting shots fired by all the characters. I wish I had that much free time…
All my time is free time but I wouldn’t do that.
If I had that much free time, I still wouldn’t count all the shots fired in Star Wars 
Fascinating to consider that some Star Wars fan would sit through all the films for the specific purpose of counting shots fired by all the characters. I wish I had that much free time…
All my time is free time but I wouldn’t do that.
I’m really looking forward to the next season of Mando, it’s going to be a great time watching it with my kid. But can anyone please explain to me how the Mandalorians don’t know about the Jedi when just a few years ago they were policing the whole galaxy?
Chewbacca has the best hit/miss ratio and is therefore the best shot in the universe.
I like to imagine Chewbacca has the intelligence of a dog and everybody just pretends he is being useful and that his barks have meaning.
I’m really looking forward to the next season of Mando, it’s going to be a great time watching it with my kid. But can anyone please explain to me how the Mandalorians don’t know about the Jedi when just a few years ago they were policing the whole galaxy?
“Space is big. Really big.”
Somewhere George Lucas is saying:
“It’s a tragedy you muppets.”
And another thing…
What exactly is holding this thing up even when it is turned off?
What exactly is holding this thing up even when it is turned off?
Plot.
And another thing…
What exactly is holding this thing up even when it is turned off?
You’re right, it runs completely contrary to everything we know about the Star Wars universe for there to be some kind of unseen non-technology-based ‘force’ that can make objects float in the air.
That tractor bike sure sticks out like a sore thumb in the Star Wars universe which is otherwise so very keen to tell you the exact science behind its adult and thorough sci-fi.
What exactly is holding this thing up even when it is turned off?
How do you know it’s turned off in that shot?
That tractor bike sure sticks out like a sore thumb in the Star Wars universe which is otherwise so very keen to tell you the exact science behind its adult and thorough sci-fi.
It’s the benchmark for Hard Sci-Fi.
Hard Sci-Fi.
Robo-pants off, hydraulic dick out.
Hard Sci-Fi.
Robo-pants off, hydraulic dick out.
It’s the Future Of Law Enforcement!
Hard Sci-Fi.
Robo-pants off, hydraulic dick out.
It’s the Future Of Law Enforcement!
Han Solo never did pay back Jabba. What a welcher!
Even he gets boarded sometimes. Do you think he had a choice?
Besides, Han got his girlfriend to kill Jabba to the debt is gone!
Actually there is no gravity on Tatooine, so objects float in the air naturally. All the inhabitants have to wear special gravity-shoes so they stick to the floor. There’s a whole Extended Universe novel about it.
Actually there is no gravity on Tatooine, so objects float in the air naturally. All the inhabitants have to wear special gravity-shoes so they stick to the floor. There’s a whole Extended Universe novel about it.
And that’s why Anakin hates sand.
Actually there is no gravity on Tatooine, so objects float in the air naturally. All the inhabitants have to wear special gravity-shoes so they stick to the floor. There’s a whole Extended Universe novel about it.
So how did the toilets work?
Actually there is no gravity on Tatooine, so objects float in the air naturally. All the inhabitants have to wear special gravity-shoes so they stick to the floor. There’s a whole Extended Universe novel about it.
So how did the toilets work?
Actually there is no gravity on Tatooine, so objects float in the air naturally. All the inhabitants have to wear special gravity-shoes so they stick to the floor. There’s a whole Extended Universe novel about it.
So how did the toilets work?
I wonder about that too. And how fluid and solid waste is processed through the body in a zero g environment. Like if you have a drink, doesn’t the fluid stay stuck in your mouth or throat? Why would it trickle down to your stomach in zero g.
You can literally read about how it works, but quick hint: we don’t rely on gravity to pass food through the digestive system.
We do however rely on gravity to poop. Without gravity, the shuttleservice won’t properly decouple from Uranus.
Source: Some astronaut on reddit.
My theory is that Star Wars is a fantasy story and the tech literally doesn’t matter.
LOL!!!!!
I don’t see why this is funny. Star Wars is exactly what Lorcan says. It’s kids movies that don’t need to make sense. They just need to sell toys.
Alec Guinness famously said it was a shallow and hollow film without any substance.
And Mark Hamill made a good point in some late night interview, saying that the engagement from the die hard fanbase is benefited by Not making sense or try to.
Famous example: Midochlorians. The second they try to explain the force, the magic of it was gone or at least grossly diminished.
Famous example: Midochlorians. The second they try to explain the force, the magic of it was gone or at least grossly diminished.
I mean, they explained magic with magic… so… was that really an explanation?
Actually there is no gravity on Tatooine, so objects float in the air naturally. All the inhabitants have to wear special gravity-shoes so they stick to the floor. There’s a whole Extended Universe novel about it.
So how did the toilets work?
Badly, very badly.
So how did the toilets work?
Badly, very badly.
That explains Obiwan’s comment about “wretched hive of scum and villainy”
Famous example: Midochlorians. The second they try to explain the force, the magic of it was gone or at least grossly diminished.
I mean, they explained magic with magic… so… was that really an explanation?
No, they tried to give a scientific rationale for it.
Apparently any sufficiently dull magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Famous example: Midochlorians. The second they try to explain the force, the magic of it was gone or at least grossly diminished.
I mean, they explained magic with magic… so… was that really an explanation?
No, they tried to give a scientific rationale for it.
Apparently any sufficiently dull magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Apparently any sufficiently dull magic is indistinguishable from technobabble.
Fixed that for you.
Ah, fan theories:
Pretty sure this is literally a plot point in the X-Wing novels. Someone from Rogue Squadron finds a museum on Coruscant full of pro-Empire propaganda that tells a very skewed version of ANH
