Episode VIII has just been pushed back 7 months to Dec. 15, 2017

[livecraig]

I look forward to the day when PTers are fighting STers....

...while I sit back with the knowledge that the Library of Congress selected the original Star Wars film for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.".

I could be wrong but I thoughtboth Star wars and Empire were all ready there.

 

[DARTH-THRASHER]

Now that's a tall order on a very small sinking boat.

Only the die-hard fans that grew up on the PT still defend it. The overwhelming general consensus around the world does not bode well for the PT - particularly after the initial hype passed and people stepped back and saw what a train wreck they were.

TFA, by Abrams own admission, is the same structure as ANH. Why? Because as he said, it works, why wouldn't we? They didn't copy any of the PT structure. A test of a good film, is time, and time hasn't been good to the PT; in structure, execution, anything. There are some great elements, but overall, they're as wooden and lifeless as a plank of wood.

We'll see how the sequels fair after episode 8 and 9 are released. It's possible they will suffer the same fate.

 

[IrishJedi]

It was a ridiculous weapon -- at least the science behind it was.

I kind of wish they'd stuck with the original idea, which was that it used technology and science they admittedly barely understood to suck up Dark Matter and Dark Energy and used that as the weapon. It also didn't shoot out like lasers... it just dispersed throughout the entire galaxy but they could target specific planets or entire systems for it to wipe out on the way through. Interesting. Still far-fetched, but I think more in line with dark fantasy. I also liked the allegory that they were literally using the darkside as a physical weapon to destroy things. Alas, it was deamed too psuedo-sciency and harder for the audience to grasp and understand than a large Death Star planet. It's still in the novel, though.

 

[FlyAndFight]

I kind of wish they'd stuck with the original idea, which was that it used technology and science they admittedly barely understood to suck up Dark Matter and Dark Energy and used that as the weapon. It also didn't shoot out like lasers... it just dispersed throughout the entire galaxy but they could target specific planets or entire systems for it to wipe out on the way through. Interesting. Still far-fetched, but I think more in line with dark fantasy. I also liked the allegory that they were literally using the darkside as a physical weapon to destroy things. Alas, it was deamed too psuedo-sciency and harder for the audience to grasp and understand than a large Death Star planet. It's still in the novel, though.

I think that would have been a much better "super weapon", no doubt.

Or they simply could have had a huge and powerful fleet just wiping out planet surfaces without having to blow up entire planets.

I would have preferred either option before the rehashed super-dee-duper death star v.3.

 

[FullMetalHippie]

I blame 3PO.

I'm pretty sure you're being facetious but I honestly feel like 3P0 was one of the weakest parts of the film. It's like they made him even hammier than usual. I don't know what it is exactly but he felt off to me. Granted I've only seen it twice so far but he even stuck out to me on my second viewing. With that said, I loved everything else about the film. The magic I saw as a 4 year old, at the drive-in back in '77, was back up on the screen in '16.

 

[TonTon]

I think that would have been a much better "super weapon", no doubt.

Or they simply could have had a huge and powerful fleet just wiping out planet surfaces without having to blow up entire planets.

I would have preferred either option before the rehashed super-dee-duper death star v.3.

Yeah, that was my preference as well. Not sure how they would handle everything that occurred on Starkiller base though.

If you look at the Art Book you see that they were purposely copying elements from ANH throughout, it wasn't an accident or just something that certain people are seeing.

Have to admit the scene with the red beams of light passing across Ren's ship was kind of awesome, but I could have sacrificed that for no V3 Death Star as that's the most blatantly similar plot element visually. Also destroying Starkiller base was one thing, but they took another step and blew up the whole thing, could have just destroyed the weapon and fled since they had almost no ships left.

 

[IrishJedi]

I think that would have been a much better "super weapon", no doubt.

Or they simply could have had a huge and powerful fleet just wiping out planet surfaces without having to blow up entire planets.

I would have preferred either option before the rehashed super-dee-duper death star v.3.

Well, the main reason behind the single base/super weapon is because they (Lucasfilm Story Group & Rian Johnson) wanted The First Order pretty much decimated at the end of the film. As it stands, they were already much smaller than the Empire, with almost the entire fleet and army stationed at Starkiller Base. But The Resistance is tiny.... way smaller than the Rebel Alliance. The group you see at the end of TFA cheering Rey & Chewie goodbye makes up the entirety of The Resistance. So to make things even more scaled down and intimate for EP8 & EP9 The First Order needed to lose most of their ranks. They were able to accomplish while at the same time retaining the 4 major villains (Kylo Ren, Snoke, Hux, and Phasma). EP8 will tone down the galactic-scale war thing and focus even more on the characters, which is a good thing, IMHO.

 

[TonTon]

Well, the main reason behind the single base/super weapon is because they (Lucasfilm Story Group & Rian Johnson) wanted The First Order pretty much decimated at the end of the film. As it stands, they were already much smaller than the Empire, with almost the entire fleet and army stationed at Starkiller Base. But The Resistance is tiny.... way smaller than the Rebel Alliance. The group you see at the end of TFA cheering Rey & Chewie goodbye makes up the entirety of The Resistance. So to make things even more scaled down and intimate for EP8 & EP9 The First Order needed to lose most of their ranks. They were able to accomplish while at the same time retaining the 4 major villains (Kylo Ren, Snoke, Hux, and Phasma). EP8 will tone down the galactic-scale war thing and focus even more on the characters, which is a good thing, IMHO.

Ah, that makes more sense. As it was, I figured they still had some of their fleets, so it felt like it was going to be like Empire in that while they had no home "base" they were still able to mount attacks from their fleets.

 

[FlyAndFight]

I understood that the First Order was significantly smaller than the Empire but I did not know that the Resistance was way smaller than the Rebel Alliance. I figured after RotJ, the Alliance would have grown more powerful and more star systems would be shedding their Imperial shackles and joining the Alliance. You get a feeling of that happening at the end of the "special edition" RotJ, with the people celebrating on different planets. (and the whole "battle of Jakku" thing.)

I figured that while still weaker in strength, the Resistance was closer to the FO than the Alliance was to the Empire.

 

[IrishJedi]

No, they're tiny. At least in TFA... perhaps after those events they'll grow immensely. Obviously, the destruction of the Hosnian System (and the New Republic) surely got the rest of the galaxy's attention. But, they were small. That was their entire fleet of X-Wings in the movie. That's why 3P0 says "without the Republic fleet we're doomed" after Starkiller destroyed them... because that's all they had. And over half the fleet was destroyed during the attack on Starkiller.

These X-Wings ARE supposed to be way more advanced and also more powerful and more maneuverable than the TIEs, though.

 

[FlyAndFight]

If that's the case, then I've got a feeling that with the Empire gone, the First Order diminished and the Resistance being almost irrelevant, we're going to see more "Pirates" and/or "Bounty Hunters" in the coming episodes. A little anarchy in the galaxy will provide plenty of interesting and seedy characters into the mix. (unlike the ones we saw hunting down Han in TFA...)

 

[IrishJedi]

Yeah, could be. I also imagine we'll see the dichotomy of Snoke "completing" Kylo Ren's training while Luke starts training Rey, putting them all on a collision course.. Or at least many of us will be disappointed if that's not one of the key elements in Episode 8.

 

[Cybermaker]

Dont like

 

[cmiller99]

I could be wrong but I thoughtboth Star wars and Empire were all ready there.

Both Star Wars and Empire have been announced for preservation but George Lucas still hasn't given copies of the original theatrical cuts to the Film Registry.

 

[TonTon]

Both Star Wars and Empire have been announced for preservation but George Lucas still hasn't given copies of the original theatrical cuts to the Film Registry.

Ha, I like that even the Film Registry doesn't acknowledge the special editions.

 

[cmiller99]

They technically can't by law. They can only accept original prints of the version distributed to cinemas on original release. You'll find no directors cuts in the NFR.

 

[TonTon]

Ah gotcha. Still, I'm sure film historians can be thankful that no Dewback farts made it into the registry due to that.

 

[cmiller99]

I'm sure that they still would have refused a Special Edition anyway, even if it wasn't against the rules.