Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12/18/15)

[a-dev]

So melodramatic. Don't be drinking DiFabio's kool-aid as some form of penance for liking Terminator Genisys. Genisys was entertaining and TFA has explained things just fine.

What was the conflict in ROTJ?

1. Luke striving to become a full Jedi.
2. To redeem Anakin
3. Destroy the second Death Star/Emperor
4. Restore freedom to the galaxy.

The film ended with the heroes successful in all such endeavors.

Now, how does TFA begin?

1. With Luke a Jedi Master
2. Vader still dead/redeemed
3. Death Star/Emperor still destroyed/No planet destroying menaces for over 30 years
4. Freedom throughout the galaxy. We see no evidence of any planet being "occupied" in any way by the First Order in fact. Not Jakku, not Takonada, certainly not that Republic planet that gets taken out by Starkiller.

Nothing that they achieved in Jedi was "forfeit." A new menace simply rose from the ashes three decades later and needs to be dealt with. And the movie made that clear in the opening scroll.

 

[Darkseed]

I mentioned before 3D was awesome......the shot of star destroyer hovering was great. Looked like it was coming off the screen....

 

[Khev]

@ a-dev.

I watched Harmy SW last night.

"He certainly has courage."
"What good is it gonna do if he's gonna get himself killed?"



What I'm finding is that TFA actually redeems Jedi for me. Ignoring the PT and SE's completely if you just take the theatrical OT there is such a big dropoff in quality when you go from SW/ESB to ROTJ. Previous badasses (Han/Fett/Vader) all end up like chumps, the complicated love triangle is swept under the rug in favor of a half-assed "sister" twist, and the Empire loses some of its luster by not killing any named heroes and having such difficulty with a bunch of little teddy bears. Han ends the trilogy without doing anything cool in the Falcon, etc.

But TFA recifies all that so much so that I can actually enjoy Jedi more. Han gets to be a badass again. The evil army gets to be awesome again, even the DNA of Darth Vader himself gets to **** up Han, Luke and Leia from beyond the grave. So ROTJ is no longer this unbecoming curtain call but rather just gets to be a fun adventure that is notably different in tone from SW, ESB, and TFA but since it no longer bookends the entire saga it can be appreciated more for what it actually is.

 

[jye4ever]

I mentioned before 3D was awesome......the shot of star destroyer hovering was great. Looked like it was coming off the screen....

 

[jye4ever]

@ a-dev.

I watched Harmy SW last night.

"He certainly has courage."
"What good is it gonna do if he's gonna get himself killed?"



What I'm finding is that TFA actually redeems Jedi for me. Ignoring the PT and SE's completely if you just take the theatrical OT there is such a big dropoff in quality when you go from SW/ESB to ROTJ. Previous badasses (Han/Fett/Vader) all end up like chumps, the complicated love triangle is swept under the rug in favor of a half-assed "sister" twist, and the Empire loses some of its luster by not killing any named heroes and having such difficulty with a bunch of little teddy bears. Han ends the trilogy without doing anything cool in the Falcon, etc.

But TFA recifies all that so much so that I can actually enjoy Jedi more. Han gets to be a badass again. The evil army gets to be awesome again, even the DNA of Darth Vader himself gets to **** up Han, Luke and Leia from beyond the grave. So ROTJ is no longer this unbecoming curtain call but rather just gets to be a fun adventure that is notably different in tone from SW, ESB, and TFA but since it no longer bookends the entire saga it can be appreciated more for what it actually is.

 

[Khev]

We know that Abrams asked Denis Lawson to return as Wedge and that Poe was originally supposed to die in the TIE Fighter crash. So I wonder if his original thought was that Wedge would lead the attack on Starkiller. Or maybe he'd be the equivalent of ANH Red Leader and would have died in the assault.

 

[Darkseed]

We know that Abrams asked Denis Lawson to return as Wedge and that Poe was originally supposed to die in the TIE Fighter crash. So I wonder if his original thought was that Wedge would lead the attack on Starkiller. Or maybe he'd be the equivalent of ANH Red Leader and would have died in the assault.

Who would have been the hero pilot if not Poe? Everyone else was on ground...

 

[Wor-Gar]

I mentioned before 3D was awesome......the shot of star destroyer hovering was great. Looked like it was coming off the screen....

that was the best shot.

the cruiser passing the screen looked terrible though.

 

[Khev]

Who would have been the hero pilot if not Poe? Everyone else was on ground...

Ask Abrams. He was the one who originally wanted Poe to die early.

 

[Khev]

Anyone want to try and win me over on the "Maz" character? I'm a bit on the fence about her. Here's a repost of something I just said in one of the HT threads:

"Funnily enough I don't know how much I like the Maz character. She felt a little 'Avatar-y' to me. Just her CG look and the way she spoke I almost expected her to start going off about 'Eywa' or something."

Was the junk dealer on Jakku fully CG? I liked him. He was cool.

 

[spindrift]

Avatar is toast- TFA wil top it within two weeks. We live in a SW world from now on

 

[spindrift]

So true.

This movie will bring balance to the box office, and hurry the **** up i'm tired of seeing Avatar and Titanic up there.

Cameron is crying now- he better get thinking about something revolutionary and new to get back on top and Avatar 2-4 or whatever ain't gonna do that..!

 

[Darkseed]

Ask Abrams. He was the one who originally wanted Poe to die early.

Honestly....I liked the Poe character but he wasn't vetted out enough to have feelings if he died in the fighter crash or on the assault. Anyone I had an "emotional" attachment to was on the ground. Kinda made the air assault less dramatic but visually appealing.

Maz was forgettable character. Her appearance served a purpose and we moved on.

 

[YoNoSe]

As far as Rey goes, this is how I see it.

Her flight skills - she didn't fly perfectly at first, I seem to recall her crashing into the ground and hitting things in the beginning. She quickly adapted, and the learning curve was pretty quick, but she wasn't perfect, just good enough.

Her mechanical skills - she had been making a living scavenging off the old Imperial and Rebel ships for years, over that time Im sure you start to get a feel or understanding for how things work. I have a bigger problem in TPM with how Ani can not only build a pod racer, but can build a sophisticated robot lik 3PO.

Her fighting skills - she had been defending herself for quite some time with her pole arm weapon, which isn't a far cry from the type of skill needed for a saber.

Jedi Powers - Well, most seem to believe she is not only force sensitive, but a skywalker who was hidden for her safety. So combined with her fighting experience, something Luke did not have, she managed to best a badly injured Kylo Ren, and honestly, I'm not sure Kylo Ren was that talented a fighter to begin with. So, really she only managed to out force Ren by using telekinisis to acquire the lightsaber.

I wrote almost exactly the same post yesterday in response to all the "overpowered" griping.

But then I said, eh, **** it...Everything seems to be "it doesn't make sense" or "it would be better if..." and I have yet to read anything in those posts doesn't make sense (if you paid attention/don't have an axe to grind for some weirdo reason) or would be an improvement on what they did.

Good for you, man. I'm rooting for ya.

 

[spindrift]

My biggest gripe is why Luke went into hiding and allowed all this stuff going on to happen.....from the rise of the First Order to construction of the new weapon to not aiding his old friends....I hope the reasons are explained in the next one..as for the rest I'm ok with.

 

[Khev]

Remember how Kylo's attempt to withdraw knowledge out of Rey's mind backfired. She pulled info out his head instead. Who's to say that she didn't download some of his fencing skills?

"You're afraid of not being as powerful as Darth Vader. And ah...that's how you deflect a lightsaber attack..."

Kylo: "S***!"

 

[Darkseed]

My biggest gripe is why Luke went into hiding and allowed all this stuff going on to happen.....from the rise of the First Order to construction of the new weapon to not aiding his old friends....I hope the reasons are explained in the next one..as for the rest I'm ok with.

I took Luke's hiding being very similar to Yoda's to preserve the Jedi Order. Remember in the OT, the Empire was doing their thing while Yoda stayed hidden until the emergence of Luke.

Kylo and Snoke were out to wipe out the Jedi and Luke was the last until it awakened in Rey. With the awakening he could reveal himself

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

My biggest gripe is why Luke went into hiding and allowed all this stuff going on to happen.....from the rise of the First Order to construction of the new weapon to not aiding his old friends....I hope the reasons are explained in the next one..as for the rest I'm ok with.

It is weird that he's hiding. Luke was never the type of character to do that, so we'll see what the excuse is. He should be the most powerful character in the galaxy, and should be able to get rid of Crylo Ren easily if he wanted to, but probably can't because he's related to him, so I guess that could be a reason, although if he already had the strength to face his father, some emo kid should be no problem

Remember how Kylo's attempt to withdraw knowledge out of Rey's mind backfired. She pulled info out his head instead. Who's to say that she didn't download some of his fencing skills?

"You're afraid of not being as powerful as Darth Vader. And ah...that's how you deflect a lightsaber attack..."

Kylo: "S***!"

It's not the ******** Matrix. They just don't download info and learn Kung Fu in a few seconds. That's why there needs to boundaries and limits when it comes to the force.

 

[Khev]

Tell us more about how "the Force" works Clown Prince. You seem to be quite the authority after all. Yoda was pretty big on lack of belief being pretty much the only boundary of what the Force can do but you seem to have a better idea. Do tell.

There really seem to be two schools of thought on this site.

Those who look at the Force as something that makes "the ability to destroy a planet insignificant" and failure to use it for any given purpose being linked to lack of training or belief and those who want their Force statted out with D&D prequel-esque power levels and thoroughly spelled out capabilities.

I also find it interesting that the sentence structure and gif use of the "We want TFA more like the prequels" crowd does hint at those with that mindset being of a younger/more immature age. Which is fine, but it is consistent with TFA having a seemingly harder time being won over by teenage boys who grew up on the prequels.

The Force Awakens is great filmmaking in a deliberately retro/more tactile style. Clearly most film aficionados and those who grew up on the OT are responding with great positivity but that doesn't mean the movie is for everyone. No film ever is.

 

[YoNoSe]

Luke's not hiding. No one ever says he's hiding. They just don't know what he's doing, only the Jedi Temple rumor is mentioned.