Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Thread

[davechen]

That was JJ video funny.  Harrison Ford was on Kimmel.  You can read about it and find the video here:

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/30/harrison-ford-star-wars-jimmy-kimmel

“J.J. has made an incredible movie. You will not be disappointed at all. I promise you.”

[nevets88]

Hate to be cynical, but if we get to December w/o being spoiled, it's going to be some kind of minor miracle. Going to first showing on the 17th will help a little from being spoiled.

Another thing I didn't notice before. We're all used to UK and Australian actors dominating our shows and movies, but the cast is really heavy w/English actors. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just noticing.

[Pretzel]

Hate to be cynical, but if we get to December w/o being spoiled, it's going to be some kind of minor miracle. Going to first showing on the 17th will help a little from being spoiled.

That's true. I'm just keeping my eyes and ears closed about it until then. I got tickets for the release night, though it is a 1:30 showing that I'm going to. It'll be fun nonetheless, and I'm looking forwards to it a lot.

[nevets88]

‘Star Wars’ Doesn’t Belong to George Lucas. It Belongs to the Fans. [NYT]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/movies/star-wars-doesnt-belong-to-george-lucas-it-belongs-to-the-fans.html?ref=arts

 

[saevel25]

19 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

‘Star Wars’ Doesn’t Belong to George Lucas. It Belongs to the Fans. [NYT]

I totally disagree. Without Lucas creating Industrial Light and Magic and working his ass off there wouldn't be a Star Wars.

 All the fanatic Star Wars fans are doing is just allowing Lucas and now Disney make money off their emotional attachment to something they have no control over. Given if Star Wars wasn't popular then Disney probably wouldn't make it. I truly believe Lucas would have found a medium for his story if the original series wasn't that popular. 

As of right now it doesn't really matter anymore since Lucas has given up control of the story to Disney. If the fans bitch enough about it, I am sure Disney would be more bendable to popular opinion over the views of original content than Lucas would have been. 

[nevets88]

2 hours ago, saevel25 said:

I totally disagree. Without Lucas creating Industrial Light and Magic and working his ass off there wouldn't be a Star Wars.

 All the fanatic Star Wars fans are doing is just allowing Lucas and now Disney make money off their emotional attachment to something they have no control over. Given if Star Wars wasn't popular then Disney probably wouldn't make it. I truly believe Lucas would have found a medium for his story if the original series wasn't that popular. 

As of right now it doesn't really matter anymore since Lucas has given up control of the story to Disney. If the fans bitch enough about it, I am sure Disney would be more bendable to popular opinion over the views of original content than Lucas would have been. 

I posted that as I was reading it, and yes, that statement is hyperbolic. Also:

I haven't paid much attention to the franchise, gave the prequels little attention other than watching them and being disappointed. As you can see by this series of posts, catching up to the goings on w/respect to the business side. Did not know until now Disney owns both Marvel and Lucasfilms. Seesh. Here's another article in my pop culture/business catchup:

The Daring Genesis of J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens [Vanity Fair]

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/05/star-wars-the-force-awakens-vanity-fair-cover

 

 

[saevel25]

I am going to be looking for this 

"But here is something I can disclose, which I suspect fans—a majority of them, anyway—will find most heartening of all: at one point during the effects review, while watching a sequence with spaceships flying low over a desert planet, Abrams asked to pause the scene. With a light pen, he drew a little squiggle on a sand dune.

“I have a thought about putting Jar Jar Binks’s bones in the desert there,” he said.

Everyone laughed.

Abrams laughed, too, but insisted, “I’m serious!” He pointed out that the shot zips by in a second, if that. “Only three people will notice,” he said, “but they’ll love it.”"
 

[jamo]

1 hour ago, nevets88 said:

I posted that as I was reading it, and yes, that statement is hyperbolic. Also:

I haven't paid much attention to the franchise, gave the prequels little attention other than watching them and being disappointed. As you can see by this series of posts, catching up to the goings on w/respect to the business side. Did not know until now Disney owns both Marvel and Lucasfilms. Seesh. Here's another article in my pop culture/business catchup:

The Daring Genesis of J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens [Vanity Fair]

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/05/star-wars-the-force-awakens-vanity-fair-cover

 

 

Sort of along these same lines, I read a conspiracy theory lately that said Return of the Jedi was originally written to show that Luke was actually evil (hence the original name, Revenge of the Jedi). I forget where I read it, and I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember it being oddly convincing. The conspiracy part of it was that they never could have done it because of how popular Luke was with the fans. The toys, in particular, were humongous monetary drivers. 

[saevel25]

46 minutes ago, jamo said:

Sort of along these same lines, I read a conspiracy theory lately that said Return of the Jedi was originally written to show that Luke was actually evil (hence the original name, Revenge of the Jedi). I forget where I read it, and I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember it being oddly convincing. The conspiracy part of it was that they never could have done it because of how popular Luke was with the fans. The toys, in particular, were humongous monetary drivers. 

I believe in the books for after episode VI, Luke did become possessed by a spirit of a Sith Lord. 

Not sure if that was the original intent. 

I would have loved to see that story line be fleshed out. 

I can also see it a just the word revenge being too strong of a word for the good side. 

[saevel25]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-conery/luke-skywalker-theory-destroys-everything-star-wars_b_8392698.html

I found the article on Luke turning towards the dark side. It all makes more sense now ;)

It might fit better into the new movie since one of the writers on new one wrote the screenplay for Return of The Jedi. 

[nevets88]

5 hours ago, saevel25 said:

I am going to be looking for this 

"But here is something I can disclose, which I suspect fans—a majority of them, anyway—will find most heartening of all: at one point during the effects review, while watching a sequence with spaceships flying low over a desert planet, Abrams asked to pause the scene. With a light pen, he drew a little squiggle on a sand dune.

“I have a thought about putting Jar Jar Binks’s bones in the desert there,” he said.

Everyone laughed.

Abrams laughed, too, but insisted, “I’m serious!” He pointed out that the shot zips by in a second, if that. “Only three people will notice,” he said, “but they’ll love it.”"
 

He did this in Star Trek. He put R2-D2 in the flying debris.

 

3 hours ago, jamo said:

Sort of along these same lines, I read a conspiracy theory lately that said Return of the Jedi was originally written to show that Luke was actually evil (hence the original name, Revenge of the Jedi). I forget where I read it, and I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember it being oddly convincing. The conspiracy part of it was that they never could have done it because of how popular Luke was with the fans. The toys, in particular, were humongous monetary drivers. 

Some guy wrote a paper on how Jar Jar Binks (spit spit spit) was a sith lord jedi only pretending to be totally clueless. The detail in this is epic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3qvj6w/theory_jar_jar_binks_was_a_trained_force_user

 

[jamo]

9 hours ago, saevel25 said:

It might fit better into the new movie since one of the writers on new one wrote the screenplay for Return of The Jedi. 

That's what Lucas has said. Jedis don't get revenge. (Sith do, hence the third prequel title.)

[Pretzel]

12 hours ago, nevets88 said:

Some guy wrote a paper on how Jar Jar Binks (spit spit spit) was a sith lord jedi only pretending to be totally clueless. The detail in this is epic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3qvj6w/theory_jar_jar_binks_was_a_trained_force_user

 

I can get behind this theory. I guess now we know who Kylo Ren really is behind the mask now...

[Gator Hazard]

There is speculation on Kylo Ren, anyone heard the same thing that I did?  Don't want to spoil it if in fact it is considered a spoiler but heard them talking about the new episode this morning on a local talk show Mike Calta show. 

[nevets88]

The Crazy History of “Star Wars” [New Yorker]

Quote

From “How Star Wars Conquered the Universe,” the new history of the sci-fi franchise, by Chris Taylor, I learned many incredible facts. Among them: Brian De Palma, the director of “Carrie,” helped to write the opening crawl (“Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire”). Christopher Walken was originally cast as Han Solo, and Solo was partly based on Francis Ford Coppola. (At the time, he was a young, seductive, swashbuckling smoothie who had impressed George Lucas by talking Warner Brothers into funding “Apocalypse Now.”) Lucas studied briefly with Jean-Luc Godard—a title card from one of his student productions reads “A film by LUCAS”—and he got the idea for the Force from “21–87,” an avant-garde film by the Canadian director Arthur Lipsett. “Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature and in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of force, or something,” a man’s voice says, over images of city life. Sometimes, “they call it God.”

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/crazy-history-star-wars

I'm sure some of you have already seen this - Red Letter Media's review of the prequels, but it's worth it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI&index=1&list=PL5919C8DE6F720A2D

 

[nevets88]

Force Awakens Honest Teaser, very funny.

 

 

[boogielicious]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/entertainment/dying-star-wars-fan-force-awakens-update-feat/index.html

OK this is very cool. Kudos to them.

[nevets88]

Japanese trailer has lots of new footage. Love the new droid.