Star Wars Universe Thread: May The 4th Be With You

[Master Zik]

Black dude white girl pairings off the top my head :

Jessica Jones

Supergirl

Black guy, white woman pairings are more common on tv than movies.

In movies, you're more likely to see white man, black woman. You're more likely to see black man, Asian woman than you are black man, white woman in movies.

 

[osh kosh bosh]

Time has mellowed me.


The movie was good,the managed to capture the original feeling and ton of the originals I will reserve judgment and hope future movies give Boyega a chance to be a hero.

I look forward to Rian Johnson's take.

 

[sea manup]

If Finn and Poe are gay the rebellion is doomed like the Roman Empire

 

[change the name Snyder]

View media item 1838439

 

[filthyjiujitsu]

Finn has to be with Rey. Just has to. Anyway, I'm glad JJ is only directing the first one. His track record shows he's great at starting TV shows/movies but tends drop the ball.

 

[osh kosh bosh]

Damn son you a tough critic, dude took a light saber to the back what else do you want him to do?

I'm not going to get into it becuase thinking about it will make me forget that I actually like the movie.

 

[ronaldo nazario]

I know I've seen at least a couple of people show interest in the new comics throughout this thread. I actually have a few that I'm looking to gift (plus shipping) if anyone is interested. Not sure how much it would be to ship them, but I'd rather give them to someone then try and sell them on eBay. Here is what I'm looking to give away.

Darth Vader 1-9
Shattered Empire 1
Star Wars 2-9
Lando 1-4
Leia 1-5
Kanan 2-6

 

[Master Zik]

Not sure if posted but great read on the prequels and "balance" in the force.

http://www.gamesradar.com/george-lu...ct-prequel-trilogy-he-just-didnt-seem-notice/

Nice.

Got around to finish reading this and it was really good. A nice perspective of what was there in the prequels to make the story work if you interpret a few things a certain way, good commentary and what was done right, and of course a critics take on what should've been changed to make it better.

Everything about the Jedi council back then (20+ years ago) being too powerful, cultish and one opposite extreme to the Sith, them seeing the balance of the force the death of the Sith and dark side, Anakin somehow being too old to be an apprentice cuz what the Jedi do is indoctrinate you to their way of life, how distant they are, etc. Falls in well with some things I thought and how they end up in the OT.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

The Star Wars prequel trilogy is nearly brilliant. It took me 10 years to realise it, but it’s true. You see, the other night, my girlfriend and I drank a bottle of wine and started – as is entirely understandable – ripping into Episodes I to III. We hit the usual, obvious punching bags – Jar Jar, Anakin’s creepy sex-pest characterisation, the pointless set-pieces – but along the way, we noticed something big. All of the plot points required to make the prequels tell a sensible, meaningful, satisfying and affecting story are actually already in there, either explicitly on-screen or strongly alluded to. But for some reason, George Lucas doesn’t seem to notice that he’s written them, and ignores the lot.

Stick with me on this one. I haven’t gone mad, I promise. It all starts with the fundamentals of Star Wars lore.

You see Star Wars has always been about binary, black-and-white morality. In the Original Trilogy, that works just fine. The good guys are plucky underdogs, and the bad guys are a fascist galactic empire who think nothing of blowing up a populated planet for ***** and giggles. In the wider, more complicated world of the pre-Empire days though, things are, and should be, more nuanced.

While they might be merry old samurai hippies in the Original Trilogy, the organised, prolific, altogether more militarised Jedi of the prequel period are a hardcore conservative faction, incredibly rigid in their doctrine, code and methods. They are ubiquitous, unchallenged, and if anything, slightly too powerful. They have restrictions on sexuality, a strict religious code, make free use of mind control for ‘the greater good’, and enforce stoicism to the point of detachment. They demand utter devotion, are run by an oligarchy, and almost entirely cut themselves off from the outside world. Sound a bit cultish? It is.

The Sith, on the other hand, are staunch libertarians. They accept no oversight or control from the state, practice a self-centred philosophy, and value personal freedom over social responsibility. Both sides are arguably problematic in their own ways, their extremist attitudes to their own philosophies making all elements of their conduct potentially rather dangerous. Suddenly the simple, unambiguous lines between the Light and Dark sides are rather blurred. They’re binary opposites in terms of ostensible alignment, but in practice, neither is entirely good or bad. Wherever it stems from, extremism always tends to boil down the same way. And that really raises questions about ‘balance in the Force’.

Enter Anakin, prophesised as the Chosen One who will bring that balance. It all falls apart, of course - from the Jedi perspective at least - when he is tempted by the Dark Side. The prophecy was a lie! Or was it? Who knows? It all gets a bit confusing, and the remaining Jedi just run away and hide from the issue for a couple of decades. But how about if Anakin’s shift in polarity is actually the would-be product of balance, but his promise is warped by the biases and failings of factions who don’t really want balance at all?

We hear about balance all the time. It’s portrayed as the Jedi’s key, long-term goal, and the ideal state for all of existence. But even with a respected High Council and countless Knights acting as Galaxy Police, the prospect of just a single Sith/Apprentice combo existing at any given time – “Always two there are” – is far too much to bear. The Jedi version of equilibrium is actually the eradication of the Dark Side. This inherent failing, this self-focused misinterpretation, is the core of what the prequel trilogy should have been about.

With both, deeply flawed sides explicitly battling for control of Anakin’s soul, and the issue of ‘balance’ being front and centre, the stage is clearly set for the young Darth to be not an angry teenager on an inevitable slide to tragedy, but the first moderate Jedi, a thoughtful, questioning young man who can bring actual balance by controversially walking the line between the two factions. The reason he can do this? He can see things no other Jedi can, because he was ‘too old’ at the start of his training.

We’re told this around the time Anakin joins the Jedi, but it’s never properly explained. We’re broadly told that the Jedi only recruit really young, and that Anakin’s ripe old age of nine puts him way over the hill. We hear vague talk that he has ‘too much anger’. We’re told that training him will be impossible. But we’ve already seen Luke successfully trained, at the age of around 17, despite also apparently being “too impatient”, “too angry” and “unfocused”. There must be another explanation.

How’s about indoctrination? After all, it’s a hell of a lot easier to make a recruit accept a dogmatic lifestyle if they start too young to remember anything else. Anakin though, can remember life before his Jedi training. If the films had been brave enough to use him as an audience point-of-view character to explore the nuances and problems with the prequel world, then we would have had a hell of a powerful story set-up. Because good lord, does Anakin see some things.

He sees burgeoning child soldiers, being trained in lightsaber combat, but the scene is played for cuteness rather than moral disturbance. He sees the Jedi regularly control innocent minds for their own ends. He was ‘benevolently’ bullied from his mother’s care – Qui-Gon’s talk with her effectively amounts to ‘He’s a slave, do you want him to remain a slave? Better give him to us. No, I’m not going to rescue you, although I totally could’ – and Anakin must have seen this happen to countless other, Force-sensitive children by Episode II.

By Episode III, the still-young Anakin has a massive facial scar. He must have been through some serious **** already, and, realistically, should be suffering some level of brutalisation/trauma/depression/PTSD. But rather than addressing any of the above, the movies reduce his would-be legitimate issues with the Jedi to arrogant, teenage sulking.

But what if they didn’t? What if, instead of vague, generic complaints of anger and unfairness, Anakin and the Jedi have considered philosophical friction, stemming from Anakin’s intelligent observation, conscious decision-making? Then Anakin has perfectly sensible reasons to have issue with the Jedi, and thus his actions can be understood and empathised with. And most crucially, he has – as every protagonist should have – real agency.

In the existing prequels he bounces haphazardly from crisis, to emotional tirade, to impulsive response, like an out-of-control drunk, coming across as stupid, thoughtless, and devoid of any control over his own path or actions. That’s not how you create an engaging lead character that the audience can really go on a journey with. But if all of the – existing – groundwork were followed through, it would have created a wonderful mirror to Luke's story, Anakin growing to self-realisation and then clashing with the Jedi, just as his son completes the same journey to battle the Sith. There’s poetry there. It rhymes.

There’s balance.

And there are subtler problems to explore within the Jedi machine, again, largely glossed over, but still there on-screen. Obi-Wan’s youth and inexperience mean that he isn’t ready for Anakin’s training either, eventually letting the master/student relationship erode into friendship. The idea gets occasional lip-service, but Anakin’s lack of a strong guide or guardian should be the back-bone that informs his entire ‘descent’.

And then there’s Yoda. He appears cold and clueless in the prequels, but there’s a way to make that work in the saga’s favour too. The Original Trilogy introduces Yoda as a spiritual, internalised Jedi of the mind, who knows that inner strength, not outward aggression, brings true power. Blend this with the themes of inward-looking Jedi detachment we’re exploring in this remix, and you have both a great case for Yoda’s prequel trilogy ineffectuality, and a perfect philosophical figurehead for the organisation Anakin opposes. And by training Luke – directly contradicting the old Jedi rules in agreeing to do so – Yoda later gains his own arc of redemption-through-moderation, to parallel that of Vader.

With Yoda an absentee landlord, there’s also plenty of space for hard-*** Mace Windu to ascend as the aggressive, dominant, dogmatic force he should have been, a personification of the Jedi hardline spearheading Anakin’s opposition. With these dynamics explored properly, Anakin is a genuine threat to a genuinely worrying dogma. This doesn’t make him a bad guy, but the more set-in-their ways, extreme Jedi of the Council will see him as exactly that.

As for Padme? Imagine that relationship written plausibly. Imagine that Anakin isn’t a generically angry creep, and that Padme is an intelligent, but pragmatic human being, rather than a flighty robot-woman. Rather than repeatedly blowing hot and cold, and arbitrarily throwing out ‘But I’m a senator!’ (like that explains anything), Padme follows her heart, but the weight of Jedi disapproval weighs heavy on the relationship. Until, that is, the Jedi act to end it. Forget the nonsensical contrivance of Anakin’s ‘prophetic’ dream of Padme’s death. With oppressive Jedi disapproval clearly apparent, there’s already a much more sensible and meaningful catalyst for Anakin’s ultimate desertion.

Anakin is not tricked into embracing the Dark Side. He chooses it. Not because he wants to, but because he is forced to, by those who don’t truly want the balanced line of moderation and progress he aspires to. He’s bullied into choosing an extreme, and while the hardline of the Sith is philosophically no better than the hardline of the Jedi, by that same note, it is no worse. Anakin understandably makes a very human decision, and goes for the option that looks to help his real, personal situation. It’s a move we can sympathise with, and rather beautifully, one that parallels philosophically with the Sith’s libertarian ways. Plot, subtext, action and ideology all in sync, informed by – and informing - real character development.

All of this would make Darth Vader stronger, not weaker. It was an impossible notion before the prequels hit, but they actually make it hard to respect him. They turn the biggest, most interesting, most enigmatic bad guy in the galaxy into a sniveling, mopey teenager, blighted by angsty, adolescent grumbles and mistakes.

Get it right though, and Anakin’s agency and desire for change maintain the forthright strength he has in the Original Trilogy. They also make his relationship with Luke more poignant. He's not strictly trying to corrupt his son, but to complete the task of balance he himself wasn't able to achieve in his youth. He's seen Luke not as a potential Sith apprentice, but as a way out from beneath the Emperor's tyranny, and an opportunity to rebuild the Force anew. Luke also represents the chance to regain his family, the loss of which pushed him to his reluctant decision in the first place.

Heck, given his history with the oppressive Jedi, Vader has probably resented the Emperor for a long time, and for very similar reasons – a nice hark back to the idea that one extremism is as bad as another - but only truly manages to break his indoctrination at the end. Because manipulative, abusive relationships are hard to get out of. If all of this had come to pass, we’d have a prequel trilogy that supports and improves the original, rather than sitting separate and contradictory as it currently does.

Damn it, George, you were nearly there…

 

[KingParappa]

Let me get that Lando.

 

[robinvandamn]

it's been basically confirmed that he did chemistry reads with those 3 actresses though so i think it's legit.


if not love interest they'll be his new best friends and that basically serves the same purpose

Yea....but who confirmed that story. I'm skeptical about **** like that.

I'll believe it when its on the screen. Movie screen that is...

 

http://www.thewrap.com/star-wars-ep...iguez-tatiana-maslany-olivia-cooke-exclusive/

about as legit as it gets with these things but i understand your hesitation lol

 

[sea manup]

crucial points in the plot that happen because of something Finn does:

1. Saves Poe

2. Finds Rey, BB8. Warns them about first order troops and helps the MF escape from the tie fighters

3. Convinces Rey not to go back to Jakku right away

4. Convinces BB8 to give up the location of the rebel base

5. Tells Leia crucial information on starkiller base

6. Lies about knowing how to disarm the shields with get han to bring him to starkiller base

7. Knows to find phasma and get her to disable the shields

8. Gives Rey his jacket when its cold outside so that her joints stay warm for the fight with kylo

dude low key did more to help in this movie than han did in ANH

 

[robinvandamn]

like seriously dude?

nobody had the balls to say anything to him?

then there is nothing to complain about afterward
other than yalls *****-***-ness

guess i should have further ruined my experience by turning around for the climax of the film and argue with this guy, huh?

 

[Master Zik]

If Finn and Poe are gay the rebellion is doomed like the Roman Empire

Nice reference to that one poster in that other thread.

it's been basically confirmed that he did chemistry reads with those 3 actresses though so i think it's legit.


if not love interest they'll be his new best friends and that basically serves the same purpose

Yea....but who confirmed that story. I'm skeptical about **** like that.

I'll believe it when its on the screen. Movie screen that is...

 

http://www.thewrap.com/star-wars-ep...iguez-tatiana-maslany-olivia-cooke-exclusive/

about as legit as it gets with these things but i understand your hesitation lol

Bet you Olivia Cooke gets the role Even though Tatiana Maslany should get it being the better actor.

Gina Rodriguez is too fine to be in a Star Wars movie.

 

[robinvandamn]

My overall theater experience was pretty weak. Got there around 12 (got tickets for the 2pm show) expecting there to be a line of people but didn't see anyone. Saw lines set up outside for the theater for the 2:40, 3:15 & 3:45 showings so i was confused

Talked to the manager and he said they hadn't sold out my showing so they didn't need a line.

Fast forward a little and it's mainly older people and a few father/son families in the theater. About a handful of empty seats but that's all.

Opening Crawl starts and i hear a few "Oh yeahhh!"s. I'm thinking it's gonna be a fun time but that's pretty much the loudest reaction of the whole film.

Heard a few chuckles during the BB-8 Thumbs up scene and Han telling Finn "That's not how the Force works" but that's it

Dead silence when the film ended too. Heard "Well, overall that was pretty good" and "i enjoyed myself" from people when leaving.. it was like a ******* critic screening

I just picked a bad showing to go to, i guess lol.

 

[sea manup]

my first showing last thursday got cheers for the opening, the falcon, han, rey grabbing the lightsaber

none for luke though, the slow reveal didnt really make for a singular cheer moment 

 

[sea manup]

what happened to quigon's lightsaber? 

 

[andoneflip]

I watched this with my aunt. It was a great movie. Cant wait for the next one.

 

[Master Zik]

Outside of the fat heckler, that sounds good.

I'm not in it for viewer reactions. I notice when I watched GotG in a packed theater they were laughing and reacting so much I couldn't hear key dialogue.

If it was up to me I'd have the theater to myself or watch with a bunch of deaf-mutes.

 

[Nike Jordan]

 

[Master Zik]

what happened to quigon's lightsaber? 

I asked about this in another thread. At the end of ep I, Obi-Wan picked it up after dropping his down one of SW's infamous bottomless pits/shafts and he used it to kill Darth Maul.

I assumed he had kept it but at some point he gets a new one that's blue.

So we don't know what happened to the one he lost or Qui-Gon's green lightsaber.

 

[sea manup]

on another note, why does a city that looks like something from the 1400s have a bottomless pit and giant energy beams that look like it can power the deathstar? 

 

[everysingletime]

Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez (“Jane the Virgin”), Golden Globe nominee Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) and “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” star Olivia Cooke are considered the top contenders for the new female lead in Rian Johnson‘s “Star Wars: Episode VIII,” multiple individuals familiar with the casting situation told TheWrap.

Tatiana...Tatiana Maslany

I hope she gets a role in this franchise

Incredbily talented actress. Just incredible. I wish I can say the same for her show. Lost interest in Orphan Black after season 1.

 

[Nike Jordan]

J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan discuss The Force Awakens.

 

[sea manup]

im normally pro casting non white actors but for this I want Finn to get with a white girl 

 

[nomnom]

Snoke = love child of Voldemort and the white orc from the Hobbit