'Star Wars: Episode VII' Gets a Name

schwit1 writes If you feel a disturbance in the Force, it's millions of voices suddenly crying out the new title of Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens. The reveal comes as the movie finishes its final day of shooting (with many more months of post-production to come.) Although there were still a few days left of shooting, the cast of the J.J. Abrams film already celebrated their wrap party last weekend, following a bumpy few months of principal photography thrown into crisis when Han Solo himself, Harrison Ford, broke his leg on set in an accident involving a falling door on the Millennium Falcon.

Comments

No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

I wasn't interested in seeing J.J. Abrams skullfuck Star Trek; if you think I'm going to watch him do it to Star Wars as well, you're sorely mistaken.

Not even mentioning the name. After midi-chlorians...the Force is already awake...just no.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

You got first post! Yippeeee for you!

Re:No thank you

[jovius]

At least Millennium Falcon seems to be in the correct shape.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

"midi-chlorians"

That was a long time ago. They are called probiotics now.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

At least Millennium Falcon seems to be in the correct shape.

You mean a hamburger with an olive on top ? Lousy shape for a spaceship. Especially for one that can do the Kessel run in 12 parsecs. The original design was so much classier. Maybe to classy for Star Wars.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

I wasn't interested in seeing J.J. Abrams skullfuck Star Trek; if you think I'm going to watch him do it to Star Wars as well, you're sorely mistaken.

Not even mentioning the name. After midi-chlorians...the Force is already awake...just no.

Millions of the rest of us will enjoy seeing it without you.

Re:No thank you

[geekoid]

Whats wrong with the shape? do you think it's not aerodynamic enough for space?

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a liar. You're going to go see it on the off chance that you could be wrong. You know it, I know it.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

"midi-chlorians"

That was a long time ago. They are called probiotics now.

Retcon Midichlorians out of Star Wars. Shouldn't be too difficult to do.

Re:No thank you

[roc97007]

The ST reboot really divided fans. I skipped boy scouts to see The Man Trap when it first aired, consider myself a fan of TOS, less so of the ones that came after, (when they transitioned from action-with-a-dose-of-philosophy to Endless Meetings) and I really enjoyed the reboot. Just sayin'. I even enjoyed Into Darkness.

But regardless of what one thinks of Abrams, he wasn't responsible for the midichlorian silliness. Lucas had crapped thrice (some would say three-and-a-half times, to include certain aspects of RotJ) on Star Wars long before Abrams got his mitts on the property.

I think Abrams has done good stuff and bad stuff and stupid stuff. (The Enterprise engine room is a great example of "stupid stuff".) But I suspect, whatever he does with Star Wars, it'll be better than The Phantom Menace. (I still think Lucas must have had a stroke while they were in planning for TPM, and everyone was too frightened of him to mention that he wasn't making sense anymore.)

Re:No thank you

[istartedi]

Retcon Midichlorians out of Star Wars. Shouldn't be too difficult to do.

"At one time, it was believed that the Force was the collective intelligence of microscopic organisms. Later, Jedi scientists discovered that they were merely attracted to the Force, not the creators of it".

As an added bonus, we'd get Jedi Scientists which sounds like it could be really cool if they didn't fu.... oh well, so much for that plan.

Now if you'll excuse me, duty at the Jedi Science Academy calls...

Re:No thank you

[geekoid]

what? the engine room was one of the smartest things he did.
TOS engineering room could in no way support everything 430 people would need on a 5 year mission.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Whats wrong with the shape? do you think it's not aerodynamic enough for space?

I think it looks shit. Aerodynamics has nothing to do with it. Might as well be box or cube shaped for all I care.
Esthetically the Millenium Falcon looks bad. A piece of junk. The original design was too futuristic maybe, so that's why they redesigned it to be more mundane. Now I don't really like the prequels, but one thing they got right were the spaceships. The time between the fall of the republic and the fight against the empire isn't soo long that all spaceship designs have turned to shit. In the OT there is not one spaceship that looks nice (except for X-wings and Tie Fighters).
I think they could have started with the original cylinder shaped Millenium Falcon and then modify it so that it'd looked "used". But keep the original design. People that criticize the ewoks for being too cute is how I feel looking at the Millenium Falcon. All I see is a hamburger flying in space. Even the X-Wings and Tie Fighters are more original designs than Han Solo's ship.

Re:No thank you

[wonkey_monkey]

if you think I'm going to watch him do it to Star Wars as well, you're sorely mistaken.

That's okay then. I've never given a moment's thought to what you think.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

I am expecting a lot of lens flare, and probably a logically-contradictory time travel element in the plot.

Re:No thank you

[roc97007]

what? the engine room was one of the smartest things he did.
TOS engineering room could in no way support everything 430 people would need on a 5 year mission.

The size of the engine room, agreed. The design (in the first film) not so much. (It did improve in the second film.)

You're absolutely right about TOS engineering room, it was a cheap, dinky set. But I watch TOS with the expectation that the sets aren't going to be any better than you'd see in a stage play. But in the reboot, I expected more high tech, less brewery.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

"midi-chlorians"

That was a long time ago. They are called probiotics now.

Retcon George Lucas out of Star Wars. Shouldn't be too difficult to do.

FTFY

Re:No thank you

[roc97007]

I wasn't interested in seeing J.J. Abrams skullfuck Star Trek; if you think I'm going to watch him do it to Star Wars as well, you're sorely mistaken.

Not even mentioning the name. After midi-chlorians...the Force is already awake...just no.

Millions of the rest of us will enjoy seeing it without you.

Millions of the rest of us will see it without you. Some, perhaps most, will enjoy it.

fify

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

read the summary, read the post you replied to then read your sig. If you still don't get it then read this. WHOOSH!

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

The ST reboot really divided fans. I skipped boy scouts to see The Man Trap when it first aired, consider myself a fan of TOS, less so of the ones that came after, (when they transitioned from action-with-a-dose-of-philosophy to Endless Meetings) and I really enjoyed the reboot. Just sayin'. I even enjoyed Into Darkness.

I like "classic" Trek because it is actually optimistic and tries to make you think; the plot isn't about the Federation betraying some guy who then goes back in time and starts blowing up entire planets full of civilians while Chris Pine gets to smirk around the bridge of the Enterprise which has been conveniently given to him.

But regardless of what one thinks of Abrams, he wasn't responsible for the midichlorian silliness. Lucas had crapped thrice (some would say three-and-a-half times, to include certain aspects of RotJ) on Star Wars long before Abrams got his mitts on the property.

Yeah, no argument there. But I know better than to say, "how could they possibly do it worse" because as soon as I say that and go see it, there's a strong chance I'll find out.

Re:No thank you

[Sir_Eptishous]

The first reboot that he did was a complete skullfuk, I agree.
However, "Into Darkness" was actually pretty good. I was hesitant at seeing Cumberbatch play Khan, but damn, he did a helluva job. It's good.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

if you think I'm going to watch him do it to Star Wars as well, you're sorely mistaken.

That's okay then. I've never given a moment's thought to what you think.

So your post was literally thoughtless?

How's that work?

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

Good thing I was addressing you specifically, then.

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

I'll concede your point if you can name 3 reboots in the history of TV that have been of equal quality (not even better than) the originals.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

That is odd since these are sequels and not reboots.

And also they are movies, not TV shows, in this case.

Be that as it may...

Man of Steel is way awesomer than the old superman movies. Drop the nostalgia and watch them, and you will see.
Dark Knight was way better than the batman movies of the 90's, and you know it is true.
Battlestar Galactica. Only a moron would argue.

So there's three....and I didn't even have to mention gimmies like Dr Who.

Re:No thank you

[john.suykerbuyk]

The engine room of "Into Darkness" was the finest ignition facility in the American armada! https://www.llnl.gov/news/nati...

Re:No thank you

[jimbolauski]

Oceans 11, the original was an awful musical.
The Fly, the original costumes and make up took away from the story
Scarface, the original was from 1932
True Grit, the original was a spaghetti western
There are probably even more westerns that were better then the originals but you get the point there are more then a few remakes that exceeded the originals.

Re:No thank you

[roc97007]

> But I know better than to say, "how could they possibly do it worse" because as soon as I say that and go see it, there's a strong chance I'll find out.

Agreed. Anyone who isn't approaching this film with extreme caution hasn't been paying attention. But there are parts of the advance information that gives me hope. Not the least of which, I think they realize they can't crap out another set of films like the prequels, and that they really want to get back to the "filmed on location in space" feel of the original films. (Of which I include SW, ESB, and about half of RotJ.)

Re:No thank you

[sconeu]

Only have one off the top of my head... Battlestar Galactica.

Re:No thank you

[roc97007]

The engine room of "Into Darkness" was the finest ignition facility in the American armada!
https://www.llnl.gov/news/nati...

You're right, and that made a HUGE difference in the look of the film. But I'm pretty sure that some of the shots were still in the brewery.

Re:No thank you

[peragrin]

how about it being bigger on the inside? The cockpit as shown on screen is bigger on the inside than the outside.

what do they think this is? Doctor who?

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

Oceans 11, the original was an awful musical.

Really? Well, it had the Rat Pack in it which I thought people regarded highly.

The Fly, the original costumes and make up took away from the story

Both the original and the '80s version are rated in the 90th percentile according to Wikipedia.

Scarface, the original was from 1932
True Grit, the original was a spaghetti western

Neither of those are really criticisms...

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

I'll point out that I said reboot, not remake. Did any of those you listed have sequels/series? The '80s Fly had a sequel...according to the W it did well in box office but was panned by critics (which admittedly doesn't say much since the critics tend to be idiots).

Don't know about you, but the preview for the recent True Grit looked terrible, so saying the original was a spaghetti western (and by implication crap?) doesn't buy you anything there.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Has anyone mentioned that your sig includes a common misconstruct of a popular phrase?

for_all_intents_and_purposes
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

for_all_intensive_purposes
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

Re:No thank you

[Culture20]

Most of the utilitarian design shift was supposed to happen during the clone wars. You can see this with the introduction of the Y-Wings, the Z95s, and the ARC-170s.

Re:No thank you

[Culture20]

Which I personally think was worse. The original was kid-friendly (kid targeted actually). I stopped watching the new one when the captain of the Pegasus raped the cylon in front of witnesses. That was as bad as Fred Dukes eating Janet Van Dyne's intestines for no reason (Ultimate Marvel).

Re: No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck the movie, I just hope Red Letter Media's review of this one is as good as episodes 1-3.

Re:No thank you

[xevioso]

But the recent movie True Grit was in fact NOT terrible, very rewatchable, and won an Academy Award.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

At least Millennium Falcon seems to be in the correct shape.

You mean a hamburger with an olive on top ? Lousy shape for a spaceship. Especially for one that can do the Kessel run in 12 parsecs. The original design was so much classier. Maybe to classy for Star Wars.

You know that a parsec is a measure of distance, not time, right? Also take a look at the article on Wikia

Re:No thank you

[Hussman32]

I think you got two out of three. Man of Steel, while I give a lot of credit for the production design and origin story, had way too many buildings getting Superman/Zod trails followed up with Primal Screams...Richard Donner's version was much better (except for the world rotating backwards, I personally view it as a visualization that he had the power to reverse time).

I'm definitely looking forward to Episode VII.

Re:No thank you

[Hussman32]

My understanding from fanboy sites is that J.J. recognizes the criticisms on lens flares and he's backing off on them. Same with the time travel reboots.

Re:No thank you

[Nemyst]

Whoosh.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoooooooosh!

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

At least Millennium Falcon seems to be in the correct shape.

You mean a hamburger with an olive on top ? Lousy shape for a spaceship. Especially for one that can do the Kessel run in 12 parsecs. The original design was so much classier. Maybe to classy for Star Wars.

You know that a parsec is a measure of distance, not time, right? Also take a look at the article on Wikia

Yes thank you very much. I know that a parsec is a mesure of distance like a light-year. What I wrote was a direct reference to what Han Solo says to Luke Skywalker in the cantina. But thank you very much for being pedantic, as if it were necessary in a Star Wars thread of all things.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

In the original, Starbuck was a womanizer who periodically dated a prostitute (though they later changed her to a medic without any explanation), and in one episode openly lamented his missed opportunity at a threesome.

There was "also" kid appeal to the show, which just made it less appealing to its adult audience and strange all around, since the directors couldn't decide on a target audience.

The story was thrown together moments before shooting, sometimes the actors were literally reading their lines (for the very first time) while shooting on the set. It was shallow and confusing and largely nonsensical precisely because it was rushed.

You criticism just a matter of taste; you cannot deny that the new one had a much more organized plot, with more compelling episodes, better set design, better acting, better looking sci fi effects, and general superiority all around.

Re:No thank you

[Aeros]

Thanks..we were wondering if YOU were actually going to see this.

Re:No thank you

[Aeros]

Exactly. People are going to bitch about this film no mater what. I just look at these peoples posts and shake my head. What are they actually contributing to the world except their bitching-n-complaining? Im sure most of these complainers will bitch about the film after they see it but still purchase the dvd/bluray and watch it several more times.

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

Battlestar Galactica. Only a moron would argue.

Well, I guess I'm a moron then. (And before you ask, I watched the entire show through to the very last episode.)

The two incarnations of BSG were from very different times, culturally. And if you say rebooted BSG *as a whole* was better than the original, even not having seen more than an episode or two of the original, I'd have a hard time believing that. If you limit it to the miniseries and the first two seasons, maybe; but after that it was just an extended slow-motion train wreck of plot threads that didn't have a logical conclusion.

And God, I was tired of Roslin. If I was more motivated, I'd go through and count the number of decisions she made where she DIDN'T just ignore everybody who was telling her what the sane thing to do was. Democracy my ass. I swear she got some sort of sadistic joy from telling everyone to fuck off as often as possible.

But BSG is the sort of shot I don't usually want to watch (everybody is all angsty and hating each other and everybody has to make Hard Decisions about who to shoot in the face in order to survive, etc. etc.) so I'm sure there are plenty of arguments as to why it was quality.

Man of Steel is way awesomer than the old superman movies

In Man of Steel, wasn't Superman's enemy his own sadness and depression? Just from that description, I vowed to never watch it.

Dark Knight

Okay, you've got me there. BB and TDK were awesome, although I found TDKR strictly 'meh.'

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

True Grit, the original was a spaghetti western

Methinks you don't know what a "spaghetti Western" is. "True Grit" is not one.

Re:No thank you

[deadweight]

I *HATED* Into Darkness. It was a Bruce Willis Diehard type movie with bad guys trying to fly aircraft/spacecraft into buidlings. It could have been retitled Into 9-11 or something.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the JJ Abrams Star Trek was pretty good. Why don't you go be grumpy somewhere else.

Re:No thank you

[PCM2]

I agree. It was completely unrecognizable as Star Trek. It was blasto-shoot-em-up-mega-action-wowzer-movie IN SPACE. There were no characters and it had the barest shreds of a plot.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Go back and watch the original Wrath of Khan. Ricardo Montalban makes Benedict Cumberbatch look like the faddish piece of shit he is.

Re:No thank you

[Savage-Rabbit]

Might as well be box or cube shaped for all I care.

We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile ...

Wouldn't it be great fun if Star Trek invaded Star Wars?

Re:No thank you

[witherstaff]

One of the expanded novels explained that the kessel run was a gravitational nightmare from black holes so the shorter distance a ship could do it meant they knew the best routes and/or the ship was strong enough to survive.

Re:No thank you

[ChunderDownunder]

Cumberbatch's main claim to fame is playing a camp version of Sherlock Holmes.

I liked the Robert Downey Jr version, so couldn't see why so soon the Americans had to make a TV series with Jonny Lee Miller, nor the BBC with Benedict.

But then Moffat ruined Doctor Who also. :)

Re:No thank you

[Narrowband]

+1 for Ocean's 11.

And don't forget that before Peter Jackson, the best available movie version of Lord of the Rings was an animated musical.

And finally, does anyone seriously believe Adam West was better as Batman in the 1960s than any of the more recent movies?

I think that's three.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Titles can change? It just could be too fast to furious. Then again, JJ will live another day to live free and die hard.

Sequels, gotta love them.

Roadhouse....

Re:No thank you

[Mr. Slippery]

However, "Into Darkness" was actually pretty good.

If you don't mind movies that make absolutely no sense, sure. And now that that Trek-alt 'verse has a Starfleet that's corrupt to the core, interstellar transporters and thus no need for starships, and a fricking CURE FOR DEATH, it's hard to see how any sensible Trek movies can be made without jettisoning STID from continuity.

Re:No thank you

[dgatwood]

Yeah, no argument there. But I know better than to say, "how could they possibly do it worse" because as soon as I say that and go see it, there's a strong chance I'll find out.

I'm expecting a death star with a big round indentation and two smaller indentations to the upper left and right of it.

That and a shot of the Senate in which you can see Donald Duck in one of the distant seats.

Re:No thank you

[Pseudonym]

I'm about 85% certain this is a Poe.

So on the off chance it isn't, because sci fi is very serious business and we can't joke about such things, you have it precisely backwards about those two films. The first one was brilliant despite the lens flare, and the second one was a hamfisted attempt at fanservice.

It is true that Cumberbatch's portrayal of Kahn isn't what dragged Into Darkness down, hence the lingering 15% doubt.

Re:No thank you

[Artifakt]

Midiclorians is a special grade of boner - it doesn't make sense, goes against the existing continuity, AND if it's true, the whole moral stance of the Jedi is a lie (as in, they don't get more power by meditating, learing to control their emotions (all that stuff Yoda was teaching Luke in the original series), and somehow becoming morally fit to serve as the galaxy's force for order and niceness, their power comes simply from being genetically prone to high Midiclorian counts). Midiclorians mean no one can become even the poorest grade Jedi by trying to follow all of Yoda's teachings, even if they practice for their entire lives. All that talk about not giving in to fear because it leads to anger is just guff to manipulate the masses. This is all something the film that introduced Midiclorians specifically announced was affected by heredity, and the whole point is reinforced by Luke being a descendent of the most powerful Midiclorian bearer known.
          With Midiclorians, the Jedi are genetic superhumans who lie to the rest of the galaxy and only claim their authority comes from their moral code and devout worship of the Force. The Jedi and Sith become nothing but two cabals of hidden Nazi Ubermensches, and whichever one wins will continue lying to the common people, practicing cynical realpolitik, but neither group will really believe in such values as truth, democracy, or freedom - the Jedi will just use their lies to put the old Princess system back into power instead of the new Emperor. I quit watching the series after that, because I fully expected the next movie would reveal Yoda was a cannibal necrophiliac and Han's grandmother was really Heinrich Himmler. Frankly, Star Wars would have to stand on a stack of Wookies equal to the total number of Midiclorians every Jedi in history was infected with, just to be able to see the slimy underbelly of the morally bankrupt ending to Ralph Bakshi's Wizards. (Which was repugnant, if funny, but much more palatable than what Star Wars became).

Re:No thank you

[Artifakt]

It's hard to blame anybody else for screwing up Star Trek with Time Travel, given the original series had time travel by Slingshot maneuver around a stellar mass, the Guardian of Forever, visiting a planet that looks just like Roaring 20's Chicago or Alternate History Rome, and something involving roling in the snow with a fur clad Mariette Hartley. There's at least 5 different ways to get displaced in time in TOS, It's the series biggest weak spot. Some of these were very good episodes - City on the Edge of Forever is certainly one of the top ten SF videos of the decade, even if video includes full feature length films. But, taken as a group, they leave the viewer thinking any plot problems can be fixed by the end of the episode, by using one of the many forms of time travel available.

Re:No thank you

[o_ferguson]

The BSG reboot started off great. It had that fucked up "shroom vision" effect when they went into hyperspace the first time that totally fucking blew my mind. That hooked me, and so I watched the entire remainder of the series waiting for them to do it again. THEY. NEVER. DID. Holy fuckin' sci-fi blueballs. The rest of the series was just a complete letdown after that.

Re:No thank you

[o_ferguson]

You can fuck right off about Oceans 11. The original was wonderful because the underlying tale about morality was just totally boffo. The remake was amoral bullshit.

Re:No thank you

[o_ferguson]

Which is why he's perfect for Star Wars.

Re:No thank you

[B33rNinj4]

Amen, sir. Amen.

Re:No thank you

[Jahoda]

Look, I'm not saying that I don't understand your position and share your concerns. But look, they got Lawrence Kasdan to write the script with him, and they've been building actual *sets*, so I feel like we're already closer to getting something resembling Star Wars than we ever were with those ridiculous prequels.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't see the connection between the misused phrase and the commentary of the word "whom," but I guess in the sense of an adopted persona it could work as a joke... like if Tom Green did grammar. I was too willing to believe the most probable answer, which is that a poster hadn't actually read that phrase in use before. Thank you thank you to you lovely folk.

Re: No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

HERATIC!!!!!! That is like crossing the streams, you just don't mix star wars and star trek. Turn in your geek card at the door.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

... if Star Trek invaded Star Wars ...

'Star Wreck', a Finnish movie, where Star Trek invades Babylon 5.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

... underlying tale about morality ...

Yeah, the usual 1950s bullshit that criminals never prosper. In this story, bad planning and an indirect laziness was the culprit. It's not as bad as the original 'Lady killers'; where hardened criminals happily murdered one another but couldn't hurt a little old lady. Sixty years later, everyone else has grown up.

I love that the remake was a team-building gang having an adventure with gadgets thrown in; which included the usual Hollywood never-fails gadgets (sleeping gas, RC vehicle). I hate that the sequels were more of a 'make the robbery as sneaky as possible' story.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

The sig also uses "begs the question" incorrectly. It's just generally trolling grammar nazis.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

... raped the cylon ...

That scene probably didn't advance the story, I don't remember it. But a rape scene would be appropriate. It exposes the themes of 'might is right' and 'legitimizing torture'. To a lesser a extent it exposes 'just following orders' and 'dehumanizing the enemy'.

... original was kid-friendly (kid targeted actually) ...

The absence of story arcs made it a horrendous show plus many of the problems the refugees faced were idiotic (like being mugged by a bank teller!).

The remake showed the zeitgeist of the American people. The enemy was no longer a big army or navy, which was over there and easy to find. The anonymous people among us were the enemy. There was no front-line or safe territory; our friends and colleagues could betray us and become the enemy at any time. Worse, it was an enemy created by those among us with money and power. We, the common people were the victims.

The remake of 'The bionic woman' had an identical side-line story.

Re:No thank you

[DNS-and-BIND]

My ass explained that George Lucas doesn't know his ass from his elbow, and the one time that he used science in Star Wars, he managed to screw it up.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

As an added bonus, we'd get Jedi Scientists which sounds like it could be really cool if they didn't fu.... oh well, so much for that plan.

Speaking of fucked up depictions of scientists, I wonder if you could make a "The Force Theory", by taking clips of Jedi talking about the Force, and adding canned laughter after each sentence.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Millions of the rest of us will enjoy seeing it without you.

Millions of the rest of us will see it without you. Some, perhaps most, will enjoy it.

fify

How on earth did this get modded "+5 Insightful"?

It looks like they are letting anybody moderate slashdot nowadays...

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really. Nobody else gives a fuck about your opinion, either. Keep posting though!

Re: No thank you

[Tazor]

Wow, you really took this way off course. First of all, midichlorian don't create the Force, they just help other races "hear" the will of the Force. Secondly, a high midichlorian count don't mean you are automatically a powerful Jedi. Qui-gon says to Anakin that when he learns to quiet his mind, then he will hear the midichlorians talk to him. So control of the Force still requires control and Focus. I will agree that we didn't need the midichlorians. They could just have said "this kid is strong in the Force, maybe even stronger than Yoda".

Re:No thank you

[slimshady76]

Duh, the first half of the movie would involve some stupid philosophical diatribe by the captain of the flying-pizza-cutter about the right to invade Star Wars universe and make first contact with its inhabitants. Then they would engage in some low-speed battle, some lousy engineer would scream "we don't have enough powah!" at the engine room's intercom, the flying-pizza-cutter would take some bashing and thrashing, and we will see guilt in the captain's face as he's forced to blow the flying-pizza-cutter away to save the crew and defeat some stupid Jarwas.

Also, since this is a JJ Abrahms movie, the above summarized script would involve about 3425432543265 lens flare adorned shots, and would be 316 minutes long.

Re:No thank you

[slimshady76]

Screw the expanded novels, and the Capitalist system who tries to squeeze every penny out of every simple story, by forking it ad infinitum. And screw the asshats who consume that poorly-written offspring.

There's no need to "expand" the three original movies, as there's no need to fill the holes in the Gruyère cheese.

Re:No thank you

[slimshady76]

I got tired of the subjective shots after two episodes. Please somebody tell the photography directors of all the low-to-medium budget space tv series it's an old trick, and it doesn't work anymore. FWIW, I believe they hire just rookie cameramen and pay them minimum wage. Then they try to disguise their not-so-steady-hand by shooting subjective.

Re:No thank you

[deadweight]

Besides for that, it wasn't even in space. IIRC they were causing mayhem in dowtown San Francisco.

Re:No thank you

[dywolf]

Man of Steel has one glaring flaw.
No John Williams theme.
That is an unforgivable sin.

Re:No thank you

[dywolf]

Thou shalt not speak ill of the original Battlestar Galactica!

*hums the theme to himself while hugging himself and rocking back and forth*

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Hyperdrive ain't like dustin crops boy. If you're nit careful you could fly right through a..
*Ow my leg*

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

They just didn't want Force-aware droids....I think that would be a really cool concept....it's about consciousness...

Re:No thank you

[Gryle]

Indeed! How dare someone else enjoy something I didn't! The nerve!

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you always in such a bad mood?

Re:No thank you

[mrchaotica]

Dark Knight was way better than the batman movies of the 90's, and you know it is true.

Better than 90's Batman, sure. But better than 60's Batman?!

Re:No thank you

[mrchaotica]

And finally, does anyone seriously believe Adam West was better as Batman in the 1960s than any of the more recent movies?

He was a lot funnier.

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

Well, that makes a lot more sense than a Trek/Wars mashup; B5 was basically Trek set in a different universe.

*dodges thrown objects*

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

Well, I'm so glad you managed to elevate the discussion by complaining about people complaining. That's so much better than the initial complaining.

Sup dawg, I heard you hate Internet bitching so I gave you a forum that involves lots of Internet bitching, so you can go there and see people bitching, and get mad, and contribute to the bitching yourself. Oh, and condescension.

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

The remake of 'The bionic woman' had an identical side-line story.

Coincidentally Katee Sackhoff also had a relatively major role in BW. I wouldn't have minded if that show had gone on for at least a full season.

Hmm...it was actually an NBC show, not Fox. Man, I remember the days when a show would actually get a whole first season before they flushed it...

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

Maybe they'll say that was all just special effects? You know, holodeck it. If you listen closely, you can hear Riker screaming.

Re:No thank you

[mrchaotica]

I think Abrams has done good stuff and bad stuff and stupid stuff. (The Enterprise engine room is a great example of "stupid stuff".)

WTF? You think the engine room is a better example of stupid stuff in Abrams-Trek than Kirk being promoted from a (fuck-up, insubordinate) cadet to captain in the space of a few days and then keeping the captaincy after the crisis has passed? Or interstellar transporters, which would render starships entirely obsolete (if they didn't just ignore that implication)? Or any number of other plot holes big enough to drive a starshi-- no, a galaxy-class starshi-- no, a fucking borg cube through?!

Fuck, man, JJ sucks so bad even goddamn V'ger could fit through his plot holes!

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

Sturgeon's Law Er, I mean...no. And excuse me for verbalizing what I'm sure a lot of us are thinking. Isn't it at least more intellectually honest to say "I refuse to see this film" than "I know I'm going to hate it but I'll go see it anyway and then come back and bitch about it." I'm cutting out the middleman by complaining about it without ever seeing it! ;)

I'd say I was quite restrained in expressing my disapproval this time. I suppose it's my own fault for making the first post, since every Slashdot article 60% of the replies are in that tree.

Re:No thank you

[mrchaotica]

it's hard to see how any sensible Trek movies can be made without jettisoning STID from continuity.

It's not that hard: they just need to jettison JJ and stick to the "prime" universe.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to mention Kent Sr. nobly sacrificing his life to save... a stupid dog. These writers aren't trying to insult your intelligence. They simply know their customers very well. If you have a couple of braincells to rub together, stop paying for this garbage.

Re:No thank you

[axl917]

But why can't there simply be room for two belief sets? Faith vs. science? Like in Anne Rice's vampire series, for many many centuries the vampires had varying beliefs on they whys and the hows of their vampiric existence. It was only later on that it was discovered that a spirit had taken over the body of a dying woman and somehow animated the cells into eternal life, but one can still view the original event as one of divinity.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhh, the original designs all look like sticks with a couple thrusters attached. The "hunk of junk" design we ended up with is the best one.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you know that? Star Trek engineering rooms were filled with high-tech equipment, antimatter reaction chamber, warp core, etc. NuTrek's engineering room looks like a sewage treatment plant.

I'll take a warp core over a shit combusting engine.

Re:No thank you

[roc97007]

I didn't say the engine room was the best example. It was one of many and one in particular that stuck out for me. Your mileage as always may vary.

Re:No thank you

[JakeBurn]

You mean because JJ Abrams finally made a Star Trek that was interesting and exciting to watch to people other than die-hard fans that it was somehow bad? I grew up on Star Trek and honestly was bored as hell watching the last few of the TNG movies. They weren't horrible, but they were definitely boring compared to the new ones and lacked a lot of what I loved about the show itself. JJ Abrams didn't even start the whole series down the action path, he just did it better than the last few movies. TNG was so much more about political issues and less about combat, but the movies tried to blend both and didn't really do that great of a job with it. The new movies, to me anyway, are the best they could have done with what the TNG people started. Now, Lucas can go fuck himself for what he made the Star Wars prequels into. Star Wars has always been about the action. We watched the originals just hoping and waiting to see Luke do some crazy shit or to see some badass piloting skills at destroying empire ships. We couldn't give two shits about senators and trade routes. If they have a decent story, the JJ Abrams treatment is exactly what Star Wars needs at this point.
My Star Wars wishlist for the new movie:
The sith take revenge on the Ewoks for helping to destroy the deathstar and rain force lightning down on all of them prompting the jedi to action. During this scene the sith leader is seen having some space drink from Jar-Jar's skull. 2-3 hours of jedi on jedi fight scenes, fade to black.

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

You're welcome to your opinion, even if it is wrong ;)

And this just demonstrates how different we are. That plot you made up sound terrible to me. Anything that involves armies of Sith or Jedi sounds incredibly tactless. Jedi aren't about being soldiers; they're about philosophy. And more than like 15 minutes of lightsaber action in a movie is just fanboy masturbation. I'm not saying I don't like those fights, but they're very easy to overdo.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

B5 was Star Control. Ask TFB what they think about B5 next time you run into them at a game conference.

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Midiclorians is a special grade of boner - it doesn't make sense, goes against the existing continuity, AND if it's true, the whole moral stance of the Jedi is a lie (as in, they don't get more power by meditating, learing to control their emotions (all that stuff Yoda was teaching Luke in the original series), and somehow becoming morally fit to serve as the galaxy's force for order and niceness, their power comes simply from being genetically prone to high Midiclorian counts). Midiclorians mean no one can become even the poorest grade Jedi by trying to follow all of Yoda's teachings, even if they practice for their entire lives. All that talk about not giving in to fear because it leads to anger is just guff to manipulate the masses. This is all something the film that introduced Midiclorians specifically announced was affected by heredity, and the whole point is reinforced by Luke being a descendent of the most powerful Midiclorian bearer known.

          With Midiclorians, the Jedi are genetic superhumans who lie to the rest of the galaxy and only claim their authority comes from their moral code and devout worship of the Force. The Jedi and Sith become nothing but two cabals of hidden Nazi Ubermensches, and whichever one wins will continue lying to the common people, practicing cynical realpolitik, but neither group will really believe in such values as truth, democracy, or freedom - the Jedi will just use their lies to put the old Princess system back into power instead of the new Emperor. I quit watching the series after that, because I fully expected the next movie would reveal Yoda was a cannibal necrophiliac and Han's grandmother was really Heinrich Himmler. Frankly, Star Wars would have to stand on a stack of Wookies equal to the total number of Midiclorians every Jedi in history was infected with, just to be able to see the slimy underbelly of the morally bankrupt ending to Ralph Bakshi's Wizards. (Which was repugnant, if funny, but much more palatable than what Star Wars became).

You're wrong!

Re: No thank you

[ChrisMaple]

Heratic? A worshipper of the goddess Hera?

Re:No thank you

[alexgieg]

Does this includes cartoons? If so, I'll name My Little Pony. Generation 4 (the current series) is several orders of magnitude better than any of the previous ones.

(Yes, I'm a brony.)

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for this eloquent summary of just what I've always thought was wrong with that new definition of The Force.

Re:No thank you

[TangoMargarine]

Is that a reboot? "Later season" doesn't count.

Re:No thank you

[alexgieg]

Yes, a reboot. Each generation is a complete new story, reworking from the ground up characters, replacing several and adding new ones, changing the setting etc. Except for character names a new generation has no relation storywise with previous ones.

1983's Generation 1 is good but at (a very distant) second place compared to G4, with three TV seasons, a few TV specials and a movie.

1997's G2 didn't have a TV series.

2003's G3 and 2009's G3.5 didn't have TV series proper, but had a few kinda boring direct-to-video releases.

2010's G4, the current version, is so good it has four TV seasons, two limited theatrical releases movies, is about to enter its 5th season (with at least four more planned) and to spawn the first season of a spin-off series, has a feature film planned for 2017, and something between 5 and 12 million adult fans worldwide. ;-)

Re:No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

its fine for space but shitty for ground to orbit flight. in the same vane all the tie fighters stink at atmospheric flight and combat, and would be vulnerable at combat near a planet like mars due to dependence on solar power and thus reduced speed maneuverability and firepower in combat with rebel fighters at such a distance from a star and complete uselessness attacking rebel ships and bases further out in a star system, or in deep space. the blunt flat surfaces on most rebel fighters i.e. x-wing and y-wing wound render in atmosphere combat and ground to orbit flight performance would be shitty although the might be able to configure aerodynamic atmospheric flow with shields.the b-wing is fairly aerodynamic except for the cannons and nose same with imperial shuttles blunt surfaces. the a-wing however should have excelent atmospheric performance.even if space is a vacume its not a void.solar wind would effect flight charecteristics to an extent as would dust and nebulas.if the rebels put a bases on a moon of say neptune the imperials would have to fight with no fighter cover, while the rebels would not be so handicapped. it would also be possible to attack imperial orbital ship yards,planetary bases and the death star itself with large asteroids equipped with hyperdrives,navigational computers and a power generator, as it was stated in the empire strikes back by han to leia, the gravity fields of a planet or star pull you out of hyperspace so shipyards and planetary bases would be smashed without warning or time to react and shields wouldn't help either even if up at the time.the death star constructed out of layered decks like a star cruiser would crush like an empty beer can.

Movie ordering

[Anonymous Coward]

Where does this sit in the order of movies? Was this movie planned with the original 6?

Re:Movie ordering

[Anonymous Coward]

Lucas planned to do nine Star Wars films, originally.

Re:Movie ordering

[roc97007]

I recall distinctly, back in the seventies, when the original Star Wars was really taking off, there was discussion that Lucas had envisioned nine movies total, in the order of 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9. This ordering was the result of the decision to start in "the middle of the story" to get viewers immediately into the action, and then backfill later.

Many years later, I think when TPM was being planned, Lucas disavowed any concept of 9 films, insisting he only ever planned 6. But now we're back to nine. Go figure.

Re:Movie ordering

[Tumbleweed]

Where does this sit in the order of movies? Was this movie planned with the original 6?

I'm pretty sure "Episode VII' tells you everything you need to know. :)

Re:Movie ordering

[Anonymous Coward]

Many years later, I think when TPM was being planned, Lucas disavowed any concept of 9 films, insisting he only ever planned 6. But now we're back to nine. Go figure.

Disney altered the deal. Pray they don't alter it further.

Re:Movie ordering

[Anonymous Coward]

Many years later, I think when TPM was being planned, Lucas disavowed any concept of 9 films, insisting he only ever planned 6. But now we're back to nine. Go figure.

Disney altered the deal. Pray they don't alter it further.

This comment is at 1, while the following 2 are at 5, Funny:

"star wars episode vii: rise of the lens flare"
"Star Wars Episode VII: Belated Cash Grab"

I fucking hate what Slashdot has become.

Re:Movie ordering

[slimshady76]

Errr... Nah. That was his lame excuse for squeezing more money from the franchise when he was set to boot the prequels. The ORIGINAL Star Wars film was a one-off. Something, something something, Dark Side and It's A Trap! were sequels based on the success of the first movie, but since they were conceived in the same epoca the original film was, held some coherence.

The three bastard children not-even-worth-mentioning appear in comparison to be written by lawyers who don't even bothered to watch the original Saga.

Re:Movie ordering

[slimshady76]

The original Star Wars film started with the scrolling text and that "EPISODE IV" title as a homage to the old short-chapter Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers series Lucas used to watch in the movie theaters previous to the main feature. He NEVER had the intention to make 9, 6 or even 3 movies from the beginning.

Then he rolled that mumbo-jumbo and used the "EPISODE IV" as an anchor to justify Jar-Jar Binks and other abominations, such as Female Jedi knights and midichlorians.

Re:Movie ordering

[dywolf]

there was never any reason to continue any story after RotJ.
the story is complete.

Whether viewed as a set of three movies (the original) or 6, the story can essentially be described as Redemption of Darth Vader.
That's where the emotional punch comes from:
Not just the idea that good can triumph over evil, but that evil's seeming invincibiltyand inevitability is an illusion.
That there is always hope no matter how far one has fallen redemption is in reach.

Hell, the most common trope the Star Wars universe is the idea of redeeming some character from the Dark Side, which is ultimately an allusion to, or inspired by, the character arc of Anakin/Vader.

Re:Movie ordering

[dywolf]

You sir win.

Re:Movie ordering

[Drethon]

I had an advertisement with the movies in that order and release dates. Not sure if it was official or not though.

Re:Movie ordering

[Kartu]

Actually, twelve:

"Mark Hamill has stated that Lucas told him in 1976, while filming the first film in Tunisia, that four Star Wars trilogies were planned. Lucas suggested Hamill could have a cameo role in Episode IX, which might be filmed in 2011.[1][4] A Time magazine story in March 1978, quoting Lucas, also contained the assertion there would be 10 further Star Wars films after The Empire Strikes Back.[5] Gary Kurtz was also aware of proposed story elements for Episode VII to IX before 1980."
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

Re:Movie ordering

[roc97007]

> The original Star Wars film started with the scrolling text and that "EPISODE IV" title as a homage to the old short-chapter Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers series Lucas used to watch in the movie theaters previous to the main feature. He NEVER had the intention to make 9, 6 or even 3 movies from the beginning.

One could debate his intentions regarding sequels, but I was at the Cine Capri in Phoenix, AZ for a now-embarrassing number of showings in 1977, and there was no "episode iv" nor "a new hope" in the scroll. I'm sorry, it wasn't there. It was added later.

Re:Movie ordering

[amxcoder]

I specifically remember a childhood rumor going back to the early/mid 80's that there were 9 stories total. Obviously, for years, the other 6 never came, and it kinda turned into an urban legend until the announcement of the first 3.

Re:Movie ordering

[Anonymous Coward]

DARTHBETA: It's too late for me. Dice.com will show you the TRUE nature of online discussion forums.

Re:Movie ordering

[slimshady76]

:-O I must say I'm honored to meet somebody who assisted to the first screenings... From what I've read, you are right, those subtitles weren't there in the very first incarnation of the film.

Re:Movie ordering

[roc97007]

> Hell, the most common trope the Star Wars universe is the idea of redeeming some character from the Dark Side, which is ultimately an allusion to, or inspired by, the character arc of Anakin/Vader.

...and it's a good concept, and was used to very dramatic effect in Return of the Jedi. (And somewhat made up for all the ewoks nonsense earlier in the film.)

But the effect was somewhat destroyed by Anakin's portrayal as a spoiled jerk in the prequels. You got a sense, by the merciful end of whatever the third prequel was called, that Anakin really REALLY needed to die. Like, right now. He appeared to have no redeemable quantities whatsoever, and you couldn't wait for his appendages to be removed in garishly done CGI.

So, looking back, or forward (that's the trouble with time travel, you can never... sorry wrong show) to Vader's change of heart and betrayal of the emperor, it comes off less as his good side (properly foreshadowed) coming through, but rather that he couldn't decide whether to continue to cast his lot with the emperor at the expense of his son, or carry out his earlier Plan B, which was to "rule the galaxy as father and son". Or that he was just being wishy-washy.

See, as portrayed in the original series, you could imagine Vader finding some redemption. But as portrayed in the prequels, you couldn't see that happening. He was the worst of self-absorbed jerks.

A better writer/director would have portrayed Anakin/Vader more as a person doing what he thought was right, and ending up making a mess that he regretted. Not regretting because it got his limbs severed, but because he felt some kind of genuine remorse for the actions he felt necessary. (And no, having Jones shout out a corny "Nooooooooooooo" at the end isn't sufficient.)

There was a lot of potential in the concept for a really compelling story. But instead we got lots and lots of quirky digital effects.

Now, some people say that Lucas was always a hack, and he just got lucky with Star Wars (the original film). I don't think so. I think he was a true visionary. But... something happened to him, starting in the 1980's, and he.. I dunno... lost his muse. And by then was so powerful that nobody on the crew dared say "Um, George, this is crap."

Re:Movie ordering

[roc97007]

> there was never any reason to continue any story after RotJ. the story is complete.

I understand the feeling. Vader's story is complete. But what's interesting to me (if they can tell it in a compelling way, and not, for instance, like the crapfest that was the prequels) is what Luke's experiences (the majority of which was caused by Vader) did to him. Luke represents the final splash damage of Anakin's wasted life. It's a thread that shouldn't be left dangling.

Put another way, the story left to tell is how the characters recovered (or didn't) and rebuilt after what happened in the first films. And I don't mean just tearing down statues.

The Turd in the Bowl?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think so.

proper name!

[rogoshen1]

"Star Wars Episode VII: Belated Cash Grab" ?

Re:proper name!

[Anonymous Coward]

And per the official studio artwork, the proper name is actually "Star The Force Awakens Wars", which only sounds like a Yoda-ism...

Muck like Abrams last titular mistake: "Star, Trek Into Darkness".

Re:proper name!

[roc97007]

Enh. If they were really only after a cash grab, they could just re-release the original six with different covers and more and more FX added. It would be less work.

Re:proper name!

[The_Rook]

star wars episode vii: rise of the lens flare

Re:proper name!

[Anonymous Coward]

Also similar in spirit to "A Lifeless Ordinary [film]."

Re:proper name!

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Wars Episode VII: Disney.

That is all...

Re:proper name!

[Pseudonym]

Marvel: Disney

So, yeah, it can work for you or against you.

Re:proper name!

[slimshady76]

How long before we have a Marvel Vs Star Wars Xbox game?

Re:proper name!

[SuiteSisterMary]

Time for a sequal!

Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Sums up how I feel about that title and what I know of the movie thus far...

Re:Meh

[roc97007]

I don't blame you. After three films ranging from "meh" to "I just vomited in my popcorn", any new film is going to be approached with extreme suspicion. And that's a good thing.

I think Brooks had it with

[stewsters]

Star Sars Episode VII: The Search for More Money.

Re:I think Brooks had it with

[Anonymous Coward]

Star SARS?

Re:I think Brooks had it with

[Iniamyen]

Star Wars the FLAME THROWER!

Re:I think Brooks had it with

[sls1j]

You mean "camera flare thrower" right?

Re:I think Brooks had it with

[Anonymous Coward]

WOOSH!

Re:I think Brooks had it with

[Anonymous Coward]

Jar Jar Binks the TOILET PAPER!

Re:I think Brooks had it with

[jjbenz]

Ah, the kids love that one.

Re:I think Brooks had it with

[Iniamyen]

Good idea; I would gladly wipe my ass with Jar Jar Binks' face.

Pretty cool

[kruach aum]

I like the name; I think it's good. The most interesting part of star wars is the force (and the jedi, as the primary force users). Suggesting that the force is central to the story by naming it in the title gives me hope.

Re:Pretty cool

[wiredlogic]

Suggesting that the force is central to the story by naming it in the title gives me hope.

Would that be a new hope?

Re:Pretty cool

[BaronAaron]

by naming it in the title gives me hope.

The title also gives me a new hope ...

Re:Pretty cool

[ifiwereasculptor]

The jedi were cool and popular. So they based the whole prequel trilogy around them, and we all know how that turned out. Sometimes the best thing you can do if leave the coolest chacter in the sidelines.

Re:Pretty cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Really funny if episode 9 is about the Jedi and Sith remnants deciding that the Force has been a malevolent master throughout the history of the galaxy and work together to neutralize it.

Episode 9: Kes's Justice (Vengeance for Darth Traya)

Re:Pretty cool

[kruach aum]

No, the focus of the prequel trilogy was human drama, which is never enticing. If it had actually been about the force it would have been amazing, but instead it was about fucking Jar-Jar, Anakin's anxiety, and stillborn babies.

Re:Pretty cool

[wonkey_monkey]

The Jedi were cool and popular and mysterious. Once you got to see them in council meetings... well, takes a bit of the mystique out of it.

Re:Pretty cool

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the focus of the prequel trilogy was human drama, which is never enticing. If it had actually been about the force it would have been amazing, but instead it was about fucking Jar-Jar, Anakin's anxiety, and stillborn babies.

The Prequel Trilogy concept is sound, IF a good director had filmed them.
The Phantom Menace actually is a good film, much better than the sequels. And yet the goodness doesn't shine through because of Lucas and his "ewoking" the film with Jar Jar, poops and silly accent trade federation aliens. Take them out, rearange a little bit the film and it becomes good. Epic on par with the original Star Wars. Now 2 and 3 are a train wreck entirely due to Lucas. How you can misuse such a great character as Yoda still suprises me.

Re:Pretty cool

[roc97007]

Suggesting that the force is central to the story by naming it in the title gives me hope.

Would that be a new hope?

They'll wait until the first re-release, call it "a NEW new hope" and pretend that was the name all along.

Re:Pretty cool

[magarity]

The most interesting part of star wars is the force

I thought the most interesting part was a plucky group of democracy minded rebels against a huge, oppressive dictatorship.

Re:Pretty cool

[TangoMargarine]

To get all nerdy on you for a second here...

According to the prequel canon, one of the two core aspects of The Force to begin with is The Living Force (the other being Unifying). So saying "The Force Awakens" is kind of like making a movie about The Beginning of the Republican Party, only said beginning is set in 2008.

Re:Pretty cool

[kruach aum]

That means you're part of the problem. Politics are just the fucking worst.

Re:Pretty cool

[kruach aum]

Let me ask you this: did we really need a pod race? What does it establish? What does it add? Is it exciting? And yet we spend a good half hour on that bullshit on Tatooine, half an hour that could have been spent observing the ways of the Force. I wonder if there's even a hundred people who liked the original trilogy who had a positive opinion on Watto. Was that something we needed, George Fucking Lucas?

Re:Pretty cool

[kylemonger]

I've no comment on Watto, but the pod race was an obvious homage to the chariot race in Ben Hur. I guess they could have demonstrated Anakin's latent force ability in some other way that sold toys, like having him do a fakie 900 blindfolded on his hoverboard. But honestly, the pod race was no more contrived than the ridiculous scenario in Star Wars where they had to fly down this long trench to launch a couple of torpedos.

Re:Pretty cool

[Sir_Eptishous]

I don't understand lumping all three prequels into this "suck" category.
The first one was stiff and annoying, but it had some good moments. The second and third films are much better.

Re:Pretty cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Find 'The Phantom Edit', supposedly it makes the movie much better.

Re:Pretty cool

[Sir_Eptishous]

Thats Rich!!!
Mod Points!

Re:Pretty cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me ask you this: did we really need a pod race? What does it establish? What does it add? Is it exciting? And yet we spend a good half hour on that bullshit on Tatooine, half an hour that could have been spent observing the ways of the Force. I wonder if there's even a hundred people who liked the original trilogy who had a positive opinion on Watto. Was that something we needed, George Fucking Lucas?

The pod race establishes that Anakin Skywalker is a gifted mechanic/pilot. Yes the race was exciting, and yes spending time on Tatooine is necesary because the main fucking character lives there. And he's a slave.

The real problem with the Prequel Trilogy is that Anakin Skywalker is not the tragic character that he needs to be. Young Anakin was ok, after all nobody is born evil. That is something that is foistered upon us or we become evil because of life circumstances. But children are not evil. And it's nice seeing young Anakin being a good loving child even though we know how it will all end. The main problem is that once Anakin is adolescent/young adult Lucas doesn't treat him as a tragic character. It's more like "naught naught boy". And that doesn't cut it. Even the forbidden love story is not tragic. It feels like Dwason's Creek. It is Geoge Lucas's fault for not being able to bring out the tragicness of this character. And because of this, and several other issues (like the 2 and 3 films being more video game and less film, the choice of Christian Hayden wasn't good) make the PT a chore to watch. I understand why people hate it. I like Star Wars, I grew up with the OT so the PT let me down. And yet if you look carefully the good material is there. It's just that Luca's "ewoked" it all and sent it down the gutter. In this case blame the man, not the material. A good filmmaker would have treated the characters with respect and we would have gotten an excellent and tragic PT. It was wasted occasion.

Re:Pretty cool

[ASDFnz]

But children are not evil.

We will just have to agree to disagree here.

Re:Pretty cool

[PCM2]

The second and third films are much better.

Joking, surely. Attack of the Clones is unwatchable.

Re:Pretty cool

[PCM2]

The Jedi were cool and popular and mysterious. Once you got to see them in council meetings... well, takes a bit of the mystique out of it.

What kid wouldn't dream of being a Jedi once he finds out they use their incredible powers and wisdom to go around the Galaxy sorting out tax disputes?

Re:Pretty cool

[Savage-Rabbit]

Let me ask you this: did we really need a pod race? What does it establish? What does it add? Is it exciting? And yet we spend a good half hour on that bullshit on Tatooine, half an hour that could have been spent observing the ways of the Force. I wonder if there's even a hundred people who liked the original trilogy who had a positive opinion on Watto. Was that something we needed, George Fucking Lucas?

The Pod race? Is that really the worst way you can think of that they ruined Star Wars? They ruined Star Wars for me with the battle of Endor, Awwww ... cute little teddybears. I would not shed any tears if they reshot that entire part of the original trilogy with Wookies like was originally intended (or so some SW fanboy told me). Then they threw in Jar Jar Binks... and that asinine battle between the Gungans and the Droids. A civilisation that can produce shield generators is tossing stuff at the enemy with catapults and throwing cavalry at tanks? Really? I can't decide which is worse. And then there is the scene where Yoda stumbles onto that landing pad with his cane and alluvasudden is he bouncing off the walls like a rubber ball as he duels Count Dooku. The list goes on, and on, and on... The whole movie theatre burst out in hearty laughter when that Yoda/Dooku duel scene came up. For a moment I felt like I was watching a Monty Python movie. I rather like the animated Clone Wars/Rebels series though, since there is a bit less braindead slapstick in it and once in a while you are treated to a scene where the clone troopers and commando droids are behaving in a way that vaguely (emphasise vaguely) resembles the way real soldiers would behave (the regular of the Droids are so stupid even the kids think it's unrealistic). It's really a pity how Lucas and the studio marketing and management monkeys have managed to screw up Star Wars, it's an awesome fantasy universe in many ways. It's also remarkable how popular Star Wars is despite all the ways they have FUBAR'ed it.

Re:Pretty cool

[Anonymous Coward]

The Yoda fight was directly stolen from Muppet treasure island's Kermit fight.

Re:Pretty cool

[slimshady76]

If human drama was the focus, too bad they chose that railroad tie of Hayden Christensen to play Anakin... Gosh, even Tom Cruise has more facial expressions...

Re:Pretty cool

[slimshady76]

They needed somebody with a less expressive face than Hayden Christensen, so they pulled that whole movie around multiple Jango Fett incarnations. That made Christensen look like a mix of Robin Williams, DeNiro and Jackie Chan in comparison.

Re:Pretty cool

[slimshady76]

Let's face it, Christensen wasn't able to communicate a single emotion out of his plastic face. Maybe he was trying to be tragic, but what we saw was a robot saying "I'm-sorry-master-I-was-weak" with a monotone computer voice...

Re:Pretty cool

[Talderas]

I don't recall anyone fornicating with Jar Jar.

Re:Pretty cool

[dywolf]

when i first saw it, yes the race was exciting.
it was probably the high point of the film.
now, the graphics are dated, and the bit hasnt held up that well.

Re:Pretty cool

[dywolf]

I disagree. TPM is nearly unwatchable now.
AotC was better, by relying less on the talky talky bad actors.
RotS was the best of the prequels by far, though all 3 are fairly dismal.

Re:Pretty cool

[RavenLrD20k]

The reason I lump all three prequels into the "suck" category is the fact that Anakin Skywalker as portrayed by Christensen completely breaks continuity from Darth Vader as he was in the original trilogy. The prequels would be fair movies on their own if they didn't break that continuity of character that needed to flow into the story of the original trilogy (plot holes not withstanding). Vader was brooding, analytical, calculating, and intolerant. Granted the expanded universe books have been declared null and void to the discussion of the movies, but if I remember right, those books have said that the brooding and calculating traits were with Anakin from the beginning when he was found by the Jedi; which contributed to his being consistently alienated from the Jedi Order. Looking at the portrayal in the prequels (regardless of this is to be blamed on Christensen or the writers), that Anakin was whiny, impatient, reckless, and thoughtless right up to the moment he burned. Essentially, Anakin had the complete emotionally opposite core personality from Vader. People's core personality won't change like that unless they suffered major brain injury (not something that was indicated when he burned in the fire pits).

Another part of the prequels that broke the Anakin story for me was the whole messiah complex that was going on. On one hand, I can see the irony of inserting that into the story. "He's the one who will restore balance to the Force." Well, he did. He increased the weight on the Dark Side to counteract the complacency of a Light Side that had been suffering from having too much power for too long. But it's also something that contributed to breaking the character continuity. Vader would have come from a child who was bullied by everyone, and set up to fail often (nurturing his intolerance for the failure of others). Someone who was berated every time he opened his mouth (becoming a man who only speaks when absolutely necessary). Someone who was chastised for putting a voice to his pain (emotional expression is nullified). Someone perpetually on the outside of society's cliques (perpetually the loner). Someone who's survival and success depended on his ability to quickly create a strategy of subversion and the balls to act on it. Anakin was none of this. He was the entitled brat that always wanted more, never shut up about how he was supposedly wronged, always sought acceptance of others, and never came up with a plan of action on his own. Whenever he was bullied he was always rescued, beginning with Qui-Gon rescuing him from Watto and ending with Palpatine rescuing him from the fire pits.

Think back to the prequels: Anakin was a capable fighter, but he always got into a situation he needed to be saved from...and there was ALWAYS someone there to pick him up and kept him from absolutely failing. When did we ever see Vader needing to be saved from a situation? Hell, when did Vader ever truly lose control of a situation? Maintaining situational control is not something an entitled brat ever learns to do. When they start losing control of a situation, self-control will go out of the window and there wouldn't be any regrouping to recalculate, only perpetual knee-jerk reactions. Those with an entitlement complex don't adapt well to adversity. Those who are constantly beaten down, however, do; and Vader's success is through his ability to quickly formulate and act on a new plan.

tl;dr version using chess piece powers as reference: Prequel Anakin was a pawn that does not offer a logical character path to have grown into Vader's Queen to Palpatine's King.

Re:Pretty cool

[magarity]

Wookies probably felt the same way about politics before the Empire enslaved them to build the death star.

Re:Pretty cool

[kruach aum]

Yes, it was their lack of political acumen rather than the massive disparity in technological development that caused their enslavement, well spotted.

Re:Pretty cool

[ChrisMaple]

The pod racers are technologically idiotic. Three loosely coupled units in a race with other such vehicles is below silly, and no amount of hand-waving pseudoscience will ever make it otherwise. The trench attack, on the other hand, could be made to make sense initially (It falls apart eventually when the extended details are examined - if Luke could only attack the exhaust port by entering the trench at a great distance, how could the Millennium Falcon save his bacon by zooming in from directly above?)

Actually constructing something as complex as a pod racer illustrates Anakin's immense engineering ability, especially considering (and this is absurd) that he is a slave. It has nothing to do with "the force".

Re:Pretty cool

[ChrisMaple]

Democracy? Democracy? In no way is democracy or any other particular political system implied or stated as applying to the Rebel Alliance. They were fighting for freedom.

One of many illustrations of this is the Princess Leia quote "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Re:Pretty cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Why a pod race?

Video games, man. Video games.

falling door on the Millennium Falcon?

[Ecuador]

Well, it was supposed to be kind of an old wreck back in Episode IV, I guess by now it is a wonder it is flying at all...

Re:falling door on the Millennium Falcon?

[Anonymous Coward]

The submission threw the line and the hook for us to mention that the actual Millennium Falcon was and always will be a piece of junk no matter how fast it can take the Kessel Runnnnn. Damned! My mechanical hand is getting stuck again.

Re:falling door on the Millennium Falcon?

[Anonymous Coward]

Que the "She'll hold together" jokes.

Re:falling door on the Millennium Falcon?

[PPH]

It will be revealed where Han Solo has been stashing all those NHTSA recall notices.

Re:falling door on the Millennium Falcon?

[Pfhorrest]

Que? Cómo "que" una broma? Quiso decir "queue"? O "más probablemente "cue"?

Re:falling door on the Millennium Falcon?

[o_ferguson]

I wonder if this sequel will finally explain what happened to those Imperials who were knocked out during the Death Star landing in Ep. IV and stowed away in the smuggling compartments? I always figured one of them had woken up and subsisted on the corpses of the other ones while sneaking around in the bowels of the ship causing havoc. That's why there are so many mechanical problems with the MF later in the OT.

Re:falling door on the Millennium Falcon?

[Anonymous Coward]

Jebi se, govori engleski.

Star Wars vs Disney

[cogeek]

Given that the Star Wars franchise is owned by Disney now, we should be thankful the title isn't:
Star Wars Episode VII: It's a Small Universe After All

Re:Star Wars vs Disney

[roc97007]

Or Star Wars Episode VII: The Ewok Cuteness

Re:Star Wars vs Disney

[Anonymous Coward]

"Star Wars VII: The Force Hits the Snooze Button and Rolls Back Over"

Re:Star Wars vs Disney

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, well, now that Leia is a Disney Princess (tm) we better watch out for the next installment, Star Wars on Ice.

My predictions

[Aboroth]

Here's what I expect, in so specific order.

1.) Lens flares, so you can't see what's happening clearly!
2.) Shaky cam, so you can't focus on anything happening!
3.) Ultra-close-up action, so you don't know who is doing what in fights!
4.) Previously known characters acting against their established personalities, for no good reason, and against all reason in general.
5.) Teal and orange! In every scene, teal and orange will provide the color contrast.
6.) C-3PO and R2-D2 will appear for some stupid fucking reasons and tie into the mythos in even more unlikely and retarded ways.

Re:My predictions

[Defenestrar]

Don't forget that the "lens" flares move independent of either the camera position or light points.

Re:My predictions

[Sir_Eptishous]

4.) Previously known characters acting against their established personalities, for no good reason, and against all reason in general.

This. Is. What. Will. Happen. Again. And. Again.

Re:My predictions

[Aboroth]

I almost forgot:

7.) An awkwardly shoehorned in love story, possibly satisfying prediction 4 simultaneously.

Re:My predictions

[mythosaz]

6.) C-3PO and R2-D2 will appear for some stupid fucking reasons and tie into the mythos in even more unlikely and retarded ways.

For whatever it's worth, and despite some of the story issues it creates, I actually enjoy the droids being the thread that runs through all of the tapestries.

To each their own.

Re:My predictions

[Aboroth]

It's easy to make the droids thread through everything when you suck at writing. They have no character development, nor capacity for it.

Re:My predictions

[roc97007]

It was a good idea, but wasn't handled well. For just one thing, wouldn't Vader recognize the droid he had built as a kid?

Re:My predictions

[Anonymous Coward]

When, exactly, did Vader ever see either of the droids in the original trilogy?

Would you recognize a car you put together after not seeing it for 30 years?

Re:My predictions

[Nidi62]

When, exactly, did Vader ever see either of the droids in the original trilogy?

C3PO was in the bag on the back of Chewbacca while Vader and Boba Fett were having Solo frozen in carbonite in Cloud City. So Vader saw him there. And could possibly have seen him in A New Hope after Ben died. Seeing as how C3PO is apparently the only gold protocol droid in the galaxy, Vader would have recognized him easily.

Re:My predictions

[Dan541]

Assuming he has any recollection of his childhood. I would assume turning to the darkside repressed thing like memory, certainly happy memories at least.

Even if he did recognise them, why would he care? They carry no real significance to him as he was already aware of Obi-wan and Luke's presence.

Re:My predictions

[Anonymous Coward]

CRAP! i did not think of that. You are absolutely right, this is one major component that is for sure going to screw the movie.

Re:My predictions

[Anonymous Coward]

... Here's what I expect

You missed one: A three second scene being displayed 5 times from different ultra-close-up cameras.

Re:My predictions

[Anonymous Coward]

8) Fucking PROFIT. Loads of money money money.

Re:My predictions

[SuiteSisterMary]

He did. Why do you think 3PO's parts were delivered to Chewie after 3PO wandered somewhere he shouldn't have and got blowed up?

Re:My predictions

[Anonymous Coward]

...and possibly involving prediction 6: "The love that dare not beep-boop it's name"

Re:My predictions

[matfud]

Did he make a gold droid?

I ain't a star wars fanatic. I thought c3po did not have any covering (in ep 1)

Re:My predictions

[roc97007]

He did. Why do you think 3PO's parts were delivered to Chewie after 3PO wandered somewhere he shouldn't have and got blowed up?

I hadn't thought of that. It's an interesting interpretation, and helps close what I thought was a plot hole.

Re:My predictions

[zlives]

its the disney magic

Re:My predictions

[ChrisMaple]

Han Solo refers to C-3PO as "goldenrod" in episode 4, referring to the yellowish color, not necessarily the element gold. Your point stands, however, because the images I found for episode 1 show C-3PO unskinned. Most of its parts are steel-colored, although some large parts that might be visible in a finished droid are yellowish. Good catch, matfud.

Re:My predictions

[matfud]

I did actually look around to find out why Darth Vader did not know C3PO and vs versa.

When they made the prequels they did consider it. Hence C3PO not having a skin for the first two films (why darth vader does not know him). And why C3PO is ordered to forget everything at the end of ep3 (so he does not know darth vader)

Woooo that is far more than I wanted to know about starwars. I thought it was cool when I saw the first three back to back in a cinema in the 1993. I had seen them before but never in a cinema :)

Re:My predictions

[matfud]

Sorry that is knowledge after the fact. I did not know it. I looked it up a few days after I said I thought C3PO did not have a skin. At some point it started to bother me so I looked it up. I'm not sure how much of that is retrofitted just to allow the droids to be in the first 3 movies.

Nevermind!

Talking Star wars moivie

[geekoid]

this takes me back to /. during the 90's.
Sooo who are we pouring hot grits on now?

Re:Talking Star wars moivie

[Anonymous Coward]

Still Natalie Postman, but we put the syrup on Victoria Justice.

Re:Talking Star wars moivie

[TangoMargarine]

The Portman Always Rings Twice?

Interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't he also injured during filming of the original?

Re:Interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

In real life he's extremely short, and supposedly wears elevator shoes for filming so it doesn't show. It probably contributes to accidents on set.

Re:Interesting

[o_ferguson]

I have a friend whose sister live in L.A. and knows H. Ford. She says that, contrary to popular belief that they had a falling out, he and Mark Hamill still get together regularly and smoke blunts that they light with burning hundred dollar bills. True story.

Re:Interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

He's over six feet tall?

Re:Interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a friend whose sister live in L.A. and knows H. Ford. She says that, contrary to popular belief that they had a falling out, he and Mark Hamill still get together regularly and smoke blunts that they light with burning hundred dollar bills. True story.

Of course. Then they both double-dong Carrie Fisher till they puke.

Re:Interesting

[ChrisMaple]

imdb says 6'1". Taller than average.

I like Harrison, but

[Anonymous Coward]

> Harrison Ford, broke his leg on set in an accident involving a falling door on the Millennium Falcon

Karma's a bitch. Just thinking about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Fail name

[Anonymous Coward]

Fucking retarded

I'm optimistic...

[Prien715]

After the terrible new trilogy, I'm cautiously excited by the new movie written by Lawrence Kasdan, who had zero involvement with the episodes 1-4, but did write such films as The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

They'll be plenty of eye candy (to be sure -- so did the originals!), but maybe having a good writer (who made almost all the Star Wars films you love -- and none of the ones you hate) means you'll have a good story?

Re:I'm optimistic...

[jdavidb]

but maybe having a good writer (who made almost all the Star Wars films you love -- and none of the ones you hate) means you'll have a good story?

I don't know if today's grown Star Wars fans will ever be happy. Nowadays it's popular to blast even Return of the Jedi. I think the sophisticated fans feel that only IV and V, or even only V, were any good.

My memory is that when TPM came out, everybody on Slashdot posted that they loved it for about a day - and then suddenly the hate came in. I never figured it out. Suddenly it wasn't cool to like TPM, so everybody hated on it.

Re:I'm optimistic...

[Anonymous Coward]

My memory is that when TPM came out, everybody on Slashdot posted that they loved it for about a day - and then suddenly the hate came in. I never figured it out. Suddenly it wasn't cool to like TPM, so everybody hated on it.

I didn't believe this, so I did some searching:

Phantom Menace Reviews
Posted by Hemos on 11:24 PM May 6th, 1999

In those comments there definitely is some hate from the start.

Review:Star Wars:The Phantom Menance
Posted by CmdrTaco on 05:00 AM May 22nd, 1999

Taco's review isn't too negative, but 16 days later and the comments have definitely become more cynical.

Re:I'm optimistic...

[neminem]

That's dumb. I have seen that opinion, but it's dumb. All three movies were great. I agree that Episode 6 was the worst of the three, but that doesn't make it any less of a still great movie. Though honestly, all *three* movies are terrible when you compare them to the Thrawn trilogy (also not a popular opinion, but search yourself, you know it to be true :p.) So whether or not episodes 7-9 will be any good (I'm guessing no, but I'd be happy to be wrong), I'm still pissed at them for retconning all the extended universe (including the masterful Thrawn trilogy) out of existence.

Episodes 1-3 were complete garbage. Episode 1 could have been saveable with a few minor tweaks, so I still enjoyed it for what it was. Episodes 2 and 3 were beyond saving.

Re:I'm optimistic...

[jdavidb]

Though honestly, all *three* movies are terrible when you compare them to the Thrawn trilogy (also not a popular opinion, but search yourself, you know it to be true :p.) So whether or not episodes 7-9 will be any good (I'm guessing no, but I'd be happy to be wrong), I'm still pissed at them for retconning all the extended universe (including the masterful Thrawn trilogy) out of existence.

That's one of the best reasons ever for eliminating copyright - let the differing visions compete on their merits, rather than on what is "official" according to the copyright holder.

I loved the Thrawn trilogy, but at some point I realized they could never be movies because they were just too long. Which is a shame - I would sit through them with joy, but the general public wouldn't. Back in the day, everybody I knew thought that the Thrawn trilogy was 7, 8, and 9.

Re:I'm optimistic...

[Anonymous Coward]

but maybe having a good writer (who made almost all the Star Wars films you love -- and none of the ones you hate) means you'll have a good story?

I don't know if today's grown Star Wars fans will ever be happy. Nowadays it's popular to blast even Return of the Jedi. I think the sophisticated fans feel that only IV and V, or even only V, were any good.

My memory is that when TPM came out, everybody on Slashdot posted that they loved it for about a day - and then suddenly the hate came in. I never figured it out. Suddenly it wasn't cool to like TPM, so everybody hated on it.

The problem is that people do not realize that fundamentally, these are films for children. Nothing is going to live up to the memory of the original trilogy because you were a kid when you saw it.

I'm planning on really enjoying the next one because my son is looking forward to it so much. If you want to get the most out of Stars Wars, take a kid.

Bring back Jar Jar binks while you're at it

[Anonymous Coward]

The force wakes up. Sounds better IMO

Re:Bring back Jar Jar binks while you're at it

[Narrowband]

Jar Jar Binks is simply evidence that George Lucas got his studio projects mixed up, and somehow Roger Rabbit ended up in Star Wars.

Episode X

[paiute]

We milk the cash cow...oh, and Force Force something.

Re:Episode X

[SeaFox]

We milk the cash cow...oh, and Force Force something.

That's the next movie's title.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Force is Forced

Re:Episode X

[zlives]

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The ReForcening

Taboola ads? Fucking really?

[Anonymous Coward]

I only came to this particular potentially popular story to say that.

Taboola == worse than apk.

It's wrong already!

[mitgib]

The Force is an energy field in all living things. It separates us, penetrates us and binds us together. If energy can neither be created or destroyed but merely transferred, why would one think it can be "awakened" or gone to sleep?? C'mon JJ, don't let us down!

Re:It's wrong already!

[Anonymous Coward]

The Force is an energy field in all living things. It separates us, penetrates us and binds us together. If energy can neither be created or destroyed but merely transferred, why would one think it can be "awakened" or gone to sleep?? C'mon JJ, don't let us down!

I agree. Here's my proposal, the titles of the next trilogy should be :

Star Wars VII : The First Principle of Thermodynamics or how you learn to master The Force
Star Wars VIII : Entropy or how it all turns to chaos
Star Wars IX : Cosmic death or how the Empire is finally defeated along with everthing else

Star Wars X : Zeroth Principle or the Return of Mara Jade.

Re:It's wrong already!

[keith_nt4]

The Force is an energy field in all living things. It separates us, penetrates us and binds us together. If energy can neither be created or destroyed but merely transferred, why would one think it can be "awakened" or gone to sleep?? C'mon JJ, don't let us down!

Well if I can put on my "nerd glasses" for a second I think I have a theory on that. I mean assuming that Clone Wars cartoon show is still "canon" and hasn't been relegated to the "legends" category (like the expanded universe books/etc. And yes, I watched the whole clone wars series. Nerd.). Clone Wars (the one with 22 minute episodes, got canceled with some open story arcs) had some episodes about the dark side taking over, but out of the this imbalance in the yin/yang relationship resulting in a new generation of force wielders would come about (foreshadowing Luke in other words). There were some really strange episodes in that series. Hard to believe it was for kids.

Anyway I think it ties in with that sort of thing. After all, as the story goes the Jedi were effectively extinct by episode 4. The one admiral (whatever) on the death star called it a some old religion and Luke/Han had never even heard of it. So in the sense that the "chosen one" of Luke Skywalker will be rebooting the entire concept of the Jedi order from scratch and it will go from Vader and the emperor being the primary people left doing anything force-related to Luke's new concepts/re-founding of the light side...I'd say it's actually an intriguing/accurate title. Seems like it's a better title than "the light awakens". That doesn't any more sense than "the force awakens"

.

Of course, if you want to read too much into it you could say this move is really passing the baton on to a new cast of characters. I mean how much running around/falling/jumping/whatever that original cast do, anyway? I would have expected them to be in this movie about as much as Obi Wan was in episode 4. If you look at it that way it could mean it's "30 years later" (as in, decades after Return of the Jedi) and a generation of new light-side Jedi are taking over. So the force is "awake" in that sense. Lots of new Jedi, lots of new people using the force. I haven't read anything about the new movie, I have no idea if this is remotely accurate.

Re:It's wrong already!

[zlives]

HAHAHA ok that was funny

So It Has Come To This...

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory XKCD...

Nah.

[Anonymous Coward]

We've seen how that turned out in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and pretty soon 'Ancient America' :)

So really the 'original' Star Wars were just rehashing what lead to the introduction of each, before eventually being eaten away by the bureaucracy to begin the cycle anew (after much bloodshed), as was shown in the prequels :)

So...

[Anonymous Coward]

...now we can tell people to watch TFA as well as RTFA? :-)

Recoup investment

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Wars: Rebels is already bleached free of anything even remotely like Star Wars. They get the superficial stuff right, and use the music, but the story is bleached clean of anything that once made SW special. Movie will be the same to the Nth degree - formulaic both in the Disney sense (all plot, no story, nothing remotely like SW) and the SW sense (someone says "bad feeling" in the first few minutes). Geriatric actors - this nostalgia thing can backfire if movie is awful. Disney will play it safe safe safe safe safe (as Darth Zash would put it) to recoup investment but reality is this kind of thing will be less like SW than the Phantom Menace and may backfire if people see the magic is gone. Get ready for VIII, IX, X, XI, and a million spinoffs, but people may eat so many of these twinkies they vomit up Disney's new franchise.

Should have called it

[Anonymous Coward]

Episode 7 - an apology

Paging JarJar

[Anonymous Coward]

Force or farce

Alternative Title

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Wars: Frozen, in Carbonite

Re:Alternative Title

[Talderas]

Star Wars: Frozen?

Third Death Star?

Let it blow! Let it blow!

Only the first three films...

[spud_boy_65986534]

are good. Everything since then has been pure shyte.

Wait..

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait wait wait, didn't the force 'awaken' already at the end of 'The Return of the Jedi'?? Ya know, Obi and Vader and Yoda all standing happily around the camp fire singing Kum ba ya? Am I missing something here?

Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

Looking at most of the up modded comments I had no idea people held such a poor opinion of JJ Abrahms. I honestly didn't think the Star Trek reboot was that bad. I know he overuses the lens flare BS, but the plot lines were no cheesier than the original series nor a number of the movies with the orginal cast. I honestly don't see how he could make Star Wars any worse than Lucas did with Episodes 1-3. Hell, Episodes 4-6 were pretty terrible from a story and acting point of view, mostly because Lucas sucks at getting good performances out of actors and his story telling abilities are mediocre at best. Empire Strikes Back is really the only one of the Star Wars movies worth watching more than once, and there are plenty of cringe worthy scenes in that one.

I say give Abrahms and the Disney production team a chance. The next movies will at least be good fodder for ridicule after the fact if they do suck out loud. I am reserving judgement until I have actually seen the next films.

SuperShadow, Nostradamus of Star Wars

[Guy From V]

Its truly a sad day when anything that the inimitable and infamous SuperShadow brewed up in his mind is more relevant than real upcoming canon SW material.

Thanks, but I won't watch TFA

[UDChris]

nor will I read the novelization of TFA.

JJ Abrams; No Thanks!

[Squidlips]

Since JJ is in charge, it will be one big car chase. No thanks. Buster Keaton and WC Fields originated the car chase, but it should have ended there, but it lives on, but now the car chases are in space

Chartering a Boat

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm thinking of chartering a boat to take me out into the middle of the pacific for a couple of weeks and chucking all of the communications equipment overboard when this garbage hits the theaters. Anyone want in?

Time travel back to 1977...

[peter303]

So Abrams can deny any continuity with the original six episodes, just like Star Trek rebooted.

Resource for images/leaks/etc?

[pez]

Is there a good source for info on the upcoming movies? I'm not really interested in spoilers per se, but rather just to see how things are shaping up (without CGI, obviously)

Re:Resource for images/leaks/etc?

[Jack Griffin]

I'm still wondering how an 80 year old Han Solo will not end up looking ridiculous? This potential for lame old guy jokes a la Space Cowboys or Wild Hogs is already making me queasy.

The Force Awakens

[cant_get_a_good_nick]

Because it was put to sleep by "The Phantom Menace"

-- Stephen Colbert