Atlantic Xpat

And on the lego theme....

Ben W Bell

Who says the Empire is dead. The Rebellion won a single battle. I very much doubt a galaxy spanning empire with all those members of the new order, Imperial Moffs, Grand Admirals etc are all going to just stop and hand everything over to the Rebellion just because they killed the leader and a big space station. It has a collossal amount of resources and almost unstoppable military might.

Regimes like that don't collapse because one person dies. And in fact with the Emperor out of the way perhaps the Empire would concentrate on trying to wipe out the rebels instead of playing games with them like the Emperor did. I could easily see it going down a path of more total war in the galaxy rather than a few rebel soldiers trying to bring down a massive war machine.

Souvy

You do know it's not real, don't you?

Zoe Bell

define "real"?

Ben W Bell

Course it is. Says so right at the beginning. A long time ago in a galaxy far far away. These are historical dramas are they not?

Teaandtoday5

My boys are teenagers. This thread is starting to make me think I can 'look forward to' many more years of this type of conversation.

VainQuill

Lucky you...it really must have been something to witness the start of the Star Wars phenomenon. I only got to see Revenge of the Sith in the theatres(was introduced to the series in 2004), and being able to observe collective reactions from the audience has doubled the excitement of the Star Wars experience for me.

I will of course take the day off December 18 2015. Hopefully there'll be a midnight premiere, or even a Star Wars marathon available in local cinemas. I know they did that with the last Harry Potter...

Actually, my favorite trilogy has always been the prequels. I must be one of the few people in this planet who appreciates how Anakin was handled. I have a thing for grey characters, and I just thought his story was more juicy than Luke's. And Ian McDiarmid's portrayal of the Emperor/Chancellor Palpatine was just top notch, don't recall having seen a more gleeful show of villainy.

I find there's a lot of hidden depth in the prequels. Here is an interesting theory made by a fan:

star wars ring theory | Mike Klimo

Yes. Whilst I don't have a preference for models vs CGI, I think it's a wise decision to base the looks off the originals since the new trilogy is a continuation from that period of time. From seeing the new technology in the trailer(that legless droid, newer speeder) I am reassured that the sequels will at least succeed at producing a futuristic version of the original visuals. I am less confident about receiving a diversity of locations as we didn't see any new planet in the trailer...

That mysterious villain(sith?) gives me the tiniest hope that there will be some interesting antagonist dynamics in the sequels, but it will remain to be seen about whether or not we will get a unique plot matching the scale of the previous trilogies.

Well I was under the impression that most if not all of the top dogs were killed when the second Death Star exploded. Tarkin died during the first Death Star destruction, Vader & Sidious in the second, and apart from those three, we didn't get to see any important Imperial figures during the movies (I don't consider any of the EU canon, for the record, since the material didn't come from GL). I am not sure the average admiral Joe would have enough experience or skills to take over from there.

Anyway, I would think that the story wouldn't just pick up 30 years after Return of the Jedi if the Rebels hadn't won the war. I thought the remaining imperials in Endor surrendered in the end, and the celebrations in many planets from Coruscant to Naboo following the Death Star destruction were meant to tell the viewers that the imperial threat was mostly over.

I am wishing against hope that the stormtroopers armors are just used by the new antagonists(Though I am not convinced Boyega's character is on the 'wrong side' of the conflict if trailers are anything to go by...) and are a sign of a lack of originality concerning costumes, rather than a sign that it's going to be Rebels vs Imperials all over again. I wouldn't bet on it though.



My poor mother was ready to buy earplugs by the end of it. I wish you a very merry Star Wars

Greenhill

Shard

In retrospect, yes quite lucky; at the time, it was only a single "space film" albeit an amazingly good one! I remember being amazed at the visual effects of star cruisers, the Death Star, and of course, light sabres. As you will know, only 2001: A Space Odessey had achieved anywhere near the visual authenticity back then. As it happens I went to see the original Star Wars (IV) on it's twenty year anniversary and was slightly disappointed by the film quality and even to some extent the plot. It's a story and genre that seems to improve with each new chapter.

VainQuill

Well I felt the first movie was a bit cartoony what with simplistic tropes like 'peasant boy rescues the princess', and as an atheist, I was not a fan of the little glimpses of the Force we did receive-sounded too much like a religion to me.

The Empire Strikes Back is what sold me on the Force concept(thank Yoda, I should). Just in this chapter, there was a lot of depth added in characters, especially Darth Vader. It stopped being a typical 'good vs evil-Hero will defeat villain' story and became a thematic marvel.

Was it the unaltered version that you saw or the modified one? 1997 is the year in which GL 'enhanced' the originals if I remember correctly. I think I only saw the unaltered originals in my first viewing of the movies-from my father's old VHS. The Blu-ray discs I have now give a much cleaner feel.

Some other things were better erased, like the Elaine Baker/Clive Revill Emperor. I mean THIS just lacks any menace:

Shard

I think it was the modified version I saw in '97. I have both now on a DVD and there doesn't seem to be a huge difference between the two - quite cartoony as you say. What made the Force concept bigger in Ep. V ?

VainQuill

In episode four, the Force seemed to be merely a power source that few individuals had access to-we were given instances of 'force intuition' and Jedi mind tricks. Despite Obi-Wan's words about the Force surrounding everything, it was not really felt in the movie. In episode 5 there was more of an elaboration regarding its place as it being the sole originator of things. Yoda's mystical speeches such as 'Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter!' were enhanced by his own Force displays. That old and frail as he was, he still managed to pull that ship off the water endorsed his views that the shallow physical world was a laughing matter when one was deeply connected with the Force. In other words, it put us skeptic Tarkins in our places

Greenhill

If you guys ever wondered if gravity-related calculations will work properly on your smartphone, while on the death star, then have no fear!

SensorManager | Android Developers

public static final float GRAVITY_DEATH_STAR_I

Added in API level 1
Gravity (estimate) on the first Death Star in Empire units (m/s^2)

Constant Value: 3.5303614E-7

Shard

Actually, I found that less is more when it comes to the Force. The oblique references to it in 4 made it seem all the more mystical and, indeed, possible. The more it gets talked up in Star Wars, the more like any other religious bollocks it sounds.

If there's an interesting metaphysical concept in film, it's surely that of the Matrix. Now that could be!

Greenhill, no idea what that's all about.

Greenhill

It's to do with location services and environment sensing capability of phones and tablets. Some bright spark at google, in anticipation of the human race becoming intergalactic travelers, probably said "hey guys, let's not limit these android services to planet earth".