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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Started by Rico, November 10, 2012, 05:05:50 AM

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Rico

Spoiler tags discussion is fine here....  Go for it!

ChrisMC

Boy did that suck!

NOT! Easily #2 or #3 on the Star Wars movies...we will see on repeat viewings.
Check out our Classic BSG podcast! http://ragtagfugitivepodcast.com/

Rico

Send me a short video for the vidcast, Chris - and the rest of you.  :)

WillEagle

Very good movie. I want to see it next in Imax. I'll say more in a video about it. Should have it to you later in the day on Sunday.

saunders

I loved it.  I had tears in my eyes every time I saw something from the original trilogy.  My kids liked it.  My wife, who is not a Star Wars fan, liked it.  I went on IMDB to see what people were saying.  It got a good rating (8.8 out of 10), but I was really surprised to see page after page of negative reviews.  A lot of people seem to be really disappointed in it.  The biggest criticism seems to be it's similarities to the original "Star Wars".  That's a fair point I suppose, but I think this feels much different.  I also think sequels do tend to repeat themselves after a while.  I'm a Bond fan and have watched the same story of a super villain trying to take over the world from his secret base I don't know how many times.  I don't know.  That just didn't bother me.  I think my joy at returning to this universe and seeing the familiar faces (and ships) made the similarities a minor issue for me.  I'll be interested to see how I feel after a few viewings.  They sure set up some big issues to resolve in future movies.  Bring on Ep 8!

Rico

Anyone that wants to and can, send me a short video by the end of today for the vidcast.  Spoilers are fine too!

Bromptonboy

Regarding one character in the first few moments of the film:
[spoiler]The character played by Max von Sydow - who is he?  Is he supposed to be someone from the earlier films?  I think missed something, or didn't pick up some context.

Thanks[/spoiler]

And regarding Storm Troopers:

[spoiler]I might be missing something from the EU, but aren't they clones still?  When did they start grabbing kids and raising them as soldiers?[/spoiler]
Pete

Rico

My thoughts on your questions:

[spoiler]The Max character is new as far as I know.  Stormtroopers haven't been clones for a long time.  Basically Clone Troopers were clones and eventually they went to using non-clones.  But keep in mind, the EU in books doesn't apply anymore so they can do anything they want really.[/spoiler]

jedijeff

I got back from my Second viewing today, have to say, I am so pumped about this movie. I had so much to process the first time, and was trying to figure somethings out, that I missed a few story elements. I will go back a few more times to see this, want to try and maybe go see it in the IMAX as well.

Some thoughts on Petes questions

Quote from: Bromptonboy on December 20, 2015, 08:09:17 AM
Regarding one character in the first few moments of the film:
[spoiler]The character played by Max von Sydow - who is he?  Is he supposed to be someone from the earlier films?  I think missed something, or didn't pick up some context.

Thanks[/spoiler]

And regarding Storm Troopers:

[spoiler]I might be missing something from the EU, but aren't they clones still?  When did they start grabbing kids and raising them as soldiers?[/spoiler]

In Regards to Max Von Sydow's Character. I to on my first viewing was feeling I should have known him
[spoiler]His name is not familiar to me and is a new character. But it does seem like he has some sort of connection the Luke, Leia and Han, as well knows Kylo's origins. Apparently he is a member of something called the church of the force, which is a group that follows the ideals of the Jedi. Also speculated he might be a former Jedi, Possibly a Kanan or Ezra from Star Wars rebels, under a different name, but I am guessing that is a long shot.[/spoiler]

Stormtroopers
[spoiler]In Star Wars Rebels, it is pretty much been stated that the Clones have been put out to pasture. Since they age faster, they would be to old now to still be in service. In Rebels, Rex and a few others have showed up this year, and they are quite old. In one of the accompanying back ground episode videos for the show, they confirmed most of the Clones at that time have been retired, though some may still be around training new recruits

It does seem like they prefer just training new soldiers now, as they mentioned in the movie, though did sound like Kylo would prefer Clones. Sort of a twist a bit, in that in the Clone Wars cartoons, it was established, that the Jedi order takes young force sensitive babies from their family to train, thus removing all their connections to their family. So looks like this first order is sort of following that principal with the troopers.[/spoiler]

Some other thoughts I have.

[spoiler]Rey
I feel like Rey is another Solo. I know the popular theory is that she is Lukes daughter, but I just found her bond with Han seemed to be very Father/Daughter. Her knowledge of the falcon, and her flying style seemed very reminiscent of Han, and even his interactions with her, it felt like there was something deeper there. Also little things like at the end of the movie, she had the blaster he gave her strapped to her leg, sort of like him.
Also, I found the hug her and Leia had at the end, it felt again very familial to me, as they had not met at that point in the movie, so for the first interaction between the two be that I found to be very interesting. As well, the look on Leias face, again, it felt like a bit more. I guess you could make the argument, that Leia should have been able to sense it in the force if they were related, but just the feeling I got. As well when Rey was looking at Luke at the end, the look to me, it reflected more of a call for help from Leia then a Daughter acknowledging a Father. Just a sense I have, I could be really off on it.
I am not sure how Rey could have come to be without knowledge of Han and Leia for my theory, but possibly she was cloned from DNA from Kylo by Luke? Maybe, he created her to counter what Kylo was turning into, and then to either protect her, or hide her, placed her on Jakku, so she could come back at a time that was right, similar to how he came in with his powers. I am not sure how long Han and Leia were apart, but maybe shortly after they separated, maybe Leia gave birth to Rey, and then gave her to Luke to train or protect from Snoke. Maybe when Kylo had killed the Jedi's, Luke hid Rey, so that no one would know and told Leia that she had died. Maybe that was why Max Von Sydows character was on Jakku, possibly to keep any eye on Rey, similar to what Obi-Wan had done for Luke.
Rey also seems to be very powerful in the force, in that she picked up things very fast without needing training, leads me to think she could be someone like Anakin, that might be very powerful and could bring balance to the force. I feel that her strength in the force will be much more powerful then Kylo's
Just my thoughts on Rey, as well, I would not be surprised if her name in not really Rey and something else, Kylo, Rey, they all seem to be a bit of a play on Skywalker/Solo to me, maybe that is just a coincidence that these letters are in those names
Ships
The first time I saw the movie, I was a bit troubled in regards to the lack of variety in fighters on both sides, the resistance and the First Order. Maybe minor, but I sort of got hung up on that, since I am a bit of a fan of ships.
I did notice in my second viewing, they did mention that the resistance had to respond fast to the attack by Starkiller base, and did not have the full fleet of the republic. So possibly that is why all they had where X-Wings. As their attack sure could have made use of some Y-Wings or B-Wings as they could have used some ships with some heavier fire power.
The First Order, they seemed to only have that one type of Tie, though there might have been some different markings. Would be interested to see if there are any other TIE's like the Bomber or Interceptor in their fleet. Not sure if there was a reason for the limited variety of ships, might have missed something about that. Just missed the variety that were in the previous movies, and since this is in the future, would have thought continued development on different classes of ships would continue. Will see if the Novelization or other followup books will have different types of fighters.
General Hux/Captain Phasma
I found Hux to be a bit of an opposite of Tarkin in a sense. Even though he seemed to be an equal to Kylo Ren in the organization of the First Order, he seemed to lack the presence that Tarkin had. Granted he was much younger, just found he was the opposite to me. At the end of the movie when the base was getting attacked, he left to confer with Snoke, but the comment on the bridge was a bit funny in that basically he had already made his exit and others were fleeing as well. In ANH, Tarkin went down with the Death Star.
Captain Phasma
Sort of middle management Stormtrooper, that annoying supervisor everyone has. Nagging troopers about wearing their Helmets, reporting for Duty, etc. Seemed like when Finn and Han caught her later in the movie, Finn relished bossing her around. And then in the end, she shut the shields down instead of resisting and then got flushed out with the garbage. So did not really leave me with a the thought she was some sort of Kick ass character and this movies Boba Fett. I guess the talk is she will be in the next movie, so hopefully the character redeems her self.[/spoiler]

Bromptonboy

THanks for the well thought out answers Jeff.
Pete

Dangelus

I was expecting a lot more post watch discussion but I guess people are still in awe of having a new Star Wars movie :)

I enjoyed the movie, it felt very true to the original trilogy. Loved the use of practical effects etc.

I'm going to need a second viewing to get more detail I think.

Story wise, there were things I liked a lot and some other things I didn't. The characters were great, had an issue with the motivation / personality of one which I hope will get more of a treatment in the sequels.  I also think we didn't get enough exposition about the current state of the galaxy politically. The different factions were a bit confusing to me.

Overall very entertaining.

Rico

Of course, my comments and thoughts are all in my recent vidcast along with some other video comments people sent in.  Check it out!

Treks in Sci-Fi #567 - "The Force Awakens" on Vimeo

Dangelus


Rico

Picked both of these magazines up today...


WillEagle

Cool mags. I picked this one up a few weeks ago. Wouldn't mind trying to grab some others.