Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

[Elfdart]

A rumor I heard from E3 that I'd love for someone here to debunk, but I've heard from the grape vine that JJ Abrams made a statement during the press conference or an interview that he only considers the OT canon.

Anybody who slogged through all the press events and junk know if this is bullshit or not?

It's bullshit. Yes, some of the people hired by Lucasfilm have gone out of their way to Whitta on George Lucas, but Abrams has no say on what is or isn't "canon".

I'm hoping it is bull. I know the prequels get a bad rap with long time Star Wars fans but still were atleast enjoyed by millions. Many younger Star Wars fans who grew up with the Prequels seem to prefer them over the OT and alot of kids today are more familiar with the Prequel era thanks to the Clone Wars series. It seems dumb to disregard all those fans, many of which are adults now.

George Lucas might not be running Lucasfilm directly anymore, but as the second largest Disney shareholder there's no chance in hell that they're going to go back and declare his previous movies invalid.

I remember some shit about Abrams talking about wanting to kill off Jar-Jar, which was bad enough considering many kids loved him even if I and most every Star Wars OT fan hated him, but I wouldn't think he'd be dumb enough to start massively raggin' on or just disregarding half of the existing series.

People sometimes perform this odd ritual known as "kidding around". I doubt he was serious.

[Elfdart]

Edit: You know, I really don't like it when one director uses his film to piss on another director's work. Its just crass.

You know that's exactly what Lucas did? What with firing Kershner, Kurtz, making Leia Luke's sister, killing the previously established plans to have Emperor's duel in Episode 9, and adding Ewoks instead of Wookies to forest moon?

You must have arms like an orangutan to pull so much so far out of your ass. Have you read the Rinzler books about the making of the OT? Well I have, and there's no mention of either Kurtz or Kershner being fired. There's also no mention of Kurtz making creative decisions about the characters or story. Feel free to post links to sources for your claims. I'd like to see if you're getting this crap somewhere or are just bullshitting.

[Pelranius]

A lot of that is flat-out crap.
Spoiler

I dislike the idea of a long war with the Empire after Return of the Jedi. It contradicts the optimistic tone of the Original Trilogy's ending and its anti-climactic. But at least they've cut it down to a year instead of the interminable war it was in past times.

Spoiler

How's a one year war a long war?

Well, relatively long.

The end of Return of the Jedi gave the impression that the Empire folded very fast after Palpatine's death.

Still, its better than the unending slog the EU gave us.

Aftermath (the novel) gives us the bloody suppression of those Coruscant celebrations.

[The Romulan Republic]

I know. I've discussed it in this thread and explained why I take issue with it.

Do not assume I am ignorant just because you haven't read my posts.

Edit: Admittedly I did not know the title of the source. But I was aware of the incident occurring.

[Pelranius]

There's the confusion.

And yes, I did read your bloody posts.

[Adam Reynolds]

That is one thing that survived the EU purges. I remember Wraith Squadron featuring a character who had hacked the Coruscant news feeds to show the death of the Emperor and felt responsible after the stormtroopers started shooting.

Personally I felt that those celebrations were happening later. Like After the New Republic liberated Coruscant from the Imperial holdouts. Why wasn't that theory ever suggested by the EU?

[Pelranius]

That is one thing that survived the EU purges. I remember Wraith Squadron featuring a character who had hacked the Coruscant news feeds to show the death of the Emperor and felt responsible after the stormtroopers started shooting.

Personally I felt that those celebrations were happening later. Like After the New Republic liberated Coruscant from the Imperial holdouts. Why wasn't that theory ever suggested by the EU?

Too much of a time gap.

[Darksider]

Aftermath (the novel) gives us the bloody suppression of those Coruscant celebrations.

More than that actually. According to the TFA timeline panel at Celebration, Spoiler

the empire still controls Coruscant and the other core worlds, with the galaxy being split between the Empire and an outer rim based New Republic.

I wonder what all those people who said the EU's continuing Civil War "ruined the ending of ROTJ" will say about that?

[The Romulan Republic]

I find it profoundly disappointing. Especially since its probably being done so they can reuse OT stuff and milk nostalgia in lieu of doing something new.

[Pelranius]

Wonder if some sort of peace treaty will be in the offing for Episode VIII (and ensuring cries from the ST fans of ST VI getting ripped off)?

[Adam Reynolds]

Too much of a time gap.

Why? That is only true if the Empire stays in power after the death of the Emperor.

As for the idea of them still controlling Coruscant after thirty years, there goes the idea of telling a different story than has been previously seen. So far we have seen Sith with both military superiority and Force superiority(OT), Jedi and Sith with military parity and Jedi with apparent superiority(PT), what is left is the New Republic with military superiority and neither Jedi or Sith in power. Though it could be argued that the PT was purely Jedi in power and thus for the ST we should see no one in control of the galaxy.

Apparently we are seeing closer to a rehash of the OT instead.

[The Romulan Republic]

Exactly. A fucking rehash.

They could have done something really innovative. But I get the feeling that they're so afraid of the rabid OT fans bashing the film for not being like the OT (despite the fact that people who were introduced to Star Wars with the Prequels might outnumber them now and the new films will never be just like the OT) that aside from having a more diverse cast (for which I salute them), they're basically clinging as hard as possible to the old status quo. Disappointing and cowardly.

[Batman]

And likely fiscally sound.

[The Romulan Republic]

Oh come on. This movie was going to make a massive amount of money no matter what. Hell, from what I've seen, the Prequels were never exactly flops at the box office.

Edit: Okay, I suppose its theoretically possible it could have flopped. But really, if there's one movie they can afford to take a risk on, its this.

[The Romulan Republic]

I criticize Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat a great deal, but I'll give him this much credit: when he wrote Day of the Doctor for the show's 50th. anniversary, he knew how to balance old and new. It would have been very tempting, no doubt, to just do a nostalgia fest. But while their were references to old material and a major return to the old status quo with bringing Gallifrey back, some of the most notable and best parts involved moving things forward, both in terms of the current Doctor's characterization and the introduction of the next Doctor. The show subsequently squandered a lot of that, but that's a different story. I think Moffat got that he needed to both honour the past and move the show forward.

Of course, Doctor Who has survived as long as it has because change is built into the premise. But I think this is a model more people should follow.

[Borgholio]

Some new pics from the movie.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/ ... /?a=123906

I wonder if the Stormtrooper in the first image is going to miss....

[Iroscato]

I'm sorry but dis shit...



...fucking owns.

[Gunhead]

Yea... a Revan wannabe with a sword. Color me unimpressed. I just don't think anyone has the muscle to pull the new SW movies out of the swamp of suck, or even elevate them into the realm of mediocrity. They had three movies to do something with the Jedi/Sith divide, and got nothing to show for it. These new movies have the awful stink of going down the same road and I'm not going to take it. The wizard of Oz was a fraud and I will not be fooled again by hype. So fuck you yellow brick road.

-Gunhead

[RogueIce]

Man I'm willing to bet the vast majority of people who watch this movie won't know or care who Revan even is.

I'm still waiting for more trailers and official information, but from what I've seen this looks like a damn fun ride no matter what. That's more than enough for me.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yea... a Revan wannabe with a sword. Color me unimpressed. I just don't think anyone has the muscle to pull the new SW movies out of the swamp of suck, or even elevate them into the realm of mediocrity. They had three movies to do something with the Jedi/Sith divide, and got nothing to show for it. These new movies have the awful stink of going down the same road and I'm not going to take it. The wizard of Oz was a fraud and I will not be fooled again by hype. So fuck you yellow brick road.

-Gunhead

So you decide the film is going to be bad based on a single photo and old films made by different people, refuse to alter your opinion no matter what, and think this somehow makes you smarter/more insightful than those who don't hold this attitude?

Shit like this is part of why I hate rabid fans.

For fuck's sake, go see the movie before writing it off, or at least wait for some reviews to come in.

[applejack]

A commercial from South Korean TV was released a couple days ago. Mostly stuff we've seen before, but there are some new shots.



Plus some sites have highlighted what appears to be First Order AT-ATs

[The Romulan Republic]

Hmm...

Nice look at the First Order's gear. Lots of troops (I see at least two distinct types of uniform), what looks like a small fleet of fighters, vehicles, and what look like defensive turrets around a base.

[Adam Reynolds]

I wonder if the Stormtrooper in the first image is going to miss....

Or Rey turns out to have a lightsaber in that staff of hers. That would be interesting.

Yea... a Revan wannabe with a sword. Color me unimpressed. I just don't think anyone has the muscle to pull the new SW movies out of the swamp of suck, or even elevate them into the realm of mediocrity. They had three movies to do something with the Jedi/Sith divide, and got nothing to show for it. These new movies have the awful stink of going down the same road and I'm not going to take it. The wizard of Oz was a fraud and I will not be fooled again by hype. So fuck you yellow brick road.

-Gunhead

Revan was essentially a Vader wannabe. And yet KOTOR was a fairly good story anyway.

[Lord Revan]

it helps that thru out KOTOR Revan is more of a presense then an actual character and we never meet him during the game Spoiler

as the player character is Revan

so the similarity with Vader isn't as obvious, however the character in the film seems to be the primary antagonist from what I've heard so comparisons to Vader are bound to happen.

[RogueIce]

Ah, all black for the Imperial uniform. Very nice. Wonder if they'll keep the chest rank badges or do something else? There's already an extra detail with the sleeve rings but that looks like an overcoat anyway. Be interesting to see if they put some thought into the New Order's insignia or if we'll have the confusion the OT gave us with three separate systems (or two systems and a blooper depending on how you view RotJ).