The sequel era as a setting

[ray245]

The problems with Disney's galaxy far, far away are the inevitable result of replacing a visionary artist with several jobbers. They can shoot X-wings, lightsabers and hyperspace jumps; they can show plucky rebels against an evil empire, but the rest is an empty shell. It's like all the filmmakers who steal from The Searchers. They get the superficial parts right (sunsets, bleak desert landscapes, seething racists) but they miss so much of the rest that made that movie great. At least The Missing wasn't passed off as a sequel to John Ford's classic.

That's why they had to hit the reset button and turn the victorious Rebellion into the clownshoes Resistance and nuke the Republic in the process. The message I got from the ST is that General Leia was completely inept. Compare the state of her Resistance at the end of TLJ to that of the Rebellion at the end of TESB and keep in mind that the First Order had only just conquered much of the galaxy, while the Empire had ruled the galaxy for 20 years. Watching these hapless bad guys square off against those hopeless heroes is like watching a bum fight or worse still, a football game between the Jets and Browns.

Trying to reuse the discarded concept art as if they are some sort of holy grail doesn't help things either. Lucas discarded them because he was the person who ultimately had the final say over the visual look of Star Wars. Yes, Ralph Macquarie played an important role in shaping the visual look of SW, but what we got in the film was not the same as the concept art. Lucas made changes to Macquaire's art, and that's something that people should not forget.

Rather than allowing the SW narrative to evolve, it is now perpetually stuck in a cycle.

To be fair, Kennedy has never been part of the creative team on the movies she produced. That's because it's usually NOT the producer's job to make creative decisions unless they are also writing, directing or in some cases, acting in the movie. Now she's head of the production company, which means she has even less say in creative matters. I think this might be why she hired Weiss & Benioff from Game of Thrones.

A few years back people on this very forum were telling me off for saying how I've underestimated Kennedy and she as an experienced producer knows all she needs to know about running a franchise like Star Wars. I think they were wrong ( and trying to be pretentious as if they are an expert in movie production) then and they are wrong now if they think Kennedy is the right leader for LFL.

Kennedy isn't someone who has written a script before, nor is she is someone who have directed a movie before. Having those skills and experience are very useful in running a franchise like Star Wars. Of course, Kevin Feige didn't have those experiences before he became president of Marvel Studios, but he has always taken a more personal interest in the storytelling and world-building aspect of the MCU. Kennedy showed herself to be fairly uninterested in that when she delegated those responsibility to a story-group ( with little powers to say no to a big-name director).

[Elfdart]

Trying to reuse the discarded concept art as if they are some sort of holy grail doesn't help things either. Lucas discarded them because he was the person who ultimately had the final say over the visual look of Star Wars. Yes, Ralph Macquarie played an important role in shaping the visual look of SW, but what we got in the film was not the same as the concept art. Lucas made changes to Macquaire's art, and that's something that people should not forget.

Rather than allowing the SW narrative to evolve, it is now perpetually stuck in a cycle.

The Lucas-era Star Wars movies reused all kinds of discarded art and more importantly, story ideas. Cloud City and the asteroid chase were discarded from ANH and brought back for TESB. The original design for Solo's ship was recycled into both the blockade runner, as well as the ship the Jedi used at the beginning of TPM. Quite frankly, Lucas' rejects are such a treasure chamber of great material that NOT using them would be silly.

That said, I do think it's silly that the Disney-Era TIE fighters are just like the old ones except the colors are flipped and an extra seat was added because Abrams is such a ham-fisted hack.

The big ships are (I assume) bigger than the old ones, but how can you tell? In the old movies, the big ships are given tracking shots alongside a smaller ship so normal people can get a real sense of just how huge they are. For example, in ANH you see the blockade runner, then the HUGE ship racing after it, then interior shots of the rebel ship, showing that it's fairly large in its own right. TESB has a similar set-up when you see the star destroyers, then Vader's warship. For good measure, there are several shots of the Millennium Falcon in close proximity to these warships that really give the viewer a sense of awe. To top it off, at the end, you see the Rebels have a big ship of their own and the scale is made clear with a very gracefully shot scene of the Falcon and other small craft floating along with the bigger ship. So when ROTJ comes along with yet more big ships for the rebels, you didn't need bubblegum cards or Wikipedia to have a grasp of the scale of the forces doing battle.

The prequels also did this with the Trade Federation and Republic ships, but the Disney-era ships are just sort of slapped up on screen, with such quick pans that it's hard to get a sense of scale.

Kennedy isn't someone who has written a script before, nor is she is someone who have directed a movie before. Having those skills and experience are very useful in running a franchise like Star Wars. Of course, Kevin Feige didn't have those experiences before he became president of Marvel Studios, but he has always taken a more personal interest in the storytelling and world-building aspect of the MCU. Kennedy showed herself to be fairly uninterested in that when she delegated those responsibility to a story-group ( with little powers to say no to a big-name director).

That's not all on her, though. Bob Iger wanted a re-hash of ANH, chucked the material Lucas and Arndt gave him, and when Harrison Ford was recovering after almost being killed on set (so much for "Reeeeeeal Sets! Practical Effects!" ), told Kennedy that the movie had to be ready for Christmas when she wanted to delay. As I pointed in an earlier thread, Star Wars was and still is the newest/prettiest girl in the Disney whorehouse and they wanted to hump her to death and wring as much money out of her as humanly possible.

[ray245]

The Lucas-era Star Wars movies reused all kinds of discarded art and more importantly, story ideas. Cloud City and the asteroid chase were discarded from ANH and brought back for TESB. The original design for Solo's ship was recycled into both the blockade runner, as well as the ship the Jedi used at the beginning of TPM. Quite frankly, Lucas' rejects are such a treasure chamber of great material that NOT using them would be silly.

Using discarded story ideas in different way is fine, as long as you are not using it to recreate the OT or the previous movie. My issue is with recycling concept art that looks almost like the actual design we saw on screen, but only with a slight modification.

That said, I do think it's silly that the Disney-Era TIE fighters are just like the old ones except the colors are flipped and an extra seat was added because Abrams is such a ham-fisted hack.

The big ships are (I assume) bigger than the old ones, but how can you tell? In the old movies, the big ships are given tracking shots alongside a smaller ship so normal people can get a real sense of just how huge they are. For example, in ANH you see the blockade runner, then the HUGE ship racing after it, then interior shots of the rebel ship, showing that it's fairly large in its own right. TESB has a similar set-up when you see the star destroyers, then Vader's warship. For good measure, there are several shots of the Millennium Falcon in close proximity to these warships that really give the viewer a sense of awe. To top it off, at the end, you see the Rebels have a big ship of their own and the scale is made clear with a very gracefully shot scene of the Falcon and other small craft floating along with the bigger ship. So when ROTJ comes along with yet more big ships for the rebels, you didn't need bubblegum cards or Wikipedia to have a grasp of the scale of the forces doing battle.

The prequels also did this with the Trade Federation and Republic ships, but the Disney-era ships are just sort of slapped up on screen, with such quick pans that it's hard to get a sense of scale.

A lot of new and younger directors are shit at visual storytelling. Yes, they can edit a movie with past pacing and make sure the acting performance on screen is decent, but the visual storytelling is very stale and boring to me. I have talked a lot about how much I disliked JJ Abrams' cinematography ( and was apparently cited in an article and mocked), but I stand by my view that the visual aspect of EP 7 and Ep 9 is going to be weak and problematic.

The one director that most managed to capture Lucas' visual storytelling well was Gareth Edwards. And funny enough, he seems to share some of Lucas's weakness in directing actors and reshaping a script. It retains the same kind of dorkiness I expect from a Lucas Star Wars film.

That's not all on her, though. Bob Iger wanted a re-hash of ANH, chucked the material Lucas and Arndt gave him, and when Harrison Ford was recovering after almost being killed on set (so much for "Reeeeeeal Sets! Practical Effects!" ), told Kennedy that the movie had to be ready for Christmas when she wanted to delay. As I pointed in an earlier thread, Star Wars was and still is the newest/prettiest girl in the Disney whorehouse and they wanted to hump her to death and wring as much money out of her as humanly possible.

Do you have evidence that it was Bob Iger that wanted a rehash? Because he has no problems Rian Johnson having a much more daring vision for Star Wars ( that pisses off some of the hardcore fans).