Star Wars

Tim: "[The Fans] ruined Star Wars"

Rian Johnson did. :P

I am kind of glad this did not perform the way they wanted it to. I want them to focus on new characters rather than playing it safe with old characters. Star Wars is a big universe, so there should be no need to just keep focusing on characters that we already know.

My dream is that they do big tent-pole Star Wars movies followed by smaller Star Wars movies. It would be great to get films that pushed the boundaries without worrying about them making a huge amount of money.

> My dream is that they do big tent-pole Star Wars movies followed by smaller Star Wars movies. It would be great to get films that pushed the boundaries without worrying about them making a huge amount of money.

I like that idea a lot. I wonder when we'll get a small Star Wars movie? Hopefully soon.

I liked the trailer. I think at this point I have stopped comparing Alden Ehrenreich to Harrison Ford. I am ready to see this.

(I previously posted this, but I deleted it so I could re-word some stuff and add some more)

I don’t even think about the new stuff in the sense of prequel or sequel, really. And I don’t exactly think of this or Rogue One as prequels. Yes, they take place prior to the original trilogy, so they are absolutely prequels in that sense, but they tell the unnecessary parts of the core story. The episodic films are the story of the galaxy and, specifically, the Skywalkers and those around them. But just like all the books and games have done for years, these films just fill in info that is (hopefully) interesting and entertaining but isn’t essential or may not even inform the core series.

I look at it like the Tarkin novel, or Leia, Princess of Alderaan basically. Small one-offs that can take place anywhere and give you some more character building. For me, I'm not watching the anthology films for the story as much as I am the world-building and new lore to add to the complex tapestry that is Star Wars canon.

Now, I gotta say... if you'd asked me which anthology films I would have made, Solo would not have been on my list. It at least seems more interesting than a Boba Fett film. But I'm still very interested to watch this just to add some more depth, however small, to the universe.

But speaking of prequels I would honestly adore a few movies that take place IN the prequel era. Those films are not my favorites of the saga but from what I’ve seen and read, it’s probably my favorite time period and ripe with potential for great stories. A live action siege of Mandalore movie? Oh man. Don’t even get me started.

Travis wants a Jar Jar movie. :)

Hahahaha, no. No JarJar movies please.

> Now, I gotta say... if you'd asked me which anthology films I would have made, Solo would not have been on my list.

Adding some more: I think one of the chief reasons people seem more apathetic about this one is that Han already had his character arc. All the character growth has already happened. The Han in this film will grow from a young hotshot rogue into ... an older hotshot rogue?

That's why I'm less into this than I was Rogue One, and why I'm hoping for some great worldbuilding to replace the character building.

Or hell, just Baby Driver in A Galaxy Far Far Away. :)

> The Han in this film will grow from a young hotshot rogue into ... an older hotshot rogue?

What if he isn't a young hotshot rogue?

I think he is going to start out as an Imperial.

Well I dunno about prequels in general, but this film was made because of Kasdan. Solo wasn't a LucasFilm "lets shovel this out" kind of thing. One condition Kasdan had for writing The Force Awakens with JJ was that he'd get to pen a script for a Han Solo origin story.

I watched these last night and I loved how he presented the reactions to each of the films. I wish Rogue One has been included but I also get why it wasn’t. It’s Star Wars but not the core of it.

I have warmed up to the prequels over the years. I, like the people he talked about in the video, was obsessed with episode 1 when it came out. I think I watched it three times in a week, and on that last one the illusion was broken. But time and age has made me appreciate things more and while it’s nowhere near as good as I thought it was opening week, it’s nowhere near as bad as I thought it was the week after.

Episode 2 though. That movie does a lot of great things but... a lot of not great things too.

I couldn't finish this. The video was too overproduced imho.

Wow, we had very different reactions. My wife and I liked it so much that we are going through this entire series and adding any movies we haven't seen to a watch list, so that we can watch the Movies with Mikey reviews of them.

I want him to do one for Baby Driver. Mikey's editing with cuts on the first beat of a musical phrase in his background music... he'd have a field day with Baby Driver.

And I STILL need to see The World's End.

The digital release is through Movies Anywhere (formerly Disney Movies Anywhere, but they have more partners now).

It ties into your iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, and a couple others. So when you activate it on Movies Anywhere, it unlocks on all the platforms you've connected to it.

Basically, if you have an internet connected device connected to your TV, it's a couple clicks away. A while back they had a promo that gave you some free movies, and I've activated a few on it, and the process is seamless and painless.

I feel like a Movies Anywhere commercial but it's really that good. Still DRM, but about as "open" as a DRM-encumbered file can be.

It's iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, and Amazon. That's the one I was forgetting.

“Han’s old friend from Ep. 7”
Who? Or are you talking about Lando from episodes 5 and 6?

And Jon I think your last paragraph is on to something. I’ve been checking fan reaction to the trailer and it’s been surprisingly good but I keep seeing “I hope Boba Fett is in this” and “I hope this person cameos” and then I saw another post saying, basically, stop expecting things. Because you’re building up your expectations and you’re going to be disappointed.

Just because there was a guitar riff in the trailer, though, doesn’t mean it’ll be in the final cut. That’s possibly just placeholder music that sets the mood they want. I think I’m ok with it even if it is though. It’s something new but each new Star Wars movie brings something new that we haven’t seen yet. The Canto Bight theme is one of my favorites on the TLJ soundtrack and it’s very different from any other Star Wars music thus far.

But yeah I liked the trailer. Donald Glover as Lando, even though we didn’t get to hear him speak, is an exciting choice. I’m looking forward to meeting his droid.

The two things about this movie that worry me: Ron Howard and Alden Ehrenreich. The trailer didn't convince me that Ehrenreich has any of the charisma that Harrison Ford brought to the original Star Wars. I think that is a must have. As far as Ron Howard goes, he is a pretty safe director. He makes solid films but nothing that really blows you away. That being said, I liked the visuals in the trailer. I don't know how much of that is from the Lord/Miller shoot and how much of it is from the Howard shoot.

I will most likely see this in the theaters, unless the reviews are horrible.

Maz? Where was she in the trailer?

Ahhhh I didn’t even spot that person but it looks more apeish than Maz

I second Jon's opinion. It is really good.

I’m a victim. It seems like Twitter has been ok and you’d hope people on Facebook wouldn’t troll their own friends but stay clear of Reddit. There have been people sending private messages to massive amounts of people with spoilers.

I play HQ Trivia and just kinda tune out the chat on it, but tonight I glanced down at just the wrong time and saw a big juicy spoiler.

It wasn’t a bad one. I don’t think it’ll take away from my enjoyment of it. But still come on people, have some decency.

I’m going Saturday night. Reserved seats so we can roll in right at 7:30 and be fine. My wife and I are going with a friend who hasn’t seen any trailers or any advertisement at all except for a still of Rey with a lightsaber so it should be an interesting perspective.

(But pleas don’t take my experience with Twitter to be an endorsement. There are still trolls about.)

One of Katie’s friends got a spoiler on LinkedIn. Nothing is safe.

Still no Jar Jar?

Calling it now: That part at the end of the trailer is clever editing. Rey is actually asking Jar Jar for help.

Phantom Menace.

I actually kinda doubt we ever get deleted scenes on this one. Or maybe not full-on doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't. Since so much of this ended up on the cutting room floor because of reshoots, it might be something they don't want people to see.

Adam, I would buy the hell out of that.

This is a great trailer. It teases plot points without giving anything away.

And plus it's new Star Wars!!!

Yep, this trailer was really cool and I am excited for The Last Jedi even more now. If Disney keeps going at this pace and with the movies as good as they have been I think I'll be watching them excitedly for quite some time.

Adam, that may be true about the Han Solo movie, I'll hold judgment until a trailer at least.

But for now I AM ONE WITH THE HYPE AND THE HYPE IS WITH ME

I finally have a couple things to say about this trailer so hold on to your butts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W6as8oVcuM

Sorry that wasn't a Star Wars reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZpIrlcZmXQ

Episode One - More About The Force Awakens

Firstly I want to link to our Force Awakens trailer discussion. Fun to read that two years later knowing what we know now. It's nice to have these discussions easy to find. I know i'll get a kick out of reading them YEARS later. You know, like now only much older...

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2479/star-wars-vii-the-force-awakens-trailer-2-launches

Firstly I want to step back a bit and say I think the Force Awakens is getting a but too much negativity amongst some fans. The fact that it was made as quickly and was as good and made as many people happy and again, was good is a miracle. I think the Movies With Mikey review sums it up well even though Mikey does tend to get a bit gushy the end of his reviews. Regardless, Force Awakens was a movie I still stand by as "liquid joy" and one of the more magical theater going experiences i've had lately. Until I saw Arrival then that topped it, but Force Awakens was superb and as a fan very satisfying.

I could get into the biggest criticisms of it, but I won't because we've talked about that before. All that to say, my guess is Last Jedi will be incredible and in many ways better than the Force Awakens because the Force Awakens built up so much The Last Jedi can now pay off and kick the world building and incredible parts of Star Wars up 10 notches. I think because of this there will be some new fan share on the Force Awakens because the Internet loves picking apart things and jumping on bandwagons. Or not. But we'll see.

TLDR; Force Awakens is a great movie that builds up an incredible world the Last Jedi can play in so well it will be a really great film.

Episode II - Attack Of the Trailer Speculation

I think you can take Luke wanting the Jedi to end in a couple ways. Both are interesting and i'm not entire sure which it will be.

1. Luke actually wants to rid the galaxy of anyone with force ability. Let's face it, the Jedi are ultra powerful and it seems from the films having them around causes a huge amount of problems. Luke might believe that having such ultra powerful people might be too much for the galaxy and he wants to stop anyone from getting that power and using it for bad. This is a parallel between what Vader did, which was for entirely different reasons but the same kind of action. It would be an interesting juxtaposition and since, my guess, Luke is the most powerful person in the galaxy and seemingly for good but not it could create an interesting story. Further speculation on this line is that Luke might train Rey to help him take out the First Order and the Knights of Ren something she might like but Luke might take it too far for her or be too extreme?

2. Luke is speaking more metaphorically and he wants there to be less "evil extreme" Jedi and "good to the point of being dumb" Jedi. He thinks being Grey is actually better and will try and sway Kylo to the middle. I've only heard about the Grey path recently and it's an interesting concept outlined on Wookipedia below.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gray_Jedi

3. Something else entirely.

"fan share" => "fan shade"

> (Kylo's helmet is broken in the trailer, maybe he's trying to turn to the light side in this one?)

I actually thought that was Darth Vaders burned helmet but it could be Kylo's which does make more sense.

I think this trailer is one of the best trailers i've seen. Also, I like Luke as a Yoga Teacher. "Breeeeaaathe!"

Where is C3PO and Chewbaca? Are they back?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Last_Jedi

Looks like they are in the movie credits.

There's no way they don't put threepio in it. Anthony Daniels has been in nearly every single Star Wars property and he's still kicking.


If Anthony Daniels is alive in 20 years when Star Wars Episode 18 comes out and takes place 500 years in the future from Episode 8, Threepio will probably still be there.

Blu-ray: Amazon because I am lazy.

Star Wars VIII trailer was dope.

I hate to tell you guys, you didn't really see an episode 8 trailer

http://ktar.com/story/1483276/fan-made-last-jedi-trailer-fakes-star-wars-fans-online/

I'm definitely getting Rogue One at Target. Gotta get those extra special features!

Oh, I was trolling. I thought GregoPeck was too. Did not know about the fake trailer.

Yeah it's well done!

You're right though, it's coming out in December.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2ywJQUnBOM

It's spoiler-free for the first 20ish minutes. We all liked it even though there were some missteps. It does a good job of tying the prequels to the original series and it's really well done.

Don't expect a normal Star Wars movie. It's dark for Star Wars.

Also Katie points out that with Adam on the panel, you really need to up your beard game, Jon.

Hmm you make a good point with episode III being dark. I mean Anakin straight up murders children (spoiler alert). Rogue One just feels more gritty. I guess it's that it's about military operatives performing a military op.

I really didn't think episode VII was dark, though. There were dark things in it but it was handled in a non-dark way I guess.

The don't think this is a spoiler but just in case spoiler alert: Really the "dark" in Rogue One is that the good guys aren't always good.

I enjoyed Rogue One. On my entertained, not entertained movie scale, I was entertained.