#fightme

NERDS!!!

I saw A New Hope 22 times in the theater when I was a kid. It made me a die hard SW fan. The matinee happened to coincide with one of my mother's classes at Penn State and she would drop 6-7yo me off at the movie and go to class then be waiting for me to get out at the end of the movie.

I grew up Han berkeleying Solo.

Appleseed said:

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) (Forum Supporter) said:

Boba Fett was the best villain. (until they gave the stupid backstory that he was every stormtrooper in the Clone Wars)

 

Fett is a non-starter if all you go on is the movies. Doesn't do anything. Dies like bitch. He is legend from the books and comics that followed.  Until I read a few, I never understood the fascination.

Then there's **spoiler spoiler spoiler** 

Im loving it. 

In reply to Appleseed :

I disagree. First scene, he's warned "no disintegrations". Not that that makes sense when it comes to collecting a bounty.

And, I don't believe he's dead yet. Isn't he being digested over a billion years or some E36 M3? Keeping him alive so he can suffer? Brutal death. Very un-b*#ch-like.

Lots of talk about what is or isn't canon.  Who decided what is or isn't canonical?  And assuming it's George Lucas, I assume he gave permission for the books people are referring too, or he'd have sued them into oblivion.  If he, or someone, gave permission for the books, why are they not canon?

You are all missing the real and very much most evil villain of all of the characters. 

R2D2. 

Let's think this through. 

Has access to ALL of the knowledge loaded onto every system in the 'verse. Is always one step ahead, one step behind or dead in the middle of the trouble. 

Direct contact with nearly every character that actually matters. 

Has a flamboyant butler with an accent.

Can't be killed. Ever.

Someone else's opinion

I didn't read this until after I posted the previous statement

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

The Mouse decided, and it was decided that when the first sequel came out and wiped out a buttload of the established universe.  Boba Fett's fate was erased until the recent episodes of the Mandolorian,  The Thrawn Trilogy and the Solo twins were removed, which was the official Lucas-endorsed sequel trilogy.  Dash Rendar and the whole of the Shadows of The Empire were removed.  Starkiller got deleted.  Mara Jade, Luke's wife was removed.

Before the Mouse got ahold of everything the characters were pretty much complete, and they were that way because Lucas (and his lawyers and media people) dealt with the IP and handed out licenses as he felt was appropriate.

As for why it happened that way, its because Disney has to put its mark on everything.

Mr_Asa said:

As for why it happened that way, its because Disney has to put its mark on everything.

I don't think that's the right way tot look at it.  Disney spent four BILLION dollars on Lucasfilm, basically to get the rights to Star Wars so they could make new movies.  To recoup that they need the movies to appeal to as broad an audience as possible so they can sell a LOT of tickets.  The Zahn books are excellent but by definition they're written for hardcore fans/nerds -- your average American reads maybe one book a year.

So if they keep the Zahn and other stuff around, how do they make new movies?  Simply filming the Thrawn stories isn't likely to work very well, the story is too complex to transfer to movies very well.  Too many settings, too many new characters, too much internal dialogue.  Even if they had managed a decent screenplay out of it, you'd inevitably end up with fans complaining "the book was better", and people who didn't go see it just because it wasn't a new story.  You also can't easily set a new movie after the Thrawn stuff because most of your viewers haven't read the books so they have no idea what all that context it.

No, from the perpective of "we want to make a ton of money with new Star Wars movies", wiping out canon status of everything that wasn't an existing movie was the right decision.  It's just too bad they totally berkeleyed up all of the decisions AFTER that one.

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

ProDarwin said:

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

Rogue One and Solo were good

#fightme

Rogue One was great, solo was......eh

Solo was expositional.  A simple backstory.  Whatever someone said about suckling on the teat of the cash cow.  Entertaining.

Has anyone come in here just to say Star Wars sucks yet? 

I don't actually think it sucks, I just have no real interest in it. I've seen various parts of the originals and two of the second trilogy and yet I remember almost none of it. I don't even know why I kept trying to watch them, other than their ubiquity in popular culture.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

Mr_Asa said:

As for why it happened that way, its because Disney has to put its mark on everything.

I don't think that's the right way tot look at it.  Disney spent four BILLION dollars on Lucasfilm, basically to get the rights to Star Wars so they could make new movies.  To recoup that they need the movies to appeal to as broad an audience as possible so they can sell a LOT of tickets.  The Zahn books are excellent but by definition they're written for hardcore fans/nerds -- your average American reads maybe one book a year.

I may not have been clear on that.  Disney warps anything and everything they gain the rights to.  I can't think of any one story they have told that hasn't been significantly changed.  From Pinochio to Star Wars, they change whatever they think they need in order to make a buck.

Is that correct from a corporate standpoint?  Sure.  Is it treating the fans properly?  Not at all.

And I'd argue that making the Thrawn trilogy would have made them just as much money if not more because 1) Star Wars 2) now they can just churn out anything and everything they need to tell the story 3) they can just sell the books again and make money off the reprintings.  Americans don't read as much as they should, but when there is a story they want to read they devour them; look at Twilight or Harry Potter.

I definitely think they could have filled the Thrawn trilogy, made a lot of money and most everyone would be happy.

The EU had everything there to make it all wonderful. It had about 30 movies set up. Want something to make into a TV series that's mostly self contained? X-Wing books gets you that and has some great stories too.

The Mandalorian is......ok but literally that and Rogue One are the best modern Star Wars probably because it's not trying to be like the original trilogy.

Also, Rey is berkeleying terrible. She's a plot device, not a character and it's a plot that sucks

I'll agree that Rey was a disappointment. The setup was great in TFA and even ok in TLJ, but the wrap up was a let down. That said, on the whole, I liked the sequels. And as noted, 10yo me would have LOVED them. So maybe it's par for the course. 
I showed dad this thread since he's a fan too. 10 years old in 1977, I think there's a theme here. Basically the takeaway is this: Vader was the most intimidating, powerful, badass in the universe. Right from the start. And that remained unchanged until Mr. Lucas made the prequels. Taken as a whole character as I think we must, Anakin/Vader was a less compelling story than Kylo Ren. A more dramatic turn to the dark (a love story!??! Really, George?) and a more dramatic return to the light. Though the best scene in the whole shebang was the lightsaber battle between Luke and Vader in RotJ. For Kylo, the sheer power and angst/rage/unpredictability made for a frightening combo IMO. Add in the acting by Mr. Driver and it's no competition. That might be different if 1-3 didn't exist. Hell, give us the story, but not the movies, and it might still tilt the scales to Vader. But the movies exist, and my take is that Kylo>Vader. 

A more dramatic turn to the dark (a love story!??! Really, George?)

Remember, there IS a reason he started with episode 4...

i was 15 when I went to see the first one. None have had the same impact. All worth seeing but some are even pretty lame. 

Star Wars becomes more sensible if you consider it to be episodes of Gunsmoke in Space. 

This occurred to me watchingThe Mandalorian, which really is Rifleman crossed with Have Gun, Will Travel.

Mr_Asa said:

That's just absolutely berkeleying awesome

I'm more of a Trek fan (Gul Dukat IS a Sith Lord), but I love me some Star Wars as well. Been a fan since I was a kid, and have seen all the movies (most in the theater). With Disney buying the franchise and ditching what was canon, that was disappointing. I was mid-way through the first Thrawn Trilogy book when they pulled that crap. Blah. 

That said, even though I thought the end of the Skywalker trilogy was just OK, the rest of it has been pretty damn great. Rogue One, The Mandalorian, and even the Solo movie all kept (and keep) my attention. I just finished Clone Wars as well, which was way better than I expected. Ahsoka RULES. I also just started Rebels, which seems pretty good. I like that they are starting to take "Legends" stuff and making it fit the new canon. I'm pretty sure they even got Timothy Zahn back to write some stuff. 

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Appleseed :

I disagree. First scene, he's warned "no disintegrations". Not that that makes sense when it comes to collecting a bounty.

And, I don't believe he's dead yet. Isn't he being digested over a billion years or some E36 M3? Keeping him alive so he can suffer? Brutal death. Very un-b*#ch-like.

You really need to watch The Mandolorian

The most recent episode of the Madolorian was shot few miles from me (the temple thing).  The rocks looked super familiar when we watched. It's also pretty close to the old Spawn Ranch (Manson). 
 

I am generally not a huge fan of SW (I like the Science in science fiction), but I have seen all the movies and appreciate what is good.  The science in both SW and ST are crap, so they both are essentially based on characters and action.  I think what makes the good SW stories good are the characters.  Luke may be the hero of the originals, but most will say Han is the best character.

The Mandolorian is great because it returns to what made the original SW good, it's essentially just a western in space.  Also, good characters.  It's a full on geek fest for SW fans (LOTS of little Easter eggs to other movies / stories).  You can tell it's made by people who are true fans of the series.

More Ashoka, more Rosario Dawson?

Ok, I guess you win, Mouse

Also, Hayden is returning as Vader for the Kenobi series, I think I heard

In reply to Mr_Asa :

So you bring good news, and bad news. Balance, I suppose. 

In reply to barefootskater (Shaun) :

Like Driver, a lot of the fans like the acting but had an issue with the writing.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I suppose if Mr. Lucas' writing and directing can make Natalie Portman look bad, I can allow that Hayden may have acting talent. I've not seen any indication of it, but I guess we'll see.