Star Wars 7 vs SWOR thought.

[Thorsteinn]

f**k it. I'm gonna say what we are all thinking:

Star Wars 7 better damn well be as good as the Star Wars The Old Republic intro movies.

[Sir Nate]

Agreed

[Sir Douglas]

At this point, I'll be happy if the movie has an actual plot and isn't just a two-hour long special effects demo reel. Personally, I'm excited, but I'm still not getting my hopes up too high.

[Ian]

...but I'm still not getting my hopes up too high.

Wait until this time next year...

[Sir Edward]

...but I'm still not getting my hopes up too high.

Wait until this time next year...

Oh yes, around this time next year, I expect to fully get my hopes too high.

[Sir Patrick]

Already camping out at the theater. In costume.

[Sir Nate]

At this point, I'll be happy if the movie has an actual plot and isn't just a two-hour long special effects demo reel. Personally, I'm excited, but I'm still not getting my hopes up too high.

Am I the only one here that is ok with episode 2 and loves 3.
And likes the final fight in 1

My favorite 3 are 5, 6, 4. In that order.

[Ian]

Am I the only one here that is ok with episode 2 and loves 3.
And likes the final fight in 1

Yes.

Already camping out at the theater. In costume.

Imagine how disappointed my friends and I were after standing in line for 8 hrs in costume for the premiere for Episode I. 

[Sir Douglas]

Ugh, even Episode I's space battle was completely forgettable, and that's usually the thing that sticks with me in Star Wars. At least III started out with a promising-looking capital ship bout. Then Hayden Christensen starts talking, and there’s like 110 minutes of filler material until it gets to the scene on that Venator's bridge with Tarkin's cameo.

Seeing how we're a medieval-oriented group, and we're talking about Star Wars I just have to ask: What do all you swords guys think of that funky new lightsaber?

[Sir Nate]

Ugh, even Episode I's space battle was completely forgettable, and that's usually the thing that sticks with me in Star Wars. At least III started out with a promising-looking capital ship bout. Then Hayden Christensen starts talking, and there’s like 110 minutes of filler material until it gets to the scene on that Venator's bridge with Tarkin's cameo.

Seeing how we're a medieval-oriented group, and we're talking about Star Wars I just have to ask: What do all you swords guys think of that funky new lightsaber?

Not very sensible, But cool.

Am I the only one here that is ok with episode 2 and loves 3.
And likes the final fight in 1

Yes.

Guess I am the, "Jedi Outcast"

[scott2978]

Is JJ Abrams doing the new SW movie? The new trailer has a distinctly JJ Abrams Star Trek feel to it. It made me groan at all the negative possibilities around combining Trek and Wars narratively. The "feel" of Star Wars was originated and embodied by the original trilogy, and that's why there is such divisiveness between likers of the prequels and haters of the prequels. They may be great movies in their own right, but they just don't feel like Star Wars.

Aside:
I wonder if they had been made with animation is instead of CC if the feel would have been different?

So if the new SW looks different again (and it's all but certain to) then we'll experience another division of the SW fan community based on likers and haters of this next new envisioning.

It sure did look cool though didn't it! All things being equal besides, I haven't looked forward to a movie this much since The Fellowship of the Ring was announced.

Scott

[Sir William]

I liked Eps 1-3 but having grown up with (and memorized nearly every line of dialog) Eps 4-6 they will always be my favorite.  I liked the remastered versions, where they showcased indigenous fauna being utilized as mounts and such.  My biggest problem with Eps 1-3 is that, because of the advance of technology in the 30 years between 1-3 and 4-6 they seemed to focus more on the wow factor of space and set piece battles and went light on plot and story.  I didn't much care for Hayden Christensen in 2, but I thought he did a good job of showcasing the character's downfall in 3.

I'm a Trekkie too- I had no complaints about the first two entries (but will admit I really liked the first one); I thought Cumberbatch a mistake in casting until I saw the movie.  My mistake; he was sincere and menacing at the same time and not at all campy.  No offense to Mr. Montalban, as his rendition of Khan was iconic, but I thought Cumberbatch brought a gravitas to the role that made it his own.  The running fight between him and Spock was pretty awesome in my book.

Speaking of how these movies 'feel' I have come to the conclusion that given the source material, our own individual ties to it and the like, no other movie is going to quite feel like it belongs.  We've had decades to enjoy and play act with Eps 4-6, our entire childhood and for some of us, entire adulthood too. 

It doesn't have to mean they'll be crap movies...they just might not feel like the SW (or ST) that we grew up with and that's because they're not.  I've tried imagining what life would've been like if SW didn't come out til Lucas could bring all the tech he could to bear on the making of these movies.  Who knows what our reactions would've been like w/out the clarion call of Eps 4-6.  What if we had seen it from Ep1 and an entirely different cast of characters ensued in Eps 4-6?  What would that have been like, I wonder?

Scott mentions LoTR...the lead up to the first movie was almost painful!  I couldn't watch it w/out my Mom and my sister (all of us being big Tolkien fans, my Mom's the reason why any of us knew it existed) - although I did get a sneak preview when my boss took a couple of us out to see it during work hours.  We had to sit in the second row from the front and I remember trying to be fully reclined as I watched...it didn't matter that I ended up with a headache afterwards or that it was dark by the time we got out- I was so blown away it wasn't funny.

What's also not funny is what they did with the Hobbit.  There's a lot there that wasn't in the original book...sometimes it can be a little distracting.  Like the lite love story between Tauriel and Fili- everyone knows no Elf would ever make those kinds of eyes at a Dwarf!  I did love the repartee between Elves and Dwarves though...especially when the keepsake photos come out:

Legolas:  "what's this?  A picture of your brother?"
Dwarf:  "Why that's my wife that is"

That's not exact, but close enough.  I remember laughing out loud when I heard it.

[Sir Douglas]

Guess I am the, "Jedi Outcast"

Good game. Heh, I always considered Kyle Katarn to be the Chuck Norris of Star Wars. Too bad he’s considered "non-canon" now....


Sir William, I think I know where you're coming from. I think our perceptions do change based on previous experiences. You mentioned both Star Trek and LotR/The Hobbit movies.

I've never really been big into Star Trek. I didn't grow up with it. I know who some of the characters are, and that's about it. I thought the New-Trek movies were great; any divergences from the Original Series or changes in the "feel" of that world were completely lost on me. They were just fun movies, so I don't really "get it" when the die-hards rage about how much they sucked (in fact, I think TOS was pretty cheesy, but some fans swear by it). Though I actually didn't care much for Cumberbatch as Khan. I don't know, maybe it's just because it feels like Montalban made for a more "exotic" villain to me, but they decided to turn him into "Generic Hot-ticket British Pretty-boy Villain". But I digress.

Kind of the same thing with LotR. Never heard of it before the movies. Though I eventually did go back and read the books, subconsciously the movies "came first" so, again, when purist rage about how much of a travesty they were, it all goes over my head. Conversely, I read The Hobbit before seeing the movies, so the differences between the two media stand out more to me, and some of the sillier changes to the movie bug me more than they would if I didn't already know the story.

Now back to Star Wars, I've been a fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up with the OT. I have shelves of books, gigabytes of games, and probably a small fortune in toys that I still own to this day. I'm emotionally invested in the universe, so when the fanboys rage about how much the Prequels sucked, now I get it. But as much as we OT-guys whine about lack of plot, some bad acting, over-use of CGI, trying to scientifically explain the Force via midi-chlorians, and *shudder* Jar Jar Binks, we're also overlooking the plots holes, the sometimes laughably hokey special effects, Luke's whining, and all the other flaws in the OT. Like Scott said, the OT came first, so it set the bar by which all other entries are judged. Someone from the younger generation who grew up when both trilogies existed simultaneously might not understand that just like I don't understand why a lot of people say JJ Abrams ruined Star Trek.
As far as Episode VII, it probably won't "feel" like the OT for the simple reason that it's not the OT, but I agree that doesn't automatically mean it has to suck. I'm willing to reserve judgement until I see more than a minute of out-of-context footage.

I'm sure I have a point somewhere in that rambling wall of text...lol.

[Sir Edward]

I grew up as a huge trekkie/trekker. When I was a kid, they were showing the original series in daily reruns at dinner-time, and then The Next Generation started up soon after. I followed it weekly for the full 2+ decades of trek shows.

But I also grew up with Star Wars. My reactions to the prequels are similar to most... when Episode 1 came out, I tried to like it, and enjoyed it as a film in its own right. But as an episode of the series, I have huge problems with it. The other two prequels weren't bad, but in many ways still fall short of what we had with 4-6.

As for Ep.7? Only time will tell, of course. But I'm approaching it with cautious optimism. That will turn to reckless optimism when I'm standing in line to see it.

[Sir William]

Sir Douglas, you get what I'm saying.  As someone who grew up with ST: TOS (and believe you me, even as a kid I knew at least some of it was hokey, especially the 70s era special effects but hey, that's what they had to work with- if you look hard enough at the earlier episodes, you can see the string they used to hold the model of the Enterprise in 'mid air' as it hovered or flew lol) of course I remember them most fondly.  Like Sir Edward, I watched the daily reruns after dinner and I too got into TNG, at least for the first few seasons.  I didn't like it as much- the stylized fight choreography was laughable, the phasers and other weaponry and general combat tactics were of that same ilk but I liked the stories and the casting seemed to be on point more often than not.  One thing I've noted is that a lot of actors have appearances in one or other of the ST shows before they went on to (arguably) bigger and better things.

I think with SW, the universe, its so big, there's so much in the way of rich lore- even fan contributions, some of them have been kind of awesome in the book format.  I didn't understand why there had to be a Jar-Jar Binks or his entire race, really.  He was an utterly useless character, almost like they were trying for an organic pre-placement (as opposed to replacement) of the comic relief function that Threepio fulfilled so well in the OT.

Same deal with LOTR...huge amount of mythos, they could make movies out of the source material for a loooooong time if they were so inclined.  For years, I'd reread the LOTR trilogy once a year, or every other year just to revisit Middle Earth.  I loved it that much.  Now, I'm lazy and I watch the movies- much quicker that way although I will crack the book every once in a while to re-remember what "actually" happened as opposed to what the movies show.