Star Wars: Episode VII: The Nerd Rage Awakens

[cooleddie74]

Juno Eclipse in the Force Unleashed video games was a female officer in the Imperial military who wore the black uniform associated with both spacecraft pilots and with the Stormtrooper corps. Stormtrooper dress uniforms were black with soft caps, much like Juno Eclipse's in the games and EU. Now, she might have been solely a trained pilot and never wore the white armor and helmet of a combat trooper but it's possible that at some point she was trained in the combat arts as a Stormtrooper and later graduated, was promoted and was assigned to or chose to become a pilot.

 

[Beagleman]

God, I hope this rumor is true.

Yes please! It would be glorious.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

There were also female stormtroopers in Dark Horse's Legacy comic series.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

My only gripe with the idea is that all six previous films have a certain structure: the films themselves all take place within a very short amount of time. I'm not referring to the time between the films, I'm talking about the films themselves. The structure is rigid and constricted. None of them have flashbacks.

In fact, producer Rick MacCallum was worried about actually showing Anakin's dream in RotS because dreams have never been shown in the films themselves before.

The recent trailer didn't indicate any slavish devotion to sticking to the established structure of the previous films to me, nor should it. It's an entirely new group of people working on this, and the film should reflect that, rather than worrying about strict adherence to what stylistic choices came before.

Besides, what are the Prequels except essentially three freestanding flashbacks? Unless you're referring to flashbacks in the psychological sense rather than just the film/TV "show a scene from the past" sense.

 

[Jedi_Master]

It wouldn't be an Abrahms production without an island and a flashback.




.... and before someone goes ape and gives me three hundred examples of Abrams productions that don' have islands or flashbacks, please keep in mind I am kidding.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

My only gripe with the idea is that all six previous films have a certain structure: the films themselves all take place within a very short amount of time. I'm not referring to the time between the films, I'm talking about the films themselves. The structure is rigid and constricted. None of them have flashbacks.

In fact, producer Rick MacCallum was worried about actually showing Anakin's dream in RotS because dreams have never been shown in the films themselves before.

How much time elapses in The Empire Strikes Back, from the probes being launched from the Star Destroyer to the Millennium Falcon leaving the Rebel fleet to go after Han? Jeffrey J. Stables calculates the bulk of the movie at six months, plus or minus one month or so. Is he right? Would six months be "a very short amount of time"?

 

[Rowan Sjet]

^ What IS 'a long time ago' anyway?

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm not sure about the span of time between events within each individual film, but between each of the movies there are canonical numbers established by Lucasfilm even if they don't always make perfect sense based on the depicted events.

TPM to AOTC: A little over 10 years.

AOTC to ROTS: A little over three years.

ROTS to ANH: 19 or 20 years.

ANH to ESB: Three years, possibly a little bit longer.

ESB to ROTJ: One year.

 

[Enterprise1701]

The EU used the calendar system before/after the Battle of Yavin. Calendars published with several novels, and thus Wookieepeedia labeled the films as this:

Episode I: 32 BBY

Episode II: 22 BBY

Episode III: 19 BBY

Episode IV: 0 ABY

Episode V: 3 ABY

Episode VI: 4 ABY

 

[Set Harth]

Jeffrey J. Stables calculates the bulk of the movie at six months, plus or minus one month or so. Is he right?

For one thing, hyperspace travel is very fast in the SW films. I feel it's safe to say that it did not take a week(!!) for Luke to get from Dagobah to Bespin.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Jeffrey J. Stables calculates the bulk of the movie at six months, plus or minus one month or so. Is he right?

For one thing, hyperspace travel is very fast in the SW films. I feel it's safe to say that it did not take a week(!!) for Luke to get from Dagobah to Bespin.

I would agree with that!

Plus, in ROTJ we see fighters go through hyperspace ahead of capital ships. It really looks like fighter hyperdrives don't suck in SW.

I wonder if he came to that conclusion in part because we never see Luke's fighter make the streak-effect for hyperspace entry in TESB.

 

[cooleddie74]

I would never buy that Luke's X-Wing took a week to get from Dagobah to Bespin. Not even close. With the way hyperdrives seem to work in that galaxy and how quickly the Millennium Falcon got from Tatooine to the former location of Alderaan I don't think it took long at all for Luke to blast off, jump to hyperspace and then arrive at Cloud City. Maybe a couple of days at most, giving Vader and the Imperials just enough time to spring their trap on the Rebels and torture Han and Leia for information before putting the former into carbon freeze.

 

[Corran Horn]

I'm not sure about the span of time between events within each individual film, but between each of the movies there are canonical numbers established by Lucasfilm even if they don't always make perfect sense based on the depicted events.

That's been swept away, for good or bad.

 

[cooleddie74]

Those haven't. Those are dates based on the canonical movies and television series. Only the dates of the old novels, comics and other EU materials have now been discarded. There are still 19 or 20 years between Episode III and A New Hope even after the Disney buyout and rebooting of the Expanded Universe. They didn't jettison everything about the timeline.

 

[Masiral]

^Yep, the timeline remains, approved by the Keeper of the Holocron, Leland Chee.

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

 

[Ithekro]

Rebels indicates female stormtroopers are possible given that a character in training as a trooper was there to look for his lost sister, who had been training there earlier (and taken by the Inquisitor for her skills it seems)

 

[Set Harth]

I'm not sure about the span of time between events within each individual film, but between each of the movies there are canonical numbers established by Lucasfilm even if they don't always make perfect sense based on the depicted events.

That's been swept away, for good or bad.

Some of that information is still presented by the films' dialogue, such as the approximate time span between TPM and AOTC.

^Yep, the timeline remains, approved by the Keeper of the Holocron, Leland Chee.

I suppose we must resign ourselves to the fact that Chee remains. But does that also apply to the infamous Holocron? Is there even a need for it anymore? Allegedly, everything will be considered to be the same level of "canon" going forward.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I don't get all picky about how much time actually passes in Empire because it's related to how far these systems are from each other and its a point that people get so hung up .. partly because people know that the in real life the distance between stars is just so big.

It is a fantasy. The Falcon is a ship that can travel through space. We have cars and planes capable of taking us to other places.

I always look at it this way. I live in Eastern PA. The two destinations I have in mind are NYC and Orlando FL. NYC is a relatively short distance away, and I'd use a car. It would not make sense for me to use a place.

By comparison, the Falcon, and every other ship, is capable of going the relatively short distance between Hoth and Anoad. they probably don't even need the hyperdrive any more than I would need a plane. The ship's ability to go between these systems is not anything scientific.. it's just what a ship does. Nothing else is scientific about Star Wars, why should traveling between systems be? The ships are designed to fly to different systems just like my car between different cities.

Ok, so the Falcon has trouble with the hyperdrive. it made it from Hoth to Anoad, but it's cant really escape from the Empire here.

So back to my car analogy. I am in some trouble. I need to get out of Pennsylvania. I can go to NYC but its not far enough away. Preferably, if I could get to Europe I'd be in the clear, but I know a guy that can help me in Florida. All things being equal, I'd fly to Florida, but let's say I can't for the same reason I can't fly to Europe. I can drive to Florida.. its a bit far but something I can still do. I can't drive to Europe.

Similarly, the Falcon has no hyperdrive, which might take it to "the other side of the galaxy" as stated in the film. It can still go between systems that are nearby without it, but it can't truly escape without the hyperdrive.. no more than I can get to Europe without a plane. Bespin is pretty far from Anoad, but, just like Florida is driving distance for me, Bespin is a system that still is close enough (barely) that the ship could still go there without hyperdrive.

That's how I look at it. These films were never about the science. The character's might call it "light speed" but it was really something else entirely. All those books that explain away these technicalities and all those debates that bring up the problem of interstellar travel in Star Wars are pretty much missing the point.

 

[B.J.]

I would never buy that Luke's X-Wing took a week to get from Dagobah to Bespin. Not even close. With the way hyperdrives seem to work in that galaxy and how quickly the Millennium Falcon got from Tatooine to the former location of Alderaan I don't think it took long at all for Luke to blast off, jump to hyperspace and then arrive at Cloud City. Maybe a couple of days at most, giving Vader and the Imperials just enough time to spring their trap on the Rebels and torture Han and Leia for information before putting the former into carbon freeze.

I wouldn't even say it took a couple of days. Who would stay locked up in a cramped X-Wing cockpit for more than a day without going stir-crazy or needing to pee? It's not like he can pull over anywhere he wants and go behind a floating space-tree.

 

[DarthTom]

All those books that explain away these technicalities and all those debates that bring up the problem of interstellar travel in Star Wars are pretty much missing the point.

Exactly. I remember someone complaining in ESB the ion cannons on screen showed that firing the device it has recoil. Someone pointed out that it's absurd for energy weapons to have recoil.

It's like dude - they have recoil because it looks cool on screen not because it's technically feasible. Both in Wars and Trek energy weapons also make sounds which everyone also knows is absurd as well. But silence on the screen would make the battle scenes dull.