More Star Wars films announced

[Set Harth]

The ultimate origin of Palpatine isn't exactly cleared up in the PT, anyway. Was he human and got scarred, or is his "scarred" skin his true appearance, unveiled? Screen canon doesn't say.

Either way he's most likely from human stock, with the monstrous look being due to the effects of the dark side.

It's all a bit confusing at times, and it's not helped by the lack of advanced prosthetics and CGI creatures in the original film (not counting the Special Edition additions made in 1997) that make the prequels seem more abundant with non-human life forms than the Original Trilogy could afford to show.

Even in the PT there seems to be an abundance of human Jedi ( or at least near-humans who look human from a distance ).

 

[cooleddie74]

I meant the galaxy in general. The PT is crawling with non-human races in practically every frame of the films.

Anyways, I'm not arguing anything....just pointing out observations. Most of the differences between the PT and OT can just be chalked up to enormous technology and budget differences and Lucas being able to portray more exotic aliens and in greater numbers with the advent of better prosthetics, animatronics and CGI.

Lucas once said that if prequel technology and budgets had existed in 1976 when he filmed the Mos Eisley Cantina - and I paraphrase - "it would have been a lot more exotic and interesting than guys in rubber masks with a big praying mantis sitting at the end of the bar." Love or hate the guy, but I believe him. A CGI Chalmun's Cantina would have looked like a Pixar film.

 

[tighr]

Mos Eisley Cantina had a pretty decent mix of aliens.

Tattooine was described as being a planet inhabited mostly by humans and the planet's natives (in small populations) anyway.

 

[cooleddie74]

Oh, sure it had a decent mix. Lucas was just saying that - had prequel filmmaking technology been available to him in the seventies - he'd have made things even more diverse, alien and exotic and there would have been fewer background actors in rubber masks and big bug costumes.

He was notoriously unsatisfied with how most of the Cantina patrons turned out but had to settle for what he could accomplish with the makeup, masks, costumes and set decorations of 1976 and on the somewhat limited shooting budget he had.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

And yet, as it was in 1977, the cantina scene was an audience favorite—in a movie that was itself a big hit.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yep. And it works brilliantly to this day, big giant praying mantis drinking at the bar notwithstanding. One of the coolest and most atmospheric scenes in the entire history of sci-fi/fantasy cinema.

For the record, the praying mantis alien in the Cantina was a female Yam'rii named "Kitik Keed'kak" and Hasbro has released her as an action figure not once, but twice over the last nine years. Although the prop costume in the film was green the action figure and backstory for the character depict her as a brownish insectoid life form.

 

[PsychoPere]

Hamill has confirmed that discussions with Lucasfilm have started.

 

[davejames]

Mos Eisley Cantina had a pretty decent mix of aliens.

Tattooine was described as being a planet inhabited mostly by humans and the planet's natives (in small populations) anyway.

Yeah, to me Mos Eisley in ANH felt much more like how a small, dusty little spaceport in the middle of nowhere would really be like.

There was something so much more compelling and evocative about those sparse planets in the OT, compared to how ridiculously busy and overcrowded everything was in the prequels.

Hopefully that's another thing Abrams will try to get back to in his movies.

 

[cooleddie74]

If the new report of Mark Hamill and the gang entering negotiations with Lucasfilm bears any long term fruit I suppose it's possible Abrams, Kasdan and others will heed the suggestions made and steer the Sequel Trilogy in a creative and aesthetic direction that's more in line with the 1977-83 films. Mark said he'd like to see a good balance between modern CGI and older technology like physical props and matte paintings so the new movies don't feel like huge, overblown video games.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Yeah, to me Mos Eisley in ANH felt much more like how a small, dusty little spaceport in the middle of nowhere would really be like.

There was something so much more compelling and evocative about those sparse planets in the OT, compared to how ridiculously busy and overcrowded everything was in the prequels.

Hopefully that's another thing Abrams will try to get back to in his movies.

Of all the things to complain about... Mos Eisley felt smaller because it was smaller and was intended to be smaller. Mos Espa in Episode I felt bigger because it was bigger and was intended to be bigger. I can't see how that makes one better than the other and how anyone would be eager to get back to a movie universe in which towns are smaller.

 

[tighr]

There was something so much more compelling and evocative about those sparse planets in the OT, compared to how ridiculously busy and overcrowded everything was in the prequels.

To be fair, that has a lot more to do with the difference between Core Worlds and the Outer Rim. We did not see any Core Worlds in the OT.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Although what I think would be interesting would be how they would handle the decades of "Expanded Universe" stories and "canon" and other elements that most fans have "Accepted as canon" into account. Since really while Clone Wars is sorta kinda sticking to SOME of the established EU canon, they're also making up stuff as they go along too. Or simply redefining things.

So even if they go back and do a Pre-OT movie with Obi-Wan on Tattooine they could always acknowledge that Mos Isley was an "armpit" compared to Mos Espa and that's why Obi Wan took Luke there in the first place in the OT even though clearly in the PT Mos Espa was the "happenin" spot" - could also be that if he was trying to stay off the grid, the armpit town of Mos Isley was a better chance, smaller bars, fewer folks around - although at the same time - it almost backfired since it was so friggin small. How long did it take the Stormies to find them? A couple of days at most? That's pretty damn fast for a non Core world.

 

[davejames]

Of all the things to complain about... Mos Eisley felt smaller because it was smaller and was intended to be smaller. Mos Espa in Episode I felt bigger because it was bigger and was intended to be bigger. I can't see how that makes one better than the other and how anyone would be eager to get back to a movie universe in which towns are smaller.

Because to me Mos Eisley (the pre-SE version at least) felt much more like a real place. It was quiet and sparse, and there weren't tons of creatures and droids filling every inch of the screen and doing cute gags for the camera all the time.

The same goes for Yavin, and Hoth, and even Endor. They felt like real places you had just dropped in on (and not just because of the lack of CG either).

To be fair, that has a lot more to do with the difference between Core Worlds and the Outer Rim. We did not see any Core Worlds in the OT.

True, but I still think Lucas went a bit overboard with making every one of those planets so damn busy and overcrowded.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Because to me Mos Eisley (the pre-SE version at least) felt much more like a real place. It was quiet and sparse, and there weren't tons of creatures and droids filling every inch of the screen and doing cute gags for the camera all the time.

The same goes for Yavin, and Hoth, and even Endor. They felt like real places you had just dropped in on (and not just because of the lack of CG either).

Alright, that makes sense, although none of these exotic planets ever felt like real places to me.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Practical sets, extras, and props, including practical mechanized droids rolling past, provided an aura of reality that CGI just flat out hasn't been able to match. This is one reason why I prefer the original cut of the 1977 film to the special edition. It just better feels like you're really there. Call it an ineffable je ne sais quoi, if you like.

 

[tighr]

Because to me Mos Eisley (the pre-SE version at least) felt much more like a real place. It was quiet and sparse, and there weren't tons of creatures and droids filling every inch of the screen and doing cute gags for the camera all the time.

The same goes for Yavin, and Hoth, and even Endor. They felt like real places you had just dropped in on (and not just because of the lack of CG either).

Again, all of those planets are Outer Rim. Of course they are going to be quiet and sparse...

We never physically go to Alderraan in ANH, but I would imagine that would be more in line with what we see on Coruscant (on the extreme, of course) and to a much lesser extent Naboo (which is in the Middle Rim) in TPM.

It's quite literally the difference between Manhattan NYC and a tiny little town in Nevada.

 

[cooleddie74]

We didn't see much of Alderaan at the end of ROTS but the glimpse we got made the planet seem at least somewhat well-populated....nowhere near the insane census levels of a Coruscant, but when the planet was destroyed 20 years later Obi-Wan picked up the echoes of the life energies of "millions."

I'm not familiar with the most recent reference materials on the planet so I don't know the updated number on Alderaan's population, but it always seemed to be a fairly populous, wealthy and powerful world with a great deal of influence in the Old Republic.

 

[tighr]

Yep, I'm going based solely on the screen canon available, but that's how it always seemed to me. The more remote the world, the less populous it was.

As Tarkin himself says in ANH: "You're far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration - but don't worry; we will deal with your rebel friends soon."

 

[J.T.B.]

Practical sets, extras, and props, including practical mechanized droids rolling past, provided an aura of reality that CGI just flat out hasn't been able to match. This is one reason why I prefer the original cut of the 1977 film to the special edition. It just better feels like you're really there. Call it an ineffable je ne sais quoi, if you like.

Yeah, the whole feel is different. One of the things that was so cool in 1977 -- even if you weren't conscious of it -- was the way Lucas used the documentary style framing, like everything you're seeing is normal. There are monsters and vehicles and robots all over the place that barely get in the frame, or move through without any attention paid to them. SF movies hadn't been like that before, they generally put the fantastical and spectacular stuff front and center for everyone to marvel at. After the CG stuff was put in SW, the emphasis in those shots, too, seemed to shift toward emphasizing the effects.

The old Mos Eisely felt more like a near-ghost town in a Spaghetti Western: Not much going on in the street (too hot) but full of menace anyway. The new one seems more like a travelogue. And that's aside from the absolutely awful editorial decision to undercut Ben's serious word of warning by following it with a pitiful Jawa sight gag.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, the Ronto scene was pretty awful.