Star Wars: Episode VII: The Nerd Rage Awakens

[davejames]

Han is explaining the history to Rey, who probably hasn't had much in the schooling let alone much history. But in the end they talking to the audience and IMO talking down to the audience.

Well the impression I get is that Rey and everyone else have heard the stories about what happened, and that those stories are pretty common knowledge. But the problem is that so much time has passed, and there is no way of proving any of it, that people have just accepted it as nothing but a legend or myth by this point.

Which I think is a really inspired idea, and does a great job restoring some of the wonder and mystery to the Force and the Jedi that was completely lacking in the prequels.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I think it comes down to the question of how public the events of the OT were to the galaxy at large. It's a subject that the OT itself didn't get into

That's not completely true. There are a few indications that people at least hated the Empire.

- In the scenes inserted into ROTJ at the end, people celebrate all over the galaxy, even on Coruscant, when they learn that the Emperor is dead.

- Arguably this is more of a special case, but in Cloud City, when Lando announces over the PA system that the Empire has taken control of the city, he advises everyone to leave and we see everybody scrambling to get out of town. They weren't supporters of the Rebellion necessarily, but the people there didn't love the Empire.

- Again arguably a special case, we can glean something from Luke's uncle's attitudes and how they manifest themselves in Luke while he is still reluctant to help Ben. Probably, a lot of people on Tatooine, and by extension throughout the galaxy, didn't like the Empire, they hated it, but they felt that there was nothing they could do about it.

- We can also glean something from the way the Lars' bodies are left by the stormtroopers who are looking for the droids. Leaving the bodies like that, showing signs that they were possibly even burned alive, is an instance of state terrorism, intended to set an example and scare the people at large into not collaborating with the Rebellion. You wouldn't need to do that if people loved your Empire. Once again, though, Tatooine was an Outer Rim world, and this didn't necessarily reflect views in the interior.

 

[DWF]

Han is explaining the history to Rey, who probably hasn't had much in the schooling let alone much history. But in the end they talking to the audience and IMO talking down to the audience.

Well the impression I get is that Rey and everyone else have heard the stories about what happened, and that those stories are pretty common knowledge. But the problem is that so much time has passed, and there is no way of proving any of it, that people have just accepted it as nothing but a legend or myth by this point.

Which I think is a really inspired idea, and does a great job restoring some of the wonder and mystery to the Force and the Jedi that was completely lacking in the prequels.

I'm sure history is still taught in their schools, but Rey was abandoned and left to fend for herself, so it's doubtful she's been to an official school.

 

[DWF]

I do believe that the Verizon commerical is the first time we've ever seen Chewie's weapon fired.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think it comes down to the question of how public the events of the OT were to the galaxy at large. It's a subject that the OT itself didn't get into

That's not completely true. There are a few indications that people at least hated the Empire.

Which wasn't under dispute by me. That has nothing to do with what I posted.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

That has nothing to do with what I posted.

Yeah, well, as I said, I disagree that it has nothing to do with it, especially since you said simply "events of the OT." The death of the Emperor was an "event of the OT," and people around the galaxy broke out in celebration when they learned of it. The other points that I raised also had to do with how people in different parts of the galaxy regarded "events of the OT" either specifically or generally in terms of Imperial occupation.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I don't see the part where you said that. You just got off on a side topic that had nothing to do with what I was saying. It's a straw man argument, because I wasn't disputing that people knew the Empire existed or didn't like it.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I'm not the biggest expert on this movie but I think some new footage aired during the music awards last night. Might want to check out youtube.

 

[martok2112]

I do believe that the Verizon commerical is the first time we've ever seen Chewie's weapon fired.

Return of the Jedi.... Chewie fired his bowcaster on an escaping speeder bike.

 

[cooleddie74]

Didn't he also fire at some of the Stormtroopers chasing them when they were fleeing from Cloudy City and headed for the landing platform? Lando and Leia also took out a few with Imperial blasters but I'm pretty sure Chewie had his bowcaster in his hands and fired it.

ETA: Nope, I'm incorrect. He was firing an Imperial blaster. I guess Chewie left his bowcaster aboard the Falcon and it stayed on the ship until they returned to it.

 

[martok2112]

Didn't he also fire at some of the Stormtroopers chasing them when they were fleeing from Cloudy City and headed for the landing platform? Lando and Leia also took out a few with Imperial blasters but I'm pretty sure Chewie had his bowcaster in his hands and fired it.

ETA: Nope, I'm incorrect. He was firing an Imperial blaster. I guess Chewie left his bowcaster aboard the Falcon and it stayed on the ship until they returned to it.

It was pretty amazing that those big Wookiee paws were able to fire so small a weapon.

 

[JD]

First very short clip.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSjkUzlHxK4[/yt]

 

[davejames]

So I wonder if there are going to be any space battles in this movie at all? Seems like everything we've seen so far takes place close to the surface of one planet or the other. And they're definitely very cool looking scenes, but I'm still kinda hoping we get at least one space battle in this movie somewhere.

 

[Venardhi]

Yeah. I brought that up a couple trailers ago and it has held pretty much true so far. We really only have a handful of shots in space at all so far:
Damaged TIE fighter spinning into atmosphere.
Kylo Ren on the bridge of his ship
Falcon in Hyperspace
maybe one or two more?

 

[JD]

A new TV spot features new footage of Poe and his fellow X-Wing pilots. One of the pilots is a character introduced in The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, one of the first batch of Journey to The Force Awakens novels, and another is Nien Nunb, Lando's co-pilot from ROTJ. Nunb is being performed by the same actor who played him in ROTJ.

Edit: Last night was the big TFA episode of Jimmy Kimmel. I didn't watch it, but I have been checking out clips on YouTube.

If Star Wars was a romantic comedy
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKTvTF5sOzo[/yt]

Harrison Ford settles his feud with Chewbacca
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDM4XVrAAgA[/yt]

The cast of Star Wars couldn't take their scripts home
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-u65ReJ3U[/yt]

The Star Wars cast on how they got their roles
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb2crBji7Cc[/yt]
There's a bunch more, but those are all I've watched so far. I might post more if I watch them later;

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens gets a PG-13 rating - https://twitter.com/MPAA_Ratings/status/669277681855406080?s=17

 

[Admiral2]

So I wonder if there are going to be any space battles in this movie at all? Seems like everything we've seen so far takes place close to the surface of one planet or the other. And they're definitely very cool looking scenes, but I'm still kinda hoping we get at least one space battle in this movie somewhere.

Meh...land or space, long as there's a battle I'm good.

My favorite SW movie - ESB - only has a big land battle.

 

[davejames]

Well it may not be a battle per se, but there's still an awful lot of the Falcon being chased in space and flying through an asteroid field in ESB.

Although I do give JJ credit for coming up with a sequence that looks like it could be just as cool, with the Falcon being chased through the debris of a crashed Star Destroyer.

I just hope the trailers haven't shown the vast majority of it already...

 

[fireproof78]

Well it may not be a battle per se, but there's still an awful lot of the Falcon being chased in space and flying through an asteroid field in ESB.

Although I do give JJ credit for coming up with a sequence that looks like it could be just as cool, with the Falcon being chased through the debris of a crashed Star Destroyer.

I just hope the trailers haven't shown the vast majority of it already...

I doubt the trailers have given away too much, since Abrams is rather tight fisted about plot details.

Also, I think that ESB has one of my favorite space sequences, very tense, with some incredibly tight editing and very clever piloting. Only the Battle of Endor really holds my interest.

If the flight through the crashed Star Destroyer is even half as tense as the ESB I will thoroughly enjoy that.

 

[cooleddie74]

It looks like it might be on par with the Speeder Bike chase on Endor, what with all the dodging and flying around large objects in their path. The tight confines inside the superstructure of an Imperial Star Destroyer are perfect fodder for a claustrophobic chase scene.