Star Wars: Episode VII: The Nerd Rage Awakens

[Skywalker]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

I don't know, I think the idea that elements of the Empire continued to exist is kind of refreshing. Especially after so many freakin movies where we see the enemy force of millions miraculously grind to a halt once their leader/queen/hive is killed.

It only makes sense that there would be a lot of other generals, grand moffs, or even Darths out there who might see the death of the Emperor as an opportunity to try to seize power themselves.

That's pretty much exactly what happened in the EU. While the Rebellion continued to gain more and more territory and power, the Empire lived on in some form or another and kept on fighting for close to twenty years after ROTJ. Some former moffs and admirals gave up the pretense of fighting for the Empire entirely and became warlords, carving up portions of the galaxy for themselves and fighting both the Rebels/Republic and each other. Eventually the remnants of the Empire took up a small portion of the Outer Rim, and signed a peace treaty with the New Republic.

I'm okay with there not being a New Republic in the movies after the OT. After the Separatist Crisis that lead up to the Clone Wars, where thousands of disenchanted systems decided to leave the Republic, it does make sense to me that, after the Emperor's death, not everyone would decide to join hands and sing "Kumbaya" and live happily ever after. With both the Republic and the Empire gone I can see a lot of systems deciding to try going it their own way finally.

 

[kirk55555]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

The stormtrooper costume, if its for real, sounds interesting. While it would be cool to see some classic Stormtroopers, the description in that article sounds cool, especially the eyes being one black strip (which makes me think of Cylons).

I thought Cylons too when I heard that description.
It is so exciting to think of all new stuff!

Anyways, about the political situation, I hope they do a one line intro in the opening crawl - something like this:

30 years have passed since the destruction of the Second Death Star, but remnants of the Empire still exist. The resurgent Jedi Order led by Master Luke Skywalker and the Galactic Alliance led by Leia Organa Solo fight to eliminate these havens of evil. But a far greater danger is lurking, one that could destroy all that the defenders of freedom and justice have fought for...

(cue music)

That sounds like a cool set up. Its been sounding to me, based off the Jedi Hunter rumors, that its still going to be an imperial based threat, but having the Empire be kind of secondary to a bigger threat would be interesting, although I'd be fine either way.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

That sounds like a cool set up. Its been sounding to me, based off the Jedi Hunter rumors, that its still going to be an imperial based threat, but having the Empire be kind of secondary to a bigger threat would be interesting, although I'd be fine either way.

Anything at this point is possible. With two successive Galactic Civil Wars, the galaxy has to be rather broken and somewhat in disarray. Large, well organized governments don't really add much to the story at this point, and if TPTB can refocus on the main characters rather than the meta story that would be cool. In my mind, it would make sense for the Jedi to be the focal point and leader of the "good guys" rather than some version of the Republic/Alliance and the Sith to be the focal point and leader of the "bad guys" rather than some version of the Empire.

However, the bad guys and the good guys need to have their own distinctive style ships with color coded lasers so we can keep track of them.

 

[Tom]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

Well all the films so far have needed some large force or army to put protagonists on a grand scale. In TPM it was droids then both droids and Clones in the next two films, then the empire officers and storm troopers in the OT. There is always going to be a some type of large force beyond the Jedi and Sith. So this new film will perhaps have a new republic army and also remnants of the Empire that our Sith (or dark Jedi) try to get working for them in order to cause a more epic galactic issue.


The PT needed to have the Clone army created as a plot device explain how one man (albeit very powerful man!) can take over a galaxy. Without an army, the threat is a more localized on and on a smaller scale, and we all know that is not how Star Wars films work! LOL

 

[kirk55555]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

That sounds like a cool set up. Its been sounding to me, based off the Jedi Hunter rumors, that its still going to be an imperial based threat, but having the Empire be kind of secondary to a bigger threat would be interesting, although I'd be fine either way.

Anything at this point is possible. With two successive Galactic Civil Wars, the galaxy has to be rather broken and somewhat in disarray. Large, well organized governments don't really add much to the story at this point, and if TPTB can refocus on the main characters rather than the meta story that would be cool. In my mind, it would make sense for the Jedi to be the focal point and leader of the "good guys" rather than some version of the Republic/Alliance and the Sith to be the focal point and leader of the "bad guys" rather than some version of the Empire.

However, the bad guys and the good guys need to have their own distinctive style ships with color coded lasers so we can keep track of them.

I agree. It would be cool to see the Jedi and Sith as the focal point of the conflict in the movie. We've kind of gotten that, but I think some large scale jedi-on-sith action would be cool, although I guess someone could argue it would make the Sith less special. I'm sure we'll be getting some kind of force user conflict, which will hopefully be awesome.

I also agree on color coded lasers. Maybe they should mix it up. Instead of green = evil and red = good (which is the exact opposite of lightsabers now that I think about it) we could go with orange and blue or something Actually, I've been wondering wether a black laser bolt would be possible, but you probably couldn't see it on screen. but, the EU did have a lightsaber with a black blade, which I think would be awesome to see a big Sith villain wield.

 

[DWF]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

I guess Sith happens. But I kind of thought they'd be alittle more creative, still it should mean we'll be seeing some good lightsaber duels.

 

[AgentCoop]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

I'm just happy that they're apparently going back to having Stormtroopers being played by guys wearing real armor. The PT Clone Troopers never looked quite real to me.

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

^
I kind of felt the same way. Most of the Clones seen in Episodes II and III were digitally inserted into the film and Clone firefights and battles often felt too much like a big video game. Say what one wants about the Stormtroopers of the OT, their notorious lack of weapons accuracy and their combat skills, but at least they looked and felt like actual armored soldiers fighting the Rebels and not computer-generated background filler.

 

[BillJ]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

Hmmmm, that would be interesting. What if some sort of cult had built up among the remnants of the empire after Vader's death? Maybe the helmets are an expression of that?

I was just thinking the same exact thing about a cult centered around Vader.

 

[Set Harth]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

Most of the Clones seen in Episodes II and III were digitally inserted into the film and Clone firefights and battles often felt too much like a big video game.

All of the clone troopers were CGI.

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

Not all of them. A very small handful were extras or Temuera Morrison in costume, as when Cody takes his helmet off and talks to Obi-Wan during two brief scenes in Episode III. The vast majority were definitely CGI, but not quite 100%.

 

[DWF]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

I'm sure there're be plenty of CGI troopers in the new movies as well.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

Yeah, there's bound to be some 'fake' troopers. Even the OT did this, the Stormtrooper/TIE pilot/Imperial officer army seen during the Emperor's arrival on the second Death Star is accomplished via a detailed matte painting and clever editing.

 

[Skywalker]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

Not all of them. A very small handful were extras or Temuera Morrison in costume, as when Cody takes his helmet off and talks to Obi-Wan during two brief scenes in Episode III. The vast majority were definitely CGI, but not quite 100%.

I remember reading once that when Temuera Morrison appeared as a clone trooper, it was really just him wearing a green screen body suit (or whatever the term is for those), and then the clone trooper armor was CG'd onto him. They didn't even spring for a real set of armor for him to wear.

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

That's weak.

I like CGI. I like George. But come on, that's just sad if they didn't even want to stick one supporting actor in a plastic body shell for a few brief shots.

You can tell the Clones standing around Obi-Wan and Commander Cody in the Republic cruiser hangar ("Have I ever let you down, General?") are CGI bodies, because their faces are pretty obvious CGI copies of Temuera's. They look like they come right out of a Playstation or XBox game of the movie.

 

[davejames]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

There will undoubtedly be lots of CGI in the movie, but JJ is liable to make sure it's inserted in a MUCH more subtle, background kind of way (like those matte paintings of old), and there won't be tons of CG creatures constantly parading in front of the screen and interacting with the actors like we saw in the prequels.

And there'll probably also be far fewer of those grand, show-offy tracking shots where every little element on the screen-- from troops to droids to the planet itself-- is obviously CG.

 

[AgentCoop]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

That's weak.

I like CGI. I like George. But come on, that's just sad if they didn't even want to stick one supporting actor in a plastic body shell for a few brief shots.

You can tell the Clones standing around Obi-Wan and Commander Cody in the Republic cruiser hangar ("Have I ever let you down, General?") are CGI bodies, because their faces are pretty obvious CGI copies of Temuera's. They look like they come right out of a Playstation or XBox game of the movie.

Yeah, I remember hearing that they only built one or two actual sets of Clone Trooper armor, and they were mainly for the CG artists to use for reference.

CGI is fine when it's used properly. The trouble with George is that he uses it the way a toddler uses fingerpaints. It gets all over everything.

 

[The Wormhole]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

There will undoubtedly be lots of CGI in the movie, but JJ is liable to make sure it's inserted in a MUCH more subtle, background kind of way (like those matte paintings of old), and there won't be tons of CG creatures constantly parading in front of the screen and interacting with the actors like we saw in the prequels.

And there'll probably also be far fewer of those grand, show-offy tracking shots where every little element on the screen-- from troops to droids to the planet itself-- is obviously CG.

One positive thing I'll say about Abrams is that he does tend to stick to practical effects as much as possible, reserving CG only for effects shots which require it. And we're already seeing this with those various aliens seen in the leaked Tatooine photos.

 

[Saul]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

So Ford actually broke his leg http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27919126

Damn...

 

[davejames]

Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII

I've never had a broken leg before, but doesn't it usually take 3-4 months to fully heal from something like that? And that's for younger people who actually heal a lot faster.

Also, every time I read about this incident, I can't help but wonder what it must have looked like to the doctors to see Ford wheeled into the hospital wearing his Han Solo costume again.