Star Wars: Episode VII: The Nerd Rage Awakens

[Doctorwhovian]

I wonder how Ford wanted Han to die in Jedi. A failed carbonite wake-up? Heroic sacrifice?

Maybe they should've let Han pilot the Falcon in the finale (Which I think might be in earlier drafts. Although it's possible he did pilot it when they left Tatooine if his vision was better) and had Lando with the ground team. Han doesn't really do that much when on Endor apart from taking over the bunker (He's not really involved with the speeder bike chase) But I suppose they wanted to get the 'gang back together' since Luke and Han didn't share a lot of screen time together in ESB, and they also wanted to further the Han/Leia romance too.

 

[cooleddie74]

I just hope that Chewbacca and the Falcon survive the entirety of the Sequel Trilogy even if Han doesn't. It's one thing for a notoriously grumpy Harrison Ford to have his character written out, but I'd like to see Chewie and their ship stay on for as long as they can keep finding excuses to show them.

 

[Saul]

I wonder how Ford wanted Han to die in Jedi. A failed carbonite wake-up? Heroic sacrifice?

I've read different things. One was he gets shot while attacking the imperial shield base. The other was him taking Lando's place on the Falcon during the attack on the death star.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Yeah, one thing that was missing from the prequels was a sort of 'hero ship'. Even some of the EU stuff uses pseudo-Falcons (some of which also have bird names) such as the Outrider, Moldy Crow, Sabra, Ebon Hawk, etc. sometimes. Even Clone Wars realized this, and gave Anakin a freighter (Which actually gives some truth-sort of-to Uncle Owen's lie to Luke about Anakin's occupation), and Rebels of course has the Ghost. Luke's X-wing also sort of qualifies, although I'm not sure it's the same ship throughout the whole trilogy (Also seeing as it was left on Cloud City, it probably isn't)

However in those movies we ended up with four chrome Naboo ships and a new type of starfighter every movie. Not counting the cameos of the Falcon (or similar vessels) in the background.

 

[Timby]

I'm a little worried that half the movie (or more) is going to be taken up introducing the new younger characters before we have any meaningful time with the original ones.

We have 377 minutes of meaningful time with the original characters already.

I get, to an extent, what you're saying, but what Mark Hamill said a week or two ago is ringing more true every day. When this movie comes out in ten months, people need to judge it for what it is, rather than what it isn't. A lot of the discussion is reminding me of all the hoopla over Ghostbusters 3 before the reboot was announced, in that no matter what was being said by the studio and the cast, fans were still totally expecting a movie featuring the original cast for the bulk of the film going on one last ride, even though everyone involved was practically screaming from the rooftops that it was never going to be that way.

The screentime of the original characters isn't going to make or break this movie. The quality of the story being told will.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
This.

The fact that actors like Harrison Ford even agreed to come back and reprise their classic roles should be enough for most fans, but that gets in the way of a good tantrum of nerdrage. We shouldn't expect aging actors in their late fifties, sixties or even seventies to be gritty action heroes taking up most of the screentime in the new film, especially since this one is set more than 30 years after ROTJ and that galaxy has been through so many changes since the victory at Endor and the deaths of The Emperor and Darth Vader. Three decades is equivalent to a whole new generation of characters being born and growing to adulthood in the post-Endor era of galactic history, so why shouldn't the film give all those younger characters a major voice?

 

[sttngfan1701d]

I agree that what's most important is the story, and I said in my post that one of the two main reasons I'm looking forward to the film is to see how the galaxy has changed in 30 years. I get the need for new characters. But since this is a new TRILOGY, I want some meaningful time spent with the original gang before the baton is handed off, so to speak.

So I hope Luke doesn't get 15 minutes in total before getting stabbed by an evildoer's lightsaber and Han gets 15 minutes total before heroically sacrificing himself by blowing up the Falcon in the power core of a new SuperDeathStarPlanetEater, and Leia isn't reduced to Mon Mothma-like cameo appearances across the three movies.

That's my worst-case scenario. If I get more than that, I'll be happy.

Edit: It's like Skyfall. In that movie, the villain isn't even introduced until (almost exactly) 70 minutes into the film. In that case it was fine, because we got plenty of meat and setup beforehand, and we also got plenty of meat afterward with the villain. We also got new characters introduced, and plenty of time with the hero, as well as fun cameos and an established major character's death, but said established character played a large role in the story. Also, a new dynamic was set up by the end.

Now, Skyfall runs 143 minutes. That's longer than I expect The Force Awakens to be (Revenge of the Sith was 140 minutes, though), but if the movie follows a similar vein, that'll suit me just fine.

 

[JD]

I'm expecting most of the focus to be on the new characters with the original cast members just playing supporting roles. I have a feeling if someone does die, they'll go out in a blaze of glory.
I think it's worth keeping in mind that JJ Abrams has been very open with the fact that he's a huge SW fan, so I'm expecting the original cast members to get the respect they deserve.

 

[cooleddie74]

He certainly knows a whole lot more about the Lucas universe going into the director's chair than he did the Trek universe when he got the jobs directing the last two movies in that franchise. He grew up as a Star Wars fan and speaks very highly and affectionately of the impact it had on him, so I expect him to give the classic OT characters all the respect they deserve - whatever does or doesn't happen to them in the next film.

 

[DWF]

How could we possibly know how much knowledge of Star Wars or Star Trek or Mission:Impossible that JJ Abrams knows? Maybe we'll know more once a proper trailer comes out but until then, it's best not to expect anything from The Force Awakens. Even speculation about the movie's box office results are at this point premature.

 

[Ithekro]

I image they'll keep the Falcon around regardless of what happens to Han Solo. They did rebuild that set and that is a big set. Might as well get their money's worth out of if for two or more movies.

 

[cooleddie74]

Besides, if Daisy Ridley is his daughter then she can inherit her father's ship and keep Chewbacca as a loyal co-pilot. Chewie's life debt to Han may or may not include and extend to his immediate family members.

 

[JarodRussell]

Worst offender in Abrams' resume is George Kirk's death. Autopilot malfunction (despite being able to program a collision course). Yawn. Cringe.

Wow, I can't disagree enough. I agree that the autopilot malfunctioning is a bit contrived, but I didn't really care because the scene that followed was just so beautifully done from a musical and thematic standpoint. The cuts back and forth between one life ending to protect the birth of another, while Michael Giacchino's score swells brings a tear to my eye every time. They could have focused on the action and explosions going on outside but instead chose to make it a quiet, contemplative scene with only the music and dialogue to give it poignancy. I really find it to be a lovely scene and my favorite from the film, and one of my favorites from all of Trek.

If Abrams can recapture that kind of moment again with the death in TFA --if true-- I'll be entirely satisfied with how it was done.

To me, that got ruined by how contrived it all was. Similarly, Data's death scene was also well done (taken for itself out of context), but it was still ruined by the contrived circumstances.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Kylo Ren vs Young Jedi
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxNc36-Jk2E[/yt]

 

[cooleddie74]

To me, that got ruined by how contrived it all was. Similarly, Data's death scene was also well done (taken for itself out of context), but it was still ruined by the contrived circumstances.

Yeah, but....it's Star Trek. Most of it is contrived, whether it was made in 1966 or 1991 or 2013. It's your prerogative to dislike anything in the franchise that you consider contrived, but taken to an extreme it would mean not liking most of the entire Star Trek universe due to all the goofy plot points, illogical events, ridiculously convenient plot twists at just the right moments and other aspects of the films and TV series that may be fun to watch but make about as much sense as a moose wearing clown makeup (don't Google that).

 

[Unicron]

Kylo Ren vs Young Jedi
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxNc36-Jk2E[/yt]

Those new lightsabers must have a lot of compact emitter crystals.

 

[cooleddie74]

The fans who make these videos are so creative, aren't they?

 

[sttngfan1701d]

How could we possibly know how much knowledge of Star Wars or Star Trek or Mission:Impossible that JJ Abrams knows? Maybe we'll know more once a proper trailer comes out but until then, it's best not to expect anything from The Force Awakens.

I remember when I saw JJTrek back in '09. I was beyond thrilled at the attention to detail, all the little sound effects, and how he took TOS' aesthetic and updated it to make it look more plausible yet still connected to its 1960's roots.

I think that production team, and JJ himself, did as good a job with NuTrek as the people who did TMP and TWOK. I know that's an unpopular opinion, especially around here. But given how he handled Star Trek, I'm sure he'll handle Star Wars just as well. If not better.

Even speculation about the movie's box office results are at this point premature.

Oh, heck yeah. The definition of "success" at the box office has changed so much in just the past several years, it's totally up in the air. A $100m opening weekend is nothing these days. And if thoroughly mediocre fare like The Avengers can make huge piles of money, who knows about Star Wars these days? The Prequels were just modestly successful domestically for their day, 10 years ago. Not wildly so.

But still, I think that if this movie can make $400-500m domestic, it'll make people happy. Because you know it's going to make a king's ransom overseas.

 

[DWF]

How could we possibly know how much knowledge of Star Wars or Star Trek or Mission:Impossible that JJ Abrams knows? Maybe we'll know more once a proper trailer comes out but until then, it's best not to expect anything from The Force Awakens.

I remember when I saw JJTrek back in '09. I was beyond thrilled at the attention to detail, all the little sound effects, and how he took TOS' aesthetic and updated it to make it look more plausible yet still connected to its 1960's roots.

I think that production team, and JJ himself, did as good a job with NuTrek as the people who did TMP and TWOK. I know that's an unpopular opinion, especially around here. But given how he handled Star Trek, I'm sure he'll handle Star Wars just as well. If not better.

Even speculation about the movie's box office results are at this point premature.

Oh, heck yeah. The definition of "success" at the box office has changed so much in just the past several years, it's totally up in the air. A $100m opening weekend is nothing these days. And if thoroughly mediocre fare like The Avengers can make huge piles of money, who knows about Star Wars these days? The Prequels were just modestly successful domestically for their day, 10 years ago. Not wildly so.

But still, I think that if this movie can make $400-500m domestic, it'll make people happy. Because you know it's going to make a king's ransom overseas.

But there's many Star Trek fans who also don't like what he's done to Star Trek and many of those who liked the '09 movie was turned off by Into Darkness.

And I read an article in Entertainment Weekly where they had predicted The Force Awakens to be the first two billion dollar movie. I think there's something of a race going on between The Age Of Ultron and The Force Awakens as to which one will reach the two billion mark at the box office.

Still with a scant 88 seconds of footage seen so far it's really hard to tell how faithful the movie will be to the heritage of Star Wars.

 

[theenglish]

^^^^^
I think we can go by his track record.

I didn't like his Trek movies because I didn't feel that they were faithful to the Trek universe. Abrams himself said he had never been a fan. But Alias, Fringe, Lost, Super 8, and Cloverfield were all pretty amazing (with some hiccups here and there). He has said he's a fan of Star Wars and he is definitely inspired by Lucas and Spielberg. I really think that we are in for an awesome ride with the new Star Wars trilogy. And really, for those of us old enough to remember, how long has it been that we were excited by the build up to a Trek movie? 1999? 1982?