Star Wars: The Force Awakens Discussion (HERE THERE BE SPOILERS)

[Venardhi]

There is no need for flashbacks. Just an economic use of a few minutes and some well-crafted lines tossed casually around here and there. Look at how efficient the first act of Star Wars was in establishing the universe. We just need more of that and less intentional mystery.

 

[Kor]

^ Yes, but the question is how exactly could actors plausibly return for Episode VIII when their characters died in Episode VII, since TPTB have told us that these actors are returning? These aren't Jedi, so "Force ghosts" are out of the question.

Kor

 

[The Old Mixer]

If they opened the movie with a flashback sequence, instead of cutting to the present with a title card like "18 years later", they could make it "Not quite as long ago in a galaxy far, far away...."

 

[Set Harth]

Also, "The Force" being in balance does not mean that light and darkness exist equally.

Yes, it does. This is supported by TCW among other things.

"The Force" exists in nature purely in its light form.

That's internet fan revisionism/wikipedia vandalism, supported by literally nothing in canon and contradicted by George Lucas on various occasions. In its natural state the Force contains both light and dark sides. ( Also see Han Solo's dialogue in TFA. )

A thing, such as the meaning of a word, can only be bent and twisted so much before it breaks. All of one thing and none of the other hardly constitutes "balance"; in fact, it's as unbalanced a situation as you can get. It's the diametric opposite of balance.

 

[Kor]

Lucas himself said that Anakin finally brought balance to "The Force" by destroying the Emperor.
So then there were only Jedi and no more Sith. The whole point was to rid the galaxy of the Dark Side, or keep it severely repressed at any rate.

I don't think the light and dark should be considered as having equal balancing "weight" on the same level. Rather, the Dark Side is a debasement, and "The Force" tips and sinks downward in that direction if it becomes unbalanced. The Dark Side is obviously a highly corrupt and destructive influence that doesn't have anything "balanced" about it.



Kor

 

[JD]

^That's how I've always interpreted it.

 

[fireproof78]

He is a pretty major actor to have in such a small part. He must be pretty important person to have been entrusted with the map, so it wouldn't surprise me if we did get some kind of flashbacks to show how he ended up with something it.
I know we haven't gotten flashbacks in Star Wars before, but with so much ground still to cover between the movies, flashbacks would a good way to avoid endless scenes of people sitting around telling each other what happened.

This was interesting to me. They got a lot of pretty big or known actors for largely minor roles, such as the gang members a known martial arts star and giving him nothing to do. Max von Sydow at least felt like an important role, even more so than Captain Antilles. Also, the TFA illustrated guide gives some interesting factoids about his character.

It seems like they had a lot of stuff planned out that ended up cut out.

 

[Mach5]

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Holy Christ! Unkar Plutt was fully CGI animated! I was 100% sure Simon Pegg was wearing 200 pounds worth of prosthetics.

 

[cooleddie74]

I thought Unkar Plutt was a physical costume from the shoulders down but that his head and face were CGI.

 

[Kor]

Maybe the thing that he wore was replaced by CGI.

Kor

 

[davejames]

I'm not bothered at all by the use of CG in the movie. The most important thing to me was just that it didn't feel like a heavily CG movie.

 

[Ithekro]

Amazing how much CGI no one noticed.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Amazing how much CGI no one noticed.

All the space ships were obviously CGI. The Star Destroyers looked nowhere near as good as the ones we saw in TESB.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, but they looked better than the Republic Star Destroyers seen in AOTC and ROTS and at least close enough to the way the classic OT ships looked and felt.

 

[Kor]

Yes, the technology has come a long way in a decade.

Kor

 

[TRON JA307020]

Yeah, but they looked better than the Republic Star Destroyers seen in AOTC and ROTS and at least close enough to the way the classic OT ships looked and felt.

They looked better than the ones in AOTC but about equal to the ones in ROTS. TESB had the best one. They had the brightest color and looked the most realistic. The ones in the prequels and TFA had a brownish tint to them probably to try and hide the CGI. Also in TFA they tend to be in the dark to hide any lack of detail that CGI couldn't match in TESB.

 

[cooleddie74]

And the brownish tint might also reflect how Republic-era ships were supposed to look to help differentiate themselves from the stark grey color scheme later used by the Galactic Empire.

 

[TRON JA307020]

And the brownish tint might also reflect how Republic-era ships were supposed to look to help differentiate themselves from the stark grey color scheme later used by the Galactic Empire.

The brownish tint looks hazy/fuzzy. It doesn't have the sharp crisp look of the models . When I was watching TFA I really hoped the Star Destroyers would have that crisp look they had in TESB. When I first saw them onscreen I was disappointed that they had the brown tint and that dreaded fuzzy look.

The good thing is that TESB versions have stood the test of time and are far superior 35 years later. Sine TESB is my favorite SW movie I can live with it.

 

[cooleddie74]

I can't argue with that. The Star Destroyers and other Imperial vessels in ESB are the best bad guy ships in the entire franchise.

 

[Kor]

I could have lived with less of the blue tint that they gave everything in ESB.

Kor