Star Wars VII - The Force Awakens, on BluRay and Dvd April 5th, 2016

[jenius]

This may be my first Blu-ray purchase, who owns physical media any more?

[Kanedas Bike]

This may be my first Blu-ray purchase, who owns physical media any more?

Meeee!

Digital Media is too much like simply purchasing a software license that can be changed or revoked. Give me my physical copy that only I have control over.

This is mostly me operating on general-principle and holding on to the way things "used" to be - like records, tapes, CD's and VHS.

-b.

[jvmacross]

I still have small children running around my home, so I totally appreciate not worrying about getting digital media "kid" handled...

But I'm old school, so I still want the physical media...

Although TFA is the laziest, most unimaginative, and overrated piece of movie garbage ever made.....I still own Episode I and Episode 7 it is still a part of the entire SW saga regardless of how awful it is, so I'll get it eventually....

I think I'll do what I did with the LOTR and Hobbit Trilogies and just wait for the inevitable "ultimate" edition after Episode 9 hits the market...

Who knows....maybe by then they'll release an ultimate 9 episode "Church of the Force" edition!

Edited February 26, 2016 by jvmacross

[miles316]

Meeee!

Digital Media is too much like simply purchasing a software license that can be changed or revoked. Give me my physical copy that only I have control over.

This is mostly me operating on general-principle and holding on to the way things "used" to be - like records, tapes, CD's and VHS.

-b.

I can no longer can watch DVD's on my laptop because my License has expired so I under stand wanting to keep something that can't be remotely deactivated.

[Kanedas Bike]

I still have small children running around my home, so I totally appreciate not worrying about getting digital media "kid" handled...

But I'm old school, so I still want the physical media...

Although TFA is the laziest, most unimaginative, and overrated piece of movie garbage ever made.....I still own Episode I and Episode 7 it is still a part of the entire SW saga regardless of how awful it is, so I'll get it eventually....

I think I'll do what I did with the LOTR and Hobbit Trilogies and just wait for the inevitable "ultimate" edition after Episode 9 hits the market...

Who knows....maybe by then they'll release an ultimate 9 episode "Church of the Force" edition!

L O L

-b.

[UN Spacy]

How many Oscars did TFA take home?

[Kanedas Bike]

How many Oscars did TFA take home?

This many;

http://fortune.com/2016/02/29/star-wars-oscars/

-b.

[jenius]

If Rey isn't a Kenobi, I will accept her being a Dooku.

[sh9000]

http://m.target.com/p/star-wars-the-force-awakens-blu-ray-dvd-digital-hd/-/A-50534650

[Duke Togo]

If Rey isn't a Kenobi, I will accept her being a Dooku.

If you know mythology and you know the Arthur legend, then you know exactly who Rey is.

[Knight26]

If you know mythology and you know the Arthur legend, then you know exactly who Rey is.

Ok maybe I am just still getting over this cold, but what?

[miles316]

Ok maybe I am just still getting over this cold, but what?

Lady of the lake bringing/returning Excalibur to King Arthur!

[Duke Togo]

Ok maybe I am just still getting over this cold, but what?

I think we all pretty well know the connections between the OT and the Arthur legend at this point. Obi-Wan is Merlin, Anakin is Uther, and Luke is Arthur. Anakin's lightsaber is the Sword in the Stone and/or Excalibur. But we never see what happens to Luke after he and the Rebels bring peace to the galaxy. In essence, the OT leaves us with King Arthur at his height. But when TFA starts, we're beyond the end of the Arthur legend, without knowing what happened to get us there.

In the legend, Arthur's nephew (and/or his illegitimate son) Mordred brings down the kingdom Arthur has built. While Mordred is ultimately defeated, Arthur is left mortally wounded. His broken body is taken away to the mysterious island of Avalon to recover, awaiting the day when he will be called back to serve Britain in a time of its greatest need. In TFA, Luke's nephew (and essentially his foster son) Ben brings down the new Jedi Temple/Academy, and a psychologically broken Luke hides away on a mysterious planet/island. This island, the long-lost site of the first Jedi Temple, is Luke's Avalon. The question we are left with is whether Luke is the "once and future king" like Arthur, or are we repeating the cycle again? Given the focus on the newer, younger cast members, I believe it is safe to say they are choosing to repeat the cycle.

Beginning the cycle again with TFA, only Luke's true heir can wield his sword, and it is Rey who pulls it from the snow (read: stone) after it refused to be called to Ben's hand. Here Rey takes on the mantel of her father, Luke Skywalker, as Luke did before her. What happens from here is anyone's guess. Will Luke serve strictly as the Obi-Wan/Yoda/Merlin figure? Will he have more active role than that? Once upon a time there was a draft of RotJ that had Obi-Wan returning to his corporeal form, more powerful than ever, and fighting the Emperor (or something like that). Might Luke play a pivotal role in taking down Snoke? I guess we'll see.

Had Luke played a larger role in TFA, I might be inclined to agree with miles316's interpretation. A starring role for Luke would have essentially solidified his place as "the once and future king," and Rey would be his Lady in the Lake, returning Excalibur to him. In that version, Rey's parentage would certainly be up in the air.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Duke Togo

[Kanedas Bike]

^If you weren't such a huge Star Wars fan and aficionado I'd brand this as high (get it?) fan fiction and move along. Regardless, I appreciate the thought behind that theory/explanation/musing - it's interesting.

-b.

[Duke Togo]

^If you weren't such a huge Star Wars fan and aficionado I'd brand this as high (get it?) fan fiction and move along. Regardless, I appreciate the thought behind that theory/explanation/musing - it's interesting.

-b.

It's not even close to fanfiction. The mythological connections are real, and have been covered extensively over the past 30-something years. Lucas talked about it constantly. If you mean my guess at to where things go from here, well, I said it was a guess.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Duke Togo

[Sildani]

I concur with Duke's analysis.

[Duke Togo]

I concur with Duke's analysis.

Given how much on the nose the sword in the stone (snow) moment was, I can't take the Mordred/Ben and Avalon/First Jedi Temple parallels as just a coincidence.

[Kanedas Bike]

So I've never taken Star Wars for much more than what's been on screen, a science fiction epic. The one exception being the prequels as essentially an intergalactic Greek tragedy (in more ways than one if you want to be cheeky about the writing, acting and direction of the films).

Young boy with destiny

Meets girl with destiny

Boy falls in love with girl

Boy cannot be with girl because of duty, etc.

Boy and girl defy duty, wisdom, etc - fall in love, have child/ren

Boy fulfills destiny and in doing so kills girl and believes his child, who survives, has died as well

Boy becomes the, or one of the, greatest villains the galaxy has ever seen

I've heard/seen/read that Lucas took heavy influence from other works of fiction from Westerns to Samurai films, but never have I read about an inspiration being Arthurian Legend. That doesn't mean it's not out there, I'm simply saying I've never seen it (but I've never looked and I'm not a SW die-hard) and in that regards the post above read as the musings of people who really love Star Wars and are looking for, or have attributed greater meaning to the story.

That is not at all intended to be a slight, it's pretty interesting stuff - even more so if filmmakers are using (good) mythology as inspiration.

-b.

[danth]

I just hope they don't try to make it a surprise. That'll just be embarrassing. The only surprise will be if Rey is not related to anybody.

I have my own theory on where Rey came from. A much cooler theory that still allows Rey to be "related" to Luke. It has to do with how they got Luke's old lightsaber. Not really too hard to guess with those hints.

[Duke Togo]

I just hope they don't try to make it a surprise. That'll just be embarrassing. The only surprise will be if Rey is not related to anybody.

I have my own theory on where Rey came from. A much cooler theory that still allows Rey to be "related" to Luke. It has to do with how they got Luke's old lightsaber. Not really too hard to guess with those hints.

Originally, TFA opened with the lightsaber floating through space and falling into the atmosphere of where Maz has her establishment. That was dropped just before the film went into principle photography. It's now assumed that Maz acquires it through one of the many shady types she has around her place.

Edit: worth noting that Maz Kanata is a force sensitive who chose to forgo Jedi training. She may be as old (or older) than Yoda.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Duke Togo

[Dynaman]

It's not even close to fanfiction. The mythological connections are real, and have been covered extensively over the past 30-something years. Lucas talked about it constantly. If you mean my guess at to where things go from here, well, I said it was a guess.

Lucas has said a lot of stuff, a lot of which is demonstrably untrue. Star Wars being based in part of Fantasy is most likely true, any connection to the Arthur stories in particular is strained at best. Sure you have the young knight's Journey, but the part about Luke being the son of the great Darth Vader (the CHOOSEN one) did not come about till Empire Strikes back (and the actual chosen one malarky comes along even later).

[Duke Togo]

Lucas has said a lot of stuff, a lot of which is demonstrably untrue. Star Wars being based in part of Fantasy is most likely true, any connection to the Arthur stories in particular is strained at best. Sure you have the young knight's Journey, but the part about Luke being the son of the great Darth Vader (the CHOOSEN one) did not come about till Empire Strikes back (and the actual chosen one malarky comes along even later).

I don't bother with the prequels. There aren't worth the time or discussion.

Whether or not you "buy it" is somewhat irrelevant, given how clear the connections are. Even a blind man could see, so to speak.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Duke Togo

[Dynaman]

I don't bother with the prequels. There aren't worth the time or discussion.

Whether or not you "buy it" is somewhat irrelevant, given how clear the connections are. Even a blind man could see, so to speak.

I prefer not to make up connections that are not really there.

[Duke Togo]

I prefer not to make up connections that are not really there.

LOL, ok then.

[Knight26]

I prefer not to make up connections that are not really there.

They are not connections, but parallels. A connection would be if the lightsaber were forged from Excalibur, a parallel is saying that the lightsaber fills the same role as Excalibur. In that way Duke is right now up until the end of Empire. At that point Lucas took a left turn away from the Arthurian legend towards toy marketing and recycling his own stories. The prequels were a huge example of that. I am just curious to see where the storyline goes from here. Good analysis Duke.

[Duke Togo]

They are not connections, but parallels. A connection would be if the lightsaber were forged from Excalibur, a parallel is saying that the lightsaber fills the same role as Excalibur. In that way Duke is right now up until the end of Empire. At that point Lucas took a left turn away from the Arthurian legend towards toy marketing and recycling his own stories. The prequels were a huge example of that. I am just curious to see where the storyline goes from here. Good analysis Duke.

You can certainly argue that Lucas deviated from Arthurian legend when they started working on Empire. The first movie is this mashup of Flash Gordon, The Hidden Fortress, and Arthurian legend; with Empire, we're on the more traditional "hero's journey." It's all about the archetypes.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: it's pretty obvious who Rey's father is. The question we should be asking is who is her mother? That's what I am excited about.

[Scyla]

While there are strong indications who Rey's father is I'm not so sure if I would like that to become true. If Episode VIII has a big Who's your daddy at the end I will be disappointed. Can we please stop rehash the original trilogy? I'm also not so sure if they would try to copy the big reveal of Empire with Ep. 8 since the whole Internet is up in arms speculating who Rey's father is and we're at a point where we pinned it down thoroughly. I mean the only reaction you would get out of the audience would be a big: "you don't say" and I'm not hoping they are going for that.

On the other hand the standard movie-goer might still be fairly oblivious.

[Duke Togo]

I don't think Luke being Rey's father is supposed to be a huge secret or some big twist. They lay it out there pretty plainly without directly saying it. I don't expect them to play it up like what happened in Empire.

[Kelsain]

Honestly, that's why I liked the family reveal of Kylo Ren. It was just put out there.

I think it's likely that Rey is Luke's kid, and if so, I hope they just let it flow organically.

Something like:

"Please train me, Master Skywalker."

"Master Skywalker? <Rey's actual name>, it's me! I can't believe you're alive! ... Don't you know me? I'm your father..."

But, you know, better.

[Dangard Ace]

Honestly, that's why I liked the family reveal of Kylo Ren. It was just put out there.

I think it's likely that Rey is Luke's kid, and if so, I hope they just let it flow organically.

Something like:

"Please train me, Master Skywalker."

"Master Skywalker? <Rey's actual name>, it's me! I can't believe you're alive! ... Don't you know me? I'm your father..."

But, you know, better.

"Daddy? Daddy?" Wahhhhh. "wait, you abandoned me on a desert planet for xx-years and forgot to come get me?!"

"It was for your own good....from a certain point of view."

"from. a. certain. point. of. view?!" lightsabre fx "die you bastard! die!!".

[jenius]

The twist this time, 'oh you thought I was your father? No... wasn't me.'

[dizman]

Rey was Darth Vader's clone daughter all along!

[Dynaman]

> You can certainly argue that Lucas deviated from Arthurian legend when they started working on Empire.

I'd argue that there are certain similar tropes and leave it there.

[Duke Togo]

"Daddy? Daddy?" Wahhhhh. "wait, you abandoned me on a desert planet for xx-years and forgot to come get me?!"

"It was for your own good....from a certain point of view."

"from. a. certain. point. of. view?!" lightsabre fx "die you bastard! die!!".

I'd wager Luke is not the one who left her there. I was thinking more her mother, who happens to have an Imperial accent.

[Mommar]

I'd wager Luke is not the one who left her there. I was thinking more her mother, who happens to have an Imperial accent.

You're not saying Phasma?