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

[Dynaman]

Right, because that's the reputation of everyone involved in developing the sequels: they ruin films with their incompetence.

Would you be happier if they hadn't brought them back, and just written them out of the story all together? Just pretend they don't exist?

Mark Hamil ruined (and i wouldn't even say that) Luke in Jedi with his acting. Harrison Ford not wanting to be there didn't help his performance, either, but his role was pretty limp before he ever spoke a line out of the script they gave him.

OOOPPPS, meaint the Leia and Han relationship, accidently wrote Luke. Leia went from strong a feisty in episode 4 to a sappy weakling in episode 6.

Perhaps they should steal a thought from Macross 7 and have Leia and Han be divorced, but they won't.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Dynaman

[Hikuro]

All this about Lea was this, then became that, Luke blah blah blah Han blah blah blah, that's not the actors fault per say, that's a directing and writing issue there.

[taksraven]

OOOPPPS, meaint the Leia and Han relationship, accidently wrote Luke. Leia went from strong a feisty in episode 4 to a sappy weakling in episode 6.

Perhaps they should steal a thought from Macross 7 and have Leia and Han be divorced, but they won't.

Star Wars fans don't like to be "challenged", why do you think the prequel trilogy sucked so badly.....?

[electric indigo]

Right, because that's the reputation of everyone involved in developing the sequels: they ruin films with their incompetence.

Would you be happier if they hadn't brought them back, and just wrote them out of the story all together? Just pretend they don't exist?

IMO JJ Abrams did a brilliant job with his Star Trek reboot and incorporating Nimoy there, but to have Shatner appear, too, would have killed the movie instantly.

I'm not totally against writing a new chapter to Luke, Leia and Han's story (although the little bits I caught from the EU were not too convincing so far), but to me the characters had their closure, and I wish the makers of the new Star Wars had a chance to start with a clean table.

Bringing back the old actors just feels like a cheap "class reunion" shot at publicity that the franchise just doesn't need.

[Dynaman]

Star Wars fans don't like to be "challenged", why do you think the prequel trilogy sucked so badly.....?

That is not fair, the vast majority of fans admit the prequal trilogy was lacking.

[Duke Togo]

IMO JJ Abrams did a brilliant job with his Star Trek reboot and incorporating Nimoy there, but to have Shatner appear, too, would have killed the movie instantly.

I'm not totally against writing a new chapter to Luke, Leia and Han's story (although the little bits I caught from the EU were not too convincing so far), but to me the characters had their closure, and I wish the makers of the new Star Wars had a chance to start with a clean table.

Bringing back the old actors just feels like a cheap "class reunion" shot at publicity that the franchise just doesn't need.

Electric, you do understand why that doesn't make sense, right? Abrams rebooted Star Trek with new actors in the old roles. They didn't get closure; they got new life. Star Wars is a continuation. And again, I am not sure why people are assuming the original trio will be the main characters.

[Duke Togo]

Here is my concern: while I feel Ford could do an ok job, I have serious doubts regarding Hamil and Fisher's abilitiy to put out an adequate acting performance in even limited roles.

[sketchley]

Agreed: assuming those three actors are going to be main characters is... odd, given the available info: the movie is in the process of development, the actors are in the process of negotiation. Indications are that whatever capacity they're going to appear in, it's going to be something can be either removed from the script or easily replaced if they don't agree to appear. Ergo: not the main characters. I'm expecting something akin to Yoda's or Obi-Wan's role, at most.

A thought keeps coming to mind whenever I read this topic: what if they come back in the capacity of voice acting, only? Star Wars has oodles of 3DCG characters after all. And all the main characters were replaced by virtual stuntmen at one point or another in the prequels...

Edited March 11, 2013 by sketchley

[electric indigo]

Electric, you do understand why that doesn't make sense, right? Abrams rebooted Star Trek with new actors in the old roles. They didn't get closure; they got new life. Star Wars is a continuation. And again, I am not sure why people are assuming the original trio will be the main characters.

What I wanted to point out was that you can pull off putting one classic actor even in a reboot, but now with the three of them it just feel cheesy. Plus I don't want to have "Look, it's Ford playing Han again" and "OMG is that Hamill" moments in my new Star Wars. Ford has never cared much for SW (and his best role in the last years was in, erm, "Morning Glory"?), and, like you said yourself, Fisher and Hamill don't have much potential other than their nostalgic value.

From an in-universe view, Luke could have his Yoda moment, and I can picture Leia an elderly regent, but Han should have live fast and died in his Millennium Porsche 550.

[PetarB]

I could see Han as an old general or mercantile executive, semi-retired, grumpy and unhappy with his situation in life, whilst his paramour Leia, a travelling diplomat between worlds on the brink of war.

Luke of course, would be the wise old teacher. This is a given. I would be pleasantly surprised to see him in another role as Luke Skywalker. Luke as the next Sith lord perhaps? My real fear is that they will pay any attention to the 'expanded universe'. Not really into fanfiction.

Edited March 11, 2013 by PetarB

[Vepariga]

yeah I think they said they are not touching the EU with the new films. No doubt its going to cause abit of a stir with some established lore but if it works for the best I can make some sacrifices.

The books will still be there if the movies dont turn out as good lol.

[Duke Togo]

yeah I think they said they are not touching the EU with the new films.

God, I hope not. Much of the EU is little better than fanfiction.

[peter]

I could see Han as an old general or mercantile executive, semi-retired, grumpy and unhappy with his situation in life, whilst his paramour Leia, a travelling diplomat between worlds on the brink of war.

Luke of course, would be the wise old teacher. This is a given. I would be pleasantly surprised to see him in another role as Luke Skywalker. Luke as the next Sith lord perhaps? My real fear is that they will pay any attention to the 'expanded universe'. Not really into fanfiction.

Well, I can't imagine Hamill in any dynamic lightsaber battles, but who knows, I never expected Yoda or the Emperor to be in any either, but they CG'd the $hit out of them and had them flying everywhere. I think if they did CG him to do a buch of acrobatics and wushu-style sword fighting, it would be epically stupid. In the original trilogy, they based the sword fighing on Japanese-style swordplay, but then the new trilogy they went with the flashier wushu-style (Ray Park, wushu guy). I'm not for or against either, I've studied both, but FFS, keep it consistent.

[taksraven]

That is not fair, the vast majority of fans admit the prequal trilogy was lacking.

That's not what I was saying. The prequel trilogy was an attempt to pander to fans. I didn't say that they liked the shamefaced suck-upery of it all. (Example, Lucas shitting himself and dropping Jar Jar as a major character after the first film....)

And to say that the prequel trilogy was "lacking" is putting it *very* mildly.

[PetarB]

Well I'm going to go out on limb here and be very clear on the fact that 'Revenge of the Sith' ties for first place as my favourite Star Wars movie, along with 'Empire Strikes Back'.

Yes, the prequels were weak, especially the first. But I had a fantastic time with 2 and 3, and I love rewatching them.

As for the lightsaber battles I really enjoyed them in the prequels. They were far more entertaining than the ones in the original trilogy - although watching Luke unleash hell on Vader just before he chops his hand of at the end of RotJ showed a nice amount of unrestrained emotion.

Old Luke would not need to be involved in any dynamic lightsaber battles. Look what they did for Christopher Lee, for goodness sakes, it was amazing.

[Keith]

Well I'm going to go out on limb here and be very clear on the fact that 'Revenge of the Sith' ties for first place as my favourite Star Wars movie, along with 'Empire Strikes Back'.

Yes, the prequels were weak, especially the first. But I had a fantastic time with 2 and 3, and I love rewatching them.

As for the lightsaber battles I really enjoyed them in the prequels. They were far more entertaining than the ones in the original trilogy - although watching Luke unleash hell on Vader just before he chops his hand of at the end of RotJ showed a nice amount of unrestrained emotion.

Old Luke would not need to be involved in any dynamic lightsaber battles. Look what they did for Christopher Lee, for goodness sakes, it was amazing.

I 100% agree, Empire & Sith easily go hand in hand for me. Sith not only made the prequels better, but it also made Jedi better.

[taksraven]

Sith only would have worked if there had been a proper Kenobi/Vader confrontation. Would have rocked.

[Mog]

Well I'm going to go out on limb here and be very clear on the fact that 'Revenge of the Sith' ties for first place as my favourite Star Wars movie, along with 'Empire Strikes Back'.

Yes, the prequels were weak, especially the first. But I had a fantastic time with 2 and 3, and I love rewatching them.

As for the lightsaber battles I really enjoyed them in the prequels. They were far more entertaining than the ones in the original trilogy - although watching Luke unleash hell on Vader just before he chops his hand of at the end of RotJ showed a nice amount of unrestrained emotion.

Old Luke would not need to be involved in any dynamic lightsaber battles. Look what they did for Christopher Lee, for goodness sakes, it was amazing.

Don't get me started on Attack of the Clones.

I consider it the weakest of the three prequels for a ton of reasons.

I agree that the lightsaber fights were generally more fast-paced in the prequels. But I enjoyed Vader's mind games during Empire so much more.

Oh, you think you've got some teh awesome Force-enhanced skills, young Luke? No bitch, I'm gonna Force-toss a bunch of crap at you AND hit you with a lightsaber.

At times, it was almost as if he was toying with Luke. Vader didn't go into full-on ass-whoopin' mode until the very end of that fight.

Understand, I think Sith is the best of the prequels, and I can easily put it at Number 3 out of the six films so far. But I just can't put it in the same league as Empire (especially because of that damn "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!1111!!!!!!" scene).

[electric indigo]

After I watched Sith I thought it was ok, but my expectations were already low from the previous episodes. Then I read the novelization and realized how much better it easily could have been if Lucas wasn't such a lame director.

[Duke Togo]

In an interview with WGN-TV Chicago, Harrison Ford said he was "looking forward to" reprising his role as han Solo in SW7.

In other news, and taken with a major grain of salt, http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Rumor_Episode_VII_To_Star_Palpatines_Disciple_150778.asp'>TheForce.Net is reporting on Cosmic Book News' supposed scoop involving the plot of the new Star Wars trilogy.

A disciple of Emperor Palpatine aims to rebuild the Sith Armies of the Old Republic and destroy the Jedi where the Skywalker children will be thrust into battle and face their inner demons of their Skywalker lineage.

In somewhat related news, Harmy's Star Wars Despecialized Edition v2.1 recently came out on 720p AVCHD. Blu-ray to follow soon. I highly recommend it.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Duke Togo

[Agent ONE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7T0vs9gYydo#!

[Duke Togo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7T0vs9gYydo#!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[peter]

Well done.

[Mommar]

Not sure how many Native American's we have on this site but.... interesting. I wonder if they'll do this with the new movies too?

http://navajotimes.com/entertainment/2013/0413/041913sta.php

[Duke Togo]

Not sure how many Native American's we have on this site but.... interesting. I wonder if they'll do this with the new movies too?

http://navajotimes.com/entertainment/2013/0413/041913sta.php

That's pretty cool

[EXO]

I'd watch this Patton Oswalt's 8-minute Episode VII pitch

http://youtu.be/5BBhNkywMJY

[renegadeleader1]

Lol episode DXIX is 69

[Black Valkyrie]

I think its time to close this franchise once and for all .

[Duke Togo]

Abrams: "Again, for Star Wars, it’s very early days, but I believe that, going forward, John Williams will be doing that film, because he was there long before I was."

[mechaninac]

I wouldn't be Star Wars without John Williams doing the score...

[azrael]

Again, the problem with John Williams is he's 81 years old. Time's a tickin'.

[sketchley]

The only real comparison we can make, regarding John Williams and the soundtrack, is the Harry Potter film series: did anyone really notice when he was or wasn't scoring the film?

[Negotiator]

I vote patton oswald gets a cameo on SW.

[Kelsain]

I honestly thought the HP score got better after Williams left. That could be related to my general dislike of the 1st 2 films, though.

On SW, I agree, it wouldn't be the same without him. The score was the best part of Ep 2&3. But we've already seen positive adaptations of the SW theme in games & clone wars. And if it comes to it, I think Michael Giacchino (incredibles, star trek) is really good & has a history w JJ.

[Duke Togo]

Aintitcool.com: Mark Hamill discusses Star Wars

Hamill brought up the meeting with George Lucas last August. Lucas called, wanted to meet with Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill to talk some stuff over with them, but didn't tell them more than that. Hamill figured it had to do with the Star Wars 3D re-releases, that Lucas wanted them to do some publicity or something, but was surprised when George instead told them of his imminent retirement. Lucas didn't tell them anything about Disney buying Lucasfilm (he ended up reading about that on the internet when that news broke), but did tell them about Kathleen Kennedy taking over and that discussions with everybody involved in the transition have led to talk of Star Wars 7-9 happening.

Now, Hamill said that he was shocked by this because since way back in 1983 when he wrapped on Jedi he always assumed that if Episodes 7, 8 and 9 happened it'd be without the core three players. He said he had a poker face on, but that Carrie Fisher immediately said “I'm in! Is there a part for Billie (her daughter)?”

He also said since then he's only had one creative meeting with Kathleen Kennedy in which he brought up the desire to have a more balanced approach to the effects. His favorite film is the 1933 King Kong and he loves the way they used all sorts of tricks to pull off the effects and he also believes part of the longevity of the original trilogy is in those effects.

“There's nothing wrong with CGI, but I think you have to have a balance because the camera perceives the width and the depth and the weight of a miniature or a model.” He just said he isn't a fan of the one guy surrounded by greenscreen look and told Kennedy that he'd hate for these new movies to “look like Roger Rabbit.”

While he was the first to admit that any creative decisions involving the new Star Wars Trilogy won't have “Make Mark Hamill happy” as priority #1, he did say that Kennedy agreed with him and already discussed that with George Lucas, citing how Jurassic Park only had a handful of digital shots in the whole movie that are sold by blending the in with practical creatures and other cinema tricks.

Hamill also said that he knows that Carrie Fisher's in 100%, has heard Harrison Ford is onboard, but hasn't talked to him personally to confirm it and that he hasn't yet met with JJ Abrams.

He anticipated the focus of the trilogy to be on the next generation “and that's as it should be.” Hamill doesn't know anything specific, he was quick to remind us, but he suspects the “old folks” will be more like Sir Alec Guinness in the OT. “I want it to be age appropriate, so heavy on the Jedi mind tricks and lighten up on the lightsaber duels. Let the kids do the heavily lifting!”

“Part of me is cautious, saying 'let well enough alone, let everyone keep their nice memories if they have nice memories and don't try to go back and do it again.' But the other side of me, the adventerous side, thinks 'If everyone's in, how could I miss this?” How could you indeed?

Hamill wrapped up his new trilogy talk with this gem:

“I'm one of you, I feel like you're one of us. I'll be in there fighting and trying to be as honest as I can be about what I think it is made these movies so special in the first place. It always starts with the script and that's why I'm so encouraged by Michael Arndt's involvement because I respect his writing so much. He's a big fan of these movies, so hopefully we can make something that doesn't make everyone want to find us, cut off our heads and throw it right in our faces.”

Like I said, he seemed genuinely ready to fight the good fight and humbled to be a part of this series that has had such a huge cultural impact.

Now here's some bullet-points from the rest of the Q&A, straight from Hamill's mouth:

-Hamill said he talked to Lucas back in the day about why he started with the middle trilogy. First off, Lucas originally wanted to do 4 trilogies (12 movies), but pared it down to 3 trilogies (9 movies). Why start in the middle then? “Even then I realized that if these things were to go forward that the technology would improve and that by the time we had gone back in time the special effects would give it away, that they were much more technologically advanced than what we were doing. He said, 'Well, this trilogy is the most commercial.' I said, 'Oh, okay.'”

-Because the Star Wars films aren't set in a recognizable era, Hamill says a lot of kids get weirded out when their parents point him out. In their minds these movies were made 2 weeks ago, so Hamill now is in the habit of saying, “Relax, I'm Luke's grandfather.”

-Hamill says he's entered into the old recluse side of his career, with his typical Saturday night being SNL and old TV show reruns on Svengoolie. His favorites are Combat, Thriller, Twilight Zone, Car 54 Where Are You and Sgt. Bilko.

-His initial reaction to the Star Wars script was that it was at the very least a cult hit, even if it didn't hit at the box office. “I saw (the possibility of) endless midnight screenings with that pungent smell in the air because it was a fantasy with a sense of humor.” He's talking about weed, folks.

-He also said that while the cult status was assured, he was also positive the movie would be huge. He predicted it would be bigger than Planet of the Apes. Lucas needed the movie to make 2 ½ times its $7.5 million budget in order to get a greenlight on the sequel and Hamill said he was not only sure they'd get that, but that they could hit at least $25 million. Big laughs.

-Hamill's impersonation of Harrison Ford's Han Solo was amazing and I wish I had the ability to share it with you. He also was asked to do the Joker's laugh and complied, so that's a special extra bit for the folks who were fortunate enough to have been there.

-He also had a few knocks to throw at Jedi, despite his obvious admiration of the film and the work of everybody involved. Hamill was brought in to do wardrobe tests before he read the script and he noted he was wearing all black. He considered the fact that he's got a robot hand, they're putting him in all black outfits... he thought Luke was going to fall to the dark side and that was how they were going to top the big reveal at the end of Empire, but showing Luke severely tempted by the dark side (maybe even to the point of killing one of the group), but coming around at the end. “I thought a great fake-out would be to make the audience believe that I went awry and at the last possible moment save either Carrie or Harrison from death and that would be the twist. So I was disappointed when I read (the Jedi script). I was like, “Really? A second Death Star? Really? That's the plot?”

- “To be fair, if George had known from the beginning he was going to do three movies he would have saved the destruction of the Death Star for the third movie.”

- Hamill was discussing Empire and Jedi, calling them “2 and 3” and then stopped and remembered their episode numbers within Lucas' grand scheme. He laughed it off. “From my perspective, the prequels have a beginning, a middle and an end and take place before I was born, so I'm not required to know anything about them.” Cue applause.

-Hamill was never invited to the set of the prequels. He would have gone, but didn't want to impose and be the old guy telling the new cast “You know, back in my day we did it this way...”

-Empire Strikes Back is Hamill's favorite Star Wars film and told the story about how the script and line-readings on the day of the big reveal were “Obi-Wan killed your father.” Only Lucas, Irvin Kershner and Hamill knew the real ending and Hamill only knew when Kershner pulled him aside to tell him. It was a good thing they did that with the on-set line reading because 2 days after they shot the scene the UK's The Sun had a front page headline that read “Guinness Head Baddie In Star Wars 2.” Even Harrison Ford didn't know until the premiere.

-Hamill never doubted that Vader was telling the truth like a lot of fans did. He always thought the twist was the real deal. “What I thought was a lie was when they said that Leia was my sister. I said, 'Oh, come on.' I mean, really! This seems like a lame attempt to top the Vader thing, you know what I'm saying? Why not have Boba Fett remove his helmet, shake out some beautiful hair and 'Oh, my God! It's mom! She's been a double agent all these years!'”

-He also had issues with Boba Fett's exit from the films. “It just didn't seem right. They built him up, he was so awesome and he has that great costume and Jeremy Bulloch did such a great job. Really, you just flip a switch on his backpack? It just seemed like it was a missed opportunity.”

-Hamill has never read any of the books or other extended universe stuff. “People say to me, “Dude, you're married to Mara Jade! She's smokin' hot!” I go, “That would have been nice if they had thought of that when I was actually involved! You know, because it's the ultimate good news/bad news joke. The good news is there's an attractive woman in the universe, only one, the bad news is she's your sister.”

-Hamill remembers finding a memo to Lucas from the Fox execs on the first film suggesting he put a pair of lederhosen on Chewbacca. “They said, 'Do you realize he has no pants on?' I said, 'Wow, if that's what they're worried about we're in serious trouble.' And they didn't like the title Star Wars. They said 'We've done polls and 38% of women ages 18-49 don't like films with the word “Wars” in the title.'”

-Hamill talked about David Lynch almost getting the directing gig on Jedi and thought it would have been perfect. “It's like Lennon/McCartney. You have the sweet with the sardonic. You would have had that mainstream commercialism of Star Wars with that really skewed view. I think he might have chaffed at the idea of someone looking over his shoulder and this was really George's baby. I didn't understand at the time why he didn't direct all three, but I came to love Irvin Kirshner and I came to love Richard Marquand.”

-One important bit of “homework” Hamill did for all the Star Wars films was spend a lot of time in the art department looking at the designs of what would later be special effects or big sets, like the Snow Walkers (AT-ATs) or Death Star. That way he had a very developed image of what he was looking at when told to stare at a piece of tape and react.

-Told an Empire story about feeling uneasy about hurting the Wampa too badly. The focus on Luke in that sequence (hanging upside down, reaching for the lightsaber, etc) was all second unit. “I said to them 'Look, when I make this swipe camera right with my saber, I'm just nicking this creature, right?Because he's not evil, he's just hungry! I don't want to hurt him. He's like a big grizzly bear or something.' They said, 'Yeah, yeah. You're just nicking him and he'll back off.' Nine months later I'm in a theater and not only do I hurt him, I cut his arm off! They completely lied to me about that!”