Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, on home media Mar. 13, 2018

[Seto Kaiba]

8 minutes ago, slaginpit said:

I watched the movie last night.

Then again.

and Again

and Again.

Got drunk

watched it again.

 

Then again.

Tonight, I presume you'll be one-upping that experience by solving the Lament Configuration?

[Kanedas Bike]

49 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Tonight, I presume you'll be one-upping that experience by solving the Lament Configuration?

-b.

[jenius]

Dude, if you couldn't enjoy Vader at the end of Rogue One, you're officially thinking way too much. That scene was bad ass. Did it fit perfectly, maybe not, but it doesn't ruin anything in ANH, chill out.

[kajnrig]

27 minutes ago, jenius said:

Dude, if you couldn't enjoy Vader at the end of Rogue One, you're officially thinking way too much. That scene was bad ass. Did it fit perfectly, maybe not, but it doesn't ruin anything in ANH, chill out.

It does a bit, if only because my fanon assumption about the opening of ANH was always that Leia's ship was caught unawares by Vader's just moments before the opening shot. They were smuggling the Death Star plans to Yavin IV (or Dantooine? wherever it was supposed to go if not there) and got caught. Rogue One makes it so that Leia and co. are taking an active, visible part in the battle to steal the plans and from the beginning are mounting a desperate escape.

Don't get me wrong, the scene itself is a fun little thing - the darkness, then breathing, then the lightsaber ignites and the curbstomp begins - but it's just more fanservice in a movie all about fanservice and very little else.

EDIT:

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Tonight, I presume you'll be one-upping that experience by solving the Lament Configuration?

oh my god you're such a nerd

Edited January 17, 2018 by kajnrig

[electric indigo]

If anything was too much in R1, it was CG Leia, everything else I was mostly like like "gimme more". The Vader scene was like scratching a 30+ year itch.

[kajnrig]

Eh, well I was never a big Vader fan, so I s'pose the magic was lost on me. Ever since they did in Maul like a chump, I think I must've resigned myself to the fact that Star Wars would never be my source for pure badass antagonist.

[jenius]

Yes, the treatment of Maul was one of the many shames of TPM. They should have made Maul a bad butt for several movies, ruthlessly killing Jedi, and had Anakin embrace the dark to dispatch him. Then you have the remaining Jedi reject Anakin because he went dark side to make him okay with pairing with Palpatine. No bad dreams, no killing younglings, no midichlorians, great success! 

[Dobber]

2 hours ago, kajnrig said:

It does a bit, if only because my fanon assumption about the opening of ANH was always that Leia's ship was caught unawares by Vader's just moments before the opening shot. They were smuggling the Death Star plans to Yavin IV (or Dantooine? wherever it was supposed to go if not there) and got caught. Rogue One makes it so that Leia and co. are taking an active, visible part in the battle to steal the plans and from the beginning are mounting a desperate escape.

Don't get me wrong, the scene itself is a fun little thing - the darkness, then breathing, then the lightsaber ignites and the curbstomp begins - but it's just more fanservice in a movie all about fanservice and very little else.

EDIT:

oh my god you're such a nerd

I agree about the Tantive IV being At the battle. I think the scene would’ve worked better with 1 minor change. The scene could still play out the same but instead of the Rebel troopers desperately try to get the plans onto the Tantive IV before Vader kills them. Make it the Rebels are buying time to transmit the plans to the Tantive IV before Vader kills them. You would still have the same Vader scene and it would make a bit more sense in not having the Princess of Alderaan at a major Rebel military action AND jive with dialog from ANH:

Vader:

”Several transmission were beemed aboard this ship. I want to know what you did the plans you intercepted.”

[Mommar]

3 hours ago, kajnrig said:

It does a bit, if only because my fanon assumption about the opening of ANH was always that Leia's ship was caught unawares by Vader's just moments before the opening shot. They were smuggling the Death Star plans to Yavin IV (or Dantooine? wherever it was supposed to go if not there) and got caught. Rogue One makes it so that Leia and co. are taking an active, visible part in the battle to steal the plans and from the beginning are mounting a desperate escape.

Don't get me wrong, the scene itself is a fun little thing - the darkness, then breathing, then the lightsaber ignites and the curbstomp begins - but it's just more fanservice in a movie all about fanservice and very little else.

EDIT:

oh my god you're such a nerd

He sums it up well.  The scene in isolation is a lot of fun.  The scene and setup affects the original in significant and negative ways.

[nhyone]

10 hours ago, Mommar said:

The scene and setup affects the original in significant and negative ways.

Don't worry, ANH will be changed to fit the new narrative.

Wherever the OT contradicts with the later movies, they are wrong and will be corrected in the upcoming Definitive edition.

For me, I watch the OT the Harmy way.

Edited January 18, 2018 by nhyone

[Seto Kaiba]

18 hours ago, kajnrig said:

oh my god you're such a nerd

Gosh, what gave it away?  

 

I can see it now.  The first one to open the Star Wars: the Last Jedi BD box in his home will be visited by apparitions of the Disney board of directors, who will say "We have such sights to show you".

[Focslain]

8 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I can see it now.  The first one to open the Star Wars: the Last Jedi BD box in his home will be visited by apparitions of the Disney board of directors, who will say "We have such sights to show you".

Is the disappearance of said person the next step cause my room-mate is a good candidate. She adores TLJ, mostly for reasons I don't like it, but I like my friends to have varying tastes.

[Mog]

17 hours ago, jenius said:

Yes, the treatment of Maul was one of the many shames of TPM. They should have made Maul a bad butt for several movies, ruthlessly killing Jedi, and had Anakin embrace the dark to dispatch him. Then you have the remaining Jedi reject Anakin because he went dark side to make him okay with pairing with Palpatine. No bad dreams, no killing younglings, no midichlorians, great success! 

You guys really should watch the The Clone Wars episodes with Maul.

It starts off a little hokey with the whole spider-legs thingy, but then he develops into a magnificent bastard worthy of the Sith title.  The silent bad ass even has a few memorable, yet appropriate quips.

I wasn't on board with the idea at first, but they did an absolute bang-up job fleshing out the story.

Even the Maul eps in Rebels are solid as hell.

Really, the animated shows elevated Maul a great deal in my eyes.

[ErikElvis]

On 1/16/2018 at 3:57 PM, Mommar said:

Don't forget that Return of the Jedi still has the best space battle ever put to film too.

I agree. It was pretty good. And lando at the helm of the falcon was pretty great too. 

[Seto Kaiba]

3 hours ago, Mog said:

You guys really should watch the The Clone Wars episodes with Maul.

It starts off a little hokey with the whole spider-legs thingy, but then he develops into a magnificent bastard worthy of the Sith title.  The silent bad ass even has a few memorable, yet appropriate quips.

So, being half the man he used to be has actually improved him?

That's almost enough to make me watch the shows.

[Dynaman]

4 hours ago, Mog said:

You guys really should watch the The Clone Wars episodes with Maul.

It starts off a little hokey with the whole spider-legs thingy, but then he develops into a magnificent bastard worthy of the Sith title.  The silent bad ass even has a few memorable, yet appropriate quips.

I wasn't on board with the idea at first, but they did an absolute bang-up job fleshing out the story.

Even the Maul eps in Rebels are solid as hell.

Really, the animated shows elevated Maul a great deal in my eyes.

Agreed - till the very last one with Maul in it, then they nerfed him all over again.  But Clone Wars and Rebels are worth watching, the last few episodes of Clone Wars being excellent.

[Mog]

I know we hashed it over in the Star Wars Rebels thread, but I thought it was a beautiful way to close his story.

 Was it anti-climactic?  A bit.

But unlike TLJ, the more you think about it, the more you realize how well that last appearance fits the already established stories and the characters we've already seen.

That bastard Maul was still a Sith to the end, speaking of revenge.

[derex3592]

Clone Wars was overall a great show, yes, it had it's filler episodes, but most were on point. The Maul one's were very good. I haven't seen anything past I think Season 2 of Rebels, but I really liked where they were going with that..the last one I saw was when Maul and Ezra went to the underground pyramid thing and Ahsoka showed up and battled Vader, and Ezra ended up with the Sith holocron thingie.  All kinds of good feels as I remember it.

[CoryHolmes]

9 hours ago, ErikElvis said:

And lando at the helm of the falcon was pretty great too. 

Back at the helm, you mean.  Han did steal- err, "obtain" it from him

[David Hingtgen]

2 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Clone Wars was overall a great show, yes, it had it's filler episodes, but most were on point. The Maul one's were very good. I haven't seen anything past I think Season 2 of Rebels, but I really liked where they were going with that..the last one I saw was when Maul and Ezra went to the underground pyramid thing and Ahsoka showed up and battled Vader, and Ezra ended up with the Sith holocron thingie.  All kinds of good feels as I remember it.

That episode, is, IMHO, the absolute peak of all Clone Wars/Rebels.    (2nd best is the Umbara Arc of CW)  

[Mog]

Loved Pong Krell from that arc, but I just wish. . .
 

Spoiler

 

he didn't go full on Sith, but instead got driven mad by Force visions of the clones turning against the Jedi.

Still one of my absolute favorite arcs, but I just wish they could have tweaked that ending just a little bit.

 

Regarding how Rogue One futzed up stuff from ANH, yes, that last scene was fan service (which was alright for me personally).  And yes, as Dobber mentioned, it does impact some key lines Vader says at the beginning of ANH.

But can we also agree this is mitigated by R1 placing one hell of a great retcon?

Star Wars fans (before R1):  "Why did a bloody EXHAUST port suck IN a photon torpedo?!!!!!"

Lucasfilm after R1:  "The Death Star designer secretly put that in as a fatal flaw."

Star Wars fans afterwards: ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ohhhhh."

[Mommar]

10 hours ago, Mog said:

Loved Pong Krell from that arc, but I just wish. . .
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

he didn't go full on Sith, but instead got driven mad by Force visions of the clones turning against the Jedi.

Still one of my absolute favorite arcs, but I just wish they could have tweaked that ending just a little bit.

 

Regarding how Rogue One futzed up stuff from ANH, yes, that last scene was fan service (which was alright for me personally).  And yes, as Dobber mentioned, it does impact some key lines Vader says at the beginning of ANH.

But can we also agree this is mitigated by R1 placing one hell of a great retcon?

Star Wars fans (before R1):  "Why did a bloody EXHAUST port suck IN a photon torpedo?!!!!!"

Lucasfilm after R1:  "The Death Star designer secretly put that in as a fatal flaw."

Star Wars fans afterwards: ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ohhhhh."

No, that change is also stupid.  Exhaust ports are on lots of things.  The reason why it was hit was because Luke, with the help of Obi-Wan, force nudged a torpedo down into the tube.  Otherwise they all would have died.  It should have been an impossible shot otherwise.

[jenius]

They specifically state in ANH that it's not an impossible shot, pre force Luke used to make shots like that all the time.

[Focslain]

24 minutes ago, Mommar said:

No, that change is also stupid.  Exhaust ports are on lots of things.  The reason why it was hit was because Luke, with the help of Obi-Wan, force nudged a torpedo down into the tube.  Otherwise they all would have died.  It should have been an impossible shot otherwise.

Well the EU added the design flaw long before R1, but in that version it was a wookie foreman.

As for the torpedo sliding in, something tells me that the fact it was ray shielded would be a reason to use the proton torpedoes instead of any of the multiple solid ordnance at the time, like bombs and concussion missiles.

[Mog]

The poor Death Star Architect comes up with a great design.

. . . And that stupid idiot Papa Erso had to go and muck up the actual build:

 

[kajnrig]

The flaw being intentional is... well, not bad per se, but I do think it's missing the forest for the trees. Personally, I always figured the design flaw was a result of someone overlooking something or it was a cost-cutting measure, or a confluence of any number of similar human errors. The point is we never needed to know WHY it exists, just that it does. (The Empire either ignoring it or being woefully unaware of it also speaks to the level of hubris among those in charge. All part of being comically evil.)

If it's an intentional thing, then... that's fine, too, I guess. That could work as a plot device. That they felt the need to establish another "royal family of Star Wars" around whom the major story beats turn is what gets to me. There was no need for that, and in fact I'm fairly certain the story would have been better off without it.

[dizman]

I never watched Rogue One, did they really just go yeah it's an intentional design flaw? Next time just set the Death Star to overload when they fire the thing, save everybody a lot of trouble.

[Chronocidal]

2 hours ago, kajnrig said:

The flaw being intentional is... well, not bad per se, but I do think it's missing the forest for the trees. Personally, I always figured the design flaw was a result of someone overlooking something or it was a cost-cutting measure, or a confluence of any number of similar human errors. The point is we never needed to know WHY it exists, just that it does. (The Empire either ignoring it or being woefully unaware of it also speaks to the level of hubris among those in charge. All part of being comically evil.)

If it's an intentional thing, then... that's fine, too, I guess. That could work as a plot device. That they felt the need to establish another "royal family of Star Wars" around whom the major story beats turn is what gets to me. There was no need for that, and in fact I'm fairly certain the story would have been better off without it.

To be entirely honest here.. I never had much trouble believing that trashing an exhaust duct for the reactor would lead to it going down.  Lemme see how this goes..

Age 10-ish: "Cool!  He used the force to knock the torpedo straight into the reactor!"

Age 15-ish: "Nice!  He managed to knock out the cooling system, and the reactor crashed and burned!"

Age 20-ish: "Did the Imperials really only build a single exhaust vent for the reactor?  There's no way the torpedo had the range to reach the center of the Death Star.  That really was a screwed up design."

Now: "Oh, the reactor system was rigged to collapse at the slightest damage.  Fair enough, knocking out that cooling duct probably started a chain reaction.. kinda like the script said it would."

Now, the shot itself?  There was a reason Y-Wings were the primary attackers, they actually did use bombs, rather than missiles.  Again with the gravity in space thing, but I figure the Death Star had enough gravity to make those work, and essentially, you're talking about something real life aircraft do all the time: dropping a precision munition into a weak point, and exploding at the proper depth. 

Red Leader's shot was like trying to lob a sidewinder through a man-hole cover, and while I don't really have trouble believing that they could program the torpedo's tracking to make a hard corner, the physics of it are really difficult to pull off.  Luke force-pushing the torpedo straight down the shaft to do the maximum damage always made perfect sense.

 

[Dobber]

1 hour ago, dizman said:

I never watched Rogue One, did they really just go yeah it's an intentional design flaw? Next time just set the Death Star to overload when they fire the thing, save everybody a lot of trouble.

Yes, the lead engineer/designer of the Death Star Super Laser was being forced to work on the project against his will. He made the seemingly insignificant design flaw hidden in one of numerous small exhaust ports so that it could be destroyed if someone knew where to look for it. He risked a message to his estranged daughter to tell her where to look if they could get the plans. It makes a lot of sense to me rather than the accidental/overlooked flaw we had to believe for 40 years.

Chris

[slaginpit]

Watching this and listening at the last 15 min. I feel a lot of sadness for this actor. And I do not hold any actor in any high regard. But I feel for this guy as he embraced what Luke was about and never regretted the character unlike harrison.

 

 

[nhyone]

I prefer his earlier video Star Wars: The Last Jedi: An Unbridled Rage. Gets all the points across in 35 mins (though with too much swearing) instead of 82 mins and this is just part 1!

Everything that can be said about TLJ has been said.

Don't think anyone has posted this yet: Why Disney's 'Last Jedi' Mind Trick Isn't Working in China

Edited January 23, 2018 by nhyone

[Chronocidal]

I want to say something about needing a mind of your own before you try and trick someone else's...

Really though, this article makes an interesting observation.  Without the established fanbase and previous movies and history to prop it up, it looks like this movie just falls flat on its face.

[Graham]

1 hour ago, nhyone said:

I prefer his earlier video Star Wars: The Last Jedi: An Unbridled Rage. Gets all the points across in 35 mins (though with too much swearing) instead of 82 mins and this is just part 1!

Everything that can be said about TLJ has been said.

Don't think anyone has posted this yet: Why Disney's 'Last Jedi' Mind Trick Isn't Working in China

The Star Wars franchise has never really been popular in China, it's not just  The Last Jedi.

[sketchley]

36 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Really though, this article makes an interesting observation.  Without the established fanbase and previous movies and history to prop it up, it looks like this movie just falls flat on its face.

Not just TLJ, but all SW movies...

E.g.: when I asked my adult students about SW at the English school I teach at in Japan about a decade ago, they only remember "the cute little boy" in SW1.  On the same token, when I asked about Macross, they invariably said "Minmei/Mari Ijima"!

[tekering]

10 hours ago, sketchley said:

when I asked my adult students about SW at the English school I teach at in Japan about a decade ago, they only remember "the cute little boy" in SW1.  On the same token, when I asked about Macross, they invariably said "Minmei/Mari Ijima"!

Wow.  Here in Okayama, there are not many Star Wars fans... but everyone's aware of it, at least.  Macross is hardly remembered by anyone, and when I clarify "Chohjiku Yohsai Makurosu," they usually giggle.  (Most anime titles sound vaguely stupid in Japanese, "Super Dimensional Fortress" among them.)

In other news, Solo: A Star Wars Story might suck a lot worse than The Last Jedi...