STAR WARS: Episode 7 (All-Time #1 opening box office.) (2 Viewers)

[Buzzbait]

Is kylo ren the main bad guy?

That's the way it looks from trailers but I'm thinking we're in for a surprise and there's another guy calling the shots. There is nothing concrete, just speculation, but I'll still put this in a spoiler.

Spoiler

One rumor floating out there is that Darth Plagueis, who was the master Sith to Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Palpatine), is not dead. Sidious told the story to Anakin in ep 3 that he killed Plagueis in his sleep but Plagueis had the ability to cheat death and create new life from midi-chlorians. The theory is that with this ability he was somehow able to survive.

 

[Insein]

Is kylo ren the main bad guy?

That's the way it looks from trailers but I'm thinking we're in for a surprise and there's another guy calling the shots. There is nothing concrete, just speculation, but I'll still put this in a spoiler.

Spoiler

One rumor floating out there is that Darth Plagueis, who was the master Sith to Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Palpatine), is not dead. Sidious told the story to Anakin in ep 3 that he killed Plagueis in his sleep but Plagueis had the ability to cheat death and create new life from midi-chlorians. The theory is that with this ability he was somehow able to survive.

Spoiler

And that he's Jar Jar

 

[Billy Bats]

I get what Lucas was trying to do w/ Anakin. You can't just have a young boy in Ep 1 and Darth Vader in Ep 3 without a transition.

Why did Lucas have to start with Vader as a young boy?

To tell the midichlorian tale and his immaculate conception? And maybe to show he wasn't born of evil? Spitballing.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I think the entire Saga is an indictment of single parent households.

 

[NewlyRetired]

I get what Lucas was trying to do w/ Anakin. You can't just have a young boy in Ep 1 and Darth Vader in Ep 3 without a transition.

Why did Lucas have to start with Vader as a young boy?

To tell the midichlorian tale and his immaculate conception? And maybe to show he wasn't born of evil? Spitballing.

I think it is the latter, although I am not sure it was worth an entire movie of him at that age.

The immaculate conception, while silly, was an important plot point in 2 where Palpatine seduces him with the story of Darth Plagious right at the time where Anikan was upset about not being able to save his mother.

 

[Spin]

regarding Ep 3.....this movie gets more praise than it deserves. I would say it's the best of the prequels, but the dialogue and acting are just as terrible as the previous two movies (not including Ewan McGregor, who was fantastic). Even at the climax of the movie, the 1v1 fight in the lava, Anakin is a whiny, petulant teenager. Ugh. Just thinking of that scene before everything kicks off makes my skin crawl. YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME. So lame.

This 3rd movie was just awful. Absolutely awful. Easily my least favorite.

1 - Jedis are supposed to be all powerful able to detect changes in someone's emotion, yet was unable to uncover a conspiracy involving scores of storm troopers and the entire republic? Yah, I don't buy it.

2 - I don't buy Anakin turning into Vader. It was so dumb. His reasoning for following Palpatine made 0 sense. "I've dedicated my life to hard work, training and benevolence, but sure, I'll throw all that away for a vague promise about something that may happen to my wife based upon a 10 second dream. Even though your race is known for lying and deception. Makes sense to me!"

3 - And then, the whole reason for Anakin turning into Vader and following the Sith Lord is his fear for losing Padme.... and then he proceeds to choke her to almost (death)... rendering the whole fcking plot useless. Anakin's reason for switching to the dark side

4 - The final 1v1 fight, where Obi-Wan finally "wins" due to having the massive advantage of "high ground". Nevermind that they've been flying around fighting for the last minute, where the height of their terrain has changed tons of times, but here Obi-Wan declared victory due to now having the high ground. In episode 1, Darth Maul, who was supposed to be one of the best, if not the best fighters known for his speed and agility, stands dumfounded as Obi-Wan jumps over him, stares for a second and then easily kills him. If high ground is such an advantage, why did he so easily defeat Darth Maul there, who clearly had more then just "High - ground" advantage at that point.

Bleh I'll stop complaining about 3, but I just don't see anything about that movie that made people think it was any good.

 

[gump]

Is kylo ren the main bad guy?

That's the way it looks from trailers but I'm thinking we're in for a surprise and there's another guy calling the shots. There is nothing concrete, just speculation, but I'll still put this in a spoiler.

Spoiler

One rumor floating out there is that Darth Plagueis, who was the master Sith to Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Palpatine), is not dead. Sidious told the story to Anakin in ep 3 that he killed Plagueis in his sleep but Plagueis had the ability to cheat death and create new life from midi-chlorians. The theory is that with this ability he was somehow able to survive.

Spoiler

There is also the character who says the phrase 'There has been an awakening in The Force. Have you felt it?'

 

[Tom Servo]

My older son asked for the prequel trilogy for Christmas.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

regarding Ep 3.....this movie gets more praise than it deserves. I would say it's the best of the prequels, but the dialogue and acting are just as terrible as the previous two movies (not including Ewan McGregor, who was fantastic). Even at the climax of the movie, the 1v1 fight in the lava, Anakin is a whiny, petulant teenager. Ugh. Just thinking of that scene before everything kicks off makes my skin crawl. YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME. So lame.

This 3rd movie was just awful. Absolutely awful. Easily my least favorite.

1 - Jedis are supposed to be all powerful able to detect changes in someone's emotion, yet was unable to uncover a conspiracy involving scores of storm troopers and the entire republic? Yah, I don't buy it.

2 - I don't buy Anakin turning into Vader. It was so dumb. His reasoning for following Palpatine made 0 sense. "I've dedicated my life to hard work, training and benevolence, but sure, I'll throw all that away for a vague promise about something that may happen to my wife based upon a 10 second dream. Even though your race is known for lying and deception. Makes sense to me!"

3 - And then, the whole reason for Anakin turning into Vader and following the Sith Lord is his fear for losing Padme.... and then he proceeds to choke her to almost (death)... rendering the whole fcking plot useless. Anakin's reason for switching to the dark side

4 - The final 1v1 fight, where Obi-Wan finally "wins" due to having the massive advantage of "high ground". Nevermind that they've been flying around fighting for the last minute, where the height of their terrain has changed tons of times, but here Obi-Wan declared victory due to now having the high ground. In episode 1, Darth Maul, who was supposed to be one of the best, if not the best fighters known for his speed and agility, stands dumfounded as Obi-Wan jumps over him, stares for a second and then easily kills him. If high ground is such an advantage, why did he so easily defeat Darth Maul there, who clearly had more then just "High - ground" advantage at that point.

Bleh I'll stop complaining about 3, but I just don't see anything about that movie that made people think it was any good.

1. Yoda intimated that because the Dark Side was growing in influence it was diminishing the Jedi's ability to forsee clearly.2. Anakin was not about hard work and benevolence. He was about the easy way and selfishness...emotions that are simple for Sidious to prey on.

3. Anakin was drunk with power. And his love for Padme was a possessive one. When he felt like she betrayed him it was easy for him to discard it.

4. Eh, if you didn't like the fight you didn't like the fight. Had to come to an end somehow. One line of dialog didn't really matter to me. The green screen effect on the lava did though.

 

[Politician Spock]

I get what Lucas was trying to do w/ Anakin. You can't just have a young boy in Ep 1 and Darth Vader in Ep 3 without a transition.

Why did Lucas have to start with Vader as a young boy?

To tell the midichlorian tale and his immaculate conception? And maybe to show he wasn't born of evil? Spitballing.

Would take any other director ten minutes... fifteen tops.

 

[NewlyRetired]

It is being reported by some sites that JJ has ruled out the possibility of an End Credits scene to promote next years Rogue 1.

I think it is worth taking this with a grain of salt since JJ sometimes like to have some fun tricking the fan base.

This will probably be the only thing I look up next Thursday so I know whether to stay later on Friday or not. Luckily afterthecredits.com does not add spoilers, you can just find out whether to stay or not.

 

[NewlyRetired]

I get what Lucas was trying to do w/ Anakin. You can't just have a young boy in Ep 1 and Darth Vader in Ep 3 without a transition.

Why did Lucas have to start with Vader as a young boy?

To tell the midichlorian tale and his immaculate conception? And maybe to show he wasn't born of evil? Spitballing.

Would take any other director ten minutes... fifteen tops.

you mean writer I think. That was not a directing issue by Lucas, that was a writing issue, also to be blamed on Lucas

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I hope the score is good. That was just one more disappointment in the prequel trilogy. There were good parts, but disappointing as a whole.

 

[NewlyRetired]

I enjoyed this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0qrxL8oGbE

 

[tommyboy]

regarding Ep 3.....this movie gets more praise than it deserves. I would say it's the best of the prequels, but the dialogue and acting are just as terrible as the previous two movies (not including Ewan McGregor, who was fantastic). Even at the climax of the movie, the 1v1 fight in the lava, Anakin is a whiny, petulant teenager. Ugh. Just thinking of that scene before everything kicks off makes my skin crawl. YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME. So lame.

This 3rd movie was just awful. Absolutely awful. Easily my least favorite.

1 - Jedis are supposed to be all powerful able to detect changes in someone's emotion, yet was unable to uncover a conspiracy involving scores of storm troopers and the entire republic? Yah, I don't buy it.

2 - I don't buy Anakin turning into Vader. It was so dumb. His reasoning for following Palpatine made 0 sense. "I've dedicated my life to hard work, training and benevolence, but sure, I'll throw all that away for a vague promise about something that may happen to my wife based upon a 10 second dream. Even though your race is known for lying and deception. Makes sense to me!"

3 - And then, the whole reason for Anakin turning into Vader and following the Sith Lord is his fear for losing Padme.... and then he proceeds to choke her to almost (death)... rendering the whole fcking plot useless. Anakin's reason for switching to the dark side

4 - The final 1v1 fight, where Obi-Wan finally "wins" due to having the massive advantage of "high ground". Nevermind that they've been flying around fighting for the last minute, where the height of their terrain has changed tons of times, but here Obi-Wan declared victory due to now having the high ground. In episode 1, Darth Maul, who was supposed to be one of the best, if not the best fighters known for his speed and agility, stands dumfounded as Obi-Wan jumps over him, stares for a second and then easily kills him. If high ground is such an advantage, why did he so easily defeat Darth Maul there, who clearly had more then just "High - ground" advantage at that point.

Bleh I'll stop complaining about 3, but I just don't see anything about that movie that made people think it was any good.

its good because it shows the transformation of annakin to darth vader. And even though the dialogue stinks and the acting is pathetic, the story itself is interesting, especially the emperor angle. He's so bad, such a hateable character. My favorite scene is the "unlimited power" scene http://imgur.com/cJlBUVL

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Think about how Natalie Portman, Liem Neeson, and Ewan Mcgreggor are in other movies. Then play that in your head alongside their Star Wars characters. The prequels had so much potential. I don't hate any of them. It's was just a hugely wasted opportunity.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I think - think - IMHO - that the issue with the prequels isn't so much everything that has been hit constantly here and other places. Or least not those alone. I think the main issue is that Star Wars made the bad guy cool and in many ways cooler than the good guy. Darth Vader is the most popular character in the Star Wars universe. By almost every measure. The reason that many people like me consider Empire the best of all of the movie, and one of the best movies in the genre is because the bad guy won at the end - something that rarely happens in movies. (Granted not a full win, but it was a win).

The death of Vader in Jedi was a powerful moment in movies. It was the death of a massively important character, and no matter what anyone says, Luke is just that not that great of a character. Solo is better, hell R2 is a better character than Luke. Leia is/was as well. Luke was probably the weakest lead character in this type of multiple movie story that you can find. So when you get to the prequels for the first one there really isn't a bad guy. There is a lot of moving around and not much else so that Lucas could tell the story of Annikan as a kid. The one bad guy that everyone clings to, Darth Maul, was cool for his brief screentime, but that was very brief time. We didn't get a great bad guy or really any bad guy before Maul was killed. Any Star Wars nerd knew Palpatine was the evil that he was in the original so there was no drama to him being bad so we were left with other bad guys. Maul was dead, Dooku wasn't that great although Christopher Lee did about as well with the character as you could, and General Grevious wasn't used enough for anyone to cling to. The second two movies started with Annikan turning bad but with not so great acting, he really wasn't the bad guy we want. And no matter how many times they tried to play serious music when Palpatine was on screen we already knew what he was and what his ultimate end was so we never really looked to him the way we did Vader in the first 3.

So, what I really hope JJ is able to go is give us that new great bad guy. That is what made the first three so awesome and what was lacking in the prequels. If Kylo Ren is that guy, fine, but that also has to mean that he isn't a one a done guy. Or that the guy pulling his strings is done really really well and gives us more screen time than Darth Maul. If that bad guy turns out to be Luke I don't know if that works, but I guess it could. I'm not making up my mind yet. But this is where I fall on the ultimate weakness of the prequels as compared to the originals. Jar Jar gets hit way too much. If Darth Maul had more screen time I don't think that Jar Jar would be the whipping boy that he is (granted that would also mean that he would have gotten less screen time, but still).

Either way, I am stoked for this. I hope it is great. And it won't take a lot for me to like it. And since we already know that there is going to be more than one movie we go in knowing we aren't getting a full story in the first 2 hours.

 

[Cold Dead Hands]

Is kylo ren the main bad guy?

That's the way it looks from trailers but I'm thinking we're in for a surprise and there's another guy calling the shots. There is nothing concrete, just speculation, but I'll still put this in a spoiler.

Spoiler

One rumor floating out there is that Darth Plagueis, who was the master Sith to Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Palpatine), is not dead. Sidious told the story to Anakin in ep 3 that he killed Plagueis in his sleep but Plagueis had the ability to cheat death and create new life from midi-chlorians. The theory is that with this ability he was somehow able to survive.

Spoiler

And that he's Jar Jar100% in.

 

[Billy Bats]

Is kylo ren the main bad guy?

That's the way it looks from trailers but I'm thinking we're in for a surprise and there's another guy calling the shots. There is nothing concrete, just speculation, but I'll still put this in a spoiler.

Spoiler

One rumor floating out there is that Darth Plagueis, who was the master Sith to Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Palpatine), is not dead. Sidious told the story to Anakin in ep 3 that he killed Plagueis in his sleep but Plagueis had the ability to cheat death and create new life from midi-chlorians. The theory is that with this ability he was somehow able to survive.

Spoiler

There is also the character who says the phrase 'There has been an awakening in The Force. Have you felt it?'

Spoiler

That is said by Supreme Leader Snoke, the mo-cap charachter played by Andy Serkis

 

[Politician Spock]

I get what Lucas was trying to do w/ Anakin. You can't just have a young boy in Ep 1 and Darth Vader in Ep 3 without a transition.

Why did Lucas have to start with Vader as a young boy?

To tell the midichlorian tale and his immaculate conception? And maybe to show he wasn't born of evil? Spitballing.

Would take any other director ten minutes... fifteen tops.

you mean writer I think. That was not a directing issue by Lucas, that was a writing issue, also to be blamed on Lucas

He failed in many ways.

 

[Insein]

I hope the score is good. That was just one more disappointment in the prequel trilogy. There were good parts, but disappointing as a whole.

Dance of the Fates was awesome. The rest was pretty forgettable.

 

[Capella]

It is being reported by some sites that JJ has ruled out the possibility of an End Credits scene to promote next years Rogue 1.

I think it is worth taking this with a grain of salt since JJ sometimes like to have some fun tricking the fan base.

This will probably be the only thing I look up next Thursday so I know whether to stay later on Friday or not. Luckily afterthecredits.com does not add spoilers, you can just find out whether to stay or not.

I don't see how it would make sense to do that, considering Rogue 1 was 35 years before this movie.

 

[Insein]

A couple of cool YouTube videos that I can't remember if they were posted in here or not.

Mark Hamill promoting ep7 undercover for a good cause

How it should have ended: Episode 2

How the SW Prequels are Secretly Brilliant - How the Jedi Code forced Anakin to turn to the dark side.

All good watches for different reasons.

 

[Tom Servo]

Harrison Ford may have given out a spoiler.

Plus, considering the team running the Star Wars Twitter account didn’t immediately delete Ford’s tweet and cart him off for a swift talking to, it’s likely that it’s not something that was meant to be kept ultra-secret in the first place.

 

[gump]

Is kylo ren the main bad guy?

That's the way it looks from trailers but I'm thinking we're in for a surprise and there's another guy calling the shots. There is nothing concrete, just speculation, but I'll still put this in a spoiler.

Spoiler

One rumor floating out there is that Darth Plagueis, who was the master Sith to Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Palpatine), is not dead. Sidious told the story to Anakin in ep 3 that he killed Plagueis in his sleep but Plagueis had the ability to cheat death and create new life from midi-chlorians. The theory is that with this ability he was somehow able to survive.

Spoiler

There is also the character who says the phrase 'There has been an awakening in The Force. Have you felt it?'

Spoiler

That is said by Supreme Leader Snoke, the mo-cap charachter played by Andy Serkis

Spoiler

Right...and Snoke is supposed to be Ren's boss...hence the 'another guy calling the shots'?

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I think - think - IMHO - that the issue with the prequels isn't so much everything that has been hit constantly here and other places. Or least not those alone. I think the main issue is that Star Wars made the bad guy cool and in many ways cooler than the good guy. Darth Vader is the most popular character in the Star Wars universe. By almost every measure. The reason that many people like me consider Empire the best of all of the movie, and one of the best movies in the genre is because the bad guy won at the end - something that rarely happens in movies. (Granted not a full win, but it was a win).

The death of Vader in Jedi was a powerful moment in movies. It was the death of a massively important character, and no matter what anyone says, Luke is just that not that great of a character. Solo is better, hell R2 is a better character than Luke. Leia is/was as well. Luke was probably the weakest lead character in this type of multiple movie story that you can find. So when you get to the prequels for the first one there really isn't a bad guy. There is a lot of moving around and not much else so that Lucas could tell the story of Annikan as a kid. The one bad guy that everyone clings to, Darth Maul, was cool for his brief screentime, but that was very brief time. We didn't get a great bad guy or really any bad guy before Maul was killed. Any Star Wars nerd knew Palpatine was the evil that he was in the original so there was no drama to him being bad so we were left with other bad guys. Maul was dead, Dooku wasn't that great although Christopher Lee did about as well with the character as you could, and General Grevious wasn't used enough for anyone to cling to. The second two movies started with Annikan turning bad but with not so great acting, he really wasn't the bad guy we want. And no matter how many times they tried to play serious music when Palpatine was on screen we already knew what he was and what his ultimate end was so we never really looked to him the way we did Vader in the first 3.

So, what I really hope JJ is able to go is give us that new great bad guy. That is what made the first three so awesome and what was lacking in the prequels. If Kylo Ren is that guy, fine, but that also has to mean that he isn't a one a done guy. Or that the guy pulling his strings is done really really well and gives us more screen time than Darth Maul. If that bad guy turns out to be Luke I don't know if that works, but I guess it could. I'm not making up my mind yet. But this is where I fall on the ultimate weakness of the prequels as compared to the originals. Jar Jar gets hit way too much. If Darth Maul had more screen time I don't think that Jar Jar would be the whipping boy that he is (granted that would also mean that he would have gotten less screen time, but still).

Either way, I am stoked for this. I hope it is great. And it won't take a lot for me to like it. And since we already know that there is going to be more than one movie we go in knowing we aren't getting a full story in the first 2 hours.

I remember thinking exactly this when episode 1 ended. Wait, they killed Darth Maul? Already?

Vader was a huge part of the original trilogy's popularity and not having an over-arching bad guy like that throughout the prequels was a huge mistake. Fortunately, it *seems* like Kylo Ren is going to be that guy for the new movies. I really don't think they're going to kill him off in this one.

All that said, the problems with the prequels go way beyond that. Rushed and poorly executed story, unsatisfying explain of Anakin's turn, horrible acting even from actors that are good in other films, ugly CGI, plot holes galore, and on and on.

 

[Cold Dead Hands]

I think - think - IMHO - that the issue with the prequels isn't so much everything that has been hit constantly here and other places. Or least not those alone. I think the main issue is that Star Wars made the bad guy cool and in many ways cooler than the good guy. Darth Vader is the most popular character in the Star Wars universe. By almost every measure. The reason that many people like me consider Empire the best of all of the movie, and one of the best movies in the genre is because the bad guy won at the end - something that rarely happens in movies. (Granted not a full win, but it was a win).

The death of Vader in Jedi was a powerful moment in movies. It was the death of a massively important character, and no matter what anyone says, Luke is just that not that great of a character. Solo is better, hell R2 is a better character than Luke. Leia is/was as well. Luke was probably the weakest lead character in this type of multiple movie story that you can find. So when you get to the prequels for the first one there really isn't a bad guy. There is a lot of moving around and not much else so that Lucas could tell the story of Annikan as a kid. The one bad guy that everyone clings to, Darth Maul, was cool for his brief screentime, but that was very brief time. We didn't get a great bad guy or really any bad guy before Maul was killed. Any Star Wars nerd knew Palpatine was the evil that he was in the original so there was no drama to him being bad so we were left with other bad guys. Maul was dead, Dooku wasn't that great although Christopher Lee did about as well with the character as you could, and General Grevious wasn't used enough for anyone to cling to. The second two movies started with Annikan turning bad but with not so great acting, he really wasn't the bad guy we want. And no matter how many times they tried to play serious music when Palpatine was on screen we already knew what he was and what his ultimate end was so we never really looked to him the way we did Vader in the first 3.

So, what I really hope JJ is able to go is give us that new great bad guy. That is what made the first three so awesome and what was lacking in the prequels. If Kylo Ren is that guy, fine, but that also has to mean that he isn't a one a done guy. Or that the guy pulling his strings is done really really well and gives us more screen time than Darth Maul. If that bad guy turns out to be Luke I don't know if that works, but I guess it could. I'm not making up my mind yet. But this is where I fall on the ultimate weakness of the prequels as compared to the originals. Jar Jar gets hit way too much. If Darth Maul had more screen time I don't think that Jar Jar would be the whipping boy that he is (granted that would also mean that he would have gotten less screen time, but still).

Either way, I am stoked for this. I hope it is great. And it won't take a lot for me to like it. And since we already know that there is going to be more than one movie we go in knowing we aren't getting a full story in the first 2 hours.

I remember thinking exactly this when episode 1 ended. Wait, they killed Darth Maul? Already?

Vader was a huge part of the original trilogy's popularity and not having an over-arching bad guy like that throughout the prequels was a huge mistake. Fortunately, it *seems* like Kylo Ren is going to be that guy for the new movies. I really don't think they're going to kill him off in this one.

All that said, the problems with the prequels go way beyond that. Rushed and poorly executed story, unsatisfying explain of Anakin's turn, horrible acting even from actors that are good in other films, ugly CGI, plot holes galore, and on and on.

Interesting (to me) fact I heard after the first prequel movie was made: Natalie Portman, just a teenager at the time of filming, hated being there so much she refused to act. Flat out refused. She was stuck out in the middle of no where as a teenaged girl and couldn't spend time with friends or even talk on the phone due to concerns of leaked information. Besides adults, she only had Jake Lloyd for company. They wouldn't let her walk so her bit of protest was to not act. The dialogue didn't help much.

 

[Jaysus]

I remember thinking exactly this when episode 1 ended. Wait, they killed Darth Maul? Already?

True story: Maul didn't die

 

[tommyboy]

A couple of cool YouTube videos that I can't remember if they were posted in here or not.

Mark Hamill promoting ep7 undercover for a good cause

How it should have ended: Episode 2

How the SW Prequels are Secretly Brilliant - How the Jedi Code forced Anakin to turn to the dark side.

All good watches for different reasons.

thanks.

i strongly disagree with the 3rd vid.

 

[Tom Servo]

So, now we have The Resistance and the First Order.

How does this connect to the Rebel Alliance and the Empire?

 

[Billy Bats]

Is kylo ren the main bad guy?

That's the way it looks from trailers but I'm thinking we're in for a surprise and there's another guy calling the shots. There is nothing concrete, just speculation, but I'll still put this in a spoiler.

Spoiler

One rumor floating out there is that Darth Plagueis, who was the master Sith to Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Palpatine), is not dead. Sidious told the story to Anakin in ep 3 that he killed Plagueis in his sleep but Plagueis had the ability to cheat death and create new life from midi-chlorians. The theory is that with this ability he was somehow able to survive.

Spoiler

There is also the character who says the phrase 'There has been an awakening in The Force. Have you felt it?'

Spoiler

That is said by Supreme Leader Snoke, the mo-cap charachter played by Andy Serkis

Spoiler

Right...and Snoke is supposed to be Ren's boss...hence the 'another guy calling the shots'?

Correct. I wasn't questioning anything, just adding to your info.

 

[GoFishTN]

So, now we have The Resistance and the First Order.

How does this connect to the Rebel Alliance and the Empire?

Resistance = Rebels

First Order = Empire

 

[GoFishTN]

Think about how Natalie Portman, Liem Neeson, and Ewan Mcgreggor are in other movies. Then play that in your head alongside their Star Wars characters. The prequels had so much potential. I don't hate any of them. It's was just a hugely wasted opportunity.

Everyone loves a good trade dispute story!

 

[KarmaPolice]

I think - think - IMHO - that the issue with the prequels isn't so much everything that has been hit constantly here and other places. Or least not those alone. I think the main issue is that Star Wars made the bad guy cool and in many ways cooler than the good guy. Darth Vader is the most popular character in the Star Wars universe. By almost every measure. The reason that many people like me consider Empire the best of all of the movie, and one of the best movies in the genre is because the bad guy won at the end - something that rarely happens in movies. (Granted not a full win, but it was a win).

The death of Vader in Jedi was a powerful moment in movies. It was the death of a massively important character, and no matter what anyone says, Luke is just that not that great of a character. Solo is better, hell R2 is a better character than Luke. Leia is/was as well. Luke was probably the weakest lead character in this type of multiple movie story that you can find. So when you get to the prequels for the first one there really isn't a bad guy. There is a lot of moving around and not much else so that Lucas could tell the story of Annikan as a kid. The one bad guy that everyone clings to, Darth Maul, was cool for his brief screentime, but that was very brief time. We didn't get a great bad guy or really any bad guy before Maul was killed. Any Star Wars nerd knew Palpatine was the evil that he was in the original so there was no drama to him being bad so we were left with other bad guys. Maul was dead, Dooku wasn't that great although Christopher Lee did about as well with the character as you could, and General Grevious wasn't used enough for anyone to cling to. The second two movies started with Annikan turning bad but with not so great acting, he really wasn't the bad guy we want. And no matter how many times they tried to play serious music when Palpatine was on screen we already knew what he was and what his ultimate end was so we never really looked to him the way we did Vader in the first 3.

So, what I really hope JJ is able to go is give us that new great bad guy. That is what made the first three so awesome and what was lacking in the prequels. If Kylo Ren is that guy, fine, but that also has to mean that he isn't a one a done guy. Or that the guy pulling his strings is done really really well and gives us more screen time than Darth Maul. If that bad guy turns out to be Luke I don't know if that works, but I guess it could. I'm not making up my mind yet. But this is where I fall on the ultimate weakness of the prequels as compared to the originals. Jar Jar gets hit way too much. If Darth Maul had more screen time I don't think that Jar Jar would be the whipping boy that he is (granted that would also mean that he would have gotten less screen time, but still).

Either way, I am stoked for this. I hope it is great. And it won't take a lot for me to like it. And since we already know that there is going to be more than one movie we go in knowing we aren't getting a full story in the first 2 hours.

I think you are on to something here as well. There are a lot of issues with the original trilogy, but trumping a lot of the problems were surprises and good bad guys. Like you said, no surprises with Palpatine, no other good bad guy that people could get involved in, and no surprises in the story in general.

Since this is start of a new story line, I think we will go back to what made the original movies good.

 

[The Duff Man]

I can see the plan for all three movies, just horrible execution.

One was about the setup. Why was Anakin more susceptible to the dark side than a normal Jedi. He was trained too old, and his connection to a mother. Plus the conception thing.

Two was all about the fate of his mother and that he couldn't save her. Plus a sappy love story.

Three was him not letting his wife die. He believed he was powerful enough to stop it. He believed the Jedi were holding him back. He believed that good/evil were just a matter of perspective.

Which makes it more believable that he could be saved.

But yeah....it all fell apart.

 

[MikeIke]

I remember thinking exactly this when episode 1 ended. Wait, they killed Darth Maul? Already?

True story: Maul didn't die

True, but how many people have seen Clone Wars compared to Episode I? I always thought Darth Maul should have stayed alive and taken Count Dooku's place in 2 and 3. Stupid to replace a badass with an old man no one knows or cares about. I think the reason they did it is because Maul was played by a stuntman and they were worried his acting wouldn't be up to par. Ironic, considering the performances the rest of the prequel cast put in.

 

[Cold Dead Hands]

I remember thinking exactly this when episode 1 ended. Wait, they killed Darth Maul? Already?

True story: Maul didn't die

True, but how many people have seen Clone Wars compared to Episode I? I always thought Darth Maul should have stayed alive and taken Count Dooku's place in 2 and 3. Stupid to replace a badass with an old man no one knows or cares about. I think the reason they did it is because Maul was played by a stuntman and they were worried his acting wouldn't be up to par. Ironic, considering the performances the rest of the prequel cast put in.

I read an interview with someone involved in the prequels that Mauls part was made much smaller when they realized that he couldn't act. He was so bad he actually would have made the rest of the cast look Oscar level.

 

[Insein]

It's been posted way back, but this dude had some good storyboard ideas for how Ep1 & Ep2 could have gone.

What if Episode 1 were good

What if Episode 2 were good

 

[Instinctive]

Are people messing up Anakin's name in here on purpose, or just don't care? Seen a couple real butcherings...

 

[Insein]

Are people messing up Anakin's name in here on purpose, or just don't care? Seen a couple real butcherings...

Aneekan seems fine to me.

 

[flysack]

The Vader origin story is so bad in the prequels, I think it takes away from the badass he truly was.

I agree. I just prefer to pretend 1-3 never happened.

3 was good. The story, not the acting. 1 was an abortion. 2 was meh

yes, though I must admit I liked the scene where Ben checks out the clones. totally CGI, but I liked the visuals.

If you want to get reacquainted with badass Vader, check out the current run by Marvel comics. It's one of the better written comics I've come across in awhile. The first six issues are available as a book. Highly recommended.

Link to digital copy

 

[AAABatteries]

I enjoyed this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0qrxL8oGbE

"I'm an Academy Award Nominee"

 

[El Floppo]

Are people messing up Anakin's name in here on purpose, or just don't care? Seen a couple real butcherings...

Aneekan seems fine to me.

it's Anniken, nerd.

 

[MikeIke]

I learned something new today. Captain Phasma, the badass stormtrooper in silver armor? It's a woman. Did we know this already? From the article, it doesn't sound like it's been a secret, but this is the first I've heard.

 

[CentralPA]

Was Jake Lloyd ever in another movie?

the one with Arnold and Sinbad

I thought the kid that was in the Punisher movie with Thomas Jane was Lloyd but maybe not.

 

[NewlyRetired]

Was Jake Lloyd ever in another movie?

the one with Arnold and Sinbad

I thought the kid that was in the Punisher movie with Thomas Jane was Lloyd but maybe not.

The only non computer game that Lloyd appeared in after PM was a movie called Madison in 2005. His only other credits are computer game voices (for Star Wars obviously) and got out of the business after Madison.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

regarding Ep 3.....this movie gets more praise than it deserves. I would say it's the best of the prequels, but the dialogue and acting are just as terrible as the previous two movies (not including Ewan McGregor, who was fantastic). Even at the climax of the movie, the 1v1 fight in the lava, Anakin is a whiny, petulant teenager. Ugh. Just thinking of that scene before everything kicks off makes my skin crawl. YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME. So lame.

This 3rd movie was just awful. Absolutely awful. Easily my least favorite.

1 - Jedis are supposed to be all powerful able to detect changes in someone's emotion, yet was unable to uncover a conspiracy involving scores of storm troopers and the entire republic? Yah, I don't buy it.

2 - I don't buy Anakin turning into Vader. It was so dumb. His reasoning for following Palpatine made 0 sense. "I've dedicated my life to hard work, training and benevolence, but sure, I'll throw all that away for a vague promise about something that may happen to my wife based upon a 10 second dream. Even though your race is known for lying and deception. Makes sense to me!"

3 - And then, the whole reason for Anakin turning into Vader and following the Sith Lord is his fear for losing Padme.... and then he proceeds to choke her to almost (death)... rendering the whole fcking plot useless. Anakin's reason for switching to the dark side

4 - The final 1v1 fight, where Obi-Wan finally "wins" due to having the massive advantage of "high ground". Nevermind that they've been flying around fighting for the last minute, where the height of their terrain has changed tons of times, but here Obi-Wan declared victory due to now having the high ground. In episode 1, Darth Maul, who was supposed to be one of the best, if not the best fighters known for his speed and agility, stands dumfounded as Obi-Wan jumps over him, stares for a second and then easily kills him. If high ground is such an advantage, why did he so easily defeat Darth Maul there, who clearly had more then just "High - ground" advantage at that point.

Bleh I'll stop complaining about 3, but I just don't see anything about that movie that made people think it was any good.

1. Yoda intimated that because the Dark Side was growing in influence it was diminishing the Jedi's ability to forsee clearly.2. Anakin was not about hard work and benevolence. He was about the easy way and selfishness...emotions that are simple for Sidious to prey on.

3. Anakin was drunk with power. And his love for Padme was a possessive one. When he felt like she betrayed him it was easy for him to discard it.

4. Eh, if you didn't like the fight you didn't like the fight. Had to come to an end somehow. One line of dialog didn't really matter to me. The green screen effect on the lava did though.

I feel like the Jedi also cannot sense thoughts of clones.

 

[bagger]

I learned something new today. Captain Phasma, the badass stormtrooper in silver armor? It's a woman. Did we know this already? From the article, it doesn't sound like it's been a secret, but this is the first I've heard.

yes it has been known for a while that the tall lady from game of thrones s captan phasma.

 

[FUBAR]

I learned something new today. Captain Phasma, the badass stormtrooper in silver armor? It's a woman. Did we know this already? From the article, it doesn't sound like it's been a secret, but this is the first I've heard.

http://news.usni.org/2015/12/03/secdef-carter-all-military-specialties-will-be-open-to-women-marine-objections-overruled

 

[Wrigley]

I've been wearing my Vader mask when I play with my light saber

:vrrrrooommmm: