The Star Wars thread (includes spoilers for IX)

[LongTimeLurker]

The last good one was five films ago, so will wait to see what the reviews are like before deciding whether to watch. Looks like they are sticking close to the formula for the first two to try to kick start things back into life again. Some of the casting and dialogue in the prequels was abysmal, so ditching George Lucas was a must.

[Loki]

The last good one was five films ago, so will wait to see what the reviews are like before deciding whether to watch. Looks like they are sticking close to the formula for the first two to try to kick start things back into life again. Some of the casting and dialogue in the prequels was abysmal, so ditching George Lucas was a must.

1) ROTJ doesn't even merit a good? Certainly the weakest of the trilogy, but not even good?

2) You regretted watching a TV spot from China, before you watched the movie. What do you think waiting to read a review will do?

[Mr Sugden]

Watched Star Wars again today to get me in the mood. God those additional cgi bits are awful. There's not one of them that look real. Did nobody working for ILM say to George "look mate this new stuff is pish, let's just leave it oot"

[DA Baracus]

They add absolutely nothing as well. In fact they actually detract

[accies1874]

Watched Star Wars again today to get me in the mood. God those additional cgi bits are awful. There's not one of them that look real. Did nobody working for ILM say to George "look mate this new stuff is pish, let's just leave it oot"

I'm pretty sure there's a video kicking about of folk at a test screening or something like that of Phantom Menace telling him it was shite. The added in CGI is hilariously bad and look more dated than the original, practical effects.

Out of interest, back in 1999, did folk have a suspicion that Phantom Menace was going to be a huge let down or was it just a complete shock?

[Loki]

I'm pretty sure there's a video kicking about of folk at a test screening or something like that of Phantom Menace telling him it was shite. The added in CGI is hilariously bad and look more dated than the original, practical effects.

Out of interest, back in 1999, did folk have a suspicion that Phantom Menace was going to be a huge let down or was it just a complete shock?

I saw the first trailer and thought it looked superb. I wasn't enamoured with the pod racing (I thought it looked cartoony), I also thought that Jake Lloyd was too young, as Ben Kenobi had said when he first met his father he was a great pilot. Podracers don't count Obi-wan! But I didn't think it would be perceived as such a turkey.

I saw the film and was quite bored. Wee bits kept your interest, but when the doors opened and Darth Maul was there waiting to kick Jedi ass I thought it was just about worth it for the last twenty minutes. At the time I wasn't too disappointed as i thought it was okay.

I watched The Phantom Menace this weekend with my nieces, and it is absolutely awful. As you say the special effects are more dated than the effects from the original trilogy. I have to watch Attack of the Clones tomorrow. Considering I thought the Phantom Menace was a 6/10 movie before and I have put that down to 4/10. I absolutely fear the Attack of the Clones as I had that as a 4/10 originally.

[accies1874]

I saw the first trailer and thought it looked superb. I wasn't enamoured with the pod racing (I thought it looked cartoony), I also thought that Jake Lloyd was too young, as Ben Kenobi had said when he first met his father he was a great pilot. Podracers don't count Obi-wan! But I didn't think it would be perceived as such a turkey.

I saw the film and was quite bored. Wee bits kept your interest, but when the doors opened and Darth Maul was there waiting to kick Jedi ass I thought it was just about worth it for the last twenty minutes. At the time I wasn't too disappointed as i thought it was okay.

I watched The Phantom Menace this weekend with my nieces, and it is absolutely awful. As you say the special effects are more dated than the effects from the original trilogy. I have to watch Attack of the Clones tomorrow. Considering I thought the Phantom Menace was a 6/10 movie before and I have put that down to 4/10. I absolutely fear the Attack of the Clones as I had that as a 4/10 originally.

Historical context for movies always fascinate me. I've sometimes wondered what people found so incredible about the likes of Star Wars or Jurassic Park but then you realise that some of this stuff had never been put on screen before. Phantom Menace was probably the most hyped movie ever due to how long people waited for another Star Wars. I know Force Awakens is huge but I don't think we'll see something that'll blow the world away like Star Wars or get the hype Phantom Menace did. I would have loved to have heard the conversations people had after they saw it for the first time or how today's Internet would've reacted.

[KnightswoodBear]

I think my expectations for the new films were tempered a bit with the memory of how disappointing the prequels were. Revenge of the Sith has it's merits, but the other two are just awful.

Then I saw the first trailer for The Force Awakens and I was 5 again.

[mizfit]

Id agree they got the age wrong for Anakin, and the whole political issue should've been a side plot, not the main plot for the fucking movie.

[LongTimeLurker]

1) ROTJ doesn't even merit a good? Certainly the weakest of the trilogy, but not even good?

2) You regretted watching a TV spot from China, before you watched the movie. What do you think waiting to read a review will do?

On ROTJ I have never been able to take the Ewoks seriously. It was obviously originally meant to be Wookies, but merchandising possiblities took priority.

On reviews, I'll just wait to see whether the general consensus is positive or not and won't be reading the details. No way am I sitting through another Phantom Menace.

[Ira Gaines]

Since these movies aren't both written and directed by George Lucas, my hopes are high.

[Loki]

Historical context for movies always fascinate me. I've sometimes wondered what people found so incredible about the likes of Star Wars or Jurassic Park but then you realise that some of this stuff had never been put on screen before. Phantom Menace was probably the most hyped movie ever due to how long people waited for another Star Wars. I know Force Awakens is huge but I don't think we'll see something that'll blow the world away like Star Wars or get the hype Phantom Menace did. I would have loved to have heard the conversations people had after they saw it for the first time or how today's Internet would've reacted.

I was utterly blown away by Jurassic Park. The faces that Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum make when they see the dinosaurs for the first time was mirrored by the audiences reaction. Up until that point you hadn't seen special effects that realistic, and there was many people that thought that they had actually created dinosaurs for the film! Back then you couldn't pre book tickets for the cinema, so you actually had to queue. The queue's in Inverness were ridiculously long. The only other film I have seen that made my jaw drop like that was The Martian. At Uni I had to write an essay on Jurassic Park and how it was linked back to original cinema from the 1890's that was just there to shock and awe the audience with it's spectacular and grandeur nature.

I think The Force Awakens is more hyped than The Phantom Menace. The differences being that the UK had to wait two months after the US release before it was released here. The novel of the book was out, the soundtrack tracks even included spoilers (Qui-Gonn Jinn's noble end). Ray Park had said that he wouldn't be back for the other films. That detracted away from the film. Lucas chased the dollar to the detriment of the prequel trilogy. JJ Abrams in an era where information is readily accessed through different formats, has managed to control information about this movie that Lucas couldn't do.

On ROTJ I have never been able to take the Ewoks seriously. It was obviously originally meant to be Wookies, but merchandising possiblities took priority.

On reviews, I'll just wait to see whether the general consensus is positive or not and won't be reading the details. No way am I sitting through another Phantom Menace.

How old were you when you first seen Jedi? In retrospect I don't like the ewoks, but at the time I didn't care. The information about it being wookies instead of ewoks only came out after ROTJ was released. It was an interview extra on the Laser Disc release.

At the end of the day the ticket price is going to be about a tenner. I have paid more money to see absolute shitey Ross County performances and I don't ever think I am not going back as the last four matches were shite.

[DA Baracus]

Wait, are you claiming that folk actually believed real dinosaurs were created for Jurassic Park?

[Loki]

Wait, are you claiming that folk actually believed real dinosaurs were created for Jurassic Park?

Yes. We were children after all. The science fiction was believable to a child.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

Yes, you're right, the entire audience actually was making "Sam Neill faces". JP was amazing, literally.

*note to self. Make a gif of a Sam Neill face.

I was 5, 8 and 11 when the original SW films came out. I don't remember my reaction to #1, but clearly remember sitting with my dad (in Eden Court theatre!) and we were both loving TESB.

Not really bothered about the Ewok/Wookie thing, but by that stage I was getting fed up by how pathetic the Imperial troopers were, clearly those smart outfits were filled with drooling simpletons.

There was a huge hype leading up to Phantom, which needless to say was met by disgust, and half-comprehending laughter upon its release. I actually thought the prequels got better as they went along, maybe I would have awarded 2, 4 and 6 out of 10 respectively. After the horror of TPM, though, my overriding emotion was one of boredom. I think I hated pretty much every single character in those films but couldn't even summon up the energy to wish a horrible death upon all of them. Even fucking stupid bouncy Yoda.

The new one looks doss though, and I'm actively avoiding all spoilers!

[DA Baracus]

Watched ROTS last night.

Used to think it was alright but was pretty bored by it. It's awful, with a truly dreadful turn by Hayden Christiansen who manages to make Anakin an astonishingly stupid character who moans and acts like a wee wimpy child throughout.

"Hey Anakin, the only way you cam save Padme is to slaughter loads of children!"

"Sounds legit! I'll do it! But then I'll force strangle her anyway, making everything meaningless!"

Then later;

"Is Padme alright?"

"Yikes! I've been meaning to speak to you about that..turns out you killed her!"

"Are you sure? I think I would have remembered that. Also I can probably get access to her medical records."

"Yup, it was definitely you. Do you think she just 'lost the will to live" or something?!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......"

At around the same time;

"So Obi Wan, seemingly I trained you yet this clearly hasn't happened. To try and plug this gaping plot hole, I will mumblr some bollocks about showing you how to commune with Qui Gonn. You can do this deeply unsatisfying workaround that still makes no sense whilst you watch over Luke on Tatooine, Vader's home planet, where he definitely won't think to look for his son."

"Are you sure you're a Jedi Master? And what will you do?"

"I'll just f**k off to a swamp where I'll make absolutely no effort to try and help stop the mass evil that has just taken over the galaxy. You too should make no efforts. Also, despite having about 20 years to perfect it, I will still create a horrible inedible soup."

[54_and_counting]

The only redeeming feature of the prequel trilogy is that it led to the clone wars animated series, they were the dugs bollocks

[killienick]

I did enjoy the lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Annakin. However, the bit that really bugged me was that after having one arm and both legs chopped off, the worst insult Annakin could muster was...."I hate you", as if Obi Wan had just stolen the last muffin.

[DA Baracus]

Qui Gonn was the best thing about the prequels. He was a quality character and the only one who actually behaved and acted like I imagine a Jedi should.

[yoda]

Obi-Wan was probably the best thing about the prequels (Rodrigo Palacio hair aside). He really should have been developed a bit more. The BelatedMedia guy made a good case for the prequels being about Obi-Wan not Anakin "Annie" Skywalker.

I've been watching them again recently. Attack Of The Clones is the only genuinely terrible film. TPM and ROTS aren't good but have some (although not enough) redeeming features.