The Force Awakens Discussion

[Moff]

Saw it last night. Might split into spoiler-free and spoileriffic threads.

How about dem J.J. Abrams? <_<

[Jase Denora]

https://youtu.be/zpXHa058yok

My thoughts on it.

Disclaimer: Bad language and grumpy Jase

[Moff]

We have spoiler tags. Kinda.

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I think this works

So, on to the spoilers!

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The music was utterly underwhelming, with the possible exception of Rey's theme. I felt nothing at Han's death because I saw it coming from miles away.

[Space Jawa]

I actually haven't seen it yet, and I'm currently on the fence about if I actually will see it.

Which admittedly makes talking about it awkward, because I'm still trying to avoid spoiling the movie for myself outright in case I do.

I probably will, because Star Wars, though I'll likely wait a few weeks at least and then see it at an early bird matinee or once it's hit the second-run theaters (If I'm willing to wait a few months ). For all I hear about people saying it supposed to be good, the stuff I'm reading between the lines gives me pause about how good it really is and if it's merely peoples nostalgia talking right now before the hype has managed to wear off.

Amusingly, I actually spent Thursday Night - when most the fans were no doubt out catching the midnight releases - sitting at home and watching my copy of Phantom Menace on DVD. I'm planning on following that up with Attack of the Clones tonight and Revenge of the Sith later on in the week.

And then I'm planning on getting to the other three in the near future. If nothing else, I plan on watching the other six before I see this one.

Oddly enough, I'm starting to wonder if the decision to split off the previous Expanded Universe into its own thing and let the new movies occupy an alternate universe isn't actually a blessing in disguise, since it means that whatever they do with the new universe, I've still got the Lucasverse to fall back on without having to worry at all about anything the Disneyverse version might do.

[Ahsoka Tey]

So I finally got to see it tonight, unlike some films, once I heard they threw out the Extended universe, my interest in this dropped dramatically.

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There was loads of nods to the original series, starting witht he opening scene of the endless crawl of a Star Destroyer, though a different angle this time, but the same none the less.

The entire plot for the most part is a copy of A New Hope, down to the X-Wing assault on the "Death Star" at the end of the movie.

Some character throwbacks. Grand Moff Tarkin = General Hux, Snoke = The Emperor, Maz Kanata = Yoda. Hell, Han Solo has become the new Ben Kenobi, his death had been seen a mile away.

BB-8 filled the role of R2-D2, "plans" and everything.

The Starkiller Base, which was just a bigger version of the Death Star.

And probably one of the most saddening thing, the same endless story of the Light versus the Dark. . . .

Hell, Rey is a mirror to Luke Skywalker from her origin on a sand planet, her skill with tinkering, her powerful abilities in the force.

And the villain, was a weak villain, he was whiny and weak.

Was it a goods movie? Yes. Did it live up to the legend of the origin of trilogy? Not really. If they had just gone with something like Yuuzhan Vong Invasion. This could have been such a better movie.

[Space Jawa]

There's a part of me that's starting to think I should see the movie sooner rather than later if only so I can stop worrying about spoilers and actually have a genuine discussion about it.

So I finally got to see it tonight, unlike some films, once I heard they threw out the Extended universe, my interest in this dropped dramatically.

For whatever it's worth, if I'd been responsible for things, I would have cut some things as well, I just wouldn't have thrown out the entire Expanded Universe. I would have just set a chronological cut-off point of the Alliance/Empire peace at the end of the Hand of of Thrawn duology where everything before is still canon and afterwards is open to work with.

And then I would have set the next movie ahead far enough so that everyone from the original movies could be expected to no longer be around anyway.

But yeah, I'll admit, the fact that they tossed out the entire Expanded Universe as we know it was one of the things that helped leave me with a distinct lack of hype and anticipation towards the new movie.

[Moff]

In fairness... there's a lot of utter tripe in the EU. We burned it here, too... by changing Endor. No Hutt crime lords with personal superlasers, for example... :p

[Space Jawa]

In fairness... there's a lot of utter tripe in the EU. We burned it here, too... by changing Endor. No Hutt crime lords with personal superlasers, for example... :p

For what it's worth, I think the Darksaber was less of a personal superlaser and more like a giant flying deathtrap made out of pure, unrefined bad decision making.

[Gial Ackbar]

Am I the only one that would give TFA a 10/10?

I'm also really disappointed about the EU being disregarded, but I think I can live with it.

[Moff]

For what it's worth, I think the Darksaber was less of a personal superlaser and more like a giant flying deathtrap made out of pure, unrefined bad decision making.

The book or the weapon? <_<

Am I the only one that would give TFA a 10/10?

I'm also really disappointed about the EU being disregarded, but I think I can live with it.

In fairness, for all of my issues... I want to see it again. In the theater.

[Space Jawa]

For what it's worth, I think the Darksaber was less of a personal superlaser and more like a giant flying deathtrap made out of pure, unrefined bad decision making.

The book or the weapon? <_<

I was just thinking of the weapon, to be honest.

Though in that regard, it may be worth considering that I basically grew up with the Star Wars Expanded Universe (and later the Prequel trilogy, for that matter) - Darksaber included - and it's been years since I actually read the thing. So my perspective on it is probably skewed a little.

[Ahsoka Tey]

If I had to give it a score, I would give it a 8/10. As fart as the expanded universe, there were just small things that I would be sad to miss, such as Mara Jade, the whole Yuuzhan Vong Story line for the most part. Though it has been years since I've read any of the book.

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Though it was a good movie, it is a mirror of a New Hope that doesn't live up to the original movie. It is really hard to earn a 10/10 for me.

[Space Jawa]

So now that I've actually seen the movie...

*sigh*

I can't quite tell yet if I actually straight-up hate it, or if I'm merely disappointed.

[Moff]

I need to rewatch it.

Actually, to be honest... if I straight-up hated it, the board might have been in trouble. <_<

[Space Jawa]

Actually, to be honest... if I straight-up hated it, the board might have been in trouble. <_<

What do you mean by that?

[Moff]

If it was bad enough to put me off Star Wars... there'd be some heavy reworking going on. Like getting rid of the "Star Wars" part.

Granted, I couldn't just give up my Star Destroyers and spies... but we would not be playing in the Star Wars universe. There'd be no Jedi, no Luke, no Endor (...okay, there was KIND OF an Endor), and Han would probably be REALLY grumpy at me.

Also, I'd waste several more weeks perfecting ballistics modeling tables.

EDIT: Oooh, speaking of ballistics... a fun fact (if only to prove that, yes, I am doing something)... Stormtrooper armor plates are impenetrable to rounds fired from a .50 caliber Browning Machine Gun (not that such a thing exists in-universe) beyond 140 meters. And I didn't even set it up that way; it's just a fun coincidence that came out of how I decided to model armors and projectile weapons in comparison to blasters.

Also, not ready to canonize "Chewie's bowcaster flips armored men head-over-heels through the air." It didn't do that in the OT, so it doesn't happen here.

[Space Jawa]

For whatever it's worth, the more I think about it the more I'm pretty sure I do actually hate "The Force Awakens", but that doesn't mean I've taken to hating "Star Wars" as a thing, especially not the Lucasverse that it has minimal connection to and doesn't have any effect on.

As a matter of fact, earlier today I actually bought a copy of both "Kenobi" and "Imperial Handbook" (which should go nicely alongside the other two 'in-universe' manuals I already own, "The Jedi Path" and "The Bounty Hunter Code")

[Moff]

I have the Imperial Handbook too... and I recall writing one myself many years ago, with that title. Hmm. <_<

And there's a ruthless female Stormtrooper captain played by a blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress with a notable accent not found in other Stormtroopers... previously there an attempt to make a comic about an Imperial Intelligence James Bond...

Disney, y u no just call?