Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (USE SPOILER TAGS!)

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by Scarface32

Interesting, I'm guessing that's the standard shape in Japan, wider than it is tall? I'm assuming the first US poster will be taller than it is wide.

This is obviously a billboard-type poster, not the actual theatrical poster with art by Drew Struzan, which we'll get later on.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Dash Rendar is a character from a video game. Don't think so.

Shadows of the Empire (in which Rendar was the protagonist) was a book, game, comic, and other stuff developed by Lucasfilm as a film project that's not actually a film (same with The Force Unleashed). If anything EU can be considered cannon, it should be those Lucasfilm-produced things.

Still not holding my breath that any famous EU names will pop up (not even sure about the Solo children).

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Shadows of the Empire (in which Rendar was the protagonist) was a book, game, comic, and other stuff developed by Lucasfilm as a film project that's not actually a film (same with The Force Unleashed). If anything EU can be considered cannon, it should be those Lucasfilm-produced things.

Still not holding my breath that any famous EU names will pop up (not even sure about the Solo children).

Dash Rendar's ship is also seen briefly in the background in the SE version of A New Hope, so that's something. Obviously just a little easter egg that should in no way be taken as a serious sign he'll appear in future movies, but I had to mention it.

Hasn't it been made pretty clear though that, of all "old EU" stuff, only the CGI Clone Wars series is considered part of the canon now? But of course that doesn't mean they couldn't incorporate elements from the EU into the new movies, shows, books, comics and games (all of which will be considered canon from here on out) if they wanted to. Dash Rendar may well appear in something at some point, in a new form.

[Kryptonic]

I sincerely wish they would make a Shadows of the Empire movie.

They already have a kick ass score to use too!

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

Dash Rendar's ship is also seen briefly in the background in the SE version of A New Hope, so that's something. Obviously just a little easter egg that should in no way be taken as a serious sign he'll appear in future movies, but I had to mention it.

Easter eggs are always fun. Considering the references 2009's Star Trek had, chances are good that Abrams will throw some in the new Star Wars.

I used to geek out about the Swoop bikes that were added into the 97 SE of ANH, back when Shadows of the Empire was all the rage and introduced those same bikes. Ah, the memories...

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

Hasn't it been made pretty clear though that, of all "old EU" stuff, only the CGI Clone Wars series is considered part of the canon now? But of course that doesn't mean they couldn't incorporate elements from the EU into the new movies, shows, books, comics and games (all of which will be considered canon from here on out) if they wanted to. Dash Rendar may well appear in something at some point, in a new form.

They have said that, but I'm thinking there's no reason why certain things, especially Lucasfilm-produced material, can't be used (or used in a new form, as you suggest). The statement about discarding the EU is probably meant more to stop fans from getting their hopes up that plots involving Thrawn, Mara Jade, Darth Caedus, Darth Bane, Kyp Durron, etc. will happen. They undoubtedly won't. Still, it would be nice if one or two of them crept in, even as cameo roles.

We'll find out in 12 months...

[stvn1974]

Just now pre-ordered all the of the new Marvel Star Wars comics that are coming out in hope that they know what they are doing with the property. Optimistic that we will get the UOT on BD and the new films will be amazing.

[Elvis]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Just now pre-ordered all the of the new Marvel Star Wars comics that are coming out in hope that they know what they are doing with the property. Optimistic that we will get the UOT on BD and the new films will be amazing.

Thats all I really care about. Anything else like the new films actually being good would just be icing on the cake.

[doctorD]

Rumor: Simon Kinberg Will Take Over Writing First ‘Star Wars’ Standalone Film

Late last week, news quietly broke that Gary Whitta was no longer the writer of Gareth Edwards‘ Star Wars standalone movie. The departure seemed amicable, as both Whitta and Edwards released statements to The Hollywood Reporter. But it raised several questions about the film, which is scheduled to go in front of cameras at Pinewood Studios later this year once Spectre finishes production.

Primary among those questions was, if Whitta is out, who will be taking over the writing duties on the December 16, 2016 release? /Film has learned, but was unable to confirm, that it will be Simon Kinberg. At Lucasfilm, Kinberg is a consultant on The Force Awakens, a writer and producer on Star Wars Rebels, and writer of at least one standalone movie. Whether or not that became this film or is another remains unclear. But Kinberg will be taking over duties for Whitta on this movie.

Lucasfilm would not comment on this story and requests to Kinberg’s representation were unanswered as of press time. For that reason, we’re labeling this a rumor but we’re confident it’s true.

Kinberg taking over writing duties here almost is a no-brainer. The guy is a well-known relief pitcher in Hollywood, coming in at the last minute to save projects. He’s got crazy geek experience and is very well-embedded at Lucasfilm not just with Rebels, but the standalones too. He was announced as one of two writers on the films years ago, but it was unclear which film was his. Rumors pointed to Josh Trank directing his film, potentially in 2018, but that’s still unconfirmed. We still don’t know if Whitta and Edwards’ film was a wholly new venture or just a rewrite of one of the first two announced films.

What we now know is that Whitta wrote a first draft of this movie, left the project, and Lucasfilm was looking for someone to step in. Enter Kinberg, who is familiar with the world, tone and more. He’s the perfect replacement to come in and polish/rewrite the script to Lucasfilm’s liking.

/Film was also the first to report that this film was about a group of bounty hunters who steal the plans to the first Death Star, right before the original Star Wars. That’s very likely still the story, despite Whitta’s departure.

What do you think of Kinberg rewriting the Star Wars standalone?

Source

[Himmel]

Youtube's Thrand teamed up with his buddies Eldgrimr and Marquez to find out whether a crossguard lightsaber would, despite its seemingly impractical extra blades, be a functional weapon for a Jedi.


Paint.



A Direct Comparison.


A Whole Bunch of Swinging.


A Final Arm Check.


This seems to prove that the new Star Wars Episode 7 lightsaber could, in fact, work!
Could this end the debate regarding the crossguard lightsaber?

Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wheoetJXv3U

[mrpink134]

Originally Posted by Terminated

Youtube's Thrand teamed up with his buddies Eldgrimr and Marquez to find out whether a crossguard lightsaber would, despite its seemingly impractical extra blades, be a functional weapon for a Jedi.


Paint.



A Direct Comparison.


A Whole Bunch of Swinging.


A Final Arm Check.


This seems to prove that the new Star Wars Episode 7 lightsaber could, in fact, work!
Could this end the debate regarding the crossguard lightsaber?

Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=wheoetJXv3U

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Terminated

Could this end the debate regarding the crossguard lightsaber?

Well, if anything could end a geek debate it's a youtube video of a guy swinging a pvc laser sword out in his yard.

Talk about fighting fire with fire

[Elvis]

LoL....so much BS. A cross guard sabre so unpractical.....people just cant leave well enough alone. Is this brought to us by the same guys that liked the PT?

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Scarface32

Interesting, I'm guessing that's the standard shape in Japan, wider than it is tall? I'm assuming the first US poster will be taller than it is wide.

Those kinds of posters are extremely common in big cities. I've lived in many cities, both in the US and Europe, and have seen those posters all the time. Subways mostly, but also inner-city shopping centers and such. They're much more rare in the 'burbs.

[rickah88]

In a world where we have: spaceships, ray guns, aliens, hyperdrive, cyborgs...and oh yeah...an all encompassing "force"...there is just no call for a lightsaber with a flaring hilt.
Golly gee willickers...they really crossed the line now!

[Al_The_Strange]

All spaceships in Star Wars are impractical because their engines are fixed, and should theoretically fly in straight lines rather than performing barrel rolls, loops, spins, and other fancy maneuvers they do.

Fire, explosions, and sound effects in space in Star Wars are impractical because space has no air to carry sound or fire (unless you want to make the argument that space in the movies is not a vacuum and is actually full of air, but this is supposed to be a galaxy far far away and not some other dimension with different laws of physics).

What's the point of having huge battleships with detachable spheres that land on planet Geonosis? It just gave the clones something else to shoot at.

What is the point of the Slave 1 landing on its backside, and then having to turn 90-degrees upright to fly? How do any of these ships fly with their given wing configurations? None of them seem to have flaps, so how to they control altitude? How can they handle more intense winds and air pressure from planet to planet? Surely, none of these ships should be able to fly in any atmospheric condition (even with repulsors).

Having a space station the size of a small moon is impractical, because of the sheer cost of construction, sustainment, the sheer workforce involved, and a structure of that size would undoubtedly suffer severe structural issues (especially with a planet-destroying laser shooting from its epicenter outwards). The Darksaber design would have been far more practical for a superweapon. Why are there workers in the firing chamber of the superlaser, standing on a small platform with no apparent railing or light protection?

Having to build the same space station again, without any apparent change in design (well, maybe they fixed that one open 2-meter port), is impractical, and if anything shows that the Empire lacked innovation. Using it as a trap for the Rebel fleet is especially foolish, given that it had to be sensitive and frail in those early stages of construction. The Emperor put too much faith in his shield generator.

Having troops ride Taun-Tauns, giant lizards, and other weird animals is wildly impractical when speeders and speeder bikes seem to be in plentiful supply. Why do they need walking vehicles when there are ships and speeders galore? Why prolong a battle with slow-moving walkers that can be tripped-up easily by cables and logs?

Why did they deploy speeder bikes in a forest? It's obviously poor terrain for those kinds of vehicles.

What is the point of a mouse droid? Or that one droid that looks like a trash can with feet (yeah, I know it's a power droid, but what can it do without any apparent limbs?). Why do spaceships require astromech droids? Are flight computers really that limited? Why do droids feel pain when tortured (as evidenced in Jabba's palace)? If General Grevious is 90% droid already, why did he need to have an organic heart and stuff? Why didn't he go all the way with full-body prosthetics?

Why is there a giant worm inside of an asteroid in the middle of nowhere? What does that worm usually eat (aside from really tiny ships that may happen by once in a long while, which would never be enough to sustain that huge creature)? Wouldn't it find a better home in some other place where there's more organic matter to feed on?

Out of all this impractical nonsense, people chose to complain about...lightsabers with a crossguard?! Bloody hell.

[rickah88]

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

I sincerely wish they would make a Shadows of the Empire movie.

They already have a kick ass score to use too!

I agree. Of all the things that were knocked out of the canon, I was hoping that Shadows of the Empire would stay around, purely because it was such a big deal for Lucasfilm. In a way, it was the first time they experimented with the multimedia platform for storytelling, which they're now doing with the canon moving forward. A game, a book, a comic, all with different ways of telling the story, it was great. It had it's own score, an actual movie style trailer, everything about it was a huge deal. It was the only story in the whole EU I was hoping wouldn't be purged from canon. But at the same time, Lucasfilm even purged their own Ewok made movies, so I guess they really only wanted to start fresh with just the six films, and The Clone Wars series. I can't blame them, but I sure as hell would have loved to see Shadows stay in the canon.

As for the lightsaber hilt...Are people still complaining about that? Seriously...Move on. It's happened, it's in the film, it's not changing, and it's no more crazy or ridiculous than anything else in the series. Whether you like the design, that's not what matters. What matters is if the movie is actually good.

[stvn1974]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

All spaceships in Star Wars are impractical because their engines are fixed, and should theoretically fly in straight lines rather than performing barrel rolls, loops, spins, and other fancy maneuvers they do.

Fire, explosions, and sound effects in space in Star Wars are impractical because space has no air to carry sound or fire (unless you want to make the argument that space in the movies is not a vacuum and is actually full of air, but this is supposed to be a galaxy far far away and not some other dimension with different laws of physics).

What's the point of having huge battleships with detachable spheres that land on planet Geonosis? It just gave the clones something else to shoot at.

What is the point of the Slave 1 landing on its backside, and then having to turn 90-degrees upright to fly? How do any of these ships fly with their given wing configurations? None of them seem to have flaps, so how to they control altitude? How can they handle more intense winds and air pressure from planet to planet? Surely, none of these ships should be able to fly in any atmospheric condition (even with repulsors).

Having a space station the size of a small moon is impractical, because of the sheer cost of construction, sustainment, the sheer workforce involved, and a structure of that size would undoubtedly suffer severe structural issues (especially with a planet-destroying laser shooting from its epicenter outwards). The Darksaber design would have been far more practical for a superweapon. Why are there workers in the firing chamber of the superlaser, standing on a small platform with no apparent railing or light protection?

Having to build the same space station again, without any apparent change in design (well, maybe they fixed that one open 2-meter port), is impractical, and if anything shows that the Empire lacked innovation. Using it as a trap for the Rebel fleet is especially foolish, given that it had to be sensitive and frail in those early stages of construction. The Emperor put too much faith in his shield generator.

Having troops ride Taun-Tauns, giant lizards, and other weird animals is wildly impractical when speeders and speeder bikes seem to be in plentiful supply. Why do they need walking vehicles when there are ships and speeders galore? Why prolong a battle with slow-moving walkers that can be tripped-up easily by cables and logs?

Why did they deploy speeder bikes in a forest? It's obviously poor terrain for those kinds of vehicles.

What is the point of a mouse droid? Or that one droid that looks like a trash can with feet (yeah, I know it's a power droid, but what can it do without any apparent limbs?). Why do spaceships require astromech droids? Are flight computers really that limited? Why do droids feel pain when tortured (as evidenced in Jabba's palace)? If General Grevious is 90% droid already, why did he need to have an organic heart and stuff? Why didn't he go all the way with full-body prosthetics?

Why is there a giant worm inside of an asteroid in the middle of nowhere? What does that worm usually eat (aside from really tiny ships that may happen by once in a long while, which would never be enough to sustain that huge creature)? Wouldn't it find a better home in some other place where there's more organic matter to feed on?

Out of all this impractical nonsense, people chose to complain about...lightsabers with a crossguard?! Bloody hell.

Don't forget about magically appearing a disappearing rocks and windows. The saber doesn't bother me in the least.

[kamphausd1]

I just thought of something. Anybody think it might be possible that Max Von Sydow will be playing the ghost of Anakin or Obi-Wan?

[StingingVelvet]

You can definitely have something too far-fetched in a sci-fi film that breaks the audience's suspension of disbelief. A certain character in a certain sci-fi show ending up being an angel sent from God is an example off the top of my head. However I don't think a stupid lightsaber design qualifies even a little for being a problem in this area.