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

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Nada

Lucas said that because he thought it would be better for the film - to appeal to the minority of jaded cynics incapable of seeing the value in Lucas' Episodes 1-3.

By "jaded cynics" I assume you mean people who care about writing and good looking effects, right?

[Nada]

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

As far as I understood it the only major change they made was giving the old gang bigger parts, but otherwise it still follows Lucas' outline.

Pretty much.

Disney is desperate with the pandering to older fans with this film. It's kind of pathetic. All of the "practical" effects nonsense is just not so subtle dig at the Prequels. I guarantee you this film will have just as many effects shots as The Phantom Menace, if not more and actually utilize less model and miniature work.

[Nada]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

By "jaded cynics" I assume you mean people who care about writing and good looking effects, right?

Please.

[Gamma_Winstead]

Originally Posted by Nada

Please.

Are you trying to argue that the prequels had good writing?

[Nada]

Originally Posted by Gamma_Winstead

Are you trying to argue that the prequels had good writing?

They do. Just as good as Episodes 4-6.

I highly recommend giving this a read and perhaps listening to and reading Bryan Young's thoughts. They are intelligent, well composed, and thoughtful, something I've yet to see from the detractors, who are in the minority with regards to the the wider fan base.

http://www.starwarsringtheory.com/

Celebration VI: Why We Love The Prequels Panel - YouTube

[Doctor Jack]

Originally Posted by LuckyDragon

Hell yes. John Carter was the best Star Wars movie since 1980.

Star Wars took from the John Carter book a bit heavy at times so maybe it should be Star Wars was the best John Carter movie.

Originally Posted by Nada

They do. Just as good as Episodes 4-6.

I highly recommend giving this a read and perhaps listening to and reading Bryan Young's thoughts. They are intelligent, well composed, and thoughtful, something I've yet to see from the detractors, who are in the minority with regards to the the wider fan base.

The words good writing and the prequels should never be in the same sentence. Despite me just do so. The writing in the prequels is atrocious. The original trilogy's writing is pretty bad too but nowhere near as bad as the prequels.

[LuckyDragon]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

Star Wars took from the John Carter book a bit heavy at times so maybe it should be Star Wars was the best John Carter movie.

Yeah, it's one of those things where the inspiration goes in a cycle. The Carter books influenced Star Wars but the Star Wars movies certainly influenced the Carter movie. You see this all over, like when the Godzilla series inspired the Gamera movies, and then later on it was Godzilla being influenced by Gamera. Give me an hour to sift through a few movie collections and I could probably come up with a dozen more examples.

[peckinpah]

Originally Posted by Nada

Bryan Young, who is close with Simon Kinberg, the producer of Rebels and one of the Anthology films, confirmed to him that Lucas outline is still in play.

Lucas said that because he thought it would be better for the film - to appeal to the minority of jaded cynics incapable of seeing the value in Lucas' Episodes 1-3.

http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/58402/d...ar-wars-ideas/

I'll take the words of the actual screenwriters themselves over some uninvolved guy's 8-month-old spin of a 14-month-old quote that's obviously meant to be diplomatic.


Abrams: "Disney and Kathy decided they should consider other options."

Kasdan: "We were struggling to come up with a story."

Abrams: "We said, Blank page, Page one. What do we desperately want to see?"

Kasdan: "We didn't have anything. There were a thousand people waiting for answers on things, and you couldn't tell them anything except, 'Yeah, that guy's in it.' That was about it. That was really all we knew."

[Nada]

Abrams was influenced by Lucas who was influenced by Kurosawa (among others) who was influenced by John Ford. Nothing has really been terribly original in storytelling for thousands of years. It's a moot argument to try to make.

[Nada]

Originally Posted by peckinpah

I'll take the words of the actual screenwriters themselves over some uninvolved guy's 8-month-old spin of a 14-month-old quote that's obviously meant to be diplomatic.


Abrams: "Disney and Kathy decided they should consider other options."

Kasdan: "We were struggling to come up with a story."

Abrams: "We said, Blank page, Page one. What do we desperately want to see?"

Kasdan: "We didn't have anything. There were a thousand people waiting for answers on things, and you couldn't tell them anything except, 'Yeah, that guy's in it.' That was about it. That was really all we knew."

The uninvolved guy is tight with Lucasfilm and the producer of many Lucasfilm projects. Certainly he knows more than you. I've talked with him personally. He knows his stuff.

And I'm sure those quotes are what Disney wants you to believe. What do we have know so far? There are a handful of young characters in the film. Perhaps a few years older than in Lucas' treatment, but around the same age as Luke and Leia in A New Hope. Clearly the trilogy is going to be about this trio of characters from Lucas' treatment. Kasdan and Abrams have altered things to be sure. They've given more time to Luke, Leia, and Han. And no doubt added their own take to the material, but I have little doubt that the overall structure is going to clearly be Lucas.

[Zivouhr]

When did they hint the next major theatrical trailer will appear for Star Wars VII?

I have to say, if they get the 3D looking as strong as it is in the Star Wars VII trailers for the whole entire movie, this will be even more fun to watch in my view.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Nada

Disney is desperate with the pandering to older fans with this film. It's kind of pathetic.

Actually, it's pretty awesome. We're a tiny minority of cranky malcontents who are too dense to appreciate the genius of the prequels when it's right in front of us and we still have multinational corporations kissing our asses.

Seriously, how freaking cool is that???

[peckinpah]

Originally Posted by Nada

The uninvolved guy is tight with Lucasfilm and the producer of many Lucasfilm projects. Certainly he knows more than you. I've talked with him personally. He knows his stuff.

And I'm sure those quotes are what Disney wants you to believe. What do we have know so far? There are a handful of young characters in the film. Perhaps a few years older than in Lucas' treatment, but around the same age as Luke and Leia in A New Hope. Clearly the trilogy is going to be about this trio of characters from Lucas' treatment. Kasdan and Abrams have altered things to be sure. They've given more time to Luke, Leia, and Han. And no doubt added their own take to the material, but I have little doubt that the overall structure is going to clearly be Lucas.

The protagonists of Lucas's treatment were in their early teens. Poe's an experienced pilot. Rey has been surviving on on her on a backwater planet. Finn is a turncoat soldier. Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what Lucas came up with.

What exactly do Disney, Kennedy, Abrams, and Kasdan have to gain from lying about all of this? And while your guy could very well know more than I (or you, for that matter), he certainly doesn't know more than the people who actually made the damn movie.

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by peckinpah

Better yet, would Bird have been smart enough to toss the Lucas outline/Arndt script? Less Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie AND a couple of 14-year-old lead characters? No thanks.

That's not true. His draft has them in their 20's, even older than Luke and Leia in Episode IV.

YouTube

That interview was done before that Vanity Fair article was published online.

[peckinpah]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

When did they hint the next major theatrical trailer will appear for Star Wars VII?

I have to say, if they get the 3D looking as strong as it is in the Star Wars VII trailers for the whole entire movie, this will be even more fun to watch in my view.

Abrams said it would be this fall. Other than that....

[Zivouhr]

As far as the target audience, Abrams suggested that he approached Star Wars VII with the intention of capturing the spirit, energy, and character interactions of the first three movies. Giving actors actual props to work with instead of all blue or green screen sets, is not going backwards for the sake of fans, it's giving actors actual props to work with. At the same time, puppets in the Dark Crystal and Yoda style are fun to watch, since their imperfections and realism give them character. CGI is amazing, but it's not required that every filmmaker use it just because...

Originally Posted by peckinpah

Abrams said it would be this fall. Other than that....

Thanks! I'll guess October would be a good month to release the final SWVII trailer.

[Geoff D]

Bah. For all the videos deconstructing Abrams' visual style (personally I consider him the missing link between Spielberg and Bay) I just watched MI3 again and enjoyed the bejesus out of it, it's easily one of the best action films from the last 10 years.

[Nicolawicz]

Originally Posted by Nada

Disney is desperate with the pandering to older fans with this film. It's kind of pathetic. All of the "practical" effects nonsense is just not so subtle dig at the Prequels.

What's pathetic is using CGI for even the costumes. I don't know what your beloved Lucas was trying to prove, but it would've been a lot easier and cheaper to make a few plastic suits for the clone troopers. Not to mention it would've looked infinitely better.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Bah. For all the videos deconstructing Abrams' visual style (personally I consider him the missing link between Spielberg and Bay) I just watched MI3 again and enjoyed the bejesus out of it, it's easily one of the best action films from the last 10 years.

Yup, and Star Trek '09 was great sci-fi action and even Into Darkness' problems weren't the look or direction but the script. I have great confidence in Abrams making this movie look great. I just hope the script is there.

[aiman04]

I think they should only have a Star Wars theatrical film every 2 years, or postpone all the Star Wars Anthology films until after the Skywalker saga completed.