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

[Det. Bullock]

And what if the rebellion never really won and the galactic civil war didn't end with the death of Emperor Palpatine?
Think about it, at the Battle of Endor there was the entire rebel fleet, while the empire had a huge number of ships which were only a fraction (albeit large) of its own, after the death of the megalomaniac emperor the empire might have stopped to waste resources in superweapons and started a more conventional counteroffensive which would have put the rebel alliance on the run again.

[peckinpah]

(I'm just spitballing here.)

It would make sense for some remnant of the Empire or an Empire-like force to be around. The Republic rotted from the inside, so it's not all going to be kittens and rainbows after the death of the Emperor. There would be in-fighting, power struggles, and some people who simply refused to accept change. Could be the scenario from the OT has changed, and now what's left of the Empire is a small force attempting to topple the government. Maybe some power-hungry somebody with a whole lot of spare change is raising an army in an attempt to take control, and they're striking fear into the populace by intentionally reminding said populace of the Empire. If the attempts to rebuild the Republic are stalled in bureaucratic nonsense, somebody could attempt to exploit those weaknesses. And imagine how much of that Imperial materiel likely ended up on the black market. You could build yourself a pretty good fighting force out of the dregs of the Empire.

[ChainsawJedi]

Originally Posted by Randall Flagg

These have nothing to do with the books.

Yes, we know that. I'm pointing out that if the basis of this story is that the empire has not been destroyed and there are stormtroopers and TIE fighters all over the place - just because a few fans get a hard-on for such things - then they'll just be repeating the same mistakes that the books made.

[ChainsawJedi]

Originally Posted by peckinpah

(I'm just spitballing here.)

It would make sense for some remnant of the Empire or an Empire-like force to be around. The Republic rotted from the inside, so it's not all going to be kittens and rainbows after the death of the Emperor. There would be in-fighting, power struggles, and some people who simply refused to accept change. Could be the scenario from the OT has changed, and now what's left of the Empire is a small force attempting to topple the government. Maybe some power-hungry somebody with a whole lot of spare change is raising an army in an attempt to take control, and they're striking fear into the populace by intentionally reminding said populace of the Empire. If the attempts to rebuild the Republic are stalled in bureaucratic nonsense, somebody could attempt to exploit those weaknesses. And imagine how much of that Imperial materiel likely ended up on the black market. You could build yourself a pretty good fighting force out of the dregs of the Empire.

Oh goody, another politically-heavy story like the prequels were

[peckinpah]

Originally Posted by ChainsawJedi

Oh goody, another politically-heavy story like the prequels were

And it's going to be shot on film. The horror!

[TylerDurden]

Originally Posted by peckinpah

And it's going to be shot on film. The horror!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNUr__-VZeQ&sns=em

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by OptimusL

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansit...news/?a=106053

I'm liking the new designs.

[peckinpah]

Originally Posted by TylerDurden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNUr__-VZeQ&sns=em

Exactly. That movie was shot on film, and look how crappy it turned out!

[Ernest Rister]

Something I'm unclear on -- the Republic used the Clone Troopers, until the Emperor flipped the switch and used them to seize power.

The Storm Troopers, on the other hand, are not Clones. They all have different voices, for one. Lucas didn't ADR their voices with Temura Morrison in his revised Blu-Ray editions of the series.

So 30 years out, why are we assuming the Stormtroopers are working with the remnants of the Galactic Empire, and not simply the military arm of a New Republic?

[Jedijake]

Couple of things about the "new" stormtroopers. Not everyone has to love these.

1-to me they look too simplistic. Things should have progressed. People love Vader and Fett's costumes. Why not fuse those two with the older troopers. They have the best artists working. The new design looks like something I'd draw when I was 10 years old.

2-I completely understand that the Empire may logistically exist because it was so vast. However, they did show several worlds toppling statues and celebrating. Looking at real world events (like Iraq) you have the toppling of a dictator followed by the attempt to create a democracy then followed by the horrific factions we have now which are worse than before. That's a typical model of what should happen in Ep7. After the initial celebrations over the Emperor's death, several factions try to obtain power creating terrorist states. They are all united under the control of a new evil lord...not the same Empire just plodding along.

[Darkstream]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Something I'm unclear on -- the Republic used the Clone Troopers, until the Emperor flipped the switch and used them to seize power.

The Storm Troopers, on the other hand, are not Clones. They all have different voices, for one. Lucas didn't ADR their voices with Temura Morrison in his revised Blu-Ray editions of the series.

So 30 years out, why are we assuming the Stormtroopers are working with the remnants of the Galactic Empire, and not simply the military arm of a New Republic?

I'm pretty sure there were still Clones as Stormtroopers, it's just that the Empire opened it up for anyone to enlist.

Stormtroopers are just soldiers, like in any other army, who work for the government they live under. If the governement shifts from being a Republic to an Empire back to a Republic... well, a soldier's gotta eat. I'm sure there are some that let politics drive their career, but others need to keep on making a living and stay loyal to whatever controlling power there is.

The Stormtroopers, just like the engineers who worked on the Deathstars, were all just doing their jobs. But I'm sure there were a lot of them that were corrupt enough to actually enjoy what they did. Ask Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Darkstream

I'm pretty sure there were still Clones as Stormtroopers, it's just that the Empire opened it up for anyone to enlist.

Didn't the Clones have advanced aging?

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Didn't the Clones have advanced aging?

Yes they did. Unless Kamino was still engineering them, the Clone Troopers would have been too old by the time A New Hope came around.

[peckinpah]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

So 30 years out, why are we assuming the Stormtroopers are working with the remnants of the Galactic Empire, and not simply the military arm of a New Republic?

Would you really want the army of your rebuilt democracy going around in armor that directly recalls the uniforms of the anonymous thugs of an evil regime most people feared and hated? It's one thing to accept with open arms guys who were hapless conscripts of the old regime, quite another to dress them up in fascist garb. You're trying to win hearts and minds, after all.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Det. Bullock

And what if the rebellion never really won and the galactic civil war didn't end with the death of Emperor Palpatine?
Think about it, at the Battle of Endor there was the entire rebel fleet, while the empire had a huge number of ships which were only a fraction (albeit large) of its own, after the death of the megalomaniac emperor the empire might have stopped to waste resources in superweapons and started a more conventional counteroffensive which would have put the rebel alliance on the run again.

Yep. Unlike every modern action film which has the enemies inexplicably self destruct when the mother ship gets destroyed (Avengers and TF3 spring to mind*), that's a great point: there will be remnants of the Empire spread throughout the galaxy, just as there were Jedi left around after the end of Ep III, so I've got no problem with seeing the nuEmpire in JJ's movie. I do like the idea of a bunch of factions fighting it out (which would be quite topical, too) but that could be a movie in itself, so I hope they keep it simple.

*Yes, I know Phantom Menace did it first but it actually worked in that case, because they were droids controlled by the main ship which was destroyed. It was actually explained in the film. Why the Chitauri collapsed en masse at the end of Avengers, I've not a clue.

[Kryptonic]

Really diggin' those new Stormtrooper helmets.

[Guydowood]

considering the rebellion blew up 2 death stars and killed thousands of storm/snow troopers the Empire probably got millions in wrongful death and property destruction claims and cashed them all in to get the new slick looks!

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by Guydowood

considering the rebellion blew up 2 death stars and killed thousands of storm/snow troopers the Empire probably got millions in wrongful death and property destruction claims and cashed them all in to get the new slick looks!

Kevin Smith? Is that you?

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by peckinpah

Would you really want the army of your rebuilt democracy going around in armor that directly recalls the uniforms of the anonymous thugs of an evil regime most people feared and hated? It's one thing to accept with open arms guys who were hapless conscripts of the old regime, quite another to dress them up in fascist garb. You're trying to win hearts and minds, after all.

I wouldn't. The armor didn't seem to do much good anyway.


"OW! A ROCK HIT ME!"

[Darkstream]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Didn't the Clones have advanced aging?

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Yes they did. Unless Kamino was still engineering them, the Clone Troopers would have been too old by the time A New Hope came around.

I could be wrong, but I thought the advanced aging was only through the early part of their lives, so that they would skip past the preadolecense/adolecense stages and go directly into adulthood. At that point, they would age throughout their adult lives at a normal progress.


But yeah, the original Clones would be too old by the time A New Hope started, unless more were being made. I never read any of the books, so I don't know much history on that.