Quote from: Werekoala;850198Tarkin (via Cushing) just exudes authority and evil, and Cushing still managed to make him upper-classy, not just a mindless brute (which again, Vader kinda was, admit it). He was a great baddie.

Kinda nothing! Vader was always portrayed as vicious and cruel. The kinda guy the Emperor sent into a situation because people had failed him, and it was time to send in the monster-robot-sith-man to make a pile of bodies and get shit done.

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;850012It is true that I first saw Star Wars under possibly the most perfect conditions possible: 1979, age 8, at a drive-in, sitting on top of my sister's boyfriend's car in my pajamas.

We used to watch movies at the local drive-in, only we watched them from my friend's back yard, which was close enough to give us balcony seats for one of the two screens. You also had a good view of the screen from the parking lot of the mall and the farmer's market next door. They demolished the drive-in 25 years ago and built a Wal-Mart.

FUCK Wal-Mart.

I realize this is only indirectly related to Episode 7, but it's fucking hilarious!

Back when George Lucas was planning to direct Episode 7, then sell the franchise off, he wanted to build his own studio at Grady Ranch in Marin, CA. Even though Lucas has always been an ideal custodian of the properties he owns, spending huge sums to make sure his projects are not eyesores or blights on the community, the local NIMBYs (homeowners' associations, mostly) raised holy hell, threatening lawsuit after lawsuit.

Lucas decided that spending the rest of his natural life fighting NIMBYs in court wasn't to his liking, so he sold out to Disney to the tune of over $4 billion and counting (half the amount was in the form of shares in Disney). That's quite a sum of "fuck you" money, but Lucas wasn't done yet: He announced that since (a) the homeowners' association were such snobbish dickheads and (b) Grady Ranch was already zoned for apartments and housing, he was going to sell the ranch to a developer on the condition that the real estate be used for low-cost housing.

Since low-cost housing isn't very profitable, developers backed away. So now George Lucas is going to use some of the money he got from selling out to Disney (upwards of $150 million) to fund the project himself!

Nothing sets a NIMBY's panties on fire like the thought of "those people" moving into the neighborhood, so of course there have been countless shrieks of terror from the middle-aged brats of Marin. Fuck 'em.

The new trailer is up.

Judging from the somber version of the Han & Leia theme (1:04 ), it's a good bet Han Solo is a goner.

Quote from: Elfdart;861072The new trailer is up.

Judging from the somber version of the Han & Leia theme (1:04 ), it's a good bet Han Solo is a goner.

I think Chewie is a more likely candidate.

Only if they have a spare moon to drop on him.

I only wish I was kidding.

Quote from: JongWK;861103I think Chewie is a more likely candidate.

Nope, Han's a dead man walking.

The reason? Ford doesn't have a multi-picture deal. Fisher and Hammil do. Ford wanted out from under Han, as he never enjoyed the role like he did Indy, and felt his story was done with Jedi. J.J. gave Ford what he wanted in return for Ford's reprisal. All other Han stories are going to be Young Han, done with a new (young) actor, with Ford taking his final bow and walking away after his commitments (promotional, in this case) for VII are complete.

Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;861196Nope, Han's a dead man walking.

The reason? Ford doesn't have a multi-picture deal. Fisher and Hammil do. Ford wanted out from under Han, as he never enjoyed the role like he did Indy, and felt his story was done with Jedi. J.J. gave Ford what he wanted in return for Ford's reprisal. All other Han stories are going to be Young Han, done with a new (young) actor, with Ford taking his final bow and walking away after his commitments (promotional, in this case) for VII are complete.

I did not know about the contract aspect. Makes sense then...

Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;861196Nope, Han's a dead man walking.

The reason? Ford doesn't have a multi-picture deal. Fisher and Hammil do. Ford wanted out from under Han, as he never enjoyed the role like he did Indy, and felt his story was done with Jedi. J.J. gave Ford what he wanted in return for Ford's reprisal. All other Han stories are going to be Young Han, done with a new (young) actor, with Ford taking his final bow and walking away after his commitments (promotional, in this case) for VII are complete.

Ford has already said more than once that Han should have died in RotJ.  He says that Han is an action hero that doesn't age as well as a scholar like Indiana Jones.  (And we saw how well HE's aged.)

JG

Still haven't watched any trailers, but on the subject of Han dying I'm surprised to realize I feel nothing. It doesn't feel "real" or "canon", and it probably won't even after I see this in theaters.

I guess it's been too long since we last saw these characters, the original trilogy is frozen in amber and cannot be organically altered or added to, even if the actors come back. In a way I've never internalized the prequels' backstory for Vader either.

That said, additional movies in the Star Wars universe that don't deal much with the characters of the original trilogy do hold some interest for me.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;861341Still haven't watched any trailers, but on the subject of Han dying I'm surprised to realize I feel nothing. It doesn't feel "real" or "canon", and it probably won't even after I see this in theaters.

Yup. For me, it's partly because this is JJ Abram's Star Wars. Heck, the feeling started with the prequels (this is all some EU stuff) for me, and while I didn't hate them as much as some others, I do think that Lucas was out of touch with why people liked the original movies.

The new trailer doesn't do anything for me. I don't feel moved at all. But this commercial for SW Battlefront for Playstation really got me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mByznNYCWTY

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;861341I guess it's been too long since we last saw these characters, the original trilogy is frozen in amber and cannot be organically altered

Agreed.

I'm cool with Han dying. I agree with Harrison that Han (and Chewie) should have died heroically in Jedi.

Quote from: Spinachcat;861681I'm cool with Han dying. I agree with Harrison that Han (and Chewie) should have died heroically in Jedi.

Eeeeeh. I'm sick of the idea that dying heroically is any good for a story. It seems to get chucked around so much that I don't give a fuck. Like when Wash died in Serentity I was like "Well, that happened." And I say that as a Firefly fan.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;861682Eeeeeh. I'm sick of the idea that dying heroically is any good for a story. It seems to get chucked around so much that I don't give a fuck. Like when Wash died in Serentity I was like "Well, that happened." And I say that as a Firefly fan.

I agree. Sequels (especially by new authors and directors) killing off old characters for dramatic "purposes" .... ugh. I'm actually prefer stories where characters can and do die even by chance, but being obviously killed off or "heroically sacrificing themselves" (generally without the author even bothering to have a logical compelling plot reason for it) is perhaps my least favorite form of forced plot.

After seeing Abrams turn Star Trek into a weird adolescent Young Adult action/fantasy/BS, I have faint hope of SW7 feeling like a real sequel to the original trilogy. Also, I think it's hiarious that they engineered a rolling beachball droid that actually exists but looks like it's CGI anyway (and that I find visually annoying).

Seems to me far more plausible that Han would just break up with Leia after a while and go do his own thing and stop playing hero. Or, that Leia and Han would by this time be doing something else in the galaxy and both be smart enough to realize they didn't need to be action heroes anywhere. Surely a galaxy has room for people to retire or not need to always be involved with their old friends at all times.

I really hate perceived film & genre conventions driving plots in nonsensical ways. Could you tell?

The Star Wars film (well, short film) or game that I want to have happen, is Episode III.i: Extermination of the Gungans.