Official Star Wars Topic

[BenLuke]

Hence, the good idea part.

[Stryker055]

He's a good idea person, but it's best if you get other people to do things like the actual directing and writing.

For directing, yeah, but Lucas INVENTED star wars, for crying out loud.

Yes, but he sucks at directing/writing/anything directly relating to films nowadays. Being a creative consultant is the best place for him, that way he can feed all his imagination and creativity through people who can actually work with it, refine it, and produce a good story out of it.There's a video out there on that website called "What if Star Wars Episode I was Good?", which is a great example of how Lucas's ideas could have been refined by someone with actual story talent. Edited November 1, 2012 by Heisenberg

[that guy from that show]

I've been reading multiple places that the new series will have an original story. A real shame, Heir to the Empire would have made a great movie.However, it is only the 2nd day. Rumors abound and I'm not ready to accept that Disney would throw out the EU yet. I'm going to keep hoping for a Thrawn trilogy until the first preview comes out 2 years from now. That's plenty of time for them to come to their senses!

[J46 Nui]

If they do an original story, I do hope they do not make one that contradicts the EU. At least not much.

[shadow pridak money gang]

Any truth to the rumors the new trilogy is gonna be shot in mainly 3-D?-Teezy

[Alex Humva]

I'm afraid I have yet to get audio proof of this, but earlier this morning I was going to school listening to NPR and they were discussing Episode VII. They had a clip of what sounded like Carrie Fisher, though for all I know it could be another actress with a similar voice, doing a short little expo-dump about the ancient Sith homeworld and how they thought it was dead but turns out they were wrong. Anyone else heard something similar?

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

As I don't have a radio, nope, but if you heard it right, then at least the planet being discussed matches up with one that actually exists in Star Wars.

[Alex Humva]

Yeah, Korriban. I'd hope for a return of Darth Bane but somehow I doubt it, since his body was pretty well and good destroyed in the Bane trilogy. Maybe one of those old Sith emperors, before the whole rule of two thing popped in.

[that guy from that show]

The problem with that theory is that Anakin restored balance to the force at the end of Return of the Jedi. Although there are plenty of post Endor Sith, utilizing them in episode VII would cheapen the prophecy. Dark Jedi are a possibility but using SIth would make the chosen one prophecy meaningless.

[Alex Humva]

Dark Jedi, Sith, is there actually much of a difference? Some force sensitive peep goes to Korriban, unearths Sith voodoo that they tend to leave around, goes out and tries to be the second Emperor. I would hope for something slightly more out of the box though.

[Stryker055]

But by definition, "bringing balance to the Force" would require Sith to exist. A balance of the light side and the dark side. If all there is in the universe are Jedi and light side Force-wielders, there's no actual balance. That's an easy way to explain more Sith.Though I would like more of a Vong-type thing, with major villains that aren't Sith.

[Alex Humva]

I think having good out Zahn on-board as at least a creative adviser, if not a full blown writer, would do wonders for the plot. His massive EU streak shows that, and I think that he could manage it without the old trio. Of course there's still discussion and theories flying that the old actors will be coming back, but seeing as the ink is barely fresh on the paper it may be a little too early to start speculating too deeply.

[Rarity]

Zahn was my least favorite author.So The old actors may come back... That's actually kinda awesome!

[Alex Humva]

Each to their own I suppose.I'm meh on the old actors returning. On one hand, they really are so crucial to that era. When you think Star Wars, you think of them. Unless Episode I just scarred you so must Jar-Jar refuses to stop being the first thing you think of.On the other hand, they're old. Don't get me wrong, they're still great actors, they can still work magic, and having older versions is far from a bad thing, but I personally can't look at Harrison Ford from the 70s and then look at him now and really go "ah, feels just like yesterday." It's pretty much required they set the story several decades into the future for the age of the actors to work, and I feel it could cheapen things a bit. But really old age is a flimsy argument in this case. I don't care particularly about whether or not the trio comes back, but rather more about how the story will work out.

[The Lord Of Wednesday]

We could have it in the legacy era if they do that. Specifically with it being 40 ABY, where Han and Luke are quite a bit older, in fact, the aging would almost be in "real time", if you get what I am saying. But there you get enemies like Lumyia (if I spelled that right) and the new Darth Caedus.Either way with a universe with as much history as Star Wars, there are so many possibilities.Also the difference between the Sith and Dark Jedi was mostly religious.As for abandoned Sith worlds, there are many, Korriban could be one, but Ziost could also qualify. Depends if "dead" merely referred to the Sith activity or the planet itself though.

Edited November 1, 2012 by Samhain

[J46 Nui]

Zahn was my least favorite author.So The old actors may come back... That's actually kinda awesome!

Just out of curiosity, who is your favorite Star Wars.author?Mine would have to be Zahn (for the same reasons pretty much everyone else likes him), followed by James Luceno (I loved his work that ties directly into the movies, especially Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord), and then finally Drew Karpyshyn (even though I thought that Bane is too absolutely evil to be interesting or believable I love the rest of his KOTOR work.) And even though I have not read much from them, what I have read of Michael Reaves' and Karen Traviss' work I have really liked.As for least favorite, I have stayed away from the stuff that is unanimously bad, but out of the books I have read, I never found any of Troy Denning's or Aaron Allston's (along with the other authors who work almost exclusively on the big post-RotJ series) work that interesting. That and the fact that they love killing off major characters in the big series that they work on. I get and liked that they killed off Chewie, the characters had to be shown to be in real danger and that they might die. And then they continued doing it, until now these major series seem little more than countdowns to the next major character's death. I'm willing to bet that not a single one of the original cast or their children will even get a chance to die of old age. Oh, and the Dark Times comic book is the worst thing I have ever read ever, but I don't feel like wasting my time looking up the writers for that mess. Edited November 2, 2012 by J46 Nui

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Mm, so a bit of a dilemma. Bringing back the old actors would only make sense if they set it in an era where the plot takes a turn for the ridiculous (someone uses a lightwhip as their main weapon and they aren't laughed out of the story? What?).

[Rausaro]

The problem with that theory is that Anakin restored balance to the force at the end of Return of the Jedi. Although there are plenty of post Endor Sith, utilizing them in episode VII would cheapen the prophecy. Dark Jedi are a possibility but using SIth would make the chosen one prophecy meaningless.

So, are you saying that the EU made the prophecy "Meaningless"? It never specified that it was forever. Personally, I hope they do the Young Jedi Knights series, or perhaps the Vong War. Personally, I'm not too big on the Legacy era.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

For what it's worth, I thought the whole Chosen One thing was pretty stupid anyway.

[that guy from that show]

But by definition, "bringing balance to the Force" would require Sith to exist. A balance of the light side and the dark side. If all there is in the universe are Jedi and light side Force-wielders, there's no actual balance. That's an easy way to explain more Sith.

I think that's a common misconception. Balance in the force does not mean having an equal number of Jedi and Sith. The Sith not Yin to the Jedi's Yang. The Sith represent sin, and their existence alone creates unbalance. The Sith are inherently evil. When Sith live they create death and violence. That devastation is not balance, balance can only come from piece and that's a Jedi thing.Anakin did destroy the SIth at Endor and he fulfilled the prophecy. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the Sith technically came back until Darth Krayt empire decades latter. Considering the Sith's knack at reemerging that's a pretty good rate of success. (Palpatine's clones don't count.)I don't expect Sith to be in the new series. My assumption will be that Jedi from the new Jedi praxeum will go rogue and turn into dark Jedi. They won't technically be Sith but they will still provide the necessary dark side element.

[Rarity]

Zahn was my least favorite author.So The old actors may come back... That's actually kinda awesome!

Just out of curiosity, who is your favorite Star Wars.author?

Karen Traviss.If the movie has any Fett in it, it'll be the greatest thing ever.

[Stryker055]

But by definition, "bringing balance to the Force" would require Sith to exist. A balance of the light side and the dark side. If all there is in the universe are Jedi and light side Force-wielders, there's no actual balance. That's an easy way to explain more Sith.

I think that's a common misconception. Balance in the force does not mean having an equal number of Jedi and Sith. The Sith not Yin to the Jedi's Yang. The Sith represent sin, and their existence alone creates unbalance. The Sith are inherently evil. When Sith live they create death and violence. That devastation is not balance, balance can only come from piece and that's a Jedi thing.Anakin did destroy the SIth at Endor and he fulfilled the prophecy. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the Sith technically came back until Darth Krayt empire decades latter. Considering the Sith's knack at reemerging that's a pretty good rate of success. (Palpatine's clones don't count.)I don't expect Sith to be in the new series. My assumption will be that Jedi from the new Jedi praxeum will go rogue and turn into dark Jedi. They won't technically be Sith but they will still provide the necessary dark side element.

No, that was what I meant. I was using "Sith" as a generalized catch-all for dark side users. But yeah, it was unbalanced because Sith were controlling the galaxy and the Jedi were mostly purged. So when Anakin vanquished the (current) Sith, he brought back balance. So when Luke remade the Jedi Order, more Sith and dark sider users had to arise to maintain balance. At least that's how I see it.

[Alex Humva]

I suppose I'm not as hardcore of an SW fan; see, I always saw Jedi and Sith as definitions of what power they used. Jedi used the light-side, Sith the dark-side. Admittedly in-universe there was a society, an order associated with those names, but I never really thought of it that way.So to me a dark-Jedi and a Sith are the same thing, they both use the dark-side. But the EU probably solidified that otherwise, so I digress. To me it's like saying people who use AK-47s are commies, except the ones that are fascists. Why you need to make a sweeping generalization in the first place is beyond me.

[Angel Beat]

I haven't read the Legacy of the Force novels, myself, but from what I know of them, they aren't very appealing to me. Especially how it seems they handled Tahiri.No matter which era the movies will be set in, I'll probably go out and see them anyway.

As for abandoned Sith worlds, there are many, Korriban could be one, but Ziost could also qualify. Depends if "dead" merely referred to the Sith activity or the planet itself though.

Mmm, from the (Knights of the) Old Republic era, Dromund Kaas and Nathema come to mind.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

See, that's one of the biggest problems I have with the Sith in canon. They aren't characters most of the time, they're just pointless supervillians. It's like how Superman isn't a character, because there's nothing interesting about him. Ask him what his motive is and he'll spout off some slogan like 'Truth, Justice and the American Way.' Pick a random Sith on the wiki, and chances are they're going to be at the heart of some pointlessly evil scheme to turn their underlings into zombies or unleash an army of Lovecraftian horrors or steal some kid's ice cream or whatever.

[Alex Humva]

I'm not sure Superman is the greatest of choices, because in quite a few of the comics he's actually a pretty well rounded character with defined motives, ethical dilemmas, the like. The movies are not an appropriate scale of Superman's character.But yeah, Sith seem to be stereotypically evil with rarely a good reason besides "I felt like it."

[J46 Nui]

In regards to this balance of the force debate, there were some Clone Wars episodes that were supposed to answer what that meant. I know they left it sort of vague besides the fact that it did not mean the ultimate victory of the Jedi or the destruction of the dark side. I just looked up the episode titles, and they were "Overlords", "Altar of Mortis", and "Ghosts of Mortis", and they appeared in season 3. They were a bit weird, but I liked them.I have to agree that most Sith/Dark-Side users are boring villians that are evil for evil's sake, though there are a few good ones. But the only pure evil Sith that works for me is Palpatine, because his manipulative nature makes him more interesting character than the ones that just slaughter everyone in their path.

Edited November 2, 2012 by J46 Nui

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Plus, if you buy the incident that occurred with the Republic's shameless rip-off of Comstar from Battletech (Outbound [F]Light), there is some evidence to suggest that Palpatine, in his own immensely screwed-up way, was trying to prepare the galaxy to fend off an attack from the Yuuzhan Vong, in addition to just wanting power for himself/the Sith order.With regards to the Mortis episodes......Bludgeoning doesn't translate well into words, so I tend to avoid discussing them.

[Stryker055]

Those Mortis episodes are extreme love it or hate it. There is no in between, you're either really into the idea and concepts or you think it's a confusing mess of nonsense George Lucas regurgitated from his dying imagination. (I actually really like them.)

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

I don't think the concepts behind those episodes are confusing - very little in the Star Wars canon is complicated enough to be confusing - they're just kind of stupid.

[Havelock Vetinari]

I'm with Rover here.I don't know what Lucas was thinking. Or if he was thinking.

Edited November 2, 2012 by Basilisk

[J46 Nui]

Well, my "like" of those episodes is not a strong one, and I never bothered to revisit them. It is more that they were the only episodes that even resembled something half decent at that point in season three (coming out right after the terrible first half of that season concluded). Though I do hate the ending to that arc.

Edited November 2, 2012 by J46 Nui

[Havelock Vetinari]

The only thing I like about the new series is the new weapon/droid/ship designs.And that's because I can use them for RPGs.

[Rarity]

So... I'm the only one who liked Jar Jar AND the prequels?

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Jar Jar didn't even like Jar Jar. You can see the despair and self-loathing in his eyes. His stupid, sluggy eyes.

[Alex Humva]

The prequels were ok. What really got me twisted up was the romance plot that really just bogged things down. It felt like that time I tried writing romance when I was twelve. I think Lucas tried to do something similar to Han and Leia, but ended up with stilted dialogue and deus ex machinas because he took vital time away from explaining the plot and developing it and instead redirected that time towards romance. So instead of us seeing Obi-Wan sneaking around, hearing tidbits of information, using the force on some lower-lifeforms to sneak his way into the big meeting, we get him conveniently being on the ledge with all the information being info-dumped on us.Jar-Jar's existence would be so much better if he was a wacky diplomat, kinda like he is in the Clone Wars, rather than, say, stepping his feet into places he shouldn't and making jokes about it.The fight scenes were pretty cool though. Sadly Lucas didn't fully realize the potential of a laser-polearm and so you get "aim for your opponent's weapon and not his face kids!"

[J46 Nui]

So... I'm the only one who liked Jar Jar AND the prequels?

The prequels had a lot of good ideas, but the execution left a lot to be desired. At least the EU of the prequel era is pretty good. And the novelizations do fix a lot of the problems that I had with the films, though a lot of that is because I can imagine better actors playing the parts.Gungans are okay. Jar Jar is not. The best thing that I can say about him is that he is not the worst character in Star Wars, a title that I think firmly belongs to Ziro.But with all that out of the way, the prequels are okay, and I will still include them in my Star Wars Movie marathons. And the action is pretty good. Edited November 2, 2012 by J46 Nui

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Except for that time Lucas made the actor playing Palpatine do his own stunts. As a general rule, unless they suggest it themselves, old men should not have to do their own stunts.

[Alex Humva]

Yeah, the man may be a veteran of Shakespearean theatre, but when he goes up against someone like Samuel L Jackson, it's hard not for it to look a bit odd when the aforementioned young and fit actor has to slow down for the older guy. Hooray for post-production editting to fix it. Kinda.

Edited November 2, 2012 by Void Prophet Alex Humva

[Angel Beat]

Speaking of live action lightsaber battles, I love the fact that the Obi-Wan/Anakin battle was shown at full speed.