Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS]

[metsmarathon]

i thought of that, but all the thrust is at the aft end of the ship. it needs something forward of the center of gravity to keep it from just doing massive somersaults everytime it tries to lift off. and the thrusters never move to provide the vectoring, but it could be internal mechanisms instead of external. but there's have to be something noticeable pushing hte thrust around, and i just don't see it, or recall ever seeing it.

the same it true for all the other ships in the starwars universe, of course. the starfighters at least there's some plausible control surfaces at play there, but the bigger ships?

i guess the ships could all just be generating some invisible propulsive energy field that they can vector into whichever way they seem fit, but there's never anything visible. ah fuck it. that's probably what it is. same stuff that floats the speederbikes, and landspeeders, and what not. its just that you'd think it would lead to some sort of visible distortion when its big enough to move a freighter (or capital ship).

a vectorable ion field is what i'm thinking. sure, that's what i'll call it. but i'd like to see it, damnit.

[metsmarathon]

Vic Sage wrote: in a universe with a magical "force", these sorts of questions become moot, don't they?

even magic has to have consistent rules or the universe falls apart. don't you even read comics?

[Edgy MD]

You know, you may have asked the same thing about the En'erprise, but JJ was on the case.

[fimg=650:rcdejg9a]http://judebgallery.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_8178.jpg[/fimg:rcdejg9a]

[Centerfield]

[youtube:2gf7ijvs][/youtube:2gf7ijvs]

[Centerfield]

I seem to be having issues with the embed code for this video.

Can someone smarter help me?

http://geekologie.com/2014/05/wife-gets-husband-millennium-falcon-for.php

[Edgy MD]

WRT The Millennium Falcon: I'm thinking whatever heretofore-unknown technological harnessing of gravimetric forces there is that makes up up and down down on an interstellar ship, and keeps human beings from being smashed to atoms against the bulkheads, also allows ships to maneuver in a planet's atmosphere, providing hovering capability, pitch control, and vertical and side-to-side thrust.

[Ceetar]

Centerfield wrote: I seem to be having issues with the embed code for this video. Can someone smarter help me? http://geekologie.com/2014/05/wife-gets-husband-millennium-falcon-for.php

can we embed vimeo here?

[TransMonk]

I'm trying really hard not to get excited about this...but come on!

[youtube:23irsvqf]ngElkyQ6Rhs[/youtube:23irsvqf]

[Edgy MD]

Yay, a post in the Film Review Forum.

This seems to confirm my long-held suspicion that the protagonist is a coming-of-age paduan/offspring of Leia and Han, likely the young woman.

For if we know anything about long-delayed Harrison Ford sequels, the adult bambinos from his libertine years will show up.

Not for nothing, but if we're trying to restore balance to the Force here, shouldn't Star Wars films be released in May?

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

I saw this on Twitter and it sums things up perfectly.

[dgwphotography]

Mets – Willets Point wrote: I saw this on Twitter and it sums things up perfectly.

That also perfectly sums up my Mets fandom at the moment.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

The Mets have never done anything as bad as Jar Jar Binks.

[Guest sharpie]

Juan Samuel.

[Elster88]

TransMonk wrote: I'm trying really hard not to get excited about this...but come on! [youtube]ngElkyQ6Rhs[/youtube]

You're not the only one I have a hard-on too.



The posts starting with the Twitter and ending with Juan Samuel form a thread of comic genius.

[TransMonk]

[youtube:26qexc52]CTNJ51ghzdY[/youtube:26qexc52]

[dgwphotography]

[youtube:16cxuyf3]sGbxmsDFVnE[/youtube:16cxuyf3]

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

Daisy Ridley is cute.

[Guest El Segundo Escupidor]

I broke my self imposed embargo. I am weak.

[Centerfield]

I've managed to stay strong. Only a few more weeks to go. I am hoping I can be completely in the dark about plot etc. when I watch the movie.

Just bought tickets for that Sunday.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Have been doing the movies with YoungerPooper over the last six weeks or so (machete order, which worked nicely). The girl liked it at first, then REALLY liked it by the end of Jedi, and now she kinda wants a green lightsaber for Christmas.

I am SO much more excited about this than I thought I would be.

[metsmarathon]

minimm still hasn't seen revenge of the sith (and I can't remember if he's seen attack of the clones). unfortunately, I don't think he's really ready to see the force awakens, even though it opens just two short days after his 6th birthday.

I didn't do machete order, and ended up with a kid who liked jar jar binks. dangit.

he's really not ready for revenge of the sith though... I might have to queue up the original trilogy again instead. get the µmm's into it early.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Yeah, it was a-ight.

[Edgy MD]

This is a three-year-old thread. Wow.

We need a poll.

[Elster88]

Added a poll. It's getting pretty much universal acclaim. I really liked it. I'm pretty sure it was better than Jedi but still too early to tell for sure. Might be up there with the first movie, but probably not going to beat Empire for me.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I mean, if it's up there with the first movie, that would be because it's pretty much, beat for beat, the first movie.

I liked this one, a lot. But in, like, a solid B+ kind of way, with plenty of room to grow. Extra points for good humor, creating an immersive world (like the originals) and the best all-around performances of any SW movie... but subtracting some for "homage" that verged on aping and a plot that goes from one major goal (finding the guy) to another (Death Star II) in mid-movie... and it ain't the world-changer the first one was. I mean, it can't be. It's Jedi class, at best... and that's something to be proud of.

[Edgy MD]

marathon's questions were answered. There were definitely small thrusters and stabilizers on the belly of the Falcon.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Is that "meh" grade you, Edge?

[TransMonk]

I also liked it A LOT. It was the first movie in a long time (maybe since the overwhelming disappointment of Episode I) that I had really been looking forward to where the film then exceeded my expectations. If I hadn't seen it Xmas eve morning, I would have immediately viewed it again. Better than ROTJ...as good as the original, IMO (but, obviously, the original breaks any ties because it was the original).

I appreciated the return to characters with life and the proper mix of humor, emotion and action to create a properly paced story. I loved that the lightsaber duels returned to the weighty, claymore-like fights of the original trilogy as opposed to the CGI baton twirling of the prequels. I liked all of the new main characters and thought the screen time of the old-timers was nearly perfect.

My gripe list is small:
- I wanted more of Captain Phasma. The character seemed too minor given the pre-press leading up to the movie. I'm hoping for bigger things in Episode VIII.
- I'm not a big fan of fully CGI characters, so it's hard for me to take Snoke too seriously.
- Carrie Fisher, man. The facial work she's had done kind of ruins her as Leia for me.

I plan on seeing it again during this next week (haven't done that with a new release in over 20 years, either). Great fun!

[Edgy MD]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Is that "meh" grade you, Edge?

Yeah, me. Sorry. I mostly found it too bloated with the old cast and new cast elbowing for screen time and space. It allowed too little time for you to develop a connection with the newer characters including protagonist Rey, and associate protagonist Finn. You knew a lot about Luke's internal life before he started having adventures. Even Han has a developed back story before you get off of Tatooine (which is part of why people care so much about whether Greedo shot first). With the Han analog from this film, Poe Dameron, all you know about him is that he's a hotshot pilot. And that we have to learn through a quick force-feeding, when he's called the resistance's "best pilot" in the crawl, and him boasting "I can fly anything" as he kicks into action. Bam, I’m supposed to care about this guy? (MINOR SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]And then he disappears for more than half the film. (/MINOR SPOILER)

That's far more crudely drawn and rolled out than the characters in the original film (which I appreciate more each day), where we're, like 2/3 into the picture before it becomes a battle film. I think I’d have rather had a slowly unfolding story. To slip into this long-awaited gift deliberately.

Abrams was able to escape this trap of being encumbered by too many characters when he took over the Star Trek franchise, the new timeline concept allowing him to have the old characters and most of their established backstories and audience's relationship to them, without having to haul out most of the old actors. And then he doesn’t have to waste too much screen time, making you care. You already do. That said, he indeed did give us significantly more Kirk and Spock backstory and exposition than he gives Rey and Finn here.

There’s also things that don’t quite make sense (not as many as in Star Trek, perhaps), at least to my fool head. (MINOR SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]Who’s the hermit-like guy at the beginning? Why haven't Chewbacca or Akbar aged at all? Chewie was already 200 in the first film. (/MINOR SPOILER) (LARGER SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]How do we have a weapon that’s basically a cannon carved out of a planet that can destroy other planets? How does it move into position throughout the universe? Does it somehow fire energy blasts from far off and they all go into warp fields, and then somehow come out of warp and hit their far-off targets? That’s weird.(/LARGER SPOILER)

And how does a non-jedi (seemingly in touch with the Force, but a non-jedi nonetheless), as well as a random non-Force-oriented-at-all guy get to (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]pick up a light saber and go blow for blow, parry for parry, with a sith or sith-paduan or whatever he is?(/SPOILER)

It was funny when J.J. Abrams re-used plot lines and devices in Star Trek from earlier films, because it was in a new timeline, and it was amusing to think that history unfolds similarly but different in two parallel timelines if they spring from a recent common temporal point. Here, what with the (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]secret plans hidden in a lost droid (smaller, cuter, more cherubic) that the agents of the dark side are looking for(/SPOILER) and (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]giant planet-destroying enemy weapon/impenetrable base with one fatal flaw(/SPOILER), a creature cantina, a desert planet to begin on, it didn’t seem amusing, but rather seemed uninspired/lazy. When freakin’ Han says (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]”So, it’s a Death Star,”(/SPOILER) he seems to be commenting on how been-there/done-that unimpressed he is with the script. “This is all you got, guys?”

And what is with J.J. Abrams and geo-genocide? You think he’d have gotten his rocks off enough by imploding Vulcan. But here in an instant, (BIG SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]he wipes out a half dozen generally peace-loving planets, just to move the plot ahead for our protagonists, who scarcely seem to acknowledge this unthinkable horror. When Alderan is destroyed in the original thing, it’s an abstraction to us. We’ve never seen it and don’t have a relationship to it, so we can move on with the story. But we know that it’s a horror when Ben is thrown by it — shattered — though light years away. It's why he comes to realize that his mission must be intentionally suicidal. The weight of this loss is a specter throughout the rest of the film. Ben/Obi-Wan's universe has been upended.

Here, we have planets we know, worlds we've walked on. I saw what seemed to Coruscant (sp?) which presumably is as populated as any place in the galaxy, go up. Later, Republic. My wife said she thought Endor went up too. So no more Ewoks in the universe, you psychotic freak. Just how much desolation do you really need to set your plot in motion, J.J.? I'm with Ol' Ben. I felt as motivated to die here as moved to fight. Moreso.(/BIG SPOILER)

Things I liked included the new protagonista (posh accent aside) and the production design — including, as noted, thrusters on the underside of the Millennium Falcon. I like the general outline of the story, except those turns noted above.

The bad guy, I’m torn about. I mean, that’s a recognizable villain. A child of heroic idealists who are in the busy business of reclaiming the world from bad guys to make it better for kids just like him. But they are struck by the reality that, whatever your good intentions may be, raising children is damn hard. So they ship him off to boarding school, bypassing the meritocracy they worked so hard to build, taking advantage instead of their special connections. The kid’s growing pains are exacerbated by further alienation and bitterness at his seemingly hypocritical parents, failing plainly in their attempts to hide their contentious marriage, and he falls for a philosophy that gives him the certainty his parents could not. I mean, we all KNOW this kid. Many of us are terrified of him.

That said, his Hogwarts-esque hair/pallor looked ridiculous, and the idea that he’s a whiny rageaholic seems so lame-o for a sith or a sith-in-training or whatever. If Force users, good and bad, have had anything in common through the six prior films, they all seem to advance in their abilities through self-discipline, not by breaking all their toys whenever they don't get what they wanted.

So, good job in setting the universe back in motion. But not so good at getting me engaged and in sympathy and solidarity with the principals.

[TransMonk]

Edgy MD wrote: And how does a non-jedi (seemingly in touch with the force, but a non-jedi), as well as a random non-Force-oriented-at-all guy get to (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]pick up a light saber and go blow for blow, parry for parry with a sith or sith-paduan or whatever he is?(/SPOILER)

I'm guessing it will be later revealed that Rey (PURE CONJECTURE)=#FFBFFF]is the daughter of Leia. Maybe shortly after her and Han split, she discovered she was preggers but didn't tell him and "hid" Rey on Jakku to keep her from Snoke/Kylo Ren. Or, heck, maybe she's descended from Luke directly. It seems like she has some familial relationship to the group.(/PURE CONJECTURE) More on Finn's backstory and force ability may be explained in later films, too.

Edgy MD wrote: =#FFBFFF]Here, we have planets we know, worlds we've walked on. I saw what seemed to Coruscant (sp?) which presumably is as populated as any place in the galaxy, go up. Later, Republic. My wife said she thought Endor went up too. So no more Ewoks in the universe, you psychotic freak. Just how much desolation do you really need to set your plot in motion, J.J.? I'm with Ol' Ben. I felt as motivated to die here as moved to fight. Moreso.(/BIG SPOILER)

(NERD RESEARCH)=#FFBFFF]The Hosnian system was the system targeted by the Starkiller Base. Hosnian Prime, which was the new home of the Republic capital, was destroyed and the current chancellor was killed in the attack. I've been able to piece this together through various websites where bigger nerds than I look into this stuff (by Googling Hosnian System), but I had to check, since I did not get the same feeling you did that Coruscant and Endor were destroyed. According to this map from The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary companion book, Coruscant and Endor are not part of the Hosnian system.(/NERD RESEARCH)