Who's Ready For Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

[EVC]

OT inside the OT, for those that do not like episodes I to III, you're not alone :

[video:youtube]

 

 

 

[GRollins]

Our date with A Galaxy Far, Far Away is a little over an hour from now.

 

Just to show you how far off the beaten track I am, I will hereby state that I find Darth Maul to be a whole lot scarier than Darth Vader (especially after we see how whiny Vader was as a kid--kinda ruined the character for me). No, I didn't much care for I-III as movies, but I thought Darth Maul was a more efficient death machine. Vader was just an ill-tempered thug with powers.

 

And here's something I never could wrap my head around--Vader, who began as Anakin, whose midichlorian count was higher than Yoda's, who said that power of the Death Star was "insignificant compared to the power of the Force!"...never does anything more with his power than choke a few people and do a little close-range telekinesis. Really? If he's so bloody powerful, why doesn't he do something impressive? I mean, Yoda raised Luke's X-Wing out of the swamp. Count Dooku yanked a big metal doodad off the wall during his big battle scene (which Yoda caught and shoved off to the side). Vader? Hey, dude, so me what 'cha got! If you're more powerful than the Death Star, which can blow up entire planets, surely you can at least wiggle your fingers at a Rebel fighter and crush it or make it blow up or something...right?

 

Braggart.

 

(Looking forward to the movie, even though the above makes it sound otherwise.)

 

Grey

[ElmerJFudd]

 

I think you're not alone - Rogue One shows what Vader is up to before boarding Leia's ship in Episode IV. It's pretty brutal and a long time in coming. You'll also recall Vader trying to turn Luke in the scenes before the father reveal in V which has everything in the room knocking Luke around short of killing him.

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgyitSlMtMY

[GRollins]

I'm back.

Saw the movie.

Well worth the price of admission.

More I will not say.

 

Grey

[SeaGtGruff]

I was never very impressed with Vader as a villain, either. And one of the reasons I didn't care for E3 as much as E2 is because I didn't quite buy Anakin killing all the younglings in the training school. Okay, so he killed a bunch of women and children desert people after they took his mother-- which was one of the many cringe-worthy moments about E2 that I didn't care for, as opposed to things that I did enjoy about E2-- but they had taken his mother, so I could half-believe it. But for him to kill a bunch of younglings just because Palpatine said to? And how come he could never figure out that Palpatine was a bad guy who was just playing him?

[Joe Muscara]

And how come he could never figure out that Palpatine was a bad guy who was just playing him?

"The Dark Side, it clouds everything."

[vanderSchoot]

Went to see it last night with my three children. A spectacle and time well spend.

Althaugh i have the feeling everything about the force, the inner battles of those awakening to the force, the starship battles, the 'against all odds' victories of the vast minority against a vastly superiour equiped enemy have been beat to death if you have seen all episodes numerous of times like most of us have.

 

In that perspective i still very much like revenche of the Sith when Anakin slowly becomes Vader.

I like that one very much althaugh the majority of 'the empire strikes back' bandwagon hardly allows for such opinion.

 

Having said that , the last episodes are up to date with cgi and characters and i can hardly fault the movies if this kind of SF is your thing.

I am 50 and not so much into that genre of late but my children (23, 22 and 13) were extremely excited after the movie....... reminds me of myself after seeing the first starwars movie......

[elsongs]

 

And here's something I never could wrap my head around--Vader, who began as Anakin, whose midichlorian count was higher than Yoda's, who said that power of the Death Star was "insignificant compared to the power of the Force!"...never does anything more with his power than choke a few people and do a little close-range telekinesis. Really? If he's so bloody powerful, why doesn't he do something impressive? I mean, Yoda raised Luke's X-Wing out of the swamp. Count Dooku yanked a big metal doodad off the wall during his big battle scene (which Yoda caught and shoved off to the side). Vader? Hey, dude, so me what 'cha got! If you're more powerful than the Death Star, which can blow up entire planets, surely you can at least wiggle your fingers at a Rebel fighter and crush it or make it blow up or something...right?

 

Dude, you're venturing into geek debate territory, but here goes: Darth Vader was mostly robot, and so only the 60% or so of his physical human form remained, therefore not as much midichlorians flowing around his body as there were before he lost his limbs and the high ground. Yes, he was powerful in the force, but not nearly enough as he could have been had he remained in whole human form. He could not conjure up Force lightning, as Palpatine could.

[Rod S]

Went last night - Wife and my mom, who saw most of the original star wars with me as a kid (she's 80 now).

 

Enjoyed it a lot. I'm happy the series has gained momentum again and I'm willing to go along for the ride in whatever journey the director/producers are taking us.

 

I think it`s cool to see all sorts of generations excited about it, from little kids, adolescents, young adults, through the 40- and 50-year old who watched the original series.

 

[Joe Muscara]

 

And here's something I never could wrap my head around--Vader, who began as Anakin, whose midichlorian count was higher than Yoda's, who said that power of the Death Star was "insignificant compared to the power of the Force!"...never does anything more with his power than choke a few people and do a little close-range telekinesis. Really? If he's so bloody powerful, why doesn't he do something impressive? I mean, Yoda raised Luke's X-Wing out of the swamp. Count Dooku yanked a big metal doodad off the wall during his big battle scene (which Yoda caught and shoved off to the side). Vader? Hey, dude, so me what 'cha got! If you're more powerful than the Death Star, which can blow up entire planets, surely you can at least wiggle your fingers at a Rebel fighter and crush it or make it blow up or something...right?

 

Dude, you're venturing into geek debate territory, but here goes: Darth Vader was mostly robot, and so only the 60% or so of his physical human form remained, therefore not as much midichlorians flowing around his body as there were before he lost his limbs and the high ground. Yes, he was powerful in the force, but not nearly enough as he could have been had he remained in whole human form. He could not conjure up Force lightning, as Palpatine could.

Or there's the reality that Lucas didn't know what he did by the time he got to the prequel trilogy. the light saber fight between Obi-Wan and Vader in A New Hope was probably, "here you guys, have a sword fight." The light saber fights in Ep 1, 2, and 3 were highly thought out and choreographed. Vader was evil in ANH because he had a scary mask. To have a similar effect in TPM, Darth Maul had to up the game. (In fact, Lucas turned away the first concept for Maul because it was too scary.)

[GRollins]

Here's another question:

 

Who or what is Snoke? Are we to believe that he's a Sith Lord (if so, who trained him?) or was he simply (really, really) strong with the Force and turned to the dark side on his own?

 

I would have thought that we would have had at least some hints as to his backstory by now.

 

I don't think there are any spoilers there, right? I mean Snoke was around in Force Awakens, so I'm assuming that anyone who intended to see that movie has already done so. There's another point that I could make regarding this, having seen the new movie, but I'm not going to bring it up because it would definitely qualify as a spoiler and I don't want to mess anyone up.

 

The movie's fun. Go see it, folks.

 

The thing about Vader is, he didn't do all that much even when he was whole. I mean, imagine...60% of the power of the Death Star (which he implied he was greater than, but let's not overdo it) would still be pretty impressive.

 

Grey

[Polkahero]

 

And here's something I never could wrap my head around--Vader, who began as Anakin, whose midichlorian count was higher than Yoda's, who said that power of the Death Star was "insignificant compared to the power of the Force!"...never does anything more with his power than choke a few people and do a little close-range telekinesis. Really? If he's so bloody powerful, why doesn't he do something impressive? I mean, Yoda raised Luke's X-Wing out of the swamp. Count Dooku yanked a big metal doodad off the wall during his big battle scene (which Yoda caught and shoved off to the side). Vader? Hey, dude, so me what 'cha got! If you're more powerful than the Death Star, which can blow up entire planets, surely you can at least wiggle your fingers at a Rebel fighter and crush it or make it blow up or something...right?

 

Dude, you're venturing into geek debate territory, but here goes: Darth Vader was mostly robot, and so only the 60% or so of his physical human form remained, therefore not as much midichlorians flowing around his body as there were before he lost his limbs and the high ground. Yes, he was powerful in the force, but not nearly enough as he could have been had he remained in whole human form. He could not conjure up Force lightning, as Palpatine could.

 

Geek debate: I've read the reason that Vader never conjured up Force Lightning was because it would have shorted out his life support suit which is what eventually kills him in ROTJ.

[elsongs]

Or there's the reality that Lucas didn't know what he did by the time he got to the prequel trilogy. the light saber fight between Obi-Wan and Vader in A New Hope was probably, "here you guys, have a sword fight." The light saber fights in Ep 1, 2, and 3 were highly thought out and choreographed. Vader was evil in ANH because he had a scary mask. To have a similar effect in TPM, Darth Maul had to up the game. (In fact, Lucas turned away the first concept for Maul because it was too scary.)

 

That was actually intentional, it was meant to show a contrast to harken back to the time when the Jedis were at their peak, and there were many of them, and that light saber fighting was a highly skilled martial art of sorts, that's just what they did. By the time Episode IV came up, we have an era where the Jedi and Sith don't really exist anymore in their classic form, and here you have two guys, considerably older and rustier.

[elsongs]

 

Geek debate: I've read the reason that Vader never conjured up Force Lightning was because it would have shorted out his life support suit which is what eventually kills him in ROTJ.

 

Either way, it all comes back to the suit being or being part of a handicap. You need natural hands to create force lightning, which Vader no longer has.

[Synthoid]

The film certainly received mixed reviews... with lots of disappointed fans. Quite a surprise. :idk

 

 

[jimkost2002]

I loved it! But I am a fanboy from the beginning (excepting thr awful episode one and two)...Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher (RIP) and Daisy Ridley were terrific. and Adam Driver is a worthy villan!

[Tusker]

My kids are into Star Wars as am I. My wife tolerates it. We've had to wait because one kid is in college and the other is a busy HS Junior. But the HS junior has tickets to see Last Jedi with her friends on Thursday and we will all see it on Friday as a family.

 

It's become a holiday tradition of sorts around here which I would have never expected. Tree goes up at the end of Thanksgiving. Christmas Jazz music (Oscar, Winton, Ellington's nutcracker, etc.) starts being heard along with the occasional burst of John Williams. Then we see the latest Star Wars movie. Only then does the traditional holiday season begin ...

[GRollins]

My sister does not like Star Wars. As far as I know, she has never seen any other than the first one (aka 1977, I, IV, A New Hope).

 

Given that I love the stuff, I have long suspected that we do not share the same genetic heritage.

 

Grey

[Bill H.]

The film certainly received mixed reviews... with lots of disappointed fans. Quite a surprise. :idk

 

 

A lot is being made of that infamous Rotten Tomatoes audience score (currently 56%) because anyone can participate - whether they've seen the movie or not. RT's more nuanced audience rating of 3.3 out of 5 looks better, and is probably more accurate.

 

A Star Wars movie consisting mostly of inconclusive battles, old story lines thrown under a bus, and new stories left dangling at the end... well, it's not going to please everybody.

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

DANGER! SPOILERS HIDDEN AHEAD!

 

 

Apparently some are disappointed by the reveals or lack of them in this movie.

 

[David Emm]

I've been rather bored with a lot of the notable fantasy franchises for a while now. Its not born of disrespect for the craft, just overexposure. When I see anything of Star Wars, I can't help but flash back to Edgar Rice Burrough's "John Carter of Mars" series and Buck Rogers. They're two of its biggest seeds. That said, I had a friend drag me to the new installment and its not half bad at all. Its so slam-bang, I felt like I'd been lightly beaten by gnomes swinging croquet mallets once it was over, but it was perfectly respectable as a story progression. The real key to enjoying these things: don't go in expecting Kubrick or Bergman. The director of "Minions" was asked why all of them were boys. He said "Because girls would never be that stupid." There's a man who has his vision straight. After the movie, my friend made a rancid Star Wars joke I don't have the class to keep to myself:

 

"Frank Oz's arm I have up my bum, yes."

~ Yoda

[EscapeRocks]

The film certainly received mixed reviews... with lots of disappointed fans. Quite a surprise. :idk

 

 

 

I am finding that around my parts as well. It literally has been 50/50 with all I've talked to about it.

 

My take: I really liked it.

Further take: It's the first one I have really enjoyed since the original, un-abridged (i.e. Lucas ruined)films. And, I'll stop now, lest I earn the wrath of Khan...I mean the Empire.

 

[mate stubb]

Khan.

 

 

 

 

Khan.

 

http://www.startrek.com/uploads/assets/db_articles/9a191d12274650a76ace8393b38a2a297c4e88e6.jpg

 

 

 

 

Not Khan.

 

[GRollins]

Khan.

 

http://www.startrek.com/uploads/assets/db_articles/9a191d12274650a76ace8393b38a2a297c4e88e6.jpg

 

I confess that those man boobs weird me out.

 

I Kahn not see why it was necessary to use so much silicone.

 

Grey

[ElmerJFudd]

As I read up on the Easter eggs and spoilers I find I am liking the story choices more so and am itching for the next installment. Once everyone has seen who cares to we can chat spoiler free. Or free to spoil I should say

[johnchop]

As someone who lined up to see "Star Wars" at least twice when I was six, who puts SW:ESB in his top films list, and who loved Rogue One to bits, TLJ was... weird?

 

Some exceptionally cool bits with story and dialogue choices that slid out of what I figured was a pretty well-established set of themes, characters, and history.

 

[Joe Muscara]

Another great actor who wasted his life on drugs and alcohol...

 

 

[Bobadohshe]

I saw it 2 nights ago. I'm conflicted. There were some wonderful moments. But the sum total of everything in the flick has me feeling a little let down.

[GRollins]

Another great actor who wasted his life on drugs and alcohol...

 

Man, he looks trashed.

 

(ahem)

 

Grey

[CEB]

It sucked bantha balls. Director and crew from VIII seemed to be on a mission to blow up the work of the director and crew from VII. They need to stick with a single creative team for an entire trilogy.

 

https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-have-disney-strike-star-wars-episode-viii-from-the-official-canon