Star Wars

[Arcadia]

We went the day before Christmas and I was all set to create a bunch of spoiler boxes ... but Caya's already said just about everything I would have. I think I liked it less than any of you, though. The fate of the characters never engaged me, not even

when Han was killed. I thought he was the best thing about the movie but for some reason when he was killed it didn't affect me at all.

 

 

I did think it was well cast. liked the girl right from the start; she was earnest and different. At first I thought Finn was just beefcake, but then I got to liking him pretty well too, but not enough to really care what happened to him.

 

[T.o.b.y]

I think I had the same advantage with this movie that I did with the last Hobbit movie: Saw it at the best possible time in the best possible place with the most ideal company. My two oldest and best friends, my husband and I went to a really special cinema that shows movies with original audio and no subtitles (very unusual for Germany, where usually everything is dubbed). We had super-comfy seats and excellent popcorn. And we were all really excited and determined to be pleased. They are huge Star Wars fans and their enthusiasm is pretty contagious. My expectations were rather low because of the prequels and I wasn't comparing the film to the old trilogy but to them.

 

So in all, I probably got a lot more out of the film than I would have under different circumstances and came away with a much more favorable impression than it maybe "deserved".

 

I do wonder how the next one will be for me, because

 

 

 

Now that Han is gone, there isn't really a character I love any more. Han was always my favorite. The new Luke looks promising, but I never cared much for him in the past. Leia would be the next most beloved for me, but sadly, my impression so far is that they don't plan to give her much space; they have a newer, younger, cooler and more "correctly feminist" female protagonist to explore. My problem with the new characters is that they are just too perfect. I like them okay and I applaud the casting choices, but they don't really click with me on an emotional level.

 

I wanted Han to die. He's not the kind of person who would do well in old age; like Sherlock Holmes, he needs to go out with a crash and a bang before his mind and body become so feeble he can't maintain his old lifestyle. I only wish he had lasted longer (preferably until the very end of the new trilogy, but I know that was an unrealistic wish), and that his death had been a bit more meaningful. Han should at least save some lives by dying, preferably a whole planet and ideally the entire universe. And it should have been some crazy bad-ass stunt that killed him. And the last I saw of him should have been a roguish grin and a flippant remark. But oh well. I'll take what I can get.

 

I have a few crazy theories about Luke, but I'll save them for another day.

 

 

[Arcadia]

 

Oh, good point. Maybe that's why I wasn't particularly moved ... he didn't go out in a blaze of glory like he deserved, it was only to advance the plot for the new characters.

 

[T.o.b.y]

 

Oh, good point. Maybe that's why I wasn't particularly moved ... he didn't go out in a blaze of glory like he deserved, it was only to advance the plot for the new characters.

 

 

 

 

I suppose that scene was meant to be more about the villain than about Han - it illustrated how he really is evil, how he wants to be evil and struggles to conquer his good side. Sort of like a mirror version of the classic hero figure. Not even Darth Vader could kill his own son, but ha, he's sooooo dark he stabbed his own father to death so hey, he has to be cool now, right? The problem is I just don't care much about Kylo Ren. I care about Han.

 

 

[Arcadia]

I have to admit the first time I saw his face I laughed, because he just looked so odd. I did like that twist, tho:

that he wanted to be evil but had to fight off his good side. But he didn't seem tormented enough to be interesting, or powerful enough to be scary; he just seemed like a spoiled brat more than anything. At least Vader was interesting enough somehow that the audience cheered when he rescued Luke; but I didn't particularly care which side this kid chose.

 

Something else that bugged me; Carrie Fisher's performance. The crowd I saw the movie with was very quiet, except the moment Leia appears; there was a group murmur of shock at how changed her appearance was. (Whereas Han and Luke looked exactly the same, just older.) (Is that sexism, I wonder? We're so conditioned by movies to think that women are supposed to stay young and pretty, but men are allowed to age?) At any rate, my point was, if I would allow myself to make it; when she said she was glad to see Han, it wasn't believable, and neither was her plea for him to save their son. She uttered the lines, but there was no conviction. Besides, if Leia cared that much, why wasn't SHE out there trying to save him? It just really jarred. Also it bothered me that they weren't together. It's silly, I know, but "Jedi" implied that they lived happily ever after, and I liked it that way. Star Wars is that kind of fantasy, imo -- why drag realistic, complicated relationships into it?

 

[T.o.b.y]

Sorry, on phone (at work... I know, I know...), so neither quotes nor spoiler boxes are working properly.

Arcadia, I fully agree about Kylo Ren. Not about

Carrie Fisher, though. I thought she looked lovely. The stuff about her having visibly aged is blatant sexism imo (somebody near where I sat said something condescending about plastic surgery). And the men have changed just as much - Han now is a far cry from the Han that made little me swoon, and I could barely recognize Luke. What did people expect from a woman in her 60s? It's so typical that the lady is held to different standards. As for her acting, I didn't think it was that bad either. Leia is a reserved, rational person and has a facade to maintain before her troops. She's understandably pissed at Han (and their relationship could never be anything but rocky), too. And he is free to roam the universe and chase after the family problem, whereas she is a general leading a rebellion, for crying out loud. Young Leia got flak for traveling with the boys and "abandoning" her post with the rebels, now old Leia is being criticized for doing the opposite? She just can't please the fans, can she. (Except me).

 

Edited December 27, 2015 by Arcadia
added spoiler box, just in case

[Arcadia]

 

Oh, I didn't mean people were shocked because Carrie Fisher looked her age (well, maybe some of them were); seeing Han had already prepared us for that. No, it was because she was barely recognizable. Luke and Han were identifiable instantly, but Leia .... if I hadn't realized it was her from the dialog, I don't think I would have recognized her. The voice was the same, though, which was nice.

Oh, and the hair joke was good. :d

[Carol the Dabbler]

Disneyland to close some attractions to build 'Star Wars' land
 

They apparently already have some Star Wars stuff, but they're planning to add a good bit more, beginning in January.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Alex wanted to see the movie again, so we did that today.  Couple of things still bug me just a little:

 

 

That ultimate weapon supposedly sucks all the energy out of a sun, then uses it to blow up a planet.  If that's truly the case, why didn't it get really, really dark out?  I think we got that info from Finn, though, and he had been basically a garbage man at that installation, so he may have had an oversimplified understanding.

 

 

 

Everybody kept referring to Rey as  "girl."  Daisy Ridley is just three or four weeks younger than John Boyega, and I don't recall anyone referring to Finn as a "boy."

 

 

Admittedly, Star Wars was always intended as a sort of period piece, modeled after the movie serials of the 50's.  Therefore science was never the franchise's strong point, and apparently neither was political correctness!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Anybody care to venture a guess as to who's *really* dead?  Think I'll just wait and see who shows up in the remaining movies!

My money is on really, really dead.

I suspect some are but some are not. Specifically,

 

I'm pretty sure Han Solo ain't coming back. But his son didn't actually die on screen, just did a very credible imitation of the hacked-up knight in Monty Python's The Holy Grail. So my money is (reluctantly) on seeing him again.

 

 

Did we already know that Simon Pegg is in this?  (No character name listed yet on IMDb.)

 

Would not have guessed this -- according to the IMDb community, he played

 

the junk dealer who kept cheating Rey, but wanted to buy the droid.  Mo-cap for sure!

 

 

 

So Luke Skywalker has a bad experience with a student and just runs away to a place unknown and pouts?

 

 

Well, I'm assuming it wasn't just any student.

 

Presumably his nephew, Ben Solo.

 

 

Something else that bugged me; Carrie Fisher's performance. The crowd I saw the movie with was very quiet, except the moment Leia appears; there was a group murmur of shock at how changed her appearance was. (Whereas Han and Luke looked exactly the same, just older.) (Is that sexism, I wonder? We're so conditioned by movies to think that women are supposed to stay young and pretty, but men are allowed to age?)

...Carrie Fisher, though. I thought she looked lovely. The stuff about her having visibly aged is blatant sexism imo (somebody near where I sat said something condescending about plastic surgery). And the men have changed just as much - Han now is a far cry from the Han that made little me swoon, and I could barely recognize Luke. What did people expect from a woman in her 60s? It's so typical that the lady is held to different standards

Carrie Fisher herself has heard some of that flak -- or read it on Twitter -- and has replied.  (Some of the links in that article lead to interesting stuff as well.)

 

[Caya]

I presume many of this board are old enough to remember Calvin and Hobbes, so:

 

 

 

Brian Kesinger's instagram page is here, and more of the Hobbes Awakens pics can be found here.

[Arcadia]

Those are brilliant!!!

[Van Buren Supernova]

I like Hobbacca.

 

Dear Lord! Did I say I like something related to Star Wars?!? (insert Chewbacca's groan)

[Caya]

The new Star Wars sure continues to spawn some amazingly creative parodies, like http://mamalaz.tumblr.com/tagged/modern-solo-adventures .

 

 

 

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just in case any of you British speakers are bewildered by the caption on that last frame, check out the American definition (#2) here.

 

Also, if anyone besides Alex was wondering whether that island at the end of the movie is a real place or just a CGI'd movie set, it's real.

[Caya]

Jamie Follis makes amazing custom action figures. There are several Reimagined Star Wars series of his, like West Wars:

 

 

[Caya]

 

Now I want to see a spliced-together fan video of that. :lol:

[Arcadia]

It took me a minute to figure out that two of those action figures were R2 and 3PO. Brilliant! :d

[Carol the Dabbler]

It took me a minute to figure out that two of those action figures were R2 and 3PO. Brilliant! :d

Thanks! Now, who's the tall guy in the middle? Oh, wait a minute -- Old Ben?

[Caya]

Obi-Wan, or, to quote the artist, “Old” Bennet Kennelly - "I saw him as a one time sheriff of some western border town who was driven in hiding when his former deputy turned on him and took over the territory."

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, finally got that, and was editing while you were posting. Thanks for the confirmation!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just found this video from the Stephen Colbert show, which "explains" how J.J. Abrams talked Harrison Ford into being in Episode VII:

[Artemis]

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I have some questions regarding the ending of Star Wars IX, The Rise of Skywalker.

1.  When Rey goes to Luke's old home on Tatooine, why does she bury the two light sabers?

2.  What is the third object that she pulls out afterward?  (I thought it might be an old-fashioned light saber -- was it from the second trilogy?)

3.  She appears to do some thinking before announcing that her surname is Skywalker.  I have some thoughts as to why she made that choice, and why she felt that she had the right to do so, but would like to hear other people's ideas.

[T.o.b.y]

On 2/4/2020 at 5:12 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

I have some questions regarding the ending of Star Wars IX, The Rise of Skywalker.

1.  When Rey goes to Luke's old home on Tatooine, why does she bury the two light sabers?

2.  What is the third object that she pulls out afterward?  (I thought it might be an old-fashioned light saber -- was it from the second trilogy?)

3.  She appears to do some thinking before announcing that her surname is Skywalker.  I have some thoughts as to why she made that choice, and why she felt that she had the right to do so, but would like to hear other people's ideas.

Well, she's obviously not too keen on the Palpatine legacy and she probably sees herself more as Luke and / or Leia's spiritual daughter and Kylo's Force sister. (I liked the Force Dyad idea but they seemed more like twins to me than potential lovers which is one reason why I found the kiss jarring and weird, almost inappropriate). 

I don't quite understand your second question, are you referring to the yellow lightsaber?