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Disney buys Lucasfilm

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Didn't he also direct the latest Star Trek film?

Yep, and the Star Trek sequel coming out soon, which I'm actually quite looking forward to all the characters and their banter was great in the last film

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The Star Trek reboot was already pretty much A New Hope, so i suspect JJ Abrams can probably make a pretty good Star Wars movie.

It is undeniably odd that the same man will have directed the revivals for two legendary, competing sci-fi franchises.

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If I was on my work PC, I'd be franticly photoshopping cumberbatch making him blue and sticking a giant space slug in his shoulder.

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I would applaud Shadows of the Empire, but doubt the next episodes will be it. Abrams is going to do his own thang.

Even though this is excellent news for Star Wars, there is really no need to make any more Star Wars, ever. Really, there's enough. There are enough stories in the Star Wars universe. There is enough lore. Please stop and make something new and surprising.

Also, it occurs to me that Lucasarts are not Jedi, but Sith. The Jedi are an order of ascetics, of people renouncing material wealth and all about living cleanly. Star Wars as a franchise? A billion figurines and lunch boxes and endless merchandise for ravenous children (and adults).

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Hmm, yes, but that does create a strange paradox in the Sith. Why would you want to rule over the galaxy if not for material gain (the ability to do anything, buy anyone, use everyone)? Or is that just the 'evil' thing to do?

George Lucas is more like a Ferengi.

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The Sith philosophy is the opposite of the Jedi philosophy in a few ways. The Jedi seek peace, while the Sith think conflict is the road to perfection and that sitting around being peaceful just leaves you weak and unfulfilled. The Sith think that passion and emotion should govern action and are the source of true power, whereas the Jedi think that a lack of emotion is the only way to keep from falling into ruin. The Sith think that the Force should free individuals and allow them to do all sorts of awesome stuff. The Jedi think the Force is something to be mastered and controlled and used only when necessary.

You ask why the Sith want to rule the galaxy if they don't care about material goods, but you could ask the same thing about the Jedi. The answer is the same for both of them: they think that their philosophy is the proper way to do things and more specifically they think that the other people are doing it totally wrong. It's sort of a Nietzsche vs. Christianity thing going on, basically.

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I'm probably misunderstanding the core of the religions, but it sounds like the Jedi and the Sith are Tibetan Buddhists and LeVayan Satanists. Which makes the Sith super cool probably?

btw that Plinkett segment pretty much summed up how I felt.

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I'm not looking forward to more Star Trek or more Starwars; but you're all saying that it's good that the only two major space opera movie franchises in existence be helmed by the same creative person? And use the same actor to play their Villains? :fart: to that.

Also, that Plinkett comparison video is bullshit: you don't compare dialog sequences to action sequences to determine which movies got the best tension and pace.

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That's a fair critique of that one tiny segment, but the boring POS that is The Phantom Menace is well-known, and Plinkett already spent about five hours explaining how terrible the prequels are (which is still shorter than the prequels themselves, but way more entertaining)

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I really hope they lay off the lens flares, when you start noticing it during the new Star Trek it becomes so distracting, it's fucking unreal how much they use the effect.

Hopefully they'll have to lay off the lens flares from fears that the films will look to similar

I really liked the use of lens flare in ST, but I'm sure Abrams knows it wouldn't fit with the established SW feel. I'm more interested to see how he differentiates the two franchises now that, as Sno points out, St has been moved a lot closer to the feel of SW.

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Yeah, the lens flares were definitely a part of the style of ST and were over the top but it worked for that style, but his graphics people still used them too much, I felt, in Cloverfield and Super 8. (not sure about MI 3) It's the sort of thing that perhaps bothers mostly someone like me because I work with video and am asked every day to "just put some lens flare on" and the stuff they use in Abrams films is a plugin that one of his guys wrote, that by now EVERYONE uses..

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Hmm, yes, but that does create a strange paradox in the Sith. Why would you want to rule over the galaxy if not for material gain (the ability to do anything, buy anyone, use everyone)? Or is that just the 'evil' thing to do?

I guess Lucas did a poor job of explaining his intentions, plus Knights of the Old Republic manages to put up a decent argument for being a Sith -- even if every one of them is pretty much evil. The fall Annakin Skywalker was supposed to illustrate that you can do evil out of a desire to do good. There's that conversation he has with Padame in the grass in Episode II. He talks about how there needs to be more justice, and she points out that no-one really has the right to appoint themselves as judge, jury, and executioner... even if their intention is to only be fair. Anakin isn't so sure, and clearly thinks he could do a good job.

Being a Sith in the KotOR games simply means not shutting yourself off from aspects of The Force. They see Jedis as only using part of their available power. Of course, the powers that the Sith develop also tap into baser instincts: Jealously, revenge, anger (which leads to hate), etc.

I don't think either of them are particularly materialistic.

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That's the only correct response!

The best Jedi are gray Jedi though. I always loved the concept, because it provides a bit more nuance to the Force user spectrum. [/giantstarwarsnerd]

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The Sith philosophy is the opposite of the Jedi philosophy in a few ways. The Jedi seek peace, while the Sith think conflict is the road to perfection and that sitting around being peaceful just leaves you weak and unfulfilled. The Sith think that passion and emotion should govern action and are the source of true power, whereas the Jedi think that a lack of emotion is the only way to keep from falling into ruin. The Sith think that the Force should free individuals and allow them to do all sorts of awesome stuff. The Jedi think the Force is something to be mastered and controlled and used only when necessary.

You ask why the Sith want to rule the galaxy if they don't care about material goods, but you could ask the same thing about the Jedi. The answer is the same for both of them: they think that their philosophy is the proper way to do things and more specifically they think that the other people are doing it totally wrong. It's sort of a Nietzsche vs. Christianity thing going on, basically.

I get that, but the Sith are totally evil and they know that. They call it the 'dark' side, they're always cackling and being cruel, they delight in suffering... this is no mere case of differing points of view. I mean, I would totally think it more interesting if the Sith were exactly that, that they didn't consider themselves evil and held themselves with nobility and pride. The movies and games and books are not that, though. These dudes are bad news and they know it.

I'm taking risks here, getting caught up in an argument about Star Wars.

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There's that conversation he has with Padame in the grass in Episode II.

Your skin is soft. Not like grass. I hate grass.

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I get that, but the Sith are totally evil and they know that. They call it the 'dark' side, they're always cackling and being cruel, they delight in suffering... this is no mere case of differing points of view. I mean, I would totally think it more interesting if the Sith were exactly that, that they didn't consider themselves evil and held themselves with nobility and pride. The movies and games and books are not that, though. These dudes are bad news and they know it.

This is part of what makes Anakin's arc in the prequels so hilarious (apart from awful dialogue, acting, cinematography, editing, structure and whatnot). He keeps re-iterating the point that "this is the good way to do things", everyone keeps saying "wait, are you sure? Sounds pretty evil.." and he keeps going back to his new master "Is this eee-vil?" and his master, now looking like an evil muppet, with glowing evil eyes and teeth that only evil people have, wrinkles and shit, he cackles and says "No, no.. trust me. This is ok. NOW KILL THAT GUY FOR ME!"

This sort of good/evil stuff was fine in the old films, where everything is already gone to shit. But if Lucas wanted to go for the politics fo things, and showing how Anakin falls, he should've tried and given it just a bit of nuance. As it is, everyone in the almighty council just goes "Look at that guy, he sounds a bit evil, and looks awful. But I guess he's fine? Let's listen to what he has to say."

Ugh.. it's all just awful. God. I rewatched Phantom Menace and Episode III a month ago, and man.. they're just.. even more awful than I remembered.

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I think it's an archetypal shortfall between the pulp-comic vibe Lucas has always aimed for and the increasingly complex philosophies of the various in-universe organizations. All the source material and Expanded Universe stuff says that the Sith are an ancient and sophisticated society, but they have to play cartoon villains in the movies and it's terrible. Almost as terrible as making your space opera about trade disputes and legislative procedure.

Ugh.. it's all just awful. God. I rewatched Phantom Menace and Episode III a month ago, and man.. they're just.. even more awful than I remembered.

I know, right? I remember seeing them in theaters and thinking, "These aren't great, but at least they're competent sci-fi fun that I can watch again someday." But then I saw the third movie again a couple years ago and found it unbearable. It's so boring, I can't see how people didn't walk out of the theaters in droves. We spend two solid hours watching people blow off an increasingly distraught Anakin until he finally snaps and starts killing children.

Really, don't even get me started on the lack of subtlety in Lucas' writing. When the dude you're relying on to help you with your wife's troubled pregnancy starts shooting lightning out of his fingertips while screaming, "Unlimited power!" it's time to take the rest of the day off and find someone else to make your decisions for you, preferably not the aforementioned wackjob.

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You know what? That actually, literally interests me so much: a hardcore science fiction universe that's all about trade disputes and legislative procedure. What a fantastic, novel angle to explore the genre with. The reason it's so bad (relatively bad - I actually did dig the principles surrounding the first film, what with the trade blockade as a pretext for war, it's kind of interesting!) is because the movies and the writing are bad, not the idea itself.

Example: Spice & Wolf is a fantasy anime about harvest gods fighting against religious prejudice. I can hear you yawning with utter boredom and you're right, it sounds super tedious. Except the anime is framed as a story of trade and commerce, around a merchant going from town to town. It's interesting as a result.

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