Star Wars VII - Open spoilers

[Roderick]

I remember the Burly Brawl, this is terrible. I recall that it featured a CGI Keanu Reeves that is not quite convincing at that point.

[Bjorn]

Because non-CGI Keanu Reeves is convincing?

 

[Badfinger]

You could tell it wasn't real because there was acting.

[Roderick]

No need to get vile, like, whoa

[Professor Video Games]

Yeah, c'mon guys, be excellent to Keanu.

[Bjorn]

Yeah, c'mon guys, be excellent to Keanu.

 

I actually watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure recently. Good, dumb fun. It arguably holds up a lot better than some other 80s movies.

[Professor Video Games]

Yep, totally agree. Though be warned that watching it too many times has had the unfortunate side effect of making it difficult for me to correctly pronounce "Socrates".

[Ben X]

I actually watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure recently. Good, dumb fun. It arguably holds up a lot better than some other 80s movies.

 

I would say it definitely holds up a lot better than a lot of other 80s movies! Also I would say it's a smart fun movie about two dumb people.

 

I prefer the sequel though!

[melmer]

Your new phone lock screen wallpaper

http://abload.de/img/stk661532-600x9258uxni.jpg

Search your feelings, you know this to be true

[Ben X]

WOW that's busy. It's almost as bad as Drew Struzan's Star Wars posters.

[Undeadpool]

I'm kind of hoping that in one of the spin off Star Wars movies we do get something more muted from it (if only by SW standards). Oh and a 'Bounty Hunter' movie with almost no jedi in it would be great.

This isn't that unlikely. I mean Marvel got chomped up by Disney and began to/just as they started making movies that were basically genre films featuring superheroes. Like GotG is a straight-up sci-fi movie, Winter Soldier is an action-thriller, both Thor movies are more fantasy than superhero. This is why I can't understand people who think the Marvel bubble MUST INEVITABLY BURST CATASTROPHICALLY!! It's also why I feel Marvel's movies are doing better and holding up better than DC's, but that's another story for another time.

 

The point is: Disney as a holding company is clearly okay with their IPs being used to explore unlikely, different routes and I think they'd be daaaamn smart to do that with Star Wars. Honestly? If they announced tomorrow they were making a Bounty Hunter movie, I'd be looking forward to that far, FAR more than Episode VII.

[melmer]

[Henroid]

So aside from episode 7, they're making another Star Wars film. But it's not going to be a part of the main episode chronology, it's going to be a side story. They just named the star of the film: Felicity Jones. And I know jack-all about her, aside from some recent film she was in being amazing (due to her acting ability). So! Can anyone weigh in? Positive move? Negative? Is she type cast? Is she capable of being a female Han Solo, or Luke Skywalker? Or is it more Princess Leia? Or, and I shudder to think this, more Padme?

[Kolzig]

Some rumours said the two spinoffs would be about adventures of young Leia and young Han Solo.

That would be quite boring.

I'd rather see a standalone movie about Kyle Katarn and Mara Jade. I suppose those just aren't considered Disney approved Star Wars canon anymore.

[Mawd]

From what I understand the writers are going to reintroduce the elements of the EU that best fit into their new ideas. So don't be surprised if certain characters or concepts find their way back even if they're wearing different clothes.

 

Anyway from Felicity Jones' images on google I'd be hoping for a Bastilla Shan type young jedi.

Y'know what'd really make my day with Star Wars is if Claudia Black found her way into these movies.

[Vainamoinen]

I actually watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure recently. Good, dumb fun. It arguably holds up a lot better than some other 80s movies.

WOW that's busy. It's almost as bad as Drew Struzan's Star Wars posters.

I have you know that all 80s movies are glorious perfection and Drew Struzan the finest artist alive.

[JonCole]

I find myself very optimistic about Star Wars right now, particularly this spin-off. Jones is a great actor, I really liked Gareth Edwards's work on Godzilla and Monsters, and I really think that Gary Whitta has a good Star Wars script in him. I would not be opposed to a Bastila Shan archetype character, but I'd definitely like a Mara Jade type thing too.

[Mawd]

I never really encountered Mara Jade or much of the EU (besides the always good Crimson Empire story or some really good one shot collections). Do you peeps have any recommendations for MJ or any post clone wars EU? Books or comics I don't mind.

[JonCole]

She first shows up in the Thrawn Trilogy (first in terms of book publication, not in-EU chronology) which is highly recommended by just about any EU fans. Trilogy includes Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. She's a recurring character in the next handful of major EU books, but I really can't recommend them for someone who just wants a taste. I'd follow up the trilogy with Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future, which are written by the same author and kinda wrap up Mara's major arc.

 

If you find yourself liking those five books, then I'd also recommend Allegiance and Outbound Flight. They're both prequels that take place amidst the chronology of the movies but tie into the Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology.

[Mawd]

Thanks! I was for sometime a quite voracious SW nut although I was mostly drawn to the Old Republic era. I like a lot of things about Star Wars. But what stood out to me for a long time was the Joseph Campbell inspired breakdowns of the sides of The Force i.e. the finer details of Space Wizardry over "Holy crap ITS HAN/THE FALCON". For some time I didn't connect with post original trilogy EU because I assumed most of it was a continuation of Luke/Han/Leia stories.

 

Also yeah I'm kind of in the middle of reading a bunch of sci-fi universes/authors or just general Lit. so a taste list is appreciated.

[pabosher]

I'm not entirely convinced by Gary Whitta's writing ability, particularly based on The Walking Dead Episode 4, but I'm willing to be proved wrong!

[Dewar]

She first shows up in the Thrawn Trilogy (first in terms of book publication, not in-EU chronology) which is highly recommended by just about any EU fans. Trilogy includes Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. She's a recurring character in the next handful of major EU books, but I really can't recommend them for someone who just wants a taste. I'd follow up the trilogy with Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future, which are written by the same author and kinda wrap up Mara's major arc.

 

If you find yourself liking those five books, then I'd also recommend Allegiance and Outbound Flight. They're both prequels that take place amidst the chronology of the movies but tie into the Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology.

 

Personally, I wouldn't read Specter of the Past and Vision of the future without reading some of the major books in-between. I think the changes in Mara's character would be quite a shock without any context. Start with the Thrawn Trilogy and then come back if you want more and we can make some suggestions I think

 

The two Hand of Thrawn books have the distinction of being the final EU books I read before I realized how silly they were getting. I wonder what going back and reading those first few series of books would be like.

[Gormongous]

Personally, I wouldn't read Specter of the Past and Vision of the future without reading some of the major books in-between. I think the changes in Mara's character would be quite a shock without any context. Start with the Thrawn Trilogy and then come back if you want more and we can make some suggestions I think

 

The two Hand of Thrawn books have the distinction of being the final EU books I read before I realized how silly they were getting. I wonder what going back and reading those first few series of books would be like.

 

I reread the Thrawn trilogy and the Corellian trilogy in my mid-twenties, right after graduating college and long after the death of any exceptional fondness for Star Wars in me. Both are not that bad, all things considered. Timothy Zahn and Roger MacBridge Allen are fine writers and understand the Star Wars universe well enough to craft plausible stories within it. There are more than a few callouts to lines and moments from the original movies that feel almost publisher-mandated, but otherwise they're solid mid-tier science fiction. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone who didn't love Star Wars, but they are an asset to the franchise as they are.

 

The later stuff, I don't know... Zahn's formula became so common that it was used to retrofit preexisting sci-fi manuscripts that weren't selling into Star Wars novels, like Children of the Jedi and The Crystal Star. There's also just a ton of hack work, like Darksaber and The New Rebellion, and eventually the universe got spread so thin by the New Jedi Order stuff that it really ceased to have any meaning or impact. For me, the turning point was the takeover of the line from Bantam Spectra to Del Rey after the prequels started getting released, but you can always find shit at any point after Zahn.

[YoThatLimp]

I'm not entirely convinced by Gary Whitta's writing ability, particularly based on The Walking Dead Episode 4, but I'm willing to be proved wrong!

 

He isn't working on it anymore.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-standalone-movie-loses-762372

[Ben X]

Drew Struzan the finest artist alive.

 

He's done some classics but also a load of hack jobs where he just slings a load of characters and moments at the canvas at random. Unfortunately, it seems that the latter have influenced subsequent poster design a lot more than the former.