ST Bala-Tik

So all of your theories that never pan out...you're not pretending to be sure about those?

 

Bala-Tik is clearly a very divisive character...

 

I like him - I like the random Scottishness - but a few more aliens in that sequence wouldn't have hurt, and had he been an alien that could also have been cool.

 

Yeah I totally dug him. And the Guavian(sp?) Death Troopers or whatever they're called are creepy, especially when you learn about what they are.

 

I just couldn't take the character seriously - besides his Glaswegian accent, the Harry Potter was strong on this one..

 

Yeah but you should see his helmet.

 

He'll be back just like Sebulba was.

 

Yeah. There was something Droogish about them. The young punks who come to beat up the old guy. Appropriate for the scene.

Han's old and slipping. He can't out-talk these young whipper-snappers. He can't reach them, because they ain't listening to an old coot, no matter his reputation. And that even foreshadows Han's inability to reach his young son. Pretty sad, actually...

 

No Galaxy For Old Men?

EDIT: To pile on this guy's praise (seriously, I'm not doing it in an attempt to mount a counteroffensive to your thoughts, Dra---; reasonable points), I 100-eleventy% agree with you, JabbatheHumanBeing when you say "I believed him." That's exactly why I thought he was great. The way he says "Hahn Sulloh" is just--I dunno, I bought it hook/line/sinker. To quote a comment I just made at some dude's free-associaton, stream-of-consciousness Bala Tik-centric youtube video where he also says the actor (Brian Vernel) is Irish--

Hey man, I really like this "review" of Bala Tik, and I couldn't agree more. One of the few unsung/underappreciated characters of the movie. In fact, I'm kind of surprised I haven't heard more about him. Definitely one of my favorite parts. I want this Vernal fella to get many, many more parts. The way he just strolls in with this enigmatic and imposing posse and confidently asserts "Yoor-eh did mahn" is just damn perfect.


Here's a 3-minute interview with the actor, Brian Vernel:

 

Yes. No Galaxy for Old Men!

 

Bala-Tik is an insult to Luke!

 

Hard to believe anybody took Bala-Tik seriously - he's portrayed like a minor comedy villain from the Police Academy, but with such a pronounced accent that it has the immediate effect of taking you out of the film, like being doused with a bucket of water. I'm British and love Scots accents, but it really doesn't feel like it belongs in the GFFA, any more than a Brummie, Manc or Scouse would.

I also do suspect that he and the Scottish X-Wing pilot are only there due to that unnecessary "other planets have a North" line they pulled in Doctor Who...

 

Bala-Tik's youth is clearly a deliberate contrast to Han. I think it was a smart choice. It shows that Abrams thinks about these sorts of things in ways that most action movie directors don't. There's a thematic and character rationale behind it. He's not just a smuggler.

I really don't understand why flat broadcaster American accents and a RP British accents are more appropriate than Scots accents. Or other accents for that matter. Fans clamor for something new, and when they get it, "it just doesn't belong."

 

Give this guy a comic series!

 

As they say, I fixed it for you.

 

It

It's precisely *because* the flat/rp speech doesn't prompt you to think "Oh, he's actually from Texas/Glasgow/Sydney/Birmingham/whathaveyou" that this works for the GFFA, while regional accents do not.

RP voices don't pull the viewer out of the cinematic experience at an inappropriate moment.

Plus, when people talk about wanting to see something new, they're generally talking about ships, aesthetics and locations *in the GFFA* not what random real-world dialects they can force in. Otherwise Jabba and Greedo may as well have been speaking Hindu instead of Huttese.

Think of it this way: it'd be like sticking a New Yorker accent in the middle of The Lord of the Rings.

 

It's nothing like sticking a New Yorker accent in the middle of The Lord of the Rings because the Lord of the Rings builds from Northern European myth, and has a very clear ethno-cultural pedigree. The GFFA is a massively diverse world of multiple star systems with no singular ethno-cultural identity.

The idea that all English-speaking humans in Star Wars either speak RP English, or flat broadcaster American English, is more immersion-breaking for me than a variety of accents, which reflect a geographical diversity. A range of accents in the GFFA is an asset, IMO, that could give the world more richness and verisimilitude.

In that context, I thought Bala-Tik's Scots accent was great. And not too much of a departure from Cornelius in the Mos Eisley cantina, who spoke neither RP English nor flat broadcaster American.

 

If you are British, you might be sensitive to it just because you are so familiar with regional variations. But what about non-British accents? Do you have an issue with Temura Morrison's Kiwi accent? I don't see an issue with a Scottish accent. In fact, when I heard it, I got a big grin on my face. I thought it added a lot of texture to what could have been a a throw-away character. I mean, if we can accept British RP, and various American accents, why not Scottish?

 

I don't have a problem with any regional accent being used in Star Wars, whether British, or not. Bala-Tik's was perfectly fine. Actually, I'd quite like to see Sean Bean in a Star Wars movie one day, and I think his accent would fit fine - though I'm originally from just down the road from him, so I may be biased.

 

I hope he doesn't return. I might want to see them try to create character who Bala Tik answers to. Something a little more imaginative like Jabba. King Prana could serve in that sense, though.

 

Yes a million times to Sean Bean's Yorkshire accent gracing the GFFA.

Though his casting would be a huge spoiler in and of itself, as he would most certainly...die.

 

Man, they really worked out a lot of mask designs for VII, didn't they?

However, I don't expect to see more of him. He most likely became rathtar fodder.