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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

ST Benicio del Toro (DJ) in TLJ

Discussion in 'Sequel Trilogy' started by Leoluca Randisi, Jul 20, 2015.

  1. Diego Lucas

    Diego Lucas Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2015
  2. Maythe14thBeWithYou

    Maythe14thBeWithYou Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 26, 2014
    I liked seeing him. BDT is a good actor and since we've been speculating for 2 years now who he'd be it was surprising to see him as DJ. I thought he'd be higher up in the FO. Regardless, I have a stutter so it was nice seeing a character like him represented.
     
    Lulu Mars likes this.
  3. Darth_Accipiter

    Darth_Accipiter Force Ghost star 5

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    Feb 2, 2015
    I hope they show DJ arriving on Canto Bight with the Red Brooch in the comic.
     
  4. Avnar

    Avnar Force Ghost star 4

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    Sep 20, 2007
    Did anyone spot his side arm strapped to his thigh from the original promo shot...? I saw he (obviously) had a blaster when they went under cover... [face_thinking]
     
  5. Avnar

    Avnar Force Ghost star 4

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    Sep 20, 2007
     
  6. oncafar

    oncafar Force Ghost star 6

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    Jan 10, 2017
    Why does every character end up in the comics.... Whhyyyyy
     
    Avnar likes this.
  7. Sudooku

    Sudooku Jedi Master star 4

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    May 31, 2014
    I think the Master Codebreaker was just a slapstick of Rian Johnson to make an ironic cartoon out of Lando Calrissian.

    I was surprised to see Maz Kanata again in TLJ. I thought her to be dead in the ruins of Takodana. I wouldn't be surprised now to see DJ alive and well in Ep. IX.
     
  8. Siphonophore

    Siphonophore Chosen One star 4

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    Nov 13, 2003
    The Master Codebreaker is too cool of a character to use just once and then discard. His Errol Flynn vibe is very appropriate for Star Wars. Mix that with a bit of Jean Dujardin's OSS 117 character from OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, and OSS 117, Lost in Rio (I highly recommend both of these films), and we have something great. Perhaps Maz reveals another treasure chest of lightsabers that various pirate friends of hers have discovered or plundered from Jedi hunters over the years, and we'll get more laser sword swashbuckling.
     
  9. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    DJ is a fun, unpredictable character that I'd like to see more of. Not necessarily in EpIX... though I wouldn't mind it.
    I feel that he might've worked really well as a non-human, though. There's a lot of human characters in this trilogy and it wouldn't have hurt things to mix it up a bit more.
     
  10. Sudooku

    Sudooku Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 31, 2014
    @LuluMars,
    I hoped for TFA that there were other non-human characters talking and acting others than Ackbar. O.k., we had Maz and Unkar. They were that excentric characters like Jabba and Greedo were in the OT. But are they something to dream about? Nope! I hoped in vain for TLJ and for T?? I don't have any hope that J.J. Abrams will change that humanocentric pattern. But here and in Rogue One there were just speechless reptiles or shouting Mon Calamaris and Sullustans in totally non-exciting roles. :(
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
    Lulu Mars likes this.
  11. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

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    Mar 10, 2005
    Yeah. In just one trilogy, we have characters like the Neimoidians, Jar Jar and his fellow Gungans, Watto, Sebulba, Wald, Jabba, Fode and Beed, Yoda, Maul, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Mas Amedda, Ainlee Teem, (Zam Wesell), Dex, the Kaminoans, Ask Aak, Poggle, Grievous, Tion Medon, the Wookiees, etc etc... not to mention all the extras! The galaxy is crawling with non-human sentients!
    And that's basically true for the second trilogy as well, even if it's generally a bit more humancentric than the first one.
    GL made the galaxy seem so multi-faceted and alive and it saddens me to see that the new trilogy takes it in a different direction. Here, non-humans are comparatively few and far between. It was like that in ANH and TESB as well, but that was mostly due to budgetary constraints. With ROTJ, GL could start letting his imagination go wild and in TPM, it just exploded.
    There's no reason for them to hold back now, as far as I'm concerned. The GFFA has been established as a colorful galaxy teeming with life in all its forms and I feel that the third trilogy has failed to utilize that properly.

    TLJ did a bit better in that regard than TFA, but only a bit.
     
    Sudooku likes this.
  12. RandomGreyJ

    RandomGreyJ Jedi Master star 4

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    Jun 14, 2016
    It might sound weird but I actually liked the CGI aliens and some of the backgrounds of the prequels because, like you said, it made the world feel more vibrant and alive. I liked some of the aliens in TFA, but in TLJ they just look like ugly costumes and they are NOT visually appealing in the slightest. I'm hoping that if they bring more aliens into the picture (whether CG'd or not), they make them at least nice to look at.
     
  13. Ender_and_Bean

    Ender_and_Bean Chosen One star 6

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    May 19, 2002
    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] Canto Bight seemed like Rian’s ode to the prequels and also his ode to Miyazaki and 1980s Rick Baker / Jim Henson creatures with the Faltiers.

    Canto Bight has tons of world building and aliens and I suspect the deleted scenes and fan edit add ons will increase that even more.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  14. Siphonophore

    Siphonophore Chosen One star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 13, 2003
    That cyclops has a Yokai look to it. Then again, there are quite a few cycloptic Yokai. Today, I picked up the DJ: Most Wanted variant that features this alien, specifically because of its Yokai quality.
    https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/418060777901900810/
     
  15. Ender_and_Bean

    Ender_and_Bean Chosen One star 6

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    May 19, 2002
    Rian revealed in the Collider podcast that it was Benicio who suggested to him that DJ say “Maybe” before walking away. Johnson had written something longer and more related to how he might be wrong but at least he’s rich and Benicio apparently walked over and asked “What if he just says “Maybe” and shrugs and walks off? And Johnson loved it and that’s what went in the movie.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  16. MrElculver2424

    MrElculver2424 Jedi Master star 4

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    May 11, 2014
    I love that.
     
  17. MrElculver2424

    MrElculver2424 Jedi Master star 4

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    May 11, 2014
    I actually liked the character of DJ a lot. Unique how they never said his name on-screen and he's only called DJ in the script because of his "don't join" line.

    I'm afraid, though, that he won't return in IX because he felt like a throwaway character in a way. As in...RJ created him for this movie, gave him zero story at all, and then sent him on his way with his payment. I don't know if JJ will want to bring back a character like that.
     
  18. Bowen

    Bowen Force Ghost star 5

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    Sep 6, 1999
    Yeah, I thought it was positive they didn’t go some old stereotypical route like a guy with a stutter is incompetent or some old movie cliche. They showed you can be a genius basically and still have a stutter, has nothing to do with intelligence. That was a nice touch.

    I’ll be honest I wish he didn’t have a stutter because it tends to grate on me a bit after so many viewings of the film, but it’s part of his character and I always support Star Wars having a wide diversity of all the types of things you’d see in the real world here. It’s one reason I don’t care about the “Jar Jar is annoying” criticisms because lots of people are annoying, there should be annoying people and creatures sometimes. Anyway Obi-Wan calls him pathetic and Threepio says he’s weird so I never have bought this narrative that Lucas expected everyone to love him and nobody to find him annoying. He annoys the actual characters IN the movie, why wouldn’t he annoy audiences too?! Lol makes no sense.
     
    Lulu Mars likes this.
  19. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

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    Mar 10, 2005
    DJ actually does remind me of Jar Jar in that sense.

    GL knew that his movies would be heavily criticized no matter what he did, so he just had fun with it.
    That seems to have been RJ's approach as well (to an extent, at least) and for that, I respect him. He's not afraid of extremes.
     
    Bowen likes this.
  20. Sudooku

    Sudooku Jedi Master star 4

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    May 31, 2014
    Well, the same appalling fate happened to poor Rose in TLJ.

    @Ender and Bean,
    TLJ an ode to the prequels? Canto Bight was a mere cabinet of absurdities, when it comes to alien, means non-human species. Those pics are delivering just THE proof, that Random_Grey, Lulu Mars and my humble self are totally correct.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  21. Ender_and_Bean

    Ender_and_Bean Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2002
    Was your point more that you enjoyed how in the PT there were some larger speaking parts for characters like Jar Jar and Watto and in the OT characters like Jabba? Is that what you mean?

    I was just trying to show that in DJ’s subplot there was some nice world building on Canto Bight with a lot of species diversity and some great views of the city.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2018
  22. Sudooku

    Sudooku Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 31, 2014
    Hi Ender,

    my posting was not about some funny speaking scenes only. ;)

    There is a striking difference between the PT and TLJ, the level of importance plus aesthetics of the alien species involved.

    In the PT and to some extent in TFA, aliens like Maz Kanata, on a very low level Unkar Plutt for the TFA did drive the movie forward.

    But that was very little in regard, what Darth Maul, Viceroy Gunray and General Grievous did in the PT. Also we have here some attractive Jedi to be seen in action like Shaak Ti, Luminara Unduli or Ki-Adi-Mundi. Remember Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, who were a sight to behold and they were to be seen fighting on Geonosis. Darth Maul was cool and even Cyborg Grievous had a certain aesthetic. Do you have such in TFA? Concerning aliens Snoke is the only cool bad guy and we don't even know his species. For me he still looks quite human.

    TLJ: Zero importance of any alien character with one exception: Admiral Gial Ackbar, not necessarily an avatar of optical cuteness died an heroic death (not to be seen on screen, btw.)

    I don't want to say that Rian Johnson is biased openly towards alien species but the way how he portrayed the alien species in TLJ as mere bystanders and Rocky Horror Picture Show bauble decorations without any activity, meaning or handsomeness does remember me fatally on those dark times where Africans and Australian Aboriginals were shown caged in zoos in Europe and America to entertain ordinary people as some exotic wildness. The same ugly spirit is oozing out of TLJ from each and every pore. This is a subtle but very effective kind of racism, which may be unintended by Rian Johnson, but nevertheless you can feel it and it gave me a very odd and bad feeling after I left the cinema.

    This my bad feeling is not consoled by the fact that with John Boyega there is an afro-american actor present in order to give the ST some more color in the cultural-political sense. Especially the presence of John Boyega is serving for me as a mere fig-leaf to hide the main ethical shortcoming of especially TLJ in the most hypocritic way one can think of.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2018
  23. Ender_and_Bean

    Ender_and_Bean Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2002
    Seems like a wiiiiillld stretch to me. Especially when you consider that some of the characters you mentioned are actually the ones most around the world see as avatars as other races on earth and lead to offence.

    http://www.weirdworm.com/the-five-most-racist-star-wars-characters/

    But also because he depicted no one species was directly responsible as War profiteering, which would have fed into other issues, and instead showed the ultra rich come from all over the galaxy.

    The Last Jedi has 4 primary plots:

    The Raddus which ultimately leads to Crait

    Canto Bight which ultimately leads to Crait

    Ahch-To which ultimately leads to Crait

    The FO plot which ultimately leads to Crait

    The only plot there where there’s any opportunity at all to explore a ton of new alien culture is Canto Bight. Slowen Low has two speaking parts and is played as a very wealthy and well dressed inhabitant of Canto Bight. The Caretaker / Nuns of the first Jedi Temple also are featured on the island.

    Every other location is more ship based or set on the desolate locations of Crait where local wildlife animals come into play more.

    He could have potentially made Holdo or Rose strong female aliens instead of strong, human females but given the lack of strong female human heroes out there and the fact that we live on Earth I think his choice there is a good one. Same for DJ. There aren’t a ton of Hispanic characters in Star Wars either.

    Beyond Ackbar there was also Nien Numb in the attack squadron, and listening to the briefing room, and also there on Crait. He’s one of the last members of the Resistance effort in the end. Poe also talks with another alien following the introduction of Admiral Holdo as a colleague of his.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2018
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  24. Sudooku

    Sudooku Jedi Master star 4

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    May 31, 2014
    Well, Ender,

    I followed your link and when you look at the species which I mentioned, then you should see that those characters portrayed and compared to some nationalities on earth in your link were not what I was speaking of, right? Of course GL merged some clichés of other cultures into the alien species. If you can't do this, there is no difference and color at all. So when there are some good and some bad aliens, some handsome and some ugly, that is o.k. with me.

    But I definitely don't accept the all the way ugly, unimportant aliens like in TLJ and at a lower level in TFA. In the OT you had at least the Twi'lek Oola or the Weequays at Jabba's entourage who looked cool, but at Canto Bight it is just about quite normal looking humans and ugly aliens.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2018
  25. Ender_and_Bean

    Ender_and_Bean Chosen One star 6

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    May 19, 2002
    What one human finds ugly another human or alien might find handsome or beautiful. ;-)