ST Difficult question about a certain debate among fans concerning the look of Episode 7.

So when the images of the new X Wing were released on the main website the comments section erupted in a debate about how the look of Star Wars, 30 years later, should look. I'm just still curious about this debate but the comments have been deleted since then so I can't remember the exact terms that were used. But I do remember one side argued about a more polished "shiny" future while others wanted SW EpVII to have a more old rugged style realistic future like the OT. Fans coined these 2 different futuristic but I can't remember the names and it's killing me because I was really intrigued by the discussion. Can anyone help me out to remember exactly what the argument was about in that comment section?

 

Somewhere in this thread perhaps?

http://boards.theforce.net/threads/x-wings-in-the-st-updated-poll.50021104/page-35

 

My biggest gripe is there is nothing really "new" yet.

It's a lot of existing stuff, or slightly newer version of stuff.

At least in the prequels there were a lot of new designs, and even the designs that hearkened to stuff in the OT was still unique enough in it's own way.

So far for Ep 7 we have a new xwing that a casual fan might not even know is different, a slightly different stormtrooper helmet, the millennium falcon that is possibly unchanged, and rumors of using tie fighters and star destroyers again.

 

You're referring to the "used future" debate. It was George Lucas's concept for a more gritty realistic look. Type it in on google and there's plenty of articles about it. There's another term for the "glossy polished look" for Star Wars PT called "blank" future, but I forget what it was coined.

 

To someone who saw ANH when he was 7 years old, I have been nothing but jazzed over what we have seen so far. It looks like Star Wars, more so than the PT (which I really did like, by the way), so I'm a happy dude. I think since ROTJ, things of course would have changed, but time is what it is. Things will get older and weathered. The PT was the shiny look of a civilization at apex. The OT was the slow disintegration of it, the ST should, or could follow that logic and have there be 'new' things that are 30 years weathered. Maybe? Ok.....maybe not.

 

While there is some truth to this, I would argue that we are still fairly early in the production and there is time to get more leaks. Plus, I'm quite certain that, with Abrams' track record for secrecy, he would keep the new stuff locked down pretty tight. Showing a McQuarrie inspired updated X-Wing, oh so casually in the background of an unrelated video, is just the way to tickle the fans' imagination.

As for TIE fighters and Star Destroyers - well to be fair it's reasonable to assume we will see the new versions of these and I see nothing wrong with that. In fact, the Republic capital ships in AOTC and ROTS are very much like Star Destroyers yet I don't see any complaints to that.

 

I really liked the design of the Clone Trooper Gunship. That was all.

 

Good points but it's only been 30 years. Not enough time for galaxy-wide style changes in a world where technology is already hyper-advanced. The reason so much changed between the prequels and OT is because of the Empire (although I think X-wings should definitely have existed in the PT era).

 

They did...as ARC-170s

 

I tell ya, theforce.net crowd are probably the biggest concentration of Star Wars PhD's on the internets.

 

Either that's a compliment or my sarcasm detector is as defective as that of Sheldon Cooper. I'll take it as a compliment.

 

It was definitely a compliment. Honestly.

 

I've been happy with what we've seen so far. I do hope we get some completely new designs, and I trust we will. Keep in mind that we've only seen a very small portion of the props, ships, etc. And, it's entirely possible that the reason we're seeing these particular props/ships is precisely because it is NOT the new stuff. In other words, it's not hugely spoilerific stuff. It's simply stuff that reminds us, "Oh, yeah, we're getting a new SW film! Cool!"

And as for the storm trooper helmet: I have no problem with it at all. It seems like a natural evolution of what's come before. Storm Trooper/Clone Trooper helmets are one of the consistent things that define the SW aesthetic. TPM was the only one of the six existing films to not have them. I'm glad episode 7 will keep the tradition of that aesthetic.