ST JJ Abrams to direct Episode VII

Your right of course, I would have been glad, had GL stayed by his original idea that the ewoks were wookies instead, it would have been way more believeably if the Empire had chosen the construction site of it's new death star near a convenient supply of slave workers. It would have given Chewie and Han more depth and it would have been great to see the Wookies tear out the stormtroopers arms, but GL had a brilliant new idea...

 

The idea evolved because GL wanted to show how a primative race can beat the most technological empire. By this point in the saga, we had seen wookies being Co-Pilots of ships, so, not as primative as he wanted. In theory, i prefer the idea of a primative race that defeated an evil empire. If you didn't like the execution, well, that is another thing.

Luke foreshaddowed the empire's demise directly to the Palpatine:

Your overconfidence is your weakness.
In the end, with the help of the Ewoks, this line was spot on.

 

http://www.starwars7news.com/2015/0...o-take-place-in-la-on-february-15th-17th.html

 

starocean90, always on the spot with news links. Thanks

I wonder if they'll give Mark a fake beard, like Obiwan lol

 

http://makingstarwars.net/2015/01/star-wars-force-awakens-reshoots-february/

 

I'm actually very happy that they are doing reshoots. They have time. It means to me that they are taking time to get scenes right and changing them if they need to.

 

McDiarmid's Emperor is brilliant in ROTJ. Diabolical without being too cheesy/over the top. It's not easy to pay-off things either, many, many movies screw it up. I'm not going to get into it about the prequels, but you can guess how I feel about those.

Just because you have a set up doesn't mean you pay off well.

The Ewok battle stuff, OK, I get it was George's take on the Vietnam war and how the more primitive Vietnamese beat off a technologically more superior fighting force. I get where he was going with that, it's not perfect, but I think people go too much into that.

The Ewoks are shown as being a pretty brutal warrior/tribal race, they were ready to skin/boil the heroes alive for crying out loud. So I didn't have as much of a problem with it. I think people's problem really is that they were small Ewoks and not giant sized Wookies, if it was Wookies, they wouldn't have any issue with it.

 

"The Ewoks are shown as being a pretty brutal warrior/tribal race, they were ready to skin/boil the heroes alive for crying out loud. So I didn't have as much of a problem with it. I think people's problem really is that they were small Ewoks and not giant sized Wookies, if it was Wookies, they wouldn't have any issue with it."

Unlike the Gungans, who were somewhat primitive yet technologically sophisticated all at the same time, and get whooped on by robots until little Ani accidently takes out the control ship.

 

How would that work exactly? He stated many times why that wasn't viable for him. If Chewbacca didn't exist then he could have done it. I would also point out that the actual original idea was pretty daft because in The Star Wars these primitive tree dwellers learn in half a day to fly fighters to attack the Death Star!

If the Wookiees are slave workers then first you would have to free them and arm then BEFORE you could do anything. Their mission was to take a small team in and destroy the generator. They weren't counting on any help. The story point was the primitive society in nature vs the machine as with the Gungans. Gungan technology is organic based in tune with nature not machine based and destructive to nature.

Luke knew from his dealing with Yoda that funny looking small creatures might be more than they seem. The other point is that both the Ewoks and Gungans are really distractions as the real work was done by Han and Leia in destroying the shield and Padme capturing the Viceroy.

This is the other point. If they had used Wookiees then they would have been just like the Ewoks in pretty much all respects except for the size factor.

 

Ewoks are strong as hell.

Look at the size of the rocks they're lifting in comparison to their size.

I have no qualms with them being little but tough warriors.

 

I was digging through the "Into Darkness" blu-ray extras and there is a tone to Abrams that I like as to how he looked at the Star Trek universe as elements that should be incorporated into the world / story (he mentions that they should use Klingons in some way, which they did, which I agree with) but also that there's a whole bunch of details that are ultimately irrelevant (he mentions that there is a debate about accuracy and which is the "real" Klingon language which is a debate he stays far away from). Big picture tonal things for Star Wars, I think Abrams will nail perfectly. There are smaller details that may drive fans crazy (predilection towards handheld and lens flare) but what matters is that Star Wars should feel like Star Wars. He can bend it, which by all means specific filmmakers should bend the Star Wars universe to their own style, but not break it.

 

Very true.

 

One thing that JJ mostly will have known and Kennedy and Kasdan would know very well is the importance of making TFA authentic in terms of the whole look of Star Wars.

If Lucas had minimal influence over the story and writing, then Disney knows the importance of making any SW movie they do look like SW in every possible way. If they try to throw in some new director's style which differs too much from the look of SW (shaky cams, strange camera angles, lens flares to name a few) then it further distances this movie from the feel of SW. People already have polarizing views since it has been put out there that Lucas' story was not used (still debatable by hardcore fans). So, in order to extinguish that flame, they will need to make this look like SW in every way to make people feel like they are truly watching a SW movie that fits into the entire saga.

JJ has shown that he is able to emulate other styles.He's done that very well with Super 8 which looks EXACTLY like a Spielberg movie. JJ can and undoubtedly will (especially with KK at the healm also) make this movie look like it was done by Lucas.

 

I seriously hope we don't get any "ewan macgregor face" with these reshoots.

 

I think the teaser already nailed the look of the OT movies ( obviously updated) while still looking fresh....( like the Kylo scene)

 

That shot with him walking through the snow-covered forest was awesome.

 

That was always going to be the case.

If TFA came out looking and feeling like STID then I think the average audience member would more likely come out of it and say "It doesn't feel like Star Wars" and this could hurt it.

For this first film it really does have to feel like it was directed or overseen by GL himself like V and VI but with some adjustments for JJ's style. Then you can move away from that if that is what you want to do.

For the stand alones it doesn't matter so much but for movies that purport to be Episodes VII, VIII and IX then they must have that George Lucas feel and style.

I mean that in the way that you don't have to do it but I think it would be advisable to do it that way.

 

Spin-offs will probably be the test drive to introduce different things. No Jedis, no Lucas ideas, no John Williams... If they work, probably the numerical episodes will feature some changes in the future as well. Or, at least, Disney won´t be so afraid to alter certain things.

 

While I like the teaser and rewatch it over and over again I can't say it really feels like good old Star Wars. There is some unfamiliar stuff in it like the voice over or the Kylo shot which looks more like Game Of Thrones than Star Wars. I'm open to new things but I hope I will have that adventurous Star Wars style along with some pulp and grit

 

I don't think there was enough in the teaser to elicit a feeling whatsoever. To me, it was just a way to say "hey, look, this movie is really being made and here's something for the holiday season to tide you over". Nothing wrong with that actually, It did give us something to talk about, see, and it was rather early so it's okay.

 

Everyone has their own take on that teaser.

What sold it to me is .....everything looked real to me. Nothing screamed CGI. With the prequels sure there were plenty of models used but something about the lighting and the look of those movies made even the scenes with models look fake to me.

With this teaser everything felt real, and I just loved how it is all filmed. The look of the images felt OT to me but the techniques being used are very Abrams but in the good way. I love how you see the villain walk from HIS POV not the hero's. I love the X-Wing's over the lake, they look like real models used like the classic movies just enhanced with effects.

All these little details just came across loud and clear to me even though it was such limited footage. It told me, they are nailing the look but still willing to take it in new directions. That is exactly what I want from Star Wars.

 

It's all about seeing what you want to see as opposed to what it really is on screen. If you think everything about the TFA is going to be better than the prequels before you seen it, your mind will automatically treat everything you see as being "better". You are viewing things with a tinted lens.

JJ doesn't have to worry about or please people who already treat everything he is making as "better" than the prequels, the question is can he convince those who don't share the same mindset that he can make a SW movie that isn't worse than the prequels. What I have seen so far in regards to the visual icongraphy of the teaser does not make me feel like he is doing a good job. It feels like JJ is making a movie he thinks is Star Wars as opposed to a Star Wars movie directed by him.

The images themselves aren't really as visually powerful as the teaser trailers in the prequels,

 

Please don't turn this into another argument when it shouldn't be. I'm not biased....I think it does look better than the prequels visually and just the general feel and look of it. You don't like my opinion that's cool but don't try to make it into it being some sorta bias I have just cause you dislike Abrams.

 

I think the one thing all these JJ naysayers seem to be forgetting is that he was the personal choice of GL to direct episode VII. "I've consistently been impressed with JJ as a filmaker and a storyteller. He's an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars, and the legacy couldn't be in better hands." Now taking that into account, are you saying *SHOCK HORROR* Lucas has made a mistake?? God forbid he who haveth the sun shineth out of his ring piece would make a mistake?! Where's the rope? Lol

 

^ love that post.