ST Rian Johnson to write and direct Episode VIII (and also new SW Trilogy - see page 194)

R2D2 is the property of the government of Naboo.

 

Couldn't agree with this more if I tried. The Battle of Yavin, from the moment the X-wings leave Yavin and the soundtrack kicks in, is hands down the greatest finale to any film. Ever.

In my opinion, of course.


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I'm right there with you on that one. The dynamism, vfx work, music and acting all come together.

It would be great to get a similar sequence in TLJ - similar in the sense of a dedicated space scene with objectives and complete story beats that isn't intercut with another sequence .

 

Scriptnotes Podcast - It’s Always Sunny in Star Wars

https://johnaugust.com/2017/its-always-sunny-in-star-wars

 

I want a sequence like that, but not set in space. A tense third act sequence centered around th characters accomplishing a goal that's not intercut with a larger battle or two, in space or otherwise. As it stands, I think the big space battle will be at the end of the first act; the planet they're above in the trailer looks like D'Qar, so I'm assuming the First Order shows up in person since they already know where the Reistance currently is.

 

We'll never get that moment from the Resistance/Rebellion cause it's been done and cannot be replicated. When the moment happens, it'll come from an unexpected angle/source but not from X Wings or whatever else. SKB attack was the most boring thing ever, so much so that even JJ admitted nobody cared for that part of the story in the commentary. So while X Wings will continue to provide action filler, something else is going to be the "ANH finale" moment.

 

I would love to counter and say if you know it's boring JJ why put it in the movie but at this point we got what we got. So I'm going to say that.

 

I would love to counter that you just said both.

I would also love to counter that "it's boring" or "nobody cares" isn't something Abrams said.

 

The space battle above Scarif is a glittering masterpiece compared to the SKB attack, but I still appreciated the latter. Not least due to the interplay of the shrinking star, and the deterioration of Han and Ben's conversation on the bridge. I thought that brought the two threads together in a visually interesting way, and JJ deserves credit for it. Could the sequence have been more compelling from a story perspective? Definitely. But film is not just story.

 

I hope Colin Trevorrow has three SKBs and they combine to form a giant ****ing Mickey Mouse head.

Where is your god now, fanboys?

 

Personally, I want the SKB force ghost to show up and train a new SKB in Episode IX.

 

It trains a whole school of them, hence the triple weapon of death. Also, forgot to mention this but the weapon is used only once, on the planet Bi'week'ly'baths, home to relatively peaceful though occasionally belligerent cave dwellers known as the pale-blogs.

 

I have to admit that I'm a little upset Abrams didn't go with my idea (I wrote him a letter about it) to go smaller than the Death Star in TFA, rather than bigger. Would have been a refreshing twist. Ratchet down the stakes, instead of ratchet them up. Specifically, with a weapon called The Wound Star. With the power to wound, but not kill, entire planets.

 

J.J. must've read your letter. We saw The Wound Star in TFA. It wasn't turned on, and Finn tossed it aside like it was merely a toy. We first witnessed the weapon's ability to wound in ANH when it zapped Luke's hip. What's ridiculous, is Luke was able to blow up The Death Star, but he couldn't destroy The Wound Star. Do you think Rey will use The Wound Star on Kylo or Snoke?

 

Gigoran Monk

That was great as was the metaphor of SKB draining the sun of its light only to revert back into the sun. But the attack itself was a stiff bore.

Jid123Sheeve He put it in the movie cause it made stuff that Gigoran Monk pointed out as great possible.

ThreeDeathstickProblem You are right. The quote is “And we’re back in the forest with the story that we really care about, the focus of the story, which is Rey and Ren.”

If that isn't a shade thrown at dogfight I don't know what is. What we really care about. Yep.

 

Eh, I consider that just a factual statement. The attack is much less important to the journey of the three characters fighting it out on the ground, but it's still important to the overall backdrop of the story. He doesn't say it's boring or that nobody should care.

 

Ah man, don't say that JJ! I liked the main SKB attack personally, now admittedly this is because I love the spaceship stuff. Also what sells the attack to me is the pilots, their reactions and dialogue. That's always a key part of making these types of scenes work I think. Going back to what we were talking about above with Yavin, it's amazing how we feel for these newly introduced pilots flying with Luke. Obviously the stakes are high and these guys are the last line of defence for freedom in the galaxy, but I've always felt invested in them. I wonder if it's simply a case of them having human faces (versus the faceless Imperials) and we can see them react with emotion, or because they show competency in a skill that is inherently admirable (fighter pilot!), or maybe it's because we know with each one of them that dies in a fiery explosion the bad guys are closer to winning and we can't help but think 'oh no, another one is gone'. All of the above and more?

Anyway, I hope Rian feels the same way. Space ship battles need to have characters we care about.

 

I mean, it's the same with Return of the Jedi. Is the Battle of Endor, both the land battle with Han and Leia and the Ewoks, and especially the space battle, fun to watch? Yeah. Do we emotionally care far more about Luke, Vader, and the Emperor? Absolutely. That's where our emotional focus is; the other stuff is there to raise the stakes on a larger scale in the background.

 

I agree that he doesn't but he does point out where emotional center is as opposed to where it isn't. I don't see that change in the future cause there's absolutely nothing to care about dogfights. It isn't like they'll kill off Poe, lol, or have another pilot do something heroic instead of him, double lol. So, yeah, no stakes whatsoever. It was exciting and emotionally satisfying in ANH, it's business as usual in other movies cause it's now serving as an action filler to real drama happening somewhere else (Jyn, Cassian and RO on Scarif, Luke in Emperor's chamber, Rey, Finn and Kylo in SKB forest).

I don't mind skipping cause that's what skip button is for. And it's the greatest tech invention ever.

 

Yeah, but in the case of the Scarif space battle, Edwards infused the scene with such interesting spectacle and events (and a great character in Raddus), and then tied It very directly to the characters on the ground (due to the need to break the shield and receive the transmissions), making it, IMO, the most emotionally and narratively compelling of the "B stories" yet. I like what JJ did with the scene visually. But he just doesn't have that almost wacky knack for creating iconic moments out of secondary and tertiary characters that Edwards (and Lucas) have.

In short, there is no Raddus equivalent in TFA.

 

Remind me, who was Raddus?

 

I cared a lot more about Poe than Raddus.

 

I didn't care about either but Raddus was cool. I remember the character, just didn't catch the name, googled it now.

 

As a character, sure, that's fair (though Raddus, despite being a minor character compared to Poe, manages to stand out far more, as well as be intimately connected to the events on the ground in a way Poe isn't). And it's not so much about caring for Raddus, as it is how much Raddus seems to care for (and respect) the Rogue One crew. Some really great and subtle acting from an alien! In any event, the SKB sequence simply doesn't come close to the visual and narrative inventiveness of the Scarif space battle, IMO.

That said, I reject the notion that the SKB air battle is boring. I think it looks great, and is intercut really well with the Han, Kylo, Finn and Rey stuff. The beats of the air battle really infuse the ground action with a lot of tension. I can't imagine either one without the other.

Though I can't help but wish we'd gotten that "sledgehammer" thing from the MSW rumors. You know, the Resistance ship that crashed into the planetary shield. Ah well.

 

Raddus had much better mini story than Poe. He basically disobeyed the Rebellion high command to stand with RO. That was a really nice touch in the third act, to add a character who wasn't a canon fodder but actually mattered for the plot as a whole.