ST Sequel Trilogy space battles

Even garbage is worthwhile with Blade Runner references.

It couldn't be any worse than Escape from LA, which sullied the classically campy Escape from New York. "Hey Pliskin." "They call me snake."

 

That one is on Netflix!

 

The problem with the PT space battles is that they resolved virtually nothing. The E1 space battle is the only one that actually resolved something, i.e. they destroyed the Droid Control Ship, but it seemed wasted on the fact that it was being interspersed with 3 other ongoing battles.

The E2 space battle was the absolute worst because the situation at the end was the exact same as the situation at the beginning. At the beginning, Obi-Wan is secretly following Jango to Geonosis. After Obi-Wan escapes by hiding, he continues secretly following Jango to Geonosis. Nothing has changed or been resolved.

The E3 space battle - which I actually enjoyed - was visually fantastic but logically ridiculous. As another poster pointed out, shooting droids at a starfighter designed to tear it apart piece by piece makes no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, the battle didn't really do anything except get Anakin and Obi-Wan onto Grievous' ship. Once that happens, the spacefight is nothing but background noise. We don't even really know how the battle ended or what happened.

 

"Soldier", "Escape From New York", and "Big Trouble In Little China" are probably my top three favorite Kurt Russell movies.

 

I remember Battlefront 2 treated the entire ROTS battle as a diversion so that the Jedi could get inside, and the clones were all bitter about them getting all the credit for the rescue. That doesn't really work though, considering the scale of things it's a bit ridiculous.
Also those little sabotage droids would make more since against capital ships or ships with shields, where a little gremlin might be preferable to firepower, but it's true th don't make sense against starfighters.

One thing we haven't seen in Star Wars is one huge ship versus one equally huge ship, though it might be too Trek-y for some. I think it's fit the ST we'll though; a rogue Star Destroyer acting on it's own being intercepted by a New republic vessel (whether Calamari or republic in design) feels natural. I guess they'd both be launching a lot of fighters though, which would keep it from feeling like Trek but also make the battle less one on one.

 

How do you think that space battles/large fleet engagements might play out in Episode VII/the ST?

I like that in the original six movies there is quite a variation on the general theme of starfighter combat, although I think there's a great deal of imaginative space yet to be explored. For example, most of the starfighter combat thus far (think the droid ship battle in Ep I, Obi vs. Jango in the asteroid field in Ep II, the Battle of Coruscant and of course Yavin and Endor) has taken inspiration from WWII dogfighting. Apart from Ep III we really don't see capital ships go at each other. How else might large scale fleet battles depicted? Could we see more use of missiles, and longer range kinds of combat, or even larger fleets and swarms of starfighters (something like Ender's Game?)


Mav Edit: Merging this thread with the previous thread on this topic.

 

I'd like to see some long-ranged fire - manuevering - etc. The use of ship-mounted ion cannons. Perhaps torpedo barrages.

 

it would be interesting to see large capital ships shooting long distances at each other. like ep 3 except longer distance. make positioning a big deal. like the huge fleet of star destroyers that were over endor having a drawn out battle vs rebels.

 

Maybe show ships at really long distances. Gunney crew has target on screens - press buttons - cut to the gun turrets firing - cut to the enemy ship and the turbolasers lancing in from apparently empty space, to strike the enemy ship.

Probably the simplest way to do Beyond Visual Range warfare.

 

Something like the beginning of EP3 where you feel like your right in the middle of it ......

 

I'm actually hoping there isn't a huge space battle in VII. Not to say it shouldn't have fights and action, not in the slightest. But having a huge set piece at the end of every episode becomes very samey. Make this different. Let the story and characters progress and build toward a climactic battle in IX possibly?

 

Maybe place it not at the end or the beginning - but in the middle?

 

I think my favourite space battles were more personal ones and both take place in Asteroid fields - The falcon against the TIEs in ESB and Obi Wan against Fett in AOTC. I would like to see something new though I think. Not sure what new spin they could put on a space battle but I trust if they do have one we'll be amazed.

 

You mean in VIII? I suppose that could work.

 

In the middle of the movie, about half-way through.

But having the biggest battle be in Episode VIII could work as well.

 

So what purpose would a massive space battle half way through the opening film of a new trilogy serve? What would be on the line so that the audiences interest is truly vested in it? Or is it a big space battle just for the sake of having a big space battle? There would be no tension and therefore, it'd be utterly pointless.

 

I'm not sure how much sense it would make, but it'd be cool to see two ships battling like pirate ships, shooting cannons from the side as they pass each other. Perhaps there could even be people in space suits tethered to their ship that attach themselves to the enemy ship and dismantle parts of it or something, the space equivalent of pirates swinging onto enemy ships. Again, it might not make much sense but if they could justify it and do it well, I'd love to see a throwback to that kind of naval warfare.

 

Well, we did see that kind of action in the opening battle of Ep III. I like some peeps' ideas here that we could see "beyond visual range" kinds of battles. I imagine you could film some rather interesting a beautiful scenes (lasers lancing across space, etc). I'm reminded of Roy Batty's words in Bladerunner: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate..."

That kind of imagery evokes something for me.

 

We get the superlaser reaching a long way in ANH - that could be scaled down.

 

I think If we get space battle's with Parts of the OT, PT, and something from the 2 Abrams Trek then I think we are in for a treat!!!!!!

 

We need a battle with all capital ships and a battle with just starfighters.

 

I'll be happy with something similar to the space battles in the first film. Those remain very exciting to me, I'd like something like that.

 

Pretty much the only thing that truly disappointed me in the PT was the way the space battles were handled. None gave me the sense of suspense, urgency, or general sense of *everything hinges on this* that the Death Star battles and the Asteroid Field provided. I don't think CGI had anything to do with it as much as the situations/conflicts that were presented and the fact that the opposition was presented in a cartoon-like manner. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the prequels and actually think the opening of ROTS is pretty epic in scale, it just didn't feel urgent at all. That's probably because we knew nothing of great importance was going to happen because it didn't involve Anakin becoming Vader.

As that pertains to TFA, I hope we get a MASSIVE space battle at some point, which dwarfs the Battle of Endor and has equally high stakes. Star Wars is so much more fun when they utilize space in an effective manner. I'd love to see the Falcon leading a squadron of X-Wings against a Super Star Destroyer or its successor in design.

So what say you: more grand scale "Star Wars" or more planetary fighting?

 

I remember the goose bumps I felt at the beggining of RotS when Anakin and Ben's starfighters passed over the edge of the Republic cruiser and dived down into the hectic battle... chaos as far as the eye could see, Anakin using his skills to cause two missles to spin into each other, large ships attacking at close range, cruisers blasting into huge chunks, fighters breaking up with clones flying out of them into open space... and I remembered the WTF? moment when the buzz droid missile attacked Ben. I mean, really? Take a hit in your stabilizer and struggle through it like a real SW pilot! Still, battles like that and chases through tight spaces like asteroid fields and other space debris would be much appreciated. I would even like to see some planetary skirmishes, skimming the surface like we see in the teaser. Of course, it's SW so we need to see someone hide their ship in plain site by attaching to a large object in space... probably in the second film if we are going to stick with the pattern lol

 

Space battles are good when fans know the characters in the starfighers. The Naboo starfighters and the imperial tie fighters were the best looking ships. Its too bad they dont want to feature new ships for this new era. Kills all the creativity.