ST TFA DVD/Blu-ray Discussion

Ok, the audio commentary is definitely on the Blu-Ray 2D disc. Not sure what the language options are.

 

Oh, so they did have that bit where she meets with her person on Hosnian? Any details?

 

No - they have a brief scene where Leia chats with Korr Sella at the Resistance base and tells her she needs to go to the Republic and convince them of the FO threat.

The commentary is great btw.

 

Nice to hear. Abrams' commentary? Any highlights?

 

Hi,

I've been tempted by the 3D Collector's Edition of The Force Awakens. I need to ask is the US version any different from the UK equivalent? Specifically is the spine any thinner?

 

Lots. It's really good. He's very magnanimous - Rey keeping a tally of the days was his wife's idea. The saber flying past Kylo to Rey was Bryan Burke's etc, George is amazing, etc... Then there are nuggets on the development, how and why certain things changed. It doesn't give away any answers obviously, but it is fun. And there are nice little details along the way.

 

At least he mentioned Lucas, that's something but I'm really disappointed we don't see Hosnian Prime in the deleted scene even if only for only for a few seconds to see how much different from Coruscant it is. Or at least a nice wide shot of the world.
Good news for the commentary being on the 2D disc but I'll still wait for once the trilogy is over before buying it.

 

He talks about Lucas right off the bat, then again during the freighter stuff and how he learned from George the benefits you can get from splitting your characters up to strengthen their bonds when they reunite, then he gives George a major thanks at the end. Apparently it was Arndt that suggested switching the Leia intro to Takodana after watching an early cut.

 

That makes me so hopeful for Rey and Finn's friendship, which is absolutely what matters the most to me.

 

JJ talks about their relationship a lot. Finn coming back for Rey on SKB means everything to her. And they rewrote their early scenes quite a bit once Ford was injured because their relationship wasn't working well.

 

Did he say something about Phasma?

 

Just that she's one of his favourite characters (he's talking about design). He knew when they saw the design (originally for Kylo) that it was too good not to use so they (iirc it was KK) decided she should be the head of all the stormtroopers. Then Gwendoline became available and they were delighted. He jokes that they knew they didn't want to kill her but they had to get rid of her, hence the trash compactor gag. I get the feeling she was never designed to be a significant role in TFA.

 

I loved the compactor gag.

 

I personally would have nixed it but I mind it less now I've heard JJ's rationale.

FWIW,he owns the whole echoes/ remix/ rehash thing - explaining why they went that route. He also owns the SKB firing through space complaint. It made me laugh out loud.

 

Speaking of SKB, did he mention anything about the Republic/Hosnian Prime? Did he talk about deleted scenes?

 

He talks about the deleted scene iirc, but I think he refers back to the fact Korr Sella used to be introduced earlier (which we see in the deleted scene). The rest of the time he talks about Hux's performance, then sound design and John Williams giving the whole scene a sorrowful quality.

 

Thread merge

 

So it doesn't get buried... this is the question that I just merged into this thread.

 

Last thing I want to know is about R2, was he always supposed to be in "low power mode" or was there an earlier script where he was more active?

 

Um. Not sure. Originally we met Artoo and Threepio after we met Leia - so I'm guessing after the Jakku message deleted scene. I think Artoo was still out though. He does talk about Artoo waking up later and how they found that solution in post, but I was distracted at that point TBH.

 

Interesting thing; the novelization specifies that Artoo's turning himself off was self-imposed. (Since the line doesn't include that bit in the movie's version, I'm not sure how canonical this is.) Did the Blu-Ray touch on this idea?

 

Nor is Star Trek, apparently.

 

And that movie is not how Star Trek works!

 

He says - you're absolutely right. The Force Awakens is not a science lesson.

I think he touches on Artoo shutting himself down but I was distracted at that point.

 

This shows how a throwaway bit of clarification from a director can be worth so much more than any number of internet experts. As with many prior things in Star Wars, the imagery and emotion trumps the need for real life science/physics. The idea of a superweapon that could show the destruction of a star system from another part of the Galaxy in real time is intense and dramatic enough to be worth doing, and the made up in-universe logic can fill in the gaps later. It's obvious that central parts of Star Wars require physics and biology to work in entirely different ways than we know they do (and not as part of a robustly written system of alternative science, but as a side effect of narrative coming first) so of course it's valid to continue with that kind of thing. The eerie feel on takodana almost validated SKB as a concept, for me.