ST The New Rumor Intellectual Thread of Seriousness for Sophisticated Discourse

Or just wait till they have a very clear picture before throwing info out

 

I don't think they have to do that either. Jason and the crew have been pretty damn good at consistency when it comes to what MakingStarWars is. If they get something that passes the sniff test, then it gets on the site and people can take it or not take it. No illegally collected materials get posted and nothing is copied and pasted. Just Jason looking at the goodies and summarizing for all of us to digest. It keeps him out of jail and all of us happy to be getting something and celebrating TFA.

I don't think anyone should levy some sort of editorial judicial review bar like print newspapers or cable news. They are going to get a lot wrong and very little right. It's the nature of following spoilers. MSW's credibility is about being open and honest with what they have and what they think it means. A timeline that is expected to change and change often is just putting all those daily puzzle pieces into a cohesive picture we can all see at any one time. It makes their current thinking plain to see and it allows us easier discussion and debate. There is also added value because other sites can easily link to it or use it themselves when using MSW as a source.

TFA Spoiler hunting is a living breathing ever changing animal and we have come to a point where it needs a timeline. Especially if Jason has all the call sheets.

 

Sure.

And then I actually THOUGHT about it.

 

If I could like this a lot of times, I would.

And then I would like it again.

The MSW site could do itself and all of us a lot of good by posting a working synopsis based on best guesses from current info. Bonus points if they include hyperlinks to previous articles about specific characters, locations, or plot points. Triple bonus points if they stated a level of probability (e.g. speculation, rumor, spoiler) for each point. But a very simple outline without any of this would be fine too - it would make it MUCH easier to follow the site.

This same logic applies to any other spoiler site out there, or anyone trying to communicate their speculations/rumors/spoilers in a coherent way.

 

For whatever it's worth - I do try to make Rumor Control as broad-strokes yet concise as possible. I mean, it can still be a little confusing, but if I can't say the stuff without getting dizzy, I figure you can't HEAR the stuff without getting dizzy, so I boil it down some more until it goes down smooth (ish)

The upside: You get weeks (or months) worth of pertinent rumors in less than a half hour. The problem:I only really update when enough rumors have accumulated to make it worth the work to knock together a half-hour episode

That said - the fact some posters here are "throwing in the towel" (they're not, they're just popping off out of boredom/basic frustration/misplaced aggression) probably isn't reason enough to try and have a timeline instituted on at MSW for those posters' benefits, either.

That being said, a timeline isn't that bad an idea. Here's an oldschool namedrop for you: Roderick Vonhogens Virtual Edition - one of the more popular spoiler sites for Phantom Menace - was essentially JUST THAT: Roderick would photoshop up images based on the details people were hearing, and then try to place them in order. The images would get shuffled around as more news dropped.

If I remember correctly, TheForce.net and Jedinet.com even got in a fight over who got to host the site. It was pretty important at the time.

But it's a HELL of a lot of work to just ASK of those guys, really. Especially considering the basic daily upkeep of the site plus the weekly recording and editing of a podcast. Plus I'm pretty sure they all have jobs.

But here's the thing: Nothing's stopping anyone here from setting up their own timeline, either. TFN and Jedinet wouldn't have had anything to fight over if Roderick hadn't put in the legwork to get it done on his own, yunno?

Anyone could do it. It's a pretty specific opportunity to seize. Once the information is out there, it's out there. If you, or any other site, want to put in the work (and use the editorial eye to ensure you don't fill your timeline full of speculative crap) to make that information any more streamlined, do so!

 

I think the notion of 'hunting' spoilers down is overstating the effort required a bit.

 

This document was in the hands of our best sources since shooting ceased and was used for shooting the film. Its a large document. Its coded. I have the assets and the knowledge to break most of the coded stuff. But it also requires I check out what each thing or i could make too many wrong assumptions. The time line will happen eventually. I'd love to do that and I'd love to write that. But its just a tad bit more complicated than that.

But to makes things easier on everyone, I will try and do an article that makes things make sense at a base level. So consider it the short hand version and I have a way of getting at that correctly.

Every time something is off, the vast majority of people are just like "okay, cool. We get it." But from my angle, 20 emails threatening to kill me and say I'm a piece of poodoo makes it feel like its not fun. I gotta block those people out and I do. But I also don't want to give those people too much amo.

I also run into the smallest problem as well. I have a few sources that told me about A, B, and C. Well, this document outs those ideas. However, I only know the ideas correctly because of the sources that told me about A, B, and C. So how do I move forward? The impulsive thing is to just do it and say I have this from another place. But honestly, there's 9 more movies coming and I want to be cool with these people (I also respect them and wouldn't betray them for instant gratification either).

I won't hold anything back though. I love talking about this stuff and I hope we can discuss these small details as they make sense and unfold. Then when the script hits, we can look at the evolution from concept art, to script, to the shoot, to the film itself. While my site has spoilers, its about the making of Star Wars and as we get deeper into the production, shifts in the making of the film are what excite me.

 

Haha, wow. Death threats? I can't imagine whoever gets that worked up over spoilers, right or wrong, is anything more than a danger to themselves. That's sad.

 

No doubt.

Usually the "hunting" leads to things like "posting Gabriel Grey tweets like they're supposed to mean something" and "Finding a reddit post from a guy who photoshopped a scroll and didn't check his work in photoshop before uploading."

It's partially what's making complaints about the flood of information sound silly. People are talking about "hunting" spoilers down when they're practically DROWNING in information. The problem isn't going out and finding spoilers. The problem is learning how to effectively develop a b.s. detector and pay attention to what pans out, and WHY it pans out.

But people don't want to DO that. For information that comes so easy the extent of our effort is simply visiting a website and scanning our eyes across it, expending the modicum of effort to even ATTEMPT to filter it is too much. Instead we just get cranky. It's like a kid who turns a hose on full blast, and then complains that the water won't stop, when its their own damn hand on the spigot.

The tiny details bouncing off people's faces that are super frustrating? Just set em aside. It's like any other puzzle - pay attention to the big pieces, the corner pieces. Don't sweat the tiny details until you find a place where they might fit.

 

Or maybe 15 to 38.5 times.

 

I was thinking the same. .Luke will have more than a cameo role and im almost certain that we are being fed nonsense.

Its possible after the 2nd trailer that MSW's credibility could be either a genius or "Supershadow-level"!!

 

I find that to be true. I also find I spend a lot of time cultivating the right questions to be asked to the right sources in an easy and concise way that warrants a response. The fake really began in earnest with the Spoiler Man competition some people started. The game really changed from last summer for me. I'm pretty much thanking all the new leakers for the stuff they give me and I'm not posting it. I'm waiting to see what starts to have some merit or truth it. It was a lot easier when someone could just snap a pic of Pinewood and text it to me. Those days are over for now.

 

I got the first teaser right. I don't know if I'll get the second teaser info at all. You just never know. But I can promise you context for every shot from that teaser. I also think the teaser itself will shine new light on understanding what's going on in those sequences. I don't have the script after all. But I have access to a few things that just below that tier. So its not bad considering what we had going on just last week.

 

I remember that, I was just reading the AOTC one out of interest again the other day. It was amazing how accurate it was given it's last update of 2001. I followed Aldera.net religiously so it was a bit of a throwback to see it quoted in the source so often.

Glad to have MSW around this time, the spoiler game back then was quite a nasty place with a lot of the guys on their secret forums that were getting the scoops coming across as quite ugly people who would put it out there out of some weird sense of superiority as opposed to being fans.

 

Jason/MSW, how are you so sure that you have the full collection of call sheet like documents you are using with zero pages missing?

Enjoy the podcast. Tell Randy he sounds uncannily like john krasinski.

Also, I agree with admiral piett that its bizarre for Luke to be heavily involved in things like the script read if he's doing a wordless 30 sec precredit stinger, unless the script changed significantly during filming

 

Best. Board. Ever.

Indeed... trying to make the latest report work in my head and it does... what's the purpose of the oh-so-impactful final shot with bearded, wise Luke if we've already seen him, half-arsed via shared Force vision? Plus, younger Luke solves the problem of 'oh no, they brought him back to silly Jedi Masters level, that's impossible!'

He was much younger then, still very much flawed. It's going to work. And they've probably shot the guy from angles that work in a dramatic, ROTJ Luke sort of way, with the costume, lightsaber and all.

Me likey guys, me really do.

 

Yeah, my whole issue is why would Hamill lose so much weight for a short cameo unless they cut his part...which makes the idea that maybe he wasn't up to it even more depressing. Because if he wasn't up to it for VII, he won't be in VIII either.

 

That would be sad - Hamill comes across as by FAR the nicest and most down to earth of the big three. He doesn't seem unprofessional either. Anxiously awaiting the full trailer

 

Maybe there's a Golden Ticket hidden inside the lightsaber.

 

Btw, after the latest MSW reports, it seems clear to me what I thought was gonna happen. BB-8 is here to replace the droids and these will only have cameo roles on this movie probably. With BB-8 taking the spot light.

I wonder if, by the end of IX, the Big 3 but Chewie, the droids and the Falcon will still be around.

 

Why?

 

I'm fine with that... Although I believe R2 will be Poe's, somehow.

 

Chewie can't be around forever. If he's not played by Mayhew he's not Chewie, and Peter's not aging backwards.

 

Huh?

There is no way anyone would notice the difference, he's a tall guy in a furry suit.

 

That's like saying no more artoo once Kenny Baker dies.