PT A Thread For Prequel Fans To Discuss New Star Wars Content (spoiler tags required)

That seems the obvious interpretation. He's saying she'll relax & have more fun on the job in the future. But how she was when the cameras rolled was a different matter. Guess that means she was outgoing & charismatic while acting.

 

That is amazing

 

It seems to me Mayhew is talking about both. It would be weird to make a comparison between Portman's acting and Daisy's on set behavior. Probably Daisy was stiff on set and that was apparent in her performance too. I'm not sure that'll be as much of a negative thing for Daisy as it was for Portman. Rey is supposed to be sad, withdrawn, lonely. Being stiff and nervous might go along with that better than Padme's role as queen. (Personally I only found Portman stiff in TPM: "I ask you. No, I beg you..." (Ugh); her dialogue hurt her sometimes in ATOC, and I thought she was fine in ROTS.)

 

I've just found this on the official Star Wars Rebels facebook page:

Link: https://www.facebook.com/starwarsre...41828.180356405454324/514655288691099/?type=3

Who could that have been in your opinion in The Force Awakens?

Spoiler

Could it have been the design for Supreme Leader Snoke?

 

Spoiler

not snaky enough

 

Since it says it was inspired by unused artwork, my guess would be Kylo since it has a Vader vibe to it.



Edit: I take that back. I thought the pic shown was of the fifth brother but it seems the pic is the unused TFA artwork... So prob not Kylo as we know he is human. I'm not sure about Snoke either as he seems he's gonna be in the same theme as the Emperor and not someone we'd expect to see clad in armor. Could be wrong though, it is after all concept art

 

Unused design for one of the 'Knights' I'd say.

 

Looks like Sidious meets Raiden from MOR-TAAL KOMBAAAHT!

But seriously, though, what if this was Luke gone awry?

 

Does this guy have super-powered boobs?

 

Reminds me too much of that parody of Vader's helmet.

 

Lol. I may be alone here, but I think that design is crap. No wonder it went unused..

 

And that is the spirit, I surely think, in which it is best taken. Otherwise, honestly, as much as this may be stating the plainly obvious, it's a little hard to swallow. The main fallacy the author commits is that of the excluded middle: Jar Jar is unusually athletic and a bit sly; therefore he must be the ultimate bad guy in the universe? We haven't just got Jar Jar wrong, but have failed to see that he is actually the devil incarnate. Well, funny. Maybe it's just a personal bias, but I don't think Jar Jar is terribly devious. Which is not to rule out the author's take; but I can't really go with it, personally.

Even beneath the comedy of that author's grandiloquent interpretation, there seems to be this slightly ungainly assumption that some malignancy on Jar Jar's part would make him a better character or a more worthy addition to the operatic fabric of the saga. The analogy with Yoda is a little misplaced, in my view, because one can simply be playing the fool, and another can really be a fool, but without lacking all intelligence and guile. Again, I know, it seems to just be a bit of fun, and a little bit of trolling in the lion's den (reddit: notoriously hostile to the Star Wars prequels), but I have to swerve from the author's clever oratory, since I don't much like the idea that Jar Jar needs to be redeemed by turning him evil (although it makes an interesting counterpoint with Anakin's redemption in ROTJ), and there are something like a million shades between Jar Jar being a total rube and master manipulator.

Further, that interpretation doesn't really seem to take account of situations where -- to me -- Jar Jar comes across as genuinely scared or sympathetic: the Gungan sub provides several examples of the former (as does Jar Jar's reaction to seeing Sebulba in the podracer hangar), while small details like Jar Jar smelling the air when the sub is opened when they arrive at Theed and commenting that it's "lovely", or Jar Jar privately calling Anakin's dwellings "cozy" on Tatooine, are cute demonstrations of the latter. Or what about Jar Jar nervously gulping when Anakin and Obi-Wan verbally tussle in Padme's apartment at the start of AOTC; or Jar Jar consoling Anakin in a rather charming way after Anakin himself frets about Padme's attitude toward him straight after? It's not that the author is totally off-base; there are unwritten aspects to Jar Jar. But they leap to an extreme on cherry-picked evidence.

When the author talks about Jar Jar calling Padme "pity hot" on Coruscant to Anakin when they're in the air taxi (to support the idea that Jar Jar plants the seed of lust in Anakin's heart and ultimately makes him turn against the Jedi and their doctrinaire stance on attachment), he elides Jar Jar's other line where Jar Jar tells Anakin that he thinks the Queen (yes -- the Queen, not technically "Padme", in fact), is being "grossly nice". Jar Jar doesn't interfere the moment before when Anakin is torn in which direction to go (a nice piece of symbolism: should he follow Qui-Gon and the Jedi way or go into the unknown with Padme?). I suppose you could argue that Jar Jar is endowed with the Force and knows which path Anakin is going to take in that moment; but then, you could take that same opinion for everything Jar Jar does (or doesn't do), and claim he has perfect foresight (which is not a very intellectually serious argument, in my view; even for Star Wars). Equally so, when the author incredulously remarks that Jar Jar insouciantly dodges a laser blast on the fields of Naboo (while being tangled up with the thorax of a battle droid), that doesn't mean Jar Jar is consciously choosing his actions; he could just be an unconscious user of the Force as various other SW characters, in particular moments, seem to be.

So it's a fun read. But it amounts to a big reach. It has an "ick" factor to me, however, because I'm a big Jar Jar fan (hence I had to say a few words here). It also unfortunately reminds me, in the abstract, of things like the myth of the "Wandering Jew". In and of itself, the myth isn't anti-Semitic; but it has sometimes been appropriated in that way. You can see wretchedness and malignity where none exists if you go looking for it; it's a trivially easy thing to do. Still, there is something a little tragic and accursed about Jar Jar, beyond more life-affirming (and yes: life-destroying) qualities. I'd rather look on him as a fundamentally good guy, but with some ambiguous currents. I should wish to commend the author, however, for noticing certain details and gestures that are normally missed; particularly with regard to Jar Jar's hands. The animation of Jar Jar's hands is the best thing about him, from a technical point-of-view, in my opinion. People should pay closer attention to them in the sub (and throughout TPM). Some of the movements are extremely subtle; subtle to the point that they blend in seamlessly with naturalistic animal movements and you don't consciously pick up on them. For instance, watch the way Jar Jar leans against the chair with his arm, and the way he grips it with his gangly digits, when he turns round to rebuke Qui-Gon after he says they're not in trouble yet. The essay is really neat for that (though it doesn't really parse that particular scene). Again, a neat read, but the overall interpretation is one I pass on; but in an anthology on Jar Jar, I think it's something that could certainly be included.

Cryo: a little too obsessed with Jar Jar mesa tinks.

 

Cryogenic Lol at your new avatar.

"No loose wire jokes."

 

Anyone else thinks there might be a backlash if the movie is not as dark as the trailer suggests? Especially if it's a rehash of ANH. After all, it's a Disney Christmas family movie and ANH is JJ's favorite SW movie (mine too, that's why I'm both pessimistic and optimistic).

Spoiler

For example, a lot of folks assume Han is going to die, based on his role as an old mentor. But what if he's not? What if Luke saves him, for example?

I have a feeling it's VII and IX that can potentially go into a different (and probably darker) direction.

 

Oh, thanks, DS!

I pinched it from that "ROTS - Ten Years On" thread.

I'm always playing around with potential new avatars on my PC (then not uploading them). My plan, earlier today, was to just take a bunch of screen shots from each of those ROTS cut scenes, from a YouTube link someone posted in the aforesaid thread, and see how they looked in a picture board (one image for each of the cut scenes arranged in a table -- just for kicks). But as soon as I started taking captures of that scene between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Anakin's expression cracked me up, and I thought it might make a nice avatar.

Yes, that's a fun scene (wish it had been included). And you have to remember the "fun" side of Star Wars. My posts are a bit analytical and serious, so the avatar is an appropriate reminder, I think, that it's all a bit silly, really. We gotta take ourselves a bit more lightly (he says -- rather self-seriously). Anakin is being such a nerd in that moment, too. "No loose wire jokes" (just after that cut scene) could be an epigram for the entire series. Well, The Wars is a lark: seriousness and slapstick. Nice to see Anakin in a lighter moment, too (although, even there, he still manages to point like Vader .... ah, all those sneaky double-meanings!).

So........... yeah. Thanks for noticing.

 

it's not a disney christmas family movie.

 

Which word are you objecting to may I ask?

 

the ones i posted. it's not a "disney" film.

 

Ok it's Lucasfilm, a Disney company. Disney is the entity that's going to reap the profits from the merchandising and the rest.

 

As I was discussing over at the ST boards, it appears that the ST is a rebranding effort much like Star Trek was, in that it is intentionally going for a wider audience than the predecessors. This of course means safer choices must be made. Nothing too cute. Nothing too violent. Nothing too strange.

 

For your viewing pleasure Cryo

 

That was to funny.

 

I remember watching ST '09 and thinking "boy this too much like Star Wars only more chaotic and silly". I liked it but if I were trekkie I'd probably be seriously pissed (a couple of my friends were)

 

It would be a shame if that is truly the case. I do, indeed, reserve a lot of contempt for Abrams, based on what he did to Star Trek.

On the other hand, it's hard to think how you can go for a much wider audience than the existing Star Wars movies -- but what do I know?

At a minimum, the existing saga is extraordinary, in my opinion, and you're not going to see its like again. So I call on everyone to cherish the existing films. They're unique.

 

I was also annoyed at how Chris Pine's Kirk was such a jerk - more so than Anakin at his worst (and Kirk is not supposed to become a mass murderer). There's no way any competent military or civilian force would allow him to be a captain of the ship. (ok, I read too much military sci-fi, but seriously)