The Force Awakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams 2015)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

This looks worse then anything from The Hobbit!

[Quintus 5,399]

Who's the dude?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Bob Iger, the guy who outsourced Disney.

[mstrox 6,651]

Looks fine to me, except the photo's color grading/saturation.

[Uni 306]

That's amazing . . . it looks just like the Falcon from the OT!

Can't say I'm crazy about the costume design, though. Guess the New Republic's aiming for a business casual look.

[King Mark 3,631]

looks fine to me

[Wojo 2,453]

The outfit is straight out of Ronald Moore's Battlestar Galactica. If business casual is worn by ancient humans 150,000 years ago, it's good enough for a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

[Bespin 8,484]

I like the rumour that a possible character who was alive, probably hidding, during the prequels will be in the new movies...

Sifo-Dyas... Darth Plagueis???

[mstrox 6,651]

Sifo-Dyas is canonically dead, seen in The Clone Wars series

[Jay 37,383]

Did the screenwriters of the new movie really care about what happened in some television cartoon series?

[Bespin 8,484]

Sifo-Dyas is canonically dead, seen in The Clone Wars series

Seems his body was never found...

[mstrox 6,651]

Did the screenwriters of the new movie really care about what happened in some television cartoon series?

The Lucasfilm story group would, and TCW is considered canon. Either way, things can be retconned easily enough.

Rumors are all just rumors anyway. Still, I find it hard to believe that a throwaway character mentioned briefly but not seen in the prequel movies would pop up as a major character/plotpoint in the new ones. If that IS the case, I think the more likely candidate would be Darth Plagueis, whose mention is more interesting and whose entire background story (besides the brief mention in ROTS) was erased by the recent purge of SW canon.

Other candidates, assuming the rumor has some validity, could be a Jedi that didn't get an onscreen death, or Darth Bane (whose backstory was also purged recently, but who did appear canonically as a dark spirit in one of the final Clone Wars episodes). Or everyone's favorite, Ric Olie.

[King Mark 3,631]

Captain Panaka?

[Wojo 2,453]

I would prefer the character they introduce be so good at hiding during the prequels that he wasn't ever seen or mentioned in the prequels. Somebody completely new.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

I would prefer the character they introduce be so good at hiding during the prequels that he wasn't ever seen or mentioned in the prequels.

Yes. A Jedhide master.

[mrbellamy 6,300]

Oscar Isaac talks practical effects and bogus fan theories

[Bespin 8,484]

(...) I think the more likely candidate would be Darth Plagueis, whose mention is more interesting and whose entire background story (besides the brief mention in ROTS) was erased by the recent purge of SW canon.

"Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying… He became so powerful, the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. It’s ironic he could save others from death, but not himself." - Palpatine in ROTS

It would great and finally tells the truth about the origins of Anakin (that was in fact created by the Force itself in response to the experiments of Darth Plagueis).

I always thought... a Sith Master as powerfull as Plagueis... who always had an obsession of eternal life and did experiment with ways of cheating death.... killed in his sleep... really???

We know by the UE, that in TPM, Plagueis was still alive and aware of the existence of Anakin. So he knew very well that Anakin represented a threat for him and Palpatine...

With the control of the Force he reached, he would have been very well able to thwart the Force by hidding from it a little moment...

To be honest, when I first learnt that they produced a new Star Wars, I wondered which character they could invent to surpasses Palpatine and Darth Vader.

Well, Darth Plagueis could be the One... and what a great role it would be for Max Von Sydow.

Shall we learn finally what is the Force?

[Bilbo 3,709]

Did the screenwriters of the new movie really care about what happened in some television cartoon series?

I don't know how many times it has to be said by how many people but yes, the new films will not contradict anything that happened The Clone Wars.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I don't know what a cartoon has done to retcon a nonsensical plot point from Attack of the Clones, but I'm sure it still makes no sense regardless.

[King Mark 3,631]

Actually I hope this Darth Plagueis/Max Von Sydow thing is correct

There's that short music bit in RotS (still unreleased even in the videogame files) I would like Williams to expand upon

[Jay 37,383]

You know, out of all the ideas the prequels had, I think showcasing some sort of origin for Palpantine, and how he got evil, and who was evil before him, was one of the better ideas they had.

Other ideas like showing us Boba Fett and Anakin as boys, the creation of 3P0, Yoda using a lightsaber, Chewbacca's planet, etc were all misfires, but the Plagueis stuff could actually be cool....

[King Mark 3,631]

I agree

[SF1_freeze 131]

Good lord, i can't stand the constant trashtalking of the prequels.

[Jay 37,383]

What? I didn't trash anything! I just politely said what I liked and didn't like as much.

[Wojo 2,453]

Yeah, but the Plageuis stuff consisted of, what, a five minute conversation between Palpy and Anakin some enchanted evening watching the opera. We had to sit through Episodes I and II and some of III to get to that conversation, and in the earlier episodes we got what amounts to zero Palpy back story.

Sure, it's cool that Palpatine knows so much about the Sith and their history. He's confirming to the audience that his love of Sith lore indicates he's the Sith Lord the Jedi seek (like we don't already know it), and Anakin's unfamiliarity with it indicates the Jedi don't teach Sith history 101 at the Academy. Likely because Palpatine himself was writing it. Do we know that Plageuis is much older than the time of Palpatine, or is Palpy the bright young pupil who killed his master in his sleep?

At any rate, it took way too long in the story for that nugget to appear. So yes, more Sith lore in the sequel trilogy would be welcome. I just don't want the sequel trilogy to serve as a direct sequel of the prequels in an effort to fix the plot gaps of that ill-conceived saga.

[King Mark 3,631]

Well Chewbacca's planet should have been in Return of the Jedi instead of the Ewoks

[Wojo 2,453]

But Wookies are strong noble warriors and at the very least technologically savvy. The Empire used them for slave labor. They would have enslaved or eliminated all Wookies on Kashyyk before building the Death Star II, leaving no indigenous population to help the Rebels overthrow the Empire. The Empire completely overlooked the Ewoks and their power in numbers. The parallels between Endor and Vietnam are obvious, and so Wookies would not have let George tell the story he wanted.

[SF1_freeze 131]

What? I didn't trash anything! I just politely said what I liked and didn't like as much.

Not you specifically, just the vibe on the board over the last few years.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

It's interesting how many of us paid attention to those few seconds of "Sith history" music from ROTS.

[Not Mr. Big 4,643]

What's so special about that music again? It's generally fine but it reminds me too much of the Voldemort material from the first two Harry Potters.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

The whole scene is great. McDiarmid sold it. He even talked about Midi-chlorians and we didn't really mind. And, yeah, Williams composed some awesome music for it. I guess that's what happens when he's given decent material. The part that we still don't have is actually pretty chilling. So, why couldn't the rest of the prequels have been like that...

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

That scene is a big part of why I wished these new movies would deal with Old Republic stuff. There's great potential there. Makes me want to play KOTOR again.

[A. A. Ron 1,744]

But Wookies are strong noble warriors and at the very least technologically savvy. The Empire used them for slave labor. They would have enslaved or eliminated all Wookies on Kashyyk before building the Death Star II, leaving no indigenous population to help the Rebels overthrow the Empire. The Empire completely overlooked the Ewoks and their power in numbers. The parallels between Endor and Vietnam are obvious, and so Wookies would not have let George tell the story he wanted.

That's the EU version of the Wookiees. George could have done whatever he wanted with them back in 1983, even having the Empire ignore them the way they did the ewoks.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

The Ewoks work better because they're aren't 8-foot-tall Sasquatch monsters who could clearly rip a Stormtrooper apart. They're little teddy bears with rocks and sticks.

[crumbs 14,320]

That chilling motif when Palptatine discusses Plagueis is vintage Williams 'first rendition of a new theme'. Ordinarily he'd get the chance to develop in into a sweeping orchestral rendition later in the movie, except the Plagueis storyline goes nowhere so it never re-appears.

Would love to see him expand the motif into a full-blown theme in Ep. 7 if the story allows it, but I doubt he was thinking long-term when composing it; he didn't even deem it OTS worthy. There's a lot of musical ideas in Star Wars that are introduced and never expanded, sadly.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Who knows, maybe he intended to use that motif more, but Lucas interfered and told him he wanted something else.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I don't think that music would work "developed" - it's not much more than a cadence, and the sparse, distant presentation is what makes it so effective. "Sweeping" wouldn't be right for it. That moment itself doesn't strike me as an outright theme, but that tone as a whole could be explored very deeply.

[Not Mr. Big 4,643]

On that subject, I'd love for Williams to expand upon the sound utilized in "Padme's Ruminations". That cue doesn't seem to be very popular around here but I find it incredibly atmospheric and effective.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Ugh! I hope Williams never does anything like that again.

[Wojo 2,453]

But Wookies are strong noble warriors and at the very least technologically savvy. The Empire used them for slave labor. They would have enslaved or eliminated all Wookies on Kashyyk before building the Death Star II, leaving no indigenous population to help the Rebels overthrow the Empire. The Empire completely overlooked the Ewoks and their power in numbers. The parallels between Endor and Vietnam are obvious, and so Wookies would not have let George tell the story he wanted.

 

That's the EU version of the Wookiees. George could have done whatever he wanted with them back in 1983, even having the Empire ignore them the way they did the ewoks.

And he'd explain Chewie's crossbow as role as copilot by....?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Ugh! I hope Williams never does anything like that again.

I don't mind that more ominous material in ROTS. I found it unsettling and spooky.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I've always through that sounded like it was temp-tracked with Hans Zimmer or something. And that wailing woman...

There are only two John Williams Star Wars cues which I truly despise: Victory Celebration and Padme's Ruminations.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Yeah wailing lady is a trend I wish would go away.

And Victory Celebration is okay as it's own piece of muzak, but it's completely wrong for the end of ROTJ.

[Not Mr. Big 4,643]

The "wailing cues" in ROTS helped expanded the series' musical palette. Which when I think about it, is one of the reasons KOTCS is so disappointing. Nearly everything from the score is comprised of bits and pieces from other similar Williams scores. It's a very predictable score.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I prefer the ominous vocal drones during the water-sphere-opera-circus thing scene.

[Not Mr. Big 4,643]

I'd like to see that expanded upon too.

[A. A. Ron 1,744]

That's the EU version of the Wookiees. George could have done whatever he wanted with them back in 1983, even having the Empire ignore them the way they did the ewoks.

And he'd explain Chewie's crossbow as role as copilot by....?

Not sure what you're asking, but like I said, he could imagine the wookiees any way he wanted.

[Uni 306]

On that subject, I'd love for Williams to expand upon the sound utilized in "Padme's Ruminations". That cue doesn't seem to be very popular around here but I find it incredibly atmospheric and effective.

One of my favorite cues from the prequel scores. I remember sitting up in the theater and thinking I had to remember that track when I got the score.

The "wailing cues" in ROTS helped expanded the series' musical palette.

Exactly. Because it isn't so obviously a SW pastiche, it stands out.

I prefer the ominous vocal drones during the water-sphere-opera-circus thing scene.

Another very good one.

[King Mark 3,631]

What's so special about that music again? It's generally fine but it reminds me too much of the Voldemort material from the first two Harry Potters.

I think it channels more the Washington Men cue in Raiders when we hear the ark theme the first time

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Williams on auto pilot, just like most of that score!