Thursday, December 15, 2016

My Rogue One Review ***Filled With Spoilers***

Ok, guys. I just got back from seeing it and wanted to get a good review out while it is all still fresh in my head. I will say right away that I had pretty much no expectations going in, and it kind of lived up to that.

I don't know if I can sum it all up in just the right way, and like always with these things, I wonder if my opinion is going to change at all once I get a little further removed from it and take it in a bit more. There were so many things that I noticed about it. One thing for sure, I do not at all think that this movie could stand on its own really. Most of the truly enjoyable parts were callbacks or references to the old movies, which isn't really a good sign. It lacked a lot of the humor from the originals and even Episode VII had quite a few true laughs, and this one only had a tiny handful and mostly coming from the token one-liner droid that must be in each movie. It definitely could've used an extra dose of humor.

So we of course begin with Jyn Erso's back story, and because every Star Wars hero has to be an orphan or at the very least lose their family and be raised by someone else from a very young age, of course that is what we find out happens to her. Her mother is killed and her father is taken by the Empire because he is a brilliant engineer who had worked for them and they want him to build them the Death Star. Apparently they always expected this would happen because Jyn has a secret place to hide before she is taken in by family friend Saw Gerrara, who is played by Forest Whitaker. But the next thing we know, we jump to Jyn as an adult and she is a prisoner and being taken to some Imperial work camp. We have absolutely no idea how long she has been a prisoner, why she was a prisoner, or what she may have been doing for the last fifteen years.

I did forget to mention that this film does not begin with an opening crawl or the standard Star Wars theme. I think right from the get-go by doing that it already felt tremendously less like Star Wars to me. They also for some reason when introducing every planet they visited would tell you in words on the screen where they were. This just felt like an odd choice to me because it's not something that was ever done before, they just let the movie tell us where they were rather than having to show us in big letters.

One thing I found quite interesting with this compared to Episode VII is that at points it moved fairly slowly, and for some reason its run time is actually longer. Where Episode VII lacked any time to catch your breath and seemed to completely zip through important plot points or skip them entirely, this one lagged quite a bit and left me a lot of time to think about things like, where are they going and what is even happening? About two thirds through the movie I realized that other than Jyn, I hadn't actually absorbed a single other character's name. I don't think that is a good sign.

There were some expected cameos along with some unexpected ones. I knew Grand Moff Tarkin was going to be in it, although I definitely didn't expect him to be in it nearly as much as he was. It seems really strange to me that the man credited with playing him was some random actor when his entire part was CGI'd to look like Peter Cushing. At times it was quite impressive to see, and the voice was mostly spot-on, but then at other times I had flashes of watching Dobby the house elf from Harry Potter. That's not really meant to be an insult, I know this is for now the absolute best they can do with this, but still there is no denying you're looking at a cartoon version of what we saw in 1977. And yeah, it's definitely kind of weird. And also seems odd that they went that direction with Tarkin, but then just recast Mon Mothma and General Dadonna. Although I suppose any random dude with a big white beard is enough there, when Tarkin is such a unique look that couldn't be replicated by any actual living human.

Speaking of cameos, I'm realizing as I write this that I'm not sure they ever really called out Bail Organa by name. I could be wrong on that, but again, I feel like they need to do a better job with these movies of letting them stand at least a little more on their own without relying on everyone to "just know" certain things or characters. Other unexpected characters included those two trouble-makers at the Cantina in ANH who didn't like Luke and Obi Wan had to cut one of their arms off. That was a clever little addition that got a good audience laugh. And then a very brief moment with R2-D2 and C-3PO and for some reason it hadn't occurred to me that it would be easy to get them in there. They also included some Rebel pilots from the original during the battle scene and it was almost unsettling because they just used actual footage from then, not CGI. It was like, whoa, that's the real Gold Leader.

And then there's Darth Vader. I mean, honestly, even as primarily a Han and Leia fan I can't help but think it's pretty amazing to get to see Darth Vader on screen again being his dark and sinister self. He kind of saved it for me because at one point when the movie was really losing me, because people were just kind of, traveling and then fighting pointless battles and I was thinking about how I didn't really know who anyone was in the movie, they suddenly brought us Vader in all his glory, and I literally sat up in my chair. Hearing James Earl Jones do the voice booming through that sound system was just plain cool. Oddly they used him less than Tarkin, which didn't make that much sense to me, but oh well. We do get to see what I assume is like, Darth Vader's house which is basically like a big scary castle surrounded by lava, which I guess makes sense for him.

Now, as for the rest of the movie.... I mean, I think the main thing I noticed when it comes down to it is that it has no heart. It has no soul. It has all the pieces but it just doesn't quite come together. They give us this back story of Jyn and her parents and being raised by this guy, and yet later when we see her with him again for the first time in quite a few years, we see no connection between those two characters. Jyn finds her father for the first time in fifteen years and holds him as he dies and yet, again, we just don't feel a whole lot for those characters. We have this ragtag group of people who come together and must work as a team to accomplish something huge, and yet to me there just wasn't any chemistry there. I didn't see it as a flaw in the acting performances as the acting was fine, it was just more that sort of intangible chemistry that you can't fake and it's either there or it isn't. You know how it was like there was an immediate bond between Luke and Han and Leia? And you truly cared about those characters? You just don't get much of that here. It's more like, ok, here's this girl and that guy and that guy and that other guy (because PS: if you cast a female as your lead it's still ok to have 99% of the rest of your cast be male) and they're doing stuff together but I see no connection between any of their characters. And there is an Asian guy who even in a universe as huge and diverse as this, and with cultures and planets totally different from our own, still somehow feels like an Asian stereotype.

I do suppose part of it was that it felt like none of them ever had any sort of different look on their faces. Everyone always looked the same. And nobody truly seemed to have any clearly defined role in the situation. I mean they had their technical "jobs" like one was the pilot, another was a random Jedi they picked up along the way, but they didn't really have any character traits. Han and Luke and Leia all had clearly defined character traits. This one had like, the girl and the main guy and the other guys and the funny droid. I didn't care that much for any of them or get any sense of their relationships to one another. Leia meets Luke and then like two minutes later she is already scared for him when he gets pulled under in the garbage masher, and a couple of minutes after that she is hugging Han when they find out they won't be crushed to death. There was just absolutely none of that here.

So this one is going to fall fairly low on the "rewatchability" scale. And it's sort of strange because like I said, they had the pieces, they gave Jyn a back story and some drama in losing her mother and later losing her father, but I just didn't feel for her the way I felt for Leia. Ok, at the very end they almost got to me. And I think a few months ago I had this thought, that it was actually probably pretty likely that none of the characters in this movie would make it out alive. Turns out I was correct about that. They all died. Every single one of the ones we follow on this mission dies in the final battle in one way or another. And at one point one of them has a sort of "moment" where he stands up and it all seems very profound, but the non-Star Wars fan in our group pointed out at the end of the movie that he didn't really do anything during his final stand before he died. He killed a couple of bad guys who probably weren't going to cause any more damage to anyone else, and then that was it.

Then of course the thing I was looking forward to the most at the very end was the Leia cameo. I was glad they kept it brief. I did however feel like they missed an opportunity there. I think it would've been amazing to have seen the last time Leia saw her father. There was a moment when Bail said he was going to send everything to Obi Wan and was told he had to send someone he could trust and of course he knew just the person. I just think it would've been a really sweet albeit I suppose possibly a cheap ploy for tears and emotions to have seen maybe him hug his daughter goodbye one last time. Honestly though, this movie could've used a cheap ploy for tears or any attempt to garner some emotion out of the audience. I was a little disappointed in the CGI of Leia, and maybe I'm being really picky here, but also her hand looked like a chubby man hand! And also maybe I need to go re-watch Ant-Man because the de-aging they did of Michael Douglas on that movie was incredible and to me did not look like a cartoon CGI face. It makes me wonder if they could've done something better if they'd actually used Carrie. She had one spoken word, and at least that part sounded like her. I don't know, maybe it would've been better to at least have shot her from a little further away. But still, I guess it's cool that they included her in it at all.

There isn't a whole lot else to say. I did think that Krennic was a cool bad guy and he did an excellent job. And they gave us one thing TFA didn't by at least spending a good amount of time on a planet that was quite different from any other planet on any of the other movies, this time with palm trees and beaches. Although the shield that surrounded the whole thing reminded me of the shield around Druidia in Spaceballs, but instead of a door that opens there is a base that acts as a sort of gate.

I almost forgot, one of the reasons I was not dreading this movie is because it felt safe, like they couldn't ruin anything for us. Well, they did kind of find a way to undermine ANH a bit. I knew about this before I saw it, but apparently that thermal exhaust port that Luke was able to shoot to destroy the Death Star? That was basically a self destruct button put their purposely by the engineer who designed it, so that the Rebels would later have a chance. That engineer of course was Jyn's father, who sacrificed himself to give them what they wanted, but with a "trap" of sorts, because otherwise they'd just have found someone else to build it and they'd have no chance. I rolled my eyes hard at that when I heard it, but I will say that in the post-movie analysis with my other movie-going people and lifelong Star Wars fans, the consensus among the rest of them was that they liked that idea, and considered it kind of a plot hole from ANH that it was so easy to blow up. I don't know, I think I need more time to decide. I'm still leaning toward, really? Did it really have to be a purposeful flaw? Other than that though, nothing else to screw things up for us. No visits with Obi Wan or Luke, no Han Solo cameo. No Chewie. Oh and another side note, for some reason even though it wasn't Admiral Ackbar, for some reason Mon Calamarians are always going to be Admirals for the big battles. I don't know why. Last random note: somehow AT-ATs seem WAY easier to take down in this movie than in ESB. Luke can't get through the armor with blasters on his snowspeeder but X-wings seem to cause them to crumble.

Ok, now I think I've covered most of what I wanted to say. Was it a BAD movie? I'm not sure I'm prepared to say that. Did it completely lack a heart and soul and fail to make the audience emotionally invested in the characters? Yes, absolutely. I suppose that probably means it's a bad movie, but again, I'm not prepared to say that quite yet. The acting was fine the dialog was actually decent and not clunky like a prequel, but yeah, I just didn't care about these characters. Even in TFA I very quickly cared about Poe and Finn and Rey. I empathized with Rey. Those characters all had chemistry with each other even if I didn't like the movie. That is one of the few things I truly liked in it. But this just has none of that. So, some fun cameos and stuff, but it certainly did not feel like a Star Wars movie really, except for the scenes with Imperials. Lastly, stormtroopers still have terrible aim.

So, hopefully some of you saw it and would care to comment, I'd love to hear some opinions. I'd be really surprised if anyone a few months ago was raving about this movie. But if you disagree and you really enjoyed it, please let us know that too. I feel absolutely none of the rage and hate I felt after TFA, so I don't intend for this to turn into a huge rant about how this was the worst movie ever. I really don't even know how they could've made it truly good. But if you liked it, I'd love to hear that side of it too.

101 comments:

  1. Sounds like a decent action/sci-fi flick with Star Warsy stuff and a few Uncanny Valleys stuck into it.

    Before TFA, that would have been enough to get me into a theatre.

    Now, not feeling it (thanks, TFA). Will probably see it at a bargain matinee so I can feel like I didn't contribute much to the BO, as you and a few others I trust have said "go because of the last 10 minutes, but prepare for a pretty generic slog until that point."

    Maybe it will surprise me, but someone - praising it - described it as "the Saving Private Ryan of Star Wars."

    Now, I know Saving Private Ryan is considered genius, and I get why. BUT (1) I do not go to the movies to see films that get me down (that's what life is for, movies are to counter that) and (2) hearing a Star Wars and Saving Pvt. Ryan comparison makes my eye twitch; these are two things that should not be said in the same sentence.

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    1. Yes, decent action/sci fi flick with some Star Warsy stuff. Exactly.

      And look, I don't have hugely high standards for movies. I went to see Lethal Weapon 4 in the theater, and I liked it enough. Saving Private Ryan? No. Just, no. Admittedly I have not watched that movie since I went to see it on its original run, because like you, I don't really want to be brought down by movies. I want to be uplifted. It was a very good movie but I don't want to go through that journey repeatedly like I do with Star Wars.

      I guess on the plus side, honestly, the fact that everyone dies isn't even really that much of a downer, because we're not given enough of an opportunity to care for these characters very much. We don't really know who they are, or what exciting things in life they might be missing out on by meeting an early demise. Which I guess helps us but doesn't say good things about the movie, I don't think. Or maybe it was because by then I was just thinking about when and how we were going to see Leia at the end and my mind was already elsewhere.

      Speaking of minds being elsewhere, I also realized while watching that I don't think I was absorbing the actual words Darth Vader was saying because I was too busy thinking about how I was hearing James Earl Jones be Darth Vader again.

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  2. I have never thought of the thermal exhaust port in Star Wars as a plot hole. Still don't. The plot hole in SW to me is why they go back to Yavin when Leia knows the Falcon is being tracked AND they still have to analyze the plans. (And I hear this film says the Death Star can go to light speed. If that is so, why does it take the Death Star so long to get to Yavin - is there an answer for that?)

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    1. Maybe because as Han says, "She'll make point-five past lightspeed...." and the Death Star can only go regular lightspeed, so the Falcon gets there a lot sooner? Or maybe they can't actually "track" them until they actually see where they are going and have to wait for them to actually get to Yavin before coming after them. Seems like it'd be difficult to actually tag along and follow someone through lightspeed. I can see there being reasons. I actually can't see why they waited until the Death Star orbited around Yavin though rather than just first destroying the planet and then destroying the base on the moon. Or I mean just destroy the planet and then go away, when the moon loses what it's orbiting, it's over.

      Anyway, I do agree that while it made a funny joke in the Family Guy parody, I never thought of the thermal exhaust port as a plot hole. Luke needed the Force to hit it, doesn't seem like such an "easy" failsafe.

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    2. I think it's the speed - the Falcon is the faster ship ;-)

      I just saw the "How it should have ended" for New Hope and they make the point that the Empire should've taken out the planet first...but maybe it takes awhile to get the power generated to take out a planet?

      "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go!"

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  3. Just saw it and loved it - on my phone so will write a longer review later. It felt like a STAR WARS! movie to me in the way the prequels never did and didn't disparage the original characters like TFA did. It appealed to the parts of SW that appeal to me the most - the underdog vs the might Empire with a minimal amount of Jedi/Force stuff going on. Vader's appearance gave me chills and I teared up seeing Leia on screen again and being the last shot in the movie.

    This review here sums up a lot of why I loved Rogue One but hated TFA: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/12/13/rogue-one-is-one-of-the-best-star-wars-stories-ever-told/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.464d9c348502

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    1. Oh! And it was AWESOME seeing a character I liked and cared about getting the Death Star plans instead of Bria Tharen. Bria didn't deserve that martyr/Angel to the Rebellion death. Jyn did.

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  4. I saw it at the late showing last night, and I quite liked it. I agree with Ewokkey, it is loaded with that good vs evil thing that draws me to SW in the first place, and combined with what I thought were stunning visuals and special effects throughout, it made for an enjoyable watch.

    Jyn was a likeable, if a bit pigeon-holed heroine. I didn't feel for her the way I felt for Leia in ANH. Like Zyra said, perhaps part of it was the huge gap in her backstory...one minute she's a child hiding out in a cave, rescued by a mysterious stranger, and the next she's grown with no explanation as to what happened to her in the previous fifteen years.

    I did like Krennic; he was suitably loathsome as the baddie, and I though Ben Mendelsohn did a good job bringing him to life. And I adore Mads Mikkelsen to the extent that he could just walk onscreen, say nothing, walk off and I'd give him a standing ovation, so I'm a little biased there. The rest of the cast, though was just...OK. I get what you're saying, Zyra...emotionally, it was hard to invest in these characters, at least in the beginning. Towards the end there were glimmers, but by then it was too late. The acting was good, but the characters were not given any real opportunity to distinguish themselves. Despite the gaps, I didn't find myself wanting to know anything further about the events that led up to them finding themselves thrown together. I distinctly recall watching ANH and then ESB for the first time and having soooo many questions about Luke, Leia, and Han; I wanted to know everything about them, who they were, where they came from, and what brought them to this point. Not so with any of the main characters here. But then again, Andor is just not my idea of a dashing rogue...Han Solo spoiled that for me from here to eternity, and that's just fine with me. :)

    And Vader...ah, Vader. I thought it a real treat to see him in action again. I can't recall what he actually said either, but it was the voice alone that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. As my son so eloquently said on the way home, 'watching Vader lose his shit in the last ten minutes of the movie was worth staying up to 1 am.' Have to agree with him there.

    It did lag in spots, and perhaps it was the lateness of the hour but I was thinking "get on with it, already!" multiple times in the 2+ hours of running time.

    I think I need to see it again, when I haven't been up since 5 am and can process it a little better in order to form a true opinion. It may be an entirely different review after the second viewing, but I did like it on the first go round. It did feel very much like a Star Wars movie to me, and didn't utterly bring me down like TFA, which was a huge relief.

    Bottom line...I'd say it's worth a look. If you've had doubts about seeing it, take a chance, spend a few bucks and see a matinee. It isn't going to dash your treasured memories, at least, and if it isn't your cuppa, all you've wasted is time. But for the investment, you get to see a few decent space battles to fuel your fanfic writing, a few laughs from the K-2SO as the new comic relief.

    Oh, and you get to roll your eyes at Stormtroopers who still can't hit the broad side of a barn. LOL.


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  5. I saw it this afternoon. My hero wasn't trashed in this one but got even less screen time. Will he be down to 2 seconds in Episode VIII? No one was credited for playing him just like Episode VII. How did he get from the base to the ship? I wanted to see him in the hallway at the very end.

    Bail Organa was not referred to by name at all. He got a close up at the first meeting at the Rebel base and got the Force theme played for him (I didn't understand that). I wanted to hear the Leia theme as well as the Force theme during his conversation later with Mon Mothma but didn't hear it.

    I missed paying attention to Vader's first dialogue because I thought his suit looked different. His planet was the only one not identified by caption, which I think is a war movie convention ( to ID date and place with a caption). Was it Mustafar? If so why would he live there?

    I agree that the pacing was lagging in some places. I checked my watch a couple of times. Of course having the show actually start 20 minutes after the advertised time helped to make it that much longer. I was at the theater for almost 3 hours.

    The audience was pretty small at the showing I went to but the people who were there seemed pretty upbeat after the show, not like last year's stunned and quiet audience. I heard several people saying they liked it better than VII. After the lights came up at the end of the credits a theater employee dressed as a stormtrooper came in to chase the rebel scum out of the theater. I said I was wearing my Rebel gear (Artoo hat and sweatshirt) as cover to get into this Rebel propaganda film. He came in from the back because he came up the elevator and said he can go down stairs but not up stairs in the armor. I said that must be why the Empire has so many elevators. He said they do because everything they do is big. Another theater employee said the stormtroopers should practice going up stairs for cardio training.

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    1. Oh I definitely thought when I saw Threepio and Artoo still on Yavin, and then later it appeared that the ship never went back there, how did they get on the ship with Leia? It just didn't seem like there was time for all that, because Bail had just gone back to Alderaan, and we saw them as the fleet was taking off for the battle, and apparently Leia was there in the battle at the time, so how'd they get there?

      I checked my watch several times, too. And also as you said, wondered where Vader lived as it did look like Mustafar, but would you want to live near so much lava if it had destroyed your body years earlier? I sure wouldn't. But maybe it is some sort of Dark Side self punishment thing.

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    2. he lives on MORDOR you fools :-)

      jzhanfan not signed in

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    3. for what it's worth, the fact that Vader appears to live in Mordor has sparked a whole new speculative string at our house as to why the supreme leader in TFA looks like Gollum. those of you who've been begging for an update to "The Snark Awakens" might get your wish.

      jzhanfan

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    4. Artoo23 I spent Vader's whole scene trying to figure out why his helmet didn't look right. glad it wasn't just me.

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    5. Lol, it definitely looked just like Mordor.

      I do agree too something didn't look right which just makes no sense to me with basically unlimited resources that he wouldn't look exactly like he was supposed to. I feel like maybe the helmet was too small compared to the rest of his body?

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    6. I haven't seen the film yet, but in a few images I've seen from it, I'd say there is definitely a helmet size issue. But you know the old Sith saying, it's not the size of the helmet....

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    7. Going back to this older topic --- the Art of Rogue One book answers most of our Vader questions. Yes, he lives on Mustafar. The castle is based on concept art from Ralph McQuarrie that didn't make it into ESB. The castle is built so that Vader can look out at the spot where he fought Obi-Wan. Yes it is a Sith self punishment thing. Nothing about his helmet size. General comments from the director and artists are that they were trying for the way we remember original Star Wars looking, not necessarily an exact copy of every design.
      I'm not up to going through the novelization yet to figure out Artoo's base to ship transfer.

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  6. Random thing I just realized: we are now a year away from Episode 8. More than a year before episode 7 we already had our first teaser for Episode 7. Interesting.

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    1. Kennedy said yesterday that it should drop around March. The SW Celebration is in April. Me, I wonder why they didn't put at least some sort of teaser in with R1.

      In other news, so...Mark Hamill had his beard for a few weeks and it's gone again. He was at the White House yesterday with R1 - so I think we can guess that Mark is in the Harrison role for Ep 8 - he's going to be out doing all the press, etc. Start putting down your bets on what reel Luke is killed in....

      But. He was in a beard, so was Harrison. Both were on the east coast - Harrison was spotted at Barney's NY although he was back with that terrible scalped haircut of his that I can't stand (for someone who wouldn't cut his hair for Graffiti, he's changed his tune...)

      Make of that what you will.

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    2. I'm not really going to put much thought into Mark's beard situation, we already know he is in the next movie.

      And Barney's NY is also a store in LA. He's been home I think since he came back from Budapest. Attending various events in California and shopping without a jacket which is not something you'd be doing in NY right now. Also he's got a goatee, which is not exactly the same as the big bushy beard he had a few months ago.

      And yes, weird how someone might change their stance on haircuts 45 years after they had said they wouldn't cut it ;) At least he is doing the short hair instead of that awful slicked straight back thing.

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    3. Touche! I hate the slicked back hair too (and the short. I like Han length best ::g::)

      Mark was cleanshaven at the White House - there is the cutest pic of him and someone in a Vader costume tagged "like father like son"

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    4. I like Indy length best, but like half the time in TFA his hair looked good, and oddly in the other half of the scenes it looked really weird. I bet we all totally agree which was the good hair there and which was the bad.

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    5. OMG, half the movie I was screaming inside for someone to just COMB Harrison's hair. It's not like Han didn't comb his hair, it was just kinda uneven and shaggy.

      Between that, a leather jacket he'd never had before, and those stripeless pants, I can easily convince myself it's all some awful AU...

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    6. The fact that his hairdresser was clearly AWOL in that last scene with Leia is really annoying. He practically had hat hair.

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  7. You go to sleep and see what happens? All right, a few things:

    Anonymous comments have been temporarily disabled again. If you wish you make comments you're going to have to stand behind them. I apologize for at least one lurker who made some good points and posted anonymously, I know you guys signed "names" but it was getting awfully heated and I don't want to see everyone get out of control on here.

    2. I apologize to anyone who was offended by those comments. This blog is absolutely NOT the place to be having a debate about an issue as huge and sensitive as racial relations. I think IF somehow we had remained on the topic of the fictional movies we're discussing then maybe I'd have let it continue, but this is all supposed to be good fun, and that is not fun. For anyone who was offended, again I apologize and as Kels stated I actually believe you were being trolled.

    3. We are NOT for the billionth thread in the last year going to start talking about the Reylos and how many Reylos there are out there in comparison to whatever other types of Star Wars fans.

    Look, some slightly off topic discussion is ok, but this was going down a path that was going to be completely consuming and is just plain not necessary for a Star Wars blog that most people come to for escape. Please be respectful.

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    1. Thanks Zyra for keeping the blog a safe and fun place to discuss SW and especially Han and Leia. I know it can't be an easy task and I much appreciate it.

      I totally agree with you on point three. Honestly part of why I've fallen silent is I just don't want to talk about TFA and the Reylos any more. That movie nearly broke my heart and was massively disappointed in how some characters were treated, especially our OTP. I'm finally getting to a place where I can take the movie and enjoy it for what it is and not interested in debating opinions about it any more. Mostly just want to move on and discuss happier things in SW. Or even possibilities like they had in the SW Infinities comics.

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    2. I'm with you, Amara. Those of us who were so gutted by TFA seem to keep circling around the corpse, weeping and wailing and gnashing our teeth over it -- (I'm as guilty as anyone of this) -- when really what we ought to do is NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN.

      I keep getting gut-punched whenever someone references "facts" about the futures of Han/Leia/Luke/Chewie post-RotJ, because those "facts" are rooted in that horrific universe. It's often done very casually (e.g. mentioning "Han and Leia's kid" on the understanding that they had only one kid and we all know who he was and what became of him....).

      GAH. NO.

      NO. Noooo, no no no! That never happened!

      They had three kids. Or no kids. Or five kids, all daughters. (justinegraham and CorellianAngel and I are on the case with that last one). I just don't want anyone ever to mention that OTHER imaginary kid to me ever again.

      That's how I want to play it: like the events of TFA never happened at all. This blog seems like a nice little pocket of the Web in which to hide out and utterly ignore the official canon and the Reylos and Tumblr, and all that cack. :D Long may it continue. (And thank you very much to Zyra for keeping it going. This has been a real haven over the past year.)

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    3. Hey, Amara, good to see you!

      I certainly don't mean to say that we can never talk about TFA again, and for sure it's going to come up again when we move past Rogue One and trailers start happening and we get another movie. But recently it seemed like people were getting caught up in ranting about it all again, and at some point it's like, we've had this conversation already, many, many times over the last year. There is nothing new to say about it. I've actually kind of moved well past it already because every new thing that comes out, every new thing I'm told Adam said or JJ said (I have not watched any of these things because I really don't care what they have to say) are all just so beyond stupid and clearly WRONG that I can't even get mad about it anymore. It'd be like trying to argue with someone who absolutely insists that the Earth is flat. You're just never going to get through to them and their point of view is so ridiculously stupid you almost can't even be mad at them anymore for being so wrong. I mean of course it completely sucks that these are the people in charge, but it's done now, and the best course of action is to simply treat it as big budget fanfic and move on.

      I'm glad that probably 99% of the blog readers missed the other comments that were up here as well. This is the first time in the nearly 6 years of this blog that I've removed comments that weren't just random spam. I think that says a lot about the people who come here, as we are all generally pretty reasonable. I don't expect that to happen again.

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    4. Lol, Erin. Agreed. Maybe it'll be known as the movie-that-will-not-be-named like Voldemort. ;) I'm just wanting to move on to other things. If you haven't, check out Infinities. They are pretty cool comics especially the one for Empire. I'm a big what-if kind of person so it was right up my alley.

      Thanks, Zyra. :) I can't say life didn't drag me away either. It's not always been a fun year, but TFA didn't help at all. I wouldn't say that about discussing TFA either. If people want to talk about it, that's cool. But it did feel like the same conversation and I just don't have the heart to go there any more over it. Time to move on and hope some people with sense get some control.

      I missed all the comments that were issues, but sounds like probably a good thing. And thank you for giving us a cool place to hang.

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    5. As one of the offenders, I will endeavor not to bring any of that along anymore here. I would hate to wear out my welcome because I've so enjoyed all the talk here...

      Like Erin above, I keep circling when I need to say "my canon is" that they live happily ever after, however you choose to see them living...but not that thing...

      Big budget fanfic, that's the ticket!

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    6. It's cool, CV. I know you only fairly recently found us and it was like you FINALLY had somewhere to vent all that pent up anger and frustration where a whole lot of people 100% agreed with you. It's just that you weren't here a year ago when we went through it initially, or a few months later when I brought it all back up myself when I got mad about it yet again and started over. I'm sure we'll still occasionally talk about it. Just a few times recently we seem to have gotten back on that subject and I can barely even tell how it happened!

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    7. Thanks Zyra...

      I think we're back on it because...well, for me, now every time I see SW stuff now, it all comes flooding back...

      To change that thought, I DVRd the OT when TNT ran them and was watching a bit of Empire today. Han's a pretty strong guy - he flips Luke over only grabbing him by one arm when they're out there in the snow, and then drags him fairly easily (I bet there are some funny outtakes of that). I guess constant repairs, hauling cargo, and arguing with a Wookie makes you really strong.

      If that spurs any fic writers on...

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    8. Ah, CV, I can completely understand the need to rant about it. God knows, I've done my fair share (here and elsewhere). I still have moments when I just want to throttle JJA & co for what they've done.

      But probably what makes me happier is just to ignore it; as Zyra said, it's actually gotten to the point of being ludicrous. So, I'm just gonna roll my eyes and stick with my (now AU) fics and those of other writers who imagine much happier futures for our OT3.

      I am now *all about* AU fics and I don't mind at what point they may diverge from the original story. I read a neat short fic by HoldoutTrout ("Four Walls and a Blaster") that diverges at the end of ANH and takes the whole gang in a completely different direction. There are some truly creative people in this community who would put Hollywood to shame.

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    9. Ooh, is it at AO3 or FF? I follow HoldoutTrout on the hellsite (aka what we on Tumblr call Tumblr)

      Yeah, I'm trying to get to that happy place. So it makes me write more happy things....a win win ::g:: But sometimes, I feel like I need Jon Stewart and his old gospel choir - I'd pay them to visit JJ et al...

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    10. Here you go: http://archiveofourown.org/works/168258

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    11. Er, read the warning before you read that fic, btw!! Beware of death...

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    12. Hey, CV. No worries about needing a place to rant about it. I totally get it. It affected some of us rather strongly and probably not a lot of fun if didn't have a place to vent. It's hard for me to go back there as it's so easy to get pissed off about it again. So I just may not have as much to say about it. Just trying to forget about it and get back to writing again. :) Got to help with those AUs to the big budget fanfic! (And that was priceless, Zyra)

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    13. Just read it, Erin, thanks!! And sad but oooh yeah!! Thanks for the rec, that was worth the read.

      Yep, keep writing those AUs, gang! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see them. I just wrote one for JediFest and another as a treat for the Rare Pairs Exchange. Jedi Fest had a lot of tasty fic.

      And I saw some good stuff going by today on Tumblr. Damnit, they can't stop the Rebellion ::g::

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    14. Having so much fanfic of them together and in love helps tremendously. My problem right now is the story I'm writing has them NOT together and the point is to show them fighting and not liking each other much. I feel like I need to alternate between writing that and then writing little scenes for myself of them being nauseatingly in love with each other to balance it out.

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    15. We'll take both! :) I'm sure they had to like each other a little even if fighting.

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    16. Aww, Trout will be so happy to know her fic was rec'd here! I'm actively trying to get her to write H/L again. :)

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    17. I wish readers would leave feedback / comments / reviews when they read! Even just a word or two would suffice to let the author know the story was received. It could go a long way towards encouraging excellent writers like Trout to keep publishing!

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  8. we saw the movie Thursday night. very packed house but we went to the 7pm show so it was full of small people with lightsabers wearing their jammies. I would not have gone on opening night myself but since the kids wanted to go I went along for the ride. it was better than I expected, which isn't saying a lot since I wasn't expecting much. I felt they were much more respectful of the original characters than TFA was. I found CGI-resurrected Peter Cushing to be kind of creepy but no one else could have done the character justice.

    the weird thing I realized when I was walking out was that it was almost like I was watching two different movies. the rebels on the ground stuff with the new characters was live action and gritty and all but it wasn't STAR WARS. it was just a cool action movie that happened to have similar ships and droids and stormtroopers. and the force of course. Meanwhile the part that felt like STAR WARS was always scene that were so gorgeous and smooth and crisp they were almost animated, like I was watching a really really enhanced version of Star Wars Rebels (which my son is addicted to).

    Maybe since I was seeing it as a big episode of Rebels, I was more prepared to accept the totally CGI Leia at the end.

    My son the ninja jedi loved the blind guy and his buddy with the tank gun. I am not sure they even needed to be there. but whatever. I adore Alan Tudyk and there was just enough of his voice coming through in K2SO's voice that I enjoyed him being snarky but as others have pointed out, I was not about to start caring about any of these characters.

    will it make a ton of money and sell a ton of merchandise? yep. will I buy it on video? yeah. does it ease the pain of having my heart ripped out by TFA? nope. but it helps put TFA further in the past. and if R1 merchandise pushes some of the TFA stuff off the shelves for a while, that's less time I have to spend in the store moving all the Kylo Ren stuff to the back of the shelves. :-)

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  9. HA I figured out how to get signed in as me!!!

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  10. I just happened to find this today.
    https://imgflip.com/i/1g3vvb
    This is why I hate Rogue One and I haven't even seen it yet.

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  11. Oh HELL NO.

    I've already seen an article calling Luke and Han "dumbasses" for taking the plans in Artoo to the Death Star. Uh, exactly where were they supposed to go with a tractor beam and a destroyed Alderaan, anyway?

    And yeah, exactly why I'm not giving them money for that movie.

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  12. Yeah, I wouldn't let some dumbass meme made by a fan deter you from seeing it. People can make idiotic memes about anything. Hell I just saw an idiotic meme on my Facebook feed that vaccines cause autism. There's nothing in Rogue One that implies or insinuates that Luke or Leia are somehow less worthy. If anything it shows what an awesome feat it was to get the plans to the Rebel base. And Leia is spoken of reveringly.

    I mean I'm not saying you HAVE to see it, but I do want to say that meme is based on nothing that happens in the actual movie.

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  13. One thing I forgot to add to my review...It was interesting seeing new Vader material for the first time since the prequels came out. Just like in ANH, Vader is ruthlessly efficient and cold. And then you try to reconcile it with the whiney Anakin of AOTC whining about sand or the out of control angst of ROTS and it doesn't jive at all. Even when he was on the Dark Side in ROTS, he seemed like a completely different character than the cold, composed Vader we get in ANH and ESB. Which again shows how much the prequels really failed in effectively telling the story of how Vader fell to the Dark Side.

    Oh and another thing I did like about Rogue One was that I thought Jyn was a much more compelling character than Rey was. She wasn't perfect, she had baggage and flaws, and it was refreshing to see a female heroine that didn't look like a supermodel, wasn't dressed in a skintight jumpsuit or had clothing conveniently ripped away during battle (ala Padme in AOTC). Also thought it was cool they picked a slightly older woman to lead in Hollywood where over 24 is often considered "too old" for a female protagonist!

    Has anyone watched ANH after watching Rogue One? It really makes you look at the plans in a different light. Every time they're handled, you're like "Damn, a LOT of sacrifice was made to get those!" Though knowing what we know now, I feel like General Dodonna should have mentioned the sacrifice required to get the plans, similar to Mon Mothma's "Many Bothans died to get this information".

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    1. One part where the movie did fall flat is that the score was pretty terrible. I think John Williams was slated to do it but then wasn't well enough so someone else got slotted in at the last minute. I wanted to hear the bad ass Imperial theme when Vader entered but it was barely there. It's not a Vader scene without his entrance music!

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    2. For reference's sake, here's how I'd rank the SW movies:

      1) ESB
      2) ANH
      3) Rogue One
      4) ROTJ
      5) ROTS
      6) AOTC
      7) TFA
      8) TPM
      9) Holiday Special ;)

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    3. What makes Jyn "compelling" as a character? I guess you could say she is flawed because she is a prisoner when we find her, and requires some convincing to actually fight for the Rebellion, but like, what beyond that? I completely agree that Rey was too perfect and flawless, but they did at least succeed in making me care about her and give her a personality and some relationships. In her brief time with Han we saw a connection there, obviously we also saw a connection between her and Finn. I'd even say there was a connection between her and Leia at the very end.

      I saw NONE of that with Jyn. Even in the scene with her father dying I didn't get that. She had no personality. I can't think of a single memorable line from her. I didn't DISlike her at all. And I agree it's great that at least we got a lead female in her 30s instead of 22. But it doesn't really mean that much if they don't do anything to make us feel for her character. I was thinking this morning about Forest Whitaker's character and how he was actually completely pointless, wasn't he? There could've been a lot more there with him having apparently raised Jyn and being such a close friend of her father, but nope.

      I do completely agree on the score though. I thought many times throughout the movie that the score was incredibly underwhelming. My ears really perked up any time I heard a few notes from Willliams' themes, but other than that, it was strikingly obvious that this was not your usual Star Wars music. I really don't know how one man can be so brilliant with music.

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    4. I mean caring about a character is completely subjective - I cared about her, you didn't, so nothing I say is going to change your mind. I felt emotion when she reunited with her father, but you didn't - so again, nothing I say will change your mind on that. I liked her backstory and found the idea of someone getting pulled into the Rebellion not for idealistic reasons but then by the end believing in the cause compelling. I liked the chemistry between her and Canadian. I liked that it was very much a team effort between everyone and she could have never succeeded in her mission without help from everyone else on her team. She wasn't like Mary Sue Rey perfect at everything and her male counterpart comic relief who was bad at everything. I actually found myself much more drawn to her than I was to Rey.

      But again, all this is my subjective feelings so it's not something I can convince you or others of. I cried when she and Cassian died and think it was one of the most moving scenes we've ever seen in SW. If you didn't care about the characters, then you're not going to care when they died.

      I also forgot to say, but I'd rank Rogue One as the most VISUALLY beautiful SW to date, slightly above ESB.

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    5. As for memorable lines - well I got chills when she said "May the Force be with us all" and then closed the ship door.

      As well as "Rebellions are built on hope."

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    6. Alexandre Desplat was supposed to do the music for it - and I was completelly thrilled, because if it can't be Williams, then I'd choose Desplat.

      Then they reshot a ton and he was replaced with Giadchino, who is a buddy of JJ Abrams.

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  14. Well, I've seen Rogue One now and it's decidedly *meh* for me. I didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Won't be buying it, but will probably eventually put that final scene with Vader on endless loop, once it hits YouTube. That was pretty damn cool to watch.

    I was very excited by the visuals and agree with Ewokkey that it's truly beautiful in places. I was so excited to see the various planets, moons, trading posts, cities, etc. I don't think I could ever get enough of seeing the galaxy like that. All the various alien races, too. I was so absorbed in trying to spot familiar ones and identify new ones, I forgot to pay attention to the story in places! Wouldn't it be neat to see a cable television series, perhaps an anthology of stories from various parts of the galaxy, showing the growing menace of the Empire (and the gradual development of the rebellion)? I think so!

    As for Jyn Erso and her crew, I simply couldn't feel anything for them. I could tell what the filmmakers were trying to pull off but they utterly failed to reach me, I'm afraid. The gathering of the team I found rather formulaic and cliché. I especially didn't care for the attempts at humour with the droid, whose name I haven't learned yet. Almost every line he had fell flat for me. I think it was, in part, a problem with the voice they chose for him. I was distracted by how plainly human he sounded.

    I did like the scene at the end where Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor embraced as they died. That was visually beautiful. But I didn't find it particularly moving.

    I don't know why, really. I think I just keep expecting something---- some feeling ----from Star Wars that I can't seem to get anymore? I sure hope Ep 8 brings it back. I would soooooo love to see Luke Skywalker kick some ass. Here's hoping.

    I was especially disappointed by how they used Bail Organa and Leia in this. That was a huge missed opportunity to add some weight and another tragic note (since they love tragedy so feckin' much, right?) by having Leia and Bail interact in some way. Just a distant shot of him kissing her on the forehead in benediction before they parted company. Anything. Did anyone else find it odd that they never actually *named* Bail Organa in R1? Nor Mon Mothma, or Jan Dodonna. I know they're counting on old fans to know who those people are but then...why not throw in a little fan service with a bit more between Bail & Leia?

    Still, I got a thrill when Bail stepped out of the shadows. Felt like cheering! :D

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    1. This movie for sure did one thing TFA did not (and why TFA didn't is always going to be inexplicable to me) which is showing us cool new worlds and that the galaxy is a pretty big place. The scenery for the final battle scene was really cool. I also agree that the visuals when they were waiting to die were beautiful but I still didn't feel anything.

      And I mentioned it in the review, they never said Bail and I hadn't even really thought about how they never said Mon Mothma or Dadonna, but then did they say their names in the OT either? I don't think they did. That said, it is still odd and somewhat annoying to me not to name them. It's like I said, even though it fits into a much larger narrative it should stand on its own a lot better, especially since it is giving us 95% different characters. And same about Bail and Leia. I was absolutely waiting for a moment when we would see them together, and we didn't get it. It also would've solved the way-too-close-up-and-therefore-way-too-obvious CGI Leia.

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    2. No I don't think we learn their names either. You don't even get Leia's last name until the ANH novelization. I did think it was funny that the actor who played Bail has aged almost the same number of years between ROTS and Rogue One. As for not naming, unless they're introducing themselves, sometimes it can take you out the moment to have someone who obviously knows who the person is refer to them by full name. Like when Snoke in TFA said to Kylo "Han Solo, your father" it seemed odd, because obviously Kylo knows who his dad is!

      I did like seeing the different planets, at the fallen Jedi one was beautiful. As for no new planets in TFA, I remember seeing an interview with JJ where he said he couldn't think of any other environments in a GFFA that hadn't already been established in the OT, and that he wouldn't do the prequel planets because they relied too much on CGI. I get the prequel planets criticism, but not being able to think of ANY new environments shows a stunning lack of imagination, which is really my whole problem with JJ - I think he's an unimaginative hack.

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    3. " I remember seeing an interview with JJ where he said he couldn't think of any other environments in a GFFA that hadn't already been established in the OT, and that he wouldn't do the prequel planets because they relied too much on CGI."

      He really said that? He really is out of his mind. They didn't even establish all the EARTH environments in the OT, including (1) tropical islands; (2) steppe/grassland/plains; (3) mountainous; (4) evergreen forest; (4) tundra in summer; (5) ocean/water; (6) arctic islands; (7) tropical rainforest (as we really never did see anything of Yavin 4 except treetops; (8) high desert; (9) canyonlands/badlands...I mean, a quick google search of unique places on earth should have given him all sorts of ideas for making the galaxy seem a little bigger than one solar system (which is how TFA seemed to look at the galaxy)

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    4. As a lifetime fan, it's sad to remind you that isn't the whole saga one big wasted opportunity. Especially what comes to Leia. We have just grown used to it and we have had decades to learn to accept it. The OT was not flawless either. But we love it. I'm afraid there will never be a Star Wars movie we are satisfied.

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    5. I mean a NEW Star Wars movie we are satisfied.

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  15. This is almost completely unrelated, but kind of funny. If I want I can see what search terms people use to find the blog. Mostly they're obvious, like "Han and Leia" or "Han and Leia fanfic" or "Han and Leia sex fanfic." Sometimes it's disturbing. One of them today was "Rogue One Leia WTF." I just thought that was funny.

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    2. That's really funny that someone would search that and that they would end up here.

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    3. Oh, the irony! Wonder if they've checked out our Disney SW hate rants yet . . .

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  16. You said no new environments in TFA? Aren't Jaccu a new environment? Did you think it was Tatoiine? It was a whole different planet. Which I'm a bit confused, why it simple couldn't be Tatoiine where Rey was dropped? Of course there could be millions quite similar worlds in space, but since most of the audience go to see the new Star Wars movie because of the nostalgy, why not using the familiar planets more? I understand if they didn't use PT worlds because of CGI (and because "everybody" has a bad feeling about anything PT related), but was the reason not to use the OT worlds? Just to show space is huge? Why Jedha couldn't happen on Tatooine?

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  17. Has anyone seen the new Bladerunner trailer?

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    1. You mean the one in which Harrison Ford doesn't have that big, fuzzy beard and longish hair? Yep...

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    2. I think that he looked better in Force Awakens. Definitely better hair.

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    3. No, no, you guys got it wrong. The beard was for Episode 8, and Harrison is going to be in it but not as Han Solo, he's going to be Yan Solo, Han's evil twin. Because they're going to make us think they're going to give us what we want but then pull the rug right out from under us again.

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    4. I don't think there's any way he's in Episode VIII. There's no way they could film a scene with Harrison Ford without it leaking. When Han died in TFA, it leaked a year before the film came out.

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    5. Sad as it makes me to accept, I'm sure you're right, Ewokkey. If Han were in a scene of any length at all in Ep8, there would've been multiple people involved in shooting and editing it already, and I think there would be spoilers everywhere by now.

      Still, I'm an eternal optimist and I like to fantasize that JJA thinks he's SO VERY clever and has *already* filmed the scene, just with Harrison and himself and maybe Kasdan (surely they could operate the necessary equipment), and JJA buried the activity amongst the other TFA reshoots, etc. so no one would be suspicious. And we know Harrison, at least, is fully capable of keeping a secret for a loooong time. ;)

      All JJA would need to pull it off is a wide frame shot of Han lying comatose in a bed or floating in a bacta tank or something. Then a close-up of his heavily bearded face and his eyes opening to give us a "ta-dah! Han's alive!" moment at the end of Episode 8, setting up a rescue of Han by the new kids (and possible redemption of you-know-who), with Luke and Leia turning up at the end for a big family reunion. (Well, that scene would also require a bit of setup, but it could just be some voiceover from Snoke, perhaps, in whose custody Han is being kept.)

      Oh, man, I am just pathetic. I *cannot stop hoping*. I just want to see the OT characters back together again.... =[

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    6. Erin, I will join you at the pathetic table because that's all I want too. I downloaded a nice pic of Han and Leia from TFA and I'm looking at it thinking "You couldn't even put Luke in for the pictures?" I mean someone posted their picture of the FunkoPops for TFA Han, Luke and Leia and captioned it "Together again."

      But hey, I'm "too attached" to the old characters y'know.

      I don't know, there are still secrets to keep. It could have been snuck into the TFA shoots. Hell, why did Mark regrow his beard? All I know is that if Han isn't there, I really have no interest in 8 or 9. I sure as hell don't want to see the Skywalker Twins lost without their pirate.

      I just can't see a redemption of you know who without Han alive (certainly I don't see Luke or Leia signing off on it...)

      Positive thought...yeah, I don't have one ;-)

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    7. Look, here's the picture! Apparently Topps Cards released a bunch of new shots:

      https://www.starwarsauthentics.com/iSynApp/productDisplay.action?sid=1102083&productId=1080320&isynsharedsession=Dx4dws-0uz5KQOVf-iviaR5hNszvlQxqaqh5gNyWPew

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    8. I love how they had to put her on a box... ha!

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    9. Aw.... I just wish Leia was smiling too.

      What a missed opportunity to show a couple that has been together for 30+ years and still in love.

      Now I'm just breaking my own rules ;)

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    10. I was thinking, "Couldn't they even show them holding hands? Touching each other somehow? C'monnnnnnnnn"

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    11. Erin, I was hoping for that too! (Some scene of Han surviving TFA). :'( There's even a fanfic which is pretty much like that. But he was a prisor of some other person from the new "Empire". He was able to contact Leia through the Force... But I knew nothing like that would happen because Harrison was so determined to get rid of SW and Han. He didn't really want to be in the ROTJ either. :(

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    12. lololol... I think I remember that fic... ;)

      As for Harrison wanting to be rid of Han, I think that was indeed his initial idea in filming ESB. He wanted to give the story some weight and thought killing Han off would be a good way to do that.

      But in latter years he changed his mind about that and has said on numerous occasions that he was glad it didn't happen that way. I don't have sources to hand for that, but I'm sure CV73 (or someone else) does!

      Still, it doesn't change the fact that we are all probably way more attached to the characters than some of the actors are who portrayed them.

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    13. It was only ROTJ that he wanted to die in - and it was after, I believe, he saw what was going to happen to Han - meaning he got really nothing to do ;-) (also there was a kerfuffle with Lucasfilm on Raiders promotion). The original Kasdan draft was that Han would die midway, Luke would turn dark or leave and Leia would be alone. Lucas nixed it and that's when Gary Kurtz, who'd produced since New Hope, left.

      If you watch "Empire of Dreams" which was in one of the box sets (it's on YouTube) from 2005, Harrison says "I was wrong" about asking to die.

      But it made convenient cover for Abrams to kill Han...

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  18. Just chiming in....Saw Rogue One on Monday, and it was great. It didn't blow me away but I really enjoyed it. I felt I could sit back and relax without worrying about what horrible things they might do to Han and Leia, so I was able to enjoy the ride. And it's a quite a ride. The last 45 minutes are awesome. I liked seeing a different aspect to the SW universe although I felt that we didn't have long enough with the new characters to really care about them. Oh and I thought Leia at the end was fantastic, she looked better than people had led me to believe.

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    1. I SO agree with you! ♡♡ The only thing that bothered me a little is that Leia just happens to be there and was handed the plans on a silver plate. Not so much effort before getting arrested.

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  20. I was wondering, if we're going to be sort of "done" with talking about TFA and all that fun stuff, are you going to resume the EU book reviews? I get that everyone here is getting into the au stuff, but I was looking forward to BP and Recovery!

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    1. I would actually like to get back to doing those, yes. Especially since we left off while Han and Leia are estranged and we're so close to Balance Point. It's just time consuming so I need to psych myself up for getting to it. I would at the very least like to take us through the whole NJO.

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    2. Okay. Just wondering.

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    3. I'm glad you said something though, because it's nice to know someone misses it and wants to see more of them, definitely more motivation to actually continue.

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    4. Yeah! Like I said, I know how most people here are hugging to their own aus, but I've been stuck on the EU since this fiasco and (despite the first several novels) it's my therapy. Glad to know you'l still be doing them! Thanks!

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    5. Oh! Well, in that case, allow me to add my belated thanks to you for those reviews. It had been so long since I read most of the "Legends" books (and most of my copies are now in my sister's garage 4,000 miles away), I really couldn't remember the plots or whether they were any good. Apart from CoPL, which I actually *threw away* (I don't throw books away).

      Anyway, over the past year I've been rereading some oldies and reading some for the first time that I never got around to, such as "Crucible" by Troy Denning. Your reviews have been invaluable in helping me choose which books to buy and which to bypass. ;) Thank you!

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    6. Thank you for reminding me - I've been going through the reviews as I've kinda dipped back into the EU. Although now I remembered why I stopped...

      Okay, maybe collective you will know. I'm reading around in the last books, the Fate of the jedi series. They're carbon freezing Jedi. Is there any reaction from Luke, Leia or HAN about this? I got one book but it was after. The EU FB people said "read the first one" - well, not there either.

      I'm just wondering because I see all the reasons I stopped with the EU again and why I stick with fanfic. Luke's exiled and Han and Leia are so...chill about it?

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    7. Erin, one of the first things I did after I saw TFA is re-read Crucible as a sort of therapy, and it helped tremendously.

      I am not making promises beyond NJO because I'm not sure I can bring myself to re-read LOTF series, but we'll see. I do at least recall that Han and Leia were rock solid through all of those books after the NJO reconciliation.

      CV, unfortunately I don't remember that at all. Like I don't even really remember the situation let alone potential reactions. Sorry.

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    8. I had a hard time with FOTJ. I had been hoping for a bigger reaction on the carbon-freezing from Han and Kenth drove me crazy (note my username if ever in doubt of my inexplicable Jag hatred). It was okay (I LOVED Abyss and parts of Allies).

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    9. Now that I think about it, I still don't remember Han have any defined moments of 'this is really wrong, we need to go raid the Chief of State's office' kind of reaction like we'd sort of expect from him, but I think the Order, Solos included, was very disturbed by this and they were doing everything they could to keep the "barvy" kids out of the GA's custody to avoid them being frozen like that. Being that both Horn kids were frozen, I think that's why Mirax and Corran's strong feelings were more focused on. Both were very angry and upset and Mirax was talked about a lot more, especially in Council meetings.

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    10. There were some very sweet moments in those books. LOVED Han and Leia and their granddaughter. More than slightly crazy that Jaina was nearly 40 before she married Jag. It's really too bad the plug got pulled before they could start having kids. It would've been really, really nice to see Han and Leia get to be grandparents in a normal situation where their grandkid had normal parents.

      FOTJ was SO slow moving though. it was a 9-book series that could've been 2-3 books. Hardly anything happened.

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    11. Han and Leia with Allana was super cute! I remember enjoying those moments when they'd sit together and watch the news and Allana would make some 'wise-beyond-her-years' kind of comment and it would make Han and Leia sad, but also proud.
      After reading FOTJ, I was actually looking forward to some Jaina/Jag babies. I was hoping that, if he was a father, I would learn to love Jag. ANd, like you said, Zyra, it would have been really great to see Han and Leia be 'expectant grandparents' and actually let them know that they were going to have another grandbaby and how excited they would be since they didn't get to meet Allana until she was five. I picture Leia just stealing her granddaughter/son all the time and Han complaining, wanting a turn. Or, maybe the other way around . . .

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    12. Thanks Jaina for the memory about the carbon freeze - I was waiting for SOMETHING...

      Zyra, I read Crucible too. I might have to write a tag for it eventually because at least they all ended up alive and kinda together...it's nuts, I was looking at a SW fansite reviewing the books and they were like "well, this is not how we wanted the three of them to go out" and then they were all "oh, TFA is the bestest ever..."

      Sigh.

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  21. I came across *this image by Chris Trevas* in my little collection of favourites and (since I now know we can link on this blog) thought I'd share it here. THIS is a scene that would've made the ticket price for Rogue One worth it to me.

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    1. Oh, I've seen that picture before and I LOVE it! I think I wrote a one-shot about it once . . .
      And, yes, I totally agree we should have gotten a little scene like that in Rogue One. Although, considering I went to see it on the 27 of December, I'm not sure I would have been able to handle it.

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  22. Yes! It would not even have to had shown her face! Neither did the handing of the plans if the Death Star though. But I'm ok with that brief CGI-Leia. Only her hair seems to me a tone too blond?

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    1. This was a reply to Erin Darroch about the drawing of Leia hugging her father. My comment just didn't appear in the right place.

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    2. Got it! :) It seems like such an obvious thing to do, especially if they were using CGI Leia anyway, and they had Jimmy Smits there for filming. They could have shown them from afar, having a tender moment...Ah, so many missed opportunities!

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