Official STAR WARS Saga Discussion Thread: Part 5 (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

This is very new, the worldwide release. Even The Phantom Menace I remember took a long time to be released in Europe.

Yep. I think a large chunk of the world got Attack Of The Clones in May and definitely by Revenge Of The Sith, most countries got it at the same basic time. If I remember correctly, Japan still had a longer wait for ROTS (I believe that was due to the complexity of dubbing the movie).

 

[Alex...]

 

[Alex...]

Happy May The 4th.

 

[Alex...]

Carrie Fisher receives a star on Hollywood walk of fame

 

[Sam Favate]

We've had a Star Wars weekend here, like the Memorial Days of old, since my kids wanted to get a jump start on their summer Star Wars marathon. I let them choose the order of the films this time, and they opted to start with Rogue One. So we watched Rogue One, A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back this weekend -- coincidentally, my top three favorite Star Wars movies.

(They originally chose to start with Episode IV, but then I said "What about Rogue One?" and they decided to start there. Please don't ask the order of the remaining films. I have no idea what they are doing.)

A few random thoughts occurred to me while watching:
Do we think that Vader immediately took Solo, Leia and Chewie to the torture rooms on Bespin? Or did they sit down to the meal at the table? Because if so, I would have loved to have heard that dialogue. It could have been classic old Hollywood writing where a pleasant meal turns into a heated discussion and Vader has Solo dragged away to be tortured, while troopers clobber Chewie and force Leia into her own cell. To my knowledge, such a scene was never even scripted, but it's a missed opportunity. Yes, it would have slowed down the action which is why it was never considered. ("Faster, more intense.")

What if, once upon a time, Lucas hired Quentin Tarantino to make a Star Wars film? Yoda would've sent Luke out for revenge. "All these motherfuckers, you must kill."

With the exception of the new scene where Vader leaves Bespin ("Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival..."), Empire really benefits from the special edition material. The scenes on Cloud City are absolutely enhanced with the new technology that allows for windows everywhere. And if you had a city in the clouds, you would have windows everywhere. Even the extra stuff with the Wampa is good. The scene where Vader lands on his Star Destroyer is completely unnecessary, and is clearly an outtake from Return of the Jedi; you can see Moff Jerjerrod waiting for him.

Rogue One really enhances A New Hope (which didn't need enhancing) in the way that you realize the stakes behind the plans R2-D2 is carrying. Watching them this way, I felt a much greater sense of urgency during Episode IV.

We have a busy month ahead of us (non-Star Wars stuff) so this was a jump-start on the movie series they both said they wanted to watch. We haven't done this since the summer of 2019 when we did the "12 Days of Star Wars," which consisted of Episode I, II, the Clone Wars movie, the Clone Wars micro-series (which is two hours), Episode III, Solo, Rogue One, Episodes IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII. IX wasn't out yet. This time, even though I am letting them choose the order, I am pushing to include the edited Obi-Wan movie, and the last four episodes of Clone Wars concurrent with Episode III.

 

[MattBradley]

Do we think that Vader immediately took Solo, Leia and Chewie to the torture rooms on Bespin? Or did they sit down to the meal at the table? Because if so, I would have loved to have heard that dialogue.

Robot Chicken had fun with this scene in one of their Star Wars specials. It's worth watching.

 

[Bryan^H]

My feeling for 'The Empire Strikes Back' have changed quite a bit over the years. I now think it is the weakest of the OT. It has a cliffhanger ending (something I never liked) I think almost the entire Hoth scenes are rather boring (Especially the battle against the All Terrain Armored Transports. I still love the Dagobah scenes with Yoda, and Cloud City for the most part. Also like seeing Hans Solo, and Leia forming a relationship (the best arc of the film).

I think ANH, and ROTJ are more enjoyable overall. Especially the emotion Return of The Jedi packs. Yoda final scene, and Vader's final confrontation with Luke, and the Emperor is just awesome still, and never get old.

Seeing a mature Luke Skywalker (finally) is worth it alone.

The Ewoks never bothered me, and I never understood the hate. They are savage, and ugly little critters, but they serve their purpose.

 

[questrider]

Do we think that Vader immediately took Solo, Leia and Chewie to the torture rooms on Bespin? Or did they sit down to the meal at the table? Because if so, I would have loved to have heard that dialogue.

Robot Chicken had fun with this scene in one of their Star Wars specials. It's worth watching.

 

[Alex...]

 

[SamT]

Isn't he going to play in the new movie?

 

[Sam Favate]

Isn't he going to play in the new movie?

I hate to be cynical, but this is a classic ploy to ask for more money.

 

[Sam Favate]

My son’s crazy follow-up to Empire is Revenge of the Sith, so “we can see how Anakin became Darth Vader, now that we know he’s Luke ‘s father.” Ok, whatever, but we watched it today and it’s (mostly) terrific. I was struck by a few things.

Natalie Portman sure isn’t given much to do, except stand around and be worried. Her dialogue isn’t very good either. She was a stronger character in the other films (and Clone Wars) and deserved better.

The early scene with R2-D2 fighting the super battle droids is kinda silly and slapstick, but it’s about the only humor in the film. It’s broad enough that we know it’s supposed to be funny.

Ewan McGregor gives what might be the best performance in any Star Wars movie. The scene when he first confronts Anakin on Mustafar is where he’s at his best.

I don’t believe Mace Windu died.

Ian McDiarmid is really great as Palpatine in the scenes when he’s seducing Anakin. Hayden Christensen is also at his best as Anakin; it’s not his fault the part needed to be fleshed out some more to better show his corruption to the dark side.

The movie is the most epic of any Star Wars movie. It’s got the biggest stakes, the most history, and the biggest backdrops.

Padme’s line about liberty dying to thunderous applause is eerily prescient.

 

[Sam Favate]

They’ve announced delays for Star Wars and Avatar movies. The Star Wars films are now on a 6-month release schedule, which is very promising, with the first one coming Dec. 2025, then May 2026, and Dec. 2026. (I think there’s an error in the article because other sources list the dates as May ‘26, Dec ‘26, Dec ‘27.)

The Avatar delays are much more significant, meaning James Cameron will never get to do anything else.

Disney Delays Three Avatar Sequels, Three Star Wars Movies

Since going on strike this past May, the Writer's Guild of America has put a pause on just about [...]

comicbook.com

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That’s all a bit bizarre. Avatar 3 is finished with principal photography and parts of Avatar 4 were already shot before 2 came out. That delay doesn’t make any sense.

The marketplace could not sustain two Star Wars movies coming out six months apart in 2017-2018, and that was before it was further saturated with multiple Star Wars television shows. I fail to see why it would work better with more saturation now.

 

[Sam Favate]

Maybe they want the focus to be on the films, which have got to be more profitable than the streaming shows, since the streaming service itself has yet to turn a profit.

 

[Sam Favate]

Ok, only one Star Wars film was delayed, and it is likely the one with Daisy Ridley. It has been delayed to May 22, 2026 from Dec. 19, 2025. The others that were scheduled for December 2026 and December 2027 are staying put.

‘Avatar 3’ Pushed a Year to 2025, Two ‘Star Wars’ Movies Head for 2026 and ‘Avengers’ Films Delayed

Disney made a slew of high-profile changes and additions to its theatrical release calendar, including adding a date for 'Moana,' moving up 'Deadpool 3' and pushing the fourth and fifth 'Avatar' films three years each.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I can’t imagine those will wind up being the final dates. That’s too much Star Wars, too close together. Iger admitted as much in the aftermath of Solo’s underperformance - he conceded that for Star Wars to be a cross-audience phenomenon that scarcity was important. A billion dollars’ worth of audience will come out and see Star Wars if it’s a once in a while culture dominating event, but when it’s two within a year or more, the audience that cares that much about Star Wars is significantly less than a billion dollars’ worth. But Disney has a long-standing history of holding on to dates rather than giving them up until they’re absolutely certain they won’t use it for anything, and with a writer’s strike in full gear right now, they can’t be absolutely sure of anything.

That’s why I’m so surprised they’re moving Avatar 3 back by a year. That’s ready to go and if this strike continues much longer there won’t be much of anything of that scale by anyone ready to go. You’d figure they’d want to take the opportunity of having a finished blockbuster in a moment where there might be no competition for significantly longer than usual.

 

[TravisR]

That’s why I’m so surprised they’re moving Avatar 3 back by a year. That’s ready to go and if this strike continues much longer there won’t be much of anything of that scale by anyone ready to go. You’d figure they’d want to take the opportunity of having a finished blockbuster in a moment where there might be no competition for significantly longer than usual.

Something tells me that Disney was very much in that frame of mind. Unfortunately for them, they have to put up with anything Cameron says- even when he calls up with crazy shit like "Hey, the movie won't be ready for an extra year. Sorry!" *click*

 

[Tino]

meaning James Cameron will never get to do anything else.

I don’t believe that for one second.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I too wish Disney could dictate terms to Jim Cameron on the film series he conceived, wrote/co-wrote, and directed. I like it when the execs tell the talent how to do their job. Always a recipe for success.