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ImpAtom posted:In a universe where he's given infinite time and no interruption I think he stood a chance, but dude was about to be gang-rushed by Storm Troopers. I always thought those guys were just bored with guard duty and wanted to go and watch the laser sword fight.
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Oct 1, 2015 18:28
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Fun fact: Luke, Han and Leia don't get shot by Stormtroopers on the Death Star because they purposefully let them escape so they could find the Rebel base. They even said it in the movie. Though while I haven't ever worn a Stormtrooper helmet, I imagine it isn't exactly easy to see out of one. I think Palpatine decided to sacrifice his army's vision so that they look cool and imposing. Imperial engineering being a huge joke is probably the most realistic thing in Star Wars. The Death Star's exhaust port, large slow walkers easily tripped by cables, troopers that can barely see and wear bright white even on a forest moon making them stick out like a sore thumb, TIE Fighters having no shields or life support, their ships and space stations have a ton of huge pits with no handrails...
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Oct 1, 2015 19:02
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Gammatron 64 posted:Though while I haven't ever worn a Stormtrooper helmet, I imagine it isn't exactly easy to see out of one. Probably not. quote:Imperial engineering being a huge joke is probably the most realistic thing in Star Wars. The Death Star's exhaust port, large slow walkers easily tripped by cables, troopers that can barely see and wear bright white even on a forest moon making them stick out like a sore thumb, TIE Fighters having no shields or life support, their ships and space stations have a ton of huge pits with no handrails... There was a one-shot comedy story in an issue of Star Wars Tales where Tarkin and the Death Star's designers present their plans to Palpatine, and he complains about exactly that.
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Oct 1, 2015 19:43
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That's a classic. I posted that video on facebook before and said it was the new Episode VII trailer.
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Oct 1, 2015 21:59
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Gammatron 64 posted:
In one of the old prop cross sections books for Star Wars, I remember it basically saying Stormtrooper helmet eye piece interface was something like electronic wireframe mode or something. The guys in the Republic Commando game clearly got the better deal.
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Oct 1, 2015 22:13
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Gammatron 64 posted:Though while I haven't ever worn a Stormtrooper helmet, I imagine it isn't exactly easy to see out of one. So graceful... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0DuUnhGBK4 EDIT: Holy poo poo that ammo belt! 
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Oct 1, 2015 22:21
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Dick Trauma posted:I don't think so. The point was to delay Vader so Luke could escape, and when that was done he let Vader whack him so he could be a glowie and stop having to deal with things like hemorrhoids and sand people vandalizing his moisture vaporators. Obi-Wan, Vader, Yoda, Qui-Gon (but only in Force Peyote dreams)... who else?
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Oct 2, 2015 04:49
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Keiya posted:Obi-Wan, Vader, Yoda, Qui-Gon (but only in Force Peyote dreams)... who else? I think that's it so far in the new canon. In the old EU, there were lots and lots and lots... http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Force_ghost#Known_Force_ghosts
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Oct 2, 2015 05:46
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When I did my rewatch a short while ago, I tried the Machete order and skipped Episode I, to see how it would work. Now, I'm going back and rewatching Episode I for the first time in ages. Years, really. I'm not even sure if I rewatched it - or at least not the whole way through - when I got the DVD, which would make it at nearly 10 years since I watched it. My memories of the film are very different from those of the other two prequel films. I remember those as films I went to see in the cinema when I was 11 and 14; I remember The Phantom Menace as a massive, overwhelming event rather than as a movie. I remember Darth Maul being the coolest character anyone had seen, and I remember the huge raft of tie-in material I had ("WOULD YA LIKE SOME FRESH DRIED CHOKIE?!"). I think it's a more... I don't know, would "distinctive" be the right word? If that's fair, a more distinctive film than the other two. It's not perfect, of course. I'm well aware of the various critiques, but I guess it feels more like Star Wars than the other two, if that makes sense? I mentioned recently that the sword fighting in this movie is something I like - AOTC is fine but there's not really a great deal of it, I think, while I'd say I enjoy two of the five duels in ROTS (Anakin and Obi-Wan vs Dooku, and Mace vs Sidious). I know Lucas's aim was that the prequels would show the Jedi at their peak, but I think in Episode III, it sometimes came off as a bit too busy and hard to follow (especially Obi-Wan vs Grievous). Yes, I've also seen the video that slags off the lightsabre duelling in Episode I, but to me, it looks a lot more energetic and kinetic without being too whirly-twirly and everything. EDIT: Actually... You know what? I think this is probably a better movie than either AOTC or ROTS. I've certainly enjoyed rewatching it a lot more than the other two, and for me, that's as good a metric as any. 
Wheat Loaf fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Oct 3, 2015 |
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Oct 2, 2015 23:14
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Yeah, my problem with the machete order is that Ep. 1 seems to be objectively a better film than the other two prequels. Honestly, I'd get more out of rereading the movie novelizations and watching the OT. Also, I like the more substantial, hacking lightsaber duels in the OT better than the elaborate gymnastics of the Prequels. The OT lightsaber seems to mimic the heft of a broadsword. As someone who does a lot of research into military history, the "degraded" OT lightsaber duels seem to me to be more straightforward, soldierly-- all the participants are soldiers, not warriors and have long since cut out the dramatic flair and movements of the peacetime Jedi. Put another way, it's like the difference between the foot soldier samurai during the Warring States Period and the swordsmen of the more peaceful Edo era of Japan. Darth Vader and Luke develop as soldiers who have to put their lightsaber to use in a civil war, more often than not against non-saber wielding opponents, whereas the Old Republic Jedi had the leisure of developing elaborate schools of swordsmanship over thousands of years of mostly acting as police.
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Oct 3, 2015 12:49
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Right. In the OT, you've got Luke, who's mostly self-taught with a lightsabre; Obi-Wan, who's an old man now; and Darth Vader, who's basically a walking iron lung. So if you're looking for an in-universe justification, of course they're not going to be able to do all the whirly-twirly stuff - I think the most acrobatics you get in the OT is when Luke somersaults over Vader's head in the carbon freezing chamber on Cloud City. Of course, the real reason, according to Mark Hamill, is that the lightsabre props in the OT were like "the sword Excalibur" and they were just way too heavy to do anything elaborate. 
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Oct 3, 2015 14:28
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A lot of people say Episode I is the worst because it has the most Jar Jar, but honestly I'd say it's a more well-made movie than the other two. These days, I see more and more people come to agree with me on that. I think most people can agree that AOTC is the worst, hands down.
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Oct 3, 2015 15:03
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Wheat Loaf posted:Right. In the OT, you've got Luke, who's mostly self-taught with a lightsabre; Obi-Wan, who's an old man now; and Darth Vader, who's basically a walking iron lung. So if you're looking for an in-universe justification, of course they're not going to be able to do all the whirly-twirly stuff - I think the most acrobatics you get in the OT is when Luke somersaults over Vader's head in the carbon freezing chamber on Cloud City. IIRC Hamill said the prop lightsabers were light and that he suggested one-handing them, but it was Lucas who insisted that the lightsabers were Excalibur-heavy.
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Oct 3, 2015 16:46
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure the lightsaber props have always been thin plastic sticks.
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Oct 3, 2015 17:19
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The sabers in A New Hope were not. They had spinning reflective tape poles and were battery operated. The cords are hidden in Obi's sleeve.
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Oct 3, 2015 17:27
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Pththya-lyi posted:IIRC Hamill said the prop lightsabers were light and that he suggested one-handing them, but it was Lucas who insisted that the lightsabers were Excalibur-heavy. Really? Haha, wow. I was pretty sure it was the other way round! Edit: Haha, this was a bit of a low-content post. Sorry. I had my first "proper" afternoon at the gym today and I'm still a bit light-headed (and my arms feel like noodles). 
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Oct 3, 2015 17:31
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The big thing for me about Phantom Menace is that it feels more "real" than the other two films, and that is helped substantially by the numerous sets and location shooting done for them. They still built a set out in the desert, and more prop buildings than CGI backgrounds. Attack of the Clones was made at the dawn of digital film making, and it has not aged well at all. The scene between Obi Wan, Mace and Yoda in the temple looks ungodly terrible.
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Oct 4, 2015 23:51
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There's also to consider that The Phantom Menace was far and away more of an epic space adventure than it was Politics and the Economy in the Republic, which was not executed in a terribly interesting fashion (save for one good line in ROTS). Which isn't to say politics can't be interesting, it's just that George wasn't able to make the grade.
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Oct 4, 2015 23:59
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Strobe posted:There's also to consider that The Phantom Menace was far and away more of an epic space adventure than it was Politics and the Economy in the Republic, which was not executed in a terribly interesting fashion (save for one good line in ROTS). Which isn't to say politics can't be interesting, it's just that George wasn't able to make the grade. Which one are you thinking of?
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Oct 5, 2015 00:39
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Wheat Loaf posted:Which one are you thinking of? "This is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause" would be my guess.
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Oct 5, 2015 00:43
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It's sad how throughout the prequels there are little gems of really good dialogue or single scenes that remind you of 1970s Lucas, but they stick to mind all the more due to what they're surrounded by.
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Oct 5, 2015 01:54
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"Your focus determines your reality." Needless as Qui Gon was in the grand scheme of things, Liam Neeson did put an effort into his role.
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Oct 5, 2015 01:59
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Pththya-lyi posted:IIRC Hamill said the prop lightsabers were light and that he suggested one-handing them, but it was Lucas who insisted that the lightsabers were Excalibur-heavy. Someone should have told Lucas that a bastard sword weighs 1.3-1.6 kg, an one-hand-sword between 800g and 1.2 kg. You can get plenty acrobatic with real world swords, it's just that it was pretty dumb to expose yourself that much without full plate armour.
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Oct 6, 2015 09:27
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I always interpreted the lightsaber fight in A New Hope as a combination Obi-wan just stalling while Vader takes a deliberately conservative strategy as an extreme correction to being burned for being over-aggressive last time (pun intended). I also realize this isn't any different to prequel fans jumping through all sorts of logical hoops to convince themselves the story makes sense, but there you go. One thing I never did understand was why does Obi-Wan's lightsaber seems to short out at times. If it's a special effects gaffe, then why didn't George ever fix it in any of his Special Editions (granted I stopped keeping up with all the changes, so I might be out of date)? On the topic of the hypothetical weight of a lightsaber, my theory is that part of the technology gives the blade section artificial mass, which would put the center-of-gravity at the hilt (it can't be the Force allowing Jedi to effectively control it otherwise Han would have sliced his foot off while trying to cut open his Tauntan). That's my two  s
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Oct 6, 2015 21:22
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What do you mean shorts out?
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Oct 6, 2015 21:24
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ImpAtom posted:What do you mean shorts out? You can clearly see the prop pole in the core of the lightsaber several times throughout the duel. They sorta kinda half-assed a fix for it...but its still pretty bad.
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Oct 6, 2015 21:26
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SirPhoebos posted:One thing I never did understand was why does Obi-Wan's lightsaber seems to short out at times. If it's a special effects gaffe, then why didn't George ever fix it in any of his Special Editions (granted I stopped keeping up with all the changes, so I might be out of date)? I don't think the things George changes has any connection to bad special effects, he probably just watches the movie and certain things just bother him. They could easily have put a rock in front of R2-D2 or put in a sound effect of a guy stepping on a Lego back in 1977. If he wanted to fix real problems he'd get rid of the boxes around all the spaceships.
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Oct 6, 2015 21:28
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ImpAtom posted:What do you mean shorts out? There's one part of the fight where Obi-wan's blade just retracts right back to the emitter, like he forgot to charge it up that morning.
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Oct 6, 2015 21:30
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SirPhoebos posted:One thing I never did understand was why does Obi-Wan's lightsaber seems to short out at times. If it's a special effects gaffe, then why didn't George ever fix it in any of his Special Editions (granted I stopped keeping up with all the changes, so I might be out of date)? The justification I recall reading somewhere (probably second-hand on Wookieepedia) is that Vader's attacks were strong enough that they shorted it out temporarily. quote:On the topic of the hypothetical weight of a lightsaber, my theory is that part of the technology gives the blade section artificial mass, which would put the center-of-gravity at the hilt (it can't be the Force allowing Jedi to effectively control it otherwise Han would have sliced his foot off while trying to cut open his Tauntan). See, one little EU detail that's stuck in my mind for far longer than it deserves comes from one of the Jedi Apprentice books where Obi-Wan doesn't have his lightsabre for whatever reason, and ends up embroiled in a proper sword fight with the young heir to a planet's throne, and although he has the Force to guide him and enough knowledge of fencing techniques to keep up, he's still disadvantaged because the weapon is much heavier than any he's used to.
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Oct 6, 2015 21:55
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Wheat Loaf posted:
Man; if you're gonna delve into my childhood memories and pull out that much nostalgia, warn me first.
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Oct 6, 2015 22:33
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When everyone else my age was into Animorphs, I was into the Jedi Apprentice series. The various Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor photoshops they used for all the covers are a bit dodgy in retrospect, though.
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Oct 7, 2015 00:51
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Wheat Loaf posted:When everyone else my age was into Animorphs, I was into the Jedi Apprentice series. Some of them were obviously publicity stills and the rest were really really badly manipulated publicity stills.
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Oct 7, 2015 01:41
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jivjov posted:Some of them were obviously publicity stills and the rest were really really badly manipulated publicity stills. Hey, The Fight for Truth and The Evil Experiment have great cheesy covers.
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Oct 7, 2015 03:19
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I liked how the second one (The Dark Rival) cropped Qui-Gon out of that one shot of him fighting Darth Maul in the desert and added a drawing of Xanatos on the other end.
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Oct 7, 2015 08:10
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So the end of the Servants of the Empire series is infuriatingly vague about what was happening to Dhara.
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Oct 7, 2015 10:24
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Wheat Loaf posted:I liked how the second one (The Dark Rival) cropped Qui-Gon out of that one shot of him fighting Darth Maul in the desert and added a drawing of Xanatos on the other end. Or simply the fact that they called his enemy loving Xanatos. Interestingly, however, Xanatos was from Telos, which most people now remember from KOTOR 2.
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Oct 7, 2015 13:30
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It's curious how some of the young readers stuff percolated into the rest of the EU - obviously a lot of the Jedi Prince series never really became as prominent, but Xanatos turning to the dark side and leaving the Jedi was the subject of one of Dark Horse's last comics, and I think one story arc from the Jedi Quest series had a comic adaptation. And, most obviously, the characters from YJK came to the forefront in the NJO, at least until the whoever was responsible for the direction at the time decided, "No, Luke, Han and Leia are still the main characters; send the next generation into deep space, turn Jacen evil and write Jaina like she's still 17 even though she's closer to 40 than 30." I'm thinking once I finish the Laundry Files up to the current paperback, then this Neil Gaiman collection I have, I might go on a bit of a Star Wars binge. You know, try out all these books I read like 10 years ago, maybe even report back here if I end up doing it. Might be fun to try. 
Wheat Loaf fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Oct 7, 2015 |
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Oct 7, 2015 13:44
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I grew up on Jedi Prince, ToTJ, and the essential guides, which all had very similar illustrations that looked really loving cool. It was all very West End inspired. Sad to see that style go away and be replaced by the more streamlined designs from the prequels forward. Also, Galaxy of Fear. Wasn't there a book where Jabba straight up ate a guy?
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Oct 7, 2015 17:24
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Never read Galaxy of Fear - it was the CYOA one, right? Sort of like Give Yourself Goosebumps? Because for quite a while, Wookieepedia's quote-of-the-now was Dan Wallace joking about how each chapter would end with a line like, "Tash stepped off the freighter, and suddenly heard a blood-curdling scream!" then the next one would start something like, "But it was only a cat." Sounds plenty like Goosebumps.
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Oct 7, 2015 17:29
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New Essential Chronology had some great artwork in it. And then it also had artwork where Gondorian Jedi charged the Mumakil at the battle of the pelennor planet. But it also had the Iwo Jima flag on Coruscant.
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Oct 7, 2015 19:57
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