May the mouse be with you

[NeuroTypical]

Disney buys Star Wars maker Lucasfilm from George Lucas

Ok, Disney, there's two ways to do this. The good way, or the horrible way. We will now use this thread to let you know what should have been obvious to Mr. Lucas.

Good way: Lightsaber battles and epic visual effects are cool.

Bad way: Jar Jar generated hatred and loathing from your fans. This is not a good thing. Stop it.

[Guest SquidMom]

I liked Jar Jar. For about five minutes.

[annewandering]

Leila can change her hair to Mickey Mouse ears. Luke can get Jiminy Cricket as a sidekick. Yoda can be on Once Upon a Time. So many possibles!!!

[Wingnut]

Yoda can be on Once Upon a Time.

Hmmmm...interesting.

Speaking of OUAT and Jiminy Cricket, why is he still a human instead of a cricket?

[Backroads]

Hmmmm...interesting.

Speaking of OUAT and Jiminy Cricket, why is he still a human instead of a cricket?

Contract agreement on the part of the actor?

...oh, you probably wanted a show-world reason...

[JudoMinja]

R2D2 meets Wall-E!

[tubaloth]

In a statement announcing the purchase, Disney said it planned to release a new Star Wars film, episode seven, in 2015.

That will be followed by episodes eight and nine and then one new movie every two or three years, the company said.

Really?!?

That next Avengers has to be good now. "Just use the force Iron Man"

[Guest]

You won't believe how sad we are about this.

[skippy740]

I thought Pixar was originally part of LucasArts before being bought by Disney.

Pixar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spinout as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder.[1] The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, a transaction which made Jobs Disney's largest shareholder.

We've already seen what a success Pixar has become because of Disney.

So, nothing new here.

[Guest SquidMom]

Disney will probably handle up okay. Only time will tell.

[Just_A_Guy]

We've already seen what a success Pixar has become because of Disney.

So, nothing new here.

IMHO, the quality of Pixar films has been on a downward spiral since "Cars" - "ok", but not "great" like early Pixar (Toy Story 3 being the only exception to that trend). Disney is without equal for distributing and merchandising, but I think they're hurting the quality of Pixar's actual movies.

[Backroads]

IMHO, the quality of Pixar films has been on a downward spiral since "Cars" - "ok", but not "great" like early Pixar (Toy Story 3 being the only exception to that trend). Disney is without equal for distributing and merchandising, but I think they're hurting the quality of Pixar's actual movies.

Oh, I don't know. In my opinion, Pixar has always produce a fine film, but its greats and not-as-greats have been fairly mixed since the beginning. "Ratatouille" is my favorite Pixar film, and that was after "Cars", if I'm not mistaken--and my least-favorite Pixar film is "A Bug's Life".

[NeuroTypical]

Disney will probably handle up okay. Only time will tell.

Well yes, but "handling up ok" might mean different things to different people.

I count myself among the SW fans who felt deeply betrayed by episodes 1-3. Jar-Jar put the emperor in power? Darth Vader made C3-P0? Hey - I know - let's sit down and watch Padme whine about not wanting to fall in love while losing another layer of clothing in every dang scene throughout episode 2! Oh! Oh! Let's have the epic battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan decided by that unstoppable Jedi fighting principle of "who has the high ground"! Pathetic.

Disney has a chance to turn okay into great. Here's what we want:

* We wanna know how light sabers are made.

* We want a few KOTR crossovers.

* We don't want nobody kissin' nobody's sister for pete's sake.

* Epic space battles and alien diversity - you're doing just fine here. Don't mess it up.

* Chewie -> Ewoks -> Jar-Jar = the exact opposite way things should be progressing.

* The hand-wavy Jedi mind control thing is a meme. Treat it as such. For example, we'd like to see someone get punched in the face after trying it.

* If Yoda looked like Pres. Hinkley, introduce someone who looks like Pres. Monson.

[trubludru]

Well yes, but "handling up ok" might mean different things to different people.

I count myself among the SW fans who felt deeply betrayed by episodes 1-3. Jar-Jar put the emperor in power? Darth Vader made C3-P0? Hey - I know - let's sit down and watch Padme whine about not wanting to fall in love while losing another layer of clothing in every dang scene throughout episode 2! Oh! Oh! Let's have the epic battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan decided by that unstoppable Jedi fighting principle of "who has the high ground"! Pathetic.

Disney has a chance to turn okay into great. Here's what we want:

* We wanna know how light sabers are made.

* We want a few KOTR crossovers.

* We don't want nobody kissin' nobody's sister for pete's sake.

* Epic space battles and alien diversity - you're doing just fine here. Don't mess it up.

* Chewie -> Ewoks -> Jar-Jar = the exact opposite way things should be progressing.

* The hand-wavy Jedi mind control thing is a meme. Treat it as such. For example, we'd like to see someone get punched in the face after trying it.

* If Yoda looked like Pres. Hinkley, introduce someone who looks like Pres. Monson.

I believe you meant Yoda looked liked Pres. Kimball....

IMO the biggest problem with I-III besides the crappy writing was the reliance on CGI in almost every scene. I'm sure that led to some of the poor acting...it has got to be tough to shoot an entire movie in front of a green screen.

Best lightsaber fight in series Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul real actors real action = win. Worst lightsaber fight = Obi-Wan vs Anakin in episode III, half of it was CGI. I'll take awkward slow Old Obi-Wan vs Vader on the Death Star vs some ridiculous CGI scene of guys fighting in the middle of lava and not getting burned to a crisp......

[Guest]

Well yes, but "handling up ok" might mean different things to different people.

I count myself among the SW fans who felt deeply betrayed by episodes 1-3. Jar-Jar put the emperor in power? Darth Vader made C3-P0? Hey - I know - let's sit down and watch Padme whine about not wanting to fall in love while losing another layer of clothing in every dang scene throughout episode 2! Oh! Oh! Let's have the epic battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan decided by that unstoppable Jedi fighting principle of "who has the high ground"! Pathetic.

Disney has a chance to turn okay into great. Here's what we want:

* We wanna know how light sabers are made.

* We want a few KOTR crossovers.

* We don't want nobody kissin' nobody's sister for pete's sake.

* Epic space battles and alien diversity - you're doing just fine here. Don't mess it up.

* Chewie -> Ewoks -> Jar-Jar = the exact opposite way things should be progressing.

* The hand-wavy Jedi mind control thing is a meme. Treat it as such. For example, we'd like to see someone get punched in the face after trying it.

* If Yoda looked like Pres. Hinkley, introduce someone who looks like Pres. Monson.

Yes, this definitely means very differently to different people. I'm a gung ho Star Wars fan. Your "it's pathetic" observations are a product of somebody whose Star Wars exposure is limited to the movies. Am I correct?

The problem with Lucasfilms handing Star Wars over to Disney is not the quality of the movies. George Lucas is not the greatest director in the world even if he has an amazing vision. Star Wars is a UNIVERSE. It's not just MOVIES.

How lightsabers are built? It's not only written about ad naseum, even the aquata breather has a full set of technical specifications complete with several upgrades. The technical specifications of lightsabers are so detailed that it even explains why Mace Windu's light is purple in crystaline terms (when in reality, it is purple because Samuel L Jackson insists that his lightsaber be purple!).

Everything Star Wars goes through the Lucas filter so that every single book, cartoon, comic, movie, etc. etc. that are created falls into the universe. When Boba Fett's books came out way back when, there was such an outrage on how the Lucas filter was not as strict as it should have been to allow Boba's character to deviate from how Boba is seen in other sources (in which he only appears as a minor character) and not only that, the spy networks described in the books were just too outrageous to make sense in the Universe. The books were great - if you don't know anything outside of the books! Maintaining this Universe through all those diverse sources of a jillion contributors is very very tough. It's not perfect, of course, but it is quite impressive how consistent it is compared to the sheer size of the Universe.

Disney is great. We just don't trust that they can maintain the integrity of the Star Wars Universe.

[NeuroTypical]

Believe me, I understand about cannon and non-cannon (I'm a StarTrek geek too). My deal is that Lucas has abused his universe, deserved to get kicked out as it's lord and master, and I'm hopeful for the future from the new rulers of the universe.

[Backroads]

Believe me, I understand about cannon and non-cannon (I'm a StarTrek geek too). My deal is that Lucas has abused his universe, deserved to get kicked out as it's lord and master, and I'm hopeful for the future from the new rulers of the universe.

Amen, brother.

[Windseeker]

I've mentioned before in another thread that I remember when the original 3 came out the expression of the force and the battle between good and evil depicted felt familiar to people especially those of our faith.

The next 3 seemed almost an embarrassed apology for the bold allegory depicted in the first. Concepts of the force were destroyed with explanations of Midi-chlorians, good and evil seemed watered down as we saw Yoda change from a confident spiritual guide to a confused politician.

Jedi no longer stood as the epitome of discipline and control as we witnessed a recalcitrant emo whiney teenager with zero discipline or moral compass quickly rise to the top of the jedi order simply because he had more organisms in his blood. Jar-Jar though pathetic was the least of the problems with the recent 3.

That said I’m glad it’s out of Lucas’s hands, but I don’t have much faith in Disney.

[Guest]

I believe you meant Yoda looked liked Pres. Kimball....

IMO the biggest problem with I-III besides the crappy writing was the reliance on CGI in almost every scene. I'm sure that led to some of the poor acting...it has got to be tough to shoot an entire movie in front of a green screen.

Not quite true. Avatar was shot completely on a green screen with actor's faces converted into cgi... Lord of the Rings was shot with some actors made smaller than they really are, interacting and grabbing and fighting a cgi character in a mostly green screen world... acting is still great. There are tons of green screen movies all over. Skycaptain is a movie shot 100% in a warehouse of NOTHING but green screens that even the car is cgi'd in and yet Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow still did a super job of it.

The poor acting in Star Wars 1-3 is due to poor actors with a director who really doesn't quite know how to make poor actors act great on a drama. Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher had that spark on their own. It just comes off the screen without much help from the director. Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman do not have that spark. Hayden can be really good when matched with a good director (Life As a House, rated-R). Natalie Portman can be really good when matched with a good director too (The Professional, rated-R). But they're not powerful actors like Liam Neeson who can just pull something off on their own.

Best lightsaber fight in series Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul real actors real action = win. Worst lightsaber fight = Obi-Wan vs Anakin in episode III, half of it was CGI. I'll take awkward slow Old Obi-Wan vs Vader on the Death Star vs some ridiculous CGI scene of guys fighting in the middle of lava and not getting burned to a crisp......

Not many people will agree with you on Obi-Wan versus Anakin. For the die-hard Star Wars fan, that entire fight was not just eye-candy. It's a very emotional thing that we have been highly anticipating. And it did not disappoint. Far from it. There are so many amazing things about that duel... and that's not counting the wrenching emotional aspect of it. Just to name one, both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen performed the duel in real-time (that is, the speed in which you saw the duel is the exact same speed that the actors played it - nothing is accelerated as usually happens in fight scenes to make it more smoothly energized) but that's not what's amazing... what's amazing is that both fighers fought in their own styles consistent to their characters (Obi-wan falling to his Soresu defense to fight off Vader's anger-induced Djem So attacks) flawlessly... it gives a perfect visual to what we've been reading about in the books about the non-aggressive Jedi philosophy of the Soresu style and the more aggressive, oft used by the Sith, Djem So style.

Okay, I'm a Star Wars nerd.

[Guest]

Believe me, I understand about cannon and non-cannon (I'm a StarTrek geek too). My deal is that Lucas has abused his universe, deserved to get kicked out as it's lord and master, and I'm hopeful for the future from the new rulers of the universe.

You're kicking Lucas out for Disney????

<where's the unlike button?>

[Guest]

I've mentioned before in another thread that I remember when the original 3 came out the expression of the force and the battle between good and evil depicted felt familiar to people especially those of our faith.

The next 3 seemed almost an embarrassed apology for the bold allegory depicted in the first. Concepts of the force were destroyed with explanations of Midi-chlorians, good and evil seemed watered down as we saw Yoda change from a confident spiritual guide to a confused politician.

Jedi no longer stood as the epitome of discipline and control as we witnessed a recalcitrant emo whiney teenager with zero discipline or moral compass quickly rise to the top of the jedi order simply because he had more organisms in his blood. Jar-Jar though pathetic was the least of the problems with the recent 3.

That said I’m glad it’s out of Lucas’s hands, but I don’t have much faith in Disney.

I can see where you're coming from but I have a different view.

Midichlorians:

The midichlorians were not really a surprise... there was an indication of this in a previous book about how the Emperor can detect force-sensitive people through some force detector, although it wasn't a blood content thingee. When I read that book (can't think of the title right now, it was loooooonnggg time ago), I associated the force detector as detecting the Holy Spirit in us. So yes, the midichlorian thing kinda makes it less mysterious, but then that's what I liked about being LDS versus being Catholic - the removal of that "mystery". Symbiotic organism kinda like the Holy Spirit. Check.

Yoda:

Confused politician? Not so. Remember, 2-3 was the veil of darkness. We all know the Jedi got wiped out... so... Yoda, great that he is, can't be flawless. Good versus evil is the greatest thing about Star Wars. It's not watered down at all. It is an affirmation that good can turn evil and evil can turn good. Episode 4-6 showed how Vader went from bad to good. Episode 1-3 showed how Anakin went from good to bad. Same formula really.

Whiney emo teenager:

You gotta read the for-young-readers series Jedi Apprentice (Obi-wan as an apprentice of Qui-Gon) and Jedi Quest (Anakin as an apprentice of Obi-wan). It's not just about midichlorians. And while you're at it, also read the New Jedi Order (Luke's Jedi Academy). It gives a good contrast of Yoda's jedi philosophy and how Luke changed it to be more "in the world but not of the world".

[Wingnut]

KOTR

:confused:

[Guest]

:confused:

I think he meant KOTOR.

[Wingnut]

Yeah, that still doesn't help.

Edited October 31, 2012 by Wingnut

[trubludru]

Not quite true. Avatar was shot completely on a green screen with actor's faces converted into cgi... Lord of the Rings was shot with some actors made smaller than they really are, interacting and grabbing and fighting a cgi character in a mostly green screen world... acting is still great. There are tons of green screen movies all over. Skycaptain is a movie shot 100% in a warehouse of NOTHING but green screens that even the car is cgi'd in and yet Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow still did a super job of it.

The poor acting in Star Wars 1-3 is due to poor actors with a director who really doesn't quite know how to make poor actors act great on a drama. Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher had that spark on their own. It just comes off the screen without much help from the director. Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman do not have that spark. Hayden can be really good when matched with a good director (Life As a House, rated-R). Natalie Portman can be really good when matched with a good director too (The Professional, rated-R). But they're not powerful actors like Liam Neeson who can just pull something off on their own.

Not many people will agree with you on Obi-Wan versus Anakin. For the die-hard Star Wars fan, that entire fight was not just eye-candy. It's a very emotional thing that we have been highly anticipating. And it did not disappoint. Far from it. There are so many amazing things about that duel... and that's not counting the wrenching emotional aspect of it. Just to name one, both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen performed the duel in real-time (that is, the speed in which you saw the duel is the exact same speed that the actors played it - nothing is accelerated as usually happens in fight scenes to make it more smoothly energized) but that's not what's amazing... what's amazing is that both fighers fought in their own styles consistent to their characters (Obi-wan falling to his Soresu defense to fight off Vader's anger-induced Djem So attacks) flawlessly... it gives a perfect visual to what we've been reading about in the books about the non-aggressive Jedi philosophy of the Soresu style and the more aggressive, oft used by the Sith, Djem So style.

Okay, I'm a Star Wars nerd.

I have to disagree on a number of points....some of the most notable flaws in LOTR is the use of body doubles for hobbits and the reliance on more and more CGI towards the end of the trilogy that looks faker and faker. Fellowship used less CGI and more sets and feels more realistic and led to the producers and directors making less stupid choices with the story, unlike ROTK. Even the small things like Denethor running apparently several hundred yards while ablaze - possible because of that dang CGI. Not saying that they could have made the movies without CGI and body doubles but.....

And I believe Sky Captain is known more for its visuals rather than the performance of its actors or story (no matter how good its actors are in other films. Same thing with Avatar...the only really great thing about that movie is the visuals....the story and acting were nothing special, IMO a very higly overrated film.

This flaw is even more pronounced by Lucas in I-III films - just throw a lot of crazy visuals in and you will dazzle the audience, nevermind the lame storyline with poorly directed actors. And you prove my point in III, the best parts were the live action of Hayden and Ewan going at it indoors in the conference room (which I give full credit to), but then that is completely ruined by the horrible aftertaste of the ridiculous CGI lava scene. Finished with "I have the high ground" - when did that matter in the rest of the fight? And Obi-Wan also turning into a complete tool and leaving his protege to slowly burn at the edge of the lava.

And I and most old school (IV-VI) SW fans I know or have met had very little emotional attachment to Anakin or any of the characters by the time that scene arrived....I just wanted the ridiculous story to end. Movies in 5 seconds on youtube tells the story just as good and without wasting as much of my time. Anakin (in flat monotone): "I'm good." Sidious: "Not you're not." Anakin: "Ok."

No offense intended in my remarks, I'm just trying to tell it how most fans who grew up on IV-VI see I-III. We will never see very many redeeming qualities in I-III no matter how much cool EU stuff is tied to them, becase as some else stated they contradict or diminish most of the stuff that made IV-VI good.