Born in the 70’s, raised in the 80’s, both Star Wars and Star Trek were key parts of my childhood. Captain Kirk and Han Solo were both critical Alpha Male examples for me growing up, living in a lower middle class, suburban environment in an extreme left-wing city where real-life Alpha Males were rare.
I absolutely loved the original three Star Wars movies as a child and got the toys (what few my parents could afford, that is) just like other boys of Generation X. I also loved the 1960’s Star Trek as a child and watched it whenever I could on TV. I ended up watching every episode of the entire series several times over.
In the 90’s, it just got better. Star Trek: The Next Generation was a fun show, Star Trek Voyager was okay, but Star Trek Deep Space Nine became one of my all time favorite TV shows of my entire life, to this very day. When the Star Wars prequels came out in the late 90’s, I enjoyed them too. Though there were many extremely disappointing aspects with those movies, I still liked watching them to a degree.
That brings us to today. Man. Things are very different.
Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas for $4 billion, and needed to make that money back. Paramount also needed cash from declining movie ticket sales. So both companies started cranking out Star Wars and Star Trek content that ranged from absolute crap to barely okay but nothing like the source material. And the crappy content keeps coming. Numerous new Star Wars and Star Trek shows and movies are being produced and planned, with no end in sight. Overexposure on overdrive. Add in all kinds of blatant left-wing, SJW bullshit to both franchises and, well, now it pretty much all sucks.
I reviewed Star Wars: The Force Awakens here. The summary is that it was one of the worst movies I’ve seen in a very long time. It essentially retold the entire story of A New Hope by introducing all kinds of worldbuilding aspects to the Star Wars universe that made absolutely no sense. On top of that, you had all that “women are great at literally everything” left-wing bludgeoning, which again made absolutely no sense. I even tried watching the movie a second time at home to give it a second chance… I hated even more on the second viewing.
At the time, most people disagreed with me and said that TFA was a good movie. Today, it looks like most people have calmed down the irrational nostalgia and have admitted that it wasn’t very good. The biggest argument against me at the time was that I had to wait until more Star Wars movies came out before I judged TFA, since these films would somehow magically explain why virtually nothing in TFA made any sense.
Okay, challenge excepted. The Last Jedi comes out in a few weeks. If that movie doesn’t explain at least a lot of stupid shit in TFA, then I will consider Star Wars as officially dead. But I will wait until watching The Last Jedi before making that pronouncement. Based on the trailers, it looks like more of the same stupid shit recycled from the original trilogy, but I want to at least give it a chance so I’ll wait until I see the movie.
I reviewed Rogue One here. The summary is that, unlike TFA, Rogue One is actually an entertaining movie with some fun moments. The problem is the SJW shit remains (once again we have a tiny little woman who is literally good at everything and easily beats the shit out of multiple armored men double her size). Moreover, the characters were absolutely horrible. Star Wars is a series marked with good, interesting characters. Even the prequels had some really cool characters, particularly the villains. Rogue One didn’t have one, outside of the robot. If the only good character in your movie is the funny robot, then it’s not a Star Wars movie.
The JJ Abrams series of new Star Trek movies are okay and entertaining to a degree, but they’re not Star Trek. They’re not even close to Star Trek. These new Star Trek movies are Star Wars movies with Star Trek spaceships. That’s it. Star Trek is not a heavy metal, action-packed romp full of gorgeous, wisecracking superheroes. Yes, there’s action in Star Trek sometimes, but it’s mostly about ideas and deep characters. Quick, name three or four really good ideas or deep characters from the last three Star Trek movies! You can’t.
The new Star Trek: Discovery TV show is… well, it’s dreadful. I was honestly excited about it. Really, I was. The trailers for it looked good. Then I watched it. Fuck. I felt like throwing up. It’s dark, depressing, stupid, boring, and reeks of left-wing, anti-right wing bullshit. (And I’m not even right-wing.) The lead character is not only boring, but actually off-putting and irritating. All the other characters are terrible. The plot is stupid. The Klingons look and act literally nothing, and I mean this now, literally nothing like Klingons from the original show and movies. The special effects are really great, but everything else is just wrong.
I couldn’t get past four episodes before I gave up on the series. Fucking terrible.
Even if all of these new movies and TV shows for Star Wars and Star Trek were decent, the sheer amount of new content pouring out of Hollywood to cash in means we’d still eventually get sick to death of this stuff. And I’m already sick to death of it because 80% of it absolutely sucks.
I’m not going to get melodramatic and say stupid shit like “Hollywood raped my childhood,” because they clearly didn’t. But Hollywood has killed Star Trek, and I’m pretty sure it’s about to kill Star Wars in a few weeks, which is already bleeding to death on the operating table.
Oh well. At least we’ll always have the old movies and TV shows which were actually good.
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03toyoda
Posted at 05:14 am, 6th December 2017Much like what happened with the new Ghostbusters movie. Now, Sony is scrambling, trying to figure out what to do with the franchise.
PK
Posted at 05:22 am, 6th December 2017I’ve noticed that just the marketing alone for the new Star Wars franchise has increased exponentially ever since Disney bought it. Everywhere I look, there is some Star Wars tie-in with a product or service. Enough already.
Wayn
Posted at 05:30 am, 6th December 2017I think it’s important to note that Luke had a character arc that made sense.
He was whiny and almost useless in the first film, barely competent in the second, and pretty bad-ass by the third.
In TFA, you get a lead who can fight anyone (and win), repair anything, escape on her own, and can fight with a lightsaber and not lose any body parts. She also doesn’t need to learn any lessons or take any advice.
Where can they go with the character except make it even more bad-ass?
epi
Posted at 07:04 am, 6th December 2017Seth Macfarlane’s The Orville is more Star Trek than Star Trek.
Tony
Posted at 08:19 am, 6th December 2017With TFA I felt like I was living in crazy town. I couldn’t agree more with you on it, and Wayn has a good point as well. As much as people hated the prequels, the heroes still had flaws and developed. Although they didn’t show it, they said Anakin had never won a pod race in the first movie, was no match for Count Dooku in the second, and lost again to Obi-Wan in the third.
They also had a plot completely different from the originals, which is good. I was incredibly disappointed when they had yet another death star in TFA. It was already stretching it when they had a second death star in Return of the Jedi, to do it a third time in a brand new movie is inexcusable.
CT
Posted at 09:45 am, 6th December 2017If Rey doesn’t go dark then TLJ will have failed.
Flushing out Luke should be interesting. He’s the most powerful Jedi in lore but we’ll see how that works out in film.
I found great satisfaction in the last two minutes of Rogue One but it was a slow movie building up to that climactic moment, which paid huge fan service. Loved it. The rest of the movie sucked.
Low expectations for future SW movies other than furthering the story.
blueguitar
Posted at 10:55 am, 6th December 2017Disney has increased production value and is using different directors, which are both good. But they have potentially not maintained consistency/continuity within the Star Wars universe, which is short-sighted financially and artistically. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroactive_continuity
And they’re potentially reusing some major plot lines, which is also not a good long-term strategy. Especially when there aren’t many to begin with.
Is Disney using the Marvel strategy with Star Wars? A James Bond?
Star Wars doesn’t have as much content to draw from (to my knowledge) as Marvel. It looks like maybe a 100-200 books or so. But Marvel has over 30,000 comic books for storylines and characters. And they probably already know which storylines and characters are the most popular.
And, yes, there’s issues with the Marvel stuff too, but it doesn’t have the same history as Star Wars, so expectations are different. Star Wars was major cinematic game changer, whereas Marvel entered the big screen after decades of writing comic books.
The James Bond route desn’t really work either for Star Wars. It might, but I don’t think you can have another actor play Luke, Hans, etc.
Ultimately, Star Wars needs more cool new storylines/characters/actors to keep the universe going, unless they do what they did with James Bond, etc. I think Disney is “settling” for good quality material but not really trying to hit home runs, from a filmmaking/storyline angle.
If I had bought the Star Wars franchise from Lucas, I would have created a more grassroots buzz before releasing movies.
– Create/employ a group of historians to catalogue all the current details about the Star Wars universe. For new releases and contest winners, the historians would also maintain consistency/continuity within the history and “physics” of the universe
– Every year offer very good prize money for the best stories, comic books, plays and videos – for short stories, character studies, and longer stories.
– Using some of those stories, I would create a bunch of short 20-40 minute movie-quality releases for free/discount with an email signup for sale for $1-4. It would be with new characters. You could easily get a list of 10+ million people, I imagine. Maybe release one every 1-2 months.
– The short format would also allow the filmhouse to create multiple story lines and characters to be referenced at a later date.
– Others would be published as books, etc. Both individual books and series would be created, with high standards. Some would be for sale, some free for members. One of the problems with much of the Star Wars material in the past was that it seemed somewhat disconnected and not part of a bigger picture.
– I would do the same with the soundtrack stuff and for homemade movies…
– After 2-4 years of creating a richer universe and generating buzz, I would start to create the feature length films, possibly drawing from the new pool of acting/writing/directing talent.
– Much of the peripheral merchandise would be created in house to maintain high standards and partially marketed through the free membership site (email list people, etc).
– The membership site could have all sorts of cool upgrades and prizes for fans, like different VIP levels (they have VVIP now) would get you an invitation to premiers, maybe certain sets, maybe even small cameos, etc…
– For any action hero roles, actors would have to do non-life-threatening action hero tests, like obstacle courses, more combat training, team stuff (even just paintball/lasertag or something haha) and basic survival stuff. I think that stuff comes through on the big screen.
– Also, I would have more team building stuff for cast and crew before production started with the theory that better chemistry makes better movies. Using actors and crew from the shorts would allow, in part, for chemistry to develop.
– On the corporate side, I would create more of a meritocracy/old-school Google-like environment for new development (not saying that Lucasfilm wasn’t that way or not, I don’t know) and try to create a strong culture to continue high-quality filmmaking. I would increase long-term profit-sharing, as opposed to big payments upfront, to motivate long-term investment from everyone.
Some Casual
Posted at 11:03 am, 6th December 2017They’ve sold out mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Caleb Jones
Posted at 11:35 am, 6th December 2017Yes, it is.
Too bad I dislike that show too.
Want to know something shocking? When they wrote TFA, the didn’t even have an outline for the other two movies. They just made it up as they went along, with no greater story beyond TFA. Insane.
Dave from Oz
Posted at 05:47 pm, 6th December 2017“The lead character is not only boring, but actually off-putting and irritating.”
I’m surprised you liked Voyager, then. Janeway had a Katherine Hepburn battleaxe voice, and an irritating habit of telling her subordinates how to do their jobs. “Switch to metatron detection mode!”, she’d tell the scanner operator, whose job it was to know when to switch to metatron detection mode. Picard was the quintissential opposite of this micromanaging.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 07:45 pm, 6th December 2017I didn’t love Voyager because of its horrible reset button at the end of every episode, plus a few other glaring problems, but there were a few episode runs I liked.
I agree with what you’re saying about Janeway but she never got on my nerves. If anyone bothered me on that show it was Harry Kim (lame, do-nothing character) and sometimes Paris (lame, one-dimensional character and a really weak actor).
David
Posted at 09:53 pm, 6th December 2017Hey Caleb, what do you think about the possibility that Quentin Tarantino may take the helm of the next Star Trek movie?
Might be fun to watch Kirk go full “Django” on some Klingons.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 10:26 pm, 6th December 2017I just heard about that this morning. That would be fucking fantastic… if they let him do it and if they don’t water down his shit or change his ideas, which I find very unlikely.
Jack Outside the Box
Posted at 11:48 pm, 6th December 2017Neelix! I prayed every night for him to die. When my prayers weren’t answered, I became an atheist. Best decision I ever made!
Investor
Posted at 02:44 am, 7th December 2017Also with The Force Awakens the huge problem was the lack of a satisfying villain. That is one of the main signature thing of Star Wars. The villains are super cool. In TFA the villain was totally uninteresting / pathetic.
Investor
Posted at 02:49 am, 7th December 2017I actually like the JJ Abrams star trek films. True its got totally different vibe than previous star trek but if you ignore the name and dont expect more than a high octane action flick its really great. Something to watch with a pack of beers when you just want nice effects and action and not in a mood for paying attention to the plot too much. Same reason why I love Pacific Rim. In the first of these star trek movies I like how they managed to make the ship look both nice and shiny (future) but at the same time kinda not that shiny and not that super far future – making the jump back to the original start trek timeline after being exposed to sterile corridors of Voyager seeing all the pipes in engineering was awesome.
Investor
Posted at 02:53 am, 7th December 2017By the way do you mind explaining why? Considering how we seem to have a lot of similar tastes and ideas I find this very surprising. I always thought of deep space 9 as the most uninteresting and boring star trek and I thought it was generally considered that way by the star trek community. If you have such positive experience of it maybe I missed something or maybe it was the age when I tried watching it so I’d like to know what was so cool about it.
Makeshift
Posted at 04:59 am, 7th December 2017“I’m not going to get melodramatic and say stupid shit like “Hollywood raped my childhood,”
That’s something only those who grew up watching Dragon Ball can say.
JFUNK
Posted at 08:12 am, 7th December 2017Here’s what you say:
Here’s what your review says:
You’re certainly entitled to change your overall evaluation, but it is most definitely a different one.
Eric smith
Posted at 08:38 am, 7th December 2017I enjoyed Jedi Academy and the Heir to the Empire trilogies…they added a dimension to how intense the Empire was and exploring the force.
I found it odd that that stormtrooper used the lightsaber in TFA
ohh well.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 10:45 am, 7th December 2017That’s pretty much what I said. I don’t disagree, but it’s not Star Trek. The same could be said about TFA. It’s a well done movie that ruins Star Wars.
LOVE Pacific Rim, but Pacific Rim doesn’t shit all over an wonderful existing franchise.
Unlike almost all of the other Star Trek’s, DS9 follows an arc, and it’s a really good one. Deep, rich, multidimensional characters, that actually change throughout the show, and that includes the villains. Much darker and more realistic plot. Competent, intelligent, interesting villains. Much more dark/grey characters than normal Star Trek allows. One of the best shows ever made in my opinion.
If you don’t like DS9, you’re probably talking about the first two seasons. Completely ignore those; don’t even watch them; they’re horrible. Start with the final episode of season 2 and go from there.
The rest of that review explains that comment.
Nope. Just like I just said above, TFA is a very well done, well executed movie that makes no sense and ruins Star Wars. (And yeah, I disliked it even more on the second viewing.)
HankMoody2.0
Posted at 12:14 pm, 7th December 2017I find it hilarious that people get so caught up in the Mary Sue argument about Rey. One can point to any fantasy series where there is an all-powerful energy of some kind the characters can tap into and make the same argument.
I tend to think part of the uproar is that Star Wars started as a wish fulfillment from a male POV and now has shifted to become one from a Female POV starting with this reboot movie.
Is she insanely overpowered? – Yes of course she is. She’s hyper competent to the extreme but this is star wars and it’s basically wish-fulfillment from a 12 year old perspective. Let’s not forget that “The Force” doesn’t really seem to follow any rules. Basically the force can be used as a plot device to allow characters to do anything. For all we know she got those amazing force abilities because Luke embedded them into the lightsaber. Like instant training like in the matrix. Not realistic at all but again this is fantasy wish fulfillment so anything goes.
Would it have been better if they brought her along more slowly? – Absolutely. It would have added to the realism but again this is fantasy so realism isn’t the goal.
Having said that I would be intrigued if she ends up becoming the real baddie and goes to the dark side. That would be an interesting twist. Doubt it will happen though.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 12:28 pm, 7th December 2017No they can’t, because these energy forces follow a certain ruleset. The Rey character completely violates the implied ruleset of the prior films. Note the comments above about how hard Luke had to work, and how long it took him, to do the things Rey masters in just a few days.
Sure, that’s part of it, but not all of it.
Completely incorrect. Jedis can’t shoot lightning out of their hands, but Sith Lords can. Sith Lords and Jedi can move things with their minds, but can’t fly. Intense use of the force causes physical exhaustion. Mastery of the force takes years and years of training, starting from a young age. And so on.
Believability in a magical force means you establish (or at least imply, which is what Star Wars does) a set of ground rules, and then you stick with them. If you refuse to do either of these things, your story sucks.
Investor
Posted at 02:26 pm, 7th December 2017That makes sense, I didn’t get that far because of how bad the start was.
This sounds exactly like Battlestar Galactica (the new version). Not sure if you ever mentioned it somewhere but its really excellent stuff and I would say it has several very alpha characters. An example that good cinema still exists.
This like you said depends a lot on what they do in the next movies. Because for example you could say that Star Wars is basically a saga about one family and that shes the result of this bloodline which was manipulated by the dark side to create the ultimate all powerful Sith. Now all thats left is to see her fall to the dark side, which the trailer hints at. If they go that way it would be pretty awesome.
Really? What about the major female roles of the princess in the privious trilogies? Only difference is those didn’t wield a lightsabre.
Yoda can. Also not all Sith could do that, only two as far as I remember in the movies. This is related to the knowledge of the force nothing to do with which side.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 02:41 pm, 7th December 2017Yes, BG is fantastic. I just re-watched the entire series with my daughter about a year ago. There were aspects I didn’t like (the nihilistic attitude about it and the weird thing about how super-evil characters suddenly become friends with the humans), but hell yes, it was a very, very good show. DS9 is very similar.
By the way, the original BG is also really fantastic. I re-watched that a few years ago and was very impressed at the writing. People often dismiss it as a Star Wars ripoff, and on the surface level it is, but it’s much more than that.
Nooooo. No, no. no. That’s what the Star Wars fanboys used to defend TFA and it’s weak and insane as fuck. “Hey, you can’t say my movie sucks! You have to wait six more years for the other two movies, and THEN you’ll like it.”
C’mon. Imagine if George Lucas made a fucked-up first Star Wars movie and then said that to everyone? Or if James Cameron made a stupid Terminator movie and said that?
It’s bullshit. A movie can introduce mysteries, but it must stand on its own and be good all by itself, or else it’s a shitty movie.
And I will repeat there was no outline for the other two movies when TFA was made, which means if they do what you’re suggesting and magically make Rey some kind of bizarre, one of a kind exception, it’s a retcon just to answer the haters, not a result of quality writing. Retcons are stupid.
(And even if they did have an outline, it wouldn’t change what I’m saying.)
No, he can’t. He can re-direct lightning thrown at him, but he can’t shoot it out of his hands.
Man, we’re really in nerd territory now. 🙂
HankMoody2.0
Posted at 02:47 pm, 7th December 2017I’m curious as to how she broke the ruleset? Granted she does everything at a much faster rate but could not some of that be that she’s like the Mozart of the force? It’s like someone having a greater facility or talent. I know we’ve all met people like that. They’ll just pick up something like right away whereas it takes most people much longer. Like I said in my earlier comment I think she’s ridiculously overpowered and it’s not realistic but that’s not breaking the rules necessarily. Plus because we’re guessing the implied rules of the force so there can always be shortcuts/cheats/rules we’re unaware of.
Since the rules are never spelled out in the movies and are implied it’s difficult to tell if those are actual rules or just standards. This gets interesting as we know that Yoda can absorb lightning and redirect it. Possibly can also generate it but chooses not to. Some of the books set in the universe show that Jedi can shoot a different version of lightning but choose not to because it may lead to the dark side if you’re not careful. The capabilities of the force are supposed to be unlimited so it would make sense that there are some things that some individuals can do that others can’t.
I agree with you that in order to make a good story there should be established rules that you stick too. However with Star Wars are we just sticking to the implied rules based on the movies? I know a lot more is fleshed out in some of the novels I’ve read that are set in that Universe and include a lot you’d never see in the movies. Supposedly in one instance Luke uses the force to redirect a black hole. This is a level beyond anything we see in the movies.
Btw..What put you off the new Star Trek? I grant that’s definitely much more action oriented and the main character is kinda of a “Data” ripoff but some episodes are quite enjoyable. Though my one irritation with Star trek series is how they keep going back in time instead of going forward! Is it too much to ask for the series to go forward into the future?
Investor
Posted at 03:57 pm, 7th December 2017We dont know that actually, the movie didn’t confirm or deny, but my point was that unlike other Jedi, Yoda actually seems to have enough knowledge of the force to manipulate this kind of stuff, suggesting that it was to do with knowledge rather than being light vs dark, especially the comment of Count Duku at that time “It seems this will not be resolved by our knowledge of the Force”.
The thing with most Jedi is that they reject some of the knowledge or do not go deep enough, but the Sith study both aspectz of the force that’s why they are generally more powerful as was suggested by Sidius in Ep III. Yoda though is one of those few Jedi who really went deep so I wouldn’t be surprised he could do such stuff.
Just think of Ep I (Phantom Menace). Actually seems pretty similar. Though Ep I still had an original story and satisfying villain, unlike the new installment. But I’ve read you actually liked the villain in the new movie… geez (the reasons you give are sound but that type of villain does not fit in Star Wars…).
By the way I like JarJar Binks and I love the fan theory that hes the Sith mastermind that is behind everything. What would make the next movie totally awesome would be that he makes a comeback and is revealed to be the main antagonist. If they do that I dont care what else is in the movie, its a 10/10.
Who do you mean exactly? As I remember there was only one who could not be considered morally grey and he never became friends with humans.
What do you think of Vikings (TV)? Some of the characters are pretty badass, though most of them are one dimensional. Also there is a series called Dracula which had only one season from a few years back, the lead character is a badass alpha.
I miss the story line with the Borg.
Way of Man
Posted at 02:53 am, 8th December 2017The new Star Trek movies are very enjoyable if you can shut your brain off and just accept them as kind of a stand-alone separate thing. And I say this as somebody that I absolutely loved Next Generation and DS9
I have always felt like Star Wars was a little bit overrated in the first place. I feel like it was a decent story with groundbreaking special effects that came out at just the right time. George Lucas IMO is the benefactor of fortuitous timing.
I did see the first of the newest movies because my girlfriend is actually a bigger Star Wars Homer than I am. And even she didn’t really have any interest in seeing the other two. When you make the main character automatically powerful and able to get the upper hand on the primary antagonist, what’s the point? Why am I watching? The answer is, because it’s Star Wars and people spend their money on any stupid bullshit as long as it has the name attached.
Investor
Posted at 03:03 am, 8th December 2017Because she will turn to the dark side – if yes then the rest can be pretty awesome.
Johnny Clay
Posted at 10:26 am, 8th December 2017(Disclaimer: I have not watched any trailers, nor have I read anything about The Last Jedi, as I am avoiding spoilers. So I am not sure if anything that has so far been revealed about Episode 8 contradicts any of my fan theories.)
The derivative nature of TFA was a very deliberate decision on the part of the filmmakers. With $4 billion at stake, and much of the original fan base disenfranchised because of the poorly-received prequels, TFA was not a movie where risks were going to be taken; the filmmakers needed to win back many of the fans. The franchise needed to be recentered and regrounded in the tone and feel of the ORIGINAL trilogy (a desert planet, a snow environment, new Death Star, plot from the original Star Wars, etc.) TFA also avoided referencing ANYTHING from the prequels.
Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote the screenplays for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) was brought in to work on this one. He was well aware that bits and pieces of the original films needed to be scavenged for the new one to work, that this film needed to inhabit the frame of the originals. So in a bit of “meta” screenwriting, Kasdan creates a main character who literally scavenges inside ships seen in the original films, taking objects and wearing a pilot helmet like ones we’ve seen before; she even inhabits the hulk of an old imperial walker. The filmmakers are letting us know that their own scavenging is a carefully deliberated decision.
Regarding Rey, there is a very widespread fan theory that she has been extensively trained in the ways of the Force (presumably by Luke) when she was younger, but is unaware of her “past life,” possibly because she had her memory wiped or suppressed somehow (like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in “Total Recall”). What happened in “Force Awakens” was her rediscovery of her latent abilities.
In addition to her presumed Jedi training, Rey has spent considerable time living in a hostile environment on Jakku and has a great deal of experience in quarterstaff combat as seen early in TFA. At the end of the movie, she does not defeat a foe who is more powerful than she is. She could never fight someone as powerful as, say, Darth Maul. But she has a duel with Kylo Ren, someone with the same training she has (likely) had, by the same teacher. Kylo Ren is still fairly young — he has temper tantrums, and is very susceptible to mistakes (note his lack of judgement in abandoning pursuit of the map). These are really just young kids fighting — JJ Abrams made sure that their fighting styles were not too overly choreographed, more reminiscent of Luke in the original trilogy, rather than the more experienced Jedi characters in the prequels.
Leaving questions unanswered, mysteries unexplained, and characters ambiguous is good storytelling, as we’re left wondering what’s going to happen next. We’ll find out next week whether the franchise is in good hands.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 10:57 am, 8th December 2017As has been explained several time above, she learned techniques in a matter of days that every other Jedi portrayed took years of practice to learn.
I explained that in the article.
Agree 100%. The new series should have been set post-Voyager, set in the same universe, with the same aesthetics, just somewhat updated. Not yet another prequel where they literally change everything to the point where it’s clearly happening in a different universe.
In seven Star Wars movies, how many Jedi have you seen shoot lighting out of their hands? All I can go on is what they show me or don’t show me. (And I’m not interested in the books, even though I’ve read a few. Once again, you can’t mandate that certain books be read for a movie to make sense.)
I agree but that will never happen.
And you’re proving my point; fucking fan theories are actually better than the stories we see up on the screen. It’s pathetic.
The exact same Six character who, in the first episode, murdered a baby in her crib and was responsible for nuking the entire planet Caprica, is friends with the humans by the end of the series. I know that sounds insane, but re-watch it carefully and you’ll see. That’s just one example; I could name many others.
Grey and dark characters are great, but they have to make sense within the story.
Never gotten around to it. My TV viewing time is extremely limited.
A. You don’t know that and you’re only guessing.
B. More importantly, it won’t matter if she turns to the dark side if in the third movie she becomes good again, which is what is most likely to happen if they go that route. This is Star Wars, not Game of Thrones.
Correct. And what they did was demonstrate how gullible Star Wars fans are. If all you do is make a well-done remake of A New Hope and throw an old Han Solo in it, and that gives your fans huge boners about how great that movie was, that says something about your fans… how easily they are duped. I hate to say that, but it’s true.
Yep. The Last Jedi is the deciding factor, at least for me. But man, it has so much weirdness to explain (Why are they still using X-Wings and Tie Fighters 35 years later? Where did the First Order get all this money and power? Why do they call it “The Resistance” when they’re in charge of the entire galaxy? Why do they have little to no funding and everything is old and run down? Etc, etc, etc), that odds are low it’s going to pull it off. But I’ll keep an open mind until then.
Investor
Posted at 11:17 am, 8th December 2017Its been a while but as I remember Six had more than one personality, not all the copies were the same and some of the Six behaved differently, you saw that to some extent with the others also. Also at some point is unclear which one is which, plus shes not completely one sided: she kind of saved Gaias at the start even though she didn’t need him anymore.
It matters because then we can enjoy the last jedi and ignore episodes 7 and 9. Same as with the prequels, many people enjoy eps 2 and 3 but ignore 1. By the way Anakin didnt turn back until the very end of ep6 and even that was not really turning back if it wasnt for his son..
No, I am hoping – its the only thing that would pull me back, otherwise I am done.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 11:29 am, 8th December 2017Nope. You can track exactly which Six character is which. I did. It’s the same one. Again, go re-watch the series and/or refer to the info websites on it, which will confirm what I’m saying.
That’s a strange viewpoint, but okay. I don’t feel that way at all. I can’t “ignore” the first and third installment of a trilogy. But if you can, great.
Johnny Clay
Posted at 12:23 pm, 8th December 2017The X-Wings and TIE Fighters in TFA were there to maintain the feel and consistency of the original trilogy (BD you mentioned in your own review for the new movies that it was cool seeing the old ships again), but they also shouldn’t just be the exact same ships. This is why we now see next generation models, like the new T-70 X-Wing Starfighters used by the Resistance, and the new TIE Fighters where the pilot and gunner are back-to-back in the cockpit.
The First Order is not starting from scratch; they rose out of the remnants of the fallen Empire. One of the first questions JJ Abrams asked at the outset was, “What would have happened if the Nazis all went to Argentina but then started working together again?”
The Resistance is not the same as the Republic; they’re more like a splinter group that is fighting the First Order. We never see the Republic in TFA except for a brief glimpse of the Hosnian system before it is destroyed by Starkiller Base. The Resistance does not have support or funding from the Republic (though I would assume the Republic will be entering the war in the new movie, since the First Order destroyed their capital planet!).
Caleb Jones
Posted at 01:00 pm, 8th December 2017Duh, that’s exactly what I’m saying the problem is. In an effort to make a remake of A New Hope, the people behind Star Wars created a universe that literally makes no sense. Seriously, they should have just remade A New Hope instead of setting it 35 years later. I wouldn’t have loved that either, but at least it would have made sense and maybe I would have enjoyed it more.
The questions I asked above about the universe making sense must be answered in-universe. And if The Last Jedi doesn’t answer at least some of those, I’m done with Star Wars.
That doesn’t answer why they became so rich and powerful in a galaxy ruled by their mortal enemies.
Where is any of this explained in the movie?
If your answer is that I have to read a book or watch some documentary, then you’re proving the point I’m making.
david
Posted at 09:00 pm, 8th December 2017I’m gonna be super traditional and say yes, the Star Wars from the 70s-80s were awesome. Hans solo was so cool, and James Earl Jones was intimidating as hell. I’ll never forget when he chocked that guy without touching him and then I pretended to do that to my sister for months from across the room! Then 15 years later…
Jar jar binks happened.
So that sucked and every Star Wars since has sucked. I was even ANGRY with what they did to Hans Solo in that last one. That was bullshit.
With Star Trek, the answer is obvious: William Shatner and Patrick Stewart are great actors to watch! The new guys all suck. Use all the special effects you like, but acting takes the cake.
Gil Galad
Posted at 03:43 am, 9th December 2017This is one argument I disagree with, same as in the TFA review article.
Any Sci Fi story that is clearly set millennia post-steam engine needs suspension of disbelief from the viewer/reader for why the whole thing still hasn’t undergone any kind of technological singularity, and the better authors have been aware of this since as early as the 50s. And they put the brakes on progress one way or another (eg Herbert in Dune, by flat-out removing machines), or they just don’t do anything and implicitly ask the reader to accept that in this universe, cumulative technological progress is not as inevitable as in ours. Besides, Star Wars is very soft scifi and the “technology” in it is pretty ridiculous, so if we buy that we’ve already agreed not to care too much about the logic of tech/design progress.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 11:23 am, 9th December 2017Then why did the ships look different in the prequels?
Eoin
Posted at 03:09 pm, 9th December 2017One thing on how well the new BSG came out. Its creator, Ron Moore was a senior writer on DS9. I suspect his version of the show was a reaction to the “reset button” of Voyager. I loved the fact that the Galactica got more beat up as it went along.
But my personal favourite remains Babyon 5. What a show! Cheesy at times but it had ambition.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 11:38 am, 10th December 2017Correct!
Me too!
B5 is one of the best sci-fi shows in all of human history. It pretty much ties with DS9. Hell, DS9 actually started off as a B5 ripoff.
I will write an article about B5 soon; I’ve wanted to for a while. It’s an amazing accomplishment despite its downsides (like the cheese factor).
Johnny Clay
Posted at 05:09 pm, 10th December 2017I just rewatched TFA in preparation for TLJ and I have to make a correction to my earlier post. I previously stated that “The Resistance does not have support or funding from the Republic,” though it’s made clear in TFA that the Resistance is indeed supported by the Republic. It’s also implied that they are separate but related groups. The Republic government is headquartered on the Hosnian system (which is destroyed by Starkiller Base in TFA), while the Resistance is headquartered on the Ileenium system.
epi
Posted at 09:34 am, 11th December 2017Have you seen the trailers for the Altered Carbon tv show? I’m excited for that. Good book too.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 12:03 pm, 11th December 2017It honestly doesn’t look very good, and I’m not optimistic with Netflix lately, considering how they just fucked up Punisher (again), but I’ll give a few episodes a try.
Investor
Posted at 06:28 am, 12th December 2017What do you think of the star gate series?
Investor
Posted at 06:35 am, 12th December 2017I am not into Netflix nor was I ever interested in that. Never mind the content, the mere fact that it is only available in some regions is beyond pathetic. If I buy subscription and then travel somewhere and try to access my content and it says its not available in that region then wtf?! Not to mention I don’t think they have any business trying to find out what my location is…
Besides I prefer to either use physical blu rays or download stuff, maybe I am old school in this but thats how I like it, no interruptions, can watch the stuff while traveling etc.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 12:48 pm, 12th December 2017I tried it but didn’t like it. Too silly / lighthearted. Almost like a comedy.
VPN. 🙂
I hate phyiscal media. Worst case I will buy a blu ray or DVD, rip it to my own collection, then sell the thing on ebay. That way I have digital movies without breaking any laws. Whenever I travel, I just copy whatever movies or shows I want to watch on the plane to my laptop and I’m good to go. Sucks less battery power too.
epi
Posted at 09:41 am, 13th December 2017The Altered Carbon book is so good though, high testosterone too. Among the best first two chapters I’ve ever read.
Investor
Posted at 09:41 am, 13th December 2017From moral stand point this is the same as pirating it because you sold the original copy. For me there is no legal issue with downloading it without paying for (at least in my region I dont care as its not enforced) and especially with torrents since when you seed less than 100% you could argue you didnt take anything just made it harder for downloaders so you are helping the copyright people 😉 but I do get the moral stand point as paying at least sometimes for the art.
I like the plug and play aspect of it and you dont need to hassle with storage and or codecs and just works in good quality on my surround sound system, plus it keeps the shelves full and I can just look and see what I wanna watch, though in my case its mostly a few good movies I like to rewatch sometimes in good quality or to chose together with my dates to watch together.
Yes but thats extra effort, why? I am paying for a service, it should just work… might then as well just download stuff from torrents.
Yes its less serious (and less nerdy) than star trek for example. Its good to have a variety. It also varies a lot from episode to episode, some were literally a comedy, it was my type of humor so I liked it. First few seasons the story is slow and not that interesting but the later seasons were epic, the tone changes a bit also and the charachter development is huge. I would not rewatch the first 4-5 seasons probably but I would rewatch the last few, so I guess to new comers Id say to start at season 5 or 6, maybe even 7. Thats for SG1, Atlantis was a bit more nerdy though still is a comedy, and stargate universe is a totally different stuff, it almost feels like BSG sometimes, it has a slow start but started to get better and better, shame it was cancelled.
Then theres always Firefly. I am pretty sure that is your kind of thing.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 11:52 am, 13th December 2017Incorrect. The company who made the movie got their money from me. If you download it without paying for it, they don’t.
That is only a valid argument (sort of) if you would never have watched the movie anyway, and only watched it because it was free, but if you actually liked the move and definitely wanted to watch it again, you are indeed stealing the content if you download a torrrent without paying for it. That’s not cool.
I agree, but as I’ve said thousands of times, the world isn’t about should. It’s about is.
Yes, I liked the movie but never delved into the show. It’s on my list to try one of these days.
Investor
Posted at 01:24 am, 14th December 2017Yeah but if I have a choice to pay or not pay I am not going to pay for something that isnt optimal. It doesn’t make sense to me to pay extra for an inferior and more limited version.
The series is very episodic so I haven’t finished it but it is quite good, in fact better than the movie.
There are two different things here: there is traditional stealing, like you take something and it isn’t there anymore and the merchant cannot sell it anymore. Then they lose the money equivalent and it is a clear theft. With digital content it is still there of course, so one can only talk about missed revenue, but that only assuming that the person downloading it would have bought it otherwise, which rarely the case. But indeed if you really liked the movie and want to watch it again it is a good idea to buy it in some form. Then I feel it is covered from all angles.
Yes but if you sell it after wards you are officially supposed to also sell to the same person (or just destroy) all back up copies. It is not just the license stand point but also also ethically because now the new person who bought it from you is the one who would have otherwise bought it directly and you are just transferring the money to the company via you, so you shouldn’t have the copy anymore. I agree its not exactly same as just downloading it but its kinda similar to me.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 11:11 am, 14th December 2017I don’t give a shit about any of that. All that matters (at least to me) is that the original creator receives payment for their services.
Investor
Posted at 12:28 pm, 14th December 2017Yeah I get that argument but my point is that the guy who buys it from you second hand was able to buy it second hand because of you and other wise he would have had to buy it new, so your net contribution here is zero, so its the same as just downloading it, unless you argue that you help to promote the content, which I could also argue with downloading it, though I can see its not quite the same. But downloading is a lot easier.
joelsuf
Posted at 09:04 am, 15th December 2017Why do I not think of such obvious things like these? lol
Anyways, I’ve been over the Star Wars hype for quite a while. I never cared for the franchise in the first place. Right out of the gate I knew it was Anti-Nixon propaganda, which I suppose was fair at the time, but now its become anti-anything right leaning propaganda, which is silly. I’d be saying the same it if was any other form of propaganda.
Star Trek follows the same kind of narrative, but is a bit more discreet tbh.
epi
Posted at 10:36 am, 18th December 2017I like the Firefly TV show much more than the movie. There’s only 14 episodes.
Michael Freeman
Posted at 03:02 am, 10th January 2019Thanks for this article. I thought everyone had gone mad and I was the only sane one left !
So they changed the formula. Just like the formula for beer, if you ain’t making that alcohol then your product is not going to sell. The same with Star Trek and Star Wars. What is the formula that made Star Trek so enormously successful ? The films, the 9 season TV shows ? Star Wars; The way Lucas bought in the connection to the mythological hero story which is the underlying “secret” of the Star Wars formula. So, with the new films and TV shows. It’s pretty basic. As with the beer, if the formula does not work eventually they will fail financially. No more “Star” products and they ultimately will be sold to new companies WHO WILL take the time to examine the original formula.