I liked how thorough the prequels were about the politics, but the directive for the new trilogy was to nuke political content from orbit because of how it was received in the prequels.
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Star Wars |OT2| This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them! [OPEN TROS SPOILERS | TAG MANDO SPOILERS]
- Thread starter WadiumArcadium
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They sort of tried to find a way to keep both sides happy on this one. The amount of politics in the films mirrors the OT, but if you are really into that stuff there are books like Bloodline that go into great detail on the political makeup inner politics of the ST era galaxy.
So if you are into that kind of material from prequels its out there.
The political content of the prequels is extremely thin and often borders on nonsensical. Star Wars is not really about politics -- not in the literal sense of discussing trade blockades and holding emergency legislative sessions -- but to the extent that they are in the prequels is badly written and undermines both the story and the actual filmmaking.
Most of these things are not of import, and they can be easily understood within the film without ever reading a single Star Wars book. The vast majority of the people who watched TFA (myself included) have not read a single Star Wars book related to this trilogy and did not come out of the theater going, "Well what the heck was Bosnian Prime?!?!"
Screen time has nothing to do with fleshing a character out. Hux is a fascist commander who represents the more militaristic arm of the First Order and is clearly nothing more than a supporting character to Snoke and Kylo. I'm not certain what more nuance you'd even want or need with the character and historically speaking, such characters in the franchise have never been given much depth.
And Phasma is just like Boba Fett; a cool-looking minor villain everyone assumed would have a much more grandiose role in the films but who is, again, just a minor supporting character.
It's just indicative of how much they were shamelessly trying to copy ANH with TFA. ANH was fresh, that was why these minor characters inspired such fervor.
Nowadays it just feels lazy to not flesh out people like Snoke and Hux. Rogue One did it right, and it should be the template for any SW content.
Are we now pretending that the political content in the prequels wasn't a slog?
Regardless, the need for politics is largely nullified in the sequel trilogy, which is all about a malevolent entity striking out using sheer violence and force.
Regardless, the need for politics is largely nullified in the sequel trilogy, which is all about a malevolent entity striking out using sheer violence and force.
I enjoyed it, but I freely admit to being an outlier there.
TFA bears only superficial story beats in common with ANH. When you examine the actual narrative it's very different than ANH even if the familiar is included as an allusion to the older films. (Something Abrams admitted he did on purpose)
And no sequel to a forty-year-old franchise is going to seem as 'fresh' as the original film.
I also can't help but laugh at the claim that TFA is too much like ANH when two years later people squirted their shorts over how divergent TLJ was.
And I liked TLJ, so... you'll probably see correlation between not liking TFA and liking TLJ.
I didn't loathe it as some did but Lucas' execution left much to be desired.
I wasn't referring to you specifically but as a whole SW fandom is a constant and unending paradox.
People didn't like the prequels because they were so different from the originals yet TFA gets flak for being too similar to ANH. Then TLJ comes out and does some very unique things with the franchise we've never seen and a vocal segment of the fandom flips out.
Again, Abrams borrowed some story beats from ANH but when you really examine TFA, it is doing a lot more than copying from previous films. I think the feeling of redundancy is mostly due to the use of the Starkiller base, which just felt like the Death Star 3.0.
TFA itself handled StarKiller Base as a throwaway plot device....
The real exciting stuff was on the surface with kylo vs rey
The real exciting stuff was on the surface with kylo vs rey
Agreed and that structure is also very similar to the way the second Death Star was handled in RoTJ.
true even JJ said, in roundabout way, that nobody cared about SKB attack:
"And we're back in the forest with the story we really care about, the focus of the story which is Rey and Ren." - JJ Abrams, TFA Blue Ray Commentary
Not just a slog; the political content of the prequels was badly written tripe.
When people say they like the politics of the prequels, I have to assume they mean they liked the potential of it, because the actual execution and implementation of politics as part of the movies' plotting is bad.
People who think the prequels have "deep politics" are presumably denizens from /r/Im13AndThisIsDeep.
"Palpatine was a good and kind ruler, but secretly he was evil...just like real politicians...they want you to trust them but actually...they're evil...whoa. And then the Senate just gives him power. It's just like Hitler. Whoa. Wild."
Of course now real life politics are such a farce that they retroactively make the prequels look more prescient than they were.
"Palpatine was a good and kind ruler, but secretly he was evil...just like real politicians...they want you to trust them but actually...they're evil...whoa. And then the Senate just gives him power. It's just like Hitler. Whoa. Wild."
Of course now real life politics are such a farce that they retroactively make the prequels look more prescient than they were.
I can't decide which of these three posts I love most so you're all getting quoted without context.
Haha yesss. Perfect casting. Have him keep the hair and everything.
Except the Death Star attack in RotJ was full of drama, tension and excitement. The SKB run had none of that.
Alphabet squadron is probably my favourite new canon novel released so far! Really cant wait for the next novel to release and will download the full Tie (in) Fighter mini series once they're all available to get some of that Shadow Wing backstory
Excellent stuff!
Excellent stuff!
Sounds like the fighting should be moving in more a prequel direction then.
I disagree, though admittedly they are, narratively speaking, serving very different aims.
I like the SKB run but it feels more perfunctory than in RoTJ and clearly, the more interesting stuff in TFA is happening on the ground between Kylo, Han and Rey.
So you agree with me that the SK Base attack was perfunctory but don't agree with my point? Why? It is absolutely perfunctory and without tension. SK Base almost ruined the movie for me. In fact, with first viewing it actually did. I was so disappointed by the lack of imagination
Just because something is perfunctory (and let's face it, it was also perfunctory and redundant in RoTJ) doesn't mean it isn't well executed. I don't agree the SKB is devoid of all tension and excitement but I can feel that way and still agree it was probably the least inspired aspect of the film.
There is def some truth to what he is saying here. That said, Jar Jar was just so bad
I recently discovered Charly Bliss (I've listened to Young Enough and Love Me, like, a billion times) and now I find out that the singer's favorite Star Wars movie is The Last Jedi!? Oh my god.
The whole Soft Serve Trilogy is amazing (third one is very underrated)
Man, Manabyte's thread in OT is going as expected
My personal hot take: This is probably what the FO troopers should have looked like in the first place.
My personal hot take: This is probably what the FO troopers should have looked like in the first place.
I won't be surprised if Kylo is the leader of the First Order and the Sith Trooper are Palpatine's dudes.
OP
OP
They're actually called Sith Troopers? Haha. Have to say I'm not a fan of the name but the design's alright.
I remember Making Star Wars mentioning they'd heard 'Sith Trooper' but I presumed it was just an informal name used on set.
I remember Making Star Wars mentioning they'd heard 'Sith Trooper' but I presumed it was just an informal name used on set.
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