But that was because it looked cool. Or, alternately, ship’s gravity in the cockpit is stronger/more consistent than in the passageways.
Artificial gravity fucks up BB8’s gyros.
The X wing pilots appear to have a race car type harness in their fighters but not always. In the recent movies it does not appear that Poe Dameron has a harness. But maybe his vest is attached to the seat.
Been thinking a bit about this movie lately, and been wondering what old characters will pop up: Jabba? Boba? But what about Harrison Ford popping up as old man Han?
Here’s what I wouldn’t mind seeing: Movie opens on the Millenium Falcon in hyperspace, with Chewie at the helm. Han is telling whoppers to Rey and Finn while they’re on their way to Takodana to see Maz, and he tells them a doozy about how he first came into possession of the old rust bucket from Lando. And that frames the movie; everything we see is Han’s version of history. With Han as an unreliable narrator, it could open it up to some real fun badassery.
Plus, one of the complaints I’ve heard (and reservations I have) is that this movie seems to be telling a story that is largely irrelevant and one that no one seems to really care to see. If they were smart, they’d figure out a way to make it (even slightly) relevant to the new stories being told, perhaps by way of Han giving Rey/Finn some interesting new info to add to the plot of future movies/novel/etc.
This isn’t the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is Star Wars.
“Hey kid, it ain’t that kind of movie.” — Harrison Ford to Mark Hamill
Stranger
I’m not saying every movie has to build upon the last (I assume that’s what you’re saying), rather that this movie seems to be a dangler of a movie that doesn’t seem to have any purpose other than to be made, and there doesnt even seem to be much excitement. My idea was just a way to give it something of a purpose and place within the current story.
Anyway, I’s just late-night spitballin’.
The purpose of the movie is to make money without the risk of having to create new characters and in the hope that legions of Star Wars fans will tune in just to see Han Solo do the Kessel Run in under twelve parsecs. What nobody realizes is that Chewbacca actually flew most of the route while Solo was “in his bunk” and the resulting story is less interesting than a pod race or an Ewok orgy.
Donald Glover, however, is an inspired choice for Lando Calrissian and I’d happily see a film about Lando doing whatever he was doing before he became mayor of Floaty Metropolis because it would be an original story that no one would feel the need to tie to an offhand comment from a film made forty years ago that was never intended to set up an elaborate backstory or go anywhere.
Stranger
Alrighty; I honestly can’t tell if you’re disagreeing with me, agreeing with me, or just happen to be quoting me while offering your own thoughts on things.
I still think they could do worse things than give a scene or two in the movie to Harrison Ford considering he’s the guy who owned the character for 40+ years, and this movie has been getting what could be described, at best, lackluster press. The buzz created by having old man Han in it might off-set the year-plus of “This is gonna suck” comments. And if anyone could convince Ford to pull on his Han Solo pants one last time, it might be Ron Howard.
You’re right, the purpose of the movie is to make money. Why wouldn’t having Harrison Ford in it help do that?
Something they ought to do is, because Rogue One, Solo, and whatever may come next in the Anthology series (Kenobi? Fett? Leia? Ahsoka?) will all be set in the same era of post-prequel, pre-original-Star Wars trilogy, they should have new characters who are common across each of them to tie them together in a non-Skywalker way.
Have you seen Ford lately? Even saying that he is “going through the motions” would be generous. Star Wars has a fairly rich if somewhat inconsistent mythology that could serve to tie any story back to the overall milieu and make it feel connected. Mining nostalgia for nuggets of pre-manufactured story hooks is lazy and kind of pointless. Rogue One at least had a reason to exist; patching a plor hole from the original film aside, it was actually a decent spy adventure story, albeit with some pacing and character consistency problems. But we don’t need to know Han Solo’s backstory for any particlar reason any more than we need Sam Spade’s; he’s a rogue that shoots first and gets crosswise with gangsters named Jabba, and everything else interesting about that character came directly from Harrison Ford’s portrayal of him.
Except nearly everyone in the entire Star Wars universe who isn’t a bug-eyed alien or a stormtrooper are related to one another. It is more incestuous than the monarchies of Europe.
Stranger
That is quite a significant myth about Star Wars, which is partly responsible for the idiocy of people disappointed by Rey’s mundane lineage. The Skywalker Saga is obviously about Skywalkers. Beyond that, relatives of other characters are scarce. Sure, Boba Fett was clumsily shoehorned into the story deeper than he should’ve been, and I suppose it could be argued there’s Jyn Erso and her Dad, though that’s slightly unfair, but otherwise there is only one familial line, with a couple of branches.
That would make for an unexpected plot twist.
Rogue One worked because it was about something that mattered. Even though we’d never seen Jyn or Chirrut or any of the rest before, finding the Death Star plans was important.
Han Solo isn’t important. Or at least, he wasn’t, until he met Luke. Sure, he was probably a better-than-average smuggler, but how many thousands of smugglers were there in the Galaxy in that era?
I like this! And it’d be nice to see HF as HS one last time.
:dubious:
I loved Rogue One. But it created a plothole, not patched one. Of course the Death Star was doomed, it was a large capital ship out sans escorts against an enemy fleet, it was like Yamato once Mitscher caught up with it.
Capital ships have lots of places where little punishment can cause catastrophic damage*. The bigger plot hole is just why were the plans not split up into several parts and not encrytpted to the highest standard possible? I mean in the film, the upload is so fast, faster than most Apps get downloaded.
*Or is this not the case in the Star Wars neighbourHOOD? Their vessels were supposed to be Indefatigable and Invincible? Just like the Queen Mary?
Although a case can be made for the original trilogy of films being about the Skywalkers (or at least, father and son…the tacked on, “There is another…” failed to pay off in any capacity except adding some awkward soap opera dialogue in Return of the Jedi), in the prequels, and particularly the first two films, the story of Anakin Skywalker is basically a side quest (and one the Herbert estate should have sued over) to the main story about trade wars and secret clone armies. Many characters have been “clumsily shoehorned” into the prequels, which is unfortunate because what was really great about the setting of the original trilogy is that while each film only has four or five significant locations, the oblique references to events and people who are never on screen makes it seem like a vast galatic milieu with a rich history.
It was never really necessary to see Jabba threaten Solo and we don’t need to know all of the minor details about doing the Kessel Run or winning the Millenium Falcon in a card game; the point of both was to give the character of Han Solo a discreditable background that he is yet a bit boastful about and let us know he’s not above a bit of subterfuge and mercenary spririt, which is what makes his altruistic return at the end of Star Wars so dramatic. Filling all of this in with prequel and sidequel films rather than crafting new stories going forward isn’t just lazy; it makes the Star Wars universe feels small and incestual. And I’ll point out again that everything that makes Han Solo a charming rogue isn’t any backstory about smuggling; it was Harrison Ford’s knavish portrayal which isn’t in any script or character description. Seeing aged, “DGAF” Harrison Ford on screen with an actor who looks only vaguely like his younger self and sounds even less so is not going to add anything to a film that is already an unnecessary diversion. Now, maybe I’m wrong and the film will actually be an amazing addition to Star Wars with memorable original characters and surprising plot developments…but you know it’s not. Especially with Ron Howard at the helm; he’s a fine workman director but he’s about as innovative as a dentist.
And just for the record, I’ll point out that a case can be made for R2-D2 being the real hero of the Star Wars films. Or puppetmaster extraordinaire. Take your pick.
Stranger
Preface: overthinking anything about logic in Star Wars films can lead to migraines.
That said, the Death Star wasn’t just “a large capital ship.” In the Empire, Star Destroyers are large capital ships; they’re a mile long. As shown in the movies, they can certainly be destroyed, but it takes a lot of firepower, and / or or a lucky shot.
Darth Vader’s Super Star Destroyer, the Executor, dwarfs “normal” Star Destroyers (so, it’s easily several miles long; a canon answer for its size is hard to find). In RotJ, it’s destroyed, though, again, the impetus for its destruction is a lucky shot (the Rebels take down its shield generators, then a Rebel ship crashes into, and destroys, its bridge).
The original Death Star dwarfs even the Executor. Various sources indicate its size at somewhere between 100km and 160km in diameter. And, yes, logically, it should be flying with a support fleet, but I think that the idea was that it was so overwhelmingly powerful that it didn’t need one.
So, even if it has weak spots (other than the thermal exhaust port), maybe they’re only weak relative to its overall strength, which is far, far stronger than anything that the Rebellion has.
The upload moves at the speed of plot. Or, as my friend says, “because Star Wars.”
I get where you’re coming from, but I think it’s more important for the SW universe - and the fen - to move on. We need to begin looking at these movies/books/comics/whatever as not being all tied together. We need to see them as standalone productions with no overarching storyline. With luck we get Episode IX next year and put the entire Skywalker thing to bed for good (or at least a long time).
We need more and different types of stories in the Star Wars universe. We need rom coms, comedies, SW film noir, SW horror and so forth. We need to shake it up. It can’t all be galactic stakes in every movie. We need some smaller, more intimate films that can hold the audiences attention. Maybe try to get some more creative directors involved telling more creative stories. Imagine Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino or Taika Waititi doing a film in the Star Wars universe. It’d certainly be something different from what we’ve gotten. And that would be great.
Nah, you’re describing the MCU. Star Wars has long been about fan service and selling merchandise ever since the first Ewok appeared on screen.
Stranger
Well, you could do both like the Marvel movies. Many of the films take on different styles but still add to the mosaic of the greater plot/world building.
Except rom-com. Come on, man.