Star Wars Quirks

[DarthMaximus]

In terms of the lightsabers, initially they were to have “weight” to them.  And you see this with the slower duels in Ep 4-6 and more two handed grips.  However, by Ep 1 the introduction of Maul and the double bladed saber and to increase the action, the lightsabers weight was pretty much ignored.  So the reason given was Obi-wan was old, Vader was half-machine, and Luke was a novice.  But this doesn’t hold up either considering Dooku was at least as old as Obi-Wan (in Ep 4) and Palpatine was old as well and they could do flips and stuff.  Not to mention Yoda was 800 yrs old and could flip around and stuff.  Greivous was 100% machine and had no problem wielding 4 lightsabers so Vaders mechanical parts should not have slowed down any of his ability.

The real solution is simple, not enough thought was put into the prequel trilogy.

I think a lot was sacrificed in order to have Anakin being 10 yrs old in Episode 1.  It completely trashed the inital timeline b/c it puts him in his mid 40’s in Ep 4 and Obi-Wan in his mid 50’s however Shaw (in Ep 6) and Guinness certainly looked older.

I don’t have any problems with the sound in space thing, lightsabers, lightspeed, and stuff like that because it is a completely made up universe and cinematic device as dinosaur points out.  As long as these are used consistantly throughout the Star Wars Universe it is fine.  The issue becomes when they aren’t (ie dueling from Ep 4-6 vs. Ep 1-3).

Also there is the Qui-Gon thing.  I like Liam Neeson and the character, but the problem compared to the originals is Yoda trained Obi-Wan and was his master, not Qui-Gon.  Unfortunately this was rectified with Yoda “teaching” everyone as they start out as younglings.   :roll:  Also Obi-Wan was supposed to be reckless and thought he could do better than Yoda, which is why he trained Anakin, yet in Ep 1 he basically sided with the Council and only decided to train him when he made a deal with Qui-Gon after he was stabbed.

I still do enjoy watching Ep 1-3 but they aren’t nearly on the same level as the originals and I tend to look at them as a completely different set of movies rather than just one.

[Uberlager]

The only thing that I took issue with regarding Episodes I, II, and III is that they were crappy movies not in keeping with the feel of IV, V, and VI.

[frimmel]

@DarthMaximus:

In terms of the lightsabers, initially they were to have “weight” to them.  And you see this with the slower duels in Ep 4-6 and more two handed grips.  However, by Ep 1 the introduction of Maul and the double bladed saber and to increase the action, the lightsabers weight was pretty much ignored.  So the reason given was Obi-wan was old, Vader was half-machine, and Luke was a novice.  But this doesn’t hold up either considering Dooku was at least as old as Obi-Wan (in Ep 4) and Palpatine was old as well and they could do flips and stuff.  Not to mention Yoda was 800 yrs old and could flip around and stuff.  Greivous was 100% machine and had no problem wielding 4 lightsabers so Vaders mechanical parts should not have slowed down any of his ability.

The real solution is simple, not enough thought was put into the prequel trilogy.

I think a lot was sacrificed in order to have Anakin being 10 yrs old in Episode 1.  It completely trashed the inital timeline b/c it puts him in his mid 40’s in Ep 4 and Obi-Wan in his mid 50’s however Shaw (in Ep 6) and Guinness certainly looked older.

I don’t have any problems with the sound in space thing, lightsabers, lightspeed, and stuff like that because it is a completely made up universe and cinematic device as dinosaur points out.  As long as these are used consistantly throughout the Star Wars Universe it is fine.  The issue becomes when they aren’t (ie dueling from Ep 4-6 vs. Ep 1-3).

Also there is the Qui-Gon thing.  I like Liam Neeson and the character, but the problem compared to the originals is Yoda trained Obi-Wan and was his master, not Qui-Gon.  Unfortunately this was rectified with Yoda “teaching” everyone as they start out as younglings.  :roll:  Also Obi-Wan was supposed to be reckless and thought he could do better than Yoda, which is why he trained Anakin, yet in Ep 1 he basically sided with the Council and only decided to train him when he made a deal with Qui-Gon after he was stabbed.

I still do enjoy watching Ep 1-3 but they aren’t nearly on the same level as the originals and I tend to look at them as a completely different set of movies rather than just one.

I’d agree with this especially the part about being consistent. But when the universe isn’t that well thought out or takes on a bit of a life of its own it is almost inevitable that ‘quirks’ will pop up.

I think the other thing with the Jedi is that CGI modern special effects tech allowed Lucas to free the Jedi from the constraints of the FX of the orginial trilogy. This seems as much the origin or need to explain away the over the top Jedi powers as old men and novices.

Frankly for all the problems the prequels have the lightsaber battles save the films for me.

I had hoped the animated Clone Wars film and series would be a bit more of the samurai movie hinted at with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon but Asoka and the whole grrrrrrrllllllll power kids know better than adults thing wore thin quickly.

[Jermofoot]

@frimmel:

I’d agree with this especially the part about being consistent. But when the universe isn’t that well thought out or takes on a bit of a life of its own it is almost inevitable that ‘quirks’ will pop up.

I think the other thing with the Jedi is that CGI modern special effects tech allowed Lucas to free the Jedi from the constraints of the FX of the orginial trilogy. This seems as much the origin or need to explain away the over the top Jedi powers as old men and novices.

Frankly for all the problems the prequels have the lightsaber battles save the films for me.

I had hoped the animated Clone Wars film and series would be a bit more of the samurai movie hinted at with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon but Asoka and the whole grrrrrrrllllllll power kids know better than adults thing wore thin quickly.

When I think about the SW universe, I think about all other universe dilemmas that have happened before - comic books (Marvel), legends, even religions had had to rewrite themselves to consolidate and remove inconsistencies.

I also agree on the FX tech detracting from a good movie in general…whether they were relying on that or not.

Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars are what you seek…I think just a 2 DVD set but WAAAAYYYY better than the series based on the movie of last year (which was my son’s first movie at 2 years old  :evil: )

[Imperious Leader]

also, you would think R2D2 would be able to speak English as well as those cute sounds, because after all it had the technology to also project 3D images, but not convey language?

And where did C3P0 get his British accent? From the Death Star Officers planet?

Perhaps the planet Courasant is another word for England for the Galactic Empire.

[frimmel]

@Jermofoot:

Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars are what you seek…I think just a 2 DVD set but WAAAAYYYY better than the series based on the movie of last year (which was my son’s first movie at 2 years old  :evil: )

Tartakovsky’s shorts are pretty good. Overall the Clone Wars Film and animated series aren’t bad. I’m just a bit out of the demographic and got a little bored with them especially as I don’t get Cartoon Network in HD.  They aren’t Empire et al but I do think they are unfairly maligned as they aren’t meant to be the original trilogy.

[TripoliTriplea]

I have a friend that works in the Norfolk shipyards building CV’s.  His big problem with the SW universe is the destruction of the second unfinished Death Star in Jedi.  Being a civilian contractor on a goverment project his opinion is that the Death Star would have millions of civilian contractors running cable, routing pipe, welding in panels, etc. Even though it is an “evil” government project that doesn’t mean the poor guys sweating double time to build this massive monstrosity we’re evil. They were just trying to get enough credits to feed the wife and kids.  And all of a sudden Stan the electrician is blown to bits by the rebel alliance while wiring up the new snack machine…

Interesting tidbit on cost of Death Star:
http://rickgold.info/ds/Site/Welcome.html

[Jermofoot]

@frimmel:

Tartakovsky’s shorts are pretty good. Overall the Clone Wars Film and animated series aren’t bad. I’m just a bit out of the demographic and got a little bored with them especially as I don’t get Cartoon Network in HD.  They aren’t Empire et al but I do think they are unfairly maligned as they aren’t meant to be the original trilogy.

Nah, not bad.  But I don’t think good enough for me to think anything but “Jeez, he’s really milking this thing for all it’s got!”

@TripoliTriplea:

I have a friend that works in the Norfolk shipyards building CV’s.  His big problem with the SW universe is the destruction of the second unfinished Death Star in Jedi.  Being a civilian contractor on a goverment project his opinion is that the Death Star would have millions of civilian contractors running cable, routing pipe, welding in panels, etc. Even though it is an “evil” government project that doesn’t mean the poor guys sweating double time to build this massive monstrosity we’re evil. They were just trying to get enough credits to feed the wife and kids.  And all of a sudden Stan the electrician is blown to bits by the rebel alliance while wiring up the new snack machine…

Interesting tidbit on cost of Death Star:
http://rickgold.info/ds/Site/Welcome.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6lzEhoXads

[Imperious Leader]

Clerks was a great movie!

[Emperor_Taiki]

I never understood why the rebels were fighting back

All the Empire wanted was peace and stability, I think they had a good program.

[Imperious Leader]

Well i guess you can view the rebels as the 13 colonies and the Empire as Britain in 1776. Of course the Empire were the good guys because after all they had Darth Vader who did only good things for the galaxy.

The Death Star was a futuristic enforcer of peace in the galaxy.  Just think of what England would have become if it had the colonies to exploit for the next 200 years. Talk about no more war.

[Emperor_Taiki]

@Imperious:

Of course the Empire were the good guys because after all they had Darth Vader who did only good things for the galaxy.

Percisly

[U-505]

@frimmel:

I’d agree with this especially the part about being consistent. But when the universe isn’t that well thought out or takes on a bit of a life of its own it is almost inevitable that ‘quirks’ will pop up.

I really can’t be lenient with Lucas at all. He got fat and lazy with licensing agreements to other authors writing backstories and such, he catered Episode I more toward kids than the original fans, the comic relief looked forced, and he had over a decade to smooth over continuity issues and pump out a good story but what he came up with was woefully inadequate.

The fact is, he mailed it in. For all 3 episodes. Case in point. He even had to resort to filler scenes like the pod races just to make the movie long enough. If you took the pod racing scene out of the movie it wouldn’t have affected the plot one bit. Even the Han and Leia romance evolved during the thick of the action but he had to waste our time with cheesball love scenes between Anakin and Amidala.

I mean, Leia KNEW her mother for Christ’s sake. She remembered her but Luke didn’t. That right there suggests that not only were they probably NOT twins but that Amidala also DIDN’T die in childbirth. How do you ignore such a golden opportunity to flesh out Anakins decline yet so blantantly diverge from a concrete storyline and not piss off the diehard fans?

[DarthMaximus]

Yeah, it wasn’t well thought out.  He should have written it all as one story all at once and then divided it up for movie purposes instead of doing it one movie at a time.  Having new badguys every movie and stuff just wastes time b/c you have to introduce them and then of course he had to do double the work with Anakin b/c the first movie was set with him at 10 then you jump 10 yrs until he is 20.

I also would have liked to see Anakin joining Obi-Wan on some idealistic foolish crusade that didn’t meet with Owens ideals.  Instead we get Anakin leaving at the age of 10 and Owen isn’t even involved, and then 10 yrs later he’s already a Jedi and meets Owen and there is no connection to what Obi-Wan told Luke in Ep 4.

The Clone Wars was handled poorly too.  That should have started in Ep 1 and Anakin should have joined up with Obi-Wan to fight.  I think you could set it with Anakin at 16 yrs old (played by a slightly older actor for the sequels, so you could have one actor doing all 3 movies) but obviously extremely gifted with the force and as a pilot.  Yoda thinks it is a bad idea to train him (too old) and tells Obi-Wan not to, but he ignores the advice still trains the young Anakin and they go off to fight in the war.  End movie 1.  The War is Movie 2.  Movie 3 sees the end of the War and Anakins final decline.

The whole story is there in the first part of Ep 4 and the Yoda scenes from Ep5 and 6, but for some reason it was ignored.   :|

[Jermofoot]

Wait, who’s Owen?

[DarthMaximus]

@Jermofoot:

Wait, who’s Owen?

Luke’s Uncle.

I think in Ep 4, there is something like this exchange between Luke and Obi-Wan:

Luke:  No, my father didn’t fight in the clone wars, he was spice frieghter pilot…
Obi-Wan:  That is what your uncle told you.  He didn’t hold with your father’s ideals and said he shouldn’t get involved…

[ABWorsham4]

George Lucus’s demand for comic relief in the Star Wars series always bothered me. His use of the droid army for laughs always got on my nerves. I want to see droids that are emotionless and ruthless.

[Imperious Leader]

I want to see droids that are emotionless and ruthless.

Roger–Roger.

[Jermofoot]

@ABWorsham:

George Lucus’s demand for comic relief in the Star Wars series always bothered me. His use of the droid army for laughs always got on my nerves. I want to see droids that are emotionless and ruthless.

Yeah, honestly a droid army should be quite difficult to defeat.  You’d actually HAVE to program them to act like idiots.  If done correctly, they’d be more like a hive mind that could respond to everything you throw at them.

[Historybuff]

@ABWorsham:

George Lucus’s demand for comic relief in the Star Wars series always bothered me. His use of the droid army for laughs always got on my nerves. I want to see droids that are emotionless and ruthless.

Whats wrong with a little comic relief?

@Jermofoot:

Yeah, honestly a droid army should be quite difficult to defeat.  You’d actually HAVE to program them to act like idiots.  If done correctly, they’d be more like a hive mind that could respond to everything you throw at them.

I disagree that they would be super difficult to defeat beacause they wouldn’t be able to react as fast as humans or other beings.  I mean sure is would be difficult.  Their numbers alone would cause problems.  But no computer would be able to compare to a humans will to survive and inginuity.