Star Wars: Emperor Paul Saltines Karate Killings

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Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Sweaty black trooper jumping into frame was pretty confusing and looked like it was from a fan film. Something about the lightning, I don't know. Rest of it looked great. I love the idea of Star Wars ships in atmospheric battles onscreen instead of just in the video games. New saber looked awesome with its effects and ugly blade.

Also:

teagone posted:

High res shot of the lightclaymore

Click for embiggening

Tiny thing that I love is that you can see the blade glow on the mists rolling by and especially on the bad guy's hands. It makes it look much less after-effect-y and fake and I love it. Lightsabers are rad as gently caress and the new X-Wings with the split half-wings are rad as gently caress and oh man I didn't think I'd get to be excited about a Star Wars movie again after I saw III in college.

Caros posted:

The funny thing is that this is actually more useful. The cross hilt is pointless because any blow that you attempt to catch on it will just roll down into the point where the two blades meet, slice through it, and go cloud city on your hands.

Yeah this, I don't see how they're supposed to work as an actual crossguard since anybody could still just cut through the part where they meet the hilt. So either they'll address that or the mini-blades are gonna be used as a stealth weapon and not a crossguard. Or they're just exhaust from a totally :black101:

janky old-school saber like some people have suggested.

Hazo fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Nov 28, 2014

# ¿ Nov 28, 2014 17:43

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 04:00

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Caros posted:

Except that a lightsaber has an all around edge, will instantly cut through anything and will thus rip cleanly through the two inches of metal.

Frankly I do kind of hope they redesign the guard before the movie release. The worse part about it for me is the fact that it is clearly something that could be pragmatic with only a little bit of effort. For example, if you removed the top half of the cylinder on either side of the main hilt, you could have the 'guard' filling its function while keeping the same general aesthetic.

Or just have a little emitter piece come up and project the guard perpendicular close to the main blade without intersecting it. There I fixed it without magic lightsaber-proof materials or "plasma locking" or whatever bullshit

OR: like I thought originally, it's not supposed to be a functioning crossguard. It's gonna be used for a cool stabbing scene or it's a cool venting bit. Or it's just supposed to look intimidating and scary. Either way I don't see how they'd put it on there and not do something with it because the people making the movie probably aren't idiots.

edit: I hate myself for putting in the three minutes it took to make that in photoshop

Hazo fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Nov 29, 2014

# ¿ Nov 29, 2014 08:20

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Nessus posted:

I hope that dark forest planet was Endor, possibly burned out by Death Star wreckage.

It would make a certain sense if someone was hunting down Sith stuff, since Endor was where the last two Sith died. Vader's spirit presumably moved on, but I somehow doubt Palpatine's did.

There was that Kyp dude from the awful Kevin J Anderson books who went to Endor and took Vader's helmet. I don't know why they'd bring that into the new movies though.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2014 21:52

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

oddium posted:

The only reason Vader's lightsaber isn't red at that point is because Obi-Wan has to give it to Luke 20 years later

Milky Moor posted:

People keep saying this but the films could have been written in a way where, say, Anakin leaves his blue saber behind somewhere and when he shows up for the final battle he has a red one. Obi-Wan is going to lie about it either way.

It's not even the same lightsaber. This has bothered me unnecessarily for years and nobody else seems to notice or care.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 23:09

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

oddium posted:

Hmmmmmmmmmmm I think you're wrong ??

Nope.

Anakin Episode III

Luke Episode IV

They're similar, sure, but definitely not the same. Along with a bunch of smaller things nobody would really care about, the switch is on the opposite side and there's an entire chunk missing between the switch and the black wiper-blade-looking things on the pommel. Maybe there's some EU bit about Obi-Wan getting bored and loving with it in the desert or something but it's not the same weapon.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 00:39

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Effectronica posted:

There isn't, but I'm not sure how to chalk this up, given that the changes are unlikely to be seen on the films. Maybe it was lengthened to fit Hayden Christensen's hand?

See I'd be ok with this explanation, but they still market the replicas and they look totally different.

RBA Starblade posted:

You know, these look really uncomfortable to hold.

I have the Anakin replica and it's actually somewhat comfortable. I only got it because it looked way more comfortable and aesthetic than Luke's which is how I noticed the difference in the first place. Then whenever I pointed it out people would just act like I was insane.

edit: vvv That's still got the chunks Luke's doesn't, and as I said, I have the replica and the picture I posted is accurate regarding the switch placement.

Hazo fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Dec 5, 2014

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 00:50

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

GATOS Y VATOS posted:

Ah here you go. I figured they just made a new one for Hayden since the Graflex's are collector's items now and it was probably more prudent to just CnC a bunch of new ones so they had all the props they needed.

Yeah most likely. If you're going to machine a new one might as well make it more comfortable and cooler-looking. I guess I'm just surprised that nobody's concocted some dumb official EU explanation for it.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 01:59

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Madurai posted:

Commence spergation on what the sequence numbers on the cards are hiding!

Midichlorian counts

edit: in thousands, obviously

# ¿ Dec 11, 2014 22:55

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

That looks pretty awesome. But I thought nerds disliked over-the-top highly choreographed fights in Star Wars? Or are those just the Star Wars fans who hate Star Wars? Or is it just totally not the same thing because Reasons?

Hazo fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Jan 5, 2015

# ¿ Jan 5, 2015 22:25

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Pook Good Mook posted:

To me it's the difference between fights where the actors look like they are actively trying to destroy someone vs. over-choreographed nonsense like Obi-Wan and Anakin spinning lightsabers back and forth on a table.

Think the difference between ROTJ when Luke is clearly trying to just kill Vader and any scene where Yoda fights in the prequels.

I guess I don't see it. The vast majority of the duels in the prequels have the characters going for killing blows (yes I know we've all seen that stupid gif and we all agree that particular part is dumb). I can see where you're coming from on the Yoda fights because Yoda wasn't actually there so of course those looked stupid, but stuff like Obi-Wan vs. Maul and Obi/Anakin vs. Dooku all has about the same level of over-choreography as the fights in that YouTube video. The fights come off as people putting weapons or limbs right where they need to be for the other person to counterattack because that's exactly what's happening, whether it's a guy spinning a lightsaber or a skinny girl twirling hammers over her head.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2015 23:28

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Cnut the Great posted:

Hayden Christensen ended up being a pretty competent swordsman too--probably just as competent as Ewan McGregor, if not more.

Say what you will about the fight when it gets to the lava river, but the beginning of the Mustafar fight is pretty amazing. It's not sped up at all--they really did everything that fast.

Lightsabers aren't supposed to weigh that much, and I'm pretty sure that's what the actors/stuntmen have been told ever since Empire. The only movie where they seem heavy is A New Hope, and that's because 1) the lightsaber props were much heavier and 2) Lucas hadn't fully made up his mind about lightsaber physics yet.

They're lightsabers, after all.

Exactly, this is what confuses me when people whine about the prequel fights feeling "weightless" or "choreographed" -- it's because the weapons are weightless and the fights are choreographed. Compare that to that Raid clip with the guy whipping around an aluminum bat like it's a wiffle ball toy and nobody says a word.

To be clear my position is that I think they're both examples of fun stylized fast-paced fight choreography and it'd be baffling to complain about (or exalt) one and not the other. The only "prequel fights are dumb and bad" arguments that have any merit are the ones talking about the fights that didn't involve real humans. Which sadly was far too many.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2015 02:55

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Nessus posted:

One defense for having Dagobah seem more prosaic would be that to Luke it's gone from being this foreboding place where he seeks Yoda to the cozy humid home of his midget mentor.

I was going to bring this up but I'd heard bad things about engaging SMG. But yeah, one could argue that the differences are not examples of incompetent DoP work but instead completely intentional. The ESB shot is showing uncertainty, instability, all that stuff from the scene breakdown a couple pages ago. But the ROTJ shot has horizontal lines, more direct lighting; the focus is on the ship rather than the vaguely-defined water and the scene is almost literally blocked off in horizontal/vertical golden thirds. So maybe the whole point is to show Luke returning to Dagobah with more confidence and less uncertainty and (literal and metaphorical) haziness. Luke crashing on Dagobah was a big deal in ESB; it devoted an entire sequence and some very obvious visual storytelling to show he was in way over his head. Then, however many months later in ROTJ, all they spent on it was a single "boring" establishing shot to perhaps suggest that Luke has advanced so far that this previously hazardous and traumatic situation from the last movie is no big deal anymore-- the real conflict is in the next scene in Yoda's hut.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2015 09:05

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Cnut the Great posted:

The ironic thing is that Grievous treats the droids like poo poo too, and reacts violently whenever anyone refers to him as a droid. What's interesting is that his canonical* backstory is that he dreamed of being a Jedi in his youth, but was turned away by the Order because he didn't have enough midi-chlorians. So he deliberately replaced most of his body with mechanical parts in an attempt to become a sort of artificial Jedi. The reason he hates the Jedi is because they destroyed his dreams, and the reason he hates droids is because they remind him of his own biological inadequacies. This also ties in with the notion that droids like R2-D2 can indeed simulate Force powers through mechanical means. It's also an even more direct echo of what Anakin will become as Darth Vader.

*(That is, as established by Lucas rather than by the EU)

Hahaha I didn't know there was a third version of the Grievous backstory in addition to the Clone Wars and Labyrinth of Evil versions. What a mess.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2015 06:01

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

Lucas' stated backstory comes across very clearly in the films. Grievous is obviously a wannabe Jedi

Considering that particular backstory wasn't made up by Lucas until years after the film was finished (there was a totally different story in place at the time), I'm afraid this is one instance where it's even more obvious you're just trolling by ascribing everything in the films to a deliberate genius master plan orchestrated by Lucas.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2015 06:22

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Cnut the Great posted:

The original backstory was pure EU and wasn't based on any input from Lucas at all, and was in fact originally classified as completely non-canon even by the standards of the old EU.

I find this hard to believe since if I recall correctly it appeared in multiple sources without any objection from Lucas, most notably the major movie lead-in book.

Cnut the Great posted:

It's perfectly possible, and in fact likely, that Lucas had a loose back story in mind for Grievous by the time his character was finalized for the movie, and just didn't get around to making it explicit until TCW. Given that Grievous is obviously a mechanical facsimile of a Jedi--I mean, that's what he is--I don't understand why you see this as so farfetched.

Of course it's possible. It's just not what the evidence shows. Remember this is the same guy whom people in this very thread have argued about about regarding how much of the prequels he'd made up on the spot versus how much he actually had in mind during the OT. He's not literally retarded, just indecisive it seems.

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

I didn't say anything about which came first, and it doesn't matter. What Lucas wrote there exactly matches what happens in the film.

Nothing happens in the film that even hints at Grievous's backstory, much less a "correct" version of it. I don't see where you're "reading" this from. "Robot man hates Jedi" fits as a result of a bunch of backgrounds, including the two or three Lucas signed off on.

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

And these same fans claim to be good at guessing at people's intentions.

I never claimed anything like this. Please stop lying.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2015 13:11

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

^^^ exactly

I gotta go with Lamps on this one, the aerial jumpkick always felt really out of place in that sequence, even in context. It just felt floaty and weird set against the sky, especially since you've got a guy in robes ragdolling a guy who's wearing heavy clunky armor. The way it's set up looks like it belongs in an anime or something. Background might as well be a bunch of diagonal lines and when they connect there should be a hand-drawn sunburst.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2015 01:54

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Lunatic Pathos posted:

Qui-Gonn would be a master except he believes he knows best so hard that he believes he knows better than the Masters. He is amiable generally, but always believes he knows best. Later in the film, he and Obi-Wan both sense something and he doesn't say they should be mindful of the present. This could indicate that when Obi-Wan senses the Sith involvement at the very beginning, Qui-Gonn assumes his Padawan is just distracted because if it were something important, surely the master would feel it too. However, it's the master's dogma and confidence that doesn't allow them to see what a Padawan can.

Yet later he repeatedly tells Anakin to be mindful of his feelings. You're right that it's a little odd he doesn't seem to do this as much for Obi-Wan though.

Lunatic Pathos posted:

When Padme questions Qui-Gonn he assures her that the queen trusts his judgment. Well he's talking to the Queen and she doesn't trust his judgment. She even tells him that he is making assumptions. This is analogous to Mace not believing the Sith could have returned without their knowledge when, in fact, that's what has happened.

I'm pretty sure this scene is meant to be read as Qui-Gon knowing Padme is the queen and subtly telling her he's got things under control without tipping his hand.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2015 18:34

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Lunatic Pathos posted:

Yeah, that occurred to me as a possibility as well, but I didn't catch evidence for it. I'm not great at reading filmic stuff, though I can see it after its explained. What evidence supports this interpretation?

His slightly teasing tone during that delivery and the fact that Qui-Gon is pretty smart.

More overtly, when Amidala finally reveals herself, the camera cuts to Qui-Gon smiling knowingly, almost smirking.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2015 20:03

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

cargohills posted:

Here's the original source for those gifs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBM2ZfncoU

Holy poo poo :stare:

This also reminds me what a great job Jeremy Soule did with his score. ...And that I've owned KOTOR 2 for like eight years and still haven't played it.

edit: On topic, there are so many people who are fans of what Rogue Squadron has been established to be that I can't think Disney would risk pissing them off by making the new movie completely unrelated.

Hazo fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Mar 13, 2015

# ¿ Mar 13, 2015 04:02

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

I enjoyed the cameo by Steve.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 22:31

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Cognac McCarthy posted:

I started Empire, and the opening owns bones. They immediately capture the harsh technical cool stuff that makes Star Wars so cool, and set a pretty dark tone. I'm looking forward to listening to the whole thing, since they got the original Lando, and John Lithgow as Yoda!

Is the the Renegade Squadron cold open? I borrowed that drama on cassette from the library in middle school and I thought that was the coolest thing.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2015 14:26

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

General Battuta posted:

I've never heard of this. Is it on YouTube somewhere?

I'm at work so I can't listen to the whole thing but this appears to be a cinematic version of it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-TVOPmgaUg

edit: if that's not it then just search for empire strikes back radio drama and if I remember right it's the first scene immediately after the opening theme

# ¿ Apr 2, 2015 14:53

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

TheMaestroso posted:

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

I know that's the name of the book, but come on, list.

I wouldn't take that list too seriously, it's even got that fake photoshopped skateboard "photo" from The Dark Knight.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2015 03:26

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

TheMaestroso posted:

If you've ever listened to Holst's "Planets" suite, you'll know why this sounds similar. Williams took a lot of stylistic coloristic ideas from that piece - for the ANH score, anyway. Though I'd argue that Kanno's score here more unabashedly sounds like "The Planets" than Williams' score does.

Williams's Star Wars score is mostly compared to Mars and that anime soundtrack was pretty much the first part of Jupiter.

Most people here probably knew that but I'm saying it anyway. The most blatant bits are even in the same key and chords. It's awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I&t=419s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEEOcqbeclg&t=493s

# ¿ Apr 13, 2015 20:31

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

CelticPredator posted:

The Cameras actually move in JJ Star Wars.

This is something that jumped out at me and I love it. Dynamic sweeping camera movement is a really cool aesthetic that seemed to be missing from the Lucas-directed Star Wars (outside of the CGI-heavy/spacefight scenes).

# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 01:06

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

taco_fox posted:

It really doesn't.

I still don't get how the "shot first" people think the Special Edition edit makes Han "soft" somehow. In the last movie we see him he's blasting the poo poo out of stormtroopers and brutally kills a guy with his bare hands over an agonizingly long period. If anything he got more violent over time, from the viewer's perspective.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 02:36

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Imagined posted:

The kind of person who kills to defend themselves after they're attacked and the kind who kills someone in a pre-emptive strike... very subtle moral difference, but the difference between a "good guy" and a "scoundrel". Han unequivocably shooting first is a simple and super effective bit of character building. Right off the bat, we know something about this guy. He looks out for #1, doesn't care about honor or the rules. It was so telling about everything wrong with Lucas when he changed it.

I don't see how a guy sticking a gun in your face and point blank telling you he's going to kill you isn't being "attacked." Plus remember Han snuck up on the troopers on Endor.

I completely agree that particular scene is good character building, I guess I'm just responding (belatedly) to the dumb comments many pages ago before the trailer dropped of "Han was a badass on Tatooine but he got softer throughout the trilogy (because of Leia or something)."

edit: The white-paneled TIEs look slick as poo poo

Hazo fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Apr 17, 2015

# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 02:57

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Cnut the Great posted:

But there are people posting right here right now who are arguing that what Han did was in the moral gray, and that it was actually part of some non-existent character arc. You hear this constantly whenever the change is brought up. Obviously the original version of the scene wasn't clear enough, because people are still confused by it.

Right on. There is no "arc" for Han in terms of being weaker over the three movies-- Han's arc is about becoming less of a loner and more of a team player.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 04:56

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

I'll be surprised if Rogue One doesn't end with the guys who stole the plans deciding to name themselves Rogue Squadron.

Rougey posted:

Going to call it now, the movie is going to borrow heavily from Operation Chariot.

Ramming a stolen Victory Destroyer full of explosives and commandos into the research facility where the plans are held.

This did this exact thing in Rogue Squadron III.

edit: I really want to say it was an X-Wing mission too

Hazo fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Apr 21, 2015

# ¿ Apr 21, 2015 00:25

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

mr.capps posted:

He destroys the Death Star II power regulator. So about every major battle.

"I'm already on my way out."

# ¿ Apr 24, 2015 04:35

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Commissar Of Doom posted:

Man I remember this song so well because of Shadows of the Empire on N64. The Gaal or whatever level where you fight Fett took an hour and a half to complete everytime and this would loop constantly.

Pretty sure this was also the main music in the Nar Shaddaa levels that opened Jedi Knight. After so many hours of that loop I keep expecting to hear a Gran grunting at any moment :allears:

# ¿ Apr 25, 2015 01:00

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

It doesn't even look like an R :confused:

jivjov posted:

I read this post in the Mission Briefing guy's voice

Like this

# ¿ Apr 25, 2015 17:14

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Saturniid19 posted:

Entomology goon:

Phasmatodea refers to the stick and leaf insects. I'm trying to avoid spoilers but saw a rumor that Phasma's suit has cloaking or active camouflage capabilities. In that light, "ghost," "spectrum," and the extreme camo of walkingsticks all make a lot of sense.

I like this. Otherwise having a shiny reflective attantion-grabbing suit doesn't make a ton of sense for an elite foot soldier.

Then again neither does having bright white suits but eh.

# ¿ May 7, 2015 00:20

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Darkman Fanpage posted:

Something that has struck me about all the new SWFA stuff is the lack of recognizable alien races. Prime example is the cantina crowd picture from Vanity Fair. Aside from Humans I couldn't see and familiar aliens.

The mousey little dude in front of space-Karloff looks like one of the Episode III aliens I think. Maybe from either on Utapau on on the asteroid space station thing where Padme died?

# ¿ May 8, 2015 22:33

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

feedmyleg posted:

What's y'all's favorite pieces from the soundtrack of the prequels? Just listened to Across the Stars again and it got me all jazzed for some Williams.

In Episode III, the post-opening credits piece (Star Wars and Revenge of the Sith) and Anakin vs. Obi-Wan are both great.

I should note that I'm talking about the soundtrack versions here, because in the actual film Ben Burtt hosed them both up by layering banging bass drums over the top for no apparent reason.

He left Anakin's Betrayal alone though which is good because that's another great track.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2015 04:36

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Krazyface posted:

Leaked pictures of the, uh, lego sets are floating around.

Black X-Wing looks loving sick.

I know this is the exact nerd response they're looking for but it does.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2015 03:15

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

kiimo posted:

Hoek Ren would make a great Sith. Let the anger flow.

Already exists in the Star Wars universe. There was a shuttle squadron in the original X-Wing called Renhoek. No I don't know how I remember this.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2015 22:57

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Maxwell Lord posted:

I never ever heard anything about this being a problem until that GIF started floating around. So basically it's something nobody noticed until multiple viewings.

Nope. That part of the duel, including the sword spinny bit, was a sneak preview clip that came out a few months/weeks before the movie, on MTV I think. I remember it because we had a huge Episode III Megathread in GBS 1.0. It was a huge deal. And you know what? People noticed that part, and immediately said "Oh, it's a series of fake outs," and that was it. It made sense as an explanation and nobody really freaked out about it. Interestingly, it wasn't until way later, long after the movie had come out, that that gif became a punchline in itself.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2015 06:04

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

The "fell into a volcano" thing was official for a while. I think it was part of one of the original novelizations and I definitely remember reading it in the "History of the Galactic Empire" chapter of the Star Wars Technical Journal years before the prequels were a rumor.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2015 18:17

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 04:00

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

Detective No. 27 posted:

I wish they'd become more honest and straight up name a character "Toy."

Is this a joke?

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 04:02

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