Solid Snake

Well we don't NEED to see her face cuz she can talk. If they kept her helmet on the whole time, that'd be awesome.

RocShemp

Mace Windu was weird the entire trilogy. Hell, if you look at the scene when he fights Sidious in Episode III, Mace basically turns himself to the dark side by deciding to kill an unarmed opponent. Especially odd since Darth Sidious is playing the weak old man card (nonsensical since he already revealed his powers) and is still desperate to kill him rather than apprehend him. Mace's behavior would have made more sense if the Jedi massacre had already happened and he was out for blood.

Timber

Damn you, now I can't not watch that.

Big Boy Laroux

Agree, it would be far more intimidating. But I'm saying that's not gonna happen.

Solid Snake

I dunno. I think it'd be cooler if she just stayed under the helmet. Especially if she's a badass. Mysterious badass. This franchise loves shit like that. BUT... mainstream cinema LOVES to take of the masks/helmets/whatever of characters so we can see actors.

I was SOOOOOOO fucking happy that Urban kept his helmet on for Dredd. It adds so much to a character.

The Valeyard

I always got the feeling that Lucas purposely made the TPM Yoda look like shit just to say "See? CGI would look better."

Big Boy Laroux

Yeah, again, I'm agreeing with you that it would be way better (and more intimidating) if she never took off the helmet. That's what I'd love to see. But don't think it's going to happen that way.

RocShemp

Apparently Yoda puppet was gonna be even crappier. In the council scenes you see another Yoda-like creature. Originally that was the young Yoda puppet but they decided to claim it's a female of Yoda's species and named her Yaddle. Then they made the drunk Yoda puppet they ended up using.

I never understood why a 900 year old creature would look vastly different some 30 years prior. Why not simply use the same puppet from TESB/RotJ?

brayzie

This is not just nostalgia talking. The Yoda puppet in ESB, combined with the voice acting, showed way much more emotional range and depth than the Yoda portrayal in all three prequel films.

Yaddle was just stupid. George Lucas is apparently not a perfectionist if he's like, "Eh, why waste the Yoda prototype? Put it in the scene and we'll call it a girl Yoda." Calling it "Yaddle" is like putting salt in the wound.

We should never have seen Yoda in the prequels, and if we did, he should have been so powerful with the Force that he wouldn't need to rely on a lightsaber.

mcnabb

This quote alone shows me how much different these movies are going to be now that Lucas is not involved. JJ 'gets it' in that we don't want any kiddy crap in the SW universe. ANH and ESB didn't have that stuff, and they're the only 2 SW movies that hold up after all of these years. ROTJ & PT have their flaws because they were marketed to kids with stuff like the Ewoks and Jar Jar.

The stills from Vanity Fair all look cool as hell, as I have to say I wasn't hyped about this movie a year ago, but ever since the 2nd teaser I can't wait!

TGM

wellllllll, BB8 does scream "HEY LOOK HERE KIDS", but I'm fine with that. It's OK to have one cute character for comic relief when the rest of the movie is dark and brooding.

HN

i really hope they don't go dark and brooding. i'm looking for more fun, adventure, and well-lit daisy ridley in this.

mcnabb

No doubt that the OT had R2 & C3PO, but their comic relief was in the context of the situation and didn't overshadow the scenes. Jar Jar was just put in there because Lucas wanted to show off the first CGI character, and he totally ruins every scene he is in.

Another great example was when Obiwan and Luke have a discussion about his father in ANH, C3PO says, "If you don't mind sir I am going to turn off for a while." And then you have this very serious scene where Obiwan talks about Darth Vader, and gives Luke the lightsaber.

Now constrast that with TPM when Padme meets Anakin for the first time. What is happening in the backround the whole scene? Jar Jar is doing stupid schtick and it total ruins would could have been an iconic scene.

I have no problem with BB-8 being Rey's droid and giving us some comic relief in the movie, but I don't want the droid to totally dominate every scene he is in like Jar Jar did in TPM.

mhg83

Has it been confirmed that this will be on IMAX?

joe_b

^ Yep, they shot an action scene with IMAX cameras.

Mike86

I didn't necessarily have a problem with the idea of Yoda showing up in the Prequel Trilogy. I don't think he was used very well though and he was kind of made to look like a moron in a lot of aspects.

I also agree about him using a lightsaber. I was never a big fan of that even though I know a lot of people found it cool. I always felt that the character was more powerful than the other Jedi and shouldn't have needed to wield a weapon to defend himself. So the fight between him and Dooku in Attack of the Clones was something I never cared for.

RocShemp

To make matters worse, Yoda relies on a lightsaber because he and Dooku were equals in terms of the Force. Christopher Lee is awesome but it bugged me that Dooku was apparently as badass as Yoda. Makes me wonder how Anakin beat Dooku at all in Episode III. And how Obi Wan managed to beat Anakin (while Anakin did a move that worked perfectly fine for Obi Wan in Episode I). The skill levels of the characters in the PT made little sense.

Mabuse

I love any and all Mr. Plinkett videos. Very funny and smart perspective at the same time.

Timber

Hmmmmm...you know I have never thought of either of those. So as was dismissed in the OT when Luke asked if the Darkside was stronger was proven as fact in episode 2 and 3.

And someone the "chosen one" at the height of his powers couldn't execute a move a Padawan did 10 or so years prior?

milo bloom

It had been about 15-16 years at that point, pretty sure it had simply disintegrated. The materials weren't meant to last, just long enough to film.

milo bloom

Do you mean Anakin's jump/flip on Mustafar? Obi Wan was expecting it - that's the entire point. Anakin was so clouded by the dark side he wasn't thinking straight.

brayzie

I guess that makes sense but it still makes for a poor scene. It just looked ridiculous. They've been jumping from platform to platform over a sea of hot lava, never once striking the other. As soon as Obi-wan gets to some non-lava area though he's boasting "It's over, I have the high ground." What?

But back to The Force Awakens. For some reason the creatures and the locations in the PT felt off for some reason, like they didn't really belong in the Star Wars universe. After seeing the new pics of the Force Awakens creatures I think it's because we were used to seeing bipedal aliens who were really just actors in suits, and it was jarring to see the SW universe, just 20 years prior, feature aliens who weren't bipedal, have multiple heads, limbs, etc. The CGI just made it worse. The new pics of the creatures have Heavy Metal-look to them which fits Star Wars in my opinion.

milo bloom

I see what you're getting at, but the reverse of that is Star Trek's "bumpy forehead aliens" (particularly on Voyager). Lucas wanted to move beyond that, that's why there's so many non-human shaped aliens in the PT. The mistake he made was making them so front and center, instead of in the background.

What we've seen from TFA seems to split the difference. There's the mo-cap character, but also seems to be plenty of puppet/man-in-suit creatures too.

joe_b

Here's the full version of the Abrams interview with Vanity Fair:

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/...nded-interview

I'll give the guy credit: he's saying all the things I was hoping to hear regarding his approach to the movie.

mcnabb

After reading the interview you definetly get the sense that TFA will resemble the spirit of the Original SW more then the other 5 SW movies. I think this is a good thing because the original is the only movie that appeals to all moviegoers. ESB/ROTJ/PT are all made for SW fans (like any sequel or prequel), but the original SW could be loved by any moviegoer.

I sense JJ is going to try to give us that mix of comedy, drama, and mythology and not try to overwhelm us with any of them. Lucas tried too hard in the PT to just throw in humor so it came off as forced. He then tried too hard to have these Shakespearean dramatic moments so it looked like the movies were taking themselves too seriously. And he also got too SW'ish with the mythology in the PT by explaining every little detail, where sometimes the best thing to do is leaves things vague and let the viewer decide.