Star Wars News

[SteveDave]

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=40895

"Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker in the new film"

How old is Max Von Sydow now?

[SteveDave]

Answer 85.

I have also had intercourse[nb]sexual[/nb] with his great niece.

[mycroft]

Do people still give a toss about Star Wars? That's quaint.

[checkoutgirl]

I have also had intercourse[nb]sexual[/nb] with his great niece.

Well I did wonder.

[Kane Jones]

Answer 85.

I have also had intercourse[nb]sexual[/nb] with his great niece.

I'm sure his niece was quite lovely, but you don't have to boast about her that much.

[Famous Mortimer]

I just don't see the point in it any more. It's just two words with zero to do with the three films most of us love. I just find something rotten and broken about it all, like no matter how much shit has been pumped out with "Star Wars" attached to it, it doesn't matter because the next one is going to be different. Just keep giving us your money, please.

I guess being this negative means I care in a sense, but it's just sad seeing this news trotted out by seemingly half my friends list, when those same friends were cursing the entire enterprise to the skies a few years ago.

[Replies From View]

I presume the original cast will have to do exercises to make it look like they have spent the past thirty years living like their characters would have done, rather than slobbing about scoffing fried mince all day long?

[kidsick5000]

I presume the original cast will have to do exercises to make it look like they have spent the past thirty years living like their characters would have done, rather than slobbing about scoffing fried mince all day long?

Mark Hammill has lost a load. Really not bad shape next to Peter Serafinowicz

[Kelvin]

Has JJ Abrams ever directed something which wasn't glossy, souless pap? He seems a terrible choice for a bright, colourful world full of weird and wonderful characters. The new Star Trek film has to be one of the most cold, cynical blockbusters I've ever watched.

[Old Nehamkin]

I kind of liked Super 8.

[Replies From View]

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Has JJ Abrams ever directed something which wasn't glossy, souless pap? He seems a terrible choice for a bright, colourful world full of weird and wonderful characters. The new Star Trek film has to be one of the most cold, cynical blockbusters I've ever watched.

I couldn't watch it - the slick, glossy cynicism being the chief reason, coupled with everyone being arrogant cunts - even on a fucking long haul flight.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I liked the first Star Trek and Super 8 has a lot of heart, but I agree he doesn't seem like a great choice. One of the things that's great about the original trilogy is that they're quite camp and theatrical and a bit clunky at times. Empire is dark but in an operatic way. I fear they're going to try to make this too slick and "cool". They should still be better than the last three though. Hopefully they won't green screen everything this time.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

I was never a fan of Star Trek in the first place, but I do hate the 'sexing up' of old franchises.

There's a lovely clunky quality to the original Star Wars trilogy. It's not something I ever picked up on as a kid, but it's definitely part of its charm - rather like how the Ray Harryhausen movies, despite their obvious technical skill, still capture your imagination with the promise that you could have a crack at this film making lark yourself.  The slick CGI look just renders the experience intangible and hollow.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Super 8 is probably the more pertinent film to look at in this case. It basically only existed to pay homage to '80s Spielberg, which (lens flare aside) it did fairly well, as far as I can remember.

[mobias]

The main point is these new films can't possibly be as bad as the prequels so things can only look up. I liked the Star Trek reboot and its sequel was an enjoyable enough romp. My hopes are reasonably high.

[Replies From View]

The main point is these new films can't possibly be as bad as the prequels so things can only look up. I liked the Star Trek reboot and its sequel was an enjoyable enough romp. My hopes are reasonably high.

But when the prequels are so dreadful, isn't the franchise effectively ruined?  Or do you pretend they didn't happen, so the extant Star Wars stories would only be episodes 4-9?

[CaledonianGonzo]

Outer........Space!

[Kelvin]

The main point is these new films can't possibly be as bad as the prequels so things can only look up. I liked the Star Trek reboot and its sequel was an enjoyable enough romp. My hopes are reasonably high.

The thing is, the prequels, for all their innumerable faults, were at least the product of one man's vision, philosophies and imagination. They were terrible films, but they felt unique and the work of a (deeply flawed) auteur.

In contrast, I expect the new films to be more competent, slick works, but severely lacking in personality, charm and direction. Star Wars by committee, rather than the product of a peculiar, deluded visionary. I can't see them putting the same effort into the underlying themes, ideas and philosophies, or caring as much about the workings of their universe as Lucas did.

The ideal situation would be the one that produced Empire and Jedi; Lucas working as the guiding hand, but refined through better writers and directors.   

[Replies From View]

Maybe Lucas just doesn't have that vision anymore.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

personality, charm and direction.

The exact qualities that the prequels lacked.

[Kelvin]

Maybe Lucas just doesn't have that vision anymore.

I agree. I think if the prequels are anything to go by, I very much doubt he does.

I just think Lucas at least had some vision for it back then, at least in Phantom Menace, and I'd be more enthusiastic if he was still interested and involved, but not directing or writing the new films.

The exact qualities that the prequels lacked.

Absolutely. But I do think that he at least had a vision with those prequels. He had a philosophy and themes and references he wanted to get across. The films are terrible, but I'll at least give them that; no matter how badly they failed in execution, it was very much the product of one man's peculiar vision.

The new films will no doubt be better made, but just going off JJ Abrams past films, I imagine they'll be more superficial and even more soulless than the prequels. Whether they'll be "better" or more watchable, I don''t know. 

[Hangthebuggers]

I can't even be arsed with them any more. The Empire strikes back was the best, that's all that needs to be said about anything related to this. Everything else besides Star wars can fuck right off. The 'touch ups/ remasters' were pointless, the prequels were a big pile of bollocks with annoying plot lines and ewoks are shit.

[Famous Mortimer]

I feel like a boring stick-in-the-mud here, but...whatever comes out, it's not any relation to the things you know and love, the youngest of which is over 30 years old. It's as similar as Bill Bixby's Hulk is to Ed Norton's.

It's entire recent existence - bought for billions by Disney - is to milk money from people like us. I know all films are like that, really, but it seems so naked and soulless in this case. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood at how quickly people are willing to forgive the prequels, and how nothing in our little genre corner of the entertainment world will ever change as a result.

[Lord Mandrake]

Look, if it doesn't have those fucking Chinese speaking ambassadors, the Italian bumblebee elephant and the Jamaican fish camel cunt and Ewan Mcgregor being a colossal git I'll give it a shot.

[Replies From View]

Who is the audience for Star Wars, besides people in their 30s and 40s who knew the proper original trilogy before it was butchered?  Are there really young people today who grew up on the special editions, the prequels and cartoons and actually feel the Star Wars name means anything?

Strikes me as odd that other recent extensions of 70s and 80s franchises I can think of (Indiana Jones for example) tend to be aware that their core audience will be an older, nostalgic one, and Star Wars stands alone, snubbing those who have the strongest sense of where its heart once lay.

I actually think the younger crowd responsible for making Star Wars today will have more love for the original unaltered trilogy than Lucas ever did.  That doesn't mean the films won't end up dreadful, but the generation making them will be making films more for you than Lucas could be arsed with.

[Glebe]

I was so overcome by fanboy excitement at this that for a couple of seconds my head turned into Nien Nunb's head and I gave a kind of joyous victory chuckle like when the second Death Star blew up.

[kidsick5000]

Look, if it doesn't have those fucking Chinese speaking ambassadors, the Italian bumblebee elephant and the Jamaican fish camel cunt and Ewan Mcgregor being a colossal git I'll give it a shot.

I'm sorry but you have it quite wrong. The bumblebee elephant was clearly meant to be Greek.

[Blumf]

I'm sorry but you have it quite wrong. The bumblebee elephant was clearly meant to be Greek.

Pretty sure he was supposed to be a slur on the Turkish people.

[Replies From View]

A slur?  He's my favourite Turkish character in all of fiction and non-fiction.

Don't tell me the fish camel cunt was meant to be a slur on the Jamaican people.  I will fall apart.