Lets talk all things Star Wars
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Riceball
Master Member
I used to have that and the pistol, they were some of my favorite toys for a long, long time. I'd love to have one of those rifles now. I'd repaint it and maybe add a greebly or 2.
And it's amazing to think that the majority of that story arc was last minute changes in the editing room... originally, the Death Star was NOT about to destroy the Rebel Base on Yavin 4. But they used insert shots of Leia and the war room staff, with VOICE OVERS indicating the Death Star was bearing down on them and about to fire. It was not originally filmed that way.
It still amazes me that the end of ANH generates so much tension when there's no question of the outcome. You know the Yavin base isn't getting hit. You know Luke is gonna make the shot and blow up the DS. Luke is already willing to believe in the Force in general. Darth Vader doesn't need to die to make it end well. Aside from Han Solo's unfinished arc there aren't any plot questions to hang the tension on.
Lightning
Master Member
That's a myth about Rogue one, it has nothing to do with the existence or location of the exhaust port. Erso rigged the reactor to have a chain reaction. it doesn't matter how that damage happens. I expect that when he told the rebels they needed the plans to find the reactor he expected them to sneak in with a commando strike team to plant explosives. So the exhaust port is purely an ANH thing.
Rogue One fails on a few levels. It's not as egregious as some of the other entries, and yes, that Vader scene was cool, but even the Prequels had some cool scenes, so that's not saying much. On the whole Rogue One isn't terrible, but it's highly overrated.
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Rawktrooper
Well-Known Member
that would be a fun alternative Infinities type story.. a strike team infiltrating the Death Star to plant explosives and leave before the whole thing goes down. All the while you have a Grand Moff who is incessant on blowing other worlds up and Vader who can just think about you and kill you.
Write it up!
Solo4114
Master Member
The tension, I think, is down to two key factors:
1. John Williams' music. It's tense, it hits at exactly the right moments, and conveys all the emotion you need to know.
2. Marcia Lucas' editing. The pacing of cuts and which shots get used are essential.
There are plenty of other elements that do it, of course. The f/x work, the acting by the whole cast, etc., but I think the make-or-break elements are the two above. They're what really create that sense of urgency and tension. Take those elements away and you lose it. Make the shots last longer, the cuts happen less frequently or at the wrong places, make the music slower tempo, etc., etc., and the tension would bleed away. Drag the sequence out too long, you lose it again. And you can imagine how it might've played out. It could've been much more focused on the dogfighting, on the kewl lasers and splushuns and such. You could've shown more time with the pilots checking in and then show more of them blowing up, and all of that would've undercut the tension and made the sequence feel bloated. Instead, you get a tight, roughly 20-minute sequence start to finish, that is all about economy of action and pacing, and which conveys exactly what it needs to in exactly the amount of time that you'd want it to.
I know several here are fans of Mara Jade, & although I loved the Heir to the Empire books, the character never really clicked with me, possibly because I didn't really keep up with her story in the later novels. Anyways, I've always heard of fan-casting suggestions for the role is she were to ever enter live-action, but now Vanessa Marshall, the voice actress for Hers Syndulla on REBELS has expressed interest in playing her in any future projects.
For those unfamiliar...
For those unfamiliar...
Rawktrooper
Well-Known Member
Reporting in is done by position. So the number sequence seems shuffled to outsiders but it has order to the pilots.
Except for that 5 minutes near the end with Vader. If they had made an entire movie of that, they would have had a blockbuster on their hands!
Greenie
Sr Member
Of course, that makes sense, now. As a kid, I was puzzled.
Paul Andrew
Master Member
I continue to posit that R1 is the best Star Wars film since ESB.
It makes you care about characters better than any of the sequels do, then puts them in the most desperate do-or-die-trying situation in the whole series, and pays off with the best space battle since ROTJ and a series of moments that build toward a thunderous bit of fan service when Vader shows up.
Frankly, it works for me on every level.
My boy K-2SO, alone, makes your statement absolutely correct.
I could see him drop-kicking BB-8 like a beach ball….
RO is the best piece of work in the franchise since Disney bought it. IMO that's clear by a country mile.
The early/middle part of the movie is kinda disjointed. (It was heavily re-worked in post-production, just like you'd expect from Kennedy-era LFL.) But the last 1/3rd of the movie is really potent.
The early/middle part of the movie is kinda disjointed. (It was heavily re-worked in post-production, just like you'd expect from Kennedy-era LFL.) But the last 1/3rd of the movie is really potent.
Joek3rr
Master Member
Oh she'd make a good Mara. But please, please I don't want her crammed into the current continuity. (Also she's the voice of Jan Ors in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.)
Yeah it's absolutely in the editing. That's the single biggest factor.
JW's music beats . . . there are so many accolades heaped upon that guy's work and IMO it's still not enough. Listening to movies that he scored in the 1970s/80s is like watching Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky in their prime. They were so much better than everybody else that they made it look easy.
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