Star Wars: The Force Awakens

YES! I can't wait for this movie! The Millennium Falcon!

Meh, show me something with more substance then I might get excited. I'm still pissed they're scrapping all the extended lore for these movies so it's going to take quite a bit to get my hyped.

Oh yes, that pisses me the hell off too. I would have loved for this movie to have been "Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn" with a recast of the original characters. I'm just glad there will be more star wars movies more than anything. With how good Disney was with the Marvel movies, I have big expectations for great new Star Wars movies. I did not like the direction George Lucas took with the prequels. The novels he officially licensed out should have been considered cannon. Even without any jedi in them, the Han Solo trilogy of novels would have been good movies.

Imagine the Jedi Academy trilogy being turned into movies.. With the Sun Crusher and the prototype Death Star at the Maw.. that would have been pretty epic sequels.

Lawrence M*ther F*cking Kasdan is all I can say. I don't have an investment into the EU books since I never read them. Scrapping the EU doesn't mean much to me outside of Jedi Outcast. Thrawn happened too soon after and a recast just wouldn't work IMO. You can't replicate Harrison Ford. You won't. Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew are super old. Baker and Mayhew would not be as hard to replace as Daniels.

While some sites claim KOTOR is no longer canon. I highly doubt that since EA has full rights on the gaming universe and they own Bioware and its properties like KOTOR and Old Republic. EA has a lot of f'in money and you don't want to piss them off now that they make your games... That they gave them permission to do! Including Battlefront. From Darth Revan to Jaesa Willsaam. These characters are canon. I just wish Kyle Katarn made the cut.....

I'm missing out so much by not having played all the star wars games yet. I have most of the good ones too. They might consider KOTOR to be canon still just because it takes place in TOR. I think all the newer movies are supposed take place after the original trilogy. Its ok with me that they aren't considering the books to be canon anymore. I just hope they keep some of the characters. They could make new movies and series like how AMC does with The Walking Dead. Mostly the same characters but different from the source material to keep it all new.

Kotor/TOR is still up in the air as it stands. No one knows for sure if anything that came before The Phantom Menace is canon or not considering it was all written and conceived well after the original Trilogy came out. Nothing has really been said and I know prior to their creation Lucas had a no prequel policy in place banning all writers and what not from touching anything that came before A New Hope and later The Phantom Menace. That all changed once he greenlit the Kotor games but like I said everything is up in the air since Disney bought the franchise. Lucas has no say in where his creation goes from here on out. And yes Sledge the next 3 movies take place after The Return of the Jedi.

I'm royally pissed that all the extended universe got thrown out because there is a lot of awesome stuff that happens after The Return of the Jedi (I have not read many of the books but I've read up on what happens). Thrawn is just the tip of the ice berg (plus now it throws out my all time favorite Star Destroyer, The Eclipse Class. The thing packs one of the Death Stars lasers for gods sake. The thing can destroy on planet on its own).

As I said I'm holding my excitement for an actual trailer that reveals the story. Once I see that I'll make my judgement on whether or not I see it.

If you haven't read Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, I highly recommend it. Its a standalone novel and really shows off the power of the Force. Luke does some powerful stuff and the book introduces the "Darksight" ability that Lord Shadowspawn aka Blackhole uses. Very impressive. But my favorite is still "The Courtship of Princess Leia" Those force witches were awesome.

Speaking of Star Destroyers, Didn't the novels and some of the video games introduce the Interdictor-class Star Destroyers?

ROTFLMAO!!!!! This made my day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The re-release is already in the works!

If you haven't read Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, I highly recommend it. Its a standalone novel and really shows off the power of the Force. Luke does some powerful stuff and the book introduces the "Darksight" ability that Lord Shadowspawn aka Blackhole uses. Very impressive. But my favorite is still "The Courtship of Princess Leia" Those force witches were awesome.

 

Speaking of Star Destroyers, Didn't the novels and some of the video games introduce the Interdictor-class Star Destroyers?

I'll have to look into those, they weren't in my friends library of Star Wars books when I started reading the novels.

Yea, the I-class Star Destroyers were introduced in the books first and brought in the X-Wing series of games. A lot of the cool Imperial tech came out in the books and games (which is sad now that they aren't canon).

 

On April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm Ltd. announced that in preparation for the upcoming sequel trilogy, the Expanded Universe would not appear in any future Star Wars materials; past tales of the Expanded Universe will be printed under the Star Wars Legends banner, and a new continuity has been established that consists only of the original six films, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series and film, and all future material from that point onward. Though past elements of the Expanded Universe have been declared non-canon as a whole, they remain a resource for future Star Wars material to reference elements of the EU, thus bringing these elements into the new continuity as canon.

From the Star Wars Wiki. The sources are listed there but reading that basically puts anything that came out before that announcement as being non-canon so most if not all the prequel stuff (games, books, etc) is being labled as not happening in the new established continuity unless they are used as reference elements. So basically Revan, Bane, Exar Kun, and all the other bad ass Sith Lords are no longer canon unless they are used for reference material and brought into the new SW universe.

The Imperial tech introduced in the novels was amazing. Interdictors, gravity bombs, cloaking (not nearly as effective as in Star Trek), full planetary shields, small sloth creatures that create a force negated zone that was used quite strategically by the imperials, the sun crusher.. So many amazing things.

I still love how one of the novels explained Han Solo's Kessel Run and fixed the discrepancy caused by the words Han said in the movie.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run

By flying so close to the black holes he actually shaved time and distance from his run because of the effects of the black holes.

What's with that medieval looking light saber? Looks pretty stupid functionally if you ask me. The teaser was what it was, a tease. I'd prefer not to seeing any more of it and watch the rest of the train wreck at the movies. Vader has 1 beam. Maul had 2 beams. This sith fella has 3 beams. Nice progression with every trilogy. 

Also, screw that dumb looking light saber, this would've ruled instead - 

That's a much better light saber!

https://Www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngElkyQ6Rhs

I need this movie.

Han and Chewbacca make an appearance!

Meh, I'm still not sold on this new movie (plus the new stormtroopers look like goobers (not a fan of the new look)).

Here is the newest trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens!!!!

Pfft, they're still failing to grasp my attention. Maybe I am jaded that they threw out all the extended lore for this but this movie just doesn't look that good to me.

http://www.dorkly.com/post/59766/the-8-types-of-star-wars-fans

I'm one of the "Extended Canon-ites"

I'm pleased with the trailer. I bet this movie will be epic. Luke Skywalker has been absent from all posters and trailers leading speculation to believe that he is in all those things but we can't see his face because hes the new sith lord in the mask. If Luke turned dark side that will definitely throw all extended canon out the window for all time. It wouldn't surprise me if that happens too. It'll be worse than ripping a bandaid off just to get it over with.. instead it'll be like ripping a bandaid off and ripping massive chunks of flesh off with it. x_x

There were no Jar Jar Binks / episode 1 style cg animated species shown. Yay!

Saw it. Not better than the IV-VI. Better than I-III

Non Spoiler

Liked:

New lead characters are solid

Practical sets/effects gave it a more real feeling

The First Order still has that Empire smell to it

It sets up for the next film really well

Disliked:

Some scenes felt rushed, movie could have been 30 minute longer to fix that

A little to heavy handed on nostalgic fan service to the point of being forced/out of place

Some of the newer interesting characters were grossly underutilized.

Spoiler Liked/Disliked

Liked:

Rey as the real lead character should be interesting.

Poe was great with what little time he had on screen.. he's a more interesting Wedge Antilles.

Kylo doesn't die.

Mark Hamill kills it with a single facial expression at the end.

This new character that is the supreme leader of the First Order... I like the mystery behind him going into the next films.

The Millennium Falcon not being in perfect working order (or in worse working order I should say) after sitting around for 30 years.

 

Disliked
Finn's character was a bit too silly and dabbled in our world expressions and slang... I liked his character minus those aspects.

Kylo is a spoiled brat like Anakin

Even though it was a weaponized Dyson sphere this time... the Death Star again? really?

Solo's death was shit... could have went out more bad ass.

Rey picking up the force like it was second nature with zero guidance.

Captain Phasma wasn't utilized at all.

I liked it, and look forward to the next film.... If you're too engrossed in the EU, you'll probably hate it, because it truly does disregard everything about the EU and makes sure to rub it in your face almost.

That's exactly the type of information I was looking for. Well I won't see it in theaters but once Netflix gets a hold of it I'll give it a watch (yea I'm one of those engrossed EU people).

I'll watch it in the theater. Its only a matter of getting someone to puppy sit for me.

People are being complete assholes and posting spoilers everywhere. I saw spoilers in a news article unrelated to star wars.

That's how it is with new movies, especially ones like this that are so hyped like this one. Hell I specifically went out of my way to look for a spoiler filled review because I don't want to see it in theaters (and I gotta say I'm quite surprised with a few of the things Abrams decided to do). Sadly this is exactly what happened with Book 6 in the Harry Potter series for me (yes I've read the books, don't judge me). The ending was ruined for me before I even read the book (I got my book the day it was ruined for me). People just don't know how to keep shit secret until the majority of fans have seen it (then again knowing how the movie ends and what happens won't ruin this movie for me, what will ruin it is if Abrams and Disney shit completely on the entirety of the franchise (which I hear the movie was good even for those that actually didn't like the movie or hated the thrashing of the Extended Universe)).

Really they were damned if you do, damned if you don't by even making movies. If they made EU movies based on books or just canon they would have done something that one side or another would bitch about. They're dealing with a cast of characters whose health is questionable for the 8+ year commitment because of age. 3CPO, R2D2, and Chewie could all survive an actor death, Ford, Fisher, and Hamill would cause a big issue.

For me, I never read EU books. I know the canon, but I had no investment in it. So I look forward to all the films like I do marvel films. I get where EU people are coming from, but I can't relate.

The film was by no means perfect, but it was way better than the prequels because the acting was believable and just better overall. Not to say all the actors of the prequels were bad. Ewan McGregor said he'd do a Obi-Wan spin off film, and I'd be all for that.

Saw this today and I'm quite pleased. The plot was good and it left many plot lines open for a bunch of characters to expand on in future movies. I'm going to consider the EU books I love as an alternate universe now because this movie did throw all that away. Its a different time line now. I like that force awakens takes place roughly 35 years after return of the jedi. It briefly touches on some of the events that happened in those years after the original trilogy in casual dialogue. But those casual conversations are mentioning things that could have potentially been movies themselves while not giving any real details about what exactly happened and how the galaxy got into the state that its in.

The Force Awakens felt like a reboot of A New Hope without being an actual reboot. I'm looking forward to the next movie.

The Millennium Falcon, hell yes. but I can't believe it got stolen in the first place.

 

Rey was a great character but the force awakening in her seemed a bit too easy like she just realized she could wiggle her ears. But it was still better than young Anakin being so force sensitive that he was able  to expertly pilot a pod racer and a space fighter ship at the age of 8 with no training at all.

 

Finn didn't seem like a storm trooper at all. If he was raised from birth to be a storm trooper he'd have a much meaner side to him, hardened military tactics drilled deeped into his personality, but instead he appeared to be some guy picked up off an american street somewhere, thrown into storm trooper armor and then told to go kill people. His reaction is what the majority of the audience's reaction would be.. "omg, these people are monsters." I can understand Finn is an audience substitute character but him initially being a storm trooper doesn't seem believable.

 

Captain Phasma.. I read that she was a bad ass female general in this.. and she was only in a couple scenes. wtf. I hope her potential is shown in the next movie.

 

Solo's death scene. Noooooo... ;_; I could tell he was walking to his death when he approached him. I wish it went differently.

 

Poor Chewie. He lost his best friend. I did like that they did kill off a character and that Chewie got wounded. It makes us feel for the characters more when we can see them actually get hurt yet still pull threw their personal struggles.

 

Kylo Ren.. they guy they got to play his character is fugly. No wonder he keeps his face behind a mask. He doesn't look anything like what I'd expect Han and Leia's offspring to look like. I think his rage issues was homage to Anakin from the prequel movies. I never cared for Anakin and that spoiled brat teenager anger crap, but I guess if they are keeping those prequel movies as canon then they have to acknowledge them somehow.

 

Luke's face at the end. It was like recognition. He knew she was coming. He probably had the same visions as her that they would meet one day. I wonder if Rey is his daughter. It would only seem fitting that he would get to do the "I am your father" phrase himself.