Other It’s data-oriented reports as these which remind why I maintain Apple-“obsoleted” Intel Macs

[Certificate of Excellence]

Threads like this remind me of WALLE.

Our legacy will be massive mountains of waste. Still one of my all time favorite animated flix.

Go team WALLE.

 

[eyoungren]

Threads like this remind me of WALLE.
Still one of my all time favorite animated flix.

It's likely to remain your all time favorite. The creators behind WALL-E are adamant (and remain so) that they will not create a sequel or prequel. If one does ever get made, the original creators won't be attached to it.

They believe that some stories should just stand on their own and remain so. As much as I'd like to see what happens after the return, I do agree that it makes the story itself that much more powerful on its own.

 

[TheShortTimer]

It's likely to remain your all time favorite. The creators behind WALL-E are adamant (and remain so) that they will not create a sequel or prequel.

That reminds me of an interview from the 80s in which Spielberg mentioned the numerous invitations to produce a sequel to E.T. - which of course he turned down and did so on the grounds that the story is self-contained and told within one film.

If one does ever get made, the original creators won't be attached to it.

At the end of the DVD audio commentary for Airplane!, the creators inform the viewer that they won't be hearing anything from them on a commentary track for the sequel because they had no hand in it. I can imagine how annoying it has to be, to deal with studio execs who covet unnecessary sequels instead of supporting new stories and concepts.

They believe that some stories should just stand on their own and remain so. As much as I'd like to see what happens after the return, I do agree that it makes the story itself that much more powerful on its own.

Even a decade ago, I was beginning to tire of what's become an endless stream of unnecessary and often unwanted remakes, reboots and sequels to hits - which then unsurprisingly fail critically and commercially but they continue to be green-lit in perpetuity.

A couple of months ago, I found hundreds of abandoned DVDs and ironically, I'm certain that I spotted WALL-E among them so I'll probably end up watching it very soon.

So yah. I know this post is singing to a small choir. Reviewing evidence-based findings of e-waste getting (predictably) worse and not mitigating has me, again, side-eyeing the multi-trillion-dollar corporation which once engineered a reasonably modular, parts-replacebale, highly extensible unibody MacBook Pro whose form factor was succesful enough to be kept available for sale for eight years. I’m also aware some of the unibody and rMBP designers and engineers left Apple to join start-up frame.work to create a modular-based system for laptops premised on the same aluminium unibody foundation.

Said corporation now reject that objective, and their sway compels other major tech companies follow in kind if they wish to be competitive.

Sadly, there is an army of Apple apologists who seemingly bleat on cue that other computer companies have followed suit, as some form of validation for Apple because their brand-worship is so strong that they're unable to recognise that the effect is actually negative for the industry and consumers. Much like the shoddiness of Microsoft's products warped the general public's perception of computing as one where unreliable or precarious software is a normalised expectation.

 

[eyoungren]

Even a decade ago, I was beginning to tire of what's become an endless stream of unnecessary and often unwanted remakes, reboots and sequels to hits - which then unsurprisingly fail critically and commercially but they continue to be green-lit in perpetuity.

Remakes and reboots don't bother me overmuch as long as they are still 'original'. For me, if new actors and new content can take the same story and either retell it in an original and entertaining way or cover new ground then I'm fine with it as long as it's still true to the story and the characters. New actors can even make popular characters even more popular because of their interpretation of the character.

Off the top of my head - Jess Bush as Nurse Chapel in Star Trek. Her interpretation of Majel Barrett's character has put Chapel in a new light. Paul Wesley, by NOT trying to be William Shatner has managed to create a Jim Kirk that is very interesting. The same can be said for Ethan Peck and Spock. While Strange New Worlds is not a reboot or remake, or even reimagining it does have characters that we've seen before.

It's when the original story or source material cheapens things that I have a problem. Star Trek Beyond, I never bothered to see (and still haven't) because the moment I heard Justin Lin was attached I just knew it was going to be Fast & Furious in Space. I was proven correct. It cheapened things.

I think 'reimaginings' are a middle ground, sort of way out between a remake and reboot. Canon belongs only to the reimagining and not to the main story. Halo is an example of this. And I know I recommended it to you, but the story while hitting the major points, is quite different than the games. While things have been done in ways I wish were not, they were at least smart enough to not go a bridge too far by killing off Kai-125. Of course, her survival is ambiguous, but why make a point of showing her body floating in space? Particularly after showing MC get up off the ground after surviving a crash onto the ring.

Yeah, so I'm way off topic here but my point is that if a remake/reboot/reimagining can be original within the bounds of the original story I am all for it. Especially when new actors make old characters even better! But that takes good writing and sadly the industry misses a lot when it comes to that.

Of course with the caveat that there are some stores that should remain self-contained.

 

[TheShortTimer]

It's when the original story or source material cheapens things that I have a problem. Star Trek Beyond, I never bothered to see (and still haven't) because the moment I heard Justin Lin was attached I just knew it was going to be Fast & Furious in Space. I was proven correct. It cheapened things.

I too had misgivings when I saw the trailer and discovered who'd directed it. My expectations were already pretty low after the previous instalment - which I saw in the cinema and have never watched again, despite its constant presence on UK TV. When Beyond was broadcast on free-to-air TV, I was unimpressed by what I saw and concluded that the film franchise needs a Harve Bennett figure to turn things around.

 

[B S Magnet]

I was beginning to tire of what's become an endless stream of unnecessary and often unwanted remakes, reboots and sequels to hits - which then unsurprisingly fail critically and commercially but they continue to be green-lit in perpetuity.

In utter agreement here, yet also agreeing with @eyoungren on new actors bringing new, fresh interpretations on old characters.

A good example in not too distant memory of these two ideas meeting together: the 2016 Ghostbusters. Still as cheeseball as the original, I loved it because a completely different cast with completely different personalities gave the old premise a fresh shot in the arm. (I cannot say the same for the post-1989 sequels with the original cast, which is the industry’s tacit admission that they’re bankrupt of novel ideas — mostly because there is poor competition in what amounts to a film house cartel now.

One quote-unquote unnecessary sequel I will defend: The Matrix: Resurrections.

Spoiler: “Time to fly.”

The defence ties in with confronting that bankruptcy of novel ideas by big houses like Warners, Paramount, and Sony. Warners insisted to “reboot” The Matrix for no reason but to monetize the name with random actors and random director(s). The Wachowski sisters didn’t give their blessing. No matter. Warners insisted a reboot was to be made, irrespective of Lana and Lilly’s wishes.

So Lana, who was available, said Warners could get their new Matrix, but on her terms as co-author and co-creator: she’d write, produce, and direct, much as with the first three. Warners got their film, but she used it to make acerbic critiques of the industry majors and their foreclosure on imagination and fear for any sincere risk-taking (lest this unsettle extremely… comfortable shareholders).

To the surprise of no one, it infuriated a subset of fans, mostly tech/gamer bros who are good at, well, sucking out oxygen from spaces. They’d always missed the depth, layering, and subtext of the original (and when this, explicitly, was made clear by the sisters during the early-mid 2010s, those bros found themselves standing red-faced with egg yolks dripping down their bearded chins once they realized how wrong they’d been from the start). Said folks would have been what a reboot without the sisters’ involvement would have been for and for, well, no one else. It would have been a terrible trope and the worst, most forgettable reboot among forgettable reboots. Bet.

The very essence of what made The Matrix work — what made it new, fresh and innovative — was their co-storytelling and their co-perspective. That perspective and world view is, within major film-making, exceedingly rare still, and virtually no other major director or producer alive today has the capacity to rise to that particular bar.

Meanwhile, many high bars get set by small-time filmmakers who, mostly, get shut out. Once in a blue, we get an Ava DuVernay, a Taika Waititi, or a Jordan Peele, but for every one of them, there are probably a hundred more who get shut out of the risk-averse big cartel game run by the same, familiar faces.

Which was sort of the point of Lana’s Resurrections commentary: the entertainment industry is overrepresented by one, predictable, risk-averse, even reactionary demographic which draws from the same bag of tropes to tell the same set of threadbare stories on screen, ad nauseam. It’s all they know.

So Lana roasted them, and many of them got bent out of shape. Good on her.

The cartel mentality shuts out talent. It makes the creative landscapes for major films as barren as Mars. It’s boring.

Sadly, there is an army of Apple apologists who seemingly bleat on cue that other computer companies have followed suit, as some form of validation for Apple because their brand-worship is so strong that they're unable to recognise that the effect is actually negative for the industry and consumers. Much like the shoddiness of Microsoft's products warped the general public's perception of computing as one where unreliable or precarious software is a normalised expectation.

“Too big to compete”, whatever the industry, is now a serious problem. There may even be a bona fide case that it is impeding gross national productivity.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Welcome back @B S Magnet.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I was unimpressed by what I saw and concluded that the film franchise needs a Harve Bennett figure to turn things around.

Film and also TV if you ask me

I found Picard to be just barely even watchable

Such an immense downgrade from TNG/DS9

 

[TheShortTimer]

Film and also TV if you ask me

I found Picard to be just barely even watchable

I had mixed feelings about Picard although it did improve significantly in many areas during the final season but too much ground was covered across an insufficient number of episodes and the writers irked me by...

Spoiler: Warning - Fates of Characters Discussed

performing the fan-service of bringing back Ro Laren and Shelby only to kill them off needlessly and so cheaply.

Such an immense downgrade from TNG/DS9

DS9 remains my favourite entry in the franchise and probably always be. Which is why I was irritated that the writers of Picard felt the need to...

Spoiler: Warning - Further Spoiler

Undo the optimistic ending of What You Leave Behind which saw Odo return to The Great Link to cure the other Changelings and educate them to abandon their bigoted, mistrustful and malevolent ways. They really couldn't devise a new enemy?

As a fellow fan, I think you'll appreciate my posts here and here.

 

[turbineseaplane]

DS9 remains my favourite entry in the franchise

Absolutely kills me we don't seem to be getting the HD treatment for this

 

[TheShortTimer]

Absolutely kills me we don't seem to be getting the HD treatment for this

Among other things, DS9's CGI (and that of Voyager's too) would need to be recreated with HD versions as the original elements were tailored for NTSC video - because that was the cheapest option. Unfortunately, Paramount/CBS are not prepared to invest the money that this would entail due to the apparently disappointing sales figures for the TNG Blu-rays. It's a typically myopic bean-counting philosophy that fails to recognise that the financial outlay meant they could gain revenue from providing TNG to streaming platforms and TV networks in HD.

 

[B S Magnet]

Welcome back @B S Magnet.

Cheers.

Apparently I gave a stoat a bad case of the colic.

Also I just realized you have a new avatar.

 

[B S Magnet]

Film and also TV if you ask me

I found Picard to be just barely even watchable

Such an immense downgrade from TNG/DS9

Since we’re going where so many have already gone before…

J.J. Abrams, for as much as I love Fringe, really enjoyed Alcatraz (and had hoped it’d survive one season), and also liked Alias, had no business getting near Star Trek-anything or being asked back for Episode IX: My Ideas Ran Out So I Rushed This Out Overnight the Night Before Deadline of that other Star movie. (That said, I did enjoy Episode VII and Rian Johnson’s VIII.)

He does a certain kind of long-form storytelling/showrunning very well and another kind pretty terribly (Roadies, oh lordt), but motion pictures, even the Cloverfields, come together the way I’d expect a large-language model, if fed a Cole’s/Cliff’s Notes synopsis of the film’s screenplay, might write and direct a completely AI-generated film.

In my headcanon, the three Abrams Star Trek films don’t real, much as birds don’t real.

 

[turbineseaplane]

In my headcanon, the three Abrams Star Trek films don’t real, much as birds don’t real.

Couldn’t agree more
I saw the first one and was done

Zero interest

From a film standpoint, even though I’m a TNG/DS9 guy, I most enjoy the TOS crew films.

I’m particularly fond of ST2 and ST6 .. I also have an odd soft spot for Generations, I think because it most felt like “more TNG” of their films. From First contact on it just kept getting darker and more about conflict and fighting … just not what I loved about Star Trek (particularly TNG) at all.

 

[B S Magnet]

I’m particularly fond of ST2 and ST6 .. I also have an odd soft spot for Generations, I think because it most felt like “more TNG” of their films. From First contact on it just kept getting darker and more about conflict and fighting … just not what I loved about Star Trek (particularly TNG) at all.

Very much so. I enjoyed most of the original six films and also Generations.

Generations worked for me, not only for decently-considered TOS-TNG plot bridge, but also because it being so soon after The Next Generation ended, it felt closer thematically to the TV series in pacing, costuming, lighting, and even pacing. This seemed to go out the door with the later instalments — more a sense of, “Welp, we’re here again on set… let’s dust off the props and make this work again.”

Another reason I felt the TNG films didn’t really work as well as the TOS films was the especial story continuity with the II-III-IV trilogy, and VI felt like it could have made those a quartet (had V never been made). The TNG films, although loosely tying into stuff from the previous instalment (like the Enterprise itself), functioned close to standalone films designed to be a digestible (bankable) product even if you walked into the cinema and knew nothing about the characters.

Although The Wrath of Khan is without peer, I am more fond of The Search for Spock than I was for The Voyage Home. I like to pretend The Final Frontier also didn’t happen (sorry, Sh⒜t). After seeing the Blu-Ray restoration of The Motion Picture (I think a director’s cut), I came to appreciate it in ways I once didn’t. (Back when I was a child and seeing it on TV, I found it to be kind of ponderous and sleepy.)

 

[eyoungren]

Among other things, DS9's CGI (and that of Voyager's too) would need to be recreated with HD versions as the original elements were tailored for NTSC video - because that was the cheapest option. Unfortunately, Paramount/CBS are not prepared to invest the money that this would entail due to the apparently disappointing sales figures for the TNG Blu-rays. It's a typically myopic bean-counting philosophy that fails to recognise that the financial outlay meant they could gain revenue from providing TNG to streaming platforms and TV networks in HD.

Here's an interesting thing…I quote, "Babylon 5 was shot in widescreen on Super 35mm film - from which a HD image can be extracted from the original film stock rather easily."

After that it's just a matter of redoing the CGI effects. J. Michael Straczynski and his team knew HD was coming so they prepared B5 for it. Paramount did not.

Now, if you think back to the controversy at the time. Babylon 5 launched first and Paramount was accused of copying B5 with DS9. I watched both shows, but there were two camps at the time and neither camp liked the other very much. Lots of people like to think that 'DS9' won the 'war' because it lasted longer than B5, but that does not allow for the fact that Straczynski only planned for 5 seasons. It was 5 and done - end of story. So B5 had the satisfaction of knowing that they successfully completed an entire run.

And oh yeah…B5s effects were rendered on Commodore Amigas using Video Toaster.

 

[eyoungren]

Since we’re going where so many have already gone before…

J.J. Abrams, for as much as I love Fringe, really enjoyed Alcatraz (and had hoped it’d survive one season), and also liked Alias, had no business getting near Star Trek-anything or being asked back for Episode IX: My Ideas Ran Out So I Rushed This Out Overnight the Night Before Deadline of that other Star movie. (That said, I did enjoy Episode VII and Rian Johnson’s VIII.)

He does a certain kind of long-form storytelling/showrunning very well and another kind pretty terribly (Roadies, oh lordt), but motion pictures, even the Cloverfields, come together the way I’d expect a large-language model, if fed a Cole’s/Cliff’s Notes synopsis of the film’s screenplay, might write and direct a completely AI-generated film.

In my headcanon, the three Abrams Star Trek films don’t real, much as birds don’t real.

Abrams problem with Star Wars (and he admitted this) was that Disney had no plan. The idea was for him to do one film, then Rian, then another director. But Johnson's Last Jedi was so universally reviled that Disney called Abrams back. Half the third movie was spent 'fixing' what Johnson screwed up. And since there had been no plan from the beginning you end up with a disjointed mess. Even Mark Hamill had something to say about Luke Skywalker.

I hold the opposite opinion of you. Rian Johnson should never be allowed to even think of directing another Star Wars film. However, I am not one of the toxic fans and was absolutely dismayed by how Rose Tico/Kelly Marie Tran was received. I thought Rose was a great character.

But that's enough on that for now.

 

[TheShortTimer]

In my headcanon, the three Abrams Star Trek films don’t real, much as birds don’t real.

They take place in an alternate timeline (which was due to corporate politics between CBS and Paramount over the film rights) which means that you can go right ahead and dismiss them in terms of canon. (It presumably also meant that the execs could do the same if they were not well received commercially/critically.)

Here's an interesting thing…I quote, "Babylon 5 was shot in widescreen on Super 35mm film - from which a HD image can be extracted from the original film stock rather easily."

After that it's just a matter of redoing the CGI effects. J. Michael Straczynski and his team knew HD was coming so they prepared B5 for it. Paramount did not.

B5 is a really good example that I should've mentioned when discussing the travesty of DS9's (and VOY's) predicament. Sadly, Warner Bros. turned out to be just as much of a bean-counter as Paramount because the B5 DVDs were notoriously derided for their presentation of a widescreen image with the 4:3 CGI cropped and zoomed to 16:9 - and this extended to some of the live action sequences.

You've probably read How Babylon 5 is Transferred to DVD already but I've linked to it for the benefit of others due its exhaustive overview of this topic.

A very kind soul sent me copies of the entire run in predominantly 4:3 - which are free of the formatting issues that affected the DVDs and some re-broadcasts. The Blu-rays are presented in 1.33:1, to overwhelming relief among fans and the endorsement of JMS and DP John Flinn but the failure of Warner Bros. to pay for 16:9 CGI that would've matched the widescreen live action footage is woeful, albeit predictable.

Now, if you think back to the controversy at the time. Babylon 5 launched first and Paramount was accused of copying B5 with DS9. I watched both shows, but there were two camps at the time and neither camp liked the other very much. Lots of people like to think that 'DS9' won the 'war' because it lasted longer than B5, but that does not allow for the fact that Straczynski only planned for 5 seasons. It was 5 and done - end of story. So B5 had the satisfaction of knowing that they successfully completed an entire run.

I saw B5 first as it was shown on free-to-air TV in the UK soon after its US debut. It was the autumn of 1995 when I began watching DS9 via the BBC because of the three-year holdback which gave Murdoch's Sky channel an exclusive first-run deal in the UK. Years later I just rented new episodes on VHS from video hire stores. Personally, I loved both of them and particularly remember looking forward to watching B5 when I finished work because of its night-time slot and the later storylines are fantastic.

In my home, they peacefully co-exist.

And oh yeah…B5s effects were rendered on Commodore Amigas using Video Toaster.

Yeah, for the pilot episode and the first season. Foundation Imaging used 24 Amiga 2000s networked to a 486 server with a 12GB HDD. To put that into scale for the time, most people that I knew didn't have anything beyond a 160MB hard drive! Me, I was loading software from 880k floppies. 😂

 

[TheShortTimer]

Regulars on the EIM forum have been pretty good at driving home this persistent issue, many times over, of Apple engineering Macs to be increasingly more difficult to service and repair since at least the premiere of the Retina MacBook Pros — with Apple delivering a general defence on how most components within are recyclable and also tightly integrated with current designs (which yes, reveal the product of some thirty-plus years’ experience of designing and engineering laptops and also reconfiguring laptop components to create desktop Macs like the Mac mini, Mac Studio, and iMac).

In the past fortnight I bought a 68k Mac and beyond the immediate priority of desoldering its PRAM battery, this 1987 computer remains operational. I was shocked to discover that Apple put its life-expectancy at 15 years of constant use. That's a testament to Apple's faith in their product's build quality - and an example of how far the expectations of consumers and the standards of manufacturers have fallen in the decades since.

To paraphrase Rafael Alvarez, we used to build things with the expectation that they'd last many years and provide value for money - now we build things purely with profit motives as the first and foremost priority and the expectation that they'll soon be discarded in a landfill.

Cheers.

Apparently I gave a stoat a bad case of the colic.

I think that I just might know who that is. I'll leave it there.

Also I just realized you have a new avatar.

Yeah. One of these days I might create one that emphasises the link between my username and my avatar.

 

[turbineseaplane]

@B S Magnet

Great stuff on the ST movies

For me if I had to rank them by Crew I think I'm at

ST2
ST6
ST3
ST4
ST1
ST5

and for TNG cast, for me, they ironically ranked exactly as they were made.

Generations
First Contact
Insurrection
Nemesis

 

[B S Magnet]

Abrams problem with Star Wars (and he admitted this) was that Disney had no plan.

Huh. That’s what I’d expect head-tapped screen/scriptwriters to task themselves with doing: storyboarding first, then presenting/pitching to the executive producers. I guess I don’t get how any of that works.

I also find it a bit suspect given his past track record with the Trek trio and pretty much every Cloverfield after the first (sorry, John Goodman, not even you could save that instalment) — along with the aforementioned TV stinker, Roadies, and others on shaky ground (Undercovers, Believe, and Revolution). It really circles back to Abrams either going bold or going noncommittal, even derivative. Episode VII was more the former; Episode IX was decidedly the latter.

The idea was for him to do one film, then Rian, then another director. But Johnson's Last Jedi was so universally reviled that Disney called Abrams back. Half the third movie was spent 'fixing' what Johnson screwed up. And since there had been no plan from the beginning you end up with a disjointed mess. Even Mark Hamill had something to say about Luke Skywalker.

It’s a bit surprising to learn there was a fierce dislike for Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII. The consensus from my friends was mutual: they really liked it, including those I joined on opening weekend. Every time I re-watch, I look forward to “Salt!” (and that stark white/red contrast of the terrain), Hamill’s green milk expression and, of course, that hyperspace moment (which steals my breath for a few seconds every time, even several re-watchings later).

Notwithstanding Rogue One (I also thought it was brilliant, as is Andor), The Last Jedi was the first time since Return of the Jedi when I felt I was perched at the edge of my cinema seat for a Star Wars film. (I never had a chance to test this with IX because pandemic, but in all the ways I could have been teetering on a seat edge, I rolled my eyes, facepalmed once (zomg Palpatine is alive oh nooo whyyy), and groaned loudly as I burrowed into the sofa.)

As an endnote: at least when reviewing the (yes, highly) subjective IMDB reaction scores for the prequel and sequel trilogy instalments as a sextet, Episode IX is dead last behind Episodes I and II — putting VIII behind III and, at top, VII. But again, internet reaction scores.

I hold the opposite opinion of you. Rian Johnson should never be allowed to even think of directing another Star Wars film. However, I am not one of the toxic fans and was absolutely dismayed by how Rose Tico/Kelly Marie Tran was received. I thought Rose was a great character.

Between the rage aimed at Kelly Marie Tran (who seriously grew on me by VIII), the continuing grousing around Daisy Ridley and John Boyega as principal leads, and the periodic gripes about Laura Dern cast as Admiral Holdo, the common denominator across all seemed to come from the same general demographic (and root of contempt) as the folks who hated The Matrix: Resurrections or even Sense8. I think the aggrieved group was expecting something else familiar, comfortable, and in no way fresh. As well, when they vented their contempt, they expected some kind of apology from up on high which never came. So much The Rage Strikes Back, Revenge of the Dockers, Attack of the Clowns, etc. :le_sigh:

But that's enough on that for now.

And how!

 

[B S Magnet]

@B S Magnet

Great stuff on the ST movies

For me if I had to rank them by Crew I think I'm at

ST2
ST6
ST3
ST4
ST1
ST5

and for TNG cast, for me, they ironically ranked exactly as they were made.

Generations
First Contact
Insurrection
Nemesis

And for the Abrams movies

   　   
   　   
   　   
   　   

 

[eyoungren]

Huh. That’s what I’d expect head-tapped screen/scriptwriters to task themselves with doing: storyboarding first, then presenting/pitching to the executive producers. I guess I don’t get how any of that works.

I also find it a bit suspect given his past track record with the Trek trio and pretty much every Cloverfield after the first (sorry, John Goodman, not even you could save that instalment) — along with the aforementioned TV stinker, Roadies, and others on shaky ground (Undercovers, Believe, and Revolution). It really circles back to Abrams either going bold or going noncommittal, even derivative. Episode VII was more the former; Episode IX was decidedly the latter.



It’s a bit surprising to learn there was a fierce dislike for Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII. The consensus from my friends was mutual: they really liked it, including those I joined on opening weekend. Every time I re-watch, I look forward to “Salt!” (and that stark white/red contrast of the terrain), Hamill’s green milk expression and, of course, that hyperspace moment (which steals my breath for a few seconds every time, even several re-watchings later).

Notwithstanding Rogue One (I also thought it was brilliant, as is Andor), The Last Jedi was the first time since Return of the Jedi when I felt I was perched at the edge of my cinema seat for a Star Wars film. (I never had a chance to test this with IX because pandemic, but in all the ways I could have been teetering on a seat edge, I rolled my eyes, facepalmed once (zomg Palpatine is alive oh nooo whyyy), and groaned loudly as I burrowed into the sofa.)

As an endnote: at least when reviewing the (yes, highly) subjective IMDB reaction scores for the prequel and sequel trilogy instalments as a sextet, Episode IX is dead last behind Episodes I and II — putting VIII behind III and, at top, VII. But again, internet reaction scores.




Between the rage aimed at Kelly Marie Tran (who seriously grew on me by VIII), the continuing grousing around Daisy Ridley and John Boyega as principal leads, and the periodic gripes about Laura Dern cast as Admiral Holdo, the common denominator across all seemed to come from the same general demographic (and root of contempt) as the folks who hated The Matrix: Resurrections or even Sense8. I think the aggrieved group was expecting something else familiar, comfortable, and in no way fresh. As well, when they vented their contempt, they expected some kind of apology from up on high which never came. So much The Rage Strikes Back, Revenge of the Dockers, Attack of the Clowns, etc. :le_sigh:



And how!

Just putting these out there…

JJ Abrams --

J.J. Abrams Reflects on 'Star Wars' and When It's Critical to Have a Plan

"I do think that there’s nothing more important than knowing where you’re going.”

collider.com

“I’ve been involved in a number of projects that have been – in most cases, series – that have ideas that begin the thing where you feel like you know where it’s gonna go, and sometimes it’s an actor who comes in, other times it’s a relationship that as-written doesn’t quite work, and things that you think are gonna just be so well-received just crash and burn and other things that you think like, ‘Oh that’s a small moment’ or ‘That’s a one-episode character’ suddenly become a hugely important part of the story. I feel like what I’ve learned as a lesson a few times now, and it’s something that especially in this pandemic year working with writers [has become clear], the lesson is that you have to plan things as best you can, and you always need to be able to respond to the unexpected. And the unexpected can come in all sorts of forms, and I do think that there’s nothing more important than knowing where you’re going.”

“There are projects that I’ve worked on where we had some ideas but we hadn’t worked through them enough, sometimes we had some ideas but then we weren’t allowed to do them the way we wanted to. I’ve had all sorts of situations where you plan things in a certain way and you suddenly find yourself doing something that’s 180 degrees different, and then sometimes it works really well and you feel like, ‘Wow that really came together,’ and other times you think, ‘Oh my God I can’t believe this is where we are,’ and sometimes when it’s not working out it’s because it’s what you planned, and other times when it’s not working out it’s because you didn’t [have a plan].”

“You just never really know, but having a plan I have learned – in some cases the hard way – is the most critical thing, because otherwise you don’t know what you’re setting up. You don’t know what to emphasize. Because if you don’t know the inevitable of the story, you’re just as good as your last sequence or effect or joke or whatever, but you want to be leading to something inevitable.”

Rian Johnson --

Star Wars The Last Jedi: Why The Hate Is Indisputably Understandable

Midway through my review for “The Last Jedi” I have this thought weighing heavily on my shoulders. The film is visually fantastic, the lightsaber battles are amazingly well choreographed, and overall everything is well structured and cohesive throughout. But despite this movie hitting the mark...

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[B S Magnet]

Just putting these out there…

JJ Abrams --

Valid points, cheers!

Rian Johnson --

Star Wars The Last Jedi: Why The Hate Is Indisputably Understandable

Midway through my review for “The Last Jedi” I have this thought weighing heavily on my shoulders. The film is visually fantastic, the lightsaber battles are amazingly well choreographed, and overall everything is well structured and cohesive throughout. But despite this movie hitting the mark...

www.filmfad.com

That post was filed, literally, the same weekend of the film’s release — not exactly much time for digestion and reflection.

It also points to some of what I wrote earlier about prescribed expectations by a certain audience subset not being met, as those expectations came from folks who expected — even demanded — predictable, safe, familiar, etc., in manners overrepresented and played out (especially so in screen sci-fi).

The very things his listicle, on his own blog, griped about are aspects I liked — namely, how prescribed expectations (of which there were too many) were upended, re-freshened, detoured, re-imagined.

Spoiler: oh no, point-counterpoint

Rose and Finn’s effort to find del Toro’s character (whose fate is left uncertain, as he’s not in IX) was the analogue to the Millennium Falcon ending up in Cloud City: results were mixed, leading to situational uncertainty, the protagonists barely escaping grimmer fates. In both, the takeaway was, “Life is more complicated than the swashbuckling in Episode IV, whose Kurosawan roots were already stress-tested.”

Snoke’s removal was fine: despite his visible age and uncanny, Munchian face, no context was provided in VII or VIII to tie him to the long line of “there can only be two Sith lords at a time” rule after Palpatine and Vader. It was like, “OK, here’s this Sith lord of some unspecified species and he sounds exactly like the trope of an evil mastermind. And?” In The Last Jedi, it was unclear under whom he was a Sith “padawan”. What his demise revealed is the age-old, “You’re expendable; there will always be a successor-in-waiting.” It also broke the trope of an arch-evil overlord looming over the entire trilogy like a storm cloud.

Rey believing what she was told about her insignificance — by someone who was, frankly, the last person to be giving her insight she lacked — alluded to the way deception plays into arguably strong, but destructive relationships.

This story wasn’t about Luke so much as it was about the passing of generations. It was a parable of a hero’s fallibility and a consequential act of poor judgement of character as a very human flaw which, we learnt, doesn’t miss heroic figures — not unlike, frankly, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

And so on.

If Lucasdisneyfilm do, ultimately, film Episode X: New Jedi Order, I’d like to learn whether one or more of the kids from Canto Bight in VIII will appear as key or supporting adult Jedi characters.

 

[Wheel_D]

Threads like this remind me of WALLE.

Our legacy will be massive mountains of waste. Still one of my all time favorite animated flix.

Go team WALLE.

Yes, wasn’t that the point? WALL-E was a warning. . . .