Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Trailer Now Available
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Looks like they ran out of lightsaber gimmicks. All I could think of is that old Xzibit meme.
He's not smiling for a reason.
He's not smiling for a reason.
You missed my reference then. There's an expression that you shouldn't bring a knife to a gun fight. More generally, you shouldn't use a melee weapon when your enemies are all ranged. In ancient times, this meant that you shouldn't try using a sword against an archer. In more current times, you shouldn't use a sword against a gun.
Why? Because projectiles fly way faster than your reflexes will ever handle it. Even if your reflexes are fast enough, you'll damage your body just be exerting the necessary force to move it so quickly (dodging a projectile moving at 1000 MPH requires that you move pretty damn quickly, with a very high acceleration, which requires a lot of force, which will be akin to being in a car crash without an airbag.)
In the movies, the projectiles always appear to be moving slowly enough for it to be feasible to block them (as is done many times). Either we're watching it in a slow-motion, like in the Matrix, in which case the Jedis should be physically breaking their own arms to move so quickly (and Neo should break his back, but he's in a computer simulation so conventional physics don't apply), or these futuristic laser weapons are worse than a bow and arrow, because the projectiles move so slowly that they can be easily dodged (which, actually, why bother blocking with a lightsaber? Why not just step out of the way and dodge it?)
The lightsaber is definitely a flawed idea. The laser blasters may also be flawed. It'd be kind of hilarious if Han Solo at some point just whipped out a real pistol and shot a jedi dead, as the same actor does in Indiana Jones.
Actually, the cross is useless. As you've stated, a lightsaber can cut through metal. We even know that a lightsaber can cut through the metal of another lightsaber, as this happens to Darth Maul's in Episode 1, when his double sided lightsaber is cut in two.
Wow, tough crowd here.
After the prequels I figured I'd never bother with another Star Wars movie again, but I'm stoked for this one. The best two of the old trilogy arose from collaborative efforts between Lucas and others, before Lucas had the power to surround himself with yes-men and enforce a creative dictatorship. The script for ANH underwent many rewrites with input from Lucas's friends and colleagues who could, and did, tell him his original script sucked. ESB saw Lucas withdraw to a background role to advise a strong-willed director who was previously his mentor, an authority figure who could challenge Lucas.
ROTJ also had Lucas in the background, but with a new director who was chosen for his deference to Lucas. The executive producer Kurz who provided so much creative input to the first two episodes left, leaving Lucas with no one to challenge him. As a result, ROTJ bore a striking resemblance to TPM in terms of aiming to a lower age group with cutsie characters and pedestrian plot development.
In light of this history, The Force Awakens bears the most resemblance to ESB. Lucas provided the broad strokes of the story, but Kasden is writing the script and a strong-willed director is overseeing its execution.
This is why I'm stoked. The teaser confirms a few unknowns, mainly that Abrams has the sense not to cram distracting eye candy into every frame. That shot of the Falcon surpassed ANYTHING from the prequels in it's focus and momentum. There is an urgency to the teaser that is far closer to the OT than the prequels. We can't conclude TFA will absolutely rock, but it has the potential to be one of the greatest Star Wars episodes yet!
After the prequels I figured I'd never bother with another Star Wars movie again, but I'm stoked for this one. The best two of the old trilogy arose from collaborative efforts between Lucas and others, before Lucas had the power to surround himself with yes-men and enforce a creative dictatorship. The script for ANH underwent many rewrites with input from Lucas's friends and colleagues who could, and did, tell him his original script sucked. ESB saw Lucas withdraw to a background role to advise a strong-willed director who was previously his mentor, an authority figure who could challenge Lucas.
ROTJ also had Lucas in the background, but with a new director who was chosen for his deference to Lucas. The executive producer Kurz who provided so much creative input to the first two episodes left, leaving Lucas with no one to challenge him. As a result, ROTJ bore a striking resemblance to TPM in terms of aiming to a lower age group with cutsie characters and pedestrian plot development.
In light of this history, The Force Awakens bears the most resemblance to ESB. Lucas provided the broad strokes of the story, but Kasden is writing the script and a strong-willed director is overseeing its execution.
This is why I'm stoked. The teaser confirms a few unknowns, mainly that Abrams has the sense not to cram distracting eye candy into every frame. That shot of the Falcon surpassed ANYTHING from the prequels in it's focus and momentum. There is an urgency to the teaser that is far closer to the OT than the prequels. We can't conclude TFA will absolutely rock, but it has the potential to be one of the greatest Star Wars episodes yet!
Well a lot of stuff in Star Wars is senseless, it just seems right because we grew up with it. For instance, why do the space ships maneuver in space as if they are in an atmosphere? When in an atmosphere, how the hell does a ship with no aerodynamically sound surfaces like the Falcon fly at all? All the ships seem to possess a means of generating gravity, so why do they need old-school propulsion systems that shoot out jets of flame? If a ship can alter gravity it can instantly change direction at the maximum g force humans can withstand.
Why do ships make so much noise in space? Does this far away galaxy have an atmosphere? WTF?
Why are the Jedi powers so inconsistent? Why does a Jedi get his arse handed to him by some random dude in battle armor, yet the same Jedi can cut through legions of battle droids? Why can a Jedi sometimes pick up his lightsaber with the force, but other times when he drops it, he has to get it "manually"? Speaking of dropping light sabers, wouldn't a wrist loop be more useful than a cross guard? Those badass jedis of the Old Republic sure seem to lose their lightsabers a lot. Are they really so clumsy, or is it the screenwriter Lucas who is lazy and clumsy?
Why use big and clumsy ATATs when a special ops force could easily destroy the Hoth shield generator on the sly? Darth Vader could have snuck in there all stealthy and badass to force-crush the shield generator! Then safely bombard the base from orbit.
If size matters not, then why don't Sith/Jedi use the force to hold and move space ships around? That would have come in handy when Vader wanted to stop the Falcon at Cloud City. I guess size does matter, or Vader could have used the force to guide Luke's X-Wing into a trench wall at the end of ANH.
Reason and logic must be suspended to enjoy a fantasy movie like Star Wars. It's not even internally logical, instead it's like a roller coaster ride that buckles your brain into a confined seat. That only works with a gut-wrenching plot and perfect pacing that never lets the viewer's brain relax and think, much like ANH and ESB.
You bring up a lot of good points. I like your post. I think I'm going to bookmark it and pull it up the next time anyone tries to ever say anything in Star Wars makes sense.
I'm curious if you can dismantle Star Trek (TNG) as thoroughly. I generally consider it to a much more... logical (pun accidental) series.
The George Lucas special edition edit
the George Lucas special edition edit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v93Jh6JNBng
the George Lucas special edition edit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v93Jh6JNBng
It's a movie, not real life, not a documentary.
They are Jedis not regular humans. There are Master Jedis, Jedi Knights and Padawans, to each its own level of skills and ways in handling their light sabers and using the force.
Siths also have their own ways. Not all metals or whatever elements they use to make them are the same, similar to the beam or plasma of the saber and light sabers are the same either.
Light saber to light saber contact is the purpose of the cross, better to have the metal cut than the hand.
Ninjas will have a different opinion on a gun vs a blade. Ask a ninja.
The part about moving your arms too fast and breaking your bones is wrong. The Jedi does not move in response to the blaster pulse moving towards him. Rather he/she knows the mind and intention of the shooter before the trigger is pulled.
Also, a Jedi is not invincible. A lot of them die in these movies.
Just saying.
Also, a Jedi is not invincible. A lot of them die in these movies.
Just saying.
No kidding. Mine is a personal blog. So what I hear you saying is that MacRumors is just some personal blog. Noted.
I didn't say MacRumors can't. That was you.
The Lost World was a great book as well. The movie was terrible in comparison. The premise of the book and how it was revealed/played out was far more intense and interesting than the movie.
I'm not sure how many people had questioned viability in the first movie and that it must have taken years of failures/partial successes before Jurassic Park could "happen." So I loved how Crichton solved that plot hole in Lost World.
But again - the movie was terrible. And barely followed the book really.
This is why I don't like JJ Abrams at the helm. More Star Trek style camera effects, fast cuts, and loop de loos...
Here's the scene stabilized (it's a gif, forgive the color) and basically the rotating box is the follow camera. All the falcon does is dive low, and turn a bit to the left and the right. It's the follow cam doing all the extra crazy stuff. The teaser just feels too much like Star Trek for me. This gif actually feels more star wars style to me.
http://imgur.com/MVhkmQa
Here's the scene stabilized (it's a gif, forgive the color) and basically the rotating box is the follow camera. All the falcon does is dive low, and turn a bit to the left and the right. It's the follow cam doing all the extra crazy stuff. The teaser just feels too much like Star Trek for me. This gif actually feels more star wars style to me.
http://imgur.com/MVhkmQa
That Droid is an example of the most inefficient shape for any machine.
It literally takes up the most space for any given height. It looks like it could hurt its owners if it ever malfunctioned.
I guess the action figure is going to be some kind of weeble like toy with weights at the bottom so it can bob up when falling over.
Everything else in the Teaser looks great. But who is paying those Stormtrooper?
People, people, this is a teaser. You guys know what teaser means, right?
I don't know about all of you, but it looks pretty amazing, yes, better than the Jurassic Park.
I don't know about all of you, but it looks pretty amazing, yes, better than the Jurassic Park.
After so many died , nuke that damn island already. Idmuch rather prefer a remake of The Fly than Jurassic arse.
The sith, and Han's legendary player cool lines "I know" are THE ONLY reason I'm remotely interested in this movie.
As an aside.....WTF is with every movie trailer on Apple TV hanging multiple times throughout the playtime? I have a 15MBps download speed and any other streaming source works fine.
You look on the Apple forums and EVERYONE is complaining about the same thing going back 5 years. And this isn't a wireless issue as my Apple TV is connected directly into my Apple router.
Come on Apple! Fix it already!