tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post5943741142693308358..comments2020-08-11T08:50:26.642-03:00Comments on Siskoid's Blog of Geekery: This Week in Geek (21-27/12/15)Siskoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-88683562316484225182015-12-28T11:13:42.331-04:002015-12-28T11:13:42.331-04:00On TFA specifically, I still got the impression of...On TFA specifically, I still got the impression of JJ as a TV director. There&#39;s a fascinating article (which I might have linked to before) about viewing the prequels with no sound...<br /><br />http://www.tor.com/2013/01/16/watching-the-star-wars-prequels-muted-an-experiment/<br /><br />Again, for all their many flaws, there&#39;s a large number of visually brilliant shots. The only real ones from TFA that struck me tended to be SFX stuff (like Rey and BB-8 in front of the giant wrecked Star Destroyer), the sort of thing Lucus was berated for.<br /><br />I kinda admire that Lucus followed up a fairly simply &quot;good vs evil, son redeems the father&quot; story with a story about how people will give up their freedoms in exchange for a fraudulant security if convinced to do so by people cunning enough. People remember &quot;I love you&quot; &quot;I know&quot;, &quot;I&#39;ve got a bad feeling about this&quot;, &quot;I am your father&quot; etc, but Padme&#39;s &quot;So this is how democracy dies... to raptuous applause&quot; has always stuck with me, and seems to get more revelant as the years go on.<br /><br />Finally, I&#39;m kinda hoping that the next one moves away a bit more from the Episodes IV-VI template. I actually laughed in cinema at &quot;no no no, it&#39;s much worse than the Death Star. Look, it&#39;s, like, 50 times bigger and everything!&quot;LiamKavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01996095233681105682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-7764315288874081232015-12-28T11:07:10.758-04:002015-12-28T11:07:10.758-04:00(Small Star Wars rant) I liked The Force Awakens....(Small Star Wars rant)<br /><br />I liked The Force Awakens. I thought the new characters were charming and well acted, and I liked the humour. However, I&#39;m slightly turned off by the incessant prequel bashing that accompanies them. The prequels have many flaws. Dodgy plotting, acting, and much more. Criticising that is fine, but a lot of the ranting goes back to &quot;TFA is what Star Wars is SUPPOSED to be&quot;. It&#39;s created a horrible sense of entitlement amoungst fans. The Special Editions were the first time I ever heard &quot;raped my childhood&quot; with regards to a piece of entertainment.<br /><br />I&#39;m 36, so my original experience of the movies was seeing them in bits and pieces on TV. The cinema releases of the Special Editions were the first time I saw them properly and in order. And I loved them. My friends loved them. That panning shot of the Rebel Fleet approaching the Death Star that Siskoid wasn&#39;t keen on? We went crazy with excitement when se saw it during the original trailer for the Special Editions. Now, being older, I can see a fair number of flaws with the changes, but also an equal number of improvements. The sheer ANGER of some fans over them though astonishes me.<br /><br />With the prequels, I remember having mixed feelings, especially with Episode 1. I was frequently bored with it. However, I quite liked both episode 2 and 3. Where everyone was complaining about the badly written romance between Anakin and Padme, I was gushing over Yoda&#39;s lightsaber fight. While people were complaning about how abruptly Anakin goes &quot;well, guess I might as well be evil now&quot;, I remember how affecting the &quot;General Order 66&quot; scene was.<br /><br />Any you know what? I&#39;ve got nephews who love the prequels. They love the pod race. They cheer on Anakin. They are really involved with Anakin and Obi-Wan&#39;s lightsaber fight. Who am I to tell them that they&#39;re actually wrong, the prequals are terrible, and The Force Awakens is ACTUALLY what they should be watching?LiamKavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01996095233681105682noreply@blogger.com