Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens (SPOILERS)

Discussion in 'Media Central' started by Black Dove, Jun 2, 2014.

  1. Black Dove

    Black Dove Mildly Offensive

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    With principle photography now underway in Abu Dhabi, I figured it's time for SW - EP 7 to get it's own discussion thread to continue up to, and beyond, the release of the movie in December 2015. So let's get this bitch rollin'!

    TMZ just released a shit-load of set pictures from the on location shooting taking place in Abu Dhabi, which is doubling at Tatooine. Not a lot of huge spoilers here, but I'm extremely happy to see it confirmed that they are going to use more practical effects and less CGI for the new movie. From the pictures included, it's starting to feel very Star Warsy. And I like the practical pig-like creature.

    http://www.tmz.com/2014/06/02/star-wars-episode-7-set-photos-secret-pics-new-creature/
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  2. gul

    gul Revolting Beer Drinker Administrator Formerly Important

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    Yeah, good stuff, but sadly just a tease. I am very encouraged that the giant creature is a mechanical beast.
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  3. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    Couldn't they have come up with a better name for the movie?
  4. Sean the Puritan

    Sean the Puritan Endut! Hoch Hech!

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    Name one Star Wars movie that had a better title.
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  5. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    The original one when it was released in 1977
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  6. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    Why did they used Abu Dhabi instead of Tunisia for Tatooine? Is it because of the overall geo political climate in northern Africa or did the "westernizing as much as we can" cash flush Abu Dhabi offer them something Tunisia could not?

    Not that it probably matters overall, but doesn't the desert areas of Tunisia look considerably different from those around the Gulf? IIRC from pictures in Star Wars Insider back in the late 1990s, Tunisia had lots of ruins of old dwellings built into the rock that dated back centuries. Had a very "alien" look to it.
  7. Aurora

    Aurora VincerĂ²!

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    Guys, I know it's the hip thing to consider mechanical effects 'better'. Anti mainstream and all ;) But if you think that this creature won't be CGI'd up up the wazoo you are sadly mistaken. And that's a good thing. There is a right way and a wrong way to do this. George Lucas chose the wrong way with the sequels (even though the CGI was sensational back then).

    The right way is to make it look like 2015 by all means available. They really don't care what the 'fans' want to see, which is the original trilogy over and over and over again anyway. I bet that most people can't tell the difference between CGI and mechanical when it comes to non-humans in this day and age. They will do this in whatever way is the best compromise of price and quality.
  8. Sean the Puritan

    Sean the Puritan Endut! Hoch Hech!

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    "Star Wars"? You know quite well that that does not answer the question.

    Pick one of the six options below.

    1. The Phantom Menace
    2. Attack of the Clones
    3. Revenge of the Sith
    4. A New Hope
    5. The Empire Strikes Back
    6. Return of the Jedi

    None of those are "better" than "The Ancient Fear".
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  9. Aurora

    Aurora VincerĂ²!

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    Good chance that it's just a money thing. Tunisia is piss poor and unstable. Meaning you don't know what happens and they'd ask a very high price to profit. As for the desert looking differently... you'll find anything in most of the Arabian deserts, from classic rocky Mars landscapes to dunes. They'll make it look like whatever they want in post anyway so they could shoot this in Norway :shrug:

    I guess the other reason is infrastructure. Go to Khalifa City and you have great patches of desert in the middle or just outside of a modern city. In Tunisia you have Tunis and that's about 500 kilometers from a useful desert. They'd have to go to the south where there is... nothing but a dusty shithole called Tataouine, which likely inspired Lucas to come up with the name Tatooine. Hardly a place for a crew that involves hundrets, though.
  10. gul

    gul Revolting Beer Drinker Administrator Formerly Important

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    Yep, aside from the theatrical release title for episode IV, none of the currently used titles is any better, and some are probably worse (Attack of the Clones).

    Regarding Aurora's point:

    Of course there will be plenty of CGI. But I don't agree that it always works better than mechanical effects. A complex three dimensional being usually comes off a bit flat unless it is projected on to an actual physical model. Perhaps It's only an opinion, but I think Muppet Yoda looked better than CGI Yoda.
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  11. RickDeckard

    RickDeckard Socialist

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    IIRC it's An Ancient Fear, not The Ancient Fear. Although it's still yet to be confirmed.
  12. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

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  13. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    The first movie I ever saw in my life was at a drive in theatre in 1977 with my oldest sister and her friends.

    There is a Walmart there now. :ualbert:

    That movie was called "Star Wars".

    I've never seen a movie at a theatre called "Star Wars: A New Hope".

    If Lucas wanted to rename it that he should've called "The Phantom Menace", "Abandon All Hope".
  14. Forbin

    Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

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    Tattoine AGAIN?! :borg:
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  15. Bailey

    Bailey It's always Christmas Eve Super Moderator

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    It's sandy desert, that's close enough. There's no reason all of Tatooine has to look exactly the same.
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  16. Forbin

    Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

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    But, but, each and every planet in the universe is completely comprised of only one characteristic that resembles a different environment of Earth!
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  17. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

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    Google says "the".
    :shrug:
  18. Black Dove

    Black Dove Mildly Offensive

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    I had read a few weeks ago back when 2nd unit started shooting was that Tunisia was unstable and too dangerous to film there safely, so they went with Abu Dhabi.
  19. Black Dove

    Black Dove Mildly Offensive

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    If you want to see an excellent mix of practical and CGI FX, look no further than AbramsTrek. Most of the aliens featured were either actors in make-up or puppets, with both having additional CGI just to help enhance the effects. I'm looking at the photos and loving the buildings, especially the elevated one that looks like some type of office facility. Lucas would have just created that as full CGI, but Abrams went the extra mile to build the damn thing. I'm sure the whole set will be enhanced with CGI, but that won't take away from the realism of the sets and creatures.
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  20. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    I'm holding out hope that this is a decoy name and that the actual names is "Blue Harvest." :ramen:
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  21. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    I thought that was the one about the Andorians....
  22. NAHTMMM

    NAHTMMM Perpetually sondering

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    Ya know what, I actually kinda like "An Ancient Fear". Whereas "The Ancient Fear" is right down there with "Attack of the Clones". Sometimes, articles seriously matter.

    Of course, if the movie turns out well and the trilogy supports it, either title might be just the best title ever in context.
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  23. Paladin

    Paladin Overjoyed Man of Liberty

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    It's a very meh name.

    "An Ancient Fear" is a fear someone's had a long time. The ancient thing alluded to in the title probably shouldn't be the fear, but rather the OBJECT of the fear.

    An Ancient Threat
    An Ancient Evil
    An Ancient Curse
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  24. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    Sorry, Paladin, you've done your best, but there's simply nothing to work with here. The problem is we don't expect to see a phrase like "The Ancient Fear" or "An Ancient Fear" in the title. It is better used in the description of the film. Imagine the opening crawl looking something like this:

    You could use "Ancient" if there was something in the on-screen canon which lent itself to such an appellation. There's not really any such thing that I can think of. The past events/characters referenced in the OT go back only as far as Anakin, and the PT doesn't make any coherent reference to anything prior to the birth of Anakin (and let's face it, even that description was pretty fucked up).
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  25. K.

    K. Sober

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    Darth Enallage strikes again!
  26. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

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    No, the wiping out of the original order of Sith goes back at least a couple millennia.
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  27. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    Que? When is that discussed in any of the films?
  28. gul

    gul Revolting Beer Drinker Administrator Formerly Important

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    Only if you consider EU sources, which they aren't bound by. I agree that it could be a reference to the SITH, but it could also be whatever the hell they want it to be.
  29. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

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    Pretty sure it was Phantom Menace, during the Qui-Gon funeral....
  30. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    And if JJ's smart, he'll avoid anything and everything tied to the PT, since they're so universally reviled. I don't remember that happening in TPM, it could be that you're right, but again, JJ's better off avoiding anything referencing it since so much of the fan base with large amounts of disposable income, tends not to like the PT.
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