Mark Hamill’s nerd bona fides need no elaboration. He might be the only one left who’s competent to write a Star Wars movie. You doubt me? Check out what he said about the debacle that was Episode VII’s climax:
Hamill has a lot of thoughts on how Luke might have been reintroduced differently in The Force Awakens. He could have come in during Han Solo’s climactic scene with Kylo Ren, receiving some sort of Force-telepathy distress call from his sister, General Leia, but arriving too late to save Han from death. Or, perhaps, he might have materialized in the snowy forest of Starkiller Base, where Rey duels with Kylo. On his first read-through of the script, Hamill recalled, he got excited when the legendary lightsaber wiggled portentously in the snow. “The moment in the forest, when the saber rattles?” he said. “I go, ‘Oh, baby, here I come!’ And then it flies into her hands? I said, What the hell, she hasn’t even trained!”
In another interview, Hamill elaborated:
“Now, remember, one of the plots in the earlier films was the telepathic communication between my sister and me,” Hamill said. “So I thought, Carrie will sense that Han is in danger and try to contact me. And she won’t succeed, and, in frustration, she’ll go herself. Then we’re in the situation where all three of us are together, which is one of my favorite things in the original film, when we were on the Death Star. It’s just got a fun dynamic to it. So I thought it would have been more effective, and I still feel this way, though it’s just my opinion, that Leia would make it as far as she can, and, right when she is apprehended, maybe even facing death—Ba-boom! I come in and blow the guy away and the two of us go to where Han is facing off with his son, but we’re too late. The reason that’s important is that we witness his death, which carries enormous personal resonance into the next picture. As it is, Chewie’s there, and how much can you get out of [passable Chewbacca wail] ‘Nyaaarghhh!’ and two people who have known Han for, what, 20 minutes?”
He is absolutely right. the relationship between Han, Luke, and Leia is the emotional core of the original Star Wars trilogy. The fact that we never get to see all three iconic characters on screen together was an unforced error that’s emblematic of TFA’s wretched screenwriting.
Since we’ve established that Hamill knows Star Wars better than the hacks entrusted with the franchise’s future, read his reaction to the script for Episode VIII and despair!
Likewise, after reading Rian Johnson’s script for The Last Jedi, Hamill said, “I at one point had to say to Rian, ‘I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character.'”
I didn’t see Rogue One in the theater. I don’t plan to see The Last Jedi at all. I’ll probably read some reviews, though, because it’ll be interesting to find out if the rumored Gray Jedi BS devolves the series into full-blown moral relativism.
This stunning space opera carries you all over the known universe – and outside of it.
-Author Russell Newquist
Wow just wow. That Mark Hamill is basically dissing and telling off the script writers that they have a very serious problem. Frankly Disney couldn't do worse than asking Mark and Harrison with 5 fans rewrite the last jedi script.
One of the things that's always bugged me about the epic is the status of ybe Jrdi. If Obi wan survived why couldn't the others? Asoka would've been an awesome survivor to introduce. She could present a more grief stricken but dignified figure.
Second, how careless are the Jedi in episode vii? They let themselves ger whacked a second time?
C'mon you can't that stupidly innocent! I dunno, they should've hire me. No way would i'd've created super death star iii. I'd've chosen something more puply and original
xavier
Hamill is from the last generation of true Hollywood pros (so is Harrison Ford, who famously rebuked Shia LaBeouf for dissing Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).
These guys understand that their job doesn't end when filming wraps. Pimping the movie is just as important as acting in it. At that level, your personal opinion of the film doesn't matter. You're being paid millions, so you put your feelings in your back pocket and you promote the movie.
Now imagine how much of a garbage scow fire Episode VIII has to be for Hamill to say what he said on the record.
It will forever go down as the greatest cinematic crime of history to not have Luke, Leia and Han on screen together one last time in TFA.
The film makers knew it. They hate us.
So when I got hired on at my current line of employment back in 2000, I was known – well known – for being the Star Wars fan. Not that there weren't any other fans around, mind you. I'm a software engineer. We're all nerds. Still, I definitely stood out. My chat handle was "Jedi." The license plate on my WRX read "Jedi Rex" (a play on the friendly nickname of the car). I camped out overnight at the local theater for all three prequels
OK… after Episode I, I did it because the experience of camping had been so much fun, not because I expected great films. And the camping experience was AWESOME all three times. The films? Not so much.
But all three of them were better films – and definitely better Star Wars films – than TFA. They were clunky, because George Lucas is a terrible director. But the core stories were intriguing, because George Lucas has a crazy sort of vision. And they were definitely Star Wars, even if they were weird and didn't quite match with the originals. And they were visually stunning, because nobody has an eye for Cinemascope film like Lucas. Nobody.
I thought TFA was kind of meh when I first watched it – not great, not terrible. Good in ways the prequels weren't, but bad in ways they weren't, too. But more than anything, the film didn't feel like Star Wars to me. Even the stuff with Chewie, and Leia… it felt like a nostalgia tour, not like the real deal. Only the stuff with Han – only the stuff with Han – felt legit. And I place the credit for that squarely on Harrison Ford's utterly amazing charisma and acting talent.
Anyway, long story short… I've been one of the biggest Star Wars nerds out there. But if it's truly time for the Jedi to end, as Luke claims in the new trailer, then I'm out – for good. Getting rid of the Jedi literally gets rid of everything that ever made Star Wars interesting.
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I wouldn't have believed that was intentional.
You have an excellent eye for cinematic details, as well as excellent taste in automobiles.
I might be remembering this wrong so feel free to correct me, but in the original trilogy Jedi vs Sith was about Good vs Evil. The prequels destroyed that for me, as it seemed impossible for Jedi to be good as anything they could possibly do would lead to becoming a Sith. So Good was relegated to inaction which is even worse than reaction. The position of Jedi became untenable.
But then again, what do I know, Qui Gon Jinn was always my personal favourite.
Qui Gon Jinn was always my personal favourite.
I'm a big fan of him, too, although Obi-Wan was my own personal favorite.
The log line for both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy can easily be boiled down to:
"I should've listened to Obi-Wan." For literally every character.
* Qui-Gon should've listened to Obi-Wan and not trained Anakin.
* Anakin should've listened to Obi-Wan on just about everything.
* Yoda and Mace Windu should've listened to Obi-Wan and not made Anakin a Jedi Master.
* Luke should've listened to Obi-Wan and stayed with Yoda to train.
In my opinion, it's the actual theme of the entire saga.
Obi-Wan takes the cake as greatest Jedi ever.
Qui Gon had tunnel vision when it came to Anakin, but his philosophical insights were sound. His death pretty much doomed the Jedi/Republic.
I love the original Star Wars trilogy, but the force is one of the worst magic systems, period.
Lucas tried to ground the Christian moral values of the pulps in New Age mysticism, and it just doesn't work. The minimal exposition and visual spectacle in A New Hope keeps you from noticing how incoherent an objective moral code based on subjective emotions is, but the facade starts to crack by the end of Empire. The wheels come off in the prequels.
TFA already destroyed Leia and Han (all character development undone, miserable, divorced), so of course they will destroy Luke next.
By the final film all the old characters and story will be erased and replaced with their new canon. That's what these types always do when they take over a property. They supplant and subvert it.
To be honest, this is turning out a lot like Legend of Korra after the original Avatar series. Dismantled and overturning led to the new series erasing everything people liked from the original with a new super special place for the Mary Sue main character that nobody liked.
If people still stick around after this next movie, I'll be surprised.
Max Landis has said that Star Wars is the only property that can still trade on its name alone. It might limp away after Episode VIII. It won't survive the Han Solo prequel.
Yeah I agree that Leia and Han became the pseudo Clintons in the movie. They just couldn'the allow them to have happily ever after and missed the awesome opportunity to have the same dynamic and dialogue as Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart.
But no, the inferiors who are illiterate as well as disrespectful just can let us enjoy a mature relationship that's grown in love and wisdom.
xavier
Interesting that he refers to them as Carrie (actor) and Han (Character.) Shows how close he was to Carrie Fisher. Or possibly his opinion of Harrison Ford.
Good catch. I missed that.
To be slightly fair, you can easily shorten "Harrison" to "Han" (just remove the middle 5 letters) so it's an understandable slip.
Hey brian, are my earlier comments languishing in spam or moderation? (i had to use name/url because blogger account is funny on Brave)
Nope. I don't hold comments for moderation, and none of your comments are in spam.
Weird. Ok, I can't remember my full content now but I was self pimping this.
https://natewinchester.wordpress.com/2017/05/28/star-wars-story-structure/
Let the Zombies of Star Wars expire. The faster the franchise is destroyed by Disney, the sooner our old heroes can be laid to rest and know peace.
SJWs: The Zombie Makers
And the sooner we can make new heroes.
What kills me in the end is that Disney torpedoed the original Canon/EU for this crap. TFA and Rogue One were both nostalgia bait of the worst sort. They should have kept the old timeline and made a movie that took place a century or two after ROTJ. If people wanted to know what happened to Luke and the gang they could just point to the books and comics. At this point it would have been more than okay to bring in your Mary Sue Rey's, your gay Poe's (it'll happen) and your useless Finn's (he is).
Instead we get a new trilogy where they show off how great it is to see our old favorites again. All the while they spit on those characters throughout the movies. How Han and Leia were treated was despicable. Luke will fare no better. Sorry for the rant. This is a sore spot for me.
This comment has been removed by the author.
No need to apologize. Besides, you're entirely correct.
The Jedi need to end" sounds like the giveaway to me. 99% sure it's going to be crap after that line.
How could it not be? That line is Star Wars' suicide note.
But the script writrr will need to justify why and come up with a very plausible replacement. If they can do neither than don't bother.
Like i said, i could write a better script even though i have tin ear for scenes and write laughably wooden language. But at least i'd respect the materials and the fans
"come up with a very plausible replacement."
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the SJW writers changed the properties of the Avatar itself.
The Avatar was ostensibly the spirit of the planet itself given human form. It reincarnated every generation in a new member of one of the four nations. The Avatar's job was to be peacemaker and to help guide humanity.
In Korra, all that is retconned out. The Avatar is merely the spirit of Ying (in the wrong color) who merges with a human to stop Yang from destroying the planet.
Yang becomes the "Dark Avatar" (Yes, it gets that bad) with a human and literally murders the past lives out of Korra until they are all dead and only she is left.
After beating the "Dark Avatar" in a really stupid way, she is now stronger and better than ever before. Because she's the NEW first Avatar reestablishing her with a "pure" connection to the spirit of Ying.
Not only did they completely neuter the original series, they broke canon to do it. Nothing that happens in Korra makes any sense unless it retroactively makes everything that happened in Avatar impossible or needless.
Why did they do this? Easy. So they could take over the canon to mold it to what they wanted. They gave the main character, one of the worst ever, unearned power and prestige. And they only had to destroy the original series to do it.
And if you don't like it, you're sexist.
Where have you heard that before?
The clickbait ending was about the only thing I knew about Legend of Korra, but it sounds like that was just the icing on the cake of stupidity.
Was meant as a reply to JD Cowan's post above – gotta pay more attention to how this format works.
No aspect of Star Wars will be safe…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3X7FZQxaaY