Countdown to Star Wars: The Force Awakens

[Steelgrave]

Saw it last night with the family and loved it. Our geek consensus was that it was the best Star Wars besides the original two. Great flick and didn't disappoint.

[Gusington]

Yousa no like Return of the Jedi?

[Huw the Poo]

Yousa no like Return of the Jedi?

The film in which a bunch of teddy bears defeat the galactic empire? :)

[Grim.Reaper]

Yousa no like Return of the Jedi?

The film in which a bunch of teddy bears defeat the galactic empire? :)

I watched return of the Jedi again the other day and it was kind of funny to watch the battle scene with the ewoks.  Still can't figure out how they were hitting the stormtroopers with small sticks and rocks and was impacting them even though they were in heavy armor:)

Maybe they died laughing being attacked by the fuzzy teddy bears:)

[besilarius]

The Tap Awakens.
Not too crazy over mixing tap dance and star wars, but at 1:30 the Cantina theme actually works very well.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/12/29/postmodern_jukebox_tap_dances_the_star_wars_soundtrack_with_sarah_reich.html?wpsrc=kwfacebookdt&kwp_0=85132&kwp_4=450108&kwp_1=253596

[endfire79]

Yousa no like Return of the Jedi?

The film in which a bunch of teddy bears defeat the galactic empire? :)

I watched return of the Jedi again the other day and it was kind of funny to watch the battle scene with the ewoks.  Still can't figure out how they were hitting the stormtroopers with small sticks and rocks and was impacting them even though they were in heavy armor:)

Maybe they died laughing being attacked by the fuzzy teddy bears:)

Had the same thought as well, although I could see it as a diversion. 

There is that moment when that pair of Ewoks get blasted by an AT-ST and only one survives - the music that followed and the reaction from the surviving Ewok still kind of gets to me.  :(

The attack on Jabbas's sail barge, the Battle of Endor music, the 2nd Death Star trench run scenes, and the conflict (and music, don't forget the music!) between Vader/Luke/Emperor still do the film justice IMHO.

[Gusington]

^I agree. With that said I think Return of the Jedi is the weakest of IV-VI, and I enjoyed the Force Awakens more. The Empire Strikes Back is still my favorite.

[GDS_Starfury]

but youre our favorite ewok.

[endfire79]

but youre our favorite ewok.

Is Gus Ewok, Ugnaut, or Jawa?

[Sir Slash]

I thought he was Theolian.  :o

[JasonPratt]

Episode 4 as revanched by the writer of Episode 5 (Lawrence Kasdan).

Don't forget Leigh Brackett and George Lucas' contribution to ESB. 

Kasdan essentially just did a polish of what they put together.

Well, Kasdan fleshed out the dialogue and story beats.

Lucas wrote a story treatment (with some key scenes like the opening shots on Hoth, and some key material like Luke's twin sister which actually got dropped in early scripts before returning in the 4th draft).

Brackett converted that treatment into a first script (and then unexpectedly died of cancer before she could even start talking with Lucas about the 2nd and polish drafts).

Lucas wrote the second script draft (where the idea of Vader being Luke's dead father first appeared, which got spoiled from a leaked draft by Future Magazine in 1978 by the way -- also this is the draft where Han first ends the movie frozen in carbonite, and where much of Han-and-Leia's side of the plot hinges on a constantly malfunctioning Falcon).

Kasdan's impression when Lucas hired him (in a time crunch desperation, without even having read Kasdan's first draft of the Raiders script yet -- Lucas said if he didn't like it, he'd withdraw the offer tomorrow!), was that Brackett had only done the technical work of turning the first narrative treatment into script form. No doubt she would have done more in the next two planned drafts, but she did the first big thing first.

Kasdan did have a lot of meticulous and direct input from Lucas, producer Gary Kurtz, and director Irvin Kershner (who in turn allowed a significant amount of improvisation on set), while writing his drafts. There was an interesting tug-of-war between Lucas, who wanted the film to be a short, punchy, crowd-pleasing cash-maker (to help finance ILM, Skywalker Ranch, and Lucasfilm generally), and Kas + Kersh who set the tone and tempo for everything that wasn't an action scene (though they basically rewrote the dialogue in those scenes, too). But Lucas admittedly did, by all evidence, write and build the story of ESB, in a narrative sense, from the treatment onward. Kasdan didn't do that; but he did more than Brackett (aside from the technical chore of turning a treatment into a first script).


I very much look forward to the next revised edition of Kaminski's heavily researched The Secret History of Star Wars, btw, once enough years have passed with released material on writing Ep 7 that he can fit its place into the monograph.

[Gusington]

I am 100% Hebrew.

[Staggerwing]

I am 99% oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. The rest probably teflon from my old frypan.

[besilarius]

Related by marriage to Mrs. Bawb?
Altho all reports are she believes in iron.

[Sir Slash]

I am equal parts Jim Beam, Chicken Wings, straight sex, and Fox News. Not necessarily in that order but possibly any 2 at the same time. Used to be 3 but I'm getting old.