"Having a plan, I have learned—in some cases the hard way—is the most critical thing, because otherwise you don't know what you’re setting up. You don't know what to emphasize. Because if you don’t know the inevitable [sic] of the story, you're just as good as your last sequence or effect or joke or whatever, but you want to be leading to something inevitable."
I missed this, but May 25th was the day that changed the movie going experience forever. drawing a blank, unsure, expecting me to put up some 50's movie or the first talky or color film.
Nope, May 25, 1977 blew peoples minds and started a massive fan base that has lead to billions in revenue, a whole generation of people who suddenly knew what the Force was, created the greatest villain of all time, and gave us all this.
For Star Wars fans, I'm sure we all remember where we saw this first time. Me and my dad and my best friend, we took the old station wagon with the wooden side panels downtown. We stood in line for an hour, I remember it was cold and my Dad was his usual grumpy self about standing outside in a huge lineup.
When we got in, I think it was the paliser, which was in the shadow of the Calgary Tower. My dad bought me and my buddy a bucket full of soggy over buttered popcorn, and a large soda each, which was a massive tweet. I sat beside my dad, and remember the lights going down, and then the iconic opener.
It started a tradition with my dad. We returned in 1980 when I was 15 for Empire, and 1983 for ROTJ. The only other movie I remember seeing with my dad in a theatre with my dad was Battlestar Galactica. Between ROTJ and 1999 when I was in my early 30s, my dad and me had some rough times, we went through a long period of time ignoring each other, but when I think back, I was glad that we had managed to bridge that gap, and we returned to the theatres in 1999 for Phantom Menace 2002 for AOTC, and 2005 for ROTS. By that time I was more middle aged, so we got to add the traditional nice meal before and a glass of scotch afterward.
Time ticked on We both got older, but we returned to the theatre in 2015, we didn't go for the first couple of months that it was on, and I delayed seeing it til we could go. By that time I was 48 and my dad was starting his 80's. We returned again in 2017 for the Last Jedi. Maybe it was the fact that I just wasn't a huge fan of that movie and neither was my dad. But it was also that my Dad was in his mid 80's and the theatre was too loud, and he couldn't follow things along as well as he used to, but it is probably the last movie that we'll see in a theatre. When TROS came out, I asked him if he wanted to go, and he basically declined, again he just didn't feel like he could sit through it. So I went with a friend, and when my dad asked me how it was, I honestly said, "You didn't miss much".
Sorry Maudlin post. But people ask me what I'm such a big fan of the franchise. Beyond the lore, beyond the characters and the stories and the effects. It was something that me and my dad did as a tradition, and I'm sure most of you will nod your head when I say, in a family with my mother and father and my 3 sisters (older). It was tough getting those Dad Son times, and have it become a tradition.
My Dad wasn't a sports fan, he actually hated watching me play, he wasn't a big sports fan, I think we watched one game together and maybe attended three of 4 Flames games in person, We didn't have those moments of playing catch in the back yard, He is a huge reader, well was, and loved science fiction. So we bonded over that.
(Ok to be fair, when I started coaching football for the first about 8 years I was coaching he would show up for games with my mom. Can you imagine that?).
So yeah, to summarize this monster, I'm sure a lot of fathers and sons went to the theaters in 1977 and got a great deal of joy out of watching a New Hope and the other Star Wars movies.
May the Force be with you
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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I can just see what the meetings were like. In spoilers for those that don't want to read it
Spoiler!
Wrap up The Force awakens.
KK - Nice job JJ, this movie felt a lot like Star Wars. Also loved that you killed a main character, and that ending with Luke, I wasn't crying you were crying.
JJ - "Thanks KK, I think we left enough things un resolved that can be taken care of in the next movie. Who are Ray's parents? Who is Snoke? How awesome will it be to have training Montage's with Luke and Ray."
KK - "No it was great, for the most part Star Wars fans were pretty happy with the movie."
JJ - "Great I can't wait to see what Rian does with this"
After The Last Jedi
KK - "Um the Star Wars fans weren't happy, I've bought in a dude to summarize. "
Random Guy - "We had prank phone call jokes. Luke drinking from the nipple of a space cow. We killed off the main villain, and I guess Kylo is that guy. Luke was pretty much a jerk until the end, and we killed him off. Remember that Ray parent thing, we did a mirror trick and then found out that Ray's parents were nobody. Is that a lie? Is she a clone? Nobody knows. But we have a cool ship collision in hyperspace, and we did a story line on how slimy the universe is and between Finn saying woo a lot he got a girl friend."
JJ - "Yeah, I'll admit it, Rian went off the reservation, he killed a lot of story lines, and the stuff he had in there is going to go nowhere. Star Wars fans are going to be pissed. But I'll fix it with one word"
KK - "And that word is"
JJ - "Palpatine!" We'll pretend he was a the villain all alone and not Kyle, o and he'll have a huge stick up his arse"
After Rise of the Skywalker
KK - "There are death threats man death threats.
JJ - "I really couldn't fix this thing, so I threw in a bunch of fan service, Tossed a lot of plot points from Rian's movie out the window. Jar Jar'd Rose, and gave Chewie a medal."
KK - "I see you didn't have the guts to keep Kylo bad, and then killed him off after he made out with Ray"
JJ - "Flashy lights, explosions are tight"
In summary, the first movie had logic, the second movie was a mass departure and a convoluted mess, and the third movie tried to spackle that shyte with fan service and bizarre horses in space battle scenes.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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Maybe a bit too much world building happening but I get it, the Batch is now going to be a mercenary team to survive and make money but also to learn more about what Fennec is after and who hired her.
Another hint that Wreckers chip is malfunctioning.
They really drew Omega to look like Bobba Fett from the clone Wars. But she's now got the laser bow.
Bit of fan service as we get Bib Fortuna making an appearance but maybe we didn't need the origin story of the Rancor from Return of the Jedi.
Week 2 with no sign of the Empire, but you can see the influence with the rise of the Zygarian Slavers returning. When Echo tells then that the Republic had outlawed slavery". The Zygarian told him that things are different under the Empire.
Rhea Pearlman!!!.
I expect that the Empire is lurking in the back ground, but they didn't hire the bounty hunter.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Maybe a bit too much world building happening but I get it, the Batch is now going to be a mercenary team to survive and make money but also to learn more about what Fennec is after and who hired her.
Another hint that Wreckers chip is malfunctioning.
They really drew Omega to look like Bobba Fett from the clone Wars. But she's now got the laser bow.
Bit of fan service as we get Bib Fortuna making an appearance but maybe we didn't need the origin story of the Rancor from Return of the Jedi.
Week 2 with no sign of the Empire, but you can see the influence with the rise of the Zygarian Slavers returning. When Echo tells then that the Republic had outlawed slavery". The Zygarian told him that things are different under the Empire.
Rhea Pearlman!!!.
I expect that the Empire is lurking in the back ground, but they didn't hire the bounty hunter.
i laughed when Omega first got her comm - that's soooooo what i would do!!! ha!
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
just wondering if every episode is going to have a "look who showed up" moment. it's amazing that for a universe as huge as starwars that we keep coming across people/beings we know! ha!
i was kinda 'meh' with the sisters but it was sweet seeing Rex again.
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
We knew that Rex was going to show up again at some point. As one of my favorite Clone Wars characters it was a nice hook up as well as the other major easter egg.
Spoiler!
The ship grave yard from Fallen Order. Wonder if Cal has found his way there.
We knew the chips were going to come out at some point, I just thought it would take longer. Wrecker going psycho was good, but it would have been nice to see it longer. They could have done a whole episode of cat and mouse with him.
This was the second indication of a brewing rebellion, with Rex talking to an unseen party. I expect at some point we'll see Rex give up on it as eventually he ends up separated from the Rebels living his live with Wolfe and Gregor, that's why I don't think the hidden Rebel is Ahsoka, or Bail or Mon. My sense is falls in with Saw, who'd incredibly violent and extreme, gets disenfranchised and leaves.
Its been a while since we've seen Cross Hair.
Overall it was a good episode, they're doing a ton of world building
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
This episode got me back a bit. Probably cuz there was less focus on Omega. Really don’t enjoy her character at all. And whatever makes her special sure is being kept under wraps. Literally zero hints of anything interesting.
Really good episode of bad batch as business really picked up
Spoiler!
They addressed all of the major beats.
There's a minor split in the team on what they are. Hunter maybe is less idealistic then the rest of the team as he was looking at taking weapons and intelligence from the downed Venator to make money, the other members kept insisting that they're soldiers.
The Kaminoians continue to send bounty hunters after Omega, as they know they're in a bad situation with the Empire, Are we going to see another story from a previous EU with the war between Clones, as the cloners build their own clone army."
We get the return of Crosshair as he tracks down Clone Force 99 and ruthlessly orders his troopers to aim at the Child, then ignites a ship engine to either chase the squad out in the open to be killed or to be incinerated. Crosshair also had the crap kicked out of him during the escape, which is going to push the these clone troopers are incompetent storyline.
We saw the return of Cad Bane who is a really fun and deadly character as he's like the old gun slinger, he's got Omega now and is returning her to be cloned.
We've seen the effect of the inhibitor chip with the Clone Troopers, gone are the personalities of the individual clones, the only thing they have in common with the Clones in the Clone War series is their voice. There is no thinking, no banter, no moral dilemmas or sense of team work and family. The Droid Army might as well have won the war. We have also seen more of the non clone troopers integrated into the Imperial Army.
The animation style was really nice, as it was all done in a darkened setting.
Wrecker continues to make me laugh, the interaction between him and Omega is really well done.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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As someone who only knows the primary cannon, and not the extended universe at all, the big question for this series seems to be why are the storm troopers of the future not clones?
We got one hint on episode 1, when the Kaminoians complained that Jango's DNA was degrading. That answers why they aren't clones of Jango. But why not clone someone else.
What makes the most sense to me is we will get a 3 part revelation.
1) The clones themselves spending much of their life in aging chambers, don't last as long as typical Humans 15+/- years after attack of the clones, they are aging or their health is failing, and generally the army just isn't what it used to be.
2) The Kaminoians have some order 66 style kill switch in the clone army the empire doesn't know about, and will make a vain attempt at shutting down the party after they own up to what they themselves helped create,
3) Someone else will attempt to build a clone army for the empire, and their results will be less successful than the Kaminoians, we'll get some slightly horrific attempts at clones.
I think those 3 revelations, through a 3 season arc would serve as a strong narrative for the downfall of clone armies.
I love this topic by the way. There are lots of reasons.
1) In Legends, the Kaminoans actually did create their own Clone Army and they rebelled against the Empire. But when that happened the Empire had already moved mostly into a Conscript army. But the Kaminoan clones didn't perform very well.
2) Palpatine didn't care as much about the quality of his army. The Clone Wars was a major war, and he needed the best equipment and men possible, and the Clones were formidable soldiers. Under the New Order, Palpatine felt that his army would be more about asserting control over small bush fires, so he didn't need hardcore soldiers, he needed intimidation and numbers.
3) If I recall correctly Clones aged 3 years for every 1 years. So your average 30 year old trooper was a 6 year old. By the time of a new hope most of the Clones were likely aged, The Rex thing was kind of funny because by the time Return of the Jedi came around, Rex would have been in his 80's if my math was right. Because they didn't have fresh Boba DNA and couldn't use Jango's it was difficult to continue the Fett linage of Clones/
4) Cloning was hideously expensive, there were episodes in TCW that touched on the fact that building the Clone Army nearly bankrupted the Empire. It was far cheaper to conscript and equipt a huge army of human troopers. And remember in Legends and the current EU, the Storm Trooper corp was actually very small, it was equivalent to the Marines. The larger Imperial Army was the main fighting force. Stormtroopers really only appeared in major battles of to defend strategically important targets. Stormtroopers became disposable since conscription and recruitment (Yes especially after the fall of the Republic, people were flocking to join the Imperial Army and Navy).
5) Even with the inhibitor chip, Palps really didn't trust the Jango clones, he felt that they were too independent and if the chips did fail it would be trouble. Instead they recruited and a lot of the training was indoctrination to defend not Palpatine, but the New Order. That things were better then they were under the Republic (And up until Alderaan it could be considered to be true)
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Wasn't there an "Order 67" switch too? I genuinely can't recall if that was something I read in one of the Legends EU books, or on a message board. There was order 66 to attack the Jedi and order 67 to attack the governing body and who knows how many more there could have been, if there were more?
Edit: I guess I could google that. And here is what I found:
That's why Palpatine to me was such a billiant character. He slipped things in without people realizing it, and he had total control over it.
I mean, the likelyhood that the Senate would allow an enactment of Order 65 is zero. Palpatine controlled the Senate at that point. The ones that he couldn't influence, he probably had dirt on. Palpatine also probably controlled or sat in on the Security Council meetings. As well, who all really knew all 150 orders.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
I haven't really put up many discussions, but this series is getting better and better as time goes on.
Just some thoughts
Spoiler!
Quote:
Cross Hair continues to pursue the Bad Batch with his death squad though he's definately a secondary character right now. He's taken a pretty serious beating so far including the loss of an eye.
We did get Rex back in as he helped the Batch remove the inhibitor chips. However for a brief moment the Chip activated in Wreckers head and he tried to kill everyone.
Omega is becoming a stronger character, in the last episode she found a way to pay off the Batches debt to Cid. So they've found a way to make her a stronger character, while Hunter continues to worry about how to keep her safe.
Its clear there's a bit of a civil war with the Kamonians as they sweat losing their Clone contract. We found out that Omega is an Alpha Clone with direct unaltered genetic material to Jango so she is Boba's sister. The PM of Kamino wants her back, wants her DNA then wants her terminated. So he hired the awesome Cad Bane from Clone Wars to track her down. On the other side Nala Se hired Fennic to keep Omega safe. This lead to an awesome battle between Fennic and Cad. Can Boba be far behind. We also saw the death of Taun We from AOTC in the double cross.
We know Rex is part of the early Rebellion, so do we find out why he walks away. There's a rumor of a Rex series where he unites with Wolfe and Gregor after they leave the rebellion.
We've seen the darker edge of the Empire in Common Ground, as they menaced the civilians on a separatist world with a comply or else, and also arrested the Governor and started torturing him. This lead to a pretty fun rescue mission that involved AT-TE's.
I noticed that when the Batch was fighting the Clones that they used stun weapons, its a nice touch that they didn't need to explain as clearly Hunter doesn't want to kill his brothers.
The animation work on this series is beautiful. There were some scenes where you just want to pause play and admire the work. Also Dee Bradley who is doing the majority of the voice work does an amazing job of even making the every day clones sound different.
Its still sad to see that the Clones no longer have any individuality and are starting to become the brutal executors of Palpatines new order.
Cad Bane has a plate on his head now, in Legends he had a standoff with Boba that didn't end well.
I think Crosshairs is going to become a more prominent character as we go ahead. I mean the logical thinking is that they find a way to take out his head. I think he's too far gone now and he comes to a tragic end.
They pretty much built up Rex in Rebels to match up to a extra in ROTJ to hint that he was at Edor. We don't see the Bad Batch, is it possible that they will eventually get wiped out?
My feeling is we're going to see Bobba at some point before the roll out of the Book of Bobba, is it possible that they do some fill in with Omega that explains why he was so willing to save Grogu?
I also have a feeling that as the Batches missions go from straight Mercenary work to getting tied in with fighting the Empire, that we're going to see a three main things.
We're going to see Cody who is chipped, maybe we get the long awaited resolution of the Rex and Cody story line. We're going to see the 501st as the Batch continues to attack Imperial interests. If we see the 501st we might get to see a glimpse of Vader.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
