inu-kun said:
I'll put my money on the film being worse than the prequels, I'll never forgive JJ for Star Trek 2, defaming one of the best sci fi films ever released for batshit insane liberal propaganda.
Spoilers Below:
Despite my political leanings I actually had more of an issue with the fact that the entire end of the movie was a giant satire of some of the greatest moments of classic Trek movies, and the entire classic cliffhanger is resolved by literally transfusing blood absorbed by a Tribble.
JJ Abrams has done a lot of things I've liked, I was a "Lost" fan even if it was a bit too much of a slow burn and had a disappointing wrap up. I liked "Alias" a lot as well. That said when he starts playing with other people's worlds I don't think it works.
See, the problem with JJ in my opinion is not that he makes "fan films" for the fans, but rather he likes to take established franchises and then try and make them his own, and does his thing with them. As a general rule this fails, even with him involved, in working with an established franchise the creators/directors need to understand they are playing in someone else's world, not making it their own. I'm thinking Star Wars, like Star Trek, is going to involve too much JJ and not enough of the Star Wars world we all want to see.
I'll also be blunt in saying that it's bad sign that the movie is already engaging in race baiting, which seems to currently be a big deal. The very first scene being a black dude in Storm Trooper armor has gotten a lot of attention. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal as parts of the EU went on to explain that The Empire was pretty much conquering planets and/or inducting massive numbers of people into it's war machine. Indeed some of the fiction for the old "Tie Fighter" game (written in the strategy guide if I remember) winds up defining the pilot from that game as having been conscripted from a conquered planet as a pilot, where one of his friends is sent off to become a Storm Trooper. That said one of the first things JJ and Disney did was pretty much scrap the entire EU, which means we're looking at a
canon of their own creation where the Storm Troopers are clones of Jango Fett, and what's more they all look like him (which admittedly presents a challenge if they ever want to show them outside of armor given the way the actor probably aged... since I'd imagine if they keep making clones a lot of them would be young). Previously some dude taking off his helmet and "hey it's a black dude" wouldn't be a big deal, nowadays? Well they seemed to pretty much go out of their way to say this isn't possible, and then decided to show it, almost seeming like it's intended to get people who have been paying attention to comment and get irritated by the new Star Wars not following it's own rules before it's ever released. Some of the very first comments I read after the trailer were about this.
Now, speaking for myself I don't much care because honestly I felt the EU ideas made more sense here, especially given the pro-human sentiments of The Empire and how they probably wouldn't want to be reliant on alien science, and what's more conscripting people and sending them out to fight wars far away is a great way to keep down planetary uprisings. Conscripts also explains why a lot of the Storm Troopers can't hit the broad side of a barn, and would also explain why say Obi Wan would have mentioned Storm Troopers being so precise (in reference to disabling a Jawa transport) when the Troopers we see later are nothing like that, this implying that along with the Conscripts there are still some clones in service. What's more being in hiding Obi Wan could arguably be out of touch, expecting everyone in armor to be a clone of the universe's greatest mercenary. What's more Luke himself mentions there being an academy he wants to go to, implying there is voluntary recruitment as well (though it contradicts his sympathetic thoughts towards the rebels, but hey... writing can be hard).
What's more, being alone we don't know if this guy is actually a Storm Trooper or someone disguised as one, the entire scene lacks any kind of context.
That said though it seems like baiting because it seems to be deliberately calculated to generate discussion and get a rise out of people given the comments about what is canon and what isn't. Strictly speaking, comments from the first movie aside (well out of context, and badly written) we see the creation of what will become The Storm Troopers, even the sole non-movie source one can consider canon: "Star Wars: Republic Commando" (which gets in on a technicality due to this game explaining why General Greivious is damaged at the beginning of one of the movies... the direct tie in between game and movie being a big deal at the time) all pretty much reinforce that Storm Troopers all look like Jango Fett. There might be really good explanations here, but why start off showing a scene just begging for comment given the furor with which everything non-canon has been being axed. The actor himself hasn't been helping much as he's been implying his character is a Storm Trooper (as opposed to someone in disguise) and how we should "get used to it", but not offering any other context or background on how this is explained in the movies, which again seems like premeditated baiting.
All of this aside, the part of the trailer that bugs me is that rolling droid, I just really hate that thing, it looks terrible. The speeder-bike is okay, but I'd expect better, simply put they give us cooler things to ride around on in "Old Republic Online" it looks kind of brick like... but then again maybe it's a space tractor or something. Still, they need to get rid of the rolling droid and the way the astromech head sits on it.
