Star Wars VII - The Force Awakens, on BluRay and Dvd April 5th, 2016

[myk]

I hope they have an FX sized X wing so I can park it besides the original one.

As for the merchandising, look at it this way: how many original toys are there compared to reissues/re-releases, etc? Many of these molds are older than Yoda himself. Star Wars is all about mold-whoring...

[Kelsain]

Well put, Mommar. That's the trick with this new movie. People want the new & the old. I was bummed that we didn't get Ys & Xs in Ep3. Audiences want the x-wing, even if it might've been obsolete by now. It's Star Wars, as much as the Falcon, Vader & R2D2 are. But it sounds like there're some new fighters in the mix too.

An update makes sense. The X was a tried & true fighter, so it makes sense that there's a lineage. Could it look a little better? Sure, but it works for me, and FAR better than the Ep2 speeders or the Ep3 Jedi star fighters. I'm glad we're back at big fighters, not a cockpit with tiny engines slapped on.

[SchizophrenicMC]

Yes, yes, things change over the space of a few decades. I get that. But why these particular changes, which just look silly? I wish they'd share their thought process behind designing the new X-Wing. I doubt we'll see that thought process- we never did for the Star Trek redesigns.

All I'm asking is for a handwave to explain why the new design is better. Something to show the designers put some thought into the design, and not "this would look cool because I made it, and now the X-wing is mine!"

[azrael]

All I'm asking is for a handwave to explain why the new design is better. Something to show the designers put some thought into the design, and not "this would look cool because I made it, and now the X-wing is mine!"

It's times like these where I miss Lucas. He made a point of showing us what happens behind the cameras with the prequel behind-the-scenes webisodes.

[Mommar]

Yes, yes, things change over the space of a few decades. I get that. But why these particular changes, which just look silly? I wish they'd share their thought process behind designing the new X-Wing. I doubt we'll see that thought process- we never did for the Star Trek redesigns.

All I'm asking is for a handwave to explain why the new design is better. Something to show the designers put some thought into the design, and not "this would look cool because I made it, and now the X-wing is mine!"

You keep talking about it like it's some sort of personal ego trip for some guy who designed the new X-Wing rather than "we need tweaks to these older designs, come up with stuff and we'll pick the best looking one." As a matter of fact I just gave you the handwave, they needed something new but not for marketing and this is what they settled on.

[SchizophrenicMC]

That's not a handwave. That's the statement of "yes we changed it." The handwave would be like how the original X-wing needed to spread its wings so the cannons would be aimed correctly, and a second-level handwave would be how later media explained that the wings served as radiators. Sure, the real reason is because it looks cool and it's marketable. But the handwave is the in-universe magic for why something works a certain way.

So now that the design has been changed, there has to be a handwave for why those changes happened. Like, there was some improvement in thrust from the McQuarrie engines, and the split-wing weighs less than a traditional S-foil. I dunno, SOMETHING. Something driven by some line of thought from the original design, that ties it into the design and the universe, and doesn't leave me feeling like it was just some hipster at Bad Robot making his headcanon a reality.

Edited December 19, 2014 by SchizophrenicMC

[dizman]

I hope they have an FX sized X wing so I can park it besides the original one.

Oh that would be great!

So now that the design has been changed, there has to be a handwave for why those changes happened. Like, there was some improvement in thrust from the McQuarrie engines, and the split-wing weighs less than a traditional S-foil. I dunno, SOMETHING. Something driven by some line of thought from the original design, that ties it into the design and the universe, and doesn't leave me feeling like it was just some hipster at Bad Robot making his headcanon a reality.

I think you just came up with the handwave there. The movie isn't going to spend 1 minute to explain why a 30 year old design got changed. Maybe the novelization will go into some depth but for now your ideas sound fine.

[danth]

"we need tweaks to these older designs, come up with stuff and we'll pick the best looking one."

That's where they may have erred.

[Silverstreak]

That's not a handwave. That's the statement of "yes we changed it." The handwave would be like how the original X-wing needed to spread its wings so the cannons would be aimed correctly, and a second-level handwave would be how later media explained that the wings served as radiators. Sure, the real reason is because it looks cool and it's marketable. But the handwave is the in-universe magic for why something works a certain way.

So now that the design has been changed, there has to be a handwave for why those changes happened. Like, there was some improvement in thrust from the McQuarrie engines, and the split-wing weighs less than a traditional S-foil. I dunno, SOMETHING. Something driven by some line of thought from the original design, that ties it into the design and the universe, and doesn't leave me feeling like it was just some hipster at Bad Robot making his headcanon a reality.

Why? 99% of people don't give a hoot how functional the design is or why it was changed. I showed the new design to 5 people at work yesterday, 3 of which are big enough SW fans to hate the prequels, and only 2 of them picked up that the X-wing was different. And none of them cared about the changes. People want to see new things. They don't want the same stuff reused time and time again and it's a bit of a wank to expect every artistic decision to be backed up with a logical reason why that change was made. I'm an electrician by trade. Do you think that I get upset because I have NEVER seen a single movie portray the way electricity works correctly? No. I sit back and enjoy the ride even though that crap is so wrong and a 5 minute conversation with anyone with an electrical background would tell any director/producer why what they're doing is wrong. It's entertainment. Let it entertain you.

[Dobber]

That's not a handwave. That's the statement of "yes we changed it." The handwave would be like how the original X-wing needed to spread its wings so the cannons would be aimed correctly, and a second-level handwave would be how later media explained that the wings served as radiators. Sure, the real reason is because it looks cool and it's marketable. But the handwave is the in-universe magic for why something works a certain way.

So now that the design has been changed, there has to be a handwave for why those changes happened. Like, there was some improvement in thrust from the McQuarrie engines, and the split-wing weighs less than a traditional S-foil. I dunno, SOMETHING. Something driven by some line of thought from the original design, that ties it into the design and the universe, and doesn't leave me feeling like it was just some hipster at Bad Robot making his headcanon a reality.

Again, where are you getting this? There was NEVER any "hand wave" or explanation in the Original trilogy for why the X-wings S foils opened. Also, you seem to be getting hung up on this when:

A) The movie is still a year away so we don't know what will be said addressed or not

B) No idea if any supplemental material will be released. 2009 Trek had a beautiful art book released.

C) The original Triology has had nearly 40 years to come up with "explanations" as to why and or how most things are and look the way they do in Star Wars.

Just give it some time I'm sure things will be explained in some shape or form over the years just as it was before. Honestly though, can we please give this a rest? 3 pages is enough, we get it....you don't like the new X-wing.

Chris

Edited December 19, 2014 by Dobber

[Mommar]

That's not a handwave. That's the statement of "yes we changed it." The handwave would be like how the original X-wing needed to spread its wings so the cannons would be aimed correctly, and a second-level handwave would be how later media explained that the wings served as radiators. Sure, the real reason is because it looks cool and it's marketable. But the handwave is the in-universe magic for why something works a certain way.

So now that the design has been changed, there has to be a handwave for why those changes happened. Like, there was some improvement in thrust from the McQuarrie engines, and the split-wing weighs less than a traditional S-foil. I dunno, SOMETHING. Something driven by some line of thought from the original design, that ties it into the design and the universe, and doesn't leave me feeling like it was just some hipster at Bad Robot making his headcanon a reality.

This is all lame whining. Everything you want explained was done in other materials that weren't part of the films. Nowhere did they explain opening the wings helped the lasers converge or dissipation of heat in the movies. That was all EU stuff... which doesn't count anymore (if it ever did) anyway. So the original handwave isn't even a handwave.

[Lorindor]

If the wings are radiators, the wings on the new X-wing could actually be more efficient, at least in the vacuum of space. In space, the wings can only give away heat by infrared radiation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this radiation would mostly be released perpendicular to the surface of the wings. That means that much of the radiation released from the lower wings would hit the upper wings and be reabsorbed, and vice versa. I think the new wing configuration avoids this.

Dissect how much you want, it's just a suggestion.

[Dynaman]

One of the things that made Star Wars what it was is that it did not try to justify or explain ANY of the technology - people just went about their lives using it.

[SchizophrenicMC]

There's your fun crossover.

I'm not asking for a technical justification. I'm just looking for some insight as to the thought process of the designers, who have been completely quiet about all of the changes they've made. Like, why was this design chosen, over what other designs we didn't see? What was going on inside the designers' heads when they started drawing X-Wings? Shed some light.

Without that to humanize the designers and understand their perspective, all I can see is a needless change to a beloved icon, for the sake of some artist's ego. The only thing any of us can agree on is that the new design is polarizing. Some think it looks good, some think it looks bad, and some just don't care. But maybe it'd be less polarizing if anyone involved with the movie was interested in enough in what they were doing as a piece of art to talk about it, rather than the obvious NDA-driven, information-embargoed Disney cash cow that it is. If it weren't Star Wars, I'd be pretty convinced nobody was making the movie for anything but the love of money. (I mean look at Star Trek, a franchise Abrams has said he had almost no prior knowledge of, going in)

I guess I'm just jaded. I've been a big fan of Star Wars since I could pronounce "Jedi" and ever since the sale to Disney, I just feel like the parts that I care about have been brushed aside into the incinerator, for the sake of mass appeal to make new moneymaker films with. The movie will sell, just based on the name alone, that's a given. But the Star Wars that I imagined was special, is dead, if it ever lived beyond my own imaginings.

I'm gonna go be upset about this somewhere else. You guys carry on with your whatever.

[reddsun1]

...If it weren't Star Wars, I'd be pretty convinced nobody was making the movie for anything but the love of money...

That's much is pretty certain: the only reason they're making this is for the love of money...

ed: you gotta admit in hindsight though, that Star Wars (original trilogy) is arguably the mother of all movie merchandising cash cows.

Edited December 20, 2014 by reddsun1

[Phyrox]

One of the things that made Star Wars what it was is that it did not try to justify or explain ANY of the technology - people just went about their lives using it.

^ This.

A million times this.

I'd much prefer to hear nothing than some pseudo-technical handwave.

[David Hingtgen]

And a great parallel was The Force. Up until Episode 1, it simply "was"--some could, most couldn't. But then--"oh, really it's a bunch of midichlorians in your blood".

Explaining things=bad, if the universe is overall set up with a history of NOT explaining things.

[raptormesh]

It's a space opera/drama/toy seller, not a deep thinking sci-fi. Don't get the whine.

[Kelsain]

They're still keeping us in the dark. I'm sure the bookstores will have "The Art of Episode VII" on the shelves before it comes out. I'm sure there'll be a chapter about updating the X-wing in it.

I enjoyed the regular updates during production of the PT, but they really made everything sound better than it ultimately was. Remember how emotionally raw the Ep3 dialog was supposed to be between Anakin & Obi Wan? Yeah, no... I think I kind of prefer the mystery for now.

[Mr March]

If you aren't predicting a horde of merchandising that will explain every little technical detail of the Star Wars vehicles, space craft, equipment, and costumes, you're forgetting Star Wars merchandising history to date. I fully expect cross-section books, schematics/blueprint collections, technical manuals and making-of volumes along with all the rest of the merchandise they've sold following each of the original 3 films and the 3 prequels. Explanations will abound within the pages of those books. Whether or not you like what those books actually have to say, that's another matter entirely

[Chronocidal]

Actually, I'm curious, did that ever happen for the new Star Trek? I havent really paid any attention to that universe since First Contact, but I know there were always huge amounts of published material with deck plans and tech manuals.

I really don't remember anything that extensive for the Star Wars universe that wasn't rooted in the EU. There were a few "cross sections" books released, but nothing ever approaching the technical level of trek stuff.

I fully expect a ton of fan-based works, but I don't think I'll be holding my breath for any official technical manuals or anything.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Chronocidal

[Black Valkyrie]

SW-E7 action figures photo leaked !

[Mommar]

The Chewie figure is exactly the same as the recently released Black Series Chewbacca.

[Kelsain]

Tempting , but no, I'm not gonna look yet.

[Black Valkyrie]

A closer look at Kylo Ren.

[Agent ONE]

A closer look at Kylo Ren.

...

Dammit. Shouldn't have clicked on that. guys, spoilers in this link.

[Negotiator]

thanks for the warning

[Dio]

I wonder, there were a couple of photos (drafting sketches) that reference a

"Carousel", basically a 25% larger Millennium Falcon according to one image that directly compares the two. Maybe the rectangular radar dish isn't the only thing different about the ship we see in the trailer?

Or am I reading into something that is more set/production jargon than actual entities in the movie?

[Black Valkyrie]

...

Dammit. Shouldn't have clicked on that. guys, spoilers in this link.

My mistake, I forgot.

[areaseven]

I'll just park this here.

[areaseven]

[areaseven]

I'll just park this here.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

fett's first appearance

[azrael]

Guess they have to throw in some decent fighting in there.

‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ Adds Martial Arts Stars From ‘The Raid 2′ (The Wrap)

[EXO]

fett's first appearance

http://johncelestri.blogspot.com/2011/08/boba-fett-star-wars-holiday-special_23.html