Kevin Smith talks about his visit to the set of Episode VII:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/watch-kevin-smith-talks-about-his-star-wars-episode-vii-set-visit/

This made me a bit giddy

I like the idea of trying to capture a lot of effects on camera rather than relying heavily on greenscreen sets and digital post-production effects. That's about all I can squeeze out of Kevin Smith's enthusiasm here.

I saw this last night and it made me feel so warm and fuzzy that I almost instantly became uncomfortable.

I don't WANT to have high hopes for episode 7. I want every story about it to indicate that it is going to be mediocre at best. Literally every movie that I've heard AMAZING things about has ended up failing to live up to my expectations.

I just started reading The Making of Star Wars. It's a great book so far. In the Foreword, Peter Jackson describes his anticipation for Star Wars to make it to New Zealand. Because it was a summer blockbuster, they decided to wait to release it until summer in New Zealand, which was 6-8 months later. He saw featurettes on television about the making of it, and he heard reviews, read all the books and magazines about it. He said by the time he stepped into the theatre, everything was familiar to him. The characters, the locations, etc. And yet, despite all that, he couldn't help but stand up and cheer at the end of the movie with the rest of the crowd. It still managed to exceed his expectations.

I think Star Wars Episode VII has a LOT to live up to, but I'm going to keep an open mind and optimistic attitude.

Best thing you can do is avoid ALL spoilers, trailers, articles, pictures, news, merchandise.... avoid everything and just walk in to the theater next year and be surprised.

It can't be worse than the prequels. At least you know that.

It can't be worse than the prequels. At least you know that.

Bite your tongue...

The force is strong in this one!

It can't be worse than the prequels. At least you know that.

Alot of people have said this.... but the problem is: That simply isn't good enough.

Naturally it is going to be better than Jar Jar Binks. But imagine if you will.... a world in which Episode 7 is just Luke-warm (Pun intended). It's one thing for Lucas to ruin these new actors and new characters and make a mess of Star Wars in the form of a prequel trilogy.... but imagine if this new film ends up being a little better, but still just kinda bleh.

Imagine nobody rants about how awful it is... but nobody praises it either.

Imagine all of our childhood heroes have grown into boring old men, women, and wookies.

Imagine it has one single scene that is noteworthy, and the rest is forgettable.

Imagine a world where it is so mediocre that Star Wars begins to become less important in your life.

Saying that it can't be worse than the prequels simply isn't enough. It has to be Great - at a bare minimum. Episode 7 has to be equivalent to The Avengers in terms of awesome - at a bare minimum. And I know how rare it is for any film to achieve that. I am worried.

that.. made me happy.

fear not my friends. I think good things are coming (and in the form of a SW movie)!

It can't be worse than the prequels. At least you know that.

What prequels? They made prequels?!

Of course not. There were these films that some guy made in the early '00s, but they're just weird space movies that don't have anything whatsoever to do with Star Wars.

I admit the prequels are .. garbage. Though all 3 were better than the SW holiday special when the originals came out. Now that is really really bad.

Hey man, it's Star Wars. Not everyone loves the prequels, but... It's Star Wars.

Even if it isn't good, it'll at least be fun.

But it WILL be Kriffing AWESOME

As long as J.J. doesn't screw with the timeline or put in any of his ridiculous lens flares, I'm sure I'll be as happy as I was when I was a kid, watching the OT countless times.

Don't disregard all of the EU material!! Most of that stuff is gold! And I've embraced the EU stuff that I've experienced so far. Please don't take that away from me, J.J.!

As long as J.J. doesn't screw with the timeline or put in any of his ridiculous lens flares, I'm sure I'll be as happy as I was when I was a kid, watching the OT countless times.

Don't disregard all of the EU material!! Most of that stuff is gold! And I've embraced the EU stuff that I've experienced so far. Please don't take that away from me, J.J.!

...The timeline was never messed with. :/

IDFK why people can't grasp, "Alternate" as a concept.

As long as J.J. doesn't screw with the timeline or put in any of his ridiculous lens flares, I'm sure I'll be as happy as I was when I was a kid, watching the OT countless times.

Don't disregard all of the EU material!! Most of that stuff is gold! And I've embraced the EU stuff that I've experienced so far. Please don't take that away from me, J.J.!

...The timeline was never messed with. :/

IDFK why people can't grasp, "Alternate" as a concept.

Potato, potato.

It's a cop-out, a lame excuse for ignoring everything from the Original Series, onward. Why was the actual background story not good enough to tell?

As long as J.J. doesn't screw with the timeline or put in any of his ridiculous lens flares, I'm sure I'll be as happy as I was when I was a kid, watching the OT countless times.

Don't disregard all of the EU material!! Most of that stuff is gold! And I've embraced the EU stuff that I've experienced so far. Please don't take that away from me, J.J.!

...The timeline was never messed with. :/

IDFK why people can't grasp, "Alternate" as a concept.

Potato, potato.

It's a cop-out, a lame excuse for ignoring everything from the Original Series, onward. Why was the actual background story not good enough to tell?

You try fitting all that **** into two hours and making it fun.

Whatever though, that's off topic.

Because at one point, the EU became really, really bad. I'm sorry, but Fate of the Jedi would be a terrible place to restart the movie universe.

Personally, "continuity" has become something for anal retentive fans to obsess over, becoming more important than good stories. I've let go. The Clone Wars didn't line up with previous stories, but the stories told were still mostly good. Why does someone writing something first take priority? Why should story tellers be beholden to others, especially when there is a disparity of talent. The fact that they are going to allow the old novels to remain published means they can't take the old stories you enjoyed from you.

The talent behind this film should not give anyone pause. JJ is a far better director than Lucas. And the talent behind the story is far better than those behind the Star Trek movies.

Dark Empire. Vong. Legacy.

That is all I have to say on the matter.

Gee. Thanks. Now I'm excited. Not sure whether that's a good thing.

... Why does someone writing something first take priority? ...

I still have very high hopes for all three new movies. The franchise is huge and has a lot of legs. Disney isn't going to alienate the following right out of the gates by sucking it dry on cheesy cheap wanna be films. They're going to knock it out of the park so they can cash in on it for generations to come.

... Why does someone writing something first take priority? ...

Splinter of the Minds Eye was one of the first, and it was basically ignored by the rest of the EU. So the precedent was set way before Disney took over.

I still have very high hopes for all three new movies. The franchise is huge and has a lot of legs. Disney isn't going to alienate the following right out of the gates by sucking it dry on cheesy cheap wanna be films. They're going to knock it out of the park so they can cash in on it for generations to come.

**** right they will, and it's gonna' ROCK.

I just started reading The Making of Star Wars. It's a great book so far. In the Foreword, Peter Jackson describes his anticipation for Star Wars to make it to New Zealand. Because it was a summer blockbuster, they decided to wait to release it until summer in New Zealand, which was 6-8 months later. He saw featurettes on television about the making of it, and he heard reviews, read all the books and magazines about it. He said by the time he stepped into the theatre, everything was familiar to him. The characters, the locations, etc. And yet, despite all that, he couldn't help but stand up and cheer at the end of the movie with the rest of the crowd. It still managed to exceed his expectations. I think Star Wars Episode VII has a LOT to live up to, but I'm going to keep an open mind and optimistic attitude.

If they try that BS these days we just laugh at them.

A downloading we shall go, a downloading we shall go, hi ho the merryo a downloading we shall go

As long as J.J. doesn't screw with the timeline or put in any of his ridiculous lens flares, I'm sure I'll be as happy as I was when I was a kid, watching the OT countless times.

Don't disregard all of the EU material!! Most of that stuff is gold! And I've embraced the EU stuff that I've experienced so far. Please don't take that away from me, J.J.!

...The timeline was never messed with. :/

IDFK why people can't grasp, "Alternate" as a concept.

Potato, potato.

It's a cop-out, a lame excuse for ignoring everything from the Original Series, onward. Why was the actual background story not good enough to tell?

Because it was never meant for the big screen.

There's no way that the stories seen in the original series would have looked good on the big screen except to the fans, and even then they were made in a completely different time period that would never work well in this day and age.

I love the original series and think it had some of the best stories in it. But I also know that the stories are not good material for the block buster that Paramount needed. Sure, they could go with them and only make the movies Trekkies would like to see, but they'd never be able to attract enough people to get back the money they made.

There's a reason Star Trek: The Motion Picture isn't very popular, and it isn't just because it's slow-moving.