2 hours ago, TheEldarGuy said:

I still haven't seen Solo, but I'm willing to watch it with as clean a slate as possible when I do.

It wasn't bad, though I din't think it was all that great either. Sort think of it as just a generic action film and you might be fine. I will warn you that the film is rather check listy in the sense that it pretty much feels it has to explain how Han gets 'x', 'y', and 'z'. Pretty much stuff you would imagine would be there, plus some stuff less so. I likely won't add it to my collection, but I do hope that when you see it you can enjoy it.

43 minutes ago, Animewarsdude said:

It wasn't bad, though I din't think it was all that great either. Sort think of it as just a generic action film and you might be fine. I will warn you that the film is rather check listy in the sense that it pretty much feels it has to explain how Han gets 'x', 'y', and 'z'. Pretty much stuff you would imagine would be there, plus some stuff less so. I likely won't add it to my collection, but I do hope that when you see it you can enjoy it.

IMO, Solo is the best of the new Star Wars films. It delivered the very first attempt to play in the sandbox that Star Wars has predominantly been for the last 40 years.

If anything, my main complaint with TFA, RO, and TLJ is they're are all trying to approach the same story from different angle. Solo w as the very first Star Wars movie that hasn't tried to be a story about good vs evil. It's a legitimately good crime caper, regardless of franchise.

I agree it's silly to pack in every answer to Solo's backstory into one movie, but at the same time, I wasn't convinced they needed to do even one Solo movie. So I'll take a Solo synopsis over a multi-installment feeding of answers I don't even really need to know.

8 hours ago, TheEldarGuy said:

I still haven't seen Solo, but I'm willing to watch it with as clean a slate as possible when I do.

Quite aside from any discussions on TLJ, do so. It's a genuinely good film. I personally think Han himself is the weakest bit - purely because it feels like the writers are trying a bit to hard to remind us 'he's really the good guy' and because, you know, Harrison Ford's shoes are big ones to fill*, but I like all the characters in it.

5 hours ago, Sekac said:

It's a legitimately good crime caper, regardless of franchise.

This.

In much the same way that a lot of the Marvel films can be characterised as 'Marvel does a heist movie' (ant man) or similar, this works well using the Star wars universe.

* Anyone seen the Sum of All Fears?

8 hours ago, TheEldarGuy said:

I always felt that Luke had to somehow teach people 'the Force' without a real understanding. Anakin was strong, Luke was strong, and so was Leia - we got that from the OT. I think a little bit of the Zahn novels should have made it in. We know that Luke started training people, because Kylo Ren wasn't his only student. Presumably, in the 20 years of Kylo growing up, being identified as Force Sensitive, and finally trained (in some dodgy way), others would have also been trained.

I think your post further points out the failures of world-building in TFA and TLJ. They just dodged the whole idea of creating a Jedi Order instead of embracing that as a setup for all sorts of stories and characters and as a through line holding the universe together.

Duplicate.

Triplicate.

I took a long time getting around to seeing it. Might have been the last weekend it was my local theater. And it was...okay. I think its only real sin was trying to give us the story of a well-known and beloved character, without using the actor that made that character *live.* Maybe ten, fifteen minutes in, I had sort of forgotten that it was supposed to be the same character as the one Harrison Ford played, and that made it much more comfortable, even enjoyable. So. Give us new, wholly fresh characters in the same galaxy, whether related to the Galactic Civil War or not, and let them stand on the strengths of their writers, directors, and actors. No more baggage. Rogue One was proof of concept. They got a little ambitious, a little over-excited, with Solo. I hope they learned from it, and give us more goodies.

8 hours ago, Animewarsdude said:

That will be interesting to see, I personally feel that TLJ does not feel like a part 2 of 3, more like a part 2 of 4 or more just how it sort of leaves a sense of stuff really needing to be rebuilt for the next film as it is. Hopefully, they won't treat it like the 30 year timespan and leave a completely blank space for someone else to fill in. Odds are the FO will be defeated by the end, and we are left wondering how the FO was able to completely take over the galaxy in record time, and then end up losing what they got in the next film.

My personnal take on the subject is that the First Order is pretty similar to Germany during World War 2.

The Empire has been rebuilding in secret for 30 years, waiting for the good moment to strike, just like Germany started to rebuild its military even though they signed the Versaille treaty. Then, they started making little push here and there to push their boundaries, like Germany took the Rhineland Czechoslovakia without starting the war. The Republic saw that, but could not agree on the matter and did nothing, except supporting a little Resistance group to monitorize their advancement. Then the First Order finally decide to attack, trying to get rid of the Republic and the Resistance at the same time, just like Germany decided to start the Blitzkrieg and conquered Poland, then France later.

So what we saw in Episode 7-8, is the Blitzkrieg of the First Order. Now that the Republic is 'destroyed', all the worlds are left to act alone and need some time to organize their defenses, join with other planets that want to fight (Mon Cal comes to mind). Meanwhile, there is no doubt that there is world that is sympathizer to the First Order, worlds that never believed in the New Republic and was okay with the ''order'' the Empire brought, to have a centralized power. And there is probably worlds that don't want to fight, that think that they might be left alone if they don't join (like Switzerland during WW2).

But something is clear, at the end of Episode 8, the galaxy is in chaos and I think the First Order is in a good position to exploit it. I personally expect a 2-4 years span between TLJ and Episode 9.

41 minutes ago, Kleeg005 said:

Rogue One    was proof of concept. They got a little ambitiou  s  , a little over-excited, with Solo. I hope they learned from it, and give us more goodies.

Solo actually had good characters who make sense, though.

More of that, please.

2 hours ago, Red Castle said:

My personnal take on the subject is that the First Order is pretty similar to Germany during World War 2.

The Empire has been rebuilding in secret for 30 years, waiting for the good moment to strike, just like Germany started to rebuild its military even though they signed the Versaille treaty. Then, they started making little push here and there to push their boundaries, like Germany took the Rhineland Czechoslovakia without starting the war. The Republic saw that, but could not agree on the matter and did nothing, except supporting a little Resistance group to monitorize their advancement. Then the First Order finally decide to attack, trying to get rid of the Republic and the Resistance at the same time, just like Germany decided to start the Blitzkrieg and conquered Poland, then France later.

So what we saw in Episode 7-8, is the Blitzkrieg of the First Order. Now that the Republic is 'destroyed', all the worlds are left to act alone and need some time to organize their defenses, join with other planets that want to fight (Mon Cal comes to mind). Meanwhile, there is no doubt that there is world that is sympathizer to the First Order, worlds that never believed in the New Republic and was okay with the ''order'' the Empire brought, to have a centralized power. And there is probably worlds that don't want to fight, that think that they might be left alone if they don't join (like Switzerland during WW2).

But something is clear, at the end of Episode 8, the galaxy is in chaos and I think the First Order is in a good position to exploit it. I personally expect a 2-4 years span between TLJ and Episode 9.

Maybe we can hope for a Hogan's Heroes style sitcom, set in a First Order POW camp!

Bonus points if the POWs in question happen to be Wraith Squadron.

4 hours ago, Kleeg005 said:

I took a long time getting around to seeing it. Might have been the last weekend it was my local theater. And it was...okay. I think its only real sin was trying to give us the story of a well-known and beloved character, without using the actor that made that character *live.* Maybe ten, fifteen minutes in, I had sort of forgotten that it was supposed to be the same character as the one Harrison Ford played, and that made it much more comfortable, even enjoyable. So. Give us new, wholly fresh characters in the same galaxy, whether related to the Galactic Civil War or not, and let them stand on the strengths of their writers, directors, and actors. No more baggage. Rogue One was proof of concept. They got a little ambitious, a little over-excited, with Solo. I hope they learned from it, and give us more goodies.

Solo's biggest sin (not counting the backlash of TLJ), is being forgettable. Overall it was a fun movie. But it was very forgettable, especially planet side. For all my complaints about TLJ, Krait was awesome. The Battle of Scariff was unforgettable. Jedha added mystery and a lived in universe. Corella was generic in my opinion, the mud planet ... uhmm ... it was muddy. Not even sure the planet they met Lando on. And the run down beach refinery planet, again, was just there.

It was a good popcorn flick.

39 minutes ago, Jadotch said:

the mud planet ... uhmm ... it was muddy.

To be fair, I did like the almost 40k imperial guard vibe the first few imperial army scenes had. A lot grittier than I had expected and a welcome addition to the universe, this army of throw-away line soldiers. Fits the imperium well.

1 hour ago, Jadotch said:

Solo's biggest sin (not counting the backlash of TLJ), is being forgettable. Overall it was a fun movie. But it was very forgettable, especially planet side. For all my complaints about TLJ, Krait was awesome. The Battle of Scariff was unforgettable. Jedha added mystery and a lived in universe. Corella was generic in my opinion, the mud planet ... uhmm ... it was muddy. Not even sure the planet they met Lando on. And the run down beach refinery planet, again, was just there.

It was a good popcorn flick.

Yep. That’s exactly my take on the movie. A good light summer movie, entertaining, but nothing really memorable. There is not a lot to discuss about it... maybe that’s why we continue to talk about The Last Jedi! Lol

2 hours ago, Admiral Deathrain said:

To be fair, I did like the almost 40k imperial guard vibe the first few imperial army scenes had. A lot grittier than I had expected and a welcome addition to the universe, this army of throw-away line soldiers. Fits the imperium well.

It would be great to see a war film from the point of view of a storm trooper or the like, and the crap they go through. Or even do a grizzled film about a Clone Wars vet and how he is working hard to maintain order and not much caring for these new 'shinies' that the Empire keeps recruiting.

2 hours ago, Red Castle said:

Yep. That’s exactly my take on the movie. A good light summer movie, entertaining, but nothing really memorable. There is not a lot to discuss about it... maybe that’s why we continue to talk about The Last Jedi! Lol

I mean, it gives us a nice looking FFG mini so Solo did do something memorable.

1 hour ago, Animewarsdude said:

It would be great to see a war film from the point of view of a storm trooper or the like, and the crap they go through. Or even do a grizzled film about a Clone Wars vet and how he is working hard to maintain order and not much caring for these new 'shinies' that the Empire keeps recruiting.

I mean, it gives us a nice looking FFG mini so Solo did do something memorable.

My personnal dream would be a series following a mercenary band a la Firefly or Cowboy Beebop...

14 minutes ago, Red Castle said:

My personnal dream would be a series following a mercenary band a la Firefly or Cowboy Beebop...

THAT WOULD BE SO GREAT! Maybe the Jon Faveru show will have some elements of that, it presently is the thing I'm looking forward to most aside from Zahn and Claudia Grey Star Wars novels.

10 hours ago, Red Castle said:

My personnal take on the subject is that the First Order is pretty similar to Germany during World War 2.

The Empire has been rebuilding in secret for 30 years, waiting for the good moment to strike, just like Germany started to rebuild its military even though they signed the Versaille treaty. Then, they started making little push here and there to push their boundaries, like Germany took the Rhineland Czechoslovakia without starting the war. The Republic saw that, but could not agree on the matter and did nothing, except supporting a little Resistance group to monitorize their advancement. Then the First Order finally decide to attack, trying to get rid of the Republic and the Resistance at the same time, just like Germany decided to start the Blitzkrieg and conquered Poland, then France later.

So what we saw in Episode 7-8, is the Blitzkrieg of the First Order. Now that the Republic is 'destroyed', all the worlds are left to act alone and need some time to organize their defenses, join with other planets that want to fight (Mon Cal comes to mind). Meanwhile, there is no doubt that there is world that is sympathizer to the First Order, worlds that never believed in the New Republic and was okay with the ''order'' the Empire brought, to have a centralized power. And there is probably worlds that don't want to fight, that think that they might be left alone if they don't join (like Switzerland during WW2).

But something is clear, at the end of Episode 8, the galaxy is in chaos and I think the First Order is in a good position to exploit it. I personally expect a 2-4 years span between TLJ and Episode 9.

Each his own. For my part, being German and born 30 years after the end of the Second World War, I can‘t stand this narrow minded and focused perspective any longer.

Truth be told, Nazi Germany accounts for horrendous evil. In the recent past. However, evil is a timeless and universal concept. And in the not so recent past I can name several incedents that match this evil. This is no excuse, rather an observation.

On a rather on-topic scheme it would take not much imagination to compare the Empire to the United States, building a Realm on the aftermath of ethnic cleansing and slavery. Or on an „comonwealth“ of Nations, subjugated to serve a wealthy elite of capitalists in England. Or Belgians in the Congo. Or Turks vs. Armenians.

All of this evil does not excuse Nazi-Germanys crimes against humanity. On this one we do agree. I just can‘t stand the simplicism any longer. Really.

The Empire is evil. Periode. And not like... anybody in particular.

(I know this wil be futile, however, I try...).

Let‘s play Armada ? .

3 hours ago, Animewarsdude said:

THAT WOULD BE SO GREAT! Maybe the Jon Faveru show will have some elements of that, it presently is the thing I'm looking forward to most aside from Zahn and Claudia Grey Star Wars novels.

That's what I am hoping for, but the series is supposed to be set in between episode 6 and 7 and I don't think that it's the kind of time setting where this kind of story would thrive, with the New Republic being more strict than the Empire against bounty hunters. Although it could be interesting to see the New Republic as the bad guys.... hmmm...

8 minutes ago, Red Castle said:

That's what I am hoping for, but the series is supposed to be set in between episode 6 and 7 and I don't think that it's the kind of time setting where this kind of story would thrive, with the New Republic being more strict than the Empire against bounty hunters. Although it could be interesting to see the New Republic as the bad guys.... hmmm...

The New Republic also seems to have controlled less space, not to mention the demand for smugglers getting stuff from planets with stuff like New Republic to take them to places that could use the help.

19 hours ago, Sekac said:

Solo actually had good characters who make sense, though.

More of that, please.

Agreed. Even the 'bit part' characters felt very engaging. I don't want to open a running sore on TLJ now we're vaguely back on topic, but the thing is, watching Solo I really felt an emotional connection when the characters who died were killed off.

11 hours ago, Animewarsdude said:

It would be great to see a war film from the point of view of a storm trooper or the like, and the crap they go through. Or even do a grizzled film about a Clone Wars vet and how he is working hard to maintain order and not much caring for these new 'shinies' that the Empire keeps recruiting.

I did really like the 'trooper' episodes of clone wars, so I'd be very much interested in that.

14 hours ago, Admiral Deathrain said:

To be fair, I did like the almost 40k imperial guard vibe the first few imperial army scenes had. A lot grittier than I had expected and a welcome addition to the universe, this army of throw-away line soldiers. Fits the imperium well.

Imperial Army have been a thing mentioned in passing before off-screen; Imperial Stormtroopers are supposed to be the good troops who are either on important planets (Lothal with it's TIE factories, Scarif with its archives, etc) or on Star Destroyers as 'point of the spear' units, whilst in a grinding months- or years-long fight in the mud, you want someone expendable that you don't mind the galaxy at large seeing take huge casualties.

At the same time, if Stormtroopers are the competent elite (sub deathtrooper, anyway), imagine how bad imperial army are going to be if they ever feature in an animated series....

On 7/10/2018 at 10:09 AM, Red Castle said:

As for Obi-Wan, that's what I always assumed and why I don't really make a fuss about this scene. But technically speaking, there is a difference between getting a 'proper' pilot training and being able to navigate an asteroid field. What was the odds again, 3720:1?

For the falcon it was. A jedi fighter is a much smaller craft, likely more manuverable and was engineered to use jedi reflexes, FUBU. Not saying it was easy but I bet you could hedge those odds a bit for Obi-wan. Also Jango navigated it too while blowing **** up in front of him so Jango has to the best pilot in the galaxy. Because as they said in Independence Day, turning one dangerous falling object into many is stupid. Jango’s odds I’d put way higher than 3k to 1.

As for the ST I don’t care who likes it, I don’t. Nothing I say will make lovers hate it and nothing they say will make me like it. I vote with my wallet, didn’t go to theatres to see any SW movies since TFA and have no plans to. Watched RO and TLJ on Netflix and haven’t seen Solo but if it’s not on Netflix won’t watch it all. Debate away kids ?