I noticed something about Star Wars dialogue

By Archlyte, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

The characters don't use Interjections (exclamations) like "Fark they stole our ship!" they would just say "They stole our ship!" Also the use of slang is very rare, maybe one scene in the movie will have it a few times if there is a banter.

Now I imagine that may people love to use interjections and slang in their dialogue and that's great, I'm not trying to harsh your program. I just thought this was an interesting observation. I don't know if it really applies as much with the new movies as I read scripts form the older movies.

In instructing players who asked how to talk in character I usually say just talk like you would in D&D but without the archaic terms. That is usually a good tip and works well to stay away from modern Earth language, but with this new info I think I can dial it in even more. Do you have examples of either case of how they talk? Do you feel that underworld types who are especially uncouth might talk differently?

A good bit of it is legends, but for expletives and cursing, I am a big fan of Huttese .

Nerf herder. Moof milker. Poodoo. Laser brain. Flarp beep beep, watch your language. Fuzz ball. Sleemo. Slime ball. Slimey worm ridden filth.

Some slang, some plain ol insults, it's there.

Karabast!

" Blast it , Biggs; where are you?!"

Interjection.

In the prequels, they speak really woodenly. "I do think it would be wise if you used my knowledge in this instance." E.g., "Look, I know what I'm talking about." :P

Yeah, the original trilogy's screenplays are really nicely written in neutral language that isn't stilted but still feels timeless and elegant.

Prequels are just . . . oh, George.

And while I'm fine with Disney's entries, dialog tone does swing one way and other off the mark.

The more I think about the first three, the more I see the magic ingredient being 70s realism/observational/cinema verite. Like, if you want it to feel like Star Wars as in "that movie Star Wars," you aim for 1973ish and end up in a strangely magical yet familiar galaxy far, far away.

37 minutes ago, wilsch said:

"that movie Star Wars," you aim for 1973ish and end up in a strangely magical yet familiar galaxy far, far away.

Um, 1977 perhaps?

10 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

Um, 1977 perhaps?

No, I'm talking about the 70s film styles I mentioned and when they became distinct from 60s stuff. Chill out, my man!

Last time I watched Star Wars a bit of dialogue that struck me was when they all reach the landing bay and Leia says 'you flew here in that thing? You're braver than I thought' and Han's comeback "nice". I was struck how current that comeback sounded and I just couldn't decide if it's just always been one? Is it something that's come around again?

"In the name of...!"

Plus variations on Maker.

Lots of religious exclamations in the dialogue, actually.

Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford both doctored their dialogue in the original three films. Other actors may have done so, as well. That's one of the reasons the dialogue in the first three sounds so much more natural and spontaneous than the stilted stuff in the prequels. Fisher went on to become quite successful as a script doctor.

16 minutes ago, SavageBob said:

Fisher went on to become quite successful as a script doctor.

It's really too bad that she went off script when it came to self-medicating too. ?

11 hours ago, Yaccarus said:

Yeah but how much of that is from the movie scripts? I grew up on the original movies and later I was exposed to novels and other material, and I often noticed it didn't feel quite right. I think that in normal speech most people use a lot of interjections, so setting the space fantasy apart by having this more direct and purposeful way of talking was a small but effective trick to get the feel of the original movies.

At one point it seemed like George didn't give two ***** and let anyone who wanted to write in the IP, to include people who blatantly called it sci-Fi and not science fantasy.

13 hours ago, Vorzakk said:

" Blast it , Biggs; where are you?!"

Interjection.

Yeah there are a few, but I have trouble with people saying F*ck it, not Blast it. Also it seems like interjections are not used with anywhere near the cadence I find them used in normal speech currently.

11 hours ago, wilsch said:

Yeah, the original trilogy's screenplays are really nicely written in neutral language that isn't stilted but still feels timeless and elegant.

Prequels are just . . . oh, George.

And while I'm fine with Disney's entries, dialog tone does swing one way and other off the mark.

The more I think about the first three, the more I see the magic ingredient being 70s realism/observational/cinema verite. Like, if you want it to feel like Star Wars as in "that movie Star Wars," you aim for 1973ish and end up in a strangely magical yet familiar galaxy far, far away.

I haven't read through prequel dialogue so I can't make any statements about that. I assumed it was overly formal in a lot of places due to a lot of Jedi and nobility speaking.

1 hour ago, Archlyte said:

I haven't read through prequel dialogue so I can't make any statements about that. I assumed it was overly formal in a lot of places due to a lot of Jedi and nobility speaking.

And you’d be right. The key difference between the OT and the PT is location. The OT took place primarily in the Outer rim among “common” people. By contrast, the PT took place among the halls of the Jedi Temple and Senate building, with nobility and the upper crust of society, which is far more formal. It’s like the difference between going from the Bronx to Buckingham Palace.

Not from the movies, but a funny bit from the last session.

The PC's were negotiating with a Deveronian and the Deveronian quipped, "Why are you being like a Toydarian! My prices are fair!"

6 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

And you’d be right. The key difference between the OT and the PT is location. The OT took place primarily in the Outer rim among “common” people. By contrast, the PT took place among the halls of the Jedi Temple and Senate building, with nobility and the upper crust of society, which is far more formal. It’s like the difference between going from the Bronx to Buckingham Palace.

That may be what he was going for, but it's still wooden and stilted. I mean, you need only to watch Game of Thrones or The Crown to see how to write dialogue for nobility that could at least pass for something a real person would say.