Oolite Bulletins

CaptSolo wrote:

...but why couldn't she have died heroically rather than of a broken heart.

Answer:

Me, innit wrote:

Lucas' ability to write a coherent sequence of events and provide decent motivation and logic to enable one event/scene to follow on from the other is POOR

Padme died because she had to, really, and because George wants to keep things family friendly, no women can be killed by the hand of man. So she just...dies...

Crap, I know.

Some other good points up there. Especially the one asking about why there can't be any more original ideas. I think it's quite true to say that there are no original ideas left. Just new takes on old ideas. There are loads of stories left to tell though, it's just that they have to fall into certain genres and will then be subject to the critics saying that they're just putting an old idea into a new setting or some such nonsense.

As regards ENder's Game, that's one of my favourite novels of all time. I'm not overly impressed with the news that it will incorporate elements of Ender's Shadow, as I think the Game story is good enough and intricate enough to stand on its own. I think that by using Shadow they'll have to skip important bits of both stories to fit it into a film. I did like this quote though:

Card wrote:

In a 1999 interview, Orson Scott Card confirmed that Jake Lloyd was under consideration for the role. Card asked fans not to judge Lloyd based on his performance in The Phantom Menace, saying that a better script and direction would result in a better performance.

Take that, Lucas!!

Women in SW get short shrift. Leia is the only strong successful woman,and even her character was inconsistent - kissing Luke in Empire to make the man she fancies jealous is a little petty in the middle of a crisis. Padme became a fluffy pregnant annoyance and the others were window dressing. That admiral woman almost crying because of losing her Bothans was poor for a woman who's meant to be in command of a fleet in which probably hundreds of people have died. Don't even get me started on Anakin's mum (Shmi??) - she hangs on in captivity for months with NO hope, then as soon as she gets rescued SHE DIES??? COME ON!!!

EDIT: just read this about Ender's Game:

wikipedia wrote:

Card stated that "very few" of the film's scenes had appeared in the novel, but that he was comfortable with the liberties being taken with the source material.

Talking of light sabres - the SPB at El Reg have something planned, it seems.

About the lack of original ideas: There is nothing new under the sun, and this complaint is two-and-a-half millenia old.

So, even in 1976, George Lucas' idea wasn't new, but he managed to wrap it in a new and compelling package, that was exciting enough to divert the attention from its flaws for long enough to enjoy watching it.

About the prequels: I haven't seen them yet. I only know them from here, and I have the strong feeling that watching the movies would only lessen my enjoyment of that story.

I would be very pleased if it was confirmed that the new films were to be based on the Heir To The Empire trilogy.

I just hope that the new films are more like the original trilogy than the prequels.

Commander McLane wrote:

About the prequels: I haven't seen them yet. I only know them from here, and I have the strong feeling that watching the movies would only lessen my enjoyment of that story.

Hehe, I still follow Darths & Droids, very clever stuff .
Sometimes those irrational character choises seem to explain things better, or more logically, than the movies...
I love the way the original trilogy is handled too.

Oh, and let's not forget the MOST inportant thing:
Screw you Lucas, HAN SHOOTS FIRST !!!

+++ERROR+++ERROR+++REBOOT UNIVERSE+++LOGIC FAILURE IMMINENT+++

I am keen on fantasy type fiction, whether in books or at the cinema. However, I prefer the plot, locations, and characters to reside within the realm of possibility. I know, I'm crazy that way. The Star Wars saga is riddled with incongruities. The greatest being the cornerstone, which is The Force. Then there is the matter of space travel. Near the end of episode II, Count Dooku escapes from Geonosis in a tiny craft and, once in space, deploys solar sails for the voyage to Coruscant. The voyage takes so little time that he is able to bring news to his master, Lord Sidious. Are you kidding me? Star Wars Wiki justifies the whole thing saying, "The sail collected an undetectable power source to achieve great speeds."

I thought that Dark Empire was the follow on from the end of Return of the Jedi.

If they base the films on that it will be awesome.

!m!

Dooku's ship is perfectly feasible. It's capable of hyperspace travel using the same technology as other hyperspace-capable ships, and the sail is only used for in-system travel. its "undetectable power source" is only responsible for aiding in-system travel.

Bad editing as well as bad writing at play there, I think. The film only shows the sloop extending its sails in Geonosis space then the next time you see the ship it's at Coruscant. No shot of it entering or exiting hyperspace (as far as I remember, anyway)...

The Force is just as believable as any other form of magic. I have to say, though, that "fantasy type fiction" by its very definition has to exist outside the realms of possibility in some way. Fiction based in reality is just fiction. Fiction based around a scientific premise is science fiction. Fiction based around a dodgy scientific concept that relies on some kind of handwavium is science fantasy or, more recently, soft science fiction. Most of what we call sci-fi nowadays is soft sci-fi. SW, Trek, B5, Firefly, etc are all in that category.

I agree with you in principle if not in detail though - the key to enjoying any science fiction / science fantasy work is "suspension of disbelief". If the medium suddenly hits you with a jarring reminder that "it's all based on b****cks" then your suspension of disbelief is shaken and you see it for what it is. Suddenly it just all looks really really silly.

maaarcooose wrote:

I thought that Dark Empire was the follow on from the end of Return of the Jedi.

If they base the films on that it will be awesome.

!m!

Lucas has always said that the films are the primary canon. Dark Empire and the Heir To The Empire trilogy have both been described as the "official" sequels and that any Extended Universe material is liable to be contradicted if further filmed outings were made. Lucasfilm/Disney have apparently hinted that the films will not be based on any existing material and will be completely original works.

Even The Clone Wars, which Lucas is in creative control of, has a shaky status within Lucasfilm as regards its canonicity.

Selezen wrote:

If the medium suddenly hits you with a jarring reminder that "it's all based on b****cks" then your suspension of disbelief is shaken and you see it for what it is. Suddenly it just all looks really really silly.

<chuckles> All too true, is that!

I sense mocking. Hmm. Wonder where that came from...

<_<


>_>

Zieman wrote:

Friendliest Meteor Police that side of Riedquat*

*thanks and sorry Smivs

No worries
It's a god job I'm not Amazon or I'd delete your sig

Of all the threads to derail to comment on someone's sig, you pick mine?

Lightsabers at dawn for you too, matey!!

Selezen wrote:

I sense mocking. Hmm. Wonder where that came from...

Heh! No mockery intended, as it happens - I'd just been reading-through a bit of Oofic, saw your post, and that sentence sort of chimed with me.