Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens—non-spoiler discussion

[Passdagas the Brown]

A light-hearted thought came to me. Am I the only one here who saw the Chrome Stormtrooper and thought of Cylon Centurions? Seriously, if Chrome Stormtrooper says "By your command," I will either laugh inappropriately or throw my drink at the screen (and miss).

Hidden text.

I wonder if Kylo Ren didn't do something horrible to a nascent Jedi Academy after falling to the Dark Side (on the theory that he is Han and Leia's son...and inherited a certain Skywalker family weakness)? And Rey, his sister, survived and went into hiding? And Luke went away ala Yoda? It would be an irritating rehash of something that happened in the prequels if that's the case, though if they do it up nice I'll endure it without any attempts at painting the screen with soda.

Also, the more I think about it, the more Oscar Isaac as a bad@$$ Resistance pilot makes me scratch my head. He's a good actor, mind. Did a convincing job as a struggling folk singer in Inside LLewellyn Davis and as an uber-eccentric tech CEO in Ex Machina, but I'm just not seeing the bad@$$.

I'm also fearing that between this and GoT poor Gwendoline Christie is going to get typecast as a chick who wears armor. A full suit of functional armor. Not just a couple brass plates over her boobs and a skirty-thingy. Then again, the world probably needs to see women in armor that's, you know, armor.

I don't think Oscar Isaac is going to be playing a "badass" pilot, per se. I'd say he's more of a showboating, hotshot fly-boy. Smooth and daring in the air, but generally useless on the ground. And in that context, I think he's perfect. Take a look at this image, for example.

https://i1.wp.com/cdn3-www.comingsoon.n ... ars-03.jpg

And if required, he can definitely pull of badass as well (Bourne Legacy):

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14msa ... shortfilms

IMO, he's one of the best young actors around.

As for Gwendoline Christie, she may be taking on a role that could lead to typecasting. But I don't think she's complaining just yet. I mean, she's in the new Star Wars film. I think she'll be OK! Plus, she's excellent as Brienne, and I can't wait to see her in this role.

One of the main reasons I'm so confident in The Force Awakens cast is that the casting director is Nina Gold of Game of Thrones fame (where there was rarely a misstep). In Nina Gold We Trust.

[Primula Baggins]

I'm wondering if we need a spoiler thread with a warning, where the spoiled can talk openly, and make this one a general information thread for those who are curious about the film but want to avoid plot spoilers? We've done that for other much-discussed films.

This occurred to me when I was about to respond to the second spoiler box in PtB's post, which was in response to Voronwë's spoiler box, with a spoiler box of my own. Pretty soon this thread just has no value for the unspoiled.

(And, on reflection, it's not really a spoiler to post that an intriguing new alien character is being voiced and mo-capped by Lupita Nyong'o, who won the Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA for supporting actress for her role in 12 Years a Slave.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm excited at Lupita Nyong'o's participation, but a little disappointed that it is as a voiced and mo-capped character, because she is such a gorgeous woman. But she is an excellent actress, and I'm sure that she will do a good job.

As for having a separate spoiler thread, sounds like a fine idea to me.

[River]

PtB, the video link was so sliced up with ads it was unwatchable. But I'll sniff around on YouTube.

In the two movies I've seen where Isaac had a leading role, he did a fine job but he was playing people who were both brilliant and their own worst enemies. He does make for a dashing figure in the still, but if he's totally useless without his spaceship I can see the role working for him.

Anyway, knowing now that it's the same person who did the casting for GoT did this one is reassuring.

[Alatar]

I also vote for a spoilerfree thread. I'd love to discuss but I only read the first few lines of the synopsis and knew it was more than I wanted to know.

[Primula Baggins]

I think it makes most sense for the new thread to be the spoiler thread, so people who just want to read about the film (and maybe catch up on what's known about it) have this spoiler-protected thread available back to the initial announcement of the film.

I won't move any posts, since most of them contain non-spoiler discussion as well.

Well, wait. I think I'll put a copy of both major spoiler posts in at the beginning of the spoiler thread so we have something to work from. But I'll remove the spoiler tags.

Does that work for people?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yup

[River]

Sure, but I will miss the aesthetic of the spoiler tags. Post after post of spoiler boxes makes for some hilarious browsing.

[Primula Baggins]

It was beginning to get ridiculous. . . .

The new thread is here: New Star Wars films from Disney: SPOILERS WELCOME

Enjoy!

[yovargas]

This is delightful!

[River]

Star Wars stuff shown at ComicCon!

I have almost nothing coherent to say.

Oscar Isaac comes off like a jibbering fanboy. So does most of the cast and crew, actually. Or maybe I'm just projecting...

[Passdagas the Brown]

removed to spoiler section

[Primula Baggins]

I just watched it, and it's not horribly spoilerish. But the most important thing I took from it is not a spoiler at all—the palpable excitement from everyone involved. At some point someone said "I can die now." And they made a major point of the real sets, practical effects, creatures and robots that are mostly right on the set for real and contain live humans. It's medicine for the prequel-ravaged soul.

[River]

Yes. I think that's why they released it. It's not just marketing. It's reassurance.

[Túrin Turambar]

I was particularly pleased to hear or read (I forget where) that Harrison Ford liked the writing. As he was one of the more public critics of Lucas' screenwriting, I find that probably more re-assuring than anything else.

[River]

15 second tease released on Instagram of all places. SQUEE!!!

[Alatar]

Bring home your own droid!

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/v ... -toy-video

[yovargas]

I don't even care about Star Wars much but....that thing is ridiculously cool.

[Jude]

I found a use for the new droid toy:

[Sunsilver]

LOL! That thing wouldn't last 20 minutes with MY dogs!