Rebel ships massing for a big f-off battle – tick
Reappearance of Tantive iv – Tick
Y wings back in business – Tick
Kylo Ren kicking ass with his mask on – Tick
Music that makes it a little dusty in here – Tick.

Yes, the chances are it’ll be disappointing. Yes 3po is still a PITA & Yes I’ll be annoyed by the cgi horses / animals and want proper models.
Still going to see it.

Clearly the 4 brain cells I employed whilst watching it makes me wait with panted breath at the first screening.

No tickets booked, I’ll join the queue.

It looks alright considering it’s a Disney childrens toy franchise about a world populated by intergalatic space penguins and planets full of teddy bears.

I liked the 3PO bit… looks like he’s sacrificing himself for the common good to me. Children crying at robot death is exactly what’s needed in a film claiming to be the end.

timmys

Subscriber
Yeah, those horses and that 3PO bit look tragic

agreed

And I see they are making it extra epic by having as many CGI spaceships crammed on the screen as possible

It always seems like a great idea but just doesn’t follow the hype.

I’m fed of being disappointed by Star Flaws.

looks terrible

Does it? Looks OK to me, Just another star wars film.

The Anti-hype bandwagon for most modern, big budget Sci-Fi films and telly from “Fans” seems to be bigger than the actual promotion of the thing itself…

It looks alright considering it’s a Disney childrens toy franchise about a world populated by intergalatic space penguins and planets full of teddy bears.

Like the original three then? Why change?

I’m in, all the way.

Like the original three then? Why change?

I’m in, all the way.

Ditto. They’re enjoyable kids’ films, and people take them way too seriously.

Used to adore the original 3, but I’m now taking it for what it is, a movie franchise money making behemoth rather than anything Oscar worthy. Its become something me and the 10 yr old daughter really enjoy together, so tickets booked!

Star Wars came out in 1977. I remember going to the cinema in 1980 to see Empire, it was queued round the block outside… I was eight years old and excited beyond belief.

Is it such a great leap that a film which appeals to an 8-year old might not have quite the same impact on someone forty years older? They’re family films – whooshing spaceships, laser swordfights, good guys beating the bad guys, cute puppets and robots, chases down corridors, blowing shit up. A bunch of WMACBs on a bike forum isn’t their primary target audience.

I’ll be going to see it, and I’ll enjoy it even it it turns out to be a bit pish, because I like all those things.

A bunch of WMACBs on a bike forum isn’t their primary target audience.

I disagree. I think we’re exactly their primary target audience. They’re trading on the nostalgia of history and counting on us to take our kids and grandkids along for the ride.

I queued round the block as a six year old in the spring of 1978 to see Star Wars  ( it didn’t reach the provinces of the UK  till then) and was, like pretty much everyone else my age, blown away by it. There hadn’t been anything like it before and it defined the movie experience for me for the rest of my life.

Modern audiences, like my kids for example, don’t have that emotional connection to them. Most kids that I know are, at best, ambivalent towards the franchise. It’s just another flashy blockbuster franchise to them, which are ten a penny these days.

The MCU is the closest my kids generation have to the “Star Wars” experience.

A bunch of WMACBs on a bike forum isn’t their primary target audience.

There, in a nutshell, is the problem. Star Wars was a film for 8-year-olds marketed at 8-year-olds. The latest three are films for 8-year-olds being pitched directly as a nostalgia trip for people who were 8 in 1977. OMFG it’s the Millennium Falcon etc!

They are trying to have it both ways, but it’s hard to produce something that appeals to pathetic middle-aged men longing for their youth, and a new generation of children simultaneously.

They could, just as easily, produced a fantastic NEW space fantasy movie aimed squarely at today’s children, unburdened by the need to stay in canon with the rest of the SWU. But they don’t just want a kids’ film, they want our money too. (And we forget how risky a venture the original Star Wars was. Hollywood does not take those sorts of risks any more.)

So you end up with something like TLJ, which was, frankly, a borefest involving central characters who should have been left happily in retirement rather than reanimated into grumpy grandparents who then suck away the opportunity for character development of what should be the central, kid-friendly heroes.

They are trying to have it both ways, but it’s hard to produce something that appeals to pathetic middle-aged men longing for their youth, and a new generation of children simultaneously.

I think that’s rather what I had in my head and didn’t articulate it particularly well, yes.

So you end up with something like TLJ, which was, frankly, a borefest involving central characters who should have been left happily in retirement

I can kinda see why they did it. There had to be some form of baton-passing, if they’d made Star Wars: The Next Generation with 100% new characters everyone would have gone “well, that’s a bit shit, where’s Luke and Han?” Though arguably they could (should?) have done that in TFA.

, if they’d made Star Wars: The Next Generation with 100% new characters everyone would have gone “well, that’s a bit shit, where’s Luke and Han?”

Though as very much the target audience of TNG I never once wondered where kirk or spock were.

Hope that wasn’t all the best bits in that trailer

Looks like a greatest hits. No bad thing.

I loved the trailer, agreed it looks like a greatest hits

(look at all the ships for the space battle, I bet it’ll be a “it’s a trap, it’s a trap” ROTJ space battle on steroids), will go and see it in the cinema (with or without my kids!).

Can I get a Billy Dee Williams “Yeeeeeeee, Haaaaaaaa!”

canna wait!

Though as very much the target audience of TNG I never once wondered where kirk or spock were.

Good point, though it’s not exactly the same thing. TNG was set 100 years after TOS, whereas Star Wars is, essentially, Luke’s story. You could have a reboot of sorts but it wouldn’t be Star Wars, it’d be something else set in the Star Wars universe (which is exactly what happened with Rogue One).

A bunch of WMACBs on a bike forum isn’t their primary target audience.

There, in a nutshell, is the problem. Star Wars was a film for 8-year-olds marketed at 8-year-olds. The latest three are films for 8-year-olds being pitched directly as a nostalgia trip for people who were 8 in 1977. OMFG it’s the Millennium Falcon etc!

Agreed,

TFA had it both ways, by and large the Original cast and all their baggage were largely absent so it managed to please most of the people, most of the time.

Rogue One was largely a nostalgia-fest, but again the direct links to the old films was subtle, Mums and Dads (it’s Dads isn’t it..) spotted the Original Red Squadron CGI’d, forgave the brilliant but still CGI characters and frankly the final scene was amazing whether you loved the originals or had never seen them.

TLJ was difficult, they had to finally merge the stories. It’s a fact that Kids and Teenagers will and probably must rebel against their parents choices, I’m sure we were all sat down as Kids and TOLD to like this music, or this film, or this sport, sometimes the fact your parents loved it was enough for you to despise it. It usually takes at least a year of maturity to finally admit that yeah, some of things your Dad likes are pretty good.

Unfortunately for us in our 40s and 50s, we don’t go to the Cinema as much as younger people, we don’t spend like they do and we don’t (well, by and large) buy toys for ourselves. It makes financial sense to appeal to the younger market over us. So it’s not enough to make another SW film, you have to give the originals a couple of kicks in the slats too.

So yeah, the watered down Han Solo, Poe gets belittled by his Female Boss for his stupid Macho antics, instead of saving the day and the leading Lady finally throwing herself at him very current youth thinking. The Galactic Empire, that stiff-upper-lip, Imperial British Officers in Space get reduced to comedic idiots andthe Holiest of them all, The Force, is really a load of all bollocks, add in some 21st Century mannerisms like brushing dirt off your shoulder and it should be perfect for 2010s Youth.

However they spin it though, TLJ wasn’t a big hit, they all but sacked the director, scraped the next spin-off and went back to the guy who did TFA, the last one with it’s very Oldie friendly Skywalker title will supposedly try to please all the people again.

It won’t the be the last one though, Marvel proved you could makes a trillion spinning out the same old themes and characters. Their will be another series soon and they’re hand over again.

Rogue 1 I really liked, TFA & TLJ were so so but as pointed out its aimed at 8 year olds not me (50 going on 12😁 according to Mrs M).  I’ll wait till it comes out on disc and watch it then. oh and why are they still using Y-Wings they’ve been a DEATH TRAP from the first movie?😂

Really hoping the new Dune film will be good. and true to the book.