Here's a nice little announcement leading into May the Fourth.

 

http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-7-cast-announced.html

 

let's get ready for more Lego Star Wars sets and exciting minifigs in 2015

 

 

...from starwars.com

 

The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

 

Director J.J. Abrams says, "We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud."

 

Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

For those who think the original trilogy films look dated, i recommend watching the blu-ray editions on a 1080p or even 720p HDTV. 

 

All 3 movies (on blu-ray) honestly look like they could have been filmed in the late 1990s or early 2000s (not 1977 to 1983).  Everything looks better on the blu-ray copies than the DVDs: special effects, details, colors are rich, cleaner picture, etc... 

Please give the SSD a prominent role.

 

 

I predict all new style ships, with exception to the Millennium Falcon.

regarding the new famous black and white picture,

 

rumors : rebel force radio, kyle newman, and others predict the young girl (daisy ridley) sitting in-between ford and fisher will likely be their daughter.  she does look the part.

 

sitting on the other side of abrams, is kasden.  historically, with group script reads, those usually sitting closer to the director and writer have larger roles.

 

ford reportedly signed a one film deal. if so, ford could finally get his wish with han solo getting a dramatic scene send-off.   ford and others thought having solo die in ROTJ would have made it a better script.  storyline disagreements with that and others are why Kurtz and Kasdan walked away after ESB.

 

 

Writer/Director/Producer J.J Abrams (top center right) at the cast read-through of Star Wars Episode VII at Pinewood Studios with (clockwise from right) Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Producer Bryan Burk, Lucasfilm President and Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Writer Lawrence Kasdan. Copyright and Photo Credit: David James.

I predict all new style ships, with exception to the Millennium Falcon.

 

If spaceships are anything like cars, then it'd seem they need to be replaced pretty often b/c they break down, technology gets better, new designs, they get blown up, etc.

 

All the ships from prequels were technically replaced by all ships in OT.  Not to mention, the MF was already a piece of junk in Episode 4....by Episode 7 it would be a minimum of 45-50 years old seeing as how they're saying Episode 7 takes place 35 years after ROTJ.

 

I hope we get all new ships, and I hope no to the Millenium Falcon still being around.....that'd be dumb.

<snip> Bad special effects didn't help either (but I understand that it was pretty good for 1977)

 

I guess I must be in the minority these days and showing my age.  But to me the physical models that were used for all the ships, and the actual real sets and locations built for the OT are far better than the too clean, too shiny, way too smooth computer generated scenery and ships used in science fiction movies from about 2000 to 2010.  

 

Maybe it's because many of you have grown up with computer generated scenery in just about every movie and have spent countless hours playing computer games with computer generated content that it actually looks more real to you than Real [tm] physical models and sets...

 

I will admit though, that some productions from the last couple of years have come a long way towards challenging and maybe even surpassing physical models and sets.  Star Trek into the Darkness, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones all being examples that I think are finally starting to look better -- but certainly not the sw prequels.

I guess I must be in the minority these days and showing my age.  But to me the physical models that were used for all the ships, and the actual real sets and locations built for the OT are far better than the too clean, too shiny, way too smooth computer generated scenery and ships used in science fiction movies from about 2000 to 2010.  

 

no, many of us feel the same way.  "insiders" are thinking Abrams will use less CGI than Lucas.  let's hope some of those old models are still laying around

I guess I must be in the minority these days and showing my age.  But to me the physical models that were used for all the ships, and the actual real sets and locations built for the OT are far better than the too clean, too shiny, way too smooth computer generated scenery and ships used in science fiction movies from about 2000 to 2010.

 

I read an interview of Trey Parker and Matt Stone about the time that Team America came out and they said basically the same thing. There is just something really cool about knowing that a real physical object was used, they filmed real explosions for that trench on the Death Star in Episode IV, Trey and Matt destroyed a real model of the Eiffel Tower. I am saddened that all the clones are CGI, may as well watch a cartoon.

Please give the SSD a prominent role.

 

 

The SSD that was in the OT was Vader's command ship the Executor and was destroyed when it crashed into the new Death Star.  But, Han has a line "Don't get jittery kid, there's alot of command ships".  So maybe there are some still part of the Imperial Navy. 

"insiders" are thinking Abrams will use less CGI than Lucas.

I especially liked how he did this in many scenes in Star Trek. The engine room and the shipyard being two specific examples I can think of right now.

no, many of us feel the same way.  "insiders" are thinking Abrams will use less CGI than Lucas.  let's hope some of those old models are still laying around

Anything that makes people run or walk long distance.   If anyone notice, in prequel trilogy, any scenes that involves characters walking must stop after a few steps.   They NEVER just walked and talked for more than a few steps.  No matter how urgent the situation was.  This was because those scenes were filmed in green room(s) which had limited space for moving around.

 

Compare that to the new ST where the camera followed characters moving from room to room.

Heck, compare those to episode 4 or 5.  When the characters moved around in a hallway you can tell those were real hallways, not some green room

The SSD that was in the OT was Vader's command ship the Executor and was destroyed when it crashed into the new Death Star.  But, Han has a line "Don't get jittery kid, there's alot of command ships".  So maybe there are some still part of the Imperial Navy. 

I also doubt we'll see one, my comment was mostly self serving.

 

I watched this clip from the movie the other and I just want to make sure I have this right.  The SSD's deflector shield is taken out by one Rebel ship and then another Rebel ship crashes into the bridge, which is pretty remarkable considering the thing is about 19km long, and then the thing loses control and flies into the Death Star?  Did I see that right, cause that is pretty frickin' weak.

I also doubt we'll see one, my comment was mostly self serving.

 

I watched this clip from the movie the other and I just want to make sure I have this right.  The SSD's deflector shield is taken out by one Rebel ship and then another Rebel ship crashes into the bridge, which is pretty remarkable considering the thing is about 19km long, and then the thing loses control and flies into the Death Star?  Did I see that right, cause that is pretty frickin' weak.

Oh yeah, then how do you explain this:

 

I also doubt we'll see one, my comment was mostly self serving.

 

I watched this clip from the movie the other and I just want to make sure I have this right.  The SSD's deflector shield is taken out by one Rebel ship and then another Rebel ship crashes into the bridge, which is pretty remarkable considering the thing is about 19km long, and then the thing loses control and flies into the Death Star?  Did I see that right, cause that is pretty frickin' weak.

Ha ha...yes I always that that was a pretty lame way for that ship to go down, too.  Not quite as bad as Randy Quaid flying into it, but pretty close.

Oh yeah, then how do you explain this:

I've worked with enough architects to know that most would sacrifice the ultimate power in the universe for an aesthetic decision.  Even one that's no bigger than a womp rat.

I also doubt we'll see one, my comment was mostly self serving.

 

I watched this clip from the movie the other and I just want to make sure I have this right.  The SSD's deflector shield is taken out by one Rebel ship and then another Rebel ship crashes into the bridge, which is pretty remarkable considering the thing is about 19km long, and then the thing loses control and flies into the Death Star?  Did I see that right, cause that is pretty frickin' weak.

Ackbar did have them concentrate all fire power on the SSD first ;)

I guess I must be in the minority these days and showing my age. But to me the physical models that were used for all the ships, and the actual real sets and locations built for the OT are far better than the too clean, too shiny, way too smooth computer generated scenery and ships used in science fiction movies from about 2000 to 2010.

We are getting better to where the digital realm is appearing closer to reality. Technology as a whole has certainly improved and keeps doing so but unfortunately anything computer generated still is relatively easy to pick out from everything that actually exists. The digital renders continue to be too clean and move smoother than the real life components of actors and props. Using physical models in the original Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica do look more believable just for the fact that they were constructed and filmed in reality; not some Blender3D model rendered on a computer and stuck into the scene.

Now again, our technology has taken a lot of strides in advancements but it still looks fake. Just better looking.