UPDATE! Star Wars: Episode 7 Not Returning to Skellig Michael in November?

Skellig Michael

According to themoviebit, (via JediNews) The Irish Film Board have confirmed that there is no filming scheduled for Skellig Michael in the coming months. This clarification was made after Latino Review posted a rumor that the crew of the new Star Wars movie is heading back to Skellig in November for more filming…

 

According to LR:

…they’re going back to shoot there in November – local vendors have already been contracted out. And November in Kerry does NOT look like late July in Kerry, this landscape will be grey and dark.

 

I’m hearing Skelling Michael Island is the location for the Sith Homeworld. Like in the Expanded Universe, the Sith were founded by a Jedi who practiced moral relativism thousands of years ago (a long LONG time ago in a galaxy far, far away). He met up with Plagueis and started going by the Sith name Darth Ruin. He split off to unite the Sith tribes under the Dark Side of The Force. I don’t know if all of that is going to be in the movie, but it’s going to get called back as we’ll have a new Ruin in the movie, whomever fancies himself the biggest threat (might this be my “Sith Inquisitor?”).

 

This rumor never made sense to me and that’s why we never reported it. While Skellig is indeed rocky like the Sith Homeworld, it’s scenery is very far from the Sith’s red and dusty planet. Here’s how the Sith Homeworld (Moraband) looked like in the Clone Wars which is officially canon:

 

Moraband

 

Also there was another rumor posted this week stating that Harrison Ford was part from the Skellig Michael shoot from a few weeks ago. I said before and I will continue to stand behind my words. The Skellig Michael shoot featured only two actors – Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley. Harrison Ford WAS NOT part of the filming.

 

 

UPDATE!

 

The IrishExaminer shared more on the story:

“Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board can confirm that no filming has been scheduled for Skellig Michael in the coming months. Any comment on the international blogs with regard to this matter is pure speculation at this stage,” said Louise Ryan, the board’s marketing and communications manager.

 

Lying about 12km off the coast, Skellig Michael contains monastic ruins dating to the sixth century and is a Unesco world heritage site.

It is essentially a barren rock exposed to the full rigours of wind and wave and can be difficult to access even in summer, never mind in winter when it is usually closed to visitors by the Office of Public Works, the State body responsible for it.

 

However, movie buffs are saying the production team need not necessarily be wishing to get on the rock — they might instead be focusing on exterior scenes that could be filmed from a helicopter and would not necessarily call for the presence of actors.

moraband-terrain-clone-wars-613

 

Now the possibility of only aerial shooting does make much more sense. As you can see in the first picture, from above the island really resembles Moraband from TCW. And during the Autumn the grass will be gone. Still cast and crew returning to the island is highly unlikely considering the difficult logistics there. Aerial filming or not the Irish Film Board still has to be notified for the filming crew’s plans. And until now no such notification has been sent. So for now this is just a wild speculation.

 

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Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

86 thoughts on “UPDATE! Star Wars: Episode 7 Not Returning to Skellig Michael in November?

  • September 3, 2014 at 1:02 am
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    As far as I’ve seen from Wookieepedia, Plagueis and Ruin never met.

    • September 3, 2014 at 1:09 am
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      I noticed that too. Unless they’re really going to turn the entire EU on its head, I wouldn’t expect that we’ll see anything about Darth Plagueis being part of the original founding of the Sith.

      (By the way, mostly off topic, I just started reading the Darth Plagueis novel over the weekend. Though I tend to be a bit iffy about the EU and the PT, I am really enjoying the story so far.)

      • September 3, 2014 at 4:22 am
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        Can anyone here explain how Plagueis and a Ruin could talk to each other? Ruin lived 2,000 years ago and Plagueis, while old, cannot possibly be 2,000 years old.

        • September 3, 2014 at 4:43 pm
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          Only if they ditch the EU history and just use the names. Otherwise, no way.

  • September 3, 2014 at 1:06 am
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    Unless, of course, the Sith homeworld has more than one type of climate/terrain.

    But it seems like there were enough logistical challenges in using Skellig Michael as a shooting location in the first place. I would imagine that they would have tried to get every last shot they needed and then some so that they wouldn’t have to go back again.

  • September 3, 2014 at 1:08 am
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    I wonder what planet Skellig will be in Ep 7.

  • September 3, 2014 at 1:13 am
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    Not that I trust any rumor from LR, but if he met up with Plagueis, it would seem that Ruin may have learned how to elongate his life, and Plagueis took it a step further? There’s definitely a lot more to the story than what Palpatine tells Anakin. Ideas anyone?

    • September 3, 2014 at 1:24 am
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      An interesting thought, but that would have to be reconciled with the fact that Palpatine insisted that only one person had ever learned the secret to cheating death. Sure, Palpatine would tell Anakin anything to con him into joining him, but I would really hope that we don’t get into another version of the old “Well, Obi Wan lied about absolutely everything anyway” cop-out that was often used to explain away continuity problems between the PT and the OT.

      If Plagueis turns out to have not been the only one to ever learn the secret to cheating death (even if Ruin did it in a less permanent sense) then I hope there’s at least a decent explanation for it other than “Palpatine lied.”

      • September 3, 2014 at 1:37 am
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        If I remember correctly Palpatine says something along the lines of, to cheat death is a feat that only one has ever achieved. Could this be Ruin, not Plagueis, that he was referring to all along? After all, as far as we know Plagueis is dead, so was he talking about Ruin in that line? I just don’t remember him explicitly saying that Plagueis is the Sith who discovered the secret to immortality…hmmm

        • September 3, 2014 at 2:44 am
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          Palpatine clearly states that it was Plageius that had the power to cheat death He tells Anakin about Plageius specifically stating he could influence the midichlorians to create life and then tells Anakin about the ability to cheat death but it is ironic because Plageius could “keep those he cared about from dying” but could not save himself because his apprentice killed him in his sleep.

          • September 3, 2014 at 3:07 am
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            Actually I am glad you brought that up, because it gave me a new idea. What if Ruin used Plagueis and his secrets to keep Ruin alive, but it could only work on Ruin (or maybe others?). After Plagueis was killed, Ruin’s powers became severely drained, which Palpatine saw as the perfect opportunity to leapfrog into becoming the new Sith Lord. I am just throwing out some ideas, but for some reason I really feel like I am on the right track

          • September 3, 2014 at 1:56 pm
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            I think people are trying too hard to bring Ruin back.

          • September 3, 2014 at 10:39 pm
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            Nah, never even heard of the guy until this article came out :).

      • September 3, 2014 at 1:59 am
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        Just to further expand the idea, at the end of TPM, Mace Windu remarks, “But who was destroyed, the master or the apprentice?,” while the camera pans to Palpatine. What if the apprentice was actually Palpatine and not Maul? It also gives a lot more meaning to the title of the movie if that’s the case, although it does seem to violate the Rule of Two rule. Nonetheless, you would have a villain that ties all six episodes together.

        • September 3, 2014 at 2:12 am
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          You obviously haven’t read the Darth Plagueis book. Palpatine is his apprentice.

          • September 3, 2014 at 2:36 am
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            That book is no longer canon I believe

        • September 3, 2014 at 2:18 am
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          Sidious calls Maul his apprentice.
          The rule of two was only discussed amongst the Jedi and not Sidious or Vader.
          Vader and Sidious both wanted Luke as their apprentice to destroy each other.
          Maybe each sith has a master and an apprentice making the rule of two false, but believed by the jedi. The sith are deceptive.

          • September 3, 2014 at 3:05 am
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            As has been stated before, in TCW, Palpatine tells Maul that the first and only rule of the Sith is that there’s only two, and that Maul is no longer his apprentice…therefore not a Sith.

            That’s canon. What we do know though is that the Sith often had secret Sith assassins of a sort that were trained (Ventriss is a good example, as is Oppress). It’s possible that Maul served that role for Palpatine before he became his official apprentice.

    • September 3, 2014 at 2:35 am
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      Ok, I am doing some brainstorming here, but I definitely need input from my fellow Star Wars fans here. New idea: Ruin has discovered the secret to immortality and has Plagueis as an apprentice. Plagueis wants to overthrow Ruin, and gain his power, but how do you overthrow someone immortal? By influencing the midichlorians to create the most advanced force user ever to get him to his goal. Meanwhile, Plagueis has Palpatine help him with his experiments on both immortality and creating Anakin in secret. However, Palpatine then kills Plagueis, and plans on using Anakin himself to overthrow Ruin. He has a vision that the midichlorians were creating life on Naboo, and sets up all the affairs afterwards (including using Maul and Dooku as puppets) to get his ultimate goal of turning Anakin. Without Anakin, Palpatine would be no match against Ruin. It puts a whole new spin on the story.

        • September 3, 2014 at 3:12 am
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          I revised the idea a bit (if you read up on a post I just made). Maybe he used Plagueis to stay alive, but once Plagueis died he became severely weakened. However, it still does not explain how he reemerged. Maybe Sith Witches were keeping him barely alive in conjunction with robotic prosthetics? Maybe an ancient Sith artifact was discovered giving him new found life?

          • September 3, 2014 at 3:19 am
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            Wouldn’t Palpatine attack Ruin if he was severely weakened seeing that it was the best time to strike?

          • September 3, 2014 at 3:34 am
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            Yes you are completely right about that. I don’t have an answer for that at all, unless his method of staying alive was through continuous reincarnation, and he hadn’t taken a body yet. However, I will be the first to admit that is a very lame idea. I have to ponder over that one.

          • September 3, 2014 at 4:06 am
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            Not if he couldn’t find his location

            Enter the Sith Witches…and more Maul species

          • September 3, 2014 at 6:21 am
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            Zabrak.

          • September 3, 2014 at 4:48 am
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            Yeah, I think the commenter below had the best response to that. You don’t live to be that old as a Sith without being very clever. If the Sith were able to avoid detection from the Jedi for over a millenia, then I think it is reasonable to speculate that Ruin could avoid detection from Palpatine.

          • September 3, 2014 at 5:06 am
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            Also, I could also see how the Death Star was used not only as a political deterrent, but also as a last resort to destroying every planet where Ruin was thought to reside. Double Whammy. I could see Sidious being so obsessed with destroying Ruin, that he would annihilate entire star systems. It might also give further reasons for building the second Death Star.

            Plus, if Vader ever betrayed him, he could accomplish his goal without him (hence replacing Vader with Luke). I could see now that it served too many purposes for him not to create it.

          • September 3, 2014 at 9:05 pm
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            I really like that idea! It would be rather stunning revelation to learn that the Death Stars were more than just tools for maintaining Imperial political oppression.

          • September 3, 2014 at 9:29 pm
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            And in that way, Luke and the Rebels were indirectly bringing about an even more dangerous enemy. Palpatine maybe had a somewhat “noble” or greater-good purpose in ridding the galaxy of a far greater threat in Ruin or whoever is the Ancient Fear. All of this would fit into the comments that GL’s focus in the last trilogy would be on what it means to be good or evil and how things that seem evil or good may actually be the opposite…

          • September 3, 2014 at 10:36 pm
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            Nice point Mr. Anonymous! It really does flip everything on its head, and delves into moral relativism, or “a certain point of view”. Palpatine may not have been noble, or have righteous motivations, but his goal may have been for the greatest benefit of the galaxy in the end. Sort of like how many people would argue that using atomic weapons in WII ultimately saved more lives than if they were not used.

            It also might shed new light on Count Dooku leaving the Jedi Order, and telling Obi-Wan about there being a Sith Lord. Dooku probably despised Sidious, but knew that something had to be done about Ruin.

          • September 4, 2014 at 2:39 am
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            After thinking about the “world politics” of this further, especially in light of some prior comments that noted the parallels between PT – WWI, OT – WWII, and this new rumor of a “Cold War” that has existed between the Rebellion and Empire for the last 30 years, what if the ST will actually be about a more contemporary Earth threat to civilization, namely terrorist organizations and unconventional warfare? If this mirror of Earthy conflict continues, I could see the new ST threats being modeled in this way… again, with heavy influence on “moral relativity” as you call it… after all, most radicals don’t see themselves as evil, no matter how evil they may seem to mainstream society.

          • September 4, 2014 at 12:19 pm
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            Maybe an attack on Coruscant? If the rumor that we will not see a space battle in the beginning of the film, I think that this might be what could transpire instead.

        • September 3, 2014 at 4:37 am
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          Maybe Ruin fell into a deep sleep, or hibernation until the events of the ST.
          P.S Very interesting discussion here let’s keep on this for awhile. Beats the Sabine Debate.

  • September 3, 2014 at 3:08 am
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    Red filter can be used to make the entire landscape red…

      • September 3, 2014 at 4:26 am
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        Why should it match clone wars? Remember, the prequels will be ignored in the VII-IX trilogy, as disney is treating a percentage of its fans like dirt. Thus, they have no obligation to make the sith home world like clone wars, which is probably going to be de-canonized, along with I-III, from the way things are going.

        • September 3, 2014 at 5:12 am
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          hahahahahahah what the hell, man. If they do this they’re digging their graves.

        • September 3, 2014 at 6:43 am
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          >People actually think that Disney is going to decanonize movies that made a boatload of money and added tons of lore to the Star Wars universe.

          Keep dreaming.

          • September 3, 2014 at 5:12 pm
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            As much as I would like to see a reboot/redo of the pt I don’t think it will happen. They are just going to ignore the tp and move on. Which is fine. The small group that like the pt get over it. I not? No big loss.

          • September 5, 2014 at 7:31 pm
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            Hahahaahahahahaha wat

        • September 3, 2014 at 9:10 pm
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          Wow Anonymous! You seem to be an expert on canonically superior situations in the new Star Wars universe. I’m very interested in all things de-canonized from the old Star Wars universe.
          Please give a list of already de-canonized concepts from the original creation. I think a book of The de-canonized Star Wars would sell well. Heck with the Legends banner.

    • September 3, 2014 at 9:28 am
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      Does the red filter turn grass into sand. 😉

      • September 3, 2014 at 6:48 pm
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        That is being a bit too picky now, isn’t it? CGI can do anything now a days. If you think they are not going to go with CGI in post, you better think again. Just because they are using practical effects most of the time, dont think they will use it all the time.

        • September 3, 2014 at 11:23 pm
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          It would make no sense to stage an expensive location shoot off the cost of Ireland if you didn’t want it ultimately to look like Ireland.

          BTW I’ve always found it a bit off that planets in Star Wars all have to have monoclimates. None of them are really worlds at all.

  • September 3, 2014 at 3:48 am
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    “it’s scenery is very far from the Sith’s red and dusty planet.” Skellig Michael can be relatively easily changed into a red planet by using digital color grading. Just like the planet with the red foliage in “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

    • September 3, 2014 at 3:54 am
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      The sith planet “Korriban” is a desert, Skellig Michael is not a desert. Those plants in Star Trek were real fake plants made for the movie, most of them.

      • September 3, 2014 at 4:03 am
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        Could be a biodome or an oasis there. It would make sense to make them on desert planets, not named Tattooine :).

      • September 3, 2014 at 6:43 am
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        “Those plants in Star Trek were real fake plants made for the movie, most of them.” Yes. The final result is a combination of a “real fake plants” and footage of real plants that are digitally color graded.

  • September 3, 2014 at 4:13 am
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    Now where did I put that chainsaw?

  • September 3, 2014 at 4:27 am
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    I remember that the movie “Mission to Mars” was partly filmed in a desert that they turned red with visual effects. And maybe the Skellig Island footage will be combined with some Abu Dhabi footage or stuff that they filmed on the back lot of Pinewood studios. Maybe. Maybe not. Anything is possible with Star Wars.

  • September 3, 2014 at 5:28 am
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    Looks like Ziost to me. Or it can be another sith homeworld, there are many may be. But I don’ support the Moraband, Korriban forever.

    • September 3, 2014 at 6:48 am
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      The planet canonically has multiple names over the course of history. Not to mention that it’s just a name, nothing to get worked up over.

      • September 3, 2014 at 8:20 am
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        Well, i’ve been playing kotor of ten years & empire at war for eight so its stuck in my head.

  • September 3, 2014 at 5:53 am
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    I know Latino review has to have been right at least once in it’s existence. It’s funny though that every movie I’ve cared about that’s had leaks from them has always been false.

  • September 3, 2014 at 6:27 am
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    I have a few more ideas about my theory. I realize that none of them may be remotely true, but it is still fun for me to speculate.

    Darth Ruin is very hard to find, and Luke has been searching for him – that’s why we haven’t seen Luke in nearly a decade. Alternatively, Luke is held prisoner by Ruin, who needs the lone remaining Jedi to resurrect his power somehow.

    In addition, if Ruin is immortal, I can’t help but think we will see some kind of fountain of youth or Tree of Life allegory. I could imagine a fertile spot of land in an otherwise barren world being maintained by occult methods.

  • September 3, 2014 at 8:49 am
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    I’m a fan of the films , I have no idea who you are all talking about or what the places you mention are. Now I’m thinking should I even bother going to see the the new films if i have to read a load of books and watch a cartoon series I’m not interested in to understand whats going on or will my lack of knowledge improve the experience because i wont be hung up on what is “cannon” or not and enjoy the freedom the makers have to tell the story they want without restriction outside of the films.

    • September 3, 2014 at 11:21 am
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      Well put, if Disney/Lucasfim wants to get the original draw of crowds like they did for Ep1 and keep them coming back, then they can’t really bank on me staying interested if I feel lost in the theater.

      • September 3, 2014 at 9:25 pm
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        Everybody is going to confuse the two of us… 🙂

    • September 3, 2014 at 2:04 pm
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      Expect the movies to stand on their own. You shouldn’t have to read or watch additional content to understand them.

    • September 3, 2014 at 5:53 pm
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      Don’t worry. There were tons of books and comics and cartoons and the like that came out during the PT days. But none of this was necessary to understand the films. I’m pretty sure it will be the same with the ST.

    • September 3, 2014 at 6:55 pm
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      They will most likely toss the hardcore fanboys a bone once in a while… Nothing to worry about though. It will stand on its own.

  • September 3, 2014 at 9:28 am
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    A red filter is all they need, geez. Still, keep Sith homeworlds out of Star Wars!!

    • September 3, 2014 at 6:59 pm
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      Why? What’s wrong with the Sith home world?

    • September 3, 2014 at 9:37 pm
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      No more filters. This video game look/fantasy look needs to go and Star Wars needs to return to the documentary style of natural looking environments and lighting. That is not to say that every world should look like earth, though but even alien worlds have many many colors and subtleties that would look wondrous in high def and would be tragically hidden with a lazy lens filter.

  • September 3, 2014 at 10:48 pm
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    Also couldnt Moraband/Korriban be Abu Dhabi with a red filter. We all know that was sand and I had read several places Abu Dhabi was not Tatooine and Finland was noth Hoth.

  • September 3, 2014 at 11:02 pm
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    I don’t know if the Sith homeworld should or shouldn’t be in the ST. It could be interesting, but would it’s presence in the new movies make them darker than even ROTS?

    • September 3, 2014 at 11:45 pm
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      SW was purchased by Disney, not HBO. The film’s being directed by JJ Abrams, not Christopher Nolan. And finally, Lawrence Kasdan was hired to co-write the script with Abrams, not George R.R. Martin, for instance.

      In short: No. SW has never been, and will never be as dark as all that. The ST will be a “PG-13” rated trilogy at best, never an “R”.

      • September 4, 2014 at 12:00 am
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        I’m so happy Christopher Nolan isn’t directing and George R.R. Martin writtes some good stuff, but if you really think about it, he’s kind of just a creepy old man who takes things a bit too far.

        • September 4, 2014 at 1:50 am
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          That’s a matter of personal taste. I’ll take ANY Nolan film over ANY Abrams film made to this day. And I’ll take Martin at his very worst (A Feast for Crows comes to mind, for instance) over ANY EU novel ever written to this day. But that’s got nothing to do with my previous post.

          My point was that SW is not meant to be gritty, dark, realistic, as Nolan’s Batman films, much less Martin’s ASoIaF books. And now that it’s become Disney’s property, it’s hard to picture it getting darker any time soon.

          • September 4, 2014 at 2:30 am
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            Christopher Nolan is a better film maker than Abrams, but he’s a one trick pony and does not fit for a sequel to the Star Wars movies. I think Martin is overrated but that is a matter of opinion.

          • September 4, 2014 at 5:36 am
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            Never said that Nolan would be a good fit for SW. He wouldn’t, I agree. That’s precisely why I brought his name up: SW has never been meant to be as dark, gritty, and realistic as all that.

            As for George R.R. Martin, I think it’s precisely the success of his books (and the HBO adaptation, especially) that has many a SW fan clamoring for the ST to be darker, more mature in tone. Martin’s proven how exciting fantasy/fiction for adults can be.

            Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s how it feels to me anyways. And again, I just don’t see that happening with the ST.

          • September 4, 2014 at 5:08 pm
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            I agree. I like Nolan and even like his “dark” approach but in no way would it be appropriate for SW. His movies tend to have a weirdness tone to them sometimes. Of course, alot of people cant stand him or his films.
            Maybe his style would work for a spinoff.

  • September 4, 2014 at 5:44 pm
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    Yes certainly leave it PG and PG13 rated for one…if they Show Leia and Han at home….please fade to black when they go in the bedroom….lol

  • September 4, 2014 at 8:42 pm
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    “And during the Autumn the grass will be gone”

    Uhm you do realise this is Ireland we are talking about here, not California? Ireland where it rains every bloody day and the temperatures rarely rise above 20C.

    There will be grass, lots of it.

  • September 4, 2014 at 10:44 pm
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    not really related to much in this thread ….. but …..i was just watching a documentary about the special effects teams at japans toho studios who did all the godzilla films and how they are mourning the loss of model-making and suits to cgi and at the end several of them talked about the fake-ness of cgi and the organic-ness of models and how in the future they hope it would be a combination of real places , cgi and models that would win out …… i think these guys would be pleased at ep7s apparent commitment to the real and models with cgi enhancement and i hope all of those very skilled model makers all over the world whos work has been derided and dried up over the last decade can keep passing these skills on.

    • September 4, 2014 at 11:32 pm
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      I think the model makers are busy but you just don’t get to appreciate their work because it’s usually buried under overwhelming amounts of CGI. If you look at the films that a lot of the episode 7 model makers have worked on it has been recent stuff.

      All that being said I don’t think that island will be Moraband, if that planet even is in the film. If they do Moraband distant exterior like that I think it would be a model, sort of like how they did that lava planet in ROTS.

  • September 5, 2014 at 12:22 am
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    With all the sparse as can be “real” news about Episode 7 that’s available I really hope all involved are making the best movie ever made in cinematic existence because they are truly building no hype about this what so ever… Almost as if to lower expectations, which maybe smart. Its just at this minimal of actual news makes it so much less exciting that I fear they know it will never live up. Which doesn’t mean it can’t be done, it just insinuates that these people even understand they were the wrong choices in doing it.

    But hey a jobs a job, and Star Wars makes money.

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