Star Wars: The Force Awakens Production Designer Darren Gilford on Maintaining the Continuity with the Original Trilogy.

Darren Gilford Production designer Darren Gilford (“Oblivion,” “Tron: Legacy”), who worked on The Force Awakens in partnership with two time Oscar winner Rick Carter, spoke with IndieWire, discussing how the team achieved to maintain the continuity between the first trilogy and J.J. Abrams’ movie…

 

 

From IndieWire:

 

“A big part of it was the two generations working together, and there was a definite correlation in the time difference of 30 years where we left off with ‘Jedi,'” Gilford explained.  “Rick’s a legend — he’s the Obi-Wan Kenobi of production designers — and he brought me on early and my role was to get the sets ready for photography in England and Rick stayed in LA working on story with J.J.. But we were running three departments in London, at Bad Robot and in San Francisco.

 

Rick Carter
Rick Carter

 

 

When approaching a stylistic decision, Abrams always asked how they did it in ’77 and they would try and apply the same techniques. Thus, every technique was researched and thought through, including the way they built sets. “We studied the Death Star set and how John Barry and Norman Reynolds designed [it] to be multi-purpose, the kind of anywhere but everywhere within the Death Star. And that was the motivation of how we did our ‘Star Wars’ base,” Gilford recalled. “Rick said something like: ‘You’ve never seen this before but it feels very familiar.’

 

 

For the full interview go to IndieWire

 

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

232 thoughts on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens Production Designer Darren Gilford on Maintaining the Continuity with the Original Trilogy.

  • July 14, 2015 at 4:38 pm
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    Ya’ know….practical effects.

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:49 pm
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      PRODUCTION DESIGNER

      They are in charge of overseeing the creation of every single thing you see on screen.

      This film for aesthetic reasons is mostly opting for a larger amount of physical things.

      YOU KNOW THIS

      YOU CLICKED ON THE LINK

      I get it, I’ve read the same sentence just as many times as you did.

      Your canned anti-“Practical Effects” BS taxes the electricity on my computer moniter.

      Either deal with the fact that JJ thinks Practical is safer than CG,
      or get more creative with your quips.

      • July 15, 2015 at 1:24 am
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        Hmm ! lets see now practical versus CG Tim Burtons Planet of the apes or the CG in dawn of…. No contest.
        CG is now so good you dont even know when its on screen unless its a gigantic monster because we know they don’t exsist….or do they?

        • July 15, 2015 at 2:01 am
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          Now see lord of the rings and than the hobbit… The hobbit is full of CGI and is visually worse than LOTR. It all depends on how you use it, CGI is good when is used WITH and not instead of practical effects and sets, if all is CG you’ll have a cartoon(like the hobbit)

          • July 15, 2015 at 5:25 am
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            This. A MILLION times.

        • July 15, 2015 at 5:23 am
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          Yeah, except it doesn’t take God [aka the big bang for those easily offended], 2 million years of evolution, and James Franco to make a friggin’ Clone Trooper Helmet.
          You miss my point entirely.

          Also, I just said the film is going Practical for artistic/marketing reasons. Thus, the Production Designers mostly end up dealing with practical things, so that’s what they’re gonna talk about because that’s what they’re being asked about.

          I actually have no opinion for or against CGI, and Gollum should have got the Oscar for “Best Impersonation of a Little Brother”.

          Further than this, I’ve lost interest in playing with your opinion.
          Literally, I’m too intelligent to call any one method universally better than the other, CG has caught up and is quite convincing if done right. Practical will always be practical and will never age.
          They’re two completely different things with different strong points, and thus cannot be directly compared. Period.
          We can only judge the appropriation of what method works best for which individual situation. A movie IS NOT an individual situation, it’s a 1000 situations, each minute “CG/Practical”-judged separately.

          And to use your own comparison against yourself:

          Explain Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”.
          Are you gonna blame Practical Effects for that too?
          The issue with both films is the same: Over-Ambitious Production Design that over-reaches the technology available.

          • July 16, 2015 at 5:25 am
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            Practical is limited, CGI is not winner hands down.

        • July 15, 2015 at 9:03 am
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          fury road , when cgi is used as part of something (furiosas arm , canyon background)- its boss
          when cgi is used for the whole scene (storm) or as the focus of a scene (bikes run over and flying at camera) it stands out like a casio calculator watch would in ben hur.

        • July 15, 2015 at 9:34 am
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          This argumentative statement is simply useless and void. You are not only comparing movies that simple relied on practical effects and makeup with zero CGI. You should actually listen to a full interview of JJ. Who has made it abundantly clear this movies has TONS of cgi shots but tried to get a lot of what was possible grounded in actual set pieces and effects.

          Some of the best looking movies of the past 15 years took this approach. FOR example the hellboy series, and pans labyrinth. Guillermo del Toro has taken that approach in many movies. At first I was like all of you people hating on the “let’s go back to the past” approach. I thought that’s just ignorant not to utilize new technology. But that’s cause I thought they’d ONLY use props and puppets and make it too much like a retro throwback tribute to “a new hope”. So far it’s seems more than abundantly clear, this is not the case. Every shot we’ve seen so far, looks amazing. And it’s also clear that doing as much onset real locations as possible will always look best. Not to mention, puppets and tangible effects, touched up and mixed with CGI just looks amazing. If you’ve watched movies that use this technique like the hellboy movies, and don’t like it, I think you’re crazy. Or just lying to prove a point.

        • July 16, 2015 at 8:26 pm
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          It doesn’t matter how good or how realistic CG gets… It’s still not real… real as in being tangible. No one, for instance, can argue that it is not completely awesome and intriguing that in EP VII there are real humans inside real sets of Stormtrooper armor, that there are actors interacting with real world props and sets vs walking in, on, around, under, a green screen.
          The various Republic Clone Troopers utilized in episodes II & III were amazing in their design but they exist nowhere outside a hard drive. Why do fans gravitate toward the real world blaster props, the X-Wing models, the uniforms & armor props displayed in plexiglass casings when they are fortunate enough to attend the big Star Wars conventions? …Because they can gawk in wonder & take photos of & see with their own eyes actual screen used pieces of movie history.
          Crossing sci-fi realms for a moment, I believe Captain Picard explained this phenomenon best in the Star Trek movie “First Contact” while explaining to Data why seeing & touching the first starship to have warp drive in person was so important. “For humans, touch can connect you to an object in a very personal way. It makes it seem more real.”
          Perhaps that aforementioned statement will help those of you out there whom cannot figure out what all the fuss & hype surrounding “practical effects” is all about to have at least a little more understanding concerning the subject. Discuss amongst yourselves.

      • July 15, 2015 at 1:28 am
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        Ancient effects and wobbly sets are no match for a good CG artist at your side kid.

        • July 15, 2015 at 3:01 am
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          … have you SEEN the prequels?

          • July 15, 2015 at 3:21 am
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            Yes I saw them in 1974

        • July 16, 2015 at 5:21 am
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          lol i disagree but just like the comment 😉

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:52 pm
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      What on earth are you expecting? when talking about production design and effects, usually the topic of what effects they used will come up.. You anti-practical effect babies are almost comical.

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:22 pm
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      I think that they are going at the practical effects pitch all wrong. It’s not that it’s practical effects as much as it is design. Their set designs, props and tech in the movie look and feel like what the OT had. The ascetic changes that have been made are subtle evolutions and not drastic changes of the universe. There were 3 big problems with the PT and 1 of them was GL made drastic changes in terms of design of the universe and the tech. In the OT things were designed as though it had been lived in and things were rugged and tactical. It felt functional. In the PT everything was sleek and exotic. Now, it’s a big galaxy so of course their will be a lot of variations in design and technology. The problem is that GL put too much new tech and design into the PT and didn’t remain true to the OT. It took almost 3 movies to begin to see the design shifts closer to what was in the OT.

      The long and the short of my statement is this. The design is what they are really touting not the use of practical effects. It’s the techniques and the look that is the difference not the use of practical effects.

      • July 15, 2015 at 3:32 am
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        They know this. They just want to be trolls. There’s no use defending logic to someone who’s only intent is to ignore logic.

    • July 14, 2015 at 11:48 pm
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      Dave, Your joke about how they always mention practical effects is tiresome by this point. Repetition/redundancy is important for advertising and PR (which is why they keep mentioning practical effects). Redundancy does not work so well for humor, however.

  • July 14, 2015 at 4:52 pm
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    At least this time they’re doing it right. Would you rather see another CGI-drenched movie with your favorite characters being computerized to look younger like Jeff Bridges in Tron? If so, you might as well get used to the disappointment and find yourself another franchise to enjoy.

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:42 pm
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      I would actually accept a CGI’d make up job on Harrison Ford more then I will a new actor for this Han Solo anthology.

      • July 14, 2015 at 8:07 pm
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        Avengers 2 and Jurassic World were also “CG drenched.” And I think people went to see those films without complaint.

        • July 14, 2015 at 9:42 pm
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          Ugh…as a Star Wars fan my expectations are exponentially higher than Avengers 2 and Jurassic World. Also…I don’t care how many people go see these new SW movies I just want them to be f’ng awesome like the OT. So far things are looking great!

          • July 14, 2015 at 9:56 pm
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            Yeah, I would hope the new SW movies would be better than just tolerable. Although a box office hit I don’t think many would push the idea that Jurassic World measures up to Jurassic Park in terms of quality. I didn’t think Avengers 2 was much better than average either (IMO).

          • July 21, 2015 at 10:01 pm
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            My god!

    • July 14, 2015 at 9:15 pm
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      You can bet there will be digital make=up to enhance the actors used in this movie. If Carrie Fisher looks amazing we will know why.

    • July 15, 2015 at 2:24 am
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      The time is fast approaching when CG virtual actors will be so good you will not be able to tell the difference between real person or virtual, you can’t stop the march of technology because of nostalgia.
      Wouldn’t you like to see Harrison Ford playing Han Solo in his prime in numerous films without growing old.

      • July 15, 2015 at 4:35 pm
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        George Lucas said the same thing in 2002 that you’re saying now.

        Its 13 years later. So, nope, its not going to happen.

        (See: Uncanny Valley theory)

        • July 21, 2015 at 10:13 pm
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          13 years is nothing my friend, the future is never ending if you think we are not going to progress, think again buster.

          • July 29, 2015 at 11:25 am
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            The problem is animating an individual with a myriad of unique and nuanced mannerisms. It isn’t so much technology that is holding back this illusion so much as it is the perfection of intimate knowledge about a given actor required to reproduce them digitally. MoCap sure, for de-aging, but after the real person is gone, they are gone. (thankfully)

  • July 14, 2015 at 4:54 pm
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    YEAH, practical effects! Craftsmanship! Skill! Dynamics! All of the things that make a film great, back in film making! Finally realizing that cutting corners isn’t the best answer.

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:58 pm
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      Actually, CGI involves man-hours and expenses that rival if not surpass that required in Practical, [depending upon the situation and scale]

      cutting corners is not the issue here.

      Don’t get me wrong I’m thrilled about the Practical Effects in the new film, but it has nothing to do with perceived laziness of the filmmakers.

      CGI is usually bad BECAUSE it’s hard to get right.
      The only reason CG is as close to real life as it is now is because of 2 decades of the combined efforts of every nation with computer access. It’s not easy or lazy.
      If CG is done lazily, it looks bad. If it’s done cheaply it looks bad. that’s why cheap movies ALWAYS have bad graphics.
      It’s only when you have the magic mixture of skilled workers that are paid properly, given the right tools, and given enough time that a film can get good graphics.

      In this case, going with Practical is purely aesthetic / reactionary to un-educated fan complaints.

      • July 14, 2015 at 6:09 pm
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        While it may be aesthetic, it’s also the best way to make these movies stand out as a unique series of films; a trend that was set in ’77 and carries still today. I for one have grown bored of every movie having the same look/feel. Fury Road was a great example of a film that broke that mold and I expect the same from TFA.

      • July 14, 2015 at 6:12 pm
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        Wow, Somebody has their film school degree framed in gold above their fireplace mantel… Need a gold star to go with that?

        • July 15, 2015 at 1:21 am
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          What a dick statement. You must be fun at parties…

        • July 15, 2015 at 3:35 am
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          It’s nice to read intelligent state to and discussions on here besides the BS and trolling people like you do.

      • July 14, 2015 at 6:22 pm
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        Go on, more CGI characters means more food to eat for the believable non-CGI orcs at the end of the day!

        Yeah, CGI tends to be bad, because it’s hard to get right, which is why it’s better to go for the old school way of doing things and upgrading that. Practical effects + modern robotic technology = awesomeness. Static puppets that can’t look like they’re actually moving muscles will NOT be an argument against practical effects anymore (an argument that I’ve heard numerous times before) because both the SDCC panel and the VII BTS video show how much that has evolved by now – and amazingly so.

        • July 14, 2015 at 7:54 pm
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          Tell me again how much Transformers 2 made? That was loaded with CG and yet I think a few people went to see that movie and enjoyed it.

          • July 14, 2015 at 8:17 pm
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            @Rodian REbel

            Actually all those real orcs you speak of are trampled by that CG white orc in the hobbit who was probably the best looking orc in the entire lord of the rings/hobbit saga.

            I think I know what your problem is (as well as all the OT diehards who like to bash the prequels) You haven’t watched any movies with CG in them since the prequels. NEWS FLASH: CGI is a relatively new technology (pioneered by George Lucas I might throw in as well) and it has greatly improved over the last 5 years. Check it out. You might like what you see.

          • July 14, 2015 at 8:43 pm
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            LOL! The white orc looked like shit!

            The Uruk Hai in LOTR looked badass.

          • July 14, 2015 at 9:18 pm
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            IF you think the White Orc looked awesome then you probably loved the PT I bet

          • July 15, 2015 at 12:38 am
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            The effects in the hobbit looked like complete shit.
            … In fact everything about the hobbit was complete shit. That was the most embarrassing mess I’ve have seen since the pt

          • July 15, 2015 at 7:31 pm
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            i think smaug looked pretty fucking cool. the best looking dragon ever.

  • July 14, 2015 at 4:55 pm
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    Practical effects!!!
    Pactical effects, OT, PRACTICAL EFFECTS, OT, practical effects, OT.

    Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring and boring!!!!

    So basically this movie is just a rehash of OT. Nothing new…

    Prequels where at least original. Something new. Never seen before.

    • July 14, 2015 at 4:56 pm
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      Have you even bothered to watch any of the trailers? How the hell can you say there’s nothing new?? Quit your whining, Troll. You have no place here.

      • July 14, 2015 at 8:20 pm
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        NO full trailer at Comic Con and the movie comes out 5 months???……..
        and yet DC releases a full trailer for Suicide Suqad which comes out the summer if 2016!!!

        You can call us “trolls,” but at least there is a legitimate reason for us being frustrated. Unlike you who are still bitching 16 years later after the mere mention of “midichlorians.”

        • July 14, 2015 at 9:47 pm
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          Waaah! I want my bottle NOW!!! #patienceyoungling

        • July 14, 2015 at 10:36 pm
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          I remember the first teaser trailer for Episode II (the “breathing” one) was released in December 2001, just five months before the film came out in May 2002. I remember the first full trailer came out around March-April 2002. Everyone, including myself, were pretty okay with that.

          Plus, the Suicide Squad trailer only came out because it was leaked by fans. It was supposed to stay Comic-Con exclusive.

          • July 17, 2015 at 4:59 am
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            Actually the breathing trailer came out on November 2 2001.

        • July 15, 2015 at 2:07 am
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          Good…use your aggressive feelings boy… Let the hate flow through you!

        • July 15, 2015 at 2:07 am
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          I’m sorry I missed your “legit reason” what was it again? Something about how you have a right to demand a certain numbers of trailers 5 months before the movie comes out? Your right. where are our priorities? Here we are upset the last three movies sucked balls and u come along and remains us that really matters is that the trailers are released in a timely matter.

    • July 14, 2015 at 4:57 pm
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      But the plot hasn’t been revealed yet, you know that.

      • July 14, 2015 at 4:58 pm
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        Great point!

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:03 pm
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      As much as I am loving everything to death from what I’ve seen, I partly agree.

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:16 pm
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      Ok, I have officially come to the conclusion that this fandom is insatiable. Everyone is saying that they want practical effects and continuity with the original trilogy, and now they are saying how they don’t want it to be like OT. J.J Abrams is doing a fantastic job, hater. You really don’t deserve him though.

      • July 14, 2015 at 5:25 pm
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        *Applause*

      • July 14, 2015 at 5:45 pm
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        Hear, Hear!

        • July 14, 2015 at 7:10 pm
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          And you guys don’t deserve George Lucas!

          • July 14, 2015 at 7:18 pm
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            Hear, hear to THAT!!

          • July 15, 2015 at 5:18 am
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            AND HEAR HEAR TO THAT.

          • July 14, 2015 at 8:12 pm
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            I never said I wasn’t happy with George Lucas, the man made Star Wars. Although I view the PT as inferior in every way(to the OT), I respect the man for the work he has done. No one deserved George Lucas or J.J Abrams in this sulky fandom.

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:28 pm
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      The irony here is that for some of you practical effects = outmoded techniques. The fact that they are using advanced robotics and advanced puppetry/motion cap hybrid seems like new tech is allowing them to do what they are doing.

      The only way talking about how they are approaching visual effects can be offensive is if you see it as a slight to the way George made the prequels. To me every reveal on how they are approaching the aesthetic is fascinating.

      The filmmakers and Disney are obviously not big fans of the way the PT films were made. That what’s getting some fans panties in a wad. When they hear “practical effects” they are actually hearing “the prequels suck”.

      • July 14, 2015 at 5:58 pm
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        I think it’s more about people making statements like “yay, practical effects. I wasn’t a fan of the CGI techniques used in the PT, that’s why they sucked” more so that the filmmakers mentioning practical effects. Whether the filmmakers are or aren’t PT fans is irrelevant to the comments that PR haters/bashers are making in the insinuation of arguments. The people that make these kinds of statement are the ones making the inferences of “little/somewhat to no practical effect” = “sucking” thus, whether intentional or not, ruffling the feathers of those who like the PT.

        • July 14, 2015 at 8:23 pm
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          ^Anon 17:58 just hit the nail on the head.

        • July 15, 2015 at 4:38 pm
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          Ya gotta admit though, they reciprocate with prime trollificness.

    • July 14, 2015 at 7:38 pm
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      Actually, in many ways even TPM was a rehash of the OT, ANH specifically. Think about it, they both start out with a young male living in squalor on a desert planet (and not just A desert planet, it’s the exact same one) who meets up with strange off-worlders with a mission and gets caught up in an interplanetary war, starts down the road towards becoming a Jedi, and has to use his piloting skills to destroy a large enemy spacecraft towards the end of the film. I’m going to guess that TFA will have enough differences from ANH and TPM to stand on its own.

      • July 14, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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        I just really don’t care. I’m just happy that were getting another star wars film. Which Is something I have been waiting for since 2005 when I watched Revenge of the sith in theatres in Las Vegas. Besides I’m happy that they’re using practical effects but I’m also happy that cgi is being blended as well. But the thing that people are forgetting to hope about this film is the story. Practical effects, cgi, those are just used for wow moments but the story telling is what truly matters. As well as the acting.

        But in all honesty I really don’t get all the whiners that bash this film because they’re arguments don’t make sense. I think if anything people are upset because these new films aren’t based on the Expanded Universe stories. I’ll bet that before the infamous April 2014 announcement people expected this film to be based on the books that had told tales right after ROTJ and when they heard that Disney was going to ignore those stories people got pissed and then started bashing the movie before the 1st teaser dropped online. I think that’s why people bash the film and nitpick it for complaining because they’re pissed but really they should just get the hell over it already!!

        • July 15, 2015 at 2:36 am
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          I don’t think that is what the practical effects hating people are implying!? What they don’t know is that practical effects in 1977-1983 made us all feel wowed by how realistic it felt! The Death Star run had no CGI, AT-AT and Chicken Walkers, etc done with practical screen shots and blue/green screening! Yoda’s puppetry felt more real in 1980 and 1983 vs CGI ones that seemed lacking facial qualities! I AM PERSONALLY GLAD OF THEM LAYERING PRACTICAL EFFECTS WITH CGI SO THAT THE NON-HUMAN ELEMENTS CAN NOT BE COMIC-BOOK ANNOYANCES ON A HIGH DEFINITION MOVIE SCREEN!

    • July 15, 2015 at 12:41 am
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      There was nothing original about making shitty movie. It’s been done for years. Although GL did take it to the next level with the pt

    • July 15, 2015 at 1:24 am
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      The prequels were horrible, horrible films. GL lost all credibility as a filmmaker after that shit show. Fact!

    • July 15, 2015 at 2:52 am
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      JJ, is trying to be Steven Spielberg and George Lucas rolled into one.
      TFA has to much going on that is a nod to a
      ANH. The stupidity of some of the things in this movie I have seen make no sense….lets give C3PO a red arm…..why? FFS !

    • July 15, 2015 at 2:56 am
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      Very good

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:02 pm
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    No offense, but why am I seeing the word “Reboot”? This is a sequel trilogy, not a reboot. Just saying 🙂

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:26 pm
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      The saga is being “rebooted” with the continuation of the story in The Force Awakens

      • July 15, 2015 at 2:12 am
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        EU was never really canon(it was always said that it was secondary to the movies), so the saga is not having a reboot

      • July 15, 2015 at 3:01 am
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        The saga is not being rebooted, it is being booted.

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:38 pm
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      I wouldn’t use the term “reboot” either although it does apply given the strict definition of the word. Though you could also have called ESB a reboot of Star Wars, technically. I’d avoid it since it makes me think about the failed (IMO) reboot of Star Trek.

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:03 pm
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    I’m glad to see that they’re doing their best to keep continuity with the original trilogy. That’s something the prequels never did.

    • July 15, 2015 at 3:10 am
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      They were prequels…..

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:04 pm
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    sounds great, can’t wait.
    but will!
    have no choice.

    • July 14, 2015 at 11:26 pm
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      Professor Mordin Solus, is that you? ;P

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:05 pm
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    I’m inclined to agree with you. Don’t get me wrong I am really excited that they are using more traditional means.

    Give me some news other than practical effects now, because it’s not really news anymore, it’s just reiterating something we’ve been told for months now.

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:11 pm
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      That I can understand. They are kind of “beating a dead horse” as one might say.

      • July 14, 2015 at 10:05 pm
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        Yeah, and this horse popped its clogs back in 99!

    • July 15, 2015 at 3:13 am
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      The sequel to the TFA is going to be all cgi.

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:20 pm
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    More proof that the “creative consultant” title they attached to Lucas early on is complete bs.
    Anyway, agree that the constant talk of getting the OT look, real sets, practical sets, etc. has been beaten to death. Its great news and all but holy fuck! We get it already!

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:21 pm
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    As much as I’m looking forward to the new film and as much as I enjoy the practical effects and the non-reliance on CG – I do find the constant bashing of the production design of the prequels a wee off the chart. They did build sets and ships for the prequels! Remember the Naboo hangar in TPM? They did build ships, droids and speeders and elaborate costums and whatnot. Suddenly it sounds as if Lucas & co made the entire prequel trilogy in the computer, which is only half true. And The Force Awakens will have its share of CG effects too – did everyone suddenly forget about Andy Serkis’ characters? And those crazy moves by the Falcon, that’s surely CGI. So give it a rest, marketing people. 🙂

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:29 pm
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      people think the prequels were almost CGI because there where A LOT OF CHARACTERS made in CGI. The troops, the droids, a lot of aliens, a LOT OF SHIPS IN SPACE, EVEN MAIN characters… In fact, there was A LOT of models and pratical effetcs too. Much more than we can imagine. The cities in naboo looked real for me. Not everything in prequels look fake, many things were beautiful, more than OT sometimes. But we know there was a “Video-game-look-like” on the Grapichs of prequels, in a lot of scenes, and this is why people believe this half-true thing about the Prequels. Why? Because CGI was used ON THE WRONG places and in the WRONG WAY. Of course, wrong only if you’re looking for the 100% real look. Mustafar for example: You have a miniature for the scenario, ok. But then you put the characters direct on a blue screen with almost nothing of real scenario doing the transition, and a lot of post CGI for the Lighting of Lava. On the space you have a lot of ships in CGI, and the CGI TROOPS ON THE FRONT LINE. To be more clear: In the death star scene you have the SHIP as the REAL scenario, the blue screen and the prop of the death star. In other words, you have to know how to optimize the CGI and Blue screen tricks, or it’s gonna look Fake. The real problem was the WAY that they done it.

      • July 14, 2015 at 8:26 pm
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        ^sorry to disregard your extremely long comment, but the CGI work in the prequels looks a little flat because they were using late 90s technology. CG has gotten better, a LOT better since then, fyi.

        In the same manner I can say that the trash monster in the death star garbage disposal looked dreadful. (‘No! NO! NO” cry the OT fans.)

        • July 14, 2015 at 8:56 pm
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          “Because CGI was used ON THE WRONG places and in the WRONG WAY.”

          Exactly. The quality of CGI wasn’t the issue, it was how it used. The scene where Anakin fights Dooku in ROTS was a fantastic example of how merging practical with CGI should work. (except for Dooku’s backflip intro & the platform falling on Obi wan). The ships flying in the background / space battle going on looked great.

          The duel between Anakin & Obiwan, there were stupid robots flying around & the platforms there were standing on looked super fake. Yeah the background was practical… but the action wasn’t, & that was the most important part of that sequence.

          There was a forum member who posted a link to examples where sets were used… the Diner scene in AOTC. While they built a set, the CGI of the waitress & Dex were unnecessary & detrimental to what we’ve been accustomed to as far as droids are concerned.

          • July 14, 2015 at 10:19 pm
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            Yoda vs. Dooku was embarrassing. I winced in embarrassment during that scene. I was ashamed I looked AWAY from the screen.

            The prequel CGI was so so bad….

            Conveyer belt scene with R2 and 3P0. Ugh.

            Anakin surfing on a fat slug cow thing during the terrible romance scene with Padme.

            The list goes on…

          • July 14, 2015 at 10:53 pm
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            Anthony Daniels cited that scene specifically saying that he hated how c3po looked, saying some like “he doesn’t move like that!”

            The Yoda Dooku thing was awful… Kasdan & Lucas had actually debated about Yoda using a light saber… Kasdan was shocked to learn Yoda *didn’t* have one. Unfortunately Lucas changed his mind (lol)

          • July 15, 2015 at 4:45 pm
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            ^^^^^

            Pretty good summary. The lizard cow sequence was basically an attempt to make Anakin seem teen-idol surfer charmer….and it looked awful.

            Factory scene is horrendous. Completely poorly done. The Geonosians were awful. The AOTC battle is boring – basically as bad as Transformers now is.

            The first half of the Anakin-Kenobi fight is great, and then they start jumping over lava and the fight becomes them versus the lava instead of Light Side versus Dark Side (same with the Yoda-Sidious fight – it becomes environment vs. them, much less compelling.)

        • July 14, 2015 at 10:23 pm
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          I agree about the quality of CGI but was not only this that make some things unreal. And yes, the Jabba creature looks soo fake. For our luck, now the Lucasfilm has a better robotics, pratical, and CGI effects to do the new movies, and a very very dedicated team that wants the movies look FUCKING REAL

    • July 14, 2015 at 9:29 pm
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      If the actors do not have enough practical effects/real sets to work off of, the performance suffers as is so obvious in much of the PT. It’s as simple as that.

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:25 pm
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    people really tend to forget how much practical effects and real sets there where in the prequels, it wasnt all blue screen u know. From Theed palace to Mustafar, most was done with miniatures and maquettes. Heck remeber back in 1998 when star wars insider showed us all those behind the scenes pix of The phantom Menace shoot ? all those extras with masks in Tunesia. that was all real too no ? To this day i still discover that what i thought was CGI in the prequels turned out to be real : That Trade Federation hanger that Qui Gon and Obi Wan see and stow away in during the opening of Episode I ? thats a model. That landing craft opening up on the surface of Naboo and those massive tanks coming out ? minuatures. Count Dooku’s solar sailer in Episode II ? full scale built prop. So show some practical fx love for the prequels too please.

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:44 pm
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      The practical effects in the prequels get no love because it’s not enough. For every practical set or character there is more CG. People don’t want a CG army of Gungans or Clone troopers, a CG Yoda lightsaber dancing, etc..

      • July 14, 2015 at 5:59 pm
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        I don’t know about CG Yoda. A lot of people enjoyed seeing (and we’re fans of) Yoda wield a lightsaber and fight and that would’ve been impossible to have on display without CGI (at least at that time).

        • July 15, 2015 at 12:52 am
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          The yoda scene was so unbelievably awful to this day it amazes me that no one involved had enough good taste to say “stop this please this scene is an embarrassment to the name of Star Wars”

          • July 15, 2015 at 7:46 pm
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            No one could challenge Lucas during the prequel days. Everyone one took his ideas as if they were the word of God. In the OT he had restraints by budgets and creative people around him that told him his idea wouldn’t work. That’s why the special editions changes were so awful. Lucas went back and put things in without having someone tell him it was not a good idea and no you can not do that.
            Go back and watch the behind the scenes of the pt. everyone hangs on his every word and any one who gave him a different opinion he would shoot something directly back to reinforce his position and no one had enough back bone to say George I get what you are saying but I really disagree here. My favorite piece on this is on the phantom menace bts when they are doing the casting call for anakin. In the casting you can tell everyone is wanted the other kid. George liked jake. When someone tried to reinforce their opinion George just spoke up and everyone caved. The other kid was better in that audition. It wasn’t even close.

          • July 15, 2015 at 9:32 pm
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            I agree with you to a point but i would like to add that up until the PT, GL had an amazing track record of making the right decisions. Who in their right mind would have had the balls to second guess him at that point?

            With all that being said

      • July 14, 2015 at 6:13 pm
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        “because it’s not enough” What an odd thing to say. Each prequel movie contained more models, miniatures, costumes etc. than all three OT movies combined.

        • July 14, 2015 at 8:27 pm
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          ^I’m not sure if that statement is true, but if it is, I’m going to shove that fact into every OT troll’s face whenever they go on and on about in their hateful rants!

          • July 14, 2015 at 11:19 pm
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            It’s not.

          • July 15, 2015 at 12:55 am
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            People hate the pt because they were awful movies not because of the ratio of pe/cgi

        • July 15, 2015 at 12:51 am
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          Its so dense

    • July 14, 2015 at 5:58 pm
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      They are talking practical set effects where the actors interact not miniatures and models. AOTC and ROTS were the ones that really went overboard leaving practical effects behind on the sets, not to mention film itself. Those two movies were just a video production.

      Lucas had stated many times prior to making the PT that the reason he waited so long to make it was so computer technology could catch up his ideas. The entire goal was to do as little practical effects as possible so to even have a floor here or a door there on set was in his mind a necessary evil.

      Personally I think the whole CGI criticism is just as overblown as Lucas’ and his fans’ disdain for practical effects. I think with TFA we will finally get to see how good the effects can be when the two technologies are used best within their limits. This is what I look forward to most to seeing at this point.

      • July 14, 2015 at 7:06 pm
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        I agree. It’s the decision making that’s fascinating to me. They are using the latest tech and also exploring how practical effects can evolve. This yields better performances and hopefully a better story.

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:43 pm
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    No PT vs OT war will be allowed. Stay on topic.

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:42 pm
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      You should tell the people who complain about the practical effects marketing to stop… because that’s how the arguments always start. Even one of the moderators got involved with the Episode VII production bashing on Friday night (when we all should have been excited about the reveals, about 1/3rd of the posts were like “here we go again… practical practical practical” just as they did with this article & every other published since teaser 1 hit).

      I’m tired of the debate as well… we should all be happy that Star Wars is being made with such love & care. Why so many people are unhappy about this is beyond me.

      • July 15, 2015 at 7:27 pm
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        yes. exactly. why cant everyone just be happy star wars is back. i really hope once the new trilogy is out people will forget about all the shit like bitching about practical effects and PT vs OT. soon its gonna be OT vs ST. just enjoy the story as a whole and not divide into parts. we may even get episodes 10 11 12 so who knows

    • July 14, 2015 at 7:13 pm
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      You might has well stop posting articles about the film-making of The Force Awakens and just stick to covering new trailers and stuff. I hate to say it, but it seems like you’ve unintentional cultivated a community here that does nothing but sneer at the reverence the production has for the film-making sensibilities of the old films and takes the disregard for the prequel trilogy by the vast majority of the public as a personal affront.

      I’d like to come to these threads and have discussions about The Force Awakens as much as anyone. But its hard to when every thread is immediately inundated with snarky comments tailored specifically so that they can act injured about the popular opinion of the prequels.

      • July 14, 2015 at 7:42 pm
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        Your “disregard for the prequel trilogy by the vast majority of the public ” statement actually equals “PT haters/bashers that are actually in the minority but ar very vocal and loud on the Internet and not at all a true representation of the real world.”

        • July 14, 2015 at 8:30 pm
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          So according to you we should also knock down any person in a wheelchair because they don’t represent the “majority” who can walk on two legs?

          ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

        • July 14, 2015 at 8:51 pm
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          The loudest people here are people like you, you know.

    • July 15, 2015 at 12:53 am
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      why not? I enjoy the debate on both sides, some good points are being raised here, so sick of pc censorship

    • July 15, 2015 at 7:21 pm
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      Thank you viral. this should be an official rule from now on. its getting extremely annoying reading comments that have no relation to the topics. the PT vs OT war is the most pointless debate ever. we get it. STFU already!!

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:45 pm
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    Marketing strategy=Nostalgia. Result: Never a trailer was played in youtube so many times.

    Good job, LFL / Disney 🙂

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:46 pm
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    The comments section on this site is just hilarious. Prequel fanboys crying everytime they mention the OT never ceases to amuse me. Stop with this inane crying and whining and bickering. Production design and special effects are interesting to hear about, and making decisions based on the OT is only logical because that is what is so brilliant and iconic and is why the franchise is successful. They should expand on that. It’s only logical to expand and develop those techniques further. They don’t like the prequels, and nor do the majority of people. Why should they have to pander to crying fanboys instead of focusing on making a good film? It’s not all about you. *sigh*

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:20 pm
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      And it’s not just about you either. Remember that th de movies are made for mass audiences/general public, not just SW fans.

      And stop it with “the majority of people” statements because we all knew that it’s not true. There are various statistics that prove otherwise, and it’s really PT haters/bashers that are in the minority. The only reason you think otherwise is because you blindly pay attention to Internet comments – which many come from trolls – and because they are very vocal and loud on the Internet. But whatever you want to keep telling yourself to feel better I guess…

      I compare this scenario with the scenario renting an apartment. Sometimes when looking for apartments, one runs into a place that seems to have more bad reviews than good reviews. However, upon checking out the place and then deciding to sign a lease with that places (despite many of the reviews being bad), it turns out that things were not as bad as the reviews made them out to be. This was my case about two years ago: I took a chance at leasing at this one place despite it having more bad reviews than good ones and I ended up enjoying living there.

      You see, it’s this little idea I learned in a marketing class in college: people like to be more vocal when they are dissatisfied with something more so than when they are satisfied. However, that may not necessarily mean that the product/service is entirely bad to the majority of people that give it a try so in many cases, going off of reviews of said product/service is not exactly indicative of the success of the product/service.

      Sorry to say this but this site’s participants is not a good sample/indication of the overall worldwide SW fanbase.

      • July 14, 2015 at 6:45 pm
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        What a load of waffle. Generally speaking, people didn’t like the prequels, and the huge majority of people prefer the OT. That’s not even up for debate.
        “The only reason you think otherwise is because you blindly pay attention to Internet comments.”
        No, it’s because I live in the real world. Plus with what you’re saying, that argument is completely inane. You can’t say that there are statistics that tell you one thing, but then claim that other statistic like internet comments don’t matter. You are completely bias. Haven’t you seen polls? comments? opinions? reviews? If I had to be generous and say the majority did in fact like them, I’d say maybe 40-70% would recommend watching them, 65% didn’t enjoy them, and 90% of people thought the OT was better. That’s being generous. Therefore, making the film more in tune with the OT, makes sense. People can whine as much as they like but it won’t change this. If you really have such statistics to prove me wrong, I’d dearly love to see those.

        • July 14, 2015 at 7:00 pm
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          1) I am not saying that most people prefer the PT over the OT (that I’m not debating). Yes, I do think that people like the OT more than the PT because it’s the original, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t like the PT at all (it’s mainly a matter of ranking favorite). But to say that the general population didn’t like the PT at all is a fallacy in and of itself.

          2) Internet comments are not statistics, at least not from a qualitative standpoint. Like I said, people that are dissatisfied with something tend to be more vocal and loud about it than when they are satisfied.

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars

          (And yes, inflation is subjective as there isn’t a faction inflation factor; it’s up for interpretation)

          How all films were critiqued when they first hit theaters (people tend to forget of how the OT was viewed as by film critics when they were fresh): http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_episode_ii_attack_of_the_clones/news/1645247/critical_consensus_star_wars_prequels_actually_better_reviewed_than_originals/

          Also, don’t forget about The Clone Wars series. Even though that came after all PT movies were release, it’s still an indication of how popular the PT era was in people liking the stories that occurred during this time.

          • July 14, 2015 at 7:14 pm
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            The fact that a show came out during the PT era, a show that proved to be successful, shows that there are many fans that like the PT, enough that TCW was something fans looked forward to.

          • July 14, 2015 at 7:25 pm
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            The Clone Wars got off to a slow start, especially with the feature length film. The reason I like the Clone Wars was that it fleshed out the pre-New Hope era far better than the films did. The PT told us that Obi Wan and Anakin were friends and the Clone Wars showed us they were.

            If anything the Clone Wars magnified the failures of the PT in the narrative department.

          • July 14, 2015 at 7:35 pm
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            I look at it more as TCW allowed for more time to elaborate on what the PT had. There’s only so much run time each movie had that it’s hard to put everything on display with a limited amount of time (particularly when you have a story with many pieces to tell). Having a show with these characters allows for more delving into the characters, it gives you more freedom to express a lot of things without feeling limited. Plus, seeing more Star Wars content, especially visual content, is always good. That’s always a plus in my book.

          • July 14, 2015 at 8:38 pm
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            The PT basher who always keeps commenting here still can’t prove that the original trilogy are “just better” than the prequels. I grew up with the prequels and while they did have lots of flaws, there is something about them that I enjoy. And one more thing OT troll:
            Stop pissing on MY childhood.

          • July 14, 2015 at 10:40 pm
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            You think the Prequels are better than the Original Trilogy?

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:49 pm
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    Practical effect is always win, but sometimes the story demands beyond the practical effect .

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:50 pm
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    I for one love the practical effects approach. Even though a lot of the methods used in the OT are not used any more today, the truth is that practical (real-life) effects age better than CGI. The PT has already dated itself in a more negative sense than the OT IMO.

    The worst parts about the OT as it exists today are the added CGI scenes, which are even more dated than the PT due to it being done in the infancy of the CGI era. Granted CGI technology is much better today, so even if the film used mostly CGI it would still probably look amazing. But what I have found really cool is getting to see the advances in these practical techniques with puppets and robotics that they are using in the new film. These effects, although “old-school” in feel, will no doubt be very modern. I love that kind of stuff and I’m eating it up.

    And as J.J. said, there will still be a lot of CGI in the film. Take for instance the scene in the recent BTS video where Ren and his troopers exit the landing ramp on what looks like Jakku. The sand is real…Kylo is real…the troopers are real…the ship is real…the steam is real…the rest of the landscape however, will be entirely CGI. I think their approach is “whatever we can feasibly have on screen for real, needs to be real…”

    As for beating the dead horse with this…I think this only goes for fans like us who frequent SW news and sites like this. I have a friend who just the other day was talking to me about SW. He is a casual fan, unlike myself and you guys on this site whom I consider to be more along the lines of a “superfan”. He was like, “So I read that they are using like practical effects and stuff for this movie. Did you know that? I think that’s really awesome!” – (In my mind – Umm…yeah…I thought everybody knew that…) What I said – “Yeah man…it’s gonna look amazing!” So, even though we have heard it time and time again. Not everyone has.

    They want to make sure that the world knows this is something special…not just another money-grab franchise reboot (even though it kinda is). At least they are making it a tasty pill for us to swallow. 🙂

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:04 pm
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      I can’t “like” your article.

      ??

      this keeps happening on some posts, but on others it’s ok.

      Anyways, yeah, I agree with above comment.

      Your point about Practical aging better is intriguing, CG updates and improves upon itself by the month, but with practical, a wall is a wall, in 1000 years, it will still be a wall.

      Honestly, I think EVERY movie should follow the ethic proposed by TFA.
      For amazing stuff, do CG, for basic stuff, just build it.

      • July 15, 2015 at 3:41 am
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        Like a living breathing walking f@!K@ng puppet.

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:47 pm
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      “I for one love the practical effects approach. Even though a lot of the methods used in the OT are not used any more today, the truth is that practical (real-life) effects age better than CGI. The PT has already dated itself in a more negative sense than the OT IMO.”

      I can’t really see how people can say this without really thinking it through. I mean, sure, newer CGI is better than older CGI but it’s also a fallacy to say that practical effects age better than CGI, because those practical effects also age as well (and not always in a positive way). It’s not like I can’t tell that the OT are not older movies. Even with the latest blu-ray release of the OT, I can still tell that they’re older movies (added CGI aside). By the way, have you see all 6 SW on blu-ray?

      Movies are made reflecting their times technology and effects-wise, so this “dated” argument is really a strawman’s argument in people grasping for straws. I Every time that people mention this “dated” argument I just shake my head because it really seems like people don’t know what they’re talking about.

      Lastly, let’s not forget that 1) SW is overall a space fantasy and sci-fi and 2) the SW universe is large.

      • July 14, 2015 at 7:00 pm
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        Stormtroopers in real costumes in the OT will never look dated.

        Clone troopers in Attack of the Clones looking almost like they just walked off the set of an animated Star Wars cartoon is dated.

        It’s not so much the tech and the era of filmmaking, but the decisions that were made in the process.

        • July 14, 2015 at 7:42 pm
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          ^ This… this is exactly what I mean. Yes I agree with Anon that the OT looks dated also. That wasn’t my argument. My argument was that the OT has aged “better” than the PT (IMO largely due to their being more tangible and real things in the film). A lot of the aliens in the Cantina look obviously fake. Dex in the Diner on Coruscant also looks obviously fake. They both look dated. However, seeing Vader enter Echo base with his posse of stormtroopers will always look better than Morrison’s floating heads on the Clones in ROTS. My point was whenever you can “actually” have something physical on screen, it will be more believable than a digital image. Although I do concede that a lot of CGI today is bordering on photo-realism. Rest assured, I have thought it through. I can tell the films are older films…it shows. However, for some reason, I find it easier to suspend my disbelief when watching the OT.

          • July 14, 2015 at 8:41 pm
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            Really guys? Because I saw some reallllllly cheap looking armor in A New Hope and I”m pretty sure it wasn’t the CG work that made me laugh.

            Next you’re going to tell me how some of those costumes in the cantina somehow didn’t reek of trick-or-treaters at a bar.

          • July 14, 2015 at 8:47 pm
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            “A lot of the aliens in the Cantina look obviously fake…”

            I actually mentioned this. As for the cheap armor? Any armor looks better than armor that isn’t really there. Just a bunch of simple tricks and nonsense… 🙂

          • July 14, 2015 at 10:20 pm
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            If the stormtrooper armor made you laugh (and I’m assuming Darth Vador armor made you giggle too), then I bet watching the PT clones made you piss yourself.

          • July 15, 2015 at 1:18 am
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            If I think the storm troopers like fake than u might want to just skip “the force awakens” because with the exception of minor design changes to the helmet they look pretty much the same. i think u should just admit that u are a fanboy whose feeling are hurt that nobody likes the pt so u are grasping at straws to find fault with the ot. Right?

          • July 15, 2015 at 10:44 am
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            honestly they both look equally fake today to me, and they both looked awesome when they were release, TFA will look awesome too and also fake after ten years,you can’t stop time, the trick now is mix practical with cg that does look better than all cg or all practical , there will be something new in ten years that will look better than practical + cg , the lesson here is don’t do all new thing instead do practical + cg + new thing…
            (practical + cg)> cg
            (practical + cg)> practical
            (practical + cg + new thing)> new thing
            (practical + cg + newthing)>(practical+cg)
            nerd checkmate bro LOL

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:53 pm
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    Why do people complain so much? And about the most ridiculous things, at that. Yes, Abrams was mentioning the practical effects quite a lot. So what? It’s mostly because people have been demanding them to do practical effects. As far as I’m concerned, if the actors feel more comfortable working that way, then yay for puppets and robots.
    And I’m not against CGI, either. Unlike 15 years ago, when CGI was painfully awkward, today it can look amazing.
    So basically, just let them release the damn movie before you begin to hate it for having to many or too few green screens.

    • July 15, 2015 at 7:38 pm
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      exactly what i think too. why does everyone bitch about nothing. how can anyone watch these trailers and BHS footage and not just be happy its back? we have waited an extremely long time. thats what everyone should be pissed about. i feel like this movie is never coming. 10 fucking years since the last SW film and still gotta wait 6 months. thats what really sucks.

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:55 pm
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    How is it a marketing strategy? They are talking about how they made the film… It’s not nostaliga, it’s using the techniques they prefer. Should they not do that then? Or not talk about how the film was made? You prequel fans are so hot and bothered about them not liking the prequels you are just desperately trying to find faults and it’s hilarious.

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:26 pm
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      Seriously? It’s a marketing strategy because they’re selling you a narrative. How can this not be obvious?

      • July 14, 2015 at 6:50 pm
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        Every film has a marketing strategy. I’ll ask again, should they not make the film the way they want to? Or not talk about how the film was made?

  • July 14, 2015 at 5:58 pm
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    People are complaining?

    “every technique was researched and thought through, including the way they built sets.”

    OH NO THEY AREN’T USING PREQUAL STYLED CG EFFECTS THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO USE AND INSTEAD THEY ARE USING ATTENTION TO DETAIL BECAUSE THEY PREFER THE RESULT! HOW DARE THEY!? IT’S JUST NOSTALGIA! IT’S NOT BECAUSE OF BETTER FILMAKING AT ALL! .. yeah ok keep telling yourself that

  • July 14, 2015 at 6:02 pm
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    To speak on this on a level playing field- PT and OT both used practical effects. They both rely on CGI as well. Whether or not it leans heavier one way or the other, it doesn’t matter. These are science fiction movies, so technology will be utilized.

    This post isn’t meant to argue PT vs. OT, mainly to point out that both trilogies kept one foot in the past with practical effects while keeping one in the future by allowing themselves to utilize the best CGI technology they have available to them.

    WHAT THIS ALL BOILS DOWN TO IS THE WRITING!

    THAT is where a lot of prequel bashing comes in. THAT is why people revere the OT as much as they do. It was a classic space epic that pretty much anyone could relate to. An underdog story, as opposed to a political story about trade blockades and a forced romance with dull, lifeless writing.

    Let’s forget the filming aspect, and just be thankful that this story is written by two people who live and breathe Star Wars. This will be the return to the roots of writing that we all fell in love with. God bless JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.

    • July 14, 2015 at 6:19 pm
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      The OT used CGI? Hm. I don’t think that’s entirely accurate unless you mean the tinkered with versions.

      And when you watch the tinkered with versions you can noticeably tell when a scene is CGI verses non-CGI.

      • July 14, 2015 at 7:04 pm
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        By CGI in the OT, I was referring to the fact that they used some special effects that in a way, were ahead of its time.

        Not talking about the special edition updates. Fuck that noise.

        Each trilogy has utilized and will continue to utilize the technology of the time. I’m sure we’re going to see some things in these new movies that we never could have imagined…

        • July 14, 2015 at 11:05 pm
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          There was rudimentary computer animation used in the OT. The displays for exhaust port targeting, the death star diagrams in ANH & ROTJ, etc, etc.

          But as far as “practical” in the PT goes… sets is one thing. What about clone trooper uniforms? Not a single piece of physical armor was built. & there were a lot of clone trooper shots in the last 2 films.

          When you see the bokeh at work on the storm troopers @ the start of the comicon reel, compare that to the up close shots of clone troopers… there is a real big difference in visual fidelity there.

          I guess I see the point of OT tech @ the time being cutting edge as was the CGI in 2000’s, but in the 2000’s it was used where it didn’t have to be.

  • July 14, 2015 at 6:07 pm
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    Apparently, the effects are the only thing that these people, and a large number of the fans, care about.

    This movie is *aggressively* marketed towards a subsection of the fan base–who apparently are easily impressed–and more and more it becomes apparent that that subsection does not include me.

    Oh well.

    • July 14, 2015 at 7:08 pm
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      The effects are the only thing they can talk about right now without spoiling the story. Duh.

    • July 14, 2015 at 8:43 pm
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      @ Anon 18:07, then get off the forum and tell Disney what you think.

      And hopefully they will listen to you and give us some information about the damned story.

      Then we will have a decent discussion about the story.

      I am getting SICK of hearing Disney praising their practical effects department. Give us STORY!

      • July 14, 2015 at 9:44 pm
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        First off I think most of the story is out there, it’s just not confirmed. But why would Disney give you the story? Boy, that sure would help the buzz around the premiere.

      • July 15, 2015 at 1:27 am
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        Why would u want to hear the story before u see the movie. that is the strangest complaint I have ever heard.

  • July 14, 2015 at 6:13 pm
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    I rather like this interview,

    especially the line
    “Something you’ve never seen before, but is familiar.”

    I take it he’s not referring to the OT/PT, he’s referring to Star Wars / Earth.
    Like the Death Star, it’s completely alien, but the atmosphere is similar to just about any government building or other such austere environments.
    There’s a real-world connect that doesn’t directly copy any specific architecture.

    “Something you’ve never seen before, but is familiar.” Modern Poetry.

  • July 14, 2015 at 6:32 pm
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    Some of you are honestly the whiniest, most entitled brats to ever grace an otherwise entertaining and informative site.

    If you don’t enjoy the films, please stop going to see them. Leave them for actual fans to enjoy. Surely you small-minded children can find some other first-world problems to complain about.

  • July 14, 2015 at 6:53 pm
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    Is it just SW fan arguing Practical effects vs CGI ?
    Batman fan seem not to have those argument. Or whether Tim Burton vs Nolan.
    Star Wars is special because it has a father story and his son story. You have to embrace what it is.

    • July 15, 2015 at 3:15 am
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      Yes

  • July 14, 2015 at 7:05 pm
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    Nothing beats reality! Computers will never win this argument. The more real the better. End of story!

    • July 14, 2015 at 7:31 pm
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      This is quite a blanket statement you’re making (and inaccurate, ill-informed and assumptive fashions might I add). You have a good point but it doesn’t feel well-informed for the reasons I stated in my previous sentence.

      • July 14, 2015 at 8:17 pm
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        *(and in

    • July 15, 2015 at 3:17 am
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      I have got some bad news for you according to main stream science we are all living in a computer simulation, now how real is that.

  • July 14, 2015 at 7:06 pm
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    I can’t believe some of you. They’re doing everything they can to GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT – A Star Wars movie that feels like Star Wars. The fact that they keep bringing up using practical effects is to remind you that they CARE about this franchise just as much as you do, if not more. What you give them in return? Nothing but “Boorrring”, “Actually CGI would be better”, “We’ve heard this all before and don’t care!”. Those of you who say these things will NEVER be happy. Such a bummer to read your comments.

    • July 14, 2015 at 7:17 pm
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      I don’t get it either. I scanned down expecting to see happy Star Wars fans and I see “we are tired of hearing them talk about practical effects”. Honestly, they could be giving us nothing and there taking us behind the scenes showing some pretty amazing stuff. Why complain?

      They obviously can’t tell us the story, so what else can they give us. I just don’t get it. It’s odd to say the least.

      • July 14, 2015 at 7:28 pm
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        Odd is not the word for it, but I agree with your assessment.

      • July 15, 2015 at 1:32 am
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        What is odd is that apparently many of the complainers are doing so because they are mad they have to wait for the movie before they are told the story. I don’t know if this is some kind of a post-modern problem or what but it is really weird to me.

      • July 15, 2015 at 3:49 am
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        Do you mean the story about Lukes hand….cant wait to laugh my balls off.
        Star Wars is a lot harder to F@!K UP than Star Trek but some how jj will.

    • July 14, 2015 at 8:47 pm
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      @ Pelly

      That depends on who “you” are.

      I for one loved George Lucas and his galaxy far far away because the films were INNOVATIVE. When I say innovative I mean revolutionary practical effects in the 70s, revolutionary CG usage in the 90s.

      I never liked the fact that Disney is falling back to the “what would they have done in the 70s?” mentality. They are looking back, not ahead, and looking back is something Star Wars has never done before.

      So yes, I am a bit angry. Let’s just hope the story is good.

      • July 14, 2015 at 9:03 pm
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        You know what’s innovative? The fact that they’re using CGI to clean up the practical effects, rather than a full on CGI fest. They are taping into the MAGIC that made SW so special to everyone. Some of the reasons the OT is timeless is because of it’s unique feel and look. The new team understands that and is attempting to tap into that magic. To claim that you’re “angry” about it is very unfortunate and ungrateful.

  • July 14, 2015 at 7:20 pm
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    It’s sad how adulthood has taken the joy of watching movies out from many of you. What ever happeened to watching a fictional story without having to feel that because you’re an adult now, you must come at it from multiple angles? What ever happened to reminding yourself that you’re watching a fantasy?

    Man, your adulthood must suck if you feel like you must – and have an obligation to – subject yourself to be harsh in viewing something from a sense of having an “adult” mandate to do so, that something which is made for a wide range of ages (though primarily catering to young people).

  • July 14, 2015 at 7:29 pm
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    Don’t forget the actors… They need the physical to react to – immersion. Nothing worse, I’d guess than ‘acting’ with a bloke with a green sheet on his head, being told he looks like a kinda hammer head shark…

    • July 14, 2015 at 8:24 pm
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      Nonsense. And as an actor if I ever heard an “actor” say that I would ignore them from that point on. People have been acting on stage with “imaginary” scenery, props, costumes, characters, and effects for centuries, now. If an actor really has so little imagination that the concept of pretending something is there that really isn’t is foreign to him, he’s not a good actor. He’s a guy standing there being told what to do. (And you can see this in the prequels, by the way — Ian McDiarmid, a stage-trained actor, had absolutely no problem being believable in his role. Hayden Christensen, a TV pretty boy…completely at sea).

      • July 14, 2015 at 10:30 pm
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        It’s no secret that Ewan McGregor hated acting in the green environments and Ian McKellen broke down in tears on the set of the Hobbit over it. You may want to revise that analysis.

        • July 15, 2015 at 4:19 am
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          Stay out of the woods then.

        • July 15, 2015 at 4:58 am
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          Well technically he was upset due to the lack of fellow actors.

          It wasn’t so much the green screen as it was the removal from every other cast member for hours on end.
          Ian McKellan filmed the entire Hobbit Trilogy indoors acting by himself, saying his lines to an off-screen stage-hand. That shit messes with you.

          • July 15, 2015 at 5:22 am
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            The off stage hand wasn’t Lukes, was it?

    • July 14, 2015 at 8:48 pm
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      the classic actors of the 20s-40s had no problem with working on a set.

      Just sayin’.

      • July 15, 2015 at 4:20 am
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        What else could they do….moron.

  • July 14, 2015 at 8:21 pm
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    How do they maintain continuity? Basically by going through all of Ralph McQuarrie’s discarded designs and using anything he left behind. I love McQuarrie, which is why people patting themselves on the back as though they did the work for him rather than just going through the archives is beginning to jar.

    • July 15, 2015 at 5:06 am
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      Actually just the other day, I was watching the “Behind the Scenes” clip with a friend, now this friend is hard to impress, and he’s not really keeping up on SW News: but when he watched the footage and the desert-gate thing popped up on screen, he immediately commented “That’s cool.”

      Mind you, he had no idea that that gate was an inch-for-inch copy of a McQuarrie design, so his opinion was purely objective [or subjective, i keep forgetting–you know what I mean].
      McQuarrie’s designs ARE good, even to those who don’t grasp his importance, they’re good designs.

      To be quite honest, there’s actually quite a lot of TFA that to me looks “non-SW”, JJ and his team are definitely bringing a different aesthetic in; but I’m cool with this as it seems they struck the perfect balance between “McQuarrie-weirdness” and “JJ-weirdness”.

      If JJ ignored every single thing McQuarrie did as a matter of “principal” or whatever, JJ would be an idiot.

      Luckily, he seems to be pulling it off so far. I was SO expecting JJ to mess this up, but I’ve as of yet seen no evidence that he’s done ANYthing wrong. Good on him.

  • July 14, 2015 at 8:34 pm
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    the vast majority of people, even people as big as star wars fans as YOU dont haunt these sites or search for info EVERY single day. the people saying “im tired of this, that and wah wah wah”, then stop trolling internet forums that discuss it. geez what a bunch of whiny *&^%

    these movies and many others first depend on your “believing,” on you watching with child eyes. let your own imaginations do some of the work. whether its cgi, practical, or whatever. you can watch star wars and be taken to a wondrous place for 2 hours, or you can sit and nitpick and look out for “imperfections.”

    special effects are the beginning of imagination, not the end. whiny whiny whine whine… good grief

    • July 14, 2015 at 8:52 pm
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      The biggest loser in thie entire debate is JJ Abrams.

      Here is a man who states that “it’s about story, not about special effects” and yet every look into his stupid “mystery box” shows nothing but special effects. This is no different from the prequels who marketed the film around the cool CG work. Now, instead of the cool CG work it is the cool practical effects. Nothing has changed.

      With every passing day, JJ Abrams proves himself to be a two-faced hypocrite.

      • July 14, 2015 at 9:20 pm
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        Please… please… just stop talking.

        I’m more upset at the brain cells I will lose from reading your comment than I am with ANYTHING I’ve seen about this movie so far.

        • July 14, 2015 at 10:32 pm
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          That can be said for half the comments on this board. Why can’t we just talk about how cool this stuff is that they are making? It’s art and it’s beautiful.

      • July 15, 2015 at 1:41 am
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        Again they aren’t going to tell u the story before u see the movie. That’s what everyone in the world except u and a couple of other oddballs on this site would both want an take for granted to be the case.

  • July 14, 2015 at 8:36 pm
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    This film is rapidly turning into one big OT circle jerk rubber muppet show. I hope they at least include Statler and Waldorf, which are, unironically, the same age as most OT fans, just not as annoying.

    • July 14, 2015 at 8:50 pm
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      fozzy bear is probably going to be in a scene and go “wokka wokka wokka” next to Maz Kanata.

      And I”m sure the OT fans and Muppet Show fans alike will clap and eat it up!

      • July 14, 2015 at 9:24 pm
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        Why are you even here? Don’t you have better ways to spend your time, troll?

    • July 14, 2015 at 9:55 pm
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      You clearly have no clue what these visual artists are up to. You’ll be picking your jaw up off the floor like everyone else.

    • July 15, 2015 at 1:54 am
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      It has to be so wierd living in that isolated buble u live in. Where u can pretend that the ot is just popular with old people. And yet for some reason Disney spent billions for the rights to Star Wars and then spent millions more to make the force awakens and then inspite of billions of adoring pt fans (all in the ideal marketing demographic) dieing to see more movies like The pt. Disney refuses them and instead targets a tiny, old and dieing fanbase
      There is truly no limit to pt fanboy delusions.

    • July 15, 2015 at 5:12 am
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      Was Star Wars ever NOT a “jerk circle muppet show”?

      Star Wars is SUPPOSED to be awesome and badass with Yodas and shit.

      I do not perceive what you just said as an insult.

  • July 14, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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    I feel like they keep harping on the “practical effects” angle, because they can’t avoid having a great number of CGI effects in TFA. Audiences now expect to see things in a film that are just not cost effective to shoot with practical effects.

    A big part of what made the OT so special was that they were always pushing the limits of practical effects, so you never knew what to expect. Almost everything caught the audience completely off guard. Everyone always knew how the PT was going to end, they just hadn’t seen it yet. And art direction for the PT was always limited by a need to make the OT look derivative, for continuity sake. At least TFA will have some liberty to be different, and show us new things that we’ve never seen before. And it looks like CGI is being limited to the edges of the frame, unless it’s character CGI.

  • July 14, 2015 at 9:40 pm
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    I remember back in 2015 when we used to hate people who had different opinions about Star Wars of all things. We had these labels we’d use as short hand “OT fans” “PT haters/bashers”. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who typed those terrible comments. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him.

    • July 14, 2015 at 9:49 pm
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      Just think though it’s not going to be
      PT vs OT vs PT & OT anymore.

      We’re going to get to add
      PT & ST vs.
      OT & ST vs.
      ST only vs.
      PT & OT & ST.

      • July 14, 2015 at 10:05 pm
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        The OT is what made Star Wars a cultural phenomenon. There is no such thing as OT vs. anything else Star Wars. If the PT had come first Star Wars would have been forgotten already. The OT’s place is fixed not only in fandom, but in cinema history as the standard bearer for sci-fi fantasy.

        Now ST vs. PT on the other hand will be interesting. But from the looks of things I really envy the kids growing up with the ST.

        I don’t hate the PT, I just think they are vastly inferior films.

    • July 14, 2015 at 10:08 pm
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      “I want to talk some sense into him”

      Why? You’ve proven that’s impossible.

  • July 14, 2015 at 10:03 pm
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    Some of the so-called, “Fans”, that crop up on these sites make it crystal clear why George Lucas wanted out from under this franchise.

    Unbelievable, the arrogance and complete lack of maturity. There is NOTHING in these movie for you. Move along…

  • July 14, 2015 at 10:14 pm
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    The Force Awakens being practical effects heavy isn`t the most important thing though – if the story is poor and the characters dull then it will be a poor movie no matter what it looks like – for me story/script/characters comes first,this is what will make or break TFA.

    • July 14, 2015 at 10:24 pm
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      I think there is a connection there though, isn’t there?

      There is connective tissue between the story, the acting, and the approach to visual effects. The effects aren’t indifferent to story and how you do them factors in to how well you can tell the story and make it believable.

    • July 15, 2015 at 5:25 am
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      Exactly.

  • July 14, 2015 at 11:04 pm
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    I remember when I was a kid anytime I saw a behind the scenes feature my eyes were glued to the TV. This stuff is always amazing to me.

    The main point is that they want this new trilogy’s world to look like it was born out of the classic films we all love. (At least I think we all love.) This is a sequel to Return of the Jedi and it only makes sense story wise to maintain visual continuity with what came before it. It’s respectful, it honors the artists and vfx wizards that pioneered this stuff way back when, and, make no mistake, it will take visual effects to new and amazing places with the latest computer technology.

  • July 15, 2015 at 12:36 am
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    So as far as this whole OT vs. PT argument goes… I would prefer to see the fanbase more unified as well. It is a bummer that we don’t get as excited as we could be due to bashing VII’s promotional videos… nothing of the sort happened prior to TPM’s release as far as my recollection goes.

    If I could offer some insight to younger fans… Lucas lashed out @ fans after the TPM premier, basically implying that we weren’t “getting” his vision. Since TPM went the potty humor route, we fans were basically labeled blood thirsty… as Lucas implied by saying he wasn’t in the business of making a “Terminator” film. (I did actually enjoy TPM though, but I thought it was too baby-ish)

    If you can’t see why some people aren’t resentful while all it takes to get you guys angry is VII’s promotional tactics… I could only imagine what would happen if JJ treated the PT fan base the same way. I don’t expect or hope that he will.

    Well, whatever the case is, I imagine on the premier night that PT & OT fans alike will be clapping & cheering as “Star Wars” blasts onto the screen… and perhaps then we’ll finally run out of things to argue about!

  • July 15, 2015 at 2:40 am
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    The TFA’s will look great. This much is understood.

    What’s problematic though is the white female/black male un-dynamic duo.

    Disney screwed up bigtime by ditching a white male Skywalker lead….which is what Star Wars has been about since day one.

    Luke in the OT and Anakin in the PT, these are the central characters in the GFFA, they are why fans lined up at the box-office to begin with.

    Do you honestly think a white female in Daisy or a black male in John Boyega can generate the same amount of enthusiasm?

    Let’s be honest: of course not! Because white males (the core Star Wars fanbase) won’t be able to relate to either character!

    But this isn’t a big deal though because JJ’s using practical effects, right? smh

    • July 15, 2015 at 2:56 am
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      711, you are clearly an ignorant person with no understanding of what makes movies (or presumably any other part of life) work.

      If you honestly think the color or gender of the main character is all that people will be able to relate to, you need to stop spending money on this franchise and save up for a lobotomy- because your opinions would be more valid if they were the product of complete absence of thought.

    • July 15, 2015 at 4:12 am
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      That’s racist.

    • July 15, 2015 at 8:43 am
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      @711

      The top grossing Star Wars film (and, hopefully, top grossing global film of all time) won’t star a white man.

      Deal with it. Times are changing.

  • July 15, 2015 at 3:27 am
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    What is it with Ricks?

  • July 15, 2015 at 4:10 am
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    None of this shit matters because JJ is an OT stealing hack. All TFA will be is OT lite. Enjoy.

    • July 15, 2015 at 4:45 am
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      Exactly my friend.

    • July 15, 2015 at 4:47 am
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      What was in the teaser to make you cry, it showed F@!K ALL.

      • July 15, 2015 at 5:03 am
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        WTF are you haters doing on this website. Your shit is annoying. Just admit…you guys are the minority. Go start your own website to whine and complain.

        • July 15, 2015 at 5:31 am
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          We are not haters, we want to see a good movie not drown in nostalgia like some.
          Star Wars was made in 76, released in 77 it used practical effects because they had no choice not because they were better, there was nothing better.

          • July 15, 2015 at 8:23 am
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            People like us are not hating, but 90% of those reactions are click bait from folks who don’t truly love star wars and just want views. They stick a poster up in the background or have a newly bought light saber to wave around and blub at the camera. Trust me there are plenty of true SW fans posting videos saying this and are pissed at some wet nosed teen too young to have seen either trilogy pissing on their nostalgia by going OOH! OH! R2! SPACESHIPS! WHO’S THAT! (at known characters) give me a genuine 10% of reactions and you’ll see the difference to this lot. I AM A FAN and don’t need validation or views to prove my love for Star Wars…you just feel it you just do.

          • July 15, 2015 at 12:14 pm
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            it’s a sequel, obviously it has to have a feel that is similar to the old trilogy. It’s the same galaxy 30 years later, not having the same feel would be weird.
            And they’re gonna use CGI, but not everywhere, they decided to use practical where it’s possible, and CG in where they can’t build something.
            they’re keep on saying thay use practical because people asked them a million times to do so for years (probably thay have thousands of e-mails about it xD )

  • July 15, 2015 at 7:30 am
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    Practical effects are better than CGI and likewise, white actors are better than John Boyega.

    Whom would be far better served starring in some 70’s black exploitation film remake like “Mandingo” instead of Star Wars.

  • July 15, 2015 at 8:10 am
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    I love star wars so much and can’t wait for TFA. But just as an observation, a mildly critical one, I thought the SDCC panel for TFA was more than a little strained. I get that it’s big pressure on everyone involved and that pushing practical effects (which is great trust me) is key. But not being able push any story developments at this stage is understandable but made the panel seem a bit flat. Ok we got the behind the scenes which had most of what we knew or had guessed at and the fans got a concert, but it’s like going to see Santa who won’t talk much and not getting to do the lucky dip and getting a small surprise while you’re there.

  • July 15, 2015 at 9:46 am
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    So the final battle of this movie will take place on…… a BASE. Not in space, not among the stars, but on a planet’s BASE.

    We’ve seen no stars or spacelike environments in the trailers yet, and now we got this. I’m starting to worry that this film will suck.

    • July 15, 2015 at 9:58 pm
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      Base Wars.

    • July 15, 2015 at 10:00 pm
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      Valid point.

    • July 16, 2015 at 9:43 am
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      Perhaps it might be like the D-Day beach landings but from space, a full on orbital assault with a few resistance landers having punch through the first order defences to deploy a ground force to tackle the base? Could be kind of cool.

  • July 15, 2015 at 9:57 am
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    Can I just state here,for the record….that I love ALL of star wars…PT to St and everything inbetween.All this talk of practical VS CG is doing my head in.
    I also love the EU.Star wars is my life.
    wish everyone could just agree to disagree.

  • July 15, 2015 at 1:17 pm
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    I really enjoy Star Wars; all the rumors, the leaked images, the trailers, the speculation…

    But when I read most of the comments people leave here, I lose a lot of respect for many of the people who claim to be fans.

    Having the power to share an opinion is not the same thing as having something of value to say.

  • July 15, 2015 at 8:28 pm
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    We are concerned trying to make sure peoples hopes are not to high.
    I hope this movie is brilliant and I will be the first to say I was wrong.

  • July 16, 2015 at 1:30 am
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    No news is good news.

  • July 16, 2015 at 9:22 am
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    They better have some fuckin nods to the prequel trilogy….it is canon JJ. Dont try and pretend like they dont exist ….you MIDICHLORIAN-LESS MOTHA FUCKA

    • July 16, 2015 at 5:21 pm
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      Cannon fodder more like. There were no references to midichlorians in the OT, so there won’t be in this trilogy.

      I look at the the PT like our own Enlightenment period where everything could be explained with reason and eventually science. The OT was Modernism where religion (Jedi, Sith) was pushed outside of the public square and the rise of many militant atheistic marxist governments (Empire). So this will fit nicely in our postmodern culture where truth is relative (no good and evil categories) and a resurgence in, however subjective, some kind of spirituality. A great “awakening” if you like.

    • July 16, 2015 at 8:41 pm
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      Very good point, the prequels are cannon and I for one loved the political intrigue, the way Palpentine played every one for fools and was one step ahead all the time for many years before he could spring his coup.

  • July 16, 2015 at 8:46 pm
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    Palpentine, single handedly engineered the down fall of the republic and brought about the new order THE GALACTIC EMPIRE.

  • July 16, 2015 at 9:39 pm
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    Here is something to worry about, whether you like Star Trek or not JJ, said “I didn’t get it has a kid” WTF!. What is there not to get? So what he did was direct two movies get his maggot dick out and piss over 50 years of Star Trek, throwing away all the history and continuity which a lot of people worked hard on…just talk to Michael Oukuda for one, even Lavar Burton voiced his disapproval at what JJ, had done.
    You see in JJ’s mind things are simple no complicated plots or sub plots, here’s your hero, here’s your villain ACTION!!.

  • July 17, 2015 at 5:51 am
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    My spider sense is tingling, old JJ wants to direct a Bond movie so he can trash that franchise too.
    A bit of advice go and come up with something original of your own and direct that…whats that? you want to direct the next Indiana Jones movie…well that’s OK, your mate Spielberg f@u@ked that up already.

    • July 18, 2015 at 5:48 am
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      Wasn’t the Indy franchise very bondish at times? I’m hearing Angelina Jolie is going to direct first Indy relaunch

  • July 18, 2015 at 8:08 am
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    True, it is noted in a discussion between Lucas and Spielberg that Spielberg said to Lucas that he wanted to direct a Bond movie, to which Lucas said something along the lines of ” Iv’e got something better than that in mind” and the rest is history.
    On another note can Jolie do any worse than Crystal Skull.

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