SWNN’S The Resistance Broadcast: Episode 18
On this episode we share our thoughts on The Force Awakens.
Host: Darth Lexor Kai
Guests: Pomojema, Trevor, Darth Zloi
Box Office thread in The Cantina: HERE
Thanks to The Yavin 4 for our intro music.
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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
The calm before the storm. Much as I’m excited for Rogue One, I hope that they dial back the hype/marketing for it. If they go all TFA for every film then I think the general public will get burnt on them real fast. Especially since Rogue One and VIII come out within mere months of one another.
I would be okay if Rogue One was hyped a bit, considering it’s the first standalone. But in general, I hope they’re dialed back.
Considering the average movie goer is dumber than dogshit, I wouldn’t be surprised if people aren’t confused as to why Vader is alive again in it.
I see your point but the sub title should help point them in the right direction – a star wars story.
You would think but I’ll never forget a grown ass man waiting in line for Episode I and getting excited he was going to see a 9 year old Luke Skywalker in the film and to the best of my knowledge wasn’t mentally handicapped.
I loved it and I’m a hard core fan that watched ANH in the theater at age 16. Movie was much better than I was expecting. The soundtrack was a little weak, maybe it was where I saw the film. A real nicely done film.
Also…Kylo Renn’s mask was utterly ridiculous. Can’t believe that’s all they came up with. Should’ve just left him without a mask then…
The creatures in Maz’s castle also looked like rejected drawings…
Very nice, guys.It would have been almost perfect, if ghost of Darth Plagues didn’t rear his ugly head. 😛
Also, Pomojema, please leave Russian to Kai, lol.
Great podcast guys. So glad That I watched the movie so I can discuss all the great questions and theories with you guys. Plagueis lives lol
For what it was worth Kylo referred to Snoke as being “wise”. There does seem to be areas of the movie that seemed out of the timeline to me. More specifically at the beginning of the movie when Kylo was questioning the officer and became extremely upset over the “girl”, where he proceeds to pull him in and choke the officer. At this point in the movie they have not meet or had any interaction to be so upset.
Despite all the talk about how secretive TFA was, a great deal of spoilers actually surfaced before the movie was released (surprisingly, many of them coming from toys, trading cards, children’s books and video games). At least to me, having followed the spoilers closely, there weren’t that many surprises on TFA, except possibly that, prior to the movie, I was still convinced Rey was Leia’s daughter and Kylo’s sister.
As far as Episode VIII is concerned, I think the dynamics of the secrecy will be different as we already know a lot about the new characters and the question is just filling in the gaps about their past and figuring out where they go from now into the future.
On the specific issues in the podcast, Maz is confirmed to be force sensitive in the Visual Dictionary, although I agree that was not clear in the movie (except for a vague reference when Maz tells Rey to close her eyes and “feel” the force around them as if she was feeling it too). On Han knowing who Rey is, I sincerely think he does not. Furthermore, I don’t think Han in the end cares too much about Rey. When she is captured on Takodana and Finn runs desesperately to tell Han that the First Order had taken her, Han replies with a “Yeah, I saw it” line that really shows his thoughts were somewhere else, namely with Ben. Likewise, when Han is at Starkiller base, again his focus is first on Ben, and then on the mission (blowing up the base), Finn is the only character in the movie that genuinely worries about saving Rey and that is why Maz IMHO gives him the lightsaber, i.e. because she sees he is the only person who would be willing to go after Rey and even sacrifice himself to protect her.
This is my favorite episode so far and I wish I could have been a part of it. I would have had a ball. So much fun. Trevor if I was one of your family members I would make a darth plagueis dummy and sneak it into your bed while you we’re sleeping so that when you woke up it would be the first thing you saw in in horror. Totally god father horse head style. Lol.
Thanks for addressing the Finn force sensitive issue. While I’m ok with Finn being either force sensitive or not, as you know, there was a time when I really wanted him be be fs and I used to get a little heated on the board over the issue. Now after seeing the movie 5 times, I see a whole new and unique beauty to his character being just the way he is. I do feel that there are hints that he may in fact be fs but either way I’m at peace with it. Finn rocks the house.
Yea I would have left out the whole starkiller/death star approach for something more original as well. And what ever happened to the hammer? Was that a totally bogus rumor?
Trevor. I’m totally in agreement with you about Kylo hitting his wound. He was definitely physicing himself up. His way of dealing with the pain as if to say this wound will not get the best of me.
After seeing TFA 5 times, I can see the movie for what it is. Did JJ play it safe? Hell yes. Better safe than sorry IMO. TFA did branch out in many ways though. Ren’s cross guard saber. Finn non jedi saber wielder(whatever for Greivous). New mele storm trooper, though it is based off of old McQuarrie concepts. New force abilities.
And last but not least:
HELL NO SNOKE AIN’T PLAGUEIS!!!!!!!
LOL.
The TFA was very bold with the casting of the new protagonists being female, black, and Latino, the plot centring on the race to find an old central character whom has zero dialogue, and the use of parody. It further sets itself apart from other SW movies through the sheer open-endiness of it all. What it has sacrificed in originality, it has more than made up for it through the portrayal of its new characters, which clearly has divided the fanbase.
Snoke and Luke should have been in the Visual Guide. Not a single pic of either. I was not expecing full on bios but even the I guide had Sidious and the II one had Dooku who were equally mysterious.
I agree. they are both major characters that didn’t turn up in the guide because they were worried about a leak. That’s just not right.
Yet we learned nothing about either in the film at the end of the day. I’d have even taken a screencap with a recycled bio.
In regards to the music, John Williams’ style have evolved with time therefore you wont hear “ear-worm” type music (tunes you can instantly hum). He not doing a pop album that is catchy but disposable. Instead he is coming up with themes that can be interwoven with existing sw music. The most important theme for SW7 is Rey’s Theme which is actually reprise in one form or another almost every time Rey is on screen. Listen to the last 2 minutes of the end credit screen, where Rey’s theme is woven into the Force Theme.
How about have a listen to another podcast which address this very issue – http://www.rebelforceradio.com/shows/2015/12/30/star-wars-oxygen-vol-25-the-force-awakens-part-1
There is also a brief youtube video which illustrates Rey’s theme and how it connects to other sw themes –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlWC2KWtjJc
So in conclusion I would disagree that John Williams did not gave his best for SW7 soundtrack.
We just have to look at the big picture and not just negatively concludes he was
winging it.
Remember this, John Williams truly understands the characters and maybe the whole story even more than GL himself.
He is now involved with 7 SW movies and counting.
So he has been there from the very beginning.