Gareth Edwards on the Missing TIE Fighter Scene in Rogue One, Opening Crawl and Wipes Were Used in Early Cuts and More

Empire posted a very interesting interview with Rogue One director Gareth Edwards, who reveals several interesting new details about the production, including the fact that Rogue One had an opening crawl very early during the production, written by Gary Whitta. Edwards explains what were the main reasons to go against this traditional Star Wars opening that many fans loved. He also reveals that “wipes” do exist in earlier cut of the movie. Read on for the details.

 

 

Empire’s list features 13 revelations from Edwards. We will only include the most interesting ones and the ones we haven’t discussed before. For the full list make sure to visit their site HERE.

 

Gareth reveals that even if Lucasfilm have asked him in the beginning to choose which movie he wants to direct between Rogue One and any other of the new saga films, he would have chosen Rogue One any time:

Honestly, I don’t know what they’re planning for the rest of the films, but I feel like if [I was] offered anything else, even the sagas, I would have been like, “no, I want to do Rogue One,” because that’s connected to the film that started me off wanting to do filmmaking, wanting to do everything.

 

Curiously there was a crawl in the script’s first draft!

The first screenplay that Gary Whitta wrote had a crawl in it – and you learn doing that that ‘a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’ has four dots in it, not three. You get extra marks for that. And then at some point, probably like six months before we were filming, we were in a meeting, and they talked about not having an opening crawl, because these are standalone films, not part of the sagas. And if I’m honest, there was an initial kind of like, “whaaaa? I want the crawl!” The opening sequence is kind of the crawl of our movie. It’s like the setup. And our film is also born out of a crawl – the reason we exist is because of a previous crawl, so it feels like this infinite loop that will never end. It’s a small thing to give up to get to do Star Wars.

 

Many of you probably noticed the absence of another typical Star Wars element from the movie – the ‘wipes’. It appears that they did use some in other cuts.

We did have versions of the film [with] wipes, and then it just felt like we were doing it because we could. The wipes are the cheesiest thing in the world. The only time you can ever do it and not be cheesy’s in Star Wars. There’s part of me that wanted the wipes and things like that, but the film is supposed to be different. We were given a license by the studio to be unique from the others, and we just took that license and ran with it as an excuse to try and be a bit more out there.

 

Edwards gives a clue about his cameo in the movie:

I got a cameo in the film as well, I was at the very end. I’m not sure I should say [where]…

 

Gareth on that infamous bacta tank scene and Vader:

I’m jealous of moments like in Empire Strikes Back where you see the back of [Vader’s] head and you just go, “oh my God, that is so cool,” and wanted to try and find something like that in our film. [The bacta tank scene] was actually a Chris Cunningham-inspired thing of the idea of being in milk [like in the Bjork music video] All Is Full Of Love. He’s really a burns victim, and it’s not going to be fun for him when he’s not in the suit – he’s going to be uncomfortable. I love the idea of showing that he’s vulnerable as well. Vader’s very, very bad, and so you try and just glimpse something of him that gives him some humanity, or it makes you empathise with him. Just seeing those scars and realising that he’s, you know, an amputee, and just reminding you of that before he does all his stuff, it makes you torn, I think. He’s just such a rich character, in so many ways.

 

Peter Jackson was on set during the filming of the Vader scene at the end of the movie. Lucky guy. 🙂

We were at Pinewood, and Peter Jackson was in town. And we were like, “oh we should get Peter along, we should try and get him to come.” I was there, about to shoot that scene, and I thought, “ahh, you know what, screw it”, and I just wrote an email saying, ‘Peter, about to film Darth Vader if you want to come, it’s happening now’, and he’s like, ‘I’ll be there in half an hour!’ And then he perfectly timed it, he walked in literally for that shot where it goes from darkness to the lightsaber turning on. Whatever I do in my career, whatever happens next, it’s gonna be hard to top the honour of getting to direct that scene.

 

There is a reason why we didn’t see in the movie the super cool TIE fighter against Jyn Erso scene, seen in some of the Rogue One trailers :

There was a bit of a process to refining the third act in terms of the specific shots and moments, and so certain things just fell away. But then what happens is marketing love those shots, and go, “oh, we’ve got to use that.” And you say, “well, it’s not in the movie”. And they say, “it’s okay, it’s what marketing does, we just use the best of whatever you’ve done”. And so there’s lots of little things, but towards the end you go, “I know that’s not in the film, but the spirit of it’s in the film”.

 

The word “hope” that Princess Leia speaks at the end of the movie is taken from A New Hope:

The dialogue is taken, yes, but not the image. It’s a 3D [composite].

 

 

For all the revelations by Gareth Edwards make sure to visit Empire.

 

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

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

92 thoughts on “Gareth Edwards on the Missing TIE Fighter Scene in Rogue One, Opening Crawl and Wipes Were Used in Early Cuts and More

  • January 3, 2017 at 6:56 pm
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    Loved the Vader scene… still bemused that marketing types were allowed to use the Jyn-on-beach running with plans scene and push the TIE scene which was a clear ‘wow’ shot when it was known that neither would be in the film

    • January 3, 2017 at 11:02 pm
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      Curious if the lightsaber was a practically lit stunt saber, like TFA, or if the lighting was all CGI.

    • January 4, 2017 at 11:34 pm
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      The Vader scene to me was great because it was finally nice to see Vader’s Castle on Mustafar of all places. I’ll give credit to Rogue One; it’s one of the few SWs films that manages to combine new and old planets. Yavin IV, Mustafar, Coruscant(flashback), but also new places, like Jedha, Scariff, Wobani.

  • January 3, 2017 at 7:20 pm
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    I’m shocked that they decided to eliminate the crawl so early in production. It would be interesting to see what the crawl was. Even though the film would’ve went through huge changes since its design.

  • January 3, 2017 at 7:23 pm
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    Wondering how showing portions of a film in advertising that are not in the actual film does not constitute at least some form of false advertising.

    • January 3, 2017 at 9:14 pm
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      I guess someone had to go there……

      lol, dude. LOL

    • January 3, 2017 at 9:31 pm
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      I’d call it not spoiling the movie.

      • January 3, 2017 at 10:49 pm
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        It has nothing to do with spoilers.

    • January 3, 2017 at 10:03 pm
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      Then there is no point in explaining to you why it doesn’t.

      • January 3, 2017 at 10:49 pm
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        If you tell me that a product you are selling is going to contain something and then you don’t deliver on that, your advertising is false.

        • January 4, 2017 at 12:11 am
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          Movie trailers for movies that are a work in progress are meant to give you an idea of a movie. It’s subject to change.

          • January 4, 2017 at 2:08 am
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            If I’m selling you a car and tell you all the features the car comes with, then decide to not include a few of those features in the car that ships, am I being fair to you, the consumer? Whether we like to admit it or not, movies are a consumer product. If I get you hyped up to see a movie on a whole bunch of cool scenes, and then not include those scenes In the final film, then I have led you to believe that the film is not what I’m actually delivering in the final product.

          • January 4, 2017 at 2:37 am
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            Movies aren’t cars.

          • January 4, 2017 at 4:36 am
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            They are both commercial products.

          • January 4, 2017 at 4:43 am
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            That can be said about literally every item being sold on the free market. You know that the two aren’t the same, you know that you made a false equivalency, and you’re being disingenuous. Stop.

          • January 4, 2017 at 8:03 pm
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            It’s not a false equivalency at all. I sold you a product on something that I knew was not going to be in the final product that you got. This is not being truthful. Stop trying to defend it.

          • January 4, 2017 at 3:07 pm
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            Not all commercial products are treated or created equally. Work in progress.

          • January 4, 2017 at 8:00 pm
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            Not work progress. Marketing team used shots that they were told would not be in the film.

          • January 4, 2017 at 10:55 pm
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            It happens. You weren’t screwed. You got a good movie for the cost of your ticket.

        • January 4, 2017 at 1:34 am
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          I’m sorry, but this is the most rediculous post I have ever seen here. Which is impressive when Cranky, Snark, and Whedonslip post here routinely.

          • January 4, 2017 at 2:03 am
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            Why? If I try to sell you something and show you the product that I’m telling you you’re going to get, and then I don’t give you everything I showed you, am I not being dececeptive?

          • January 5, 2017 at 6:00 am
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            You asking why is now the second most ridiculous post I have ever seen here.

          • January 5, 2017 at 6:16 am
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            I guess you have no ability to explain yourself. Thanks for admitting that.

          • January 6, 2017 at 1:23 am
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            I don’t have enough time to waste explaining something to you you already know the answer to.

            Post tripe like this, expect limited and insulting responses.

          • January 6, 2017 at 6:17 am
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            I would expect an insulting response from someone who can’t offer any real opinion. And the frequency in which you post here proves that you aren’t in any way lacking in time to offer your opinions. Telling people that something is in a movie when you know it isn’t is dishonest. Please tell me how you think that it isn’t, that is, if you aren’t too busy with your precious time insulting other people on here…

          • January 7, 2017 at 3:15 pm
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            Tldr;

    • January 3, 2017 at 10:15 pm
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      Reminds me of that trailer scene in Predators where Brody’s character gets multiple predator laser sights on him.

      I can understand scenes in a trailer that were cut from the final version but making up scenes for a trailer is wrong. Don’t do it, Lucasfilm….we hold you to a higher standard.

      • January 4, 2017 at 2:36 am
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        They didn’t make up new scenes for the trailer. They used scenes that were eventually cut, as most trailers do at one point or another.

        • January 4, 2017 at 5:01 am
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          I do believe the TIE was added just for the trailer. But I could be wrong.

          • January 4, 2017 at 5:29 am
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            Gareth said otherwise. But who REALLY knows?

    • January 3, 2017 at 10:20 pm
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      its not false advertising because we got essentially the same as what was promised. its not like they showed trailers for star wars and then gave us twilight. Still, it is frustrating that the trailers ended up being mostly reels of deleted scenes as opposed to the actual content.

      • January 3, 2017 at 10:52 pm
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        We din’t get Jyn running across the beach with the plans, we got an entirely different means by which she delivers the plans.

        • January 3, 2017 at 11:40 pm
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          but they still stole the plans, which was the plot as promised.

      • January 3, 2017 at 11:12 pm
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        I agree that they showed us the spirit of the movie, and we knew the movie we were going to see – my concern is that marketing were told “this scene is DEFINITELY not going to be in the movie” and they said “we know – and we are going to use it anyway because it is cool”. It’s unethical, at the very least.

        • January 3, 2017 at 11:37 pm
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          its a grey area, but is also an aberration. not every movie goes through this massive a change in post production.

    • January 3, 2017 at 11:11 pm
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      I agree with you here. I understand that not everything makes the final cut of a movie, and that sometimes scenes are cut, and that’s ok – but if Gareth specifically says “this scene is NOT going to be in the movie”, and marketing says “we know, but we will use it anyway” – to me, that’s deception / false advertising.

    • January 4, 2017 at 2:35 am
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      Because they’re advertising the movie as a whole, not those specific shots alone. Suits have been filed for things even worse than this, and they’ve all been lost.

  • January 3, 2017 at 7:37 pm
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    Thank you for not having the wipes. Honestly, I never liked it.
    Its as Edwards says. Cheap, cheezy, uncreative, and repetitive. The PT especially overused it.
    Thankfully TFA was a bit more sparing with the effect. Hopefully ep VIII and IX will also tone it down (at least I hope). Leave space for more creative editing.

    • January 3, 2017 at 9:47 pm
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      That’s…not what he said.

      • January 4, 2017 at 2:34 am
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        Lol I guess interpretation is everything.

  • January 3, 2017 at 7:45 pm
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    I’d rather have a trailer with shots that didn’t make the final cut than a trailer that spoils the whole movie.

    Removing the crawl made total sense for the reasons he gives — we’re already inside a crawl and the movie starts with a flashback scene that provides the same type of context. Once you start dropping stylistic elements like the crawl keeping the wipes would feel like an affectation.

  • January 3, 2017 at 8:11 pm
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    I was a little disappointed by the bacta scene to be honest due to the fact that we after seeing a digital Tarkin/Leia that we don’t get a hint of Hayden Christensen as Vader. I think the CGI has advanced a lot and I think what was jarring the most about ROTS is that I never actually believed that Vader was Hayden underneath that mask, having a glimpse of him in RO could have helped that.

    • January 3, 2017 at 8:34 pm
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      Yeah it would have been a nice cameo — just one close-up of Christensen raising his head a little and intoning “Who summons me?” (his voice sounding menacing through the breather, echoing, digitally filtered similar to Kylo). His face would have been covered with the breather, under prosthetic make-up to make him appear both older and scarred, and obscured through the bacta liquid.

      Would have been a nice acknowledgement that Christensen played Anakin in the Prequels — he’s not at fault for however you feel about those movies! 🙂

      • January 3, 2017 at 8:55 pm
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        I don’t think he is a good actor by any stretch of the imagination but I do think that he was directed poorly and his performance could have been better.

        • January 3, 2017 at 9:44 pm
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          Shattered Glass says you’re wrong, at least about the first part :).

          • January 3, 2017 at 9:47 pm
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            Jumper says I am right.

    • January 3, 2017 at 9:03 pm
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      You don’t get Seb Shaw either, though. Just as you didn’t in the ESB back of head unmasked scene.

      • January 3, 2017 at 9:46 pm
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        Shaw wasn’t cast as Vader in ESB that was actually Prowse in the costume, but the mystery is already solved there is no reason to hide his face in RO IMO.

        • January 3, 2017 at 10:03 pm
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          And no reason to show it

          • January 3, 2017 at 10:16 pm
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            I disagree completely. If you aren’t going to show him in the Tank then why have the scene at all? In ESB I get it, but everyone knows that its Anakin underneath the mask.

          • January 3, 2017 at 10:47 pm
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            You can show him in the tank, but there is no reason to show the face. It’s just a tease, a reminder that there is a damaged human in the suit.

          • January 4, 2017 at 1:31 am
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            Because he isn’t Anakin anymore. He’s Vader. He is the suit. Until he is redeemed.

    • January 3, 2017 at 9:12 pm
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      You literally saw the mask lowered on his face in ROTS. GEEZ.

      • January 3, 2017 at 9:43 pm
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        I member!

        But seriously, if you read the full comment, part of my point was that the CGI in ROTS was awful and that we could have done the character more justice by putting in there.

        • January 3, 2017 at 10:03 pm
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          Not really the place or point of that scene

  • January 3, 2017 at 8:24 pm
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    I’m sure this has been mentioned somewhere. While I can see how this film makes the viewing experience of A New Hope better, I struggle with how it seems to bust a hole in The Force Awakens. So much was done to protect the Death Star plans and the explanation for why it took one kill shot to destroy such a formidable model of destruction, now makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why it was that easy
    to figure out how to destroy the Starkiller base, a model, which should be far more difficult to destroy than any of its predecessors. I’d like to be proven wrong here.

  • January 3, 2017 at 9:04 pm
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    I’m sure a fan edit will be done with opening crawl and wipes. It wouldn’t be all that hard to do for some people.

    • January 4, 2017 at 2:15 am
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      Yeah, probably. It would pretty simple compared to all the prequel edits.

  • January 3, 2017 at 9:23 pm
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    Was the Bacta Vader CG or a realistic dummy? It didn’t look human.

    • January 3, 2017 at 9:27 pm
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      It was a dummy, some people spotted him in one of the backstage videos

      • January 3, 2017 at 10:00 pm
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        That might have been a reference model for CGI

        • January 4, 2017 at 2:15 am
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          Maybe. But I don’t know why they would do that. They kept the model pretty obscured, so there’s no reason that they couldn’t put a model in a bacta tank.

          • January 4, 2017 at 2:36 am
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            Right. It could be either/or.

          • January 4, 2017 at 7:50 pm
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            And basically someone just held on to his leg stumps and whacked The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader up against the glass. Also, maquettes for digital characters aren’t usually created full size unless there’s a need for them on set. Practical all the way.

        • January 4, 2017 at 9:46 am
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          I doubt that they CGI-d it.

          • January 4, 2017 at 3:07 pm
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            “might”. I’m just saying we don’t know for certain.

      • January 11, 2017 at 10:26 am
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        Either way, I was impressed. Some great subtle effects in this film that will probably get overlooked come award season.

  • January 3, 2017 at 9:43 pm
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    “He’s really a burns victim”
    Did he say ‘Burns’ or “Booo…ooorrns?”?

  • January 3, 2017 at 10:14 pm
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    “its what marketing does, we just use the best of what you’ve done.”

    if its “the best” then shouldn’t it have made it into the film?

    • January 4, 2017 at 12:08 am
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      You’d think so, but as a game designer I can say sometimes I’ll make something that looks wickid cool, but it doesn’t fit in because of the story, previous events, or from what I heard about the TIE scene, it was repetitive.
      It reminds me of how much I enjoyed the little slice of life moments Luke had in episode 4 where it gave Biggs a character introduction, but it didn’t really fit in the movie so they left it out

      • January 4, 2017 at 12:29 am
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        i get it, believe me. its just that phrasing makes me chuckle.

    • January 4, 2017 at 2:14 am
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      When they say “the best”, I think they mean “it looks the coolest”.

      • January 4, 2017 at 3:33 am
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        especially in a gareth edwards film. 😉

  • January 3, 2017 at 10:18 pm
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    I’m sure this has been mentioned somewhere. While I can see how this
    film makes the viewing experience of, A New Hope, better, I struggle
    with how it seems to bust a hole in, The Force Awakens. So much was done
    to protect the Death Star plans and the explanation for why it took one
    kill shot to destroy such a formidable model of destruction, now makes
    sense. What doesn’t make sense is why it was that easy to figure out how
    to destroy the Starkiller base, a model of doom that should be far more
    difficult to take out than any of its predecessors. I’d like to be
    proven wrong here.

    • January 3, 2017 at 11:48 pm
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      Sadly you are not wrong. The Stakiller plot was as stupid as it can get.

    • January 4, 2017 at 12:06 am
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      yeah, I don’t get why people think that about the Force Awakens. Starkiller base didn’t have a hole to fly in that you could fire a missile at to blow it up. The only way they were able to take it down was to plant charges inside that opened it up, that’s not a design flaw, that was a good plan on the resistance’s part.

      • January 4, 2017 at 12:30 am
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        and an incompetent officer who lowered the base’s shields. 😉

        • January 4, 2017 at 4:41 am
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          Captain Phantasma better be cooler in Episode VIII.

          • January 4, 2017 at 11:11 am
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            Or left for dead, blown up on Starkiller base.
            I’d rather have more Luke/Leia/Chewie/etc from OT cast than extraneous weak TFA cast scenes.

      • January 4, 2017 at 7:47 pm
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        So…instead of there BEING a hole that an XW could fly inside of and shoot torpedoes at power generators, they MADE a hole…that an XW could fly inside and shoot torpedoes at power generators. Vast difference you see.

        • January 4, 2017 at 10:39 pm
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          It wasn’t power generators. It was an oscillator that prevented the planet from blowing the fuck up when fully charged. But ion the end, it’s a flaw, so really it’s all the same.

  • January 4, 2017 at 12:14 am
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    Makes a ton of sense what happened here, and the thing with the wipes is small, but I’m glad they can do those types of things. It means that Star Wars isn’t just a hand full of nitpicks that must be in every movie. A wipe or a crawl doesn’t make it a Star Wars movie, the locations, characters, events, and story makes it a Star Wars movie. And moving on who knows what we could get? A Horror Star Wars movie? A buddy cop cassian and K2 comedy movie? Who knows!

    • January 4, 2017 at 2:13 am
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      As for a horror Star wars movie, I would adore a 2-hour version of the Vader hallway scene. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Han Solo movie ends up playing out as a Han and Chewie buddy cop film.

      • January 4, 2017 at 3:41 pm
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        For a horror (and elements of it) in SW check out following books (in that order):
        Red Harvest
        Deceived
        Death Troopers
        Lords of the Sith (that scene is like literally taken from the beginning of this book)

      • January 5, 2017 at 8:17 am
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        My guess is that “Han Solo: a Star Wars story” is gonna be more of a Star Warsy “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in tone.

    • January 4, 2017 at 4:43 am
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      I liked it, but I still think rogue one should have been more like an oceans 11 heist movie.

      • January 4, 2017 at 5:43 am
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        I still need to see that movie T_T

        • January 4, 2017 at 7:45 pm
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          I think you will when Han Solo hits theaters. Patience.

  • January 4, 2017 at 3:01 am
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    Not sure if someone else has posted this, but Gareth’s cameo is the guy who pulls the lever that releases the Tantive IV in the final sequence. Gary Whitta confirmed it on the GameOverGreggy podcast.

  • January 4, 2017 at 4:00 pm
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    Hoping they will release a version with crawl included….as much as I dislike TFA, i JUST LOVE R1!

  • January 4, 2017 at 11:32 pm
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    I think the wipes are great and shouldn’t be tossed out for standalones. I still think the best as far as a crawl substitution and using wipes while making it feel different, yet SW was Clone Wars. But the again Lucas is one of a kind.

  • January 4, 2017 at 11:32 pm
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    Pretty cool stuff to hear from Edwards. I love Rogue One as a movie and honestly renewed my faith in SWs on a movie front. I specify movie front because I’ve been enjoying the new canon, quite a bit.

    The wipes and scene transitions I’m fine with doing away with those for this movie. Save them for the Saga films, as they are a product of GL love of old serialized films/ movies. As for the opening crawl, I’m fine with the movie not having one, BUT I do feel like this movie needed some kind of prologue or something.

    Maybe, something out of LOTRS Fellowship with that excellent prologue or voice-over. It doesn’t damage the film, but at the very least having the information be a brief recap of Rogue One Catalyst would have been nice.

    Overall, I congratulate Gareth Edwards on a job well done. He created a really good movie. And while it isn’t perfect, this is a film I can watch and find myself enjoying more and more of it. TFA, is a movie that I sadly cannot do that.

    It’s not horrible, but I cannot call it good. Still, with Rian Johnson directing Episode Eight, the future of the franchise has never been brighter at this point.

    I just kind of wished we got Rogue One first. Oh, well.

    P.S: the Vader scene I loved. Mustafar, when i saw it, I squealed. I love that planet and while cheesy the scene/pun, it’s the kind of cheese I adore. Though, I do wish Vader’s voice was modified as James Earl Jones sounds a lot older. Not bad, just older.

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