I saw Solo and I have opinions.

[TheMysteriousGX]

it nails desperate military recruiters taking every warm body,

Um, really? The recruiter seems pretty nochelant. Like, you could argue that he doesn't properly vet Han (he doesn't), but he's overly blase about it. And the Empire's never shown to be lacking manpower. If anything, given how poorly equipped Han and co. are when compared to stormtroopers, it seems they have bodies to spare.

I just know that I saw the dude with my ex-military buddies and they loved that bit.

Yeah, they got plenty of bodies, but they're replacing entire clone armies. I mean, this is a recruiter taking a guy that's almost clearly on the run, doesn't have a last name, claims to be a pilot, and then ships them off to the Naval Academy.

If that's not desperate, I dunno what is.

 

[COMaestro]

Force Awakens was a bad film. Last Jedi was actually awful, so much so that I checked out of Star Wars once the credits were rolling. I'm not spending money on tickets to see more of what they've turned Star Wars into. I can honestly and without a hint of irony say that I liked it before it was cool, and the prequel trilogy really made it hard to continue doing so. It did make it mainstream however. I enjoyed the books, comics and games up until a few years ago.

How did you get to this reality, man from a universe where Star Wars was, at some point, not mainstream?

Before 1997, if you wanted Star Wars books, comics or merchandise and lived in London, there was ONE single place you could go for it. Forbidden Planet on Tottenham Ct Rd was the only place where anything Star Wars related could be found, with the odd magazine or comic in newsagents.

What rock were you living under? Seriously? Star Wars novels were in every bookstore starting with Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy in 1991. Starting with Dark Empire, new comics were available constantly in comic book stores, even reissuing the old Marvel series. The Decipher CCG was released and that sold well upon release in 1995 and was produced until 2001, available in game shops everywhere, and I even saw it in some normal retail stores where they still have a section for sports cards, Magic and Pokemon. The PC games were popular with the X-Wing and TIE Fighter series, Dark Forces series, Rebel Assault, etc. and were available at every software retailer.

I mean I'm sorry but, unless it was very different in London compared to the US, you are talking out of your ass when you say Star Wars was not mainstream until after the prequels. It was everywhere! The only thing I'll grant you is there were few, if any, toys to be had before the Special Editions were released, after which it was a toy blitzkrieg for the original trilogy and Phantom Menace.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I have a question about the visual side of the film. Cinematography is important to me, and can sometimes elevate otherwise mediocre movie. Does "Solo" really look as dour and murky as in promotional footage?
It's extra confusing for me, because even Rogue One had moments of looking stunning, yet a movie that poses as much more lighthearted and humorous looks so... dull.

Boy did I not care for that Social Justice Droid. Whether I was supposed to laugh at it or feel emotional, it missed its mark big time.

Funny thing about that. I've read somewhere that there's a droid called L3-37(l33t) in the movie. That was enough for me to think "Yep, i'm gonna hate that character". Only later i learnt it was the same social justice droid people were harping about.

Yeah, I saw the droid was billed like that on IMDB. Never gets called that in the movie though. I think it's just an in-joke.

 

[twistedmic]

I don't know how Star Wars became the cultural phenomenon it did, but I assure that as a massive fan and lore geek (I have all the EU books up until the end of NJO and most of the comic books), it didn't used to be cool.

Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon because it revolutionized both the movie industry and the toy industry. Before Star Wars there were no epic space operas, blockbusters didn't exist and sci-fi was far more niche. And it ushered in a new era of special effects and movie making. Star Wars also made action figures (and likely movie tie-in merchandise) what they are today.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon because it revolutionized both the movie industry and the toy industry. Before Star Wars there were no epic space operas, blockbusters didn't exist and sci-fi was far more niche. And it ushered in a new era of special effects and movie making. Star Wars also made action figures (and likely movie tie-in merchandise) what they are today.

I don't think that's wholly true. It wasn't mainstream until the last 20 years. Although popular in its heyday, by the time the late 80s/90s rolled around, as I mentioned above it was a forgotten thing in the same categories as other culty space sci-fi shows like Lost in Space, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Star Trek (enjoying a revival with TNG), etc.

Also, it wasn't the first blockbuster. The first especially wasn't a particularly high budget and there were many larger "studio" films before and since. Going back decades, Wizard of Oz, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind, Jaws and anything else Spielberg. Anyway, it wasn't mainstream prior to Episode 1 (199...7?), not like it is now. The only SW fans then were the uber geeks who'd travel miles to a con, bought collectables and that sorta thing. Now every store sells SW merchandise, every kid is in a SW T-Shirt and it's making more money at the box office than if God Himself released an autobiography.

Something changed 20 years ago and again a decade ago. It wasn't the original trilogy, despite that they're the best of the films, it was something else. I think it's related to all the tie ins...I have a nephew who loved Angry Birds Star Wars, not to mention the Lego sets. Maybe this stuff put it into kids minds, I don't know.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon because it revolutionized both the movie industry and the toy industry. Before Star Wars there were no epic space operas, blockbusters didn't exist and sci-fi was far more niche. And it ushered in a new era of special effects and movie making. Star Wars also made action figures (and likely movie tie-in merchandise) what they are today.

I don't think that's wholly true. It wasn't mainstream until the last 20 years. Although popular in its heyday, by the time the late 80s/90s rolled around, as I mentioned above it was a forgotten thing in the same categories as other culty space sci-fi shows like Lost in Space, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Star Trek (enjoying a revival with TNG), etc.

You are astonishingly wrong.

It might have something to do with where you, specifically, grew up, but then you mentioned London, so I dunno.

I do enjoy how your timeframe keeps getting earlier and earlier based on people mentioning very popular things that were outside your original timeframe. Anyway, Return of The Jedi came out in 1983 and was re-released in '85, so if Star Wars faded into obscurity until the late '80s, we're talking, what, 5 years?

 

[twistedmic]

It wasn't mainstream until the last 20 years. Although popular in its heyday, by the time the late 80s/90s rolled around, as I mentioned above it was a forgotten thing in the same categories as other culty space sci-fi shows like Lost in Space, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Star Trek (enjoying a revival with TNG), etc.

Anyway, it wasn't mainstream prior to Episode 1 (199...7?), not like it is now. The only SW fans then were the uber geeks who'd travel miles to a con, bought collectables and that sorta thing. Now every store sells SW merchandise, every kid is in a SW T-Shirt and it's making more money at the box office than if God Himself released an autobiography.

First, The Phantom Menace Didn't come out until 1999, not '97.
Secondly, I have to disagree with you about Star Wars only being for the uber geeks. I distinctly remember getting Star Wars action figures for my fifth or sixth birthday ('90-'91) and seeing several eight-foot sections of Star Wars merchandise in the toy section stores all over the palce (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Toys'r'us, KayBee Toys and a small local toy store) ranging from simple action figures to vehicles big enough to fit an action figure in the cockpit. I also remember the original trilogy being run on t.v. at least once a year.
I also remember reading Star Wars children's story books (simplified the story of the movie with pictures) in second or third grade and novelizations of the original trilogy in fourth or fifth grade (all of this before '95). And one of the first major series of books I ever read was the Young Jedi Knights series that started in '96.
Hell, my childhood next-door-neighbors, who didn't even own a TV (personal/religious reasons, not financial), knew about Star Wars and read some of the same books I had and played with the same action figures I did.


And as a side point, Star Trek had nearly as big a cultural impact as Star Wars.

Also, it wasn't the first blockbuster. The first especially wasn't a particularly high budget and there were many larger "studio" films before and since. Going back decades, Wizard of Oz, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind, Jaws and anything else Spielberg.

Jaws and Star Wars helped start the trend of releasing movies on multiple screens across the country at the same time along with the summer blockbuster. And Star Wars helped pioneer the blending of movie genres.

 

[COMaestro]

Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon because it revolutionized both the movie industry and the toy industry. Before Star Wars there were no epic space operas, blockbusters didn't exist and sci-fi was far more niche. And it ushered in a new era of special effects and movie making. Star Wars also made action figures (and likely movie tie-in merchandise) what they are today.

I don't think that's wholly true. It wasn't mainstream until the last 20 years. Although popular in its heyday, by the time the late 80s/90s rolled around, as I mentioned above it was a forgotten thing in the same categories as other culty space sci-fi shows like Lost in Space, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Star Trek (enjoying a revival with TNG), etc.

Also, it wasn't the first blockbuster. The first especially wasn't a particularly high budget and there were many larger "studio" films before and since. Going back decades, Wizard of Oz, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind, Jaws and anything else Spielberg. Anyway, it wasn't mainstream prior to Episode 1 (199...7?), not like it is now. The only SW fans then were the uber geeks who'd travel miles to a con, bought collectables and that sorta thing. Now every store sells SW merchandise, every kid is in a SW T-Shirt and it's making more money at the box office than if God Himself released an autobiography.

Something changed 20 years ago and again a decade ago. It wasn't the original trilogy, despite that they're the best of the films, it was something else. I think it's related to all the tie ins...I have a nephew who loved Angry Birds Star Wars, not to mention the Lego sets. Maybe this stuff put it into kids minds, I don't know.

Again, this is nonsense. Star Wars was a sensation when it first released and continued to be until the mid to late 80's. Everyone knew of it, it was a pop culture phenomenon. Merchandise was everywhere, there were comics, games, books, clothes, everything. It was on the covers of major magazines of the time, such as Time, People, Rolling Stone, MAD, etc.

FFS, the media even nicknamed Reagan's nuclear defense program after it!

Were you alive during the original trilogy? Because from everything you are saying, I can only surmise that you were born in the late 80's to early 90's when the popularity had faded, though it was still well known in the public consciousness.

 

[Hawki]

I don't think that's wholly true. It wasn't mainstream until the last 20 years. Although popular in its heyday, by the time the late 80s/90s rolled around, as I mentioned above it was a forgotten thing in the same categories as other culty space sci-fi shows like Lost in Space, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Star Trek (enjoying a revival with TNG), etc.

I can't agree there.

I live in Australia (so, even further down the geek totem poll than the UK is from the US), and here, while I was born in 89 and can only speak of Star Wars in the context of the theatrical re-release in the mid 90s, Star Wars, at least from that point, was pretty big. Ads, toys, books, kids at school...it definitely wasn't "forgotten." Maybe it was before this time, but at least from the point of the films, it was big. Like, REALLY big.

 

[Trunkage]

I don't think that's wholly true. It wasn't mainstream until the last 20 years. Although popular in its heyday, by the time the late 80s/90s rolled around, as I mentioned above it was a forgotten thing in the same categories as other culty space sci-fi shows like Lost in Space, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Star Trek (enjoying a revival with TNG), etc.

I can't agree there.

I live in Australia (so, even further down the geek totem poll than the UK is from the US), and here, while I was born in 89 and can only speak of Star Wars in the context of the theatrical re-release in the mid 90s, Star Wars, at least from that point, was pretty big. Ads, toys, books, kids at school...it definitely wasn't "forgotten." Maybe it was before this time, but at least from the point of the films, it was big. Like, REALLY big.

I'm Australian and was born in 81. I saw ET at the movies when I was 6 becuase movie stayed at the cinemas for YEARS (plus, back then there was always a delay on movies. But not 5 years.) I saw Return of the Jedi too, after seeing the two previous one on the TV. I came from a town that had 6 people per grade and I saw it. There were 30 people who actually lived in the town. We had to travel 1.5 hrs to get to a major centre that had a cinemas. If there was someone who was not going to see Star Wars, it would have been me.

I had McDonald twice in my life before I was 13. It was too far to drive to get some. Now I cough, and I hit 20.