What is Star Wars Supposed to Be?

[IOwnTheSpire]

This came out a while back, but I only discovered it recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_joDNOpeWWo

I gotta be honest, the video is really condescending and arrogant, cause it seems to me that the guys who made it assume that THEY know what makes Star Wars Star Wars better than the GUY WHO CREATED STAR WARS. Of course, it takes potshots at the prequels (which at this point is really tiresome) and makes really ridiculous claims.

Star Wars can't have shiny things? The Queen's ship was shiny because she's a QUEEN! She can afford shiny things. Besides, the Empire had shiny things, cause they had money, the Rebels didn't, hence the dirtiness.

Star Wars is about the frontier? Says who? Why can't a Star Wars movie have scenes in a library, or a senate, or some futuristic place? I don't hear anyone complaining about the scenes on Bespin.

Anyways, I'd like to hear from you Star Wars fans out there what you enjoy about Star Wars, and whether you think a Star Wars movie has to follow certain guidelines or rules.

 

[Barbas]

Man, I love that theme tune. I agree with the man and I think he put his points quite well. Star Wars can have scenes almost anywhere -- that's the beauty of it -- but I'd prefer it to take place in the settings he mentioned because that's where the action is.

Thanks for the video, OP. It was great.

 

[Scarim Coral]

As far as I can tell, didn't JJ Abrams got it mostly right when comparing the teaser trailer to that "rules"?

1. So far it look like it is set in Tatoonie or rather we will see desert, water, snowy forest and more?

2. Yup aesthetics look akin to 4-6 (the hover craft the girl is riding is blocky and brown and the new X-Wing doesn't look all that new).

3. Kind of hard to say but so far the teaser does provide alot of mysteries especially the title The Force Awaken (who, what and why is the force awaken) and that sith scene (who is that sith? What is he doing in the forst? Why did the sith draw out his or her lightsaber out?)

4. Well ok it fail at the not being cute thing thanks to that ball droid. In saying so I can be certain that Stormtropper scene will not be "cute".

OT- I rather not too bother that it should follow a guidelines or whatever given to that there are many different variation to the franchise already which some of them are good.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Can I just say I'm getting sick and tired of Tatooine at this point? It makes the setting feel really small when we're always visiting the same handful of planets every single time.

There's plenty of other ways to evoke a dangerous frontier setting without resorting to goddamn deserts all the time. Take Nar Shaadaa from the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games, for instance. It's a city planet, but one that's fallen into lawlessness and decay. Heck, even Coruscant has a seedy underbelly beneath the pristine top levels.

The video makes some good points, but I disagree with the whole "Star Wars isn't cutesy/kiddy!" claim. R2-D2 is one of the franchise's most beloved characters, and it has a roly-poly appearance, a soothing blue and white paint job and dialogue I would describe as "robot baby-talk." I also didn't mind the sleek aesthetics of the prequels, as it signified the "more civilized age" Obi-Wan alluded to in A New Hope.

 

[Queen Michael]

Can I just say I'm getting sick and tired of Tatooine at this point? It makes the setting feel really small when we're always visiting the same handful of
planets every single time.

Can't agree with you there. It makes it feel focused, in my opinion. It's like how the Discwolrd books take place in Ankh-Morpork more often than in Pseudopolis or Klatch.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

And here I thought Star Wars was supposed to be a science fiction/space opera that was meant to be entertaining.

How silly of me.

 

[Little Woodsman]

I'm honestly not that huge of a Star Wars fan, but I've gained some insights to it over the years, most of the best insights come from conversations with hard-core fans over the years.

To answer the question in the thread title-- Star Wars is supposed to be an entertainment franchise. It started as a movie (made to be sold as entertainment to the masses) and grew in popularity/scope until it was (very quickly) a full franchise.

As for the video-- I agree with the idea that "the Force should be mysterious", but as for the other points... no...

Like I say I'm not the hugest fan of Star Wars, but I've always had it in my consciousness as a good and fun thing for those of us who enjoy fantasy, and space fantasy in particular. A couple of years ago I had occasion to talk to someone who always insisted on using the Star Wars universe for his table-top RPG's. I asked him why he was so focused on Star Wars, and his reply (this may not be word-for word, but it's pretty close) was,
"It's the versatility. One adventure can be on a frontier town with shoot-outs and high-noon confrontations. The next session could be in the halls of the senate, calmly exchanging veiled threats and enigmatic warnings over space tea and crumpets. After that the characters might be involved in a huge space battle, never getting near an inhabitable planet. Then you could do a murder mystery in the depths of a huge city. The possibilities are endless."

I think that versatility, and the diversity that comes along with it is key.

 

[Queen Michael]

To answer the question: Star Wars is supposed to be a particularly salty kind of Cheddar cheese. However, it turned out as a movie series about space adventures, which was a disappointment to cheese afficionados but a pleasant surprise for the rest of us.

 

[senordesol]

OT: Star Wars was supposed to ape the old adventure movies and serials from back when Lucas was a kid... until things got a little out of hand.

I tend to agree with that video for the most part. SW, should be set on wild, untamed world's teeming with strange creatures and machines. The 'lived-in' aesthetic exists to lend legitimacy to these environments as making it CGI shiny just makes everything look fake.

Star Wars, above all, should be pure fun! Bad guys should be mustache twirlingly evil, the action should be fast and awesome, and we shouldn't have to endure interminable dialog scenes about space taxes.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

To sum up the entire video "Star Wars is supposed to be exactly like the original trilogy and make no attempt to change or improve in anyway."

 

[Evonisia]

To sum up the entire video "Star Wars is supposed to be exactly like the original trilogy and make no attempt to change or improve in anyway."

That's all I got from this video as well. If that happened with this new film, I guess I can expect to kinda like the first third, love the second third and be so "meh" towards the third third that my face falls off.

 

[Clarkarius]

And here I thought Star Wars was supposed to be a science fiction/space opera that was meant to be entertaining.

How silly of me.

While I am aware that this was a sarcastic response. I personally thought of the original trilogy as a series of Fantasy films with a Science Fiction coat of paint (with the force being a proxy for magic etc). Whereas the prequel trilogy attempted to reinforce the science fiction focus through outright explaining the franchises fantasy elements at length (the force is no longer 'magic' but a by-product of symbiosis between humanoids and micro organisms etc).

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I agree with the third point. The Force should never be explained. Ever. It takes away the magic and blah blah blah you've all heard that argument before.

As for everything else, I disagree. Star Wars doesn't have to be set in the frontier to be good. Some of the best Star Wars books (Rogue Squadron ones) were set right smack in the heart of the Empire, and those were amazingly tense. Plus, the grand scale of some of those battles put even Return of the Jedi to shame--or would, if put to film.

And Star Wars not being shiny or new? Um...I don't know. Those Stormtroopers were pretty polished. Their armor gleamed. And Imperial ships were always in top shape, inside and out. The Rebels fought with hand-me-downs and junker ships. Those snow speeders they use in Hoth? Kind of stolen and they had to be retrofitted for the cold. They are making due with what they can, unlike the Empire, who can build a space station the size of a small moon because money.

I get what the guy is trying to say, but I think he's narrowing his vision too much. The prequels had a few moments, but they suffered from far worse problems than being shiny and new.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Can I just say I'm getting sick and tired of Tatooine at this point? It makes the setting feel really small when we're always visiting the same handful of
planets every single time.

Can't agree with you there. It makes it feel focused, in my opinion. It's like how the Discwolrd books take place in Ankh-Morpork more often than in Pseudopolis or Klatch.

Tatooine is supposed to basically be the ass end of the universe, a place where people try to get away from the action, to hide out, to lay low. The Huts are the law there because Tatooine is a shitty planet that no one cares about. So why the hell is Tatooine, the most visually boring of all planets, in pretty much every Star Wars movie? The Star Wars universe has hundreds of planets, but for some reason Tatooine is in every goddamn movie except Empire Strikes back. It's sooo BORING.

 

[gigastar]

After some years of following the SWEU books (for the record, i dont anymore) Star Wars eventually boiled down to 'Heres a big universe, now watch as it falls into chaos again and its up to the same few characters to resolve everything.'

I dont think that does it justice, but since i mostly read the novels that took place between the Return of the Jedi up to and beyond the end of the Yuuzhan Vong saga it did feel that way. Same characters, new wars.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Can I just say I'm getting sick and tired of Tatooine at this point? It makes the setting feel really small when we're always visiting the same handful of
planets every single time.

Can't agree with you there. It makes it feel focused, in my opinion. It's like how the Discwolrd books take place in Ankh-Morpork more often than in Pseudopolis or Klatch.

Tatooine is supposed to basically be the ass end of the universe, a place where people try to get away from the action, to hide out, to lay low. The Huts are the law there because Tatooine is a shitty planet that no one cares about. So why the hell is Tatooine, the most visually boring of all planets, in pretty much every Star Wars movie? The Star Wars universe has hundreds of planets, but for some reason Tatooine is in every goddamn movie except Empire Strikes back. It's sooo BORING.

I would have to agree. I don't buy the idea that it makes that films feel more focused, but rather like there is an entire galaxy of interesting places yet we are stuck on this same boring planet.

This might sound like a bit of a cheap shot, but at this point I'm starting to feel like the new Star Wars films are trying to hard to reassure people that it's a return to formula by making virtually everything and explicit parallel to something in the original trilogy. We have the guy who seems to be disguised like a storm trooper, just like in the original trilogy. We have a painfully transparent R2-D2 clone (I would not be the least bit surprised if it turned out to actually be R2-D2, transferred to a new body). We have the millennium falcon fighting Tie-fighters and people flying X-wings dressed exactly like in the original trilogy.
It just feels like we may be gearing up for a giant love letter to the original trilogy rather than a sequel.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Can I just say I'm getting sick and tired of Tatooine at this point? It makes the setting feel really small when we're always visiting the same handful of
planets every single time.

Can't agree with you there. It makes it feel focused, in my opinion. It's like how the Discwolrd books take place in Ankh-Morpork more often than in Pseudopolis or Klatch.

Can I just add an appended footnote to this statement, seeing as that's exactly what Pratchett would do? It's not even Ankh-Morpork. It's mostly *just* the Morpork side of the river. The only time they go over to Ankh is when they visit Vetinari or Vimes goes home for the night.

 

[Queen Michael]

We have a painfully transparent R2-D2 clone (I would not be the least bit surprised if it turned out to actually be R2-D2, transferred to a new body).

It's an Astromech droid. That's what they look like. It's just like how cars all have the same basic design.

Can I just add an appended footnote to this statement, seeing as that's exactly what Pratchett would do? It's not even Ankh-Morpork. It's mostly *just* the Morpork side of the river. The only time they go over to Ankh is when they visit Vetinari or Vimes goes home for the night.

While we're on the subject -- am I the only one who noticed the hidden meaning of the name "Pseudopolis?" We never see the place, and it's never given any clear details -- nobody we meet in the books ever comes from Pseudopolis, we're not told about the place's climate or history... "Polis" means "city," and "pseudo" means "not really" (as in how pseudosciences aren't really sciences, and pseudointellectuals aren't really intellectuals). And that's what the name means -- "Pseudopolis," the city that isn't so much an actual city as just a drawing on the map.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

And here I thought Star Wars was supposed to be a science fiction/space opera that was meant to be entertaining.

How silly of me.

While I am aware that this was a sarcastic response. I personally thought of the original trilogy as a series of Fantasy films with a Science Fiction coat of paint (with the force being a proxy for magic etc). Whereas the prequel trilogy attempted to reinforce the science fiction focus through outright explaining the franchises fantasy elements at length (the force is no longer 'magic' but a by-product of symbiosis between humanoids and micro organisms etc).

Ah darn it. I had meant to convey the idea of the fantasy part of it with the term 'space opera'. Another instance of something being quite clear and apparent within the confines of my skull that didn't end up quite so clear in text. I hate it when that happens. (especially since it seems to happen waaaaaaaay too often)

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a desire to hunt down my copy of Battle Beyond the Stars to watch it again.

 

[JayRPG]

I will never fully understand why people hate midichlorians so much... it doesn't take any of the mystery out of the force.

Midichlorians explain 1 thing about the force: How people are able to interact with it (and maybe a few stems from there, like, how some people are force sensitive and others are not)... we still have no idea what the force is, where it comes from, why it's there, who or what discovered it, we know nothing.. nothing; that is pretty damn mysterious to me.

Contrary to what people selectively remember about the original trilogy, people wanted answers, they wanted to know what the force was, how people were force sensitive etc

Midichlorians is one of a host of ways of explaining small snippets that further the story, without ruining any of the mystery; I like knowing the reason why some people are force sensitive and others aren't, it was a big question that needed to be answered, why was Luke force sensitive and able to become a Jedi when so many of the people around him were not? Midichlorians, thank you and good bye. What explanation would people prefer? Luke was chosen by a god to be a Jedi? Luke just is a Jedi because it's a movie and we say so?

I disagreed with some of the video, but I am of the mind that a lot of the prequel trilogy wasn't even bad, and, dare I say, enjoyable.

I fall asleep in the second half of the original trilogy, boring, dull. Lightsaber choreography looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0ms24w_GKU.

If the new trilogy is part original, part prequel, it will be good. I have an optimistic outlook and wish people far too nostalgic for their own good would stop trying to ruin it for everybody else.