WARNING - SPOILERS
But cmon if you haven't seen it yet you have no life it's been out for like a month what's wrong with you you call yourself a nerd!?
So what did you guys think of Episode VIII?! (We're calling it that prequels don't get numerals) (edit: yes the prequels do get numerals -sjoerdtim)
Personally I LOVED it. The Force Awakens copied A New Hope too closely, but this one had elements of The Empire Strikes Back while also being really original.
Favorite Bits
When Luke dueled Kylo Ren and then died with the twin suns theme in the background - BADASSERY INTENSIFIES!
When the admiral pilots the Mon Cal cruiser through the dreadnought and sacrifices herself. I personally loved that character, she was amazing. I like Po too, and I really like how they made both characters relatable and intelligent rather than making it the typical "cool rebel" and "pompous bureaucrat" conflict.
When they took a whole shot for a guy to just give exposition on why the moon was red - "Salt."
Snoke's death. Not only is it so cool the way they did it, but I was so bummed before because I thought Snoke was just going to be another Emperor. On the contrary, they killed him and did something really cool with Kylo, which leads me to my next thing...
WHAT THEY DID WITH KYLO. He's still a bit whiny, but I like him much better now. He has the potential to become Anakin 2.0, but I think they're moving away from that, especially with Snoke's tongue-in-cheek taunting of him, calling his mask "stupid," etc. In addition, I like how his words are an echo of Luke's. Luke thinks the Jedi need to die; Kylo thinks the Jedi need to die, but also the Sith, the Empire, the Republic, the Rebellions. Both Luke and Kylo have major themes of cremation and new starts, which I think is also a reflection of the hopes of Disney with Star Wars itself. They've been killing off Han, Luke, Emperor 2.0. They're trying to provide closure for all these characters and focus on the new blood - Rey, Fin, Po, Rose, and the rest. Disney seems to be saying to us, through Luke and even Kylo, "Let the past go. There are new heroes, new adventures. Out with the old and in with the new."
Least Favorite Bits
The whole first scene. No really, let's go back over it, shall we? First, a single X-Wing blows up every single turret on a massive dreadnought. Apparently the First Order has no idea what "shields" are - or maybe the screenwriters don't.
Then they bring out these huge guns to fire at the surface. They're called "autocannons," despite taking as many men to operate as the Death Star's superlaser. For some reason they decide to target the base before the cruiser, despite the fact that if they blow up the cruiser first a) they will eliminate the main threat to their fleet, b) the evacuees will be stranded c) they will be free to bombard and blockade the base. But that's a minor digression.
Anyway, after a single X-wing has, for some reason, single-handedly disabled a dreadnought, they send in the "bombers."
Oh boy.
Now this is my biggest issue with it. I'm a big Star Wars nerd. I especially like the technical stuff - ships, droids, weapons, tech. So, these bombers are Slayn & Korpil (same guys who made the B-wing) MG-100 StarFortress SF-17's (which, btw, if SF stands for StarFortress, that's kind of redundant but nevermind, maybe wookiepedia got it wrong). Let's put ourselves in the minds of Slayn & Korpil's design team for a moment.
"Okay, guys, our B-wing was a fantastic success as an assault fighter and bomber. Now the Resistance is asking for something that packs a more powerful payload. What have we got?"
"Well we came up with this design, we call it the SF-17. It's got twelve laser cannons so it can easily defend itself from attacking interceptors. Now we've decided that we're going to put all the bombs in a big open room. They're going to just sort of fall, because apparently gravity isn't a thing in space. Also, we're making this thing unnecessarily large and bulky because we can. The Skipray blastboat packs as much firepower and is 2/3's the size, but that's neither here nor there. Also, the bombs have to be primed while they're still in the bay. Yes, this gives them a 50% chance of blowing up in a huge ball of fire, and yes because we have them flying in tight formation this means that there will likely be a chain reaction, but hey, we obviously need to prime the bombs! Primitive earthling aeroplanes didn't need to prime their bombs, but hey, we're an advanced spacefaring civilization, we know better than they do. Also we've decided that the pilot is too busy making sure the ship moves forward, so instead of putting the "DROP BOMBS" button on the dashboard or even on a panel in the bomb bay, we've put it on an easily lost remote control for some reason.
"FINALLY, and this is what we're most proud of, we've decided to make them move at, like, 2kph. Yes, a stock light freighter is three times their size and moves at ten times their speed unmodified, but hey, who cares, it's just people's lives and the integrity of the mission, right?"
Yeah... but hey they look like B-17's so you'll eat that bullshit right up, America!
fehkin skrubs...
Anyway, my only other issue with this film is the Side Quest for a Hacker-Man. They find the Hacker-Man. The Hacker-Man does not do the plan. It doesn't matter because the ship is blown up anyway. Really the Hacker-Man sidequest could be removed and NOTHING would change. It was pure filler. It was mildly entertaining filler, to be sure, but it was just filler. And Disney adding another animal to their merch stores - those big circus allegories.
Anyway, that's pretty much it. Only two quibbles, one of them PISSES ME OFF, but after the first scene, LOVE the film.
I'd love to hear you guys' opinions, experiences, etc. on this film! Please comment and let's discuss, argue, rage, and nerd out!
But cmon if you haven't seen it yet you have no life it's been out for like a month what's wrong with you you call yourself a nerd!?
So what did you guys think of Episode VIII?! (We're calling it that prequels don't get numerals) (edit: yes the prequels do get numerals -sjoerdtim)
Personally I LOVED it. The Force Awakens copied A New Hope too closely, but this one had elements of The Empire Strikes Back while also being really original.
Favorite Bits
When Luke dueled Kylo Ren and then died with the twin suns theme in the background - BADASSERY INTENSIFIES!
When the admiral pilots the Mon Cal cruiser through the dreadnought and sacrifices herself. I personally loved that character, she was amazing. I like Po too, and I really like how they made both characters relatable and intelligent rather than making it the typical "cool rebel" and "pompous bureaucrat" conflict.
When they took a whole shot for a guy to just give exposition on why the moon was red - "Salt."
Snoke's death. Not only is it so cool the way they did it, but I was so bummed before because I thought Snoke was just going to be another Emperor. On the contrary, they killed him and did something really cool with Kylo, which leads me to my next thing...
WHAT THEY DID WITH KYLO. He's still a bit whiny, but I like him much better now. He has the potential to become Anakin 2.0, but I think they're moving away from that, especially with Snoke's tongue-in-cheek taunting of him, calling his mask "stupid," etc. In addition, I like how his words are an echo of Luke's. Luke thinks the Jedi need to die; Kylo thinks the Jedi need to die, but also the Sith, the Empire, the Republic, the Rebellions. Both Luke and Kylo have major themes of cremation and new starts, which I think is also a reflection of the hopes of Disney with Star Wars itself. They've been killing off Han, Luke, Emperor 2.0. They're trying to provide closure for all these characters and focus on the new blood - Rey, Fin, Po, Rose, and the rest. Disney seems to be saying to us, through Luke and even Kylo, "Let the past go. There are new heroes, new adventures. Out with the old and in with the new."
Least Favorite Bits
The whole first scene. No really, let's go back over it, shall we? First, a single X-Wing blows up every single turret on a massive dreadnought. Apparently the First Order has no idea what "shields" are - or maybe the screenwriters don't.
Then they bring out these huge guns to fire at the surface. They're called "autocannons," despite taking as many men to operate as the Death Star's superlaser. For some reason they decide to target the base before the cruiser, despite the fact that if they blow up the cruiser first a) they will eliminate the main threat to their fleet, b) the evacuees will be stranded c) they will be free to bombard and blockade the base. But that's a minor digression.
Anyway, after a single X-wing has, for some reason, single-handedly disabled a dreadnought, they send in the "bombers."
Oh boy.
Now this is my biggest issue with it. I'm a big Star Wars nerd. I especially like the technical stuff - ships, droids, weapons, tech. So, these bombers are Slayn & Korpil (same guys who made the B-wing) MG-100 StarFortress SF-17's (which, btw, if SF stands for StarFortress, that's kind of redundant but nevermind, maybe wookiepedia got it wrong). Let's put ourselves in the minds of Slayn & Korpil's design team for a moment.
"Okay, guys, our B-wing was a fantastic success as an assault fighter and bomber. Now the Resistance is asking for something that packs a more powerful payload. What have we got?"
"Well we came up with this design, we call it the SF-17. It's got twelve laser cannons so it can easily defend itself from attacking interceptors. Now we've decided that we're going to put all the bombs in a big open room. They're going to just sort of fall, because apparently gravity isn't a thing in space. Also, we're making this thing unnecessarily large and bulky because we can. The Skipray blastboat packs as much firepower and is 2/3's the size, but that's neither here nor there. Also, the bombs have to be primed while they're still in the bay. Yes, this gives them a 50% chance of blowing up in a huge ball of fire, and yes because we have them flying in tight formation this means that there will likely be a chain reaction, but hey, we obviously need to prime the bombs! Primitive earthling aeroplanes didn't need to prime their bombs, but hey, we're an advanced spacefaring civilization, we know better than they do. Also we've decided that the pilot is too busy making sure the ship moves forward, so instead of putting the "DROP BOMBS" button on the dashboard or even on a panel in the bomb bay, we've put it on an easily lost remote control for some reason.
"FINALLY, and this is what we're most proud of, we've decided to make them move at, like, 2kph. Yes, a stock light freighter is three times their size and moves at ten times their speed unmodified, but hey, who cares, it's just people's lives and the integrity of the mission, right?"
Yeah... but hey they look like B-17's so you'll eat that bullshit right up, America!
fehkin skrubs...
Anyway, my only other issue with this film is the Side Quest for a Hacker-Man. They find the Hacker-Man. The Hacker-Man does not do the plan. It doesn't matter because the ship is blown up anyway. Really the Hacker-Man sidequest could be removed and NOTHING would change. It was pure filler. It was mildly entertaining filler, to be sure, but it was just filler. And Disney adding another animal to their merch stores - those big circus allegories.
Anyway, that's pretty much it. Only two quibbles, one of them PISSES ME OFF, but after the first scene, LOVE the film.
I'd love to hear you guys' opinions, experiences, etc. on this film! Please comment and let's discuss, argue, rage, and nerd out!
and Porgs and R2D2 and C3PO they provided good comedy