Star Wars The Force Awakens first official trailer

[Mr Mystery]

Not long now....not long at all.

For me, Tommy, Ze War Vill Not Be Over in a piffling 31 hours and 4 minutes.

[Erik Setzer]

There's only [URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-cgi-works-in-jurassic-park-2014-7?IR=T"]4 minutes of CGI[/URL] in Jurassic Park.

Yeah, but it's spliced throughout the movie. I know they also did a ton of regular effects, but, obviously, some stuff could only be done with CGI, and when they used it, you couldn't really tell it apart from the other stuff. In those four minutes, they do a lot with their CGI.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Partly because what little CGI they used was based on real models, as-opposed to something like the Phantom Menace where it's green screens and not much else.

[Erik Setzer]

I think Lucas was just so overwhelmed by what he could do with CGI that he didn't ask what he *should* do with CGI.

[Mr Mystery]

27 hours and 8 minutes.

*excited flailing*

[Charistoph]

27 hours and 8 minutes.

*excited flailing*

I've got tickets for 7:00pm GMT-7 on Friday in an iMax theater. 3D does little for me, as my eyes are awful, but my friend loves it.

Now, to find a babysitter to watch the kids between work and movie line...

[Mr Mystery]

If you've got kids, you'll have a floor.

If you've got kids and a floor, all you need is a staple gun, and some staples for it.

PRESTO! Free babysitting service.

[Erik Setzer]

I've got tickets for 7:00pm GMT-7 on Friday in an iMax theater. 3D does little for me, as my eyes are awful, but my friend loves it.

Since I keep forgetting to get a new contacts prescription, I have to wear 3D glasses over my regular glasses, which is a bit clunky (and I swear I stop noticing the 3D after a short time anyway). But the IMAX and equivalent (XD at the local Cinemark theater) is only in 3D, so I have to deal with that. As long as it doesn't interfere too much, I'm good.

I suppose at some point I could save up for a bit and get a larger TV and a nice sound system for my apartment, so when the Blu-Ray comes out for a movie I can get most of the experience there. But I'd also need a new couch. I'm not sure my neighbors would be keen on the sound, but considering my next door neighbors constantly hammer some kind of repetitive noise even in the early morning and well past a reasonable time at night, I don't know that I really care how they'd feel.

[Just Tony]

I think the problem is that they could have been more than "not-completely-terrible." They could have been great.

I love some of the action scenes. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were awesome. A lot of the Jedi stuff was good.

If I was able to go back and tweak the movies with Lucas, I'd do this:

- Tone down Jar Jar Binks a LOT. Want to have some comedy? Fine. But don't use slapstick sound effects, don't make it so blatant so often, and don't later try to pretend he's a serious character.
- Get rid of some of the borderline potential racism in some of the alien species.
- Make Padme closer to Anakin in age, because a 9 year old and a 14 year old trying to act like there's chemistry is kind of creepy (made worse by the fact the actors were 9 and 17, respectively). Also don't give Anakin "cute" lines. Want to make him sound like he's wiser than his age? Cool, do that.
- Show Anakin using the Force more as a child, without realizing it. Establish that's what's going on.
- Make midichlorians a life-form that's drawn to the Force, not vice versa. (Also explain how Obi-Wan got a blood sample magically teleported to him from Qui-Gon.)
- Drop some of the corny "romance" and add more of the Jedi. The thing with the Jedi being ridiculously few in number was interesting. Let's hear more of why that is.
- Establish characters better before flinging them in just to die.
- Change Padme's death... She can be heartbroken but survive, so Leia actually gets to see her mother like she says she did in the original trilogy. But Palpatine and Anakin are convinced she's dead, and Palpatine tells Anakin that anti-Empire terrorists are responsible, which then helps explain why Anakin went hardcore pro-Empire and murdery against anyone who goes against the Empire's order and threatens the lives of innocents like Padme.

The story with Anakin becoming Vader is what bothers me the most... Okay, I kind of get going to the Dark Side to learn the power to keep people from dying. Only it doesn't really explain why he's so eager to murder people right off the bat, especially as Palpatine admits he doesn't really know how to keep people alive "yet." But Anakin's built up as so eager to keep Padme from dying that he'll turn his back on everything he believed in and become a vicious murdering monster. And then he ends up killing Padme, and the Emperor tells him, "Oh, yeah, you got so mad you killed your wife." There's no way at that point Anakin just says, "Well, darn, I screwed up the saving her thing that was the whole point of all of this, so I'll keep on being evil." Heck no! It makes no sense.

That's what upsets me about them. They had a lot of potential and could have been great, but instead are merely okay.

I don't think there's been a single prequel ANYTHING that didn't create massive logic bombs when the creators didn't manage to line everything up. Your bullet points are just the tip of the iceberg. Also on midichlorians: I liked it better when being a Jedi was something special instead of being an STD.

To be fair, I don't think even Lucas knew they were siblings at that point. Han was always questionable as a continuing character due to the actor's lack of contractual commitment. If Ford didn't do Return, it's likely that Luke and Leigh would not have been siblings and their story carrying on a different relationship.

First off, Episodes 4-6 were a stretched out take on one story, so I doubt there was that massive a change in the plot between Empire and Jedi. PLUS you look at the fact that Yoda specifically mentions the "other" when Luke flies off to confront Vader, leads me to believe that either it wasn't intended to look as... thorough of a kiss or he simply played the "they didn't know" card. Oh, except for Leia "I guess I've always known."

Same director of the last two Star Treks is doing this one, while the Prequels were Lucas directed. Yes, there may have been another name on the sheet, but Lucas was heavy-handed the whole way through.

I'm aware the director is the same, I'm just saying that the prequels killed my enthusiasm for the franchise.

[Charistoph]

First off, Episodes 4-6 were a stretched out take on one story, so I doubt there was that massive a change in the plot between Empire and Jedi. PLUS you look at the fact that Yoda specifically mentions the "other" when Luke flies off to confront Vader, leads me to believe that either it wasn't intended to look as... thorough of a kiss or he simply played the "they didn't know" card. Oh, except for Leia "I guess I've always known."

True, no argument with the "other", but it was only stated as "another", not "another Skywalker" until Return. True, they were one story at one point, but it underwent a lot of changes as it was divided in to three.

A better way to put it was that their sibling status was not solidified and finalized until Lucas had Han in the end movie.