The Official Star Wars Thread

Im gonna have to start stocking up on some of the Omnibuses. I guess that they won't be able to keep those in print once supplies run out.

http://gameological.com/2012/12/play-the-year-star-wars-debacle-simulatron/
Writer: Warren Ellis

Director: David Cronenberg

Star: Tina Fey

25% each component

Title: "The Queen of the Ewoks"

Production Cost: $162,320,525

Opening: $98,029,113

Domestic: $376,187,300

Profit: $213,866,775

A-

Finished Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina yesterday.

My favorite is "Empire Blues", with the music loving Devaronian.

"A Hunter's Fate" just fits Greedo perfectly.

And I always feel sorry for Het Nkik, the jawa from "Swap Meet". He just got done wrong.

Halfway through Tales of the Bounty Hunters...

Today my buddy and I are doing a marathon of the original trilogy on blu ray. WOO!!!

mattmanw54301 wrote:

Today my buddy and I are doing a marathon of the original trilogy on blu ray. WOO!!!

I still can't bring myself to pull the trigger on those... I'm holding out hope that the theatrical versions will hit blu someday.

Cmon, Disney. You know you want an easy way to start making that purchase cost back

Here's myself and my buddy's son, Liam, watching the Death Star I assault. Gotta pass it on to the new generation.

OK, last collection update of the year.

Finished with Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Shadows of the Empire, and Tales from Jabba's Palace.

I love all the Bounty Hunter stories, except "The Last One Standing". Just can't get into a Han and Boba mid life crisis story.

Also love Jabba's Palace. They did a great job tying the threads of all the plots against Jabba through the stories.

I still have one question though. Phlegmin, the kitchen boy. I understand that he was slow poisoning Jabba, for his own reasons, and being paid to do so by JQuille (the Whipid working for Valerian)... but who killed him? Wait, that's not what I mean. He was found unconscious in the kitchen by Jerriko, who kills him... but why was Phlegmin lying in the kitchen unconscious in the first place?

Finished Courtship of Princess Leia. Now on to Heir to the Empire!!!

Great collection, MattManw!

Scary wrote:

Great collection, MattManw!

Thanks.


Blu Ray thoughts:

Ben and I watched the Original Trilogy on Sunday, and I have given it a couple of days to process. First of all, as you know, these are the Special Editions with the changes from 1997, so if you are bothered by those, you will be bothered again in HD. Personally, I never really had a problem with them, and enjoyed the chance to see the films in theaters. I was 2 years old when Return of the Jedi came out originally, so this was my first chance.

A New Hope: 10/10. The film looks gorgeous, with high quality picture and sound beyond anything I could have ever expected. When watched on a proper TV, it's an incredible experience. They have mostly corrected the Greedo scene, with Han firing at almost the same time as Greedo. Also, the jerky movement of Han's head is almost gone. The scene happens so fast that it is almost impossible to notice.

Jabba is still the same CGI as the DVD release from 2004 (05?). The Death Star assault at the end is what makes all the other changes worth it. One of the best dogfights I have ever seen, with spectacular visual enhancements to the original model shots. They don't LOOK like CGI, they fit in pretty well with the shots from 77. A great improvement that looks even better in HD.

The Empire Strikes Back: 10/10. The Hoth attack was one of my favorite scenes of the Original Trilogy. Growing up in Wisconsin, the snowy terrain looked like it was filmed in my backyard, and it looks even better. The optical composite lines have been corrected, and the whole thing looks great. I swear I could feel the temperature drop during those scenes. This movie is my favorite of the 6 films, and it took a bold new step into a darker and more dramatic direction. I could watch this one over and over.

Return of the Jedi: 7/10. This one has the most jarring changes IMO. Once again, the matte lines have been corrected, and the film looks as good as it ever did. However, the change to the band in Jabba's palace totally changes the mood of the scene. They might as well have gotten Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem and CGI'd them in there. It totally kid-ifies the scene, rather than showing the palace as a seedy underworld headquarters.

The other main change that is jarring from the DVD release is the young Anakin ghost at the end. I understand why they did it, but it really does stick out for someone who has seen the film as many times as I have.

One change that I never noticed before, so I think it is new for the Blu Ray, is the Ewoks now blink. It's a subtle change, and works surprisingly well. I don't think they could have pulled it off this well when the DVDs came out. Maybe someone can confirm this for me.

Haven't watched the prequels on blu yet, but I will post my thoughts when I do. Cheers.

Eyup. Ewoks blinking was a update for the Blu-Ray.

Finished up Tales from the Empire and Tales from the New Republic.

My favorites:

Empire

Side Trip- Hal and Corran Horn end up working with Grand Admiral Thrawn (disguised as Jodo Kast) to take down Zekka Thyne on Corellia

First Contact- the tale of how Talon Karrde met Mara Jade

Blaze of Glory- A rookie combat medic goes on her first mission with the Red Moon mercenary group to take out a slaving operation.


New Republic

Interlude at Darknell- Thief Moranda Savich gets more than she bargained for when she inadvertently steals a datacard set containing Death Star plans from a courier... ending up being pursued by her nemesis Hal Horn and Ysanne Isard

Jade Solitaire- Mara is coerced by a ruthless CEO to infiltrate a slave consortium to rescue his kidnapped daughter.

No Disintegrations, Please- A storyteller entertains the village kids with a tale of how one of Boba Fett's targets flees to his brother, an Imperial general, for protection. Fett has one hour to get through the entire garrison and nab his prey.

The Last Hand- A young man who dreams of becoming a Jedi sets his goal on trying to get up enough money to buy a lightsaber on the black market. During his failed attempt at trying to gamble at cards, he meets a legendary sabbac player thought long dead, who decides to help him get the saber.

Simple Tricks- A con artist stranded on a backwater planet with no real law enforcement decides for fun to pass herself off as a Jedi. When she is captured by old enemies who tracked her down, her partner has to rescue her with the aid of Kyp Durron, who came to meet and recruit the "new Jedi" for the academy.


Now, onward to The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy! The way Boba Fett should be

Ordered the Darth Maul Returns battle pack from teh epay. Also, at WalMart today, picked up a 3pack of Republic Clones. There is a training gear one, a bomb squad one (blaze orange paint on armor) and a regular trooper (thin blue lines on armor). It was normally 24.99, clearanced for 12 bucks. Pics later tonight.

Also started Season 3 of the Clone Wars. Pretty good stuff so far. A hard luck clone squadron has to prove they aren't fudge-ups, and a daring attack on Kamino start it off, then Senator Organa tries to send supplies to a starving planet. This third ep is good, except for the fact that Jar Jar continues to get pretty big chunks of screen time, and is irritating beyond belief. Oh well.

Cruel Angel wrote:

Now, onward to The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy! The way Boba Fett should be

Digesting slowly over a thousand years in the belly of a Sarlacc?

I mostly snark, but I really do not care for Boba Fett or the Mandalorian culture his helmet spawned. So much so that I actually did my level best to avoid anything looking like Mando Armor on my Bounty Hunter in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Rust wrote:

Cruel Angel wrote:

Now, onward to The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy! The way Boba Fett should be

Digesting slowly over a thousand years in the belly of a Sarlacc?

Nah, hes the real deal... too tough and beat that rap Blew up the Sarlacc, then came back later and did it again.

Feel free to chuck that lame clone Boba in there from the prequels though

You named him Ebon Hawk. Good one

Cruel Angel wrote:

You named him Ebon Hawk. Good one

Heh, nah. That's just the server I play on.

His name's actually Glam. I've also got a Jedi named Qui'nos and a Sith named Tagion.

EDIT: Actually, with his title his actual name is "Glam the Heartless". And it's true - I play him as a pure businessman. He's not cruel, but a job is a job, regardless of the reasons and hit.

Heck, I got hired by a Imperial Admiral to kill his own daughter.

So, most of the way through season 3 of Clone Wars. They have just brought in the Nightsisters of Dathomir. Which is weird, because just last week I finished Courtship of Princess Leia, which also features them.

I have to say, this is a pretty grown up show despite being for children. There are discussions about politics, the morality of war, and lots and lots of violence.

Of particular interest to me was an episode where the Republic was discussing a bill to buy 5 million more Clone Troopers. But, to do that, they have to get a loan from the banking clan. But to get a loan, they have to de-regulate the banks. They do this, but the banking clan raises the interest rate from 10% to 25%.

I remember the Marvel story "The Third Law" when Leia goes to a highly secure banking planet to secure a loan for a new squadron of X Wings, and Vader showed up to ensure the loan process didn't go through by attempting to assassinate the bank liaison officer.

Leia pulled a double swerve- she wanted Vader to assassinate the officer since he was a droid replicant (the officer had died before the trip, so this was an easy way to get 'it' out of the picture) and she bypassed the whole bureaucratic process by bringing the crown jewels of Alderaan for collateral, which were instantly authenticated.

Vader had the last laugh though. He had reasoned that she might bring the jewels to get the loan faster, so after they were secured, he stole them... and warned Leia not to mention it to anyone, since it might damage her credit rating.

Finished Truce at Bakura.

And now that Luke going goo goo gaa gaa over Gaeriel is over with... time for some good stuff.

Beginning X Wing Rogue Squadron

Much love for Wedge!!!

Ronpur wrote:

Much love for Wedge!!!

Yuppers!

And Wes, and Hobbie, and Tycho, and Corran, and Mirax, and Whistler, and Ooryl, and Nawara, and M3PO...

Started diving into the miniature ship collecting. Ordered a Falcon from a company called DeAgostini, and an X Wing fighter from F-Toys. Hopefully these will be a start of a large number of mini ships. Also, my Darth Maul Returns figure set arrived. Figure shelves are getting a little bit crowded now.