tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post1646099765687000937..comments2024-03-27T19:02:58.368-04:00Comments on BARKING ALIEN: The Blog AwakensAdam Dicksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-66800634958969065572016-01-04T00:10:16.207-05:002016-01-04T00:10:16.207-05:00I don't have much to add here as I agree 100% ...I don't have much to add here as I agree 100% with everything you said (though I feel FFG captures the feel as much as WEG does). I'm curious to see how the Star Wars Traveller Saga continues!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04649807487609839717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-84895808573632475422016-01-03T18:02:00.331-05:002016-01-03T18:02:00.331-05:00I want to thank both of you for being my first blo...I want to thank both of you for being my first blog commenters of the new year! Hurray! I really appreciate you both stopping by, and helping me usher in this new project.<br /><br />I also think it's really cool that I have two comments to start out, each with a different opinion on the film.<br /><br /><br />@goeticgeek - Your ingredients analogy is spot on. While I don't think that was the only thing wrong with the prequels (as they were very, very wrong), I do think your analysis is highly accurate. <br /><br />I will also see your in-universe explanation, and raise you a genre validation.<br /><br />As I noted above, the engine that drives Star Wars is Fairy Tale/Fantasy. If a Knight slays a giant on his first quest, and a bigger giant on his second, it is likely that on his third, he would have to slay a dragon. <br /><br />Myths are told, and retold a thousand times over. Although the details may change from storyteller to storyteller, the legends of great heroes like Arthur, Hercules, Beowulf, and more are not all that different from each other. Familiar themes, ideas, and even characters reoccur again, and again.<br /><br />The Force Awakens is a Star Wars story, and just as 'Once Upon A Time' begins many a fable, so does a Star Wars tale start as this one does.<br /><br /><br />@Miguel - I am sad to hear you didn't enjoy it as much Miguel. You and I usually have very similar sensibilities. <br /><br />It's interesting to me that you point out the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and perhaps an investment in it as a reason some might have an issue with The Force Awakens.<br /><br />Personally, with the exception of the West End Games RPG, and a handful of stories scattered across a great many years, I had no vested interest in the EU whatsoever. I didn't like about 90% of it. I will also say that because I grew tired of it early on, I probably missed a great deal that went on there. For example, I am only rudimentarily familiar with anything post Yuuzhan Vong. <br /><br />To me, if it didn't appear in the movies, it's an idea (perhaps cool and useful, perhaps not), but not something that actually happened.<br /><br />I can live with what happened in The Force Awakens, especially if it gives me Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, Kylo Ren, The Resistance, and The First Order.Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-11841382029228225282016-01-02T02:29:16.744-05:002016-01-02T02:29:16.744-05:00I'm sad to say I am with your buddies: the mov...I'm sad to say I am with your buddies: the movie left me cold because it felt so much like a rip-off of Ep. IV. It seems as if J.J. Abrams didn't know the difference between a sequel and a remake (his Star Trek "remake" became, story-wise, sort of a sequel, while his Star Wars sequel is almost a remake). I know this isn't entirelly fair, as there is a lot of people involved in his films, but the point stands.<br /><br />That said, the few original bits are among the high points of the movie, an the protagonists, both old and new, work exceptionally well in every regard. It is the cowardice of the basic plot wich mars Ep. VII in my eyes, not style. Probably it is just overcompensating the defects of the prequels.<br /><br />I think the movie is also a bit weak in the villains department, something unheard in a Star Wars film. What I found there is too similar to some tropes of the Expanded Universe, and not the best ones.<br /><br />***MAJOR SPOILER***<br /><br />***SERIOUSLY***<br />Kylo Ren reminds me of Kueller, a fourth rate villain in a bad EU novel, but he is mostly Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus with the looks of Revan (from Knights of the Old Republic). Not a bad idea, but the execution needed a better villain above him to work. Maybe Palpatine himself (another idea fron the EU) or an imperial commander with more weight, like Tarkin was.<br /><br />***END SPOILER***<br /><br />Maybe it is people who are invested in the EU who have a lower opinion of Ep. VII?Miguel de Rojashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15762364029464337239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-68361693811278893032016-01-01T16:38:03.861-05:002016-01-01T16:38:03.861-05:00Thanks for your thoughtful comments on the new fil...Thanks for your thoughtful comments on the new film which I also really enjoyed. To your friends who were disappointed by the film due to its lack of originality, I would pose this question, "Was there anything about Star Wars that was ever original in the first place?" Star Wars was the assembling of a number of familiar ingredients into one brand new and amazingly delicious cookie that no one had ever tasted before but there was nothing original about any individual component that made up whole. Every trope had been seen before, hell there were scenes in the film that were lifted in whole cloth from other movies, most notably Hidden Fortress and Dam Busters, but it was the blending together that made it awesome, much like your typical RPG session I might add. <br /><br />One can even use this recipe analogy to explain and agree with your observations on what was wrong with the prequels. The prequels had all the same ingredients as the original films but the measurements were all wrong. The original movie called for a cup of action adventure but just a half teaspoon of galactic politics. The prequels kind of swapped those ingredients and if you did the same thing with sugar and baking power, you would get one nasty, bitter cookie. The Force Awakens once again blended all the ingredients in just the right way and it was awesome and delicious.<br /><br />If that doesn't convince your friends on why originality was not important for this film. I have come up with an in-universe explanation for why things seemed so familiar. To me, The First Order were such a bunch of Empire wannabes, of course they are going to copy everything they can from their predecessors including building a new Death Star, I mean, what else were they going to do? They were almost kind of sad at how much they really wanted to be the Empire much like how much Kylo Ren desperately wanted to be Darth Vader but just couldn't quite get there. Unable to duplicate their idols successes, they were sadly doomed to repeat their mistakes. The ultimate cosplayers of evil, you really did almost feel sorry for them.<br /><br />As for how the new film will affect Star Wars roleplaying. One thing the film gave us is that it showed us exactly what one can do when one builds their skills up to ridiculous levels. Han Solo does things in that movie that no player should attempt for their characters unless they do want to paint the surface of a planet with their spaceship. What's the difficulty of coming out of hyperspace behind a force field right next to a huge gravity well? I don't even want to think about it but clearly Han Solo's piloting skill has become so high he can do it without even a second thought. <br /><br />Don't try this at home but do go see the movie again and again. goeticgeekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02806200047269447375noreply@blogger.com