Special Edition Podcast
Show Notes
This is a lively one! It’s the first Star Wars Anthology Film and opinions are all over the place (or are they?)! Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is finally here and Conor Kilpatrick, Ron Richards, and Josh Flanagan have a lot to say about the film, the relative success of media blackouts, the uncanny valley, and the new Star Wars-saturated reality that we now live in!
Running Time: 00:50:40
Music:
“The Imperial Suite”
Michael Giacchino
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There was an easy solution to the Tarkin problem – cast Peter Capaldi (current Doctor on Dr. Who). He’s a little taller than Cushing, but otherwise looks and sounds like him. Plus you’d have the meta-meme that Tarkin was really the Doctor the whole time and he set up the Death Star’s destruction (requires some serious nerd-core to get that one).
They made this movie because it was specifically for me. I loved it. A+ best Star Wars since Empire. 5, R1, 4, 7, 6, 3, 2, 1.
I left the theater positively elated. If it actually had the capitol ships engaging each other, I would have loved it even more. As it is the shooting is done by the smaller ships.
They made this movie specifically for me, I meant.
I really enjoyed this movie, I liked how it was different from the saga films but still mostly felt like Star Wars, but also makes it hard to compare to the other films. One thing I found was that watching it a second and third time the first 2/3 of the film was easier to follow and I cared more about the characters, definitely a film I liked more on 2nd and 3rd viewings.
Good call on Dirty Dozen. I told my fiancee as we left the theater that it reminded me of that and the Navarone movies. Then later telling a friend about it I realized it was Saving Private Ryan if Private Ryan was the DeathStar plans. Unfortunately, like Saving Private Ryan, as good as it was I’m in no hurry to see it again.
I gave it a flat A and rank it forth after Empire, New Hope and Jedi.
I liked this movie quite a bit more than “The Force Awakens”. Pretty sure I’m a “4, 5, 6, R1, 7, 3, 2, 1” guy. 3 goes above 2 for Mystery Science Theater-type reasons, “Nooo….!” “You were the chosen one!” etc. I’m skeptical of Rey as a character (I expect something to make her cooler later, but for now she is kind of a blandly bad-ass/omni-competent blank slate), but I do think TFA had more memorable characters than R1, which is a point in its favor. The big thing against TFA for me was the retread plot. I remember Conor’s opinion that somehow it had to be retread, but I don’t agree and it makes the movie feel like a… re-recording of CCR’s music on clean, modern studio equipment? That sounds a bit harsher than I feel, because I did like TFA, though.
Things I liked about R1: 1.) While Force choke puns are… questionable, boy was Vader’s portrayal in this movie a freaking palette cleanser after all of the damage the prequels did to his reputation! 2.) Both Krennic and the first time we see the Rebel base… man, the Sci-fi ’70s are back! I loved how they recreated the “sci-fi as created by people from the ’70s” look. It was both amusing and joyful. 3.) A good variety of locations! 4.) Possibly the best space battle ever put on the screen. I totally eat up all of the “Blue leader, checking in!” kind of stuff, and the pilots pulling up after the shield closed, the joy on the ground as the few who formed up on Blue leader and made it through came in like the cavalry. How some of the expectations that a pilot might be saved were subverted and how that made it more “WWII war movie in the Pacific”. 5.) I do like how cleanly it segues into Episode 4. You kind of know it’s coming, but seeing it all unfold, and all of the recreating of the aesthetic is so perfect… it sets off some old brain connections and makes Episode 4 feel really fresh again. 6.) While it maybe over-relies on nostalgia here and there, it was a decent and original story told in the Star Wars universe, the main thing that elevates it above TFA in my opinion.
I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the grey introduced into the morality of the Rebels. I think Cassian having grey morality worked well enough with Jyn Erso, kinda revealing each others’ shortcomings and hypocrisies, but the Rebellion itself and especially that one commander (General Draven?) maybe felt like a step too far for my tastes.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to all.
Eh. Felt extremely superfluous. I’d rather see the story move forward, not rewound. That’s also why I can’t get into the Marvel comics.
I was surprised to see Mads Mikkelsen not play a villain. Kudos to that.
Great to here your opinions on this. I thought it was good with a weak first act but a great final act. I was a little disappointed in not getting a Thrawn-esque Krennic but seeing him constantly fail and have his project stolen out from under him was satisfying. I think my rankings are 5, 4 6 and R1/7 slightly just below.
Great show as always. I have been awaiting your opinions for a while as here in Australia we were fortunate enough to be some of the first again to see this a little before most. I have only had the chance to see the movie once so far, excited for a second showing however now I have had a chance to distill all the great story elements. Surprised all three of you are not giddy about the movie really. Super nerdy and dovetails so wonderfully in to what we already know and love. Yes there are plotholes and yes it isn’t a perfect movie but they have yet to create either one in any genre. It’s a hell of a ride, I smiled, I laughed and I got to take my three teenage kids to the movies and we chatted all the way home and have done for days about the movie. The dog fights are the best out of any Star Wars movie and finally they let loose on Vader. I also loved the wet and authentically windy environment of the first planet, made it super realistic and felt even more uncomfortable. I personally am happy we get to see this movie having waited so long.
I was lucky to have a tour of the set of Revenge Of The Sith with the producer and spent quit a while in the creature work shop, playing with remote controlled wookie faces and Namiodians. Anyway there was a sketch of Tarkin on a white board and it was a major concern to the crew that they felt they had to do it right. They couldn’t find a perfect fit but they did their best. I also had a media blackout and was very happy to see the amazing effort they made on creating a new Tarkin, how could you tell the story of the death star with out him. We would have complained if he was not in it. Does this mean we may get more old Obo wan in future outings. I for one would love it. Only a year to go until we head out again. Cheers guys
There are absolutely a lot of idiots who say that The Force Awakens is full of plot holes. But there are also a lot of idiots who don’t know what plot holes are. The internet at large thinks a plot hole is when the characters in a film do something stupid or something they don’t like. That’s not a plot hole.
Plot holes- that’s far from the Force Awakens biggest problem isn’t.
The holes in that movie are not so much in plot – but in gaping needs for any originality in story telling.
–mic dropped.
speaking of originality problems “mic dropped” talk about cliche
Catching up on podcasts today after traveling over the holidays.
When Conor interjected “–And Carrie Fisher is still alive!”
Well, damnit. Got a tiny bit misty in my cubicle.
It sounds like the guys are being really harsh on this film, but at the end when they did their ratings and summed up their thoughts I felt they were actually pretty fair. There is a concern with the tone of the film. This is definitely darker than the saga entries and that does create some brand confusion where before you can safely take a 6 year old to any of the Star Wars films. Now you have to pause and consider carefully whether the movie appropriate. Also the choppiness of the first half of the film is definitely “a thing” though I do feel that the second half managed to redeem the experience. A “B” is a fair grade IMO.
I will say that they need to attempt things like this if their hope to turn Star Wars into a prolific and long lived movie franchise can be realized. If every movie in the franchise is exactly like the original saga entries then it will wear thin pretty quickly. They need to be able to experiment with the setting and tell different types of stories to keep things interesting. This was Fury or Saving Private Ryan in the Star Wars universe, and I think it did manage to pull it off reasonably well.
I like that this movie added weight to a lot of things we just hear in exposition in the first film. For example the actual menace that the Death Star creates. I went back and watched the first film and I think it does enhance the experience rather than take away from it for me. So I think that’s a good bench mark for success.
Disclaimer: I’m a huge SW fan and was *really* looking forward to this movie. I saw it a couple of days ago. I think I’ve just decided I don’t like it. In all fairness–as bad movies go it was extremely well made. The writing and characters just fell flat at every turn. It was a good idea for a story though. I think I’m gonna have problems with these EU movies.
For me personally, I loved this podcast. It really adds a lot to the ifanboy mythos. I love this more than I loved the ifanboy Force Awakens Special Edition Podcast, which I gave a 9/10. This special edition podcast gets an 8/10.