Any Star Wars Fans on this Site?

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I think after the overall reaction to the sequel trilogy they are learning to listen to fan feedback and are now incorporating the old Lucasfilm writers like Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau and Geroge Lucas is asked to give his input. The result is the Mandalorian which gives many of us a "new hope".

However that doesn't guarantee things will be measurably improved. Star wars fans were shocked by the storyline for the Book of Boba Fett which I think was only funded for one season, Favreau and Filoni were given a limited budget and struggled to complete a full series. Two episodes were filler that didn't even involve Boba which was bizarre. Another thing the character is supposed to be violent and ruthless but Disney have an obligation to their largest market which is children under the age of 15. Even Lucasfilm also tried to break into this market with the prequels. Aniken and Padme were like a Disney prince and princess frolicking around Naboo. The dialogue was childish. They also introduced a child like character called Jar Jar Binks which was purely to make the prequels accessible to little kids and bring in some cash to Lucas film via toys/merch. So it's a little disingenious to claim Disney sold out the franchise, it was sold out in a "galaxy far far away long long ago."

I wanted to be R2D2. Still do.
Cool guy - little but always got something going. Saves the day (at least) once per movie. Got all kinds of swiss army gadgets in his pockets (or robot-skins) and comes up with clever new uses for them (fire extinguisher as smoke screen or lubricating oil as a slip-hazard for the storm troopers). And he was a great hacker. Best of all everyone ignored him most of the time - so he could go unnoticed and fix stuff, or go where he was needed. He also cleverly got Luke to take off his restraning bolt so he could finish delivering his message to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
I also really liked young Anakin Solo in the books (pre-Disney-reboot). He was one of Han Solo and Leia's three kids. He had a knack for using the force to fix broken things like broken droids, or planet sized repulsors (which just happened to also work as a weapon to blow a huge enemy ship out of orbit). He could use his strange manifestation of the Force to poke his finger through a force shield like it was made out of chewing gum.
Obi-Wan said that the Force "surrounds us and penetrates us and binds the galaxy together" he also said "there is no such thing as luck". So I have a theory that even non-Jedi and non-humans are somehow connected to the Force. Like R2D2 and C3P0 being able to cross a hallway full of blaster fire without getting shot - it was the Force. Storm Troopers cannot hit the good guys - it was the Force. Han Solo can do things that defies the odds? It was really his connection to the Force ("Never tell me the odds"). The hyperdrive fails when needed and works when needed (with a little help from R2)? It was the Force.

Disney buys the franchise from Lucas? Obviously the Dark Side.

Ok, I likes the scene with Luke and R2 showed up to get "baby yoda" at the end of The Mandalorian. Fake Luke was much better than Fake Leia and Fake Grandma Tarkin (Grand Moff - whatever).

The rest of The Mandalorian was a bit like the "Solo" movie. The special effects were better than the plot or the acting.

It seemed was more violent that most of the other movies.

And the bit about "I always wear my helmet, but I take it off for a face scan" was simply idiotic. How did the face scan match the credentials on the Id-badge-as-a-usb-stick? Um, it didn't. The correct response should have been "oh crap, it wants a face scan - that will never work - mission aborted - I have to go find an Astromech droid to hack into this database and get the information in need".

My favourite scene with R2D2 was when he saved Mace and Anniken who were trapped on a ship on Vanqor
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Mission_to_Vanqor

R2 taught Master Windu a valuable lesson about the force. Windu had low expectations of R2 because he just thought R2 was a mindless robot without realising that R2 was an artificial intelligence who was a compassionate being and one with the force. Obi wan also makes this assumption about R2 and like Mace is proven wrong, The little robot always saves the day.

It is remarkable that R2 is the only character in Star wars who was there in the first episode of the prequels when Anniken was a child and the last episode of the sequels when Luke dies. he helps many other characters in other series and is a big star in the clone wars.

Before this special interest thread dies


A lot of great Star wars series coming up
Star Wars: Andor TV Series (August 31, 2022)
Tales of the Jedi Animated TV Series (Fall 2022)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 (Fall 2022)
The Mandalorian: Season 3 (February 2023)
The Book of Boba Fett: Season 2 Fall 2022 (It should be noted that this has appeared in Disney Spanish channels which suggests they will announce this soon on American Disney)
Young Jedi Adventures Animated TV Series (Spring 2023)
Star Wars: Visions - Volume 2 (Spring 2023)
Star Wars: Ahsoka TV Series (2023)
Star Wars Skeleton Crew (formerly "Grammar Rodeo") TV Series (2023)
Star Wars: The Acolyte TV Series (TBD)
Star Wars: Lando TV Series (In Development)
Taika Waititi's Star Wars Movie (In Development)
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Movie (In Development)
Kevin Feige's Star Wars Movie (Status Unknown)
Untitled J.D. Dillard/Matt Owens Movie (Status Unknown)

While I do like Rebels, Rogue One, and The Mandalorian — I'll still take Legends over Disney (especially the Sequels ) any day.

It looks like Taika Waititi's new movie is likely to take place in the Old republic so lots of opportunity to explore characters not yet seen in either animation or TV series or cinema

A bit off topic. My 12 year old son was asking me about the different kinds of robot drives you can build. I told him about one used by one of the working R2D2 units that they used for the movie. I found the two pictures above to illustrate my description. There were several R2s used for the original film, one that Kenny Baker could get inside (when R2 shifts from foot to foot like an over anxious puppy that is usually Kenny). Other were purpose built RC units - the RC controllers were modified from RC helicopters. You can see in the “footprints” that the two side feet each have two directional rolling wheels. The third central foot had two ball casters. You can also see that there isn't much clearance between the wheels and the skirt for each foot. Practically this would make things like a door threshold hard to navigate. Really rolling over desert sand would also be problematic. You can see that for the desert planet scenes they created flat paths with color matched cement to create a rolling pathway. I once visited a robotics competition (VEX) hosted by Widener College. The hosts had invited some “real robotics” demonstrators for the kids to see (the kids who were competing with VEX kit built robots). One group of Widener students were trying to demo a Hampster Ball Robot - a bit like BB8. It had a glitch and wouldn’t demo. I asked the team members a bunch of questions about the project and I mentioned the ballcasters on the original R2 he was shocked. Not really very practical on sand. The Hamster Ball Robot would have a much better chance.

Going forward won't Disney find it cheaper to use CGI for R2? even the costumes for Jar Jar and for Korg (in Thor) were combined actors + CGI.

At least some of the droids in the Disney reboot trilogy were "real robots".

R2-KT appeared, and R2D2 was built by "R2 Builders Club" members Lee Towersey and Oliver Steeples. I am a (mostly inactive) member of "R2 Builders Club". Time and money and EF (Executive Function) issues have significantly slowed my progress - but I have the blueprints. Nothing a good project manager and a few-ten-thousand-dollars and I couldn't do

Details:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/R2-KT

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/star-wa ... kens-r2-d2

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/R2-D2_Builders_Club

Oh wow! yes my nephew has a remote controlled BB8 and it does almost look like the real thing. However in future I suspect they will stick the base model robots behind animated screens as the CGI is getting more and more complex. I have some reservations about the Star wars robots as they adhere to Lucas design from the 1970s so to 2022 eyes they look a little clunky and not functional.

I'm a huge fan of the original Star Wars Trilogy. Those are the movies that I grew up with.

Although I grew up with the original trilogy I prefer the prequels and the clone wars

A small thing that bothered me in ESB was how the huge space slug managed to survive on a small rocky asteroid and where his food came from! It makes for one of the best and most iconic scenes in the whole series yet it did kinda defy logic that such a creature could exist in such a place...

Oh that's an exogorth! they are dormant for most of their lives and only expend energy when a ship passes. The unlucky souls make up it's nutrition and tides the beastie over till the next meal comes around.

Due to their dormancy they are very long lived. According to Canon lore they live more than a billion years so they probably live longer than the most powerful force wielders in the galaxy like the Bendu or the Wills

They also provide a home for any other organisms creating their own ecosystem so they are nurturing and probably strong in the force.

Thanks; although I'm familiar with a lot of the background canon that's not one I'd looked up.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Exogorth