J.J. Abrams Hints At The Possible Tone For His Take On STAR WARS EPISODE VII

Or he could just try to identify with the older films, lol

I think pacing is everything and Abrams likes to go FAST and HARD. This movie will suck...

I appreciate that he has a deep love and understanding for the Star Wars universe, but I hope that doesn't get in the way of him making it into a great movie.

And I find his comment on the prequels interesting. When I was younger, I loved the prequels, but now I don't really care for them, I'll watch them for the lightsaber fights or to pass time.

@prettynuclear I'll take Fast over Excruciatingly slow

"I'll take Fast over Excruciatingly slow"

Echoed. Anytime they went to Coruscant in the prequels, they just lost all momentum.

So, he's going to give the Empire a clear motive, purpose?

I'm a huge fan of the prequels,

Especially episode 3, enjoyed it more than episode 6 as a matter of fact.

JJ will rock it.

Mmmmmaybe don't strike a balance? Make them match the classic trilogy. Por favor

You younger "fans" can suck it

I tried to sneak Episode 1 into the bluray player when my son asked to watch Star Wars, mostly in an attempt to give him some variety. When it started, he told me, "No, I said I wanted to watch Star Wars."

I really do get that some people who grew up with them still enjoy them. I grew up on the originals, but have come to admit there's a lot of problems even with those. They aren't untouchable. But I feel like the prequels have a really hard time maintaining the momentum that most of the OT enjoyed. And that, to me, is really what makes it not feel like Star Wars. Yeah, weird dialogue, not the best acting, but at least it's a ride that moves at a breakneck pace. Episode 1 does that in spurts, but then they stop to hang out with anakin, or they stop and talk with the Jedi for 20 minutes, etc. and the other two aren't really any better. Episode 2 has some odd plot issues, and even Episode 3, which I completely agree is the best of the prequels, again...once they get on Coruscant, it just drags. And it continues to drag for a surprising amount of time. I guess until Obi-Wan finally meets up with Grievous.

To be fair, I usually fast forward through the Yoda scenes in ESB, but I've seen that movie more than possibly any other film. Also, to be fair, I showed my son the first act of Episode 3, and when the two Jedi Starfighters fly by the camera in the first shot, he said, "whoa!" with a big smile.

@MrCBM - no my friend, the hate is VERY necessary.

It's necessary cause it shows how passionate fans really are.
It's necessary cause it holds on to the hope that there can be something better.
It's necessary cause without it Disney and Abrams would have no idea that the reason Star Wars is THE biggest thing to happen to pop culture since the Beatles is NOT because of Jar Jar Binks, poop jokes, and terrible, terrible love stories.

Super 8

The Phantom Menace was a devastating disappointment. I remember the day I saw it with vivid recollection.

If the prequel trilogy has any saving grace, that honor would go to this man, who carried the trilogy on his back.

One thing that Abrams posseses, that George Lucas does/did not, is a love and appreciation for the original style of Star Wars films. In other words, he sees their appeal through the eyes of a fan, our eyes. So even though I am no huge Abrams fan, I think that he might do a good job.

As far as a mix of the two trilogies? What mix? Cutting edge visual effects have always been there, so these new films will have that, and presumably also great light saver combat by default. As far as style, tone, pacing and so forth, I firmly believe in sticking to the model of the OT.

@Nomis I do think it's interesting, the idea of younger viewers identifying with Anakin. It makes sense for them. But for me, growing up per-prequel, Darth Vader is a bad guy first, with a silver lining of redemption. Vader as evil was one of the first things established in Star Wars.

@NeoBaggins--

I couldn't agree more. McGregor is the main reason I'll still watch the prequels, though usually it's just RotS.

@TimL

The music actually bothers me just because...each prequel relies soooo heavily on the scores of the previous Star Wars films. Episode 1 probably has the most NEW material. But it just keeps getting recycled, and some of it really sounded a little too Indiana Jones-y to me.

The Duel of the Fates is admittedly awesome. And I love the music during Anakin's duel with Obi-Wan even more.

Y'know, I'd venture to say that The Phantom Menace was actually pretty decent, and if you ignore what actually came after it (and Jar Jar) then there's a fair reason to be excited for what could come next at the end of that film.

@maninfinehat

There was a fan edit I saw, though I can't recall if it was the Phantom Edit, or another one, but the guy had redubbed all of Jarjar's dialogue as an alien language, and rewritten all of the lines with subtitles. He COMPLETELY changed Jarjar's character, and I don't think he changed anything about how the others talk to him or react etc.

The main part I remember was after Qui-Gon saves Jarjar from the Trade Federation tanks, he goes on to flip it, claiming HE saved Jinn. He later takes credit for a lot of what the Jedi do, and was just a far more interesting character. Kinda a scumbag, but fun.

@ruadh Yes, Jar Jar would have been a far more successful character had they gone with an alien language. Might have stood a chance of being the Chewy of the new trilogy. (Which I half suspect is what Lucas was going for before the backlash and eventual Binks cutback in Attack of the Clones.)