web counter
 

The Greatest Star Wars Movie Since Return of the Jedi

By TK | Posted Under Think Pieces | Comments (37)

swtor2.jpg

I wouldn’t usually post trailers for a video game, but these deserve a bit of extra attention. Below you’ll find the trailers for the upcoming MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, a game developed by Bioware (Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic) and LucasArts. It’s a super-prequel of sorts, taking place 3,500 years before the events of the events of The Phantom Menace, depicting a conflict arising in the midst of a wobbly peace between the Galactic Republic and the Sith.

More to the point, this combined eight or nine minutes of footage is absolutely fucking balls-out spectacular. I’ll go ahead and say it: The two videos shown here are hands-down better than any of the action scenes in any of the prequel films, with the possible exception of the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan/Darth Maul fight in The Phantom Menace. It’s actually rather breathtaking.

Which leads us to inevitably ask the question that’s now making the rounds on the internet — why not just let Bioware’s writers develop the next cinematic (or televised) chapter in the Star Wars universe? Because the unflinching truth as I see it is this: Since Return of the Jedi, George Lucas and the various other writers and directors associated with the properties have basically given us nothing. Lucas has given us three middling-to-terrible prequels and a fucking Ewok Christmas Special. As for the rest? We’ve seen a decent, if unspectacular set of mini-episodes of The Clone Wars, a disappointing Clone Wars movie, and not much more. Now, I know Lucas didn’t have a direct hand in writing or directing all of those items, but they all came under his watch, and none of them have lived up to the expectations of the fans — except for those who’ve talked themselves into believing that those entries are better than they actually are.

Think about that. Return of the Jedi was released 27 years ago. And in that time, we’ve been subjected to several new entries in the series, and what have been the best ones? Some of the innumerable novels, and video games. The games have been most notable — dating back to ones like Rebel Assault, to the impressive Dark Forces, to the numerous MMOs, to the fun Battlefront series, to 2008’s very good The Force Unleashed. There have been a number of solid entries, and the stories and cinematics are only getting better.

It says two things — one, that George Lucas lost control of the ship decades ago. We always knew that he was better as an idea man than as a director, and even his writing has suffered. The prequel trilogy suffered from over-plotting, impenetrable and unnecessary political exposition, hideously bad dialogue, excessive exposition (midichlorians! GODDAMN YOU GEORGE!), and stunningly wooden acting. There was miscasting left and right, and, as was evident in the travesty that was Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Lucas has become far more enamored with technology than with creating a viable and entertaining story. The effects promptly overwhelmed the story, and somehow those effects managed to be impressive, yet unconvincing.

The geek questions are valid ones. Why not give someone else a seat at the wheel? I realize this discussion is pretty much like firing in a well, but it’s an interesting discussion nonetheless. Because here’s the second thing: I’ll be honest — I gained far more satisfaction from playing The Force Unleashed than I did from watching any of the prequels — and it’s not even a great game, just a pretty good one (although I have high hopes for the sequel due out this year). Lucas has indicated that the future of the Star Wars universe lies in animation, and watching the trailer footage for The Old Republic, you can see some of the most lush, gorgeous animation you’re likely to see. The cinematography, wholly artificial as it may be, is jaw-dropping. The battle scenes are harrowing, intense and unbelievably choreographed. The lightsaber fights are simply stunning. This is the Star Wars universe that I’m guessing most people wish they could see, instead of the disparate, convoluted quagmire that we ended up with.

Obviously, the game’s actual action isn’t on the same scale as the trailer footage, but the trailer footage is what makes the idea so compelling, because it shows that it can be done. If you’re going to submerge the story in CGI, why bother with live actors anyway? Why not just go whole hog and shoot an entire film using the same technology? Why not accept the technological advancements that the video game industry continues to not-so-quietly advance and use them to create something on a larger scale? Lucas spent a fortune creating the prequels, and it still ended up a discordant mess, the human/animation interaction never quite working. If the future tech of the Star Wars universe lies in animation, why should we suffer through the same cartoonish animated series or films — get some good writers, and turn the filming over to people who can do something truly interesting. Companies like Bioware have demonstrated a dedication to furthering the universe through incredible visuals, but also through inventive and interesting storytelling, leaving people to marvel at some of their work, instead of leaving us feeling empty and frustrated as we were with the films. So why not give them a shot to take it to the next level?

Seriously, why the hell not?

Here’s the newest trailer that debuted at E3 2010 (entitled “Hope”)— I highly recommend you watch it in HD if you can:

Here’s the earlier one, showing the Dark/Sith side of things (called “Betrayal”). It’s just as impressive, if not more so in some ways:

(Source: Film School Rejects and Comic Book Movie)









Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance

← Exclusive: David Yates Possibly Attached to Direct Bill Willingham's "Fables" | Fabletown Headed to the Big Screen? | "Finding Bliss" Review | VH1 Presents: Where Are They Now? Stars of the 90's Edition →









Comments

So who gets to vet and greenlight the hand-over of the property? The obvious answer is LucasFilm (generally) and Lucas, himself (specifically). I imagine that this won't be possible until the man is dead or incarcerated in a re-opened Guantanamo. My fear would be that some doucher like Paul WS Anderson gets a hold of it and blows the whole franchise into a laughing-stock, tie-fighter tailspin a la Vader-in-Star-Wars. Sadly, it's about one more bad film from being there, anyway.

Knowing Hollywood, the SW universe is bound for the inevitable re-boot. You know it'll happen. "...it's your destiny..."

Posted by: gunnertec at June 16, 2010 12:19 PM

I don't even know that poor head Jedi's NAME in the Sith trailer and I still felt bad when he bites it.

Which is exactly why I love BioWare even when they otherwise kinda suck - their characterization skills are awesome. They (and the graphics) are all that got me through Mass Effect 2, in which I hated the combat and armor system, the plot progression in which I thought way too much came outta fucking NOWHERE and was dramatic for the sake of being dramatic, and the way they handled the (optional, to be fair) change in love interest. Because even though I was pissed off about the plot and the gameplay was a retarded Gears of War ripoff, every time one of the characters talked, I had a blast.

Posted by: Nat Kittyface at June 16, 2010 12:21 PM

I'll never play the game, but it's interesting to note (using this game as a basis) that the tech in Star Wars is basically static. Technically speaking, 3,500 hundred years is a veryyyyyyyy long time for a civilization to do little else but tweak costume and ship designs.

Posted by: Barry at June 16, 2010 12:26 PM

That's what's put me off about the KOTOR stuff for so long... why does everything look the same after 3,500 years have passed? 3,500 years ago we were all squatting in caves and eating each other. What happened to stunt their development? Have they even addressed it? This of course has nothing to do with the quality of the storytelling or action (both of which are great), but it's a big logic hurdle for me to leap over.

It's like setting a movie 100 years in the future and people are still driving 2006 Corollas, but 350 times worse.

Posted by: Paul Southworth at June 16, 2010 12:38 PM

I can't wait for Force Unleashed 2, the trailer was amazing and I really hope it improves upon the first game, which I agree was good but not great. There are so many ways that they can go with the Star Wars story and I agree they should get a shot to make this full length.

I agree with Barry though, if they are going to go so far back they need to completely change the technology. Everything in the trailer for The Old Republic is far to similar to what we know from what is supposed to be very far in the future.

Posted by: Blinky at June 16, 2010 12:39 PM

There are so many wonderfully talented, creative, and down right disturbingly dedicated people who could push the Star Wars Universe in the right direction.

The best thing that has happened recently was the Tarkovsky (sp?) hand drawn Clone Wars cartoon, but it might have also been the worst because it probably validated the construction of the computer-animated crapfest that I refuse to watch.

Sooner or later Lucas is going to greenlight a television series. Whereas it'd be impossible for something like an X-Men series, or a DC parallel, you can do it with Star Wars because not only would it garner huge ratings (basic cable or HBO), the huge costs could be covered by Lucas, and eventually the property would turn profit by shear marketing, product sales, directed internet-traffic yadda yadda.

But it's always up to George.

And I'd make a good young Han Solo, all I'm saying (yes, I'm whoring my talents in the comments sections today).

Posted by: D-Day at June 16, 2010 12:48 PM

It needs to be stated that the Clone Wars mini episodes from Cartoon Network were absolutely spectacular. That is all.

Posted by: Rob at June 16, 2010 12:54 PM

Holy shit...did she just stop a lightsaber with her hand?

I wanna see a Darth Bane movie goddamn't. That motherfucker is the one that brought it back to the rule of two. He did so by wiping out a shitload of Jedi and Sith...well, all of the Sith.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at June 16, 2010 1:08 PM

Cool. It's interesting how, thanks to the success of the Fetts, there's a new archetype to compete with the mystical warrior (Jedi/Sith) and the scrappy adventurer (Han/Leia/Lando) for our SW love: the dangerous, amoral agent.

And I love how his/her trademark really is the flamethrower. Stormtroopers have armor, everyone has a blaster, characters can fly, but only they ever use that particular weapon.

Posted by: Jacktrade at June 16, 2010 1:15 PM

The passage of time in the Star Wars universe is notoriously sketchy. Unless I'm missing something Padme went from "barely showing" to "giving birth to twins" in the span of 2 weeks at the most. Also, given Anakin's assumed age in "Revenge of the Sith" (I'd say 25 to be generous) he would be no older than 45, 50 tops when Luke unmasks him in "Return of the Jedi". Dude under the shell was at least 60. Also Luke trained with Yoda for about a week, tops. I have no idea how he can call himself a "Jedi Master". Back in the pre-Fall days kids trained their entire lives to be Jedi.

I've also wondered about the "3500 years and everything looks the same" bit. It's kind of moot though. The alternative is a Star Wars game where everyone throws rocks at each other. It's just one of those things that Lucas stupidly wrote in to the canon and now writers have to figure out a way to shoe horn stories in while still keeping it to look like Star Wars.

I don't play MMOs but this is the first that may get me to try one out.

Posted by: TylerDFC at June 16, 2010 1:20 PM

If you're getting into this as an MMO, be careful. While the universe will have you probably happy there's a few things to consider.

1) This is (someone correct) a grindfest game. Kill bad guys, collect items, return for reward, rinse repeat.
2) The battle system is WoW with lightsabers and lasers
3) You better have a kick ass system
4) MMOs are bugged out like a mofo at the start

Trust me as someone who's either dabbled in or has friends who have dabbled in most MMOs, its an expensive and laborious thing to get into.

Posted by: D-Day at June 16, 2010 1:29 PM

The prequel trilogy suffered from over-plotting, impenetrable and unnecessary political exposition, hideously bad dialogue, excessive exposition (midichlorians! GODDAMN YOU GEORGE!), and stunningly wooden acting.

Sigh. That's *exactly* how I would have said it.

Posted by: MM at June 16, 2010 1:57 PM

I would think the alternative would be to not set it so bloody far in the past.

Posted by: Paul Southworth at June 16, 2010 1:57 PM

I'm willing to believe that they've pretty much reached the apex of their technological development and have very little room left for innovation as far as that goes, so they really HAVE spent the next thousands of years making small tweaks to ship design and efficiency. It's still a bit of a stretch, but less of a stretch, and one I'm willing to make in the name of not having a Star Wars game where, as Tyler suggested, they're all killing each other with rocks.

Posted by: Nat Kittyface at June 16, 2010 1:59 PM

So the lady bounty hunter would be, like, Barbara Fett?

Posted by: Odnon at June 16, 2010 2:03 PM

I want to play a Star Wars game set at the point in their development before they invented space travel.

Sith all drivin' around in Low Riders, doin' drive-bys in front of the Jedi church, gettin' face tattoos.

Jedi all eschewing the use of firearms in favor of traditional swords, deflecting bullets with their minds, getting taken to court by the families of younglings they've sexually abused. Allegedly.

Posted by: Paul Southworth at June 16, 2010 2:09 PM

odnon for the win!

Posted by: Jacktrade at June 16, 2010 2:13 PM

Looks cool, BUT....

Why, oh why, is Alderaan one of the first words heard? It's a GALAXY! The Star Wars universe insists on re-visiting places we've seen before, in a terrible attempt to make us feel like the attention we pay has been worthwhile.
"Hey! Alderaan! That was Leia's home, that Moff Tarkin destroyed in Ep IV!"

Also, I'm saw a proto R2-D2 in there.

And, Lightsaber-Lightsaber-Lightsaber!!!

Posted by: monitorman at June 16, 2010 2:21 PM

And when I say "I'm saw", I think I meant something else.

Posted by: monitorman at June 16, 2010 2:23 PM

Um, you know why the eight or nine minutes of footage is "balls-out spectacular"? Because it's EIGHT OR NINE MINUTES OF FOOTAGE.

And to those who can't be bothered to watch The Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network (you know, the one that broke viewing records for CN in both its first and second season premiers): you're losing big time.

Posted by: AC at June 16, 2010 3:16 PM

First; we were NOT crouching in caves 3500 years ago (well, some of us were -- but some of us still do today in certain small pockets around the world -- just like certain small pockets still do in the Star Wars universe). 3500 years ago there were hundreds of vast, thriving cultures around the world; we have advanced, no doubt. But the most major advancements to humankind came when we abandoned the hunter/gatherer lifestyle and invented totalitarian agriculture. Which was 10,000 years ago. Before that, homo-sapiens lived in stagnation for approximately 200,000 years. And if you measure humanity in terms of our immediate predecessor (homo-erectus) then you're speaking in terms of millions of years where human culture had no significant change.

So in defense of the Star Wars timeline, think of it like this: In the Star Wars universe, travel is nearly instantaneous; privately owned ships can fly at speeds faster than light. Sophisticated communication is instantaneous across literally millions of light-years. Nearly limitless amounts of data can be stored in very small devices. Robots ,which are self-aware and posses personalities as rich and varied as any actual lifeform, handle menial labor, diplomacy and all types of war. Society has integrated hundreds of world with thousands of species, to the degree at which seeing an extra-terrestrial is common. Near-fatal injuries are healed overnight in tanks of bacta. Even religion has evolved to the degree that the devoted can literally manipulate their surroundings with willpower alone.

In the real world, we are still capable of measuring the advancement of our culture. But if our culture had perfected medication, travel, communication and all the other potentially endless different facets of life, what would there be left to advance? Seemingly, nothing. The only thing left to struggle over would be personal ideals -- which is what the EVERY Star Wars story is about.

It makes complete sense to me that a sufficiently advanced culture should remain stable for thousands of years without noticable change.

Posted by: superasente at June 16, 2010 3:31 PM

I like that rationale!

They still don't got no transporters, though, so NUTS TO THAT.

Posted by: Paul Southworth at June 16, 2010 3:42 PM

"3,500 years ago we were all squatting in caves and eating each other."

I weep for the state of historical knowledge.

Posted by: Donalb at June 16, 2010 4:36 PM

Allow me offer this counter argument :

This trailer has all the elements that are WRONG about Star Wars these days - All style, no heart

Seriously, the reason the original worked wasn't JUST effects and fighting. Have any of you even seen Empire lately? There is one light sabre fight. One. Between two people. Those horrid prequels had like a million sabre fights between a billion people. Overkill. Also, listen to how Yoda spoke….it wasn't really backwards, was it?

As soon as Lucas made the unicverse through the eyes of "professionals" like the Jedi and Congressmen, the series went to shit. Star Wars/Empire/Jedi worked because it was a ragtag of misfits who weren't quite prepared. The "bigger picture" was in the background, it was hinted at. The new games and movies are all about the big picture, and it's fucking boring as hell. Who cares about taxation and blockades and political turmoil in a space senate? My nephews(my age when Star Wars came out) HATED the "prequels" . Maybe hated is too strong a word…they were bored as hell. They had no idea what was going on, and I couldn't explain it to them because really, who could?

I loved the 70's and 80's movies, but these new attempts have completely lost what made the originals great.

Posted by: Horace at June 16, 2010 4:47 PM

So is the world occupied by the opposing forces of Sith and Jedi, like Horde and Alliance in WoW? Because I feel like that's the best way to do a MMO nowadays.

Posted by: Mr. Tusks at June 16, 2010 5:11 PM

Here's the trailer for The Force Unleashed II if you're interested.
Kind of in the same vein.

Posted by: Scott at June 16, 2010 5:18 PM

i love the wookies the noghri and the togorions in the expansion universe i am creating my own science fiction universe it's called the Starmaker and the Supernova inducer the star maker can create an entire new solar system for every star system destroyed.

Posted by: Utah Dynamo at June 16, 2010 8:47 PM

Imagine where we would be with action sequences if the whole fucking Matrix slow motion effect was never invented.

A man can dream.

Posted by: Craig at June 16, 2010 9:37 PM

honestly I thought the force unleashed trailer was better. After playing the first one, man I really feel for the dude. Plus the whole stealth fighting in the dark by continualy turning off his light saber to fade into the shadows is awesome.

Posted by: Ben at June 16, 2010 9:55 PM

Sooner or later Lucas is going to greenlight a television series.

He already did. Though production is on hold because apparently he can't figure out how to make it so every episode doesn't cost millions of dollars. Hint: Stop cramming CGI into every fucking shot and concentrate on the plot and characters for a change.

1) This is (someone correct) a grindfest game. Kill bad guys, collect items, return for reward, rinse repeat.

Actually SW:TOR is pretty far away from the standard MMO formula. The game will play more like a singleplayer RPG in many aspects. Branching storylines, hours of fully voiced dialogue, character arcs, etc. Though I suppose killing bad guys and collecting items will be part of that story ;)

Posted by: jcollier at June 17, 2010 10:26 AM

I think I read somewhere that Lucas is developing a live-action Clone Wars era TV show. So, D-Day, maybe you'll get your shot to be Baby Han.

Hell, I'd settle for being Clone Trooper #21 who gets shot in the first 10 seconds of the show.

Posted by: ASterisk at June 17, 2010 4:36 PM

The second one is a shorter version of an earlier one that I saw. It didn't interest me that much because it looked a little cliche. The first one though I think conveys everything the movies didn't in any of their fight scenes (and consequently has made me garner interest in the game). Things like emotion, effort, and simple little things (like the trooper holding the grenade and attacking someone who could easily ruin his shit) conveyed things like how much they were willing to sacrifice to defend their country and way of life. They actually told a story through the fight rather than just had a bunch of people moving. That is what made it interesting.

Another thing I loved about the first video, a chick that kicks ass and isn't overly (maybe a little) sexualized. I think Leeland Che once said that Star Wars is a "boys world" which pissed me off because I have always found strong female characters more interesting than strong male characters. Which brings me too: If bioware does make a Star Wars trilogy I think they have more than enough material from the KOTOR 1 alone. That single- handedly brought me back to my childhood with giddy excitement over Star Wars. I am a total fan of Female Light Side Revan (seriously I hate the idea of Star Wars as a giant main character sausage fest) though I hate the very end with the celebration, I think it should have been Revan going off to the rim and leaving it that people thought the she died or something. I am so nerdy about this I may even write a fan fic.

Posted by: Brian at June 17, 2010 4:56 PM

There should be no future for Star Wars. People who have followed it know there is nowhere else for it to go, except their wallets and bank accounts.

The rest is just ex post facto bad narratives with familiar names designed to, yes, fucking admit it, steal your quasi-intelligent simian dollars.

Suck it up and boycott shameless exploitation of brain cells.

Posted by: Recondite at June 17, 2010 6:36 PM

It needs to be stated that the Clone Wars mini episodes from Cartoon Network were absolutely spectacular. That is all.

Posted by: Rob at June 16, 2010 12:54 PM

And to those who can't be bothered to watch The Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network (you know, the one that broke viewing records for CN in both its first and second season premiers): you're losing big time.

Posted by: AC at June 16, 2010 3:16 PM

Could not agree more. Obi-Wan's first conversation with Luke in IV: A New Hope means so much more after watching these series.

Posted by: Coltrane at June 17, 2010 8:49 PM

Oh, and:

HADOUKEN!!!!

Posted by: Brian at June 18, 2010 8:41 AM

No, bullshit, these nine minutes amount to nothing much at all.

Star Wars is the golden goose that died, got dug up and attached to some electrodes it the hope that it would crap out an egg again sometime in the near future.

Just give it up. (In fairness the original Clone Wars cartoon was excellent, but then they've paved over it with the crappy CGI remake. Zombie Golden Goose strikes again)

Posted by: Somnopolis at June 18, 2010 8:45 AM

This is what the Star Wars prequels SHOULD have looked like.

The basic plots of the 3 prequels were sound - but they were just about ruined by the little details. I mean who is going to fear a character called "Count Dooku"?

Regarding the same technology appearing no matter what the time period it is - well on earth there have been examples of cultures attaining a certain level of technological advancement & then just stopping & progressing no further - China & the Islamic kingdoms come to mind.

The technology is pretty advanced in Star Wars - space ships, lightsabres, rayguns, personal flight suits etc - where exactly can they advance to from that?

Posted by: John at October 11, 2010 11:29 AM