Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

[Steve Green]

Not sure why the bomb bay doors should bother anyone - look at the death star hangar with the falcon.

A force field that keeps the air in but lets solid objects in and out... same deal with the bombers.

[von Boom]

I had more problem with the bombs themselves. They were falling like they would with at least 1G of gravity. That ship was big, but not nearly big enough for that kind of pull. They should have been missiles of some sort I thought.

[Steve Green]

Thrusters/jets/ some kind of magnets.

[JOE SOAP]

I had more problem with the bombs themselves. They were falling like they would with at least 1G of gravity. That ship was big, but not nearly big enough for that kind of pull. They should have been missiles of some sort I thought.

They had TIE Bombers bombing asteroids in The Empire Strikes Back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phGlo_TNDp0

[JOE SOAP]

About that Ironing scene.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

I don't expect Star Warrs to have proper space physics. If I want to see that kind of accuracy in a big Hollywood action sci-fi movie, I'll watch...

...

...

Nevermind.

Star Wars has always had ships that fly like WW2 Spitfires/Mustangs/Messcherschmitts. The Bombers were meant to be like Flying Fortresses or somesuch bombers. Having said that the plan to blow up the big ship was stupid, and that was kind of the point. It was meant to show Poe that big heroic sacrifice isn't always the best idea. Living to fight another day is more important, until Luke shows up and it isn't  important anymore.

Overall I'm not sure how I feel about this movie. I thought there were some good ideas and attempts at themes, like letting go of the past, playing the long game and learning from failure. All the main characters failed in their individual endeavours. Most of all Finn and Rose. They both failed to achieve their goal and failed to make me give a shit that they did. Their pointless side plot ultimately screwed the rebellion too. Rey failed to convert Ben, but I suppose she succeeded in getting Luke back in the fight, however briefly.

I liked Luke in this movie. He was weird and cranky and eccentric. It made sense, living on that wee island with a buncha Station from Bill&Ted dressed as nuns. Speaking of whom, I would have like to see them forming a magical circle around Luke at the end, like they were feeeding and reinforcing his power. Would have given them something to do beyond being the butt of a joke for Rey.

I also liked the visuals. Apart from Leia in space.

[TordelBack]

I don't have a problem with anyone disliking TLJ, it's different from what's gone before, there's no law that says you have to like it because you liked the earlier stuff.  But I still struggle with the technical nitpicking, which often seems to me like searching for justification of pre-existing dislike in all the wrong places.

Strong precedents for the vacuum issue* and the concept of bombs in space are dealt with above, but I'd like to address the hyperspace tracking.  Tracking through hyperspace is the whole raison d'etre of the second half of ANH, and appears in AotC too, by way of devices attached to the respective ships.  Maul's arrival on Tatooine in TPM is presumably by similar means, effected by Darth Sidious who is also Senator for Naboo, where Padme's royal yacht originates. 

However, in TFA the FO locate the Resistance base on D'Qar by tracking Snap Wexley's reconnaissance fighter, presumably through hyperspace but without an attached beacon.  One might speculate that this new tech is a spinoff of the hyperspace research that created the Starkiller weapon, but 'hyperspace tracking' is also a filename in the Scarif archive in R1, so it may have a longer history.  Either way, tracking through hyperspace has been part of Star Wars since the beginning, and this particular technique has been well telegraphed.





*Leia's experience of vacuum is much closer to reality than many SF depictions - it's cold, and oxygen deprivation is what gets you, not the bulging and exploding beloved of comics and movies: and we've seen Jedi survive without oxygen in TPM.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

I would call it a weak Discworld novel. There's good ideas and some flashes of brilliance, but it doesn't fully land.

And just like weak Discworld novels, you can be secure in the knowledge that there will be another next year.

At least that used to be the case.

I fuckin' miss Pratchett...

[Rusty]

I had more problem with the bombs themselves. They were falling like they would with at least 1G of gravity. That ship was big, but not nearly big enough for that kind of pull. They should have been missiles of some sort I thought.

They had TIE Bombers bombing asteroids in The Empire Strikes Back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phGlo_TNDp0

Yeah, but those were proton bombs that were fired directly down into the target, not dropped.

[JOE SOAP]

Yeah, but those were proton bombs that were fired directly down into the target, not dropped.

I'm sure Wookieepedia will soon create an online reference, if it hasn't all ready, to explain how TLJ's specific space-bombs work in the way the films never do.

[JOE SOAP]

Can we assume that since Luke can force-project to specific locations anywhere in the galaxy that he also mentally navigated his hyper-space jumps to Ahch-To without the necessity of an astromech hooked into his X-Wing?

If so, it would mean R2D2 never went to Ahch-To with him (if R2 had gone, how did he get back to D'Qar with no ship?) and Luke didn't purposely leave maps or clues behind for people to find him – which never made sense because he was in seclusion and didn't want to be found.

Possibly R2 originally had the complete map but Luke had the "lost" section of the map erased from his memory and the Resistance found the missing information independently – as seen in The Force Awakens.

Or the simpler answer is Luke had another astromech that's since become a rusted barbecue outside Luke's hut.


These are the important things that keep me up at night.

[IndigoPrime]

This is a really interesting take on the film, primarily talking about watching movies in a different way. It certainly sheds a new life on the notion of the side quest and the million-to-one shot, along with the nature of what TLJ is trying to make about the ideas of rebellion and power.

[The Legendary Shark]

Very interesting, thanks for the link.

[Dandontdare]

a very interesting read, I think he nails it.

(and a predictably bunch of snidey fanwank repsonses in the comments - I liked the more ironic ones such as "The Last Jedi broke my Jabba playset when I was a kid. It lost my Max Rebo figure too.")

[Bolt-01]

Ooh, good link IP- a nice read.