The non-toy Star Wars discussion thread

[GoktimusPrime]

Speaking of language, Alec Guiness pronounces Obi Wan differently in the scene where he rescues Luke from the Sandpeople
He alternates between the Wan sounding like that of padawan and twang
Always found that a bit odd *shrug*

Exactly. It's part of that Mid-Atlantic accent thing; Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi has an American-influenced English accent. McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi started off by having a pure English accent, but has been gradually shifting towards including more American-like vowel sounds as his character approaches becoming Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi.

It's well known that McGregor himself was a fan of Star Wars as a kid; and it didn't hurt that his uncle (Denis Lawson) played Wedge Antilles in the Original Trilogy. As an aspiring actor, he must have also grown up studying speech patterns of various actors; and McGregor has always admitted that he draws inspiration from Guinness for the way that he portrays Kenobi. I just think it's amazing to see how deep McGregor is willing to dive into becoming Obi-Wan Kenobi; one cool thing about a fan of the original character playing the character.

The down-side of McGregor being a fan though is that he often ruined fight scenes while shooting the The Phantom Menace because he kept on making "Voosh voosh!" lightsabre noises like you do when playing as a kid. Lucas had to remind McGregor several times that the noises would be added in post and to stop making it himself. McGregor also admits that he does Force hand gestures when approaching automatic doors. (who hasn't done this? )

[Seraphim Prime]

The down-side of McGregor being a fan though is that he often ruined fight scenes while shooting the The Phantom Menace because he kept on making "Voosh voosh!" lightsabre noises like you do when playing as a kid. Lucas had to remind McGregor several times that the noises would be added in post and to stop making it himself. McGregor also admits that he does Force hand gestures when approaching automatic doors. (who hasn't done this? )

You can also catch Laura Dern making "pew pew" sounds in The Last Jedi when she retakes the bridge following Poe's insurrection.

[GoktimusPrime]

Was anyone else a bit disappointed at the digital deageing of Hayden Christensen in the training flashback?


I honestly initially thought that they didn't use any digital deageing at all, but apparently they did; but described as minimal deageing, described as "removing a few wrinkles." My question is... why couldn't they have done more? Was it due to the restrictions of a TV mini-series budget? Because we have seen much better digital deageing from Disney, such as with Robert Downey, Samuel L. Jackson, Stan Lee, Michael Douglas, Clark Gregg etc. Ewan McGregor didn't look so bad, but probably because half of his face is covered with a beard.

Also... am I the only one who wouldn't mind seeing the Prequel and Original Trilogy redone with lightsabre backglows? It was something that always never made sense with the first two trilogies, and I do love how the Sequel Trilogy onwards have put this in. But I'd love to see the pre-Sequel Trilogy stuff get a redo with backglows put in! I know there are people who believe that the originals should never be altered, but I think this is a case where the lightsabre effects were limited by the technology of the times. I would like to see the Prequels and Originals modified just so that lightsabres can be seen emitting a glow; it makes sense, cos ya know... light. Plus it would make them more visually consistent with post-Sequel content.

[Sinnertwin]

I wasn't even aware that they had done work on Hayden's face. There you go..

Lightsaber glows should also be a thing. When Vader was dance trolling Reva, seeing the crimson reflected off his helmet was beautiful.

[Tha_Phantom]

Was anyone else a bit disappointed at the digital deageing of Hayden Christensen in the training flashback?

Since you asked... No, I wasn't.
I guess I'm used to looking past that sort of thing since Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul don't use digital deageing for their flashbacks - and they have a lot of flashbacks.

Episode 5 has been my favourite of the series so far, in no small part due to the flashbacks and how they worked with the overall episode. Vader vs third sister was awesome too.

[Bemblebuu]

I'd like to see lightsaber glows put into the older films too.

The de-aging tech on Hayden Christensen could have been better, but faces can change heaps once aging wrecks havoc, and I guess the budget just wasn't there for Hayden's mug.

I'm always amazed how different Alec Baldwin looks now to when he was younger. Middle aged men's faces tend to get significantly wider (whether it's injections or not). Weird.

One other gripe I have with face effects: the change in volume prosthetics and stuff add to a person's head often ruins the effect for me. Like Vader in full post roast make-up just looks weird. Why not hire an actor with a skinny head so the end effect will be in scale with Hayden's bonce?

[GoktimusPrime]

One other gripe I have with face effects: the change in volume prosthetics and stuff add to a person's head often ruins the effect for me. Like Vader in full post roast make-up just looks weird. Why not hire an actor with a skinny head so the end effect will be in scale with Hayden's bonce?

I imagine that that would be even more expensive to do than digitally deageing on-screen actors. You'd have to pay for both actors for one. Also, the end effect doesn't seem to look as good. Rogue One used body doubles for both Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher; I think they did a pretty good job, but I also think that examples of direct digital deaging of actors (e.g. RDJ, Sam L Jackson etc.) looked better. I reckon it must be a TV budget thing; these effects aren't cheap.

Like Vader in full post roast make-up just looks weird. Why not hire an actor with a skinny head so the end effect will be in scale with Hayden's bonce?

I don't see any issue with scale. It's Christensen playing both unmasked and masked Vader, so... it's his real-world proportions both inside and outside he suit. If anything, it makes more sense than seeing unmasked Sebastian Shaw (and later as Anakin's ghost) vs the larger and more imposing build of David Prowse; that made less sense!

But since we're looking at Vader 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, I don't mind him (or Obi-Wan Kenobi) looking older. It's not a flashback; time has passed, and these men have aged. That's fine. It looked weird to me in the flashback training scene, but I'm totally okay with both actors looking like their current selves in the present day of the TV series. Also, it is a transition towards what they will eventually look like in the Original Trilogy as played by Sebastian Shaw and Sir Alec Guinness, so yeah, they should be looking progressively older.

[GoktimusPrime]

Final episode of Obi-Wan...

Ups
+ Links things up with A New Hope quite nicely
+ Showing how much Owen and Beru love Luke to the point that they would risk their lives for him
+ Beru being prepared for a home invasion
+ Leia's farewell to Obi-Wan
+ Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader; first time we've seen Vader's helmet cut open on screen. Story further legitimises Obi-Wan's belief that Vader killed Anakin (I know that it's further legitimising a retcon, but it's awesome, damnit! )
+ Reva's choice

Downs
- How exactly did Reva survive, and how did she get to Tatooine so quickly? Assuming that the Grand Inquisitor stabbed her in her mechanical guts... they would still need to be repaired. And then she would still need to get transport to Tatooine without being detected... all in a mad rush, apparently.
- How rubbish are those Star Destroyer gunners?!
- Star Destroyers carry multiple squadrons of Imperial T.I.E. fighters... why couldn't they have deployed a squad to pursue the main ship, or just have Vader pursue Obi-Wan by himself aboard his own shuttle or T.I.E. fighter?

[Bemblebuu]

...first time we've seen Vader's helmet cut open on screen.

In Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka Tano gives Vader a similar helmet gash. Rebels is an excellent series.

Thought the season finale was pretty good. Kenobi Vs Vader was cool. Reva's story arc was underwhelming and her inclusion unnecessary. Would much rather have seen her as a committed Inquisitor, with a Starscream-esque backstabby/bootlick persona. The whole presence of the Inquisitors felt meh, and I really don't understand how and why Reva's motivations/ survival/ etc, got the green light.

[Sinnertwin]

He said it! He said it!
*fanboy squeal*