h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I stopped caring about the Oscars back in '93 after overwhelmingly winning an Oscar pool. I made my choices as cynically as I could. Specifically, I picked Marisa Tomei for her supproting actress award simply because she was the only American against 4 British actresses. Conversely, Emma Thompson won against some Americans and Catherine Deneuve because she was in a British period film against mainly some depressing films. Depressing films will beat adventure films, but they don't beat period pieces. And nothing beats a main character overcoming a handicap or great odds in a period piece. (Think My Left Foot)

Anyway, I won the pool, but I didn't like winning the pool.

Besides my cynicism, there's also just simply how much money influences the Oscars.

http://youtu.be/rNRpb_E0jPc

"One of the best scenes in TPM was the bit where the droids head out onto the outer surface of Padme's ship to effect running repairs under fire."


Agreed. Nonetheless, there was no need to use that particular R2 Unit. All things considered I think it would've been better to create whole new characters, prequel or no prequel, which is something of a larger problem with all the Star Wars movies. Until recently.




"[...] And a matter of *minutes* later, they are somehow magically onboard the Tantive IV, which is a corvette umbilically docked INSIDE a much larger ship. [...] If anyone has any better ideas how they got where they needed to be (bearing in mind that among all the advanced tech of the SW 'verse they do NOT have teleporters), I'd love to hear it."


Well I wouldn't say "minutes" exactly.... It only seems that way because of film editing. Could've been as much as half-an-hour between that shot and the time the fleet actually jumps to Hyperspace.

I presume that just /after/ that shot they were quickly ushered onto a shuttle that took them up to their ship, along with a bunch of other people. Like would happen, in an emergency scramble like that.

"I stopped caring about the Oscars back in '93 after overwhelmingly winning an Oscar pool. I made my choices as cynically as I could" [Baron Grim]



80% of the time I don't even think about the Oscars, but then in December and January the theaters are full of Oscar fodder. It's unescapable. I see as many as I can stomach, then I move on. But this is January right now. This is where I am now. Come March and April I won't care any more.

"Rogue One" may get one or two nominations in technical categories, so the Oscars are somewhat relevant to this thread. Rightly or wrongly.

So far, it's had two wins and two nominations
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3748528/awards?ref_=tt_awd

I'm not complaining about C-3P0 being shoehorned into R1, any more than I'm complaining about Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba being there either.

I'm not even complaining about the "small universe" implications (Evazan gets into *exactly* the same kind of "watch out for yourself" confrontation twice within 24 hours... ON DIFFERENT PLANETS... which I can believe as he's that kind of violent git, but... BOTH times with someone critical to the destruction of the Death Star... what are the odds? Never mind, as I say, I'm not complaining about that. That is fine.

My problem is logistical - shoehorn Threepio and Artoo in by all means if you must, I love it that they're there, but have them be somewhere that makes sense. Have them already in a corridor recognisably on the Tantive IV, lurching as the ship makes the jump to lightspeed, and have Threepio say "What? Into BATTLE???" or similar. Don't put them on the surface when said ship is already in orbit. It's not hard to fix, which is why it's annoying.

My quibble with 'Star Wars' is how everyone ends up being a General. All the old Jedi such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are given a half dozen clones of their own to boss about. Then in 'Return of the Jedi' Lando becomes a general just for showing up. Han is appointed a general, which means he is in charge of a strike team of about a dozen people.

In 'The Force Awakens' Leia is now a general. She used to be a Princess, and with her father was in charge of a whole planet, which if we assume was like means she led about 6 billion people. So to be made a general - and therefore based on Han's experience means that she's now in charge of about 12 – is an unbelievable step down.

<BB<

It all happened long ago, before they knew what we know now. They were far away, so our advisors didn't get there in time to give them guidance.

Still, no one can justify Ani building C-3PO in the prequels with no connection with Vader in the original trilogy.

Actually we can, if we really felt inclined to.....

Um, has anybody asked Ani for her side of it? No? Then we're second guessing her without giving her a chance.....

Her?

You've definitely failed the Star Wars geekdom test there

Ani = Annakin Skywalker = Darth Vader

I thought there was another Ani who was female.

In any case, sorry, sorry, sorry!

@Bluebottle:

I think it's safe to say that titles in the SW 'verse don't mean the same as they mean in ours, and therefore don't really make much sense.

Apart from anything else, "Queen" on Naboo is apparently a position you are *elected* to... or something. And from "Queen", "Senator" is apparently a reasonable step... up? Across?

Some things are fun delving into and thinking about - how the heck does a lightsaber work, anyway? How long does its battery last? What are the altitude limits of a repulsorlift? What are the operating parameters of hyperdrive? And so on.

But other things really aren't worth bothering thinking about, and what titles people are referred to by is definitely one of those! (Other questions I can't be buttocked with include "why does Leia wear her hair like that?", "why do all planets apparently have only one kind of weather each?" and "what the heck does that giant slug thing in the asteroid in ESB eat when starships aren't literally flying into its mouth?".

Perhaps it eats metal ore. Being in an asteroid field there must be a lot of it, and that would explain its interest in a spaceship.

I think it makes the Rebellion sound like a typical insurgency or terrorist network where everyone gives themselves a fancy title so you end up with more generals than soldiers.

<BB<

My general guideline is to suspend disbelief unless something is internally inconsistent. For example, using an absolutely crap film, in Armageddon they spend a lot of screen time justifying why they have to launch two shuttles simultaneously and dock them simultaneously with the "Russian Space Station". (The real reason was both scenes looked "cool".) The justification for the two shuttles simultaneously docking with a SPINNING space station (if not impossible, extremely difficult and a huge waste of propellant) is that they would be using centrifugal force to transfer fuel from the station to the shuttles. Fine. I'll go with it. But the very next scene after that improbable docking procedure shows the two crews walking toward each other down a hallway.

Hey, guys!? "Gravity" is that way [points to opposite ends of the hallway behind each crew]. Literally all they had to do to be consistent would be to show the crews climbing ladders. They could even fake it like they did on the old Batman TV show and have the crews pretend to be climbing toward each other on horizontal ladders.

If a film establishes something it needs to stick with it. This is why many people like me found the whole "midichlorians" thing so reprehensible. It was established in the first three films as something quite mystical. To then frame it as something at the cellular level was rather disappointing.

[er enjoys discussion]

My favorite Star Wars line

[from "Phantom menace]

Jar-Jar Binks: I spake!

Qui-Gon Jinn: The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.

The haircut thing with Leia I think they attempted by giving Queen Amidala a similar one -even more ornate that the Princess' one presumably, in PM.

They also hinted at how lightsabers work in Rogue One by telling us that he crystal that lies at the core is that which is mined from Jeddha. I thought it was quite cool that it also apparently the power behind the Death Star's weapon.

In the end though, Star Wars I've always leant on the side of Star Wars being a Swords and Sorcery fantasy set in a sci-fi universe rather than it being science fiction. Light sabres = swords and The Force = magic - in my book.
At best it's *extremely* soft science fiction.

Also, it's entirely precedented for us in the real word to 'elect' monarchs.
Though rarely with a secret ballot admittedly

Roman Emperors were most often 'nominated' by the legions - see emperors like Constantine for example.
The Holy Roman emperor was elected by 'electors'
The Pope (who was essentially a Monarch throughout most of the time of the popes) - is still elected.
Mongol Khan's (and presumably, Turkic, Hun and other Steppe Nomad leaders) were most definitely elected.

Hereditary succession is only one of many methods monarchs were chosen throughout history.