Ask Slashdot: Can Star Wars Episode VII Be Saved?

An anonymous reader writes "10 years ago today, in the wake of two disappointing Star Wars prequels, we discussed whether Episode III could salvage itself or the series. Now, as production is underway on Episode VII under the care of Disney, I was wondering the same thing: can it return Star Wars to its former glory? On one hand, many critics of the prequels have gotten what they wanted — George Lucas has a reduced role in the production of Episode VII. Critically, he didn't write the screenplay, which goes a long way toward avoiding the incredibly awkward dialogue of the prequels. On the other hand, they're actively breaking with the expanded universe canon, and the series is now under the stewardship of J.J. Abrams. His treatment of the Star Trek reboot garnered lots of praise and lots of criticism — but his directorial style is arguably more suited to Star Wars anyway. What do you think? What can they do with Episode VII to put the series back on track?"

Re:Lens flares

[dunezone]

In the Star Trek DVD commentary they(director and producer) even talk about how they overdid the lens flares. For the sequel they still had them but it wasn't as prevalent as the first. Its fine if you have like a single shot with it in there but not everything needs a flare.

Re:painted into a corner...

[JMJimmy]

The "sanitary regulated onesie living" was a reflection of the fact that they were on the flagship of a psudo-military vessel. Militaries around the world wear much stupider things in this day and age:

http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpima... [crackedcdn.com]
http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpima... [crackedcdn.com]
https://upload.wikimedia.org/w... [wikimedia.org] --I'd take a Star Trek onsie over this any day

The civilians depicted did not dress in onesies, far from it - the costume design (especially in TOS) for the aliens/civilians was as varied and out there as it gets - again, it was a contrast of normalization (everyone dressing the same - a very 50s attitude) vs the creativity that is possible when you don't have the expectation of the norm (what the alien cultures provided)

In TNG they started to bring in more personality to the characters with Picard's anthropology, Riker's music, Worf's Klingon culture, etc and the sets "10 forward", the holodeck, etc without losing the ability to contrast. In DS9 they used the contrast to great effect - especially with what they did with Jake and Nog. Jake became less and less "federation-like" in his attitudes and dress as the story progressed while Nog made the opposite journey.

Throughout TOS/TNG/DS9 there were always very clear distinctions between "military" and non-military dress, attitudes, & culture for all the major races.

Re:Abrams already ruined Star Trek

[Rakarra]

BRIGHT LIGHTS! BIG EXPLOSIONS! VULCANS THAT HAS FEELS!

It seems that over time people have forgotten quite a few things about Vulcans and Spock. Here's what's been canon for thirty years:

First, Spock is not Vulcan. He's half-Vulcan, half-human.
Second, Vulcans do not have an absence of feelings. In fact, it was established that Vulcans can have STRONGER emotions than humans, but they train to suppress and purge those feelings. Way back in Star Trek: the Motion Picture (an event that would been long after the events of the Abrams movies) Spock was shown going through a ceremony that would have purged the last of his emotions.. but it was interrupted, and the priestess declared that he still had human emotions.

So the whole "spock can still have emotions" thing doesn't contradict what was already established. Spock still has a lot of work to do to attain Kolinahr.