Star Wars Discussion Thread contains spoilers (and may contain nuts)

[grumbler]

Star Wars is just a vehicle for flogging merchandise.  It died years ago.  Let it rest in peace.  Zombie Star Wars isn't worth getting emotional over.

[Savonarola]

There's a traveling Star Wars exhibit put on by the Smithsonian and the Lucas Museum concerning the costumes:  Star Wars and the Power of Costume.  I saw it when I was last in Detroit Detroit Institute of Arts where it will be until September (unfortunately that's the last stop for the exhibit.)

The exhibit has everything from storyboards to droids (and, as you probably guessed, an elaborate gift shop.)  Some of the highlights:

Princess Leia Slave Bikini


There was some tut-tutting about objectifying women in the exhibit notes.  Still, Carrie did massive amounts of cocaine worked hard to have that body, she might as well show it off.

Cantina Storyboard


To me it was surprising how much thought went into the costuming.  I had assumed that, for the Cantina scene, they had just raided the wardrobe department (which is why the devil is a customer there.)

How to Dress Darth Vader:


They made a point to tell about how difficult it was to get into or around in the costumes.  They had a take where Padme and Anakin break out into giggles as C3PO runs into a wall.

Padme's Wedding Gown


Natalie Portman described her character as a "Brave, no-nonsense woman with the prettiest dresses in the galaxy."   In almost every scene she wears something different, so they had a ton of her costumes.

Finn's jacket:


The exhibit explains how they got the look of the rebel pilots from old World War II movies (and Imperial officers as well.)  Deriving the costuming from real world cultures allowed you to immediately (and subconsciously) identify the character's "Type."  (There was some tut-tutting on that as well concerning the Sand People, since their costuming derived from Bedouin culture.)

Darth Maul concept art


George Lucas told the concept artist to draw his worst nightmare.  Upon seeing this he told him to draw his second worst nightmare.

[Syt]

They modified a lot of real world props, because it was cheaper and faster than creating new ones, especially for the first movie. Which is why most guns in A New Hope are pretty easily identifiable if you know your WW2 weaponry.

A lot of the detail on the Death Star came from model building kits where they took e.g. motor and engine parts and rearranged them.

Bossck's suit was based on a flight suit used by the Royal Air Force. It was even used in an old Doctor Who episode:

[Savonarola]

They modified a lot of real world props, because it was cheaper and faster than creating new ones, especially for the first movie. Which is why most guns in A New Hope are pretty easily identifiable if you know your WW2 weaponry.

A lot of the detail on the Death Star came from model building kits where they took e.g. motor and engine parts and rearranged them.

Bossck's suit was based on a flight suit used by the Royal Air Force. It was even used in an old Doctor Who episode:

Interesting stuff.  I've read that the space ship in "Alien" was made from a bunch of Star Wars model kits that they rearranged to make a new space ship.

[Syt]

So, the show The Mandalorian.

https://www.starwars.com/news/the-mandalorian-revealed

THE MANDALORIAN FIRST IMAGE, DIRECTORS REVEALED

DETAILS EMERGE FOR LUCASFILM'S LIVE-ACTION SERIES HELMED BY JON FAVREAU.

Production on the first Star Wars live-action streaming series has begun! After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic. The series will be written and executive produced by Emmy-nominated producer and actor Jon Favreau, as previously announced, with Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels) directing the first episode. Additional episodic directors include Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), Bryce Dallas Howard (Solemates), and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok). It will be executive produced by Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson. Karen Gilchrist will serve as co-executive producer. Stay tuned to StarWars.com for updates.

I'm getting a bit of a wild west vibe from this (lone gunfighter, lawless regions of the galaxy, ...).

Dave Filoni directing the first episode kinda makes me wonder if The Mandalorian will be one of the Mandalorians from Clone Wars or Rebels, and if he was picked to establish the overall tone. The build of the character looks male, so that would eliminate Bo-Katan Kryze or Sabine Wren. Besides, Sabine's outfit would be more colorful. However, Rebels ended with Asokah and Sabine going to find Ezra Bridger after the events of Return of the Jedi (not to mention that Thrawn is also still unaccounted for after the Rebels finale). Maybe Sabine's brother trying to find her?

[celedhring]

You just made me start watching Clone Wars, which I've been putting off for years. 

So far they've managed to make Anakin likeable, which is an impressive feat.

[Syt]

You just made me start watching Clone Wars, which I've been putting off for years. 

So far they've managed to make Anakin likeable, which is an impressive feat.

I thought the first two seasons of Clone Wars rather uneven. It becomes better in the later seasons. Rebels suffers IMHO from a similar problem.

[celedhring]

The episode with the rookies defending the early warning outpost is the first one I genuinely liked. Actually the show seems to pick up whenever they shift focus to clone soldiers.

I don't know how Grevious managed to retain command until the last movie, he comes across as rather incompetent.

[Syt]

Yeah, there's some lame stuff to suffer through. I agree that the Clone Trooper focused episodes tend to be good. The outpost episode was the one that made me stick it out through the first two seasons. Season 2 has a couple of "let's remake an old movie concept in Star Wars" which was ... mostly not good. Mid season 3 has some ... trippy stuff that's IMHO pretty interesting. Which kinda gets picked up again in the final season of Rebels. Rebels, overall, did the whole mystery of the Force very well.

[celedhring]

Rebels I watched the first two seasons of, and then I dropped it. Seems I missed the good parts, then.

[Syt]

Yeah, Season 3 becomes better, but seasons 4 and 5 is really where it's at. The introduction of Thrawn was pretty good, and it comes together for a pretty big final arc.

[celedhring]

I'll definitely go back to Rebels once I finish with Clone Wars. But I'm going to watch this first. For starters, the surprise character reveal at the end of Rebels' first season meant nothing to me, since I didn't know who the heck [spoiler]Ashoka Tano [/spoiler]was.

I'm up to CW 01*08 - a Jar Jar Binks-centric episode. This will be tougher than I thought.

[Duque de Bragança]

I'm up to CW 01*08 - a Jar Jar Binks-centric episode. This will be tougher than I thought.

You SW nerds are really masochists. 

[celedhring]

Suffering is the path to enlightenment.

[Syt]

There are some Jar Jar episodes, yes. They're, on general, not good (he does get an ok-ish send off near the end of the show). Also: Hondo Onaka (who unfortunately also shows up in Rebels).