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Star Wars Megathread

Started by Barrister, November 13, 2019, 12:54:52 AM

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Syt

Quote from: celedhring on September 22, 2022, 06:36:05 AMMan, they released 3 episodes right off the bat? Gonna need some time to catch up.

I guess it's because of the delay of the original launch (to avoid clashing with She-Hulk, I think?). However, you can watch all three episodes in one; they function well as a self contained movie IMHO. And if you skip the recaps/end credits it should be about 100-110 minutes.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

celedhring

Okay, I loved this. It's a slow burner for sure, I can see why they released three episodes because there really isn't a "pop" moment until episode 3 (but that's probably the best action scene in Star Wars TV outside of Mandalorian), and the 3 eps are just a pretty long setup. The writing is very solid, one can really see Gilroy's hand here.

viper37

James Earl Jones sign over his voice

Darth Vader's iconic voice will now be made by an AI.

QuoteJames Earl Jones has been the iconic voice of Darth Vader since the beginning of Star Wars, but at 91 years old, it seems he's ready to have the work done for him. According to a report from Vanity Fair (via Deadline), Jones signed over the rights to his archival voice work, allowing the Ukrainian startup Respeecher to leverage AI technology and recreate the sound of his voice in Disney Plus' Obi-Wan Kenobi.

To do this, Respeecher uses sound bites to "clone" an actor's voice, allowing a studio to record new lines without having the actor present. Matthew Wood, Skywalker Sound's supervising sound editor, told Vanity Fair that he presented Jones with the option once he "mentioned he was looking into winding down" the role of Darth Vader. After Jones gave Lucasfilm permission to use the AI-generated voice, Vanity Fair says the studio tasked Respeecher with making Vader sound like Jones' "dark side villain from 45 years ago" in Disney Plus' Obi-Wan Kenobi.

This is why you might notice that Vader sounds a lot like he did in the earlier films in Obi-Wan, as opposed to Jones' actual voice in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. Despite the studio's use of AI for Vader's voice, Wood says Jones takes on the role of a "benevolent godfather," and still helps guide the studio's depiction of the villain.
This isn't the first time Respeecher has worked with Lucasfilms, either. The startup also generated a voice for the younger version of Luke Skywalker in Disney Plus' The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. In a press release, Respeecher explains that it used clips from "many early years' worth of radio broadcasts, interviews, ADRs, and dubs" with Mark Hamill to digitally recreate Skywalker's voice.

Other AI speech synthesis tools like Voicemod, Veritone, Descript, and Resemble AI have also emerged as potential ways for celebrities and creators to digitally recreate their voices." As my colleague James Vincent points out, the trend could become popular among celebrities who want to "boost their income with minimal effort by cloning and renting out their voice." Or, in Jones' case, it could help preserve the voice of arguably one of the most famous villains in film.
I don't do meditation.  I drink alcohol to relax, like normal people.

If Microsoft Excel decided to stop working overnight, the world would practically end.

celedhring

I did notice Luke sounding much more youthful than current-day Mark Hamill in the tv shows, but I attributed it to Hamill's voiceacting skills and a gente touch of digital editing, not a full blown digital recreation.

Wonder how long it will take for this kind of tech to be used to recreate i.e. dead singers.

celedhring

#1684
Andor episode 4.

Definitely falling in love with the show. Make no mistake, this is a slow-burn show - and I dig its attention to detail and showing so many little moments of different characters (i.e. Mon Mothma's marriage crisis, the relationships between the ISB officers...). Overall it's well written and despite being so different in tone to the other more "fantasy adventure" Star Wars shows we've got so far, it doesn't feel out of place.

ISB internal politics  :wub:

Also, they name-checked the Rakata  :w00t:

Syt

#1685
Yes, enjoying it too. The "mission" and the group dynamics reminds me a bit of Guns of Navarone (already wondering who of them will turn out to be the traitor ... ;) ). The ISB stuff was great and gave me flashbacks to the Intelligence Agency in SWTOR and obviously stuff like the SS and the Wannsee conference or B5's Psi Corps, itself obviously modeled after SS and similar organizations.

The Rakata reference made me do a double take, but not nearly as much as the armor on display in the antiques shop. The helmet is 100% a copy of Starkiller's Dark Lord armor in the Force Unleashed games. :lol:





(The serpent sculpture also looked very familiar, but I couldn't place it.)

I enjoy the slower pace of the show. I was thinking during it that it was nice to have those moments of Mon Mothma sitting in her car and showing her internal struggle, or her walking through her quarters and to the dining room. Or Officer Douchebag arriving on Coruscant and making his way home. It feels nicely quiet and gives room to breathe and be in the universe, something that the more action oriented shows like Mando or Book of Boba Fett - and, tbh, the animated shows - often lack. It feels much more like reading one of the (better) Star Wars novels, actually. It's totally a good thing IMHO.

I also like that - for now - they make the Empire look reasonably competent (something that was sorely missing in Kenobi, IMO - sure, I try to roll with "rule of cool" or Jedi powers etc., but it's nice to see them be reasonably intimidating instead of as cannon fodder for the heroes).
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Syt

P.S.: I'm sure for the armor the set description said something like "ancient armor" and the set designers threw it together from pieces they had lying around and thought it was fun to put that helmet on top as easter egg.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

celedhring

Yeah, I'm sure that antique shop scene has a bunch of easter eggs.

Syt

They like to do that. See Dryden Vos' room in Solo (which was mostly full of references to the Solo and Lando novels from the 80s), or John Williams' cameo in Rise of Skywalker where they had little items that referenced all his Oscar nominated scores - 51 total. Hate on Ep. 9 all you want, but that's just sweet and lovely:

https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2020/03/16/the-john-williams-easter-egg-in-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-is-actually-pretty-amazing/

QuoteWhile it was certainly cool enough to finally see this legend on screen after hearing his unmistakable genius in the form of Star Wars music over more than four decades, the absolutely mind-blowing thing about this Easter Egg is that it actually contains 51 additional Easter Eggs referencing John Williams' historic career. That's right– according to the new feature-length documentary The Skywalker Legacy (now available thanks to The Rise of Skywalker's early digital release), every item on the shelves behind Mr. Williams in his scene is a nod to one of the films for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Confused? Let's get specific. At the time of filming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, John Williams had been nominated for 51 Academy Awards across his storied career (second only to Walt Disney, who topped out at 59). As a tribute to this monumental achievement, J.J. Abrams and The Rise of Skywalker's production design team decided to include Easter Egg references to all 51 of those nominations on the shelves behind John Williams' character– who happened to be named Oma Tres, an anagram for the word "maestro."

Individual references pointed out in The Skywalker Legacy documentary include Captain Hook's hook from Hook, the yellow barrels from Jaws, E.T.'s spaceship, a czech hedgehog and dog tags from Saving Private Ryan, a corncob pipe from Tom Sawyer, a book from The Book Thief (monogrammed with John Williams' initials in the Star Wars language Aurebesh), Indiana Jones' whip, and the iron from Home Alone.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

crazy canuck

Quote from: celedhring on September 28, 2022, 04:08:41 AMAndor episode 4.

Definitely falling in love with the show. Make no mistake, this is a slow-burn show - and I dig its attention to detail and showing so many little moments of different characters (i.e. Mon Mothma's marriage crisis, the relationships between the ISB officers...). Overall it's well written and despite being so different in tone to the other more "fantasy adventure" Star Wars shows we've got so far, it doesn't feel out of place.

ISB internal politics  :wub:

Also, they name-checked the Rakata  :w00t:

I am also really enjoying this.

One odd error in episode 4.  The event they are waiting for happens every three years. The person telling them about it has been on planet for seven years. He has seen two of the events. That means the next event cannot happen for at least two more years. But it's going to happen in five days.

celedhring

Quote from: crazy canuck on September 29, 2022, 09:52:53 AM
Quote from: celedhring on September 28, 2022, 04:08:41 AMAndor episode 4.

Definitely falling in love with the show. Make no mistake, this is a slow-burn show - and I dig its attention to detail and showing so many little moments of different characters (i.e. Mon Mothma's marriage crisis, the relationships between the ISB officers...). Overall it's well written and despite being so different in tone to the other more "fantasy adventure" Star Wars shows we've got so far, it doesn't feel out of place.

ISB internal politics  :wub:

Also, they name-checked the Rakata  :w00t:

I am also really enjoying this.

One odd error in episode 4.  The event they are waiting for happens every three years. The person telling them about it has been on planet for seven years. He has seen two of the events. That means the next event cannot happen for at least two more years. But it's going to happen in five days.

Not really. The first time he saw the event it occurred 1 year after he arrived. Second at 4 years, and now the third at 7.

Habbaku

I thought I was safe from math word problems in the Star Wars universe...
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

crazy canuck

Quote from: celedhring on September 29, 2022, 09:55:53 AM
Quote from: crazy canuck on September 29, 2022, 09:52:53 AM
Quote from: celedhring on September 28, 2022, 04:08:41 AMAndor episode 4.

Definitely falling in love with the show. Make no mistake, this is a slow-burn show - and I dig its attention to detail and showing so many little moments of different characters (i.e. Mon Mothma's marriage crisis, the relationships between the ISB officers...). Overall it's well written and despite being so different in tone to the other more "fantasy adventure" Star Wars shows we've got so far, it doesn't feel out of place.

ISB internal politics  :wub:

Also, they name-checked the Rakata  :w00t:

I am also really enjoying this.

One odd error in episode 4.  The event they are waiting for happens every three years. The person telling them about it has been on planet for seven years. He has seen two of the events. That means the next event cannot happen for at least two more years. But it's going to happen in five days.

Not really. The first time he saw the event it occurred 1 year after he arrived. Second at 4 years, and now the third at 7.

Right you are, I failed grade two math.

 :D

Syt

Star Wars Explained has a video on the items in Luthan's antiques shop:


And yes, it does partially seem to be a case of, "Pick out some cool stuff from the props archive." (but not just) :D
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Syt

A lovely Twitter account to follow is Crazy Ass Moments in Star Wars: https://twitter.com/SW_Moment

Usually covers strange and crazy moments across Star Wars media and moichendise, like the Slave Leia Perfume, when Jabba swallowed an entire woman whole, Chewie's dad watching VR porn, or the Ewok suicide bombers in the Empire at War expansion.

Though this one has been one of their funnier ones. :D

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.