Star Wars Fever

I have a real, real bad case of Star Wars fever in the lead up to the new film. It started last year, when I listened to Darth Plagueis on audiobook (I listen to audiobooks at work and during my commute). Over the last couple months, I've re-listened to that book, listened to Tarkin and the Darth Bane Trilogy, and now I'm currently reading (Rereading? I think I read them as a kid) the Thrawn Trilogy. I also re-installed SWTOR and started another play-through of KOTOR. The recent Star Wars trading card app isn't helping, either.

Is anybody else getting hype for new Star Wars stuff? I don't really expect much from the new film, but I feel like a kid again, and it's truly great.

Yeah... I don't know how optimistic to be about the movie, as I am expecting a solid but unremarkable pop sci-fi movie, but goddamn if I am not excited. Star Wars movies and novels occupied my life for a long time, I've read over 100 novels and a bunch of short stories, and the KOTOR and SWTOR games took a lot of my free time. I'm trying to convince my younger sister to go with me to the midnight premier with us cosplaying as Leia and Luke. Getting her to the movie will be easy, as she likes Star Wars too, the cosplay might be a harder sell.

I'm hopefully optimistic about the new Star Wars flicks, which is a remarkable improvement. By the time Revenge of the Sith came out I was seeing them out of habit. I understand why Abhrams is controversial in regards to movies, but in all honesty, I've liked pretty much everything he's done. Not loved it, but always had fun. I feel like the most recent Star Trek movies are a good barometer and if he can do the same thing with Star Wars (tell simple, character driven stories that hip upon the key points of the franchise) then I'm set.

As a fan of Battlefield and Dice, I'm super curious and looking forward to Battlefront. So much of the iconic action of Star Wars is the sound design and to think about what they can do with that has me hoping it's a crazy pew pew, crash your snowspeeder into an AT-AT, C4 a Taun Taun kinda game.

I'm playing a Star Wars tabletop game and I don't even have Star Wars fever.

Then again, with how badly our jewel heist went, maybe I won't be playing tabletop Star Wars much longer. We pissed off the Empire, the Hutts, Cloud City Security, a rogue Force-user and our own mysterious crime boss. I've ran the shadows for a bit, and pissing off half the galaxy is a bad run.

I've also been more of a video game guy than a movie guy, but I'm all for Stars War becoming a mainstream thing again! I'm really hoping the Star Wars makes a big come back at E3. But lets face it, EA has a habit of ruining games that seem good on paper.

Also more people should play SWTOR, that game is way better than it seems to get credit for.

I've been purposefully not getting too excited for the upcoming film. I have had my moments with Star Wars but for the moment it seems I'm in a bit of a Game of Thrones kick and I know Avengers 2 is coming up so I have a ways until Star Wars gets back into my blood stream.

I have given thought to reinstallling SWTOR but so far none of those urges have panned out. Perhaps 6 months from now I'll be right where you are waiting for my next dose.

I don't think its just talk of the film, that Star Wars humble bundle has had me playing Kotor 1 and 2 and Jedi Outcast the past 2 months.

@razzdrazz: Last year I got a group together to start adventuring in the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG. I've got to say, it's been a blast, especially for a group of flaky fools who prefer imagination to stats (not that stats and rule sets can't be fun, I loved the original star wars rpg). We've got completely off the rails onto our own adventure and are having a wild time. It's definitely got me excited for new star wars (even if it does turn out badly). I even went and replayed all of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games. The childhood is strong with this one.

This thread is a sign.... I'm having a battle with insomnia and literally just watched episode 2 and 3 don't know why but they popped into my head hoping I would fall asleep. Now on to the rest of the films or hopefully some sleep. ; ;

After the prequels any genuine interest in future Star Wars materials was killed for me, but since I work at a movie theater and can get in for free I'll probably see the new movie anyways. Not going to watch/read/play anything leading up to the film though because I honestly don't care that much.

Not really, I hope the movie and and the new Battlefront are good but if they're not I won't be bothered.

I'd enjoy TOR a lot more if they fixed some technical issues that will never get fixed. The LOD is real bad. My girlfriend always joked that her sith sorcerer made flowers grow around her feet. Wildlife animating in the distance would have 2-3 frames of animation until they were in that magic 30 foot bubble where they looked really nice. It's real jarring to me.

Otherwise, it is a pretty good game. Worth subbing to for at least your first playthrough.

I just got back from Disneyworld and rode the shit out of Star Tours. I may have bought a lightsaber there... and models of TIE Fighters/TIE Advances, which led to me buying the Lego Collector's B-Wing and Slave 1. I've been telling myself I'm going to replay TIE Fighter but haven't gotten around to it. Then, that animated TIE Fighter cartoon shows up on youtube...

I don't know man, re-reading the Thrawn trilogy (which was pretty great) when it's about to be erased from the canon seems like a set up for disappointment.

Is it confirmed that the new movies will ignore the EU? Aside from cameos from Luke, Leia, etc. there seems to be enough new characters that the movies could be their own thing and still allow room for Thrawn, Mara Jade, and all the rest to still be considered "canon".

At least I hope. Those books, for what they are, are really good. And it sucks if they'd just casually throw that body of work away to make the universe more marketable.

I bet I have read more Star Wars novels and spent more time playing Star Wars games and consuming the media in general than almost anyone on this board, but I'm hardly excited at all about the new film. I think I'm mainly trying to keep my expectations low in the hopes that I find anything good or redeeming about the movie at all, rather than the other way around.

@joshwent: Yep, all those books, comics, games, etc., are all no longer canon. Part of the "Legends" series that is now retconned out.

Current canon:

WOW, I wish the sound was better but daaaaaaamn.

I eventually stopped reading Star Wars books as soon as I read one written by Kevin J. Anderson and realized they let any yahoo write a Star Wars book.

I had the same kind of fever at the beginning of last year. I used to scoff a bit at Star Wars thinking I was way over it now that I am a full grown adult (no, I am). I cant even remember what drew me back in, all I know is Darth Maul is dope and Darth Plagueis is a great book. The third book based on the prequel movies are the best and most in depth with respect to the source material, which is surprisingly quite deep. James Luceno is the best author I have encountered so far, followed by Matt Stover.

Yeah,overall I go back and forth between Star Wars being my favorite sci fi universe. When it isn't its 40k.

I really like Star Wars, but mainly because I thought it was amazing as a kid. I'd be more meh about it if I grew up with the newer trilogies, I suppose. I'm looking forward to the new movies and spin-offs, too.

@goodenoughforme: Bummer.

I just know I'm going to enjoy Battlefront more than BF3 and BF4. I think the addition of hero units into the mix is really cool.

"Vader has joined the battle". :)

@brodehouse: Haha I'm the GM for my Edge of the Empire group and prepping for that adventure. It's a doozy.

As for Star Wars I am one of the tragics who never didnt have Star Wars fever, even after all the missteps (so many missteps). I thought the Abrams Star Trek movies were great Star Wars movies so I'm hyped. I was unsure about the canon purge at first but if we have to sacrifice Kyle Katarn to delete Clone Palpatine and Starkiller then that's good overal. Tarkin also recanonised a lot of my favorite EU stuff as it is with the ISB and COMPNOR. Battlefront is keenly followed also.

Audiobooks are the best way to enjoy are Star Wars novel. The have cool sound effects that detracts from how dumb the stories can be. I still love Star Wars and have gone back to SWTOR again.

If anything I feel the opposite, I keep remembering what happened when we got that Last Indiana Jones film I wanted for so long.....

I don't know man, I grew up with Star Wars but it's starting to feel really dated.

Sometimes things are best left in the past.

I'm not expecting anything more than the kind of entertainment gotten from recent Marvel films or past JJ Abrams work. It'll be fun, nothing mind blowing. Now that we can create anything we want on film the new one can't catch the same kind of magic the original did. To be honest Avatar was sort of the successor to that legacy from a technical perspective, in terms of how its visuals were a big part of its success. Only Chris Nolan films get me excited about its visual anymore. The semi in The Dark Knight, the rotating hallway in Inception, the plane in Rises, and a shit ton of shots in Interstellar left me in awe, and no other director really does that stuff as well. I'm happy your excited though.

I'm really excited! The only criticism I have of those new Star Trek movies is that they're a little too Star Warsy. Everything I hear about this new one sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. They got one of my favorite directors for the sequels! I don't care that they're gonna run this shit into the ground, fuck it! Star Wars has been ruined once before, and it can't possibly be as bad this time, might as well get excited.

I think is a real shame that they "rebutted" the canon. Some of the best stuff ever made for star wars was on the books/video games, for me KOTOR still is the best story ever told in the EU(and probably best star wars in general), but that being said, I'm curious on what direction they will be taking with the new trilogy.

I stopped reading SW books a few years ago. My supervisor killed almost all joy I had in this universe.

I hope the new films are good, but I'm not in a rush to see them.

I spent most of my free time in high school playing SWG and losing myself in the universe but growing older I find Star Trek has more colorful plots even though their aliens are silly charicatures in comparison. TOS even had an episode where some people could channel "The Force".

I've lost a lot of respect to George Lucas reading how he took all the credit for the first trilogy when it was his wife who made the movies emotionally engaging in the editing. I'm not quite sure if J.J. Abrams can deliver something more than a CGI extravaganza.

Star Wars has so much potential for dark themes and 'gritty' cityscapes. Imagine if Oliver Stone or Tarantino would make something like Natural Born Killers in the Star Wars universe based on Tales of the Bounty Hunters. It could probably only happen if someone Kickstarted it :(

@thesquarepear: I definitely feel you. Star Trek is a better example of serialized science fiction/fantasy than Star Wars. Hell, Mass Effect even hits a lot of those themes home to great effect as well! I've really been digging some of the EU stuff (now dubbed 'Legacy') recently because of those darker themes present in Plagueis, Darth Bane, Tarkin, and Thrawn. The humanization of the 'bad guys,' their motivations, back-stories, et cetera, is way more interesting than the black hat/white hat stuff that's been beaten to death ever since everyone figured out Lucas is a fan of Joseph Campbell. In fact, I think what makes those pieces of fiction remotely interesting is that they turn the Campbell stereotypes upside-down to a large degree. The recent Darth Vader comics are a good example of this, especially when he gets chastised by the Emperor, hearkening back to Robot Chicken. I definitely want a mash-up of Coruscant with William Gibson or something.

I don't have especially high hopes for the new films and media, but I do think that Star Wars has the potential to revolutionize popular science ficiton/fantasy in a different way than in the past. But, probably won't happen, so I'll just stick to old DS9 episodes and Neuromancer.