How worried should we be about solo?

If that retconned nightmare of the Millennium Falcon is any indication...be worried...very worried.

 

I think its cool to see the Falcon PRE-Modified for the first time. You honestly didn't think the Falcon look like it did when he won it from Lando or when Lando bought the ship?

 

Uh, well based on E3, yeah I kinda did.

Let's be honest: The isn't some high minded artistic decision based on what the ship would look like before Han owned it. It is a decision based purely on merchandising so they could sell models and legos and pictures and playsets and figurines of a ship that we've all already got hundreds of models and legos and pictures and playsets and figurines of already.

 

You say that like they wouldn't have repackaged the Falcon again and resold it anyways. At least this time we get something new.

 

They certainly would have repackaged it, but I doubt it would have sold much.

 

George did the same, in terms of merchandising. It's part of the business. At least we get to see the Falcon in a new way and finally get the official explanation of the "forks" that we all know.

 

George did similar things but I just don't think the OT was quite was shameless as Disney. E1 was pretty shameless, but things settled down for E2 and E3.

Disney, however, has taken it to a whole 'nother level.

 

You know, this is a solid point. If Disney is going to be releasing Star Wars every year for the foreseeable future, it would be smart to expect more than one dud in the mix.

 

I don't think that this is true. For a long time the brand has been used to sell and market on countless things.



Revenge of the Sith barf bag



That one probably being the most absurd thing of them all. Don't forget Star Wars Transformers, Potato Heads, cookie jars, toasters, chop sticks, cereal, cook books... name it. There are Star Wars versions of just about everything out there and most of it has been there before the sale to Disney. As for Disney-related merchandise, that has been sold in Disney parks for decades. Lucasfilm has always had a partnership with Disney.

 

It depends...

If you expect a superb installment, you should be worried. I think we are way past the point where we can anticipate a "great" film, all we can now hope for is a "decent" or "palatable" film.

If you are worried the film will be a complete joke or will ruin the Star Wars brand, breathe deep and rest easy, the film won't be that bad and will have enough eye candy and fan service to at least be worth the price of a ticket.

 

You should be as worried as you want to be.

For myself, I don't want to worry about it. I will form my opinion about it after I see it.

 

I have done a poor job making my point, so please allow me to clarify:

I am not talking about the volume of merchandise or the ridiculous product assortment, I am talking about compromising the artistic integrity of the films themselves in order to sell merchandise. There is a difference between taking a movie and merchandising it versus making production decisions impacting the movie itself in order to increase merchandising.

So sure, they may have made Star Wars Transformers and barf bags and potato heads, but there weren't any of those things in the movies themselves so they were nothing more than silly little trinkets. In this instance with the Millennium Falcon, we are seeing a major on-screen decision (regarding arguably the most iconic ship in cinematic history) being made with nothing more than marketing and merchandising in mind.

George Lucas is not 100% pure in this regard, but Disney has taken it to a whole higher level. They are doing in real life what happened in the movie Spaceballs as a parody.

 

I still think that you are wrong. "I've made a lot of special modifications myself." and "What have you done to my ship?" have left many of us for years wondering how much different the Falcon was from when Han first acquired her. It makes perfect sense that it looks different in Solo than it does how we know her.

Also, you said...

I was expecting more examples. If you are reacting this way over the Falcon then it sounds like you just wanna be mad at Disney for some reason.

 

Oh, I don't need any additional reasons to be mad at Disney. The piss poor quality of the 3 3/4 line (and ever-evaporating packaging) did that enough for me.

Sounds to me like you just want to be a Disney apologist for some reason.

 

So "Disney, however, has taken it to a whole 'nother level." is because you are mad at the Falcon looking different and action figures by Kenner?

Do you remember this stuff?





You know full well that there are many more examples to be had. I don't need to be an apologist to refute the fact that you are way off the mark to act like Disney has up and suddenly ruined things that were good to go before or that they were wrong to change the look of the Falcon when it was established on film over 30 years ago that it had been modified from it's original form.

You also label Disney as the culprit while citing the "Spaceballs" merchandise joke when the joke was born of the ridiculousness of Star Wars merchandising from way back then. That makes no sense.

 

LOL, I remember thinking that they looked odd, but being so stinkin excited that toys were being produced again. I also remember thinking that they looked this way probably because there was a cartoon. I was in the Marine Corps at the time and didn't watch TV, so I didn't know lol.

 

I'm worried about his voice. Alden is a good actor, but Harrison has such a distinctive voice and manner of speaking that is so closely associated with the character and bound so tightly with his iconic status. If Alden sounds nothing like him, he's going to get savaged. If he sounds a little like him, he'll be criticized. If he sounds exactly like him, he'll be accused of doing an impression rather than acting. I don't see a way for him to win.

 

I suspect that the problem might not be the movie. I suspect that the real problem will be the fans.