Indignation And Its Perks
In progressive academia, you must watch what you say, even in jest:
“I decided I’d try something a little different, but maybe it was a little too outside… I apologise if I offended anyone, that certainly wasn’t my intention,” [café operator Sandor] Dosman said. “I wouldn’t have done it if I knew this was going to happen. I have no job now.”
The details of Mr Dosman’s unforgivable transgression can be found here.
Readers may wonder whether Mr Dosman’s sudden unemployment was the result of students actually being offended on account of their improbably delicate sensibilities. Or more to do with the thrill of exerting power over an easy target, and the kinds of personalities attracted to such things.
Via RTW.
You guys are weird: You’re rebutting my ACTUALLY HAVING SEEN THE MOVIE with Other People’s Reviews.
It’s the story of how the plans for the Death Star were obtained, and it finishes only a few hours before Episode IV starts.
ERGO, several characters in Episode IV feature in Rogue One, and they did some nice casting to make up for Ep IV having been filmed in 1977.
It’s entertaining enough–and it’s not saturated with refs to Eps IV, V, VI as The Force Awakens was.
As for this: “all one notices is the video game designers in the back of the production office ticking off that Here will be this bit on a video game level,”
I didn’t notice that at all, for the simple reason that I don’t play video games. So if that was actually the subtext it didn’t hurt the storytelling.
Again, WTF with rebutting my brief review with someone else’s? Go see it yourself; then disagree if you must.
As for this: “all one notices is the video game designers in the back of the production office ticking off that Here will be this bit on a video game level,”
I didn’t notice that at all, for the simple reason that I don’t play video games. So if that was actually the subtext it didn’t hurt the storytelling.
Stating things vaguely, for the benefit of those who haven’t seen and want to learn for themselves . . .
The antenna controls are not at the base of the antenna, they are out at the end of a tiny little catwalk that itself just extends out from the side of a skyscraper.
A system override console related to a building is not at that building, it’s out in the open in an area littered with assorted random debris that snipers can hide behind.
Ship A) has clamps that are extending to and holding ship B). The two ships are docked together, where if those clamps are screwed with, things could rip apart, people could get killed. There will be very particular procedures, with warning signs about the dangers of using this equipment, sequences that announce Do you really want to do this, Etc. Instead, one finds out that on ship B) there is a near random lever with no particular indicators, which is sitting out in the open on some near random bulkhead, where yanking on that lever disengages the clamps.—Yes, ship _A_ has the clamps, ship _B_ has the clamp controls.
Etc.
For the handiest contrasts that come to mind, there was one of the Avengers, or Captain America or so movies, where Rogers and someone are strolling around an old base trying to deduce where something might have been hidden sixty or seventy years earlier. Rogers does a doubletake at a bunker and basically states, No, that placement is wrong for very specific and logical operational reasons, therefore that building can’t be what it claims to be, let’s go in there.
There is a story of the US Navy being quite fascinated by the console designs in the original series Star Trek, because everything was laid out in arm’s reach for best operation.
The issue is, simply, what would be a reasonable design, architectural layout, system of operation, because real people have to do real stuff with this equipment.
Now, aside from the production failures, I do think that Peter Cushing did an absolutely first rate returning portrayal of Tarkin . . . especially considering Cushing’s been dead since ’94 . . . !
Oh, and quite contrasting with Cushing, and my being someone who did see the movie, that was a truly alarming looking waxworks figure at the very end.
The antenna controls are not at the base of the antenna, they are out at the end of a tiny little catwalk that itself just extends out from the side of a skyscraper.
Impractical architecture that forces the heroes into further danger is standard Star Wars fare, if not standard sci-fi fare, as parodied in Galaxy Quest. Note also the Infinite Chasm separating the heroes from their MacGuffin, because every architect past 2200 AD will be compelled to design Hazardous Spaces for dramatic purposes.
See also Indiana Jones going after the Holy Grail. The Tenth Doctor aboard the space-Titanic. Peter’s Evil Overlord List #5 states “The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.” Many other items in the list address the obvious logistical flaws that dominate adventure stories.
It’s movie and novel stuff, first; gamers just adopted it.
There is a story of the US Navy being quite fascinated by the console designs in the original series Star Trek, because everything was laid out in arm’s reach for best operation.
There’s also the single point of entry onto the bridge, a mechanical LIFT fer the sake of Pete, which NCC-1701-D wisely remedied with multiple points of egress.
And yes, I did notice the waxworks figure at the end. I didn’t get that effect from Cushing. Both actors are listed rather low in the credits on IMDb: you have to go way down below the fold to get there. Tells ya something.
I found the tie-ins rather delightful, because they were organically part of the story, not the painfully self-conscious repetitions that JJ Abrams used ad nauseum. I just about dropped my teeth when I saw Mon Mothma.
I’m not itching to see Rogue One again, but I did enjoy myself whilst I was there.
That’s all I ask.
Also, I was there with my fellow employees–software programmers and other related nerd-boys–and they loved it.
and it’s not saturated with refs to Eps IV, V, VI as The Force Awakens was.
Yes, it was. You just didn’t notice them (clearly). Not as many, and the entire film wasn’t a damn near shot-by-shot remake of Episode IV, but there were rather a lot of visual shoutouts that served no purpose beyond “hey, fanboys!”.