Star Wars: The Force Awakens

[DemolitionSquid]

I have a sci-fi read recommendation.

"The Stars At War" (Starfire) Series

By Steve White and David Weber
Crusade (1992)
In Death Ground (1997)
The Shiva Option (2002)
Insurrection (1990)
The Stars At War (2004) - Omnibus : Contains Crusade and In Death Ground
The Stars At War II (2005) - Omnibus : Contains The Shiva Option and Insurrection

By Steve White and Shirley Meier
Exodus (2007)

By Steve White and Charles E. Gannon
Extremis (2011)
Imperative (coming 2016)

The series is about sub-lightspeed travel between solar systems by using naturally occurring wormholes, and all spaceship combat is based around controlling these wormholes and naval-type strafing combat between massive fleets. There's a Klingon-like race of cat people called the Khanate of Orion and lots of orbital bombardments.

[Gradius]

http://i.imgur.com/Y1hAKNN.webm

[DemolitionSquid]

I still hate that fucking lightsaber. It looks absolutely retarded, and the explanation that they're exhaust ports because no one knows how to properly build a lightsaber anymore is bullshit because lightsabers don't work like that in the first place.

[Turalyon]

the explanation that they're exhaust ports because no one knows how to properly build a lightsaber anymore is bullshit because lightsabers don't work like that in the first place.

Ok, don't consider it a lightsaber then.

I love solving others peoples problems.

[Visions of Khas]

Okay Demo, how is Kylo's lightsaber so retarded? The inexperienced Kylo crafted it, utilizing mismatched components and a fractured kyber crystal. Moreover, it has narrative purpose: it reflects Kylo's own instability while simultaneously grounding TFA with medieval themes.

[Nissa]

I like Star Trek more than Star Wars. Not sure if I could be called a fan.

I gotta say though. I'm surprised you don't like Star Wars more, Nissa. I guess you're just full of surprises.

Why? What logical person would prefer Wars? Wars is full of cheap action, shallow characters, and almost no world depth. Episode 7 excelled by being a repeat of Episode 4. The prequels and other Star Wars side specials are all crap. I'm told that the Wars books are good, but that appears to be the only thing within the franchise of any real depth. While the original three movies were good, they have none of the thought, depth, or lasting impact of Trek. Not to mention Trek having more media than just four movies that rise above the level of "suck." Let's not even get into merchandising.

Nah, I'm hard sci fi. This soft stuff doesn't really do it for me.

Oh, and Kylo's saber is stupid because you have to fight very carefully not to slit your own wrists. We have the model at my work, and trust me, that's the case.

[Visions of Khas]

Why? What logical person would prefer Wars?... While the original three movies were good, they have none of the thought, depth, or lasting impact of Trek.

Uh, clearly a lot of people like it, evidently. Shall we delve into Campbell's theory of the Hero cycle? Star Wars is a fantasy in space; it's escapist fluff. So was The Hobbit and LotR. Sometimes, just sometimes, escapist fluff happens to capture the imagination.

Nah, I'm hard sci fi. This soft stuff doesn't really do it for me.

Tee hee...

[Nissa]

Uh, clearly a lot of people like it, evidently. Shall we delve into Campbell's theory of the Hero cycle? Star Wars is a fantasy in space; it's escapist fluff. So was The Hobbit and LotR. Sometimes, just sometimes, escapist fluff happens to capture the imagination.

I'm not saying Wars is bad (except for the prequels/ewok spin offs), I'm just saying when you've got Trek on one side, and Wars on the other, Trek's better overall.

[sandwich_bird]

Trek has the shittiest artistic direction of it all though. It's so bad in fact that it is almost repulsive. There is nothing interesting visually about it(debatable for the new movies). Don't get me wrong, I like Star Trek but it is really just for the story/concepts explored. I probably would have enjoyed the show/movies much better as books(I didn't read any Trek book btw). With that said, Star wars is a MUCH better universe visually than Star Trek even though the plot of the movies is mediocre.

[DemolitionSquid]

Why? What logical person would prefer Wars? Wars is full of cheap action, shallow characters, and almost no world depth. Episode 7 excelled by being a repeat of Episode 4. The prequels and other Star Wars side specials are all crap. I'm told that the Wars books are good, but that appears to be the only thing within the franchise of any real depth. While the original three movies were good, they have none of the thought, depth, or lasting impact of Trek. Not to mention Trek having more media than just four movies that rise above the level of "suck." Let's not even get into merchandising.

I'd just like to state that Genndy Tartakovsky's animated Clone Wars (2003-2005 ) series is fucking fantastic, and if you haven't see you owe it to yourself to watch it. It actually portrays the Jedi and General Grievous as powerful beings, and its full of both great action and emotion. Of course, you can't expect anything less from the creator of Samurai Jack and Dexter's Lab.

Oh, and Kylo's saber is stupid because you have to fight very carefully not to slit your own wrists. We have the model at my work, and trust me, that's the case.

Thank you for showing some sanity. The weapon is complete bullshit.

Trek has the shittiest artistic direction of it all though. It's so bad in fact that it is almost repulsive. There is nothing interesting visually about it(debatable for the new movies). Don't get me wrong, I like Star Trek but it is really just for the story/concepts explored. I probably would have enjoyed the show/movies much better as books(I didn't read any Trek book btw). With that said, Star wars is a MUCH better universe visually than Star Trek even though the plot of the movies is mediocre.

Flashy effects don't make a good movie. Avatar has incredible, revolutionary 3D visuals... but I will never watch it again because its story is boring over-done crap and its characters are hollow. I probably won't even watch Episode 7 again for a few years because I've already seen A New Hope so many times. The reason we keep getting shit like Micheal Bay's Transformers and TMNT is because our society has let our brains rot where we need to induce seizures in our children to keep them focused on something. Its disgusting.