I havent been so excited since back in the ROTS days... man that felt like a lifetime ago!

Began foaming at the mouth when i saw these pics! MF!!!

Anyone get this feeling that the movie will actually be good like OT-era good?? With JJ Abrams, the Force is.

I am TOTALLY loving this. With JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan steering this, Im mega excited. These images are probably the best thing to be leaked. Everyone seemed to be a little anti-SW.

Holy crap. I can't believe people like this.

The point at which someone secretly took photos of some concept artwork was the point at which they betrayed the trust of their employers. No sooner, no later. If someone has "lost their job" (which I doubt has even happened) then that is the reason right there.

This dude is not bitching because someone working on Episode VII might be fired, so why even pretend? They are bitching because they have lost their little imaginary slice of control. Their little inter-nerd power trip. "We've seen photos. You can't see the photos. Here's a description of the photos written by someone with poor grammar and zero descriptive skills..."

Jog on, mate. Seen this kind of crap time and time again.

That's hilarious.
I also noticed that makingstarwars hasn't bothered with these pics. As if to say "we want it first or we don't want it."

let me first preface that I do like Devin and his writing style. I have followed his insight in cinema for a few years now. HE has great articles and Alamo Draft House/Badassdigest really are a great.

that being said, I find it incredibly ironic that just days ago he didn't post about RDJ/CAP3 even though he had it cause he could confirm and said he was never going to hold a scoop again...

Then this and then said the actor playing the villain which will "blow us away" but no info...

Yeah, fair play. It's not anything personal with this guy, per se. Just that this kind of drama has been going on since the prequels, and it's as if nothing has moved on.

These pics - and any others doing the rounds - are the property of Disney/LucasFilm/Bad Robot, whatever, and that's all there is to it. You can't adopt some kind of imaginary moral high ground, just because you didn't have the balls to put those pics out there yourself...

When you are reaping the rewards of webtraffic based around dripfeeding cryptic descriptions of this artwork - or whatever - then you are in it up to your elbows as much as anyone else.

If the whole prequel spoiler circus taught us one thing, it's that the people who spit the dummy out in situations like this are the ones who had an agenda - people who just wanted to bask in the glory of sharing their own slice of spoiler pie in their own way. And they get upset when someone else ruins their little sharing "timeline".

Look at it this way - if you are sat on a load of leaked pics, or script details, or something, it makes sense that you might want to tease people with them. You don't want to blow your load, do you? You want to keep people coming back to your website again and again.

That's what I mean about there being a timeline - because you don't know when the leaks are going to dry up. You're going to spread what you've got out for as long as possible, usually culminating with you eventually revealing the photos themselves.

That all makes sense. No problem with that at all.

The problem comes when someone else leaks the crap you were sitting on, before you do. Well, tough.

You can't go whining about it as if you have been wronged. It's the owner of the photos who has been wronged and you were as responsible as anyone else. If the person who leaked the photos before you was someone you had shared the pics with and had "an agreement" with, then more the fool you.

The "you've just cost someone their job" line is just a cheap shot. Heard it so many times before. More often than I have actually heard about someone being fired from a movie for leaking pics...

Anyway, mild rant inspired by one tweet over... I just can't believe people in the spoiler game still haven't learnt we are all pissing in the same pot here.

Welp, that got me back here after 9 years.

Yeah, that's the site that kept posting info based on those photos for weeks on end. Literally going neener-neener-neener at the rest of the fandom.

I personally like Devin---love him or hate him, he's honest; up until his recent "Star Wars conversion" (brought about largely from seeing these and other pics), he would just bluntly say that he's running Star Wars stories because they get a bunch of hits and "keep the lights on".

Give me that kind of candor any day over boot-licking sites like JediNews.CO.uK or TFN, who are both lodged way up LFL's ass, not saying or doing anything risky (or interesting) in order to preserve their table scrap access.

That being said, Treadwell perfectly nailed it a few posts back, and Devin or whoever has no right to whine about everybody else having access to what are basically ill-gotten gains in the first place.

As it was over a decade ago, it takes DP/MF.com to cut through all the bullshit ego games of the stupid SW spoiler scene.

Totally wild idea and feel free to shoot me down & slightly out of context with the way the discussion is headed at this peasant moment in time on this post...

After looking at the "Grave Robber & Vader" images - I cant help thinking what if they got some of Vader's tissue leftovers & cloned him... Abrams likes his little surprises and there's nothing stopping him not announcing that Hayden Christensen is part of the cast (sort of in the way Sean Connery was in Robin Hood - Prince Of Thieves).

Just a crazy thought I know but wanted to throw it out there.

here here

That is why this is the site. I will look at others hoping for something different from a different perspective, might even post stupid stuff, but this is the real deal when talking SW.

Great post, Treadwell

What if they're discarded concepts?

Certainly possible.

However, we've seen the At-At feet in Abu Dhabi - makes sense now that they were side-on poking from under a marquee.
We've seen the falcon hangar set.

We've seen the beast of burden with the piggy nose. We've seen some of the other desert sets.

We know about activity on Skellig Michael and in the Forest of Dean, which ties in with some of this stuff visually too. We've seen a cybernetic hand (Chewie? Montross? The grave-robber?).

We know at the very least that something that corresponds with a lot of this stuff has most likely been shot.
Maybe none of it will make the final cut.

Here's where the fun begins, I guess...

It does seem like these concepts have been used in some capacity during filming. It would be nice to have a few more plot details to put some of the darker imagery in context.


Anything's possible. Based on the pictures, the cyborg could be any number of existing characters.

Wouldn't it be difficult to keep Christensen's involvement a secret? I want to say yes. But, James Earl Jones was able to become Vader again without leaks. So, maybe it's easier than I realize?

Imageshack account seems to be down. Anyone have a mirror / zip of the COMPLETE concept art leak? I've seen many blogs around with the images, but not all the images. Shoulda saved it when I had the chance!

With all the emphasis on clones for the last trilogy, and it never explicitly being said that you can't clone Jedi, it'd certainly be an interesting development.

A reborn Anakin coming to grips with the horrors that he wrought in a previous life would be a fun story to do as a "what if" kind of thing but it would probably derail the main plot too much.

Mirror: http://imgur.com/a/TRICw

Must admit - I hate any stories where "clones" inherit the source's memories and experiences, essentially becoming the original "reborn".
Likeness, mannerisms, abilities, behavior being passed on - yes, that all makes sense. But actually becoming the same person in a literal sense? That's just dumb.

I mean, what if you clone someone who is still living? Does that person's consciousness somehow split into two?

Boba was an "unaltered" clone of Jango, but he didn't believe he was Jango. Otherwise he'd have spent the entire saga curled up in a ball trying to understand why he could remember two different and completely conflicting eighth birthday celebrations. Why he could remember his 21st birthday, but wasn't even that old yet. And so on... It just doesn't work that way, even in fiction.

I don't know. Looking at the image, "The Carosel" Size Comparison. There are definite design differences between the two ships. It willl be interesting ot see how they play out.

Dingdingding
We have a winner!

I find it hilarious he's claiming it's the person who posted the images fault.

Whoever TOOK the pictures is the only one responsible.

Holy hell I haven't been here in years, but something tells me that I'm going to be back devouring spoilers like I was for ROTS. Unbelievably cool pictures!

I couldn't possibly say what is the right or wrong answer - but I would much rather prefer to think they have put some thought into this and remembered that the Falcon lost the dish in the second Death Star and provided a visual nod to this by having it be replaced by a different dish... rather than there just be two Falcon style vessels in this movie.

Seems to me, if there are discrepancies between the two "blueprints" seen here it might be because the two physical "things" they are building have different practical requirements despite representing the same thing onscreen, if you get what I mean...

Wow, how the hell did you get your hands on this??

SS (posting from year 1998)...?

EDIT: Hah - cool filter! ^^^ Not seen that one before...

Regarding the grave Robber being a clone ... i think it could be feasible that the Empire/Adam Driver character tried to clone Anakin and failed (sort of) hence the cybernetics. The Ani-clone Skywalker could be Strong with the Force and conflicted from the expectation/knowledge of his old self.

The character in general could be neither good or bad and something of a pawn between the two factions.

The GR looks to be a great character in the making.

Understandably, speculation about the cyborg revolves around his gender. But, what if the character has been changed to a female role? That would leave the window open for other possibilities like a mechanical Ventress, dark Ahsoka, or even "Kira's" evil twin?

I feel very strongly that the Skywalker family should be at the center of the main conflict. Whoever the main bad guy is, the motivation should be personal as well as ideological/political. The drama of the OT was driven by the relationship between Vader and Luke, and Palpatine's manipulation of both.

There are times when I play possible plot scenarios in my head and all I think about is how extraneous the idea of a ST still feels to me. I love everything I'm seeing and hearing in terms of style and tone, but I'm still having a tough time coming to grips with the fact that the resolution of Anakin's journey and the iconic imagery of ROTJ's finale is not the epic conclusion of the Skywalker saga, as we'd been led to believe.

Someone here talked about the possibility of Anakin showing up as a Force ghost and I don't actually think that's a bad idea: it makes a ton of sense. Vader may have destroyed the Emperor, but his work as the chosen one may not yet be done. Now that he's "one with the Force" he might have far more work left to do to restore balance, and maybe the antagonist of the ST is trying to upset that balance. That said, I shudder at the thought of Hayden Christensen playing any sort of role in the new movies and I'm sure KK and JJ are working to distance themselves from the PT as much as possible anyway.

The last images of ROTJ showed Luke with his Jedi family so why wouldn't we see Anakin, Yoda and Obi-wan?

Which would be a bad as a thing as trying to satisfy all the mid 40 year old hater sheep with throwing nostalgia stuff all over the place just to get those guys into the boat. That said I think KK knows how to handle GLs Legacy. She was chosen by him for doing so and he gave her directions how to handle the mindless stupid hate of some members of this fandom...

Precisely, though, let's remember, that dish wasn't an aesthetic piece, it served a purpose, and Han had put it there on purpose. If it was damaged, it would be more than likely that Han would replace it with something similar.

Something can serve a similar purpose and look different. Remember that 30 years have passed - technology evolves too.

Well, I dunno - seems to me that new dish qualifies as something similar...


Had a little train of thought about the Grave Digger dude earlier.

It's been bothering me that Vader might be so important to anyone, particularly after the events of ROTJ. Then I got round to thinking, it's not Vader, per se, that is important, but if there is some cult, religion, or race of people out there, something detached from the Republic, that has their own belief in the prophecy...

I'd imagine they would be pretty pissed when they discover that their chosen one has already been discovered, was adopted by bunch of weird monks, got dragged into a war, and is now dead. I can sort of see how it may make sense if it was something along those lines...

Why for the love of god would you even drop that name? There will be not a chance in hell anyone would want Christensen back. I truly hope no cloning. Its lame, has been done before and we dont need vader to reappear. Introduce a new villain is where its at.

Totally agree with you about the new villain, we do need something new and fresh... I'm sure I read somewhere that there was gonna be flashbacks featuring a younger Leia, so Vader might make an appearance anyway - all be it in a flashback.

As for Christensen coming back... like I said, was a wild idea but Lucas surprised everyone when he replaced Sebastian Shaw with Christensen as the Anakin force ghost at the end of Jedi... it could happen again...

Too many weird cyborg things going on in this artwork. I do like the feel of some of it, though. Much more Star Warsy than the prequels. Heck, some of this makes my imagination run wild thinking about what could have been.

Well Lucas sold SW. While hes still a 'consultant' from what i read, he really has no say. Which is a good thing. So i doubt it. It wouldnt be a good thing and im sure JJ knows better. A masked vader dream or whatever sure but that's all i would wanna see.

On the Vader/Christiansen thing:

If they (JJ/Kasdan) have not scrapped Lucas' treatments then I find it hard to believe the best Lucas could do was clone Vader. I don't think he'd rehash a Skywalker falling to the dark side again (that's like the another Death Star/ROTJ Shot because he was burnt out). Lucas' best gift is his storytelling followed by his technical ability to hit the beats in the editing room with movement and sound/music (Though he delegates that to the best of the best - Burt & Williams).

However, what might come to pass is Luke did not willingly turn, but might be driven insane from 10 years of isolation/shock treatments/cloning torture or something.

If this ends up being the case, you might see Ahsoka (possibly Nyong'o character) the actual "other" coming from the other side of the galaxy (per Gary Kurtz statements on the 9 film outlines) and not Leia (another misread prophecy as to how things unfold). This would be cool because you had the son redeeming/saving the father in ROTJ and now the father saving the son through his old student/padawan.

Also, this opens up the possibility of Anakin appearing too Ahsoka so Christensen would be needed.

The big BUT in all this is maybe we need not worry about Christensen this time because the real big hindrance to the prequels was Lucas' inability to get the best out of his actors (his worst filmmaking trait, and what separates him from Spielberg, Coppola, etc). Lucas is a storyteller/technical guy not an actor's director.

Case in point: Hamill’s and everyone else's best sold performances were in Empire (Kirshner). Lucas was supposedly ever present on set in Jedi which might have strained Marquand's attempts.

So Maybe Christensen will shine this time.

Also, I would be up for actually seeing a Anakin vs. Sideous battle ala Yoda/Sideous through a Moraband mystical dreamlike sequence as in the S6 Yoda Clone Wars arc (I think these episodes were the testing ground for the mystical/philosophical stuff to come).

So short story long, maybe Christiansen will be a good thing.

Yeah, I think Christensen is underrated, and I blame a lot his performance on Lucas' direction and script than any lack of ability by the actor himself. Hell, even Ewan, Liam and Natalie didn't exactly come off as stellar in the PT, and they are all quite accomplished actors. I think if you gave Christensen some good lines and solid direction he'd surprise everyone. I'd be quite shocked if he isn't in Episode 7 in some capacity.

If Luke really is, according to rumour, captured and undergoing duress, having Anakin appear to encourage him to keep strong would be pretty awesome.

Going from all that has happened from Episode 4 onwards, once Obi-Wan was killed, the force ghost thing has been consistent throughout Empire & Jedi...personally I don't think this will be dropped for Episode 7. We will see force ghosts... I'm sure of that.

However, how they go about it will be interesting as the old Obi-Wan cant possibly make an appearance (unless they go down the Terminator Salvation route and make him cgi...which is a hell of a call to make) the only two options left are Yoda & Anakin.

Yoda is easy as he would be cgi...that only leaves Christensen to fill the role...the only other option is to diminish their powers (like in the EU novels) where they can no longer appear but only communicate through voice.

As much as I want to see some prequel elements woven into the sequels I doubt they would bring back Hayden if only to please OT fans by amputating the PT.

Daisy has a very Ania Solo feel to her. These pics are incredible I knew MF would be back at it, great to see forums pick up and new members joining.

Good morning all - quick intro - long time lurker here from days of yore (prequel-era poster, 2000-2005, long-since forgotten my username, but posted very frequently, tried to re register many times since but to no avail, anyway good to be back) - now down to business.

This photo:



Now compare that to the image of the size comparison Carousel image (can't link to it) - check out the extensions to the mandibles on the photo above. I believe we're looking at The Carousel above, whether it's the true Falcon, an imposter or a forced perspective 3/4 size true Falcon.

Also, the guy standing in the structure top-left looks far too big for the ship, or rather the ship looks far too small, coupled with the dummy front cockpit window, bottom left by the bushes - this is a 3/4 size Falcon - either a forced-perspective set dressing or The Carousel if this indeed is a new separate ship.

Thoughts?

I don't think the ship looks too small.

Even if it did, this is obviously the same MF, and meant to appear in the background of whatever this scene is (like they should have done in ROTJ, instead of that bad matte painting in the Rebel Cruiser hangar).

My thinking is that it is the Falcon, with minor structural tweaks including the replacement main sensor antenna and the 'pointed' front loading mandibles.

If it was a different stock light freighter then it would make no aesthetic sense to have it look identical - it would confuse the viewer? It would at the very least have received a markedly different paint-scheme, progressing to significant hull changes to the point it may as well be designed from scratch as an entirely new vehicle.

However ... if it was a decoy to lure an enemy into pursuit, or a flying bomb, then it does make more sense.

Hello to the group, BTW!
Been following MF.com for years since its earliest prequel scoops.

We have seen approximately 1/3 of the entire ship. We have no idea what the ship looks like.

Wow. First time I've logged in to this site in a looooong time. I'm surprised my user name and password still work. I used to lurk and sometimes post here and be pretty active on theforce.net forums at lot back when ROTS was filmed and released.

Days upon days watching the Episode 3 webcam in the concept art and costume making rooms.

Thanks for the concept art. I checked them out about a week ago after being redirected here from starwars7news.com. Nice to know what kind of "tone" the film might have.

Okay, just to break this Falcon thing down a bit...

In early in June we saw this:



Then in August we saw this:



Just my opinion of course, but I see no reason to presume that this not an attempt to recreate this cockpit...



Of course, I can see differences, but then there were differences between the interior, exterior sets and models used across the three OT movies to a greater or lesser extent.

So, early in September things got interesting when some guy filmed this by accident:



The important thing to note here is that pretty much half of the Falcon is constructed, the cockpit is attached, and there is no radar dish present. The fact that the right facing edge of the left mandible is present would suggest to me that this set is built purely to be shot from the right-hand side.

Again, just my opinion, but the markings and details seem consistent with an attempt to recreate the OT Falcon faithfully.


What's interesting is that the pictures that surfaced later that month showed this:



Clearly the same set in the same location, but there is far less of it constructed - including the cockpit, which is detached. The curious thing, though, is that dish - it wasn't there earlier, but the rest of cockpit side was.


Again, having the dish there at all is consistent with the set only being required to be shot from one side, as is the fact that the scaffolding extends further to the left than the natural outline of the ship (which suggests that side was never built/shot at all).

So, presuming these photos were taken in the same order, chronologically, that they leaked (they might not have been, of course) you would presume that the earlier pic was the Falcon under construction, before the dish was put on, and the later pic was the set being dismantled after the dish was put on.

Maybe not. Either way, it still looks to me to be an attempt to recreate this:



... for a shot which requires it to be filmed from one side in the background of a set.

Apart from the obvious difference, of the new dish.

And what I mean by that is, if you can see any discrepancies in the "Carousel/Falcon" blueprint comparison thingy with regards to the mandibles and the smoothed out rear of the ship, then they sure aren't actually there in this set anyway.
IMHO.

So, for me, it comes down to these:





Yeah, I can see why there is reason to think there might be two ships here. Concept paintings and plans for the Falcon with a different dish to the one we've seen on set. A size comparison blueprint, with "differences".

Yet for me, it still seems more logical that someone simply remembered the Falcon dish being lost in the second Death Star and thought it would be cool to make a visual nod to that after those concept paintings were done. And that the different scaled sets are merely there because they have different purposes and requirements during the shoot.

It seems less logical to me that anything I've seen leads to there being two almost identical ships - not forgetting of course this is one of the most iconic pieces of design in sci-fi - of slightly different sizes in this movie. Is the dish intended to be the only thing to tip the more casual viewer off as to what is going on here?
Just doesn't stack up for me...

To be honest I don't think there will be two ships, for the same reasons posted above. It's just odd the whole Carousel thing - having two ships, one full size for main set shoots and one 3/4 size for location shooting makes sense, it's just the two extensions to the mandibles that make no sense when you're laying one outline over the other in the diagram above - surely you'd notice, or they serve a specific purpose for the 3/4 size ship - perhaps it's new functionality that we've yet to see on the Falcon that's specific to this scene.

I did read an interview that when they came to recreate the Falcon cockpit for EP VII they discovered that the cockpit from Star Wars was slightly smaller than the cockpit of ESB, so they built it in between both sizes.