Krytos

Yup, right after Betrayal. I don't know much of the details in LotF, just the main plot from online sources. After reading Betrayal online, I checked the local library and two bookstores but they didn't have any in stock. After reading the plots and reviews I feel less inclined to actually read the entire series - well, maybe I'll keep an eye out for those that got good reviews. SPOILERS FOLLOW, don't read if you don't want to know. But read for my opinion and what I'd have like the LotF to be like. I really enjoyed where betrayal left us - old friends are new enemies but only because of bureaucracy, rather than a deep underlining hatred (I loved the scene with Wedge and his daughter where she tried to take him out (the first time) and then he talked to her and she reverted to a child, protective of her friends and family. That's the sort of battles I almost anticipated in the series, not very bloody - damaged "enemies" being let to retreat and leave etc.). There were the usual evil characters (Thrakan, Lumiya), but there was also the reality of Generals and politicians on both sides not wanting this war, and wanting a quick end - there wasn't the "kill the enemy" feel of the NJO (where it suited) and earlier Rebels vs. Imps (where it seemed to be used just to make Imps cold hearted). Then the spectre of evil - dare I say a true phantom menace that has taken in long time goody goody Jacen bringing him to the verge of darkness and tipping the galaxy into darkness for their own greed. But, even better, is the fact that Jacen's darkness and lure towards the dark-side can only be described as justified. Sure, I remember reading that hostage scene and wondering why Jacen hadn't tried to persuade the hostage taker to give up more, rather than killing him and just one hostage - but at the same time there was a lot of good, the greater good, in his actions. Things I didn't like in the LotF was how it tried to mimic the original SW story arc. Fallen hero/Sith ends up controlling the current government and turning it effectively evil. To me this felt cliché, old and used - though more to the point, in a time line that's been as turbulent and short as the SW EU, it felt too soon. The continued use of old warships, planets (as if the galaxy is made of 50 planets) etc. is also a point of annoyance for me. I get why they do it (so that fans of the movie can relate to the books more), but it's annoying when they constantly bring back VSDs, ISDs, old TIEs and Y-Wings. And the Mandalorians. Cool as they are, they're portrayed as being too über - from turning Jiana into an awe struck Jedi to their equipment. I get them being great warriors, but having technology that's on par with cutting edge military tech (tech that's funded and developed but countless worlds and species) and skills that make a veteran Jedi, that fought through the Vong war with god knows how many kills, weak at the knees is too much. I'd like to see the plot revolve around Jacen and Jiana a lot - both faced with similar moral problems and both solving them, but with Jiana solving them the traditional way (with realistic pro's and con's) and Jacen with the Sith way (again, realistic pro's and con's - which I believe a few of the stories did well). The scene is set for this, with the galaxy trying to revolt under a false ideal. I'd like to see the GA struggle to deal with these military problems - not due to being met with an enemy of similar power, but more due to a combination of not wanting to be the Empire, cruel to their own people or make things worse. I don't see the need for massive military action in the series. The GA could mobilise one to three fleets to deal with the "threat", which would mainly be a standoff threat with occasional skirmishes (no massive fleet battles with mass loss of life or resources on both sides, seeing that at least in Betrayal it was obvious that neither side really wanted to fight and kill each other with the exception of a few characters. During the first blockade of Corellia there was mainly both sides testing each other. And when things broke down it was limited to a "relatively" small brawl. It was only at the liberation of Tralus that things got a bit ugly. And even there I felt like they were tamed compared to what they could have been.), presenting throughout the galaxy as the new Coalition instead of a Confederation (feels again like they're replaying Ep 3). The purpose of the series is to sort of try and come to a conclusion about Jedi and Sith ideals, ignoring the history of evil Sith - who's right and wrong, or better yet is there a right or wrong? A twin dilemma played between the prominent twin force using Solos. Then, a unifying evil presents itself - the true Evil that was illusively present with Lumiya. Where both force using factions can unite to fight, or not. But ultimately they're defeated. I don't know, but after going through all of NJO and seeing how Jacen and Jiana turned out, LotF was a real blow - especially Jacen. Going evil, sometimes mad, sometimes justified and then dead. There was no gain out of the series, after it all finished the galaxy was united again and had a fewer heroes. It seems a waste (thus some of the reason I don't feel like investing in a series that overall appears anti-climatic if nothing really happens), waste of plot and a waste of characters. I'd like Jacen to firstly survive and then do one of two things. He either takes his fight with the dark side and is brought back - like some many other Jedi have done. Or better yet, a real twist and working from the NJO's take on the force, he leaves the Jedi to start his own Sith league - except they're not evil, just interpret the force and how to act on it differently - like Vergerre (?sp) did and how Jacen was in Betrayal. In the end we have a true legacy to the force.

You've got to be kidding, right?

Well, I've seen two movies this week - Iron Man and Indie. Iron man was pretty good - I can't say I was swept up into the movie like everyone else, but it was enjoyable. The plot wasn't overly comic book style (so there weren't any super stupid villains or story arcs) and I completely agree Robert Downey Jr. is Stark. The actress who played ... Pepper something was good. I know who she is, but at this moment her name has completely left me. Anyway, she rather suited her character and where I thought she'd be the stick in the mud for the movie I was wrong. In fact, as I think about it, there wasn't a problem with the cast whatsoever, with possible exception of the military Colonel friend of Stark's who seemed a little to cool to me ... I was more expecting a sourer/more snobby character portrayal there - but that's just nitpicking. Back to the story, and I'll start with the bad SPOILERS FOLLOW - HIGHLIGHT AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION There was something about the overall story that didn't feel right in the end. Perhaps it was a bit anti-climatic - such as the final fight scene (which felt a little to Japanime to me) and Iron man's selflessness asking for the reactor to go boom while he was in harms way and never actually feeling like he'd get hurt. Maybe it was also the flow of the story which seemed a little too fast. When captured, he almost automatically thought of rebelling and building a robot suit - surely there should have been some down time where he loses spirit, gives in to there demands a little then realises/wants to rebel. Or, at the very least, some sort of inspiration for the iron man suit rather than him showing some quick drawings and getting onto work as if he's known what to do before getting captured. Again, there was the same rushed feeling once he got back home - I'd have liked there to have been more downtime before the suit was finished. I like, and get, that it was something to pre-occupy him from his ordeal, yet it still felt more like that the director ran out of time and was forced to compact these elements. The electromagnet around the heart was probably a little too far stretched. Sure the idea was kinda neat, and maybe a little more doctor like explanations would have made it more believable as to why Stark didn't get a doctor in America to try and remove the shrapnel - or if it was a character decision make it more evident with a line from Stark after he said he didn't want to be checked out (something cliché like why people want to keep a scar). Also the bright light, yes I'm sure it looked cool in concept art - and looked cool on iron man. But on human Stark, looked rather stupid. And now the good. Which there is quiet a lot of. The dialogue was well written, I never really squirmed or thought that it was lame (with exception of the electromagnet). The humour was appropriate to the character of Stark - and there wasn't some other stupid character in the movie to make people laugh (looks at modern movies who need to learn this - don't just throw in random stupid characters for quick, kids laughter. comic relief is only good if it flows right). The over all modern feel of the Iron man story felt solid - although I'm no authority on the original ... I use to watch the cartoon ... and I barely remember that. Again, characters were great. Sure the main villain looked evil the first time we saw him (what is with bald guys and beards being evil?). Sure, most people would have sinking suspicions, but it's not a thriller so the fact that you never truly knew he was evil until the movie intended to tell you was great - something a lot of modern movies miss, being able to hide plot twists. He goes from caring for Stark, to caring for the business, to caring for money, to down right evil - but it all flowed really well. The Special effects didn't feel over the top either, relatively speaking for the genre. I guess this made the movie seem more believable, particularly more enjoyable. The worst part of visual effects is when they make you loose sight of what's happening in the scene - which I never felt. And the finale of the movie was rather good: the press conference and aftermath. I like how Stark was struggling to lie about his new identity, how he was proud of what he did and a little arrogant. The real treat was when he ended the movie by announcing who he really was. Overall, good flick and one of the better comic book adaptations. Now for Indie. What to say. Simply put, as a straight up movie it was pretty good and enjoyable. As an Indie, rather disappointing. That's the short version SPOILER - YOU KNOW THE DRILL From the start. Indie and some large pompous guy getting tossed out of a boot by some Russian's at Area 51...at this point I'm cringing, but still holding out for redemption. Then comes Cate Blenchet and her poor Russian acting and her psychic mind reading crap. The cringing is back. But it goes away, briefly, as they enter the hanger and we see an image we saw at the end of the first Indie - creates and creates filled with mysterious artifacts. I even grinned at this, feeling as if I were let in on a little secret that everyone else knew. My mind instantly jumped to cool plot ideas revolving around the arc and being linked to this lost city. But this was slowly destroyed as Indie agrees to help find a crate with barely a fight. Then the gun powder trick. This came across as lame - the compass would have been a lot better. The Achilles heel bares itself when it turns out to be "the aliens that crashed at Roswell". Ok, I get the cold war thing and the Russians, and even without knowing much about those kooky Soviets I'd believe in an Indie movie having them looking for some mystic power for an advanced weapon. What I didn't like was aliens. ALIENS. Wrong movie George, keep aliens in Star Wars. From there, the movie managed to redeem itself somewhat. Ok, after his crappy escape and being obviously betrayed (who's former MI6 - that was a bit dubious). Ok, also after surviving a nuke blast and the following interrogation where Indie gets some new back story of being in the army. So fast forward and we meet Indie's son, have a chase and a fight and some comedy in the library. And off to South America after figuring some important details out extremely quickly. Seriously, Indie sits down to read a note for the first time, written in a language he doesn't know and is able to translate it into a riddle using the related Mi-an language as he's reading it. He couldn't have gone: "Alright kid, you sit tight while I figure this out." Walks off into a room, the annoying wannabe tough kid replies. "Well, how long will this take?" Popping his head out with Indies usual smile brought on by solving puzzles, "A while." Jump forward a few hours to night and he rushes out with the answer. A minute or two in the movie and more plausible to watch. I get what the script was trying to do during these scenes around the unviersity. The idea of trying to set Indie's character up to be more like his father was (portrayed a lot more later on in the movie with his douche of a son). So as Indie and junior run around investigating, the old Indie feeling is coming back. However, it's not perfect as Indie is figuring out puzzles and the plot too quickly. This felt like an attempt of the fast past elements of The Last Crusade, but that worked because Indie had his dad's journal - here it was pretty flaky. And then the grave robbing scene. Where did this little skull faced, jumping guy come from? More to the point: WHY WAS HE THERE? A random guy is hanging out at a cemetary and attacks random people? Bah As they entered the hidden grave site and notice someone's been here before I bgean to wonder if Lucas had started watching the X-Files, because the script had the same mystery, alien feeling (and later the same X-File movie bad ending). They then rush the scene off after some brieft talking to get captured, again. But I'm looking back at this scene and wondering "where were the puzzles? Where were the traps? A hidden switch and rolling floor don't count! Bah The following skull scene in the jungle is annoying. Now Indie is about the mysterious ... but this is just stupid. Not 10 seconds ago it's revealed (with a lack of surprise) that the Chrystal skull is actually a skull from an alien ... but it holds some mystical power? Mmmk. Back to the plot which picks up with the addition of an old flame. Marianne from the first Indie. Things sorta pick up here with the character dynamics between Indie, old flame and the kid . The following mud pit scene is funny, especially the snake part - if not weird using a snake as a rope. Again there is another escape attempt, at least they play with the skull trading hands and a hoard of massive ants. Now, things here start to lose focus a bit with the realm of reality. First you have the Russians who get in the truck and drive away instead of at Indie to get the skull. They then repel of a cliff for no good reason at that point. Being Indie or someone else I'd be thinking that's weird why not just drive up and steal the skull now. This is followed by Marianne driving off the same cliff in an aquatic car with all goodies aboard into a tree and then gently into a river where she like triumphant as if she planned it. How did she see that tree? How did she know it would hold! Bah This is followed by falling over several massive waterfalls and laughs and finding the temple - of which the Russians know the location of because of 'ol Mac - who was a good guy, then bad guy, then good guy and now bad guy. Not keeping up? It's ok, Neither was George as he wrote the script. Sure he's leaving big, bright flashing tracking devices that no-one notices, but at this stage that's alright, because enter a new threat - natives that have been hiding in sealed walls until intruders might stumble across a temple hidden for hundreds of years. Now, at this point in time there's been a fast flow of action that doesn't give you time to actually think about why were there people still in this hidden temple alive and what was with the guy in the cemetery earlier? Surely its obvious and not hard to have a cult protecting the temple rather than randoms who appear for the sake of appearance - even if a dead ringer for The Last Crusade. These characters were pointless, and really didn't add to the temple. A series of traps would have been far more enjoyable. Now Indie is faced with his first real puzzle, they're at the top of that pyramid/temple, how do they get in? But no, Indie doesn't figure it out the tag along out of his mind character had figured it out while being held in a mental asylum for being crazy. At least this is followed by a trap - even if said trap makes no sense to have as an entrance. Now I'm not sure if anyone noticed that none of the Russians carried rope, and got to the bottom of the spike pit, or that when the goodies return to the entrance there aren't any ropes waiting Ok, so now the grand climax. Entering the Temple's main room here there are 13 other alien crystal skeletons and one missing a head (made me wonder why only one head was taken and not all or at least 7). Up until now, I didn't mind the movie too much, and could even tolerate it as a bad Indie flick (much as I do for Temple of Doom), but this scene was utter crap. Skull flies onto body, evil chick asks for knowledge, room swirls, everyone runs, Mac guy thinks even though things are going bad I might as well steal stuff. Russians get sucked up and die. Goodies run off minus a Mac who got sucked into the ... sucking thing. Evil Russian can't take the overload of knowledge and the Alien skeletons have made itself into a living, breathing fully skinned alien that looks nothing like the aliens shown in the paintings on the wall. Alien looks evilly at Russian chick (almost looked like after being dead for so long he was trying to go to the toilet and "it" was stuck) and she catches of fire. Goodies get to the surface by a torrent of water (what? Where'd that come from and how?) to see another pyramid get broken apart by a vortex in what must be said was one of the BEST looking special effects usage in a movie to date to reveal an alien spaceship that disappears to another dimension. Now, after all this only the kid looks shaken up - and not too shaken either. But, then again, I was hardly on the endge of the seat myself. Bah. Wedding time. I get Indie rekindling and flame, but marriage? Maybe. I guess after the last 10 minutes of the movie this felt more normal. So, as an Indie - poor poor effort. As a movie, it wasn't bad. If you noticed this "review" was disjointed, cliché and more of a recount than an opinion - it was just in homage to the movie And to think that along the way for Indie 4, that other scripts were rejected. HOW BAD MUST THEY HAVE BEEN!?!

I definitely agree there - something more light hearted has been needed since NJO on par with the Rogue Squadron series. In fact, that would have been perfect! A new Rogue squadron, led by ... damn, what's his name? Darklighter, Gavin Dark something. Dealing with the left over Vong, aftermath of that major war (such as rebuilding efforts), pirates, Peace Brigade and other traitors, small warlords trying to make their own kingdoms etc. etc. Nothing "major" with our old favourite characters or massive impact on the galaxy. I REALLY liked the first book in the series, however, with what I've heard of plot line and now with the finale - I can't say I'm looking at reading the rest ... well, maybe some of the better books in the series. But, I've got to say the killing of Mara and Jacen really doesn't work for me, particularly the latter. I like the more "real" and "darker" approach of these series - but it's still a Sci-Fi series and is Star Wars. You know, this has me thinking of a new approach for an RPG where we re-write the LotF series ourselves, kicking off where the first story stops

This story is rather disturbing actually: Polish health problem, dealing in death

Will respond to the thread topic later - but here's pdf related stuff: http://www.cutepdf.com/

Happy birthday Lordtrychon ... well, when it comes around @Tex: I miss Chewie in the SW, but his death kinda worked ... a heroic death for a quiet side kick

I've thoroughly enjoyed the series and I'm currently waiting (and hoping) that we get the fourth and final series here sometime soon

Thought this was rather neat: Hiding airplan factory

This is .. weird .. but neat

I'd been meaning to link his reviews a while ago - but forgot They're hilarious (in my opinion), and are often on the money as a review go. But, just remember, they're all NSFW

Oh yes, I saw that too! Rather awesome, child like awe inspiring even. For those who didn't hear: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23701540-5014090,00.html?from=public_rss http://www.news.com.au/travel/gallery/0,26362,5031721-5007153-1,00.html

I'd say it's majestic and elegant .. and there's a part of me who can imagine them floating around a futuristic skyline. As what, well, no idea. I couldn't see them as transportation, maybe advertising or signage?

Never actually played the series Speaking of GTA 4, here's an "interesting review" And yes, highly NSFW And some game/movie news.

Well, I'll put my hand up for them doing a good job. The NJO series was a great turning point for SW novels - I'm not saying all EU novels were bad, but the NJO really set a benchmark. The first book of the Legacy of the Force was brilliant. I really loved it, so much I stayed up multiple nights reading it to all hours of the morning (that being said the preview of the next novel in the series really felt poorly written) - but without reading more of the series I can only hope it was as good as its opening. So, all in all, let them continue their good work

Found this on the internet ... thought it was rather amusing

I'm looking forward to the series. I'm hoping it's like the Clone Wars cartoon - not very serious, and the plot doesn't exactly follow SW, but fun to watch. The style is a definite plus in my books. It looks great, and seems to be lending itself to the same "fun" feeling of the Clone Wars cartoons. Any news on how they're distributing the series? Cartoon Network then DVD again? I have a feeling I'll be waiting a while until I'll see them.

Congrats Rob!

However, I'm going to guess like every other GTA game it will start off fun and exciting - with grand freedoms to kill and cause mayhem. But then it begins to get stale, and fast. I played the original 3 GTA's (non of the other GTA 3 ones like San Andreas or whatever it was), and every time it was the same thing. Great game to start off with - fun, exciting and full of evil laughter. Better with friends. Hell, the first time I played GTA 3 was on a mates PS2 in a class and it was a blast. A month later or so and the each game was stale. I just got, as did a lot of my friends, bored with it. And that's because you figure out everything you can do in a week or two of intense gaming and then it's more of the same over and over and over. Semi-recently I tried to pick up GTA 3 to play again, and after installing and beginning the game I got bored within half an hour. I hope GTA 4 has added something to make it more interesting and address the fundamental flaw with its game play - but in all honesty I strongly doubt it seeing how popular every other one has been.

http://uploader.ws/upload/200712/1185772661256gg9.jpg http://uploader.ws/upload/200712/fail1.gif http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/8483/image020dj5.gif

Whilst I'll agree that Minority Report and The Island weren't good (the latter being in my opinion a clear example of good plot ruined by a Hollywood, blow crap up approach), I thought the matrix was great. When I saw it, I saw it thinking that it was going to be a over the top special effects movie that was over hyped - but actually enjoyed watching it. Years later and I studied the movie for either high school or a Uni class, and found there's a lot of great hidden messages, subtleties etc. in the movie that aren't carried out in the sequels (Oh god, why the sequels). I'd still put Matrix up there with some of my all time favourite movies due to it being a much more in depth movie than it looks. And also, on face value it's a good flick too - best of both worlds.

Chess anyone?

Neat SOCL. I haven't really bothered with Legacy, as the story direction doesn't really float my boat. From what I've heard about it, a lot of the resolution in NJO has changed (For example, how the HELL is Thracken back and in a seat of power! This might have been due to the trilogy set before it though, the one with the big bugs from Alderaan - nevertheless, it's a lame and over used character who will obviously try to make Corellia independant and do other crap to piss off the galaxy) - but it'll be nice to read a novel from the series to get some better perspective. Possible spoilers bellow ... maybe, it's all hearsay. Not sure if I'll bother with the rest of the series yet. I can't speak whole heartedly about the series plot (seeing I'm going by what I've read on line), but as far as I understand it I kinda like the Corellian insurrection again and the sabotage. Don't even mind old friends fighting. But it does strike me as odd that the GFFA (of which, the new name REALLY bugs me) can't over whelm them, that Corellia gets away with making a massive hidden fleet again, Luke's new discoveries with the force in NJO don't seem to have much impact here. Don't get me wrong, the darker nature of these novels (as with the NJO) often make the series better, but the NJO seemed unique in a sense whereas I get the feeling a lot of the plot (and not the actual fine details) are going to repeat. Galaxy falling apart. Friendships breaking down. Death of main characters. Characters turning to the dark side. I don't know ... but I'd have liked some sort of different progression - interaction between realms. I'd have preferred that the Empire and NR stayed apart and that the Chiss became a major player. Throw in some other sectors like the Corporate thingy and some smaller ones and play around with them and have a progressive war with multiple sides. *shrugs* Maybe it's just because I've been reading battle tech novels after the NJO I liked the way things worked there, mature realistic plots...to an extent. Or maybe its just that going between authors of Star Wars novels often makes things blurry - one minute the galaxy is massive with hundreds of thousands of planets and species, the next we deal with the one planet we've heard of again and again and again. In another thread, someone mentioned (I believe it was either Evaders or Eagle in the Clone Wars TV series) similar, with regards to Tatooine - a backwater planet with more novel time than Coruscant. Which is an annoying theme in Star Wars novels, that the author often gets "stuck" on something - reusing the same species, places, ship types etc. Maybe I just want something that feels more complete and more consistent Or maybe I've just given up on the EU. It feels as if they are leading up to the comic book series of the same name (Legacy of the Force, or is it just legacy?), where things have seemed to have severelly changed - no Jedi, Skywalker family is riff raff, Empire has left the GFFA, evil Sith pops up etc. Personally, I think if they wanted to do that they should have used the Unknown region for this sort of individual plot where it doesn't have its mass roll on effect on the way things were headed in the EU novels EDIT: Okie dokie - so I'm upto page 170 something, and I'm enjoying the majority of the novel. So much so, even knowing spoilers of further novels, I'm being tempted to continue reading. That's not to say it's perfect. Having Aaron Allston write the novel was a big plus - I love his novels, as they often have great, witty character scenes, are fun and exciting. And so far so good. Buuut, as I mentioned it ain't perfect(Get it? Grammar imperfection...that felt like a Tofu moment). The way Jedi are being portrayed as commandos for the GA, I don't like. I don't mind their "super soldier" portrayal, I don't mind the missions so much, but the way they're executed and the way that the GA seems to be ordering them around makes no sense to me after the NJO. And also Ben/Anakin scene ... that was weird ... and felt like something from an old Star Wars novel, in a bad way

So long as they have these as a unit I'm totally in. Do the aliens look like the ones from Toy Story to anyone? And there's the floating head thing from Doom

No! Don't ask that! Now George will come up with some stupid answer on par with medichlorines(?sp). Nice work Eagle