226
votes
Accepted
Why did George Lucas set Star Wars in the past instead of the future?
The goal was to evoke fantasy, not science fiction. Placing it in the dim and distant past freed Lucas up to create a visual and sound palette that was unique, without incurring the ire of 'hard-...
97
votes
Accepted
Is/was General Leia Organa expected to be in the next episodes (VIII and IX) of Star Wars?
She is in Episode VIII, filming is complete, and her scenes will not be changed.
General Leia Organa was played by Carrie Fisher, who was definitely going to be in The Last Jedi (Episode VIII):
“She’...
51
votes
Why did George Lucas set Star Wars in the past instead of the future?
It was part of Lucas's decision to portray the series as part of a science-fiction-based myth cycle. Lucas was heavily influenced by the work on Joseph Campbell, who studied the structure of myths. ...
47
votes
Accepted
Why do the new Star Trek series have so few episodes in each season?
It is starting to be the norm for shows that air on subscription channels. Most new shows on these “on demand” channels only have 10-12 episodes.
The most common reason I’ve read is that they don’t ...
46
votes
Why do the new Star Trek series have so few episodes in each season?
Nobody has pointed out syndication.
In the non-service based model (ie - pre CBS All-Access), there is/was a long term financial benefit to produce as many episodes as possible, so you can then sell ...
45
votes
Accepted
In Star Trek, which planet was 'forcibly relocated' twice by the scriptwriters?
I believe you're slightly mis-remembering what Farrand was talking about. It wasn't the name of the planet, rather it was a visual effect / matte painting.
Here is the paragraph from the DS9 ...
38
votes
Accepted
Why does Riker pronounce "charade" two different ways?
The scene from the promo was most likely raw footage, taken directly from the boom mike on set. The line from the actual episode was then redubbed using a technique called ADR (Automated dialogue ...
32
votes
Accepted
How were the scenes featuring Princess Leia in The Rise of Skywalker filmed?
The relevant info can be found in ScreenRant's How Star Wars 9 Brought Leia Back & Which Scenes Were Actually Carrie Fisher, a link which is also provided in the short answer on Movies & TV SE....
30
votes
Accepted
What factors led to Disney retconning Star Wars Legends in favor of the new Disney Canon?
Keeping the EU canon would have alienated the intended audience.
While there are a lot of diehard Star Wars fans who love the EU, they are vastly outnumbered by the number of people who have only ever ...
23
votes
Accepted
What was the reason for the cancellation of 1899 after the first season?
According to this interview with the creators, it was too expensive and the audience reach didn't justify the expense.
..but it wasn't enough to guarantee a second season. Netflix chose to
cancel ...
22
votes
Was Return of the Jedi released in Japan as Revenge of the Jedi?
The film was released as "Return of the Jedi" but some of the posters had the older title "Revenge of the Jedi".
The original teaser trailer for the film carried the name Revenge ...
22
votes
Why do the new Star Trek series have so few episodes in each season?
In the old days of television, you needed around 24 episodes per season to have one per week for the Fall to Spring run, with time off for Summer. You were filling a literal spot in the weekly lineup, ...
21
votes
What factors led to Disney retconning Star Wars Legends in favor of the new Disney Canon?
It's important to remember that Lucas made Star Wars canon up as he went along (major example of that in the movies themselves here). Lucas himself even made things that are no longer canon (and that ...
19
votes
Accepted
Was Return of the Jedi released in Japan as Revenge of the Jedi?
The writing on the DVD VHD case in your picture says "ジェダイの復讐" (Jedi no fukushu), which indeed means "Revenge of the Jedi." (ジェダイ is "Jedi" spelt phonetically, whereas "復讐" means revenge.)
The ...
19
votes
Accepted
What legal problems prevented T’Pau from being used in “Star Trek: Enterprise?”
This might be of interest as it also gets a bit of debate in forums from time to time:
Sturgeon wrote the screenplay for Amok Time. It was originally announced that T'Pau was going to be on ...
17
votes
Is/was General Leia Organa expected to be in the next episodes (VIII and IX) of Star Wars?
Carrie Fisher Will Be In Episode IX
As of July 2018, Lucasfilm has announced that the late Carrie Fisher will be appearing in Star Wars: Episode IX in their cast list using unused footage from Episode ...
14
votes
Why did George Lucas set Star Wars in the past instead of the future?
It's a common storytelling device.
In English we use 'Once upon a time...' to set the scene somewhere distant in time.
In traditional Japanese folk stories we use 'Mukashi mukashi aru tokoro ni...' ...
14
votes
Accepted
Why is Stephen Fry's narration of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone an hour longer than Jim Dale's on Audible?
I bought both to compare and I think commenters Valorum & Matthew Barclay are right. Stephen Fry's edition is only longer due to the extended preview of the second book. Fry's version reads full ...
14
votes
What legal problems prevented T’Pau from being used in “Star Trek: Enterprise?”
Theodore Sturgeon created the character of T'Pau when writing Amok Time and owned the rights to the character.
So when Star Trek: Enterprise was preparing for production, producers thought a younger ...
13
votes
Why do these communicators from Star Trek differ?
Those appears to be a natural result of Moiré patterns, which occur when you have overlapping repeating patterns.
Please see this Google search
Although I believe the prop may be based two sets of ...
10
votes
Why did Imperial Star Destroyers change?
For A New Hope, they had a single 3 foot model for the Star Destroyer. That's actually kind of small for a miniature which had as many close ups as it did, and shooting with it can't have been easy. ...
10
votes
Is/was General Leia Organa expected to be in the next episodes (VIII and IX) of Star Wars?
Principal photography on Episode VIII is already complete - it was announced on July 22nd, 2016. What role General Organa plays in the film is currently unknown.
We also do not know how the films ...
10
votes
Accepted
Did Michelle Yeoh do her own stunts in this scene?
From their responses in interviews with Indiewire, it seems that the main actors did a lot of the fight scene themselves. However, Melanie Phan is credited as stunt double to Michelle Yeoh on IMDb ...
10
votes
Who did Taskmaster's stunts?
The lead stunt double for Taskmaster was Andy Lister. This is noted on the IMDb pages for Black Widow and the stunt performer. Andy Lister talks about this on Instagram:
I’m honoured and proud to ...
9
votes
Why was the colour of Luke's lightsaber changed from blue to green between the trailer and the release of Return of the Jedi?
Another explanation:
Originally, the color of Luke's new lightsaber was blue, the same as
the one he lost in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
(1980). Luke can even be seen wielding a ...
9
votes
Accepted
Which episodes of Star Trek TNG led to their writers becoming regular staff?
Michael Piller
Episode 3x01, Evolution
Piller was called by one of the lead writers during Season 2 of TNG to write a few episodes; his first work, Evolution (the Opening of Season 3), and some ...
9
votes
Why do the new Star Trek series have so few episodes in each season?
This is almost off topic, because it is a change in how TV is made, not just the way that Science Fiction and Fantasy is made.
There are lots of reasons that all play their part. But Vox and Business ...
9
votes
Why was Poe Dameron re-written to survive in The Force Awakens?
Harrison Ford was injured on the set of The Force Awakens when his leg was crushed by a Millennium Falcon set door. This caused production to be suspended for two weeks.
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII ...
8
votes
How is the Game of Thrones series being made when there are no new books by Martin to base it on?
George R.R. Martin is a co-executive producer for the show and in earlier seasons wrote at least one episode.
The producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss even addressed this particular issue back in ...
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