"J.J. Abrams Reveals the New X-Wing in Latest Star... " Topic

…Wars Set Video.

"J.J. Abrams apparently can't help himself.

After years of being infamously secretive about his projects ahead of their release, the director has surprisingly flipped the script when it comes to next year's Star Wars: Episode VII. He's already given fans a glimpse of what looked like a marketplace on Tattooine and a chess table from the Millennium Falcon, and now he's sharing a familiar sight from the first three Star Wars movies—although in a slightly different form.

Shot on the set of Episode VII in London, the new video features Abrams making one last appeal to fans to sign up for the Star Wars: Force for Change campaign (benefiting Unicef's Innovation Labs) in front of what appears to be a modified X-Wing fighter, complete with an orange jumpsuit-wearing pilot climbing on board…"
Full article and video here
link

Hope you enjoy!

Amicalement
Armand

I've lost faith in Abrams. I figure that he'll do to Star Wars what he did to Star Trek. He'll muck around with the characters and with the technology and for a while, superficially it will seem to be okay, over time it will get old fast.

Star Trek, to my mind was OK, but I think Nom d Lumiere nailed it. It will probably get old fast. I think flash over substance is what it will turn out to be.

This commercial however IS for UNICEF, which is a worthy organization and that should not be ignored.

Yeah, the Star Trek movies are fluff. Very pretty but utterly forgettable the moment they're over.

Sorry preferred the original x-wing, yes we have wing mounted inlets but no rear engine compartment, looks like there's nothing behind the cockpit, not even R2?, it looks way too light.

Have none of you seen Star Trek 3,4,5,6, Generations, Insurrection, and Nemesis? Those movies are terrible. Even with the rose colored glasses of nostalgia. The JJ Abrams movies are great by comparison. I feel like ST finally got the budget and respect that the property deserves. Wait till part three hits with a first time director at the helm. We will all miss JJ then.

I for one think they are really doing this right. They have let everyone see that they are using more practical effects and teasing some new designs while supporting a great cause. I don't see how we could really ask for more.

Have none of you seen Star Trek 3,4,5,6, Generations, Insurrection, and Nemesis?

2-4 are great if you watch them as a single story. One follows the next. 6 was also a pretty good movie in itself. Star Trek the Motion Picture would be good if they just cut most of the slow pan psychedelic stuff out. 5 was pretty bad. I was not fond of any of the TNG movies.

I feel like ST finally got the budget and respect that the property deserves.

Yeah but they didn't fund the most important part. The writers!

As discussed on various SW fora this looks a lot like a Z-95 Headhunter

It has 2 laser cannons per wing. The cockpit is completely different. Heck, the back end is completely different from the Z-95. It only superficially looks like a Z-95, in the same way the X-wing looks superficially like a Z-95. I'm sure footage of these in flight will look more like an X-wing, especially with the s-foils extended. There are differences, and that is fine (X-wings were build "illegally," possibly by hand, and this could simply be the main production version)

Damon.

Just because other Star Trek movies sucked doesn't make JJ's good. ;)

And I'm in the camp that says all Trek movies are terrible except Wrath of Khan.

I actually liked the less-new JJ one. Into Darkness, though…absolutely awful. Will not watch again.

Looks like the original concept art to me with the a single round intake split at the wing. Also, I can see part of the engine exhaust sticking out behind the engine on the right.

Here's a Time magazine article with the original concept art. See picture 5 for the original X-WIng.

link

What about this one…? (smile)

TMP link

Amicalement
Armand

Im just incredibly un-fond of the way the wings open. Too much like the drop ship from Aliens. Otherwise using the McQuarrie designs as a base is a good thing. Sadly though having a life size ship doesnt mean they are going to stick with the practical fx idea. They had a lifesize shuttle in Into Darkness

Wow, lots of JJ Abrams doubters. As a not-Treckie, but someone who'se appreciated the movies, shows, etc I loved what he did with Star Trek. A complete reinvention that put new life in the series.

Clearly he can't reinvent SW since it's a sequel and not a do-over. However, while I doubt they will be as good as the original 3, I have no doubt that they will be worlds better than episodes 1-3. And that will be enough for me.

Considering these movies take place decades later I don't have a problem with minor changes in things like engine design. And this is sure as hell better than E-wings.

There was no reason given in JJTrek for designs like the Kelvin which look way bigger and different to contemporary ship designs of that era.

I really enjoyed the first JJTrek movie, but I did think he would have been better off with the Star Wars license.

J.J. Abrams did really well with the Star Trek movies. While the whole idea that it takes place in a sort of "alternate universe" almost always feels confusing and different, I really enjoyed both Star Trek and Into Darkness. While Wrath of Khan will always be the best of the original cast, Benedict Cumberbatch did a fantastic job. I always try to keep movie reboots separate from the originals. It is like complaining about the changes Peter Jackson made in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, compared to the original Tolkien works. Tolkien will always be king, but that doesn't make Jackson's movies any less astounding, and the same is to be said for J.J. Abrams and Star Trek/Wars.

It is not flying.

Plus it looks horrible.

Guys, It's not an X wing. It's a single wing, double engined craft with similarities to an x wing and a z95.

I've not read anywhere where JJ calls it an x-wing. It's just the press and media outlets like "wired" that label it an x-wing.

Ditto what ordinarybass just wrote. It's lazy reporters who've used the term, without asking what the ship is actually called, or finding out the context. Indeed, it could be a much, much older fighter still in service, or privately owned (like modern-day WWII craft), or a training craft. Or it could be the Z-95, which, published art aside, has never appeared in any film that I'm aware of, and so isn't truly canon in appearance. But it's not an X-wing just because some idjit unconnected with the film calls it one.

By the way, I notice that it's really battered, so it's clearly meant to be an old vessel, and not a spiffy new one. How old? Can't say till I've seen the film.

Oh, and while I despise Abrams' Abomination Trek, I think the Star Wars franchise, which is not SF, but fantasy with SF trappings, is in excellent hands. (Heck, he can't screw it up any worse than Lucas did with the prequels.)

He is are last best hope for a good Star Wars movie again.

An official Star Wars site did confirm that is is a new version of the X-Wing. It looks like instead of the top and bottom parts of the wings separating, it will be the front and rear parts of the wing separating to make the X.

I liked the 2009 Star Trek. I just hope they don't hire the same imbecile to design the SW ships that they hired to rape and mutilate the Enterprise. *shudder*

On the other hand, very few of the ships and equipment from the SW prequels were worth anything, either, so the bar is set pretty low.

If you look closely at the engine(s) in the picture there is a joint visible within the engine. In the expanded universe there was an x-wing designed specifically for the Jedi use that had 4 engines but looked like 2 when not flying in combat. It could be a sign that JJ and crew are using elements of the old EU but making their own story.

Heck, he can't screw it up any worse than Lucas did with the prequels.

This is true. Worst case: bad movies, but you still have the original trilogy. Best case: great movies, and you still have the original trilogy.

As Gear Pilot has said, perhaps JJ is going right back to the very first source material for his inspiration, it does indeed closely resemble the original sketch art by McQuarrie

Star Wars Episode VII: Moar lens flare

I don't get the JJ hate.

He has been VERY clear that he was never a Trek fan so as a non-Trek fan I think he did fine with the Star Trek movies and their feel, given the limits of the material.

But as a true child of Star Wars, the REAL Star Wars, Abrams has always been emphatic about bringing Star Wars back to its roots, back to what made it so great, and has demonstrated it whenever possible with the use of real sets and puppets and avoiding a CGI dominated film,

Have faith. This is JJ, not George, and I have a lot more faith in him,

Ship looks fine. Thirty years later the standard fighters would look different, but you still see some references. The differences are not that extreme,to be frank.

The JJ hate is because his first Trek movie was just plain bad. Understand that I'm not saying that as a precursor to "so you can't like it." Go ahead and like it. That's like me talking about how much I like Ice Pirates. Heckuva lot of fun, but good god it is just a plain awful movie.

Look at it from a story-standpoint. It was horrible. There were scenes lifted wholesale from other movies (and on at least one occasion JJ didn't seem to realize that the scene he was lifting was originally intended to be a mockery of some tropes, not an encouragement to do it again). Beyond that, the plot was just plain atrocious.

Let's see if I have this right… The Romulan star is going to explode very quickly. Apparently there wasn't enough notice to evacuate the planet, but there was enough notice to enlist the Vulcans to study it, figure out a solution, and then synthesize some brand new substance. They only needed one drop, but they waited until they had a 55 gal drum before going on to Romulus. What used to be Romulus. Er. Whoops. So some guy with a mining ship more powerful than any other waship, ever, decides to take out his frustrations on the Vulcans. And then the humans. Because, you know, basketball reasons. So he goes back in time. Apparently the Humpback whales owed him a favor. Now in the past, he doesn't move to save his planet or do anything useful, but goes for revenge. And monologues.

And who knew that starship bridges were designed by Apple and the engine rooms were designed by Anheuser-Busch? And that "training vessel" means that there are two qualified people aboard to run things and everyone else is a college kid (except for Doogie Chekov).

Aside from the bridge and engineroom, the production quality was top-notch. The scenes were well-acted and the characters (except Chekov) were well-cast. But that doesn't save it from being a lousy movie.

I don't mention JJ Trek 2 because I didn't see it. I didn't see it because I hated the first movie (and not liking it because it was bad means that I'm a d!ckhead. Thanks, Spock, it's always good to mock your fans). I didn't see it because everyone I know who did, told me that they regretted paying for it and knew that I would hate it. I couldn't even be bothered to pirate it.

But he gets a pass because he was never a Trek fan. Same as I'm supposed to forgive Bay because he's not a Tranformers or TMNT fan (or he is, and that just makes it worse).

Everything I've seen and heard about JJ Wars just makes me cringe. There won't be Lucas to mess everything up, which is no small feat, but his previous work is not encouraging.

I liked both Trek reboots, on the whole they were a lot better than the original Trek films, but I'm a Star Wars dude and therefore know nothing… 8D