How Star-Warsy will Rogue One be?

Let’s talk Rogue One.  Don’t worry, I do not have any spoilers and this isn’t about the reshoot rumors.

This article is about the elements of a Star Wars film. What are the rules to making a Star Wars film? What hallmarks does it need to have? And how could Rogue One feel different than the other 7 episodic Star Wars films.

Hallmark #1: Opening Crawl:

Let’s start at the beginning. Each Star Wars film starts with the banner “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” after which there is an opening crawl. Even many Star Wars books and video games start out this way. Star Wars is a notable and rare example of a film that doesn’t have any opening credits. So the question is: will Rogue One include the “long time ago” banner and if so, will there be a crawl? If I had my choice I would forgo the crawl in all of the “Anthology” films and just save it for the episodic titles. However if I had my druthers, I would keep the “long time ago” banner. Overall I think there is a 60% chance that they will do a crawl. But I hope they don’t.

Hallmark #2 The Establishment Shot

Immediately after the crawl there is an establishment shot. The camera pans through space to a planet or a spaceship or both. The classic example of this is from the first Star Wars film in which we see the planet Tatooine for a few seconds before the Blockade Runner appears and then is chased by the seemingly-endless Star Destroyer. I also have to give kudos to Revenge of the Sith for panning down to a battle and then giving us a dizzying minute long uncut shot of two star fighters in the middle of a grand (albeit CGI) battle. It is also notable that in Attack of the Clones, the camera pans up instead of down. Will we see a similar pan in Rogue One? I give it about a 50% chance.

Hallmark #3: Bad Feelings

In the Star Wars films so far, six characters have had nine different bad feelings. The question is will the spin-off films follow suit. I think there’s 70% chance that Rogue One will contain this line.

Hallmark #4: Room Full of Aliens

What would Star Wars be without a room full of aliens? The coolest part is that these characters are usually just background characters. Most appear for a second or less but usually end up with a long expanded-universe backstory. In the original trilogy these scenes are easy to pick out (Mos Eisley Cantina, Bounty Hunter line-up, Jabba’s Palace) and of course we had Maz’s Castle in The Force Awakens. My theory kind of falls apart in the prequels. These movies seems to have several of these scenes, although none of them are all that memorable or iconic. I’ve heard that Rogue One will concentrate less on puppets and more on “realistic” aliens. I don’t know if that will entail CGI or costumes or something else. Rogue One probably won’t have an iconic room full of aliens reminiscent of the cantina, but I’m sure it will have aliens.

Hallmark #5: The Droid Duo

Anthony Daniels has voiced C3-PO in seven Star Wars films (sort of amazing). They always credit Kenny Baker for R2-D2, but who knows how much they actually use him. Baker will be replaced by Doctor Who vet Jimmy Dee in episode VIII. With these characters a mainstay is the episodic films, one wonders if they will at least have a cameo in Rogue One. I give this one a 80% chance of happening next December.

Hallmark #6: Lightsaber Duel

Lightsaber duels are the most iconic part of Star Wars films and are recognizable to people who have never even watched the franchise. In the original trilogy the battle of words were more important than the choreography and in the prequels the reverse was true. I mean Darth Maul never said one word to the Jedi, and if you actually examine the Duel of Fates, the characters aren’t even trying to hit each other. And don’t get me started on Mustafar. The balancing on flying or floating things above lava get ridiculous about 17 minutes into the duel and the dialogue is __________. Poor, Corn-ball, Contrived. You fill in the blank. The Force Awakens is a good balance between the original trilogy and the prequels. The duel matters because Rey is growing in The Force and I think Ren is pissed to no-end that she has such raw talent. I think there is a very, very low chance that there will be a lightsaber duel in Rogue One.

Hallmark #7: Battle Scene

Though a trope of all Star Wars films, the battle scenes are surprisingly different throughout the movies. You’ve got the trench run as the finale of the original film and then the Battle of Hoth in the first quarter of Empire. In Jedi you’ve got three different storylines you are following during the battle and in Phantom Menace you actually have four story threads. I actually have to give credit to Attack of the Clones. If the entire film were just the Battle of Geonosis, it would be loads more enjoyable (minus the Threepio head swapping, of course). According to the trailer Rogue One should have some battle scenes for us.

Hallmark #8: John Williams

We know for certain that John Williams is not doing the score for Rogue One. Which will be weird… Not that Alexandre Desplat isn’t a talented composer, it’s just that anything he scores is likely to sound like a John Williams parody. Can he get the right balance between Williams and not-Williams? And the bigger question: Will Williams be back for Episode VIII and if not, who will replace him? Michael Giacchino? (Fingers crossed for Giacchino). Or maybe Williams will live forever. That would be nice.