[JurorNo.2]

....The only reason we have those characters are the actors. My audience didn't need them to literally spoon feed "Hi, I'm Dr. Venkman" for it to be a meaningful reference. That's extremely nitpicky and you're only depriving yourself of enjoyment.

It came across very hollow. I would have rather just not had them cameo at all.

You are essentially pushing the actors out of the way and then demanding to know where your favorite characters are, heh. I remember in Leonard Nimoy's book he talked about a kid who wasn't able to see him as Spock. That's normal for a kid. But adults understand that cameos are surreal meta references, in jokes. By their very nature, they are a connection to the source material. They're just not a hyper literal one. They don't have to be. Audiences fill in the blanks.

Hey, if they didn't move you, they didn't move you. I do think that's your loss, but you're entitled to your opinion.

[MagicPrime]

Eh, I think you're looking at it from the perspective of someone who liked the movie in and of itself. And I can see why the references would be a nice nod -- if you're coming at it from that angle.

As someone who can't really express in words how much they didn't enjoy the movie, it just comes across as wasted opportunity.

[JurorNo.2]

No, I'm looking at this as a fan of film in general. Cameos are not even remotely a new concept. And never in my life have I seen them treated like they have no meaning or are somehow insulting. An increasing fixation over "continuity" is what's new.

[MagicPrime]

I enjoyed Lou Ferrigno showing up as a Security Guard in The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton. I thought that was a good cameo.

The difference being I was actually enjoying The Incredible Hulk while watching it.

[JurorNo.2]

That's a good example of what I mean. And again, it's cool, that's your perogative.

[MagicPrime]

That's a good example of what I mean. And again, it's cool, that's your perogative.

Well, thinking more about it. The only cameo that really left a sour taste in my mouth was Bill Murray's. If Bill's cameo had just been him showing up for a second on the TV and not having the actual scene with letting the ghost out it may have worked better.

All of the other ones were short and sweet, which is what I think a cameo like that should be. Maybe - in my head - the whole Heiss subplot crossed some kind of mental line of acceptability.

[Alphagaia]

I can't think of any of the other timelines where Ray, Egon, Winston or Peter weren't referred to directly or mentioned. Even if they weren't directly involved in the events or stories at the time.

And now you do! It's ok if you prefer something with the original boys, of course. And who knows what might happen in the future?

[pferreira1983]

And that's just your opinion. I don't like it because it screwed up the continuity of the original trilogy! And The Force Awakens didn't do anything like that, because it takes place at a time that didn't even exist yet when the events of the OT took place!

The Force Awakens basically ignored the continuity of all the EU which became too ingrained in Star Wars culture to ignore. The fact that the people behind the universe did this and then came out with something so inferior while messing with the original trilogy characters is a worse crime than anything done in the prequel films.

The cameos are a reference. We all know why they're there. There's a reason my audience applauded and it wasn't to see Heist or the cabbie, or a receptionist, or Patty's Uncle, or a random bust.

It felt a bit too much like a checklist, too aware and calculated. There's a tendency to look for the cameos and not take in the plot.

I enjoyed Lou Ferrigno showing up as a Security Guard in The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton. I thought that was a good cameo.

The difference being I was actually enjoying The Incredible Hulk while watching it.

Well interestingly enough because Norton and the director are big fans of the 70s TV series the 2008 film can be seen as essentially a big budget episode of that show complete with the theme tune. It made the awful chemistry between Norton and Tyler that more bearable.

[Skyknight]

The Force Awakens basically ignored the continuity of all the EU which became too ingrained in Star Wars culture to ignore. The fact that the people behind the universe did this and then came out with something so inferior while messing with the original trilogy characters is a worse crime than anything done in the prequel films.

The EU was never officially canon. Too many different authors, each one cooking their own soup and often enough contradict each other. It got quite tiring after a while and made me stop buying new Star Wars books. It was pretty much the biggest collection of Star Wars fanfiction!
And it was way too much material to cram it into one single movie, or even a tv show with multiple seasons! I can understand why they did a clear swipe and only used a few elements from the EU in a different way. I think I would've done the same.

Would I've been happier if they filmed the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn? Of course I would! But I think it was 20+ years too late to do that, because the original actors are now too old to play in a story that's set only 5 years after RotJ! Same with the Academy Trilogy! The only thing they could've used from later in the EU that doesn't depent too much on the events of the earlier books would've been the Young Jedi Knights series that focuses on the Children of Leia and Han and their friends while they train to become Jedi. That one could've worked with an older Luke as their mentor(maybe even better). But that would also work better in a tv show than a movie!

[Commander_Jim]

Disney rebooting the EU is imo the best decision they've made with the franchise and got me to restart buying the new books and comics. It was never canon and for every decent story there was ten terrible ones. It was horribly mishandled by Lucasfilm who cared more about constant product being churned out by some of the worst hacks in the business than maintaining any kind of quality control or a properly thought and consistant out canon and turned into fanfiction about every extra seen in the background of every shot of the movies. Now they've rebooted it, made it canon with the films and created the Lucasfilm Story Group to ensure its all consistant with the films now and far into the future. And they are free to integrate the better stuff from the old EU, as they are doing with Thrawn.

[pferreira1983]

The EU was never officially canon. Too many different authors, each one cooking their own soup and often enough contradict each other. It got quite tiring after a while and made me stop buying new Star Wars books. It was pretty much the biggest collection of Star Wars fanfiction!
And it was way too much material to cram it into one single movie, or even a tv show with multiple seasons! I can understand why they did a clear swipe and only used a few elements from the EU in a different way. I think I would've done the same.

I wasn't asking for them to cram all the EU books into one film. I was asking for them to acknowledge the EU since it had been around properly since 1991. I'd happily take this 'fan faction' from 1991-1999 over the rubbish they've done today. People have been ranting about how horrible the new novels are as well, that the writer can't even write.

Disney rebooting the EU is imo the best decision they've made with the franchise and got me to restart buying the new books and comics. It was never canon and for every decent story there was ten terrible ones. It was horribly mishandled by Lucasfilm who cared more about constant product being churned out by some of the worst hacks in the business than maintaining any kind of quality control or a properly thought and consistant out canon and turned into fanfiction about every extra seen in the background of every shot of the movies. Now they've rebooted it, made it canon with the films and created the Lucasfilm Story Group to ensure its all consistant with the films now and far into the future. And they are free to integrate the better stuff from the old EU, as they are doing with Thrawn.

So it's ok to rehash stuff from the EU when they said they wanted to start afresh? Does that make any sense? What they basically said was "we're going to ignore the EU", then as they wrote the script went "oh crap, all the best ideas was in the EU" which lead them to then just rehash old plot ideas from A New Hope which is why we got the rubbish The Force Awakens. That's what happened, it's pretty obvious. No one I know is going "oh sure Thrawn turning up in Rebels is so much better than Timothy Zahn's books". No let's be realistic, Disney messed up and will continue to mess up. This is probably why Rogue One will be crap, because they have an opportunity to have Kyle Katarn steal the Death Star plans but Disney decided to churn out something else so he's not even in the movie. (slow clap).

[Skyknight]

I don't think there's much left they could do if they wanted something new, because everything already happened two or three times in the EU. Like I said in another post, I will not watch Rogue One! Despite being a big Star Wars fan, I'll skip the spin offs and only watch the main series. I accept TFA for the restart it was and wait for EP8 to see where they'll go from there. If that one turns out as bad or worse than the prequels, I'll not watch EP9-EPwhatever !

I dropped the Rebels animated series long before Thrawn showed up, because I thought it just wasn't as good. Also dropped the Clone Wars series after season two or three and I only endured that long, because I was watching it with a friend who had the BluRays and a beamer. It was fun for a couple of episodes, but got boring really fast!

When did Kyle Katarn steal the Death Star plans? Was that in the Dark Forces game? Because that one was on the index in Germany. I never got to play it and the Jedi Knight series of games(from where I know the character) was after the Death Star!

[Commander_Jim]

So it's ok to rehash stuff from the EU when they said they wanted to start afresh? Does that make any sense?

Sure, why not? Whats wrong with incorporating some of the better stuff from the EU into the main canon? They already did it with Coruscant. Im not seeing the issue. Personally I could live without any of the EU being incorporated, but Im not going to complain if they want to base a character on Thrawn so long as it doesnt have to include other EU crap like Luke falling in love with a computer or Darth Vader's magic glove.

This is probably why Rogue One will be crap, because they have an opportunity to have Kyle Katarn steal the Death Star plans but Disney decided to churn out something else so he's not even in the movie. (slow clap).

Yes, Im sure Rogue One will be crap because they didnt base it on a 20 year old video game.

[Kingpin]

Unfortunately I suspect the reality was that the EU had gotten too big (and at times too convoluted). There's plenty of good stuff, but you'd always have people being unhappy with what bits they did choose to employ and didn't... and while it'd still rub plenty of people the wrong way to ditch it all, it was probably the least hassle for them to just ditch it all.

Plus, constant clones and genetic offspring of the Emperor? Oodles and oodles of super-weapons (I know, I know) and ginormous ships? The EU got out of control with the authors trying to on-up each other, and George.

[Sav C]

Is all of the EU stuff still in print?

[timeware]

Print is dead.

[Sav C]

Oh, that's very fascinating to me. I read a lot myself. Some people think I'm too intellectual but I think it's a fabulous way to spend your spare time. I also play racquetball. Do you have any hobbies?

[Skyknight]

Print is dead.

Just because Dr. Spengler said this 30 years ago doesn't make it true. I still prefer a real book over looking at a screen for reading a story!

[timeware]

You do realize this is a Ghostbusters Forum right? I would probably be responding with a Beam me up Scotty line if I were on the Star Trek sites. Lol.

[Sav C]

I still prefer a real book over looking at a screen for reading a story!

I think most people feel that way, I know I do. Although I can read stuff on PCs, I hate reading anything on tablets.

[Alphagaia]

I still prefer a real book over looking at a screen for reading a story!

I think most people feel that way, I know I do. Although I can read stuff on PCs, I hate reading anything on tablets.

[timeware]

Now they are starting to blame the mediocre success of GB 2016 for Hillary's loss. Just looked at the main news feed. Cant wait to read the million click bait articles.

The success of this film had nothing to do with her loss and that's all i'm going to get into that. I'm proud as an American that a female candidate had gone as far as she had, I just wish they'd chosen someone not Hillary Clinton. Honestly I felt electing Gozar senator of New York would have yielded better results.

[Alphagaia]

Wow. Who is they?

Have a link?

[JurorNo.2]

Now they are starting to blame the mediocre success of GB 2016 for Hillary's loss. Just looked at the main news feed. Cant wait to read the million click bait articles.

I understand that news feed was probably programmed to just select all articles with Ghostbusters in the title, but yeah, some of them are just plain nutty, lol.

[timeware]

Wow. Who is they?

Have a link?

Check under the news section on the side bar of the main site. By they I mean bloggers, and liberal bloggers. The articles Hillary Clinton was the lady Ghostbusters of presidential candidates, and posted twice was if Ghostbusters was a little bit better it could have defeated Donald Trump. I am at least assuming these articles are written by left leaning bloggers. Donald's election was what i'm dubbing Brexinfinity. It wasn't expected and the bloggers are still in shock.

[featofstrength]

Well...GB16 could have served as some caution to the wind? Ladies were told it was their duty to uphold both.

Turns out you can't win moviegoers/voters by insulting them into seeing your movie/voting for you, so why bother?

In what practice does that tactic work?

[Alphagaia]

Owwww. Bloggers. I think we can all safely ignore those.

[timeware]

I didn't bother reading the articles. I'm just having fun sitting back watching the celebs lose their minds, and the bloggers have their cry ins.

[JurorNo.2]

Turns out you can't win moviegoers/voters by insulting them into seeing your movie/voting for you

Turns out you can't reason with people who are determined to feel insulted.

It's cool. Nothing to do with the movie.

[featofstrength]

Turns out you can't win moviegoers/voters by insulting them into seeing your movie/voting for you

Turns out you can't reason with people who are determined to feel insulted.

Ah, if only the pro-boots could spin a "victory in defeat" false reality for Hillary fans like you do for GB16...
Is there Play-doh in the "safe spaces" in this forum?
If so, probably nothing like this:

But I've been told you really cant compare the two in a negative/positive situation.