Top Gun:Maverick Premiere

Darkstar seems to have been developed by peeps from Lockheed Martin Skunkworks.

https://lockheedmartin.com/topgun

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I’ve read that from multiple sources. Also read that while it was being filmed out in the open, the Chinese repositioned a satellite to take a look. :joy:

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I would have done so too, If I had a satellite to reposition, that is… :wink:

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The did the same for the ground mock up F/A-37 Talon

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What you said there in your spoiler is almost exactly the same for me. I was actually enjoying the experience of that movie a lot, right up until that moment when a lot of the air in my balloon deflated. I still think it was a pretty good movie, but it definitely lost something for me when that happened to Han!

In better news, just booked a date with my wife so we can see TOP GUN MAVERICK tomorrow night for the second time. This time we’re going to one of the theatres that brings out dinner so its all out for us!

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Ford has publicly stated for quite some time that he thought Han should have had that happen to his character. Plus I seem to recall him making statements to the effect that he would only reprise the role if that were to happen so even though it deeply saddened me I was not surprised.

Wheels

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Star Wars is a saga… All the characters will die, if it runs long enough.
I thought Han got a fitting end. Who else could kill the coolest smuggler in the galaxy, but his own son? Epic!
I’m glad they don’t force a mushy Disney style ending to every movie and season.

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I liked it all. Never expected the old team to have such a large role as they did, expected a brief cameo here and there to distance them from the disney property.

What we got in my eyes was a glorious and respectful handover of the old guard to the new stars.
The films have been dividing audiences, but to me (and with Star Wars, how I feel is the only thing that matters to me) it was brilliant. I loved the way they had an arc for all my friends to say goodbye.

If top gun comes close to that, sweet

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This is how I feel as well.
To each, their own, of course. In fact, discussing the movies and how others feel about them is also quite interesting. It would be very sad if Star Wars stopped stirring peoples emotions…

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Same here. The movies might not have been great and it is ok to dislike them, but I liked them well enough.

As for Top Gun 2: I haven’t had the opportunity to watch it yet, probably after my vacation, so in a few weeks. But I’ll give it an honest chance.

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So far none of my friends who have seen Top Gun Maverick have disliked it. They have avoided giving me spoilers but they have felt it was a worthy sequel to the original.

Wheels

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The alternative $20 budget

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I just got back from the cinema… I think they knocked it out of the park. Really well done, decent storyline, great flying scenes, and when CGI was used, it was done exceptionally well. I came out of the cinema having made the decision that when I grow up, I want to be a fighter pilot. I wonder if they would give me a shot? :rofl:

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I did too, haha! Unfortunately I think the Navy’s cut-off is 26, so I’m almost a decade past my prime… :laughing:

Best recruiting tool the Navy could ever dream of. The USAF is sitting over in the corner wondering how to revive the Iron Eagle franchise…

I’ll tell you what I would love to see, would be a historical mini-series about the air war in '91, done in cooperation with the .mil, Band of Brothers style in terms of accuracy. That would be so cool!

(Desert Storm made a huge impression on my childhood, watching soldiers in chocolate chips and green FLIR images of bombs falling through windows into elevator shafts and wondering if Saddam would activate his hundreds of sleeper cells or use nerve gas was a staple of my childhood. Then almost a replay/deja vu in 2003…)

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Lol, I was 15 when the first one came out. I already knew I wanted to be a pilot but truth be told, I don’t think I had the ā€œright stuffā€ to fly fighters, which is the main reason why it didn’t happen. I also started wearing glasses in my teens, which back then was a disqualifier anyway. I was a late bloomer I guess. I was in my 30’s when my flying career took off (pardon the pun) and I haven’t looked back.

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Paramount has been sued by the Family of the ā€œTop Gunsā€ article author citing the 35YR Copyright term had expired.

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Same. LASIK was allowed, but my vision uncorrected was too poor and I guess I didn’t want it bad enough to do LASIK and there was a pretty girl* and she’d been a military brat and wasn’t interested in being a military wife and…

*Didn’t marry her anyway, so wouldn’t have mattered, would it have? :roll_eyes: :man_facepalming:
With my luck I would have washed out and wound up flying drones in a trailer in Nevada anyway. So no regrets.

Can you expound on this? Who’s family is suing, and why?

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To be fair ive always likened Flight sims to the same thing so its not all bad…
Bet those trailers have nice cool AC as well :sunglasses:

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In a flight sim* you don’t get an SIB/AIB and/or Court Martial if you crash though. So flying a drone would be all stress, non of the fun in my book! :joy:

*In a recreational one, anyway. In a more professional setting there are some consequences if you crash the sim. I’ve never done it, but I’ve been partnered in the sim with a pilot that did crash one during a training event. It was a fairly violent affair, not one I’d like to repeat (about like a fender bender in a car, was grateful for seatbelts! :rofl: :man_facepalming:). She worked for a different fractional operator, so I don’t know what became of her beyond retraining, but imagine that was all. On a checkride, I imagine (would hope?) you would be done.

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