"Star Wars: TFA" SPOILER Thread

Originally Posted By oc_dean

For those you who've seen it, what points do you have to say about it?

Well, here's mine .................

* Overall ... decently done. If JJ Abrams wanted to capture the spirit of original set of Star Wars films ... he succeeded. Kudos to him for a job he was surely going to get grilled on, because of high expectations. Not a sign of the tone of the prequel films .. MEESA WOULD HAVE HAD A STROKE!

* Mark Hamil's bit .. and I mean BIT in TFA. I wonder how much he was paid for a role where he basically just stood at a cliff for less than 2 minutes and said not one single word at the end of the film? He's surely to be in Ep. 8, and probably Ep. 9.

* And for the second film .. aka the second in the original trilogy .. DON'T TELL ME WE ARE NOT GOING TO GET (from Luke) ... "Rey, I am your father." It's so obvious to me ... she is the daughter .. and we'll probably learn where and who the mom is, and be part of the cast for Ep 8.

* A few too many Episode 4 plot pieces.
- Both films start out on a desert planet
- Both deal with one bad-ass round structure ready to spell doom for a planet .. or in this case .. an entire star system.
- New Order (aka Empire) hunting for a droid on the desert planet with information vital to both parties.
- An assault on the big bad round thing toward the end of the film before they are able to destroy the Rebels .. err .. "Resistance" base.
- AKA Obi Wan ... Han Solo gets the hit by a light saber this time .. and falls into a big open pit .. aka Darth Maul, Palpatine, am I missing anyone else???? It's a piss-take cliche in all these Star Wars films ... there's some big open chasm .. that seems to run on forever .. where someone falls into after getting their butt kicked!

So .. the similarities to the plot devices to Ep. 4 were a bit disappointing .. when JJ Abrams could have gone for a more fresher approach. You know .. JJ did the same thing with Star Trek. He changed canon by altering the time line ... so he could re-write any script he wanted for the next set of films. What did he do? He RE-did the Wrath of Kahn in a different way. My line ... the audience had been "conned" (or Kahned) ... So like similarities to Ep 4 ... You have a fresh slate .. but STILL revert back to retelling the same story but in an altered way. Was TFA different enough to be it's own story line? In some ways .. Yes. In other ways - No. So I got mixed feelings with Abrams borrowing too much from New Hope's plot devices.

* Carrie Fischer. Looked good ... But she couldn't get a higher pitch in her voice if she tried! She's not THAT old. What did she do? Too many cigarettes?!

* Harrison Ford. I can picture him in Abrams offices at the start of all this. Ford has not spoken THAT HIGHLY of his legacy with this, not since the late 70s. He didn't want to do Empire Strikes Back .. but was given a sweeter deal. He must have told Abrams "Okay listen up JJ! I'm going to do ONE of these films ... so you better have my character killed off. And you are not going to do a Bobby Ewing (Dallas) on me!"

Got his wish! No more Han Solo. But if Abrams could have ... I bet we would have had him in all 3 new films. But we know who's going to be in Ep. 8. Hamil will have a decent role throughout the whole film.

- I was hoping the film might have had flash backs of the big Jakku fight just above it's atmosphere. With that graveyard of ships .. it would have been massive battle.

- I'm surprised how far along we were into the development of The New Order/Resistance. I thought it was just touching on the very beginnings ... but turned out .. It was all well underway for several years. So .. this 30 years in between didn't last THAT LONG. Because the New Order would have been in development for years. And there was already an established "Resistance" with Leia in charge of it. So, the dust of the Empire would have just barely settled, and baddies up to mischief again, quickly, after .. what? Just 10-15 years?

Anyway ... it was an exciting movie. I know I'll see it again.

I see that JJ Abram's goal was to establish the same feel, cast, tone (though darker) and use similar bits and pieces so that people can make that "connection". I loved Rey referring to the Falcon as a piece of junk (like Luke's line in Ep4) that was hysterical .. and the truth! It may be iconic. But it ain't a pretty vessel .. and when rumors were flying it would be center piece in a modified Tomorrowland .. I just cringed.

So I wonder what the rest of you think of the film. Anything?

 

Originally Posted By RoadTrip

I thought much the same... on almost every one of your points. I thought it was great to have a return to the feel of the original trilogy, but also thought at times it was way to similar to Episode IV. But I think it forms a good base for the next two. It probably needed to be rather derivative to convince fans that the Star Wars they knew and loved from the first trilogy was indeed back.

 

Originally Posted By RoadTrip

One thing you didn't mention that kind of bugged me was the Cantina scene. That was just way too forced in my mind, and so inferior to the original Cantina scene in Episode IV. The Cantina manager was an interesting character, but that is the best I can say for it.

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

Thanks for chiming in Trippy. Yes .. I did forget the cantina scene. Just like New Hope. They couldn't resist doing that .. but I can see why the did it.

Also ... I was surprised .. No trailer for Rogue One. I thought they had enough scenes to pull a trailer together ... I guess not. Not yet, anyway.

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

Just read another discussion board .. going into detail about the Star Killer Base destroying the Hosnian System ... that contained the Seat of the New Republic - Interesting read ...

<a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsLeaks/comments/3xb4g0/what_is_known_about_the_hosnian_system_or/">http://www.reddit.com/r/StarWa...stem_or/</a>

Takes about 10 minutes to get through.

Confirmed my beef about no mention about this system we know nothing of .. Not from any previous film. I think JJ should have offered audiences a chance to understand a planetary system, and SOMETHING of the New Republic before a major part of it gets blown up.

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

The more I look around ... the more I think I understand what the Star Killer Base destroyed.

The planet was Hosnian Prime .. and contained at least 4 moons ... that all got pulverized from the New Order. I thought it was the entire solar system of planets ... but apparently .. chiefly one planetary system (with it's moons). It's suggested a major part of the fleet of ships for the New Republic were here. And if JJ Abrams elaborates on this kind of story line in Ep 8 and 9, the Resistance led by Leia has a lot of work to do, to fight off the New Order.

Like the first set of films .. It wasn't enough to destroy the Death Star (Star Base Killer) ... an entire hierarchy has to be taken out.

 

Originally Posted By FaMulan

I saw an article out there that Harrison Ford will be in the next film. Most likely in flashback sequences.

Overall, I was delighted with "The Force Awakens". It struck all the right notes with me and if you realize and remember that history tends to repeat itself, you can overlook (or enjoy) the similarities with Star Wars.

 

Originally Posted By berol

My theory on the heavy retreading is that the prophecy is generally cyclical (desert to jedi/sith), perhaps because the dark and light sides keep trying to annihilate each other instead of being in balance. So, we go into each trilogy seeing how the next generation deals with life under the prophecy. I thought Rey was Kylo Ren's sister until someone posted that Luke music plays when she is onscreen a couple of times. Another post paraphrased George Lucas saying that the trilogies should rhyme with each other.

 

Originally Posted By berol

cyclic <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://i.imgur.com/WVk2qyt.jpg">http://i.imgur.com/WVk2qyt.jpg</a>

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

Very good berol!

Point by point .. too many similarities to New Hope's plot.

But I still liked the film. It was well done. I'll be in the theater a second time ... at some point.

 

Originally Posted By berol

The jpg isn't mine, but it's a great illustration.

 

Originally Posted By Mr X

OMG I am so freakin tempted to write "Maybe he shoulda shot first" on my Facebook page.



p.s. NOW I understand why Harrison Ford has been so gleeful lately. He's been waiting to kill off his nemesis since 1983!

p.p.s. WAY too many Episode IV beats. Come on, another death star only A WAY BIGGER AND MORE POWERFUL ONE - AGAIN - that they can blow up with a few tiny ships, AGAIN? Meh. Sorry. That was pretty lame if you ask me, much as I liked the tone of the film overall.

<---re-checks to make sure this is the SPOILER thread before hitting "post".

 

Originally Posted By mrkthompsn

I'd like to see the back story of how Luke's blue lightsaber was found. The last time this saber was seen was at his duel with Vader at the Bespin cloud city. It was lost with his right hand.

In Ep VI, when Vader said "I see you have constructed a new light saber", I always wondered if Luke rebuilt Yoda's green saber (or one of Yoda's sabers) after Yoda passed away.

Also, what's up with Luke's mechanical hand? Did the false flesh wear away?

 

Originally Posted By mrkthompsn

It was strange not to see the 20th Century Fox fanfare before the beginning. I thought Disney might try to do something new and glorious there. On the other hand, was glad not to see the "Bad Robot" studios screen splash.

 

Originally Posted By berol

After the credits is the Bad Robot splash, then the same Lucasfilm Ltd. as the beginning of the movie. I didn't miss the Fox fanfare for some reason. I realized midway through the movie.

 

Originally Posted By mrkthompsn

I just can't believe the "Disney Live Action" thread is having a Star Wars discussion. Davy Crockett would be proud.

BTW, TFA just smashed records for the highest grossing movie opening of all time.

 

Originally Posted By CuriousConstance

I loved it. I was nervous it would be hard to get used to new Star Wars characters, but they were all so likable, I had no problem adjusting. I thought Fin was adorable. The whole movie felt very Star Warsy which was another concern I had going in, I was afraid it would feel too different.

For one of the most anticipated movies ever, I think it lived up to all of the hype. I can't wait for the next one! I wish we didn't have to wait two years!

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

1½ Constance. Ep.8 comes out mid year '17.

 

Originally Posted By berol

and Rogue One is next December

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

A little Star Wars Nerdy anecdote for anyone who cares to read it. ;p

In the early 21st Century one of our biggest advancements is Communications. We hear about even the most minutia of stuff at lightning speed. Turn to your I-phones .. and you can look up the latest news from one point of the world to the next. In government and the military ... there is reconnaissance in places we normal people don't hear about.

Now ... we have a different place. A place where a guy named Obi-wan said ... for over a thousand generations the jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice throughout the galaxy. That means for some 2,500 Earth years ... they had advanced technology and have been running around in space ships for a long time.

YET .... their level of communication for a civilization some 2500 years ahead of us .... had no clue a planet was being converted into one large super weapon ... and didn't have the advanced communications to know a New Order was well underway, and had a big bad-ass super weapon so large ... how can no one fly through that system ... and not know what was going on, and warn the Republic, the capitol could be a target?

Duh!

If only everyone who had a spaceship .. had an i-phone that sends messages in a snap could have helped.

:O)

LOL

So .. with that in mind ;-) ... In 1977 when the first Star Wars film came out .. all that technology was so new to us. But since then our advancements in communications has taken off. At the rate we are going, In 2500 years from now (if we don't blow ourselves up) ... will have so much advances in communications and reconnaissance, perhaps we can help out any 'galaxy far, far away' ... who are surprised when a big bad weapon strikes their world.

Just having a fun nitpicky nerdy Star Wars fan moment ... It's a bit unrealistic the Republic didn't know what was about to hit them!

We saw the size comparison of the Death Star to the Star Killer Base ... which would have taken YEARS to build (How does that not get noticed?!) .. and that information would have gotten out much earlier .. and ward off a planned attack on Hosnian Prime.