Welcome stranger. You remind me of someone I once knew.
- Palpatine. I would've preferred him to stay dead, and his resurrection serves as the biggest indicator that these 3 films were not mapped out as a single story. However, in TLJ Snoke was killed off too quickly and easily, so we needed a big baddie string puller for our heroes to battle, because we didn't get that resolution. I'm sure we will get an answer as to how he survived (my money is on a clone that was resurrected with the midichlorians harvested from another Force sensitive being - maybe Baby Yoda), but for now we can simply debate.
I had some idea that this watching Ep 3 of Mando, that this is what they wanted the Child for.
- Holdo Maneuver. While it was really, really cool, why hasn't it been done before? What are the chances we see it again? Not good. Like 1 in 100? More like 1 in a million. So you're telling me there's a chance...
Points for the Dumb & Dumber ref, but this was pure fan service. There were only 2 options to employ it: "slave master" droid orders or suicide mission.
- Lightspeed Skipping. TLJ did away with light speed being an escape option, so JJ had to explain how it still was an option, otherwise space battles would become the slow speed chase we saw in TLJ. Again, though, that was something a lot of fans hated. From now on when a ship jumps to lightspeed we will know how they escaped or why they were not even pursued, "Oh, they lightspeed skipped."
UGH! As if lightspeed tracking wasn't hacky enough, they had to do something even more ridiculous. 1) How do you jump that many times without running out of gas? 2) Moving at that speed, he should have Holdoed at least 6 times. And 3) how do you make lightspeed jumps that fast without proper calculations? Han was the best, and even he needed to consult the navi-computer.
Force Power Creep:
- Admittedly, I haven't read the books like Jedi Path, but are we getting a bit ridiculous? We are bordering on video game levels here, and it seems to becoming too much of a stretch. There will always need to be an extreme level of suspension of disbelief when it comes to the idea of the Force, and I have no problems with new powers being rolled out as long as they are connections, extensions, or feasible jumps of things we have seen in the past. Or if they things that are rooted in established SW canon. For example, we saw Force jumps in the OT, so why not have Force run in the PT? Sure. Makes sense. Also, we've seen the Force be able to move objects and stop them from moving, so it makes sense that a strong Force user could stop a shot from a blaster or block a saber strike. It's a logical connection. But I think this trilogy ended up taking things too far. I half expected Rey to just lift the Death Star wreckage out of the ocean, or for some random Force sensitive to stop the blast that blew up Kijimi.
- My biggest issues with the Force in this movie were Palp's fleet killing lightning power and the teleporting items (the graflex and the necklace) between Rey and Kylo/Ben. Maybe Palp's power could be explained because it was amplified by being on Exegol, but is the ability to teleport or grab something like they did with the saber and necklace have any basis on what we have as canon? I know Luke's doppelganger from TLJ does, but what about teleporting? Similarly, do we have anything to support that people can duel through visions like Rey and Kylo did while they were separated? Maybe them being a dyad will provide answers, but for now I just ever so slightly shake my head. I am genuinely asking, though.
- I prefer the Force ghosts to be passive watchers and advisers as opposed to being able to physically interact with the world. Just a preference, though, because this is a relatively new discovery of the Jedi.
- Force Heal. Fine with it, because it's not a new ability, but the whole bringing Rey back from the dead needs to be explained. It's probably another one of those dyad things, but I don't have an issue with Force heal being in the saga.
Yes, the Force teleport was too far. The lightning, I let pass (but I'm seeing it again tonight), because he had just sapped power from 2 of the "most powerful" Force users in the galaxy, so he was Iron Man at 400%. What I hated about the Force healing was that Rey has all these new powers in a very short amount of time. Let's face it, these new punks just don't understand the how Force works.
Chewie:
- I'm glad he didn't die that way. If he does die, then he deserves a better send off than to die in a Force tug-of-war. Like Luke, Han, and Leia, I think the fans should be given an opportunity to say goodbye on screen. That being said, because Wookiees can live for a really long time, and the reality of it being a costume, I'm fine with him (along with R2 and 3PO) being the carryovers into a new trilogy if they make one. It would work.
- He didn't need to get the medal. A nice little, but unnecessary, nod. Another fan service moment that is more about pleasing the vocal fans than anything else.
I kinda wished they'd have had the balls to kill him in such a way.
Death Star 2:
- If it was orbiting the Forest Moon, then why did the vast majority of it crash on the Ocean Moon?
Still asking how any of if survived a thermonuclear reactor, with the output of a star, going boom? No debris was shown in ROTJ. And the engineering nerd in me is crying because the chunk of DS that we see is so massive that is no chance in hell that it crashed and the interior even looks half as good as it did. Also, whoever built the throne room set needs to be shot in the leg and forced to watch ROTJ 50 more times. The only things they got right were the throne and the window behind it, and should have been mangled beyond recognition in the crash. Plus how the hell does the side door still have power when the station's power plant failure was the cause of its demise?
Zorii Bliss:
- SW always needs a scoundrel, and she served as one. Shady backstory with shifting allegiances? Yeah, I liked her, even if she did look just a little too much like a Power Ranger.
Yeah......but she was a
hot scoundrel. And as previously mentioned, I liked that she sullied Poe's character as the all around do-good hero.
Babu Frik:
- Yes sir may I have another?!
Say what you will, but I actually liked that little a-hole.
Force Sensitive Finn (and Jannah):
- The Force Awakens now seems like an incredibly appropriate title that was hinted at by the broomstick kid from TLJ. The Force has indeed awakened in a lot of beings across the galaxy which gives us a lot of new story options going forward, because I don't think this is the last we will see of these characters. I'm ok with Finn being Force sensitive to explain why he (and Jannah) would suddenly walk away from the First Order as well as his strong bond with Rey.
- That being said, I'm not ok with Finn being Force sensitive as a way of answering the question a lot of people had, "How could Finn wield a lightsaber so well if he wasn't Force sensitive?" First off, he did have some melee weapon training as a FO stormtrooper, so he would have a working knowledge on how to block and strike with a weapon like a lightsaber. Secondly, however, he didn't wield it very well. That stormtrooper in TFA kicked his ass in only a few seconds, and so did Kylo after he stopped toying with him. Finally, you don't need to be Force sensitive to turn on and use a lightsaber. Han proved that on Hoth.
Agreed. But I started viewing Finn's level of sensitivity to be similar to Chirrut's; enough to sense things, but not enough to control like a Jedi. What totally screwed the pooch on this concept was Jannah's story that an entire company (80-150 troops) had the same instinct at the same time. "This is pure weapons grade baloney-um." My
only conceivable thought behind this was that someone in the company may have actually been a greater Force sensitive to a point of permeating the group consciousness. Similar to the way depicted in
Path of Destruction, Des' (pre-Sith Darth Bane) anger in the bar spread to everyone that was there, resulting in a bar brawl of epic proportions. Granted he was sensitive enough to wield, but at that point he was yet untrained.
Music:
- John Williams is the GOAT when it comes to movie scores. I sat there as my wife and sons stood up during the credits. They asked me if there was something at the end. I simply replied, "No. I may never get to here these songs again in a a theater, so I'm going to enjoy it."
Agreed. It was good to hear old themes again.
My Overall SW Skywalker Saga Closure Thoughts:
Preface: If I get some numbers wrong here, I apologize. I'm going in with no fact checking.
Star Wars will always hold a special place in my heart (as I'm sure most of yours as well), but I think we need to realize that these movies were designed to be attractive to a younger audience, and I wish we would all remember that with each new chapter, movie, series, etc. I grew up with the OT being "my Star Wars." The Special Edition re-release happened when I was in high school, the prequels came out in my late teens to mid 20s, and the sequels came out after I became a father. My sons are currently 8 and 5. I have had a chance to experience this franchise through 3 very distinct phases of my life, and every portion feels different. My sons have seen nearly everything SW except for Episode 3, Star Wars Resistance, and a good portion of TCW series. I've had the chance to experience it through my own and my brothers' young eyes, my wife's eyes when she came to appreciate SW after marrying me, my adult eyes, and through the eyes of my young sons and their friends.
We have all been blessed with 42 years of incredible films and shows (Christmas Special doesn't count!
). When it comes to 9 saga films, 5 stand alone/spinoff films, and 4 spinoff series, there will inevitably be some content that we do not like due to opinions and preferences, but most of all because we have changed over those 42 years. The fans, the creators, the technology, the characters, the actors, the world in which we live - all of us have changed.
When ROTJ came out, I loved the Ewoks, but I was also a child. When TPM came out, I thought (and still do think) that Jar Jar was one of the most annoying things I've ever seen in a movie. My sons? They love him. When I see how they react to him, it's not hard for me to picture my younger self loving Jar Jar too. The sequel trilogy? It's probably their favorite 3 movies in the franchise. These movies will be "their SW." This is what they will grow up with like I did with the OT. When they ask to watch SW, it's almost always TFA, TLJ or TPM. It is rarely Episodes 4-6, which fans my age almost always rate as the strongest part in the whole SW franchise. I doubt I'm the only SW fan/parent who experiences this. Talk to a fan born in the mid 80s to mid 90s, and they would probably rate the prequels as their favorite, because that is what they grew up with.
My point is this. It seems like those of us who dislike the sequels and "what Disney has done" are the ones who are in my boat - the fans who were around at or near the beginning of this wonderful journey and/or those who devoured and still cling to the EU content, but I think we have forgotten something. Star Wars was, and always will be made for the younger crowd, although there is usually enough adult themes that make it relevant in our grown up lives. It's no different than virtually anything else. My wife and her family love Star Trek. Her parents loved the original series and cast. She loves Next Generation. Think about your favorite genre of music. It it as good as it used to be? Probably not. Nothing is hardly ever as good as we remember it when we "discovered it."
And you know what? That's ok.
My hope is that the older fans remember what it was like when there was no new Star Wars content (outside of the books) for nearly 20 years. It sucked. You have every right to your opinion and to agree or disagree with anything and everything I've said in this novelesque post, but please realize that any Star Wars is better than no Star Wars, and try to find that young place in your heart where you can just sit back and enjoy the ride the filmmakers take us on, despite anything that may fall short of our expectations, because that is where the overwhelming majority of disappointment originates - unmet expectations.
MTFBWY. Always.
Gonna have to disagree on some of your main points. I don't think SW was aimed necessarily at younger crowds, but rather
dreamers, which
tend to be younger people. The best evidence of this is why most adults never dream of flying: the world has beaten possibility out of them. A child's mind however sees nothing but potential. They are unfamiliar with what
is and are more focused on what
could be. For me, I honestly think I wouldn't have minded Rey
becoming a Force superpower, but I would have preferred to have seen it over a much longer span. Way longer than the span of the sequel trilogy, like over the course of the next 30 years. Not "I've only known about the Force for 18mo and I'm already the most badass Jedi ever.
" That's not how it works. After my second viewing, I came out actually
liking this movie more. Yes it had some real groaner moments, and some absolute nostalgia fails (calling Luke's X-wing "Red 5" being among the top), but after about the first quarter, things started to slow down a little and an actual plot began to develop.
In truth, and I've said this before, if you eliminated the tie to the Skywalkers, this actually wouldn't have been a bad side story. Nice thing about side stories is that they don't have to be a fan's focus. Me personally, I like the OR era more than New Republic era (in the original canon). But the first 6 movies weren't perfect, but the story was really good, and they were something that tied all of us together as a fandom. I think the Disney canon painted itself into a corner by trying too hard to be edgy, along with retconning 90% of universe in a VERY short time, and is now stepping on and breaking its own continuity (which the purge was supposed to fix
). Too many cooks and all that. No I didn't like EVERYTHING from the OC, but there was a LOT that many did love. And now there is less, and what is available even the die hard supporter groan about.
The major pit fall about directing SW solely to a younger crowd: eventually they grow up and see it for what it really is. If the OT had been directed at young people, would you have treasured it as much as you got older? More so, would you have encouraged others in your family to experience it, and potentially come to love what you loved? Case in point: the Christmas special. It was horrible. IF I've ever seen it, it has long been repressed. The only people I have ever heard recommend it do so with malicious intent to twist, warp, and scar as badly as they have been by it. Another example: Power Rangers. When I was young I watched it. I liked the show original with the original quintet. I liked when the Green Meany showed up. I followed it up even to the first movie. But as I got older (and it wasn't that long of a span) I left it behind because even my taste for ridiculously campy action TV had its limits. Star Wars survived because it appealed to many ages on many levels. I mean hell, who in the English speaking world doesn't know the name Darth Vader? Disregarding major chunks of your fanbase will only spell doom for the franchise.
OK rant over. Thanks for
listening.....reading. And MTFBWY as well.
After seeing ROS twice, I will say I liked it as a Star Wars movie just as much as I like Episode I and II. There are some killer scenes and some duds, but this is just my opinion.
After my second viewing, it was easier to enjoy it
as a movie more. I still have serious issues with the story though. Maybe now that it's over I'll have to watch them all again and see if I can grow an actual appreciation.
