[SPOILERS]Episode VII: The Force Awakens [SPOILERS]

[TheOtherScott]

Throw the shippers a biscuit already.

 

They made a Star Wars movie that was nothing but fanservice, and it was Attack of the Clones.  Be careful what you wish for.

[SkiBlue]

Finn will rescue Rey somehow and they'll be a couple.

 

This will anger me greatly. TFA already showed that she's more than capable on her own, something a LOT of mainstream movies/stories are lacking. It was awesome and refreshing, and needs to be a thing. Sure, they help each other grow as people and characters, but not all relationships like that need to be romantic. 

[TheOtherScott]

This will anger me greatly. TFA already showed that she's more than capable on her own, something a LOT of mainstream movies/stories are lacking. It was awesome and refreshing, and needs to be a thing. Sure, they help each other grow as people and characters, but not all relationships like that need to be romantic. 

 

I hope that exchange where he asks if she has a boyfriend and she doesn't even dignify it with a response wasn't foreshadowing.

[TurtIe]

What if Kylo is simply pulling a Snape and being evil to kill Snoke?

That would certainly explain: 
• His conflict with the light and dark
• His promise to the charred vader helmet to "finish what you started"
• Asking his Dad to help him get the job done despite how hard it is for him
• His reluctance to put Rey in harms way

Kylo's middle name is surely Severus.

[Bullroarer Took]

Late to the party.

 

The Starkiller Base attack was too formulaic 

 

I feel it was suggestive that Rey was a Skywalker.

 

I am left wondering if Snoke is Plagueis or even Tenebrius.  I wonder what size he is supposed to be.

 

While I felt the prequels got waaaaaayy too into explaining politics... I was unclear as to where the Republic, Resistance, and First Order were power and control wise.  

 

On the attack of the Starkiller base... where are Y wings or B wings on a bombing run?

 

Rey came by her abilities a bit too quickly.  

 

Kylo Ren is such a terrible villian I can only believe it is on purpose and he is not meant to be feared and hated on the level of Vader or Palpatine.  His force abilities seem to focus on mind powers.  He doesn't seem to have much saber skill or force power integration for battle.  His saber construction seems sloppy.  He seems more a tool (like Maul) than a successor.  Patricide aside he doesn't even seem that evil.  It even seemed like he was irritating his injuries to bring on pain and draw more power.

 

Does Ren speak to the force ghost of Vader?  He alludes to it.  Could that be a trick of Snoke?  It would seem odd that since Annakin was redeemed their should not be a dark side Vader ghost to lead him.  Please, please do not make a Hayden Christianson force ghost be a major plot point.

 

It does make an interesting dark side mirror to face Solo and be tempted by the light vs. Luke facing Vader and the dark.  Striking down a family member coming in peace vs fighting for your life without giving in to anger.

 

Prophecy is tricky.  Did Anakin fulfill it by balancing a Master and Apprentice of the light and dark?  Did he fulfill it the way the council thought by destroying Sith Master and Apprentice at his redemption?  Do Annakin or Luke fulfill it by giving in to the dark side and coming back?  Some would say this is the true mark of the Skywalker line, not their affinity for the dark side but the ability to return.  Or will Luke fulfill it by going to the Dark side, returning, and learning to draw on both sides without being consumed by the dark?

 

 

 

 

OK, assorted nerd rambles over.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I'm on board for hoping Rey and Finn develop into platonic good friends. The romance angle is too easy and played out.

For the politics, the movie doesn't explain it well, but it's in a bunch of the new canon material. After RotJ, the empire breaks up into wasting factions led by grand moffs and admirals and such. In the disarray, The Rebellion forms he New Republic with a whole bunch of planets. Eventually, the former Imperials get their shit together, get organized, and unite under the First Order. There is war between The First Order and The New Rebublic, but eventually a peace treaty is signed and borders defined. You basically have two governments with the galaxy split between them.

Now, The Resistance is basically like the old Rebel Alliance and is still trying to destroy The First Order as they still don't believe in what the Imperials stand for. They want the entire galaxy liberated. Be accuse there's a peace treaty, The New Republic can't officially ally with them. Instead, they support them with money and equipment through unofficial back door channels. It's basically like what the US does in the Middle East and what Iran does with some terrorist groups, fighting ears by proxy by "secretly" supporting other groups.

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[raptron]

I want a random spin-off that shows all the planet-level bureaucracy and governance related to running an alliance or empire of planet-nations... but in a comedic, "look at all the nonsense paperwork that goes into running this kind of bullshit" kind of way.

[wildross]

It is Disney. Name a single recent vintage Disney series without romance. If not Finn, someone else will be brought in..maybe even a female. Just my thoughts as a general Disney loather.

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[TheOtherScott]

It is Disney. Name a single recent vintage Disney series without romance. If not Finn, someone else will be brought in..maybe even a female. Just my thoughts as a general Disney loather.

 

Monday Night Football.  Disney owns a lot of things it doesn't have full creative control over.

[wildross]

Monday Night Football. Disney owns a lot of things it doesn't have full creative control over.

6 words. Female sideline reporters. Scantily clad 'cheerleaders'.

Which counts as romance in many circles.

Disney movie or tv series

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[Bullroarer Took]

I don't think Disney is the only studio to frequently include a romantic element.

[TheOtherScott]

6 words. Female sideline reporters. Scantily clad 'cheerleaders'.

Which counts as romance in many circles.

 

I clearly don't belong to any of those circles.

 

That said, a love triangle between the two commentators and the sideline reporter would make for must-see TV.

[SkiBlue]

Emo Kylo Ren is on twitter - @KyloR3n

"you can't truly appreciate the imperial march until you hear it on vinyl"

 

This has become my favorite Twitter account ever.

[Kath]

Just saw it yesterday! I enjoyed it, despite the obvious fan-service at times. The new leads were super charming, and I thought it was paced well. I felt that certain story elements could have been expounded on (more of Rey & Finn's individual backstories, more info on the state of the world since the previous episodes...) and that these were sacrificed for more action sequences, but there is always room for this in future films. 

 

The lack of Captain Phasma was super disappointing and I felt that she should have had the role the "TRAITOR!" storm trooper got - which was badass. Instead, she got sidelined and seemed more like a annoying manager, yikes. I hope for more than that in the sequels. 

 

Overall it left a really positive impression on me though, I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

 

And am I the only one who thought the Starkiller looked like a giant butt? Yes I am a child.

[Kes]

Personally, I really want to see more of the First Order.  These are not the Stormtroopers of the prior two generations.

 

The other Stormtroopers are angry about Finn deserting. The one Stormtrooper in particular who calls him a traitor, for instance, doesn't seem to just try to take him out because he was ordered to do so or because Finn is a liability. Rather, the other Stormtrooper tries to beat Finn down, and from the Stormtrooper's actions and the tone of his voice it sounds like he's feeling personally betrayed by what Finn did.  When Finn was in shock and wasn't following orders during the massacre of the villagers, they (1) noticed it, and (2) had a procedure in place for how to deal with it.  People also recognized Finn on sight. This suggests that at least the infantry in the First Order is a decently tight-knit bunch, who are expected to have human responses and a certain measure of esprit de corps.

 

At the same time, we know that the First Order uses a combination of clones and children taken at birth and that they (mostly) don't use names; aside from the military origin of the First Order, this also has psycho religious cult written all over it.  I think this possibility is also likely because of the strange co-leadership of General Hux and Kylo Ren. This isn't like the Empire, where Vader was essentially Emperor Palpatine's deputy but occasionally had to deal with admirals or generals trying to overrule him on tactical or strategic decisions; Snoke is directly giving orders to both Hux and Ren and tasking them with working together.  This religious-military pairing is unusual, unless it's an explicitly religious organization where the religious hierarchy operates alongside a military one.

 

 

In terms of female representation overall, I was pretty pleased. I paid attention to a lot of the background characters.  Aside from Phasma, we also had several female bridge officers and at least one female infantry Stormtrooper (who was reporting to Phasma, thus implying there are probably lots of other female Stormtroopers who can't be identified as such in their uniforms). In the scenes of the Resistance stronghold there were (almost?) as many female pilots, mechanics, and other personnel as male ones.  Poe's squadron had almost equal numbers of male and female pilots when attacking Starkiller Base. They really paid attention to this, and I appreciated it.

[Dilnad]

I just get bugged by stupid little things. Han has been with Chewie how man\y years? And this is the first time he's shot the Bowcaster?  Please! I've shot every single gun any of my buddies own. <G>

[wildross]

I just get bugged by stupid little things. Han has been with Chewie how man\y years? And this is the first time he's shot the Bowcaster?  Please! I've shot every single gun any of my buddies own. <G>

I thought that as well.

 

I also thought it was interesting that Poe's wingmen on the bombing run include 1 fat bearded guy and 1 alien.  Just like Luke in the original.

[Raincloak]

I just get bugged by stupid little things. Han has been with Chewie how man\y years? And this is the first time he's shot the Bowcaster?  Please! I've shot every single gun any of my buddies own. <G>

 

I suppose the retcon for that would be, the bowcaster just got an upgrade and maybe Han's never used the latest version.  I honestly don't remember ever seeing Chewie fire that thing in the original trilogy, though it's altogether possible I missed it.

 

it did strike me as weird too, though.  Guys with weapons bond by shooting stuff.  They kinda made Chewie into comic relief in this movie, I hope he'll get some better stuff to do next round.

 

Rey's shooting technique struck me as weird too.  Okay, so maybe SW guns have no recoil and everybody in Hollywood shoots one-handed anyhow, but you would think when Han was showing her how to use the thing, he'd show her how to aim properly.  Though Han often shoots with one hand too, so ... yeah.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Rey and Finns backstories are covered in book form. Actually got it for Christmas.

For the bowcaster, the pervious canon was that the kickback/recoil was so great, no human could fire it. Wookie strength or more was required to fire it, as well as to load the bolts into it. Disney did away with that canon along with the gravity well not allowing hyperspace stuff.

This can be explained away with the other weapons though. The bowcaster actually fires an energized bolt, which explains the great kickback/recoil, and needs both bolts and energy packs. The others weapons fire pure energy and just need energy packs as ammo.

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[Br0din]

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Gainsdalf, what's the name of the book??

 

I was disappointed that the Republic and the Rebellion - after decades of work - were SO SMALL.  Seriously.  It just seemed odd .... along with all of the other odd stuff you guys have mentioned.  

 

But as hubby asked.  Should I hate myself for liking it?  

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Before the Awakening

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[TheSaint]

This has always been my theory, that the chosen one is balancing between light and dark. The Jedi believe the dark side to be a corruption of the firce, a misuse, and that "balance" is the obliteration of the dark side where only the light side is used. This has caused them to misread the prophecy, causing them to think that The Chosen One will come to end the dark side for good, or at least all its current practictioners. What it really does is spell their doom, as they are currently much more powerful and widespread than The Sith. I believe Yoda mentions a few times that the prophecy may have been misread. In this case Anakin is The Chosen One, brought balance when he wiped out The Jedi, and everything since has been the fallout of the two sides trying to deal with that new balance. Perhaps this stuggle we are seeing between the two is the natural state that the force intends, where neither side is extrmely powerful or weak.

 

There's also the possibility that Anakin was not The Chosen One at all. It's implied (don't know if they ever made it canon) that he was created when Palpatine and Plagueis, in their quest for immortality, saturated the universe with dark side energy, trying to create a child from the force like the prophecy says, but one born specifically of and to the dark side. The idea is that one of them would be able to steal the body, transfering their conciousness to it, and have it already have the ability to use the force, and very powerfully so. If this is the case, then even though the child was a force child, it was not the conciousness/will of the force to create him, but instead a forced case by the Sith lords. Prophecies can't be forced, they're supposed to happen naturally, so perhaps Anakin didn't count. In that case, perhaps Rey is a force child (we haven't seen proof of parentage), supported by all this stuff with her naturally using the force vs being trained, and she is the one to bring balance, and it will be the balance the Jedi interpretted. As far as we know, the knights of Ren and Snoke are the last dark force users around. If she wipes them out, then no more dark side users.

 

That second paragraph goes completely to shit if we ever find out Rey has two parents.

 

The theory of Rey as a Force creation is one that I have enjoyed.  Actually if you buy the theory that Snoke IS Plagueis I have heard it theorized that Snoke/Plagueis could have created Rey as well.  That would explain why Kylo Ren, as a disciple of Snoke/Plagueis, knew about Rey already.  And while I don't believe that there are any visuals that exist of Plagueis in the new canon, those that exist of Plagueis in the EU show that Rey's staff is eerily similar to Plagueis' lightsaber (picture below).  Perhaps Rey is so strong with the Force because 1) she is a Force creation and 2) she has been living with a Dark Side relic for most of her life.

 

Having said all that I don't see Disney OKing this storyline.  While it is more unique, interesting, and original to Star Wars nerds like me, they will likely go the route that is safer with the masses and just make Rey Luke's daughter.

 

[Oramac]

I just get bugged by stupid little things. Han has been with Chewie how man\y years? And this is the first time he's shot the Bowcaster?  Please! I've shot every single gun any of my buddies own. <G>

 

I know!!  Though I suppose it makes sense if it was a new modification that Han was trying out.  

 

What really pissed me off is that Chewie got shafted again.  Han gets killed, and his friend of a couple decades gets about 2 seconds of screen time for his misery?  Really?  C'mon Disney.  

[Dilnad]

I know!!  Though I suppose it makes sense if it was a new modification that Han was trying out.  

I suspect its not that deep. I know someone else came up with a justification from Star Wars lore but I think it was a simple slapstick moment they added in without deep thought to a back story. It may have bugged me a bit but it was still kinda funny.