Star Wars Discussion Thread contains spoilers (and may contain nuts)

[Liep]

Also, Rey is pretty much the most bad ass female hero I've ever seen.

[Valmy]

Could I bring my five year old to see it? What say you Liep? I was that age when I saw RoTJ so I was planning on it.

[Ed Anger]

Take him anyways. Age limits? PSHAW!

[Liep]

There's no gore, but they do aim better than in the first 6 movies.

5 years is maybe too young as there is more evil in this one than the others. And no ewoks to counter it.

[Valmy]

5 years is maybe too young as there is more evil in this one than the others. And no ewoks to counter it.

I see. More evil than Empire Strikes Back?

[Valmy]

Take him anyways. Age limits? PSHAW!

I just do not want him making me leave early

[Ed Anger]

Take him anyways. Age limits? PSHAW!

I just do not want him making me leave early

Tape him to the chair. Problem solved.

[Liep]

5 years is maybe too young as there is more evil in this one than the others. And no ewoks to counter it.

I see. More evil than Empire Strikes Back?

I'm pretty sure he'll love it, and you'll be ruined by all the LEGO Star Wars you need to buy for him, but there are a few scenes that maybe will be a bit too much, or maybe he won't understand those.

[Syt]

Random thought before going to sleep: Finn reminded me a fair bit of Dave Lister from Red Dwarf

[Syt]

Rambling time!



I grew up loving Star Wars. I also watched and liked other sci-fi, like Star Trek, but Star Wars was always somewhat special to me. Probably because of its elusiveness when I was a kid and young teen.

Return of the Jedi launched when I was 7. I had the Panini collectible sticker album that told the story of the movie and was fascinated. So I was all the more pissed when my family went to watch the movie - and did so without me and my next oldest sister. I did get my hands on the novelization and some toys, so there's that. We didn't have much money, so the bigger vehicles were out of the question, and I built spaceships from shoe boxes. A friend had pretty much all the toys, though, and we played with them a lot. And one of my favorite birthday gifts were the novelizations of ANH and ESB for my 11th birthday.

The movies were first shown on TV in the late 80s, and it was a major event. We didn't have a VCR at the time, so no taping. I did watch the movies at friends' places on occasion. And I collected the old Marvel comics that were released in Germany by Ehapa with always two issues in one volume. Our local bookstore wasn't too happy, because ordering the back issues meant having to write postcards to the publisher.

Later, when the THX version was released on video, I bought a collector's edition with a lot of extra features on a separate cassette. You can look at the contents here: http://s742.photobucket.com/user/theraygun/media/SW%20Tin%20Outer.jpg.html

(I later sold it when I needed some extra cash.)

I've never cared much for the Expanded Universe - at least not in what came after ROTJ. I read the Thrawn trilogy, and while it added some interesting characters, and some very unpronounceable names, it started a trend of the heroes who destroyed Vader and the Emperor facing a new Warlord/Emperor wannabe that just didn't grab. Me. Not to mention alien invasions from beyond. I did enjoy stories that expanded on the movies, or the time between them - Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales From Jabba's Palace were great fun, and there's of course the Old Republic setting. For a while I bought any Star Wars game that was released, from X-Wing to Republic Commando, from Yoda Stories to The Old Republic, from Rebellion to Force Commander and Jedi Knight, Star Wars Galaxies to Star Wars Battlegrounds.

The first time I watched the old trilogy was when the Special Edition was released in 1997. I like some changes, don't like others. Bit of a mixed bag. But the fascination of the original movies was seeing glimpses of a fascinating universe and wondering what lies beyond, who this alien is, what that guy in the background does. It was a huge playground for me, and I didn't care too much about how long/fast a ship would be, or how a light saber functions.  That's why I always loved the Tatooine scenes.

I don't find the prequels terrible, but they're a lot of wasted potential. They had in my opinion three questions to answer: 1. How does Anakin become Vader? 2. Who is Luke and Leia's mother? How did the Empire come to power and destroy the Jedi? The movies found answers, even decent premises, but lost them in stilted dialogue and an overabundance of CGI. Even otherwise decent actors turned out poor performances, and I'm sure Hayden Christensen, with a different director, could have been pretty good as Anakin. The best thing to come out of the prequels, IMHO, is the Clone Wars animated series.



Which brings me to Episode VII. SPOILERS AHEAD – skip if you want no spoilers.



I didn't expect much. I was originally not even hyped. But the trailers did pull me in eventually. I tried to avoid spoilers, or speculation, so I could go as blind as possible into the movie. I've been to two midnight premieres before: Episode 2 & Episode 3. This one in the IMAX was civil - a few cheers during the movie when familiar characters appeared, but otherwise no obnoxious talkers or such.

It was weird watching the opening crawl in 3D.

The movie banks a lot on nostalgia. It's not just bringing back familiar characters (Han, Luke, Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, cameos by Ackbar and Nien Nunb ...), but the movie ... I don't want to say copies scenes, but it strongly alludes to them.

Take the opening: a rebel depositing vital information in a small droid that communicates in whistles, just before Stormtroopers and the evil guy in black arrive to capture that info. And the final assault on Starkiller base feel a bit like a mash up of the Death Star escape and Death Star attack of Ep. IV, and the assault on the shield generator from Ep. VI, and then there's an allusion to the cantina scene. And there's of course the original cast who are revealed piecemeal to the audience to give each of them their grand entrance.

The start of the movie had quite a few coincidences (i.e. everyone running into each other as the plot required) and I thought the encounter on Han's freighter was a bit unnecessary.

For the characters - I quite enjoyed Rey and Finn as new protagonists. They both have their moment of not wanting to deal with the stuff they're dragged into, but follow through in the end. I'm kind of curious how powerful Rey actually is. She instinctively taught herself force persuasion (hilarious scene, actually), force pull, and centering herself in the final duel. If that's what she can do without training ... Finn reminds me a bit of Dave Lister - a good heart, but out of his depth and trying to fake it till he makes it.

I was surprised by Kylo Ren. I expected a whiny guy (which he partly is), but while probably not the most effective (in terms of viewer response) villain of the movies, he's probably the most complex one. A dark side character tempted by the light side is a nice twist on things. He seems genuinely conflicted, in doubt, and unsure whether or not he's on the right path. It's the kind of performance you would have wanted out of Anakin Skywalker. And I thought the death of Han was handled very well, and I look forward to seeing how this shapes Kylo Ren's path.

The film is pretty action packed, in a fun way, there's serious moments, but also some good humor. The movie feels grittier than the original trilogy. If Ep. IV establish the "used universe" look, then this one goes for "things look even shittier after all this fighting." In the grim dark past of a galaxy far, far away there's only war? That even goes for the First Order which goes for a classic Empire aesthetic, but it doesn't look as clean or polished as the original Empire. And hair style wise, the Empire this time goes for a 1920s/30s look instead of the 1970s sideburns.

On the other side you have the resistance which is MUCH more colorful and diverse than the Rebel Alliance of old.

The 3D was very good in IMAX. The movie actually gave me one of the rare "Whoa" moments in a 3D movie when a Star Destroyer filled the screen, pointy end to the audience, and really gave me an immense feeling of scale. I could tell from audience reaction I wasn't alone in that.

My main complaint so far is Andy Serkis' Supreme Leader. What the fuck kind of name is "Snoke"? That sounds like a villain for Teddy Ruxpin or the Gummy Bears, or a dastardly politician/industrialist/gangster in a 1930s pulp novel. And the creature in its CGI-ness looked out of place. And it reminded me decidedly too much of arse face from the Preacher comics.

All in all, this was a fun romp. In tone it was closer to A New Hope than any of the other movies. I want to see this story continue and I want to watch it a few times more (I will see it twice more in the theater).

Open questions:
- I'm unclear on the situation in the galaxy. There's the Republic, the First Order and the Resistance. Republic and Resistance seem to be one. But are they the dominant force? Or is the First Order? It seems the First Order is trying to take over the galaxy, but why is there only a scrappy underground resistance poised against them?
-   Will Luke start training Rey? Well, obviously he will, but he seems very reluctant, and I'm guessing Ep. VIII will focus on the conflict between eager student and reluctant teacher. The final image with Rey holding out Luke's old light saber, but him not taking it from her was a great way of ending the movie.
- What happens with Kylo Ren? Killing his father may have proven his conviction to Snoke, but is he really committed? What happened to the other Knights of Ren? Will we see them in the next movie? Were they all Luke's students?
- What's Snoke's endgame? He doesn't seem too fazed that he lost Starkiller base. (On Starkiller base – it uses the sun as energy; but what was the plan after using up the sun? Does that planet have an engine? And what planet was destroyed? They said in the movie, but I can't remember – it kinda looked like Coruscant, but I think it wasn't; at any rate, the scene was surprisingly not very effective – might have been different if they had hit a planet that we were very familiar with).
- How did Mos get Luke's light saber from Ep. V? (I think this might be in one of the comics, though.)
- For much of the movie I was expecting a reveal that Rey might be Kylo Ren's sister. I'm curious who her parents were, and if they hid her on Jakku to protect her from the hunt for Jedi and Force sensitives.

More thoughts may follow whenever I get around to them.

[Liep]

- Seemed to me the First Order was the challenger to the Republic, now they seem equally destroyed.
- Like Luke and Yoda
- I like Ren as a character, there's so many ways this can go
- Snoke is puzzling to me, also if it was hologram why did his projection need to be that big, and he didn't really look evil. Snoke? I agree that name is stupid.
- Didn't care
- Rey is awesome. Who told her all the stories about Jedis and the force? She seemed to have been alone forever on Jakku, except for her very young years. And was that a memory of her mother being taken away from her in that lightsaber scene? If it was because the parents were dangerous because of the force surely the assailants would've known the kid would probably be interesting as well. Is she Luke's daughter? That cantina owner surely implied it by saying it called for Anakin, then luke and now her. Rey is awesome.

[Solmyr]

My main complaint so far is Andy Serkis' Supreme Leader. What the fuck kind of name is "Snoke"? That sounds like a villain for Teddy Ruxpin or the Gummy Bears, or a dastardly politician/industrialist/gangster in a 1930s pulp novel. And the creature in its CGI-ness looked out of place. And it reminded me decidedly too much of arse face from the Preacher comics.

Tbh, "Palpatine" wasn't much more threatening as a name. Or "Dooku". Let's face it, Star Wars villains tend to have silly names.

[Syt]

- Rey is awesome. Who told her all the stories about Jedis and the force? She seemed to have been alone forever on Jakku, except for her very young years. And was that a memory of her mother being taken away from her in that lightsaber scene? If it was because the parents were dangerous because of the force surely the assailants would've known the kid would probably be interesting as well. Is she Luke's daughter? That cantina owner surely implied it by saying it called for Anakin, then luke and now her. Rey is awesome.

She really is a very cool character. 2015 has been a good year for female action heroes with Ep. VII and Fury Road. Her being Luke's daughter would make sense; but then the next question is: where's the mother? I'm not surprised that she heard stories about Jedi. She grew up in a scavenger hub that digs up wrecks from a major battle between Rebels and Empire; it would make sense if some of the fortune seekers bring stories and legends with them.

Well, Sith masters seem to overcompensate in holograms (see Ep. V when Palpatine gives Vader a call). I found it notable that the hologram technology seems to have advanced, from badly shot blue tinted VHS to "looks like he's actually here."

[Syt]

Tbh, "Palpatine" wasn't much more threatening as a name. Or "Dooku". Let's face it, Star Wars villains tend to have silly names.

Yeah, but Snoke takes the coke, uhm, cake.

[Syt]

Looked it up - the destroyed system was "Hosnian Prime" which is a new entry in the franchise. I guess after Star Trek Abrams thought he couldn't destroy another iconic planet.