Star Wars Episode 7

Would it seem like I'm lying to you if I said that I was just logging in to make a topic about the exact same thing before seeing that you've beaten me to the punch? LOL. Good show, Eebear :5

Like you, I enjoyed The Force Awakens a ton. I know that the prequel trilogy gets a lot of flack, but I can't necessarily comment on that much since it's been way too long since I've seen them. What I know from off the top of my head is that The Force Awakens did everything right. In the end, it just felt like a Star Wars movie, and that, unequivocally, is what mattered most when concocting the first film of the sequel trilogy - and arguably the one that has been entirely capable of reaching the series' cultural high bar-hold its initial debut. 

Spoiler: BIG Ones

Yes, there were similarities to A New Hope, but those that bash it for those reasons entirely forgo the point of the film - to reach back and bring the audiences who know and love the originals back into the fold should they ever have felt alienated. Beyond that, I don't feel like it was as aggressive with its similarities as some people have claimed it to be, and that's even with a new Death Star.

Jumping to Han Solo's exit from the mainline series, I think they'd done it in the best way that they could, leaving room for Oscar Isaac's (I LOVE him in Inside Llewyn Davis. Seen the film? No? Go see it.) Poe to very clearly take over the character archtype that Harrison's cultural phenom represented while tying together the entire idea that, yo, Kylo is not going to be the bad guy that he's cracked up to be for long. Yes, a brilliant character, but, if you think about it, how good of a bad guy is he? The scene in which he kills Han shows that his family is still his weakness; in the end, he knows that Han is right about Snoke. I'm expecting the antithesis to the Vader storyline for him, where he essentially starts out bad and ends up helping the light before, you know, dying and stuff. That he shares a name with Obi-Wan is pretty telling that he's truly good.

A lot of people seem to think that Rey is Luke or Leia's daughter. What do you think? I think it's a possibility, and a strong one, but would rather her NOT be so that we don't have this stigma of relying only on Skywalkers forever and ever. I think it'd be pretty cool if Finn were Lando's kid, though, just for that callback, but again, it doesn't need to happen; I would almost they all just be related to no one from the original trilogy so that they can totally stand on their own as representatives of hope for the future of their world. 

Usually, I have a favorite character out of the bunch, but this cast is truly brilliant. Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver deserve the success that's coming their way for ages to come for the performances that they'd put on, and I look forward to hunting down the other movies that they've been in now that I've been turned towards their talent even further in this film. Better yet, I can't wait for Episode VIII, which has been promised to be "weird." We may just see Darth Jar Jar, yet!

 

I saw Star Wars on Christmas Day, and I have to say that I did really enjoy it.

Spoiler

The main thing I didn't like, though, was the way Starkiller Base was handled. Everything they id with it fell on the limit of my suspension of disbelief. I didn't mind the size, nor did I mind the way it took out planets, but what I didn't like was, first of all, the fact that the attacks were so visible. From what I've seen on Reddit, the targets were half the galaxy away from the planet everyone was on, yet they were still able to see all the strikes? Even while I was watching the movie, I thought it was weird, and thought they were targeting planets in the same system as them. The second thing I didn't like was how easy it was to destroy. I realize that they wanted to mirror the Death Star scene in Episode IV, but to have all the important Things in one place like that, on a planet-sized space station just seems weird to me. Wouldn't they have had at least a few failsafes around? Even if the base was otherwise "impenetrable," it just seems like bad design.

Now that I'm done with my rant, I suppose that I'll share a theory about this new trilogy I've read and sort of "adjusted" for my preferences. I like to call it the "Ben's Redemption" theory, and @Starrie is familiar with it as I've told her. The theory is that episode VII was a huge bait and switch: Ben Solo is going to end up being the main character of the trilogy, and it will focus on his redemption. While I haven't really gone much into how Finn and Poe would be involved, one thing that's important to my version of the theory is that Rey will fall to the Dark Side.

Hear me out here. Rey is obviously much stronger in the force naturally than Ben is. It could be that in episode 8, after training with Luke, Rey will have to face off against Ben and Snoke, in which Rey manages to win against Ben. Snoke, seeing how strong Rey is in the Force, will tempt her to the Dark Side. To me, anyway, Rey has all the reason to fall to the Dark Side. I mean think about it. She was abandoned on a desert planet, having to fend for herself while growing up. She only just found out how strong she is in the Force, and she can be really naïve at times. I think she will "easily" be manipulated/brainwashed by Snoke, and he will abandon Ben. I think that this would "wake up" Ben, and he'd go back to his mother, who would tell him to once again go train with Luke.

Admittedly, part of this theory is me really wanting to see Rey as a Sith. I picture her as like Asajj Ventress or Aurra Sing. I mean, how cool would that be? But more than that, I feel that this would not only satisfy Ben's character arc, as redemption for having destroyed Luke's order, but it would also serve to complete Luke's character arc, as a personal atonement for having trained Ben "wrong" the first time. In my opinion, it could also lead to Rey having an interesting character arc, perhaps with her dying in a battle with Ben, and realizing the error of her betrayal as she dies. Overall, I think that them pulling this bait and switch would be not only beautiful by right of the switch itself, but also by using the characters effectively. Of course, I know it probably won't happen, but it's still a really fun "possibility" to think about.

 

Spoiler

I'd never thought of this AT ALL, and I've gone through the motions theorizing on a ton of things in regards to this new trilogy in regards to the overall lore. That would be gorgeous storytelling that would totally blow my mind if they actually managed to conjure it up, because, frankly, I don't think they have the gusto to do it when they're marketing Rey/Daisy Ridley as the face of female leads and probably don't want to run the risk of mucking it up. Seriously, though, if I were personally writing the story, this would be something that I would seriously consider - not even for the shock factor, but for the irony of the reverse parallels that you had mentioned.

 

Not exactly related to episode 7 but...

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wji-BZ0oCwg[/video]

>Protag is named "Jyn Erso"
> This guy

Guys. I think this is Dark Forces. I think they're legitimately making a Kyle Katarn movie. Holy shit.

 

This has been going around as a potential script for Episode VIII (major spoilers if it turns out true, obviously). If this were to be true, this would make Rogue One more important to the new mainline Star Wars trilogy than it would initially seem assuming that

Spoiler

Rey's virgin mother is Felicity Jones's highly-rumored Mara Jade-esque character in said film.