The Force Awakens [SPOILER WARNING!]

[DiabloAzul 2,636]

All info from the wonderful Force Awakens Visual Dictionary.

 

Thanks - I'll definitely check it out!

[JgzMan 401]

The open part in the centre of the hull, that twin layer look is a massive flight deck.

 

 

CALLED IT! And people said I was crazy.

[SomeKittens 439]

I too enjoyed watching Kylo being tempted by the light. Different change of pace.

 

This was one of my favorite things added to the canon.  Makes total sense, gives a new dimension to otherwise samey characters.

 

Also, Rey is totally Luke's kid.  With all the other allusions to ANH, who else could the desert-planet-inhabiting, force-sensitive-pilot be?

 

"The dumbfounded look is strong in my family"

 

[DerangedShadow 38]

"The dumbfounded look is strong in my family"

 

 

 

The lulz were had with this post.

 

I wanted to scream at the end of the movie. Why Luke's lines from the trailer never made it in the movie, even at the end when it would have been a perfect closer.

[SomeKittens 439]

Fun Fact: Since Luke doesn’t technically have a speaking role in the film, SAG rules state he’s only entitled to a much lower (about 1/3 as much) day rate.

[Stasy 2,501]

Fun Fact: Since Luke doesn’t technically have a speaking role in the film, SAG rules state he’s only entitled to a much lower (about 1/3 as much) day rate.

I'm sure he still got paid though. That had to be some of the easiest money he's ever made.

[DWRR 898]

"The dumbfounded look is strong in my family"

 

 

The lulz were had with this post.

 

I wanted to scream at the end of the movie. Why Luke's lines from the trailer never made it in the movie, even at the end when it would have been a perfect closer.

Because Luke's 'lines from the trailer' were in fact from Return of the Jedi and said to Leia...

[SomeKittens 439]

 

Fun Fact: Since Luke doesn’t technically have a speaking role in the film, SAG rules state he’s only entitled to a much lower (about 1/3 as much) day rate.

I'm sure he still got paid though. That had to be some of the easiest money he's ever made.

 

 

I'm sure he was paid bucketloads for this to ensure that he had as many movies as Disney wanted in his contract.

 

Also, +1 for non-whiny protagonist:

 

[Shadoer 35]

I'll agree with everyone that the movie was good, if I had to rank it I'd go

 

1. Empire Strikes Back

2. A New Hope

3. Force Awakens

4. Return of the Jedi

5. The prequels.

 

My thinking with the movie was the first half was perfect. They set the right tone, there were some fantastic action scenes there, great acting, and it worked well to get us emotionally invested in the movie.

 

However the 2nd part, while good, had to throw in the Star Killer base. And to me it just felt tacked on and a distraction. It just came out of left field to inform us the Empire had ANOTHER doomsday weapon and they were using it and it had to be destroyed, Finn somehow knew the layout and Han had the balls to try and shut down the shields.

 

It wasn't necessary. Our emotional investment in the film was on

 

1. Holy **** they need to rescue Rey from Kylo. That's reason enough for Finn to try to get to the base.

2. Holy **** Han needs to try and rescue his son who's become evil. That's enough to get Han to go on that crazy mission.

3. We need to find Luke and it turns out the First Order has the other pieces of the map from the Empire's archive, and Kylo just told Rey this. So once they get Rey they can realize they need to grab those coordinates.

 

The Death Stars in a New Hope and Return of the Jedi worked because the whole movies were built around them. A New Hope we new from the beginning that the plans for the Death Star were important and the Empire was going to continue to destroy worlds unless they were stopped. Return of the Jedi it became the center piece in the Emperor's trap. Here, it's just a distraction for some quick fighter scenes and to give us a sense that the stakes are "Oh Leia and Admiral Akbhar might die" 

 

It's still good, but it just felt that part was unnecessary. 

Edited December 18, 2015 by Shadoer

[DiabloAzul 2,636]

That's an excellent analysis, and I can only fully agree. It does feel somewhat tacked on. Nevertheless, it did not succeed at diminishing my enjoyment.

[SomeKittens 439]

It wasn't just tacked on, it felt like it was thrown in out of obligation.  "Welp, we've got to give the bad guys a planet-destroying weapon with a trench an X-Wing can fly down.  Wait, Death Star 2 was more of a corridor, so let's go halfsies."

[Norsehound 2,740]

I too enjoyed watching Kylo being tempted by the light. Different change of pace.

But he still reminds me of a whiney bitchy Clones Anakin. He's juvenile. Not a bad guy. Maybe he didn't get enough hugs as a kid or something and wants to prove he's a bad man.

I also didn't like the blaster fire force crap. Trained Jedi couldn't do it...to me it feels like JJ wanted and got something. And that didn't feel in place in the universe as is.

I DID love the return to slow lightsaber fighting. Non trained combat looks like non trained combat.

To me, this was on par, but maybe just a hair less good than ANH and even RotS. Yeah, I said it. It wasn't better than the best prequel IMO.

 

My girlfriend said she didn't expect Kylo Ren to be a whiny kid with daddy issues, but what I got out of it was that Kylo Ren is a conflicted young man that aspires to be his more powerful grandfather but struggles with trying to establish his own identity. I figured he hated Solo so much because solo wasn't a skywalker and thus connected to greatness, so he had to be eliminated.

 

On hovering blaster bolts, the thought I had at that moment was that some force users must be great at doing certain things, and this is a new talent we haven't seen before but that Kylo has mastered.

 

Agreed on the lightsaber fighting. When Rey got the blade and was sparring with Kylo my thought was, "Wait, she's untrained, and he must be either reckless or also as untrained". The second thought was for the SWRPG in that apparently you don't need a skill in lightsaber to use the weapon, since Finn nor Rey had any formal training with bladed weapons that have no mass.

 

I can't place this anywhere near the prequels because that would require bad acting on the part of one of the actors... something you'd roll your eyes and say, "please don't speak". Padme's directing, Jar-Jar, and Aniken's lines in the prequel are all my examples of this, but I didn't feel that way with any of the characters in these movies. Everyone was a pleasure to see throughout.

 

I think this movie did have as much "feel" in it as Empire. Return of the Jedi was the payoff of the original trillogy (and setup from Empire), and A New Hope was just a blur to show us the new universe. So, I'm eager to see what Episode 8 does for us.

right after I see TFA a few more times

 

It wasn't just tacked on, it felt like it was thrown in out of obligation.  "Welp, we've got to give the bad guys a planet-destroying weapon with a trench an X-Wing can fly down.  Wait, Death Star 2 was more of a corridor, so let's go halfsies."

 

I'd imagine there's a few tech fans out there who ask, "Wait, they have thirty years and the evil empire hasn't built a new death star yet?". I think there is a danger of continually trying to top themselves with even greater superweapons further on (If we're not careful, by 9 we'll have a weapon that destroys entire sectors in one shot!).

 

It was very practical to use a planet as the basis of their superweapon, but I can't help wonder how they managed to dig out that huge trench in the side of it to install the laser there.

[DiabloAzul 2,636]

It was a very small planet.

[Shadoer 35]

It wasn't just tacked on, it felt like it was thrown in out of obligation.  "Welp, we've got to give the bad guys a planet-destroying weapon with a trench an X-Wing can fly down.  Wait, Death Star 2 was more of a corridor, so let's go halfsies."

 

Either way the movie didn't build up to it. 

 

If we had some lines like Finn going "Hey I gotta run because I know the First Order is going to destroy entire systems and there's going to be a war like we've never seen and I want no part of it"

 

Or "we need Luke because we are about to go to war with the First Order again and they have this"

 

Yeah, then I could see it.

 

They way they did it was to suddenly reveal it half way through the movie without any real build up or allusion what so ever. It's just there suddenly and it has to be stopped.

[Norsehound 2,740]

So, how many of you think Captain Phasma is related to Boba Fett?

 

...because both of them wear cool armor, have very little speaking lines, are easily defeated by our heroes, and thrown into pits to die.

[DiabloAzul 2,636]

On the other hand, it does point to switch in tactics from "fear will keep them in line" to "kill them all", which in retrospect is rather reasonable

 

Not that it could have been easy to keep a project of this magnitude under wraps.

[DiabloAzul 2,636]

So, how many of you think Captain Phasma is related to Boba Fett?

 

...because both of them wear cool armor, have very little speaking lines, are easily defeated by our heroes, and thrown into pits to die.

 

I see the movie as an unusual type of reboot (which keeps continuity). In terms of character archetypes and narrative functions,

 

Phasma is Boba Fett

Kylo Ren is Darth Vader

Rey is Luke

Snoke is Palpatine

 

Other characters are slightly less obvious, but it can be argued that Han fills much the same role that Obi-Wan did, and his role (and Chewie's) is in turn split between Poe and Finn. And it looks like Luke is going to fill Yoda's shoes.

[cynanbloodbane 3,435]

I think time was the killer this time. They didn't do a very good job of establishing that the Republic was a threat to the First Order, thus the need to eliminate the Republic government before they could move forward with their plans. Considering that is my biggest gripe with the plot... I can live with that.

[Shadoer 35]

 

So, how many of you think Captain Phasma is related to Boba Fett?

 

...because both of them wear cool armor, have very little speaking lines, are easily defeated by our heroes, and thrown into pits to die.

 

I see the movie as an unusual type of reboot (which keeps continuity). In terms of character archetypes and narrative functions,

 

Phasma is Boba Fett

Kylo Ren is Darth Vader

Rey is Luke

Snoke is Palpatine

 

Other characters are slightly less obvious, but it can be argued that Han fills much the same role that Obi-Wan did, and his role (and Chewie's) is in turn split between Poe and Finn. And it looks like Luke is going to fill Yoda's shoes.

 

 

Oh and what I liked also on those lines was that they are still distinctly different from their predecessors.

 

Kylo Ren isn't like Vader where he will just kill people for simply "failing him". He gets angry, but he has enough sense to take it out on a computer rather than a person.

 

Phasma isn't in this for money like Fett was, she's just loyal to the Empire.

 

Rey isn't like Luke who wanted to leave his farm, see adventure, and rescue a Princess. She is hoping her family is going to come to save her and is established early on to be a good and caring person.

 

And Snoke, while powerful, doesn't seem to be the all knowing god that Palpatine is. For however manipulative he might be, Snoke and Kylo talk to each other like friends. Snoke tells Kylo that facing his father again is going to be hard and the toughest test he'll face. Snoke doesn't berate or threaten Kylo when he screws up. 

It's pretty refreshing I'd say. Heck I can already say I like Rey more than I did Luke in "A New Hope".

[GrandAdmiralCrunch 2,255]

I saw it this morning, and while I did enjoy it quite a bit, one thing did really bother me:

 

JJ has no sense of scale.

 

The Starkiller absorbed a star to launch it's planet killing strike on the Republic. We know from the end that this kills the star affected. Yet the strike hits multiple targets all within sight of each other, and is seen from the planet Han and company went to.

 

Was the entire New Republic government and fleet in one crowded system?

Edited December 18, 2015 by admiralcrunch

[cynanbloodbane 3,435]

So, how many of you think Captain Phasma is related to Boba Fett?

 

...because both of them wear cool armor, have very little speaking lines, are easily defeated by our heroes, and thrown into pits to die.

 

I see the movie as an unusual type of reboot (which keeps continuity). In terms of character archetypes and narrative functions,

 

Phasma is Boba Fett

Kylo Ren is Darth Vader

Rey is Luke

Snoke is Palpatine

 

Other characters are slightly less obvious, but it can be argued that Han fills much the same role that Obi-Wan did, and his role (and Chewie's) is in turn split between Poe and Finn. And it looks like Luke is going to fill Yoda's shoes.

Dont forget "Tarkin Jr."

[SomeKittens 439]

 

 

So, how many of you think Captain Phasma is related to Boba Fett?

 

...because both of them wear cool armor, have very little speaking lines, are easily defeated by our heroes, and thrown into pits to die.

 

I see the movie as an unusual type of reboot (which keeps continuity). In terms of character archetypes and narrative functions,

 

Phasma is Boba Fett

Kylo Ren is Darth Vader

Rey is Luke

Snoke is Palpatine

 

Other characters are slightly less obvious, but it can be argued that Han fills much the same role that Obi-Wan did, and his role (and Chewie's) is in turn split between Poe and Finn. And it looks like Luke is going to fill Yoda's shoes.

Dont forget "Tarkin Jr."

 

 

Or the difficult paternity conversation on a space-catwalk without handrails despite being above a bottomless pit, with the dad trying to get the brat kid with poor emotional control to convert to the dad's side.

 

(Fear the power of the Dad Side!)

[JgzMan 401]

I saw it this morning, and while I did enjoy it quite a bit, one thing did really bother me:

 

JJ has no sense of scale.

 

The Starkiller absorbed a star to launch it's planet killing strike on the Republic. We know from the end that this kills the star affected. Yet the strike hits multiple targets all within sight of each other, and is seen from the planet Han and company went to.

 

Was the entire New Republic government and fleet in one crowded system?

 

I think we need to get a campaign together to mail JJ rulers, tape measures and similar implements.

[DScipio 812]

 

 

 

So, how many of you think Captain Phasma is related to Boba Fett?

 

...because both of them wear cool armor, have very little speaking lines, are easily defeated by our heroes, and thrown into pits to die.

 

I see the movie as an unusual type of reboot (which keeps continuity). In terms of character archetypes and narrative functions,

 

Phasma is Boba Fett

Kylo Ren is Darth Vader

Rey is Luke

Snoke is Palpatine

 

Other characters are slightly less obvious, but it can be argued that Han fills much the same role that Obi-Wan did, and his role (and Chewie's) is in turn split between Poe and Finn. And it looks like Luke is going to fill Yoda's shoes.

Dont forget "Tarkin Jr."

 

 

Or the difficult paternity conversation on a space-catwalk without handrails despite being above a bottomless pit, with the dad trying to get the brat kid with poor emotional control to convert to the dad's side.

 

(Fear the power of the Dad Side!)

 

 

 

Star wars is when there are no handrails but guillotine doors.

 

[Shadoer 35]

 

 

 

 

So, how many of you think Captain Phasma is related to Boba Fett?

 

...because both of them wear cool armor, have very little speaking lines, are easily defeated by our heroes, and thrown into pits to die.

 

I see the movie as an unusual type of reboot (which keeps continuity). In terms of character archetypes and narrative functions,

 

Phasma is Boba Fett

Kylo Ren is Darth Vader

Rey is Luke

Snoke is Palpatine

 

Other characters are slightly less obvious, but it can be argued that Han fills much the same role that Obi-Wan did, and his role (and Chewie's) is in turn split between Poe and Finn. And it looks like Luke is going to fill Yoda's shoes.

Dont forget "Tarkin Jr."

 

 

Or the difficult paternity conversation on a space-catwalk without handrails despite being above a bottomless pit, with the dad trying to get the brat kid with poor emotional control to convert to the dad's side.

 

(Fear the power of the Dad Side!)

 

 

 

Star wars is when there are no handrails but guillotine doors.

 

 

 

To be fair the guillotine doors make sense in sci fi as if you have a hull breach, you want it seals ASAP no matter what. Even if it means a few people are screwed.