ST How TFA and TLJ work together

The theme of failure runs the risk of the audience not caring if nothing meaningful is made in the end. And having failures be made by both sides acting stupid (and not because one side seized an advantage over the other) will not make people hope for a better future. Call it Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy.

And really, the themes you present would have been fine had they been presented properly and not appeared to be discarding what TFA was setting up.

 

once again they were not discarded they were mostly answered just not how you liked. rey's parents being nobodies was always an option that is why JJ had that maz line in TFA, Snoke's history still could be identified, Why luke's temple was burned in rey's force dream was answered in great detail three different times, why luke vanished was answered, what happened to phasma was answered, would kylo be redeemed was answered. Rian answered 90 percent of the mystery boxes JJ left, you just didnt like the answers, which is fine but I dont think you know what the word discarded truly means in this case. If rian discarded JJ's work he would have skipped over half the movie that was told in TLJ.

for the record George had no idea how the OT was going to go movie to movie, they re wrote it countless times and it shows from movie to movie. he also kept changing parts of the PT as well.

 

The point is that TFA's mystery box answer was unsatisfying and an afterthought in TLJ (I didn't feel angry at the answer; I just felt indifference because I couldn't find reason to care). Snoke is dead with no explanations to his rise to power and no casual audience should look into an EU book to get answers about him. And the journey to find Luke was anticlimactic and for many, pointless because he ends up dying to save a few people after all that hype of him being the new hope (he didn't properly pass the torch to Rey like Obi-Wan did). Plasma was a waste of time because she appears for a few minutes with no explanations and then dies after Finn beats her easily. It's a mess.

And for the record, George Lucas may not have a concrete idea at the time with OT, but he was a man with a consistent vision and OT was building a foundation for a new universe. Once the foundation was established, it becomes easy for Lucas to plan ahead with PT and ST. He had one vision whereas JJ Abrams and RJ have two different visions.

 

your missing major themes of the movie that are plain to see. Luke just didnt save 50 people he did what he did to spark the rebellion, remember before luke came nobody answered the distress signal leia sent to the outer rim but than luke shows up and reignites the spark; this is than shown by broom kid and friends at the end of the movie when they speak of the legend of luke skywalker. the line of this is the spark that will ignite the fire that will burn the FO order down is repeated at least in some fashion three times during the movie. than rian shows that spark with what luke does, and it shows the outcome a peasant kid just like rey with the force looking up at the stars willing to fight. How did you miss all that.

once again wrong in ANH luke and leia were possible love interest, vader was just a big baddie no relation to them. ESB vader at first was going to say obi wan killed your father but got changed to im your father, plus a semi love triangle forms between luke, leia, han. ROTJ leia is now luke's sister, these are all major plot points that were never ironed out when ANH was made. you are trying to revise history now

 

Oh I didn't miss it. I just find its execution to be weak. I know great ideas, and I know it's very easy to botch them up.

Lucas created a standalone film with a beginning, middle, and end with no cliffhanger or mystery. That's what makes it different from TFA. Then he made the sequel, but had trouble trying to make Vader an evil tempter for Luke Skywalker because Luke would never join him. So he decided to make Vader Luke's father and created the line "Obi-Wan killed your father" to hide the true secret. He may have changed ideas here and there, but he never lost sight on how it was supposed to end (look at all the ROTJ behind scenes discussions about happy endings).

 

I keep reading that Luke fights to save a bunch of Rebels: it's not only that. Remember that NOBODY answered Leia's distress call before Luke appears in the cave. At the end, he's the one who gives back hope to the whole galaxy, the inspiration to keep the war alive: he is the sparkle.

 

They dont.
When you watch both you can clearly see and feel how zigzagged the characters and story are. They dont flow well.
No time skip between the episodes was the major reason of why it seemed so clear.

 

There's the film TFA itself, and then there's all the promotional appearances and interviews that went along with TFA and leading up to TLJ. In every case of Kennedy, Abrams, Johnson and the cast being asked about Rey's parentage or if she's related to another character or characters we already know, the answers fans were given were elusive, vague, or hinting that there's some reveal waiting for them or that to answer the question would be a big spoiler.

Turns out that's not the case. Why couldn't any of these people flat out told fans that Rey isn't related to anyone? The mystery built anticipation. The filmmakers knew this would happen. And they used it to build fan interest and sell tickets.