ST How well did TFA work as a sequel to ROTJ?

Well getting back to topic... Maybe the question that could answer this thread is "after 30 years from now when our children or grandchildren sees episode 1~7 would they feel confused what happen between 6 and 7?"

 

JediKnightYJK

Since the question will be answered in 30 years but not earlier you are asking for a lot of patience.

But yes, there is inevitably going to be a sense that something is missing. ROTS had the advantage to suggest that for the next 20 years nothing is happening other than the Emperor's increase of power while Obi-Wan and Yoda remain in hiding, until Luke and Leia have reached a mature age.

Yet I think there is going to be a sense of disappointment.

Already ANH originally suggested that the conflict with the Empire had been won. Then came ESB and we learned that wasn't the case.
Then ROJ suggested that's it, the conflict with the Empire had really been won. Next comes TFA and future audiences learn that it's still not over yet, with the protagonists and antagonists merely having changed names.
They might give it another try but by the time the conflict hasn't been settled at the end of Episode IX they'll probably think "I'm done".

 

The series is called Star Wars. It is implied that there was peace for a significant amount of time between ROTJ and TFA. Are you suggesting that Star Wars films shouldn't take place against a backdrop of war?

 

"Wars don't make one great"

You could certainly insist that the franchise name requires armed conflict, but possibly this itself didn't contribute to a greatness of the prequel trilogy and I'm afraid neither will it contribute to the greatness of the sequel trilogy.

 

Excellent post as as you noted about TFA you like it and give it a 7/10. I give it 8/10 and depending on how VIII and IX go they could make it a far better film. TFA needs far more support than any other Star Wars film before it and very likely after it.

Of course a "real" sequel to TFA would actually be about Luke, Leia and Han and what they do in their new roles. As we saw in the prequels particularly we saw the shift of Anakin from slave to padawan to Jedi Knight and Sith Lord, Padme from Queen to Senator to wife and mother, Obi-Wan from padawan to Jedi Knight and Jedi Master. Luke, Leia and Han either regress or are static in TFA. They did progress between films to those roles you mention in-between the movies but it was decided to not start the movie there.

It's understandable as these are not meant to be their movies. We can see how they could have probably bridged aspects of both of these stories in VII and for all we know maybe that is where part of Lucas' story was. It could be that we get to see part of what they built before it's crashes midway through VII.

I guess it depends on what the grand-children's roles were and how you introduced them.

 

It doesn't work at all. It throws all previous character arcs out the window. Han, Leia, etc. Rather unfortunate.

 

I'll just apologise for my post earlier. It didn't obviously come out the way I intended.

 

Can't you see that I'm agreeing with you? The point is, none of it's fan fiction. What I was trying to say is that if Rebels is fan fiction, then so is TFA. So people should stop calling Rebels fan fiction. It's silly.

 

Before Episode 1: Everything is good
After Episode 3: Everything is bad
Before Episode 4: Everything is still bad
After Episode 6: Everything is good
Before Episode 7: Everything is still...bad?!?!?

 

I think they'd feel like a film was missing in their box set.

 

My mistake then. Carry on.

 

I hope that they show some of the desired scenes in Episode VIII or that they fill the gap with an anthology movie. You could make members of the original cast make look younger. I saw Jennifer Lopez without make up on TV yesterday and was astonished - make up really can work wonders!

 

An enduring motif in myth and fantasy is that evil is never fully vanquished, and the good must not become complacent to this reality. In TFA, Leia is that "ever-vigilant" goodie (along with her Resistance followers) that doesn't become complacent, as the Senate seems to have done.

Since Star Wars is very much part of a mythic, or fantasy, tradition of storytelling, evil still existing thirty years later is very appropriate, and very much in the tradition of what I expect from Star Wars.

In that context, TFA feels like a very natural sequel to ROTJ. Thirty years of relative peace leads to an increasingly complacent Galaxy, and this sets the stage for the return of evil forces. The lesson? The good must be awake, aware and vigilant. And justice requires hard work to maintain. But as in history, and myth, people grow complacent during peace time. And that opens the door for the wicked.

And it opens the door to more Star WARS films.

 

I'm not sure what kind of films you guys are envisioning. Luke and Leia's Jedi tea party? My Dinner with Yoda? Ted talks on the nature of the force?

 

He didn´t. He merely polished tightened some scenes here and there. The world building came from Lucas and the art deparmtent.

 

I didn't specify world building. Kasdan's screenplay for TESB was integral to giving substance and form to the characters and story created by Lucas. His mark is all over that film, just as it is all over TFA.

 

It was Lucas´s and Kasdan´s screenplay with Lucas as the main writter and Kasdan as the co-writter. Most of the substance of the characters and story comes from Lucas, not Kasdan.

 

The entire point of what I originally said is that Kasdan had a part in shaping the OT. And thus TFA is not the work of a fanboy encroaching on GL's work.

 

I think it works great as a sequel, considering it's a sequel filmed and set 30 years later. I would have loved to watch Luke run around the galaxy as a young Jedi Knight. Unfortunately, Lucas chose not to make new Star Wars films in the 80s and early 90s. With the actors being the age they are, I think this is probably the best we can hope for. I loved Han Solo in TFA, I feel that he genuinely seemed like an older version of the character we knew in the OT. And I think we'll likely be seeing Luke doing some cool stuff in the next film, I highly doubt they're going to sideline such an iconic character.

 

ESB screenplay was written by Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett. George Lucas guided the story. Just want to clarify the details. ROTJ was co-written by Kasdan and Lucas.

 

Yeah I know what you mean, Star Wars should have evil forces... But the problem was so many things were left unexplained. It's like World War I just finished and when you wake up your in the middle of World War II?!? You would be like What??????

 

In that regards we would get a lot of Senate infighting, debates etc. Which would be all well and good as a political thriller, but as a Star Wars... Trust me, I love those types of movies, but not necessarily in Episode 7. That would be awesome if one of the anthology films went into something like that though.

 

Yeah in that case I'm cool with it... another cartoon show would also be fine with me...I'm really loving the cartoon shows...

 

Well, yeah, because thirty plus years have passed. Most audiences assume and accept that other stuff happened in between. You know, I've watched films about WWI and WWII back-to-back, and that was fine. I knew that lots of stuff happened in between those two major global events, but didn't need to watch a film that dramatized it all.