Lit So I guess we have a multiverse of sorts?

That's just not true though. Take the comic "Final Crisis" for example.
It DOES take "extensive research" to fully understand it, but
1. That's half the fun
and
2. Once you understand it it becomes amazing.

 

And which was, ironically, one of the big complaints I heard about TFA from a lot of my more casual-SW friends and family members. They had no idea what the Republic was, what the Resistance was, the backstory of Luke's Jedi, etc - they all felt like they were missing a lot of the backstory, and in more than one case, assumed that they had had to read pre-existing books to "set up" TFA.

 

That's a completely different medium from film.

@Dr. Steve Brul. I had a completely differeny experience. I saw the movie with my mom and my dad, who have seen the movies, but long ago, and they definitely aren't fans. But they understood it just fine and enjoyed it greatly.

 

Comics are closer to film than books.

 

And we're closer to Monkeys than we are to Iguanas. They're different forms of media governed by different rules. If I tried to make a movie like a comic, i'd end up with a bad movie, as the two forms just loose their defining characteristics when shoved together, in this case the long-form plot arcs and gradual character growth of the comic and the sense of flow and pacing for the movie.

 

Point of View,

I have to agree with Outsourced on this one. I want to go a film to relax and laugh for comedy or watch things go boom or final girl live. Do I really want to research why Tom fell in love with Samantha after Lisa died 5 years ago? or the exact position of the metal in the microwave or why the heck doesn't the evil monster just won't kriffing die?

Maybe if I went to see a War documentary or a DIY PC Youtube video and then prior research would be half of the fun. But a SW film? Seriously?

 

????
Star Wars is (was) a series by an art house director. Watch THX 1138. Watch 6-18-67.
George likes Malick, watch Malick.

Film is so much more than a 2 two hour popcorn session.

 

Film is so much more than a 2 two hour popcorn session.

A film can be reviewed. It can also be watched again and again. Prior research could theoretically make films more enjoyable, but should never be a requirement.
In fact, prior research can sometimes ruin a film. Like plot twists. Prior research make plot twists less enjoyable. Of course the monster is related to the final girl! Or of course the microwave didn't explode!

 

If study is required for full enjoyment that is not a bad thing.

 

If a film must be studied to be fully appreciated, that isn't a bad thing.

 

It it just a matter of what people are expecting from movies. Yes of course all the die hard fans were going to want to know more of the backstory of the post ROTJ era than TFA showed us but some people who don't delve into all the books still would have liked to know that stuff as well. Some people really like movies to get descriptive and others just want movies to have an enjoyable story with enjoyable characters. TFA had the latter but lacked the former. Since most movie goers simply want a fun story to pay attention to is why TFA was so well received.

 

TFA didn't have an enjoyable story or enjoyable characters honestly.
They could have done ANYTHING, and all their feeble minds could come up with was big bad empire vs rag tag rebels 2.0.

 

You may not feel that way but a lot of people did. Which is why it got about 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

We'll see if they did anything else but that the fans would have thrown a fit like they did at TPM.

Apart of me honestly believes the fanbase just can't enough of OT nostalgia and that is a problem for the creative future of the franchise.

 

Rotten Tomatoes doesn't mean anything though. "Critics" are bad at their jobs.
For example, the new Dark Tower movie has 18~ percent on RT but it's much better than TFA.

Or take Knight of Cups. Absolutely sublime film by the greatest director of all time. 38 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

If the new movies were all about Luke and Leia I might agree with you. However Rey has arguably become almost as popular with the fans as Luke. Make an Ep, X-XII about Rey building a new order and fans will be completely fine with it.

Point_Of_View well obviously you don't have the same opinion about film as most people do. RT is a very good indicator of how well received a movie is overall by critics and fans.

 

Honestly I think modern Internet criticism is motivated more by groupthink then a clear headed evaluation of a film's quality.

 

Final Crisis is a bad example: Grant Morrison is the platonic archetype of impenetrable.

 

Good to know you feel that way.

 

What?
TFA is literally a reskin of ANH with a few greatest hits from ESB and RotJ thrown in.

-literal X-Wing trench run on a zomg bigger death star
-evil emperor knock off
-tatooine knock off
-yoda knock off living in the cantina knock off
-empire knock off
-rebellion knock off
-Luke knock off but more powerfuler and betterer
-OT aesthetics, nothing new

etc etc etc

And also, what is the appeal of Rey? She's just some nobody. Daisy Ridley even said to temper expectations on the parent reveal.

 

Well just like I said to Darth Invictus it is good to know you feel that way.

 

I would say the exact same thing about "modern internet praise" for movies, probably even more so.

TFA was always going to have an overwhelmingly positive response, as long as it wasn't atrocious. It was inevitable.

 

The thing is... it was atrocious. The very definition of uninspired hackwork.
No vision at all.

 

I'd say internet groupthink works both ways. And yeah TFA was going to get glowing praise unless it was atrociously bad.


I have a question if Disney had not bought the franchise what would its status be? How would the EU be faring?

 

Well we would have had Sword of The Jedi, Denning's Crucible follow up, TCW not being cancelled, etc