ST Things that I still don't understand about TFA...(SPOILERS)

So I saw the movie last night and i'll keep it brief...I loved it. However, it wasn't perfect, and it wasn't perfect mainly for a few reasons that I will list below. These are mostly story related questions that I just don't understand and may have missed OR it could be my lack of knowledge surrounding the new books and "official canon"...

1. Who is Phasma, why was she so featured in marketing material, and what is the point of her character?

2. The relationship between the Republic, the Resistance, and the First Order makes no sense at all to me. A.) Why is there a resistance and what are they resisting? B.) Where is the Republics fleet and are they not aware of the threat posed by The First Order? C.) Is the Resistance part of the Republic and if so how exactly do they fit in?

3. How would the Republic not know about this planet sized weapon and if they did know, why would they send a rag tag, tiny group of Resistance fighters to try and take it out.

4. Is there more to Maz Katana (the small alien lady with glasses)? Han seems to imply that she's strange and an acquired taste. I found her pretty normal and rather nice but may have missed something.

5. Is the other general a force user (blonde haired guy who gave the big speech)? Why would Kylo not just kill him like Vader used to do.

6. Who is Max Von Sydows character (guy who gives Po the map piece in the beggining). I'm lost as to how that guy got it. The "force flashback" i'll call it with Rey seems to imply that maybe luke gave it to R2, who delivered it to Max Von Sydows character who then gave it to BB-8???

I feel like more stuff didn't make sense but am struggling to remember some of the talking points with my group last night after seeing it.


Mav Edit: Rather than have everyone with their own list of questions in individual threads, you should post your questions in the appropriate threads, that way a big conversation can be had. Thanks!

 

Why did R2 decide to wake up when he did?

 

I'll give my answers to these questions, though they are mostly my opinion, and are educated guesses at best:

1. Disfeminisney marketing. They want to show that this movie is chock full of not just bad-ass female heroes, but female villains as well. Gals can wear armor too and not have to look feminine. It's an agenda they're pushing. Plus, Phasma will be back with a vengeance in the sequels, and she'll get her payback in the "second act" when she captures Finn and hooks him up to some "re-programming" electrodes and clips his eyelids open a-la Clockwork Orange so he can be re-stormtrooperized (before Poe and Rey rescue him in the beginning of Episode VIII and send Phasma down a conduit hole).

2. The renewed Republic is the government that was restored to power when the Empire fell. But just because they cut the head off of the Empire doesn't mean there weren't Imperial remnants still floating around trying to uphold the Empire's ideals of Order. The First Order brought all of these splintered groups together into a unified group again, championing the ideology of the fallen Empire. The Resistance was a group of militaristic fighters -- you might call it the "unofficial" military arm of the renewed Republic -- that opposes the First Order. Officially, the Republic demilitarized quickly, because it was the militarization of the Republic that caused the whole mishegoss to begin with. The Republic's fleet was either destroyed in the battles that followed the Battle of Endor, was decommissioned in the spirit of demilitarization and/or was furtively handed over to the Resistance to fight "unsanctioned" against the First Order. One of the villains in TFA (I don't recall who at the moment) explicitly characterized the Resistance as being a bunch of thugs sanctioned or funded by the Republic (that's a very loose paraphrase).

3. We don't really know what the Republic knew and didn't know about it...what they did know they may have kept on the down-low to avoid panicking the galaxy or until they could agree on a strategy to deal with it. Even if they did know, they might not have had the resources as a demilitarized state to do much about it. Hence, the Resistance fighters sent to take it out was the best they could do.

4. Yes. You don't get to be a thousand years old and not be awesome in some way. We still don't know why she of all people was the custodian of Luke's lightsaber. She very strongly implies she's Force sensitive (she says something like, "I may not be a Jedi but I know the Force"). Hell, she's got a frickin' ten-story-tall statue adorning her hive of scum and villainy. Great things come in small packages, and we'll be learning more about her in times to come.

5. I doubt very much General Hux (assuming that's "the other general ...blonde haired guy who gave the big speech" that you're asking about) is a a Force User. But anything's possible. I get the sense that Hux is too important to the First Order for Kylo to kill him outright. I get the sense they were trying to create a dynamic between Hux and Kylo reminiscent of that between Vader and Tarkin.

6. http://www.starwars.com/databank/lor-san-tekka. We have yet to see the details of Lor's adventures. My guess is that von Sydow's appearance is meant to lay the foundation for a larger multi-media project surrounding the Lor San Tekka character.

(7.) R2D2's character has always been likened by Lucas to "the family dog"...an homage to the animal hero epitomized by Lassie and Rin Tin Tin. R2 was an old dog, mopey, lethargic and sad at the loss of his master. He laid around, floppy eared and sad-eyed all the time, in "low-power mode" or however C3PO described it, because Luke was gone. When BB-8 showed up with (literally) the last piece of the (holographic) puzzle to find Luke, R2 was inspired to perk up. Alternately, if you prefer, this.

 

1. Uknown. A character that certainly didn't do very much.

2. They are resisting the First Order, an imperial remnant. The Republic is aware of the First Order and are supplying the Resistance (the way the United States and Europe aid rebels in Syria and Iraq) with weapons and personnel to fight them. According to Aftermath The Republic began to demilitarize shortly after it got going again.

3. Don't know, I didn't understand this myself.

4. Obviously...we still don't know how she got the saber or how she knows so much.

5. Hux appears to just be the new Tarkin. Not a Force user but a true believer in fascism. He is Ren's superior or equal and the leader of The First Oder's/Snoke's armed forces. Vader never would have tried to kill Tarkin.

6. No idea on how Von Sydow fits into the whole thing. He obviously knew Luke, Ben, Han, Leia and Poe. Von Sydow had the missing part of the map and gave it to Poe, who gave it to BB-8. R2 had the remainder of the map.

 

The Republic does have a military. A large portion of it was at Hosnian Prime when the Starkiller fired on it. It's also likely scattered around their territory as well, so it's not entirely gone. Think of it as a "Pearl Harbor" scenario for the Republic.

They assumed the First Order would continue to honor the peace accords set between them and the Empire 30 years before. Obviously this was not the case. The Republic's current chancellor is more focused on trade and maintaining the galaxy than fighting the First Order, as is directly stated in the Visual Dictionary. It's also mentioned that Snoke has paid off certain senators to overlook what the First Order was doing in the Unknown Regions and the edges of the Outer Rim, so it's possible that the Republic had no idea that the Starkiller could do what it ended up doing. After all, the destruction of Hosnian Prime was the first time the weapon had ever been fired.

 

So, I hope this isn't considered hijacking the thread cause the ops post has been answered by a couple people and I figured I would add something I didn't get also and see what people think...When Chewie & Rey get back after Han is killed, Chewie and Leia don't even acknowledge each other...they walk right passed without any moment...The wife of his kid and his best friend have absolutely no onscreen contact after he's dead...there's even the moment of Chewie grieving alone and when Rey leaves with him to find Luke, they only show Leia saying goodbye to her...does anyone else think that's crazy? Does anyone else feel she's the reason he's dead? (They made a point of Han not confronting his son before she pushes him to bring him home) Does anyone think Chewie blames her for his death(like me)?

 

1. To be a Boba-Fett look-a-like and sell action figures at this point
2. The emperor died, the empire did not crumble. The rebel alliance manages to secure some free systems that form the New Republic, but they aren't able to completely take over the former empire (political strain from fighting too long, specially keep fighting after winning is pretty high). The new republic controls a portion of the galaxy and demilitarizes. Former military leaders of the rebel alliance form the resistance, which works under empire-ruled systems while the new republic keeps face a peacefull diplomatic face.
3. The new republic doesn't know and if they do, they can't do anything about it. The Republic military is not in a position to intervene. Much like the USA could not keep the USSR from developing nuclear weapons. And the film specifically implies that the rebellion at least doesn't know about starkiller base.
4. I think her part was cut to the point that is is hard to figure out her role in tings
5. Kylo is not as powerfull as Vader. And Vader never killed Tarkin but only underlings. That Kylo did not kill the guy who brings him the news as Vader would have done shows that his position under the great leader is not as high as vader's was with the emperor.
6. No idea who he was. Deus ex machina probably.

 

I for some reason cannot hit "Reply" to a post.

Dewback: Your R2 explanation leaves alot to be desired.

I dont get why R2 is in sleep/power saving mode and then suddenly (coincedently) wakes up at the end. Better writing would have made this work more effectively.

I also think since they were used so little, the OT droids should have just been with Luke.

 

The leading theory/speculation is that it's because Rey was nearby ... because Rey is related to Luke.

 

About the Republic vs resistance vs first order:
The way I see it is that the Republic and first order are kind of the US and Russia (no political comparison, they're just examples) and the resistance is from the first order's territory. The resistance is partially funded by the Republic, but not officially since that would trigger an all out war.
This makes sense to me at least.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

apone1024: So....thats it? Kinda weak. Not your explanation, but if that's the case...terrible coincedence.

 

Agreed. Depends alot on future justification in Ep8 ... like Luke telling Rey, "yeah, I didn't really wanna talk to anyone else, so I told R2 to go to sleep until you showed up."

 

I think there is officially a truce between FO and NR, with NR secretly funding the Resistance. FO discover this, declare NR liars, launch Starkiller Base. At least that`s what I got from Hux`s speech.

 

In typical Star Wars fashion, R2 arrives just when he is needed most. As others have said, it's no coincidence that R2 came out of low power mode when BB-8 (maybe Rey) arrived at the base with the missing piece of the map. He was likely programmed to stay shut down until all the pieces of the puzzle were assembled. If the droids had stayed with Luke then we never would have seen them in the movie.

 

it would've been nice to see Chewie and Leia consoling one another .( no , not like that !)

 

Dewback: But how did R2 sense it if he is asleep? He doesnt know that BB-8 has the plans or Rey has the plans. He can sense the "plans"?? All BB8 did was pull off R2's cloth covering from what I remember. Not a fan of this storybeat.

I think having the droids with Luke would make more sense. They could have still talked to Rey before she "see's" Luke. Might have also provided an opportunity for some dialgue exchange.

 

gezvader28: Yeah, Chewie seems pretty upbeat at the base as he walks off the Falcon. He just walks by Leia and they dont even acknowledge each other. I think that moment should have been reserved for Chewie and Leia, then Leia could have gone to Rey and had a quick chat.

 

can someone remind me - does Rey come into contact with R2 , I'm wondering if this is what woke him .

 

Actually, I've heard that Captain Phasma is a transsexual character (male to female).

So, she's helping the LGBT movement.

 

So after my second viewing, I would agree that the business with R2 at the end seems questionable, but I'm guessing there's a good explanation. Luke went into hiding or to find the original temple or whatever, and gave R2 most of the map to find him. He tells him to shut down and not give anything away to anyone until he's contacted. Luke feels Rey emerging and Han dying through the force and signals R2 that it's time.

 

I don't think they actually share the screen at any point (I've only seen it once so far though).

R2 doesn't wake up upon the arrival of BB-8 (despite BB-8's best efforts) or the last piece of the map. But Rey doesn't get there until the end, and then suddenly he wakes up.

Definitely a shaky theory, but not much else to go on at this point.

 

Geez, the whole R2 asleep thing and the partial maps were a mess TBH. All JJ had to do was have Lor with the lightsaber and the full map to Luke's location (given to him by Luke to share with Rey when the time is right) but he calls Leia and gives it to Poe when he can't find Rey and the FO is on the attack. R2 and Maz wouldn't be needed at all. R2 should have been on Skellig with Luke.

Imagine the Falcon landing. Rey walks up the the steps and first sees a rusted, out of commission R2, completely switched off. Sad, but powerful!

 

I will take a stab at this - all guesstimating...

1. 1. Who is Phasma, why was she so featured in marketing material, and what is the point of her character? ANSWER She will play a bigger role in 8 and 9, maybe lead the 1st Order when Kylo sees the light.
   
   2. The relationship between the Republic, the Resistance, and the First Order makes no sense at all to me. A.) Why is there a resistance and what are they resisting? B.) Where is the Republics fleet and are they not aware of the threat posed by The First Order? C.) Is the Resistance part of the Republic and if so how exactly do they fit in? ANSWER I think you are over thinking this. The empire and rebellion ended and something else came up...
   
   3. How would the Republic not know about this planet sized weapon and if they did know, why would they send a rag tag, tiny group of Resistance fighters to try and take it out. ANSWER This base was masked as a planet, had snow and everything.
   
   4. Is there more to Maz Katana (the small alien lady with glasses)? Han seems to imply that she's strange and an acquired taste. I found her pretty normal and rather nice but may have missed something. ANSWER She is the Yoda type character for the ST, there is more to her story that we will uncover in 8 and 9. Having the lightsaber tells me she has direct Skywalker relations.
   
   5. Is the other general a force user (blonde haired guy who gave the big speech)? Why would Kylo not just kill him like Vader used to do. ANSWER: No to force and Kyle and him seem to be equals
   
   6. Who is Max Von Sydows character (guy who gives Po the map piece in the beggining). I'm lost as to how that guy got it. The "force flashback" i'll call it with Rey seems to imply that maybe luke gave it to R2, who delivered it to Max Von Sydows character who then gave it to BB-8??? ANSWER: no clue

7.Why did R2 decide to wake up when he did? ANSWER - The Force Awoke him

 

Yeah...I could almost see it that way. You would think that Luke would have just taken R2 with him like he has always done, but he left him behind for a reason (to reveal the map when it was "time"). I am sure that if there was dialog between Luke and Rey during the last scene it would have been something to the effect of "I have been expecting you for a very long time." It's possible that Luke, through the Force, foresaw that Rey would one day grow up and leave Jakku and be the one to find him...he left R2 behind to help her find her way "home".