ST Time jump between Episodes VII & VIII ?

Or not. Finn could be conscious but immobile for the first part of the movie. Imagine the Resistance Base under attack - Leia orders the evacuation and says to leave Finn as they don't have time. Poe says 'over my dead body' and with the help of Maz, BB-8 and the Doctor (Kelly Marie Tran) they get him to a transport just in time but are separated from the rest of the Fleet. Maz then says she knows a place where Finn can get fixed up....

 

Even if Rey is not a Browalker, Luke doesn't have to address that immediately. He could say something like "I knew you would come. You can keep that until you learn to build your own. (pulls out the ROTJ saber) I've already got one. You have that, but do you know how to use it?"

Then cut to them engaged in a training duel. This would accomplish several things:
- gives us a chance to see what happens after 7 ends, while...
- allows for an indeterminate time jump right after
- gives us a chance to see a Jedi training duel, which we haven't seen
- gives us a chance to see Luke in action and how powerful he has become while...
- showing that Rey isn't anywhere near his level currently, which should quiet the criticism that Rey is too strong, while not taking anything away from her, because at this point Luke should be much more powerful than Rey

Rey's parentage can be addressed later in the movie.

 

Not bad. I still like the idea of Finn's coma being linked to the Dark Side... something Kylo did mebbe, and Rey and/or Luke have to use the Force to enter his mind to help him find his strength to fight the Dark Side.

 

Although it's looking like Ep8 will pick up where TFA ended, I don't think the Rey/Skywalker scene will be the first scene in the movie. That wouldn't be very "Star Warsy." Rather, I think we'll get the typical pan down to a Star Destroyer and see Hux and Kylo returning from SKB. That would have taken place while Rey was on her way to meet Luke at the end of TFA, we just didn't get to see it. Then, after the scene between Hux, Kylo and possibly Snoke, then we cut to Rey and Luke meeting.

 

How about this?

The Republic is reeling from the loss of its capitol and the Senate. General Leia Organa prepares to meet with the Republic's provisional government to prepare to respond to the evil First Order.

Meanwhile, Rey has found Luke Skywalker, the Last Jedi, in the hope she can convince him to end his exile and return to the fight against evil.

But, at his stronghold, the villainous Supreme Leader Snoke awaits his apprentice, Kylo Ren, so they can plot their next move against the wounded Republic...

Then, you have Snoke meeting Kylo, followed by the rest of Luke and Rey's first meeting. Then, we see Leia arrive at her meeting and somebody says, "It's been nearly a month. Any word from Rey?" Leia says they haven't heard anything. After the meeting, we go back to see Luke training Rey, with the mention that weeks more have passed. And on with the rest of the story...

So, we get Rey and Luke's first meeting (which must be shown), then the needed time jump. How's that?

 

I don't think that Finn is spending much time in a coma, or immobile, in this movie, if any. Everything that John Boyega has said and shown us points AWAY from that idea to me.

 

I think the timeline depends greatly on your own POV and how much you liked/enjoyed the reboot, erm, NANH movie formerly known as TFA (New A New Hope(TM).

If there's not time in between EP7 and 8, then there's no need for a crawl as nothing has elapsed that would need to be said in crawl. I would be ok with no-crawl and the story to continue, but then it would be Episode VII-2. And EP 7 would be a two movie episode.

Though based on all the extra effort put in place to mirror the OT, and the HUGE success (money-wise) of TFA, Disney will continue with the plan. Episode VIII will mirror ESB as much as possible.

That being said, I expect the scenes shot with Rey/Luke right after the moment they met in TFA will be used as a "flashback", or "force flasback" thing. Maybe Kylo, Leia or Finn (if he turns out to have force power), will touch something and get to see flashbacks of Rey's meeting and training with Luke.

The time in between can be short (6-8 months) or up to 1-3 years, and that would still be ok. Though I don't know how they would handle Finn being in a coma for that long. In a way Finn's coma is a mirror of sorts to Han being placed in carbonite and needs to be "rescued" or saved by the hero (Rey).

Rey will have vision and will somehow just LEARN and old-forgotten power from the Jedi to lay-hands (cure). And will rush from her training (as Luke did in ESB) to go save Finn.

 

It has to pick up where it left off, otherwise we'd miss so much. The dialogue or lack of it between Luke and Rey would be very poor story telling if we jumped forward months at a time.

 

So now we know it takes place after Ep7 what will the crawl say? I was thinking...

Star Wars Episode 8
The First Order Crusade

Chaos grips the Galaxy!
The Republic has suffered a
maqjor attack by the merciless
First Order. Only the RESISTANCE
dare to make a stand

Luke Skywalker has been found.
His sister has sent a new ally
to bring him back to help save the
galaxy, but is he ready to return?

As the First Order assemble their
fleet for war, KYLO REN returns
to their secret base to meet with the
mysterious Supreme Leader....