ST Ways TLJ Builds/Fails to Build Anticipation for Ep. 9

Lol. Oops.

Anticipation is at ZERO, won't be seeing EP IX

 

I don’t believe anyone that posts regularly in the ST forum and claims they won’t see episode 9.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I don't think it likely either but I think the nature of anticipation has changed to "How are they going to pull tying all the trilogies together?"

If they don't mystery box us again and actually let us in on the story (not the revelations of course) so that we can get excited then it can all change.

So for example we wonder if Snoke will return. Don't not say if he will or won't. Say he will but not how.

Say Luke, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda will be in the movie but don't say what they will do.

Say it will tie-into the balance of the Force issue from I-VI which has been lightly referenced in VII and VIII but not the reason.

 

Only thing missing for me is an intimidating bad guy. Kylo is a fantastic character, but I wouldn't call him him intimidating, hell in his current state I dunno if he's able to fight Rey at all, at least not in a way that truly has me fearing for her life.

With Snoke dead, I guess The Knights of Ren are your only real option, but I hope JJ gives them actual character rather than just nameless baddies.

 

Is there enough time in a single film to be able to tell a story that is completely reset, the last film is there to resolve a story not to start it from scratch.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

Agreed. None of the bad guys in the PT have seemed like someone who would strike fear into anyone. In the opening scene of TFA I admit Ren seemed badass, it all just fell apart from there. Hux is a joke. Snoke is too "MUAH HAHA" cartoony evil. Director Krennic from Rogue One was a WAY better villain than all of them.

 

FWIW, I do think The Supreme Chancellor's comment adds to the discussion, or at least it directly contributes to the topic I laid out in the OP. If Luke had been different in TLJ (perhaps more similar to Qui-Gon or Ep. 4 Obi-Wan), that might have helped build anticipation for IX for some viewers.

Here's another area where I think TLJ may have failed to build anticipation: no new villain. The middle episodes of the previous trilogies introduced menacing new villains (Dooku and Boba Fett) who were easily dispatched in the next movie. This showed how awesome the protagonists had become. Who could fill this role in IX? DJ? (I sure hope not!)

 

I'm not excited for E9 at all at the moment.
I'll wait until the trailer comes out to get an idea of what E9 will be like before getting excited for it or not.
There are interesting plot lines that could be followed, Finn and the FO stormtroopers, Snap and the other pilots that escaped the Resistance base, Lando, Wedge, and other NEU characters that could cameo as Leia's allies, but eh at the moment.
I don't feel the urge to consume all SW content like I did with previous movies.
TPM had the JA books, COD, DM: SH, AOTC and ROTS had the whole CW multi-media project and the Dark Times stuff. Heck, TCW too.
TFA had interesting stories in their Journey to TFA and the Journey to TLJ had some interesting stuff but didn't care for some of it.

I'm following a fan-fic series that's re-writting the second half of the NJO series, DNT, LOTF, FOTJ, and Legacy comic era and I'm hooked. Eagerly awaiting the next chapter chapter released much more than I was TLJ or E9.
The author just got done with an arc of a prequel story set in the NJO era following a Jedi at a Mando Training Camp, and a story following Vestara leading into the LOTF re-write.

 

*In the ST

 

You make so much sense, mat

I agree in that I don’t really care now either.

I don’t see how this story can be repaired, as doing so will be an admission that whatever they try to correct was a mistake. I’d like them to correct the whole movie as the whole is a mistake.

I’ll go see Ep9 but I have zero interest in these unfulfilled characters and boring story (what there is of it).

 

E10 being worse might make us nostalgic for TFA and sequels.
TFA and TLJ make nostalgic for the DNT/LOTF/FOTJ era in the EU.

 

If you are in a minority I think it’s a pretty big one!

It’s hard to care about these characters because they’ve had very little development compared to Luke, Han and Leia.

TLJ is so bland that Ep9 has no allure any more. I’m really disappointed.

Solo can’t be worse... can it?

 

Actually, there is a possibility that they have a surprise ending in store: Reconciliation. A peaceful end to the war. How exactly they'd go about it, I couldn't tell you, but there is potential for that sort of outcome, considering the Rey-Ben relationship.

 

sure I will see IX in free tv when available, but not in cinema (same as Solo).

 

They’ve hardly started their arcs and TLJ left them pretty much where the characters were after TFA.

Try conintue to grow? I think start to grow is closer.

None of these characters have the gravitas of Luke and co. Nowhere near as good or as engaging.

TLJ leaves Ep9 with nothing to hook into. It’s got to start from scratch.

 

I have been asking myself what can be left of the war to show to be honest. Yes the resistance is left to nearly nothing but does the same apply to the First Order? SKB, The Command Fleet, Supreme Leader all gone.

I suspect convenient writing will be used and EP IX will start with both sides being more significant than TLJ left us to believe. Well the FO has to be I suppose cause we have been told in a matter of days they now control the galaxy but they have still taken an huge quantity of losses.

But taking any of these shortcuts further takes away my interest as one of the things thats bothered me the most is the convenient writing thats been used throughout TLJ instead of building depth to the story.

 

Hi there, I dislike TLJ because it’s not a stand alone piece of art, but part two of a trilogy. Part 1 of that trilogy set the tone (I thought) and left lots of threads to either be answered in part 2 or left open for part 3.

TLJ either answered things really horribly or negatively, which is bad story telling or it closed off threads, so that they are now redundant.

It’s left nothing to invest in for Ep9.

It’s only Star Wars because it says it is. The content is not the gravitas or grandeur as was seen in OT.

So yes, I did expect answers as TLJ is part of a trilogy. If it’s art, it’s kindergarten standard.

 

I’m afraid you’ve nailed it right there. Zero is right.

 

For the first time, I'm not anticipating or looking forward to the next Star Wars movie, and that's 100% due to The Last Jedi. It's a very strange feeling.

 

I will see it but defo not in opening week. Free TV sounds tempting right now.

But then Satipo won’t be surprised to read my opinion

 

Its not nice is it. Can't believe how excited I was the day of the midnight screening and the emptiness that has followed.

 

yep same for me. I was sceptical, but still believed despite some things I may not like, that things could be corrected in IX. But after TLJ, IX is dead forever. It cannot correct anything.

 

Totally agree, it's a horrible feeling. Having been a fan for 40 years I've never had this feeling about a Star Wars film.

The prequels had issues, but I still enjoyed them. I really like TFA and R1 I thought was superb, I can't believe how I find myself feeling so angry about TLJ. There is practically nothing I enjoyed in over 2.5 hours.

I feel absolutely empty and there are so few reasons for me to be interested in finding out what will happen in episode 9 it's heartbreaking.

The stench of TLJ has dampened my enthusiasm for Solo too, I should be pumped for that.

I'm not on the happy bus at all right now. A well made Obi Wan film could redeem things but right now it's grim.



Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

The PT had awesome lightsaber battles, space battles, land battles, etc., aliens, planets, sound effects (Does anything in TFA or TLJ come close to the seismic charges in AOTC?), the music (I love TFA's soundtrack but the PT is so much better than TLJ's.)
Doesn't help that they haven't released a bloody trailer for the Solo movie. Might help get me excited.
R1 had issues but the trailers had so many exciting things, that I would have been satisfied with those, if the movie failed.
Still got the EU stories I've collected over the years and plenty of other stories to collect.

 

I think the main pattern I'm seeing is that those of us who were satisfied with the way plot elements from TFA were addressed in TLJ have high anticipation, while those who weren't, don't.

So, it seems to me that the main way TLJ builds anticipation AND fails to do so is simply by continuing the story from TFA. We all seem to assume that IX will pick up the threads from TLJ in a similar manner to the way TLJ did with TFA.