A/V THE FORCE AWAKENS - The Official Movie Discussion Thread

What!?



(I've been looking for any excuse)

 

I was saying on twitter that I'd love if the new capital was Lothal. It'd give the OR some importance, be a fun cross-promotion, and they already have a senate building sitting around.

 

I'm loath to agree.

 

I'm talking about how the films alone compare to each other.

Little things like Hosian Prime replacing Coruscant. Differences in how the Force itself seems to work in the new film compared to the old. How the Jedi and events from the previous films are now the stuff of Legend, as opposed to being history.

I know Han says "It is all true, all of it", but something has always seemed slightly off to me of how I expected this film to feel and look, how I expected the characters to look and feel.

It is likely not what the filmmaker is trying to present, but I feel like if Luke sat down with Rey in the next film and told her a radically different history than what we already watched it wouldn't feel out of place in the context of how TFA felt.

 

I know, it's perfect!

 

Oh man, I would love this idea Coop. Selecting Lothal as the next capital of the New Republic would be an awesome step. The visuals are just stunning, Capital City has the aforementioned Old Republic Senate Building, and as you say choosing an Outer Rim world would have some significance. Sure, Mon Cala is in the Outer Rim, but it is the exception to the rule (i.e., massively powerful & cosmopolitan world). I want a more subtle, less populated world as capital and Lothal fits the bill perfectly.

--Adm. Nick

 

Speaking of, there was a split second when I saw Ahch-To that I thought it was Mon Cala--am I alone here?

 

I definitely did a double take for sure. All those islands looked like floating cities at first.

--Adm. Nick

 

I didn't get that feeling at all. How is the Force different? That it's awakened with a greater sense of urgency? What about the Force was different?

The Jedi are a myth because it's been almost 60 years since order 66, and Luke never had a chance to fully train a group of Knights, let alone have them established as part and parcel of galactic society and culture. And Rey lives on a backwater that doesn't have ready access to the outside world.

It all makes perfect sense to me.

I think the old EU re-established the Jedi more quickly than was realistic.

It actually makes sense to me for the sequel trilogy to be about the re-establishment of the Jedi Order to any kind of strength. Given that it's been so long since ROTJ and the age of Hamill, I'm not sure how they could have done this without saying "Luke tried, he was betrayed by a student who killed the others and something happened to the Force that made Luke go dormant for a while."

If we just jumped in a Luke had a 100 Jedi strong, it would feel like PT+Luke. If we then have Kylo betray and kill them, we just get ROTS+Luke. Now, we get Luke at the First Jedi Temple and he's doing this thing from absolute scratch and there being some cosmic change in the Force prompting it.

In a weird kind of way, it's almost Dawn of the Jedi (hehe they should totally use that for episode IX's subtitle) with Luke. Things aren't the same, and Anakin bringing balance and Luke becoming the reviver of the Jedi Order all ushered in that new era.

Honestly, it makes a whole lot of sense to me by running with the messianic qualities of both Anakin and Luke Skywalker to do it this way.

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People banging on about "the light" was pretty different.

 

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I think it's a pretty decent choice. Luke naming his son Ben is good but it's also super on the nose: obviously, Luke would name his kid Ben & it takes the "Kenobi is Luke's father figure" subtext & makes it text. Han & Leia naming their kid Ben I think is appropriate because there's a few layers to it, and they did both know Kenobi after all & he is a huge part of both their lives & you could figure them eventually circling around to Ben as a name. It also seems like a pretty straightforward nod to the EU offspring because I highly doubt that the name Ben was brought up in a vacuum. Heck, the term New Republic certainly wasn't.
Also, besides, in the canon, Luke named his kid Rey anyway

 

That just made me realize how much I want to see a Chewbacca / Ben confrontation in one of the next two movies.

 

Listen, NO Star Wars universe would have felt perfect.

Every one of us had our own vision of the future.

This is JJ Abrams' and Kasdan's.

 

I agree, it was clearly a relic of the pre-prequel days where Luke's Dagobah schooling was taken to be the norm as opposed to exceptional.

That being said -- and I've no problem with the fact you see it differently -- I feel TFA went too far in the opposite direction. As I mentioned before, the scenario isn't at all implausible, but I can't help but find it very unsatisfying for Luke to still be the last Jedi thirty years after a film named Return of the Jedi.

I'm down with the restoration of the Jedi being a work in progress . . . but give us a dozen knights of the round table, or something, who rove around the galaxy Force questing. Make it clear that Leia is fully trained (and taking up the mantle of the "General Skywalker" of the original scripts) so as to actually deliver on "in time, you'll learn to use it, as I have". Hell, cast her in the role of Ben's original mentor before she realises he's too much for her to handle and sends him to Luke.

And make it clear that, in the wake of Ben's betrayal, none of Luke's successful students feel comfortable taking apprentices of their own. Especially if their apprentices were amongst those he slew.

Still, like Zor mentioned wayyyy back, I suspect the NEU will introduce us to "half-trained" survivors, at some point, if only because the EU (especially the videogames) has never been able to resist the Jedi allure.

 

Here's the thing about Han and Leia, re: Obi-Wan--did they know him well? No. But he's the one who brought them together.

 

I imagine Leia calling Ben her "little hope" a lot.

 

And DIED TO SAVE THEM ALL

 

Should have been Han Jr.

"We named the dog Kylo!"

 

Agreed, no Kenobi, no Han & Leia or their kid. I can also see Leia wanting to go with Obi-Wan & Han suggests Ben instead

 

Yeah, I agree--"who the hell has a hyphen in their name? That's weird."

 

Many Finnish names are actually two shorter names put together with a hyphen: Sari-Anna and so on. If we ever visit Stewjon we could meet someone just named Wan, if side characters were allowed to have a same name as someone else.

And naming your kids Dead Friend #1 has always felt a bit weird for me, but that might be a cultural thing. It could be that they just liked the name Ben.