ST What's your level of anticipation for Episode IX. compared to TFA and TLJ?

None whatsoever. The anticipation I had was for TFA which turned out to be a poor copy of ANH and now with JJ back... TLJ killed what anticipation I had left for the ST

 

I was excited for TFA.
I was realllllly excited for TLJ.

But due to TLJ, I’m not really excited for EP 9.

I don’t think theres anyway to save this and I just don’t have confidence in this story anymore. But...I guess theres always hope.

At this point I’m more excited about the Mandalorian and GOT guys movie.

 

I’m not excited at all. Obviously, with TFA being the triumphant return to the saga after ten years since ROTS, anticipation was at fever pitch, and I couldn’t wait. Then the cliffhanger and Mark Hamill’s much mooted big return for “The Last Jedi” (an exciting title in itself) and I was just as stoked for episode 8...

...which turned out to be a huge disappointment for me.

 

After leaving these forums 48 hours after being so disappointed with TLJ I just popped back in to look around and the lack of activity, compared to the year and a half after TFA, is telling. The lack of enthusiasm I see here speaks volumes. Ominous ones
It took days after the leaked photo of Poe and Finn was out for me to even hear of it because a leaked Star Wars photo never trended on my a Twitter feed. How is that even possible?

I left the theater with all of the plot points TFA had set up being dropped, dismissed with a shrug, or simply killed off. I walked out not curious about what comes next and profoundly saddened that a film series I saw as a 13 year-old in 1977, was suddenly reduced to something that left me with no questions and nothing to look forward to or speculate about

I’m just here hoping against hope that Abrams can pull off a miracle and this franchise isn’t irretrievably damaged beyond repair.

 

My excitement for the Sequel Trilogy has been all downhill:

Leading up to TFA: Hey, this might really be different. I might like this one.
Leading up to TLJ: After "Episode VII: Han Dies!" I'm bummed, but maybe Luke will be cool in this.
Leading up to E9: After "Episode VIII: Jake Dies!" I really don't see a likely way to save this. All that's left to hope for is no Reylo.

 

No excitement. You could say, "I have a bad feeling about this".
I was super excited for TFA. I was excited for TLJ. TFA was fun but did little story telling. It just left a few questions. I was hoping TLJ would pick up the ball and run. Instead, TLJ dropped the ball, walked over grabbed a knife, and popped the ball. Then, it called me a stupid fanboy for wanting to play ball.

 

Where is the option for morbidly curious? I chose less excited than TFA and TLJ because that is definitely true. The news that Leia would be back does have me a little bit excited. And maybe this time we'll see Luke instead of Jake. The only new characters I've liked so far was Snoke, Maz, and the porgs. (This doesn't include Rogue One cos I loved Rogue One!)

I was really disappointed by TFA. I was actually kind of bored at cinema. And the novelization cured me of needing to read them before the movies come out. With TLJ I went in completely spoiled and knowing how horrible everything was so I was able to suspend judgement and just watch, and so I enjoyed the watch. It was exciting, there were lots of fun explosions. And I still love Leia Poppins. Best part of the movie, IMO. Plus the Porgs were adorable.

However, I agree with everyone when they say the movie was bad because when you think about it, it really was terrible from a universe/trilogy/fan perspective. It would have made an excellent Non Star Wars movie though. The first in a brand new unrelated trilogy. I could not read the novelization of it at though. Just couldn't get past the first couple of chapters.

So yeah, I'm not expecting to like 9 at all. But I am curious how bad it's going to be. What will JJ do to it? And then I hold a glimmer of excitement for Leia's part, however small it will be.

 

Less than TFA and TLJ.

 

What lack of activity? These boards continue to be some of the most active on the internet. I log off for an hour, come back, and have double-digit alerts. It’s just not a huge spoiler season right now, and the next film is over a year away. And the TV forum is more active than it’s been in a while, what with the Mandalorian news and Resistance.

 

My expectations are pretty low. As low as they were going into Episode 2 (yes I had high expectations for Ep 3 with the inevitable Vader/Obi-Wan showdown and Palpatine's ultimate plan unfolding).

Hopefully my low expectations mean I'll be pleasantly surprised. I truly am rooting for JJ to pull off a miracle and make a great final chapter to the Skywalker Saga.

 

I read the complaints and they always sound the same : fans are more excited by things like "Is Rey a Skywalker?", "Who is Snoke?", the most superficial details that we could call "geek lore" rather the movie itself. I've said it many times, some fans want RPG SW guidebooks, not films. To sum up TFA with "who is rey?", "where did Maz find the lightsaber?", "Is Snoke Plagueis?" and TLJ with "They didn't answer these questions" is really telling about the current tendency in fan culture, where we seem to be more interested to know about how proton bombs work or Poe's birth planet rather than experiencing a form of art called Cinema.

I'm not saying this concerns eveybody disappointed with the ST, but when i read such threads it's obviously a big part of fandom.

 

I don't know if forum activity is a good judge of overall interest in the first place. I'll admit I am speaking from personal experience but....well I have NEVER been on a forum to discuss the MCU films yet I'm anticipating the 4th Avengers film. In fact there are a lot of movies, tve series and games I ADORE and eagerly anticipate the release of...but spend little to NO time on their forums. My interest in forums, when I do join, is either to get information...or engage with the fandom. If there's no relevant information or if I have issues with the Fandom itself...then I am even less likely to participate with various discussions.

By comparison, the last I checked, tickets for Star Wars Celebration are sold out (At least on the days with major events). That means someone PAID money (possibly a lot of it) for the privilege of going to an event that is likely to have actors and information about the final film in the saga. To me that carries more weight than forum activity, especially now when there's little to talk about.

 

I see what you are saying but these weren’t simply casual plot asides, they felt like deliberately contrived mysteries and setups by Abrams. To leave them unresolved or, like Johnson did, just disregard them in such an aloof manner does not make for satisfying storytelling.

 

The only thing that excites me about E9 is Matt Smith.
Not bothering to get any more excited until the trailers drop.
I'm more excited for the bonus unreleased content for Supernatural Encounters, more chapters by An Origami Fish in their fan-fic, the Aphra comic, Darth Vader comic. etc than I am for E9.

 

Fifth grade? Oh man - you just tryna rub in how old I am?

I get what you're saying, but that's why I always thought JJ was a bad choice to begin with. Star Wars has never been about JJ's mystery box, and he just wasn't able to wrap his head around that. When you saw the first one, you didn't say "who's Luke's father?" You certainly didn't ask about his mother. You didn't want to know where Vader came from. You simply accepted that these characters were characters, and you wanted to know what happened to them. I would be willing to bet an obnoxiously large sum of money that JJ didn't have answers to any of the questions he posed. The biggest one he posed was "where is Luke Skywalker" - and really, Rian answered it in the only possible way. He didn't have time to play "fix JJ's mystery box" AND move the story forward. Snoke is a new bad guy. I'm okay with that. Rey's parents are drunks. That's cool too. Judging by how clumsily JJ addressed (or entirely abandons) his own mysteries, I think it's the best we could've hoped for.

 

Possibly because the new characters are not particularly compelling. I used to think, "I can't wait to have more adventures with Luke, Lando, Leia, Anakin, etc..." I don't particularly care about Rey, Finn, and Poe enough to be excited to see what they are up to next.
If you are going to hit the "reset button" and then tell me that my heroes are not that great, you darned well better replace them with better heroes.

 

After TLJ, my excitement for 9 has increased.

 

I like the new cast well enough but agree that they aren't as entertaining as the OT cast. Plus Luke, Leia, and Han had bonded by the end of ANH and we had bonded with them. So far in the ST Rey and Finn bonded and then were separated for each other for almost the entire second chapter of their movie. Poe disappeared from much of TFA and didn't even meet Rey on screen until the last minutes of TLJ.

All this is to say that my lukewarm feelings about the new cast have lowered my anticipation for the new film. Also, and this is key, most of the other cast/characters from the ST where very underwhelming, Lor San Tekka, Phasma, Snoke, Rose, DJ, Laura Dern's character...all pretty hohum characters. That doesn't make me psyched about the newly announced actors that are set to appear in Ep. IX. I've got a feeling they're all being to be like the others, hohum.

 

Before TFA, I remember Daisy and Oscar singing a Christmas song, then most of the cast singing SW acapella and Daisy and John rapping and just dancing and goofing off. Oh and Force Friday reactions. One thing between Daisy and Jon dancing before TLJ. I want more of that

 

As excited as I was for TFA and TLJ.

 

After watching the character assassination of Luke Skywalker and to a lesser extent Princess Leia, I fear Lando Calrissian may get similar treatment.

 

I think it's best to expect Lando to have a very small role. Also expect that they will have him make some very cringey callbacks.

 

Not as much as TLJ and not even close to TFA which outside of TPM, was the most excited I ever been to see a movie.

Doesn't mean I am not excited for me, I am super super excited for it just not near what I expected to be. Maybe that will change but I don't know really. I know the movie is over a year away still but I remember being much more excited for TFA and TLJ at this point then Episode IX. Just have to see how it all shakes out.

 

I am not at all excited about episode ix. TLJ decreased all interest I had in the characters. I really enjoyed Rey, Finn, and Poe in TFA, but after TLJ, I don’t really care what happens to any of them. I am pretty “ meh” now about Poe and Finn, and really don’t like Rey at all. She has turned into a very disappointing female heroine; not the strong, smart, independent character that she seemed to be in TFA. I never did like Kylo. He is too much of a whiny, tantrum-throwing brat.

Worst of all, after two films, there still doesn’t seem to be much of a real story here or much a reason for the sequel trilogy to exist, and to be worthy of taking away the great ending of RotJ. What has this sequel trilogy given us to make it worth what we have lost?

I wish that I could be excited, but I just don’t see how this trilogy can bring all of the nine films together in a logical, satisfying, enjoyable, and worthy way.