I want Rey to be a Skywalker, but just because this whole trilogy of trilogies is about that family. However I totally agree with you about the prequels, WAY too many coincidences made the universe feel very small. Even the people saying that Finn is Lando's son... Really?
Exactly. The whole "And Finn is Lando's son!!" thing is exactly the kind of "fan-fiction" level myopia that plagues the PT. I get that the hardcore fans appreciate that so and so is connected to such and such because it's basically a shibboleth for their fandom. It's a wink and a grin at the fans that acknowledges them and their special knowledge.
It's also crap storytelling.
Rey being a Skywalker/Kenobi (Kenobiwalker?) I'm...ok with, but only insofar as "The Star Wars Episodes are about the Skywalker family." Fine. I'll give 'em that one. But beyond that, give it a damn rest. Not everyone is connected to everyone else by birth or circumstances.
Aside from Rey, they should all be new characters with new lineages IMHO.
A friend of mine just posted this on my FB (partially in response to the prequel idiot):
" I did take exception to people calling Episode 7 a ‘safe’ movie compared to the prequels.
I know Lucas was pigeonholed by having to fit with the original movies, but what risks did the prequels take? The only things I can think of would be incorporating a fully CGI character in Jar Jar (even if the character itself is a dud, it was executed well for the time on a tech level) and having Anakin kill children. Maybe adding a mystery subplot in Attack of the Clones, but that was so half assed and incomplete I wouldn’t give any credit for that.
As for TFA, the plot fit nicely in the Star Wars mold, but I don’t think anyone was expecting the first in this new series to be a radical deconstruction of the Star Wars mythos. You're making a mass appeal blockbuster, of course it's not going to be the Cremaster Cycle in space. That doesn’t mean the movie was safe.
A safe movie wouldn’t have taken the hero of the original movies and just had him show up in the last 30 seconds without saying a word. Brutally killing arguably the most beloved character in the franchise doesn’t seem safe. Making the villain come off as more of a petulant teen school shooter rather than an ultimate badass isn’t safe. Hell, the three new leads are female, African American and Hispanic. That shouldn’t be a radical idea but there’s a vocal minority that isn’t too happy with that. They could have played it safe and said “Let’s get Chris Pratt, another white guy and some other chick to tag along as a third wheel.” "
Love this guy.
Well said.
That aside, I think it's fair to say that the new film is intentionally commercial in a way that the original film was not. So, if that's what someone means by "safe," ok, I'll give you that one.
Here's the thing I've come to realize about TFA:
I am not the sole audience for this film.
I'm a hardcore Star Wars fan. I could write half of what's on Wookieepedia. If there is bar trivia on Star Wars, no one can touch me. I have a replica DL-44 (made by Bobadebt). I have an original Graflex 3-cell flashgun (as well as the Graflite one, and a Heiland 5-cell). I have old Star Wars toys I played with in my basement, and POTF toys in sealed boxes as well.
And I am not the sole audience for this film. The film was designed to appeal to a wide array of people
including but not limited to folks like me. But to do that, it had to appear familiar to people who
don't know Star Wars the way I do. That means bringing back the old crew. It means big planet-sized super weapons. It means X-wings and potential Jedi with mysterious lineages. It means the Millenium Falcon and TIE Fighters, and stormtroopers and a pseudo Empire.
As much as people say "I wanted it to be different," I challenge just about anyone here to come up with a story that is at once familiar AND different for longtime hardcore fans AND people with only a casual familiarity with the original 3 films, and all of which can be financially and critically successful.
Could it be done? Yeah, possibly. But it's very, very difficult.
I think this film -- valid criticisms about overly familiar plotlines aside -- succeeded mightily in acting as a bridge to the future. It was familiar enough to bring along the people who are only sorta knowledgable about Star Wars, and different enough that it didn't just feel like a total rehash.
Beyond that, trying to shoe horn Plagueis into this undermines the power of the story of Palpatine and his becoming Sidious. To craft this film they have had to alter perceptions about a lot of what we thought coming out of the OT to make an interesting story, there is no reason to include Plagueus being dead and being a Muun s per GL in TFA.
Yup. The Plagueis thing is the kind of connection that only the hardcore fans would come up with, because only they even have a freakin' clue as to who the hell he is. Nobody else remembers "the tale of the wise Darth Plagueis" from ROTS because most people probably don't really remember much about ROTS at all beyond some images and maybe an action scene or two. Bear in mind, these are the same people who can't really tell the differences between the SEs and the OOT. They only know Han Shot First because people keep telling them that.
Making Snoke Plagueis is the same kind of "Finn is Lando's son" nonsense that only serves to hold the franchise back. *****, people complain about recycling plot points, but apparently nobody cares if the Star Wars universe has only one black family in it. Oh, wait. I forgot Ice Cream Maker Guy and the black pilot who gets killed at the end of ROTJ. Clearly, Finn is related to one of them because that's just how big the Star Wars universe is. :rolleyes
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I am really warming up to the idea of Rey being Ben Kenobi's granddaughter. I think it provides some beautiful symmetry to the story and opens up some great backstory to go back and revisit his life post ROTS in various media.
I've mostly come around to that, too. I like the idea of there being a LOT more to Ben than met the eye.
