Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Pre-release)

[mugatu]

Kill the past to move forward? Okay, they killed off Han Solo, Harrison has been wanting that for years. And they had him go out in absolutely amazing fashion, trying to bring his son back. Secondly, the killed off Luke. Why do people complain about this? He's coming back as a freakin' Force Ghost!!!!!!!!!!!

The film schedule caused problems? I don't think so. Marvel is putting way more films in a years time than Star Wars. And heck it's a lot of the same guys working on those films.

They shoehorned today's issues? They did? I got an anti-war profiteering message from TLJ.

And the Holdo maneuver didn't break the canon. It's been said a hundred times now, it was the Raddus's super duper one-of-a-kind shields that did the damage. The Raddus itself just blew up. How do I know this? Because of the books. Oh, you might say if it's not explained in the movie, then it's not good writing. What needs to be explained? I figured it out in the movie theater while I was watching the movie! It wasn't hard. I figured that whitish/blue energy must have come from the shields and the explosion from the ship.

I will give you the Harrison part. Hated to see him go but knew we wouldn’t get him back without letting him die off early.

But Luke... nah.
Luke was a complete butchery of character. Completely out of character. And even once he finally decides to help out (and why DOES he even change his mind and “help out”?) he isn’t even really there (note: to me, this point alone makes his entire duel with Kylo basically unwatchable after the very first viewing). And somehow this Force projection of himself is enough to wipe out the strongest Jedi ever, while it never made Snoke (the nobody) even break a sweat to bridge two separate people???
And in my opinion, coming back as a Force ghost, although humorous, is not as good as Alive Luke kicking ass.

The film release schedule is definitely too fast. Marvel has a capable “captain”, Kevin Feige, and Marvel has had their film machine running smoothly for 10 years now.
LFL couldn’t find a director for Ep VII til basically a year and half before its release. Once they had him, THEN the story was written. And THEN they couldn’t even keep him, and STILL had trouble finding a replacment. Disney was forced to basically bring on the first person willing to take the job (again) and let me tell you, that is always the recipe for quality. As such, they got someone that clearly had no interest in adhering to laws of the SW Cinematic Universe (if I may call it that). Rian Johnson wrote his script and completed writing it before VII even came out in theaters. Yeah, thats what we want: someone to treat coming up with and writing the story like it is a race, because rushing through something also tends to lead to well-thought out story lines free of plotholes.
In interviews, Johnson even admits to locking himself away behind closed doors to write the story. The truth is, Johnson went behind closed doors to lock everyone else out. No outside influence or suggestions. It was Rian by himself, with his number one “Yes Man”: Rian Johnson. This is how we ended up with JarJar, right? There was no one willing or able to say “You know George, this just isn’t playing right” or “Well you ARE going to change the voice in post, right George?”

Also, Comparing SW/LFL’s readiness to pump out quality films at the same pace as the Marvel machine (after Marvel has really hit its stride) is either disingeuous or your expectations are much greater for the capabilities of the production team behind the new SW (a new SW that isn’t even through its break-in period yet). But if your expectations really are that high, you’d probably be deeper on my sode than I am.

As far as todays social justice movement goes, they shoehorned a lot of Asians into the movie. Being Asian, I would normally be like “THAT’S GREAT!”, but the main Asian, Rose, was written as a foil to any momentum and any meaning in the film. I mean, go ahead and write Asian characters into the movie, just don’t make them the nagging wet noodle of the film. Rose’ character was just dumb, misguided, and was only put front and center to make sure every race was included in the movie. She added nothing to the film, other than cyclical contrivance to waste time.

The Raddus? You figured out while watching the movie, that it was the Raddus’ one of a kind shields that blew up the dreadnaught, not the Raddus jumping to hyperspace? How did you figure out the Raddus had one of a kind shields?
And how is it they are one of a kind? Even the Death Star was not unique. No ship will ever have Raddus-level shields again? Really? Having to come up with excuses to explain the blatant disregard for how things operate in the SW film universe just isn’t something I’m prepared to do for myself in order to not be completely turned off by Rian Johnson’s immacualte film. We just don’t go to lightspeed through other ships in SW. We have Navi-computers set up specifically so that doesn’t happen.

Listen, I appreciate your willingness to debate and represent, and I promise I am not trying to ruin your enjoyment of any film, let alone something from Star Wars. I am ecstatic that you didn’t have the soul stomped out of Star Wars for you. I wish I could feel the same way. I hope nothing I’ve said felt like an attack toward you personally, because I certainly would never mean to. And I would love more than anything for them to somehow fix everything/heal the division/etc. with IX. That would be the greatest thing. Thanks for debating with me, Joek3rr.

 

[rockbottom]

Leaked Episode IX Concept Art and Reference Photos : StarWarsLeaks

 

[Joek3rr]

Leaked Episode IX Concept Art and Reference Photos : StarWarsLeaks

Interesting, Rey has got an armband thing, like Padme.

 

[Nitz146]

Those aliens labeled "P" looks like something taken straight out of Star Trek TOS.

 

[Joek3rr]

I will give you the Harrison part. Hated to see him go but knew we wouldn’t get him back without letting him die off early.

But Luke... nah.
Luke was a complete butchery of character. Completely out of character. And even once he finally decides to help out (and why DOES he even change his mind and “help out”?) he isn’t even really there (note: to me, this point alone makes his entire duel with Kylo basically unwatchable after the very first viewing). And somehow this Force projection of himself is enough to wipe out the strongest Jedi ever, while it never made Snoke (the nobody) even break a sweat to bridge two separate people???
And in my opinion, coming back as a Force ghost, although humorous, is not as good as Alive Luke kicking ass.

The film release schedule is definitely too fast. Marvel has a capable “captain”, Kevin Feige, and Marvel has had their film machine running smoothly for 10 years now.
LFL couldn’t find a director for Ep VII til basically a year and half before its release. Once they had him, THEN the story was written. And THEN they couldn’t even keep him, and STILL had trouble finding a replacment. Disney was forced to basically bring on the first person willing to take the job (again) and let me tell you, that is always the recipe for quality. As such, they got someone that clearly had no interest in adhering to laws of the SW Cinematic Universe (if I may call it that). Rian Johnson wrote his script and completed writing it before VII even came out in theaters. Yeah, thats what we want: someone to treat coming up with and writing the story like it is a race, because rushing through something also tends to lead to well-thought out story lines free of plotholes.
In interviews, Johnson even admits to locking himself away behind closed doors to write the story. The truth is, Johnson went behind closed doors to lock everyone else out. No outside influence or suggestions. It was Rian by himself, with his number one “Yes Man”: Rian Johnson. This is how we ended up with JarJar, right? There was no one willing or able to say “You know George, this just isn’t playing right” or “Well you ARE going to change the voice in post, right George?”

Also, Comparing SW/LFL’s readiness to pump out quality films at the same pace as the Marvel machine (after Marvel has really hit its stride) is either disingeuous or your expectations are much greater for the capabilities of the production team behind the new SW (a new SW that isn’t even through its break-in period yet). But if your expectations really are that high, you’d probably be deeper on my sode than I am.

As far as todays social justice movement goes, they shoehorned a lot of Asians into the movie. Being Asian, I would normally be like “THAT’S GREAT!”, but the main Asian, Rose, was written as a foil to any momentum and any meaning in the film. I mean, go ahead and write Asian characters into the movie, just don’t make them the nagging wet noodle of the film. Rose’ character was just dumb, misguided, and was only put front and center to make sure every race was included in the movie. She added nothing to the film, other than cyclical contrivance to waste time.

The Raddus? You figured out while watching the movie, that it was the Raddus’ one of a kind shields that blew up the dreadnaught, not the Raddus jumping to hyperspace? How did you figure out the Raddus had one of a kind shields?
And how is it they are one of a kind? Even the Death Star was not unique. No ship will ever have Raddus-level shields again? Really? Having to come up with excuses to explain the blatant disregard for how things operate in the SW film universe just isn’t something I’m prepared to do for myself in order to not be completely turned off by Rian Johnson’s immacualte film. We just don’t go to lightspeed through other ships in SW. We have Navi-computers set up specifically so that doesn’t happen.

Listen, I appreciate your willingness to debate and represent, and I promise I am not trying to ruin your enjoyment of any film, let alone something from Star Wars. I am ecstatic that you didn’t have the soul stomped out of Star Wars for you. I wish I could feel the same way. I hope nothing I’ve said felt like an attack toward you personally, because I certainly would never mean to. And I would love more than anything for them to somehow fix everything/heal the division/etc. with IX. That would be the greatest thing. Thanks for debating with me, Joek3rr.

I know I'm going to get chided with for going back to talking about ep 8. But oh well.

So I disagree and agree with the notion that Luke was out of character. Why do I agree? Because the Luke we know from the OT wouldn't run away and abandon his friends and very importantly didn't tell a single person where he went (no maps or messages were left by Luke). But that's what TFA set up. The first line of the title crawl is "Luke Skywalker has disappeared". And Han tells us that they don't know where Luke ran off to, they have their suspicions, but they don't know. So don't blame Rian, or JJ, or Lawrence, or Michael Arndt, you gotta blame George for doing that one.

So why do I disagree? Because through out the OT, Luke is one of the most pessimistic people. Always whining and complaining. Yoda says about him "Always with you it cannot be done." So that pessimistic attitude with see in TLJ, very consistent and in character.

Luke didn't die from projecting himself, he let the Force take him. He died with peace and purpose.

And why on earth would you want to see Luke kick a**? That would be one of the most un-Jedi things ever.

So JJ was hired sometime between October 31, 2012 and January 9, 2013. 2 years before the films release. And Michael Arndt had been hired by George and Kathy, to start writing ep7 before the sale of Lucasfilm.

And to touch on Rose. I'm not Asian so I'm going to talk about any of that. I just wanted to point out that Rian originally wrote Rose to be an Eeyore type character. But when Kelly came in and tried out. He re-wrote the character to fit her bubbly attitude. So basically Rose is Kelly Marie Tran.

It's not hard to figure out how the Raddus did that. We see all that plasma energy ripping through the fleet, only so many places that can come from, one being the shields. And I guessed they must be special as they are able to withstand a continual bombardment from Supremacy for most of the film. Secondly I guessed that Raddus it's self just blew up, because we see an explosion that very similar to the one made when the Malevolence is hyperspace'd into a moon. Then I found out that the novel confirmed my suspicions. And Navi computers can be disabled.

 

[Marv]

I seriously can't wait to miss this next train wreck installment.

 

[CutThumb]

Leaked Episode IX Concept Art and Reference Photos : StarWarsLeaks

Well, at least they "leaked" something if nothing else for the weekend. I really like most of it, but dislike a couple of designs, which is pretty standard for SW. Even the OT had aliens that looked a bit rubbish.

 

[cboath]

I know I'm going to get chided with for going back to talking about ep 8. But oh well.

So I disagree and agree with the notion that Luke was out of character. Why do I agree? Because the Luke we know from the OT wouldn't run away and abandon his friends and very importantly didn't tell a single person where he went (no maps or messages were left by Luke). But that's what TFA set up. The first line of the title crawl is "Luke Skywalker has disappeared". And Han tells us that they don't know where Luke ran off to, they have their suspicions, but they don't know. So don't blame Rian, or JJ, or Lawrence, or Michael Arndt, you gotta blame George for doing that one.

So why do I disagree? Because through out the OT, Luke is one of the most pessimistic people. Always whining and complaining. Yoda says about him "Always with you it cannot be done." So that pessimistic attitude with see in TLJ, very consistent and in character.

Luke didn't die from projecting himself, he let the Force take him. He died with peace and purpose.

And why on earth would you want to see Luke kick a**? That would be one of the most un-Jedi things ever.

So JJ was hired sometime between October 31, 2012 and January 9, 2013. 2 years before the films release. And Michael Arndt had been hired by George and Kathy, to start writing ep7 before the sale of Lucasfilm.

And to touch on Rose. I'm not Asian so I'm going to talk about any of that. I just wanted to point out that Rian originally wrote Rose to be an Eeyore type character. But when Kelly came in and tried out. He re-wrote the character to fit her bubbly attitude. So basically Rose is Kelly Marie Tran.

It's not hard to figure out how the Raddus did that. We see all that plasma energy ripping through the fleet, only so many places that can come from, one being the shields. And I guessed they must be special as they are able to withstand a continual bombardment from Supremacy for most of the film. Secondly I guessed that Raddus it's self just blew up, because we see an explosion that very similar to the one made when the Malevolence is hyperspace'd into a moon. Then I found out that the novel confirmed my suspicions. And Navi computers can be disabled.

Come on...i mean, really.

Luke has disappeared. Great. No problem to that point. There could be a myriad of reasons for it. The reason they wind up giving is unacceptable and what moves him way out of character. He 'disappeared' because he screwed up (or so he thinks) and then gives up and quits on his family, friends, and the galaxy at large. Just no. Not acceptable in any way. He could have been captured, trapped, marooned, retired, and many many more different things. None of which would have been out of character. RJ chose specifically to move him way way out of character to 'subvert expectations'. And it's utter BS. He doesn't need to be back as an action hero. Obi wan wasn't out of character in ANH, Yoda wasn't out of character in ESB. Granted, those established their characters, but they pretty much held through in the prequels. Luke needed to be back in an advisory, leadership role and he needed to step in at some point to help defend, he could. Obi wan didn't take on the empire on the death star kicking ass and taking names, he did what needed to be done in his way.

Snoke used the projection stuff to bridge two people together which is harder than projecting yourself. Did it on multiple occasions and never appeared to break a sweat. If you want to say luke gave himself to the force, you're then saying the project put negligible stress on him and he, in essence, committed suicide. There was nothing wrong with him physically or mentally. So he either expended every last effort to project himself and died from it, or committed suicide. And, let me help you here...Kylo says in the movie that 'such an effort would kill you'. Flat out foreshadowing the end. So you can say he surrendered, but it's only because he couldn't survive it.

As for the raddus crap, i couldn't really care. The abject failure of it is they had to explain it in ancilliary material. I mean, how difficult is it as a writer to throw in a line commenting on their special one of kinda shields? The FO guys could say it or the resistance people could say. Nothing. In fact, the FO crew is saying who cares, they're just out of range let them stay there. Keep firing, in essence, so they know we're here. We'll destroy them when the run out of gas. Which is just an eye rolling plot. The second you have to delve into ancilliary material for relevant information, you've failed. I'll agree that i don't see hyperspacing into someone as breaking any established rules. A navi computer is just that, a computer and can be turned off. In ANH Luke says something about just jumping before the computer is done (i think) and Han tells him they could run into something and that end their trip PDQ.

I know i'm guilty here for playing into it, but please stop rehashing things trying to defend VIII. No one's interested in the defense. I thought that was why you started your other thread.

Break the circle and try and keep this on 9.

 

[Zuiun]

I'm curious to see what JJ comes up with, he is clever, if he can invent a Rosetta Stone to his mystery box, it may surprise people, but given they've fudged two times so far, I'm skeptical.

The thing is, though, JJ *LOVES* creating mysteries. What he hates is solving them. He's never really been good at that. I consider him to be a great idea person, because he is good at coming up with stories and puzzles to solve. But since he has so little interest in opening the mystery box, his ideas are best left to be executed by someone else who actually does understand the need to resolve a story.

There's been so much debate and hate on The Last Jedi, but all of it rests on JJ's shoulders for creating a bunch of side-quest mystery boxes that he had no interest in resolving and that were only distractions from the main story. Personally, I think Johnson made the right choice is scrapping as many of those as he could, but I can see why other fans were put off by it. JJ made a bunch of things seem important that shouldn't have been, just for the sake of mystery, and I think any storyteller would have had a hard time reigning in the second film in that situation.

My biggest worry is that JJ is either going to go back to those mystery boxes -- still without any resolution -- or he will just create more.

 

[Psab keel]

I would have much preferred to see Luke kick ass in true Jedi fashion. Not reject everything he believed in because "it was a cool idea." Only to do a 180 in the end and use the Force so hard it literally killed him. I can't express how stupid that idea is.

Plus a bad idea is a bad idea. It doesn't matter who thought of it.

Plus if you thought of Luke as a pessimist them why was the OT so uplifting?

 

[Joek3rr]

Come on...i mean, really.

Luke has disappeared. Great. No problem to that point. There could be a myriad of reasons for it. The reason they wind up giving is unacceptable and what moves him way out of character. He 'disappeared' because he screwed up (or so he thinks) and then gives up and quits on his family, friends, and the galaxy at large. Just no. Not acceptable in any way. He could have been captured, trapped, marooned, retired, and many many more different things. None of which would have been out of character. RJ chose specifically to move him way way out of character to 'subvert expectations'. And it's utter BS. He doesn't need to be back as an action hero. Obi wan wasn't out of character in ANH, Yoda wasn't out of character in ESB. Granted, those established their characters, but they pretty much held through in the prequels. Luke needed to be back in an advisory, leadership role and he needed to step in at some point to help defend, he could. Obi wan didn't take on the empire on the death star kicking ass and taking names, he did what needed to be done in his way.

Snoke used the projection stuff to bridge two people together which is harder than projecting yourself. Did it on multiple occasions and never appeared to break a sweat. If you want to say luke gave himself to the force, you're then saying the project put negligible stress on him and he, in essence, committed suicide. There was nothing wrong with him physically or mentally. So he either expended every last effort to project himself and died from it, or committed suicide. And, let me help you here...Kylo says in the movie that 'such an effort would kill you'. Flat out foreshadowing the end. So you can say he surrendered, but it's only because he couldn't survive it.

As for the raddus crap, i couldn't really care. The abject failure of it is they had to explain it in ancilliary material. I mean, how difficult is it as a writer to throw in a line commenting on their special one of kinda shields? The FO guys could say it or the resistance people could say. Nothing. In fact, the FO crew is saying who cares, they're just out of range let them stay there. Keep firing, in essence, so they know we're here. We'll destroy them when the run out of gas. Which is just an eye rolling plot. The second you have to delve into ancilliary material for relevant information, you've failed. I'll agree that i don't see hyperspacing into someone as breaking any established rules. A navi computer is just that, a computer and can be turned off. In ANH Luke says something about just jumping before the computer is done (i think) and Han tells him they could run into something and that end their trip PDQ.

I know i'm guilty here for playing into it, but please stop rehashing things trying to defend VIII. No one's interested in the defense. I thought that was why you started your other thread.

Break the circle and try and keep this on 9.

If you wanted to break the circle why do you guys keep bringing it up? I'm not the one who's doing it. I'm just replying to people.

Look at from Luke's point of view. He feels that he's causing more problems then he's helping. He believes the galaxy is safer without him, then with him. And you can't have Luke leave without telling anyone for any other reason. The moment you have Luke go to learn new information or to have some "me" time. With out telling people. That makes him out to be one of the most selfish persons in the galaxy. Any of the other options you gave would work IF Luke had left a message or map. But he didn't. But when you give him the reason for staying is to protect his friends and family, from the pain and suffering he would bring, it becomes a burden for him. It completely changes everything.

Luke's death is one of the most amazing things ever. What was the one thing that Ben wanted the most? To kill Luke Skywalker. But by Luke surrendering himself to the Force, he cheated Ben from that. The one thing that Ben wants more then anything else.

I don't get why you are so upset about the hyperspace ramming not being explained in explicit detail. ESB, the film that is considered to be the best Star Wars film, does it twice. During the battle of Hoth Luke says the armor on the AT-AT's is to thick for their blasters. Yet after one is dropped it gets shot in the exact same place and it explodes! Huh? What just happened? So to my knowledge has never been explained (also that is a plot hole)
Secondly how on earth did Boba Fett know that Han had attached the Falcon to the back of an ISD? I mean that Star Destroyer wasn't anywhere near the Executor where Boba was currently located. No explanation for that either. But that is okay. Films don't have to explain everything little thing. Sometimes they intentionally leave stuff out for the viewers to figure out on their own, or to put into books later.


So back to episode 9. What about the idea that Ben and Rey are reborn Anakin and Padme?

 

[Joek3rr]

I would have much preferred to see Luke kick ass in true Jedi fashion.

That sir, is an oxymoron.

"A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind............ Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things."

 

[Psab keel]

I agree to a point. Though the Jedi are not entirely pacifist. They literally have their own signature weapon.

 

[sztriki]

The thing is, though, JJ *LOVES* creating mysteries. What he hates is solving them. He's never really been good at that. I consider him to be a great idea person, because he is good at coming up with stories and puzzles to solve. But since he has so little interest in opening the mystery box, his ideas are best left to be executed by someone else who actually does understand the need to resolve a story.

There's been so much debate and hate on The Last Jedi, but all of it rests on JJ's shoulders for creating a bunch of side-quest mystery boxes that he had no interest in resolving and that were only distractions from the main story. Personally, I think Johnson made the right choice is scrapping as many of those as he could, but I can see why other fans were put off by it. JJ made a bunch of things seem important that shouldn't have been, just for the sake of mystery, and I think any storyteller would have had a hard time reigning in the second film in that situation.

I made a commitment not to comment on Ep8 related things and here I am breaking it because as much as I agree that the mystery box thing is cheap it was 100% Rian Johnson who decided how to play those out and to offer practically nothing new that would move the story forward.
I keep repeating that in the cooking show MasterChef there is a mystery box challenge where contestants are given random ingredients that they have to use with some staples (egg, milk, flour, etc). The winner is the one who creates a creative dish using ingredients from the mystery box. Not the one who makes an omelette from the staplea and sprinkle some thyme from the mystery box on top just to tick a box.
Now if I’m back here commenting on anything but Ep9 please someone shoot me...

 

[Joek3rr]

I made a commitment not to comment on Ep8 related things and here I am breaking it because as much as I agree that the mystery box thing is cheap it was 100% Rian Johnson who decided how to play those out and to offer practically nothing new that would move the story forward.
I keep repeating that in the cooking show MasterChef there is a mystery box challenge where contestants are given random ingredients that they have to use with some staples (egg, milk, flour, etc). The winner is the one who creates a creative dish using ingredients from the mystery box. Not the one who makes an omelette from the staplea and sprinkle some thyme from the mystery box on top just to tick a box.
Now if I’m back here commenting on anything but Ep9 please someone shoot me...

*SHUCK* *SHICK*...........*BANG*

 

[Scarecrow Joe]

 

[Zuiun]

I made a commitment not to comment on Ep8 related things and here I am breaking it because as much as I agree that the mystery box thing is cheap it was 100% Rian Johnson who decided how to play those out and to offer practically nothing new that would move the story forward.

I don't want to drag this into a Last Jedi debate anymore, it would seem, than you do.. there was already a billion long post thread about that.

However, the problem Rian Johnson faced, as I see it, is that all of that mystery box stuff that JJ planted was, like I said, distractions from the main story. Star Wars has always been at its best when the plot is simple and straightforward. A New Hope set that bar high. Practically nothing in that film was a sidetrack from plot. Whereas there were so many plot points in Force Awakens that were distractions.

Rey's parents? The only reason they were a blip on anyone's radar was because JJ dangled that thread for fans to play with. Why is this even a thing we are supposed to pretend matters unless it's going to become central to the story? But it wasn't, because Force Awakens was clearly focused on the mystery of what happened to Luke.

Snoke must be important. The only reason this was a blip on anyone's radar was because JJ dangled that thread for fans to play with. Why was this even a thing we are supposed to pretend matters unless it's going to become central to the story? But it wasn't, because Force Awakens was clearly forcused on making Kylo Ren the central antagonist.

The point being, JJ *could* have settled these things with small scenes/moments and moved on to let us focus on the main story and the main conflict. We could have been told early that Rey's parents were nobody. A small exchange could have revealed Snoke had always been in the shadows, waiting to overthrow Palpatine. The fact that fans were focusing on details like these in the gap between Force Awakens and Last Jedi is the fundamental flaw in JJ's execution. He created a situation where fans were more invested in the side quest stories than the main story.

I'm not interested in debating whether or not Johnson made the right choices. We all have our opinions and no one is going to change anyone else's mind. And given the subjective nature of film, no one's opinion is any more right or wrong than anyone else's.

But the fact is, he was left with a pretty frayed tapestry to deal with.

 

[cboath]

You can carry that on as well. So what if questions were dangled. That's kind of the point of a trilogy - you can and do raise things that don't get answered until the end. There are supposed to be some things unanswered leading in the next bit. ANH mentions luke's father but not mother. We weren't gasping at that at the time, or ever really. But ANH is a different beast in that it's the only one that was made on it's own with no guarantee of anything else so there'd be fewer openings going forard. The one's wrapping up trilogies were just that. But again, the job of part 1 of a 3 parter is to set the stage and raise things that are not answered until farther down the line.

Regardless, RJ didn't have to delve into those little mysteries at all. But he did of his own accord. And his 'story'? The good guys fight running out of gas. He didn't really expand on snoke, he just got rid of him. He went against the character of luke simply to do so. He didn't have to answer anything about Rey's parentage, but he did, though the way it was done makes it not written in stone.

ANH - the emperor is mentioned. Didn't make people ponder endlessly about the emperor. Didn't detract from Vader being the big bad even though the emperor and Tarkin out ranked him.
ESB - we got the head of the emperor - again, people weren't begging for his backstory. Again, didn't detract from anything know the emperor was the big bad, not vader.
ROTJ - we get the emperor in his fully glory - People still weren't clamoring for his backstory

Hell, in the PT all we get of his backstory is he was a senator who wormed his way into office. He and Maul wanted their revenge is all we get. No one was obsessing over not answer that question.

ANH - we get luke's dad is dead and nothing about his mom. They weren't lingering frayed tapestry pieces that needed to be answered.
ESB - we get a cool plot twist that Vader = Dad. People were blown away. People weren't asking about mom.
ROTJ - we find out Leia is the sister - surprise! People still weren't really asking about mom
1995 - prequels annouced, people weren't stoked because we probably get to find out who luke's mom is, and if you do the math, we had to wait 22 years to get the question answered, even though it was never a big question in the first place.

Stuff like this is why you don't let three different people write three different parts of their own accord. A story is crafted best all at once so things can be placed strategically and subplots written and executed properly. No shortcomings of 8 are the fault of 7. Ignore all those things you complain about and move on with the main story and you're probably fine. The 'tapestry' wasn't frayed. The stage was set. Part II didn't have to takes place in the 18 hours after 7. It didn't have to focus on running out of gas. It didn't have to address snoke's or rey's heritages. Those are things that need answered by the end, some, but not all maybe, but they did NOT have to be addressed in 8 and asking the questions in 7 isn't wrong.

You can pull all the same parallels all over the place and they didn't harm the OT and they weren't reasons people didn't like the PT (for those who didn't) and it didn't detract from the PT for those who liked it.

Regardless of your take on 8, it's successes and/or failures ride on it's director and are not the fault of whoever did 7 at all. Not unless that guy forced story elements into 8 which everyone all seems to confirm as all RJ.

Hell, if you haven't i'd encourage you to read Harry Potter. There's stuff sprinkled all throughout those 7 books that build on everything. Questions are raising in all books and not all get answered in the same book. Some a book or two or three later, some not at all. People still had questions over that and it was overwhelmingly loved, revered, and lauded.

People lump all the unanswered question from Lost on JJ and they probably weren't even his questions for the most part, and less of the unanswered stuff goes on him. He was a producer, not a writer. Still, you if you're only writing part 1 of 3, it is your job to raise things that don't get answered in 1. The problem is you then get no control over those answers or when they occur. And it doesn't even matter if no one is beholden to any of your ideas past the end of part 1.

 

[kristen jones]

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[DARTH ANIBAL]

I agree to a point. Though the Jedi are not entirely pacifist. They literally have their own signature weapon.

"An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age."