This is the height of the cognitive dissonance people have with the "ST doesn't explain anything" crowd. Oh, the OT was first so it doesn't have to explain? Hoseshit! Complete, 100% fresh, prize-winning horse manure! People give a pass for the OT because they have nostalgia for it.. In fact, it gives us even LESS background than the ST does. We simply accepted that the OT didn't need to give us an explanation, because back then, people weren't entitled, spoiled, whiny little brats who have to shred everything down to last molecule and pick at it over and over and over until fans like myself don't even want to be fans anymore. My enjoyment of this franchise has become the bitter mote of what it once was for two reasons:
1. Disney pricing me outside of it.
2. The whiny fans.
The first movie literally saw Vader's helmet falling off in the cockpit of his TIE Fighter, but god forbid there's unfinished CGI in a half-second shot of a teaser trailer. Lucas' characters had better plot armor than the actual armor the Empire's enforcers wore. I mean, let's face it, the Empire's elite legion was defeated by teddy bears with neolithic weaponry... AND WE ****ING ACCEPTED THAT. The Empire existed, we didn't NEED to know why or how in 1977. Nobody effing cared!!! But god forbid we don't get some spoonfed expository ******** scene that would have been picked apart and derided anyway. Literally most of the background for the original characters Lucas pulled out of his ass in some interview, but suddenly we have a problem with ancillary material? The hypocrisy among this fandom is egregious. The fandom is undoubtedly the WORST thing that has ever happened to Star Wars.
Couple things...
People pointing out production goofs =/= hating on the whole movie/trilogy/saga. The goofs from Star Wars don't detract for me. Some I like to work into the lore, like Mr. No-Stripes (Stormtroopers have 10-13 stripes painted on the side tubes of their helmets -- what does this denote? -- and a few have none -- what does
this denote?), some should just be taken at face value (one Stormtrooper misjudged and donked his helmet on the opening door -- happens) and not given a whole big thing (George adding a "BONK" sound in the most recent home-video release, and having Jango bonk his head on
Slave I's hatch because in his universe clumsiness and accents are inherited by clones), and some are just goofs/unavoidable (flopped shots, missing/cracked armor, Harrison blinking when his gun goes off, etc.). These are things we accept as an artifact of moviemaking. Nothing to do with story, character, cinematography, editing... Calling out what is probably an unfinished effect in a trailer isn't even
that, though. It's just a "hey, look at the thing, isn't that amusing".
And so, point two. Story. Figure very few read my extensive grumble, above, or they'd see I addressed what a few have posted since. Star Wars got away with coming in
in media res because of the conceit that we were coming in partway through an adventure serial. That if we'd seen the "previous episodes", we would have known about the Republic, the rise of the Empire, the Clone Wars, the Jedi Knights, all that jazz. It wasn't too germane to the plot to know the finer points. There's an Empire where once was a Republic, and the common man ain't too happy about it. Got it. There used to be space knights called Jedi who worked with/for the Republic, but got wiped out by the Empire. Got it. There were some bygone conflicts called the Clone Wars and the Jedi were involved. Got it. If it had been important to the plot to know the minutiæ of any of that, and the information were left out, that'd be bad writing. It wasn't, so it's not. The only real sloppiness is a perennial one -- passage of time. And it's not
that big a deal. Stormtroopers missing was almost entirely on the
Death Star, and they were under orders to let the Rebels escape, and to this day it amazes me that more people don't realize that.
Always had a problem with the Ewoks, though, even at age 8, including their super-effectiveness against the Emperor's crack troops.
The Prequels were meant to fill in that backstory that we "missed", except it wasn't done all that well and blew all the big reveals of the Original Trilogy. Between the two, though, we have all the backstory we need to comprehend the major players (even if I feel it could've been established better in TPM). We don't need to see the founding of the Republic or the Jedi, we don't need to see the rise of the Sith or the Mandalorian Wars or any of that. It's
fun, but not necessary. But the Sequel Trilogy really does muff it with the gap between episodes. The First Order isn't the Empire, but everyone seems to know what it is except us. The Resistance isn't the Rebellion, but if the First Order isn't the Empire, and the Republic is in charge, what are they resisting? Han and Leia know who Snoke is. We don't, but the reference to him tuning Ben -- who we've only just met after he turned -- implies something that happened that we missed. Except we didn't. Last thing we saw was Our Heroes, victorious, having a bonfire party with the Ewoks. Star Wars is meant to be a linear story, with trope-y melodramatic twists (twin sister, villain is hero's father, presumed-dead baddie returns, etc.), not a whodunnit where the audience is kept guessing until the last act.
Not everything needs to be spelled out in West End Games/Decipher level of excruciating detail, but more needed to be frontloaded to blend the period transition than was.
Not saying it needs to be dumbed down for the lowest common denominator, either. No matter how clearly it could be spelled out, there would always be some in the audience upset that the First Order blew up Coruscant, for instance. Even though the actual target was named onscreen several times. But the rise of the First Order, turning of Ben, and destruction of Luke's training center are important things that we need to see as transition from happy victory to things fall apart. We don't have real or implied Prequels to the Sequels to maybe get twenty years from now -- the previous episode is
right there and absolutely zero of this is even implied yet beyond the vagueness of Yoda's admonition to Luke to "pass on what [he has] learned". And no, ancillary materials aren't an out. It needed to be up there on the big screen. That's where most of the audience is. Believe it or not, some actual Star Wars fans don't even
know there are books or comics. Others know there are, but are used to them telling side stories or otherwise elaborating on what's in the movies -- not required reading to have even an inkling of who the First Order are (we still don't really know, two acts in). Heck, dial the clock back and have TFA start with ten minutes showing Leia trying to warn the senate about the First Order, her parentage getting revealed, her quitting and starting the Resistance, Luke and Ben returning and Ben's state of mind being apparent, the confrontation, the destruction, Luke apologizing to Leia, telling her about Snoke, and leaving despite her protestations. Fade to "several years later" and the First Order landing craft descending to Jakku. Boom. Done. All the information we need. Leave Rey to be the big mystery for the trilogy, rather than
everything.
Nothing to do with being whiny or needing to be spoonfed anything. Basic story mechanics for the genre in question,
