The worst thing they did was to bring back an Empire-like bad side,....inc updated Stormtroopers, TIE fighters etc,...I remember when the announcement was made that they were to continue the saga, & we were just in shock & excitement of the news, I posted a comment on how I hoped it could go:
Because the OT drew on our own recent history, with the Empire striking resemblances with WWII Germany,...& the Rebels being a group of allied forces, I was hoping that a new enemy in the ST would have been one of those old allies, much like the USSR, perhaps the Mon Cal or Bothans,
Sadly the ST set off on the wrong foot, it had to be just like what we already knew
J
So, two things on this.
First, there's the basic business aspect. In that sense, I get why they took a LOT from the most familiar beats of Star Wars. NuEmpire, giant planet (solar system) destroying superweapon, small group of X-wings blow it up, pseudo-Sith, etc. In a sense, they had to. We here are the absolute molten core of Star Wars fans. We know the ins and outs of lots of the EU backstory. We can tell people what company built the X-wing (Incom), and what tibanna gas is used for. We spot differences between versions of Vader's armor from movie to movie, and pay attention to the subtle evolution of Anakin/Luke/Rey's lightsabre over time. There are people out there who -- I kid you not -- don't really
care that Han shot second, or who think that adding in a bunch of now-kinda-dated CGI to the films was perfectly fine. There are lots and lots of people who like Star Wars, but have only seen it maybe a handful of times in their lives. And there are waaaaaaaaaaaay more of them than there are of us. It's those people to whom Disney/LFL was trying to sell Ep. VII. That's why all the OT heroes are back. That's why the EU was dumped. That's why you see a ton of beats and visual and structural references to the old films. It's not because "the stories rhyme." It's because all this stuff is instantly familiar to even people who think the guy's name is "Hans Solo" and who think Chewbacca is some kind of dog thing.
Second, there's the storytelling aspect. The problem with bringing all these elements together in a single film -- OT characters, familiar story/visual/structural elements, etc. -- is that it severely constrains the story you're going to tell. So, ok, you have the OT heroes back. Alright...well, if they're back, and we have some new conflict....what's that mean about the war they won before? That has to get wiped away, but the question becomes "how"? How do you make it so that ROTJ wasn't "happily ever after" after all, AND you've got a new Empire? Because you've
got to have a new Empire, right? Tie fighters, stormtroopers, big honkin' wedge-shaped capital ships, etc. Gotta have it. That means that whatever faction exists must have existed for a while. Except that to do
that and have it work,
and have the OT characters be roughly the ages of the actors, you simply have to diminish their victory somehow.
I still think that a lot of what was shown in Ep. VII which set the stage for much of what people dislike in Ep. VIII could have been mitigated with a better lead-in story-wise or at least some exposition dumping. I also think JJ's penchant for "mystery box" stuff gets in the way with Ep. VII by building up too much suspense simply by...not answering questions that the audience kinda needs to know, but which the characters kinda don't.
Now, I've enjoyed Ep. VII, and I loved Ep. VIII, but I think that they really set themselves up for problems with the way they handled the production of these films and especially in terms of narrative. I'm with Inquisitor Peregrinus on this one. These films needed way more lead-in story-wise IF you wanted to tell this particular story. As I said before Ep. VII came out, my preferred Star Wars would've been one that was flung several generations into the future, far removed from the OT heroes and their victory at Endor. New characters, new story, new threats, etc. You could still feature white-armored bad guy troopers, but you make it an explicit thing: they brought the iconic imagery of the Empire specifically because it references the Empire and they wanted to both convey an imagery of strength and military might, and to scare the hell out of everyone who opposed the Empire. Or something. I think that including the OT heroes was probably the biggest mistake, even though I think that Mark Hamill gave the best performance I've ever seen him give as Luke. I'm even "ok" with Han dying, mostly because I think his character had completed his arc in ROTJ and there wasn't a ton left to do with him. But I think including the OT heroes with all the references to the OT just to put butts in seats...that was a mistake. I get why they did it, but I think they should've taken more of a risk right out of the gate. It's part of why I think Ep. VIII was so divisive. Ep. VIII took some genuine risks in departing from the typical Star Wars mold. I love it precisely for that reason, but yeah, it's
different. Jarringly so, especially coming on what was essentially the nostalgia-fest of Ep. VII. That's some serious whipsawing in terms of managing audience expectations.
