Woe.....some guys love to type!!
Well, yes. But I
do try to be concise. Not my fault I was away for a couple days and suddenly there were twenty-odd new pages to the thread to winnow through.
Is it ever stated anywhere how many billions the First Order killed when they blew up the Hosnian System?
(I think it's 5 planets: Cardota, Courtsilius, Hosnian, Hosnian Prime and Raysho?)
The Starkiller just took Hosnian Prime and its moons, not the whole system. But still probably at least the population of modern Earth.
3PO is in no way comparable to JarJar. You can erase JJ completely from the PT after he led the Jedi To Gunga city, noone would really notice. Purpose fulfilled, now he´s just baggage. 3PO? Companion to R2 and COMIC RELIEF. Not comedic appendix.
I dunno. Some of Threepio's commentary was pertinent, but a lot was also purely for Teh Funny™. "Help! I think I'm melting! Oh, this is all
your fault..." Coulda been left out (it had already been deemed a bad fit for the boarding of the
Tantive IV, for which it had been filmed) and something more relevant to the story re-added (like the rest of Red Leader's conversation with Luke in the hangar) if having the movie that many seconds longer was important. His role was to complain and get into trouble that Our Heroes had to bail him out of. Take a quick-and-dirty pass with your home editing program and see how much is lost by trimming each of Threepio's scenes out. Some, but not as much as you might think.
However, in the hands of a better writer, one who doesn't think burp and fart jokes or stepping in poop are the height of humor, Jar-Jar could have been more relevant while still being (less offensively) irritating -- like Threepio. For all that the droid's contribution to the OT is mostly fluff, it at least works organically with the story.
The exposition regarding the Empire was done subtly and quickly.
SD chase. Vader boarding, killing the Captain in cold blood. Capturing the princess. >>> Empire is EVIL and brutal
Search party on the planet. POLICE FORCE! on the planet. >>> The Empire is PRESENT and has somekind of governmental status.
Whereas the First Order (which I still find a kind of ridiculous name) is shown burning down a village, destroying Maz´ Temple Diner Club, destroying a complete Planetary System. Thugs. Punks. Street cred? Duh.
Well, yeah. That is, near as I can tell, the point of the First Order. As introduced in TFA, as elaborated upon in the Aftermath trilogy and Bloodline, as enhanced in TLJ... After the Empire was determined to be a lost cause, the most hardline of Imperial fanboys lit out for deep space to make their fanboyish homage to the Empire of their nostalgia. It's no accident that the main faces of the First Order we see are Hux and Kylo -- two rather young men who want to be liked and respected (and probably feared), but the only way they know how is to be bullies. So yeah, they're shouty toughs trying to get the galaxy to agree that their pop idol (Palpatine, the Empire) is better.
I'm wondering, what will the ones who dislike the movie say when Episode IX brings back JJ and JJ would give "answers" to the questions raised like, Kylo was lying, Rey is the daughter of Kenobi/Skywalker/Whoever/Whatever etc. just like the fans had expected to see in Ep VIII? Will they be pleased in the end and say, yes, that's what should have been in Ep VIII, or, I knew it all the time, or will they be like, naw, what a crap decision, they screwed it up with Ep VIII and now they are giving some stupid fan service by exactly saying what the fans wanted to hear?
You presume JJ will suddenly break form and actually
open his cherished Mystery Box and actually give us answers.
Random observation: Rose what supposed to be kinda awkward/creepy in her first scene right? Because she really comes across as "OMG I LOVE YOU FINN and im gonna zap you if you dont love me back..."
I don't get "creepy". She unexpectedly met the Hero of the Resistance. She was startled and star-struck -- especially considering she was hurting from
just losing her sister. After awkwardly making small talk with Finn, she realized he was about to jump ship. Which she was stationed there to prevent. So she stunned him. Had nothing to do with the Misery motive you apparently gleaned from that scene.
There's more, but it's into the arena of Film Theory and a lot of the making-of stuff, so... Later.
--Jonah