Star Wars Episode VIII: Who’s Returning After The Force Awakens.

Star Wars The Force Awakens PremiereSome of the cast of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens have been confirmed to return for the sequel prior to the release of the movie, including Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy recently made a statement at the London premiere of the film explaining exactly who was going to return.

 

Spoilers for TFA are inside!

 

So, who’s returning, according to Kathleen Kennedy? Everyone. Yes, really: EV-ERY-ONE!

 

From Daily Mail:

 

Just as the highly anticipated sci-fi sequel is hitting cinemas, movie producer Kathleen Kennedy has confirmed the next instalment starts shooting in January. The Lucasfilm President, who famously produced E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the Jurassic Park franchise, revealed the acclaimed cast of young and old stars such as John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Anthony Daniels will be back. Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz at the European premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in London’s Leicester Square on Wednesday night, she said: “There will be a handful of new cast members in Episode VIII, but also all the cast members you see here tonight will be in it as well.”

 

The cast members in question include Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Max Von Sydow, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, and Warwick Davis. So for those of you who have seen the movie, you’ll know that a couple of questions are quickly raised from this statement – especially considering the uncertain statuses of key characters. (This is where the spoilers kick in, so turn back if you haven’t seen the movie!)

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As you know, both Lor San Tekka and Han Solo both meet their ends at the hands of Kylo Ren. So how can they appear in Episode VIII if they’re both dead? There’s a simple explanation to this, and it’s that the movie will have flashbacks in it. It wouldn’t be surprising considering that the movie already toyed with them when Rey first obtains Luke’s old lightsaber. Word has it that the sequence was supposed to be more elaborate in nature and have an explicit narrative as opposed to a series of esoteric visions. It’s possible that J. J. Abrams felt that the scene gave too much away too early and cut the scene, but it’s also possible that the narrative may be saved for Episode VIII. Lor San Tekka’s few lines seemed to establish that he knew Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren way back when, so his role would be easy enough to integrate into the story, but seeing how Han would play into a flashback would be more interesting. (Those who were bummed out that the “Big Three” didn’t get a scene together in The Force Awakens might just be appeased if it happened through this kind of a plot device.)

 

Also of interest is confirmation of the presences of Maz, Kylo Ren, General Hux, and Captain Phasma returning. Maz kind of disappeared after giving Finn the lightsaber (the second teaser showed Maz handing the lightsaber over to Leia, implying that the two had a discussion on Takodana that was cut out of the film), and Ren, Hux, and Phasma were all stuck in varying positions on Starkiller Base shortly before it imploded into a star. I figured that they wouldn’t kill Ren and Phasma, but Hux’s strongly-implied survival came as a bit of a shock to me since he seemed like the most expendable villain. Hopefully, that means that they have something special in mind for the character. I’m interested in seeing much more of the new cast.

 

Stay tuned to Star Wars News Net for the latest and greatest stories about the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

418 thoughts on “Star Wars Episode VIII: Who’s Returning After The Force Awakens.

  • December 19, 2015 at 5:04 am
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    Very interestling. May not be the last time we saw Ford as Solo after all.

    • December 19, 2015 at 7:03 am
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      Maybe Han pulls a Gandalf, and comes back as Han the White?

      • December 19, 2015 at 8:47 am
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        he already is Han the white lol

  • December 19, 2015 at 5:06 am
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    Remember when they shot the last day on EP7, Mark Hamill shaved completely then supposedly shot one more day after that? I thought they were gonna do a flashback/vision of him looking younger like they did for Kurt Douglas in Antman.

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:33 am
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      *Michael Douglas*

      • December 19, 2015 at 6:56 am
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        It’s also Kirk Douglas

      • December 19, 2015 at 12:04 pm
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        Sorry, I botched.

  • December 19, 2015 at 5:23 am
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    Bring back Bazine Metal. She was way cooler than Phasma.

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:32 am
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      BS

      • December 19, 2015 at 1:44 pm
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        Is it?

  • December 19, 2015 at 5:26 am
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    Kathleen Kennedy said this on Wednesday, right? Before the film went into general release … well, almost anywhere. It’s completely possible she just said this to help avoid spoilers dropping about who dies in The Force Awakens.

  • December 19, 2015 at 5:27 am
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    I heard a rumor a few weeks ago that Phasma’s role would be bigger in Ep 8. I really hope so, because she did jack-all in this film and was still considered “main” enough to be a big posterchild.

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:30 am
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      She has a Fett feel to me in terms of importance. Her role will probably gradually ramp up all the way into episode 9, and hopefully not killed off in a super lame way when she’s gotten an important role.

      • December 19, 2015 at 7:02 am
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        I love the way Chewie tackled her. That was gold.

        • December 19, 2015 at 12:20 pm
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          Yeah. It was funny how that epic moment in the trailer turned out. 😛

  • December 19, 2015 at 5:30 am
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    The execs have never flat-out lied about this kind of thing, though. That’s something people aren’t seeing. Even JJ, when people called out Into Darkness’s new villain as Khan, he didn’t say “NO, NUH UH”, he said “His name is (Which isn’t wrong)”. So what he told us was true, from a certain point of view. 😉

  • December 19, 2015 at 6:12 am
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    I REALLY hope that they keep a heavy focus on Kylo Ren on VIIII and IX. He was so interesting, incredibly well acted and written, loved his inner conflict and overall arc. How cool would be if Kylo Ren has the most screen time and development in VIII? I know it won’t happen, but it would be amazing, and ballsy, to have the main protagonist be the villain. Especially since the First Order will likely win, like the Empire in V, etc.

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:38 am
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      I’m hoping that The Knights of Ren get to be the main atagonists, with Snoke as their pseudo-deity.

    • December 19, 2015 at 7:01 am
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      My money is on Kylo turning back to the light side in Episode VIII or IX. Some of Han’s last words – “Snoke is only using for you for your power. Once he gets what he wants, he’ll crush you”, or words to that effect.

      • December 19, 2015 at 7:19 am
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        I think it’s possible, but highly unlikely for Kylo to turn to the light side. To me, him killing his father was the turning point of him completely accepting the dark side. But at the same time it can mirror Vader’s story in a interesting way, maybe of Kylo becoming as good as his grandfather after going back to the light, thus achieving his ultimate goal. Either way can be interesting.

        • December 19, 2015 at 7:26 am
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          Well, Anakin basically killed his wife, along with all the younglings in the jedi temple, and then Obi-Wan, plus any number of inept Imperials who “failed him” for the last time. And yet he was still redeemed. I still think there is hope for Kylo!

          • December 19, 2015 at 7:52 am
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            You make some good points, but don’t you think that it would be too similar to Vader’s redemption? For me personally, as long as it makes sense for the story and the character’s development, and the execution to be different enough, it could be awesome.

          • December 19, 2015 at 9:06 am
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            I agree with you – I think it would be very similar to Anakin/Vader’s redemption. But that’s where I think they are going. Having said that, it is strange that Luke wouldn’t have said to Ben “look, Vader turned back from the dark side and killed the Emperor”.
            There are rumours of Hayden Christensen appearing in Episode 8 (I imagine as a force ghost), but again – why wouldn’t he have appeared to Ben in the past?
            There are a lot of loose ends, I hope they are all tied up in the next two films.

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:47 am
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            Me too, it’s too similar to vader’s story. Some folks are already giving shit about how alike VII is to ANH.

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:44 am
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            The difference is that there were three films about Darth Vader where he redeemed himself, and then after that George Lucas made three terrible prequel films that created more plot holes and I basically ignore. Let’s move forward with intentional storytelling rather than rewriting a story after the fact.

    • December 19, 2015 at 3:21 pm
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      He’ll probably do the Jacen Solo thing where he turns at the very end when his wife/kids are in danger. His eventual turn to the light is painfully obvious though.

  • December 19, 2015 at 6:28 am
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    This next movie is going to make us LOVE the first one. And the last one even moreso…

    • December 19, 2015 at 4:10 pm
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      I hope you’re right. Upon reflection it seems strategic in the best sense.

  • December 19, 2015 at 6:34 am
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    Fuckin Yeah – They’d better bring Harrison back. I was gutted when Solo got the shaft.. He stole the show for me! I need more.

    • December 19, 2015 at 3:19 pm
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      Agreed, he was the star of a so-so movie. Just clone him or something!

  • December 19, 2015 at 6:43 am
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    So I’m all for the returning cast, including Han Solo. However, I’m going to say this….

    They should have done these “flashbacks” first. Flashbacks don’t feel like something Star Wars normally does. If they have information that was important to the events of episode 7, they should have pushed those events into 7, and saved the big Kylo Ren reveal/Han solo death for episode 8. It would have been more impactful.

    Bringing back Han Solo just for a flashback seems like they might as well just kept the character around for more movies.

    • December 19, 2015 at 7:10 am
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      The entire new trilogy should have been treated more like th Lord of the Rings, with a stretched out story, rather than individual movies. Especially since they brought back the original characters and had to tell such a long back story.

      • December 19, 2015 at 7:29 am
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        Actually, I prefer the same method they’ve been using for the last two trilogies. Keep them separated with some small amount of time between each one. I don’t want to see episode 8 start immediately where episode 7 left off.

        • December 19, 2015 at 8:19 am
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          My feeling is, the method of the other trilogies is: Original trilogy, there was never the intent for a sequel so Empire turned the entire story into something else.
          The prequel trilogy was such a sloppy suckfest that no forethought was attended.
          This new trilogy could have been treated different.
          But aw well, as long as the masses are happy.

          • December 19, 2015 at 8:54 am
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            I think we are just in an odd situation with the new trilogy. We have no way of knowing what’s going to come next and we have no idea how that information is going to be delivered. Rather it be an immediate continuation, or a few years passed. Since Lucas isn’t involved anymore, it’s all up in the air.

          • December 19, 2015 at 4:09 pm
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            Perfect for time consuming speculation.

          • December 19, 2015 at 4:09 pm
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            Agreed!

    • December 19, 2015 at 8:34 am
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      I agree. I would’ve preferred them kill off Han a little later down the line. They had to put so much info in TFA that they didn’t even give Han a proper sendoff. We never saw Leia do any kind of mourning, maybe she’d go in the falcon and reminisce for a bit. It came off a little rushed at the end. Then they could truly make episode 8 or 9 Han’s movie, because this really was Rey’s movie.

    • December 19, 2015 at 4:08 pm
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      I don’t know. You could have said the same thing about Obi Wan in ANH. Don’t get me wrong, I know and agree that it works better as it was done, but you remember that they had to do something to work in the post ANH narrative about Luke/Vader/Sister storyline. As long as they find a way to make the flashbacks make sense, I.e., the way they used them for Rey, I am fine with it.

  • December 19, 2015 at 7:42 am
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    Slightly off topic
    How much trouble will Carrie Fisher be in after admitting on a chat show that she had revealed the entire plot of of TFA a year ago to the very hat show host, including the Han thing

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:11 am
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      What!?

      • December 19, 2015 at 10:56 am
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        On Graham Norton last night, Carrie admitted spilling the plot to Graham 12 months ago. He confirmed that she had including the big spoiler

        • December 19, 2015 at 11:08 am
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          Not much trouble, at least not if Graham had signed some NDA … He did not tell anyone. Wondering if she knew the entire plot … I mean, even though I like her, her drinking habits and personality (saying something, without thinking first) make her a liability

  • December 19, 2015 at 7:54 am
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    Cutting the lightsaber scene between Leia and Maz was probably the most baffling choice on JJ’s part.

    • December 19, 2015 at 10:50 am
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      JJ probably felt the acene would give way too much about Rey’s past. It iseems to me that, when Leia sends Reey to meet Luke, she knows who Rey is.

      • December 19, 2015 at 12:26 pm
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        She definitely does.

  • December 19, 2015 at 7:56 am
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    **spoiler***
    I would like to hear from all those people who were so sure that Luke wasn’t going to have a 20 second bit part with no dialogue.

    • December 19, 2015 at 8:46 am
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      I hoped that he would have shown up at 3/4 distance, but alas he didn’t.

  • December 19, 2015 at 8:31 am
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    I thought Daisy did an incredible job as Rey. To me, it’s pretty obvious she is Luke’s daughter. The last portion of her fight with Kylo where she went on the offensive and pushed Ren back and knocked him down was reminiscent of Luke in ROTJ when he pushed back Vader and cut off his hand. Also, Rey showed some sinister facial expressions as she looked down at Kylo injured and vulnerable indicating she has some conflict with anger. She definitely seems to be her father’s daughter…..

    • December 19, 2015 at 10:47 am
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      I don’t think she tapped the dark side in the fight. On the contrary, when Kylo tempted her to join the dark side, she did the clássical light side meditation to control her fear and let the force in.

      • December 19, 2015 at 4:35 pm
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        Not necessarily tapping the dark side. But she had that ‘I’m going to finish you off look’ and Jedi don’t have that mentality. I’m not saying she won’t be a Jedi, but rather ‘much learning to do you you have…’

        I think this is Luke’s opportunity to teach Rey properly to prevent her from slipping to the dark side like her grandfather.

    • December 19, 2015 at 11:04 am
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      The look in Rey’s eyes, when she saw who Luke Skywalker was, was like “you, are you Luke Skywalker? … as if she has known him by a different name” … Who’s hand was it, on Rey’s shoulder when she was left on Jakku … Luke’s or Lor San Tekka’s?

      • December 19, 2015 at 12:25 pm
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        Neither. It was Unkar Plutt’s hand and voice, which is very odd considering what we see of their later relationship.

        • December 19, 2015 at 10:24 pm
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          Who?

      • December 19, 2015 at 2:11 pm
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        The one holding her hand had three fingers.

    • December 19, 2015 at 12:51 pm
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      Well, everybody is expecting that.
      So may be is a good oportunity for some plot twists.
      What is the point of insinuate she is Luke´s daughter and not surprise us with anything else?
      OT was full of it. The 2 first movies were romance between Luke and Leia, even not used scenes would have made impossible the sister-bro solution of ROTJ.

  • December 19, 2015 at 9:09 am
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    Anyone else think that keeping Ben under wraps was unnecessary? I feel like the movie didn’t really treat it like a twist or big reveal, and that kinda made me feel like, with all the secrets, it was supposed to be a big reveal.

    It almost kinda me think to myself like “That wasn’t as surprising as I would have thought?”

    Now Rey’s lineage however, that seems like a big surprise just waiting to happen. So it makes more since for her.

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:21 am
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      I think part of the reason they revealed Kylo Ren’s identity early so it makes for a more emotional scene when he kills Han Solo (and how much of an asshole he is.) It would have looked like a random killing otherwise.

      • December 19, 2015 at 9:24 am
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        I almost feel like knowing he was Han’s son before I saw the movie, would give me more time to appreciate that they have SOME kind of relationship prior to the death scene.

        I was still stuck on “dude that’s Han’s son, I want to see more of this relationship”

        “Welp nevermind Han is gone so I’ll never get to see that relationship”

    • December 19, 2015 at 2:09 pm
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      From what I’m hearing the novel points it out a little clearer.

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:57 pm
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      I guess that, after the trailers and the TV spots, most people had figured out that Kylo was Vader’s grandson and that he was most likely Leia’s son. So I don’t think it was a big surprise to anybody. The surprise was that nobody (including Kylo and Ren, not so sure about Leia) seems to know Rey.

  • December 19, 2015 at 10:32 am
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    flashbacks…? um, this isn’t going to go all man of steel on us is it? i’m all for more backstory but there has got to be a better way.

    • December 19, 2015 at 11:02 am
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      That’s why I think anything flashback related, should have been taken care of in episode 7. Don’t visually demonstrate the story of Star Wars in a backwards fashion, its not how these movies have ever worked..

      • December 19, 2015 at 3:59 pm
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        True, but half of the previous movies did a lot of different thinks that didn’t work. In my opinion, it is fine to use flashbacks if you execute them well. The have clearly intentionally established coincidences in this film that they might address in future movies. If they do, they can use either flashback or exposition. Both need care to be pulled off well. The flashback in TFA was handled very well, so I have confidence moving forward either way.

      • December 19, 2015 at 4:31 pm
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        Yeah.. Flashbacks make a mockery of the episodic structure that the star wars saga is…Maybe we’ll get episode 6a in 30 yrs..he he..

    • December 19, 2015 at 3:46 pm
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      I thought the TFA flashback scene was really well handled. My second favourite scene.

  • December 19, 2015 at 10:38 am
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    The problem with Lor or Han appearing in flashback is that they would have to be significanly younger, Remember what Kylo told Lor about how Lor had grown old since the last time they met.

    Ren surviving was of course expected, I just wonder how Hux. after talking to Snoke, was able to find the injured Kylo in the middle of the woods in the few minutes before the planet exploded and still had time to escape with him. Well, another of JJ’s improbable acenaríios.

    • December 19, 2015 at 12:33 pm
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      Well, in Star Wars there are different ways to appear than flashbacks.
      Obi Wan talked with Luke all the OT trilogy.
      But the coincidence Rey-Lor&the map in the same planet probably is not a coincidence.

  • December 19, 2015 at 10:46 am
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    I’d take Kathleen’s statement with a pinch of salt. She was at a premiere and was asked the question out of the blue. I doubt she’d blurt out that X, Y and Z were not coming back and drop those spoilers at the last moment before widespread release.

    Nah, I’d not take this statement seriously. Certainly not enough to make an article out of it.

  • December 19, 2015 at 11:07 am
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    I appreciate this article and I mean no offense, but Kathy clearly didn’t mean that “literally every actor in attendance tonight will return in Episode VIII.” She was just saying that there will be new cast members to join TFA’s surviving leads. To start speculating about postponed flashback sequences is reaching quite a bit.

    • December 19, 2015 at 12:26 pm
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      I believe Kylo is going to heard Han voice in his head for many time.

      • December 19, 2015 at 3:15 pm
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        Done correctly that has hilarious potential!

        • December 19, 2015 at 7:51 pm
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          I wonder if he will get a new helmet…

  • December 19, 2015 at 11:14 am
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    As soon as I read it, I was SO expecting the Gary Oldman’s link 😀
    Bonus point for that!

  • December 19, 2015 at 11:22 am
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    I thought Gleeson did a great, scary job as Hux. There is definitely a narrative to pursue with him as he seemed to be fighting Ren for position in the First Order.

    I thought that we did not see as much as I expected of Plasma. I hope to see more… And more of The Knights of Ren.

    • December 19, 2015 at 3:14 pm
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      I know they’re trying to manufacture another Boba Fett and all (questionable strategy) but given her role you might as well have had the janitor play Phasma.

      • December 19, 2015 at 6:28 pm
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        She did live up to Bobba Fett though. In the movies you never see Bobba do anything other than stand about posing then getting owned the first time we see him fight. Same deal for Phasma.

        • December 19, 2015 at 6:30 pm
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          amendment to my post, I was forgetting the shootout Bobba had with Luke on Cloud city, so effectively we saw him get owned the 2nd time we see him fight. I’m not counting his appearance in the Xmas special though…

          • December 19, 2015 at 8:16 pm
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            That took dumb luck and at the very least he went down fighting. Phasma added nothing more than any random trooper for me. Just my opinion though, if people liked her for some reason then good for them and to each their own.

  • December 19, 2015 at 12:43 pm
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    If a certain Sith Lord happens to know how to save someone from death, perhaps we will see it used in episode 8 to bring back the ones we lost in episode 7.

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:59 am
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      greaat, so it will turn into seasons 3 and 4 of arrow. thats just what need.

  • December 19, 2015 at 1:03 pm
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    I didn’t believe they’d be ballsy enough to pull off killing Han. Maybe I’m in denial but I still don’t think this was the last we’ve seen of Solo. They’re setting up a spin-off movie right before Episode IX. They will bring him back somehow – either resurrecting him or as a voice in Kylo’s head, or a vision of some sort perhaps.

    • December 19, 2015 at 4:15 pm
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      Flashbacks and young Han Solo movies. They will keep on milking that cow…

      • December 19, 2015 at 5:02 pm
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        I hope not. I like that moment when Han falls off the bridge, touching his son’s cheak. That should be our last image of Han.

        • December 19, 2015 at 5:38 pm
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          Unless Ren has dreams or visions of Han that continue to torment him which would be a good throwback to Anakins dreams about Padme dying, only with a new twist since Rens would be about killing someone he loved rather than trying to save them.

        • December 19, 2015 at 6:40 pm
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          I agree ,leave it alone it was touching and perfect

        • December 19, 2015 at 10:22 pm
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          Honestly Han’s death was pretty lame for me since you could see it coming a mile away. The heck did they even go back to plant those bombs for anyway, the shield was already down.

  • December 19, 2015 at 1:22 pm
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    There is a clear back story still to be told. So for sure it will be great to see Solo again – but I think this will not be a resurrection. And I think Lor was the one holding Rey’s hand as she was deserted on Jakku. He would seem to be a key figure that knows both Rey and Kylo. I think this can all be told through the tormenting memories of Kylo and Rey remembering her past.

    • December 19, 2015 at 1:50 pm
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      You’re probably right about Lor. What I loved about TFA was that it brought back the simplicity of ANH – we didn’t get much of the backstory to the world we found ourselves in. That amazing feeling that the film suggests way more than it actually shows. JJ said that what impressed him the most in the original movie was the enormous opportunity for storytelling it had created. You can see that he wanted to bring that feeling back and I think he did just that. And now episode VIII and IX will expand on what he built.

    • December 19, 2015 at 2:01 pm
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      Except I made note The one holding her hand bad three fingers and wasn’t flesh in color.

      • December 19, 2015 at 2:06 pm
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        Darn – that throws a spanner in my theory 😉

        • December 19, 2015 at 7:55 pm
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          It sounded like Unkar Platt the junk dealer who was holding her hand. Kylo probably left her with him when he couldn’t kill her during the massacre of Luke’s Jedi academy.

    • December 19, 2015 at 4:12 pm
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      yes definetely there is something going on about Lor San Tekka being in Jakku, him knowing Luke and Kylo that well and the coincidence of him being so close to Rey.
      Also I think he provoked Kylo in order to get himself killed, this way protecting the information he had in his mind, information that would have been available to Kylo had he mind raped him instead of cutting him in half.
      I love Kylo´s character, but I see his lack of cunning -not really any deficiency with the Force – is what makes him stand light years below Vader. Vader was as smart as powerful. Kylo is just way too arrogant.

      • December 19, 2015 at 6:18 pm
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        Anakin was way more arrogant when he was young and Kylo can do things Vader could not, like holding a laser blast still for more than five minutes (which BTW is physically impossible unlike lifting an X-Wing from a swamp for examole).

        Knowing that JJ wanted TFA to be “low tech” and that he had criticized the super-powered version of the Jedi and the Sith from the prequels, I was afraid the force users in the sequel would be weak, but I was positively surprised with Kylo’s skills. He was portrayed as much stronger than Vader or Luke in the OT, without being cartoonish like in the prequels. The perfect balance IMHO. Of course, Rey will be even stronger when she is fully trained and I am looking forward to that.

        On a final note, although I admit it’s wishful thinking on my part and not likely to happen, I haven’t lost all hope about Finn. I’d buy he is just the sanitation guy after all if it were not for two lines in the beginning of the movie about how wuickly he learns to do things he’s never done. Maybe there’s something special about him, even if Kylo and Maz couldn’t feel or see it.

        • December 19, 2015 at 6:39 pm
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          Just because Vader did not hold a laser blast doesn’t mean that he could not.vader absorbed laser blasts from Han Solo ,does that mean that kylo ren can’t because we did not see him do it

          • December 19, 2015 at 6:49 pm
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            Logically you are right that the fact that someone is not shown doing something doesn’t automatically imply he can’t do it. Kylo’s force grip is, however, much more intense and dramatic than Vader’s was ever shown to be in the OT. Kylo’s weakness is that his emotions of course are totally out of control, even for a dark side user. As for his apparent lack of cunning, I think cunning is mostly a Sith trait, and Kylo is not Sith (and I don’t think Snoke is a Sith either, but I’m not sure).

        • December 19, 2015 at 11:14 pm
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          “… which by the way is physically impossible….”

          LOL

        • December 20, 2015 at 6:14 pm
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          The clue about something special about Finn is that The Force used him to set things off. Another clue is that even though he reported to Captain Phasma for some sort of psychological “test”, his intentions to defect avoided detection, he was no “normal”, totally manipulated stormtrooper even though he “had been raised to do one thing” since he was a baby (when TFO realizes he defected, they pull up his profile with a baby picture).
          And I think Finn and Rey won’t meet again until IX and/or under very very different circumstances…

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:11 pm
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      I’ve seen the film three times now. It is 100% Unkar holding Rey. Not only is it his voice, but his goober of an arm/hand is a dead giveaway.

  • December 19, 2015 at 2:10 pm
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    I want to know if Lando will be back finally in Episode VIII

  • December 19, 2015 at 2:27 pm
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    only mistic or psichometry flashbacks are allowed in the star wars universe. No normal flashbacks.

  • December 19, 2015 at 2:34 pm
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    Dident think Hux was expendable thought he was great and and needs a prominent death when it comes but I think he could be a great figure to have in Starwars for the long hall.

  • December 19, 2015 at 3:59 pm
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    I wanna see more of The Knights of Ren.

    Kylo Ren is the master, but are the other 6 still alive? Who are they? Are they force aware? Are they all former apprentices of Luke, and like Kylo Ren turned against him? If they are still alive, I would like to see them face off against Rey and Luke.

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:36 pm
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      We will probably get more of Kylo’s and the Rens’ backstory in the novels, including how and why he turned. I don’t think they will show it on the big screen, although the possibility exists if Disney feels it can make more money.

      Also, some commentator have said Rey’s vision was supposed to be longer in the first cut of the movie and included more details. We might see some of the deleted footage in the Blu-Ray edition.

      • December 19, 2015 at 7:15 pm
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        Are the Knights of Ren no more? It was never implied in the movie.

        Rey’s vision was supposed to be longer, it’s documented in the leaked synopsis. J.J. trimmed it down as he believed it revealed too much, it’s highly unlikely those scenes will be included on the Blu-Ray.

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:59 am
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      Someone posed a spoiler saying that Ren = Revan but they deleted it. Doesn’t make much sense but there ya go.

  • December 19, 2015 at 4:07 pm
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    Hux was not expandable because Snoke ordered him to bring Kylo to him. Phasma is the new Boba Fett so we knew she is coming back.
    Also, Max von Sydows character is said to be member of the Church of the Force, at wookipedia.
    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Max_von_Sydow

    So we might get to know more people adept to that church in SW VIII. Maybe its a church with few knowledgeable players associated with Luke, such as Maz Kanata and Lor San Tekka, people who have followed closely the Skywalker family and their relics. I actually believe that Lor San Tekka thinks of Leia as royalty not really due to her inherited rank as an Organa but rather because of her Skywalker bloodline. Also, why did Lor San Tekka say “this will begin to make things right”, why is finding Luke going to make things right? Luke is in self-imposed exile, the map does not imply in any way that the Resistance would be able to convince him out of exile. I do no think this is a plot hole, I see it more like there is something that the Resistance or Leia know that Luke does not, and that is why they need to find him. Is this piece of information with Rey as she goes to meet him? How else would she be able to bring Luke back into the fight?

  • December 19, 2015 at 4:52 pm
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    Let’s just hope Han Solo doesn’t return as a Force ghost.

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:08 pm
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      There has never been a case in the previous movies of a non-force sensitive person returning as a ghost. Han shouldn”t (and probably) won’t be the first.

      I think KK was just misinterpreted when she said everyone is coming back.

    • December 19, 2015 at 7:52 pm
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      His voice can come back.

  • December 19, 2015 at 5:01 pm
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    Han is not dead..there was no finality to it he will be back..he fell we never witnessed his dead body it’s a cheap trope that has been used in serials from the 30’s that SW is based on…like Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers etc…I came out of the cinema thinking we see him fall in to the light but never enter it!!

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:05 pm
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      Leia would feel him through the force if he were still alive. I don’t think it makes sense to bring him back alive (audiences would react negatively to that).

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:35 pm
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      This is not a Friday the 13th movie or Michael Myers movie .he fell a long distance not to mention a lightsabre through the middle of his chest

    • December 19, 2015 at 7:14 pm
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      Come on now. He has a hole burned through his vital organs. Then he somehow survived a massive fall, then manages to get aboard a ship before the planet explodes? He dead.

    • December 19, 2015 at 8:45 pm
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      Denial can play such funny games with people’s minds…smh…

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:10 pm
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      So he survived a giant gaping hole through his chest, a 500+ foot fall into god knows what…could have been straight to the core. Anyway, survives that fall with the huge hole in his chest, and then found a way off the planet before it became a star?

  • December 19, 2015 at 5:05 pm
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    Phasma is a traitor, sellout and coward. Not worthy of the armor or a return in the next movie.

    • December 19, 2015 at 6:04 pm
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      I wouldn’t say she is a traitor, but I was surprised how quickly she lowered the shields to save herself. In fact, shouldn’t the First Order execute her after that ?

      • December 19, 2015 at 6:33 pm
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        Any evidence that she herself lowered the shields disappeared when Starkiller base became a miniature star.

        • December 19, 2015 at 6:39 pm
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          Kylo Ren reads minds. He would sense her fear of being exposed the moment he met her, just as he sensed FN 2187 on Jakku.

          • December 21, 2015 at 5:22 pm
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            Kylo’s got tons of other issues to take care of. Dude’s got some time in a bacta tank and to figure out his life after getting his ass beat. Much to learn, he still has.

    • December 19, 2015 at 7:10 pm
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      They way I see it;Finn and han threw in the trash compactor,first order troopers got her out,but took their sweet time doing so. In episode VIII Christie will provide the voice,but the body of Capt.Phasma will be played by Warwick Davis. 😉

    • December 19, 2015 at 7:58 pm
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      True… she lowered the shields without very much of a push.

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:08 pm
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      I think she will literally be the “new Boba Fett” in VIII as since she betrayed the FO, she will become a bounty hunter with a vendetta to find and kill Finn. It would be so badass to see a chrometrooper with some bounty hunter type mods.

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:10 pm
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      Phasma is likely a resistance sympathiser, or perhaps an undercover agent from the new republic. She complied far too readily with the demand to lower the shields. I’m thinking that there may be many ‘traitors’ on both sides. There is more to this than meets the eye, me thinks. At least that’s what I’m hoping. The convenience of the plot irked me no end. Hopefully epVIII shows us how much of a swerve VII was… One can live in hope 😉

  • December 19, 2015 at 6:09 pm
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    Hoping “a handful new cast ” includes Billy Dee Williams.

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:55 am
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      “hey leia, did i ever mention i have a thing for widows?” 😉

  • December 19, 2015 at 8:06 pm
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    Anybody think Boba Fett will end up being Finn’s dad, with Finn’s affinity for blasters and in the movie and canon material they mention he is a good shot and he performed at the top of his class a stormtrooper, sounds like he has clone blood running through is veins to me.

    • December 19, 2015 at 8:14 pm
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      I don’t think so.

      • December 19, 2015 at 8:20 pm
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        Hahaha. You know he could have gotten with a darker skin woman and their child could look like Boyega. The wonders of interracial relationships. Sometimes the children look like one parent over the other. And Boba is not Maori in this world. Plus he’s related to someone, JJ said as much when he said there is a specific reason we do not know Rey and Finn’s surnames, and it won’t be Lando that would be too obvious, and it doesn’t seem like he is a jedi so who else could it be. The Mandalorian armor has been in OT and the PT trilogy. It will probably make an appearance in this trilogy also.

      • December 21, 2015 at 5:20 pm
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        Phasma said it was his first offense.

    • December 20, 2015 at 6:26 am
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      That would have me so upset. I would hate to see the universe shrink that small.

  • December 19, 2015 at 8:34 pm
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    I just hope the next one isn’t empire strikes back 2.0.

    Considering thi one was New Hope (again).

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:02 pm
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      No, it wasn’t. TFA has story elements from all the original trilogy, but (given that it is the first act of a three-part “coming of age/hero’s journey” tale), it it its own story.

      • December 19, 2015 at 9:11 pm
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        TFA is the seventh episode in the ongoing SW saga. This means it should be the continuation of an existing story, not it’s own story.

        Worse yet, TFA *is* a blatant ANH rehash. This defies even the most tolerant suspension of disbelief, because each episode in the saga is supposed to resonate with the other episodes, not look like an instant replay of previous installments.

        • December 19, 2015 at 9:19 pm
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          And “a continuation of an existing story” is exactly what TFA is: it follows on trail of “RotJ” while, at the same time, telling its own story.
          It does replay elements from the previous installments (and not only from ANH), in the same way every other SW movie did (especially the prequels – and that was one of the few merits of the PT).

          • December 19, 2015 at 9:33 pm
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            One of the main complaints about the PT is that it didn’t “feel” like SW for many people yet the films did borrow many elements from the OT, I agree. Obviously this was because everything came from Lucas’ mind. And the fact that many people feel that the PT was a departure from the OT’s look & feel, while managing to retain some of the OT’s elements, means that Lucas succeeded in this, at least.

            TFA, on the other han, doesn’t add anything new to the SW Saga, nothing feels fresh or original. Even Kylo’s first words to his old man (“Han Solo. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time”) are almost an exact copy of Vader’s words to Old Ben when they met in the Death Star!

            I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this, tbh. That’s *not* echoes of the OT that we hear; it’s just an utter lack of imagination and originality on Abrams’ part. Not saying the film’s bad; it’s entertaining, but it’s certainly nothing memorable, IMO. And again, it doesn’t contribute anything new or that exciting to the ongoing Saga.

          • December 19, 2015 at 9:43 pm
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            I’m not sure if I understand your point correctly: so, if it’s Lucas reusing elements (such as situations, dialogue lines, plot points etc.) is good, but if Abrams does the same thing it suddenly becomes “utter lack of imagination”? Is that what you mean?

            Also, as far as the contributions to the ongoing saga: TFA sets a new course for the story, introduces new characters, gives us a bad guy the kind of which we’ve never seen before (in the SW universe), kills one of the greatest character in the whole franchise and, for the first time in decades, leaves us with no idea of where the story is going – how is all of this “not a contribution”, not “new” or “not excitng”?

          • December 19, 2015 at 9:56 pm
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            No, that’s not what I mean at all. Lucas didn’t give us another Death Star and he explained perfectly well why Anakin was an exceptional pilot and mechanic (unlike Rey, where there is no explanation whatsoever of where this came from, unless we’re meant to automatically assume that she’s a Skywalker).

            I know Lucas’ dialogues were crap, but Abrams and Kasdan weren’t much better, spelling things out in the most unnecessary and ridiculous of ways. Can you imagine how terrible it would’ve been to hear Palpatine telling Vader something like, “We have a new enemy. Luuuke Skylwaker, your son!” in TESB, the way Snoke informed Kylo about Han and the Falcon, for instance?

            Also, what is it that makes Snoke so different? Guy’s an enigmatic, mysterious, deformed humanoid, strong with the Dark Side, who appears only in holograms, issuing commands to his followers. Where have I seen this before? Hmm…yeah, a little film called The Empire Strikes Back.

            As for Han’s death, again this is nothing new. He was the mentor figure this time around, and last I checked former mentor figures in the Saga (Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan) also bit the dust in the first film of each past trilogy. The fact that his death brought many of us to tears because of how beloved a character he was doesn’t mean that objectivity dictates that this was predictable as hell.

            The worst part is that TFA did NOT set a new course for the story. Everything seems to indicate that Rey will be training under Luke’s wing in Ep. VIII, a la Luke-Yoda in TESB. And Kylo seems headed for a Vader-esque redemption arc, I fear. So, unless Rian Johnson does some serious tweaking to this thing in Ep. VIII, I’m afraid that this doesn’t feel like anything new or exciting to me, not in the very least.

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:03 pm
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            Rey will train under Luke in Episode VIII and maybe will have to leave to save Finn, which will be going back to the OT again. Yes, that is possible.

            I agree there were too many parallels between TFA and the OT with different characters fulfilling basically the same role albeit in a slightly different way, or sometimes two OT characters combined in a single new one. The interesting thing though is that the rehashed plot didn’t bother me as I thought beforehand it would (having of course been already spoiled before seeing the movie). And the reason I guess it didn’t bother me is because it worked really well on the screen due to very good acting. There is a lot of room for improvement though in Episode VIII. For starters, I hope they get more creative with Finn (they left a few doors open in Episode VII that still make that possible).

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:20 pm
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            Oh, the acting was good and I liked the new characters, though Rey feels like too much of a Mary Sue, at least till I get to see an explanation on how she learned to use the Force with such ease, having no apparent previous training.

            Also, the first 2 acts of the film were pretty good. And if we hadn’t seen the whole damn Starkiller thing getting in the way, the third act would also have been excellent, too. I have no problem with the film borrowing elements from all previous films (even the PT got a few nods here), when done in a clever way, which is the problem I had with TFA.

            If you want to redecorate the living room, you get new furniture. Just because you rearranged the old furniture, and added a few new cushions, this doesn’t make it new in the very least.

          • December 20, 2015 at 12:17 am
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            But “rearranging the old furniture and add a few cushions” is not what they did.
            Actually, when you think about it, two hours and fifteen minutes of this movie have a deeper impact (in terms of “changing things”) and introduces more new elements than the whole PT did, with three movies.

            And, look, the argument of “Rey is a Mary Sue” is a losing one: she is a good mech because she spent most of her life working as a scavenger; she is a good pilot because, apparently, being a pilot in the SW universe is pretty much like driving a car in ours – and she is gifted (she’s strong with the Force) which is pretty much the same reason both Anakin and Luke had; she can handle her own in a fight because she grew, mostly alone, in what is presented like a pretty hostile environment; and she is quick in “attuning” herself with the Force because she had some kind of training (or so is *heavily* hinted in the ‘flashback’)

          • December 20, 2015 at 1:29 am
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            She states in the film that she flew ships for the fat dude she exchanged junk to.

          • December 20, 2015 at 1:39 am
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            The PT introduced many new elements to SW lore: double-bladed lightsabers, the Sith Order, pod racing, cloning, etc. I won’t say I like the PT better than TFA (except for RotS), but for good or ill, it served its purpose, which was to reveal the many questions that the OT had left open.

            What did TFA introduce, as far as new elements go? A rolling astromech droid? Improved holographic technology? Sleeker looking imperial uniforms, TIE fighters, etc? When it comes down to classic themes and tropes, J.J. Abrams is nowhere close to Lucas, who’s spent years doing research on history, mythology, psychology and sociology. The guy could never come up with anything as powerful as Lucas did.

            Actually, Rey is the biggest nod to the PT in TFA (and there’s plenty of them, btw). She’s got all of Anakin’s traits and Ridley even resembles Portman. But the girl does EVERYTHING right in the film, and that is clear. One could argue the same thing about Anakin in TPM and Luke in ANH. Fortunately, both fell flat on their faces and lost a hand (or an entire limb, in Anakin’s case) in the very next film.

            Unless Rey also goes through similar growing pains in Ep. VIII (and if we don’t get a satisfying explanation on her sudden “awakening”) she is a Mary Sue, no matter how hard one may try to deny it out of attachment for the character or for SW in general.

          • December 20, 2015 at 1:07 pm
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            So, are we defining “contributions to the lore” as minutiae? Because I could mirror your answer detail by detail, saying that (I’m copying your statement and replacing words: “The TFA introduced many new elements to SW lore: a cross-guarded lightsaber, the Knights of Ren, “Force Stasis”, behavioral conditioning for Stormtroopers, etc”.

            Also, no, she doesn’t do “EVERYTHING right in the film” and she’s actually more nuanced than ANH-Luke or AotC-Anakin were: she’s scared and run away the moment she is confronted with her past (and, one can infere, responsabilities) and she doesn’t get to go from “farmer to badass fighter pilot in one second”: all of her skills and talents (including her fighting and Force-related skills) are explained.
            So, she has strenghts, flaws and talents tha fits with her characters, which pretty much is the opposite definition of a Mary Sue (from this point of view, one could even say that Luke in ANH was more of a “Marty Stu” – and I must clarify that I don’t have the slightest problem with Luke, including the fact that he turns out to be the greatest fighter pilot of them all without a single minute of military training).

          • December 20, 2015 at 5:30 pm
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            Yeah, you’re right. TBH, I didn’t want to talk about the most important spiritual & philosophical new elements that the PT introduced, because of how controversial they are. We had the prophecy of the Chosen One, such a monumental discovery that it changes the context of the entire saga. There was also Midichlorians and the Jedi Law of Attachment, which changed a lot of people’s perception of the Jedi and the Force itself, for good or ill.

            Obviously, fan reaction to these monumental new elements was so negative that the new team in charge of SW decided not to get too philosophical with TFA. And the film suffers for it, IMO. It doesn’t really contribute anything new or fresh to the spiritual or philosophical aspects of the Force, which is what sets SW apart from similar sci-fi/fantasy adventures.

            As for Rey, her only mistake in the whole film that I remember was when she let lose those giant squids that Han was smuggling. Her reaction after picking up the lightsaber and hearing Maz’s words is a typical trait of the protagonist in the Hero’s Journey: initial reluctance to accept his/her destiny. It was exactly the same thing with Anakin and Luke. The former didn’t wanna leave his mother behind and the latter refused to go to Alderaan with Ben. Different reactions, same results.

            I do admit that Rey’s reaction felt like a clever choice, which is exactly how a good storyteller manages to tell his/her take on the Hero’s Journey. Everyone will borrow from tales that have come before them, but the key to a successful take on this classic tale is how original and fresh ideas will feel. Sadly, I didn’t find too many of these clever ideas in TFA.

      • December 19, 2015 at 9:22 pm
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        People see what they wanna see. Even though TFA is the best Star Wars movie in ages, some terminally hopeless nerds have already had complete nervous breakdowns over it.

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:48 pm
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      they will rhyme…just like the other two trilogy’s ..I don’t know why anyone would think different..or would expect any different…the other two trilogy’s rhyme with each other and it is by design…and I am sure this is something George stressed to them. episode 1, 4 and 7 rhyme…makes sense,….there are actually eliments taken from all three OT movies in episode 7, its not all just episode 4 cloning.., granted there is more of 4 in this one…people missed a lot of it too…like the scene where FInn gets taken by that Monster is a clone of the trash compactor scene with Luke getting taken by the creature…..gah..the more I talk about this movie…the more I realize how truly dumb most of it was……….. 🙁

  • December 19, 2015 at 9:01 pm
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    they cut too much out of the movie. there were many scenes in the trailor that were cut out…I think they toyed with it too much before release.. I really hope they release a directors cut…I was really disappointed in the edit. The scene in the first trailor with Kylo Ren running through the forest and then igniting his saber is a fantastic scene and should have never been cut out.The maz handing leia the saber is very confusing… why would they show an older Han in a flashback scene? that sounds dumb. in fact the whole Han death scene was pretty dumb..and the CGI was HORRRIBLE… those creatures on Hans freighter were embarrassing..and Snoke looks like Gollum from Lord of the RIngs, and sounds like friggin Ceasar from planet of the apes…. they crammed to much unwanted bs in the movie and left too much out…leaving things out like the planets names were annoying..what planet was star killer base?? what planets were destroyed?…. why would they overlook important details like that? was naboo destroyed? was it corusant? wtf planets were destroyed? The Han death scene was not emotional nor dramatic…I have seen the movie three times and each crowd reacted the same way…..there was NO reaction…it wasn’t silent because people were sad….it was silent because people were shocked at how lame it was. there should have been more scenes with Kylo and HAn to establish an emotional connection…they should of killed him in the first act of episode 8.. Leia’s lines were pretty damn lame and her reaction to Han’s death was equally dumb….she showed more emotion and heartache when Han was frozen in carbonite,…instead….she mimics Yoda’s scene in episode 3 when they executed order 66. Carrie fisher should have been the first to go..she cannot act anymore. Luke not forseeing Han’s fate and going to save him is not the Luke Skywalker that Lucas would have written…eh..i will try to go save him from vader on cloud city..but I will just ignore the vision I have of his son killing him..? yeah right…and the artoo scene at the end was very confusing…” oh artooo powered down when Master Luke left…but then all of a sudden out of nowhere at the end of the movie he powers up ????? wtf??? Why couldn’t they just FORCE him to power up at the beginning of the film? I was thinking to myself…ummmmmm…. why don’t they just hit the friggin power button, and wake his ass up? They KNOW he has the rest of the map…..why did they not just power him up? lmao… when they opened the map finally and Leia says “Luke”…my skin crawled. im sure if the movie was edited better, it would have been a better film. It is still better than the prequels in my opinion…I cant wait to read the novel.The reaction after my first viewing was pure excitement, I acted like I just saw the best movie I had saw in 30 years…the second screening was more like hmmmm. the third viewing I walked out thinking…wow..how could JJ have screwed up so much and not even know it????? why were people not questioning the edit and saying..hey wait a minute JJ…this just don’t work buddy? If Rey had never had any prior Jedi training, then it will make this movie even sillier…how the f@#k does she know what a Jedi mind trick is? or hell…how did she do anything she did if she knew nothing about the force and thought the jedi were myth? Luke had to train extensively just to be able to learn how to pull that lightsaber out of the snow in the Empire strikes back…. but Rey just by touching a lightsaber and meditating for 5 seconds is able to defeat a darkside trained warrior. a warrior who destroyed a whole school of Jedi???? come the F%$k on……………….. what?????! Rian Johnson has a lot of patching to do because JJ’s film looks like swiss cheese.

    • December 19, 2015 at 9:26 pm
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      They mention they destroyed the Hosnian system. If you had read the new canon, you’d know the Hosnian system is where the new Republic is based. Hux BTW says in the movie that the objective of firing the weapon was to eliminate the government of the Republic (including the Senate) and the Republic’s fleet, which provided protection for the Resistance. It is unclear to me though if the fleet was destroyed or if it had been deployed to the same system where the Resistance base was.

      On Rey’s progression in the ways of the force, I agree it was a little bit far-fetched, but keep in mind that Kylo was already injured (even bleeding) when he fought Rey, so he wasn’t exactly in prime condition.

      • December 19, 2015 at 9:37 pm
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        “If you had read the new canon, you’d know the Hosnian system is where the new Republic is based.”

        Why? Is it an obligatory requirement to buy any crap that Disney/Lucasfilm publishes, only to fatten their pockets, in order to understand a damn film? Gimme a break.

        • December 19, 2015 at 9:49 pm
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          No, you don’t have to read the canon, because Hux explains all that is needed to know when he’s talking to Snoke and addressing the First Order troops. You have to pay attention to the movie though.

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:07 pm
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            You mean, pay attention as in realizing that there was NO explanation whatsoever as to how the First Order came to be on the film and why the New Republic didn’t seem to care about this menace in the very least? Or as in why these two factions had been coexisting for so long in seeming peace? That kind of attention?

            Because this was not explained in the film in the very least. But since I do pay attention to detail, I’ve read some posts claiming that this is explained in the TFA Visual Dictionary, which goes hand in hand with your previous post: you have to buy “companion books” to understand the film.

            Funny, I’ve watched every single SW film on the day of its release since ’77, I’ve never been into all that side stuff that you call canon (to me, the only canon is the films) and yet this is the first time that I’ve been told (several times, in fact) that I must buy the books and novels to get the whole story. Perhaps if you paid a little more attention, you’d know how to tell a marketing ploy when you see one.

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:17 pm
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            At the beginning of a ANH, we are not told either the origins of the Empire,, or why the Old Republic collapsed, or how the Rebellion came into existence. All we know is that there is an Empire (the bad guys) and a Rebellion (the good guys) and they fight each other. If you think about it, for the purposes of TFA, they told us everything that we needed to know, i;;e that the New Republic and the First Order co-exist in the galaxy and the Resistance operates inside First Order territory to oppose it, being covertly (or maybe not so covertly) supported by the New Republic. The First Order attacks the New Republic then to deprive the Resistance of its main backer, iimplying that, in Episode VIII, the Resistance will be crippled and more vulnerable (more like the Rebellion in the OT really).

            The historical details can be provided in the novels or, maybe, in future standalone prequel movies. Yes, that is how Disney makes money !

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:52 pm
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            No, but we did get an explanation from Tarkin about how the Emperor had just dissolved the Senate permanently. And the OT didn’t need to bother itself with more political explanations, because there’s not much politicking to do when you have a tyrannical megalomaniac in power who has just deleted the only body capable of holding him in check.

            When it comes down to the sequel era, the political situation in the galaxy seems to be even more muddled than it was during the Clone Wars. You have 3 different factions here, all vying for power or trying to defend a frail, new Republic that is nowhere near as solid as its predecessor once was…and with no Jedi to speak of to uphold peace and justice across the galaxy.

            The historical details I can come up with myself. After all, SW is fantasy, so it’s not like you get points for “historical” accuracy, and I do tell stories for a living. Best to make money myself this way rather than give it away 😉

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:58 pm
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            You know, that starts me wondering…the ‘Han Solo movie’ project. I’m wondering if that helps fill in the detail between himself and Leia, their son, his going back to smuggling, etc, or if it’s about his life before ANH.

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:23 pm
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            I think part of it is that we’ve all grown up and want more detail. We didn’t know anything about Alderaan, had no connection to it, during the OT. If you want more out the films, read the books, but there is detail about that elsewhere.

            You can only do so much in 2 hours. If you use time for background, you don’t have time for something else…unless you want a 3 or 4 hour film (which personally I’d be fine with….lol).

          • December 19, 2015 at 10:32 pm
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            Neither myself or anyone I saw the movie with had any idea what they were blowing up. Perhaps there were a few seconds where I neglected to watch like a hawk but if they wanted it to feel significant they should have treated it as though it was. Unlike the case of Alderaan they did not so I couldn’t care.

          • December 19, 2015 at 11:08 pm
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            Exactly. I’m definitely grown up and I do want more detail. But it’s okay if I don’t. Haven’t read many SW books in a while, but the ones I read once were terrible, TBH. This is precisely why I stopped reading them. So I guess not knowing some things might not be such a bad thing after all.

          • December 19, 2015 at 11:53 pm
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            but we did know however that the planet they were destroying was in fact alderaan…we knew it was a peaceful planet and we knew it was the home planet of leia…..so saying we had no connection to it is false…it was actually an emotional scene… a far cry from what I witnessed the last three days… I think it is lame that we have to read the novels to understand what we are seeing

          • December 20, 2015 at 1:23 am
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            Didn’t they explain that the first order is the Empires leftovers in the opening crawl?

          • December 20, 2015 at 1:26 am
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            Yes, they did. But that doesn’t explain how the First Order came to amass such a powerful army or why it seems able to go freely about the galaxy, committing atrocious crimes (like the massacre at the village in the opening scene) without having to respond to anyone.

          • December 20, 2015 at 8:46 pm
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            The first movie never explained any backstory either, neither did Ep. 1. For that matter ESB never explained why the rebels were on Hoth, ROTJ didn’t explain why the Empire built the second DS around Endor, or why the Empire hadn’t just wiped out the Ewoks prior to the events of the movie. ANH didn’t explain Obi and Vaders history. If you care about it THAT much there’s plenty of merchandise and peripheral media that goes into some of the FO’s history and the state of things in the galaxy. If you don’t care enough to look into the plethora of other media then you obviously don’t care enough and are just looking for things to bitch about.

          • December 20, 2015 at 9:59 pm
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            ANH doesn’t count. As the first film in the series, we obviously went in knowing nothing about Star Wars at all. As for TPM, Lucas exposed so much info that this has been one of the harshest criticisms that the film has received. In RotJ, it was fairly obvious why the Empire chose Endor as the perfect spot to build DS II: it was a secluded planet, whose moon was populated by a race of primitive teddy bears.

            Wondering why the Empire hadn’t wiped out the Ewoks is a fair question, IMO, just nowhere nearly as important as asking how Kylo Ren discovered that Von Sydow’s character had part of the map leading to Luke, for instance.

            The points I’m making are valid, and I’m certainly not alone in my criticism of these glaring holes found on the film. This is something called objective, mature criticism. Just because I won’t let my love for SW get in the way of my objectiveness, this doesn’t mean I don’t care.

            Nobody’s forcing you to agree with my views. I’m all up for healthy, mature debate, but if you’re gonna whine like a little kid who just got his favorite toy broken, then please refrain yourself from replying to my posts.

          • December 21, 2015 at 2:26 am
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            If you’re going to be an insulting prick for no reason then don’t bother replying to mine either. In no way was I whining. I was simply providing examples of how each movie in the series places you in it’s respective place in the timeline with little explanation or exposition as to why things are different than they were the last time we saw them. They throw out hints and vague comments about the adventures in between but go into virtually no detail. All of the detail is left to be fleshed out through peripheral media and products. To complain about it for this movie yet to give the others a pass for the exact same thing is ridiculous.

          • December 21, 2015 at 3:17 am
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            ” If you don’t care enough to look into the plethora of other media then
            you obviously don’t care enough and are just looking for things to bitch
            about.”

            Yeah, this was real nice and polite on your part, lol. As for giving the other films a free pass, those same hints and references thrown in the OT about the Jedi, Anakin’s fall, the Clone Wars, etc. merited a WHOLE NEW trilogy of films just to be explained, not just some “companion books” and terrible fan-fiction written by novelists who couldn’t write a good tale of their own if Shakespeare or Tolkien’s spirit possessed them.

            Telling people what they should think or say, only because you don’t like or share their opinion, now THAT is beyond absurd.

          • December 21, 2015 at 6:40 am
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            You obviously have no intention of doing anything other than arguing, and are incapable of responding without being a dick, so I’ll go ahead and let you do that with someone else. My misunderstanding, I thought what you meant by “healthy mature debate” was an actual conversation, not just you being an insulting prick because someone doesn’t agree with you.

      • December 19, 2015 at 9:39 pm
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        well if by the new canon , you mean Aftermath…(which I do own)…the reason I did not know this is for obvious reasons…that book was horrible and I could not torture myself long enough to finish it… thank you for clarifying that to me though.still don’t know what planets besides Hosnian prime were destroyed though.

      • December 19, 2015 at 11:59 pm
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        I absolutely loved the new characters, and in fact they are the only thing that kept me in the movie. They killed off han too soon.. The Leia I know wouldn’t have sat around while her son was off being a jackass… she would have tracked his little ass down , pleaded with him, and she should of died by Kylo’s hand…. it would have been a more emotional scene and Ford would have given a very dramatic reaction to her her death…much better than carrie fisher’s Yoda impersonation.

    • December 19, 2015 at 11:04 pm
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      Spot on with all of this, unfortunately. There were many brilliant things about the film, but none of them cancel out all the flaws which could have and should have been avoided.

  • December 19, 2015 at 9:35 pm
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    SPOILERS CLEARLY: Sydow’s scenes are obviously flashbacks. The only way Han could have survived in my opinion is if Snoke saved Han. Hear me out: One of Kylo’s final tests on his road to becoming a Sith was killing his father (as Snoke said, “even you … have never faced such a test”). For all Kylo knows, Han is really dead which means Kylo passed the final test. Why would Snoke do it? I think it might be to draw Luke out of hiding (i.e, If they can’t find Luke, Luke will come to them. Remember Vader saying Luke will come to him in Jedi?). What better bait than Luke’s best friend Han Solo…

    That’s just a complete bonkers theory though and I doubt it’s true. Still hoping Han survived somehow because I’m completely upset that we won’t be getting the original trio back together in the present tense instead of some flashback to Luke training Ben Solo or some s***.

    Also, I want a Lando and Han reunion scene goddammit!

    • December 19, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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      But Kylo and Snoke aren’t Sith, blah blah blah, The other thing is Snoke clearly doesn’t have yellow eyes. And even if Snoke were a Sith, how did he get rid of the rule of two?. Kylo isn’t a Darth, that would also make Snoke not a Darth, correct? Unless he suddenly disrupted the Sith ways and remade them for whatever reason. including not having yellow eyes.

      But as much evidence is there being against him not being a Sith people keeping bringing up the obvious hints with the soundtrack and in lots of ways its JJs and Kasdans fault for keeping this crap in the movie and leaving these questions open. They left everything open ended so the next Director can try and solve their little puzzle. Who can blame them really. Kasdan even said this is his last proper Star Wars film before the Han Solo spinoff.

      I suppose Han be a cyborg lol. In fact thats him in the concept art holding the Vader mask on the Star Destroyer bridge in Ep 8.

      • December 19, 2015 at 10:26 pm
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        Being a dark side user doesn’t mean having to be a Sith. Kylo, although seemingly more powerful than OT Vader, sure lacks a typical Sith trait, i.e. cunning. I can’t say anything about Snoke yet, because we haven’t seen enough of him to have an informed opinion.

  • December 19, 2015 at 10:33 pm
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    It seems to me that we’ve moved into an era where you have to read the books in order to get some questions answered, and fill in some history. Movies are not going to handhold you through all of it and will only give us minimal information, both about the characters and the Republic/Resistance/First Order. Hence some of the complaints about why this happened, or who that is or what about this are simply never going to be answered in the movies to the degree we want. It’s possible that after reading the books, we’ll know more about Hosnian Prime and understand more about what just happened, feel more for it, etc.

    To constantly insert dialog on the background of this or that would make the pace of the movie drag on. Just my opinion 🙂

    • December 19, 2015 at 10:38 pm
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      IMO it’s a question of how little information is too little. Opinions are bound to vary but personally I didn’t think there was enough and I ended up sorta confused.

      • December 19, 2015 at 10:43 pm
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        The causal audience doesn’t care about details and slowing down the plot to fill them in with details is counterproductive. TFA gives the audience all the information that is required for the purposes of a self-contained movie, except of course the secrets that are needed to justify there being an Episode VIII and an Episode IX, like who Rey and Snoke are etc etc

        TFA of course has flaws, but lack of details about Hosnian Prime sure isn’t one of them.

      • December 19, 2015 at 10:44 pm
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        I agree, there is a balance. Questions like ‘How did the First Order come to power”…well, nearly everyone in the start wars universe knows the answer to that question, or some parts of it. You’d have to come up with someone in that universe who has been under a rock for 30 years so that someone could explain it all, on film.

        What has Han Solo been doing for 30 years. What has Luke been doing for 30 years….Leia, Rey, Fin, Chewey, Ben Solo.

        Agreed though, for our benefit, more information on screen would have helped, and also dragged out the mov

    • December 20, 2015 at 12:25 am
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      The “do your research” response to excuse plot holes and other problems, are always ignorant.

      A film needs to stand alone on its own, with everything needed to tell the story contained within it. Homework should never ever be a requirement for understanding a film.

      This isn’t opinion. It’s a remedial basic standard in film

      • December 20, 2015 at 2:55 am
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        THIS!

      • December 20, 2015 at 3:09 am
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        As I said before, the star system destruction scene stands on its own if you pay attention to the movie. Hux clearly says they are going to destroy the Republic’s government and the Republic’s fleet to prevent them from helping the Resistance and also says that the Senate and the fleet are based on the system they are firing on. What else do you need to know ? The name of the 3 (?) other planets on the Hosnian system besides Hosnian Prime (which happens to be the Republic’s capital) ?

        There are plot holes on TFA, but that is NOT one of them.

      • December 20, 2015 at 4:18 am
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        I’d give you more likes if possible. You hit the nail right on the head!

      • December 20, 2015 at 7:36 am
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        I agree with you that a film must stand on its own. The weird thing is that the more background and external material we get with Star Wars, the more explanation of every detail people seem to expect. In 1977, no one was complaining that Luke should have had more training (which mostly consisted of Obiwan saying “Use the force”). No one said Luke’s (or Darth Vader’s or Leia’s or Han’s) background was a plot hole that needed to be explained in a sequel or a comic book. No one wondered why there wasn’t a scene with Jabba the Hutt or even who he was. But now if you don’t know everyone’s family tree and who they trained with and for how long people act as if nothing makes any sense.

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:54 am
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      So basically the same era as the PT. In other words it’s all about the money.

  • December 19, 2015 at 11:16 pm
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    For all the people asking “How did Rey know what a Jedi mind trick is??!!!”: She knows the same way you and I know; she heard about it in stories. If you suddenly realized you could use the force, wouldn’t *you* try a Jedi mind trick on someone?

    • December 19, 2015 at 11:22 pm
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      Let’s get serious for a moment and forget about fantasizing, shall we?

      It’s a proven fact that a mind can be conditioned to pull certain tricks in real life. Some people can walk barefoot on fire, for instance, while others can lay on spikes. But just because I’ve heard of this sort of thing, it doesn’t mean I can do it in a pinch.

      It takes a long time to practice and learn how to control the mind, through meditation and willpower, especially for a mind that has already been conditioned before (hence Yoda’s “You must unlearn what you have learned”).

      Have you ever tried meditation? I have. And it’s one hard thing to do, let alone to master. In short, there is NO way Rey could’ve learned to discipline her mind as easily as she did, managing to trick the stormtrooper to free her on her third try.

      • December 19, 2015 at 11:35 pm
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        I wasn’t answering how she could do it, I was answering how she knew about it.

        But neither of your examples are very good. People can walk on “fire” because the rocks are not very good conductors of heat. Do you really think a few hours in a work retreat allows people to put mind over matter that well? Same with the spikes–they are put so close together that it reduces the spike to skin surface ratio to a point where the skin is not punctured.

        • December 20, 2015 at 1:23 am
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          You clearly said that the reason why Rey could pull a mind trick on the stormtrooper was because she had heard the tales about the Jedi. If this were the case, then every Force-sensitive being in the galaxy could pretty much do the same, based on hearsay alone, without any training whatsoever.

          My examples weren’t very good, I admit, but I was trying to make a point about mind control and discipline, which is a key to becoming a competent Force user. In SW this has been made quite clear: mastering control over the Force takes hours and more hours of hard training and practice.

          • December 20, 2015 at 5:49 am
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            Not what I said. It’s right there in the original post.

          • December 20, 2015 at 6:06 am
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            Exactly. This is what you said: “She knows the same way you and I know; she heard about it in stories. If you suddenly realized you could use the force, wouldn’t *you* try a Jedi mind trick on someone?”

            Now, maybe you meant to say something else, but what you’re saying’s basically that Rey decided to try a mind trick on someone because she had heard the stories and realized that she could use the Force.

            BTW, I seriously doubt said stories included specific instructions on how to apply any sort of mind trick.

          • December 20, 2015 at 7:12 am
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            Fine–you win, I guess, if it’s that important to you. But you conveniently left out the question: “How did Rey know WHAT A JEDI MIND TRICK IS?”

          • December 20, 2015 at 8:07 am
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            Lol, no offense, but you haven’t really been very clear since the beginning. Are you replying to that actual question? Or to the much more important question of how Rey learned to USE this sort of advanced Jedi mind trick?

            To me, that’s the important issue here: I don’t care if she heard the stories or not. I only care to know how the hell she managed to use a mind trick that’s always been perceived to be way too advanced for a beginner, regardless on how strong the Force is with them. That’s all.

          • December 20, 2015 at 8:12 am
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            Okay, then let’s end this. Yes, there are a lot of people asking how she knew what it was. That’s why I thought it was absurd and answered the question for those people. I think it is completely legitimate to question how she could do it. Truce.

          • December 20, 2015 at 5:08 pm
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            Oh, OK, I get it now. It’s a perfectly valid position. Thanks for clarifying. We’re good 🙂

      • December 19, 2015 at 11:58 pm
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        Good thing a movie isn’t real life and there’s sound in space.

        • December 20, 2015 at 1:13 am
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          There’s a difference between reality and credibility. Plus it wasn’t me who came up with the rules of the game in SW. It was Lucas. We’ve had 6 previous films showing us just how hard a Force user must train in order to perfect their ability to control and command the Force.

          • December 20, 2015 at 2:32 am
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            Luke had a much easier time training in the Force than Anakin. His development between V and VI didn’t feel earned.

          • December 20, 2015 at 2:45 am
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            Luke had trained before with Obi-Wan and Yoda. Besides, again if you go to other canonical sources, Luke actually went to Obi-Wan’s home in Tatooine during that period of time and studied the Jedi manuals/texts that Obi-Wan kept. That is how he learned for example how to build a lightsaber. Rey, on the other hand, went from knowing the Jedi only as myth to being able to do a Jedi mind trick on her own.

          • December 20, 2015 at 5:30 am
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            No arguments with Rey. I was just saying that Luke didn’t have much training to get to where he was in VI whereas Anakin trained for over 10 years by III.

          • December 20, 2015 at 3:46 am
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            I always attributed his growth to having overcome his terrible ordeal in Bespin and working hard on his own before he went back to Dagobah to complete his training.

            It’s also hard to believe that Lucas would reach the level of a Jedi Knight after spending only a few hours training under Obi-Wan’s tutelage and then, a few days under Yoda’s wing.

            But still, that pales in comparison to pulling advanced tricks on weak minds with no training whatsoever. And if Rey was trained, one would think she was too small yet to have learned all that much before the attack on Luke’s new Jedi temple.

          • December 20, 2015 at 4:20 am
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            There is still a huge debate among the SW fan community about how long Luke actually trained under Yoda. Some people say it may have been months other than days. You may google that topic if you are interested,

          • December 20, 2015 at 4:25 am
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            Yeah, sounds like a fun debate, no doubt. Thanks for the tip. I think I’ll check this out.

            FWIW, I’ve always thought it was a few days or weeks at the most. Luke’s training seems to be happening at the same time as Han’s trying to avoid the imperial fleet, and I don’t think the Falcon spent months in space before reaching Cloud City.

            Either way, it’s kind of irrelevant, when you think about it. Whether it was months or just days that Luke spent in Dagobah, he obviously didn’t spend the years that were needed for a Jedi hopeful to reach knighthood, at least according to the PT.

          • December 21, 2015 at 1:58 am
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            Luke had a week of training.

      • December 20, 2015 at 12:59 am
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        The force “awakened”…it was acting through her doing extraordinary things that she herself could not explain to Finn

        • December 20, 2015 at 1:11 am
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          Yeah, I can see how Rey could do a few things by using the Force instinctively, like when she threw herself at Kylo. But using the Force mindfully and controlling it as she did to escape her cell, takes time and training.

    • December 20, 2015 at 12:35 am
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      I think she had full-on training from Luke but was made to forget it. When she got close to Kylo, it started to wake up again.

      • December 20, 2015 at 11:23 am
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        exactly. hence, “the force awakens”.

    • December 20, 2015 at 1:41 am
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      Ezra Bridger is force sensitive and has been actually training under Kanan in SW: Rebels. If I remember it correctly from a Rebels episode, when he tried to do a Jedi mind trick, it didn’t work. Granted that Ezra is not the “chosen one” like Rey, but feeling the force and knowing how to control it are two different things. Yes, I do find far-fetched that Rey could pull a Jedi mind trick with no training whatsoever. At least, when she beat Kylo, there was the excuse that Kylo was injured.

      Kylo is very strong with the force though (after all, he can freeze a laser blast for over five minutes, which is beyond amazing, precisely because it is actually a physically impossible move). If Rey could beat him without any training, one can only imagine how powerful she will able after a few lessons from Luke.

      • December 20, 2015 at 6:42 am
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        Maybe it’s far-fetched that she could do it. My point is that it’s *not* far-fetched that she would know about it.

    • December 20, 2015 at 11:22 am
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      she knows because the force has awakened in her…

      …hence…you know…the name of the film,

  • December 19, 2015 at 11:33 pm
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    I’m kinda shocked at the detailed nitpicking… Did you guys watch the same movie I did? Sounds like some of you didn’t relax and clear your mind first. My only complaints are the creatures on the ship and why did snoke need to be entirely CGI? Beyond that, that’s really IT! As far as all the open ended questions… I LIKE THAT! What else are we gonna talk about? 🙂 I give it a 98% equal to 4 & 5

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:01 am
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      The creatures were ok but they did remind me of aliens from Men in Black. Snoke Looked like some half rendered Lord of the Rings character. But oh well… The new characters were phenomenal…

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:53 am
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      i loved this film, but you can nitpick all of these movies, from empire on down. and thanks to cinemasins we’re becoming pros at it. 😉

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:08 am
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      If Rey ends up duelling Snoke, I think it will look weird given he’s all cgi, and the emphasis on real seeming practical effects

  • December 19, 2015 at 11:38 pm
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    Hey guys buzz of this, that photo of the 1st script read through was taken in april 14, 20 months ago. I no, only seems like yesterday doesn’t it, and it’s only 17 months until 8, 3 months less than the time elapsed since that photo!!! Oh yeah guys, here we go again!!!!

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:54 am
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      Nah, man. I’m just gonna keep sipping on VII. Enjoy the moment.

  • December 19, 2015 at 11:51 pm
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    Is it at all possible, since he disappeared into a chasm below the bridge, that Han… survived?

    • December 20, 2015 at 12:21 am
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      Gandalf survived the Mines of Moria…

      • December 20, 2015 at 12:37 am
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        Yeah but Gandalf didn’t fall down a chasm AFTER having a blade enter his chest and exit his back…

      • December 20, 2015 at 3:52 am
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        i think some magic may have been involved. 😉

        • December 20, 2015 at 3:55 am
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          And the will of Eru/Ilúvatar, Tolkien’s version of God, which sent Gandalf back to complete his mission.

          I doubt the Force will send Han back to do the same. Might as well bring back Yoda, Obi-Wan, Anakin, etc…

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:38 am
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      …and he’d have to have survived the death star blowing up. Both highly unlikely.

      • December 20, 2015 at 2:53 am
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        I love that you said Death Star since that’s exactly what it was.

  • December 20, 2015 at 12:48 am
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    How did Hux seem like the most expandable villain?

    • December 20, 2015 at 12:58 am
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      Ginger hair.

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:52 am
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      Boring white guy with no powers or connection to any of the heroes. Tarkin 2.0.

      • December 20, 2015 at 3:02 am
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        He is like Tarkin, but younger and, I would dare say, cooler. That’s why he survived.

        • December 20, 2015 at 3:48 am
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          He shouldn’t have survived, IMO. Kylo, I could see how Snoke would forgive for his failure; he’s a Skywalker after all. But Hux would’ve been toast if he were serving Palpatine. Maybe Snoke only spared Hux’s life so he could retrieve Kylo. Doesn’t make Snoke look to menacing if he won’t make examples out of top F.O. officers who fail him.

          • December 20, 2015 at 4:00 am
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            Have you noticed how Hux reacts differently from Tarkin though in the same situation ? In ANHI, an officer warns Tarkin that the rebel attack plan could be successful and asks him if they should prepare a shutte for him to escape. Tarkin replies that he wouldn’t leave in his moment of glory. IN TFA, if I recall it correctly (I’ll have to see it again and may be wrong about that), Hux actually tells Snoke that the base will explode and that they must evacuate. Snoke then tells him to get Kylo.

            I think Snoke feels Hux is still valuable to him. Palpatine’s (or rather Vader’s) habit of executing his generals was counterproductive for the Empire. Again, they are highlighting that Snoke may look like Palpatine 2.0, but they don’t think exactly alike. That is a constant theme in the movie (i.e. how the 2.0 characters are actually different from their previous counterparts).

            I

          • December 20, 2015 at 4:08 am
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            Yeah, you may be right. But I think these are 2 different situations. The Empire had seemingly endless resources and most of their leaders were extremely overconfident, beginning with Palpatine himself (as Luke wisely pointed out). The F.O. is not nearly as powerful as the Empire and it also seems to be at more or less the same level as the Resistance.

            Maybe Snoke can’t afford to waste his top officers as easily as Vader and Palpatine did. That being said, fear of punishment from the Sith Lords did work among the imperial ranks, as demonstrated by Vader’s warning to Commander Jerjerrod about the Emperor not being as forgiving as him. It’d be hard for this sort of warning to work as well with the F.O. if Snoke and/or Kylo don’t make an example of someone at some point, IMO.

        • December 20, 2015 at 5:22 am
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          Cooler is debatable since he looked moreon edge the entire film implying a lack of control or insecurity. He was smarter though for escaping but other than Kylo, I really waan’t invested much in any of the villains.

      • December 20, 2015 at 3:19 am
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        Who? The son of Mara Jade? He’s not turning back like cousin Kylo!

        • December 20, 2015 at 5:20 am
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          Jacen Solo from the EU who became a Sith Lord in the old EU, It was one of the more poorly written storylines in it. Though I wish they keep him dark till the end but I know they won’t from what they set up in this in such a predictable fashion.

      • December 20, 2015 at 3:44 am
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        Tarkin 2.0? It was more a Hitler 0.5

        • December 20, 2015 at 5:17 am
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          Hitler was a charismatic speaker like Dooku. Hux just barked orders and repeated mantra.

          Plus both Tarkin and him were in charge of superweapons, had no trouble bossing around the resident darksider, and wore similar tunic.

          • December 20, 2015 at 4:37 pm
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            Hitler was charismatic, but with a bunch of nonsense patriotic speeches, like Hux. Dooku was more of a English Gentleman than anything. Ok, agreed with the similarities (however the suit isn´t exactly the same, but is very similar because both Empire and First Order are Nazi based), but Tarkin gave no rage speeches like Hux. Tarkin reserved a more cold and intelectual side. He was carefull and always took precautions. His only mistake was to give credit to Darth Vader and to the battlestation itself, wich had that major flaw. Hux was ten times more confident than Tarkin. Least but not last, Tarkin didn´t fleed the station in the end.

          • December 20, 2015 at 4:53 pm
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            I guess I’m going by the EU though his biography is canon and he was pretty anti-alien in his policies, Just not as Donald Trumpy about it. I’d say Tarkin was more confident in that he went down with the station whereas Hux got out fairly early. I think To Vader as if he were his pet even though he had zero force powers took balls too.

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:15 am
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      Luke Skywalker, JR.

  • December 20, 2015 at 12:56 am
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    So I think they found how to bring Vader back… Kylo is rather obsessed… and now he is quite possibly jacked up enough to justify in his mind… re-creating and wearing Vader’s mask and suit. Except for the fact we never see Han’s dead body… its hard to see how he lives… unless Maz, Hux, or Phasma grabbed him… if he fell into the same kind of funnel thing that Luke did… but I could only see Maz as possible considering how hard it must have been for Hux, Phasma, and Kylo to escape. About Han getting stabbed… lightsabers seemed to be slightly less lethal in this movie, Kylo and Finn both seem to get nailed pretty good and are apparently alive… but Han kinda got nailed pretty good there. I really loved the movie… so I left feeling very odd… super happy to have Star Wars back, and in good form, but quite put out by Han’s death… my wife and I didn’t even mention his death while discussing it until much later.

    • December 20, 2015 at 1:31 am
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      Han’s demise at the hands of Kylo was extensively spoiled before the movie, so it didn’t really come as a surprise for people who have been following forums like this one for the past months.

      As for the way it was actually done in the movie, I guess I need to watch it again, but my first impression is that Kylo feels a lot of pain from his inner conflict between the light side and the dark side. In his mind then, the only way to end that pain is to suppress the light side completely inside him, He probably believes (or was persudaded by Snoke) that the only way to do that is to do something like killing his own father and that is why he asks Han to “help him” to achieve peace.

      • December 20, 2015 at 1:49 am
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        Yep that sounds right. I was very aware that Han was likely to die and once Leia asked Han to bring him home I knew it was going to happen… I just really didn’t want it to… and it was still sad to see it move from rumor to fact column.

        • December 20, 2015 at 2:01 am
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          I really liked the exchange between Han and Leia where Han says that there is no hope for Kylo (who has” too much of Vader in him”) while Leia insiists that there is still good in him. Of course, Leia’s point of view parallels Luke’s opinion of Vader in RoTJ but there is an additional twist in the sense that Leia seems to think it is all Snoke’s fault that Ben was corrupted. In a way, that is a very motherly thing, like saying my son can do no wrong ; if he turned bad, it’s because he was influenced by “bad people” he’s been hanging with.

          • December 20, 2015 at 2:51 am
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            It really bothered me since it seems like they are setting up for Rey to redeem him ala Luke with Vader in Jedi. They already tried the evil Solo son in the EU and it was a large reason why they had to nuke that whole canon.

      • December 20, 2015 at 2:58 am
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        I think that when the sun goes black “something”happen to Kylo in that moment and he change his mind.I notice that Kylo has a BIG anger problem.This anger problem make him turn to the dark side.I think that something happen between Han and Leia and Ben Solo has anger with his father in some way.How Kylo met Snoke…That is a Big question???And i was thinking….How did Kylo has Darth Vader damaged helmet???I was thinking about that too…:).

        • December 20, 2015 at 3:50 am
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          Kylo doesn’t just have an anger problem; his emotions are actually completely out of control. That is why I think Kylo is not Sith or didn’t have Sith training. The Sith tap into their emotions, including anger, during battle to draw strength (or, at least, so they think). Otherwise, they are very controlled and actually excel in manipulation and cunning. Kylo, although being very strong with the force, shows none of those typical Sith traits.

          • December 20, 2015 at 6:26 am
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            Which, to me, makes him a much more interesting character.

      • December 20, 2015 at 4:27 am
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        They didn’t do a good enough job fleshing out the relationship between Han and Kylo enough for us to be as emotionally affected by his death than if they would have done that. Instead of the ridiculous scene with the CGI octopus monsters and the gangsters (what was the point of that?), use some time to have flashbacks, scenes, or something between Ben and Han as father and son together, etc or something to make the audience feel more gravitas when Han bites it.

  • December 20, 2015 at 12:59 am
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    Oh, and now we know why Luke wasn’t on the poster… cause that would have made people expect him to be in the movie… which he really wasn’t… but he did look pretty badass there for those last few seconds.

    • December 20, 2015 at 4:08 am
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      “it will all make sense once you see it.” -mark hamill.

      it sure did[sarcasm]. still, it was a cool ending.

    • December 20, 2015 at 4:25 am
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      Ending was a total letdown. Not even a word of dialogue? Max Van Sydow had more to do (and say) and he was clearly a cameo. Pffft

      • December 20, 2015 at 4:35 am
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        I loved the ending. Words would have cheapened the scene. The facial expressions said it all. You could clearly see the pain and suffering in Luke’s face.

        • December 20, 2015 at 4:37 am
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          Seriously, I tried to, but couldn’t quite draw any emotion (suffering or otherwise) from his face. That has been one of my biggest disappointments so far (maybe it will change when I see the scene again).

          • December 20, 2015 at 4:45 am
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            How many times have you seen it? I enjoyed it a little more the second time. Have seen it 3 times now.

          • December 20, 2015 at 5:25 am
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            It felt like a reshoot. Thing that sucks is you know that the next one will take place years later so we’ll never see what happens after that scene outside the EU.

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:24 am
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        Only one that did not give me chills. Even the fucking PT had good final shots.

  • December 20, 2015 at 1:24 am
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    Maybe VIII will be both a prequel and a sequel of TFA. With the story of the new republic, the First Order the birth of kylo, the rise of Snoke, The fall of Ren’s knights etc etc…A lots of flashbacks explaing thirty years of story between ROTJ and TFA.
    PS: I think that Han is dead. Stop. People die, even superpeople…expecially if they play with blasters and sabres…
    PPS: SORRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:27 am
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      English is better than most on here but I think a flashback heavy film would be very distracting as we never seen them in any other episodes before.

      They simply glossed over way too any important details in this one to the point where it almost felt like a self-parody of the saga itself.

  • December 20, 2015 at 2:23 am
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    Makes sense. I am one of the few who felt TFA was too gaurded, like a very long openning scene, but not enough meat for the first act.

  • December 20, 2015 at 2:42 am
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    Hux was the only Lead Villain not left in difficult circumstances.
    Ren defeated and bleeding in the woods. Phasma down a garbage shoot.
    If he gets them out, they owe him big time.

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:45 am
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      If Ren comes back to the Light, they’z be needing a villian.

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:48 am
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      Ren will be back, but I wonder how Hux could find him in the woods after talking to Snoke and still had time to leave the planet before it exploded.

      • December 20, 2015 at 2:49 am
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        Yeah, Would it have been that difficult to shoot a pickup where he carries him off? It was such an amateur move to leave that out. I mean we saw Vader get away in ANH.

        • December 20, 2015 at 8:08 pm
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          Dude. Why is the butthurt so strong with you? Are you honestly that mad that everyone likes a good movie?

          Really?

          • December 21, 2015 at 6:44 am
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            Why do you keep replying to my comments in every thread? Does my profie pic remind you of your Fleshlight?

          • December 21, 2015 at 9:11 am
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            To Troll a Troll is Divine. It is the Jedi way.

          • December 21, 2015 at 11:04 am
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            I’m sorry your Dad raped you as a child but it doesn’t mean you have to take it out on everyone.

      • December 20, 2015 at 4:07 am
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        totally. they said two minutes as finn and rey left the building han died in. then we had two separate lightsabre duels, all the dog fighting, disabling the thing, and then the escape. again, all in two minutes. not even spielberg has stretched time that much.

  • December 20, 2015 at 2:42 am
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    Erm.. was my comment deleted?

  • December 20, 2015 at 2:48 am
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    They all just kind of “disappeared” at the ened which is why this film felt so incomplete. The editing in this film plain sucked and you know that’s true when you need an article like this to find out who lived and who died in it.

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:54 am
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      Let ‘s see: Han and Lor didn’t survive (that is pretty clear). Hux and Kylo Ren are implied to have survived as Snoke tells Hux to retrieve Kylo and leave so that Kylo’s training can be completed (how Hux did that in 5 minutes or so is another story). The only person whose fate is truly unknown is Phasma. I assume one of her troopers (another “sanitation guy” like Finn) must have rescued her from the garbage dump and then she just left when the base was being evacuated. I still don’t see how she won’t be executed though after lowering the shields (there is no way Kylo Ren won’t be able to sense the fear in her the next time they meet).

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:09 am
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        Oh, She lives as Kennedy says they have “big plans” for her. I have a feeling there are going to be MANY deleted secenes that explain what happened to everyone.

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:02 am
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      Do you need absolutely everything spoon fed to you? A new Hope left a few dozen question at the end, yet all you u guys loved it. TFA does this too, yet now it’s suddenly a problem? Double standards much?

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:10 am
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        Dud you even see ANH? You clearly saw Vader escape and Tarkin die. It’s the same hacky shit Abrams pulled in Lost and his equally douchey protege Damon Lindeloff does in everything he works on. Same goes for Orci and Kurtzman.

        • December 20, 2015 at 9:43 pm
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          You missed my point completely. But that’s ok, no matter what I say you are too “strong” in your own opinion. But, whatever works for you man! Cheers!

          • December 21, 2015 at 6:59 am
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            I’m sorry I didn’t know you were not fluent in English or logic.

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:39 am
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      I had no problem following the film at all and I haven’t bothered with the associated comics, books and the video game. Just pay attention.

      • December 20, 2015 at 6:00 am
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        “We didn’t turn Kylo to the dark side. Snoke did!”

        Sure explained a lot there. Almost as classic as “Love can’t save you, Only my new powers can!”

        I understand wanting to leave things for future episodes but there were major plot points they did not even attempt to explain in any fashion.

        That’s a failure of basic screenwriting 101. I can see why Kasdan is on his way out now.

        • December 20, 2015 at 1:05 pm
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          Explaining how Kylo turned to the dark side was never TFA’s goal, as ANH didn’t try to explain why Vader turned. I don’t have a problem with that.

          If the movie were about Kylo turning and slaughtering (?) Luke’s apprentices, it would have to take place many years before TFA and have a completely different (and less interesting) screenplay. It is OK to leave those details to the books or, if Disney feels they can still milk this cow, they can make another standalone prequel movie. I feel we will get more of the backstory in Episodes VIII and IX though now that JJ has introduced the concept of the “force back”.

          • December 20, 2015 at 1:14 pm
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            I understand that but at the time Vader was not related to any of the main characters, That only came during Empire. Whereas Kylo is very oft the cuff said to be the son of Han. I wouldn’t care so much about them showing his fall as throw a few lines of dialogue about it like they did with Vader in the OT.

            Prequel to the ST isn’t possible since the OT cast is not getting younger and neither will the new cast for that matter. They can cover this in future films via flashbacks and force backs but those have never really been Johnson or Colin’s style, Even in this one we only really saw it used once and it’s something most writers shy from as it slows the current narrative down.

    • December 20, 2015 at 7:15 pm
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      Nobody needs this article to tell them who lived or died. It was clear in the movie.If you couldn’t figure it out maybe you should watch it again.

      • December 21, 2015 at 6:42 am
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        So Phasma used a transporter to escape Starkiller and Kylo got off it by licking his heels together and thinking of home? Works for me.

        • December 23, 2015 at 6:47 am
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          No, I’m saying an installation that large would have multiple exit points in case of emergencies. There’s usually more than one life boat on Navy ships and they’re not usually kept all together in one place. It’s perfectly conceivable that Phasma got off the base with more than enough time to spare considering everything that happened between us leaving her the last time and the explosion. As for Hux and Ren we’re going purely on assumption that they made it off base in relative safety whereas it’s more likely that they barely made it off in time helped in no small way by Rens force powers and Hux’s training together.

          • December 23, 2015 at 3:14 pm
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            Good theories. I’d buy it. They needed you in the story group. I’m not saying they would just have a cheap “we survived” scene but they could have used it to have Snoke speak with them quickly one last time like Sidious with Dooku in II or reprimind them.

          • December 24, 2015 at 11:24 pm
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            That’s a solid idea actually and worked well to flesh out Sidious and Dooku both while showing very little.

          • December 25, 2015 at 7:53 am
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            I am worried how they set the sequel up for an Empire remake though from what little we know….

            – A Jedi being trained by a lost master on a hidden planet

            – Sparks flying between Finn and whoever is cast as his love interest

            And I’m sure a major plot point will be Kylo hunting Rey as well as the Resistance having a new base.

            Just hope it doesn’t with another famial revelation that everyone sees coming.

  • December 20, 2015 at 2:52 am
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    Minor complaints CGI wise… …. I’m still wondering why so much haters plotwise? WTF?

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:03 am
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      Because far more interesting things happened in between Jedi and this film than happened in all 2 hours of Episode VII. Plagerizing ANH and the EU didn’t help either.

      • December 20, 2015 at 3:50 am
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        it’s like poetry, it rhymes.

        • December 20, 2015 at 5:13 am
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          Yeah, Most poetry does not rhyme lest not the quality kind. Lucas knows as much about it as he understands what constitutes believable CG.

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:07 am
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        Totally disagree…. I was very HAPPY to see cherry picking from OT and EU….. I was HOPING for that actually…

        • December 20, 2015 at 5:12 am
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          They borrowed all the wrong things….

          Jacen going to the dark side
          Darksaber
          The Sun Crusher

          Thrawn, Mara, and even Talon Karrde would have been more interesting. Not to mention Noghri even if they changed their races/names.

          • December 20, 2015 at 6:56 am
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            i wonder if they are staying away from zahn’s work because they see it as a no win scenario. either it won’t be as good as the beloved original or it only succeeded by standing on his shoulders.

          • December 20, 2015 at 7:03 am
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            Either that or he’s very well connected legally and will want too much to license his permission. We do know an older woman is being cast in the next one who is close to Luke’s age who could be her surrogate though.

          • December 20, 2015 at 7:14 pm
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            Zhans Star Wars stuff is all owned wholly by Lucasfilm/Disney. It doesn’t matter what he want’s or doesn’t want. If they want to use something from his SW novels it’s theirs to use.

          • December 21, 2015 at 6:40 am
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            Don’t tell that to Siegel and Shuster with Superman. Nearly took a century to settle that mess. You can sue for anything now and have a case.

          • December 22, 2015 at 11:44 pm
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            Well, it would be Zhan suing over characters that he created for someone else, created under their direction, and created strictly for use by the owner in their proprietary and solely owned property so it’s kind of not even close to being the same.

          • December 23, 2015 at 3:10 pm
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            I’m sure the de-canonizition of them could throw a monkeywrench into things. People have sued for lesser things and won. Of course, Disney would win but they wouldn’t want bad PR either especially if he takes it badly even if he’s not litigious. I mean look what happened to Traviss.

          • December 24, 2015 at 11:41 pm
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            Zhans smarter than that though. He’ll get credit if they adapt his characters and probably a behind the scenes royalty check or something. Traviss was more a victim of circumstance though. She got too invested in her own personal corner of things that she began to act like she was above the story as a whole. I get that she was bitter when Lucasfilm changed direction with what she was doing with the Mandalorians, but to be perfectly honest, the authors ALL knew before ever putting ink to paper, from Allston to Zahn, that EVERYTHING they were doing was solely for someone else and could be rendered completely obsolete at any point if things were portrayed in a counter fashion on screen. Traviss had the same base problems that the rest of the EU authors had, i.e. she got too attached to what she wanted Star Wars to be that she forgot that it wasn’t her own personal sci-fi universe. When the authors start servicing their own characters and interests above those of the story/characters/and fans it becomes a problem. This was the largest issue with the last 2/3rds of the EU. It started roughly halfway through the Vong invasion where authors just started abandoning other authors plot lines and characters so-as not to step on each others toes. It was really bad through the last two series of novels though where the authors would flat out ignore each others characters and plots from book to book. There was fun stuff in the EU, but adapting bits and pieces is the way to go so that it’s familiar to old fans yet accessible to new ones without the weight of a sh*t-ton of mediocre baggage. I like to look at the (now)Legends books as kind of “in-universe” fiction about that universes real heroes. Kind of how Rey and Finn knew Solo through different stories, maybe they read different Legends books? 🙂

          • December 25, 2015 at 7:57 am
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            I’d agree from what we know of Zahn now but as Lucas proved, Some creative times change with age and not always for the better.

            Most post-Jedi EU is crap, So I get them getting rid of it but I wish they kept the pre-Episode VI material which holds up a lot better and fleshes out some major characters without contradicting the new films at all.

          • December 26, 2015 at 8:22 pm
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            The difference between Zhan and Lucas however would be that Lucas ALWAYS intended for the movies to be more than they were. All along he’s talked about how there were still things he wanted to do but couldn’t do and had to hold back on. So for him to revisit his movies and add to them/change them to better fit his vision with the advancement of technology makes a bit of sense regardless of the reception. Whereas Zhan in this case created things for someone else’s vision under that persons direction, and has stayed consistent with those characters throughout. I would say though that even with the changes Lucas made, whether someone likes them or not, they don’t change the tone of the movies nor do they change any of the characters in any significant ways.

          • December 27, 2015 at 4:39 pm
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            Yeah I think he was pretty traumatized by making ANH to the point where he pretty much quit directing altogether for the next 20 years. It’s why he felt the need to go overboard digitally since he couldn’t stand not having 100 percent control over the film which is why he was so involved with the PT and had to sell the franchise rather than serve as a mere on set consultant.

          • December 20, 2015 at 10:17 am
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            I LOVE that they borrowed those things!

          • December 20, 2015 at 11:10 am
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            I did like that they are going with the EU idea of there being more force users than just Jedi and Sith as Maz proved but her part was so brief that it felt like all her scenes got cut out seeing as how she’s on the poster in the center.

            We don’t even know if she lived or not either.

          • December 20, 2015 at 10:23 am
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            I thought everything they borrowed was GREAT not wrong

          • December 20, 2015 at 11:06 am
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            You are in the minority there then. When they announced it was no longer canon, Everybody started trashing the LOTF storyline and how glad they were that it was no longer canon yet now it is. Lol.

          • December 20, 2015 at 10:24 am
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            you forgot the part about Rey being a cross between Ania/Jaina Solo… but of course she’ll end up being Skywalker….

          • December 20, 2015 at 11:07 am
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            Never got to finish the Legacy comics but I am working on it even if it’s all fan-fiction now, Especially if they are using ideas from it.

          • December 20, 2015 at 10:26 am
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            I want a version of Ysilimari … and a version of Thrawn and Mara of course… WHY NOT?

          • December 20, 2015 at 11:08 am
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            Mara is most likely as they are looking at an older lady close to Mara’s age. Not sure about the others,

          • December 20, 2015 at 12:21 pm
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            Starkiller base is not like the Sun Crusher, is it ? As I understand it, the Sun Crusher destroyed a planetary system by turning its sun into a supernova. Starkiller base on the other hand harvests energy from a sun to fire a gun that can destroy multiple planets simultaneously.

            Is Starkiller base similar to the Death Star ? Yes, but if yiou think about it, in our own real world, aircract carriers an submarines were used in WWII and are still used today, with the difference though that submarines now fire cruise missiles and stealth, supersonic fighter jets rake off from aircraft carriers. The way I see it, planet-destroying superweapons are part of the military technology of the Star Wars universe. It wouldn’t make sense to abandon them in a time window of 30 years only. Instead, upgrading them would be the natural thing to do.

            The interesting thing is way the Republic never acquired a superweapon of its own. The reason seems to be a moral one. The result is that there is no deterrence in the SW universe (hence the direct attack of the First . Order on the Republic). Imagine for example a scenario in the real world where one power has nukes and the others don’t because they find morally wrong to have them.

          • December 20, 2015 at 12:30 pm
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            Same end result, It was stolen from the Galaxy Gun in the comics too.

            But the loss of both Death Stars was a source of great humilation for the Empire which galvanized the Rebellion. The loss of Starkiller out the gate nearly reduces them to Cobra status in the 80’s GI Joe cartoon where no one took them seriously due to failing so much. Seeing as how The First Order is not the dominant power in the galaxy and more of a fringe group, It makes them look idiotic to put most of their eggs in one basket like that and draw attention to themselves.

            They don’t have superweapons but they do have Bothan spies and commando units, So it seems like a major lapse in security that they just let them build the thing rather than cut it off at the knees, especially considering what happened to Alderaan and the Rebel Fleet.

          • December 20, 2015 at 12:49 pm
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            The status of the post-TFA galaxy is unclear IMHO. The Republic’s government and (probably most of) its fleet have been destroyed. Without the Republic’s backing, the Resistance is vulnerable. On the other hand, the First Order lost its superweapon and must have also lost considerable amounts of military hardware and personnel when the Starkiller base was destroyed. It will take years for the Republic to rebuild its strength, but, at the same ttime, a second Starkiller base would probably take even longer to build. I’d say there is a balance of forces now, unlike pre-TFA when the First Order was clearly weaker than the Republic plus the Resistance.

            PS: It remains to be seen how much of the Republic’s fleet was saved. Wookiepedia says the fleet was destroyed, but it is unclear from the movie if at least part of the fleet was deployed elsewhere in the same star system where the Resistance was based.

          • December 20, 2015 at 1:00 pm
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            Have you read the books yet? I’m waiting on the arriving now to learn for sure.

            I do think the new EU should have focused on this rather than the OT like most of it wound being. There would be plenty of ways to set the stage without spoiling the film.

          • December 20, 2015 at 3:58 pm
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            they could be fringe, but I think JJ made some heavy tones in this Nazi reference of Hux’speech. I really didnt like a fantasy movie to connect with that. Alsotehy explode 3 or more plantes wiping out millions of people

          • December 20, 2015 at 4:02 pm
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            I’m sick and tired of it too. They already did it to death with The Empire. I’d far prefer dark side occultists in the vein of the Sith in KOTOR even if they are not Sith.

          • December 20, 2015 at 7:11 pm
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            IMO, Starkiller doesn’t work because the massive WMD is always destroyed in the end (and this is the 3rd time in 7 total films where this has been the case).

            Also this double standard of defending dumb ideas by doing comparisons with real life with one hand, while defending other dumb ideas by saying that they’re valid because SW is supposed to be fantasy, with the other hand, has got to stop.

            A dumb idea is a dumb idea, whether it’s based on reality or mere fantasy. And this Starkiller thing was a terrible idea right off the bat.

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:53 pm
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      for me is because of Kylo Rat and the tragic way they kill Han Solo. They made Han back 100% to kill him by his own son, son’s of Leia, this sad shit

  • December 20, 2015 at 3:58 am
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    I hope they answer very well all the questions they left in the air, do less ctrl+c ctrl+v with the OT and EU and bring a lot more of Han Solo. Also, I won´t be satisfied without an appearence of Lando, Boba Fett and Wedge. C´mon you faggots, you can do a lot more. I hope you don´t put a super star destroyer on the sequel, I won´t buy it.

    • December 20, 2015 at 4:02 am
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      you are getting more han solo, a whole movie in fact, same with the fett man. lando is a strong possibility, both as a cameo in 8 and a major role in the han solo film. as for wedge, he gave the franchise the middle finger and said no way in hell… i do know that his nephew would love to come back and i hope he does.

  • December 20, 2015 at 5:53 am
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    I’m happy … and angry. The film is excellent, but I have rushed to kill Han. I wanted to go see the movie at least twice more, but the death of Han have put me off. I left the theater disappointed. Very sad. He wanted to see the big three together on screen again. Using them in a flashback will not be the same.
    I’m sorry for my English.

  • December 20, 2015 at 6:14 am
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    Yeah, they could have put him on the poster. Kylo Ren being his main apprentice and ruining his Jedi order is not something that would be spoiled from a poster. However, it absolutely explains his absence from the trailer, which was the main gripe for most people, but not me personally.

  • December 20, 2015 at 6:24 am
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    Don’t forget the variant packaging because then they’ll put it away in the vault foreeeeevveeerrrrrr if you do.

    • December 20, 2015 at 6:29 am
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      This is why I’m already picketing a tent in front of my nearest Best Buy..sure they’re all looking at me crazy now..but little do the know that I will have my hands on all different types of varient packagings and Disney diamond editions when the day comes. And the joke will definitely be on them.

      • December 20, 2015 at 6:33 am
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        I’ll mail you the blow up Daisy Doll to keep you company soon as I get my 3D Printer.

  • December 20, 2015 at 6:27 am
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    I think Han is not dead hahah That would be cool twist for Ep8 . Or they should did that tragic scene in Ep8 cause parallel with EmpireStrikes Back who is a darker movie and Han didn’t die but was he frozen. Also felt sad about some JJ violent/tragedy screenplay choices I wen’t with my son on first day, felt weird see Kylo Rat merchandises at Kids store after that

    • December 20, 2015 at 7:33 am
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      Han is dead, bro.

    • December 20, 2015 at 12:07 pm
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      The movie is PG 13. If your son is under that age, you should have exercised caution before taking him to the movie. Han’s demise at the hands of Kylo was the most widely spread spoiler about TFA (it started to appear on the internet months ago). So. it is not like you couldn’t have gotten an early warning if you wanted to do. Personally, and that is just my point of view, I always like to go into a movie knowing at least the plot outline and major points I can expect to see.

  • December 20, 2015 at 6:31 am
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    Han Solo should had gone with Rey to find Luke. And Rey as his co pilot. She didn’t had time to get that cool job :/ Or Luke to see Han again. So sad JJ so sad choices for this cristhmas time . Hoping for a twist in 8 #hanisnotdead or I should say #bingbacklucas. hahahah

    • December 20, 2015 at 2:20 pm
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      He couldn’t. He was too busy being dead. The inconvenience of having a lightsaber plunged through his fucking chest.

  • December 20, 2015 at 6:32 am
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    I felt some Game of Thrones pace influences on this tragedy, what do you guys think?

    • December 20, 2015 at 6:40 am
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      Well, Kylo did kill his own father and got his face slashed from chin to forehead, just like Tyrion Lannister…

      • December 20, 2015 at 12:51 pm
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      • December 20, 2015 at 1:35 pm
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        He looks like John Snow.

        • December 20, 2015 at 5:38 pm
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          Lol, he does! And there’s also Gwendoline Christie in cool armor, of course. Too bad Jaime Lannister wasn’t around to offer Han a ton of zephyrs to ransom her 😛

  • December 20, 2015 at 6:47 am
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    Just try not to be too rough since I don’t think you can get your warranty back on something like that,

  • December 20, 2015 at 7:00 am
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    I got my Gardulla I can loan you though it it cums to that. I hope you are hung like a Wookiee if you want to make full use of it though.

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:14 pm
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      Not even a wookiee can tame that goddess..

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:17 pm
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        I got a Jawa juicebox if you wanna really feel like one.

  • December 20, 2015 at 11:14 am
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    Snoke reminded me of a cranky old man in a bath robe with irritable bowel syndrome. I know we only saw Sidious as a hologram in TPM but at least we saw him in the flesh and order the deaths of the Jedi.

    Plus the man had a plan the whole time. Seems like Snoke was totally caught off guard by the Resistance attack.

    It’s not a good thing when his apprentice feels more of a prescence and threatenting than his own master.

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:46 pm
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      assuming Snoke is a sith…

      • December 20, 2015 at 3:50 pm
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        I don’t think he is but the fact they never said he was means we have to listen to a year and a half or more of this nonsense of him being Darth Plagueis. I kinda hate JJ right now for keeping it open ended like that.

        • December 20, 2015 at 6:24 pm
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          How did JJ leave it open ended? He flatly said “no” to the fan who asked about Darth Plagueis. That should have ended it, but because he made a mistake (his word) with Khan he must be lying about everything always forever. What else can he do? Have Snoke say “I am not Darth Plagueis!”?

          • December 21, 2015 at 5:50 am
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            Peshtar has your answer. Also, It was always apparent that Palpatine and Sidious were the same guy from the start but that didn’t stop a frightening number of fans in believing otherwise.

        • December 21, 2015 at 1:03 am
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          Have just read the novelisation, assuming it is canon it appears snoke pre dates the empire.

          • December 21, 2015 at 5:49 am
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            Should have included that in the film.

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:17 pm
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      Snoke seemed to have a master plan it seemed to me. Even the destruction of Starkiller and more didnt seem to concern him as he had bigger plans all along.

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:23 pm
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        Guess we will see in the next one but I didn’t get that impression from what we saw onscreen. Seemed more like he was clinging to Kylo in order to be a big deal hence the whole using him line.

    • December 27, 2015 at 12:27 pm
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      I really doubt that Snoke is Force sensitive, at least in the sense we normally think of what a Force user is. If he is, then I am 99% sure that Luke beat him at some point so bad that he lost most of his ability to connect with it. Also, the Emperor is still technically ruling the Order by recorded messages. It is all quite possible that Snoke is following those recordings to the letter in his quest to revive the Empire and complete Kylo’s training.

      • December 27, 2015 at 4:42 pm
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        The visual dictionary says Kylo learned the dark side from him unless he turns out to be some sort of charlatan in the next ones.

  • December 20, 2015 at 3:32 pm
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    I can tell you who’s definitely not returning….that would be myself.

    Thank you Di$ney for robbing me. Appreciate it.

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:36 pm
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      *golf clap*

    • December 20, 2015 at 3:53 pm
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      The marketing of Finn was probably the biggest lie of the film.

      • December 20, 2015 at 4:28 pm
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        As was rather obvious IMO.

        • December 20, 2015 at 4:45 pm
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          I was one of the early naysayers too and got chewed out for it several times on here but no question that Disney totally mislead people on this to sell tickets.

          I still don’t get why he even picked up the saber at all. I was hoping he at least had some training with one even though he wasn’t force sensitive but it made as much sense as Han going nuts with Luke’s in the OT.

          I guess it proves why only force users should never handle them.

          • December 20, 2015 at 8:38 pm
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            What I don’t understand is why Maz gave him the lightsaber for safekeeping after he was exposed as a coward and a liar and she saw nothing special about him (or did she ?).

          • December 21, 2015 at 1:24 am
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            to give it to Rey

          • December 21, 2015 at 6:57 am
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            We still don’t know how she even got it though I’m goad that space hand theory was shit. Though I bet it got cut out.

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:09 pm
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        its nonsense and not magical Finn, cause he’s not a Jedi right? uses the lightsaber. It drained the movie magic of this weapon

        • December 20, 2015 at 5:14 pm
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          Cynical marketing ploy all the way.

      • December 20, 2015 at 8:36 pm
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        Finn’s marketing in the western countries was dishonest. In Asia, it was OK and truthful to the movie. Call me naive and a wishful thinker though if you wish, but I haven’t entirely lost any hope that there may still be something special about Finn other than being the sanitation guy. In fact, I don’t think it was just a coincidence that they reminded us not once, but twice in the film, that he learns quickly to do things he’s never done before.

        In the worst case scenario, even if Finn turns out to be indeed a nobody, he could still be Rey’s love interest. They are supposed to be just friends in TFA (and maybe will stay that) way , but there were moments where I honestly felt they were about to kiss or something like that. They moment they hug and shout each others’ names was nothing short of magic to me. Just as a comparison, after 2 and half hours or so of AOTC, which was supposed to be about Anakin’s and Padme’s romance, I felt nothing.

        • December 21, 2015 at 1:23 am
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          I will see you again….my FRIEND

          • December 21, 2015 at 5:03 pm
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            Friend zone nooooooooooooo!

        • December 21, 2015 at 6:54 am
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          He seemed like more of the comic relief in this film seeing as how he got his ass kicked by everybody. I found hm funny for the most part though which is why he won me over but I can see what a kick in the nuts this was to black kids and adults from what they were promised. At least women got a strong hero in Rey.

          They did have more chemistry than them but I heard on here that a love interest is being cast for Finn now. I’d far prefer Rey stay single like her alleged Dad since single female protagonists are extremely rare in this genre of film. I’m still traumatized by the last time we got a SW love story too.

      • December 20, 2015 at 10:11 pm
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        And not telling us the film would be a rehash and crap one at that….was a lie as well

        • December 21, 2015 at 6:51 am
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          I honestly think I prefer even his crap Trek reboots over his crap SW one. I’d like to say it’s over but I think he’s still producing the next two.

          • December 21, 2015 at 1:48 pm
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            Yep he is. Star Wars is finished. Di$ney are just going to squeeze that stake deep into the heart

          • December 21, 2015 at 1:53 pm
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            Careful what you say on here. The Abrams Order on this site is deeply threatened by those with opinions that don’t conform with theirs.

          • December 21, 2015 at 5:00 pm
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            I know…but the Abrams Order can quite frankly get a life. Star Wars is ruined and I am going to be truthful about it.

          • December 22, 2015 at 7:35 am
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            Remember plotholes don’t exist in TFA and it’s the greatest SW film since Empire. Keep buying tickets and merchandise until you believe it and bathe in the high box office gross that you won’t get a dime of,

          • December 22, 2015 at 6:47 pm
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            Hha. Yep. “Fans” celebrating it breaking records….but….they forgot that Disney don’t give them a CENT of the profits

          • December 23, 2015 at 4:18 pm
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            Really makes you see how easy it is for tiny cults to morph into mega religions overnight if this can happen with a damn film. The need to be part of something in humans without thinking first has always held them back on the evolutionary scale.

          • December 23, 2015 at 9:01 pm
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            Herd mentality

          • December 24, 2015 at 7:40 am
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            See how the rating has dropped too? Once it’s on BD, It will drop farther. The novelty will wear off for them especially when watched with the other films.

          • December 24, 2015 at 2:24 pm
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            Yep, I hope it goes down further.

            It’s so funny how MANY people can’t take a step back and look at a film without all of the hype

          • December 24, 2015 at 2:40 pm
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            The ironic thing is that outside the abundance of CG characters, political talky scenes, and atrocious acting, I think the new trilogy so far has a lot in common with the PT. Yet the first one to attack the prequels will defend this to the death. Go figure.

          • December 24, 2015 at 4:01 pm
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            In time, after it has made the billions and the hype has died down, the truth shall arise.

            But I am not contributing a single CENT to this new trilogy.

            Fool me once.

          • December 25, 2015 at 7:47 am
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            I’m more interested in the spinoffs now. At least they will be locked in continuity-wise since they all take place between III and IV so can’t fuck shit up too much. Abrams has nothing to do with them either and smaller budget means less suits giving notes which are all good things.

    • December 31, 2015 at 11:44 pm
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      I’m on the fence about this. I’ll wait and see how Ep. VIII plays out until I make up my mind for sure.

  • December 20, 2015 at 3:52 pm
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    I really thought we’d finally get a real female villain for a change in this one in Captain Phasma. Instead we got a Keystone trooper.

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:02 pm
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      She should kill Han not his own son Kylo Rat. Way better and not tragic for son and father movie experience as I had

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:07 pm
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        Now we see why it got the PG-13 rating. I think Kylo should have killed Luke imo…..

        Luke was responsible for him
        It would show Kylo’s power
        Luke would have gone out a hero
        The stakes would really be high for Rey
        Would follow the theme of the spirit guide dying in the first episode

        Missed opportunity.

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:04 pm
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      Yea but she’s back in 8.

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:11 pm
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        I like the idea of her being a Resistance spy as someone said. Would explain her incompetence.

        • December 20, 2015 at 8:25 pm
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          Yes, she is clearly not a resistance spy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she is forced to flee and ends up a solo act. After all, the First Order will have to execute her the moment they find out she lowered those shields.

          • December 21, 2015 at 6:47 am
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            It’s a more believable theroy than Snoke being Plagueis but having her be a bounty hunter like Asajj in Clone Wars would be a good way to salvage her character so I’m going with that till proven wrong.

    • December 20, 2015 at 5:05 pm
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      Vader dueled with Luke. Luke fight back. But they didn’t kill each other. Vader was trying to bring his son back to his side

      • December 20, 2015 at 5:12 pm
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        Yeah, Han really looked like a bumpkin walking up to his unstable force crazy son and asking him to hand his lightsaber blade first.

      • December 20, 2015 at 8:22 pm
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        Just like Kylo Ren was trying to bring Rey to his side offering to be her teacher. Neither Kylo nor Snoke ever intended to kill Rey; Snoke actually tells Kylo to bring her before him (using almost the same words Palpatine used in ROTJ referring to Luke).

        Kylo killing Han was more like Vader killing Obi-Wan in ANH (in fact, there is a close parallel), and not like Vader vs Luke.

  • December 20, 2015 at 3:55 pm
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    #kylorat bring back George Lucas to the writer’s council

  • December 20, 2015 at 4:01 pm
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    I think JJ made some heavy tones in this Nazi’s reference of Hux’speech. I really didnt like a fantasy movie to connect with that. Also they explode 3 or more plantes wiping out millions of people and this was not felt by no one like Alderaan was.

  • December 20, 2015 at 5:03 pm
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    As long as Rian doesn’t pull a Maul move with Han then I’m good. Han is dead. As much as I love Han he needs to rest in peace.

    • December 20, 2015 at 8:18 pm
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      Agreed.

  • December 20, 2015 at 5:22 pm
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    The more obvious answer is: they will all return, minus the characters that died of course.

  • December 20, 2015 at 5:28 pm
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    This movie could be perfect. But Its not! I gonna tell you my opinions, please feedback me cause I’ve been tormented with this ideas LOL:
    1- Kylo Rat should not kill his own Father Han Solo. He could be involved but should be Capt Phasma the executioner, it’d give meaning to this nonsense character. Son kills Father for me its too much violence for the global audience range of this movie . #GOT violence
    2- REY IS THE MOST LOVELY JEDI(?) EVER. I LOVE HER
    3-1st Order destroy 3 or more planets, killing millions of life. The lighted doesn’t even feel the sorrow like in OT Alderaan scene. Why this slaughterish plot reboot?
    Too much nazi references here, its a fantasy not real life
    4-HAN SOLO is 100% in this movie. Its great and also so sad
    5- Cinematography is Oscar winner
    6- Luke scene was so plain, could be 5 seconds appearance thats not the point but I waited 30 years to see a SAD Luke on a Cliff???WTF JJ
    7-A trooper getting out of this evil murderer shit is so Awesome. Real rebel!
    8- BB8 along with R2 projecting the map is so MOVIE MAGIC MOMENT.
    9- I felt so bad for Leia and Chewie, JJ why u bring such sorrow and loneliness to this universe? People are way-eager to be amazed no feel depressed. It has so many war, death , family tragedies in our world why out this on Satr Wars like that?
    10- Fight duels with light sabers I was hoping for an Old Republic cinematic style but ok for this retro choreography. But Old republic short movie style should be in EP8___________________________________* u leversshortmovie

    • December 20, 2015 at 8:08 pm
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      The fact that you call him “Kylo Rat” is proof that Driver did a great job as an actor playing the role. Kylo really looked and felt like a psycho. Anakin was supposed to be like that also in ROTS, but we all know now how that went, don’t we ?

      Of course Kylo is evil, but, from his perspective, killing his father meant suppressing all vestiges of the light inside him and, thus, ending the pain and the conflict that has consumed him for a long time since he turned. For someone who is a fanatic seeking immunity from the light, it made perfectly sense to do what he did.

      The destruction of the Hosnian system on the other hand served a purpose, i.e. eliminating the government (i.e. the political leadership) of the New Republic and the Republic’s fleet so that the Republic could no longer support the Resistance inside First Order territory. Snoke was hesitant to do it (maybe because he didn’t want an open war with the Republic), but Hux convinced him to do it (making Hux a much more pivotal and interesting character than Tarkin in the OT). Again, it is obviously immoral to use a WMD to kill innocent civilians as collateral damage to the destruction of a military target (that’s probably why the New Republic never built a Death Star or a Sun Crusher of its own), but it is consistent with First Order ideology and First Order goals.

      Bottomline: the dark side and the Fiirst Order are, well, “dark” (no racism implied), but that is to be expected. If you want to see only sanitized villains and minimal violence, there are plenty of other films to choose from out there. FRom a moral perspective, the important thing is that the light and the “good guys” win in the end, which was again the case in TFA.

      • December 21, 2015 at 1:13 am
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        I was waiting to JJ use the force like never before. TFA is so well done in his cinematography but if you see beyond its “matrix” you can see some wrong and negative spiritual choices for the audience of the whole world. Dont make a son kills his father (Han fucking solo) in a movie that will reunite genarations. How give the pleasure of 100%Harrison doing Han to killed him in a heavy psicolgical tragedy. very sadistic Game of Thrones style. He could die like a hero in spaceship fight or even intend by Kylo but by the hands of Phasma. Ok its so villan that we are talking here and Im so pissed. But think when you go with son to watch it its not good vibes at all

        • December 21, 2015 at 5:00 pm
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          ” Dont make a son kills his father (Han fucking solo) in a movie that will reunite genarations.”

          That’s kind of what SW fans did to George Lucas though. Interestingly enough.

    • December 21, 2015 at 12:40 am
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      9- Never, never will I forgive JJ for killing Han. The film soured me.

  • December 20, 2015 at 8:38 pm
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    Pulsarsungirl from Chile . The movie was not what II expected, although it was entertaining. I waited since the ROTJ to see Luke again more than 30 years and he appears like 2 minutes and does not speak a word and that’s all, I think JJ Abrams has been mean with the audience, he likes playing with the audience and following marketing strategical decisions to sell the movie, but he was not able to read George Luca’s magic. He was very good giving the movie a fast pace and making it attractive for a new young audience, but he lacked depth in certain scenes, he lacks the mythical and magical wisdom, I wanted to know what happened to Han and Leia and their son, Why he did not use flashbacks?, Han’s death was badly done, I think that JJ Abrams reminded Han as a mercenary and he tried to portrait him just like that or similar to Indiana Jones, Han had changed and had become a real hero fighting against the empire, he really cared about his friends and the rebel alliance, and now his character had gone back to a careless mercenary, He is an important character and his death was terrible, he was killed by his son but this was done in an act of fury of spoiled child, the audience is not shown what other conflict do they have as father and son, It is obvious that the dark side is a barrier among them, but maybe they had a relationship as father and son and it seemed to be none, as I said he is an important character I do not understand why he is not given a good death, why chewie was not able to grab his body and took it with him to be buried in a proper way by the resistance, even Darth Vader had a funeral, It appeared to me that he was killed like Boba Fett like an accident. Rey and Finn were really a lot of fun, but we do not have any idea about Rey’s life in Jakku just a quick glimpse, the same with Finn he wants to leave the empire but what is his background story, none. Maybe Rey is Luke’s daughter but the movie does not show anything to clarify something of what happened. I hope VIII can be better, but I will try to keep away from the hype. JJ Abrams did a very good job with Star Trek , but with this he is in debt, maybe he thought he was making a lost episode, I liked lost although I never watched the end, I just read that everybody was death, I guess he does not like to create a story with a depth and magic end., he does not like to dream, he maybe is too much down to earth.

    • December 20, 2015 at 8:42 pm
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      For background stories, you have the novels (Aftermath, etc.) and future films (Episodes VIII and IX, and maybe other standalone movies if Disney wants to make more money). The information we got in TFA was enough for the purposes of the movie. If you think about it, ANH provided little background also about Vader, the Empire, Luke’s family, etc, etc.

      • December 20, 2015 at 10:05 pm
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        Again with this? What are you, mabruno, a sales exec for Disney or something? 😛

        Seriously now, I don’t remember having to buy any Batman comic books to understand Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, for instance. Just to be clear, I’m not saying that every question had to be answered in TFA (that’s why we’ll have 2 more films, as you’ve noted yourself), but a little more background information on certain things could certainly have added much more color and flavor to the film, beyond the shadow of a doubt.

        • December 20, 2015 at 10:43 pm
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          No, I don’t work for Disney and you don’t have to become aggressive just because I am stating my honest opinion.. Anger is the path to the dark side.

          • December 20, 2015 at 10:46 pm
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            I was J/K. Sorry if it didn’t come out that way. But you should probably stop telling people that we have to buy additional stuff to understand the film. That’s just not cool from Disney and it does sound like you’re promoting this additional material.

  • December 20, 2015 at 8:44 pm
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    Pulsarsungirl, Sorry for my writing mistakes, the english is not my first language, I am now writing my own Star Wars story a story about Luke and I am writing it in english in this way I can practice it. TFA was fun but I wanted to dream more!

  • December 21, 2015 at 1:39 am
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    I’m so glad they didn’t kill of Kylo/Ben. Hopefully we learn more about his past and his dysfunctional relationship with his parents, and clearly his issues with his father.

  • December 21, 2015 at 2:17 pm
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    I know this sounds crazy. But I believe Snoke is going to be revealed as someone we’ve met in the past. Based on how disfigured he is to hide his true appearance, I’m guessing it willbe revealed to be Palpatine.

    • December 21, 2015 at 5:27 pm
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      The popular fan theory (other than Jar Jar) is that Darth Plagueis and Supreme Leader Snoke are one in the same. I’m skeptical for two reasons – TFA worked very hard to separate itself from the story, tone and visuals of the PT. Also, Palpatine indicates he murdered Plagueis, which reaffirms the motif of Sith mentors and apprentices betraying one another. IMDB even suggests Plagueis’s remains are in an urn in Palpatine’s office.

      • December 21, 2015 at 8:48 pm
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        Thats why I believe its Palpatine. If they brought back Ian Mc Diarmuid then it would be obvious. Having watched the movie a second time, I fell his mannerisms a very similar to Palpatine. TFA created so many questions. I’m really curious to see how they play out in the sequels

        • December 21, 2015 at 8:53 pm
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          Another sign TFA was good – we’re curious about the sequels, and not just because we want to see if it will at least be better than the previous film.

  • December 21, 2015 at 8:14 pm
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    “I figured that they wouldn’t kill Ren and Phasma, but Hux’s strongly-implied survival came as a bit of a shock to me since he seemed like the most expendable villain.”

    That’s because George Lucas isn’t in charge anymore. Killing off characters like Hux is how you wind up relying on cockroaches with emphysema.

    • December 22, 2015 at 5:14 pm
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      LMAO

  • December 28, 2015 at 7:14 pm
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    Han shouldn’t have died. What a bummer.

    • December 31, 2015 at 11:23 pm
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      I agree — I am a devotee to Timothy Zahn’s theory of Star Wars which is that it, at its core, i a good vs. evil story where the good guys win. For that to work, main characters of the good side shouldn’t die.

      I understand the point that they’re trying to make, that Ren is not Vader and is trying to overcome Vader’s “weakness” that led him back to the light side. But in theory, there are other ways to have shown that.

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