Mark Hamill Initially Resistant to Return To A Galaxy Far, Far Away. Plus How Harrison Ford’s Injury Helped TheForceAwakens

why-mark-hamill-didnt-want-to-return-as-luke_1At the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens we’re left with Rey (Daisy Ridley) reaching out to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) with his father’s old lightsaber in her hand, waiting for some kind of recognition, reaction, anything. But that scene required some convincing to actually happen. While speaking at a special event at the Tribeca Film Festival, director J.J. Abrams revealed that Mark Hamill was initially resistant to return for The Force Awakens.

 

IGN tracked down some more interesting details from a conversation that J.J. Abrams had with Chris Rock at The Film Festival, and here’s what the director had to say about Mark Hamill’s reluctance to be a part of The Force Awakens:

 

“We knew that getting to Luke was the whole story, and I was desperate to do the next chunk that we knew would not fit into this one movie. But, we knew that we had that ending, but it was a frightening and tricky thing to do, but at first and in all honesty, Mark Hamill was a little resistant.”

“Imagine reading Star Wars, imagine being Mark Hamill and you get the script for the new Star Wars. ‘Oh the opening is good, page two, oh, three and so on – what the f**k is the going on, I’m three pages before the end, the last page, what?’ He was so kind to do it, and at first he was like, ‘Will it seem silly, will it be a joke that he is standing there?’ I said to him, ‘I don’t think it will.’ I said because the whole movie is about that, it could be a great fun drum roll, up to seeing this guy.”

r2d2-and-luke-skywalker-force-awakens

 

The journey to find the last remaining Jedi (Luke Skywalker) ended up being one of the most interesting aspects of The Force Awakens, if only because it makes everyone wonder what he was doing this whole time. We know that he may have attempted to train some new Jedi, but he was betrayed by Ben Solo, who turned to the dark side and killed all of Luke’s students. After that he went into hiding, but what has he been doing this entire time? Who is Luke Skywalker? Since that question is what convinced Abrams to direct the movie in the first place, it’s no surprise that it’s the most intriguingly unanswered question so far, with the exception of who Rey’s parents might be.

 

Even though Mark Hamill was worried about whether or not his last minute appearance would actually work, the reality is the other route of having him be more prominent didn’t work at all. Back in December, one week after The Force Awakens hit theaters, co-writer Lawrence Kasdan discussed early versions of the story that were written with Michael Arndt that had Luke Skywalker showing up very early in the story. Kasdan explained:

 

“Early on I tried to write versions of the story where [Rey] is at home, her home is destroyed, and then she goes on the road and meets Luke. And then she goes and kicks the bad guy’s ass. It just never worked and I struggled with this. This was back in 2012. It just felt like every time Luke came in and entered the movie, he just took it over. Suddenly you didn’t care about your main character anymore because, ‘Oh f–k, Luke Skywalker’s here. I want to see what he’s going to do.’”

 

Leaving Luke Skywalker out of the equation actually allowed fans to latch onto the new characters a little easier. And as was also established in this same chat with J.J. Abrams, the lack of original trilogy characters appearing early on was offset by the many similarities that The Force Awakens shares with A New Hope. While we probably could have done without another Death Star to allow a bit more of a creative ending, revealing Luke Skywalker at the last minute somewhat makes up for that shortcoming.

 

 A New Hope Awards

 

Abrams also talked about the negative feedback the film has received from some who believe Star Wars: The Force Awakens was an exact copy of the original Star Wars film. He felt that this was the only way that he could succeed in putting life back into the franchise.

 

“The weird thing about that movie is that it had been so long since the last one. Obviously the prequels had existed in between and we wanted to, sort of, reclaim the story. So we very consciously – and I know it is derided for this – we very consciously tried to borrow familiar beats so the rest of the movie could hang on something that we knew was Star Wars.” Abrams Said.

“So all the characters – the Stormtrooper who turns, Finn played by John Boyega, and Rey, the character that Daisy plays, the Scavenger, Kylo Ren, the son of Han and Leia, and Poe the pilot – all these were characters and sort of their roles in the story needed to exist in something that predates them.”

Han

 

Abrams also revealed that the injury sustained by Harrison Ford on set – when he broke his leg after a piece of the Millennium Falcon set fell on him – was a blessing in disguise, because it allowed him to work on the chemistry between Boyega and Ridley, which he felt had been flat.

 

“When I was on the set of the Millennium Falcon and we started to do work with Rey and Finn, the first time we did it, it didn’t work at all,” explains Abrams. “It was much more contentious. I didn’t direct it right. It was set up all wrong, and when Harrison Ford got injured – which was a very scary day – we ended up having a few weeks off, and it was during that time that I really got to look at what we had done and rewrite quite a bit of that relationship. So when we came back to work again, we actually just reshot from the ground up, those scenes. It was an amazingly helpful thing to get these two characters to where they needed to be.”

 

Are you excited to see Luke again in Episode VIII? Do you think his presence in The Force Awakens was too small or unimpressive? Talk to us in the comments.

 

 

Additional Source: /Film

 

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139 thoughts on “Mark Hamill Initially Resistant to Return To A Galaxy Far, Far Away. Plus How Harrison Ford’s Injury Helped TheForceAwakens

  • April 21, 2016 at 7:29 pm
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    Defending the undefendable…

    • April 24, 2016 at 12:38 am
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      92% on RT. That is all.

      • April 27, 2016 at 2:37 am
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        And your point is?

        • April 27, 2016 at 6:11 am
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          The “undefendable” was just defended by over 200 critics, and by nearly every Star Wars fan around the world. just saying.

          • April 29, 2016 at 12:40 am
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            “Nearly every fan”, I do believe may be a little of a stretch, but I’m glad you liked it. As for me, I’ve have never relied on critics for anything, and I’m waiting for the next ones, I rebel.

          • April 29, 2016 at 3:05 am
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            Good for you.

          • April 29, 2016 at 12:43 am
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            Also what I meant by “undefendable” is the fact that now, nearly every SW fan aknowledges the fact that is a soft reboot, homage, copy or what have you of ANH, and Abrams is defending that. To me, a reboot was not necessary, but what do I and other fans know, we’re not business men like Abrams and co.

          • April 29, 2016 at 3:04 am
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            You’re right, you’re not businessmen. It’s good that you acknowledge that.

  • April 21, 2016 at 7:31 pm
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    Having been able to again watch TFA at home I’m a lot more receptive to the use of familiar beats. I’m still a little annoyed Starkiller base wasn’t used better or such a carbon copy of the Death Star (we really didn’t need a trench run). I would of liked a bit more of Luke or at least a scene with Luke, Leia and Han.

    However, its a good effort and VIII should be fresher.

    • April 21, 2016 at 8:37 pm
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      Yeah I have to agree. Starkiller Base was the only element I really had a problem with before (being much more blatant and uninspired than any of the other homages), but seeing it again many months later I find it goes down a whole lot easier now. And it no longer feels like a major distraction or something that stops the movie dead.

      And as much as I would have loved to have seen more of Luke, I think they made the right decision in establishing Rey and Finn’s characters first, so that we’ll still be emotionally invested in them once Luke joins the gang.

      • April 21, 2016 at 10:53 pm
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        Yeah for the story they made it was the right choice in regard to Luke, a pity it wasn’t more focused on simply finding Luke as originally planned. Han could of found Luke with Rey and then gone as a diversion and be caught, or simply to confront Kylo to buy time for Luke’s return.

    • April 21, 2016 at 9:10 pm
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      Indeed, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. You can easily spot the bits that are ‘ripped off’ yet it still seemed somehow fresh. I didn’t however like the starkiller base. They shouldn’t have put in a trench run because it was a half-assed effort at emulating the original version and not nearly as entertaining. My only other gripe was that it seemed some plot points were skimmed over or just didn’t make a lot of sense if you thought about them too much.

  • April 21, 2016 at 7:47 pm
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    Let’s just hope they listened to the flack they got about the “familiar beats” and do something original or creative when it comes to Episode VIII.

    • April 21, 2016 at 11:32 pm
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      With Rian Johnson writing and directing…. that is a given my friend. No worries! 🙂

      • April 22, 2016 at 3:58 pm
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        What ’bout 9 then ? Colin Trevorood choice worry me at the higher point ! Seriously, Jurrassic World was a rehash of 1 with actors only here for money. and, fucking come on, Raptors on motor bikes ? mutated dinosaur ? Why they need to always do bigger and dumber than others ? They have to stop taking us for blinded sheep who swallow all the crap they serve to us. i hope this guy will be closely watched by Rian and JJ when directing and scripting Ep IX. Because i couldn’t bear with a final failed.

        • April 22, 2016 at 9:35 pm
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          Johnson is writting IX. Collin is only directing. And while yes critic may have called Jurassic World a bit flat, what did you expect really. How new can you really make another Jurassic movie. I think we are in good hands, as JJ, Rian, Collin, Kennedy, and the rest of the Lucas Film crew have been collaborating to try and bring us the best possible movies.

    • April 22, 2016 at 2:25 am
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      Unless the leaked script is real in which case I’d much rather have an Empire clone.

    • April 22, 2016 at 2:34 pm
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      I am waiting for people to saw it’s not enough like SW when they try to do something different. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Truth is nothing is 100 percent original anymore, you’ll find parts of it in other fictions. Try and writes something that has never been done before. Trust me, people will be able to find story points and plot elements used before.

      • April 22, 2016 at 4:27 pm
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        I’m actually OK with some similarities, just do it a bit less blatantly. Make the yoda figure tall instead of short, do a cantina scene with aliens somewhere else other than a bar. Change Death Star 3 to some other threat. It wouldn’t have been that hard. But it’s OK. I like the movie a lot, now after I’ve seen it a few times and the direct copy points don’t annoy me as much as with the first viewing.

        • April 22, 2016 at 4:49 pm
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          yeah i m agree. i think movie makers today are little wet pullets… COT COT COT COT !! (french expression)

  • April 21, 2016 at 7:50 pm
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    I felt that TFA was exactly what it needed to be for the masses. As a diehard fan, I wanted more originality, but it struck a healthy balance of old and new. I was originally disappointed as I had heard that Luke was not in the film until the end and had no dialogue before I actually saw it opening night. But all that disappointment washed away pretty quickly after the opening crawl. I thought his entrance was perfect, and I can’t wait for Master Skywalker in ep. VIII.

    • April 21, 2016 at 9:45 pm
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      My 3 & 6 y/o daughters loved it – being able to share a big-screen SW flick w/ them was pure delight…

    • April 24, 2016 at 12:37 am
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      “what it needed to be for the masses”

      Are you trying to insinuate that you’re not included in the “masses”?

      • April 25, 2016 at 10:08 pm
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        I was referring to the mass general audience that may be more casual in their approach to Star Wars vs someone like myself and those who frequent fan sites like this one who are a little more hardcore. TFA was the perfect film to re-introduce SW to the general public, and I loved it for what it was – but if I’m being honest, I would have been more satisfied with something a little riskier. But in hindsight, it was what it needed to be and I wouldn’t change it. I just look all the more forward to Ep VIII.

        • April 25, 2016 at 11:56 pm
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          In that regard, I agree.

  • April 21, 2016 at 8:07 pm
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    Too bad the movie derailed and they never actually got to tell the story they wanted to i.e. the quest for Luke.

    • April 21, 2016 at 8:54 pm
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      Yeah a pure quest main storyline would be great and even though I really enjoy TFA, Starkiller Base was taking it too far (away from the quest). That time could have been used to have Rey learn more about Luke, and it could have been used to give more room for Han and Leia’s relationship. Oh well.

      • April 21, 2016 at 9:05 pm
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        Yeah that’s the frustrating thing about it. They already had everything they really needed for a great and exciting story with Kylo Ren pursuing Han, Rey and Finn across the galaxy as they search for clues in an attempt to find Luke before the First Order does.

        There was just no need whatsoever to shoehorn another Death Star in there.

        • April 21, 2016 at 9:08 pm
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          I….I think I love you guys. Yes, all of this. A THOUSAND TIMES all of this, particularly as the movies which featured massive weapons, from the very first moments and the crawl, had the stories entirely framed around those weapons – they were MASSIVELY important threats, and weren’t just tacked on afterthoughts late in the second act out of nowhere like SKB was.

          • April 22, 2016 at 2:27 am
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            Starkiller is by far the most generic looking superweapon imaginable as well. The interior looked like it could have come out of any 90’s era Sci-Fi film. If they were going to rehash the Death Star, They could have made it look more original and not take place on a another snow planet after we already saw Hoth in the OT and Mygeeto in the PT.

          • April 22, 2016 at 2:22 pm
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            Yeah a CGI world that people would also bitch about not looking real enough.

          • April 22, 2016 at 3:04 pm
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            Planet Croatia looks more interesting than anything I saw in TFA and it looks to be all practical so far.

        • April 23, 2016 at 4:56 pm
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          Thank you David James. Someone gets it.

      • April 22, 2016 at 3:48 pm
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        This starkiller base was little prequelish.. erm, sorry a little Ottish. Yes it was over the top, and not the small piece

        • April 22, 2016 at 11:53 pm
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          Yes, they took the “stay true to the OT” too far. Which is infinitely preferable to “trying to mimick even a nanosecond of PT”

    • April 21, 2016 at 11:21 pm
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      Even as someone who still loves the movie to death, the fact that it feels like two movies taped together really frustrates me. It reminds me of Super 8 a lot in that respect.

    • April 29, 2016 at 6:45 am
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      Except they did tell the story they wanted to otherwise they would have told that story.

  • April 21, 2016 at 8:14 pm
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    It could have been so silly but the look on Luke’s face sold it. I wish they didn’t go for the mech hand though.. for a moment … it felt prequelish

    • April 21, 2016 at 9:26 pm
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      I’m fine with the hand. Look at him, it doesn’t exactly look like he’s been taking care of himself.

      • April 22, 2016 at 12:53 am
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        Except the wash-machine he needs to have somewhere in the cave…look at his shiny uncle Owen´s robes..

    • April 21, 2016 at 11:01 pm
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      WTF? A mechancal hand is prequelish? Not that that is a bad thing. But WTF again?

      • April 22, 2016 at 12:41 am
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        Agreed. An idiotic comment

        • April 22, 2016 at 11:52 pm
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          Well, thanks for insinuating that I’m not interested in politics. The robot hand is prequelish because, you know, in the prequels we saw a robot hand just like that (Anakin’s). In the OT, mechanical arms/hands were clearly improved with syntethic skin and so I would prefer that in Episode VII. It’s just an opinion, sheesh. But “prequelish” is by all accounts another word for “darth hideous”

          • April 29, 2016 at 6:44 am
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            The prequels exist. They are part of canon. Many people like them especially younger people who have been attacked by older people over their enjoyment of them. The new movies will reference them. Deal with it.

    • April 21, 2016 at 11:13 pm
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      You probably think BB-8 with his ejectable-retractable cables to hold him in place on the Falcon is prequel-ish too. I thought prequel haters would think that.

      • April 22, 2016 at 2:26 am
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        I thought that was fine. Rockets (that would have got him out of several scrapes in prior movies) would have been prequelish.

        • April 22, 2016 at 3:43 pm
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          lol the-spiderman-droid thing ?. i was much ashamed in this scene than i was in ep 3 when ObiWan and Anakin are caught by the paralizing beam in the invisible hand after escapin the deadly lifter. But seriously, i m afraid people takes SW too 1st degree some time

          Edit : Rockets would ve been pointless here.

          • April 22, 2016 at 3:49 pm
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            Yes, that.

            I thought it seemed a pretty reasonable mechanism for him to have. Much like the “lighter” or R2’s electric shock prod or manipulator arm.

            It wasn’t grossly at odds with the capabilities he’d had previously like R2’s rockets in AOTC.

        • April 29, 2016 at 6:42 am
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          What scrapes? Maybe it would have helped him up and down the stairs a bit more. R2 still got thrown around in the ot just like in the pt.

    • April 22, 2016 at 12:23 am
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      I’d have loved if he said one line before the credits rolled… ‘I don’t like sand..’ then cut to credits.

    • April 22, 2016 at 12:58 am
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      They showed it in the OT both in ESB and Jedi so if anything the PT was too OT

  • April 21, 2016 at 9:06 pm
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    ‘Will it seem silly, will it be a joke that he is standing there?’
    .
    Yes. Yes it will. But not because of what that scene is, because of the editing which is more pointless back and forth than the leadup moments to the Sarlaac battle.

    • April 21, 2016 at 9:12 pm
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      You happened to hit on exactly what had bugged me about it that I hadn’t been able to put my finger on. It did feel a bit disjointed on first viewing but it hasn’t bugged me so much in subsequent viewings.

    • April 21, 2016 at 9:37 pm
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      yeah … idve liked him to turn round and ….end credits ,

      helicopter shot was wasted .

      • April 22, 2016 at 12:57 am
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        turn around and what, smile for the camera? That wouldn’t have made sense.

        • April 22, 2016 at 8:52 pm
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          Except he DID do a turn around for the camera. Then they cut back and forth and back and forth between Luke looking like he has gas and Rey holding out the lightsaber for ever.

          • April 23, 2016 at 6:56 am
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            That’s an exaggeration if ever there was one.

          • April 23, 2016 at 6:58 am
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            Also he turned around for Rey not the camera. Big difference.

          • April 25, 2016 at 10:56 pm
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            Sorry – Luke is standing, back to the camera (Rey’s POV), then does a slow turn around, removing his hood. Staging that shot, how is that not 1) a turn around for the camera and 2) an incredibly obvious choice?

          • April 29, 2016 at 6:40 am
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            Like you said it was Rey’s POV so it was a turn around for her that we saw from her perspective. Obvious choice? that’s a matter of opinion but I’m sure the director decided it was the most effective way to handle that scene and seems most people agree… You’re just being too cranky.

        • April 23, 2016 at 12:04 am
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          and two people standing still while the camera span round them did make sense?

          • April 23, 2016 at 6:59 am
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            Well actually that’s kind of how movies and helicopter shots work. Clearly it was designed to be a cliff hanger. No different than the end of Jedi when they gathered together for the group photo.

  • April 21, 2016 at 9:14 pm
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    The one thing I always feel star wars movies need more of is monsters. They’re a fun element, sure it can detract from the main story but they’re the most exciting parts… the Hoth Wampa, the Sarlaac, the Rancor… A couple of different big toothy monsters in each movie would be awesome.

    • April 21, 2016 at 10:05 pm
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      Rathars…

      • April 21, 2016 at 10:48 pm
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        I found them tbh a bit of a cgi mess, and what was it with them eating into everyone but Finn…

        • April 21, 2016 at 11:00 pm
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          They ate some but dragged some others away that we didn’t see what happened to.

        • April 22, 2016 at 12:16 am
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          They reminded me of the many-eyed beasties from Dungeons & Dragons. But yeah, I’d have rathered a Ray Harryhausenesque creature. Retro rules when you’re trying to recreate the feel of movies from the 70’s and 80’s.

        • April 22, 2016 at 12:49 am
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          Yes, this is the major fail, and the only one which bothers me each time I see it – the CGI rathars….too fast, too digital, too non-StarWars, too pointless…

          • April 22, 2016 at 12:56 am
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            I liked them, that was a fun scene.

          • April 22, 2016 at 2:30 pm
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            Who decides what is not SW? Just because we haven’t seen it before in the other movies? It is a big galaxy..

    • April 21, 2016 at 10:47 pm
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      There were far too many monsters in the prequels

    • April 22, 2016 at 12:39 am
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      Reek, Nexu, Acklay.

      • April 22, 2016 at 9:53 am
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        Rathtars

        • April 22, 2016 at 10:24 pm
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          Those Naboo tick-things – gimme more of those!

  • April 21, 2016 at 10:05 pm
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    “Imagine reading Star Wars, imagine being Mark Hamill and you get the
    script for the new Star Wars. ‘Oh the opening is good, page two, oh,
    three and so on – what the f**k is the going on, I’m three pages before
    the end, the last page, what?”

    Mark isn’t the only one who felt that way. It’s my biggest dissapointment, of several, with TFA. It’s the same as if Godfather II had Michael Corleone in only the last 30 seconds.

    • April 22, 2016 at 12:20 am
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      Due to secrecy issues they probably only gave him the page of the script he was on, which he probably thought was a joke. If he’s an optimist he probably figured he gets loads of voice work and it’d make a change to do something involving absolutely no voice work.

    • April 22, 2016 at 5:04 am
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      Or a Superman movie where Superman only shows up at the end!

  • April 21, 2016 at 10:58 pm
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    Truth is, Mark had discussed at length this topic many times during interviews that are easily found on youtube, such as his (SW Celebration 2015 one) over the period of the last two years. He really wasn’t as resistant to do them as one headline implies.

    • April 22, 2016 at 12:55 am
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      What a weird one to bring back. I thought the lack of any familiar aliens in TFA was kind of lame. But I’m not sure I would have recognized this guy as being in ANH, but I’ll take it. Hopefully we get a few more in Episode 8, just not Hammerheads or Greedos since we’ve seen so many now.

      • April 22, 2016 at 2:27 pm
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        He sits to the right when we see Hammerhead in ANH. There are some other oddballs that never get shown again in any of the movies that I’d like to see.

        • April 22, 2016 at 3:07 pm
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          I want to see Ranats in a future movie. Are the sentient R.O.U.S still canon?

        • April 23, 2016 at 6:45 am
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          Agreed . it’s super cool they are bringing some of the obscures back.

    • April 22, 2016 at 3:03 pm
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      is that Trinto Duoba in the right picture? or does that name go with a different cantina alien? I’m glad that there was one familiar species in TFA and it’s cool it was an obscure choice like that, even the prequels didn’t use them I don’t think.

  • April 21, 2016 at 11:28 pm
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    Luke coming in so late in Episode VII makes me believe it’s difficult to kill him in this trilogy. Luke has to be able to build a new Jedi order. Right now it looks like he’s back to square one. I can see them shifting his role to more of Yoda type “Jedi Council” role, but I hope they give his character a chance to be the wise old man for quite some time.

  • April 22, 2016 at 12:48 am
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    I wish they would stop trying to defend the similarities – it just feeds the haters. It all felt perfectly fine to me and I completely understand why they included certainly elements. For me, all the call-backs, references and similar story beats came across more as homages to the original than “lazy copies” as some people keep trying to push. Being reminded what I love about SW while still setting up plenty of original stuff made this movie 100% what I wanted. Some people try awfully hard to not like something…too bad

    • April 22, 2016 at 6:51 pm
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      Honestly, I’m just glad that they’re acknowledging the similarities, and the way they talk about them gives me hope that we get totally wild, new stories for VIII and IX.

    • April 23, 2016 at 4:53 pm
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      Get your nose out of Disneys Ass. Read The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary and you will see how they actually did use “lazy copies”. In fact they make no apologies for it. It was terribly lazy and frankly as close to plagiarism as you can get in a movie.

      • April 23, 2016 at 5:35 pm
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        I will take my nose out of Disney’s ass once you pull yours out of George’s. You can keep calling it plagiarism and I will continue loving the movie.

    • April 22, 2016 at 3:01 pm
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      agreed

  • April 22, 2016 at 2:17 am
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    They are pretty much screwed with Luke now. He’s either going to take over the story in the next one and be as Godly as he was in the old EU or more likely he’s going to be shoved aside/powered down in favor of more Rey and have to be saved all the time though out the film. Unless they go the other route and turn him into crazy old man Luke who can’t remember how to use the force making him the comic relief.

    Why I think he should have died in the last one instead of Han echoing Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan’s death and paying the price for Kylo’s turn. Plus, The idea of him trying to turn him back to the light side like Anakin would be way more realistic than a lifelong cynic like Han doing it. It would be fitting that he was successful in doing so in VI and then making a grave mistake in VII. It would up the stakes for the next film and imagine the pathos it would have gotten out of Leia.

    Though I know the real reason they did it is because Ford is the only OT cast member who would never come back for VIII and IX so he had to be the sacrificial lamb of TFA.

    • April 22, 2016 at 5:02 am
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      To me, Star Wars was always about Luke Skywalker. At this point, I don’t really care if Rey and Finn are in the next movie or not – I want to follow Luke’s story, I want to see what he does next, etc. I could have handled a Luke trilogy. Sure, give him new friends and allies, but make it about Luke.

      I hope they don’t make him the “crazy old man”. But they can’t very well make him a God-like figure, otherwise you don’t really have a compelling trilogy. Can you imagine? Episode 8 – Opening Crawl: “It is a period of celebration. Luke Skywalker, returning from exile, has beaten the shit out of Kylo Ren, stolen his lightsaber, shoved it up Snoke’s butt and turned it on. All is right in the galaxy now. Nothing further to report.” Cue the end credits.

      I understand that it’s a new trilogy, with new heroes, etc, and the more I saw TFA the more I enjoyed it and appreciated it. But on my first viewing, my mind just wouldn’t accept that Luke Skywalker basically gave up and left the galaxy to the mercy of Snoke and Kylo Ren. Especially because Snoke actually seems to be afraid of Luke in the first place.

      I hope they have a really good reason that does justice to Luke – maybe he saw visions of different futures, where no matter what action he took, the outcome was always terrible, and doing nothing was the lesser of all evils.

      Oh, and I wouldn’t have killed Luke in Episode 7, regardless… I still say Leia should have gone first. Kylo Ren killing his mother… that would make the statement that he is “more evil” than Darth Vader, who at least loved Shmi. And it would have given Leia a fitting send off, rather than have her hanging around awkwardly. If the early reports are true that she is in a coma in Episode 8, it just proves they don’t really know what to do with her.

      • April 22, 2016 at 2:55 pm
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        I think a lot of people used to the Yoda powered Luke of the old EU are going to have a problem when he’s not in this one for the very reasons you just stated. I was never a fan of that version due to the lack of tension in the stories but I also don’t want to see them depower him to the point that he’s Rey’s silly geezer sidekick which seems far more likey. There are not many ways out of that conundrum.

      • April 22, 2016 at 5:21 pm
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        Lol Leia is in a coma. What BS. I know Carrie isn’t the best actor but that would be the lamest way possible of covering it up. This isn’t Days of our lives

    • April 22, 2016 at 5:07 am
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      Hmm..interesting..and I’m assuming he would then train Rey as a force ghost instead? I like it..but anyway yea to me I feel they shouldn’t tone down his powers or make him a crazy old man..I want to see him kick ass..I don’t care if he steals the spotlight. I agree and can see how this can be a problem for them now. How can they make Luke be in the story without overshadowing the new cast.

      • April 22, 2016 at 3:01 pm
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        The Empire parallels are unavoidable at this point as he was either going to train her as a spirit or in human form like they decided to go with.

        Why I think he should have died in TFA since what better way to make Kylo a serious threat by killing the Grand Master of the Order and his own mentor? Far more satisfying than his washed up Dad. I also like the idea of Han having to live with the guilt as a result but like I said no amount of money would have gotten him to do VIII or IX.

    • April 22, 2016 at 5:17 pm
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      I don’t see how Luke being in Hans place would have been better. Han is Kylos father, so of course he wants to redeem him. And it’s a lot more tragic for the character of Kylo if he kills his father, rather than his old mentor. It echoes the Luke/Vader stuff from Jedi. Where Luke could have killed Vader, but relented and saved himself from the dark side. Kylo failed that test

      • April 23, 2016 at 7:03 pm
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        He’d want to redeem him but there’s no way the Han of the OT would be dumb enough to meet him unarmed and then have the lightsaber directly pointed at his chest unless the theories of his wanting to commit suicide are true. That’s more Luke’s style who always had more heart than brains. Luke wasn’t just his mentor but his Uncle as well and the last of the Jedi left in the galaxy, It would have been far more of a win for Snoke and the First Order had he killed him and make Kylo’s loss to Rey a little more believable as it could have been blamed on his overconfidence at killing a Grand Master.

  • April 22, 2016 at 4:11 am
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    This is a pretty great article. It’s like this whole journey from pre-production speculation to post-release buzz and nitpicking was all a big mystery; the movie was like the big answer to the mystery where they reveal “who did it”, but then in mysteries there’s always that one last scene after the hubbub has calmed down where all the little loose-ends and remaining questions are answered. Even in real life JJ has made this a mystery with all the proper story beats.

    It’s really cool hearing how all these things like Ardnt’s script tied into the situation and what they meant, all these years later.

    I still call bullshit on Luke being absentee, they could have made it work. |:
    Nice to know that even Mark Hamill knew it was bullshit.

  • April 22, 2016 at 6:53 am
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    She totally should have found him hanging out at Tosche Station.

    • April 22, 2016 at 7:44 am
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      He almost gets this power converters when Rey interrupts the transaction and hands him his old lightsaber.

      • April 22, 2016 at 6:48 pm
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        …You deserve an award.

  • April 22, 2016 at 7:09 am
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    The idea of TFA ending with Luke is awesome. But it was badly executed by J.J. , cause the last take of the movie is very plain,: you could see Luke on the cliff looking bitter but I couldn’t feel his Jedi’s mystique on that take…Maybe filming on that islands was hard but from a director who did that Leonard Nimoys scene on Fringe, did the whole Spielberg’s homage on Super 8…I was hoping a magical ending on TFA like Luke mediating on the Force, rebulding the lightsaber by Force or just pushing the lightsaber to his hands.

    • April 22, 2016 at 1:04 pm
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      I respectfully disagree. I thought the final sequence was incredible. It was so exciting to witness in the cinema. We’d waited decades to finally see Luke Skywalker again. I loved Rey’s slow ascension of the steps,. and the first shot of Luke seen from behind he looked like some kind of monk or medieval knight. I’ve waited my whole life to see a Jedi Knight portrayed this way. I loved he way how he slowly turns round, and pulls back the hood of the cloak to finally reveal himself, and that strange enigmatic look on his face as he looks at his original lightsaber, just fantastic.

      • April 22, 2016 at 5:13 pm
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        I agree. And less is more. We don’t need to see Luke building a light sabre to know he’s a Jedi lol. For me he had a real aura about him on screen, which was kinda scary in a way. Like we weren’t sure if he was good or had turned to the dark side. The movie did well to build his mystique along the way, and it paid off. I was giddy seeing Luke again at the end, and he deserved the build up. Only hope now is that they can maintain that feeling in the next film. I think they will

        • April 29, 2016 at 10:14 am
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          Exactly!! TFA went for the “Less is more” approach with many things, and this in itself creates hype for Episode VIII. Its an very smart move. Here we are basically dying to see more of Luke Skywalker, more than one and a half years before the episode hopefully premiers. I’m not saying TFA is flawless, but keeping it all a bit subdued, vague, with little exposition, at least for me, heightens my interest.

    • April 22, 2016 at 3:28 pm
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      To be honest i ve seen a lot of the work of Abrams. and while i liked everything i ve seen, i always have felt his productions were missing something. and his biggest flaw in Tfa and what he made before, he always kinda chose the easy way to go. Movie makers have to stop thinking for the consumer. While people still hate Prequels, they re obviously more creative than TFA, and TFA has wooden acting too, i mean carrie fisher wooden dialogue… i would not make a list.

      • April 22, 2016 at 10:40 pm
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        He already said why he and Lawrence did what they did. Now when 8 and 9 venture into new things not seen in SW before, I am sure plenty of people will bitch about that too. Can’t win over everybody, ever. If you think you can make everyone 100 percent happy, I have lots of bridges to sell you. If you can even get 90 percent you are doing damned good.

      • April 22, 2016 at 10:41 pm
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        Over 2 billion dollars says you are wrong.

  • April 22, 2016 at 7:19 am
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    TFA has incredible moments, a perfect Han Solo,jawdroping spaceships sequences, a sexy incredible lovely Rey, an evil bastard Kylo Ren…but I think as time goes by you could understand the script has a lot of flaws and missed opportunities

    • April 22, 2016 at 2:15 pm
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      Yeah Larry Kasdan brought in because fans orgasm over Empire Strikes Back, yet they still aren’t happy. If you think you are ever going to get 100 percent good reviews from everyone on a SW film, I got a bridge for sale. You can’t please everyone.

      • April 22, 2016 at 5:08 pm
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        I don’t why JJ even bothered to respond to those critics. He made a great film, that’s justification enough. He doesn’t need to dissect and explain his decisions to the haters

    • April 22, 2016 at 4:04 pm
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      You could say the same with the original movies. It sure as hell is unfortunate that Luke had it bad for his sister.

  • April 22, 2016 at 7:43 am
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    Omg I just figured it out. Luke is Plaugesis!!!!

    • April 22, 2016 at 6:47 pm
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      I also just figured it out! C-3PO was sent to the past to kill young Anakin, but ended up being reprogrammed by the evil genius instead!

  • April 22, 2016 at 10:51 am
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    “The weird thing about that movie is that it had been so long since the last one. Obviously the prequels had existed in between and we wanted to, sort of, reclaim the story. So we very consciously – and I know it is derided for this – we very consciously tried to borrow familiar beats so the rest of the movie could hang on something that we knew was Star Wars.” Abrams Said.

    How much more proof do we need about JJ hating the prequels?

    • April 22, 2016 at 2:13 pm
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      He said he liked EP3.

    • April 22, 2016 at 3:19 pm
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      Downvoted for trying to flame a discussion

    • April 22, 2016 at 4:58 pm
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      Who the hell cares? He is not a member of a Star Wars cult. He is a Star Wars fan and is allowed to his own opinion on things he may like or dislike.

    • April 22, 2016 at 5:27 pm
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      Reported for trying to rile people up and bait peiopl

      • April 22, 2016 at 8:50 pm
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        Oh, DO shut up, Marsha.

        • April 23, 2016 at 7:40 am
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          It’s a Marsha disguised as a Leslie.

          • April 25, 2016 at 10:38 pm
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            It SHOULD have disguised itself as “Jan” – huge missed opportunity.

      • April 24, 2016 at 12:26 am
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        And YOU have been reported for filing false reports and basically being Marsha 2.0. So there’s that.

  • April 22, 2016 at 1:10 pm
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    I think if there had only ever been the original Death Star then another one after this much time would have been easier to swallow

  • April 22, 2016 at 9:46 pm
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    The ending was pretty silly, and it happens so fast there was no impact.

    Hopefully they make up for it next time.

    • April 22, 2016 at 11:48 pm
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      The ending gets me more and more for each time I watch it – the impact actually *is* the “What? That’s it?” feeling…followed very closely by “Me see more pls now”

      • April 25, 2016 at 4:21 pm
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        My reaction was “So that’s how they’re ending it huh? Okaaaaaaay whatever.”

  • April 23, 2016 at 7:19 am
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    The new hope rehash was dumb, and a little more Luke could have been done. They could of had him doing something else. So he didn’t take over Rey’s scenes. That simple really.

  • April 23, 2016 at 4:44 pm
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    ” While we probably could have done without another Death Star to allow a bit more of a creative ending, revealing Luke Skywalker at the last minute somewhat makes up for that shortcoming.” You keep telling yourself that. It most certainly does not.

  • April 23, 2016 at 6:49 pm
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    I get what they are saying about Luke but I waited forever to see Luke back in a Star Wars film and all we get is a minute with no dialogue. Like come on! Can he at least speak!!!! He could have said something like Rey, are you ready…?

  • April 24, 2016 at 11:53 am
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    JJ is yet again revealed to be a hack and liar. Kasdan didn’t have room to fit in Luke because all the stuff JJ was doing to remake ANH was in there.

    JJ was dead wrong about Luke being in the last 30 seconds. It’s hokey, it’s maddening, it feels tacked on, especially because of that “Low power mode” ex machina bs with R2. JJ can’t find 5 minutes for the hero of the last three movies, because darn-it, we need a scene where the garbage shaft gets used, and scenes showing off the obvious cantina homage that looks like a Disney version of the last one.

    Geez, JJ should never direct another film. He’d be a fantastic set, props, and costume concept design team leader for a sequel of any scifi or similar movie. Or do cinematography for a good director.

    But never direct again.

    • April 25, 2016 at 6:45 am
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      Who hurt you so much that you can’t love?

  • April 29, 2016 at 5:25 pm
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    I disagree with a few points made by JJ.Abrams here. Firstly, I want to state that I enjoyed ‘The Force Awakens’ and am grateful for Abrams’ contribution in bringing the franchise back to the big screen. I feel, however, the creative decisions raised in this article made the film lacklustre. In my opinion TFA is at best a mediocre film because it didn’t do anything new with the Star Wars cinematic universe. Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy was such a success in part because it took Star Wars in a bold new direction. In Thrawn, for example, we got a very different villain to Vader. The story also created a more morally ambiguous ambiguous setting which challenged the audience to question the assumption of the original trilogy that a democracy was naturally the best way to govern the galaxy. There was further depth given to the ordinary rank and file soldiers of the empire. We learnt that many within the empire saw the order as desirable not just because it allowed them opportunities but also because they saw strong leadership as a way to avoid the chaos of the Old and New Republic. The First Order by contrast are stereotypical mono-dimensional bad guys (that for no apparent explanation are now regarded as synonymous with the dark side of the force). The problem is that we have all seen it before in the original trilogy.

    I don’t worship at the font of the EU, nor I am advocating that Disney should have just adapted its novels; the point I am making is that there was potential to explore the Star Wars in a more creative way and take a different perspective on familiar themes.

    I disagree with the statement that they had to essentially recycle the plot from a ANH to make TFA seem familiar. I don’t even think that SW needed a reintroduction for a new generation. I can’t speak for how it is in other countries, but in the UK, SW is virtually inescapable. All of the films are shown on one of the main channels more or less constantly and you would find it difficult to find someone who has never seen them. I know several people within my circles who have introduced the franchise to their very young children. The merchandising is pretty much everywhere. There was definitely room for a more original plot in TFA.

    I am keeping fingers crossed that episode VIII will be more adventurous.

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