Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens (Abrams 2015) -- SPOILERS THERE ARE.

[TGM]

Another interesting article that questions what The Force Awakens' unoriginality means for big sci-fi movies moving forward: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the...urce=mbtwitter

[Philip J. Fry]

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I don't think Rey is a Mary Sue, at least not by the original definition of that term (she's obviously not a stand-in for JJ or Kasdan). I do think she's a touch overpowered, although they can wave most of that away in the next movie provided she's made to be "force sensitive." In the original movie, every character had a clearly defined role and skillset and personality. In TFA, several characters are good at the same things and have similar personalities.

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If they give her way more to do and increase the stakes (sort of the same way they did with Luke on ESB, it will fix all the troubles I have with her.

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But: one of the things I thought was legitimately funny was that Rey is so capable and Finn has no idea what he's doing. He pretty much sucks at everything, gets knocked down and punched out multiple times, and needs to be rescued more than once. I thought this was a neat contrast to Rey kicking so much ass.

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That was legitimately funny (it helps that John Boyega has a great comedic timing). And it's one of the things that makes both of them great together.

That is super goddamn lame of them, especially given it's really the only legit spoiler in the entire movie.

Yeah, totes. So malicious.

One of my bigger disappointments was that Leia was once again relegated to the sidelines. Her lines are mostly expositional, which is a far cry from where that character started. I hope the same thing doesn't happen to Rey.

I have hopes that on the next film Leia will have more to do. The more I think about it, this movie is more about introducing the new players for this new generation. In that regards, it makes sense to give the older cast less time (except for Han, for obvious reasons). In the next they can expand on the characters and Leia could see more time (I mean, someone has to take Han's screentime and both Luke and her can perfectly split said screentime).

Max Von Sydow's appearance made me chuckle. [

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The fanboy bloggers made such a huge deal of it when he was originally cast and his part is less than nothing.

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I could see him appearing more in flashbacks (I mean, J. J. and Rian Johnson are no strangers to said devises).

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[megladon8]

What do you mean by giving Rey more to do? She was the core of the whole movie.

[Philip J. Fry]

What do you mean by giving Rey more to do? She was the core of the whole movie.

But I don't think they gave her something to truly explore her potential character flaws or to create some sort of true emotional conflict.
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The most they did is to make her want to stay in Jakku, but she moved away from that very quickly.

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What I mean is that I hope that on the next movie she is actually force to make some sort of impossible choices, to give her a really emotional struggle. In short, to give her something that could potentially tempt her to the dark side of the force. It could even be [

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a nice contrast with Ren who is being tempted by the light side.

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[TGM]

Haven't we seen enough "tempted by the dark side" stories, though? Kylo Ren provides a nice contrast to that, but I'd kinda prefer if we could otherwise avoid visiting that well yet again moving forward.

[Philip J. Fry]

Haven't we seen enough "tempted by the dark side" stories, though? Kylo Ren provides a nice contrast to that, but I'd kinda prefer if we could otherwise avoid visiting that well yet again moving forward.

Being tempted by the dark side, by negative emotions, by any sort of conflict is a staple of fiction of all kinds. If you have a character, specially one who is very physically powerful like Rey, and you don't give him/her any kind of struggle (and I mean real struggle, the one where there is actual suffering), you're not only going to have a very flat and boring character, the writing will feel lazy.

There are tons of reasons to tempt a character with the dark side which gives us several ways to play that kind of story.

[megladon8]

I also think Finn was just as heroic as Rey. Summing him up as a "wannabe hero" (as someone stated earlier in he thread) is unfair.

He shows just as much integrity and heroism as Rey, he just doesn't have badass force powers.

[Philip J. Fry]

I also think Finn was just as heroic as Rey. Summing him up as a "wannabe hero" (as someone stated earlier in he thread) is unfair.

Most definitely. I think he might not seem as heroic because, well, he doesn't have Rey's powers and because he seems more reluctant and insecure about it.

He shows just as much integrity and heroism as Rey, he just doesn't have badass force powers.

True, true. We're still not sure he doesn't have Jedi powers, though.

[TGM]

Being tempted by the dark side, by negative emotions, by any sort of conflict is a staple of fiction of all kinds. If you have a character, specially one who is very physically powerful like Rey, and you don't give him/her any kind of struggle (and I mean real struggle, the one where there is actual suffering), you're not only going to have a very flat and boring character, the writing will feel lazy.

There are tons of reasons to tempt a character with the dark side which gives us several ways to play that kind of story.

Didn't say there shouldn't be conflict of some kind, just that that particular conflict has been done and done again already in this series, and it'd be nice to see something new and fresh instead for a change.

[Philip J. Fry]

Didn't say there shouldn't be conflict of some kind, just that that particular conflict has been done and done again already in this series, and it'd be nice to see something new and fresh instead for a change.

If they find another way, I welcome it. I have doubts they'd try that, though.

[Ezee E]

I'm guessing VIII will have Rey sidelined in a similar way that Luke was when he was with Yoda for a bit.

At the same time, perhaps Kylo will be sidelined with Snook.

So, what would the core be about?

[Dukefrukem]

That's a shame about the Target set, but I was actually at the Disney store today looking for gifts and spotted this:




Was the only multi-character set I saw in the store. Snapped a photo because I had read the discussion above earlier.

Yeh my GF's nephew got that too. Also snapped a pic.

[bac0n]

Fin performed the single most heroic act in the entire movie, and he did so at the very beginning: he refused to mindlessly follow orders and slaughter the villagers, and later turned on the First Order, giving up the only life he had ever known and making himself a marked man, simply because "it was the right thing to do."

On second thought, that might be the single most heroic act in all of the Star Wars cannon.

[Ezee E]

Fin performed the single most heroic act in the entire movie, and he did so at the very beginning: he refused to mindlessly follow orders and slaughter the villagers, and later turned on the First Order, giving up the only life he had ever known and making himself a marked man, simply because "it was the right thing to do."

On second thought, that might be the single most heroic act in all of the Star Wars cannon.

Wonderful post.

[megladon8]

Anyone think there's any truth to the Internet speculation that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis?

[Dukefrukem]

Anyone think there's any truth to the Internet speculation that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis?

There's no evidence so it's anyone's guess. Would be cool. Would be even cooler if that's how Anikan was born. Which means Luke is Plagueis's grandson. Which means Rey is Plagueis's great granddaughter.

[Dukefrukem]

You guys are assuming that

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1) Rey is Luke's kid. (please don't be true, for the love of God, please don't be true).

2) Luke is still a good guy.

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I've decided I'd rather it be Obi-Wan's daughter instead.

[Dukefrukem]

[Dukefrukem]

Whoa cool. The original title was going to be "Shadow of the Empire" Not to be confused with Shadows of the Empire.

[Winston*]

I've decided I'd rather it be Obi-Wan's daughter instead.

How are you working out the time frames on that one? Ghost Ben out on the prowl?

[Dukefrukem]

How are you working out the time frames on that one? Ghost Ben out on the prowl?

Midichlorians semen?

[TGM]

Midichlorians semen?

Truly, the force works in mysterious ways...

[Dukefrukem]

Winston's right though. I may have overshot that decade. Or maybe Rey was frozen in carbonite as a baby. (I'm just making stuff up)

[Mr. McGibblets]

I don't think there's any specific reason she couldn't be Obi-Wan's granddaughter or great-granddaughter.

[megladon8]

I don't care who her parents are. She's a wonderful character regardless.

Both of the young leads are. With these two at the forefront, the future of the franchise is bright.