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Um, YES! I'm a little more than disappointed we see absolutely nothing of a certain Skywalker, but maybe they don't want to reveal his role too much? Can't wait for December!

New trailer for Season 3 of Rebels. Also, why didn't we talk about The Force Awakens?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmXp802sFgQ

WarriorSatyr said:

New trailer for Season 3 of Rebels. Also, why didn't we talk about The Force Awakens?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmXp802sFgQ

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I haven't watched any of Rebels except for a few clips here and there, but I have to say that season 3 looks very interesting, especially with the addition of Thrawn. I may have to catch up on the series closer to time that season 3 is released on dvd!

And I haven't discussed TFA because I'm not crazy about it. In fact, I have a lot of issues with it that I keep to myself because as usual I'm against the majority who loved it and in general it starts an argument with the other side. I AM looking forward to Rogue One, if it is as the first trailer promised.

I'd seriously love to talk about your issues with TFA. I personally enjoyed it, but there were a few problems with it.

WarriorSatyr said:

I'd seriously love to talk about your issues with TFA. I personally enjoyed it, but there were a few problems with it.

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Short version:

I hated the exclusion of most of the EU material. Obviously this is because Disney has essentially thrown out the EU as canon and replaced it with the new junk. Luke's not married, has no children, and Han and Leia are minus two children in this version and I'm still confused as to whether or not they were ever married in this version of films/stories. Not to mention the death of a certain Solo didn't help my feelings toward the movie either.

Also had some issues with both Rey and Finn picking up a lightsaber and having some skill with it (Rey even getting the best of Ren), though I'm told my feelings aren't founded on anything but dislike.

And I felt as if the movie was a rehash of A New Hope. Pretty sure I'm not alone in that regard, however.

Well, I never liked most of the EU, so I can't really sympathize with you in that regard. Sorry.

I assumed that Finn was halfway decent with a lightsaber because he had been trained in staff weapons similarly to the riot trooper he fought earlier in the movie, and that his problems fighting that trooper were due to an unfamiliarity with the weapon. Note that Maz had to inform him that it was, in fact, a weapon. By the time he fought Kylo, on the other hand, he was slightly more familiar with it, although he still lost badly.

I also assumed that Rey's victory was due to the fact that she was familiar with staff weapons, had pulled some lightsaber techniques from Kylo's mind during their mental battle (along with some other Force techniques), and that Kylo was seriously injured and distraught during their duel.

All of this is my opinion, obviously, but I think it makes sense. Sorry it got so long.

I thought that the movie was a rehash of A New Hope, but I actually enjoyed that. They were trying to get back to what people liked about Star Wars, differentiate the new era from the Prequels, and show us how the new characters behave in familiar situations. I thought it worked out nicely.

I didn't like certain characters dying, either, though.

Maybe, but since we already have ANH I felt it was unnecessary to revisit it. Like or dislike the EU, it's been established since, what? 1978? 1979? And Abrams, along with Lucasfilm/Disney decided to trash it. I don't like that kind of stomping on the fans, which is what it felt like. While I'm not a big Thrawn expert, I'm glad he's getting some screen time in season 3 of Rebels. It may help soothe some hurt feelings of fans who were rather attached to the EU.

Don't get me wrong. I liked the movie. I'd rather watch it than any of Abrams' Trek films, especially since he's a confirmed fan of SW (he's said he doesn't even like Star Trek in past interviews), and I was glad there were no lens flares. However, I didn't love it and I felt rather let down. Maybe VIII will be an improvement. Who knows.

I'm still really looking forward to Rogue One, particularly because I found out that a Clone Wars/Rebels character (Saw Gerrera) will be transitioning into a LIVE ACTION character! Here's to hoping that characters like Ahsoka Tano are next in line!

There were issues, of course. I'm chalking it up to the new series still finding its feet. VIII will undoubtedly be an improvement.

And I didn't like the Onderon arc (I just didn't like Lux Bonteri, actually), but I am very excited for a TCW character showing up in live action.

What I'm really hoping for is a live-action film about Mandalorians, though.

I thought TFA was quite terrible. It felt like it was written and costumed by a bunch of teenagers at a Star Wars convention. There was no new story, just an attempt to make the old story even bigger and more dramatic. Also, when are the baddies going to learn to build a space station that can't be blown up with a single well-aimed shot?? As I was watching I realised not far in that it was going to be dire, but I tried to get some enjoyment out of it by thinking of it as a spoof version of Episode IV.

Moreover, I think Episodes I-VI formed a cohesive story arc, but Episode VII doesn't seem to belong with the same story. Granted, there is to be an VIII and IX, so there is time for a new story arc to be demonstrated, but I truly hope the future episodes will be better than VII. I will be interested to find out how Luke is in Episode VIII.

Peeps

They couldn't blow it up with one well-aimed shot, though? There was a huge space battle in which the X-Wings did multiple bombing runs without making a scratch. It was only after Han and Chewbacca blew the oscillator open from inside that Poe flew in and destroyed vital equipment. The whole planet then blew up because it had an entire star inside of it.

Still, making a space station that is vulnerable to the whole thing blowing up is somewhat inept; you'd think the baddies would have learnt from the fate of the two death stars that this is a design flaw they shouldn't repeat.

Peeps

Each of the Death Stars (and Starkiller Base) have had totally different flaws.

The Death Star had the thermal exhaust port, which was ray shielded. The only things that would go in were proton torpedoes, which the Rebellion had very few of.

The Death Star II was unfinished, which allowed the Millenium Falcon to fly right into its infrastructure and blow its power core.

Starkiller Base had no such design flaw, and had to be manually cracked open. With the nature of how ships' power cores work in Star Wars, there is no way to build something that doesn't blow up if you destroy large portions of its inner workings.

I still think it's a design flaw.

Only in the sense that if some one put a bunch of grenades in the engine room of a battleship and wrecked it, that would be a design flaw.

It might wreck it; it probably wouldn't sink it or kill everyone aboard.

The battleship didn't just absorb a star, either.

Peepiceek said:

Moreover, I think Episodes I-VI formed a cohesive story arc, but Episode VII doesn't seem to belong with the same story. Granted, there is to be an VIII and IX, so there is time for a new story arc to be demonstrated, but I truly hope the future episodes will be better than VII. I will be interested to find out how Luke is in Episode VIII.

Peeps

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This. *applauds in agreement*

No cohesion. I don't care that it's a "new trilogy", the previous "new trilogy" told a story to an end. Meaning, it had a solid beginning and a solid end. I think that's what bothers me the most about Ep. 7. It feels (almost) completely out of a place in a franchise where the previous films have been well defined in the arcs. I feel like this is partly due to Disney throwing out the EU and starting over (which I still disagree with greatly), the material is just not established and doesn't fit into what many fans accept as canon/truth. Much as I dislike Ep. 1, and Ep. 2 to a point, both of them had a story that was designed to fit into the flow of the films that came before it. Or it was designed to guide the stories TO the previous films. If that makes sense, I feel like those two sentences don't make any sense. LOL.

Now, I echo your sentiment, hopefully the next two in this trilogy will have a more defined story arc. Otherwise I'll be back to complain about it.

I'm not that upset about them doing away with the EU, I was at first but honestly the EU was so big and contradicted itself at times and it's a very understandable decision. Currently I'm reading Bloodline, one of the new novels, and it's really good (By the way Aravis, Han and Leia were married), it's about Leia and so far about her time in politics after the destruction of the second Death Star and a while before TFA (Pretty sure Kylo/Ben is still a young child in it).
They are certainly bringing elements of the EU back, like with Thrawn, they are also releasing new Thrawn novels written by the guy who made the original novels. I also think Rogue One is going to be heavily based off of the Dark Forces video game (even though they've said it's not). Both are about getting the Death Star plans, the game had Jyn Erso, the movie has Jan Ors. Also pretty sure the male lead is Kyle Katan (he'll have a different name in the movies), they also had the same types of Stormtroopers in the trailer as there is in the game. So don't disdain, I think they are just planning on picking out the best parts of the EU to implement into the new saga.

But I agree that the new movie was pretty bland, but they really had no choice. Everyone was expecting it to be a repeat of Episode I so they had to remain really conservative with the story telling. I think this movie is just setting up the next two which I believe will blow our minds. In my opinion Episode IV wasn't the most exciting movie either, Episode V was the best Star Wars period, I think that we'll see something similar happen in Episode VIII. JJ Abrams is pretty famous for putting twists in his films, I just watched 10 Cloverfield Lane and it kept turning me around so much I had no idea what was happening and I loved it. So I think all this mirroring of Episode IV was completely on purpose, and left us with an OK movie, not a great one but that's all we can hope for right now, at least it wasn't a bad one.
Here's a few things that I think will happen in Episode VIII though, so SPOILERS.
Rey is not Luke's daughter. Honestly I would think it very boring if she was, she is a very powerful force user but there would just be way too many Skywalkers in this next movie if that's the case.
Also I think Rey is going to end up the villain at some point, with Kylo Ren being the good guy. He says so himself that he feels the pull to the light, and I'm pretty sure the end of the novel adaption of the movie says that when Luke see's Rey for the first time, he is fearful. Possibly because he knows who Rey really is.
Han will definitely be in the next movie, probably as flashbacks or something, all I know is that he is casted in the film on IMDB.
I want to see more Poe, I hope he's a main character in this next movie because he was honestly my favorite character next to Finn.

I could keep going on though, I'm a huge fan of Star Wars and would talk about it for hours.

I'm not that upset about them doing away with the EU, I was at first but honestly the EU was so big and contradicted itself at times and it's a very understandable decision. Currently I'm reading Bloodline, one of the new novels, and it's really good (By the way Aravis, Han and Leia were married), it's about Leia and so far about her time in politics after the destruction of the second Death Star and a while before TFA (Pretty sure Kylo/Ben is still a young child in it).

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That's good to know about Bloodlines, I've seen it advertised but haven't bought it yet. I've got so many to-read books on my physical and virtual bookshelves it's not even funny. I want to get some of them knocked out before buying any more (although the bookworm in me loves to buy new books!). I purchased Scoundrels (been out for a year or so), and The Rise of the Empire, which is actually a combination of 5 different things (two novels, one of them being Tarkin, and 3 short stories). Hastings was having their close-out sale...I took advantage.

But I agree that the new movie was pretty bland, but they really had no choice. Everyone was expecting it to be a repeat of Episode I so they had to remain really conservative with the story telling. I think this movie is just setting up the next two which I believe will blow our minds. In my opinion Episode IV wasn't the most exciting movie either, Episode V was the best Star Wars period, I think that we'll see something similar happen in Episode VIII.

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Hadn't considered this. I'm not a huge fan of Ep. 4, but Ep. 5 is my favorite and certainly the two following Ep. 4 improved on interest and excitement.

Here's a few things that I think will happen in Episode VIII though, so SPOILERS.
Rey is not Luke's daughter. Honestly I would think it very boring if she was, she is a very powerful force user but there would just be way too many Skywalkers in this next movie if that's the case.

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What would you think if they made her a Kenobi? It's a long shot, and honestly I don't see them going that route, but imagine if a Kenobi ended up becoming a villain. Of course, I'm still hoping we'll see an Obi-Wan film made in the near future, and that Ewan will return to reprise his role there. That shouldn't come as any surprise, however.

I want to see more Poe, I hope he's a main character in this next movie because he was honestly my favorite character next to Finn.

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I think most fans agree with you here. I wasn't expecting to like Poe as much as I did, but he really is just a likable character without you even having to try and like him!

There was a lot I liked about The Force Awakens. Visually, it was immensely superior to the prequels. I'm glad they didn't over-do it in this movie. There were not five lightsaber battles in this film nor was their a villain using four lightsabers at once. Back to basics. There were nods to the classic trilogy and the prequel trilogy, but especially to the classic trilogy. I actually loved how many reversed parallels there were to the original Star Wars movie. Some were more obvious, others more subtle:

1. The opening shot: In "A New Hope" it's a huge ship over Tatooine. In "The Force Awakens" it's the shadow of a huge ship over Jakku.

2. Princess Leia captured by Darth Vader's Imperial Stormtroopers in route to Tatooine, later freed by Luke & Han disguised as storm troopers...versus TFA (opening): Poe Dameron imprisoned by the First Order over Jakku but liberated by a defecting Stormtrooper.


3. An orphaned farm boy leaves his home planet aboard the millennium Falcon not with the purpose of finding his father, although he certainly will...versus TFA: A self-reliant scavenger pilots a legendary starship as she flees from her home planet and hopes to be reunited with her family.

4. The scene in which Han's dies in painful to watch (I like to skip this part of the movie now) but it tied together several previous scenes quite well including the death of Darth Maul and Qui Gon as well as Vader and Obiwan's meeting in A New Hope.

I could list several more examples but I'm too tired to right now. The visuals were amazing. I will say the movie was very dark though, which was disappointing. I didn't like that. Dark in obvious and in subtle ways. Lines like "Look how old you've become" and "A magical power that holds good and evil together" certainly aren't guiding principles for those of us who are Christians, but probably reflect the attitudes of a lot of people these days. Anyway...