Okay, that would be awesome in its own way. But what I'd really like to see are more stories set in the Star Wars universe but not so tightly tied into the originals. Surely there are interesting events and characters in other parts of the galaxy that can be highlighted other than those that have some tie to the original movies.

what is Finn holding? Looks like some kind of a tripped out blade.

Look like a modified version of what TR-8R was holding in FA

so the film is upon us! I've seen one news thing praising it already. I haven't seen it yet. I remember what Mark Hamill said about them ruining the character of Luke Skywalker. So I'm gonna throw out what I thought was going down by the end of the last film, before the movie has had time to be out in a normal release.

so the big thing with Luke is why he hid himself away on a planet in the middle of nowhere while all of this bad shit is happening when he is the one most equipped to try and put a stop to it. to put it simply, I think it's because he's Rei's father. he failed with Kylo, who is now gone darkside. that must be pretty painful. Luke was the one who was supposed to make sure nothing happened to Kylo in this regard and he failed. so, you think about Luke Skywalker the person. why was he not trying to put that right? why was he not trying to redeem or at least stop Kylo? Kylo was after all leading a damn army against the political infrastructure of his own parents. on top of being family, being the son of Luke's sister and his best friend. it's because Luke chose his daughter over everything else. after watching what happened to Kylo he wouldn't dare take the chance with his own daughter. so he sent her away to Tatooine to keep her out of it just like Obi-Wan and Yoda did with him. this time though, he wanted her to stay out of it. he was terrified of what a life with the force might actually end up doing to her. and then he hid.

he knew that people would try to find him. if he returned, he would be famous. it might draw her out. she has the force after all. now, you could say that he could just do everything in secret. and while that might be possible, maybe he didn't trust himself. maybe he felt that if he wasn't truly isolated with no way back, he wouldn't be able to avoid her. so he marooned himself on the planet with no way off and no way for anyone to find him.

now, luke is a force sensitive guy. so as Kylo is doing all this shit, he must be feeling it. he must be sensing echoes in the force. so he's entirely alone on this planet, constantly hounded by the ever darkening echo of the actions of this monster he probably blames himself for playing a part in creating. time passes, Kylo gets worse, what he does gets worse, but Luke won't leave. or maybe he can't leave. maybe he would have left if he could. maybe he's happy he can't and maybe that makes him miserable. maybe he can leave if he really wants but he won't and that makes him miserable. basically, this is not a happy guy. then Kylo does what he does at the end of VII. Luke must have felt that in the force. so, basically, Luke is probably miserable. maybe even half crazy.

now, this planet he is on. maybe it's just isolated, maybe he chose it because it masks the force or something. so his sister wouldn't be able to find him that way. maybe this means he doesn't sense Rei coming during her journey. in his half crazed woodsman state maybe he doesn't even know what the hell he is sensing when he does start to sense her coming. the point his, he doesn't sense Rei until she is right on top of him. so then she gets on the planet and he feels her coming and she makes her way to him. and he can no doubt feel her there, but there's something else.

he turns around, and what does he see? his father's lightsaber. the infernal thing. the symbol of the start of the fall of his father. the start of his own tumult. now in the outstretched arm of his daughter, representing a request to start the same thing all over with her. if a lightsaber could look smug or have a shit eating grin this one would have it right now. hey pal, type of thing. and he can't just tell her he can't help her with her training. she's already got the lightsaber, she showed up in the falcon. she's already involved in all of it. if he leaves it to her, it's his fault if something bad happens to her. but worse, when he trains her, it will be his fault if she turns. the stakes for him are very high. given what's at stake for him, he could pretty much go down any path from here.

and this is what I think the setup is for the next movie, and probably Luke's eventual tear-jerking death scene. I got all this from Mark Hamill's reaction at the end of VII, and I'm pretty keen on finding out which way they go with it, and why Hamill had a problem with what they'd done with the character.

edit: as I read this back as I do some edits for grammar and readability, I realized that the age thing screws this up. the only way it makes sense is if someone else other than Luke set Rei's isolation in motion without Luke knowing, and Luke only found out about her later and only then dropped everything and left. or, if his decision to put her on Tatooine in her young years predated his decision to isolate himself.

Minor (non-plot) spoiler ahead:








Apparently, in the credits there's a special message about Carrie Fisher.

(Haven't seen the new movie yet.)

That wasn't Tatooine.

Honestly, I kinda wish there was no grand mystery and importance behind Rey's family. Let's not rip-off the original trilogy any more, let's not have another "I am your father". Then again I wish there was no Rey to begin with :D Maybe this movie will change my mind about her, but I really doubt it.

right! thank you. jappi or jaffi or something like that. jakku the wiki tells me. also, it's rey not rei. but in practice it's basically tatooine.

Pretty much. I guess the only "importance" of it being some place else is that at least it doesn't make the SW universe feel quite so small that everything important has to happen on Tatooine. Plus, Jakku is the place of the final huge battle between Rebels/New Republic and the Empire (hence the wrecked Star Destroyers), but I have no idea if that will ever tie into anything in the new movies.

Saw the movie (in a municipal theater appropriately named "The Star", for $3, with awful sound but no Russian celeb VAs, so a massive win in total). There were no anti-cammer harassment, but, miraculously, no one fucked around with their phone during the movie either.

It was marked 16+ for some reason and I was worried there for a moment. Nah, it's still Star Wars, which means occasional cringeworthy jokes for those in the audience who haven't yet gone through potty training, and pre-K philosophy. Actually funny jokes are still in the majority tho.

They fixed a lot of the shit that was wrong with the Star Wars universe and made it clear the rest is on the way out. As a weird side effect, the prequels now carry different >implications and fit better into the storyline. The last bastion of the #1 shitty idea through the movie was, bizarrely, Rey; but they also have a factual narrative rebuttal of it in the movie and hand the verbalization of it to Kylo Ren, so I suppose that was done intentionally to justify the plot and make him tolerable as a person.

The sausagefest is officially over. Weisswurst is comic relief now.

Their take on the wretched hive of scum and villainy would make Marx proud.

The bad: The best character dies. I only read the leaked subs before watching so that came as an unpleasant surprise.

I'm going back tomorrow to see it again.

Pretty great.

Even if there was no Episode 9, I'd still be happy with how the story ended here.

I liked Force Awakens, but it was JJ Abrams' movie through and through, complete with all of his "mystery box" bullshit. I loved that this movie's take on mysteries was to say "Who gives a shit? Now, let's move on, shall we?" and throw them off a cliff.

LOVED IT.

Yeah I'm a stupid biased fanboy Star Wars dork, what's new? :P

Loved it Loved it.

In that case, did you love it as much as you loved Jar Jar Binks? Or perhaps more so??

Cried my eyes out over ???'s death, went to, ahem, listen to the movie a second time.

Despite the 16+ restriction, half of today's audience was furriner kids, who kept discussing character motivations during the movie in loud whispers. Uh kids, this is Star Wars. I'm here to see ??? cut the ???. So are you, you just don't know it yet. Please STFU.

Judging by the leaked subs, the dialogue was mostly terrible. It doesn't get much better at the theater, as two predominant modes of delivery used are shouting and declamation. Whenever a character made a sane comment in a normal human voice, the audience laughed, partially with the character but also at the movie. The art of contemplative moviemaking is dead, and Disney threw the last vibrospadeful of dirt onto its grave. The writers' attempts at epicness just come off as ricockulous, even ??? is not immune.

This is particularly noticeable when you consider deaths. Every "main" character's death, no matter which side they're on (I won't say "named character" - it's Star Wars and everyone is named), is corny and cringeworthy. Side characters die with honor and dignity. ??? got the best death scene in the history of the galaxy.

On a repeat viewing, now that I know what to expect, it's obvious how purposefully and thoroughly shitty ideas are taken to the trash compactor of history. The downside is that Luke and Leia get thrown under the bus a lot. All in all, after this movie, David Brin's Star Wars vs Star Trek critique applies exactly in reverse. Plus, Star Wars never had a serial rapist at the helm, so that's a bonus point in its favor.

A political thing I don't like is the new naming conventions. A lot of the new names are Earth names - English Earth names.

The ending was cool, esp. that blink-and-you-miss-it detail, a final fuck-you to elitism, mysticism, and blood aristocratic cults of the past.

Physics-wise, gravity bad, vacuum ok, blockbuster-level thermal conductivity I've made peace with.

By the way, I love seeing the people getting all mad about some of my favorite stuff in the movie.

I wish this shitty forum allowed me to post reaction gifs

I probably wont be spending cash to see Episode IX when it comes out.
Like Starmaker said the way Luke and Leia were treated in this movie.... lot of this is Rian Johnson's move's (seems to be a lot of RJ fanbois out there who wax lyrical about way he directs movies blah blah... but this is star wars ffs).
Remember when Hamill posted his disagreement with way his charachter is treated in the movie?...now we know why.
If people put it on par with Empire its because this movie is probably the most emotional of all the films in the franchise....