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I read 33 EU novels, mostly from 1996-2000 or so. Then life got in the way. Still have the Thrawn trilogy, flipped the rest for gear funds when I heard they weren't going to be cannon. It was a choice I understand but maybe could have been handled differently, such as keeping all stories told before the end of the ROTJ as canon, while wiping the slate clean for anything after. But nope, wiped the slate completely clean, and now thousands of stories are just akin to fan fiction. The EU really helped iron out some poor ideas introduced in the movies, such as the Rule of 2 mentioned in TPM. And I loved how every character in every scene of Jabba's palace had their own story, why does that need to change? The additional non-numbered movies could be a great opportunity to tell side stories like Rogue 1, but they are never going to fulfill the depth of the "Tales of..." book series.

I loved TFA. It has a heart to it that most movies don't. And legit humor at the right spots. Introducing new characters into the universe and unveiling our old favorites at the best time. The end scene has no words, but it hits me every time.

TLJ didn't have that same emotion, but a sense of darkness and dread leading to tension from fearing certain expected outcomes. I will talk more about it later when I have more time. Would love to dust off some good old geek arguments.

I think we are all a bit too cynical, in general. My best defense of anything Star Wars is referencing George Lucas saying these are supposed to be kids movies. We, as adults, or adult-aged children, are also drawn to it with out own perspective. Some of my nephews like the prequels, they grew up with it as just Star Wars, and not the compromised 2nd trilogy us older kids know it as. My wife doesn't care for the original trilogy, citing that Luke was a whiny kid and ruined it for her, but she really enjoys TFA. Also to note, that it is with such pride that my dotters (aged 14 and 9) love Star Wars too, and sharing the movie going experience with them makes my eyes juicy when the crawl starts.

My dad used to have a library full of EU novels.

He eventually threw them out because I was more interested in music than sci-fi when I was 13.

I was really impressed with the amount of weight Adam Driver put on for this (unless he's working on some other role that required absurd amounts of mass).

Another thing that is definitely affecting my opinion of this film at least a little bit is Canadians. Why do they clap during the film at the cinema? Multiple points in the film were rendered twice as bizarre by questionable audience response, and it was almost entirely adults responsible. There's a certain lightsaber that goes through a face which was met with laughter. A space kamikaze was met with thunderous applause, every tone murdering "joke" which I assumed were aimed at the 12 year olds in attendance were greeted with belly laughs from grown men. Who are you clapping at? Why are you clapping at them? Do you think if you all clap together, the cheese-pleaser himself will hear? Maybe I'm just being a miserable bastard that doesn't know how to have fun, but this type of shit is stupider than clapping when the pilot lands a plane and needs to be aggressively stopped.

Sometimes I wonder why they didn't just do the Revan arc as prequels, it would have worked perfectly as a trilogy, pleased all the fanboys, given the next generation of Star Wars fans something just as exciting (if not more) than the originals and it was all laid out for them. Maybe one day my dreams will be answered with a Darth Bane standalone but until then I only have questions. If you believe hard enough, the EU is still canon.

MechaGodzilla wrote:

Invisible Man wrote:Rian Johnson is producing a separate trilogy. I assume that it’ll center on the kid who is in the closing shot. Jedi Harry Potter.

I think it was more a message of "of course there are tonnes more potential Jedi in the universe, ya bunch of Skywalker-worshipping nerdlingers!" Saying that it's gonna be all about that specific kid (or the pre-TLJ assumption that Rey was related to the Skywalkers) is some Lucas-esque line of thinking. The whole reason to make Rey just another person with magic is to open up the potential to create new characters with separate lives, instead of everyone involved having been begat by Darth Vader like some kind of Old Testament soap opera in space.

Except the current three trilogies are the Skywalker saga, and Rey is a Skywalker. That's why they're all chapters in the same story. Kylo Ren telling her that her parents were nobodies was a pretty thinly-veiled red herring. For starters, Snoke had literally just told them that he manipulated both of their force visions as a means of controlling them, but on top of that, that "reveal" was almost certainly meant to continue the tradition of "Darth Vader betrayed and killed your father" into "what I told you was true from a certain perspective". I just don't buy it. There are plenty of examples of non-Skywalker force-sensitives in other stories from the setting, but the core movie line is about one family with an intensely strong connection to the force and its struggles with power. I might be wrong, but that's my take. The question of Rey's parents certainly isn't settled.

Invisible Man wrote:But I don’t see why there are direct addresses to the audience to tell Rey that she ‘has no place in this story,’ or have Luke throw his lightsaber over his shoulder, or give Yoda a brief ‘fuck you, superfans’ scene.

I'm pretty sure he said "they have no place in this story", referencing Rey's parents.

After thinking about it for a day, my wish-washy thoughts are pretty much confirmed now; it was a pretty good film that would have stronger if it didn't laugh through the emotional moments as was about 20 minutes shorter. I do think that while it won't be as impact now, it will be more poignant when IX concludes. While being long, I do think that the Finn subplot works with the overall theme of the new stories which is how does a younger generation fit into an old universe.

I don't know if Star Wars needed to get Meta, but it honestly makes me far more excited. As wanky as it sounds, I don't watch Marvel/DC movies and I don't care about Game Of Thrones so I honestly want to see a deconstruction of popculture fandom rather than pander to it. I could just be a pretentious Hideaki/Kojima fanboy that's used to the abuse.

bennroe wrote:

Invisible Man wrote:But I don’t see why there are direct addresses to the audience to tell Rey that she ‘has no place in this story,’ or have Luke throw his lightsaber over his shoulder, or give Yoda a brief ‘fuck you, superfans’ scene.

I'm pretty sure he said "they have no place in this story", referencing Rey's parents.

You’re probably right. Either way, it means she has no family ties to the story.

I don’t think it’s a red herring, though. It would undercut all of this undercutting. The movie tells us a dozen times that we need to let the past die.

More cynical read: Disney has to find a way out of the Skywalker saga if they want to pump out a movie every year. And this can still be the Skywalker saga, because Kylo Ren is Leia’s son. Rey doesn’t need to be related for it to continue the saga.

Olin wrote:Another thing that is definitely affecting my opinion of this film at least a little bit is Canadians. Why do they clap during the film at the cinema? Multiple points in the film were rendered twice as bizarre by questionable audience response, and it was almost entirely adults responsible. There's a certain lightsaber that goes through a face which was met with laughter. A space kamikaze was met with thunderous applause, every tone murdering "joke" which I assumed were aimed at the 12 year olds in attendance were greeted with belly laughs from grown men. Who are you clapping at? Why are you clapping at them? Do you think if you all clap together, the cheese-pleaser himself will hear? Maybe I'm just being a miserable bastard that doesn't know how to have fun, but this type of shit is stupider than clapping when the pilot lands a plane and needs to be aggressively stopped.

You need to watch movies in Finland. Everyone was dressed in black and watched in somber silence. At one point i think someone shed a single tear, but i looked at them disapprovingly and they stopped.

I want Kylo and Rey to make out and then find out they're siblings, because that's how you make a star wars movie.

When the big throw down in Snoke's red room happened I kept thinking about this album cover:

Just got back from seeing it, my memory's already fading but I mostly enjoyed it. Some simple thoughts/opinions:

vallaton wrote:

Olin wrote:Another thing that is definitely affecting my opinion of this film at least a little bit is Canadians. Why do they clap during the film at the cinema? Multiple points in the film were rendered twice as bizarre by questionable audience response, and it was almost entirely adults responsible. There's a certain lightsaber that goes through a face which was met with laughter. A space kamikaze was met with thunderous applause, every tone murdering "joke" which I assumed were aimed at the 12 year olds in attendance were greeted with belly laughs from grown men. Who are you clapping at? Why are you clapping at them? Do you think if you all clap together, the cheese-pleaser himself will hear? Maybe I'm just being a miserable bastard that doesn't know how to have fun, but this type of shit is stupider than clapping when the pilot lands a plane and needs to be aggressively stopped.

You need to watch movies in Finland. Everyone was dressed in black and watched in somber silence. At one point i think someone shed a single tear, but i looked at them disapprovingly and they stopped.

I dunno if some kid let off a stink bomb or just someone had rancid farts but for the first 2/3rds of the film but... well, I was glad I grabbed a filter coffee on my way into the cinema coz holding it to my nose got me through it.

reckon luck wrote:I hope we get ghost Luke in the next one.

Now there's a fucking spoiler.

Oh was this a no-spoilers thread? I'll edit my post.