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[SPOILERS] Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Thread #3) - That's Not How the Force Works

prag16

Banned
Interdictors have been canon since the Tarkin novel and one appeared in Rebels.

Interesting. I own Tarkin but didn't get to it yet, and forgot about it from Rebels.

If it works on the same principal as the EU versions, Han's Starkiller entry maneuver would likely should have been impossible; he would probably have gotten yanked out of hyperspace too soon; whole mass shadow deal. But hey JJ thought it looked cool... I guess there could be enough wiggle room for that to be handwaved, at least more easily than the magical hypertime tunnel allowing Takodana to see Hosnian Prime close up in real time.
 
They could have avoided the whole Mary Sue issue, at least in regards to Rey's sudden piloting skills, if they hadn't needlessly separated Poe from Rey and Finn.

Just go with the original scene with him piloting.
 
They could have avoided the whole Mary Sue issue, at least in regards to Rey's sudden piloting skills, if they hadn't needlessly separated Poe from Rey and Finn.

Just go with the original scene with him piloting.

Don't think that was ever a thing. If Poe was there, there is no Maz , no sabre, and probably no Han.
 
You can't just make a lightsaber. You need to be force sensitive to find the crystal required to make a lightsaber.

But that does beg the question, there use to be thousands of Jedi's, what happened to all their lightsabers? Why is no one using them?
In the original EU, Palpatine had them destroyed, along with caves that grew those crystals, that's why the new Jedis had to use synthetic crystals.

Considering Finn was kidnapped as a baby and he's 23, this indicates that the First Order should at the very least be established by 7 years after Endor (11 ABY following the old chronology). Probably even earlier.

I wonder if the old Empire is completely gone by that point or if there's a period where there is still an official Empire in the core that slowly melds into the New Republic while the FO is setting up shop.
From bits and pieces I gathered from the side materials, after the emperor was dead, several generals and high ranking government officials tried to keep the empire together, while some system governor rebelled. Then the battle of Jakku broke out, peace treaty was signed, those who was not happy about the treaty retreated to the outer rim and became the First Order.
Damn, I just typed up a fucking essay on this whole Finn crap, before realizing I was just repeating the exact same shit I already said when this stuff came up a couple days ago by the exact same poster who is now repeating the exact same shit he said the first go around.
It's like clockwork.
So, was the Starkiller base in a binary system? Because it didn't go dark when the fired it the first time.
It is entirely possible that Starkiller base is a mobile station that go from system to system to absorb energy.
 

JTripper

Member
When Finn is getting attacked by the rathtar on the freighter, Rey extends her arm out and you see Finn get slightly jerked toward her. Could she have briefly and unknowingly used the force in that moment?
 
When Kylo puts his helmet on the point is "this guy is play-acting something he isn't".

Actually, Kylo's doing a fairly decent job faking the funk until he takes the helmet off. The only time before that he really lets the "mask" slip is during his temper tantrum, he had an A+ performance convincing those indigenous Jakkunians that he was the real deal.
 

Arthea

Member
When Kylo puts his helmet on the point is "this guy is play-acting something he isn't".

Actually with helmet on (and before his tantrums) he seemed almost the real thing, so IDK



edited: I was wondering, since when a movie has to justify every little thing? Or since when we are so extremely nitpicky and why?
It's not a documentary or dissertation, we should believe what we are told, because that's how art works and how politics does not.
 
Also I needed to add that it really bugs me that people have to answer other people's questions using stuff from the novels/"current" EU. Having some explanations for critical aspects of the film (literally everything involving the New Republic/Resistance/First Order dynamic, etc.) being restricted to outside material is a failure of storytelling in my opinion. I mean ultimately Disney doesn't give a shit because the spectacle draws the crowds, then they can get money from the nerds who go out and buy the world-building EU stuff. One of my major complaints with the film is that the world-building is really poor compared to the OT. I mean Tatooine alone has more character and is more well-defined than any of the multiple locations of TFA.

Then again this is a fan-base that gets excited over characters that aren't actually characters (Phasma, the infamous Boba Fett lol) which Disney can then use to sell merch. I mean I don't even understand the Poe love, he's barely a character except he's like, cocky or something? and he's an ace pilot. Also gay I guess, which just reminds me of creepy shipping fandoms in anime/manga except now it's mainstream (I don't have a problem with that, just no shitty love triangle because the gay person loses 10000% of the time). Though the reaction to an interracial gay relationship in Star Wars would be something to behold.

Honestly I could probably write waaaay more in terms of ANH/TFA comparisons but I've already spent far too much time writing about this topic lol. Back to AoE2!
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
the thing that really annoys me is the parsec banter.

when han makes that claim in the bar, he's just some washup bum with an ego, a desperate braggart, a used car salesman boasting things about his ship that no-one gives a shit about.

that this is canonised into some legendary fact purely so rey and han can have some forced disney callback moment shows a complete misunderstanding of the tone of the original scene, crossing the line from nostalgic sentiment to authenticity sabotaging parody.

as a moment, it's a pretty decent microcosm for all the film's failings.
 
OT, but anyone think Disney will use Abrams to reboot Indy as well? He's certainly got the Spielberg style down.

I don't think I'd want Abrams on Indiana Jones. Between this and Star Trek, Abrams has some "tells" to his directing that I think are actually incredibly inappropriate for Indy (in much the way Crystal Skull was), but are actually extremely appropriate for Star Wars.

Like, wanting to have a big planet-destroying peril with an extremely thematic and poetic effect ("as long as there's a light, there's still hope") in Star Wars? Awesome! Wanting to set off nukes all over the place and have a galactic peril in a pulp adventure serial? Kind of shitty, actually.
 

Brakke

Banned
If she walked around with it on all the time, you'd have a point.

Finn walks around with someone else's jacket on all the time: which person declares Finn worthy of the mantle.

Simply wearing a costume isn't sufficient to signal anything. Rey wearing the helmet is retroactively made cute once we see her pilot. Kylo wearing the helmet is retroactively made silly or embarrassing once we see him crack.
 
the thing that really annoys me is the parsec banter.

when han makes that claim in the bar, he's just some washup bum with an ego, a desperate braggart, a used car salesman boasting things about his ship that no-one gives a shit about.

that this is canonised into some legendary fact purely so rey and han can have some forced disney callback moment shows a complete misunderstanding of the tone of the original scene, crossing the line from nostalgic sentiment to authenticity sabotaging parody.

Nah.
 

The Adder

Banned
Finn walks around with someone else's jacket on all the time: which person declares Finn worthy of the mantle.

Simply wearing a costume isn't sufficient to signal anything. Rey wearing the helmet is retroactively made cute once we see her pilot. Kylo wearing the helmet is retroactively made silly or embarrassing once we see him crack.

This is just the dumbest shit.

The movie has no god damned reason to put that helmet there except to say HEY THIS CHARACTER HAS AN INTEREST IN PILOTING well in advance of her ever having to fly. To argue otherwise is just obtuse as fuck.

Finn puts that jacket on, lies about who he is, and keeps it on for the rest of the film because he eventually becomes the man he was pretending to be.

Ben wears the helmet until the very scene wherein we, the audience, have it revealed to us that he's really not the person he projects himself as.

How in the ever loving fuck do half the people in this topic lose the ability to understand visual story telling the instant a woman does something useful on screen. (And no, that last sentence isn't directed primarily at you, Brakke).
 

WedgeX

Banned
The girl put on a god damned flight helmet. What the hell did you people think the movie was trying to tell you?

And not just any helmet but wasn't it also Luke's helmet?

OiBjUGA.jpg


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Couldn't find a better picture but when she had it on it sure looked near identical.
 
This is just the dumbest shit.

The movie has no god damned reason to put that helmet there except to say HEY THIS CHARACTER HAS AN INTEREST IN PILOTING well in advance of her ever having to fly. To argue otherwise is just obtuse as fuck.

I don't think people have a problem with her fly. They have a problem with her doing some awesome maneuvers that would make Poe gush.

And not just any helmet but wasn't it also Luke's helmet?



Couldn't find a better picture but when she had it on it sure looked near identical.
Standard issue, bro
 

The Adder

Banned
the thing that really annoys me is the parsec banter.

when han makes that claim in the bar, he's just some washup bum with an ego, a desperate braggart, a used car salesman boasting things about his ship that no-one gives a shit about.

that this is canonised into some legendary fact purely so rey and han can have some forced disney callback moment shows a complete misunderstanding of the tone of the original scene, crossing the line from nostalgic sentiment to authenticity sabotaging parody.

as a moment, it's a pretty decent microcosm for all the film's failings.

It's been canon since the beginning. Lucas didn't know what a parsec was. He wrote a bad line. The EU justified that line.

More importantly, even if that hadn't been the case, Han fucking Solo was a general in the Rebel Army. If he says he pulled some legendary feat, who is going to argue with him? And people tend to spread stories (which is how it got back to Rey as 14 anyways).

So everybody can have their cake and eat it too.
 
If they did keep Poe around to pilot the Falcon, they could have expanded on his character and maybe given him a third trait beyond 1. BEING THE BESTEST PILOT EVER, and 2. Being good friends with Finn.

Literally nothing in the movie would have changed in terms of story progression.

They could have still been captured by Han and Chewie.
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
This is just the dumbest shit.

The movie has no god damned reason to put that helmet there except to say HEY THIS CHARACTER HAS AN INTEREST IN PILOTING well in advance of her ever having to fly. To argue otherwise is just obtuse as fuck.

Finn puts that jacket on, lies about who he is, and keeps it on for the rest of the film because he eventually becomes the man he was pretending to be.

Ben wears the helmet until the very scene wherein we, the audience, have it revealed to us that he's really not the person he projects himself as.

How in the ever loving fuck do half the people in this topic lose the ability to understand visual story telling the instant a woman does something useful on screen. (And no, that last sentence isn't directed primarily at you, Brakke).

i don't think having an interest in piloting should make you galactic top gun who is a better pilot than any of the lifelong pilots we've ever seen in these films.

even if you can make excuses for it, it's just shitty storytelling and takes away any sense of discovery. it's her first time doing something that she's always dreamed of and it's a million miles from the simulators or journals she's read. if you want the audience on board you have to show the journey, not just have her be instantly amazing at it.

it's not that you can't explain it through lore and other bollocks, it's that it's just boring.
 

Brakke

Banned
Mealy-mouthed af calling my post the "dumbest shit" in the first sentence and then equivocating in the last.

The movie has costuming and uniform-wearing as a motif throughout. It means different things for different characters at different times. Rey wearing a pilot helmet doesn't signal she's worthy of it. She needs to demonstrate that she's worth it. Finn's jacket starts as a lie and becomes true, Kylo's starts true and is revealed a lie. Finn's momentary removal of his Stormtrooper helmet is almost his undoing. Han and Leia bicker over Han's jacket.

Once we see Rey do good piloting we can reflect back and think that was a nice touch, but seeing her put on the helmet isn't really reason to anticipate that she will be a good pilot. The movie clearly signals that costumes are intentional and important but it also signals we need more than just a costume to understand a character.

The only real spoiler for this movie is that Chewbacca has gone solo.

:F

Yeah I know he's with Rey now but c'mon. GONE SOLO. Leave me alone.

Good hustle here.
 

Fencedude

Member
Also I needed to add that it really bugs me that people have to answer other people's questions using stuff from the novels/"current" EU. Having some explanations for critical aspects of the film (literally everything involving the New Republic/Resistance/First Order dynamic, etc.) being restricted to outside material is a failure of storytelling in my opinion. I mean ultimately Disney doesn't give a shit because the spectacle draws the crowds, then they can get money from the nerds who go out and buy the world-building EU stuff. One of my major complaints with the film is that the world-building is really poor compared to the OT. I mean Tatooine alone has more character and is more well-defined than any of the multiple locations of TFA.

Then again this is a fan-base that gets excited over characters that aren't actually characters (Phasma, the infamous Boba Fett lol) which Disney can then use to sell merch. I mean I don't even understand the Poe love, he's barely a character except he's like, cocky or something? and he's an ace pilot. Also gay I guess, which just reminds me of creepy shipping fandoms in anime/manga except now it's mainstream (I don't have a problem with that, just no shitty love triangle because the gay person loses 10000% of the time). Though the reaction to an interracial gay relationship in Star Wars would be something to behold.

Honestly I could probably write waaaay more in terms of ANH/TFA comparisons but I've already spent far too much time writing about this topic lol. Back to AoE2!

Most of this crap isn't important.

A few things could have been explained better, but most of this stuff is in the "if you care, you will probably be the kind of person to seek out the information anyway" category.

And some of this stuff was in the movie, and was cut for time and pacing. You can certainly argue about those decisions, but the fact that they were explicitly taken out later on doesn't mean there wasn't an intent to explain them.

About the only thing I really think should have been given some extra time was the Republic/Resistance thing, and...it was explained, but was taken out for pacing. And going by the description of that scene and where it was placed, I agree with that decision.
 
The movie was just sooooooo bad. I really don't get how my friends could ever say it was good. The worst of the Star Wars movies easily.

How about something new instead of the same old shit again and again? Also, there are so many loopholes and shitty characters (Kylo Ren is a fucking loser).

I knew about Han Solo's death beforehand (my nephew spoilered me, damn kids...) but that scene was telegraphed anyway.
I really hate GAF hyperbole sometimes.
How, exactly? She's like the equivalent of that society's pan-handler or beggar. That's the mystery to me. I know she said she was a pilot (I hadn't heard the part about "I've flown before, but not in space"), but I guess I just don't buy that a poor girl living out of a foot of an AT-AT as a scavenger ever got serious time in a ship. Oh well.
It's obvious she worked on the Falcon, how else would she know about what the pawn shop boss did to the ship?
Clockwork?

Or poetry.


(I'll see myself out.)
lol
 

Malmorian

Member
Ok so I finally saw the movie and here are my thoughts. I know a lot of them will be duplicated from other posts in this thread, and is no way an attempt to replicate another poster. So here we go.

1. This movie was amazing. 9/10 would watch again
2. Rey is strong and amazing, but using a Jedi mind trick with no training is a bit much. Jump? Push? Dodge? I can believe that, those are reflexive actions. And yes, I know she calmed down and got it on her 3rd try.
3. Finn using a saber was cool, but why was a 'Trooper equipped to deal with anti-saber tech when Luke is apparently the last Jedi?

Looking forward to watching it again next week
 

Brakke

Banned
why was a 'Trooper equipped to deal with anti-saber tech when Luke is apparently the last Jedi?

Finding and killing Luke was an explicit goal of Snoke and The Order broadly. I got the sense that Ren's battalion or division or whatever had killing Luke as a mandate.
 

Malmorian

Member
Finding and killing Luke was an explicit goal of Snoke and The Order broadly. I got the sense that Ren's battalion or division or whatever had killing Luke as a mandate.

Thank you, that actually makes a ton of sense and justifies the scene for me. You rock!
 

Boke1879

Member
So yea. Rey totally would have killed Kylo at the end if the planet separate the two of them. When Kylo has her restrained in the room. Before he takes off his mask he say's "but you still want to kill me?" Rey responds. "That's what happens when you're being hunted by a monster."

I highly doubt that mindset would change after she saw him kill Han and by her knowledge at the time had killed Finn.

Just got back from my 4th viewing. Done until the Blu Ray hits.
 
So yea. Rey totally would have killed Kylo at the end if the planet separate the two of them. When Kylo has her restrained in the room. Before he takes off his mask he say's "but you still want to kill me?" Rey responds. "That's what happens when you're being hunted by a monster."

I highly doubt that mindset would change after she saw him kill Han and by her knowledge at the time had killed Finn.

Just got back from my 4th viewing. Done until the Blu Ray hits.

"Creature in a mask."

At the end, when she goes to meet up with Luke, she's wearing gray instead of her usual white/beige.
 
3. Finn using a saber was cool, but why was a 'Trooper equipped to deal with anti-saber tech when Luke is apparently the last Jedi?

It's a riot control implement, not specifically some sort of anti-Jedi weapon. There's almost no way a 'Trooper, even the mighty TR-8R, could fight an actual Force user wielding that thing with any expectation of accomplishing anything meaningful at all.

If you want anti-Jedi weapons, try rockets. Maybe that flamethrower from the intro? (Depends on how it operates; if it's launching liquid fuel you'd have to worry about them Force pushing it back at you.) High explosives in general. Any weapon with a higher rate of fire than a blaster.

You know, like absolutely anything but something that puts you in arm's reach of the space ninja with the plasma sword.
 
It's a riot control implement, not specifically some sort of anti-Jedi weapon. There's almost no way a 'Trooper, even the mighty TR-8R, could fight an actual Force user wielding that thing with any expectation of accomplishing anything meaningful at all.

If you want anti-Jedi weapons, try rockets. Maybe that flamethrower from the intro? (Depends on how it operates; if it's launching liquid fuel you'd have to worry about them Force pushing it back at you.) High explosives in general. Any weapon with a higher rate of fire than a blaster.

You know, like absolutely anything but something that puts you in arm's reach of the space ninja with the plasma sword.

I suggest orbital bombardment with beam weapons. Or better yet, put all the Jedi on a planet and fire the Death Star at the planet.
 
Some of the flying was some of the best there has ever been in Star Wars.

I really like the scene when Poe and Finn escape in the Tie Fighter.

Also Poe later on blowing stuff up in his X-Wing is really cool.
 
Some of the flying was some of the best there has ever been in Star Wars.

I really like the scene when Poe and Finn escape in the Tie Fighter.

Also Poe later on blowing stuff up in his X-Wing is really cool.
The way how X-wings are animated really makes them feel like real fighter jets flying in atmosphere, it's very hard to explain without video, but how they turn and tilt has a certain weighty feel and momentum to them.
 

Malmorian

Member
The way how X-wings are animated really makes them feel like real fighter jets flying in atmosphere, it's very hard to explain without video, but how they turn and tilt has a certain weighty feel and momentum to them.

Hell yeah, the X-wings looked phenomenal as did the weight of all the laser blasters. Great job
 

Not

Banned
Watched the movie again and Rey crashes the Falcon twice while trying to take off, is easily overpowered and abducted by Kylo, doesn't immediately accept having a "destiny" like "duh of course" and even gets intimidated by the thought, is easily knocked out against a tree the second Kylo Ren appears for the final fight, spends most of THAT fight running away even after she summons the lightsaber, doesn't realize Kylo's going easy on her even on the edge of the cliff because he wants to train her until he up and SAYS so, and uses a jedi mind trick as a desperate hail Mary on a weak-minded stormtrooper and it doesn't even work the first two times. And this is WITH her being the new personification of Force power.

Poe goes back to Jakku to retrieve BB-8 immediately instead of retreating with Finn and regrouping. Also, he bleeds sometimes and his hair gets messy.

But keep telling me it's not about gender.
 
Ok so I finally saw the movie and here are my thoughts. I know a lot of them will be duplicated from other posts in this thread, and is no way an attempt to replicate another poster. So here we go.

2. Rey is strong and amazing, but using a Jedi mind trick with no training is a bit much. Jump? Push? Dodge? I can believe that, those are reflexive actions. And yes, I know she calmed down and got it on her 3rd try.

Looking forward to watching it again next week

There's a lot of mystery about Rey. She was clearly trained early on as a jedi but hidden away with her memory erased by Luke. It's just now that the force is being awaken. She fly's like a jedi which she has no idea how she's doing the things she is doing as well. I think the next movie will reveal everything how Empire Strikes Back did.
 
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