• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

George, is that you?

It's sort of like poetry. They sort of rhyme.

:p

Symbiotic life forms that communicate with an unexplained, supernatural energy field. Did you even pay attention?
So the things that communicate with the supernatural is more supernatural than the supernatural?

Unless you would like to explain, in a scientific way, how they do that?

They determine the Force potential in a given person. It quantifies the spiritual.
 

Ishida

Banned
It's sort of like poetry. They sort of rhyme.

:p


So the things that communicate with the supernatural is more supernatural than the supernatural?

They determine the Force potential in a given person. It quantifies the spiritual.

No. They are just supernatural.

And no. They quantify the potential of how much a person can tap into the spiritual, not the spiritual itself. And even this is proven shaky by the prequels themselves.
 

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
I'm watching the Star Trek Into Darkness HitB review. In that movie they use "cold fusion" to stop a volcano. Cause there's the word cold in cold fusion, the audience will think that cold fusion must be very cold.

That's JJ Abrams' line of thinking.

Those guys actually really enjoyed TFA

I know. Star Killer is dumb, doesn't make the movie bad. Just pointed out how stupidly Abrams deals with science.
 

zsynqx

Member
I'm watching the Star Trek Into Darkness HitB review. In that movie they use "cold fusion" to stop a volcano. Cause there's the word cold in cold fusion, the audience will think that cold fusion must be very cold.

That's JJ Abrams' line of thinking.

Those guys actually really enjoyed TFA
 

Boke1879

Member
Why exactly? They tried quantifying Anakin's midichlorians when he was a kid. And he still got his ass kicked when he was a full grown Jedi Knight.

Midichlorians is just a barometer. I don't know why people make a big deal out of this. It's just something they used to determine if someone had the aptitude to use the force. I would assume if it was at a certain number that's who they determined to take to the academy to train.
 
Symbiotic life forms that communicate with an unexplained, supernatural energy field. Did you even pay attention?

Unless you would like to explain, in a scientific way, how they do that?

The midichlorians are dark matter, and the Force is dark energy. It's the matter and energy we calculate has to be in the universe but can't measure. The Jedi figured it out a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away), but they keep the "dark" in "dark energy" their dirty little secret.
 
Why exactly? They tried quantifying Anakin's midichlorians when he was a kid. And he still got his ass kicked when he was a full grown Jedi Knight.

And he ends up being the Chosen One.

Instead of one's Force potential being abstract, it's now more physical and can be measured in the blood. You won't go up to a Shaolin Monk and take a blood test to see his potential with Chi. You are going to go up to Buddha and blood test him for Nirvana potential. It takes away from the mysticism.
 

Ishida

Banned
Midichlorians is just a barometer. I don't know why people make a big deal out of this. It's just something they used to determine if someone had the aptitude to use the force. I would assume if it was at a certain number that's who they determined to take to the academy to train.

Exactly.

What is your thesis statement then?

"Midiclorians are basically pointless."?

Exactly.

And he ends up being the Chosen One.

Instead of one's Force potential being abstract, it's now more physical and can be measured in the blood. You won't go up to a Shaolin Monk and take a blood test to see his potential with Chi. You are going to go up to Buddha and blood test him for Nirvana potential. It takes away from the mysticism.

No, it's not more physical. The Force is never physical. None of the movies states this.
 

Zabka

Member
I'm detached from whether she's actually a Mary Sue but the movie does stress that she has the tools to overcome any complication she faces, in a stronger and more multi faceted way than it did with Luke.

and not noticing something right away doesnt mean your a shitty mechanic, it could just mean that he wasnt paying attention. Han's not the best mechanic in the world, but the vibe I got from the scene is that she is an exceptionaly talented mechanic (because of the force or otherwise) and she does it in a ship (she's never been to space...or has she?) she's never been in before, under duress.

(Rey is basically every serenity crew member rolled up into one. This is a joke)

Rey knows the inside of the Falcon. She points out the gunner position to Finn immediately on entering. She says her boss the compressor on and she thought it was a mistake.
 

Kin5290

Member
I'm detached from whether she's actually a Mary Sue but the movie does stress that she has the tools to overcome any complication she faces, in a stronger and more multi faceted way than it did with Luke.

and not noticing something right away doesnt mean your a shitty mechanic, it could just mean that he wasnt paying attention. Han's not the best mechanic in the world, but the vibe I got from the scene is that she is an exceptionaly talented mechanic (because of the force or otherwise) and she does it in a ship (she's never been to space...or has she?) she's never been in before, under duress.

(Rey is basically every serenity crew member rolled up into one. This is a joke)
Rey has flown short haul intraatomospheric flights before, and she has first hand experience with the modifications and repairs Simon Pegg made to the Falcon.

She's never left atmosphere before, but still it's flying where there's air in the way that's the hard part.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
None of those are character flaws, except maybe the bolded. She has very little in the way of charactger flaws and zero character growth. She does gain super powers by the end of the movie, but her character arc is completely flat.

Luke and Anakin have deep flaws that effect the plot.

Worse, she should have character flaws. Not only was she abandoned at a young age, but she's seemingly had no guidance or even support system. She should be knocking over liquor stores or selling death sticks, not an angelic Girl Scout. The Kira idea would have worked a lot better with the plot and backstory they went with.
 
Just got back from my first viewing. It's now my favorite movie in the franchise, and I love OG Star Wars. My theater was still full for a 4pm showing on a weekend...

First time I've been to a theater where the audience applauded multiple times during the film.
 
Worse, she should have character flaws. Not only was she abandoned at a young age, but she's seemingly had no guidance or even support system. She should be knocking over liquor stores or selling death sticks, not an angelic Girl Scout. The Kira idea would have worked a lot better with the plot and backstory they went with.
She does.
 

Ishida

Banned
Force potential. Which the midichlorians measure.

And since it's all pointless, why even include it?

To show even the Jedi had a misconstructed view of the Force, and that they were not the overly wise people a lot of fans constructed in their headcanon.
 

Arthea

Member
I thought we all (by all I mean humanity) agreed to ignore midichlorians, why are you guys talking about it? What about our agreement?
 

Sage00

Once And Future Member
To show even the Jedi had a misconstructed view of the Force, and that they were not the overly wise people a lot of fans constructed in their headcanon.
When you've started reading into things that are not there and creating your own fiction to justify it, it's time to drop the argument.
 

zsynqx

Member
I'm watching the Star Trek Into Darkness HitB review. In that movie they use "cold fusion" to stop a volcano. Cause there's the word cold in cold fusion, the audience will think that cold fusion must be very cold.

That's JJ Abrams' line of thinking.



I know. Star Killer is dumb, doesn't make the movie bad. Just pointed out how stupidly Abrams deals with science.

Death star 3 was the weakest part of the movie.
 

Ishida

Banned
That's certainly an interesting reading of the prequels. I would like to hear more.

That's at least what I understood of the movies when I first saw them as a 13 years old. It made perfect sense to me. I actually loved to see the deconstruction of the Jedi order into a bunch of dudes so deep in their comfort zone that they are easily blindsided by the Sith and annihilated.

I don't know. It makes them a little more interesting than simply looking at them as the ultimate wisdom/goodness of the galaxy.

When you've started reading into things that are not there and creating your own fiction to justify it, it's time to drop the argument.

Sure. Tell that to all the fans who believe midichlorians actually ruined anything.
 

enigmatic_alex44

Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
Mhmm.

It seems the public has spoken, BB-8 is officially more popular than R2-D2.

After only ONE film. Icon.

j7WXnzN.gif
 

Ding-Ding

Member
I'm detached from whether she's actually a Mary Sue but the movie does stress that she has the tools to overcome any complication she faces, in a stronger and more multi faceted way than it did with Luke.

and not noticing something right away doesnt mean your a shitty mechanic, it could just mean that he wasnt paying attention. Han's not the best mechanic in the world, but the vibe I got from the scene is that she is an exceptionaly talented mechanic (because of the force or otherwise) and she does it in a ship (she's never been to space...or has she?) she's never been in before, under duress.

(Rey is basically every serenity crew member rolled up into one. This is a joke)

Well you are kinda shifting the goalposts as thats not what you said in the post I replied to... Anyhow

In regards to Han, both he & Chewie were crawling all over the ship earlier in Empire, yet failded to notice the hyperdrive was faulty. C3PO noticed by simply boarding the ship.

However, Rey is more than likely to be an excellent mechanic. I would imagine that having to become a scavenger at a young age would teach her a thing or two about mechanics and getting around a ship. Especially when one of the ships was a downed star destroyer.

What I dont understand is why people are writing her off as a Mary Sue (like you did) when some of the things can be explained away with the little info we already have on her.

Yet what we dont know about Rey far exceeds what we do know about her. When you consider that we dont even know the basics such as her surname (and there is also a hint in media that Rey isn't even her real name) should be a testament to that
 
Well you are kinda shifting the goalposts as thats not what you said in the post I replied to... Anyhow

In regards to Han, both he & Chewie were crawling all over the ship earlier in Empire, yet failded to notice the hyperdrive was faulty. C3PO noticed by simply boarding the ship.

However, Rey is more than likely to be an excellent mechanic. I would imagine that having to become a scavenger at a young age would teach her a thing or two about mechanics and getting around a ship. Especially when one of the ships was a downed star destroyer.

What I dont understand is why people are writing her off as a Mary Sue (like you did) when some of the things can be explained away with the little info we already have on her.

Yet what we dont know about Rey far exceeds what we do know about her. When you consider that we dont even know the basics such as her surname (and there is also a hint in media that Rey isn't even her real name) should be a testament to that

Well, I was never really writing her off or didnt intend to (if that makes sense to you) I just didnt entirely disagree with the label, either, and I saw people arguing and joined in. I like her character a lot.
 

injurai

Banned
How does his little robot head stay on top of his ball? Magnets? I thought it was CGI in the movie.

Literally every explanation I've seen claims magnets.

I'm pretty sure it's an entirely separate unit that just tries to right itself by countering the movement of the main unit.
 
To show even the Jedi had a misconstructed view of the Force, and that they were not the overly wise people a lot of fans constructed in their headcanon.

That's at least what I understood of the movies when I first saw them as a 13 years old. It made perfect sense to me. I actually loved to see the deconstruction of the Jedi order into a bunch of dudes so deep in their comfort zone that they are easily blindsided by the Sith and annihilated.

I don't know. It makes them a little more interesting than simply looking at them as the ultimate wisdom/goodness of the galaxy.

It's certainly interesting. The problem I have with it, then, is that we don't see them learn the true nature of the Force.

And it's not like people constructed that headcanon about the Jedi being wise. The OT presents them as wise. They're even presented that way in the PT with the government deferring to them on certain things.

The Force.
Midichlorians.
 

injurai

Banned
I'm pretty sure having a lot of midichlorians is basically just the Star Wars version of aspergers. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

Except Mace Windu.
 
Yo... Why didn't they use y-wings on the bombing run?

Because Abrams said ROTJ had too many types of ships in its final battle so he decided that TFA had to just be TIEs vs X-Wings. You know, because anything else is too confusing.

I'm not exaggerating or lying. They straight up say it in the art book.
 

Holiday

Banned
Is there any chance Kylo comes back with Vader's lightsaber, since he's such a fan, and we see a sort of legacy of Anakin contest between Kylo with Vader's piece and Rey with Anakin's?

Not even sure if I would want this, just wondering if it would be interesting or possible.
 

Lynx_7

Member
Saw the movie a second time today and it held up just as well as the first time. This time, having rewatched the OT last week, I can confidently say it's easily my second favorite SW movie. As far as pure entertainment goes I'd go as far as to say it ties with ESB.
Despite a similar plot structure to ANH it still feels like its own movie and does things different enough to distinguish itself from the former. Besides, it's just more fun to watch from the perspective of a modern viewer who didn't grow up with the OT (me), so I can't say I care much about it having "too many" similarities.

To show even the Jedi had a misconstructed view of the Force, and that they were not the overly wise people a lot of fans constructed in their headcanon.

That's an interesting interpretation but I have a hard time taking it seriously considering the prequels don't actually seem to point in that direction. At any rate I just kind of pretend midchlorians don't exist and since they're rarely mentioned nowadays I can't say they actually bother me. People make too much of a fuss about them when it's not that big of a deal.
 
Top Bottom