Star Wars Tonight - Who's Going? - Let's Keep It Spoiler Free

I saw it yesterday afternoon, with a buddy who we both saw the original Star Wars together with when it first came out. My friend was very skeptical as he hates JJ Abrams (accuses him of ruining the Star Trek franchise).

I will say this, just watching it and without thinking about it, I really enjoyed the movie. It really paralleled the original Star Wars without it feeling like a rip-off, which Return of the Jedi kind of felt like. I think there is a lot they can do with the Rey character.

That said, this series has to have the equal of Empire Strikes Back (best in the franchise, imo) to not only bridge the trilogy but to also fill in story gaps and flesh out the characters.

I went into the movie spoiler free and saw the major ones coming. There were some big plot holes I thought and some things that really could have used better explaining. My buddy stated that the original script was written without inclusion of the original core cast, and then they were added later. So not sure how much that changed the story.

The filming was pretty good, but still too much JJ Abrams lets just blow everything up and throw it at the screen mentality than I would have liked, especially the ending.

Unlike the original trilogy where they came out with 1 movie every three years, I think this trilogy is on an 18 month cycle, and Abrams isn't directing, so I'm hoping that is a good thing.

I have to agree with Hitchhiking Ghost.... I also went into the movie spoiler free, and was able to see the big stuff coming as well.

There were quite a few "spoilers" I saw all over the place (even in the comments sections of news articles on Fox News), and heard people just yelling supposed plot spoilers out in public (seriously, like at the mall), but none of them were confirmed for me prior to the movie because I didn't actively seek out the answers before the move. People love to just make stuff up to mess with you, so I didn't believe or dis-believe anything I heard or read... just waited to see for myself.

The Hitchhiking Ghost;2475648 wrote: That said, this series has to have the equal of Empire Strikes Back (best in the franchise, imo) to not only bridge the trilogy but to also fill in story gaps and flesh out the characters.

I went into the movie spoiler free and saw the major ones coming. There were some big plot holes I thought and some things that really could have used better explaining. My buddy stated that the original script was written without inclusion of the original core cast, and then they were added later. So not sure how much that changed the story.

I would agree that there is a lot of weight on episode 8 to be "The Empire Strikes Back" of this trilogy. But at the same time I think Abrams did a good job of keeping the feel of the original episode 4 story. I'm not saying with the filming techniques or the deja vu feelings. Back in episode 4 they gave us a very narrow snippet of the Star Wars universe with an exciting and compelling story.

Episode 7 does rely heavily on the fact that you know the general Star Wars story and that you go into it believing what is presented vs. what is explained. Episode 8 will be a great opportunity to give us more of the backstory Rey and Ren. Who they are and how they got there, much like "Empire" did for Luke, Leia, Han and Vader.

Good stuff! Can't wait until May 2017!

baldburke;2475651 wrote: I would agree that there is a lot of weight on episode 8 to be "The Empire Strikes Back" of this trilogy. But at the same time I think Abrams did a good job of keeping the feel of the original episode 4 story. I'm not saying with the filming techniques or the deja vu feelings. Back in episode 4 they gave us a very narrow snippet of the Star Wars universe with an exciting and compelling story.

Episode 7 does rely heavily on the fact that you know the general Star Wars story and that you go into it believing what is presented vs. what is explained. Episode 8 will be a great opportunity to give us more of the backstory Rey and Ren. Who they are and how they got there, much like "Empire" did for Luke, Leia, Han and Vader.

Good stuff! Can't wait until May 2017!

Hard to discuss without getting too close to spoilers. I think the Rey character has the potential to be the most interesting character of the entire series and where they go with her could be unlimited. I struggled with, lets just say, simply how much she could do and how fast she learned it.

I didn't get the best read on Ren, he seemed to be the opposite of Rey if you know what I'm saying at the end of it, with regards to abilities.

The one gap I didn't like, and without spoiling anything, had to do with a key scene with Maz Kanata.

It will be interesting to hear the chatter with regards to Episode VIII.

When it was announced JJ Abrams was doing Ep 7, I said the movie was in great hands... And I was right... Force Awakens was excellent... Not perfect, no movie is... But I felt like I was watching a Star Wars movie... Not the prequel junk Lucas gave us... I will be going to see it again, oh yes I will... 3 maybe 4 times.. who knows?????????

Loved Rey... Ren was like a whiny little brat, but I believe he has the potential to be one huge baddie...

Funny what a strange thing opinions are ... I thought Empire was by far the weakest of the original trilogy ...

Ian;2475723 wrote: Funny what a strange thing opinions are ... I thought Empire was by far the weakest of the original trilogy ...

I agree with this, to an extent. I saw A New Hope years after it came out. Maybe because I was so young and my parents didn't go to the movies much to see scifi. Anyway, I never saw Empire Strikes back originally. One day my cousin asked me to go with her to see Return of the Jedi. It had long been out at that point. I complained about never seeing Empire and she said it didn't matter. Turns out she was correct. I fell in love with Jedi and then eventually saw Empire.

magicofdisney;2475733 wrote: I agree with this, to an extent. I saw A New Hope years after it came out. Maybe because I was so young and my parents didn't go to the movies much to see scifi. Anyway, I never saw Empire Strikes back originally. One day my cousin asked me to go with her to see Return of the Jedi. It had long been out at that point. I complained about never seeing Empire and she said it didn't matter. Turns out she was correct. I fell in love with Jedi and then eventually saw Empire.

One word "EWOKS" :ack:

Ian;2475723 wrote: Funny what a strange thing opinions are ... I thought Empire was by far the weakest of the original trilogy ...

I think if you were to compile the millions of "list your favorite Star Wars films" the compiled consensus would be:

1: Empire Strikes Back
2: A New Hope (still hate typing that title- it wasn't called that when I saw it)
3: Force Awakens
4: Revenge of the Sith
5: Return of the Jedi
6: Attack of the Clones
7: Phantom Menace

I could see 3 and 4 being interchangeable and 4 and 5 being interchangeable.

As for Empire, it did something that few #2 movies do in a trilogy, it not only stood on its own merit and improved on the original, but it also bridged the first and third movies. Unlike say Back to the Future II that just felt like a quick money grab and filler between 1 & 3.

Probably the single biggest moment in the Star Wars universe comes from Empire with the famous "Luke...I am your father"

Other than the Emperor, Jedi just seemed like fluff with the Ewoks and the redundancy of a 2nd Death Star and the predictable crashing of the Super Star Destroyer into it.

The Hitchhiking Ghost;2475862 wrote: One word "EWOKS" :ack:

As a young girl seeing this movie, I never thought of the Ewoks this way. Jar jar? Absolutely! That's just the subjective nature of movies.

I just watched the prequels... Felt like I was watching an animated movie, not a Star Wars flick... too much CGI ruins them for me...

DizneyFreak2002;2476304 wrote: I just watched the prequels... Felt like I was watching an animated movie, not a Star Wars flick... too much CGI ruins them for me...

I always felt that if George Lucas could have gotten away with it, he would have done the entire PT without human actors. Considering some of the terrible dialogue that he wrote, maytbe that would have been a good thing.

The Hitchhiking Ghost;2476348 wrote: I always felt that if George Lucas could have gotten away with it, he would have done the entire PT without human actors. Considering some of the terrible dialogue that he wrote, maytbe that would have been a good thing.

I think that is all of Hollywood though... Much like the rest of corporate America, if they can do it with computers and machines instead of real life people, they would...