Poll Did the sequel trilogy add anything meaningful to the saga?

[Qonundrum]

Addendum to above: I also liked the lightsaber battles. Regardless of overall trilogy narrative, they went back to one-on-ones that have more emotional weight, as opposed to the prequels that somehow thought having wideshots of a few hundred blue and green glowsticks would somehow be compelling as opposed to pretentious.

This is a misconception.

Anakin did restore the Balance (both he and Luke tell Rey this directly in TRoS and TLJ, respectively); Palpatine returning just upsets that Balance again, which is where Rey, Ben, and their Force Dyad come into the picture.

Could the imbalance in the force add to one's abilities? The greater the disturbances the greater the magical abilities and easier of use it is to realize they got the power and use it? The ST is clunky and Uncle Palpy is shoehorned into the trilogy at the very last millisecond... and that (I think?) would lessen the issue of "Oh tyhey have these big powers and can even save lives, this makes Luke and Yoda and everyone else look dumb and impotent) but that's what the movie needs to tell us in narrative, not as guesswork from a casual fan.

 

[Damian]

Unfortunately, I feel that the positivity would only last around 10 posts. Nemesis was released 17 years ago; it's viewed in a different lens, much like the Prequel Trilogy is today. The Last Jedi in particular seems to draw negativity like moths to a flame.

Have you seen some of the Nemesis threads? That movie still imbues a lot of passionate dislike from many fans. Many fans that hated it in 2002 still hate it.

Look, a thread like this, asking how people felt about the sequel trilogy and whether it added something or not, is going to bring out a lot of comments. And I think you'll find with anything, not just Star Wars, that people that have criticisms are likely to comment more. Sometimes the best way to respond is finding the things you like about the film first of all. And secondly what I feel are weaknesses maybe you find are strengths. It's all a matter of tastes. Some people hate Star Wars and Star Trek, or space films in general. If you loved the sequel trilogy then enjoy them. They're not going anywhere.

And feel free to post things you like about the film much as fireproof as done (so you have at least one ally here, and there are some others I noticed). I haven't noticed anybody flaming or trolling anybody here for liking the trilogy.

Oh, and I'd just avoid internet sites and youtube videos ranting on the movies. That's just looking for trouble. I know Nemesis has a bad reputation. I don't go looking for ranting about Nemesis on the web. It's a waste of time.

And I did not call you or anyone else on this board a bigot.

I think he was referencing your comment that people that didn't like Rey were probably men. I too bristle a bit at such stereotyping. Personally I liked the characters/actors in the new roles so that wasn't an issue anyway for me.

Technically the term would be misogynist I believe, but the point is the same.

 

[Saul]

I don't think it added anything. It took away more. It took the win over the empire, over palpatine. It killed off the original Trilogy cast. It rehashed a lot of what had come before.

What did it add? It brought the feel of a Star Wars movie back. It gave us real sets, less CGI characters, heroes that had more than one dimension (even if they were underused).

I think whatever George Lucas would have done would have added to the franchise for better or worse. There would be no First Order or Star Killer base. He would have expanded the Mythology and gone into greater depth on the origin/meaning of the Force, again, for better or worse. He would have at least some idea where the trilogy was heading...

 

[Mach5]

I enjoyed the sequels, but no, I don't feel that they've added anything substantial to the saga.

 

[Armus]

I'm sure there will be those who disagree with me. I'm also sure they will almost entirely be men. Just because it isn't meaningful to you, doesn't mean it isn't meaningful to millions of others. If this isn't your trilogy, that's fine. You have plenty of other Star Wars that works for you. Just stop trying to ruin it for the rest of us.

A difference of viewpoint doesn't have to ruin anything for you. People ought to be free to make their case for and against something, as long as they are respectful.

In a thread soliciting people's opinions on the new trilogy, you're gonna get some critics. If this OP was asking people to list only what they liked about the new trilogy, personally I wouldn't have posted anything negative.

 

[DonIago]

Agreed. And I'll reiterate that the OP question as asked strongly indicates to me that they're asking whether the ST adds anything in the context of the universe itself, and not asking about real-world implications. Sure, in a vacuum 'meaningful' can be a relative term, but the term wasn't used in a vacuum.

 

[ALF]

Ended up liking more than I disliked overall, but the fly in my ointment was the lack of obvious influence of Joseph Campbell's Hero' journey structure. Specifically, the themes of each Trilogy should be clear. I thought with 7,8,9 released we could help piece it together. But I feel lost!

PT: Anakin hears the call and ends up losing everything.
OT: Luke hears the call and ends up saving Anakin who in turn, saves everything.
ST: ?

Unsure of what exactly the ST was trying to say as a whole. There is certainly redemption within Kylo's journey but what of Rey? Isn't she the main hero of the ST? Was Kylo Ren the main hero all along? The confrontation between Rey and Palps (then Ben too) itself isn't devoid of meaning, but what does it mean? Rey rejects the dark side, yes. Kylo redeems his bad choices, maybe.

They took some chances moving forward (in the timeline) and I love that. We've had so many prequels in everything, and going ahead is underrated.

The really, really fuckin' weird thing is that there wasn't really a 'war' per se in the sequel trilogy. There were a number of individual engagements but nothing like a long campaign with power struggles. More like Star Skirmishes, than Wars.

 

[Jinn]

This is a misconception.

Anakin did restore the Balance (both he and Luke tell Rey this directly in TRoS and TLJ, respectively); Palpatine returning just upsets that Balance again, which is where Rey, Ben, and their Force Dyad come into the picture.

Doesn't the prophecy also state that the Chosen One destroys the Sith?

 

[JD]

If nothing else the Sequel Trilogy did give us a whole new group of heroes, and it gave us Porgs and Babu Frik. So even if some people don't like it, I do think the sequels gave us some nice new elements of the mythos.

 

[fireproof78]

If nothing else the Sequel Trilogy did give us a whole new group of heroes, and it gave us Porgs and Babu Frik. So even if some people don't like it, I do think the sequels gave us some nice new elements of the mythos.

Agreed. I love the Resistance elements, as well as things like BB-8, the incredible war machine that is the First Order, and the expansion of the Force mythology.

 

[Reverend]

I'd hardly call such superficial things meaningful or substantive, however much I might enjoy them.

 

[Kirk Prime]

No. It added absolutely nothing to the saga.

All it did was mistreat the heroes of the original trilogy and retell basically the exact same story.

At the end of ROTJ, the Empire is vanquished and the galaxy celebrated.

All the sequel trilogy did was establish that the peace from the previous trilogy didn't last very long and the Empire rose again.

Then at the end of ROS, we had basically the same exact result. The Empire was vanquished and the galaxy celebrated. If this trilogy didn't exist, nothing changes.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Ended up liking more than I disliked overall, but the fly in my ointment was the lack of obvious influence of Joseph Campbell's Hero' journey structure. Specifically, the themes of each Trilogy should be clear. I thought with 7,8,9 released we could help piece it together. But I feel lost!

Yep, good point! It's as if the story beats were non-existent. I remember voicing my opinion on this after TLJ, feeling like I wasn't getting any clear idea what they were all fighting for beyond fighting and hoping that the next movie would provide answers. It kind of did, and it kind of didn't. More or less, while fun, I was left with the same feeling I came in with TFA, which is to say that by the end of it all, I still had no clue where it had been heading. It did give us some cool things though. One of my favourites is the Jet-trooper which they seem to have taken from the games and I'm surprised it took them that long to use it.

One of the odd things I've noticed is that, unlike the PT where Lucas made sure the technology was clearly different to denote a different era, the ST technology has hardly evolved from the OT and more or less looks the same aside from a few changes. If they were really at war like they'd like us to believe, then you'd think maybe there'd be an accelerated development from both sides.

 

[DonIago]

Yeah, it was a little disappointing to see that the First Order are still reliably using Star Destroyers and the Rebe...excuse me, Resistance, are still using X-wings and such.

It might have been cool if the FO had either invented new ship classes, or if, more fittingly, their Star Destroyers were in suboptimal condition because they were all the FO could scrape together after RotJ.

I did at least like the little character beats among the stormtroopers and such where it was made clear that there were humans underneath the armor.

Not so much the phone call between Poe and Hux which just made the latter look like an idiot. I was so hopeful that the reveal of Hux as a spy might go somewhere interesting.

 

[fireproof78]

I'd hardly call such superficial things meaningful or substantive, however much I might enjoy them.

I think it adds to the lore.

 

[DarKush]

Yeah, it was a little disappointing to see that the First Order are still reliably using Star Destroyers and the Rebe...excuse me, Resistance, are still using X-wings and such.

It might have been cool if the FO had either invented new ship classes, or if, more fittingly, their Star Destroyers were in suboptimal condition because they were all the FO could scrape together after RotJ.

I did at least like the little character beats among the stormtroopers and such where it was made clear that there were humans underneath the armor.

Not so much the phone call between Poe and Hux which just made the latter look like an idiot. I was so hopeful that the reveal of Hux as a spy might go somewhere interesting.

About using the same ships I was disappointed about that as well. It really helped make the sequels feel like a retread. Comparatively the prequels looked more distinct. I remember hearing Lucas say that they would not show the hyperspace effect in the prequels because he wanted audiences to see that for the 'first' time in the original trilogy. For the sequels, I wish Disney had put more creativity into making their trilogy look more distinct. I get the need to press the nostalgia button, but maybe one of the reasons the toys aren't selling as much (from what You Tube says) is that the character and ships aren't that interesting or different than what came before.

I didn't see a need to use the term 'stormtroopers' or to have Star Destroyers or any of that. Granted, I understand the First Order was led by ex-Imperials or Imperial sympathizers, but I still wish there had been more visual differentiation.

Half-joking here but it can be argued that Kenner put more thought in making the post-ROTJ future more distinct than Disney did with their "The Epic Continues" toys.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Epic_Continues

 

[Saul]

One of my favourites is the Jet-trooper which they seem to have taken from the games and I'm surprised it took them that long to use it.

In Clone Wars (2D animated series) I'm pretty sure Clone Troopers used them to fly to another ship.

 

[Reverend]

I think it adds to the lore.

So did 'The Crystal Star'. Quantitative does not mean qualitative.

In Clone Wars (2D animated series) I'm pretty sure Clone Troopers used them to fly to another ship.

If you want to go way back; a jetpack was present back when what became the Boba Fett design was still going to be an Imperial Super Commando, so circa 1978/79.

 

[Turtletrekker]

One of the positive things that I think it added is something that many of the haters dislike, the inclusion of more diversity in the characters. I love the fact that none of the hero leads in the sequels are white males. Compared to the pale sausage fest that was A New Hope, the new trilogy showed a much more diverse and realistic GFFA than how it started out as.

As much as I love Daisy Ridley as Rey, I like to think about the alternate universe where Jessica Henwick got the role and there wasn't a single Caucasian in the entire hero triumvirate. Just imagine the YouTube hate videos.

 

[thribs]

If anything it's still lacking in diversity. Still far too many humans.
Poe is a white male. Don't you see him as a lead?