Spoilers All Things STAR WARS - News, Speculation & Spoilers Thread
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It's far closer to the third Beowulf story than poetry.
This is the world post heroes. The heroes fought and won, but the struggle that they didn't expect came next.
It is, and yet it isn't.
As I've already noted, TFA was JJ Abrams' attempt to replicate for general audiences the very specific feelings that he himself felt seeing ANH in 1977, but the way it was made also works as an echo and reflection of George Lucas' conception of the Skywalker Saga films as a "visual tone poem" that "rhymes".
We saw him in the process of destroying them.
Obviously, Hamill screwed up big-time. He should have demanded script approval in order to return, and, when presented with the script for TFA, he should have laughed in their faces and told them to pound sand, and to come back with something better.
Well, there was the deleted line from RotJ (preserved in the novelization) that Owen was Obi-Wan's brother (which, as it happened, I first learned of in 1999 from a piece in my newspaper's culture section explaining how all the people from Episode I related to characters from the original trilogy). That definitely doesn't make sense, but it was accepted canon for almost twenty years until AotC came out. I still think Beru being Anakin's sister would've made the most sense (she remembers Anakin more fondly than Owen does, the Larses have a different last name from Luke), but I wasn't around at the time those decisions were made.
Anywho, at the risk of discussing some actual news, they officially announced a revamp to Galaxy's Edge, incorporating more original trilogy and New Republic-era elements. More scenarios are being added to Smuggler's Run, and Luke, Leia, Han, and Darth Vader are joining in as roaming characters.
This isn't explicitly said in the article, but it sounds like the three sections of Galaxy's Edge are going to have a sort of soft timeline shift between them, with the Resistance base section remaining in the Sequel period, the central marketplace and Falcon being in the New Republic/Mandalorian era, and the former First Order section being "set" during the original trilogy. Very World-Between-Worlds
.Also, as a ship nerd, I appreciate the tidbit that the TIE shuttle was a restored Imperial vehicle (so, conveniently, they don't have to replace it with something else to make it Darth Vader's ride). I preferred the black-and-chrome ST TIE fighters to the gray-and-black OT look, and wasn't a a fan of them repeatedly introducing Imperial-colored First Order TIEs. At least now that one has an explanation.
There's a pretty big difference between the odd poetic refrain, and just straight-up wrote repetition. Echoes don't rhyme, it's just the same thing all over again, only slightly more diminished each time.
I agree in principle, and that's clearly what someone involved was thinking, (at least at some point along the way) . . . but the execution of the trilogy on the whlle just didn't do enough that was new to actually progress the world building and actually pay off on that concept. 'Last Jedi' did the best in this regard, but it was still trying to swim against the current of the other two movies and just seems like an almost pointless diversion (and I say this as someone that considers Last Jedi as their favorite of the three.)
What else would Disney have done? Write him out or recast him? Fine - he would have had the last laugh.
Last laugh? Why? He likely made a ton of money off off the sequels. He would have looked like a fool in more ways than one had he not come back.
Why doesn't it make sense? You just found out that Luke's Father and Darth Vader are the same guy.
What is the repetition? The biggest (and least forgivable) repetition is the damn planet killer. Which is almost tangential to the plot.
Otherwise: It's a Star Wars movie. And it goes lots of places that Star Wars (1977) did not.
"Harrison and Carrie came back. But they don't have as much integrity as I do."
I know someone would have laughed.
Yes?
Examples?
.... And Rey finds Luke's grave and lays his lightsaber before it, to John Williams' most heart-wrenching music yet....
Were you betting on the other guys?
I agree, but I honestly feel like that is more due to Kennedy seeing what Lucas went through with the Prequels, and trying to give a lot more latitude to creatives. But, that's pure speculation.
Regardless, I still prefer TFA and TLJ, but the two lack the camaraderie of the main characters spending time together quite like the OT. I do think TFA works well because it feels very much like a world post OT, both in a directorial sense, as well as in universe, were Luke and Han are legends, and heroes who cast long shadows in some ways. It reminds me a bit of the third story involving Beowulf with a new hero rising up when Beowulf fails.
But, as I get older, the sequels lose their shine, mostly because it lacks that cohesion of friendship that the OT had. You can think Luke, Han and Leia easily. Hell, I was just watching deleted scenes from ROTJ and I love a simple scene of Luke and Han shaking hands as a thank you for rescuing Han at the end of the sandstorm scene. It's just great little moments like that that make the OT stand out greatly. The ST and PT lack that.