Do we need more backstory?
- Thread starter RoJoHen
- Start date
I look forward to the books and comics that will fill in the blanks.
Precisely.
^ This
I enjoyed myself during the movie, & I'm glad they're giving it a go, but I will only be able to say if it's good, when the rest of the whole begins to fill in. It's very introductory, & willfully omissive, which can go either way
"No" and "Who cares?"
One dictatorship fell, another took its place. A resistance formed against it. A New Republic formed, but is probably reluctant to go back to war, so they do what every superpower does: fund and arm surrogates against their enemies. For anyone who's paid attention to international relations on this planet the crawl provided all the general backstory needed.
But none of that really matters the story being told here. Yeah, it would be nice to know a bit more, but this story was focused pretty tightly on Kylo Ren, Rey, and Finn and none of that stuff really mattered to their story. If you want the details about that kind of stuff then check out the supplemental material.
True, but I think it would have helped to have gotten at least a little bit more about the Republic, if only to make their destruction resonate better.
Because the way it was presented, I really don't care about any of those planets that blew up.
At least when Tarkin blew up Alderaan, there was some emotional weight behind it because we knew it was Leia's home.
No. That is a terrible way to do things, especially when it's information that actually should be in the movie. We have no reason to care about the planets the First Order destroyed because they're gone five seconds after they're introduced. We have no emotional connection to them. At least we had some sort of connection to Alderaan through Leia.
The few seconds we got of the natives tossing "Oh, shit!" looks into the sky as rains of fire headed toward them was more than enough to care about them.
Amen.
Kids, we have the bad guys (The hilariously over the top FIRST ORDER)
We have the sort of good guys (The short lived REPUBLIC) and we have the actual good guys (the underfunded RESISTANCE)
The Jedi are still extinct despite Luke's efforts. He is in hiding
The Force is an life-created energy field (again) and Jedi can pop up almost fully formed in the strangest places.
People smuggle crap, and cheat each other. Crime is a thing.
The bad guys want to blow up the good guys. The good guys stop them.
WOOOOO!
Seriously all the details are just details. They aren't needed to tell the story, and we all know us detail nerds will read the backstory on the Internets anyway.
I want more backstory, although delivered over time and not as an infodump. Really, I just want what's best for the story, though, and if that involves delving into details or just flying by the seat of one's pants then so be it.
In terms of TFA, I didn't think the politics of the galaxy made much sense and I would've liked a few more lines of dialogue (or another sentence in the opening crawl) to clear it up. I don't need a manual, but a little more of a sense of place would've worked for me (I liked the more political touch the prequels brought).
In terms of TFA, I didn't think the politics of the galaxy made much sense and I would've liked a few more lines of dialogue (or another sentence in the opening crawl) to clear it up. I don't need a manual, but a little more of a sense of place would've worked for me (I liked the more political touch the prequels brought).
I have remarked frequently that one of the things I liked about TFA is that the story itself has a very narrow focus. It really is about just one family, and although big and galaxy changing events are taking place - those are just backdrops to the story of the Skywalker/Solo family and their closest friends. That's a very unique take, but in all reality it fits the overall feel of the OT. When we watch the OT, we can fill in 30 odd years of acquired information, but if you were to strip that away, and watch the OT with new eyes, you wouldn't know what the hell was going on half the time, and you wouldn't care. Why did the Rebels hide on that jungle moon? Why is Alderaan so important? Why did the Rebels hide on that ice planet? What the hell is the Senate, and who is the Emperor?
Meh, who cares....
Meh, who cares....
Star Wars wiki has it fleshed out. The backstory shown on-screen is quite sufficient for the first installment of a trio.
The Empire was defeated with a rump surviving as a small state. That rump state was run by some warlords who retreated into uninhabited space to quietly rebuild and now they are back with one leader and some serious hardware capable of causing serious damage to the republic. It's not dissimilar to Germany after the First World War. I presume the next two movies will have a full scale "World War Two" kinda vibe to it.
The Empire was defeated with a rump surviving as a small state. That rump state was run by some warlords who retreated into uninhabited space to quietly rebuild and now they are back with one leader and some serious hardware capable of causing serious damage to the republic. It's not dissimilar to Germany after the First World War. I presume the next two movies will have a full scale "World War Two" kinda vibe to it.
Then there's Hux's speech about the Republic lying to the galaxy while clandestinely supporting the Resistance, implying that the Republic and the First Order were two sovereign players on the galactic geopolitical scene, and were supposed to leave each other alone.
Kor
Kor
FWIW, ANH did have its infodump scenes...the Death Star conference room and Ben's hut come to mind.
There was the bit before that, about the dissolution of the Senate and last remnants of the Old Republic being swept away.
Whether we already knew the information or not, the scene is almost pure exposition (the "almost" being the climactic Force choke).
Whether we already knew the information or not, the scene is almost pure exposition (the "almost" being the climactic Force choke).
