As I understand it, the New Republic and Imperial Remnant(s?) signed a non-aggression pact of some sort. The First Order was already in violation of that when they built Finalizer-class Star Destroyers but, to keep the peace, the Republic didn't take any official action about that. Instead, they supplied the Resistance with weapons, supplies, etc.APlayerHater wrote:I recall from some incredible cross sections book or something that Chewie's bowcaster is auto-cocking for some reason.
Me? I had a few beefs with this movie.
A: I agree, the resistance is a stupid idea. What happened to Ackbar's mon calamari fleet? Now they have what looks to be 10 x wings with which to destroy an entire planet. How can you have a resistance when your faction is in control of space politics? Or is the new republic so limp wristed useless and weak after only 20 years that they just let the Knights of Ren walk all over them and kidnap children en masse to form their army?
That did seem really stupid. Maybe it was just the bulk of their fleet? View the Starkiller attack as a kind of Pearl Harbor (plus several large nukes deployed against the SW equivalent of Washington, D.C. and other big centers of government, naturallyA1: Why is the New Republic, and it's entire fleet, all stationed on some random planet somewhere I've never heard of. Shouldn't their fleet be out, I don't know, patrolling the galaxy or something? Or at least on coruscant? Can Abrams not make a movie without destroying a planet?
).The Starkiller can enter hyperspace, yes.B: Starkiller base: Why do we need another death star? Can starkiller base move? Did they convert an entire planet into a giant gun only to be able to fire like 2 shots? Because it looked like it had totally absorbed the star at that point. So basically, there was no point in destroying it because after it had fired its second shot it would have been rendered useless anyway.
The OT Rebels didn't have the resources to counter a Death Star with something comparable.B1: How did the remnant possibly have the resources to build an entire planet into a deathstar in 20 years without anybody noticing? Is that why they didn't want the rebels finding the plans to the deathstar in ANH? Because now it seems completely rational to think that the rebels in ANH could have used the Deathstar plans to build their own Deathstar to counter the empire's Deathstar. I mean, at this point why not? Makes equal amount of sense.
I know what you're going to say: the First Order probably shouldn't have such resources, either. Well, who says they did? Apart from Hux's statement that the FO "built" Starkiller, it's entirely possible -- in my opinion, even probable -- that it was under construction before the Empire fell. That might seem like a contradiction, but it doesn't have to be. I buy scale models that I very much build myself, but all of the necessary components are right there, in the box; all I have to do is glue the pieces together.
I don't think Takodana was in the same system, so I have no explanation for this. I vaguely recall some talk about how the nature of the Starkiller beams, traveling through hyperspace and what-not, had something to do with their unnatural visibility, but then, we all know it's just lazy writing on JJ's part since he did the same stupid shit in "Star Trek."B2: How are they main characters able to see the beam shot from starkiller base? Should it take thousands of years for the light to reach them? Or was Maz Kanata's base conveniently in the same solar system as the republic's home planet?
It took out their capitol and at least a decent portion of their fleet, so yeah ... it was a cheesy device to tighten the focus of the story on the Resistance and First Order.B3: Was starkiller base just a lame excuse to destroy the republic in 1 second so the empire can be in control in time for episode 8? How do you destroy the republic by blowing up one planet? Why was the fleet parked on a planet? What is going on?
She did come across pretty lame. I don't know that I'd characterize her as a traitor and coward, though: even a brave, loyal soldier is liable to disregard orders when she has a gun pointed at her head. I reckon she assumed lowering the shield wouldn't make much difference anyway -- that the FO would still win.C: Phasma: Boba Fett, but at least Boba Fett didn't come across as a traitor and a coward. Weren't these people supposed to have some kind of mind control mental conditioning from birth? But between TR8R, Finn and Phasma, it doesn't seem to have worked. Is this whole movie have a stealth scientologist anti-psychology message?
In the current canon (bleh, I hate saying that), the only cloners we know are on Kamino. If the FO doesn't have access or sway over Kamino, well ... *shrugs* Maybe a cloned army isn't as practical for them as it was for the Old Republic/Empire?C1: They threaten to use clones in this movie if the stormtroopers screw up. Pause. Is there any reason they're not using clones? As I recall, the clones in the clone wars worked perfectly. They were perfectly loyal soldiers. They were programmed with secret orders for years and none of them ever spilled the beans about order 66. Sidious trusted them enough to carry out the most important part of his plan to kill the jedi so he could overthrow the republic. But no, kidnapping and brainwashing children seems to be going much better for them.
Calling him a janitor could be a misrepresentation. We know he had sanitation duties at some time or another; that could've been a punishment detail or something many or even all FO Stormtroopers are assigned to during their training.D: Finn: A janitor who remembers the layout of an entire planet. He can walk around with a lightsaber out in a warzone without getting shot. He can go toe-to-toe with a force user in a swordfight and not instantly lose, and yet is shown throughout the entire movie as being totally useless. He is soldier trained from birth, and if every stormtrooper is as much of a socially awkward, poorly trained basket case as he is that would explain a lot. He can't shoot, he can't fight, he can't fix weapons and seems to have no experience with weapons. And yet he was brought on Kylo Ren's secret mission to find this map for some reason, and he is allowed to go out into the field on missions despite having in depth technical data for the KoR's secret planet destroying base.
I also disagree that he's totally ineffectual in combat, and it also might be a stretch to say he has "in-depth technical data" on the Starkiller. What did he really tell us about the thing? I'd have to check the script, but all I remember is that he described its fuel source, maybe something about shield oscillation and/or some vague talk about taking out the weapon's fuel containment mechanisms. That doesn't really strike me as more profound than, "Hey, it drains stars, light can get through the shield* and if you blow up some stuff inside the thing, it will mess it up."
*The light through the shield thing's obvious to anyone since, as we see in the film, the surface is nicely lit up when Starkiller orbits a star.
I don't really remember that part well enough to comment. I think I later murmured something to my fiance about how TR8R should've been Phasma; that way, she could've at least gotten to do something other than get body slammed by Chewie.D1: That fight with Finn and TR8R: What is this weapon that TR8R is using? I recall him getting several hits in on Finn and Finn doesn't even notice. Is that shock prod even a weapon? That fight isn't even fair: If TR8R hits Finn, which he does, a lot, Finn isn't even fazed, and if Finn hits TR8R TR8R instantly dies. Wow, what a good fight....... . . . . . . Maybe he should have just shot Finn with a gun.
Couldn't agree with you more here ... that was just fucking DUMB. Mind you, the novelization does note that Stormtrooper helmets do have filters for toxic agents, but they're not standard issue or the masks' "default" setting. Something silly like that.D2: Stormtrooper armor is now susceptible to poison gas attack. Um... Aren't these space suits? Why would you ruin stormtrooper armor in a throw away line, especially when using gas against stormtroopers isn't even a plot point, Rey and Finn are just panicking and about to accidentally kill themselves.
I rather liked him ... the Sith wannabe, the kid who worships his grandfather but doesn't measure up. He strikes me as largely untrained but possessed of enormous potential -- power that Snoke has perhaps let him explore mostly on his own.E: Kylo Ren: I found him to be potentially interesting, but everything I find interesting about him might have just been a mistake on the writer's part, and they might totally ruin him in the next movie. I assume he touched Darth Vader's helmet, had some kind of vision and assumed he had some great destiny and thought uncle Luke was holding him back or something.
As for the helmet, you could be right. Apparently Snoke turned him against Luke, but that could have easily been by introducing him to tales of his granddaddy's power and adventures in the Dark Side.
No real argument here. I wasn't put off by this at the theatre, but then, I've only seen it once.E1: That whole fight with Finn and Rey made no sense. People say: Well, he'd been shot. But the one who should be shot is the fight choreographer, because at no point during the fight was he moving sluggishly, or barely staying awake, or suffering from debilitating pain or anything. He does a samurai thing and punches his own wound, but otherwise he seems to have no problem moving around. But at the same time he inexplicably barely keeps up with a janitor who has no force powers and whose only experience with a lightsaber is awkwardly hold it and walking around a battlefield like he was lost. Either show him being wounded and losing the fight that way or don't and have him win.
Here's how that fight should have gone down: Kylo Ren walks up to Finn, knocks the lightsaber out of his hand and steps on his face, then maybe picks him up with the force and slams him against a tree. Same outcome, saves you confusion and wasting 10 minutes.
Either that or have him, clearly, barely staying alive and conscious, and moving very awkwardly and sluggishly, to make be believe that Finn could stand a chance. Film is a visual medium, so show me some visuals telling me the story that Kylo Ren has been shot.
Her sheer power in the Force could explain some of those things. Luke was totally untrained and he made a "great kid! That was one in a million" shot that experienced Rebel pilots couldn't. He outshot Stormtroopers on the Death Star, and we don't know if he'd even held a blaster carbine before then. In the next movie, he trained with Yoda for what ... a few months, maybe? Yet, by the time he got to Bespin, he wasn't completely steamrolled by Vader, who'd been training with a lightsaber and using the Force for decades.F: Rey: Now Rey was a fine character, but she is a Mary Sue. She had secret jedi training as a baby that was conveniently mind wiped, making her the best at everything. She's better at shooting a gun than Finn (trained from birth as a soldier). Given a pistol she misses once, then immediately kills every storm trooper that enters her line of sight, despite the fact I don't think she's ever held a gun before. She mind controls Daniel Craig despite not even knowing the jedi mind trick is a thing that exists. She can fix the millennium falcon and can understand both BB8 and Chewbacca, despite no character ever in the history of the series ever having been able to understand Droid speech, and only Han could ever understand Chewie. She can pilot the millennium falcon well enough to hit a tie-fighter with the main turret just by doing a backflip and having Finn pull the trigger, with the gun unable to turn, and in atmosphere on a planet with gravity. Anakin's lightsaber also literally calls out for her, and seemingly flies into her hand of its own accord despite Kylo Ren's attempts to pull it (how kylo can stop a blaster shot in mid air but can't move a 1 pound piece of metal 5 feet is beyond me. Was he out of force points? Did he need to recharge his batteries?).
Compare the two, and I concede that several of Rey's feats still stick in my craw; e.g., flying the Falcon like she did and the mind trick. But I don't have a major problem with her understanding Wookiee, or droid-talk. She could've easily been exposed to both on Jakku. I touched on the shooting thing. Remember, Force users "see things before they happen," which permitted an untrained Luke to outshoot Stormtroopers, untrained Anakin to win the big pod race and, for that matter, how many times did we see Leia whip up on some Stormies? (SW: Rebels would seem to suggest she had combat training, but I've only seen snippets of this season.)
Bottom line: she is a Mary Sue, I concur, but with a couple of exceptions, it didn't take me out of the story.
Also look at how many times Luke, Han and Leia shot a bunch of Imperials. And I seem to remember that they destroyed all of the TIEs pursuing themYou might defend Rey. You might say: Oh, well, she worked as a scrapper. Yeah? Well by that logic Steven Avery should be some kind of renaissance man savant. She has no training, none, nobody (except for bs flashbacks) in flying, shooting, hacking doors, using the force, sword fighting, stealth, and yet it's only the first movie in a trilogy and she can already outpace all the OT characters in their fields of expertise. Just look how many times Luke and Han totally miss in the ANH shootout scenes on foot and in the scene where they are using the turrets to fend off the TIE Fighters tailing them.
Don't misunderstand me: I'm aware Han had been in scrapes before, so yeah, it's not as if he'd be a bad shot. Leia might've had some training as part of a Rebel cell pre-ANH. But I think you're discounting how much of a Force multiplier the Force actually affords, if you'll pardon the bad pun. Luke simply flying into the Death Star trench when most of their 30 fighter force couldn't even get close has Gary Stu written all over it; that he went on to fire the impossible shot, and in a ship he'd never operated no less, defines him as a Gary ... it's even got his picture next to the term in the nerd's dictionary!
Indeed, if it turns out that she had previous training but her memories were suppressed for ... whatever reason(s) *shrugs again*, feats like the mind-control and lightsaber prowess will be akin to an amnesiac riding a bike: once learned, it's easy to pick up again.
He was wounded, as you yourself pointed out. And Kylo was not Luke's daughter, as we suspect Rey is. Luke is supposed to be much more powerful than Leia, so perhaps Rey inherited more "Force genes."And if Rey did have secret training then wow. Looks like Luke trained a 5 year old better than his star pupil Kylo Ren. No wonder Kylo turned to evil.
I say that partly tongue-in-cheek, but recall what Snoke said about sensing an awakening in the Force. Doubt that was Luke. He sensed someone extraordinarily powerful, much as Palpatine felt a disturbance about Luke in "TESB."
Heh, those are great questions.G: Maz Kanata: Yoda, except even older(Unless she's not 'literally' 1000 years old like they say in the movie) and wiser(?) because she doesn't have a speech impediment. Where did she get Anakin's lightsaber? Did she just find it floating around Bespin? How does she have Anakin's podracing flag at her base? Is she a huge Anakin fangirl?
I figure some dude working on the lower levels of Cloud City found the lightsaber, pocketed it and sold it later for a bunch of credits.
The podracing flag ... ?! I have no guess about that.
You'd think it would have an inhibitor chip or something, yeah. I suppose most of the people on Jakku A, aren't pilots or B, those who are are scavengers from other systems and already have their own ships.*snip*
Come to think of it, the millennium falcon didn't have a key either. And they left the door wide open while it was just sitting there. You'd think one of these slaves working for bread rations on this planet could just walk in, start it up, and go literally anywhere. Go to Tatooine. Go anywhere. The new republic is so great that being a slave is now worse than ever.
It depends on what it means by bringing balance to the Force. The Jedi thought that meant destroying the Sith, right?J: Snoke: Why would you hire Andy Serkis to play a character who doesn't move? Does Serkis have to play your CG character for you to get any street cred?
J1: And here I thought Darth Vader's destiny to bring balance to the force and destroy evil had any meaning whatsoever. Thanks for making the prequels noncanon, JJ. No, really. Thank you.
Anakin did that. Snoke and company are evil, but they strike me as low-rent Dark Siders, a'la the Nightsisters or Ventress. And who knows? Maybe in a roundabout way, Anakin's son or grandkids will take things a step further.
