Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Adam Reynolds
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Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by Adam Reynolds »

Making Star Wars has posted a series of spoilers about the new film in a random order and with little connection between them all. Someone has finally complied them all together into a complete narrative..
Spoiler
A lightsaber tumbles out of space. It enters the atmosphere of a desert planet and plunges to the ground. This is the planet of Jakku. The lightsaber is retrieved by a mysterious hand. It finds its way to a village elder, codenamed the Vicar, played by Max Von Sydow. The Vicar contacts the Resistance (the good guys). An X-wing pilot, Poe Dameron–played by Oscar Isaac–arrives with his droid, BB-8, to collect the lightsaber from the Vicar. The exchange happens in his hut. Suddenly, the sound of ships are heard in the night. The First Order (the bad guys) are onto them! Poe Dameron places the lightsaber inside BB-8 and orders him to flee. Run, BB-8! Run!

The perspective now shifts to a stormtrooper on a transport ship, headed for the planet Jakku at night. This stormtrooper is Finn, played by John Boyega. He is shorter than the others. They land, the hatch opens, and they immediately start taking fire from the villagers. The stormtroopers proceed to burn the village to the ground. They also torch Poe Dameron’s X-wing. They are ordered to round up the remaining villagers and massacre them. The short stormtrooper Finn lets some villagers go out of compassion. Finn’s stormtrooper friend is killed in the assault, and he leaves a bloody handprint on Finn’s helmet.

A huge shuttle lands, and out of it emerges a evil dark lord in hooded robes and a helmet, wielding a red, cross-guarded lightsaber. This is Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver. Kylo Ren proceeds to make mincemeat of some of the villagers who dare attack him. He confronts the Vicar about the lightsaber. Kylo essentially asks “WHAT have you DONE with that lightsaber?” Kylo Ren is unsatisfied with the conversation. He kills the Vicar in cold blood.

Poe Dameron (the X-wing pilot who is now without an X-wing) is captured by Kylo Ren’s stormtroopers. He is taken aboard a transport and flown back to a First Order Star Destroyer. Finn, the short stormtrooper, also flies back to the Star Destroyer. But he is disturbed by his experience on the ground. Upon arrival, Finn feels ill. He takes off his helmet, and vomits. A superior arrives and tells him that another superior wishes to see him. They are displeased with his conduct in the village. His sentimental weakness. This likely means death (or worse) for Finn.

The perspective now shifts to a young woman on the desert planet of Jakku. This is Rey (who may also be called Kira) played by Daisy Ridley. She flies her speeder across the desert, and approaches a great ruin in the desert: a crashed Star Destroyer from a titanic battle between the Empire and the Rebellion, 30 years earlier. Rey enters the Destroyer, and proceeds to explore it, expertly hopping over huge chasms–some of which house the remains of old TIE fighters. She is a scavenger, on a planet that was once uninhabited, but is now populated by opportunists scavenging the wreckage of war. She also seems to be something of a skilled gymnast, as she hops from precipice to precipice in the Star Destroyer’s great husk. She scavenges a bit, and then decides to return home. In a rather evocative shot, she flies her speeder into a ONE SUN sunset.

We now cut back to the First Order Star Destroyer, hovering above the planet. The villain Kylo Ren is torturing Poe Dameron. Ren is confident he will get the information he needs. He emerges from the interrogation knowing that the lightsaber is now carried by a droid, BB-8. Kylo Ren delivers this information to his superior, codenamed “The General,” who is played by Domhnall Gleeson.

The stormtrooper Finn decides to flee. But he can’t fly. He needs a pilot. He sees Poe Dameron being escorted to the brig, and decides to act. He breaks Poe free. They steal a TIE fighter from the hangar bay, and stormtroopers try to stop them. The TIE lifts away from its moorings, firing at troopers as it makes its way out and into space. TIE fighters follow, screaming behind them. After a short chase, Finn and Poe are shot down. Poe is unconscious at the controls. But before they crash, Finn manages to eject himself from craft. He wakes up in the sand, back on Jakku. He looks around in a panic, and sees the crashed TIE fighter not so far away. He tries to get into it, but can’t. Finn sheds his stormtrooper armor and puts on a jacket that seemingly belongs to Poe Dameron. It’s not clear what happened to Poe. Finn, now disguised as a Resistance pilot, heads away from the wreckage. A speeder zooms by him, blasting sand into his face. Finn follows it, in the hope that it will lead him to the nearest settlement on this barren planet.

Kylo Ren and the General watch Finn’s hologram aboard the Star Destroyer. The General suggests to a Chrome Stormtrooper named Captain Phasma (played by Gwendoline Christie) that she focus on hunting down the droid and retrieving the lightsaber. Forget Finn, who is useless anyway. The lightsaber is the important objective.

The perspective shifts again to the female scavenger, Rey. She eats alone, in a makeshift dwelling in the belly of an old AT-AT walker. Living among the bones of the old Empire. She hears a commotion outside, and finds that a droid is in some trouble. She helps the droid, who turns out to be BB-8. After doing so, she decides to sell BB-8 at the nearest salvage station, along with the rest of her loot. After some haggling, she is not able to part with the droid. She decides to keep it.

Later on the street, Rey is confronted by ruffians. Finn, emerging from his trek through the desert, enters the settlement. He quickly sees that Rey is trouble. Being the compassionate type, he intervenes to help her. She doesn’t need his help, of course, and doesn’t trust Finn’s intentions. She also doesn’t believe that he is a Resistance pilot. Rey and Finn make a run for it, with BB-8 in tow. They are pursued by ruffians again, who are perhaps fulfilling a bounty for the First Order. TIE fighters scream overhead, and begin firing laser blasts at them. They frantically look for a ship, and ultimately choose one that’s sitting there with its door open. It’s the Millennium Falcon.

Finn and Rey board the Falcon, and get it off the ground. Rey flies expertly, while Finn settles in at the guns. A few TIEs are in pursuit. Rey shouts at Finn to fire back at them! Rey flies the Falcon back towards a crashed Super Star Destroyer. In order to throw the TIEs off her back, she flies INTO the Destroyer from its rear rocket boosters. Into the belly of a beast. She and the TIEs slalom through the crashed Destroyer. But Rey knows these ruins, and she leaves the TIEs behind. The Falcon jets off into space, and loses its pursuers, probably by jumping to hyperspace.

We now cut to Kylo Ren, alone in his “padded room” aboard the orbiting Star Destroyer. He has received the news of the failed retrieval of the lightsaber. He speaks to himself. Rather, he speaks to the burned and twisted husk of a helmet. The helmet of Darth Vader.

We return to Rey and Finn on the Millennium Falcon. Either via tractor beam or their own choice, they are swallowed up by a Giant Freighter in space. Into the belly of another beast. The ship lands in a cavernous hangar bay. They open the door, and there at the bottom of the ramp is Han Solo and Chewbacca! Han orders the kids off his ship. They refuse. Han and Chewie enter the ship, and confront Finn and Rey. BB-8 hides in the back. Suddenly, an alert pops up in hologram form. Two competing gangs of ruffians approach the Falcon and they are temporarily united! Han asks the kids to hide in the storage bay. The gangs confront Han and Chewie, and they seem to be in trouble. Rey tries to help by releasing the ship’s cargo (which appears to be livestock, potentially giant space pigs). This provides a distraction. But the released creatures grab Finn and Rey is forced to chase them down and free Finn from the beasts’ clutches. A fight ensues between the heroes and the gangs. Rey almost single-handedly takes on the gangs using her skills with a staff. Han fires back, but Chewie is wounded in the fight. Finn helps Chewie, and wins some respect from Han Solo in the process. They all rush back into the Falcon. Han gets behind the controls, with Rey in the copilot seat. When the Falcon won’t start, Rey manages to tinker with it and the fix the ship, earning the stowaways more respect from Captain Solo. As Chewie recovers in the back, they jet out of the freighter, crashing into some of the livestock on the way out but still managing to escape from the gangs.

Han asks Rey and Finn what the devil they are up to. BB-8 determines that the time is right, and reveals what he is carrying: a lightsaber. Han Solo recognizes it as belonging to Luke Skywalker! It’s the one Luke lost on Bespin, in his battle against his father. Han suggests they go to see “her.” “Who’s that?” Maz Kanata. She’s a pirate. At a secret location on Yavin IV, a jungle planet that was once the home of the Rebel Alliance, and is now the main headquarters of the Resistance. She’ll know what to do. They fly there, and Rey is awed by the lush jungle, after so many years on a barren planet. They arrive at Maz Kanata’s castle. It is a pirate hideout. A range of strange and unsavory characters, alien and human, lounge about inside. Han asks for Maz Kanata. An alien escorts them into a catacomb below the pirate castle. There they meet the diminutive and wise pirate alien, Maz Kanata, played as a mo-cap character by Lupita Nyong’o.

They show Maz the lightsaber, and she recognizes it immediately. She offers to show them a vision. Maz seemingly has Force powers of some kind, and may have once been a Jedi (or a Jedi apprentice). They all hold hands, and a vision washes over them.

VISION: There is what looks to be a Jedi Academy, and the dead bodies of padawans are on the ground. Luke Skywalker shows up, too late. He sits by a funeral pyre with R2-D2. The droid is saddened by his master’s departure. Cut to the hand that takes the lightsaber at the start of the film. It is now revealed to be the hand of “Naka.” Naka accidentally starts a grass fire after igniting the saber. Cut to a local trader making a sale to a wealthy man. Cut to a fierce battle! The lightsaber is being used by the CLAN against THE SEVEN. The last man is down and Kylo Ren approaches Rey. THE SEVEN are looting and we see Maz Kanata in the foreground taking an object. END OF VISION.

Then, Maz Kanata says something very heavy to Han, Rey, and Finn. It is possible, though unconfirmed, that Rey may learn that she is the lost daughter of Han Solo. Maz Kanata presents the blue lightsaber to them again. Rey is revolted by it, while Finn is attracted to it. He takes it in his hands. Maz Kanata knows why the saber came to her. Rey is deeply troubled, rejecting both the lightsaber and the information Maz has given them. She flees the pirate castle, and runs into the nearby jungle.

We then cut to what seems to be a spy in the pirate castle. This is an emissary, Kor Sella (played by Maisie Richardson-Sellers) that has been sent by Queen Leia, the leader of the Resistance, to track down the lightsaber. The mission is secret, and she is in clandestine garb.

Cut to BB-8, who finds Rey in the jungle. But suddenly, First Order ships are overhead! They have been tracked.

The perspective shifts to the villain, Kylo Ren. But this time, he is in communication with a mysterious superior codenamed “Uber” (played as a mo-cap character by Andy Serkis). Uber orders that a superweapon, codenamed “The Catapult,” be used against the castle. Uber suggests to Kylo Ren that he “not get sentimental,” as Kylo hesitates to fire. This suggests that Kylo Ren may have some relationship with Han Solo, Rey, or both. Perhaps Kylo Ren is Han Solo’s lost son, and Rey is his sister…

Kylo Ren orders the pirate castle destroyed, but the heroes, including Maz Kanata, get out in time. The pirate castle blows up, and Leia’s emissary Kor Sella is killed. Leia, Admiral Ackbar, and her staff fear the worst. This alerts the Resistance that something is wrong.

Enemy fighters are flying overhead and landing. Captain Phasma, on Kylo Ren’s orders, seizes Rey and takes her captive. BB-8 flees. Rey is escorted away from the planet on a First Order shuttle. A Resistance fighter arrives, piloted by Poe Dameron. He is now flying either a black, commandeered Special Ops TIE, or a black X-wing. He “makes all the difference” in driving the First Order villains away! A shuttle lands, and it is Queen Leia with C-3PO in tow. She meets with Han, and the meeting is awkward. It seems they haven’t seen each other in a long while.

Han, Chewie, Finn, Poe, and BB-8 go with Leia to the Resistance Base, which seems to be on the other side of the jungle planet of Yavin IV. There, Leia plies Finn for information about the First Order, likely probing for weaknesses. She may learn something very valuable from Finn, including the location of their base and superweapon. This puts Resistance plans into motion to assault the First Order planet, and “The Catapult” superweapon they have housed there. Leia expresses pride in a new Resistance superweapon, codenamed “The Sledgehammer.” She seems to be quite militant. Leia also meets with Maz Kanata and receives Luke’s blue lightsaber. She suggests that for the time being, the lightsaber go to Finn and Leia complies. Maz knows if it is in Finn’s hands, it will find its way back to Rey, when she is ready to accept her destiny. Han meets with Leia, and they seem to have an intimate scene. Before leaving, presumably to go after Rey, Han tells Leia that he will “hurry back.”

We cut to Rey, who is being interrogated by Kylo Ren in a First Order “Evil Castle” on their snowy, forested base planet (with a name still unknown). Kylo uses his force powers during the interrogation. Rey seems to reverse the probe, and learns something about Kylo and/or his plans. Rey informs Kylo he will never be as powerful as Darth Vader. This infuriates Kylo, and he leaves the chamber to report his findings. Was this a sibling duel? But the interrogation was not fruitless for Kylo Ren. He learns that he no longer needs the lightsaber to fulfill his purpose. His purpose remains mysterious, but it may have something to do with finding Luke Skywalker. Kylo Ren reports to Uber with this new information. Rey then somehow uses her Force powers (likely mind tricks) to distract the snowtroopers guarding her cell. She escapes through a ventilation shaft, and emerges out in the open. It’s snowing.

Han, Chewie, and Finn leave for the snowy, forested First Order planet on the Falcon, while Leia and Poe (with BB-8) prepare to assault the planet from space. Han crashes the Falcon on the planet by taking the ship into the atmosphere of the snow planet at very high speeds to jump past the First Order defenses. The crew of the Falcon comes out of hyperspace screaming as the ship cuts through trees before setting down. Han Solo hasn’t had a good day and Finn learned about Kylo Ren’s past from Maz. Finn consoles Han Solo about the past. On their way to the First Order castle, Finn talks about his past to Han Solo and reveals a lot about himself from before he was stormtrooper and why he became one. In the distance they spot a figure and it is Rey. Rey is moved. As an orphan, to have friends come back for her means a lot. Han, Finn, and Chewie came to rescue her, and this makes her reconsider her angry feelings at Maz Kanata’s castle.

During her interrogation, Rey may have retrieved vital information from Kylo Ren, which she may share with Han and the gang at this point. Armed with this information, the company then heads to the First Order Castle. Han has a plan! They will destroy “The Catapult” superweapon (or the shield that protects it), which is controlled from within the Castle.

We then cut to Kylo Ren, who walks into the cockpit of the crashed Falcon. He sits in the pilot’s seat, and has a moment. Is this his father’s ship? Does he remember it? Are those memories fond?

We then cut to the beginning of a great, climactic space battle above the snowy, forested First Order planet. The Resistance is throwing everything it has at the home base of the enemy. X-wings and TIE Fighters face off in space and in the atmosphere of the planet, where the First Order superweapon is located. Queen Leia uses the Resistance superweapon, “the Sledgehammer,” to crush through Star Destroyers as if they were tinker toys. She wields an awesome power against the First Order! Down on the planet, the General of the First Order orders the firing of “The Array,” a defensive superweapon that will take out all fighters in space around the planet. The General’s subordinates refuse to carry out his order, because the weapon would also destroy their own fleet. And so, the General fires the superweapon himself. In that moment, projectiles are fired and all the ships in space are destroyed. Every single one. The General is practical and coldhearted. He obliterates his own men in their TIE fighters to take out the Resistance ships, and secure the safety of their Catapult superweapon.

Queen Leia’s own superweapon, the Sledgehammer, is destroyed. It falls into the atmosphere of the planet and it breaks apart. At this moment, Queen Leia feels all is lost and calls for a total retreat of Resistance forces. Han Solo and the others are presumed dead. Meanwhile on the ground, Han Solo and his crew witness the Sledgehammer’s destruction and know they have to take matters into their own hands.

Thankfully Poe Dameron, BB-8, and his X-wing squadron survive the attack from the defensive Array weapon because they were low enough in the planet’s atmosphere to evade it. Moments later, Poe from the sky discovers Han Solo and the gang on the planet’s surface. They’re alive!

Han, Finn, Rey, and Chewie enter the First Order Castle. The security codes have changed. Finn feels defeated. Han Solo encourages Finn to take the lightsaber and use it to destroy a generator of some kind (likely a shield) for the Catapult superweapon. Finn runs off to do so. Han and the gang place charges around the Castle.

Kylo Ren arrives. The gang is on the ramparts of the Castle, and they are cornered. There’s no way out. Han Solo decides to personally confront Kylo Ren, as a means of protecting the others. Finn, Rey, and Chewbacca stop in their tracks. They watch as Han Solo speaks to Kylo Ren, who is most likely his son. Han may try to reason with him. Talk him off the ledge. Suddenly, Kylo Ren silences the conversation with Han Solo forever. He murders Han, his likely father, in cold blood. Leia senses his death through the Force. Chewbacca lets out a barrage of angry roars and laser blasts. At that point, things start to collapse and explode around them, presumably as the charges set earlier do their job. There is an explosion, and the rest of the gang is forced to flee, leaving Han’s body behind as it is immolated in the blasts.

It seems that the explosions take out whatever shield may have been protecting the Catapult superweapon. This allows Poe Dameron, BB-8 and their X-wing squadron to swoop in and destroy the superweapon. The General watches in horror as it all collapses. He checks in one last time with his mysterious superior Uber to tell him the mission has failed and all is lost.

Kylo Ren flees into the forest. It is night-time, and snowing. Finn and Rey follow him, while Chewbacca runs back to the Falcon. Finn confronts Kylo Ren and holds his own in a lightsaber fight, however, over time he is bested by Kylo’s experience with a lightsaber. Finn is on the ground, and preparing to die. Rey arrives, and Finn tosses her the Skywalker lightsaber, which she has been reluctant to accept up until this point. To save her friend and avenge Han Solo’s death, she takes the weapon and attacks Kylo. But on a cliff edge, the ground falls away behind Rey and Finn as all the charges they set on the castle have made the area unstable. The heroes find themselves hanging from a precipice. Kylo Ren exits the scene. Just as their doom seems imminent, Chewbacca arrives on a repaired Millennium Falcon! He collects Rey and Finn, and jets off into space.

The First Order has been defeated, but Kylo Ren and Uber retreat to lick their wounds, and plot their next move.

Finn, Rey, Chewie, Poe, and BB-8 all return to the Resistance base on Yavin IV as heroes, but the tragic loss of Han Solo makes the celebration bittersweet. Leia tells Poe Dameron his squadron is all that survived the assault. We follow Rey, as she says goodbye to the important players. Rey makes a special stop to say goodbye to Finn in the medical bay. Meanwhile BB-8, R2-D2, and C-3PO decode a puzzle of some kind, seemingly revealing Luke Skywalker’s location: a watery planet of rocky islands. Leia is elated that her long-lost brother is found, and suggests that Rey be the first to meet him. Leia and Rey have a special goodbye in which she bids Rey “a fond farewell.” Rey, Chewbacca, and BB-8 get into the Falcon and take off. Chewbacca playfully messes up Rey’s hair in an endearing gesture. They fly away to find Luke.

The Falcon lands on a rocky island in the middle of the sea. Rey walks up a set of old stone steps carved into the mountain. She comes up to a hooded figure in a stone hut, and puts the lightsaber in his hand.

It’s Luke Skywalker.

The End.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by Vance »

Minimalism to the extreme. Spoiler
This sounds like a war between... two castles located on two separate worlds, with one side sporting a "superweapon" capable of blowing up a "castle base". And the codenames, "catapult" "sledgehammer" and "UBER"?

We have gone from "superweapons" which destroy entire planets to "superweapons" which destroy... castles. This all makes little sense to me unless this is a battle between two "fringe movements" famous only due to their long past history which now have little to no influence over the galaxy at large (and it's million+ inhabited worlds). I was hoping for some Star Wars.

Han's exit is pretty cold.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by ray245 »

I wonder if this is a result of Star Wars fans who wanted to move away from everything we've seen in the PT. Move away from big battles, and a "return" to a smaller conflict.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by tezunegari »

That read like a very bad fanfiction...
"Bring your thousands, I have my axe."
"Bring your cannons, I have my armor."
"Bring your mighty... I am my own champion."
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by Adam Reynolds »

Vance wrote:Minimalism to the extreme.
A couple of points. The code names aren't likely the real names used in the film. Remember that Kira(Daisy Ridley) was renamed Rey and Rose(Lupita Nyong'o) was renamed Maz Kanata. I doubt the names used here are the real names from the film. Spoiler
This also likely applies to the superweapons.
As for the scale. Look again at the scale of ANH. It is also minimalist to the extreme, with the exception of the Death Star. Presumably the scale will increase in later films just as it did with the OT. Spoiler
And there were other spoilers indicating that the First Order "catapult" does destroy worlds. Assuming that is true, we have a scale very similar to that of the first film.

Though I actually get the impression that it is exactly what you stated. Neither the Jedi nor Sith are in power. The rest of the galaxy is largely outside their reach. Given the spoilers for Battlefront 3, presumably in the hands of the New Republic.
ray245 wrote:I wonder if this is a result of Star Wars fans who wanted to move away from everything we've seen in the PT. Move away from big battles, and a "return" to a smaller conflict.
That is probably true to an extent. Though I hope not too much. The scale was by far one of the best elements of the PT. Spoiler
The final space battle at least features multiple Star Destroyers.
tezunegari wrote:That read like a very bad fanfiction...
It basically is. I remember reading the spoilers for ROTS and AOTC and they were similarly poorly written. It doesn't necessarily mean the final product will be. Though you could obviously argue that AOTC wasn't very good either.

EDIT: Here is another interesting bit from that site that many would likely agree with:
Making Star Wars wrote:And finally – This might come as a shock considering what all the actors have been saying but not everyone is entirely happy with the way the movie is heading. Several people have told me they feel like they are just ‘going over old ground’ with the things they are being asked to work on. The feeling is that The Force Awakens is a rehash of the original movie and doesn’t have enough new ideas in it.

The prequels were full of new ideas and concepts but as one person put it to me there’s a ‘lack of imagination’ around The Force Awakens and everything is just a riff on what’s already been done.

Sorry to end that on a negative note but that’s a common feeling I’m getting.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by Burak Gazan »

:wtf:

Who wrote this shit? KJ Anderson??

If this is even remotely close to the finished movie, you can say, AMF to the SW franchise

A Star Wars Movie, with Luke Skywalker in it where he only appears in the final scene
Ha Ha and Ha
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by Channel72 »

I like where they're going with this. The tone of it all definitely feels very ... "OT" in style - that is, remote locations with most of the action centered around a few ordinary people. I also like that one of the main characters is an ex-Storm Trooper.

The OT was pretty much about "ordinary people" going off on adventures that ended up having "extraordinary" (galaxy-wide) consequences, so they definitely got that right. The idea of a "scavenger planet" where old Imperial ships and other hardware are left to decay is really awesome, and really gels with the whole "used/dirty technology" Star Wars aesthetic.

My only concern is the whole political situation seems half-baked, going only by this synopsis. Hopefully all that will be cleared up, and not suck too much. Generally, in a post OT setting, your options are pretty much "New Republic of some kind, with new fledgling Jedi order, versus some kind of Imperial remnant, or perhaps multiple competing ex-Imperial warlords who command their own fleets." I guess the "First Order" might be something like the latter. Although this synopsis refers to the "good guy group" as the "Resistance", which indicates something much less established than a "New Republic", and something much more akin to the Rebellion in the OT. Of course, that would indicate that the "First Order" is something much larger, like the Empire was, perhaps a direct descendant of the Galactic Empire, or at least some kind of Sith/Dark Jedi political entity.

Actually, another concern I have is that the writers won't be able to resist making all these "big reveal" family connections... like some main character turns out to Han Solo's son, or whatever. I think we had enough of that from the OT - nothing is ever going to be as intense or dramatically amazing reveal as Vader being Luke's father, so there's no sense in trying to compete with that. I also am not too thrilled about Yavin 4 being included here... I really would have preferred completely new locations. But I do like that they're sticking for the most part with Earthy desert/jungle/forest type locations instead of wild, cartoony CGI locations like the Prequels had.
Vance wrote:We have gone from "superweapons" which destroy entire planets to "superweapons" which destroy... castles.
Yes... let's just keep adding more supery super weapons!! No need to tone that shit down! They should give us super weapons which destroy entire galaxies, or maybe like - a super weapon which just blows up the entire fucking Universe, plus every movie theatre where the film is shown. That would be AWESOME!!
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by Vance »

Channel72 wrote:
Vance wrote:We have gone from "superweapons" which destroy entire planets to "superweapons" which destroy... castles.
Yes... let's just keep adding more supery super weapons!! No need to tone that shit down! They should give us super weapons which destroy entire galaxies, or maybe like - a super weapon which just blows up the entire fucking Universe, plus every movie theatre where the film is shown. That would be AWESOME!!
:) Yeah, point taken. I wasn't taken umbrage because I wanted to see more Death Star's or more powerful weapons, but instead because something that is used to destroy a base, or a "castle", is getting called a "superweapon", when compared to say, the Death Star, or Malevolence, or even the ship which casually blows away armoured, shielded mile long warships in the same movie. Even AT AT's were capable of destroying large metal buildings.

After all, the 100 megaton nukes mentioned in the Clone Wars, or the bombs in the Tarkin novel which left ~700 meter wide craters in the ground, or bloody hell, even the man portable "charges" used to destroy the Imperial castle castle in the same movie! Any of these could be used to destroy a base or large fortress unless it is unusually well shielded. So why not call the man-portable charges "superweapons" too? But this got me thinking, maybe the "catapult" is not a "superweapon" because it can merely destroy castles like a nuclear bomb, but instead because it has the precision and range to destroy castles from a fixed position on the Imperial held world from many light years away? I'm not sure if the synopsis reads quite that way, but it is a possibility. But if this is just a ground vehicle, then I don't envisage anything particularly more impressive than a SPHAT making an appearance, unless these bases are of extraordinary scale or require exotic / unusual weaponry to penetrate very powerful shields.

And let's not forget, whatever the "catapault" is, it cannot be very well armoured because X-wings managed to destroy it once the shields were been lowered from a remote location (again indicating a static type installation).
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by Vance »

Channel72 wrote:
Vance wrote:We have gone from "superweapons" which destroy entire planets to "superweapons" which destroy... castles.
Yes... let's just keep adding more supery super weapons!! No need to tone that shit down! They should give us super weapons which destroy entire galaxies, or maybe like - a super weapon which just blows up the entire fucking Universe, plus every movie theatre where the film is shown. That would be AWESOME!!
:) Yeah, point taken. I wasn't taken umbrage because I wanted to see more Death Star's or more powerful weapons, but instead because something that is used to destroy a base, or a "castle", is getting called a "superweapon", when compared to say, the Death Star, or Malevolence, or even the ship which casually blows away armoured, shielded mile long warships in the same movie. Even AT AT's were capable of destroying large metal buildings.

After all, the 100 megaton nukes mentioned in the Clone Wars, or the bombs in the Tarkin novel which left ~700 meter wide craters in the ground, or bloody hell, even the man portable "charges" used to destroy the Imperial castle castle in the same movie! Any of these could be used to destroy a base or large fortress unless it is unusually well shielded. So why not call the man-portable charges "superweapons" too? But this got me thinking, maybe the "catapult" is not a "superweapon" because it can merely destroy castles like a nuclear bomb, but instead because it has the precision and range to destroy castles from a fixed position on the Imperial held world from many light years away? I'm not sure if the synopsis reads quite that way, but it is a possibility. But if this is just a ground vehicle, then I don't envisage anything particularly more impressive than a SPHAT making an appearance, unless these bases are of extraordinary scale or require exotic / unusual weaponry to penetrate very powerful shields.

And let's not forget, whatever the "catapault" is, it cannot be very well armoured because X-wings managed to destroy it once the shields were lowered from a remote location (again indicating a static type installation).
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Channel72 wrote:I like where they're going with this. The tone of it all definitely feels very ... "OT" in style - that is, remote locations with most of the action centered around a few ordinary people. I also like that one of the main characters is an ex-Storm Trooper.

The OT was pretty much about "ordinary people" going off on adventures that ended up having "extraordinary" (galaxy-wide) consequences, so they definitely got that right. The idea of a "scavenger planet" where old Imperial ships and other hardware are left to decay is really awesome, and really gels with the whole "used/dirty technology" Star Wars aesthetic.
I especially liked the way they opened the trailer with a shot of a dead Star Destroyer.
My only concern is the whole political situation seems half-baked, going only by this synopsis. Hopefully all that will be cleared up, and not suck too much. Generally, in a post OT setting, your options are pretty much "New Republic of some kind, with new fledgling Jedi order, versus some kind of Imperial remnant, or perhaps multiple competing ex-Imperial warlords who command their own fleets." I guess the "First Order" might be something like the latter. Although this synopsis refers to the "good guy group" as the "Resistance", which indicates something much less established than a "New Republic", and something much more akin to the Rebellion in the OT. Of course, that would indicate that the "First Order" is something much larger, like the Empire was, perhaps a direct descendant of the Galactic Empire, or at least some kind of Sith/Dark Jedi political entity.
My feeling is that it is a pair of somewhat fringe groups with The Resistance somewhat similar to The Flying Tigers in that it had less direct support for political reasons. According to Star Wars Battlefront spoilers, the New Republic is in power after fighting the Empire over Jakku(the desert world). And the fact that we see a crashed SSD in trailers hints that the proper Empire is not really in power anymore.

Though I could be completely off. I haven't seen much in the way of spoilers as to the state of the galaxy.
Actually, another concern I have is that the writers won't be able to resist making all these "big reveal" family connections... like some main character turns out to Han Solo's son, or whatever. I think we had enough of that from the OT - nothing is ever going to be as intense or dramatically amazing reveal as Vader being Luke's father, so there's no sense in trying to compete with that. I also am not too thrilled about Yavin 4 being included here... I really would have preferred completely new locations. But I do like that they're sticking for the most part with Earthy desert/jungle/forest type locations instead of wild, cartoony CGI locations like the Prequels had.
Besides the Kylo Ren thing, what I find odd is that they seem to be drawing out the possibility of whether or not Rey is Han and Leia's daughter. It seems obvious that she would be given her appearance. Why else would they have cast an entirely unknown actress who happens to look somewhat like Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford? Though perhaps it was meant as a Red Herring to distract from Kylo Ren.

As for the locations, did you like or dislike the prequels? I wonder if people who like one dislike the other to an extent.
Yes... let's just keep adding more supery super weapons!! No need to tone that shit down! They should give us super weapons which destroy entire galaxies, or maybe like - a super weapon which just blows up the entire fucking Universe, plus every movie theatre where the film is shown. That would be AWESOME!!
I think what makes it a threat is that it somehow has interstellar range. At least that is the impression I got reading other spoilers.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Ehh, I'm not sure. It sounds halfway interesting and halfway bad fan-fic.

I'm hoping that they atleast answer some of the questions people have like whether or not the First Order and La Résistance is just the Empire and Rebellion who changed their names for some reason or are splinter groups or what? Who the ruling government is if there is even one? Why Leia is a Queen when her planet is gravel? What happened in the 30 years since the death of Palpy and the 2nd Death Star?

Maybe its placeholder names but most everything sounds really simplistic. A Resistance group is called the Resistance. A weapon that crushes things is called the Sledgehammer. The big bad boss guy is called Uber. The general us called The General. I'm sure the Array is some type of array and the Catapult is some sort of space catapult. I'm surprised the Stormies aren't called "White Men" and the Ren is called "Dark Man".

Also I love that Leia is getting in the family business of using superweapons. A real change from the Leia in the OT who seemed to find the Death Star horrifying, maybe it was just because it wasn't in her hands? I'm of course joking about that but it does show there was alot of shit going down to make Leia go from hating superweapons to using them herself.

The thing that interests me the most is Finn. A sympathetic Imperial character, even if he turns Rebel Scum......sorry Resistance Scum, is something very new. I look forward to hearing about his backstory and why he joined the Empire/First Order.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Adamskywalker007 wrote:As for the locations, did you like or dislike the prequels? I wonder if people who like one dislike the other to an extent.
I thought ROTS was okay, but in general I'm not a big prequel fan.

But in terms of locations, I prefer the more realistic locations of the OT. Of course, the OT had Cloud City, which I thought was great, and in the Prequels I thought Coruscant was pretty amazing as well - definitely the best location in the whole trilogy. (Although the mostly model-based future city in Bladerunner looks, in my opinion, even better than Coruscant).

But it's just my personal preference - I think the all-CGI locations (like Utapau or Geonosis) look pretty horrible. I'd rather real outdoor locations, even if that limits the potential for creating more alien landscapes.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Joun_Lord wrote:Maybe its placeholder names but most everything sounds really simplistic. A Resistance group is called the Resistance. A weapon that crushes things is called the Sledgehammer. The big bad boss guy is called Uber. The general us called The General. I'm sure the Array is some type of array and the Catapult is some sort of space catapult. I'm surprised the Stormies aren't called "White Men" and the Ren is called "Dark Man".
I was under the impression that things like "Uber" were just placeholder names. Kylo Ren, however, seems to be a real name, which is unfortunate since that name kind of sucks - it sounds really EU-ish. But it's better than yet another Darth Malicious. Regardless, Star Wars has always relied on pretty simplistic, archetypal names - the Rebellion, the Empire, etc.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

Post by Joun_Lord »

Channel72 wrote:
Joun_Lord wrote:Maybe its placeholder names but most everything sounds really simplistic. A Resistance group is called the Resistance. A weapon that crushes things is called the Sledgehammer. The big bad boss guy is called Uber. The general us called The General. I'm sure the Array is some type of array and the Catapult is some sort of space catapult. I'm surprised the Stormies aren't called "White Men" and the Ren is called "Dark Man".
I was under the impression that things like "Uber" were just placeholder names. Kylo Ren, however, seems to be a real name, which is unfortunate since that name kind of sucks - it sounds really EU-ish. But it's better than yet another Darth Malicious. Regardless, Star Wars has always relied on pretty simplistic, archetypal names - the Rebellion, the Empire, etc.
Yes, SW has always had pretty basic names but it never seemed this bad. They had the Rebellion and Empire but even they weren't just them, they were the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. I'm pretty positive they called the Rebels the Alliance atleast a few times in the movies and the Empire the only time I can recall it being called Galactic was in ROTS during his "FIRST GALACTIC EMPIRE" speech and I think the novelization he say New Order, hence maybe when they First Order is called as such. Maybe I'm just being too hard on the movie, maybe I'm being too lenient on the OT and PT (heh, imagine someone saying that) and am just giving the ST some shit before all the information is out. Maybe the Resistance is actually called like the "Galactic Resistance" or something and those dumb names are indeed placeholder names.

Something that occurs to me though, it would be really funny if the movie played with expectations some. We expect an Empire vs Rebellion/Republic movie and from what it sounds like thats what we are getting in everything but name.

What if the First Order wasn't actually the Empire? What if it was the Reformed Republic. The Empire wasn't the First Order, it was the New Order, the First Empire. The Republic could be considered the First Order (this of course assumes that the First Order is even referring to the New Order stuff, could be referring to Sith orders but I'm going to continue to run with this). The Old Republic was pretty Imperial, it had Star Destroyers, it had Stormtroopers in all but name, it had T.I.E. Fighters in the EU and things like the V-Wings and Jedi Fighters that were precursors to the TIE Fighters in the movies, their uniforms might have been purple or blue but they were nearly identical to Imperial officer uniforms.

What if those Stormtroopers are Republic Stormtroopers, the SDs Republic ones, the First Order a militant splinter group of the Republic and the Resistance is old Rebels forced to fight the government they helped form after it continued the path of the Empire, maybe because of the actions of the First Order.

I doubt that would work though for nothing else then the fans would probably not like the Republic being the baddies.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Wow, I gotta hand in my nerd credentials for forgetting that, literally the opening of ANH has Galactic Empire and I forget its there. But just proves that the Empire wasn't just called the Empire.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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"If" this synopsis is true, then I would have to wonder how things went so much in the shitter after Episode 6. I mean everything seemed to be looking up. Han and Leia were in love, Luke had become a Jedi, the Sith were gone, the Rebels had won a major victory...
Spoiler
And now Han and Leia are barely on speaking terms, Luke is a hermit, their two possible children are evil / ignorant of their heritage, and the Rebel victory at Endor was hollow. I hope these spoilers are untrue, or that we get much more backstory to explain this.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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While a bit darker than what I expect from Star Wars, that's not at all unrealistic. Shit happens. Victories don't last forever. Especially in the case of revolutions, which often end up just putting another shitty regime in power (look at Egypt for a particularly miserable double example of that in recent history).

And thirty years or so is a long time for things to go to hell.

Still, I'm taking nothing about this film at face value. Rumours can be misleading. Even teasers can be misleading. I'll withhold judgement until I've seen the film.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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The Romulan Republic wrote:While a bit darker than what I expect from Star Wars, that's not at all unrealistic. Shit happens. Victories don't last forever. Especially in the case of revolutions, which often end up just putting another shitty regime in power (look at Egypt for a particularly miserable double example of that in recent history).

And thirty years or so is a long time for things to go to hell.

Still, I'm taking nothing about this film at face value. Rumours can be misleading. Even teasers can be misleading. I'll withhold judgement until I've seen the film.
No no no... you're not doing this right.

This is the Internet. You're supposed to speculate endlessly and baselessly, about every possible detail, ad infinitum, and take every rumor really seriously, regardless of the source, until the movie comes out.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Borgholio wrote:"If" this synopsis is true, then I would have to wonder how things went so much in the shitter after Episode 6. I mean everything seemed to be looking up. Han and Leia were in love, Luke had become a Jedi, the Sith were gone, the Rebels had won a major victory...
Spoiler
And now Han and Leia are barely on speaking terms, Luke is a hermit, their two possible children are evil / ignorant of their heritage, and the Rebel victory at Endor was hollow. I hope these spoilers are untrue, or that we get much more backstory to explain this.
'
They did defeat the Empire and the Bane Sith line. That's not nothing. And historically in most cases when an empire falls there is a power gap that creates significant problems.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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They did defeat the Empire and the Bane Sith line. That's not nothing. And historically in most cases when an empire falls there is a power gap that creates significant problems.
Right but we're not talking about something like in the EU where it's the New Republic vs the Imperial Remnant. The way it's described here, it sounds like they're right back where they started as a small rebellion vs a larger empire. That makes everything that came beforehand seem irrelevant.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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I wouldn't say irrelevant, but that is a disturbing idea and I hope its not true. I don't want Star Wars to be grimdark. And this stinks of cowardly reversion to the status quo/pandering to nostalgia resulting in creative bankruptcy. No doubt they think it'll appeal to the rabid OT fans who will bash anything that's not a rehash. But guess what? The film will never be just like the OT and those people will probably hate it anyway.

Edit: Seriously, few things can fuck a long-running franchise like unwillingness to take risks/do anything new.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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There are many things to like with the synopsis (and it's a credible site). However, I do think it sounds like a rehash. Story wise, I think the political situation needs a whole lot of exposition given what we "know" from the OT and PT. Why the "Resistance"? Are both the "Resistance" and "First Order" splinter groups? (It doesn't seem that way though.) One idea I absolutely dislike and which I think is mind-numbingly dumb is Spoiler
the lightsaber that can be seen given to Leia in the second teaser. It's supposed to be the same lightsaber Luke lost at Bespin. How the heck did it end up floating around in space, much less reach another planet? And BB-8 hiding the lightsaber? Didn't we see something similar in ANH with R2 hiding the MacGuffin (the Death Star plans)? A few other things I'm thinking of is why the reuse of Yavin IV? What about Coruscant? What is the state of the capital and who controls it? Is it purely because Abrams et al seems to be afraid to touch the PT that it isn't included? Why more superweapons? Why not use Star Destroyers?
Channel72 wrote: (Although the mostly model-based future city in Bladerunner looks, in my opinion, even better than Coruscant).
As much as I like Blade Runner, one thing that actually struck me when I watched the movie again this weekend was how obvious it is that the buildings are models (and some of the matte paintings really stands out). I wish Lucas had shown Had Abbadon with models/matte paintings in ROTJ instead of having caved in and used the DSII as the scene for the final confrontation, but when watching the PT, I don't really get the CG feel. Some exteriors for Coruscant was built using models (such as Dex Diner and the area outside it) and I think the two blends better than models only.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Mange wrote:
Channel72 wrote: (Although the mostly model-based future city in Bladerunner looks, in my opinion, even better than Coruscant).
As much as I like Blade Runner, one thing that actually struck me when I watched the movie again this weekend was how obvious it is that the buildings are models (and some of the matte paintings really stands out). I wish Lucas had shown Had Abbadon with models/matte paintings in ROTJ instead of having caved in and used the DSII as the scene for the final confrontation, but when watching the PT, I don't really get the CG feel. Some exteriors for Coruscant was built using models (such as Dex Diner and the area outside it) and I think the two blends better than models only.
Yeah - I definitely agree Coruscant was really the most amazing location in the Prequels. It had a bit of a glossy, CGI feeling during the daytime, but it usually looked amazingly realistic at night. When I said earlier that I didn't like the CGI locations of the Prequels I was talking mostly about Utapau and Geonosis - I thought they both looked like video games. But Courscant was really well done.

As for ROTJ - it seems a lot went wrong due to budgetary problems. Wookies were replaced with Ewoks, no Had Abbadon, etc. But at least the Battle of Endor ended up being amazing. I still think the Battle of Endor is the best battle sequence in all of Star Wars, even better than the larger-scale Battle of Coruscant in ROTS - mostly because the Battle of Endor was a payoff to a pretty extensive setup.
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Re: Force Awakens synopsis (obviously massive spoilers)

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Borgholio wrote:
They did defeat the Empire and the Bane Sith line. That's not nothing. And historically in most cases when an empire falls there is a power gap that creates significant problems.
Right but we're not talking about something like in the EU where it's the New Republic vs the Imperial Remnant. The way it's described here, it sounds like they're right back where they started as a small rebellion vs a larger empire. That makes everything that came beforehand seem irrelevant.
I hope this isn't the case - it occurs to me that Disney/Abrams might simply be interested in "rebooting" Star Wars in a sense - in a similar way to what Abrams did with Star Trek. Of course, it wouldn't really be a "reboot" in the literal sense (and of course Star Wars doesn't exactly lend itself to sci-fi blackhole alternate reality bullshit) - but the new film would be a reboot "in spirit" - basically a new movie that has a similar plot/theme as the original, and contains various nostalgic callbacks or cameos from the original series, like Spock Han Solo. I really hope that's not the sort of mentality they're making this movie with, but.... desert planet -> search for a droid that has some key item -> search for Princess Leia -> rebel base on Yavin IV ... not looking good.

Hopefully these similarities don't come off as much in the actual product. I do like the tone of the film as implied by this synopsis, as I was hoping for more of an OT "tone" in these new films - but I definitely don't want a complete retread plotwise.
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