SPECULATION Episode VIII Expectations: Pleasant Surprises or Disappointments

Musts:

Luke getting action and lines, sharing wisdom yoda style.
Luke training Rey
Rey having a lightsaber and being a Jedi
Kylo being shitons stronger and still being conflicted and using that conflict as passion in his dark side force use
X Wings ALOT OF X WINGS POE TEARING THINGS UP TFA style, also new Wings a Z Wing maybe, new ships are a must Y Wings and A Wings B Wings

New Resistance Capital Ships, maybe a Resistance Star Destroyer Variation it is mentioned in Aftermath that the Republic had Star Destroyers, maybe an adventure in a Battered up Star Destroyer from the Republic that survived or something

NOTS:

Luke Killed
Leia Killed
Poe Killed
Finn Killed
No space battles
No new planets
Starkiller II
No actual war
No force mystical things and conversations

 

What I'd like to see:

• Galactic politics. Three films revolve around the restoration of The Republic, and what do we get in the seventh? Hey, look The Republic... boom! Major cop-out. Also, we've never seen Leia undertaking politics onscreen.
• Anakin communes with Ben Solo, and attempts to warn him of the path he follows. Yoda and Ben Kenobi visit Luke & Rey.
• A real space battle, giant in scope like in Revenge of the Sith. The Republic remnants put together a last ditch effort to halt the advance of The First Order.
• Ancient Jedi & Sith history uncovered. New force abilities are shown.
• Romance starts to blossom between two characters, probably Rey and Finn.
• Stakes are raised, Chewbacca dies while protecting Luke. Luke has become more powerful, but less efficient.
• A proper, intense lightsaber duel e.g. DM vs OB, QG. Luke loses as he cannot kill Ben, Rey saves his bacon.
• Jedi & Dark Side training.

 

• I don't know if it was credible, but I recall seeing something about a rewrite for EP 8, to expand the roles of Poe and Finn by cutting out a few newly introduced characters.

 

I should think that Poe's role has probably been expanded but I doubt Finn's role needed to be expanded considering he is the co-lead, unless that was a misdirection as well.

 

I just want an good amount of Luke Skywalker in EP VIII..

 

Pleasant Surprises:
*Love story (don't shoot me...LOL)
*More Luke
*Tell me right away about Rey's past. No more waiting so we can get on w/ it.
*More character depth for Poe
*Finn is a Jedi
*More Leia
*Kylo rises from his defeat a total badass and more independent in his thought process (not such a follower)

Unpleasant Surprises:
*Luke is weak
*Luke was depressed and abandoned his friends/family (Luke in the OT would NEVER do that)
*Crappy music (loved the music in TFA, hope it continues)
*Too many special effects and action scenes and not enough story-telling

 

Pardon me for bumping this...

I would be Disappointed if:

> Ep. VIII maintained the same level of straight-up fan service as TFA. I would count *a memorial for Han, *an appearance by Lando, *any mention of carbonite or ewoks or blue milk or any other winks at the OT, and possibly even *Yoda's Force ghost as such. (Don't get me wrong, I adore TFA. But I found those fan service moments heavy-handed and distracting.)

> There's no redemption in store for Ben Solo; he's destined to die "Kylo Ren," and Leia will have to suffer her failure and grief. I admit it: this is a hope/expectation not even the movie itself could disabuse me of. This would be a MISTAKE, y'all.

> More Mo-Cap / CGI characters. *heavy sigh*

I would be Pleasantly Surprised if:

> Yoda's or anybody else's Force ghost felt right in this movie. Like, if it truly served the story we're seeing now, and wasn't just a call-back to the OT. I'd be okay with that. (But puppet Yoda, not CGI Yoda, please for the love of man!)

> They figure out a way to have Luke Skywalker around while keeping Rey front and center as the hero. That's a big challenge - L. Kasdan has admitted as much - and I really hope they can make it work.

> Benicio Del Toro also 'felt right' in this movie. Because I'm afraid that every time he's onscreen, I'm just gonna be like "Hey, it's Benicio Del Toro!"

At the end of the day, though, I feel like we're in good hands. These guys know what they're doing.

 

I honestly don't have any "musts" or "must not's" for the film. I'm ready to accept anything Rian Johnson has to throw our way.

 

My biggest disappointment would be that Bloodline becomes a required book to read to understand Episode VIII.
My second biggest dissapointment would be that Rey's lineage takes the least imaginative route possible.
My most pleasant surprise would be Admiral Ackbar having a significant role in this movie.
My second most pleasant surprise would be Captain Phasma actually being permitted to act.

 

More Luke
Rey being daughter of Luke
Rey vs Kylo .2

 

I feel really optimistic for EpVIII, if for no other reason than Rian Johnson has had a couple of years to work on the story, something JJ/Kasdan didn't have. I really enjoyed TFA but it has a lot of flaws that felt like they were due to the rushed timeline mandated by Disney.

So with that said here are my hopes/fears:

Hopes/Pleasant Surprises
- There's at least one new iconic stand-out piece of music
- We visit at least one inventive new worlds/landscape that feels fresh yet still part of the universe
- The characters and relationships evolve in natural yet exciting ways (think of how different Luke/Leia/Han are in ESB, yet it still feels like them)
- The story takes as much care with Kylo's training/journey as it does with Rey's training/journey
- We learn more about the force lore/history for both dark side and light side (mythological world-building)
- There's more coherence and emotional weight to the political landscape/stakes (political world-building)
- We get exposure to the edges of the Galaxy and beyond, opening up the universe (i.e. the 'origin" of the dark side alluded to in Aftermath novel)

Fears/Disappointments
- Plasma remains a lackluster character, even with increased screentime
- The characterizations and look/feel of the mo-cap CG characters doesn't improve (I was disappointed with both Snoke and Maz)
- We won't see or learn any more about The Knights of Ren, or what we do learn/see about them will be underwhelming
- Leia's role/acting will be a weak link (I felt like they were cutting around her performance in TFA, which is sad)
- The reveal of Rey's parentage feels like fanservice instead of adding to her character/journey

 

I'd want to hold off on Kylo vs. Rey until IX as a sort of final battle and instead see a new battle in this movie .

 

i just hope it is a great movie. And no disintegrations.

I have the feeling that Rey's origins will be hinted - a potential big reveal for the third act - and it will be left open for Episode IX to explain.

Come on, she did it superb just last Sunday as Brienne of Tarth, saving the day in Westeros.

 

Hopes and Desires

See more ships, possibly from the republic. I want to see stuff we havent seen before, like the PT did with Naboo and Jedi starfighters
More on the relationship between the FIrst ORder, the Republic, and the resistance.
Luke teaching Rey while Snoke teaches Kylo
More info on who Snoke is and where he came from.
Every part 2 of a trilogy needs a love story, but please be like Episode 5, not like Episode 2.
More Poe Dameron, let him and Finn have an adventure together so we can get the kind of interaction we did in the TIE fighter scene.
Give R2 and C3PO prominent, but not central roles
Luke in a lightsaber fight, I dont need him to flip around Yoda style, but have him best Snoke, maybe a wizards duel similar to Gandalfs and Saromans in Fellowship.
Rey to be a Skywalker.
Ground assault scene like ESB.​

Fears and dreads

No force ghosts. They served their purpose in the OT. They are no longer needed. Havin them would draw away from new characters/places.
Give us the same plot beats as ESB. Im totally fine and for a darker tone and style of movie, just give me a new plot.
Lando. We just dont need him. Id rather they give us a new hero to join FInn, Poe, and Rey the way Lando did with Han, Leia, and Luke.
They wont explain who the Knights of Ren are. We need some background.​

 

Great post my friend. I share almost all of both your hopes and pleasant surprises as well as your possible disappointments. Here are a few of my own:
Hopes and pleasant surprises:
1-We get to see Luke train Rey.
2-We get to see Snoke train Kylo Ren. This would be awesome as we have never before seen a Dark Side wielder train in any movie.
3-We get to see many familiar ships and aliens that were widely loved in SW but that were non-existent in TFA.
4-Thay give us a DARN GOOD REASON why Luke took off and left everything behind. Making him look like he was just sad or scared really ruins his character.
5-Snoke's story is really awesome even if he is indeed just a new character.
6-We get to see some familiar Bounty Hunters in action. Seeing such characters as Bossk, Zuckuss, Ig-88 or 4-LOM in the film would be a dream come true for me as these characters were just eye candy in ESB.
7-Kylo Ren becomes a powerful villain who gets fully consumed by the Dark Side and who wishes no redemption. I want this saga to take a different turn from the OT as already TFA was too much of a ANH clone for my taste. I wish we don't get another ''good family member wishes to save his kin from the Dark Side and redeem him'' story again.
8-I hope Finn and Poe are made into strong lovable characters.

Here are my possible disappointments:
1-Both Finn and Poe don't get important roles in the movie and they just become the dudes in distress that Rey has to save.
2-Disney continues to eliminate everthing ''Lucas'' in order to make SW look and feel more to their liking.
3-Disney continues to kill OT characters or ruining them.
4-Rey and Kylo's story is just a mirror of Luke's and Vader's.
5-The next movie is just a copy/paste of the ESB just as TFA was one of ANH.
6-They make the Force become something simple that everyone can use.
7-They make Rey a creation of the Force or a reincarnation of Anakin.
8-They keep giving OT characters like Luke, Leia, R2 and C3PO worthless roles that just serve as nostalgia feed.

 

My vote is for Poe and Rey lol. But not really caring who ends up being the focus of the love story, as long as there is good chemistry.

No midichlorians please.

 

No midichlorians indeed! And while they are at it let's not have any reincarnated characters either as this darn rumor that has begun to spread about Rey being Anakin reincarnated.

 

Pleasant surprises:

• Snap Wexley is force-sensitive
• Hux's cat Millicent has a cameo
• Poe and Finn get matching jackets
• Lando and Lobot are space retired
• A compelling subplot involving Constable Zuvio

Potential disappointments:

• Not enough lens flare
• Snoke is Plagueis
• Rey is a clone of Anakin
• Luke's lightsaber is a horcrux
• Chewbacca gets crushed by a moon

But in all seriousness, I have a really good feeling about Episode VIII. I don't expect to have any substantial disappointments (maybe a few minor nitpicks like I had with TFA). Kasdan's comments about Rian Johnson doing something different and weird that we haven't seen in Star Wars makes me pretty excited.

 

Crushed by a moon ?

 

In the old EU Chewbacca is crushed by a moon.