I don't buy Poe's explanation

I agree, that's one of the handful of issues TFA suffered from in its urgency to keep the story moving so quickly. I'm glad Abrams decided to keep Poe around rather than kill him off, but the script needed more than a band-aid slapped on it to work. Rey's sudden capability with the Force and R2-D2's perfectly timed wakeup call could also have benefitted from more/better setup than we were given.

 

Reading comprehension at an all time low? On the internet? Who would have thought?
Next time you might want to consider reading the other two thirds of the post you are quoting before starting your little condescending rant there.

As far as switching of the 'old thinking box' is concerned I think you are missing the point there as well. Just because not every little plot detail in a film is spoonfed to you and certain parts left unexplained need a little audience participation, a little fantasy, a little suspension of disbelief (for the record all of those are also part of your 'old thinking box') it doesn't necessarily scream 'plot hole.'

If you consider a writer not explaining to you how a character got of a planet (I'm guessing two or three throwaway lines are all that were needed to fill this gaping 'plot hole') an insult to your intelligence please stay as far, far away from the previous films in this series.

A series that in many ways is celebrating the escapist pulp fantasy serials of the thirties. So, let's call them inconvenient, glossed over, inconsistencies do come with the territory I suppose.

The previous films were absolutely riddled with them. Luke's plan (did he even have one?) to free Solo from Jabba's palace comes to mind. Or why didn't anyone think of changing Luke's last name before they put him in hiding? I suppose Vader forgot his? What about Leia knowing who her mother is in episode 6? Or Kenobi acting surprised when Yoda mentions the other hope in episode 5? The other hope he witnessed being born even. And so forth ad nauseam.

But hey, if those spoil your fun there are other cinematic delights to be found in this world.

 

I believe the concept art here showed that Poe was supposed to encounter Teedo and his Luggabeast who help him to drag an old Battle of Jakku X-wing out of the ground so he can get off the planet. No idea if these scenes were filmed, but as we saw, Teedo and his Luggabeast were in the right area to have encountered Poe.

 

In the movie you seem him take off the jacket when he gets into the TIE fighter

 

The weird part is that he was all "I have to get back to Jakku to get my droid" at all costs, but then he apparently abandoned the droid and went back to the base without him pretty quickly.

 

Bblame editing

 

I wondered about that too. Is it possible that it just took Poe awhile to find a way to contact the Resistance base? (He says he woke up at night, so I guess it was after Finn woke?) He could have been dazed and wandered around a bit at first. If he got wind of the attack on Niima Outpost he obviously couldn't risk going there to make contact with the Resistance. Maybe by the time he was able to communicate with the base, the report had already come back that BB-8 was with Han? At that point there would be nothing to do but return as quickly as possible.

The passage of time in TFA is very fuzzy indeed! It makes it tricky to figure out if Poe would have had enough time from when the report that BB-8 was with Han came in until he returned to prepare to fly in and bomb the heck out of the FO at Takodana.

Or, of course, there could be another explanation.

 

i totally agree with @Choose Light

Rey and Finn jet off of Jakku on the Millenium Falcon less than two days after Finn and Poe crash.
(we can assume this because BB-8 and Rey have only been together one night).
we don't know how long it took Poe to wander back to civilization and contact somebody.
i would assume that by the time he made contact and someone came to assist him, they already knew BB-8 was on Takodana.
doesn't seem like that big of a mystery.

i can't recall if the novel resolves this any more cleanly since it does go into how Poe got off of Jakku.

 

I realize that Abrams wanted to keep Poe alive, because he was impressed by Oscar Isaac's performance. But . . . that decision has resulted in some sloppy writing for the movie. Despite the misadventures that Poe had on Jakku, this doesn't explain why he had decided not to remain on the planet to find BB-8 . . . or at least return to the planet.

I realize that many keep saying that everyone should dismiss the plot holes and enjoy the film, but I can't. Well, I can enjoy the movie, but I can't overlook the plot holes anymore than I was not able to overlook the plot holes in the six films that Lucas made.

 

Passage of time is very fuzzy in every episode from Ep IV on up. I think it's a Lawerence Kasdan thing, as A New Hope and a few issues with it, but really becomes apparent in Empire, Jedi and Force Awakens... which were all written by Kasdan.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but why would Poe remain on the planet or return to the planet if he had already gotten word that BB-8 was safe with Han?

 

When did that happen? After he had left Jakku? After he had stopped looking for BB8, while he was on Jakku?

 

Poe was happy to see BB-8 back at the base, but not surprised.
he'd obviously been told at some point between waking up on Jakku and leading the strike, which was only a matter of days so far as we know.
that's the whole reason the strike happened, because the droid in Maz's castle passed that info to the Resistance.
in fact, for all we know Poe was on Jakku looking when he got the call.

seriously, there's a number of ways that this can be explained. it's not remotely a plot hole.

 

Well, it's true we don't know for sure. I'm just assuming that Poe must have heard BB-8 was OK (presumably when he was still on Jakku), because it seems to make sense given what we do know, as @FN-3263827 mentions above. From what we know of Poe's character, he doesn't seem like the type to ditch his mission without cause, since he has already risked his life a number of times onscreen to finish it.

 

He has no idea where BB-8 wondered off to, he has no ship, is on an unfamiliar planet, and has no supplies/weapons/etc and know idea of where to even start looking. So going back to the Resistance, getting a new ship and some help, and then going back to Jakku to try and locate BB-8 seems like a smart move. But then at some point he's told that BB-8 is with Han and the MF, so all of that becomes unnecessary. And the FO and Resistance BOTH showed up at Maz's castle because they had both been tipped off that BB-8 was there, which makes this all the more plausible.

I don't see it as a plot hole either, nor a huge deal overall.