I Re-Watched The Empire Strikes Back for the first time after seeing The Last Jedi and...

That’s definitely true. I think the biggest challenge, with respect to the fandom anyway, is the acknowledgement that these new movies are basically fan-made films now. These aren’t George’s stories anymore, they’re interpretations of his stories created by people inspired by him.

So the fandom feels more emboldened than ever to say “That’s not REAL Star Wars. You got it wrong because the version in YOUR head doesn’t agree with the version in MY head.” I don’t see there being anything to be done about that. People are either onboard or they’re not. The general audience, in my observation, just wants an entertaining time at the movies.

 

it's also deliberately recognizing a nurturing/procreative thing that ties into her journey of maturing from a scavenger "girl" into her own powerful womanhood.
Rey reacts to the "naked" sirens with the same kind of embarrassment as she reacts to seeing Ben without his shirt on.
later on this is part of what she confronts in herself in touching Ben's hand.

the milking is funny because ooooo look it's naked boobies ~ and that makes people kinda uncomfortable. and it's supposed to. : D

 

You could make the same argument for the old EU books. There essentially fan made stories and George had no problems overruling them.

 

i think a lot of the humor feels weird because we're not kids anymore.

i imagine that the majority of Star Wars fans are introduced to the franchise young. when you're a kid, you're cool with a gag like Han punking Boba, or the sarlacc burping after eating a bunch of people.

are they lame jokes? pretty much, yeah. do i care? not at all! i grew up on these comedy beats.

i was probably 4 or 5 when i saw my first Star Wars movie, RotJ, and it shaped me as a kid. TLJ and the whole ST doesn't have this advantage, so yeah, some of the jokes can and will feel lame.

whatever though. like the rest of Star Wars' more camp moments i'll take it in stride and enjoy it all the same.

 

Like Chewie joking on Han in Luke's recovery room. In 2018, as adults, we would likely be looking around like: "What the hell is he saying?? Why are people laughing????"

And: "Chewie is a great mechanic, why would he put Threepio's head on backward??? That's preposterous! They're making him look stupid!!!"

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 31, 2018, Original Post Date: Jan 31, 2018 ---

That moment didn't hit...until she reacted the same way that I think most of us were reacting, lol.

Which clarifies that Rey is the audience's blank slate (not the author's, which is what a mary sue actually is) - she is the one that's sent to meet Luke, and train, but...things don't turn out the way we think/hope.

 

Only problem for some fans being that he won't be able to overrule anything going forward.

 

I've written the concept before, but I don't remember where...but take a moment and put yourself in Luke's shoes in that scene.

You're Luke.
You've been on an island virtually alone, and all you've been doing for quite some time now is stewing over how screwed up everything is.
You're in a deep depression, disillusioned with everything that you once held as chief of value; lost, tired, and angry.
So much so that you've cut yourself off from the Force itself - think on that for a moment. You, Luke, have had such a hard time and wrapped your head up in a twist so much that you cut yourself off from the Force.

Then, this bright-eyed young woman just lands, jumps out, runs up to you and thrusts a lightsaber in your face.
She doesn't say hello. She doesn't ask any questions. She doesn't say anything.

You just stare at her, and rather than speaking, she just gives you confused puppy-dog eyes and thrusts the saber hilt at you again.

Seriously? F*** these people. Are you their lackey? Only living as a standby ready weapon? These idiots just think it's all about fighting and beating someone over and over, and it's always the same - it never ends. All that happens is more people get hurt in the name of grand ideas, and along the way, everyone forgets how to be real people.

Jesus Christ, hasn't anyone heard of basic courtesy?
God, this woman needs to go away. You don't want whatever her crazy thing is; You don't care. You just want to be left alone.

Jesus, she's still just standing there! FINE!
You take her lightsaber. She looks hopeful and about to be happy.
Good. This will work then.
*chuck*
IDIOT.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

That's true.

And obviously Star Wars is Lucas's brainchild.

But I think the important thing is that someone is overseeing the entire big picture, even if it's not Lucas. And to be honest, despite what one may or may not feel about the current canon, Kathleen Kennedy definitely is more involved in trying to bring Star Wars under a single umbrella. In the end, I think this will result in a much less messy canon, which I'd say is ultimately a good thing.

 

Yeah, they sure did, it wasn't like cow udders. But they were doing what they were supposed to, give milk, and green at that. The fact it was green shocked me. Symbolism for the green lightsaber maybe?

I loved things like Chewie laughing, and Han hitting the Falcon to get it to work, and Threepio coming apart. It annoys me that they took out the "It's a good thing you don't taste good" from the original version. People who think Yoda is ooc in TLJ. He's dead and he was laughing and tormenting Luke in that swamp as well as being wise. The dude has been there alone talking to Force ghosts, Force skyping the occasional Force Sensitive, probably communed a few times with Obi-Wan who knows. He probably went a little nuts as well. Yoda could be very funny. You know who cracks me up. Admiral Piett's facial expressions. I love that guy.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 31, 2018, Original Post Date: Jan 31, 2018 ---

They even used some of George's ideas in the end. The proof is in the Art of the Last Jedi and he has said so, they just did it differently than he would have, which is also what happened in The Empire Strikes Back, with the actual filming of the acting scenes and he was less hands on in much of that part.

 

Aww my sweet summer child. But yeah, that was interesting.

THE SACRED TEXTS!!

"This is not going to go the way you think."
Luke Skywalker

 

Sacred Texts where Moons kill, Emperor Palpatine's grandson Ken, Jaxxon (The comic book Jar Jar?), constant kidnapping of the Solo kids, Luuke. Hapes trying to buy Princess Leia. Even if some of it was fun.

 

Do not get me started in all the mistreating Princess Leia suffered. Yeah she trained as a Jedi with Luke but was slapped in the face by Luke, mercilessly beaten in Splinter of the Mind's Eye, seduced with pheromones by Prince Xizor and I'm not even mentioning The Courtship fanfic thing.

 

"Gun of Command", anybody? Eesh

 

"Never heard of this thing. Let me check it out..."

 

okay, now i have to look at this!

 

Ok, now I'm curious...

 

Cheers,
Jayson

 

In some ways i think the humour is similar to what we have come to expect with Star wars. For example:

• the Yoda cameo humour was very reminiscent of the the Yoda who first appears to Luke in Empire Strikes back.
• A lot of the BB8 humour could have been taken directly from the way the droids are used in the prequels,
• The humour with the Porgs and the Caretakers reminded me alot of the humour revolving around the Ewoks.

Their are two jokes that really stood out to me for me that didn't really fit in with what we expect from Star Wars though.

1. The "Can he hear me" joke that starts the film, I honestly think you could put this scene in "Hot Shots" and it wouldn't feel out of place tonally. Don't get me wrong it quite funny but it feels really out of place especially considering the quite dark battle sequence were all the bombers get wiped out that follows. I think George Lucas said himself about the Phantom Menace where he talks about how quickly the film changes tones near the end, that this is sometimes hard for an audience to deal with and it can feel jarring. For me starting the film with such full on Spoof sketch show humour was a bit much.
2. The Luke Lightsaber Toss, I still honestly have no idea if this is meant to be a joke or not( i mean thier has been quite a bit of laughter at every screening i've been to at this point) it felt like something that would be recorded for the Jimmy Kimmel Show or Saturday Night Live as a bit of comedy promotional material making fun of how much that moment had been built up, i can see it been really funny in those circumstances, in the film though i really don't know if Rian Johnson was having fun a bit with expectations, or it was designed as a comedy moment or as a shocking moment or all of the above.

Of course humour is all subjective, so what I think isnt good others will likely love! All i can say for me personally the jokes/humour in the Last Jedi too often took me out of the film and didn't work with flow and tone of the film as they strayed to close to slapstick and spoof humour. I do like humour in Star Wars films but i prefer it in the vain of Empire Strikes back or the Force awakens too often for me the last Jedi was more inline with the Ewok humour from Return of the Jedi or the humour from the prequels.

But like i say its all subjective.