If You Hated 8, What Would It Take for You To Go See 9?

I think Disney is in for a rude awakening come Episode 9. TLJ did so well in the opening weekend since there were so many fans, and pseudo-fans, excited for the movie. The true fans wanted to see the answers to all of the questions raised in TFA, but instead they were all "thrown away". Now, we are left with nothing to look forward to. What questions are we left with? Are we really expected to believe that Emo-Ben is the big bad of Episode 9? And there's no need to see how powerful Rey becomes since Mary is already so powerful.

This is really such a shame since most fans like me would have gone and seen this in the theater a half dozen times. Instead, one and done for many of us. This means I am not excited to see the next one, Disney left so much $ on the table by giving Johnson so much free reign to give the middle finger to the history of Star Wars and even JJ's TFA!

So, what will it take for me to go see Episode 9? First and foremost, Disney must fire Johnson from any further involvement in Star Wars. His trilogy will be a failure if they allow it to go forward. Better yet, Kennedy needs to be fired as well!

Next, JJ would need to come up with ways, and let us know that it's happening beforehand, to fix a lot of the crap that Johnson gave us. For example, make Snoke Plageus and show us that he is back prior to the movie. Something like that. Maybe he let Kilo and Rey "see" his death, but it wasn't real. Things like that.

Or even better, retcon TLJ!

 

I was trying to think of Episode 9 objectively compared to Episode 6 in 1983 and Episode 3 in 2005, and wondering what we were looking forward to as the conclusion of each trilogy?

Episode 6:

-Was Vader Luke's dad? (Obvious)
-Who was the 'other' that Yoda talked about?
-Would they find Han? Would he be alive?
-Would Luke finally kill Vader if they duel again?

Episode 3:

-How does Padme/Anakin hide their secret marriage?
-How does Palpatine take over the Government and become The Emperor?
-How does Anakin turn to the Darkside?
-What happens to the twins and how were they split up?
-How will Obiwan eventually beat Anakin and which results in him being Darth Vader?
-How do the Jedi get wiped out?

Episode 9:

-I honestly can't think of anything off the top of my head to really look forward that left us hanging in TLJ?

-Kylo Ren vs Rey fight in a climatic lightsaber duel? But she beat him in the first movie.
-Will there be another villain now with Kylo Ren?
-Who is the leader of the Resistance?
-How will they kill Leia?
-Will Rey start a new Jedi Order?


I guess I'll defer to you guys for answers, but there seemed to be a lot more burning questions after Episode 5 and Episode 2.

 

I think this may be the best criticism of the movie that I've seen, actually, and I totally agree. There's not a whole lot that we can really predict at this point, and while in a way that's exciting, it's also frustrating in these two years that we have to wait.

Just to throw this out there:

I think part of the problem here is that RJ wiped the slate pretty clean in this film. But I think that may just be a byproduct of the fact that TFA and TLJ are such a one-two punch. There's almost no time elapsed between the films.

Unless the sequel trilogy is going to take place over an in-universe single week, there needs to be a huge time gap between TLJ and 9. This will allow for stories to develop offscreen, and when we return the trilogy will feel changed due to the passage of time.

Previous series have avoided this weird Third Act lull because of how they spaced out their movies with in universe time. Both the original and prequel trilogies have their longest passage of time between the first and second movies. This allows us to meet the characters in the first film, see them grow quite a bit by the second film, and see their conclusion in the third film. Typically, the second and third films act as more of a cohesive unit, while the first is more of an introduction that could've potentially been standalone.

With the Sequel trilogy, we're introduced to our characters in the first film, then we immediately throw them into danger in the second. That leaves us little to know what to expect in the final film, and since our characters still only met less than a week ago everyone's relationships also don't feel all that cemented yet. That's not a great place for 9 to pick up at.

I did like TFA and TLJ, but I think Episode 9 is going to have to really pull off a miracle to make this trilogy satisfying.

 

That's a good point because the OT and PT were actually setup the other way. As you said, the OT and PT have strong standalone films that start the narrative in ANH and TPM, where they end and then there is a good gap in time to set up the next set of problems. If you really think about it, ESB and ROTJ work together as the 1-2 punch, along with AOTC and ROTS as the 1-2 punch as their stories really flow together.

Episode 9 is really mimicking ESB and AOTC where there will probably be a big time gap and then has to setup new problems for the characters, but will only have 2 hours to resolve it, where the OT and PT had 4 hours (2 movies) to resolve it.

 

Right, that's my main concern. While the finale of ROTJ and ROTS was the final hit of that "one-two punch", 9 is going to have to hit the ground running, then throw another one-two of its own.

And honestly, TFA/TLJ didn't need to be that double feature type of thing. There could've been some time between the films. There could've even been more time elapsed in TLJ itself- maybe open directly onto Rey meeting Luke on the island (since TFA established that would have to happen) then flash forward a year or two. That way, we can believe Rey got some training, without having to personally go through that song and dance again with the audience. We can believe the Resistance is mobilizing for war but still hurting. We can believe that the First Order has recovered from the Star Killer base attack.

And we can believe Ren has had time to consider his failures with Rey.

Just, a whole lot could've been developed off camera, and it would've set the ST to be stronger, in my opinion.

 

My 2 cents: I think that the entire principle of defining set expectations beforehand is what frustrated some people with TLJ and is bound to cause frustration again for IX.

I wouldn't expect (a) Rey's backstory to change, (b) Snoke's backstory to be told (expect that in books, maybe in between the movies), and (c) things to never end (MF, droids, characters, etc.)

 

That's what I am hoping for. I want JJ to do a sequel to E7, pretty much ignoring E8. A couple lines of retcon dialog should do the trick nicely. And I tell ya.... if I had to bet, I would put money on Luke Skywalker not only being in this movie, but in full flesh and blood.

 

As someone who watched every Star Wars movie in the theaters, I strongly disagree with this statement. The prequels enraged a ton of people, it's amazing who people are quick to forget it. The whole "this is not Star Wars" and "Lucas killed my childhood" were there, and much stronger than in TLJ. And even ESB and ROTJ weren't unanimous either - ESB was quite divisive as well.

You are assuming that the producers of the movie (which aren't really Disney, BTW) consider it was bad. I'm pretty sure they don't and there won't be any "fixing" for EP IX. I highly doubt there will be any major change in direction here - remember that TLJ's script was finalized and approved before TFA even premiered, and JJ has been involved with TLJ as executive producer as well.

 

A free movie theater ticket.

 

Man I was kinda hoping the Falcon go out in a blaze of glory in 9!

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 24, 2018, Original Post Date: Jan 24, 2018 ---

I don't know if killing Snoke without knowing anything was a mistake. Not having the answers opens up the door to a potential standalone film about Snoke and the rise of the First Order. Something I'd be very interested in seeing.

 

I think the TFA is a pretty solid film. It's downside is that is is just to similar to ANH. TLJ was okay, but it had quite a few flaws. I only got to see it once in theaters (don't say i'm not a big star wars fun because of that) and honestly kinda forgot some parts about it. So I'll by in on DVD watch it a few more times before I can really make up my mind. I being the hardcore star wars fan that I am will go see 9 even if TFA and TLJ were trash, and in my opinion they were not all completely bad. So anyway I will be seeing 9 no matter what.

 

Hearing that Rian's new project got swaped for 1 Anthology would at least reassure me.

It would mean someone at LFL or Disney has finally realized Rian lacks the sense of scale and epic to make a SW trilogy. The guy is more suited for one-shot stories.

 

If you are posting here, you will ALL see Episode IX within the first week of release. You'll be all stoked and hyped by the release of the first teaser. And clicking here every day to see when the first leaked image or factual tidbit releases.

You're a Star Wars fan, if you weren't you wouldn't be here. You can't quit this thing. You know why? Because it's an awesome franchise...and yes, it still is.

 

Look Snazel, can you please get out of my brain? There's enough junk up there as it is without you tromping around with your common sense and irrefutable logic.

I think most of us will be that way; those who loved TLJ will want so see how it carries on and many who didn't love it will probably have the hope that it fixes/changes things they didn't like. As someone stuck in the middle opinion-wise, I can see both sides but will be hammering the refresh key as soon as I get wind of the trailer, I know it...

 

Just as important as Rey getting training, would have been time elapse so Kylo could have completed his training. Then at least the next time Rey faces Kylo, he's fully healthy and fully trained.

 

A life long Star Wars fan since the 70’s here - unfortunately for me, The Last Jedi destroyed any hopes I had for new Star Wars movies under Disney. I see no difference between Star Wars post-Lucas and a brainless franchise like Transformers, apart from John Williams always excellent music. It’s a shame because I thought TFA was a good film but knowing what comes next, to me it is utterly ruined, no point revisiting it.

The PT took place over 15 years, the OT over 5 or so and TFA and TLJ - about 3/4 days. How can there be any believable character development over such a short amount of time - and that is 2/3rds of the trilogy. TLJ dispensed with the internal logic so essential to fantasy and as a result diminished all that came before it - if you count it as legitimate that is. Which I don’t.

George Lucas is Star Wars, everything from Disney is something else lacking the heart and soul a great intellect with emotional intelligence and creative genius can provide.

So I don’t think anything can get me excited for the franchise again, for me it has 6 episodes.

 

Rey's death from Dutch Elm Disease, BB-8 dismantled by R2-D2 and C-3PO, Kylo Ren choking to death on his aspirations.