Star Wars Episode 7 self-contained story?

I would react like AWESOME!

I don't think it should be self-contained. In fact, I hope it ends with a cliff hanger. And then I hope VIII ends with another cliff hanger. IF Episode IX is truly the end of the current series then everything can be resolved therein.

 

The first Star Wars could probably stand alone, much like The Phantom Menace so I will bet that VII will be able to stand alone but VIII will lead into IX.

 

The one thing I like about SW movies is that each one movie is self-contained (in a certain context meaning the next movie is months or years later), yet part of a bigger story. Unlike Lord of the Rings where the next movie picks up right where it left off. The reason I say that is you can only watch one movie at a time, and nobody has time to watch them all in one sitting, so a self-contained story works for replay value.

If its true that Ford, Fisher and Hamill are only going to be main players in Episode 7, then this could be most the standalone-like movie since the original in 1977.

 

in my (often warped) mind there are 2 main choices here for episode 7..

2hrs and 20 odd minutes of no explanations, no flashbacks.. completely contained. action from start to finish leaving us to try and fill in the blanks for the next 2 years.

2hrs and 40 odd minutes. a quick start followed by a slow 'getting to know you' section with a steady build up to a big 'dun dun dunnnnn!' moment at the end.

of course this choice has already been made.. we just have to understand the choice. uggh.. wrong forum for that lol

i'd edge towards it not being contained if i were a betting man

 

I would like to see 7 end and whatever the ending is make it so it leaves the audience ready for 8 cliffhangers are fine but I don't want to wait 2 years to see what happens. Then again we are gonna have to wait 2 years regardless. I just want a good star wars trilogy out of this andcliffhangers to provide a direct continuation to the next film with the audience already invested in the charters and plot that is ongoing.
......i can't wait

 

since this is the first part of a new trilogy for a new generation of film viewers, I feel like it'll have to be accessible in order to get people into the story and feel of it all. with that being said, I bet they make it fairly contained.

 

I tend to figure that it will probably be more or less contained, though not to the extent that ANH was. Like TPM, the immediate story will be resolved, with some unanswered questions that will carry the momentum over to Episode 8.

Note how Abrams is only doing Episode 7, and then apparently Rian Johnson is not only writing and directing Episode 8, but also writing a treatment for Episode 9. That, to me, suggests that it's really 8 and 9 that will have that cliffhanger link between them, while 7 will be more of a stand-alone story.