TFA's Story speculated by BMD to have been significantly altered.......

The article has got some details wrong...
- The scene with Maz meeting Leia took place after Rey was captured (i.e. the meeting between them was supposed to be their first meeting during filming)
- The force vision was originally Maz relating the story to the heroes of how she got the lightsaber... some of it was recycled into a vision experienced solely by Rey. This was more a result of the character of Maz Kanata changing during production, from fortune teller to pirate.

And I don't know Leia's meeting with Korr Sella worked... but unless it came about from Poe's journey, it would have been a real awkward introduction to Leia.

 

Yeah, I read that, too.
I think quite a few things were cut out that would have helped the movie make more sense. And it's not just us super fans who notice the difference, either. My husband is a very smart guy, and he's seen all the movies a couple of times (though he's definitely not as big a fan as I am). A lot of the movie didn't make sense to him, and I can hear him in there right now watching trailers and reviews.

(Among other things, he wondered how Poe and Finn could survive in a TIE fighter. He didn't know that TIEs don't have life support systems, he just noticed that all the Empire/FO guys have always had helmets and air supplies, etc. & he figured it out. That's not something I've seen anyone else mention, but like I said, the guy is really smart).

Obviously, the movie was running too long, which I suspected it might from the first time I read those leaked scripts. It was always way too complicated, and we know the script was a bit of a rush job to begin with. So some important stuff got left out, but hopefully movie VIII will help smooth some of that out. But some of it won't ever be explained.

Abrams had a really big job to do- catch up on what had gone before while setting up a whole new story. In some ways, I think the first movie should have been a two-parter, like Mocking Jay or the final Harry Potter movies.

 

Rian Johnson....and Gareth Edwards...

I find them to practically be no-namers with movies that are mediocre at best...I am just curious why so many have placed more faith in the latter two over JJ. JJ has made his mistakes, many he has admitted to even...

I'm not saying the latter two directors won't do a fantastic job...but the only notable titles to relate to are....Looper and Godzilla...both movies are easily related a "Meh out of 10"

I am really confused...I wish someone would break it down 'Barney style" and explain why they legitimately think the latter two directors are 'better choices' than JJ.

I loved TFA. I have high hopes for the next two. I'll have higher hopes for IX after seeing (and hopefully be blown away by) Rogue One, I am sure.

I theorize that people just hate JJ because he became a successful director at a fairly young age.

Edit: Not sure why I get a dislike when I am simply asking for an explanation on the love for directors. Oh well...I believe I got my answer in a later post.

 

Senate meetings? Again?! I'm glad they realised their error and cut that out.

 

O..M..G..

This is literally what I was thinking the entire time I was reading this article:

 

IX is directed by Colin Treverrow Jurassic World-guy.
Gareth Edwards is only doing Rogue One

 

Yeah. ...I knew that....lol

I guess since Rian did the writing for both episodes, it made my mind tossed up.

But the point still stands...I'll have higher hopes after seeing a no-namer be successful...because that's basically all he's done as well...

 

A New Hope was heavily edited after the shooting phase as well. I fail to see the problem people have with the story, i's a character driven story, not plot driven like the prequels. I find it amusing that after all the criticism the prequels got people are now calling for a more plot driven story, a godlike infallible whiter than white Luke, an established jedi order, info on galactic politics, having everyone's backstory revealed in the first film and people getting offended at Finn using a lightaber because he hasn't been shown to have that stupid force sensitive cells idea.

The story isn't meant to be a galaxy encompassing 'fall of the republic' etc type storyline. It's the story of Rey and Finn's hero's journey to find an old Jedi and Kylo Ren completing his fall to the darkside via Han Solo. I don't understand the problems people are having with the story. Almost every single film and certainly every previous Star Wars films have loads of convenient meetings/events aswell so I don't buy that either

 

It is a thought provoking article but I'm not sure the explanation he offers for the percieved symptoms follows logically.

"The Force Awakens feels like it’s pulling too far towards “mystery,” either to keep the audience guessing or just to cover up the story Spackle."

From what we know about Abram's and Kasdan's screenwriting preferences, TFA feels exactly like what I expect from "Mr. Mystery Box" and "Mr. You don't need all that - trust the characters!".

Anyhow "its a mixture of all those factors" is probably the safest bet as always.