This Movie Will Look MUCH BETTER in 2017 and 2019.

Yes. If something goes wrong and others didn't do justice - it will be better looking movie in comparison. If they succeed - it will bring new details to the world, explanations - which is also good.

 

You can have a film trillogy with out having all these unanswered questions spider man 1 wasn't an ad for spider man 2 and spider man 2 wasn't an ad for spider man 3. Same thing with the star wars prequels.

 

This. When I first saw the OP, I thought, "Yep, it's going to look a lot better in 2017..... after VIII comes out."
I mean, there's loose ends, and then there's loose screws... Some of this stuff made no sense and probably never will. That's one of the things I liked about the OT- they were tight plots with few moving parts. Even the PT didn't leave too many unanswered questions. We didn't have to rely too much on coincidence for things to work out the way they did.

Here's just a tiny example- why did Luke make a map? Why did he split it in two? Under what circumstance did he want to be found, and how did he set up the pieces to come together so that could happen? Does LST have knowledge in that regard? He gives Poe the message, but Poe is captured and he entrusts the piece to BB8 and tells him he'll be back so they can take it to the Resistance. I would be willing to guess we never find out the answers to any of these things.

Compare to the analogous situation in ANH- Rebels spies give Leia the plans to the Death Star. She's captured, so she entrusts them to R2, and tells him to look for Obi-Wan Kenobi, so he can take it to the Rebels. We know why there's a secret message, where it came from, and how it was acquired, and what it's for. It's logical. It has to be, because it's part of the plot. Whereas the map is just a plot device.

And this is not the only thing- there's the lightsaber, all the coincidences on Jakku, Leia's strange interaction with Rey when they first meet. I dunno, I like my sci-fi to be smart. It doesn't have to reveal the secret inner workings of the universe when it's a fun ride like SW- but it does have to make sense.

 

Yes, I realize it's not hard-core sci fi. That would be why I qualified my statement in that SW doesn't have to explain the secrets of the universe. But that doesn't mean it has to have such a shaky plot as in TFA. The story is weak.

 

Luke meant for a certain person to find him when the time was right. One map is in Artoo, and he can remotely activate Artoo through the Force when he feels through the Force that it is time. It's not hard stuff to figure out when you think about it. It comes off as being natural to me.

Why would the Empire have plans sitting around in any of their bases? Should be information that only Tarkin, Vader, and the Emperor can access on the Death Star. Why get those plans to Obi-Wan when he's in hiding, doesn't want to be found, and has nothing to do with the Rebellion? You don't think about those because the answers come naturally.

 

Luke has never activated R2 like that before. There has never been a time that any Jedi has portrayed that kind of action-at-a-distance- their telekinesis has always been line-of-sight. The most they could ever do was sense something, a disturbance or feeling. Never anything specific. Most sci-fi worlds have rules, and if there aren't any, that's fine, but then, what's the point? If we're going to invoke the Force for everything, there's no need to have writers at all.

Regarding the Death Star plans, at least they said there were spies, and spies,well.... they spy. And the reason why she picked Obi-Wan was because he served with her father in the Clone Wars, and they were over Tatooine where she must have known that he lived. It was a last-ditch effort to get the plans to the Rebel base, just like Poe sending BB8 off, and then telling Finn about it was a last-ditch attempt to get the plans to the Resistance. Which makes perfect sense, so I didn't question that part.

And that doesn't even count all the coincidences on Jakku, with the map, the MF and Rey, and then running into Han of all people. At some point they really do have to write believable linkages and not say the Force brought them all together.

 

people are quick to explain that "took me out off the movie moment" but as you bring it up, there really was no better time to activate R2?
I'm willing to follow your thinking, are you willing to do the same? We see no Luke in TFA until the end, so lets pretend he is the same like ever. So for Luke was the right time after his best friend died, who he tries to save against some little green guys wish in another star wars movie. So there is that. I could go on and you should know it, but i really want to like TFA and trying not to be to big of an Peedunky, but that scene is just bad.

 

I really don't want to appear as an old-fogey snob. But as a matter of interest, how many of you who don't think ESB felt a bit underwhelming initially,saw it in theatres back in 1980?

I remember liking the film but feeling it wasn't in the same league as ANH (or just 'Star Wars') at the time. It's reverential status only came later. Indeed, it is my fave. My daughter thinks so to - but only because she saw ROTJ the day after! She didn't have to wait 3 long years. (Son likes TPM though).

Also, like the earlier poster, I thought ROTJ was let down by the ewoks. It's only now, years afterwards that I feel so much different about it. Not the ewoks, (they can still all FOAD), but the confrontation between Luke and Vader takes so much more significance, and Vader's redemption becomes the trilogy's defining moment. But that's probably because I'm a dad now . In fact, I probably enjoy watching ROTJ the most - because of the emotional impact of watching Vader turning between Luke and the Emperor.

Oh - and I just CANNOT watch the latest BluRay version. Noooooooooo!

 

ESB has never been my favorite. When I returned to fandom this past summer, I was surprised to see that's the one ppl revere the most. I've always had ANH as number one. Firstly, because the trio is split up too much in ESB (and continued to be so in ROTJ) and second because I really hated seeing Luke get knocked around by Darth Vader. I don't like violence. Which is why the sanitized PG version of SW is about the most I can do.

I have to agree with you about the Vader/Luke scene. My husband gets choked up every time Luke says "I've got to save you," and Vader says, "You already have." It definitely is a Dad thing- well, Dads in particular, anyway.

 

I find ESB seems to share a lot of similarities in it's critical reception with Blade Runner.

The first time I saw ESB (which will have been late 90s/early 00s, on the VHS versions from the early 90s (which I believe were the last non-special edition copies released)) I didn't like it either. Admittedly I was very young, and was probably scared shitless by Vader in it. The darkness is a massive contrast to ANH, and is a bit of a shock to the system. I can see why people didn't massively like it at first, for the same reasons I think a lot of people didn't like Blade Runner.

As time has gone on, it's become better to me with every viewing. Just like Blade Runner.

The funny thing is, I think most kids will have enjoyed ROTJ the most at first (I did), yet most people who did likely consider it the weakest OT film for the same reasons we originally loved it.


(Probably worth mentioning Blade Runner is my fave sci-fi movie, hence the reference)

 

So perhaps some of us should give it at least a few weeks' contemplation before we all tell JJ that he's violated our childhoods, eh?

 

Its an ad for episode 8

 

By that logic ESB was an ad for ROTJ.

 

I vote "yes," but I love this film. It looks great now, and will look even better when the new ones come out (and I can't wait to marathon...what? Eight movies before VIII and 10 before IX).

 

And with perfect timing:

Perhaps he's reading this thread?

 

Oh how I love Stuckmann.