Unanswered questions

1. Again this is you ascribing real world physics and attributes to a space fantasy.
With that statement you just declared anything at all possible in the Star Wars universe. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect gravity to be a constant in Star Wars since people walk around normally and things drop to the ground like they do in real life.

2. And it's perfectly logical for Han, a smuggler, to know Maz Kanata who is a bit of a safe haven on Takodana. And when trying to get Rey and Finn to where they need to be, why wouldn't they go visit her? Seems pretty on point with everything. So again, what's the issue here? Contrivances are a part of storytelling. Maz being where Rey is, is no more illogical than Han. And that wasn't your point. You've moved goal posts. And that wouldn't be the equivalent. It'd be closer to if Han had Anakin's lightsaber, (ya know the object in question) but then he'd also have to have a relationship with Obi-Wan to make the comparison work but that weakens your argument even further. So I get why you changed it.
I shouldn't have said that it was odd for Maz to be there. That was a mistake. They went there specifically to see her. My bad on that point. Han not having a relationship with Obi Wan in my example wouldn't weaken my argument. The relationship between Maz and Han isn't the issue. It's that Maz just happens to have the very important weapon that will be needed later. You don't accept that her possession of it is unusual so you see it differently.

3. Because it's not this story being told. The same reason we aren't told HOW the Rebels got the Death Star plans either time. Just that they did and many Bothans died.
This is a straw man. Those things don't need elaboration because we were being introduced to those elements. New elements can simply be new without the need provide any explanation. Introducing a new element like Maz in possession of an existing element, especially a well known one, requires some explanation.

4. If you can sense the force, why couldn't you sense that? I don't get this at all. You accept she is capable of sensing the force but sensing it's calling to Rey, is absurd? That feels like you're asking for a very small needle to be thread here.
I don't know why you're still arguing this since I already said it was a mistake in my last post...

5. But what is revealed about Mothma in ROTJ? Nothing. What is revealed about Akbar? Nothing. Tarkin? Nothing. She is a tertiary character. Any info on her will be put in comics or books. Again, this just isn't the story being told.
Another straw man. There's no past connection to these characters. You didn't see them die and then show up again. They didn't show up with Mace Windu's lightsaber or anything. They were just new characters being introduced. Maz has Luke's old lightsaber and also knows it was Anakin's too. Han is the stand in for the audience in that scene when he asks where she got it.

The movie you are describing wanting is 5 hours long and 4.5 of that is expository dialogue. Yes, all JJ did in TFA was create mystery boxes. But these aren't the problematic ones. They're just tiny unimportant threads so they can write 6 books.
Nope. A line or two of dialog doesn't take that long.

 

From what I've read, it looks like you make no distinction between the introduction of new elements and the reintroduction of existing elements. New characters are assumed to have a past that we don't know about. Hux, Ach-To caretakers, Holdo, Rose, Snoke and Maz are included in this. But when a new character displays a significant (what is significant is subjective) reintroduction of an existing element, some exposition is appropriate. A good example of this is the Millennium Falcon being on Jakku. At first it’s a surprise because it’s out of context. The last time we saw it was being flown by Lando and still owned by Han. We later find out that it was stolen and changed hands a few times before ending up on Jakku. No problem.



Maz and Snoke reintroduce existing elements. Maz has Luke’s lightsaber and Snoke says he was around during the Old Republic and the Empire. Maybe Snoke was a really private guy and just stayed home a lot during those times so he gets a pass. We still don’t know where he came from or how he became the Supreme Leader of the First Order, but those are new elements that don’t necessarily contradict anything we’ve seen before. They’re unnecessarily mysterious, but such is a JJ Abrams movie. Maz however, has Luke’s lightsaber, which was last seen falling a great distance in a city that was being occupied by the Empire. That deserves some exposition.

The Death Star plans in A New Hope is a particularly bad example to hold up as something that needs exposition. From the very first frames of the movie, in the opening crawl, we’re told that the plans have been stolen. This is our insertion point to the story. It’s established that the bad guys have a giant battle station and that the plans have been stolen. The story is getting the plans to the right good guys.



As far as anything being possible and “that’s not the story being told”, you just reduced absolutely everything to insignificance. Here’s what’s ok with you if anything at all is possible and “that’s not the story being told”:



Characters pointing their fingers at others and yelling “Pow!” and then the other person falls dead with a hole in his chest. Anything is possible.

Han Solo is portrayed by Harrison Ford in the Cantina, then Kate Beckinsale in docking bay 94, then a CG Jar Jar on the Falcon, then by a can of cream of chicken soup on the Death Star. How is this happening? Anything is possible, and besides, that’s not the story being told.

Any character, heck, every character, ever seen dying in the past can show up at any time because anything is possible. How did they come back to life? That’s not the story being told.



There needs to be some continuity for stories to work. What happened to Luke’s original lightsaber has been a question on fans’ minds since 1983 when we learned that he built a new one and didn’t go back to get the old one. It’s been the subject of EU material and probably thousands of forum posts. 35 years later, the answer is

JJ Abrams: Oh that? Maz had it!

Fans: Come again? Who’s Maz?

JJ Abrams: She’s an old friend of Han’s. She’s had it for ages. She knows the force.

Fans: And……? How did she get it?

JJ Abrams: That’s a story for another time. Maybe in a novel or a comic book.





I already know that this subject is unimportant to you. There are some fans to whom this is a big deal, though. I’m one of them.

 

Well.... Excuse me.

 

I think if you were to actually take the time to comb through this forum and others, you wouldn't find anyone asking for an elaborate explanation of every little detail in every scene. That is definitely a straw man argument. Nobody is actually doing that. You'd most likely find many people asking for the same detail or two to be explained.

 

I am literally asking for an elaborate explanation for every detail in every scene? Seriously? You may want to look up what "literally", "every" and "detail" mean.

This is probably a conversation best left alone until after the release of TROS.