What do you think episode 8 should do, to make this into a strong trilogy?

Empire Strikes Back is much focused in the faces of our main characters as they go on fun but dark adventures. Surely the destruction of Starkiller Base would have crippled their defenses. Say, the Resistance is on a major attack against the First Order in Act 1 that fails miserably and they are forced to a classic dogfight chase and an epic standoff with the Resistance winning in an Act 3 Standoff.

 

Now that we've been introduced to the new characters through a familiar formula, I'd like to see them going to places we've never seen before (storywise). This franchise needs to shake off the OT and challenge expectations. I can't really say what I would like to see, but I can say what I think should be avoided:

1. Rey being revealed as another "chosen one".
Obviously she IS chosen in a way, she seems to be (at least at the moment) a "champion of light", a "reaction" to the dark side taking over the galaxy. But she'd better not be a new Anakin. We saw what happens when one person bears all the responsibility.

2. Rey falling to the dark side, even if it's temporary.
This is just a personal preference. I don't want to see that happening because it seems to me that being overtaken by the dark side is pure hell, and she's been through enough already. She SHOULD be challenged, and she should struggle with the dark side, but I don't want to see it defeating her, affecting her on a deep level. I want her to stay "bright" throughout the entire story.

Oh, there is something I'd like to see, Rey Nobody. This would prove that the force can awaken in anybody, no matter who they are or where they come from. That there's no need for "royal" blood, and all that matters is who YOU are, not your family, not your past. It would be a great message. And by Rey Nobody I don't necessarily mean her parents staying unknown or being completely irrelevant to the story. But they shouldn't come from the "holy" families of SW, or be powerful force users.

Everything else is fair game, I don't care as long as the story is well written and strays from the OT.

 

Well the premise seems to be that TFA is not a great start. That simply isn't true. It was a great start. Any follow up has to continue and elaborate there is little that needs to be fixed.

What I would like to see is;
1- Ren kill Snoke. In the eons of secret Sith apprentices kill their masters. I really want to see Ren have a light sabre temper tantrum all over Snoke. Han warned him that Snoke is using him at some point a moment of decision needs to arise. Ren needs to become the new master.
2- Lucas established a number of rhyming tonal elements that the PT used to great effect (one of the strongest elements of the PT is the ring structure). A sequel to TFA needs to respect and build on the beats and themes that JJ brought with the initial installment of the film.
3- One of the issues I had with TFA is it cut elements that I think would have made it even better. These were dropped for pacing but it seems to me that they were dropped to keep the film shorter more than how the story unfolded. Seeing Rey run into Unkar Plunt at Maz's castle need rescuing and have Chewie riomthe guy's are off seems truly missing. Even if TFA haters would compare it to the cantina scene from ANH. Seeing Finn have a moment of success in the cut speeder chase scene on Starkiller base would be awesome. So the follow up I think needs to give space to these moments to round out characters and spice things up.
4- A follow up needs to give viewers a space to understand what actually happened in TFA and in the events since Jedi. Not a history lesson but what did the 1st Order Succeed at in TFA after all they lost their super weapon but they have destroyed the Republic, its fleet and left the new government essentially headless. It also needs to give context to exactly why Luke is not in action.

 

With Luke force ghost in IX? I'll go with that.

 

Some great lightsaber duels, space battles and a force ghost appearance.

 

I think that in order to make the sequel trilogy compete with the OT (the best trilogy, imo) we need to see the characters struggle more. Overall, TFA gave off the feeling that the First Order was a whole lot of bark, with very little bite. The same goes for Kylo and Snoke. However, if we see the FO step up their game and really hit the Resistance hard, then I feel that the ST could potentially outdo the OT, however heretical that might sound. And yes, people would point out the similarities to Empire, but it's the second film in a trilogy. It's supposed to end in at least some level of defeat to give the third film a reason to exist.

 

The characters being tested to the max.

Lots of conflict.

Revealing Rey's parents

Kylo's continued struggle

Luke and Leia reunion

Leia and Ben confrontation

A space battle and good ground battle

 

1)Be original. TFA was a fun movie but maddeningly unoriginal most of the time

2)Make Rey imperfect. Show that she can be overpowered and lacks knowledge/aptitude in key situations

3) see #2

4)an original kind of space battle

5) if xwings appear, let them be a minor part of the battle/story

6) no evil space station

7) explain the KOR

8) show Snoke AND another alien of the same species to legitimize his look. He looks like Gollum to a lot of people and it's important to show he is another species AND illustrate how scared he is.

9) explain the map fragment thing.

10) explain at least 50% of the questions raised by TFA (many due to JJ's admitted penchant for setting things up without feeling any need to have them pay off (also known as "being a lazy hack")).

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 8, 2017, Original Post Date: Jan 8, 2017 ---

Luke will not die in E8.

 

Well, since she's already apparently able to mind trick a Stormtrooper I think the whole issue with her tapping into the force won't be feasible in ep VII. However, it could be replaced in an interesting way by Luke making her training as hard as possible, or actually impossible, to set up some conflict in her training with him.

 

Apart from the things you already mentioned, I think Episode 8 should stay as far away from TESB as possible and concentrate on a whole new story. While I wasn't pleased with TFA, I still have hope for the ST and it would help the story if it moved in an original direction and gave us a wonderful story that we haven't seen before. The return of classic background aliens would help as well but not like a little nod here or there like the Twi'Lek hologram and Ponda Baba from RO but as regular inhabitants in the SW galaxy.

 

I want to see a PT- style lightsaber fight, no new villians (since more villians than heroes were introduced in TFA), more of Luke and Leia, and even refernces to Han Solo
.

 

Darth Plageuis...?

 

I know they won't do it as to not distract us from Rey-Almighty, but I really want Luke to have a son we haven't seen yet.

 

no thanks, would be the worst thing to do, especially now that Carrie is gone.

 

I can't find it, but Domhnall Gleeson said something in the lead up to TFA along the lines of if you knew his character's origins, it would ruin the whole ST. At first, I hoped that meant that we would have an undercover Luke's son embedded in the First Order. But, everything else since then suggests otherwise... unless Brendol Hux's son was actually "adopted" after being stolen from Luke.



I see what someone did there...

 

I too was hoping Gleeson was his undercover son, especially after reading the infamous Spoilerman crap. But, I really don't see that happening now after he blew up an entire planet system of the rebellion. I had thought for a moment that maybe Kylo Ren was secretly a good guy, somewhat like Galen Erso in that he was playing the part of a bad guy to protect Rey, but then I remembered he killed LST and the villagers in cold blood, and then his own father, so unless there is a secret agent who is massively commented to the role, I don't see anyone being a double agent at this point. However, if I had written the script, then Hux would have whipped out a lightsaber at the last moment to save the day, but then we wouldn't have the desired female lead that Disney wants.

 

I actually really like this idea. So much has been made of who Snoke because if he's the big bad of the trilogy then many think he should be someone important. But what if he isn't? What if he's just a punk, and ends up getting offed pretty early, cementing Kylo Ren as even more irredeemable.

This would also be cool because it would make Kylo more sith-like. A lot has also been said about how the KoR and Snoke are not sith, as Vader and Palps were the last sith. This could be a true return to form- rather than redeeming Vader, Kylo could finally do what Vader was supposed to for so long- kill his master and take his place- not in the righteous way Vader did, but as a true sith.

I could see some people really not liking that, too. I'd totally get that.

Oh, absolutely. Han's "It's all true" speech sums up the sort of haze that is TFA- the film is purposefully a little disorienting. We can follow the plot easily enough, but we're often left wonder "I wonder what happened to X". The GFFA is a big part of many fans' hearts, and there's a lot to digest, but I hope the next film has more of a sense of context to it.

 

I mean, can't he still be that? Especially since the first order is known for kidnapping and brainwashing. .

 

I would say it is probably unlikely... not impossible... but unlikely based on Han's discussion with Rey and Finn about Kylo Ren's betrayal:

"He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice, turned against him, destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible. He just walked away from everything."

I would think that if Luke had a son kidnapped at birth and brainwashed to become Hux, he would have had his breakdown and exile thereafter, rather than waiting until Ben Solo turned against him... but who knows? Straw that broke the camel's back?