How one choice altered the course of Star Wars forever...

[@yourstruly4817]

"The greatest teacher, failure is." Disney must be very wise by now

[@noneyabizness6094]

The worst part about this line, is that it's unironically good. It's in a terrible scene, one that I find particularly infuriating, but it's a good line.

[@saberiandream316]

You'd think so, huh?

[@gideonjones8088]

Even the greatest teacher can’t help a bad student

[@dreadelectric7745]

BOOM!

[@HeviNova]

"Last Jedi, to me, felt like a movie made by a guy who hadn't quite done his homework." He went on to explain, "I think Rian Johnson's a talented guy, but Bruce Lee didn't develop Jeet Kune Do without learning Kung Fu first. You can't reinvent Star Wars without knowing Star Wars first and he didn't -- for me -- make a compelling argument for why Luke didn't go and help his sister." - Sam Witwer

[@ThunderGenesis]

💯

[@6runger]

Woah did he really say that??? If so, that's awesome. Another reason to love Sam

[@wl3217]

​@@6rungerHe did. kzbin.infofBk94i2LKwM?si=Itm2g15FFH0DXzAE

[@nocrtname]

@@6runger He really knows his stuff.

[@donaldjskywalker]

Oh Rian Johnson knew Star Wars, that is how he siccessfully destroyed it in one movie. To destroy the most popular IP in cinematic history you must completely understand it.

[@PsychedelicDude]

The Last Jedi is essentially a compilation of ''deal breakers''. Fixing one simple thing would really not change much. TLJ is like getting kicked in the sack, having your heart ripped out, head chopped off and then your remains set on fire. If you don't set my remains on fire, im technically closer to be alive, but i'd still be dead.

[@jcrazy9008]

😂😂😂

[@Jazzdumpling]

​@@benjaminubben4436good thing there are KZbin comments like yours for them to eat! Starving people love sanctimonious KZbin comments

[@berserk4souls]

I think I would have forgiven it a lot more if Rey had joined up with Kylo Ren. The possibilities from that are endless and it would give Rey something complicated to deal with and we all know Adam Driver can handle whatever situation they throw at him and still turn it into gold.

[@landonmathews6111]

Possibly the most accurate description of TLJ I’ve ever heard. I may have to borrow this one

[@NickThiller]

One choice? Have a plan for the trilogy.

[@ThunderGenesis]

It’s the Holdo Maneuver for me. The sound of that fleet exploding is tantamount to the sound of Star Wars canon itself dying.

[@saberiandream316]

That death came on April 25th, 2014.

[@dexvil9021]

I still have ptsd flashbacks from this movie No need to re watch!!

[@squozenfrozen1645]

Let's be real, most of the audience didn't actually care about Rey in this film. It was Luke's film. The hype of the wait from Force Awakens was for Luke, not Rey's journey. The one thing that leaves some hope for episode 9 would've been Luke still being alive after force projection, a cool new powerful force ability is demonstrated but it's also still a tease because he can come back in the flesh to join the fight in 9.

[@kyleellis8665]

Would mean less for his arc if he stayed alive

[@danielschoch4881]

@@kyleellis8665 Would have saved his arc and Episode 9.

[@squozenfrozen1645]

@@kyleellis8665 How? His arc was going from broken hero to being the hero again (an arc that I disagreed with and shouldn't have been his arc for this film). Dying adds nothing to that, if anything it takes away from it because he's only just got back to "himself" and upon doing that he dies.

[@TheGoliathGuinea]

This movie was awful, and awful it will remain. Bottom line is, they dropped the ball in almost every conceivable way.

[@imironbatmanjaredmontaug4477]

#welovethesequels #therearemoreofus

[@jdstudios1912]

But we're your expectations subverted?

[@wayneslater5531]

@@jdstudios1912 Mine were! All i was expecting was a decent movie...

[@FinalSeraphLeo]

In the Empire Srikes Back, it was kinda hard for Luke to take Vader's hand since he kinda just lost one

[@thorskywalker]

He still had another.

[@Amoschp524]

Good one, it made me laugh.

[@Amoschp524]

​@thorskywalker You mean Leia, right?

[@shanearanda3472]

Great suggestion. I hoped Rey would become the bad guy. I thought during the "Throne Room" scene Rye was going to defeat Kylo, Snoke would take her as an apprentice, this betrayal would force Kylo to flee for his life. The entirety of the First Order now set against him. He escapes, with Finn's help, the two unlikely allies quickly come to an agreement. "Rey must be stopped, and only one man can save her." Your suggestions for Finn work well with my own idea for the film. Can you imagine how epic it would have been, that at the end of the picture, as Finn approaches Luke, (just as Rey did in the Force Awakens) instead of carrying a lightsaber, Finn has Kylo in tow? A lot to unpack with that idea. A lot to explore character wise. Themes to examine. Explanations to backstories that were both needed, (Why did Finn suddenly escape his trooper programming?) and more satisfying (Kylo betrayed Luke why? And not because a Jedi Master gave into fear.) Keep 'em coming. These essays help me heal. 🙂

[@formallyknownasj.a.2074]

Benicio Del Toro was also tragically misused, which I personally find odd that no one ever talks about. Such a great actor just to end up playing a stuttering traitor. They should have used him as another Dark Side user or maybe someone in the Knights of Ren.

[@kuribayashi84]

And he never reappears again and gets his comeuppance because JJ forgot about him or simply didnt have time for this shit.

[@dienercontent6872]

Ironic that a movie whose message is, “failure is the best teacher” would turn out to be a failure that Disney never seemed to learn from…

[@stevedenis8292]

I believe that choice was: Should I keep the film company I built up and all the associated franchises and risk making some bad movies or take 4 billion dollars and guarantee that Disney makes a mess.

[@butcherpete2286]

He was about to be WALLOPED by Obama era taxes for owning Lucasfilms and all its IP. Its not as simple as "gimme quick/easy money"

[@saberiandream316]

He knew they'd make a mess, make no mistake.

[@squozenfrozen1645]

I'm all for some Last Jedi "What If" videos!

[@BiggsTVC]

The slow space chase was really terrible. I liked your ideas, Thor

[@bradwhite5884]

Yeah, that was so boring and uninspiring, drags the movie down, it was pointless like the rest of the movie tbh, so yeah

[@PtrOBrn]

The Last Starfighter is pretty much an annual watch for me. I pulled it of my dvd ages ago and has been saved to every smartphone I have owned in those times I need something to watch and the internet isn't available... starfighter is there.

[@Cheesehead_Caleb]

I would love for you to go more in depth on this idea. Maybe do a full series on it akin to your other "what if" style stories. I've missed those videos.

[@JP-1990]

I think it would've been much more interesting if both were orphans with nothing, and Kylo Ren has been adopted. Not only would it make both of them relate to each other much more easily, but it would meaningfully subvert the trope of the "found family" by giving not one but two to the main villain.

[@jerryschramm4399]

For myself, the entire saga was when the concept of "midochlorians" was introduced. Suddenly, you were either born with power, and could join the elite. Or, you were a nobody, and not matter what you did, you could never join the elite. An idea of being "chosen by God", or the idea of being a "nepo baby". But, yes, Rey did have several chances to be a compelling character. But then again, she's a female, in in the Kennedy-verse, this means she is automatically superior.

[@6runger]

I love these videos of yours Thor. Great stuff. Keep it up

[@J.B....]

Somehow Palp returned 😮

[@NubcakeVII]

No Thor you don't understand. Rey can literally do nothing wrong. Probably a contractual obligation put in place by Kennedy herself lol

[@Amoschp524]

Rey is KK's wish fulfillment of being an actress.

[@dr.raymondstantzph.d.2293]

Everybody gives JJ a lot of flack for The Force Awakens, but he set up some damn fine intrigue. Who is Snoke? Who is Rey? What WAS Luke doing on the island planet? It was Rian that threw it all away to "subvert expectations". In doing so left the next director, whoever it had been, a burning dumpster fire to try and salvage a trilogy out of.

[@butcherpete2286]

Yeah sure. But that presupposes the idea that JJ Abrams actually had any kind of an idea about where to go with those "what's" Which .... Not only did he have pretty much exactly what he did in Ros in mind (TRASH) but he didn't even want to answer the questions. That dude doesn't have an original bone in his body

[@istari0]

He also blew up the New Republic, undoing the accomplishments of our heroes in the OT, introduced the First Order without any idea of how this powerful organization appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and didn't get our OT heroes back together to save the day one more time.

[@bradwhite5884]

I don't mind JJ's mystery boxes, but at least know or let future directors know what's in those boxes, he failed to deliver on them, like he did in his shows and movies he had done, he has no full idea, or maybe he had if Disney allows him, he should of done the trilogy or Gareth Edwards should of done The Last Jedi tbh, or another director better then Rian and JJ, Colin had potential but ruined because of such, so yeah

[@dereklopez9060]

As much as I hate this movie, I think they should've kept Rey as a nobody and have her take Kylo Ren's hand.

[@atoth62]

It wouldn't be a bad choice in a standalone movie, but if you're calling this part of the Skywalker Saga, your main character should have some connection to the Skywalkers.

[@dereklopez9060]

@atoth62 What would you do?

[@danieljackowitz2343]

I don't believe it. The changes you suggest would make the theme of this movie into an actual Star Wars movie. Bravo!

[@richardsylvester4518]

It makes me so sad that a random KZbinr (sorry) has far better ideas than million dollor paid directors. Even some of the comments have great ideas. Blows my mind that Disney were so incompetent.

[@bradwhite5884]

Even I have a better idea to do The Last Jedi then a billion dollar company can come up with, so yeah

[@sirownzalotgaming3025]

The funny thing is I loved the force awakens and I was so hyped for last jedi. Then I went to see it and was so disappointed. Then rise of skywalker just ripped my heart out.

[@BB-zd3jr]

Same 😢

[@dr.aleccort1833]

No matter how you try to spend it there’s no fixing this mess. That’s how colossal bad they messed up short of a recon. This will never be repaired. Star Wars will never be the juggernaut IP. It could have been before Disney messed it up.

[@spaceace8717]

I would have had Luke to physically show up at the end and destroy the walkers, troopers etc.. have an amazing lightsaber fight with Ren, leaving him beat, broken and confused.. in one of greatest Jedi moments ever! That's the only way this movie could be palpable. Hard stop!

[@spaceace8717]

​@@yourstruly4817go away

[@thebendu33]

Let's put it simply, KK let RJ destroy star wars.

[@kimmccarthy7747]

No, she set him out to do it, like Palpatine set Vader.

[@countluke2334]

That is just stupid. She made some bad decisions and I don't know why she still has her job. But it makes no sense that she would want to "destroy" SW.

[@istari0]

@@countluke2334 It wasn't her intent but it's what she ended up doing.

[@saberiandream316]

@@istari0 Filoni did that long before her. Luke wasn't the first character that was horribly mangled and butchered by selfish ego and pride.

[@Godivious]

Once again, I wish you had been the writer for these films.

[@CORIOLANVS]

at this point its lamenting over spilled milk. what clearly should not have been in many of our opinions is fact now. no retro continuity, no bringing back what has been destroyed. cherishing what was and always will be good in past renditions of the star wars fictional universe is what remains. the timeless journeys of heroes and villains, shared times and wonderings of obstacles overcome and characters developed. the disney movies with all the would have could have scenarios will neither spoil nor contribute to that for me now.

[@moffjendob6796]

The last time I tried to watch some of The Last Jedi, I was flying home after Southwest cancelled my flight and I had to book an emergency flight on Delta. Still had screens on the seats then. I thumbed through the catalog as we went into Atlanta (because, you know, Delta) and finally decided that I'd rewatch TLJ. Except I failed at it. The opening scene repulsed me and I truly found staring out the window more captivating than Rian Johnson's "riveting and clever" writing.

[@miragewizard]

Alright, yes. To have Rey join Kylo would have made it better, but there would need to be a lot more changes, and I would say that you would need to start at the beginning, not just at the point where Kylo offers his hand to Rey. Beginning of the movie: Luke accepts his old lightsaber and asks Rey where she found it, and that gets Luke thinking about Maz Kanata. Luke agrees to cheerfully, willingly train her, and he starts to do so. We get the heroic Luke, not the depressing Luke. But Luke doesn't know who her parents are, and the scene with Rey and the Cave is the same: she's a nobody as revealed by the Cave. This affects Rey so much that she leaves Luke on the Island and takes the Millennium Falcon straight for Kylo, who has continued to communicate telepathically with her. I would throw out the whole Force Dryad nonsense. And instead of Luke being the impetus for Kylo's turn, it is revealed that it was Snoke who used the power of illusion to trick Kylo into betraying Luke and destroying the whole Jedi Academy. That would give Kylo the motivation to kill Snoke like he does in the actual movie, and then ask Rey to join him. At the beginning of the movie, Finn emerges from the Bacta Tank completely healed, and Poe, Leia and the Fleet find a way to elude the First Order fleet in a Nebula. This eliminates the stupid Poe dialogue with Hux in the beginning, and we can still get the Rose Tico meets Finn storyline, but this time, Leia sends Finn, Rose and Poe out of the Nebula to find Luke and Rey while she, Admiral Ackbar and Holdo try to find a way to get the fleet out of Nebula without the First Order following. By that time, Luke has found out that Rey has left, and he contemplates flying away in his X-Wing, which is not submerged. But just as he is meditating on the consequences of leaving the Island, where he first went to meditate in solitude to realize how Kylo could be brought back from the dark side, he sees a new ship land with Poe, Finn and Rose. When Luke meets them, he follows them back to the fleet in his X-Wing. When Luke joins Leia, Holdo and Admiral Ackbar back at the fleet, he gets to know Finn better and realizes that Finn is force sensitive. So, Luke begins to slowly take Finn under his wing. Luke helps Leia, Holdo and Ackbar find a way out of the Nebula without alerting the First Order, saving the fleet. Meanwhile, Kylo has captured Rey and they face Snoke. Kylo kills Snoke with the blue lightsaber, offers Rey to join him, and she accepts, falling to the dark side, and takes the blue lightsaber for now. Once the fleet is clear of the Nebula and the First Order is still searching for them there, both Luke and Leia feel the disturbance in the force of Rey falling to the dark side. Luke asks Leia if he can leave to try to save Rey, but Leia insists that he not go alone, fearing that she’ll lose him like they did Han. He takes Poe, Rose, Finn and DJ, a slicer (like Zakarisz Ghent before him), with him. They take the same ship that Poe, Finn and Rose arrived in on Ahch-To to secretly go back to the Nebula and land on The Supremacy, the First Order’s Mega-class Star Dreadnought. Luke leads Finn, Poe, DJ and Rose in much the same way that Han Solo led Rey, Chewbacca and Finn in The Force Awakens on Starkiller base. They split up at one point. Luke finds the shield generator room, uses the force to lure everyone out of it, then shuts down the shield generator and then locks the door behind him so that no one can get in after he leaves. Luke finds the rest of the group, which is found by Kylo and Rey. But this time, Luke easily overpowers Kylo in a lightsaber duel when they meet, disarming Kylo and has his green lightsaber aimed at Kylo’s neck. But Rey, to the surprise of everyone but Luke and Kylo, threatens to kill Finn. Poe causes a distraction, but another distraction happens when Captain Phasma bursts onto the scene, finds the group, and threatens to kill Finn as well. All pandemonium breaks loose. In the ensuing melee, Rey ends up killing Phasma. But the blue lightsaber is knocked away from her and Luke uses the force to get it back. Rey and Kylo chase Luke, Poe, Rose and Finn through the corridors of the Dreadnought when Luke creates a diversion. But DJ gets lost and goes a different way. Kylo and Rey follow DJ, thinking that he is with Luke’s group. Luke, Poe, Rose and Finn all flee with Chewie’s help in the Millennium Falcon. But DJ gives his life as he is pursued by Kylo and Rey and the garrison. Rey force chokes DJ, sealing her fate. The First Order has found the ship that they originally came in and has it surrounded. But Kylo and Rey are frustrated when they hear that the Millennium Falcon got away from the ship. Once clear, Luke gives the blue lightsaber to Finn and tells him that he will train him. He sends a communication to Leia, who tells them to meet her at the rendezvous point. The movie ends with the Millennium Falcon blasting off once again into space, seemingly destined for another spiral arm of the galaxy. (No Holdo manuever, no Canto Bight sequence, no grey morality preaching by DJ, no First Order laundry, etc..)

[@ThreadBareHope1234]

Hey Thor, Speaking of failure and moving forward, we've mentioned before that Jedi : Fallen Order did these lessons of learning from failure the correct way. Not glorifying failure, but treating it like a fact of life. So do you think that the Zeffo’s downfall (in Cal’s vision) is meant to foreshadow what his order would be, and showing he needs to let go of his dream, or is it trying to parallel the Jedi Order? I’ve heard most people claim the latter, but I just didn’t see it (at first). What is your opinion?

[@dock9626]

I'll take it further: since we don't have a time machine, I'd be in for a Rey movie where they LEAN INTO her Palpatine genes. No, not the tired anti-hero trope Hollywood loves of late. A full on descent into evil and exploration of the Sith pathway (that we were teased into thinking the Acolyte was gonna be about...). Like reading the Darth Bane series. But no. They can't have Rey be bad.

[@jordancrossgrove8827]

7:30 wait, isn’t that kinda why Luke decided to go with off with Obi-Wan in the original movie? “I want to come with you to Alderaan. There’s nothing for me here now. I want to learn the ways of The Force and become a Jedi like my father..” 🤔

[@ToonamiT0M]

Throughout the entire time I watched TLJ, I was constantly rolling my eyes at every stupid, illogical action every character made. The only time I perked up was when Kylo asked Rey to join him. I thought "Finally! Something interesting for these dull characters. Now I'm interested in where this will go." But all we got was a wet fart and a non ending that couldn't possibly lead anywhere remotely interesting.

[@bradwhite5884]

Rian made the sequel trilogy into a duology tbh, TLJ ruined all that, ever since that "your mama" joke that was so early 2000's that it lost its flair at this point, so yeah

[@Doofwarrior88]

There is one major reason why luke would have fled and hid.That should've been explored. If you're a man that has a family. Knowing that you are hunted, you would do everything you can to hide them. Luke should have been on that planet. Hiding from his nephew to protect his family, he should have had his sons or daughters and grandkids all there with his wife. If you would have had young grandchildren there, nipping at luke's heels. You would've understood that this is a family man that is doing everything he can to protect his family. Knowing that luke didn't have it in him to kill his nephew, he felt it would have been the best option to hide them. Luke should have had at least one or two other jedi.Padawan's that he was keeping safe. Rey should have been introduced as a new student to his academy. They could have spent the entire day movie just on the planet.Avoiding any conflict with the first order. Waiting for the third movie to have a final conflict.

[@Doofwarrior88]

By the way, the last jedi novelization, luke had a wife, so it's actually canon

[@facedeer]

It's funny, both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi had moments right at the end that would have IMO set up sequels *far* better with just a small tweak. You describe the Last Jedi's here. For the Force Awakens, I've long thought that they made a huge mistake in having Starkiller Base get destroyed. If the heroes had *failed* to destroy Starkiller Base it would have been a great subversion of the "it's just A New Hope over again" and it'd explain why the First Order was basically in charge unopposed in the Last Jedi. The First Order having Starkiller Base would explain so much. And it'd give something to have the climactic battle in the Rise of Skywalker over, rather than having to conjure up the Xystons out of nothing.

[@Amoschp524]

The best way to describe TLJ, it subverted my expectations of it being a good film. Good job, Darth Johnson.

[@devonmiller8255]

Your story pitch is 1000 times better than the movie we got. It's amazing to see what kind of story you get when you actually put some thought into the motivations of the characters and not just focus on trolling the audience at every turn.

[@kaleiohulee6693]

Hey Thor, I disagree with a couple of your interpretations of TLJ. Rey did fail. She was attempting to turn Kylo from the dark side and stop the First Order so escaping with her friends was all she could manage and only because of Luke's sacrifice. Also I don't believe Luke forgot the lessons of his past. He had a moment of weakness fed by force visions but he immediately realized it was not the way. The moment had tragic results but that's not entirely on him. Years of success led him to forget that the Dark side still required constant vigilance because temptations are eternal. However I would ask about Luke's vision because it did actually come to pass that Kylo would go on to control the First Order and hunt down all his friends. Luke literally saw bits of the future the Force showed him. Luke may have played a part in triggering it, but did the Force use him to create a self fulfilling prophecy? P.S. Rey taking Kylo's hand would have been interesting but I think it wouldn't be required to see her still tempted in the next movie second guessing her choice. What I really wanted from that ending was seeing Kylo as a fully realized villain. By killing his master in the Sith tradition Kylo surpassed Vader and it set up the final confrontation/rematch between them. There were many interesting ways it could have resolved.

[@thorskywalker]

"I'm going to sneak into my nephew's tent in the middle of the night and look into his mind because I fear he's falling to the dark side... and I'll bring my lightsaber with me. What could possibly go wrong? -Luke Skywalker And, yes, Rey was unable to turn Kylo back to the light... the guy who, two days ago, had murdered his own father in cold blood and stood by and watched as billions upon billions of people were killed in the Hosnian system. Not to mention literally tortured her. I don't count that as a failure on Rey's part, as much as I think she's moronic for thinking she could save him in the first place. There's a difference.

[@kaleiohulee6693]

@@thorskywalker It was indeed moronic on Rey's part hence the obvious failure. A Mary Sue would have been able to solo the big bad & redeem Kylo... which brings us to Rise of Skywalker.

[@abdizur8765]

I have only seen this damn movie once and it will forever remain only once. 😑

[@mmdusa]

We needed no Rose, but her sister.(The one that died) Less Finn, and more Poe. And that’s just for starters.

[@stupidweasels1575]

I think there could have been some really interesting dynamics between Finn and Kylo- especially in a lightsaber on lightsaber confrontation and Finn having to not give in to the darkside when it would make sense for him to want to obtain that power to not only kill the man who forced him to be a stormtrooper but to also protect his friends. How Kylo comes out of a confrontation or multiple like that could be interesting in many ways.

[@cubeflinger]

They would still have fkd it up.

[@SPRITER009]

Hey Thor, I think an excellent change for the movie would’ve been having Rey essentially take Kylo’s spot next to Snoke. Like initially as you said she takes Kylo’s hand, but Snoke sees she has natural affinity to the dark side and casts aside Kylo. Now you have a chance to setup Rey to be redeemed and Kylo finding his way back to the one person who still has faith in him, that being Luke. You can create a dynamic of Finn and Kylo both needing to see Luke for different reasons. Finn wanting to save Rey, Kylo looking to grow from his failures.

[@jason3tears]

Really love this what if style video. More please!

[@drevan1138]

For like the 99th time you cause me such angst. If only you had been on the story group. This, and a dozen other of your TLJ ideas are so much better than what we got. AI video generation and an idea factory like yours are our only hope.

[@duhrellrl]

Bro you’re cooking in the vid I wish this new movie was reality 😢

[@abragent]

The stormtrooper that Finn could convince could be Phasma. Of course we would have to rewrite episode 7 somewhat, but it would give her more than 5 minutes of screentime and a place in episode 9.

[@TobermoryIscarabaidX]

I enjoy these videos. I tend to appreciate your ideas. This one is no exception.

[@smukarch]

I don't like theorizing basically because it will not change where we end up with. But this was quite good way of thought tbh. And I don't think those changes will fully cure this abomination. But with it we may be left with some hopes for a future, but in the end we where left with none.

[@aaronzook9540]

My hope at the end of TFA was that we would get to see the parallel paths of two potential Jedi: one woman for whom everything seems to come quickly and easily, and the other a man who constantly has to struggle to improve, but has tremendous heart, and does not give up despite failing or being beaten down repeatedly. The filmakers could have further develeoped the contrast in their backgrounds: Rae is an abandoned loner looking for a place to belong, whereas Finn abandoned everything he has ever known for the opportunity to be a better man. (It is insane to me that Johnson's take on Finn is basically, "Oh, he's a coward who runs away all the time.") Rae's darker tendencies could emerge from training with Luke, who finds she is not only impatient, but furious when she is finally faced with lessons that don't come naturally to her. (In my head canon, the mentorship ends when she attempts to steal the ancient Jedi texts.) Meanwhile, Finn awakes from his coma not randomly, but because in that unconscious state he is open to the Force sensitivity that was blocked by his Stormtrooper indoctrination: when the block weakens, he has a vision that Rae is in terrible danger, and has to convice a skeptical Leah to help him save her. Obviously, there are lots of different ways the writers could have taken things. What's frustrating about all of this is that alternate story ideas like yours and mine aren't just made up out of brand new (Subversive!?!) elements, but are built on the foundation of what has been built before, thereby developting and deepening the characters. You know, the way that stories are supposed to work. As far as I can tell, Disney/Lucasfilm has little interest in that kind of storytelling these days, and it's made me sadly skeptical about every new project they announce.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

The only interesting idea that I remember from that movie that was NEVER committed to, was the idea of Rey joining forces with Kylo and forming some kind of third party faction, that's it.

[@richardsylvester4518]

At the end of the movie Snoke should have found Reys tracker that Finn left on the ship. Setting up a Snoke vs Luke fight in Ep.9

[@ezrapark9992]

Rey doesn’t have personal stakes in the films at all until the last movie. Luke’s connection to the story is immediate, his father knew Ben Kenobi, and the Empire murdered his family. Rey stumbles upon the Resistance and her motivation doesn’t exist. Her and Luke are both kinda plain when we meet them, but Luke develops based on his stakes in the fight, his personal quest. This is another version of “the character has seen the movies”. Her motivation to fight with the Resistance is just because she is a good guy in a Star Wars movie

[@thomascawley7056]

100% with you Thor. The tagline of The Last Jedi that played in all the trailers was, “Let the past die; kill it if you have to.” Yet the movie ends in an incredibly basic way - with a purely good and heroic Jedi (I guess two jedis) saving the day against a sith who just wants to kill them all because he’s evil. Rey and Kylo were set up so well for something interesting, in both TFA and much of TLJ, but Rian ultimately didn’t have the balls to actually do anything interesting with them, or any of the main characters for that matter. It was all talk and no action from the guy who wanted to shake up Star Wars, but really just killed any anticipation to see these characters again and how the story developed and resolved in the final movie of the trilogy. There are many criticisms, on both the big picture and smaller details, you could throw at TFA and especially TLJ, but ultimately this was the nail in the coffin for the trilogy, and seemingly, Disney Star Wars, since all of their content now is apparently going to be about connecting Episode VI to VII. People could have disagreed with the creative decisions or execution, but at least it would’ve been interesting and new and been a worthy entry into the Skywalker saga (kind of like the prequels, he says quietly)

[@FaabDzn]

3 minutes into this video and its already better than the movie itself😭

[@JoeAhmadGuitar]

Having Finn be the one trained by Luke would have been better, and Rey’s Force Sensitivity and origins being denied or left a mystery until the very end of Rise , where she could sayto Finn “I have something to tell you” before being sucked into the sand pit, much like Finn said to Rey. Rey could be a Kenobi, a PT descendant, or a Skywalker (in which case she was mind wiped by the Jedi since her powers were genetic from being the descendant of the chosen one)

[@SynthLizard8]

I remember with the Clone Wars era, it was the CIS that was on the backfoot and the Clone Troopers went in with Navy Seal precision and cleaned them out and not only were the Clone Troopers considered the good guys, it is still considered one of the best era of Star Wars because of exactly that. When the sequel trilogy came around, there was no reason why this shouldn't have been a repeat of that, it could of opened up a lot of possibilities, like the Sith Troopers were force sensitive and used both a blaster and a lightsaber or them having to utilize droids to even the playing field, but no, apperently it needs to be a exact repeat of the original trilogy of 'Rebels vs Empire' which doesn't make a lick of sense.

[@IHateHoldo]

Hey Thor, you turned the TLJ from a complete sludge to a great movie. As for Poe, well, that's easy. Just make it so that Admiral Holdo is a first-order spy sabotaging the resistance and have Poe find out which causes him to stage a mutiny in an attempt to save what's left of their fleet. Anyway, it's a great video. I love your ideas, I wish Ryan took note of this, so he knows how to properly subvert expectations

[@WillieHoule]

God I still remember my confusion after watching that movie, I was copping like I never did before, telling myself I loved it

[@tunasandwich395]

I think Disney can't do Star Wars action scenes at all

[@kimberlylewis5820]

We can't forget about the cut scene where capt holdo gets hit by a space train. Would love if that was back in the movie.

[@kenbrockfarm8656]

These What If videos are very fun, thanks for giving your thoughts!

[@amirhosseinmaghsoodi388]

In this concept it'd also be cool if well, Luke DOES have his Jedi students. Here he could be struggling with attachment. Back in his youth he had nothing. His parents and his guardians were dead. He wanted to leave and join the effort himself. Now he has other commitments and responsibilities. He has to train his students. He has to pass on the legacy. But does he? Would staying with his students not be the exact opposite of this legacy? Is this an attachment keeping him from doing what's right for the galaxy? Perhaps some of his students want to join the fight. Would he let them do it? Would it be hypocritical to tell them they're not ready when he himself went out when he was not? Specially here I think he would have council with the ghosts of the old Jedi.

[@smintili]

Isn’t it amazing that Thor can more-or-less spitball a better story with the puzzle pieces of TFA than high-paid Hollywood writers can?

[@nspidel]

No joke. I thought they were going to go somewhere truly insane with the trilogy; I thought Rey was a modified clone of Anakin. I thought that's why she 'bonded' with Anakin's lightsaber in The Force "Awakens." The Last Jedi actually reinforced my idea that she was an Anakin clone when she saw hundreds of copies of herself in the cave scene in The Last Jedi. Rey said, "let me see my parents," and then she just saw herself. Right, because she doesn't have parents, she's a modified clone. I figured Palpatine intended to groom and possess Anakin, but Anakin destroyed himself on Mustafar-hence the Anakin cloning. Palpatine even had a secret base on Jakku, which is why there was a star destroyer graveyard. I figured it was a remote cloning facility, and Rey was the only surviving Anakin clone. And then that trailer for The "Rise of Skywalker" had a Darth Rey, and I was like oh crap, another clone survived. Sweet, my theory is coming true. And then my disappointment was immeasurable; the trilogy wasn't planned out at all, not even a little bit, and I'll never be the same again.

[@relevare33]

Just thinking about this film frustrates me to no end. Great points made Thor.

[@robertagren9360]

Adam Driver saying self that he wish they kept Kylo Ren as Evil for the entire trilogy but the issue is that for him to stay evil, Rey would have to change as character.

[@samirabdel-aziz478]

I wanted Rey to arrive on the island, find Luke and then as the camera spun around it woukd reveal a new academy. That Luke had recreated the Jedi Order in hiding, and then this second film would see Rey training under Luke and maybe having to come to terms with who she really was, in this case a Palpatine.

[@SDesWriter]

I've been saying it since the movie came out....Snoke should have turned her and rejected Ben, who then sought out Luke for help to save her. The final movie could have been about a confrontation between the four of them and even if you want to let Luke die, you have it in the fight and Ben forced to take on Snoke. Then he can either beat him, or be at his mercy and Rey realizes she can't go down the dark path and the two of them kill Snoke and eliminate the darkside threat. Would have fixed EVERYTHING they did to the movie and removed the need to "fix" so much with exposition and ridiculous overkill like the First Order's ships breaking out of the ice and flying to space with their "Death Star tech....."

[@Avarn388]

I appreciate you trying to fix this and indeed your fix is a good start. But I’m sorry this movie is so broken on a macro story level and following TFA which was also bad. The fact this all takes place immediately after TFA just messes with everything. The first order taking over the entire galaxy in the span of a few hours is laughably bad. Same with hyperspace tracking which should have been used in TFA. It’s why when folks call this film a “masterpiece” I laugh. A film this broken shouldn’t even be entertained with that label. Either you like it for superficial reasons or you use head canon. Outside the production value, it’s a truly odious film writing wise. But that’s what happens when you have someone who has tremendous Dunning Krueger and doesn’t redraft their work. You get slop like this movie.

[@kathmanduman3486]

I have always wondered if RJ intended Rey to go darkside, but was mandated by Disney to keep her good. As you say, the pieces are all there. It would've made the overall story much much better. There's a good film somewhere in TLJ. It just needed another 6 months of redrafting to bring it out.

[@tbirdguy1]

Finn should have become a jedi between 8 and 9. Luke training him feels right, and having Rey training in the darkside makes sense. The third film could be about the emperor trying to return to inhabit Rey, but Kylo realizing he is wrong, as his love for Rey grows. Meanwhile the first order is attacking courscant, and this close to completing the empires return. The throne room near coruscants core could be a place where Kylo fights the knights of Ren with Finns help, luke confronts rey and, dies, but gives finn and ben the time they need to stop the ritual. With rey enraged she defeats them both but stops because of Her friendship with Finn. We were robbed of a better film, because disney didnt coordinate and had no overall vision.

[@FullStackDreamer]

Rey taking Kylo’s hand would have made her character more interesting. Honestly, I still don’t know if Daisy Ridley is a good actress or not. Maybe seeing her play a villain (at least temporarily) would have allowed her to show that she is a good actress

[@MKojiro]

If Rey takes the tracker to the Supremacy she is supremely stupid. Indeed when the manacles are released, it's not on her wrist. Taking it to the FO would be the pinnacle of stupidity. Recall that she *doesn't know* the Resistance is in a slow chase. Last she heard they were going to evacuate and rendezvous at a secret location. That's *why* she has the tracker, it's why Finn wants to get it away from the Raddus. Taking the tracker to the FO would be tantamount handing the Resistance's secret location to the FO. The far safer thing to do is leave it with Chewie- at least if she doesn't return he can still find Leia. By taking it she'd deny him the chance to go meet up and hand it to Kylo. But this kind of writing is already in the movie. Leia has put a tracker out into the galaxy, with a novice, that leads to them. On a ship we've already been told the First Order both hates and can track (somehow), heading to a place she knows the FO are trying to find *after the novice was mentally interrogated*. The most parsimonious question to 'how did they track us' isn't 'they must have developed a new hyperspace tracker!' it's 'They caught Rey'. Or at the very, very least 'they can also detect the tracker'. But that doesn't server the plot so hey, despite wearing a literal homing device, assume that a brand new technology has been invented. It didn't exist yesterday, when you engaged over Takoda, but it exists today. But hey, this film doesn't even bother to establish how Rey knows where Kylo is. The path the Resistance were on was so secretive Poe didn't know, Rey didn't know (hence the tracker!) but whatever- she just heads straight there. Now you can say she's following the tracker but again- she has no idea there's a chase going on. None. If she's following the tracker it's even worse because now we have confirmation Leia is emitting a traceable signal and worse, Rey just *knows* Kylo is there for no good reason. You can't fix this film. Pull at any thread and the whole thing falls apart because events do not causally follow. It's all 'and then' instead of 'because of that, this then happens...' It's just poorly written nonsense to 'subvert expectations'. It will forever be a gaping wound in the franchise.

[@marknovak6498]

Star Wars under Disney was all about turning it into a princess franchise.

[@justinparker7712]

I'm not sure anything about the sequels could be redeemed once the TFA's opening scrawl introduced the First Order and Resistance, you can't build a house on that type of foundation setup.

[@Sam_T2000]

might’ve been cool if they had saved the Starkiller Base plot point for the second movie, and at the end when we think the good guys are about to blow it up and save the day, they _don’t_ and it fires and blows up a planet for the first time, actually killing some characters we care about this time around, and it ends with Rey lost and despondent, and Kylo Ren offering her his hand 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Daemonik]

I like your final idea - Finn being the one to do wht Luke cannot. Namely killing Kylo. Continue to tease Kylo being pulled back towards the light until he finally, irrevocably commita to the Dark Side (even more than killing Pops), Finn has to defeat Rey fo do what he needs to and kill Kylo. Then Rey snaps out of it and they go get space schwarma.

[@JO-iv7tl]

The interesting path to take would be rey discovered who she was earlier in the trilogy. Finding herself worthy as heir to the throne of the new order. Then challenging kylo for that positon.

[@billmcdermott9647]

Well yeah as the heir to the previous ruler she would have more of a claim to the throne than the grandson of the traitor lieutenant

[@joshuakanapkey6570]

I definitely dig your changes!

[@bigorange2082]

We didn’t get ONE scene of Han, Luke, and Leia together. Unforgivable. I’ll never forgive Disney. Carrie is gone now. We’ll never see them all together.

[@Starfytr]

Glad you did this because I wanted to expand on this one thing from the Force Awakens for so long because if I brought it up by itself it would be too much. Now what you’ve said sounded good until you started to redo Finn in the same way like how people reacted to Finn and Rey in the Force Awakens. The moment in question is when at the end of Force Awakens she sits by Finn’s unconscious body who just had his back singed by Kyla’s light saber and she says “we’ll see each other again.” and kiss him on the forehead. Immediately people were saying he was friend-zoned. I retorted it does not mean that, they just met. So you see why I object to your Finn finding a stormtrooper to love instead of Rey. We all know the taboo of miscegenation or mixing of different ethnicities sexually. We got to get over this and I know it’s difficult, but say we obtain interstellar travel and we probably meet different looking civilizations. Do we treat them like we treat different ethnicities on earth? This is my rewrite your rewrite of Finn. Finn becomes a Jedi and helps Rey come back from the Darkside because of their passionate love. You may say that is cliche, not in between the mixing of them ❤. That was the watershed moment that would have rocked the world and made the force for everyone, not broom boy. You may say well woman(Kennedy) and Keri Hart(Afro-American woman) led StarWars then, they would have done it, but power corrupts so very possible they are collaborators who succumb or betray their own or go with the status quo to keep their power. Not everyone is MLK or Jim Brown, they are as superficial as OJ. This has happened again and again to divide people and to be Brave enough to consummate because the price is high as JFK, RFK, MLK and the struggles of the 60’s can attest, but if not for their sacrifice then we would have another white carbon copy in the Sequel trilogy and thwart the Original trilogy’s progress which had a feminist Leia and Non-stereo-type Lando. Of course politics lately are trying to bend back the 60’s progress and May cause a Civil war like Star Wars. Now we are showing everyone in the universe we are unfit to join them. You Have to pass the test to give ourselves a chance at succeeding or failing on a galactic level. We won’t get it if we continue this fundamental division as we obtain higher technology. If I were God or whoever is above, I would not let us live to hurt ourselves, God(s) or the universe based on this failing. Would you? Remember Noah’s flood was done because those preAdamic peoples were deemed unworthy maybe we will get 2.0 😢.

[@cory5197]

I think it was all ego. After Force Awakens, so many people started throwing good predictions of who is who and what is what. The director or writer gathered them all and purposely directed opposite of it to prove them all wrong. Ego

[@lordzedd343]

Hey Thor, Great ideas as usual. You should never have to apologize for still talking about this film even after all these years. The fact that you thought of these ideas on how the plot would have worked better not only shows the incompetence of Disney but also valid criticism for not liking these poor excuses of films.

[@SilverSoul255]

That sounds fantastic, actually

[@Lilac-and-Gooseberries]

I’m assuming in this scenario Snoke still dies by Kylo’s hand?

[@terrythompson1873]

Unfortunately, the deconstruction had already begun with Solo and TFA. Kylo stabbing Han meant there was no going back.

[@PACHAZO13]

TLJ set such a low bar that it wouldn't take much to change it for the better. That being said, I really like your ideas and they easily improve the film 1000%!

[@TheBigbum1974]

Honestly, for me the choice was shown in Force Awakens. The choice was that instead of integrating the old with the new, they would remove the old and replace with the new. So all the principals were made to have regressed back to where they were at the start of New Hope. Luke is in the middle of nowhere, Han is a transient, and Leia is part of a Rebellion. They get brought back just long enough to be humiliated in some way, and then the replacement is brought out and we are expected to appreciate it. I wish they had retired the old characters by having them pass the torch, rather than doing it in a "the new generation is better than you old folks" way. Make it so Han and Rey bond over flying, or Leia and Finn have a talk about rebellion. Or even a good Three Musketeers ride again plot for Solo and the Skywalkers. They reused enough in these new movies, why not the Death Star prison escape. Just something for the original trio to be respected while the new settles in. I guess I feel its not the fact that some of the characters were annoyingly quippy, overpowered, or dense, but that I was reminded I would not be getting any more good adventures with my childhood heroes. When Luke showed he was not on that planet for meditation or some other Jedi BS, and instead was a bitter old man who had run away from his responsibilities? I was immediately done. Could have left the theater right then. Instead I sat and watched as the classics are replaced with a corporate designed package. Something focused tested to an inch of its life to be "likeable" and "cool". No matter what they did I still would probably have my gripes, but at least I would still be interested in new Star Wars stuff. As it is, I know they will never again make a Star Wars I care about. The people are gone, replaced with those Disney designed, cardboard cutout "characters" I know will be dropped as soon as they don't meet test group approval.

[@saberiandream316]

They DID pass the torch, that story is called Young Jedi Knights and it's part of the old Expanded Universe. "Is it possible to read these stories?" "Not from Disney."

[@buek14]

This is what I've been telling people for years. If Rey turned to the dark side then Finn could have redeemed him in Ep9. Luke could have lived and Kylo could have died evil as JJ originally planned.

[@jaredjadlowski2433]

One of if not the biggest let down is that real fans knew Luke was to be the greatest Jedi of all time, and the Luke we got was the exact opposite

[@caedrewan]

Not sure about "and then Finn repeats the scene on Achto" but other than that, in another universe you're a rich guy at Disney (and Disney is ALSO making money)

[@HeliosApex1]

This actually would have been really good

[@stormhawk31]

Finn and Rey should've been the Force diad.

[@aquaarietta]

This is the perfect re-write to salvage this mess of a movie. Would love more videos like this!