The Force Awakens... 7 Years Later

[@kobeglasscock7377]

Biggest problem with the sequel trilogy wasn't any of the characters or movies. It's the lack of planning that led to things like how Fin and Snoke were handled.

[@KrazyStargazer]

I'd argue that Lucas himself was "winging" the OG trilogy. I think young fans won't see the movies the way "we" do. I think we older fans tend to have negative reactions to 'new" star wars in general. The Prequl hate, the sequel hate, heck even Return of the Jedi and Empire strike back had their detractors. I say...let these stories simmer...like a good dish then sample. Time seems to enhance Sw content in my opinion.

[@originaldarkwater]

@@KrazyStargazer No, Lucas making the OG trilogy was a completely different situation. Lucas at least had some idea of where he was going to take the series, even if just in vague terms and he changed some major components as he went along. He also designed each film so that there was somewhere to go with it for the next film. He was always looking at the entire trilogy holistically, because he was the ultimate creative force behind it all. In contrast, the sequel trilogy had no over-arching plan or unifying creative voice at all, with each director trying to pull the franchise in their own direction rather than a creating a chapter in a cohesive trilogy. There was no impression that the world these films existed in was much larger than we were seeing. I still don't have any idea what the political landscape during the sequels was supposed to look like. The New Republic was apparently just one system with 5 planets, the First Order occupied some other unspecified portion of the galaxy, but what about the rest of it? There's no indication. Lucas had something to say in each of his trilogies that gave them weight, even if the prequels were lacking in the execution. Lucas is more intellectual than Kennedy, Abrams and Johnson combined, and the way he pulled from the politics of imperialism, Campbell's works, 1930s movie serials, westerns, Samurai movies and countless other sources to create deep background lore for his movies is unmatched. Furthermore, he amplified it by fostering that kind of creativity in the other people who worked on his films, as well. You can see this throughout all of his films, even when stilted dialog and other flaws detract from it. This is the reason it was possible for something like The Clone Wars to retroactively make the prequels better. There was enough deep lore to support it and still make it feel like it belongs and isn't coming out of nowhere. The sequels are so shallow and disjointed that no amount of time will redeem them. You can't age something into fine wine if it was vinegar to begin with. There's no background lore that's so much as mentioned in passing, at best, there's a McGuffin or two with no connection to anything else presented. Nothing that one could use to make a TCW-style extension to reveal hidden depths. For people for whom the sequels was their first Star Wars, there might be some nostalgia value, but that's about it. New fans are more likely to fondly remember The Mandalorian, which hews much closer to the spirit of Lucas' work.

[@KrazyStargazer]

@@originaldarkwater I think it might be a bit presumptuous at this point to assume what the future generations will like. But I see your point. I suppose we'll just have to sit back and dlet history decide

[@Courier_333]

@@KrazyStargazer I am GEN Z and I only love the original films. Because they're genuinely well made, important pieces of cinema. Any adult who thinks 1-3 or 7-9 are good... Has no taste.

[@american1207]

The characters never were that compelling to me tbh. Snoke, Rey, Kylo were lame from the start. I wasn't even surprised how it all turned out, I thought TFA was absolute garbage the 1st time I saw it. I didn't finish the trilogy until a few months ago, TFA completely turned me off for a very long time

[@michaelfalcini8347]

My main problem with this film is the fact that the last time we saw Anything related to Luke,Han and leia is that they won and it only took 30 years for all of that to revert back to how it was in ANH basically saying that their win was pointless because the empire would instantly bounce back and be in control again. It should of had the heroes with the main advantage and the villains now be the underdogs as that would make more sense

[@alanrobek5501]

THIS!!!

[@prettyaverage97]

Right, because every time fascism and/or any kind of evil is defeated, it remains defeated forever. History has obviously taught us so.

[@originaldarkwater]

I couldn't agree more. I think it would have been interesting to have the Empire have shattered into a lot of different confederations, star-leagues and kingdoms all at war with each other, while the New Republic, having retained the galactic core, is trying to forge political alliances with all of these other factions to bring back a galaxy-wide, peaceful and democratic Republic, while at the same time dealing with threats from Imperial remnants and previously unknown dark side users to subvert that goal.

[@RoyalFusilier]

When I saw TFA in theaters seven years ago, I definitely enjoyed the ride, and wasn't able to articulate this sort of point, butI was so uncomfortable with not just how similar things were, but how the world had to be contorted and reverted in order to get it to the same sort of state as ANH. It's kind of existentially terrifying, it meant taking away everything from all of them. That loner smuggler Han Solo is long gone, by the end of A New Hope he is ride or die for the Alliance, being a Commander in ESB and General in ROTJ. But because we need him to do similar antics again... "Han Solo? The Rebellion general?" "'No, the smuggler!"

[@timothybrown5999]

I’ve been saying the same thing the whole time. The rebels blew up the Death Star, The Emperor is dead (until he somehow came back), Darth Vader is dead. Their leadership is crippled as is their ultimate weapon. There are still a few imperial officers and soldiers, but they have no real power. At the very least we should have had one scene with Han, Luke, Leia, Chewy and Lando talking about what to do from here (if we de-age them) or, better yet, 20 years after the victory with them coming together. They’d be discussing Luke reopening the Jedi temple with Ben Solo as his padawan, Leia talking about getting things done in the new political organization, perhaps Han and Lando are discussing tactics for training new pilots. Something like this would have made sense and made the fans giddy with joy to see them all happy. The fact that we never got Han, Luke and Leia on screen together one last time is unforgivable in my book. I also think it would have been better to see Ben becoming Kylo than to hear about it, then Rey’s story could have taken over the second movie with her jedi training. I also would have liked to see the First Order grow organically with Rebel defectors and former empire officers sneaking around and taking the rebels apart from within. Sorry for the long post, but these sequels really annoyed me and I’m clearly a huge Star Wars nerd.

[@whatsittoya4719]

Man time is flying, 7 years already

[@rmn070]

Ikr it’s hard to believe

[@thegoldman25]

it's crazy

[@whatsittoya4719]

@@rmn070 what is even crazier is that the Hobbit An Unexpected Journey turns 10 this year, absolutely mind blowing, feels no where near 10 years, 5 for me at the most

[@Droopy95mkDS]

Bro, ROTS will soon be 20. In 3 years. I can't believe it.

[@heboy3767]

Yeah it's crazy

[@tsunderemerc2963]

My favorite thing about episode 7 was Finn, both as a character and a concept. It's a shame they threw him away immediately after and any potential he had to humanize stormtroopers.

[@jarred110]

@New beginnings TFA imo was terrible. I walked out of the theater disappointed because it didn’t feel like Star Wars. It lacked spectacle, creativity and wonder. The characters were bland and felt out of place, not fully fleshed out. The aesthetic of the film was boring, nothing popped out and the locations were dull and drab. Sure there is better ‘dialogue’ or ‘acting’ but Star Wars never needed to be good in those departments, they need to be really good in Worldbuilding and a sense of adventure which the sequels lacked in spades.

[@Therizinosaurus]

@@jarred110 it is mainly lack in creativity, since TFA is just a ripoff of A New Hope

[@nightmareTomek]

@@jarred110 The dialogue/acting was abyssmal though. They behaved like Goofy and Mickey, they didn't get to know each other before they trusted each other like a family. They never got to know each other either since they jumped from (meaningless) action scene to (meaningless) action scene. This is writing like from an 8-year-old.

[@ManiacMayhem7256]

Nobody's more disappointed and upset about that than John Boyega I say

[@tjk-goix8513]

​@@Therizinosaurusbruh

[@rainbowappleslice]

Luke’s flying skills make sense he says himself he spent a lot of his childhood flying T-6 skyhoppers across Tatooine. He has flying skills already so it makes sense that he could adapt to the X-wing quickly

[@INFILTR8US]

Anything is possible when you use magic.

[@loxslo7325]

Yeah and when he reunites with Biggs they briefly talk about it too

[@rainbowappleslice]

that is interesting. Unless that line of ships is one of those where the numbers don’t necessarily correlate to a direct upgrade, so the T-15 and T-16 are built for slightly different things, meaning they could both be old and only one rendered obsolete because of something.

[@bemasaberwyn55]

"I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself" Obi-Wan Kenobi

[@Kingdomhearts1495]

Gold Man has nothing for that... Anakin has also pod raced a ton before he won even he he had not ever completed a race. Rey as far as we know had never flown anything in her life before.

[@Magic_monkey_man]

I'll never forget the energy at the theater on opening night, the cheers, the collective gasp when Han died. It was special, and I'm not sure if it'll ever happen again

[@Therizinosaurus]

Those people must be really easy to entertain. Even they cheered on unoriginal garbage like TFA.

[@nightmareTomek]

Subverted expectations, eh?

[@nickm8874]

It wasn’t remotely special

[@g5terrior830]

@@Therizinosaurus Star Wars was back for the first time in ten years and like 40 since they have seen these characters why would they not be emotional

[@Therizinosaurus]

@@g5terrior830 I knew for some reason that this wouldn't be good since the first time I saw the TFA trailer. That was just a weird feeling I had back then. And then here we are, bashing fart Awakens, and the other two Disney garbages

[@russellharrell2747]

TFA was a magic show. It was sparkly and made you feel like a kid again but it turns out there was no substance behind the curtain (or inside the mystery box).

[@grandsome1]

Which in my books make it a good movie, it's rare to feel like a kid again.

[@russellharrell2747]

@@grandsome1 well, people enjoy magic shows, and I did enjoy TFA. Ep9 left such a bad taste in my mouth that I haven’t bothered to watch any of the sequels in years, tho.

[@grandsome1]

@@russellharrell2747 Yeah, I just pretend the rest didn't happen, or that ep8 paid off for what it broke until they redeem that in the expended universe (in at least 10 years given Disney thinks the sequel era is as radioactive as the prequel)

[@gamestation2690]

@i hate twitter I remember when people called the Prequel Trilogy disgusting, and hating on it was part of popular culture.

[@thorthewolf8801]

@@gamestation2690 Yeah, people didnt know what was good, until something really bad (the sequels) hit them.

[@LizardMan8675309]

The biggest problem with Rey is that they gave her almost immediate mastery over the force with LITERALLY zero training, she doesn’t even grasp what the force is by the end of the force awakens and is able to rip the lightsaber away from someone who the movie is trying to tell you is the second coming of Darth Vader, no amount of self confidence can explain that.

[@imgonnastealyourgirl]

You mean, like Anakin or Luke?

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

News flash: defeating a conflicted Vader wannabe with 2 gaping wounds isn't mastery over the force, also Maz straight up told her that the saber was calling to her. Yoda: "the only reason Luke can't go from lifting rocks to lifting a freaking X-Wing is his self confidence" hmmm... interesting, that is.

[@loxslo7325]

@@imgonnastealyourgirl when did Luke use the force to pull anything before training with Yoda? And the same for Anakin but Obi-Wan instead of Yoda. Genuine question, maybe I missed something

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

@@loxslo7325 It happens right in the beginning in the wumpa cave

[@yumikooshiro249]

@@knowledgeanddefense1054 But he had trained with Obi-wan before that. When Obi-wan had trained him with the training ball. So, Luke still had an understanding on how to reach out with the force. Rey was able to mind trick someone without ever knowing it even existed while also having very little knowledge in the force itself.

[@SkullMan19]

Luke's piloting skills were touched upon in the movie. He's never flown an X-Wing, but he spent plenty of time in the cockpit of a T-16, which in-universe is made by the same manufacturer as the X-wing, the Incom Corporation, so I don't feel like its too much of a stretch to say that he was a decent pilot and able to find his way around the cockpit of an X-wing. As for surviving where other seasoned combat pilots didn't we can just chalk up to the Force and the extra awareness and reaction speed that comes with being Force sensitive.

[@kharijordan6426]

All these years and you still think people who defend these movies care about context. If they did they would have mentioned it. Just come on....do you really think they don't know?

[@SarcyBoi41]

He mentioned the T-16 once offhand and we had no frame of reference for what it was within the movie. I'd say that's no better an explanation for Luke's piloting skills than having spent her whole life as a scavenger is for Rey's skills.

[@Nethseaar]

@Tom S We are repeatedly told (and shown supporting details) that Luke is an experienced pilot. In fact, it's about the only thing that Luke is remarkably good at. Luke has a model T-16, and we can see his actual T-16 in the background when he's talking with C-3PO. Luke plans to join the Imperial Academy as a pilot, and it is treated as plausible that he will get in. Obi-Wan comments that Anakin was the greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy, and that Luke has become quite a good pilot himself. When talking with Han in the cantina, he is angry about how much money Han is asking for and says he's "not such a bad pilot himself." During the meeting about how they plan to destroy the Death Star, he cites his ability to fly T-16s and bullseye womp rats. In a deleted scene that was added into the Special Edition, Biggs vouches for Luke's ability to Red Leader, thus enabling Luke to participate in the attack on the Death Star. Nothing about being a scavenger requires that one pilot starships. It is therefore not at all implied that Rey is a pilot or has any experience flying whatsoever. She pulls parts off of ships - as far as we see, off of Star Destroyers. Even if that meant she knew about the technical systems of the Star Destroyer, a Star Destroyer is worlds apart from a fighter craft. And knowing how a vehicle technically works is far from being an experienced pilot. Where would Rey have gotten the time or money to learn to pilot a starfighter? What starfighter would she have piloted? She's supposed to be so poor that she barely scrapes by even after spending all day scavenging. No; Rey's competency is unexplained and ridiculous. Luke's competency as a pilot is not shown until the end of ANH, but it is plenty well established through dialogue and other evidence. Plus, unlike Rey, Luke's piloting is about his only exceptional skill. By contrast, Rey is a genius pilot, engineer, Force-user, melee fighter, understands droids and Wookies, and is shockingly lucky to boot (for example, with the timing of closing the doors on the rathtars).

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

​@@Nethseaar ANH: "Luke is already a pilot" You: "OK" TFA: "Rey is already a pilot" You: "Woman bad" "Nothing about being a scavenger requires that one pilot starships."-Yeah, because being a farmer totally does. Get outta here. "Luke has a model T-16, and we can see his actual T-16 in the background when he's talking with C-3PO. "-I like how you say that in response to someone arguing that we having no frame of reference - whenever the OT doesn't confirm something you feel free to infer in favor of the movie but never exchange that kindness to the ST, if anything you'd infer AGAINST the movie. Your bias is the only ridiculous thing here. "Even if that meant she knew about the technical systems of the Star Destroyer, a Star Destroyer is worlds apart from a fighter craft."-If you want to bring in outside material like this and knowing how similar a T16 is to an X-Wing, then I sure do wonder why you don't bring up the Rey novels that contain things like piloting simulations... "When talking with Han in the cantina, he is angry about how much money Han is asking for and says he's "not such a bad pilot himself.""-But it's also implied that he can't really be that good considering Obi-Wan proceeds to not listen to him and want to hire Han anyway, so... "She's supposed to be so poor that she barely scrapes by even after spending all day scavenging."-Man, I wonder if it's possible to be a LITERAL SLAVE and still pilot stuff at the same time... what do you think, Anakin? "Plus, unlike Rey, Luke's piloting is about his only exceptional skill."-*cuts to the farmer gunning down countless trained soldiers employed by an organization that rules a galaxy with an iron fist* (even before the stormtroopers were ordered to let them escape)

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

@@Nethseaar "Luke plans to join the Imperial Academy as a pilot, and it is treated as plausible that he will get in. "-Yeah, it makes perfect sense for the best pilot in the rebellion to be the one who never went to flying school and has only just joined compared to countless rebels with both training and fighting experience... *cut to Porkins being a dumb-dumb* "Where would Rey have gotten the time or money to learn to pilot a starfighter?"-Ah yes, Star Wars ships - known for having an "insert quarter to turn on" slot. Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but Rey's entire daily routine revolved around wandering around looking for ships - do you think it's impossible she'd find a functioning one? Or that her boss would have her fly errands for him? "Rey is a genius pilot, engineer"-My guy, you already acknowledged that she knows how ships work, you can't backpaddle on that now "Force-user"-"great job kid, that was one in a million" -Han in response to Luke using the force to blow up an entire space station which just so happened to be the strongest doomsday weapon currently out there, in the same day he found out the force existed "melee fighter"-again: Luke's pre-established blaster skills are A-OK, Rey's melee abilities? Not so much. "understands droids"-OH MY GOD WHAT A RARE AND INCREDIBLE SKILL! That's like, only second to Palpatine's force lightning... *nose laughs* "and is shockingly lucky to boot (for example, with the timing of closing the doors on the rathtars)."-So she is shockingly lucky to survive the mistake SHE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING? Like, her pulling the wrong lever or whatever is the reason those creatures got freed in the first place. You have no self awareness whatsoever.

[@ItsQuirines]

"So in that regard The Force Awakakens is not a copy of A New Hope, because frankly the handling of the plot was done worse." Wonderful quote lol

[@Therizinosaurus]

It is still a ripoff of original trilogy, the difference in main goal in both TFA and OG trilogy doesn't make TFA any original, their similarities still outweigh the difference.

[@KuroAceVT]

@@Therizinosaurus not how a ripoffworks

[@Therizinosaurus]

@@KuroAceVT its a ripoff

[@KuroAceVT]

@@Therizinosaurus give 3 examples of how and i will instantly prove you wrong

[@Therizinosaurus]

@@KuroAceVT Give me 3 examples of how Fart Awaken is not a ripoff, and I will instantly prove you wrong no matter what you said

[@K_J_Coleman_Composer]

They could have achieved temper tantrum kylo ren while still being scary. All they had to do was make him erratic and dangerous. Unpredictable, quick to strike down his enemies before you could defend yourself. Then have Rey and finn lose basically the whole fight until the last second where they overpower him by surprise attack. And before he can recover and kill them, the canyon splits open.

[@thorthewolf8801]

I mean yeah, they shouldnt have made a joke out of his tantrums, and maybe the audience would take him more seriously. Those troopers getting the hell away from where he was raging was one such scene that undermined his authority.

[@andrewreynolds912]

Kylo Ren was a horrible villain of a joke who acted out on normal questions like a child unless Darth Vader who always kept his cool

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

"Then have Rey and finn lose basically the whole fight until the last second where they overpower him by surprise attack."-Except Finn managed to get a hit in before Rey (immediately prior to Ren knocking him out with a slash to the back - AKA losing - followed by Rey being on the defensive until the end) and Chewy before both, and then Rey did indeed catch him by surprise by remembering what Maz told her: "feel the force, it will guide you" just like what Obi-Wan and Yoda told Luke. Combine that with how stamina and endurance decrease over time especially while wounded... "All they had to do was make him erratic and dangerous. Unpredictable, quick to strike down his enemies before you could defend yourself."-*cut to him immediately freezing and knocking Rey out in the forest in their first meeting and then doing so again by slamming her into a tree after during their second* oh you mean like that, which is the way he... already is?

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

@@andrewreynolds912 So he was a horrible villain because of an intentional decision whose point you missed?

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

@@thorthewolf8801 "they shouldnt have made a joke out of his tantrums, and maybe the audience would take him more seriously."-Except that the following good villains who got a very similar treatment exist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eaXZf6ujfJZ2irc "Those troopers getting the hell away from where he was raging was one such scene that undermined his authority."-Yeah clearly when your workers don't want to mess with your wrath it's because you don't serve as an authority figure to them, flawless logic, truly impeccable

[@Rey20171]

It's amazing how before this movie came out Force Awakens because the most talked about Star Wars movie ever and then a few years later it quickly turned to be the least talked about films because it got taken over by it's brothers Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker. I think more people talk about Rise of Skywalker then they do with Force Awakens

[@thegoldman25]

Agreed!

[@ChristianGabino]

Agreed as well.

[@Durvington]

Force awakens wasn’t that good imo thats why I think I don’t think of it much. Honestly TLJ is my favorite

[@ChristianGabino]

@@Durvington TLJ was one the WORST Star Wars films of all time! same thing for TROS as well. These only two Star Wars films of the Sequels are literally The Phantom Meance 2.0

[@ChristianGabino]

@@Durvington Star Wars films that I saw during my High School days/years. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens Freshmen Year in 9th Grade Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Junior Year in 11th Grade Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker After Senior Year in 12th Grade

[@megansinger517]

Disney Lucasfilm lucked out with Adam Driver. He's said in many interviews how much he loves the character and also he's immensely good at portraying complex emotions. There's definitely a reason his career took off during the ST period. Some of the biggest directors out there all compete to work with him it's crazy.

[@OptimusMonk01]

but he was still awful in these films

[@ChadKing69]

@@OptimusMonk01He was the only good character in the sequels

[@OptimusMonk01]

@@ChadKing69 still shit though

[@wiezyczkowata]

@@ChadKing69 Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson are way better, Driver has 3 characters he plays over and over again - Adam Sackler from Girls, Clyde Logan from Logan Lucky and a mix of them both, it's quite visible when you binge watch all his movies,

[@TheDirkKnight]

Here's the thing about ray being a Mary sue you completely miss. It's not that she is extraordinary good at one thing without training. It's that she is a God skill at EVERYTHING she touches. She was written without any flaws, which is the definition of a Mary sue. Anakin and Luke were extraordinary at some things, but had MAJOR flaws in other areas (ie anakin's hate and Luke's cockyness)

[@youtubeviolatedme7123]

And that's why I respect Rian Johnson more than JJ Abrams. At least Rian Johnson tried to give Rey a character flaw in TLJ by making her naive to wrongly believe that Kylo Ren could be redeemed. That was one of the few good things about that movie. But Abrams had to ruin any semblance of quality in TLJ by actually redeeming Kylo Ren (and the redemption wasn't even satisfying) in Episode IX, basically justifying Rey's naivety.

[@Paul_Bedford]

It also is that we see her feats in the force without seeing that she has any prior knowledge of being able to do those things. Like she was able to successfully use a mind trick after only the second time we have seen her try.

[@yohan4027]

25:53 has entering someone's mind always been an easily learned skill in Star Wars or has that only been true for the Sequels?

[@bemasaberwyn55]

@@yohan4027 watch Rebels. We see a progression of Ezra trying the mind trick

[@DarthFhenix55]

@@youtubeviolatedme7123 Being honest, Rey really didn't learn anything of Luke, she rather make more progress doing things alone than training with Luke. In fact, they portrayed Luke in a extremely depressing way that it doesn't have sense giving him the role of mentor.

[@stephenwoodard7756]

In the case of Anakin and Luke piloting, it established Anakin's proficiency in the force so he has the reflexes to pilot through tight spaces at speed, and I'm certain the T-16 was used as a training vehicle for x-wing pilots in general.

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

"and I'm certain the T-16 was used as a training vehicle for x-wing pilots in general."-the movie never said that though

[@ghani666]

Yeah, sorry but no. Driving the equivalent of a go-cart on Tatooine does not explain how a farm boy survived a vicious space battle when the rest of the experienced pilots all died. Nor does it explain how a 9-year old could build a pod racer and then won a race that it’s explicitly stated no human being should be capable of doing. You know what does explain these things, though? The Force. It’s always the Force. Everyone’s perfectly fine with that explanation when it’s Luke and Anakin, but Rey’s a chick so it’s “unrealistic.”

[@Mick-hp4yg]

@@ghani666 I'm fine with Luke because him knowing how to fly a ship is established multiple times in ANH. He even blasted womp rats, so he already knows what button makes a ship go pew pew. I'm fine with Rey because in the movie she said she's flown ships before. Heightened reflexes were already established to be something that just comes naturally to people with the force, so as long as she knows at least the basics of piloting I'm fine with the force doing the rest. Anakin piloting the Naboo fighter? No, sir. Podracer, sure. He's driven one at least once before the movie, and he built the one we saw him using, so the force can do the rest...but that Naboo fighter shit bothers me. I don't think the force gives people the ability to just understand the functions of all the buttons and levers in any given cockpit. In fact, he was like "oops wrong button, maybe it's this one, I'm gonna spin"...to hell with that.

[@filipkominos3111]

​@@ghani666 yeah. You guessed it. It's because she's a chick and everyone who doesn't like her is a misogynist

[@ivanvoronov3871]

​@@ghani666 the whole new hope film hammered how luke is a great pilot a d starship operator Womp rat shooting. Obiwan stating that he was T 16 Luke stating so. Fighting the tie fighters. That is the one skill we know he has.

[@wickdaline8668]

No matter what people think about the rest of the trilogy after, I'll always remember this movie for getting me back into SW when I had lost interest in it for a long time. When do you think you'll make a video about Andor?

[@thegoldman25]

same here!

[@lapplandkun9273]

fair. This movie killed my interest

[@andysalter7192]

The sequel trilogy killed my life time love for Star Wars , not just the film's but how the company treated fans who disliked them .

[@wickdaline8668]

@@andysalter7192 Why is it that when I get replies like this, it's as if it's supposed to make me feel bad for supporting any of the sequels and take it away from me?

[@andysalter7192]

@@wickdaline8668 I don't care what you like ! Watch whatever you want.

[@franciscotoro9454]

The point you are either missing or avoiding is that while Rey may be very strong with the force and learn fast, she still has to learn. The force does not teach you the intricacies of how a starship works, what its capabilities are, the sentitivity of the controls. The same with the light saber skills. Jedi spent many years perfecting their skills, including Kylo. Yet Rey is able to defeat him having had no training whatsoever in the Jedi arts. So it is not an issue of capabilty or power, but simply of knowledge acquisition, absorption and pratice. That is why all her instant achievements are unbelievable and lead people to slap their forehead.

[@KuroAceVT]

well if you actually payed ANY attention, you'd realize all of these were explained. part of being a scavenger is also learning how to repair ships, hence she learned how to fly them. we've seen rey is MORE than capable of handling her own in a fight, as she's seen using a staff early on. and unfortunately for you, the "a staff and a saber are different" argument doesnt matter cus it was ALSO shown that kylo ren was shot with a bowcaster, which is able to PIERCE STORMTROOPER ARMOR. it's a shock the man didnt die right there

[@yusufraage8554]

@@KuroAceVT Yeah, I heard someone say that she downloaded Kylo's training while he was force interrogating her. 10 minutes later she is jedi mind tricking the trooper without the hand waving old Ben did in A new hope and Qui-Gon in the phantom menace. Star Wars doesnt have force downloading abilities

[@makingmodernmen8843]

This dude is simping so hard for this movie and I don’t get it. Almost like he’s intentionally playing devils advocate and doesn’t even believe what he’s saying

[@minimalthyme_gaming9886]

​@@makingmodernmen8843He does genuinely make some good points for The Force Awakens. The problem is that he also waves away any and all criticism towards the movie, no matter credibility of those criticisms.

[@MrAjking808]

@@minimalthyme_gaming9886lol yall whilne if someone doesn’t cry about it like yall do

[@DouglasLippi]

Chapter 5. Yes there is more to say about Finn. He sometimes feels the plight of his fellow stormtroopers while other times shows glee in killing them. Major writing problem, unless Finn has psychological issues but that was never mentioned in the movies.

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

He never shows "glee" in killing them. Adrenaline and being proud of his friends' combat prowess are different from sadism.

[@DouglasLippi]

@@knowledgeanddefense1054 For me, if I feel sorry for people I don't think I'd pump my fists after having killed them, under any circumstance.

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

@@DouglasLippi I mean I feel sorry for the average person in Nazi Germany for being brainwashed (most ever since being children) doesn't mean I won't cheer for their destruction. A villain is a villain, even one with a potentially sad backstory.

[@DouglasLippi]

@@knowledgeanddefense1054 and that's the problem. YOU are not Finn. Finn needs to react as Finn and not the audience. All they had to do was show for 1 second a bit of conflict after his fist bumping, but nope. This is shitty and/or rushed film making.

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

@@DouglasLippi But why would he show conflict? As far as he knows, he left as soon as he knew what he signed up for, so why would he show mercy for the people who are actively seeking to kill him and other good guys? Like pretty sure they know what they're doing at that point lmao You are vastly overanalyzing a "light side Vs. dark side" story for kids, my guy.

[@idunnoman9402]

I remember the Star Wars hype around 2015, it was astonishing! Half of the theater audience was cosplaying as characters from the franchise, lots of cheering and an overall good time.

[@Therizinosaurus]

And it turns out to be a ripoff or Original Trilogy

[@nightmareTomek]

How can so many people not see the signs???? I couldn't care less these 7 years ago. I thought this must be like a new superhero movie. Well, who was more right, the optimist or the pessimist?

[@AisarShamsul]

​@@TherizinosaurusDude just keep you mouth shut

[@EthanAldridge]

The hype for these films was amazing to be apart of, regardless of how it turned out in the end. I really do miss the star wars theater experience

[@thegoldman25]

me too brother

[@thewatcher4552]

I saw all three in Imax two on the biggest theater in NC

[@thewatcher4552]

I ❤ the TFA

[@semicharmedlife311]

Honestly tried to make it through this unabashed Force Awakens defense, but could not. The film has far more issues than this video addresses, from plot to characters to yes, some re-treading of A New Hope's hallowed ground. It's a long list: Too coincidental meetings, the uncreative use of another Death Star-type super weapon, Finn's character not being okay with harming innocents but having no issues blasting his way out of the hangar, Rey's "Mary Sue" like (unearned) character abilities, Rey's defeat of a highly-trained force-user in Kylo Ren (and his rescue via Deus Ex Machina). Etc. etc.

[@MiguelCruz-oz7km]

Yeah I had to turn it off when he defended the shit show that was the handling of Han Solo. Han going back to smuggling would have been fine had we been shown the experience of him losing his son and had he not been so happy go lucky the entire time. Then his being a smuggler again has zero meaning in terms of his arc as he unreservedly goes back to helping the Rebellion again. So the sum total of his being a smuggler was so we could get that godawful Rathtar scene. It's almost like the video makers is defending his good rewrite version of the movie than the one that actually exists.

[@semicharmedlife311]

@@MiguelCruz-oz7km 👍💯

[@Soccercrazyigboman]

Yeah I stopped it too. TFA torpedoed the sequels before they even set out on their maiden voyage

[@Silverarrows445]

This guy is like the movie critics that gave she hulk a 98% 😂

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

"I am unironically comparing first order members to innocents after the previous scene showed them massacring a village, also my source for Kylo Ren being highly trained when the next movie showed me that he split from Luke prematurely is 'dude trust me' " -smartest TFA hater Also, good job ignoring Rey's melee experience, Ren being shot and stabbed prior to their duel starting, his conflict which a mind reading character literally spelled out for you in TLJ, the fact that Obi-Wan establishes that the force can control your actions and obey your commands in ANH simply by "feeling it" (AKA what Maz told Rey just prior to that) which also helped Luke pull incredible feats after a short amount of time Next response: "Oh but Luke had previous flying experience in a T-16 speeder, which is totally the same thing as an X-Wing! ALSO, a staff is different from a saber" (Yoda: "No! No different! Only different in your mind...")

[@gentelmanjunkie542]

Han died trying to bring his son back from the dark side. That's not nothing. As a dad that's literally the opposite of nothing, it's everything.

[@Deathlygunn]

Not just that. When we meet Han in A New Hope he's selfish, only caring about himself and how much he's getting paid - having him die in The Force Awakens trying to bring to his son back to the light pays off Han's arc from selfish to selfless.

[@iswiftyfox8997]

yeah but i feel like it was brushed off too easily and it shouldve been at least the second movie to show how far down the bad path kylo will go whereas the first one he is just buiilding up. but obv they prolly couldnt get harrison for 2 movies lol

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

mfs really be saying disney reseted han's arc 💀 You can literally see the change in his character from the fucking vocabulary he's using. ANH and TFA Han are completely different people.

[@youtubeviolatedme7123]

Han already showed selflessness in A New Hope when he shows up in the Millennium Falcon back during the climax to help the Rebels destroy the Death Star by blowing Vader's TIE fighter off of Luke's tail. He becomes a full on war hero by the end of ROTJ. Just like with Luke in The Last Jedi, Disney reverted a legacy character so that they could repackage their arc from the OT and pretend like it was something new.

[@MrEffectfilms]

​@@youtubeviolatedme7123 Luke showed selflessness too in ANH, does that mean him doing it again in ROTJ was bad?

[@harrambou9468]

“I could just as easily twist The Phantom Menace into sounding like a rehash of A New Hope” You unknowingly said your whole viewpoint with that one sentence

[@reine_dragon]

I can't believe it's been 7 years. I remember watching this movie when it first came out in theaters, I went home and begged my mom to buy me the original trilogy on DVD. A week later she bought me a box set of the original trilogy and one of the prequals. I remember skipping school to watch empire strikes back the next day. This movie will always have a special place in the same place.

[@Anthony-nr5tj]

I forgot the goal of the Force awakens was to find Luke

[@smildome]

Unpopular opinion: Rey has the best introduction in the whole of star wars. I love how we just see her daily routine on Jakku, from scrapping in huge Star Destroyers, exchanging scraps for poor food rations and then eating it alone by her desperate home. All of this without saying a single word. You get a sense of her daily struggle in this harsh enviroment, working the whole day just for a small dinner, waiting for her parents to return. These few minutes tell - or rather show us so much about her. And all that shot in such a beautiful way. I love the wreckage of the old war being everywhere and that she is living in an AT-AT. Btw the shot where she sits in front of the AT-AT with her helmet on eating is one of the best shots in Star wars. Just my opinion

[@thedapperdolphin1590]

It’s an excellent example of visual storytelling. You get everything you need to know about her character without any dialogue. I particularly like the shot where she looks at the older woman while they’re both cleaning some parts. She’s worried that’s all she’ll ever be.

[@mphylo2296]

Stuff like this is why I can't call the sequels worse than the prequels. The prequels fail regularly at conveying information half as elegantly as the sequels.

[@retromuel]

Yeah it's a great sequence. Right away you can tell that you're in more competent hands.

[@oliverford5367]

The introduction is good, but then she's just a perfect hero with no motivation. BB-8 appears and she can suddenly fix the Falcon better than Han, has all the Force powers, beats Kylo with a lightsaber, and in the next movie is giving Luke Skywalker motivational speeches on being a hero! It's way too much too soon without any motivation. Why does she even care about being a hero, the way Luke wanted to be a Jedi like his father?

[@mphylo2296]

@@oliverford5367 There’s always one…

[@ryansarafin12]

28:24 ou I got this! The major difference is, Anakin and Luke have a lot of experience in the seat. Episode 1 tells us that Anakin has been in a few races, but always loose because Sebulba sabotages him, which we also see happen but Anakin is able to overcome this and finally win, and then later on in the Naboo Starfighter, it's made very clear Anakin has no idea what he's doing but his experience with Podracing and the information he learned from the Pilot earlier helps him survive the battle. For Luke, even tho he's never been in a X-Wing, it's established early on that he is a old pilot, this is confirmed before the battle of Yavin when an Officer even questions Luke of he's capable for battle, and Luke's friend vouches he's a good pilot. As for the exhaust port, Luke says that it's no bigger than the Vermin he'd shoot back home, and the training we saw with Obi-Wan established the Force and Luke tapping into it woth his feelings, which iabhow he made the exhaust poet shot without his targeting system. HOWEVER when it comes to Rey, even tho she's understands the workings of the ship, she even says herself that was the first time she's ever actually flown, so it's a pretty big deal she's able to outfly two trained Pilots, and fly through a destroyed Star Destroyer with a big ass freighter. I don't hate Rey or anything, but that was a really poor example and defense that I felt needed to be addressed, otherwise the Video was great and I love.ypur breakdowns! Edit: Sorry for grammar issues, I did this on the toilet at work 😅

[@Ragnar_5522]

I'm 22 so I grew up on the prequels rather than the originals. Don't get me wrong, my dad and older brother made sure that I was educated on both lol. I do love both trilogies, but the prequels have such a special place in my heart. From the movies, to The Clone Wars, to the OG battlefront 2 501st campaign, it made me love the Clone Wars Era so much. And as I grew up I started to love the originals even more. The idea of the rebellion, hope, misery under the empire, and the constant struggle for freedom put it up with the prequels. Now it's time to talk about the sequels. Episode 7 came out on my birthday and my dad and older brother took me to go see it. I was so excited that I was finally going to see a Star Wars movie in Theaters for the first time. The theater was completely packed and the three of us had to sit in different areas. That meant that I was a die hard 15 year old Star Wars fan that was experiencing this movie completely on my own and with no commentary lol. It was truly and unforgettable moment. And I have so many awesome memories going to see all the sequel movies with the rest of the family in the theater multiple times. But, the years went by and the other episodes came out, I realized that the sequels are terrible. They do not up hold the morals and code of Star Wars. They were both at the same times copies of what came before and completely ignoring what came before. I'm not saying that doing something different is bad. Look at the Clone Wars, Rebels, Visions episode 1, Mando, and now Andor. Each one of those projects have remained faithful to George's original vision but all the while venturing out and trying new things. And these new things still feel like Star Wars and don't break the continuity. Additionally, having the information that they had no clear/solid plan, the story was changing on a day to day basis, Ryan Johnson saying that he wanted to split the fan base and make people hate the movie, and the racist discrimination towards John Boyega just so that they could make more money in China has and always will make me despise the sequel trilogy. Not to mention Rey is practically omnipotent and can instantly master high level force powers that you are either born with or have to train for years to master without little to no training. So, in conclusion, I hate the sequels. But, I love the memories I made with my family watching them more. But the hate that the prequels gets is completely unjustified. It's sad that it took the butchering of the Star Wars characters and universe to make people love George and appreciate him. He always should have been. So, I thank George Lucas for everything he has done for Star Wars and the fans. That was aways his goal. Never about the money. Just the fans and kids. BTW I kind of lost my original thought for this comment so I apologize if it is a mess.

[@tristanthecreator1552]

I like your insight and I also have a love for the prequels bc I grew up watching them but the hate is definitely not unjustified, maybe it was a little hyperbolic but there’s definitely a lot of shit in those movies when you take off your nostalgia glasses but I’m just gonna leave mine on bc the phantom menace is the best Star Wars movie ever and watto deserves his own trilogy

[@chrisgund88]

That's about my experience too (25), really liked the first Sequel movie as it is a great SetUp imo. But then as the second one came out ... that one broke me. It went from laying with my phone in bed while browsing wookiepedia to me having to force myself to watch Rogue one. Thankfully there is new stuff coming out that is good and feels like Star Wars again but man the sequel trilogy hurt (BookOfBoba and Kenobi didn't work for me at all but have high hopes for Andor and Visions)

[@INFILTR8US]

your nostalgia doesn't change the fact that the originals were objectively better

[@wiseauserious8750]

That's good dude, don't let anyone make you feel wrong for liking the prequels

[@Ragnar_5522]

@@wiseauserious8750 Thanks man. I always try to not let the hive mind opinions of things sway me lol

[@Funkytowwn101]

Phantom menace is not closer to new hope than FA. That's bold to say. The stories are good VS evil, no question, NH & FA the good guys move the plot forward and the bad guys are reactionary to that fact, chasing down the droids for secret plans that could end them. PM the sith are pulling the strings and we watch the jedi follow blindly into the abyss in a reactionary way. This is a far larger difference than saying 'these are different because Rey runs away when getting a lightsaber'

[@ioncewasmikey]

Lol yeah he literally recites 75% of the similarities between ANH & TFA, later repeats half of them & then just says "but I could totally do the same thing for Phantom Menace" with not a single example.

[@fluffy-lise]

And in Phantom, we are in a totally different world and society, it already feels different from ANH, it looks completely different. In TFA, we have the First Order/Empire again, same aesthetic, the Republic/resistance.

[@lingricen8077]

this uploader is dumb as f*ck

[@harrambou9468]

@@ioncewasmikey I couldn’t roll my eyes any harder...I’m like “seriously dude? You only scratched the surface of why the criticisms are valid and you decided to say they weren’t only bc you chose to not go further...”

[@ioncewasmikey]

@@harrambou9468 Yeah... the larger goal was clearly to defend the sequels, not look at them honestly. The ST fails at every turn to be creative & original, one criticism that can never be leveraged against the prequels.

[@ryanc970]

I think the Force Awakens had plenty of good or even great ideas that future movies could have turned into a good and meaningful story. TFA's main problem imo was that they played it too safe and didn't develop their ideas as well as they could have. But of course it didn't matter anyways because the next movie would end up completely destroying and shitting all over everything episode 7 was trying to set up

[@jedimastu]

The genuine energy, vibes, charisma, whatever you want to call it, connection between the 3 main actors was electric in the Force Awakens and was somehow lost in the other 2 movies

[@aschaf277]

This trilogy had so much potential starting with this movie. It wasn't perfect but it laid such an interesting framework and cast of characters in place

[@madmaxmedia]

Here's the thing- if Rey believes in herself so strongly that she can defeat the chief antagonist multiple times without any training, then of what significance or depth is her character flaw? (I agree that Kylo Run was a good character, but a somewhat poor main Antagonist.) I really like her opening portrayal and also thought Daisy Ridley was great in the role, but the character was not well thought out at all through the entire trilogy. If it takes a whole explainer video to defend the creators' choices in the main Protagonist, it just wasn't executed well even if the intentions were good. Daisy, Kylo, Finn...all had great potential that was largely unfulfilled IMO. (I still enjoyed TPM though, for many of the reasons shown in this video.)

[@gamestation2690]

Rey's biggest character flaw is an irrational belief of self-worthlessness. She may be confident in her ABILITIES, but self-confidence and self-worth are not the same.

[@madmaxmedia]

@@gamestation2690 I could more or less buy that, but how does that manifest itself and impact the actual story, her choices, plot events? It only ever superficially matters, if it all.

[@KuroAceVT]

@@madmaxmedia it's what got her captured in episode 7

[@officialtbhoops]

Kylo should have been the unstable apprentice the whole trilogy. Killing Snoke was a huge mistake.

[@bondagedangel]

Isn't the jedi mindtrick an advanced skill? The criticism is that she was able to do it without any training in the force or even knowing what it was. And Rey with the flying it's under the impression that she's never flown or drove anything up until that point. Luke and Anakin have. So that's like someone who has never driven a car b4 being able to drift around corners the first time. And they say in ros that she's the best pilot they have.

[@DrakeBarrow]

Yup! Luke's piloting is explicitly lampshaded in ANH during the prep for the Death Star run, and while he had talent and a little experience he only survived due to the Force and Han saving him from Vader. The novels later indicated that she'd been running flight sims in her AT-AT home, which is fine but it needed to be in the movie (even a quick reference would suffice). Same thing if Rey had been Ray, just to be clear - bad characters cross any kind of gender/identity lines you want to draw.

[@grandsome1]

Well she got mind tricked the scene right before that and she's a prodigy, that's how she figured it out. 7 years later I'm still baffled people still complaining about that when it's right there in the text of the movie. EDIT: As for Rey piloting skills it's an expended universe stuff, Luke isn't better with a line that you blink and miss it that explains his skills (the 1st time I watched the ep4 I missed it in fact).

[@Mpiewizard]

@@grandsome1 she didn’t get mind tricked by Kylo, she got mind probed. That’s not the same thing.

[@grandsome1]

@@Mpiewizard Mind manipulation, it's the same thing. Also there's no bloody official manual about how the works except in the Bible that is at Lucasfilm.

[@Mpiewizard]

@@grandsome1 Okay but it's literally not the same thing though. There may not be an "official manual" as you say but there IS canon - which does matter, regardless of what people say - and according to canon, what Kylo does to Rey is not a Jedi mind trick. A mind trick is mind control similar to the idea of vampire compulsion - getting someone to do something without their knowledge of doing it or why. What Kylo does is somehow look into her mind, more akin to Vulcan mind-melding in Star Trek - meshing your mind with someone else or seeing into their thoughts and memories - and she pushes against it. This is from the official TFA book, by the way, I'm not making this up. That is not a Jedi mind trick as we've come to see it in canon and as it's been presented as far back as ANH in 1977 when Kenobi did it for the first time on screen. Now, what Rey does to the Stromtrooper? Yeah, that's a mind trick, that's mind control, and that's how it's always been portrayed in Star Wars media. What Kylo does is literally not a Jedi mind trick. It was something we had never seen a force-user do in a Star Wars film before to the point that people were theorizing about what he actually did at the time the film was released. Rey couldn't have figured out how to do a mind trick from him from what we saw cause not only did he not do a mind trick, he didn't even do what she ends up doing anyway.

[@jskywalker58]

i may not like the sequel trilogy but i'll admit it was awesome to get to see a starwars opening crawl on the big screen

[@jamespea76]

Low expectations...

[@Salute2theworkingman]

I just appreciate the content to watch. And there is a line in A New Hope that C-3PO states talking about the hyperdrive along with in Solo: A Star Wars story where they add the conscience of another robot who actually could of helped with the reflexes needed to preform those tight turns with Rey’s flying and with anyone who flew the millennium falcon.

[@licmir3663]

Luke’s issue in the first two films was not lack of trust in himself. On the contrary. In the first film he’s overly confident. And in the second film he’s unwilling to pay attention to other more experienced individuals’ opinions. He was like that because he wanted to do good. He wanted to save his friends. He wanted to defeat the empire. But he wasn’t fully ready yet. He needed more training and experience. Rey never had any training and suddenly she could fight with a lightsaber and use all Jedi powers. Ugh.

[@billyd5917]

Luke had basically no training..Do you know he use the force way before his training with Yoda.

[@billyd5917]

Rey also has to fight every day of her life to survive on Jakku, Luke had a loving family taken care of him.

[@Nethseaar]

@Lic Mir Exactly what I was going to comment. Luke gets into trouble constantly in ANH because he's overeager, but inexperienced. He's curious about the sandpeople, and gets beaten by them. He doesn't leave when he encounters threatening people in the cantina, and they start a fight with him. He goes to rescue Leia, and ends up trapped inside the prison block. He refuses to listen to Yoda and Obi-Wan, and he gets his hand chopped off. Even when it's not his fault, Luke just ends up in trouble much more frequently than Rey - mauled by a wampa, shot down by an AT-AT, and so forth. And, unlike Rey, he is constantly being rescued by other people. Obi-Wan saves him from the sandpeople, from the bar fight, and from the Death Star. Leia saves him from the prison block by going down the garbage chute. Han saves him from the snow storm. Leia saves him from falling off of Cloud City. Meanwhile, does anybody ever save Rey? I think she saves herself from almost literally every perilous situation she is ever in. Attacked by people in the market, she beats them up. Chased by tie fighters, she flies perfectly to avoid them and line up the perfect shot for Finn. Chased by rathtars, she closes the doors at the perfect moment. Captured by Kylo, she mind controls stormtroopers. Fighting with Kylo, she beats him. On and on and on! Maybe the only exception is when Kylo kills Snoke in TLJ. Contrary to this video's claim, the Jedi mind trick is not a beginner ability, but is shown to be evidence of mastery of the Force. Obi-Wan does it in ANH, and Luke is not able to do it until RotJ, after training and years of experience. Qui-Gon does it in TPM (as a Jedi master), and Obi-Wan not until AotC (as a Jedi master). Luke is unable to Force-pull his lightsaber to him until ESB, three years after beginning to practice with the Force, and only then in a moment of desperation and after much concentration. Rey's untrained mastery of the Force is absolutely ridiculous, and indefensible. Not even Anakin-canonically the Chosen One of prophecy-was able to accomplish such feats. And Anakin's unusual abilities ultimately made him arrogant and overeager, losing him his arm to Count Dooku, causing constant conflict with Obi-Wan, and finally leading him to the Dark Side, and to ruin. By contrast, Rey's writing is a joke. (And I even criticize the Prequels' handling of Anakin!)

[@skwills1629]

Well. You see, Rey is a Girl so Naturally She's better than Luke is and doesn't need to go Through Training or Gaining Experience. Men Need Training. Like Dogs.

[@choreomaniac]

@@billyd5917 what do you mean? He didn’t use the targeting computer in ANH and brought a lightsaber to his hand in ESB. That is very minimal use of the force. His first lightsaber fight he loses badly. He clearly struggles to move some rocks.

[@JXEditor]

41:08 The root of all of Jacen Solo’s problems has to do with the future.

[@SquallLionhart409]

Rey is absolutely a Mary Sue. If you go beyond what google has as it's definition, she fits amazingly well... for the majority of definitions out there. She may have slightly warped the definition, as it was almost purely used in discussing characters in fanfiction for quite some time, Rey being one of the examples to pull it into mainstream. The absolute core of the Mary Sue is being a wish fulfillment character. The lack of meaningful flaws and the incredible skills are both symptoms of the underlying wish fulfillment. We see characters warp their interests towards her. We have a hero that the villain, both Kylo AND Snoke take significant interest in immediately. We have a hero mentored by Han Solo, trained by Luke Skywalker, and later by Leia. She flies and seems to take ownership of the Millennium Falcon. She's immensely powerful in the force and is set to revive the Jedi Order. Being secretly related to one of the important characters from the original work is also a very common trope, because it fulfills that wish of being specifically important just by who she is. Having absurd hair is too, though the absurd hair is more commonly some unnatural hair color or specifically has attention drawn to it, but these are just more ways in which Mary Sues are made more special to fulfill the wish of the author to be more special. Anakin and Luke absolutely are not Mary Sues (Marty Stu or Gary Stu either). Anakin in JUST TPM can be argued to be one, but is usually accepted and moved past as young Anakin is one of the multiple accepted problems of that film. If pushed to defend him, it can be argued that living in slavery and being rejected by the Jedi Council are significant negatives to balance how overpowered he is in the Force. The Chose One weighs heavily making him borderline in TPM. His struggles in episode 2/3 push him far from that territory, however. Luke is one of the furthest from the title as well. He CONSTANTLY fails and needs to be helped/saved. He's responsible for R2D2 getting away from the farm and almost dies trying to retrieve him, needing to be saved by Ben. He needs to be saved in the Cantina. (Luke even states he's a pilot to Han.) Leia is the one to get them off the detention level, saving Luke, then R2 turns off the trash compactor, for Luke to be saved AGAIN. Luke destroys one Tie, but needs to be saved by Wedge when another gets on his tail. He's even hit. Tarkin not sending out more Tie Fighters was a fatal blunder. There were maybe a dozen of them compared to 30 attacking rebel ships. Luke's one major feet was making a force-assisted shot that Ben gave the assist on. This was after almost dying to Vader and needing to be saved YET AGAIN by Han Solo. The Mary Sue aspect of this video was just a bad argument. The rest seems pretty good, so here are some thoughts and a comment to hopefully bump this video back into more recommended regarding TFA.

[@DarthFhenix55]

37:20 Being fair, he took a crucial role in the destruction of the death star, that indeed deserves it's merit.

[@dw1419]

Plus, the rebels were pretty hard up for leaders

[@anastasiagreen666]

small note on your point around 24:35 ; anakin and luke don't face too many serious consequences of their flaws in their first movies either, it's the sequels that dish out the hurt, and i think expecting rey to go through even more serious trauma (than being physically controlled and mentally violated by kylo before watching her hero be murdered by him) when she's already established as a deeply traumatized kid is maybe a little much. this is not to imply her story was better written in the sequels, if anything she only gets worse writing from here on out, but that when looking at this through the lens of the movie compared to other first-in-trilogies in this series it's pretty normal to have her finish mostly okay, and definitely in a worse place than anakin or luke by the end of their first movies

[@Step_03]

Thank you for writing a thoughtful analysis of the storytelling. Not enough of that going on when it comes to Star Wars, and more specifically the sequels.

[@blandon1581]

15:28 Starkiller Base is actually the planet Ilum, the kyber crystal place. If only they mentioned that in the movie...

[@wiezyczkowata]

how can Rey trust in the Force when all her life she thought it was just a myth? and suddenly she knows how to do Jedi tricks because she believes in it?

[@IronFishChannel]

As someone who really does not like The Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker, I liked this video a whole lot. It basically summarizes how I feel about The Force Awakens, and does a really good job of highlighting the legitimately good things done in the film vs weaker parts of the movie.

[@tristanmoore9653]

Really nice to see a positive take on Sequel Star Wars on KZbin. I think too many people are stuck on the “what if” question when discussing these movies, which is just a doom cycle - these things exist so we need to engage with them on their own level, not our “What if?” fantasies. If you engage with the films on their own terms, there’s a lot to be gleaned, as illustrated in this video.

[@seanward]

I'm on my second pass through this video and it's bringing up all of the emotions that I felt when I saw the force awakens in theaters three times. kylo Ren's character in that movie was so brilliant, and it felt so fresh and timely. he represented all of these early twenties goofballs who look up to the bad guys without really thinking through those affectations to their logical conclusion. when we meet him, he's just a little twerp that's in over his head. by the time he kills Han solo, he's crossed the line he can never come back from. made me think that a whole lot of young men who have done things they regret because they hadn't thought things through could probably relate. then the next two movies not only killed all the beautiful and eloquent things the force awakens set up, they even killed my enjoyment of the force awakens itself because now the trilogy as we have it is the context that it's in. but reconnecting with how much I loved it when the future was ahead of us is a nice trip down memory lane.

[@diggydumbo9294]

This video should be renamed "In defense of Episode 7"

[@r00kie36]

I actually really liked TFA. But when the time came that I sat down with my two sisters and we started watching Star Wars, we didn't watch it. I still distinctly remember the way I felt after ep9 finished. It is such a terrible feeling when you start a trilogy, you like some characters and love some others, you get all excited about how their stories will unfold - and once you see it you completely suspend your disbelief. I will never be able to unsee episode 8 and especially episode 9, and I will not forget how completely braindead those movies left me. And I didnt want my sisters to experience that. But end of last year I showed them ep7, without warning them about whats to come, because I wanted to see if I was maybe judging the movies too harshly, and for now they liked it even a little more than I do. Still not sure how it will be after ep8 and ep9, but yea, I think at least this movie deserves its existence.

[@Seldz1]

5:36 (attempting to suggest it is a copy is a stretch because this is just how the opening of Star Wars movies work)- no, that’s the problem. It doesn’t have to be like that. That’s the entire problem.

[@viatka1966]

"I think most people have fundamental misunderstanding of the Force" Says someone who just said that you are stronger in the force if you believe in yourself.

[@thegoldman25]

this is literally true. What do you think the whole point of the empire strike back was? Like wasn't as strong because he didn't believe in himself. Luke: "I don't believe it" Yoda: "That is why you fail" what do you think this means?

[@ryanc970]

Everyone has an opinion, everyone has a butthole, and every Star Wars fan has their take on what the Force is

[@1dudecrush]

Just making a note here on that flying bit: Anakin and Luke had been flying for their entire lives. That was one of their main attributes introduced to us about them, and yes their inherent prowess was a symptom of their connection with the force. Rey had never even left the planet, had basically done nothing more than ride her scooter to and from work. So yeah, she essentially crashes the Falcon upon takeoff, cuz she has ZERO idea what she’s doing, and then suddenly she can dodge and weave between two trained first order naval fighter pilots and evade being killed, then manages to squeeze the Falcon through an engine shaft similar in size to the one in the end of RotJ? Flying was never in her skill set before. She picks it up like it’s nothing in the span of 20 seconds. THAT’S the Mary Sue attribute. Anakin with in TPM? Yeah it’s different than a pod racer, but he’s on auto pilot until he’s got wide open outer space to maneuver, and he STILL manages to crash the ship, which then happens to land him in the hangar where he could, by sheer luck, hit the reactor. And Luke has been flying T-16s his whole life, racing Beggar’s Canyon with his buddies and shooting little womp rats. His lucky break is finally believing in himself, trusting that he knows he has the skill to hit a target that’s 2 meters wide, and then realizing that the final little push he needs to make that 1 in a million shot is the Force. That’s the completion of his character arc in the film. Rey was never ever a pilot and wouldn’t have been able to do much of anything in the Falcon. That’s why, in that instance, I would consider her a Mary Sue. If anything, the skill she DOES possess is combat with a staff, so that at least makes the lightsaber fight slightly more believable.

[@jpgrennan]

To me this movie was my first time getting to experience Star Wars in the theaters. It will always be special to me for that.

[@chanceneck8072]

This is probably the best most genuinely fair thorough analysis on the topic that I have ever seen.....

[@Seussenshmirtz]

Watching this movie after the entire trilogy has wrapped is like watching Firefly after it was canceled. The pieces were there, and all you can think is how great it could've been.

[@nightmareTomek]

A good author could have easily fixed the issues without even changing the plot much. There are jobs to fulfill that role, story plumber or something? I could have fixed the issues, I know what's important in a story.

[@gavinmyatt5589]

I'm so happy that you're back! I was getting worried.

[@thegoldman25]

it takes a while to make a 57 minute video!

[@gavinmyatt5589]

@@thegoldman25 You're one of the very few Star Wars channels that is still worth watching.

[@saulcervantes1975]

By this argument, then The Sword of Shannara isn't a ripoff of The Lord of the Rings. Both start in a sdcluded, happy area until a shadowy stranger arrives, so a wizard comes and tells the MC to travel to a safe haven with a powerful elven lord, where they will figure out a way to defeat the rising threat of the Dark Lord who is returning after a long time. It's less about the characters and more about the structure and visual language of TFA that makes it feel like a ripoff. Why does Rey have to live in a desert planet? Why does she have to escape it in the Millenium Falcon? Why does Maz have to have a cantina, of all businesses? Why is the end battle taking place around destroying a giant ball that destroys planets? Even if the characters, arcs and plot are different, it feels similar because the movie is *trying* to feel similar with its visuals.

[@bemasaberwyn55]

In his video, So Uncivilized makes a point that being Anti Prequels(something JJ was INSISTENT on being), means resetting everything and everyone back to anh types. And this causes problems

[@prettyaverage97]

@@bemasaberwyn55 Every time a filmmaker tries to do something different with Star Wars, fans begin furiously raging about how its "betraying the essence of Star Wars". It happened with the prequels, it happened with The Last Jedi and it's even happening now with Andor. It's not surprising that we then have stuff like The Rise of Skywalker that just tries to make everyone happy, being basically a poorly written fanfiction that lacks any risk of imagination. That being said, I think The Force Awakens very deliberatedly takes the basic structure of A New Hope to regain the trust of audiences that were very unhappy with the prequels, but at the same time takes very interesting twists with its characters. The Last Jedi was the fulfillment of TFA's promise of something new, but everybody bitched about that movie and, in result, we got the painfully uninspired Episode IX.

[@ravenwhiteduck6460]

@@prettyaverage97 yeah setting up mystery boxes just to subvert expectations and say nothing is a match made in hell

[@Calebe428]

@@prettyaverage97 it happened with the last jedi because that movie was stupid as hell u nitwit

[@KuroAceVT]

why do people have to make up fake reasons to shit on genuinely fun and good movies? why do people have to whine and be a bunch of hypocrites? why does the internet have to be a toxic piece of shit? i hope you get the point im making

[@darthrizzen9349]

Co-writer and director J.J. Abrams himself openly admitted that The Force Awakens *was* a rehash in 2016. Rewatch his Tribeca film festival interview by Chris Rock. "we very consciously - and I know (The Force Awakens) is derided for this - we very consciously tried to borrow familiar beats so the rest of the movie could hang on something that we knew was 'Star Wars.'". That ends the debate, IMHO. No point in trying to defend otherwise. As for me, and given how expectations subverting 8 and narrative train wreck 9 turned out, I can only treat 7 as a soulless film designed by people with no idea and no plan beyond exploiting nostalgia to make a lot of money for the corpos, which worked. See also: Spider-Man No Way Home. I find 7 simply unwatchable these days.

[@flipbookboi3856]

What??? How could it have already been seven years?? I could’ve sworn this was just a couple years ago 😭

[@SantiResnikTombetta]

Starkiller base "is the snow planet with this one little base"... Ilum, my friend

[@BiserAngelov1]

The objectivity of this review, is something to be appreciated

[@thegoldman25]

I try my best!

[@DenderFriend]

At first I thought this was an arbitrary milestone until I realized TFA was episode seven, clever

[@thegoldman25]

it really is an arbitrary milestone lol

[@astronewt1228]

@25:55 I’m pretty sure mind reading and mind tricks is not one of the first things Jedi learn and is an advanced level ability

[@astronewt1228]

28:00 the x-wings had the exact same flight controllers as the T-16s he’d been flying all his life, he’d basically flown an x wing before

[@jaxlockhart518]

26:10. dude says going into someone's mind is something we've seen before and its easy....when the fuck did we see that out side of this trilogy?

[@lugasalexander4852]

I completely disagree with your take that it is not a retread of ANH. It is very apparent in the premise alone of once again having a rebellion against fighting empire and discovering a force user who is the galaxies only hope on a sand planet. Nothing wrong with that if there was a plan for the next two films, but in retrospect it makes this one bad as well as all it dumps on the previous films.

[@thegoldman25]

I respect your opinion

[@VMetalic7]

I must say... I wasnt this satysfied and happy that someone made a review and analysis of the The Force Awakens, and the Sequel Trilogy, the way you did. Which was with a cool head, logical and substantive arguments without the biases and unreasonable hate. Really wish that you can make similar analysis videos for The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker soon :) Really thank you a lot for this.

[@thegoldman25]

My last Jedi analysis comes out tomorrow!

[@j.f.fisher5318]

Han was one of my favorite parts. Getting promoted to general seemed strange to me even as a kid. You don't make someone a general for being a badass. You make them a general for planning sound strategies for the group - maybe a major with a special ops team or something (which come to think of it would be a great use of the MF), but not a general. Han and Leia were a case of opposites attract. That's a great recipe for passion, but a terrible basis for a stable relationship that handles hardship together. It seemed very believable that they'd have split up, and when I watched it for the first time I applauded them for showing something that looked like a realistic relationship for the two instead of some Disney happy ever after bs. And I always thought Han was a force user, he just calls it luck instead of the force. But as Obi Wan says "In my experience there's no such thing as luck" which is basically saying "no my boy, you are a force user." Similarly, from ANH on, it is strongly suggested that lots of people have the talent to use the force. Darth Vader doesn't say "Huh, I feel the force, this must be a Jedi!" he just says "the force is strong with this one" in a way that suggests it isn't outside the realm of possibility to find a regular person that happens to have a talent for using the force, especially now that the Jedi have been destroyed so nobody is looking for talented individuals to recruit into their order. And it makes sense that Han and Leia would have a son that's a strong force user. As a martial artist, I watched the Rey's fight scene at the end and felt like they were beating us over the head with Rey being unskilled in fighting with a lightsaber because she tries the same move over and over and gets countered repeatedly. That isn't a demonstration of skill. People who think Rey was unrealistically skilled with a lightsaber just know nothing about fighting. I just wish that since she was skilled in fighting with a staff they had her make a naginata-like staff lightsaber which would have been badass.

[@andrewreynolds912]

But no all we got was Rey being a Mary Sue

[@zildjianabuser]

In a rebel army, like the American Revolutionary War, really anybody can be a “general”

[@ShawHortonMusic]

I agree about Han and Leia’s relationship being well done. It’s a bit shocking at first that they’ve split, but it makes sense given their separate personalities, and the hardship of Ben turning dark. What do you think of Luke’s characterization and storyline (including the backstory with him and Ben) in TLJ?

[@deadshot5007]

Still my fifth favourite SW movie and imo quality wise it's the best movie from Disney.

[@thegoldman25]

it's my 2nd fav from disney!

[@soondslash]

id say that rogue one is the best with solo as a second and tfa as the third

[@jeffring8954]

It's second to Rouge 1 for me.

[@jasonleetaiwan]

The problem with Star Wars is that once the Empire falls, there isn't much to talk about. You can't bring it back without making ROTJ irrelevant.

[@truebluetom2]

I love your channel. Your channel is the best 💖

[@thegoldman25]

I appreciate that, thank you!

[@PetePuebla]

I’m still curious how they got Luke’s lightsaber.

[@Linus_B]

Finally a review that isn't all about "Disney evil mouse, AM I RIGHT? The prequels were always God tier. Now give me likes!" or "The sequels did nothing wrong, SW fans are just sexist and the story telling is just as good as everything else SW". This review actually doesn't just repeat what everyone else says and it gives a logical breakdown of what worked and didn't work, and why it was that way. Good job!

[@thegoldman25]

I try my best to always be objective, even with movies I love. Thanks for watching!

[@Linus_B]

@@thegoldman25 And you have gotten as close as possible in my opinion, I thoroughly enjoyed watching a piece of SW content that wasn’t toxic or heavily angled. Can we expect similar reviews on the other two sequels? 😊

[@thegoldman25]

Yes you will

[@ASAPBLOCKAY]

This was an incredible analysis great work! I do really enjoy the visuals of the Force Awakens lightsaber battle as well.

[@rjmacready6693]

This was dog shit level analysis. Go back to bed.

[@twstf8905]

There is one glaring difference, between the sequel and prequel trilogies, that you're also omitting; The environments, vehicles, creatures, droids, virtually _everything_ was redesigned, as if from scratch all over again, when George Lucas sat down to begin telling the prequel "back stories," of his already established original characters. That doesn't happen with the sequels. George sat his designers down and made them specifically create a universe that felt completely different while also somehow feeling like it was a part of the same universe. It was like the original trilogy was the Earth in the 1970's, with the particular vehicles, patina, and ethos that was going on at that time and the prequels were the 1920's. Where, while everything was so vastly different, you could still track how eventually, a generation or two later, one would inevitably become the other. With the sequel trilogy, they almost completely just made slightly updated versions of what we've all seen before. Slightly more "modern" X-Wings, Tie Fighters, and AT-AT Walkers. A bigger Death Star, etc. (C-3PO with a red arm) While virtually everything was redesigned entirely from the ground up in the Prequels. It demonstrates a staggering lack of imagination. Just slightly altering stuff we've already gotten before. That's a large part, I'd wager, of why there isn't a huge amount of toys, books, comics, or other ancillary material that came along with it. The prequels gave us whole fleets of entirely new vehicle designs, for every faction or "side" of the conflict involved. Whole new character, alien and droid designs. Whole new imaginative worlds we've been steadily exploring ever since. Not just with TV shows, books and comics but with a couple more decades worth of video games. Creators are still mining ideas from the prequel era. Just like people were for the original trilogy, for decades before. (And since.) But, the sequel trilogy had almost NONE of that. Unless you consider slightly updated Stormtroopers "imaginative." (And don't get me started on the criminal lack of on-screen amputations lol something we used to rely on being included in every new successive installment of Star Wars on the big screen! With all those lightsabers swinging around, we were guaranteed at least one extremity being unceremoniously removed per movie! Unless you count Unkar Plutt's arms being ripped off by Chewbacca in a deleted scene for The Force Awakens, there hasn't even been appendage ONE getting chopped off in this new trilogy of films! If that's not Star Wars sacrilege, I really don't know what is!) _(I'm just sayin' 🤜 💥 🤛)_ #ConstructiveCriticism #DontShootTheMessenger ✌️

[@hideofreakingkojima5457]

28:09 You can't compare Rey's ability as a pilot to Luke or Anakin's. ANH establishes that Luke is a good pilot from his old friend Wedge and his experience with Skyhoppers and the Beggar's Canyon. Not to mention, Obi Wan taught Luke to use the force in making the clear shot without the targeting computer. Rey had nothing to establish she was pilot or know how to control a ship. Anakin is a slave salvaging junk, working with technology/vehicles/ships, and create something new (C3PO) that made his life easier for him and his mother while Rey only took parts from broken ships and sell it. Also we're forgetting that R2D2 were built to assist with the controls and repairs of starfighters.

[@jakesullivan1683]

Another great episode. noticed some of the bits you took from your older episodes. Keep up the amazing content

[@thegoldman25]

In some ways, all my previous force awakens videos lead to this one. thanks for watching!

[@michaelploskina1681]

As a lifelong Star Wars fan who had a daughter the perfect age( 9 ) for The Force Awakens. We saw it in the theater.

[@thegoldman25]

that's so awesome! I can't wait to take my (hopefully future) kids to see Star Wars

[@BlankGreenCanvas]

You rarely find any level-headed videos regarding the Sequel Trilogy. I appreciate you.

[@thegoldman25]

I try my best!

[@AydanM]

Currently binging your entire channel, great stuff

[@thegoldman25]

Welcome aboard! Which videos have you watched?

[@logandelaharpe6362]

Saying you can make the phantom menace sound like a new hope and is closer in story to it is the biggest stretch I’ve heard this year

[@dreamingflurry2729]

Both Luke and Anakin had flying experience! Anakin with the Podracer (and he also had R2-D2, the Astromech for help!) and Luke with his Skyhopper (an INCOM design - same as the X-WING!), so he knows his way around the cockpit, the only thing he probably can't do at that point is jump into hyperspace (and even that is probably possible with R2 calculating the course etc.)

[@DouglasLippi]

Good points in Chapter 2. I guess I can relate to Luke's plight more than Rey's.

[@dreamingflurry2729]

Reaching? You are seeing stuff that ain't there! Kyle komplex? He's a rebelling emo-kid, who sadly was powerful so others couldn't teach him a lesson in humility! Also: Luke! Luke would never run away like a coward, he would also never try to murder someone in their sleep because of a bad dream! That is either insidious character assassination or not understanding the source material!

[@bradsbrickpost]

Love these retrospectives!

[@skyline4388]

26:30 you're conveniently omitting that later on in Rise of Skywalker, Poe makes mention of Rey being a better pilot than him, who up to that point was seen as being the ace pilot of the Rebels.

[@thegoldman25]

That never happens

[@thorthewolf8801]

@@thegoldman25 Yes it does, bb8 makes some noise, and Poe tells him that "well, Rey is not here", indicating that she would do a better job than Poe.

[@Ashakat42]

@@thegoldman25 Yes it did and now I really don't know what to think about you as a narrator. You really should apologize.

[@Egalia_1]

Still one of my favorite Star Wars movies. It was the first one I got to inexperience in person as an adult, it was truly magical. I'll never be one of those people that go back on it, I still see it as a solid 8/10 to this day

[@androognoix1685]

Of course you like it its a new hope In new paint

[@shortstackofpancakes13]

Androo Gnoix sure it’s similar to a new hope, but it has lots of unique things that separates itself from a new hope. Also, lots of Star Wars movies are kinda similar but none of them are complete rehashes

[@KuroAceVT]

@@androognoix1685 it's an HOMAGE to A New Hope, not a redo. learn the difference

[@androognoix1685]

@@KuroAceVT shang chi is an homage to kung Fu movies. nobody points out the lazy copy nature of the story cause it doesn't exist. Besides TFA has bad jokes and bad acting and bad writing such as magically bumping into phasma and she actually betrays her people if the story was magically not a ripoff

[@KuroAceVT]

@@androognoix1685 it's paying HOMAGE to A New Hope but not actually ripping it off. sure, a lot of it is SIMILAR to it but well... you dont have a Luke, you don't have a Leia and if you're seriously gonna lie and say Han is a ripoff of Han then it's not a movie problem, it's a YOU problem

[@Soccercrazyigboman]

You're defending a movie that torpedoed any potential the sequel trilogy had? The movie literally undoes the sacrifices and victories of the OT characters, rehashes beat for beat new Hope with worse plotting (such as the contrived runs in with Solo and the random lightsabe), leaves you with a bunch of mystery boxes that really weren't going to go anywhere and relegated Luke Skywalker to an island while his friends where in the process of being annighlated. That's the movie you're defending?

[@frozenandchosen]

As a fan of TFA myself who also fully understands it’s faults, I think this video is the best analysis/discussion of the movie that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve watched quite a lot lol

[@lookingforsomething]

No person fully understands anything. It's a thought fallacy to think one person can really "fully understand" anything. Something as simple as 1+1 becomes very complicated very quickly when one starts to really get knee deep in mathematical analysis. TFA was pretty terrible beginning to end, and the problems start from the beginning crawl, which pretty much leaves hundreds more questions on how we got here rather than answering very many. The characters in TFA are also handled very poorly.

[@Jedi_Spartan]

43:56 Even though the front of the helmet looks more like a black and silver version of Darth Revan's... especially with the hood up.

[@sulfuras1985]

I remember seeing this a week early because i was in the military, and we got an early screening. Originally, I didn't catch anything "off" about the movie. I really enjoyed it for what it could be setting up for movies 8 and 9 and was genuinely excited to see how they would answer all these new questions I now had. What surprised me was EVERYONE on the base (about a thousand) had seen it and NO one was talking about it. I brought this phenomenon up in a gaming room the next day. The most common response was "bro, nothing about episode 6 mattered. We lost the war. Where the heck is Luke?" I said "yeah but that's the exciting part for episodes 8 and 9 right? We get to see those questions answered." The main response was, "dude, those questions should have been answered in the first 15 minutes of this one. Han died and Luke gave up. These are NOT the characters from the 70's." None of that dawned on me in the actual theatre. Then desperately hoping episode 8 could defend 7's honor and seeing the turd it was was when i really started disliking disney in general. We finally got our answer though in episode 9. And Poh's face looked the same way we all felt about it, "Somehow, palpatine returned." What dog crap.

[@abdo19code]

"I could easily twist the story of The Phantom Menace into sounding like a rehash of A New Hope" .. No. No, you couldn't.

[@thegoldman25]

Yes I could

[@LordThunderJunker]

@@thegoldman25 Then go ahead and do it.

[@Emilx2000]

This is one of my favorite videos on Star Wars in ages now, amazing job. Actually shocked to see your subscriber count being below at least a couple hundred thousand

[@thegoldman25]

Thank you so much for the kind words! And don’t worry, I’ll get to that mark eventually 😏

[@mansifacio5458]

I have a few objections: 1. While silent story telling is great, the only character trait/ flaw we get from it is her family issues, the fact that she had to survive and scavenge for so long (which isn't a personality trait) and not much more beyond that. Through artifacts and actions her personality traits could've been developed. But what we got is a singular trait and a singular weakness, which only comes into play once. 2. While force mind fuckery may be something basic, at this point, the first order knows about force users and very well might account for them, so I presume the troopers have to strengthen their minds as part of their training, so that they don't fall victim to mind control 3. In the last Jedi, Rey shoots down multiple ships with very few projectiles, so your point about TFA being the only one where she does insane stunts is incorrect, since there's multiple instances of her doing ridiculously skilled things

[@SpartanNat]

Fun fact at 40:55 about Jacen Solo: The author of the book he was killed in currently is one of the heavy-hitter writers of books for the Halo franchise!

[@Fr0stbit3_]

My biggest complaint about the ST is the lack of creativity with the factions. I was looking forward to new ship designs, new troopers, etc. Instead we got the leftovers of the OT with rehashing stormtroopers. What if the FO used droids for their army? Or the Resistance used droids? Why not call the stormtroopers "ghost troopers"? I can go on and on

[@nicholasarkis6116]

[Disclaimer: I love everything Star Wars. Deal with it.] Nice analysis. I really enjoy TFA. My only criticism, albeit it's a plant sized one, is Starkiller Base. It feels superfluous and distracts from the stated goal of the story: find Luke Skywalker first. I don't love another super weapon either. It would have been easy enough to make Starkiller work for me. 1.) Have the heroes recover the missing part of the map to Luke there. Kylo mentioned that they have it. That way going to Starkiller Base would have been directly tied to the plot about finding Luke. 2.) Spend more than 30 seconds figuring out how to destroy Starkiller Base. Rogue One and ANH shows us how difficult it was to destroy the Death Star. Even with the benefit of a built in flaw, it took a Jedi to make an impossible shot. Many Bothans die getting info for Death Star II. So, I needed more for Starkiller.

[@jasontheredfox]

Jeez I can't believe it's been 7 years already

[@MatCaveGaming]

Outstanding video! Such an amazing, in depth look into this film. Enjoyed every minute of it!

[@thegoldman25]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Neckrollios18]

I went to see 7 three times, once with family, once with friends and once on my own. The movie was so visually impressive, and it captured so much of my curiosity. While I hear the points made in this video about how 7 and 4 were not all that similar, I don't think that was my reaction at the time. Instead, it was this combination of they are doing old and new stuff, but the old was more apparent because its what I know and recognize as a Star Wars fan. I thought of 7 as being extremely similar to 4, but that was also a trend among movies at the time like Jurassic Park - I was willing to accept a "soft-reboot" if it meant the other two stories were uniquely their own, and we got more Star Wars. Whay I thought 7 did really well is that it made me ask a lot of questions, which in turn got me very excited for the next two films. I vividly remember having this discussion with my sister on the drive home from the theater. I wondered: Who is Snoke and what is his story? How did the First Order rise to power? Who is Rey's family? Why did they leave her? How is Rey so strong with the force, and with a lightsaber with essentially no training? Will Finn become a Jedi? Will the First Order build another "Starkiller base"? Why is Luke on an Island? Who was Ben Solo when he was younger? We asked all of these questions, and thought they would potentially be explained in the next movies - granted, I love Star Wars, but I didn't grow up reading the EU books, so my knowledge outside of the movies and video games was limited. So if I had to read books to find an answer to these questions, it likely wasn't going to happen. Probably my biggest disappointment if you want to call it that was Han being killed, because it meant he wouldn't get to see Luke again. Despite that, I think the questions I had that 7 set up, were what sparked my curiosity so much. The fact that a movie had me ask so many questions I thought was a good thing, because it meant I was in invested and I was so excited for the next two movies. So much so I drove in a snow storm to see 8. While 8 was also visually beautiful and was exciting, I think what I was left with was disappointment that my questions would never be answered - for me, that is the legacy of the Force Awakens.

[@deborahminter6231]

Great video! Thank you for defending Rey. Her character wasn’t perfect, but she gòt wayyy too much hate. I think your point about world building could be the reason people thought it was a rehashing of the first Star Wars. I always thought it was weird that Han was back as a smuggler, and Lea was leading a resistance again against an order that was like an empire and the dynamic was a tad more negative. If the movie had explained more things it would have been better. In my opinion a few changes in The Force Awakens would have helped the fate of the sequel films. 1. When Lea and Han reunite, if it would have been clear he had been helping her with the resistance and LOOKING for Ben Solo. 2. Kylo would not have been so evil and been more of reluctant and even ethical vader, even though he followed Snoke. Lol! And when he's confronted with Han he is unable to kill him. But Han dies anyways saving his life, making him question his, loyalty, the darkside, and his belief in his parents' love. ...... These changes would have changed the fate of the sequels, even with similar plot points.

[@nicolasacosta1673]

Na it would still be garbage. The world building in the sequels is non-existent and nothing makes any sense. Why is there a resistance when the New Republic is the main government of the galaxy? Why doesn't the New Republic have an army? Why does the first order have a planet sized death star and seem to be unchecked by the New Republic? Why is the first order so strong to begin with when the empire was utterly defeated in ROTJ? With all this in question what is the political state of the galaxy? Does the first order have their own territory in the galaxy and is it an independent faction with their own representatives in the senate? If at least SOME of these questions were answered maybe the sequels would've been a little better but nothing about the state of the galaxy is ever clear in these movies. All made worse when in TLJ apparently the first order took over the galaxy in a matter of hours even though their base got blown up in TFA. Nothing makes sense in these movies, the stakes are unclear as well as the logistics. These movies are an absolute mess and the only way to make them better is to tear them down and start from scratch.

[@deborahminter6231]

@nicolasacosta1673 Good point. The Force Awakens didn't explain anything, so they only seemed like a replica that was not as good as the originals. If they had explained and given reasons for things, it would have been better. Where they ultimately went wrong is how they handled the legacy family. If they had made changes and given those characters a more hopeful and positive fate then at least the sequels would not have negated the accomplishments of the heroes in the original films, and given fans a few magic moments...instead of making them witness the destruction of the family.