Star Wars: The Last Jedi discussion thread(Warning: Spoilers!) (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

It's hard to take an article seriously that includes the text:

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi might still be showing in theaters."

It's showing on thousands of screens and brought in tens of millions of dollars last weekend!

 

[TravisR]

Johnson says he hopes Snoke's backstory comes out:

http://epicstream.com/news/The-Last...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

To me, this is another admission that the choices he made in the film upset a great number of fans.

Here's Johnson's quote from the article (which is sourced entirely from a BAFTA Q&A):

In this particular story, it's much more like the original trilogy, where with Snoke if you think about the actual scenes, if suddenly I had paused one of the scenes to give a 30 second monologue about who he was, it would have kind of stopped the scene in its tracks, I realized. Even though it could have been interesting, something that fans were interested in, as storytellers, we have to kind of serve what the scenes need to be. It was a tough thing, even though I knew some fans were interested in it I also knew it wasn't something that dramatically had a place in this movie. Hopefully it can be addressed elsewhere or even J.J. may address it in the next movie. But it's not something that's particularly interesting to Rey, so we kind of had to follow through.

None of that sounds like an 'admission' of anything. He gives his excellent reason for not having a scene of needless exposition.

 

[MielR]

He gives his excellent reason for not having a scene of needless exposition.

I would have liked some more needless exposition. ;-)

This guy has a theory as to why so many (including myself) felt the lack of background on Snoke hurt his character more than it hurt The Emperor's character (starts at about 12:30):

 

[TravisR]

I would have liked some more needless exposition. ;-)

That's all it would have been though. I didn't need scenes in Return Of The Jedi where the Emperor tells Luke about his rise as a Senator, running the galaxy during the Clone Wars (don't forget to mention the Zillo Beast) and how he knew Luke's mom. No doubt a story will eventually relate Snoke's origin and it will be a much better place to tell that tale than having him just start talking about his origin for no more reason than to cater to fans who were wondering.

My biggest fear for Episode IX is that Abrams and LFL listen to the fans too much and do their best to win them back by answering the questions/complaints that some fans had with The Last Jedi.

 

[Jake Lipson]

My biggest fear for Episode IX is that Abrams and LFL listen to the fans too much and do their best to win them back by answering the questions/complaints that some fans had with The Last Jedi.

Amen. Episode IX needs to continue to push the characters forward, as The Last Jedi did, and should regard The Last Jedi as a springboard into a finale that is genuinely new, not as something that they need to retcon or fix.

 

[MielR]

That's all it would have been though. I didn't need scenes in Return Of The Jedi where the Emperor tells Luke about his rise as a Senator, running the galaxy during the Clone Wars (don't forget to mention the Zillo Beast) and how he knew Luke's mom. No doubt a story will eventually relate Snoke's origin and it will be a much better place to tell that tale than having him just start talking about his origin for no more reason than to cater to fans who were wondering.

I didn't need scenes like that either, but in the video I posted, the guy goes into differences between the characters and why backstory on The Emperor wasn't as important, such as: the story didn't take place in an environment that was as well established as it is now, plus--The Emperor was #1 supreme bad guy, and Snoke is by nature not going to be regarded in the same way because he's second, and other reasons like "where has he been the last 30 years?", etc.

As it stands, I wasn't catered to, but I also found the Snoke character to be a complete snooze.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I also found the Snoke character to be a complete snooze.

So...you want more backstory for a character you find boring?

 

[MielR]

So...you want more backstory for a character you find boring?

No, it's the lack of backstory that made him boring. He came out of nowhere and then just disappeared.
I wasn't given a reason to care or not care about whether he lived or died. But, unfortunately, that was a problem with a lot of the characters in the film.

 

[Brett_B]

My biggest fear for Episode IX is that Abrams and LFL listen to the fans too much and do their best to win them back by answering the questions/complaints that some fans had with The Last Jedi.

And, this is why I have no interest in seeing the next installment.

For all of those that really enjoyed The Last Jedi, with what Johnson gave us where do you see this story going for the final installment of the trilogy that you can't wait to see?

 

[Brett_B]

Amen. Episode IX needs to continue to push the characters forward, as The Last Jedi did, and should regard The Last Jedi as a springboard into a finale that is genuinely new, not as something that they need to retcon or fix.

This goes along with my previous post above, but to Jake's comment in particular what do you want to see as far as seeing the characters pushed forward? What did you get from The Last Jedi that you saw as a "springboard into a finale that is genuinely new"?

 

[TravisR]

And, this is why I have no interest in seeing the next installment.

For all of those that really enjoyed The Last Jedi, with what Johnson gave us where do you see this story going for the final installment of the trilogy that you can't wait to see?

Rey facing off with Kylo Ren. The rise of hope via a new group of Jedi. The fall of the First Order. Luke's ghost confronting Kylo Ren.

 

[Brett_B]

Rey facing off with Kylo Ren. The rise of hope via a new group of Jedi. The fall of the First Order. Luke's ghost confronting Kylo Ren.

I can't see that story line being hopeful for J.J. Abrams, especially "the fall of the First Order". Essentially it sounds like a repeat of Return of the Jedi with the "fall of the Empire", but this time without a Sith Lord at the helm. The Last Jedi already gave us "Rey facing off with Kylo Ren" and "Luke's ghost confronting Kylo Ren". If these do happen, I can hear the comments now about JJ treading over the same waters. He is really in a lose-lose situation.

 

[Tino]

I think Every current Star Wars Director is in a lose/lose situation.

No matter what they do, Star Wars fans will never be satisfied.

 

[TravisR]

I can't see that story line being hopeful for J.J. Abrams, especially "the fall of the First Order".

I think the fact that Johnson wrapped so many things up is actually liberating for Abrams, Terrio and LFL. I've said it before but they now have less points to hit on their Episode IX checklist. They gave Johnson the freedom to wrap things up & he made a wonderful movie and hopefully that freedom will let the Episode IX crew bring something unique to the table.

Essentially it sounds like a repeat of Return of the Jedi with the "fall of the Empire", but this time without a Sith Lord at the helm. The Last Jedi already gave us "Rey facing off with Kylo Ren" and "Luke's ghost confronting Kylo Ren".

In the broadest sense, yes but I think that there's plenty of room to do something cool with those elements. For example, Luke had a duel with Vader in TESB but the one ROTJ is pretty great too.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

No doubt a story will eventually relate Snoke's origin and it will be a much better place to tell that tale than having him just start talking about his origin for no more reason than to cater to fans who were wondering.

Why does everyone seem to think a pointless exposition dialog scene is the only way to fill in backstory for a character?

 

[TravisR]

Why does everyone seem to think a pointless exposition dialog scene is the only way to fill in backstory for a character?

As the movie currently exists, what else would it be? Given the situation the First Order is in, there's no time or place to have a scene for Snoke to organically discuss his origin with someone. Luke could deliver the exposition to Rey but given her reason for being there, why she would care at all about that? Everyone in the Resistance must be fairly aware of how Snoke came to power and since they're being chased, it doesn't make sense in any of those scenes either. They can't restructure the entire movie just to have an organic scene where the audience gets to hear about Snoke's origin.

 

[Bryan^H]

I think Every current Star Wars Director is in a lose/lose situation.

No matter what they do, Star Wars fans will never be satisfied.

Most of the unhappiness stems from them(all SW films from the last 18 years) being chained to the original trilogy.

Had Disney(or Lucas with the prequels) been brave enough to try something entirely new in the Star Wars universe, the backlash to these newer movies would be mostly non existent I believe.

 

[AshJW]

The new trilogy by Johnson could profit from that freedom.

 

[dpippel]

Most of the unhappiness stems from them(all SW films from the last 18 years) being chained to the original trilogy.

Had Disney(or Lucas with the prequels) been brave enough to try something entirely new in the Star Wars universe, the backlash to these newer movies would be mostly non existent I believe.

I disagree completely. One of the main things that made TFA (and TLJ) such a huge success was audience nostalgia for the OT and for Leia, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker.

 

[Bryan^H]

I disagree completely. One of the main things that made TFA (and TLJ) such a huge success was audience nostalgia for the OT and for Leia, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker.

I know. I was saying the backlash from certain people wouldn't be a thing(or at least as big a thing) if they weren't continuations/prequels of characters from the OT. Most of the backlash comes from what people perceive OT characters would do, as opposed to the actions they take on the big screen.