Shannon Nutt

I don't think we'll have to wait long for more Star Wars movies. I think one a year is fine, but there aren't going to be any in 2020 and possibly not any until Christmas 2021. But I don't think we'll see a decade-long break or even a three or four year one. That said, the focus now seems to be on getting the shows for Disney + up and running and seeing what kind of response they bring from the fans.

Anyway, back to Epsode IX - Was anyone else surprised that there was no mention (or photos) of either Keri Russell or Matt Smith's characters during the Celebration panel. There's been a rumor for a while that Smith might be playing a younger (clone?) version of the Emperor.

dex14

What's weird is Matt Smith said last month that he is not in the movie. https://screenrant.com/star-wars-9-matt-smith-rumors/

joe_b

I consider Ian McDiarmid one of the saving graces of the prequel trilogy, but having Palaptine return as the final boss (if that is indeed the case) would be weak as hell. It makes me angry to think the people in charge are that creatively bankrupt... but the last two saga films have done little to convince me otherwise.

I'm bracing myself for Sith ghost Palpy squaring off with Force ghost Luke... and just when cranky old man Skywalker is getting his spectral ass handed to him, Hayden Christensen will show up to save his baby boy and they'll have a touching father-son reunion. At last, the whole saga has come full circle. Iris out, roll credits.

mcnabb

I think about how the Terminator films went off the rails (from a storytelling sense) after Cameron left, and I think the same thing is happening with SW. Again, I don't defend the excution of the PT (nor the way Anakin was portrayed by Lucas), but the story was still there and was interesting if it were executed better (That is why the PT novels are so good). The ST films seem like they are just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks, and the Palpatine is the last ditch effort to salvage this Trilogy cause they really don't have a villain after Rian Johnson decided to kill Snoke in the 2nd movie. This happens with TV shows all of the time after the original creator leaves as the story/arc is the first thing to suffer. I think a great show like Homeland that really looked like it was going somewhere in the first few seasons, and now the show is a literal shell of itself and they are just searching for avenues to go with Carrie.

I'm sorry but this is the way the ST feels for me from a story point of view. I know many here like TFA and many here like TLJ, but that means nothing in the grand scheme if the Trilogy doesn't work as a unit when viewed as a big narrative. For anyone who loves TLJ, what value will it have 10 years from now if the overall trilogy story sucks? The same goes for TFA fans, as you essentially have 1 movie you really love and the next 2 movies fall off the rails from a story point of view? The more I look at it, the more I'm amazed that Lucas was able to craft a coherent narrative for the OT since he was making it up on the fly. But that does say something about him compared to the new generation of people like JJ and Rian Johnson who can't pull off the big picture story that they are writing. I know I sound cynical and this has nothing to do with 'they raped my childhood' argument because those are the little arguments you see in the TLJ thread. I just talking strictly big picture, and JJ is 4th down with 32 seconds (no timeouts) left in the game and they are at the 50 yard line, and he has to score or they lose in the playoff game. There is always a chance (hence Aaron Rodgers pulls of Hail Mary's all of the time), but the odds are against him.

dex14

I don't know if that is really fair to either of them considering neither wrote the entire trilogy (and we haven't seen the last chapter). Maybe if Rian Johnson wrote all three, TLJ would've played better if his version of VII led to his VIII? Maybe if JJ wrote a story treatment for VIII that was required to be used we'd be better off since his vision was being seen through. Obviously, one singular vision would've been better regardless of who you prefer. Regardless, the blame lies with LucasFilm and Disney for rushing and not having it mapped out.

nando820

^ Agree, its not the individual directors but the people on top that chose to wing it

Draven

Saw this floating around. I like it.

Spoilered for size:

dex14

windom

At least they finally managed to give us a title where someone or something is rising. Up until now, we've only had a few other films with things rising:

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Rise of the Guardians
The Dark Knight Rises
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
300: Rise of an Empire
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj
Mercury Rising
Hannibal Rising
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

TGM

that doesn't even account for porn.

Jay G.

The story I heard about Mercury Rising's title is that one of the other title options they considered was "Mercury Falling," showing how completely arbitrary that title was.

joe_b

There would have to be. I mean, who was on that ship taking off from Jakku in Rey's Force vision? If it was her parents and Kylo was telling the truth, maybe they merely bought passage on the space equivalent of a booze cruise before returning and getting buried in their pauper's grave.

But seriously, we clearly witnessed someone she cared out abandoning her. I still suspect Rey could be related to Keri Russell's character, since she's wearing a mask (hence a possible dramatic reveal) and they avoided mentioning her role during Celebration. If not Rey's mother, then perhaps a sister turned bounty hunter.

devilshalo

Brack

tanman

Yeah there are always haters in Star Wars. It doesn't matter the movie, except for maybe the first one. But the Last Jedi is the only movie you can call divisive. You can't pull up an article without it mentioning how divisive it is. People either loved it or hated it. There is no in between.

tanman

Holy shit! That makes sense. So maybe that's why Lucasfilm didn't come up with an overall plot map because JJ did. That makes me even more sad that JJ didn't do all three movies.

GatorDeb

Sorry I got here late and over 1k replies so far... what's the over/under that Rey is Luke's daughter?

tanman

Prevailing theory is that skywalker will turn out to be lower case and referring to a new force wielding order. However JJ is on record with saying that while they will honor what happened in Eps XIII regarding her lineage this movie will explore it further to a satisfying conclusion.

Double_Oh_7

Episode 13??

GatorDeb

Thanks! Why didn't he direct the second one?

Shannon Nutt

Yeah, that seems to be a deflection. He's still officially listed in the cast, as is Richard E. Grant, who also got no mention at Celebration.

dex14

Where?

TGM

any word if Phasma is in this?

mcnabb

No doubt that Disney Management (Iger, Kennedy, etc) are the ones who get the ultimate blame for it. The more and more I take a step back and look at the ST, I ask myself this question, "Do these movies make the OT any better from a big picture sense?" I honestly can't think of 1 thing from a storysense? The return of Han, Luke and Leia didn't make their characters any better for me, IMO. First Order, Resistance, Starkiller Base, and now the return of Palpatine are all plot points that were explored in the OT and just repackaged in the ST. And there is no political story that is shown on screen (only implied) either.

My point is that the PT has HUGE flaws in the execution of the movies (we all have debated them for 20 years), but I will say (For Me) the big picture story makes the OT better and ironically it makes the Trilogy still worth it from a narrative end. I don't like the Anakin story, but the Macro Political PT story is very interesting (for me) and gives some depth to the OT. It sort of fleshes out 4-6 as now we see the Republic, The Rise of the Empire, Palpatine's Arc, The Jedi Council, etc. Now we didn't need those story points after 1983 as the OT can stand on it's own as a great Trilogy, but the PT does flesh out the macro story for the OT as to what is going on in the universe outside of Luke, Leia, Han and Vader. Bringing back Palpatine is just another plot point 'we've seen before in the OT' and that is why I'm having a hard time finding something that makes the OT better from the ST movies? And this nothing to do with the quality of movies I enjoy TFA and TLJ from a standalone story sense, but they really don't bring anything to the table from the Saga sense.

Jay G.

Because JJ Abrams didn't want to write/direct anything except the first movie in the trilogy, The Force Awakens (TFA). Rian Johnson was hired for the next, The Last Jeti (TLJ) and Colin Trevorrow was hired to write/direct this one. However, creative differences lead to Colin Trevorrow leaving the project, and Lucasfilm basically begged JJ to come back to finish it up.