TGM

hmm. if true, I like it.

E Unit

Josh-da-man

I read it and... it doesn't sound terrible, but it doesn't sound very good, either. Very middle of the road and mediocre. Like TFA and TLJ before it, it sounds very safe and corporate, continuing in the Disney Star Wars tradition. So it's probably a pretty accurate description of what we'll get come December. If you were satisfied with TFA and/or TLJ, you'll probably like TROS, too.

brayzie

windom

So Rey was Anakin???

GoldenJCJ

Tom Banjo

Ranger

Edit: I didn't read the reddit link. I was just talking about a clone theory. I will put my comment in spoiler tag anyway.

milo bloom

Not gonna click that. It may be time for me to go dark on this stuff. Unless I start hearing that it’s a train wreck then I want to go in clean.

TGM

I like the part about Rey struggling with her sexuality and transitioning to a man.

Jason

Gesundheit!

Jason

Nice a counterpoint to Finn becoming a woman.

It rhymes.

coli

milo bloom

As mentioned, it was already done years go in the comic series Dark Empire. It worked there and it could work here. I've always disliked how they so casually dismissed all the old stories so it's kinda nice they're going back and pulling stuff back in.

GoldenJCJ

Sorraffy

I guess the redditor never heard of the (not really a spoiler I guess, just the name of a starship ...). I wonder if they look the same

coli

Mike86

kefrank

You're looking at it that way in hindsight with a completed trilogy though. The original trilogy didn't have a through-line of "Luke's journey to redeem his father" until the third film. Perhaps the third film in this trilogy will bring together a through-line as well.

Josh-da-man

That's my primary beef with the sequel trilogy as well.

When it comews to Jurassic Park/World, I've said that all they really need to do to make these movies work is have dinosaurs chasing and eating people.

But Disney and Lucasfilm are treating Star Wars the same way. They aren't actually telling stories, they're just giving us a new cast and putting lightsabres in their hands and giving them an Empire to fight. And I think that for the mainstream audience (and critics), that's enough to hold their interest for a couple of hours. Star Wars VII, VIII, and IX might as well be Jurassic World 7, 8, and 9 considering the minimal amount of thought and effort they're putting into them. Here's the same stuff you liked thirty years ago. Now go buy they over-priced low quality toys and Jakku bedsheets.

But the more hardcore audience, like myself (and, likely you, too, Mike) are wanting something with a goddamned epic sweep like Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire, or even The Wizarding World. And, despite having set up a "story group," it doesn't feel like Lucasfilm is really putting a lot of effort or thought into this world.

So, yeah, here's this orphan girl living on a desert planet who is strong with the force and inherits the Skywalker family lightsabre and even looks like she could be related to Carrie Fisher, Natalie Portman, and Pernilla August, who sets out on an adventure. But, she's not actually a Skywalker and that means anyone can be special in that corny Disney way, so it's really, really original.

And here's a Mandalorian bounty hunter in Mandalorian armor with a fork-nosed gun, who hangs out with another bounty hunter who looks exactly like IG-88 but isn't, and freezes motherfuckers in carbonite. But he's not Boba Fett, so it's like totally something brand new.

As such, I fully expect The Rise of Skywalker to be safe and familiar, and go with a whimper instead of a bang.

But there are going to be some people who respond positively to getting the fed the same familiar stuff with the serial numbers filed off. And there are going to be some who see right through the sham. But will it be enough to sustain the franchise long-term? Or are they going to drive into the ground like Halloween, Aliens, or Terminator?

Mike86

Josh-da-man

And, speaking of hindsight, in the 1970s and early 1980s when the OT was made, it was somewhat rare for films to receive sequels, and unheard of for any kind of pre-planned series of feature films. Star Wars pioneered that concept.

I think Godfather was the first movie to get a sequel that actually continued and expanded on the original concept. Prior to that, a sequel meant just making another Dracula, Frankenstein, or James Bond movie. Even Planet of the Apes was never meant to tell some kind of greater story; they were just cranking out sequels for the sake of making them. (And, in fact, they destroyed the Earth in the second one because Chuck Heston didn't want to make any more!)

Brack

Mike86

Brack

So there’s nowhere the new film can go that doesn’t touch on the previous two films? I’m not sure that’s going to be case. TLJ subverted some expectations, but there’s a lot of issues and plot devices from the last two films that appear to still be in play. I mean there’s the Knights of Ren supposedly, the whole balanced Force thing, Rey, Kylo, a rebellion that needs building, lots of things that I’m sure will be addressed. Just because it’s not blatantly obvious what’s going to happen like we had set up with the prequel trilogy does mean TLJ left us with nothing.