Topic: Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens

[Angelic Lapras King]

So the Second Trailer just came out.

And daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn. Think this is really going to deliver this time. 

[Lord Raven]

Yeah, I saw this recently.  Thankfully there's going to be no Hayden Christensen here, he was awful.

Is that Harrison Ford I see?  :O

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I never got into Star Wars. Plus the order of the supposed episode confuse me greatly. I mean why were the first three actually the middle movies of the series and the ones that came out in 1999 and 2000's the beginning? It's like filming and releasing SAW: The Final Chapter first and THE the other six movies.

[Lord Raven]

Because George Lucas had the plot generally written up, and decided to go with Episode 4 as the first episode released because it didn't require the background of the first three episodes to understand.  As a result, it was basically a fail safe in case the movie flopped, but episode 4 definitely does everything to introduce you to the Star Wars universe - describing the world, giving some backstory behind the empire, setting up a protagonist (Luke Skywalker) and central antagonist (Darth Vader), the Jedi vs Sith conflict and etc.

If you really think about episode 1, its flaws in acting aside, it really doesn't do much but set up this little kid named Anakin Skywalker as someone who is supposed to bring balance to the force.  You really don't have much of a reason to care for Anakin yet because he's not central to episode 1 nor does episode 1 have as much going on as episode 4.  You don't see much of the political strife and conflict in episode 1 and ultimately episode 1 is basically an origin story for Anakin/Darth Vader.  It would basically be a gigantic cliffhanger that makes people wonder "is there more?" and would probably bomb without episode 4.  Meanwhile, Luke is thrust straight into action in Episode 4.

It doesn't make sense to release 2 or 3 either because that's all Anakin's story.  Episode 4 is a clear cut off and that's where Luke's story begins.

And, this is easier to look at in hindsight, but releasing the second set of episodes first makes the prequel trilogy far more tragic, because you know exactly how it ends - Anakin tries to save Padme's life by embracing the dark side of the force, but Padme dies anyway and he spends life from then on as a broken soldier and puppet for Emperor Palpatine.  The fact that you know this while meeting this little boy in episode 1 actually makes it much more heart rending.

[Milsap]

The fact that you know this while meeting this little boy in episode 1 actually makes it much more heart rending.

It would have been even more emotional if Hayden Cristensen could actually act.

Episode 4 as the first episode released because it didn't require the background of the first three episodes to understand.  As a result, it was basically a fail safe in case the movie flopped,

Example: The destruction of the First Death Star was created not only as part of the overall plot but also served as a happy ending/conclusion just in case it all didn't work out.

It doesn't make sense to release 2 or 3 either because that's all Anakin's story.  Episode 4 is a clear cut off and that's where Luke's story begins.

Further to this, watching the whole series from I through to VI tells the full story of the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker and how he supposedly fulfills the prophecy at the end of Return of the Jedi with help from his son who was trained in the Jedi Arts by two of the central characters from the first trilogy. Whereas Episode I is more of the "How Obi Wan Kenobi knew Anakin" part and II/III being Anakin's coming of age and becoming a slave to the Empire due to his emotional attachments to his mother/Padme and being desperate enough to stop those he cares about dying he gets pulled into Darth Sideus' influence.

Then you've got the plethora of games set before and after the main series, the books, comics and so on. Which Disney has now claimed is not canon... The idiots...

If you watch all of them in sequence it will make a lot more sense. But the story goes much deeper than face value, a lot like when you analyse books in English lessons.

[Angelic Lapras King]

Final Trailer is up.

Yup, this is going to HAVE to live up to the hype.

[Milsap]

"That girl has to be Jaina Solo"
"Who?"
"Han and Leia's daughter"
"What you on about?"
"The girl in the trailer- It's got to be Jaina solo"
"So who does Luke end up with?"
"Mara Jade"
"Who"
"*sigh* Are you sitting comfortably?"

So we're going to play Knights of the Old Republic.

[Kerou 犠牲]

I'm not going to post spoilers, but this film did a lot of things right, and a lot of things wrong. It doesn't disgrace the Star Wars franchise by any means, as a film it's good. There are just some things which could have been and probably should have been done a lot better. It does make me want to watch Episode VIII though which is a bonus!

[Pam-the-Lamb]

 The film was pretty fantastic tbh and the characters felt well-done.

 I had one gripe but I don't want to risk spoiling it but the guys I went to see it with picked up on it and felt the same.

[Shaymin]

I got back from watching it maybe an hour ago and oh my god it was AWESOME

also: pencil me in for a fight with JJ Abrams

[the bread dragon]

i forgot this was happening, so i thought it would be safe to browse twitter

why would you even do that??why would you spoil stuff? what is to be gleamed from it? i didn't need to know thattt

[Angelic Lapras King]

i forgot this was happening, so i thought it would be safe to browse twitter

why would you even do that??why would you spoil stuff? what is to be gleamed from it? i didn't need to know thattt

People get off on that. And with this being one of the biggest releases in decades, of course those sorts would do that.

This is where the midnight showing was a definite for me as I foresaw they'd be spoiler trolls...