George Lucas Was Right About the Star Wars Fanbase

[MTZehvor]

JWeinCom said: 

After TFA, one would think that there would be a number of priorities for its sequel. Fleshing out the characters of Snoke, Finn, and Rey. Give Phasma some screen time after she was so thoroughly ignored in TFA. TLJ gets around to, at best, two of these, and one hardly counts considering that they take the time to characterize Snoke and then proceed to immediately kill him off. What is the point of establishing an Emperor-esque figure that is so much more powerful than everyone if you're just going to off him not even halfway into the trilogy?

On top of this, there are plot holes on top of plot holes, probably as a result of the movie trying to juggle so many plot points. Why can Leia magically float through space now? How did Rey develop competent lightsaber wielding and force using skills within the span of a day of lessons? It took Anakin years to get there, so what makes Rey so special beyond simply having "raw power." Why does Luke not tell the resistance that he's going to buy time for them to escape, and instead has to rely on Poe being able to intuit his plan? Why does creating a projection of himself kill Luke? Where the hell did Snoke come from, and how did he get to be such a powerful force user? And still, how the hell did Luke/Anakin's old lightsaber wind up in Lemon Head's possession? Again, these could have been addressed if TLJ made better use of its time. But it didn't, and now Episode IX has a ton of baggage from the previous two movies along with whatever storyline it carries out, and chances are a significant portion of these will be dropped and never heard from again

"Plot Holes"

*Spoiler warning again*.

1.  The Force.  Leia is established as exceptionally force sensitive in ROTJ if not earlier.  We see her using some degree of basic force abilities in Force Awakens.  We've seen force powers used through instinct before (i.e. Anakin and Luke's piloting skills, Rey's ability to use the Jedi mind trick, etc).  Floating through space would only require the slightest nudge (since nothing would stop her momentum), so I could buy it.  I think it looked silly, but I have no conceptual objections.

I actually have to rewatch this scene, cause thinking back on it, I'd like to double check and see if Kylo is pushing Leia.  Because, that would be well within his abilities.  

2.  Luke is blocking laser shots blindfolded within a day of meeting Obi Wan.  Her force powers really aren't a tremendous leap forward from TFA, so if you want to call it a plot hole, call it one for that movie.  But in this one, she doesn't seem to be doing anything mindblowingly impressive in comparison.

Furthermore though, Snoke explains that her power is also related to Ren's.  They pretty directly explain that there is a balance between light and darkness (I forget the line exactly), so as one grows in strength the other does.  This would also kind of explain why Anakin was so much slower to learn than Luke or Rey, considering the amount of Jedi and the balance of power in the force at the time.  Since Rey is almost solely responsible for balancing against the dark side at this point, the force power is stronger in her than it normally would be imo.

3.  If there's a plothole here, it's that the rebels didn't figure it out sooner.  It's kind of obvious.  They, especially Leia, have a pretty good sense of what a Jedi is capable of.  There would be no reason for them to expect that Luke is going to singlehandedly decimate Ren's forces.  

And honestly, it would just be far less cool if Luke said it.  When Hitchcock was asked why one of his characters didn't just go to the police, he said because it'd be boring.  That principle is at play.  It makes for a more exciting movie.  

4.  They actually allude to this early in the movie, with Ren asking Rey (I think, may have been the other way around) how she can communicate as they do without being dead.  But, this is basically an application of the force ghost shizzy that we've seen since Empire.  When Jedi truly become "one with the force" they can appear as a projection basically wherever they want ala Obi Wan or Yoda.  Luke however, unlike the others, still has something to do in this world.  So he is able to partially give himself to the force, essentially leaving him halfway between life and death, which is why his force apparition is more corporeal.  

This kind of thing isn't a plotholes.  It's something that's not explained fully, but we know enough that we could fill in the blanks.  We have seen projection as an ability used specifically by dead Jedi, but is not able to be used while they are alive.  From there we could figure out the rest.

5.  Who cares?  Snoke's past is not relevant to understanding the plot in anyway.  It may be interesting, or may be not, but it doesn't have much bearing on the events in the last jedi, so if you are concerned about too many plot threads, I don't really know why you'd push for this.

Bear in mind, we didn't know anything about the Emperor in episodes IV-VI.  We only find his backstory, and even then we never find out why he's especially powerful, in the prequels.  And really, did that add much to the originals?  Maybe they'll have some movies to fill in the space between VI and VII, but it's really not important here.

#1: I'm less concerned with the act of pushing herself as I am the idea of her being fully exposed in space without the bodily fluids inside her beginning to boil and causing severe long term damage, while I believe being unconscious, no less.

#2: I mean, I'd consider suddenly having the ability to communicate over galaxies to be a pretty significant step taken forward. But I'll get to that in #4.

#3: That's such a silly line of reasoning that doesn't make it any less of a plothole. If you're putting any kind of plan into effect that will literally determine whether a large group of people lives or dies, you don't just leave them to figure out your intentions. They might think that you're planning on summoning some other hitherto unmentioned force ability, or just not realize that they need to follow those crystal creatures to get out of the cave system, or perhaps just be so confused that they don't figure it out altogether. Even if you think it's the most obvious thing out there, there's no excuse for not communicating it when you lose nothing by doing so.

And honestly I'm not sure how telling people that you're buying time makes something less "cool." Luke's still out there, still holding up the First Order, still confusing Kylo Ren. Is having your allies stand around and be confused for a few minutes cool now? I can suspend some disbelief for the sake of having a plot in the first place, which I suspect is what Hitchcock was referring to, but this isn't that. The scene becomes no more or less meaningful with Luke just hoping that everyone figures it out.

#4: The problem here, as with most of the stuff in #2, is that there's a lack of consistency. If Force users have always been capable of projecting these kind of images or communicating across huge distances, why have we never seen active force users do so before? Seems like it would be a pretty useful tool to get a message out to other Jedi when Palpatine was busy having them all executed. If they haven't always been capable of doing so, why are Luke, Rey, and Kylo now suddenly capable? What makes them so much more competent than the myriad of Jedi with years of training that came before? What exactly is this "raw power" that Luke notes which presumably plays some kind of role in all this?

#5: The difference between the Emperor and Snoke is the difference in context. Having some virtually all powerful evil dude in the Original Trilogy works because we know next to nothing about the Sith. There could have been way more than just two Sith, hidden somewhere else, because there were no rules or guidelines established surrounding them. When the prequels roll around, guidelines are established; we know that there are only two Sith, and that they tend to be pretty cutthroat when it comes to the possibility of others infringing on their territory.

When the new trilogy rolls around, having a new, highly experienced force wielder who uses the dark side doesn't make a lot of sense. Where would he have come from? Who would have possibly trained him? I seriously doubt that Palpatine would have been willing to train yet another apprentice in secret. So we have suddenly have this incredibly powerful guy who has seemingly come out of nowhere to take control of the entire First Order and...no explanation whatsoever on where he got any of his powers. And the explanation is necessary here because of the context that the series has now.

As for why I care, it's because it seemingly goes against the established context of the universe. The less consistent your universe is in operating within the parameters it sets for itself, the less believable it becomes. And the less believable it becomes, the less reason I have to care about any of the stakes in these movies. If these all powerful force beings can just spring up out of seemingly nowhere, why should I care at all about what happens to Rey or Kylo? Who's to say that another highly skilled force wielder that we've never heard of and is only appearing now for some reason won't just suddenly pop up to save/destroy the galaxy next? Who's to say that there isn't some other force sensitive kid who will pop up out of nowhere to save the galaxy? When you discard the rules that you set forth for yourself, your universe becomes an utterly arbitrary place where anything can happen for the sake of whatever plot device seems coolest to the director.