Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

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bookworm
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Post by bookworm »

Well said Calhoun, I agree with all the positions you presented. (I think you understood, but just to be perfectly clear: I myself did not have problems with any of those points, I was listing the main things I've heard others take issue with. I do wish Luke hadn't irreverently tossed the lightsaber like that, that was a jarring moment in mood. He should have just put it down or handed it back. But the idea behind it, that he's not willing to teach anymore, I was fine with.)

I especially agree about Rey's parents, I was just fine with them being nobody. But that's one of the things that was definitely a Johnson forced issue. It's a certainty that in the originally intended story she was going to be someone, don't know if a Skywalker or Kenobi or who, but she was going to be connected somehow. Johnson refusing to go with that completely changes a critical aspect of the plot and drastically altered how they had anticipated whatever amount of the story was preplanned to unfold. That makes me somewhat wary in that while as an idea on its own I'm good with it, there are concerns about how satisfyingly everything will come together now in the conclusion. They may feel there is no way to salvage this as is, that was such a major element, that in the next movie they just say Kylo was lying and go back to the original plan. And I would be fine with that too for the record. I don't care at all whether her parents are nobody or somebody.
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Knight Fisher
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Post by Knight Fisher »

I'd disagree on the point that she was intended to be related to someone. It's been made very clear that JJ made questions. He didn't have any answers to them.
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bookworm
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Post by bookworm »

It may have not been decided "She's a Skywalker 100% for sure" but the original idea was definitely not "She's nobody." It could have still ended up that way, maybe, but if they do stick with it now that was definitely something they got forced into by Last Jedi, not what they had in mind from the beginning. My point was Johnson made that call and now they're either stuck working with it or stuck figuring out how to undo it, neither of which are good situations. Something like this needed to be planned out from the start.
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Calhoun07
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Post by Calhoun07 »

Knight Fisher wrote:I'd disagree on the point that she was intended to be related to someone. It's been made very clear that JJ made questions. He didn't have any answers to them.
I am with you on this.

Rian Johnson may have been the director but he did not have full creative control over the movie. Not by a long shot. Not under Disney's careful watch. They have a brand to protect. And Kathleen Kennedy would make sure he didn't veer too far off the intended course for the trilogy.

JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan talked at length about what Star Wars is and what makes it unique and all points Star Wars. Most of it we may never know all the details, but I am sure it's safe to say they created a road map for the upcoming movies for quite sometime, including Last Jedi.

IF Rey was supposed to be a Skywalker or a Kenobi, you can bet your bottom dollar that Kathleen wouldn't have let Rian get away with what he pulled. She has a lot of control over these movies, I guarantee it.

Now, some have speculated it might be mis-direction to try to deceive her. Or maybe for another motive. After all, Star Wars has a history of that. Darth Vader killed your father? Well, that was true from a certain point of view...

I just hope they don't go that route. I guess we will see. But I think if JJ and Kathleen Kennedy intended for that to happen, it would have been revealed in Last Jedi. Rian didn't have free reign to change a huge plot point like that.
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bookworm
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Post by bookworm »

I agree it's unfathomable they would let him completely scrap something so significant, but multiple sources report this is definitely not the originally intended direction of the story.

I'm sure he didn't make the decision unilaterally, there's no way they would give him that much control as you said. I'm not saying Disney didn't OK it. They obviously loved what he was doing, they gave him a full trilogy to do whatever he wanted with before this movie even came out.
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