Making Sense of The Rise of SkyWalker's Story

[MerelyAFan]

The sequel movies are fascinating in that unlike the prequels (which all suffered from largely the same issues) 7-9 all have differing problems.

-Force Awakens is too derivative of the original films and has Rey feeling underwritten in comparison to Finn.
-Last Jedi is an interesting when viewed as a standalone but suffers structurally in following up the previous movie or setting up the next one.
-Rise of Skywalker has ridiculous pacing and throws everything in rapid-fire fashion to hastily finish off the story.

At the very least they'll make for some interesting analysis in the years to come.

[TGLS]

I'm half expecting Disney to give up on trilogies and maybe consider a more organic series format, like the MCU. Both trilogies after the first were badly received.

[CharlesPhipps]

I finally figured out how the story makes perfect sense: Palpatine turns out to be a liar and Rey bought it until she stopped to think about the dozens of holes in his story.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

[MrL1992]

You know one of the parts that annoys me the most is the during the Rey's parents revelation. The plot point itself was stupid enough but is how it actively misremembers the scene in the prior film that drives me nuts.

In TROS, Kylo claims he never lied to her about being a nobody.... Which is true... Because he wasn't the person who said it, Rey did ("They were nobody").

This is the kind of mistake I expect of random people on the internet to make when debating TLJ online without actually re-watching the film. I don't expect this from the actual writers!

Just reinforces the idea that TROSb was planned via Twitter committee.

[Winter]

You know one of the parts that annoys me the most is the during the Rey's parents revelation. The plot point itself was stupid enough but is how it actively misremembers the scene in the prior film that drives me nuts.

In TROS, Kylo claims he never lied to her about being a nobody.... Which is true... Because he wasn't the person who said it, Rey did ("They were nobody").

"They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing. You're nothing." That is a direct quote from The Last Jedi. Kylo DID say that Rey's parents were nobody, just in a few more words.

[MrL1992]

You know one of the parts that annoys me the most is the during the Rey's parents revelation. The plot point itself was stupid enough but is how it actively misremembers the scene in the prior film that drives me nuts.

In TROS, Kylo claims he never lied to her about being a nobody.... Which is true... Because he wasn't the person who said it, Rey did ("They were nobody").

"They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing. You're nothing." That is a direct quote from The Last Jedi. Kylo DID say that Rey's parents were nobody, just in a few more words.

But before that, Rey says "They were nobody" which changes that connect of Kylo's words, backing up the revelation she and elaborating further.

[Captain Crimson]

Trying to make sense of it? It's simple. Ms. Kennedy is a savvy businesswoman who could see the writing on the wall, so rebranded the EU and IMO, saved it from more lore-breaking retcons, and went to Mr. Filoni as her go-to lore advisor, which the haphazardly bipolar and derivative nature of the sequels definitely fit his MO.

The ST make sense in a clinical business way if you assume that Mr. Filoni was doing what he had for TCW, throwing EU characters here and there, stitching it all together without regard for the lore, continuity, or any other sacred cows. Disney, however, is afraid of shilling out royalties to the EU authors and Mr. Lucas on a big-budget movie that will rake in billions, so they reshuffled and renamed them. Rey became a fusion of Trioculus/Triclops, with the whole relative of Palpatine thing, and Luke Skywalker from both the OT AND DE, with the whole resurrected Palpatine plotline, when she's really Jaina Solo given a new name. Jan Ors takes over Kyle Katarn's story and becomes Jyn Erso. The list goes on and on.

The ST and DC make sense when you realize they were looking to plagiarize the EU rather than pay homage to it. I mean, to all H... the most controversial moment for Luke? They literally built their new sequels, TLJ in particular, around The Crystal Star, where he has suspicions Han is cheating on Leia, so his hand drifts down to his lightsaber. What amazes me is how they ever thought this was a good idea. They show they failed to learn from history. The criticisms leveled at those stories are now playing out on a much larger scale to people who had never even heard of those books.

And there lies the overall thesis statement here. It's too much lifting of the EU into a new, clinical business whole. Half EU, half reboot, for people who said they wanted "creative freedom."

[Captain Crimson]

You CAN'T make sense of it because it was never planned.

Sorry for the double post.

Last thought before signing off tonight. I will contend with you, clearspira. I think they did have a plan in mind. And I would like to have a cordial debate with you on this tomorrow. Been busy lately with RL stuff, but as it stands, I am inclined to believe them on this. It was just executed very badly.

Looking forward to an engaging conversation with you tomorrow!

[McAvoy]

You CAN'T make sense of it because it was never planned.

Sorry for the double post.

Last thought before signing off tonight. I will contend with you, clearspira. I think they did have a plan in mind. And I would like to have a cordial debate with you on this tomorrow. Been busy lately with RL stuff, but as it stands, I am inclined to believe them on this. It was just executed very badly.

Looking forward to an engaging conversation with you tomorrow!

I think there was a plan. It may have been a generalized plan, like what to do with the characters, maybe even proposed storyline for the two sequels after TFW. But I think that was thrown out the window Rian Johnson was given free reign to do what he wanted with TLJ. Criticism of that movie and criticism of TFW being a copy of ANH coupled with the failure of Solo made them change plans.

If the behind the scenes rumors are 100% true then TRS was a huge mess with too many cooks. I doubt Palpatine was part of the original plans from the start.

Let's be honest, the Original Trilogy was constantly changing as we all know. But they took their time in wiriting those movies and took the time to iron out the storyline issues as well.

I have a negative bias against Abrams, but I do think he was part of the problem as well.