Skip to main content

May The Blogpost Be With You

Star Wars is pretty much in my blood. I went to the first one A New Hope while still in the womb. The third film, Return of The Jedi, happened to be one of the first movies I saw in the theater. If you do a search of this blog, you will find the phrase "Star Wars" mentioned in 19 previous posts.

When it was announced that JJ Abrams was kicking the new trilogy off with The Force Awakens, I had no doubt he'd do a great job. Putting aside the references made on Alias and his other shows, when Abrams was tapped to reboot the other space series Star Trek for the big screen, he made no bones about how he was really more a fan of the George Lucas-created world. It showed with that film and it shows here.

Regular readers of my blog know a few relevant facts that you might want to keep in mind reading this review/discussion:
1. Nostalgia and plot points that trigger creative thoughts or my vast storehouse of trivial knowledge will have me squee with delight.
2. I truly believe there is no completely original idea under the sun. Artists must either mix and match or use old ideas in a fresh way.

The Force Awakens does both spectacularly. Even nerds who loved the movie have pointed out the plot borrows heavily from A New Hope.  My response? So what. Even I admit, however, the scene at Maz Kanata's cantina could have been located in a more original, or less used, setting like a clandestine meet-up in space. The scene itself was great and I love the fact she at least says she isn't a Jedi...

Another complaint I hear is that new character Rey's (played by newcomer Daisy Ridley) powers reveal themselves too quickly. These people have either never seen a Star Wars movie or they are these "welders" presidential candidate Marco Rubio wants more of.  Both Anakin and Luke were very strong in the use of the Force. Hell, the prequels implied Anakin birth was an immaculate conception... My guess? Rey is Luke's daughter.  A movie blogger dismissed this theory saying wouldn't Leia know she has a niece? Leia's facial expression when the two women hug could be interpreted to me that she in fact does know... Another suggestion is she's Obi Wan's daughter but that doesn't wash with me. Unless she's much older than she looks, he died like 20 years before she was conceived...

Things I want to know more about:
1. General Grievous in the prequels showed you don't have to be Force-sensitive to use a lightsaber but is stormtrooper training since childhood enough or is there more to Finn than meets the eye?
2. Fans know Chewie had been Han's co-pilot and friend due to a life debt after Han had freed him and presumably other Wookies from slavery. Chewie was understandably pissed when Han died but does Chewie feel any kind of Japanese-style failure or has the life debt expanded to Leia, Luke and the droids so he's OK? Of course, son Ben Solo is also out there in the evil guise of Kylo Ren.
3. Supreme Commander Snoke of the First Order. We know from the prequels and books, though the latter have been nullified as canon, Emperor Palpatine only outwardly had xenophobic policies and was secretly more than willing to use aliens if they served his purposes.  Is it through this Snoke gained power or is there more to this story?

And finally, as a Star Trek fan, it was interesting to note that while is just as much a Jedi genetically as her twin, the Force seems to manifest itself in Leia like Deanna Troi's Betazoid abilities.  I shrugged off the connection she displayed with Luke in Empire Strikes Back  to "twin stuff" (There's no plausible explanation for Luke and Leia making out in A New Hope so I've stopped trying...) but she definitely had an Imzadi connection with Han...           

       

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Random Comments Into My Life

We did yardwork yesterday. I picked up a lot of sticks. Home Depot sucks on a Friday morning. My father and I went to get a new gascan for the mower and there was only one employee around to help us...and she didn't know anything about how these new fangled gas cans work... So due to a bank error when I reset my bank account so I could accurately keep track again, I had like a hundred dollars less in my account than I thought so my last bill payment put me in the hole. This would've been all right and easily fixed if I had been paid for the last week of my mailroom job but, oddly, I still have not been even though it's been weeks. I don't know if I can accurately convey how infuriated this makes me. If it doesn't happen soon, heads will roll! Also yesterday I re-watched the Enterprise episode "Regeneration"; this time with audio commentary from the writers. They made some valid points I hadn't considered on the issue of if this episode screws with...

Remind Me

Remind me to complain how boring and unexciting my life more often because as soon as I did, it got really exciting really fast. Last night, we had four visitors arrive from Korea. They like ziti and garlic bread. Go figure. They will be staying until Sunday night. I told my mother (AKA Hyacinth Bucket) she was making way too much salad but did she listen? No. Now we have this huge-ass bowl of salad in the fridge...What's really irritating is first the fork we use to serve catfood went missing now Susie's dish is missing as well... Tomorrow, I have a physical to prepare for my surgery then I go to my orthopedist's to fill out consent forms. Woo Hoo! I hope I can find time for a haircut as well because... Friday, I have a job interview at a library in Massachusetts! It's a reference job but I also will be conducting a book group. I've never done that but it sounds really fun. Sure, I'll be stuck reading many book that sucks but isn't that what book group i...

The Neglected Blog

With the discovery of the time-waster that is Facebook, I find I no longer need to waste my time here. This is mainly why I haven't done any quizzes or other memes here in a cat's age. (I'm not a dog person...) They're all over there. Also why tell you all about what's not going on in my life when I can better waste time by making fake money off Lindsay Lohan's hi-jinks? Added to that, you can regularly follow the mundaness that is my life on Twitter. I don't want to say I'll never blog again. Frankly, this site and I have chronicled much over the years and I'm not ready to give it up fully. Every so often, something comes up worth sharing. Case in point, Thursday night, there was a retirement celebration for our outgoing OT professor complete with a guest lecturer from Boston, dinner and a vesper service designed by the professor herself. It was good Thai food, though admittedly not my favorite Asian cuisine, and saw many people I knew. My parents c...