Thursday, December 24, 2015

100 Questions about Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Star Wars Episode VII:  The Force Awakens is now in theaters.  I'm not going to review it here, I'm just going to ask 100 questions about this movie.  The average moviegoer will love this movie.  It sets up a new direction for the franchise and kicks things off with a lot of familiarity and fun.  I don't know who said it first... but it is true that 'Everything that is old, is made new again.'

I am not going to state whether I like this movie or not, just that there are a lot of questions about what happens before, during, or after the setting of the movie.  I'm excluding anything that might have been written in any of the new books, so if it's already been printed somewhere, feel free to mention in the comments.  This is just based on what we see in the movie.
SO...
These are in NO PARTICULAR ORDER...
If you haven't seen the movie, you should not go any further.  No... seriously... don't read this if you haven't seen it because it WILL RUIN your movie going experience.

****SPOILERS***                  ***SPOILERS***

;******((((SPOILERS below))))*******;

1) Where does the First Order come from?  - Essential question ... I understand this is really just the Empire renamed, but if it is... why is it renamed and is there any significance to it?
2) Why is there a Republic and a Resistance?  - Is the Resistance like the CIA or UN?  or are these two really just the same thing with the Resistance arm being a little more militant?
3) Was that the Republic that was just blown up? - What does that mean to intergalactic politics?
4) Why is there a map to Luke Skywalker when he is in hiding? - Who made this map??
5) Why does R2-D2 all of a sudden decide to wake up and show the map? - I've heard people say it's because of his proximity to BB-8 or Rey... but you'd have to make a pretty big leap since it's never even hinted at in the movie that Rey or BB-8 would be of any significance to R2.
6) Who is Lor San Tekka (Max Von Sydow's character name according to IMDB)? - Why is Max Von Sydow in this movie for 5 seconds?
7) How did Kylo Ren know Lor San Tekka? - He certainly knew he looked old, which implied he knew him from something prior.
8) Why does he give Poe the piece of the map that R2 apparently doesn't have? - So this is like an old school pirate map that is broken up so only a combined effort will pay off?  really?
9) Where did Poe come from? - Can we get someone named Antilles in the next move?
10) Who is Rey's family? - I imagine this will be explored in future movies.
11) How did Rey learn to pilot a ship? - Apparently ANY ship.
12) How did Rey learn how to fix a ship? - Or any of the other ship related things she could do?
13) How did Rey learn to use a lightsaber? - She could use a staff pretty well also... hmmm...
14) Who was that she left with as a little girl? - Was that Unkar Plutt? That might explain some of her skills, but brings into question her parents sanity.
15) Was her vision past, present, future, all rolled into one? - Looked like some of Luke's past and other words directed at her future.
16) How did she manage to score living alone in a downed AT-AT? - Seems like someone would have challenged her for that prime location?
17) Why is Rey squeezing drops of water out of a canister when there is clearly a huge pool of it for the giant hog-beast? - Boil that up or something... Finn didn't seem to have any ill effects from getting in there.
18) Why is FN-2187 (Finn) the only stormtrooper that has a conscience?
19) If Finn and Poe crash in a ship on a flat sand planet, how do they not see each other? - Poe just vanishes and pops up later.  It looks like Finn was quite a good distance away from the crash, so perhaps he just took awhile to get there and Poe didn't wait around.
20) How did Poe get off Jakku? - Did he just give up on finding BB-8 then after insisting that they go back to Jakku for him?  Did he hear that BB-8 had left the planet with Rey and some other guy?
21) Why did Teedo just give up BB-8 to Rey? - Didn't he have just as much right to it as her?
22) Are white and orange BB droids really odd? - Everyone appeared to notice that he was THE DROID everyone was looking for. Poe did say he was one of a kind... and we didn't see any others...
23) Was BB-8 finding Rey an accident? - Why was Poe on the same planet as Rey?  Why was Lor San Tekka on the same planet as Rey?
24) Does BB stand for Beach Ball? - When he was bouncing around, he kinda sounded like one.
25) Finn was a stormtrooper that worked in sanitation? - OK... that brings up 100 more questions.
26) LIKE:  Everyone just throws all their chips in on this stormtrooper deserter knowing how to take down the shields without even so much as checking his credentials?
27) OR: Why is a stormtrooper that works in sanitation on planet with an elite group headed by Phasma?
28) Why was Finn about to get as far away as possible and then, after seeing her taken by Kylo, decide he was going to lead the group back to Starkiller Base? - That's a long way to go for a girl you just met.
29) Will Finn come out of the coma the same as he was before? - Or will we see some cybernetics possibly? I realize it was his back, but he may need something to get back on his feet.
30) Does Finn have force powers? - He handled the lightsaber pretty well overall.  Probably had some training with that sort of thing as a trooper.
31) Why would Luke abandon everything and hide? - Shame? Fear? What drove him there?  An event at his academy is mentioned, but giving up seems rather unlike Luke the Jedi Master.
32) So Luke trained new jedi at an academy, but all of them were killed? - Hope we get that story eventually.
33) How long has Luke been gone? - Supposedly this movie is set 30 years after ROTJ, and Luke spent some time training some new Jedi, so has he been missing 20 years?  10 years?
34) Who is Maz Kanata really? - Han apparently has known her for awhile.
35) Why does Maz have Luke's lightsaber? - Where did she get it?
36) Han manages to take Rey directly to the place where she will find Luke's lightsaber? - How convenient.
37) How did Han Solo find them on the Falcon so quickly? - I'm guessing his ship was programmed to alert if the falcon's signature came across at any time... and he happened to be in just the right part of the galaxy?
38) How long had Han been without the Falcon?
39) AND...Why is Han Solo, hero of the rebellion, back to a (fairly poor) smuggler?  I get that he's also 'hiding' in his own way from the fact that his kid's a jerk, but does he really need the money?  Child support?  What?
40) Was Chewbacca more understandable in this movie? - It seemed like maybe he learned a little English syntax in his years with Han.
41) What happened to C-3PO's arm? - Makes little difference, but still curious?
42) What is the deal with the giant holographic Supreme Leader Snoke?  Is he really big, or does he have little man syndrome?  Wizard of Oz anyone?
43) Why would you have mocap guru Serkis play a character that could have been done (and perhaps done better) with makeup?
44) How did Snoke get his injuries? - Maybe he's messed with Luke before?
45) Why was Captain Phasma so quick to comply with a traitor and his group in shutting down shields? - Seems a pretty big waste of a character really.
46) Starkiller base was a planet with a gun through it's core? - Anyone care about science in a science fiction movie?  This planet gun had atmosphere and trees and syphoned stars... is that right?
47) How far could that gun beam travel and how fast and split multiple times too? - Anyone care about science in a science fiction movie?
48) How does a superweapon have such relaxed security?  Han, Chewbacca, Finn, and Rey are all just wandering about Starkiller Base with very little concern really from anyone.
49) Is Kylo Ren dead now? Is Phasma? - I understand that Phasma and Hux are not and assume that Kylo also is not, but it looks like their gun planet blew pretty quickly.
50) Why did Kylo go bad? - Another on this list that I think we'll discover eventually.
51) How did Kylo end up with Vader's helmet? - It feels like a lot of important information is missing in between Ep VI and VII.
52) Kylo Ren... Knights of Ren... is that what we saw in Rey's vision? - I imagine that was the Knights of Ren, but I feel like I missed something?
53) Still don't know what's with Kylo's crossguard? - But we know it can sting a bit. Apparently it's exhaust?  Does that mean it's a poorly constructed saber?
54) What is up with Kylo's temper tantrums? - Angst is one thing, but sheesh.
55) Why were so many of the scenes in the trailers not in the movie (or as in the Knights of Ren... barely)? - This was irritating to me when it was all said and done.
56) Why no B-wings, A-wings, U-wings... ?
57) Why no Tie-Advanced or other model Ties? - Hasbro must be livid.
58) Why are there so few recognizable species from the original trilogy in this movie? - I saw a Sullustan and a Mon Calamari... did I miss something?
59) No Twi'leks?????????????
60) Are Rey and Finn a thing?  Frey?  Rinn?
61) Is Coruscant still a thing? - The planet that blows up is not Coruscant, but is there still some government there?
62) Are there any other Jedi out there? - Apparently there are still some force sensitives at least at the time Luke was actively looking and training.
63) Are the Knights of Ren all ex-Jedi? - Did Kylo end up with a group that followed him instead of Skywalker?  Are they still around or is Kylo the only one left?
64) Stopping blaster beams in mid flight is a power now? - Apparently Vader didn't know that one.
65) Can't Jedi sense other Jedi? - Kylo couldn't sense Rey's ability until he tried to mind-read her?  I guess there is precedence for this in the old EU, but who knows what is and isn't now that they've wiped that slate clean. Force powers have always been rather arbitrary.
66) Speaking of EU... Why use Ben Solo when the EU had a Ben Skywalker and a Jacen/Jaina Solo?  Jacen became a bad guy in the EU, and he was Han and Leia's kid...  Seems part of The Force Awakens' storyline was just lifted off of the Solo and Skywalker kids.
67) I get why they ditched the EU (don't like it), but was it really so impossible to write a story that didn't throw out the EU? - Repeating Ep IV with some twists wasn't that original of a story really.
68) Why did Han Solo have to die?  Was it just to give Kylo some more angst? He needed more angst?
69) We didn't need a funeral or a hero ceremony, but didn't it seem like they glossed over the death of a MAJOR character pretty quickly? - Han Solo DIED!!!!  HAN SOLO... That's like killing Harry Potter in the first Harry Potter movie.
70) Is Rey going to travel with Chewie now? - So Rey is the new Han and Luke combined?  What does that make Finn, the new Leia?
71) Death Star IV coming soon? - Since Episodes IV, VI, and VII had Death Stars, should we assume that VIII won't, but IX will?  Roman numerals are weird.
72) How DO you get a Rathtar in a cargo hold? - This was the least Star Wars thing I've seen in any of the Star Wars movies.
73) Are we going to see more of the Kanjiklub and Guavian Death Gangs? - I'm hoping for more of these guys in an 'Underworld' TV show.  Heard rumblings... perhaps rumors.
74) What was that bread stuff that Rey made? - I wish I had some of that.
75) Did I see a Jawa on Jakku? - I really think I did, but they were all covered in robes, so it was hard to tell.... they could have all been like that little metal faced guy that yelled at Rey.
76) Where was Constable Zuvio? - This guy has 2 different action figures and then isn't in the film?
77) Where was Sarco Plank? - I saw Goss Toowers, PZ, Unkar's Thug, and Teedo, albeit briefly.  Seems many of the action figures didn't fare so well in the final cut.
78) Where were the speeder bikes? - Another thing made as a toy that seemed set to appear, but did not.
79) How fast can BB-8 go? - He seemed to move pretty well when he wanted to!
80) How come Poe gets a BB-series droid and it seems everyone else got an R-series? - I saw several droids including R2-KT (YEAH)!  but only one BB.
81) Why didn't General Leia get a better wardrobe? - Seemed pretty drab for a former princess.
82) Why is Leia hugging Rey at the end of the movie and not Chewie? - She doesn't even know Rey (or does she?)
83) Does Rey go back to see if her family may have shown up before joining whole-heartedly with the Resistance? - She seemed pretty intent on going back, but Maz may have made her see the truth.
84) Does Luke have a ship on that island? - How does he eat?
85) Is Luke crazy or evil or just sad now? - His look said a lot, but it is difficult to know the direction this will take now that he's been found.
86) Is there a reason they are searching for Luke, or just because he's powerful and they could use his help? - The first line of the crawl is "Luke is missing".  The movie wasn't really about finding Luke though... it was about finding the missing piece of the map.
87) Phasma seems to have been disgraced... is she going to be the new Boba Fett then? - Could be fun right?
88) A lot of First Order guys got blown up.  Is there a lot more somewhere? - We saw one Star Destroyer and the big Starkiller Death Star.  We should assume there is more, right?
89) How does Rey understand BB-8 and Chewbacca? - It seems it's not uncommon to understand either, others like the nurse at the Resistance base understand Chewie.  So maybe the question is, Why doesn't Finn understand? This must be an experience thing.
90) Will there be more clones in coming movies? - Clones are mentioned by Kylo
91) Will we get a mother (Mara Jade?) onscreen for Rey? - assuming Luke is her father... could it be that Mara Jade will make an appearance?  This would soften the blow of losing Han!
92) What happens with the Resistance and the Republic after Ep VII? - Assuming there still is a Republic... and that the Resistance is still going to fight the First Order.
93) How is Luke going to turn the tide against the First Order? - He's powerful, but how powerful?  Will he train Rey and possibly others?
94) That's actually a great question... in the 30 years since ROTJ, just HOW POWERFUL has Luke become? - Will he have to work his way back, or will he be up to it from the moment he comes back into the world?
95) Will C-3PO and R2-D2 have expanded roles now? - R2 went with Rey and Chewie to find Luke.  I'm assuming C-3PO stays with Leia.
96) Will BB-8 go back to being just another astomech working with Poe or have a new role? - R2 saved everyone in almost every movie... I hope BB-8 continues to shine in the next few.
97) Will we have to wait until Ep IX to get a lot of answers? - The Force Awakens has opened things up, but what kind of spin will the next one take?  I hope answers to some of these questions come eventually.
98) Any chance we'll see a 4 hour director's cut of this movie on Blu-Ray? - Just from reading stuff that has come out of JJ and other people's mouths, it seems like a lot was cut and some of it might be very worthwhile adding back in.  A little explanation can go a long way... especially in that big gap between VI and VII.
99) Is this the last time we see Han Solo? - OK... so he's pretty dead, but I've seen some pretty dead characters in many movies come back.  I'm assuming he'll be in some flashbacks or I guess I HOPE they'll explain a little of what we've seen in the next movie.
100) **Saw someone else post this one** Why was Mark Hamill at that first table read photo? - I imagine originally had had a line or two but somehow they managed to cut his part down to nothing.  Must have been strange for Hamill to find out he's not really in this one...