In a galaxy far, far away... [Star Wars omnibus thread]

[novicius]

"Lore".

The incandescent crystalline structure that is being constructed in real-time right now @Disney is this:

1. J.J. Abrams wrote a lot of open lore threads into "The Force Awakens".

2. Rian Johnson literally erased most of them.

3. J.J. Abrams is writing & directing Episode IX.


I put real good odds on J.J. retconning a lot of Rian's decisions in this offensive mess of a movie. Looking forward to it.

[Kchrpm]

JJ Abrams also did that with Lost (created numerous open lore threads) and had no idea how to satisfyingly close them. People lambasted him for it. Could he just open up even more, and leave them to "never" be closed? Sure. Rian Johnson is doing the next trilogy, and it will not be based on any characters we have ever met in the movies, so Abrams could leave plenty of open lanes for the new extended universe to swim in.

[Freude am Fahren]

Ah ok, that makes sense.

[Freude am Fahren]

It kinda seems like JJ's m.o. is to purposely create things that don't mean anything, or at least ever get explained.

His original movies (Cloverfield, the other alien ones) basically do just that in 2 hours.

[novicius]

As a SW fan it's honestly easier for me to just write-off J.J.'s nuWars trilogy if he doesn't retcon anything.

I just think it would be god-damned hilarious if he does.

[Rare White Ape]

You’ve gotta remember guys:

1) This new trilogy has had its trajectory planned out for years now. The overall storyline is set in stone, and the scripts come later to flesh out the details.

2) The Lucasfilm Story Group has any canonical movements locked down tight as shit yo. Nothing happens in-universe without their approval. This is mainly to prevent an uncontrolled and convoluted expansion of the universe again, like what happened to the old EU, but also to give each individual story it’s own breathing space.

Which is to say that any conspiracies about Abrams and Johnson wrestling over loose ends, or things being retconned, is probably very unfounded.

[Rare White Ape]

But, that’s not totally discounting the ability of the script writers to monitor audience reaction to the latest movie and make adjustments. Filming of Ep 9 starts in a few months…

But then again, why would you want to satisfy SW fandom? Rabid fans are literally the worst. Rule #1 of franchises like this is no never give the fans 100% of what they want - always leave them on the hook for the hope of a payoff down the track.

[Leon]

Episode 2 definitely popped the bubble of some of set ups from Episode 1 (of this newest trilogy), which was disappointing.

Some of the ranty video reviews are extremely amusing, and do raise some valid points. I can't take them all that seriously, but they do ask some pointed questions of the script, and quite a few of the decisions in this latest movie.

[Yw-slayer]

There's a great article at verge.

Spoiler:

https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2017/1...s-rian-johnson

"More than anything, mourning over Ackbar’s death in the The Last Jedi feels like mourning over fan-made canon. It’s mourning over hypotheticals and a childhood nostalgia that remembers Ackbar as something bigger and better developed than he was. And that’s fine! Nostalgia, memories, and in-jokes are a big part of a fandom. But there’s a weird dichotomy where those stories and meanings start to take precedence in people’s minds over the actual canon. For better or for worse (probably for the better), Star Wars isn’t a democracy — we don’t ask for a show of hands to plot the movies, we put our trust in the creators who make more of the thing we love. And yes, sometimes that means the particular character or plot point we love doesn’t make the cut. But personally, I’d rather have new and controversial choices that advance what the series can be, instead of an endless loop of safer, fan-pleasing decisions that tirelessly recycle the same handful of characters."

Too true. Suck it down, loser star wars fan boys.

Also remember that lots of the rant videos are at least partly clickbait. Whatever the case, I find this outcome great."

[Kchrpm]

1) This new trilogy has had its trajectory planned out for years now. The overall storyline is set in stone, and the scripts come later to flesh out the details.

2) The Lucasfilm Story Group has any canonical movements locked down tight as shit yo. Nothing happens in-universe without their approval. This is mainly to prevent an uncontrolled and convoluted expansion of the universe again, like what happened to the old EU, but also to give each individual story it’s own breathing space.

1) I think you're overestimating how much that trajectory has been locked down. I have a feeling that the writers were given a TON of free reign within the framework, and the interviews I've read seem to reflect that.

Spoiler:

http://ew.com/movies/2017/12/16/the-...rey-parents/2/

Writer-director Rian Johnson prefaced his answer by saying J.J. Abrams and Argo Oscar-winner Chris Terrio are currently writing the next movie right now.

“I can’t speak to what they’re going to do. And there’s always, in these movies, a question of ‘a certain point of view,’” Johnson said, invoking Obi-Wan’s line from Return of the Jedi, explaining why he told Luke his father was dead rather than the truth that he had become Darth Vader.

“But for me, in that moment, Kylo believes it’s the truth,” Johnson added. “I don’t think he’s purely playing chess. I think that’s what he saw when they touched fingers and that’s what he believes. And when he tells her that in that moment, she believes it.”

In other words, in that pivotal scene, he knows what he and his characters believe to be true, but the writers for Episode 9 could be changing that, and he has no knowledge of it.

Similarly, he got to make the decision of whose Rey's parents were, and simply told JJ of his decision.

http://www.slashfilm.com/reys-parents-rian-johnson/

In Last Jedi, we get the revelation that Rey is the child of no one of significant value. Can you talk about how you came to that conclusion?

That was like everything else in the movie, something that I came to through a process of breaking the story and figuring it out. The nice thing was I didn’t… I was very thankful there was no slip of paper that was handed to me that said Rey’s parents are so and so. The fact that I had the freedom to figure it out meant that for this story I could figure out the most dramatically potent answer to that question.

But you talked to J.J. [Abrams] about it.

I did yeah, oh yeah. Yeah. He didn’t, no, he didn’t dictate anything to me.

He didn’t have any idea?

Well, I don’t know. He might have had thoughts in his head who it was going to be, but he didn’t dictate them to me. He left it open, you know.

2) Jason and I were looking today, there is a HUGE berth surrounding this trilogy.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_canon_books

23 years between Aftermath: Empire's End (1 years after ROTJ) and Bloodline (6 years before TFA), which is apparently mostly a political novel about Leia in the Galactic Senate and forming the Resistance. There's also a book about Captain Phasma's history which apparently has an unclear timeline.

Point being that there is no EU for the current trilogy at this time, or really any media at all other than Battlefront II and the movies. Since the next trilogy isn't going to be involving any of the current characters or settings, my guess is that they'll let people go hog wild when Episode 9 is out, because they're never going to touch those people again (until the 2040s when they decide to do it all over again).