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Star Wars?

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I saw the first Star Wars film when it came out and quite enjoyed it as far as I can remember, but felt no need to see any of the others. ..however Twang Jr is keen to watch the series en famille…so tell me, Massive, is it better to watch them in order of release, or prequels first in literal historic sequence? Or is a selection of the best ones enough?

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Comments

  1. Do not, under any circumstances, watch the prequels first. They are long as hell, terrible movies (bar maybe the third one) and you risk not even making it to A New Hope.

    I’d watch the original trilogy and then see how you go with The Phantom Menace.

  2. They only made three Star Wars films, right?

    Seriously, I tried to watch the original three en famille during the summer holidays. Made it halfway thru Empire. They loved it but there was no impetus to watch all of them. I think I’ll watch the original three again over Christmas and then see the new one towards new year. I have no desire to watch the prequels a second time. Saw them once in the cinema and that was enough.

    A friend went to watch all six with his kids, in advance of the new movie. He noted that the end of the third prequel was quite gruesome.

    There are nerdy online theories about how you should watch the series (nerds? Online? Reeeeeally?) including versions of the prequels recut into shorter movies, but that way madness lies. Since the new one follows on from Return of the Jedi, I’m happy to just watch the original three.

  3. I got IV V and VI (the original 3) in a little box set from Tesco for £11 a couple of weeks ago. My sons have the others but have advised me they’re not worth bothering about, so I haven’t seen them.

  4. Star Wars is a colossal bore now.
    Shan’t be bothering with it any more.

    My nephew Bart and his son Jack will of course be terribly excited about this latest addition to the highly lucrative franchise. No doubt they’ll be dressing up in their Stormtrooper onesies to watch at least one of the movies over the coming holiday.

  5. Startrooper onesies? Come on. Fess up. Who here owns one of those?

    I don’t know what the slebs have been wearing to the premiere of the new movie (which I am looking forward to).

    But does it match the OTT, Bacofoil magnificence of Sheila B?

  8. Well, I’m going to see the new one tonight, and I am colossally excited, so pshaw to all you haterz.

    As far as the OP goes, watch the originals first. There are some decent bits in the prequels, but there are quite a few absolutely terrible bits as well.

  10. Haterz gunna hate.

    Personally I LOVE the sight and sound of people being excited about stuff. Any stuff. Whether it’s the new Stars Wars film, a World Cup, the Olympics, even The Great British Bake Off. It’s brilliant. Nothing is more intoxicating than enthusiasm. If you sneer at that you sneer at life.

    • Bang on.

      The only difference between Star Wars fans going to films dressed as Tusken Raiders and music fans going to gigs in awful band t-shirts (crap fancy dress if ever there was) is the specific area of interest.

      I love a bit of crazy enthusiasm. I don’t understand sports fans, but I’m slightly envious and wistful of their passion. For some reason that passion infuriates some of my fellow non-sport-lovers. I don’t get that.

      • I think sports fans (football and to some extent rugby) are often different because they congregate in large crowds away from the match venue, dominate areas where their game is being shown (pubs, hotel bars) and generally believe everyone enjoys watching it. The noise they make pisses me off in the same way that loud music bleeding from cars does.
        Grumpy? Maybe, but football in particular is very hard to avoid when something like the world cup is on. I’d like to see the same amount of coverage given to music but even Glastonbury only has partial coverage with broadcasts moved around between two or three channels whereas the schedules on BBC1 and ITV are routinely cleared for relatively minor football matches.

  11. Admittedly it’s not quite a MJFJ (‘Michael Jackson funeral job’) but, if one also takes into account an imminent jazz album by David Bowie, it may well be time to batten down the hatches.

  13. There may be an exception to the rule (‘Toy Story’?) but anything that even hints at an…..erm…..franchise should be dispatched of as efficiently as the Italians dispatch Wayne Rooney led England teams every 2nd summer.

  14. Do the original three first

    After that, unless you really want to go through the prequels in order I’d go for Revenge of The Sith

    It’s the best of the prequels, to a certain extent the first two are just setting up the story for what happens in Revenge of the Sith, plus it’s got enough decent action sequences to get you through the the dodgy dialogue and wooden acting.

  15. Original three. There’s almost no point in the prequels at all. The writing (and, from a 2015 perspective, the CGI) is fist-bitingly shit, although – saying that – my girls like the prequels fine.

    But still. Originals first.

  16. I should be right in the zone for Star Wars as a 48 year old who was just the right age when the first film came out, but I couldn’t see what the fuss was about then and can’t now. The first three were entertaining children’s films of our youth but hardly great cinema (as you will probably have guessed I haven’t sought out the prequels).

    Then again, if it wasn’t for the pleasure of chuntering on about old bollocks that loads of people don’t care about then none of us would be on this board. Fill you boots, fanboys! I raise a glass to your enthusiasm.

  17. Original three ordered from Dodgers. I am sure that will be more than enough. Then we can do the latest one at a big screen somewhere over the hols. Ta peeps.

  18. I remember being taken to see the first one when it came out. It was alright. I enjoyed it but was bemused by the fuss.

    I let ‘Empire’ pass me by on original release though I was taken with ‘Return of the Jedi’ which remains my favourite if the whole lot. Someone says ‘Jabba wanker’ in it. Fnarkle.

    We were in New York when ‘The Phantom Menace’ was released. We saw it in a cinema on Union Square. I was thrilled by that fact alone. Which was a good job because the premise of a trade embargo driving the plot was a chip-pisser from the get go.

    • Lovely quote DFB. But there are in fact a whole bunch of us here who are thrilled to bits about going to see it.

      Not. sadly, my pal DuCool. Just been out for a very pleasant drink with him and some other pals and of course The Force Awakens was mentioned. To his credit, he’s a man who knows what he likes and he explained why he won’t be going to see it:

      it’s not in black and white

      there’s a fast-moving plot with a lot of action and exciting things happening all the time

      it’s not Eastern European

      there is little profound analysis of the social and economic conditions of the central characters

      it’s not glum enough

      Sorry! I made half of those up. But I can see where he’s coming from.

      Sorry! Must end now. Time to iron my star trooper onesie.

    • I enjoy feeling superior people who enjoy populist culture, DFB. You obviously enjoy feeling superior to people who feel superior to people who enjoy populist culture. Which is fair enough. But, tbh, I also enjoy feeling superior to people who feel superior to people who feel superior to people who enjoy populist culture. May I ask, do you also by any chance enjoy feeling superior to people who feel superior to people who feel superior to people who… oh never mind, I’m even boring myself now. And my head is starting to hurt.

  21. Just back home. **NO SPOILERS**
    I bloody love it. 2 hrs 10 went in a flash. It rattles along, doesn’t need too much knowledge of the back story and looks fantastic. I adore the last 2 Star Trek films, so I was confident I was going to be safe in the hands of director JJ Abrams.
    I saw the first one on the first day. I was bored by the last 3. This one sits alongside the first 3 perfectly.

    • @poppy-succeeds With the caveat that I don’t know the seven year old in question, I’d say it’s probably okay, especially if they’re closer to eight than they are six. My own eight year old was fine with it. There are definitely some dark moments, but nothing substantially worse than Vader in the original trilogy.

        • I haven’t seen it, but I’m taking my boy who is nearly 7. He’s fine with the original films, which I would suggest would get the 12A rating these days if they were new. I’m presuming the child in question has seen the others…

          The original (ie 1977 one) has one of the heroes killing somebody with casual 70s anti hero coolness, somebody else gets their arm cut off – cue shot of severed limb and blood. One of the main characters ‘dies’ in a battle with a very scary black armoured fellow. A whole planet of people get blown up. The hero’s aunt and uncle get slaughtered complete with shot of their burnt skeletons. The slaughter and subsequent funeral pyre of the jawas. That was all in a film given a ‘U’ certificate.

          I haven’t seen it, but nothing I’ve seen or read is going to convince me that it’s going to be worse than that or Anakin Skywalker’s actions in the last of the prequels.

          • That’s interesting.

            I’ve been mulling over what age I can show A New Hope to Little Jnr (5, going on 6). I’d thought of all the stuff you mention above (plus that sand person who jumps up and shocks Luke, and the weird torture droid they threaten Leia with), but it does have a U certificate, and a quick check online and with friends and neighbours suggested that plenty of other 5 year olds are watching it without any issue.

            Has anyone else on here shown this movie to a kid of around that age, and how did it work out if so?

            • My boy is 7 next year. He saw A New Hope when he was 4 going on 5. To be honest with you, a lot of the darker stuff went over his head originally. The thing that bothered him most was the bloodied arm – but that’s because he has a blood phobia.

              So unless your young un is particularly sensitive the worst thing it will probably do to him is encourage a Star Wars obsession…

            • Being so familiar with it, I sorted my own trigger warnings. I wasn’t keen on my little boy (then six, now 11) seeing the bit where Vader lifts the lackey up by his throat, the arm bit, or the torture-machine bit, to name three scenes that spring to mind. But I knew they were coming so I put my hands over his eyes.

              But that’s curled up on the sofa together, with a mum who knows the film inside out. I’m more concerned about taking my younger boy to Force Awakens.

              (Okay, I’m *mainly* concerned he’ll need taking out, and I’ll miss the film myself.)

  25. @davebigpicture I can seem to reply up there, but I find the avoidance of football absolutely effortless. I don’t drink in places with large vinyl Sky Sports banners and it has no hope of encroaching into my house because I don’t have a digital box and watch hardly any terrestrial TV. I don’t really recognise the unavoidable ubiquity of football.

    • I spend a lot of time working away from home so my experience is very different to yours and although I watch less and less terrestrial TV these days, I still notice the disruption to the schedules as well as trailers for “unmissable” sporting events.

  26. I can’t see that enthusiasm for Star Wars or sports of any kind is any difference to say continuing enthusiasm for some musicians who were at their peak 50 years ago.

    The sneering, too, that too cool for school attitude is probably more juvenile than somebody dressing up in costume.

  27. This new Star Wars film is a reminder that the puritans who used to patrol high art have now moved into popular culture.

    I know a number of people who, like me, have never seen any of the films. They have been scolded for this by people who hold the view that art is good for you, a kind of moral vitamin, and that you have a duty to have experienced certain works and understood them correctly.

    It is no more than amusing, but it’s odd that I know people who work in the traditional arts who would never dream of making a judgement on someone because they’re not interested in Bach or Titian, but would be keen to explain their own enthusiasm simply by reference to the works. Whereas if you like, dislike, or even worse, have no opinion on, Adele, Doctor Who or Harry Potter, you can expect detailed judgements on your social attitudes and intellectual rigour. Of course most people just enjoy stuff, and don’t care if anybody else does or doesn’t, but there are people out there itching to set you homework, and their marking will be tough

  28. Yeah, but David, the only people doing the sneery judging on here are the ones who think people’s adolescent obsession with THE film of their youth is somehow contemptible, while being happy to write regular and lengthy essays about their obsession with the music of their own youth.

    Haven’t seen any Star Wars fan on this thread saying anyone who doesn’t like SW is… well, anything. All the insults are coming one way.

      • If there’s one advertising slogan that puts me of seeing a movie or TV show, @david-kendal, it’s: This is the one film you must see this year. Such a presumptuous attitude.

        There are no films, high- or low-brow that I must see. Although there are a lot that I might enjoy or find intellectually satisfying and I’m open to persuasion about doing so. But the argument that everyone just has to see, for example, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Draughtman’s Contract is such tosh.

        So as you say, let’s just go on enjoying stuff that we like and not worry too much about what other people are into.

      • I loved Hawk The Slayer when I was 11. I’m one of the few people in the world who still listens to the soundtrack regularly. It’s great, a big disco Abba meets the Theme From Black Beauty rip off.

        I may just watch the film again this weekend. On my own with a cup of tea and some digestives.

    • Lighten up Bob.

      Even as we speak comedians and late show hosts across America are doing long routines about the new Star Wars movie and its nerdy fans. It’s par for the course, in exactly the same way we constantly take the piss out of Morrissey. Macca and Ringo.

      No need to get your knickers in a twist.

    • I agree it cuts both ways – I was mainly thinking of conversations I’ve heard, rather than this thread. I don’t think there’s anything wrong at all with discussing any form of art, or explaining why a film means a lot to you. It’s just the idea that somehow there’s a judgement to be made about someone on the basis of what they like or dislike that I don’t follow. A record collection is just a record collection, not a statement.

    • I don’t have a dog in this fight as I am not a Trekkie but also not bothered by people dressing up to go to movies if they want to. But it does look a bit silly to the unbeliever, you have to agree Bob. Sillier than someone in a band tee shirt. Let’s face facts.

      • They look silly, but if they’re enjoying themselves then that instantly puts them ahead of whoever is harrumphing at them over on the sidelines.

        I’ve dressed up to go to the cinema precisely once: Rocky Balboa, many years ago. Dressing gowns and boxing gloves – a whole bunch of us turned up as Rocky and sprinted up and down the stairs at Holloway Road Odeon to the cheers of other patrons. Those who weren’t quietly judging us and telling their Internet friends, anyway. We had an absolutely brilliant time, and it added to the occasion.

        I’m off to Star Wars tonight. I’m not a superfan, but I am a nerd, and it’s therefore part of my DNA. If I was told that the gang I’m going with were all going to go as Jedi then I’d 100% be pulling the dressing gown back on and frantically sourcing a toy light saber, because it would be funny and would make what is already a special occasion for us all that bit more special still. Frankly, I’m always up for a bit of fancy dress if it will liven things up.

        Personally, I think anyone who has an issue with that is simply a buzzkill. I’m sure we’ve all been a bit silly and irreverent at least once in our lives (I’ve seen what you lot wore back in the 60s and it makes Star Wars fancy dress seem positively demure), and if you want to spend your time looking down your nose at the nerds then that’s fine by me, but let’s not pretend it’s any more likely to get you laid than putting on a daft outfit and having a laugh with your mates.

        Finally, I think the notion of anyone on here look down on nerds is farcical. I hate to break it to you, darlings, but if you’re posting regularly on here then you’re a nerd. No one in the real world gives a toss about the vast majority of stuff we discuss on here, nor should they.

        Live and let live, I say (and that includes folks live David, who couldn’t care less about Star Wars). Now, if you’ll excuse me, this Boba Fett outfit isn’t going to assemble itself.

        • Holloway Odeon. I saw Star Wars way back when, early 78 there. Then I saw Empire there (twice on the same day, we hid down between the seats). Return Of The Jedi took me to Odeon Marble Arch. But I did see the first two on a double bill summer of 1982. That was amazing.

          Saw Grease there too. Star Trek The Motion Picture – did I see that there? Or was that at the old Coronet – before it became a Bingo Hall then Weatherspoons. Yes it was. The Coronet also used to show Gaelic Football on a Sunday lunchtime.

  29. “A record collection is just a record collection, not a statement.”

    You’re playing with fire there, David! Sounds pretty heretical to me. In the Middle Ages, you’d have been burnt at the stake for writing that.

  30. I’ve never managed to watch any of them for any length of time, mainly because I find them flat, uninvolving and uninspiring, but also because I was too old for them at the time (they’re movies for children as is obvious from posters talking about watching them with 6 year olds) and am way too old for them now.
    I loved Pinky and Perky for a short while when I was a nipper, but I swiftly grew out of that. I also enjoyed Sreve Reeves sword and sandal epics when I was about 8 years old, not for the homoeroticism obviously. They’re unwatchable past that age, unless viewed through the lens of irony.
    Star Wars aside, I’m rather tired of grown ‘adults’ donning fancy dress to go to the cricket, the darts or whatever and behaving like hyperactive children. An infantilised culture.

  32. There should always be room in life for pure unadulterated daft fun.
    If dressing up to watch a movie makes people happy I’m all for it even though I’d never do it myself.
    All a part of life’s rich tapestry.

  33. “As we journey through life, discarding baggage along the way, we should keep an iron grip, to the very end, on the capacity for silliness. It preserves the soul from desiccation.” Humphrey Lyttelton

  34. Amidst all the fuss about the new film, l’d like to put in a good word the Clone Wars animated series. It really is top notch. Great graphics, interesting plot lines, quality voice acting and lots of action. Give it a try.

    • There are some films where the spoiler (plot twist) is there all there is to them. I watched Planet of the Apes a couple of weeks ago , knowing the ending, but interested to see what the rest of it was like. One of the dullest films I’ve ever seen. Charlton Heston finding the half-submerged Statue of Liberty is all there is to it. But when I first saw Casablanca, I also knew how it ended, and the romantic leads not going off together in a Hollywood film is a real plot twist. It was still a great film, because of the drama and characterization along the way. I wouldn’t want to bring down someone’s enjoyment by telling them what the plot of a film is, but if it is completely ruined by a spoiler, it’s probably not much of a film.

  37. I may be wrong here, but I suspect that Ancient Greek had no word for spoiler. The prologue let all the cats out of the bag before the thespians had even kicked off.

    I suppose that a play called something like The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark had a kind of in-built spoiler. This will end in tears rather than beers.

    The playgoers knew that the play would not end with Ham and his pal Yorick quaffing a few pints of Tuborg and enjoying Y’s infinite jests.

    • All plays in those days ended with some motleyed twerp like Tarleton coming on and dancing a jig, even with the stage strewn with bodies. So effectively all plays ended like The Life of Brian.

  38. Even BBC Radio 3 is in on the Star Wars hype.
    On my way home a while ago, after a little bit of Xmas pressie shopping, I was treated to John Williams’ less-than-impressive full score for “Revenge Of The Sith” courtesy of the Beeb’s “serious music” station.
    Tired old derivative shite, in my opinion, with pretty much every single 20th century film soundtrack cliché in place.

    Isn’t this series of movies supposed to be set sometime in the future? The music sounds more like the early ’70s to me. Where’s Jerry Goldsmith when you need him?

    Is that Storm Trooper over there still wearing flares?

  40. Regarding the ’34’ diversion, I recall being ushered into a changing room to try on some slacks, having assured my wife that there was no need and these would be fine, and emerging some time later in order to ask if they came in a slightly larger size. The assistant bustled off to retrieve a slightly more generous trouser, pausing only to remark to Mrs K. “They’re all a thirty four when they come in…”

  42. Saw the film yesterday. A sharp return to form – really, really good. Straightforward story, coupla nice twists, not too much in the way of dark contemplations and plenty of lasers, spaceships and robots.

    I love the comic device uses when there’s a bleep from a droid or Chewy goes “raaar” and the other character replies conversationally, like “OK, well, you’ll just have to trust me on this one”.

  43. I sense I’m going to be in the minority here, but…. I wasn’t really sold on The Force Awakens. There were some great moments, but the final third is a hot mess, and the whole thing is a lot campier than I’d have liked. Daisy Ridley did a great job though – props to her.

      • Well, all a matter of opinion, sense I’m in the minority, lots of things I liked, etc etc

        *MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD*

        Things I didn’t like about the final third:

        * Trying to tell waaaaay too much story in too short a space of time. There’s barely even time to show reaction to the death of a major character, because they’ve only got 30 seconds to spare between Rey getting back from her mission and blasting off to find Skywalker;

        * partly as a consequence, it’s edited all to hell – it would have been impossible to follow what was going on in the final air battle if we didn’t have a control room full of Star Wars greatest hits aliens expositioning everything for us;

        * non-Jedis shouldn’t be using lightsabers. That’s not a minor fanboy quibble, it’s something fairly intrinsic to the franchise;

        * likewise, Jedis need training. Luke is an uber powerful Jedi. He still needed Obi Wan – he wasn’t just getting into lightsaber fights and pulling mind control stunts within ten seconds of his “awakening”. This is why all the Jedi and Sith have a sensei. Based on the last third of this movie, Rey has presumably gone to find Luke so she can train him;

        * Kylo Ren. Superb intro scene, great character, love Adam Driver. Totally nerfed from the moment he takes his mask off and reveals himself to be emo Vader. He goes from terrifying to pitiful. It doesn’t help that he spends half his time throwing his toys out of the pram and the other half apologising to a 40 ft tall zombie golem. In the first half he comes across as even more powerful than Vader. By the end I was wondering who would win in a fight between him and R2;

        * Too many call backs to A New Hope. It’s cute at first, but by the time they drop the garbage compactor line it had all become waaaay too on the nose. I was half expecting Lando to show up. I could also have massively done without C-3PO and another trench run;

        *Carrie Fisher looks like she’s CGI. Uncanny valley klaxon;

        * comedy overload towards the end. You can’t expect to build pathos around the death of a central character when you’ve been cracking the funnies thirty seconds before;

        * zero chemistry between Han and Leia;

        * the crushing certainty as it wore on that Rey and Ren will have to be related.

        I could go on, and on, and on. I really enjoyed lots of it (all the ruined AT-ATs and Star Destroyers were ace, Rey is a great character), but if you strip away the Star Wars overcoat it’s not a very well made film, even by blockbuster standards, and virtually everything that’s good about it is lifted from the originals.

        I’m sure others see it very differently to me. I wanted to love it, very much so, and I was right there with it for the first third, but it had lost me by the end.

        Sorry to be so negative. I don’t want to kill the fun, and I wouldn’t have moaned on about it if you’d not asked.

        OOAA

        • Good points. Most of them either didn’t bother me or I don’t see them as flaws (i.e I was in floods when Leia and Han met).

          A couple of points I’d like to address though. I really enjoyed the onion-layer-like way the film stripped away Kylo Ren’s badassness. He wasn’t fully in charge of his own power. His training was far from complete. And the more that fact became apparent, the more I wanted to see where those flaws would take him. By the time of his fight with Rey he was wounded, weakened further from kicking Fin’s ass, and in a traumatised mental state, and I thought that the two newbies doing battle — Rey getting to grips with her burgeoning skills, Kylo Ren, reduced and faced with his own inadequacies (not least of which was his unstable, homemade lightsaber) — made for an all-time great duel.

          I agree that Rey’s skillz were potentially problematic, but I think it was covered to a certain extent (the moment during the duel). Also (theory) as Luke’s daughter she’s presumably very powerful anyway. And thirdly there was a suggestion that she somehow leeched some of Kylo Ren’s power, Rogue-from-X-Men style. Either way, it didn’t bother me,

          As an aside, I loved it when the stormtrooper sighed before he dropped his blaster (he played by Daniel Craig, by the way).

          In all, I thought it rocked. So hard. It certainly wasn’t a daring film (and I guess that’s somewhat understandable, given the real-world stakes). But it was beautifully executed.

          • I think the whole Ren thing depends how much you bought the “death” scene. It didn’t work at all, for me – which meant that everything that followed just felt a bit silly.

            My guess is that we’ll eventually see Rey and Ren team up to fight Snoke, or some greater enemy. I can’t see any other reason for humanising a Sith to this extent, and it called to mind the horrendous sequence in Revenge of the Jedi where we got to hear Darth freaking Vader shout the immortal question: “where’s my wife”. Thanks, but no thanks.

            I think it may just be that I don’t really like J.J Abrams as a director all that much; I enjoyed Super 8’s Spielberg pastiche, but I’ve found everything he’s done so far to be extremely stylish but almost entirely lacking in any humanity or animus, and this was no exception. I’ll be interested to see what Rian Johnson does with the next one.

          • I’m definitely more with Poppy than Bingo here, but the Force-denying Bizkit uberfan has hit on my only real quibble with the film, which is that large chunks of the plot are A New Hope (Remix). But it’s just that, a quibble.

            On cameos, did anyone else spot the stars of The Raid? It’s a testament to how much I loved the rest of the film that that was only about the twenty -seventh most exciting thing in it.

            • Yes! No one I was with would accept it was the guys from The Raid, but I’ve watched that film enough times to know a madman of fists and feet when I see one!

              Would have paid so much to watch them chop suey the wookie.

            • This is what I mean about it not being at all daring; it was actually a lot less inventive than the much-maligned prequels. Plus I’d watched A New Hope *the day before* so was getting major deja vu, but…

              I still fucking loved it.

  45. Spoiling spoilerooni McSpoilington writes :

    My theory is that Rey is the lost twin of Ben. This is why they both feel abandoned and incomplete – and also why they couldn’t bring themselves to kill each other. It’s also why she was so good at flying the Millennium Falcon and why the hard-to-please Chewbacca seems to like her. Luke will refuse the light sabre and instead train Rey.

    The next film will involve an extended, unnecessarily cruel but ultimately enjoyable torture scene with Jar Jar Binks.

    • ***SPOILERS***

      She can’t be a twin, though, otherwise Han would have known about her. It’s possible that Leia gave birth to her after Han left and never told Han about her, but I think it more likely that she’s Luke’s daughter and the hug Leia gives her is an auntie-type hug.

      I hope this is the case — it would leave the door open for another kickass female character. And if she’s played by Charlize Theron, then all the better.

      Sidenote: I find it slightly annoying that everyone in Star Wars is related.

      • I’d like to think she’s completely unrelated. Something like the daughter of a First Order official who recognised her Force sensitivity and hid her on Jakku to keep her out of Snoke’s hands. This is Star Wars though, so she probably won’t be. Agree she can’t be Ren’s twin, and I’m not sold on the Leia “aunty” hug – how would Leia recognise her?*

        *oh wait, the Force.

        • All the signs are there — her connection to Luke’s lightsaber; the fact that it was she who went to Ireland to see him at the end.

          It could be a red herring, but if so it’s pointless and potentially irritating for the audience unless you can top it with something even more dramatically satisfying. I think she’ll be Luke’s daughter, and the opportunity to explore new directions will come via the mum.

      • OK I have been talked into the possibility that Rey is Luke’s daughter… but you’d have thought he’d be more sensitive to father abandonment issues. However, it seems that Luke turned into a bad ‘un if Han Solo’s hesitant and sad “yeah….I knew Luke” is to be believed.

        • SPOILERS BELLOW

          I think that sadness is more to do with Ben, and Luke’s relationship with him. Han felt like Luke was closer to Ben, and perhaps blames him for Ben’s fall – as per the “Luke is a Jedi. You’re his father” conversation with Leia later in the film. Clearly Ben feels much more aligned with his Skywalker lineage than his Solo side. That’d cause some tension in Han and Luke’s relationship.

          • Also — during the flashback / dream bit, a little girl we assume to be Rey is seen being pulled away by a bad guy who seemed to be Kylo Ren. Maybe the First Order went looking for Luke, raided his home village, and Luke had to do a runner.

            That would explain why Luke had seemingly abandoned her, but it also raises the possibility that the First Order sussed out Rey’s lineage way back when she was a little girl, and are now using her to lead them to Luke. Which, of course, she has done. DUM DUM DUM!

            • I don’t think the timeline works. Ren is only about 25, seemingly (and can’t, physically, be older than 30). He’s not that much older than Rey – and my understanding was that Luke’s only been gone a few years – 5 or 10 at the very most.

              I don’t think Rey is Luke’s daughter, but I do think her parents will end up being important.

              • I know. Hmm! But I’m sticking to my blaster here. Star Wars is a film series about the Skywalker family. It is to the Skywalkers what The Godfather is to the Corleones. So she’s got to be a Skywalker.

                Moreover, the film suggests that she’s Luke’s daughter. That moment on the hill is so loaded with significance and everyone is so expecting and wanting her to say, ‘Father,’ and anticipating the emotional payoff, that you can’t then undermine that with, like, ‘Hey uncle,’ or, ‘Hey Jedi guy.’

                So unless the filmmakers have come up with something even more awesome than father-daughter — something that won’t leave the audience feeling a bit deflated, something that doesn’t cheat their expectations but rather exceeds them — she’ll turn out to be his daughter.

                Naturally, I live in hope of the latter outcome, because if you rob me of that emotional beat when father and daughter are reunited then you better be replacing it with something pretty shit hot.

                • Thanks Poppy. Your interesting theories combined with my son’s ruminations about “Dark JarJar” helped to make a very long drive through Darkest Småland a lot pleasanter today.

  49. Well, I saw it last night, so am finally able to read this thread. I thought it was excellent – streets ahead of the dire prequel trilogy. Some really nice touches and interesting new characters – even if one of them does look disconcertingly like a young Severus Snape.

    Glad that the cast of Heroes have found alternative employment too.

    An entertaining night out.

  52. Google images for Comic Con London and there seem to be a fair number of costumed up young men having a good time with equally costumed up young women. All seem to be enjoying themselves, in much the same way as lots of people enjoy fancy dress parties. And, it has to be said, the young women seem to be thicker on the ground than at many rock shows I recall in the 70s and since.

    • In the interview I did with Dr Who director Rachel last weekend she talks about the difference in Comic-Con audiences for when she did then in the 1990’s to the ones she attended this year

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