I did this on Tuesday and it was amazing. More people should try it.

great post. agree 100%

Yeah, bottom line is that if you make the movie TCTTS described, you don't get the character development of Rey and Kylo Ren.

I don't think you can make both of those movies at once. The biggest thing I always go to when it comes to TFA is the great new characters. And at the end of the day, that's probably the most important thing from that movie as far as setting up the future of the saga.

Totally unrelated to the discussion, but - this thread has 1.4 million views. Kind of nuts, no?

I hadn't even seen that.

Wellp, I'd say another successful day of armchair studio executive played around here served as a nice distraction.... Only one week!

Given other things I had going on this week I can't watch it until the weekend anyway.

So I am watching Fox News currently where they are showing a clip of an interview with President Trump aboard Air Force One asking him about the Syrian gas attack. There is a screen on the wall behind him. He is apparently a Star Wars fan, with Rogue One playing. The scene was when the ghoulish-looking dude was telling Vader that Krennic had arrived.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Yeah, bottom line is that if you make the movie TCTTS described, you don't get the character development of Rey and Kylo Ren.

I don't think you can make both of those movies at once. The biggest thing I always go to when it comes to TFA is the great new characters. And at the end of the day, that's probably the most important thing from that movie as far as setting up the future of the saga.

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As I alluded to, not everything I proposed would actually need to be seen on screen. All it would take are a few tweaks and maybe a couple extra scenes...

- Open with Poe the exact same way, meeting with Lor San Tekka to retrieve the map. The First Order attacks, except this is the first time anyone from the Republic/Resistance has ever actually seen them. They've only been rumored until now. And before being captured, while under attack, Poe is able to record and transmit a message to Leia - only briefly - relaying the situation.

- Poe escapes capture with Finn, same as before. Here, though, Poe DIES in the crash on Jakku, as original intended by Abrams, but not before he gives Finn a vital message to give Leia/the Resistance... The First Order is real and they're coming. Finn now has more of a direct mission, rather than simply being on the run. Not only that, but he's living proof and knows the inner workings of who they are and how they operate.

- Speaking of, I would have really played up whether Finn had truly defected or not. He of course really does, and has his come-to-Jesus moment, but there needed to be more of a question. Maybe this is all a ruse to get to Leia and they planned the whole thing, once they had Poe as a prisoner? Heck, maybe that would have been better had that actually been the case. Either way, there's a trust issue to milk there, and Abrams never did for some reason.

- Rey is set up in the exact same way, and her, Finn, and BB-8 encounter each other same as before.

-The only added scene in the first act would be one with Leia, possibly in front of some kind of Republic committee, pleading with them, delivering the news that the pilot she sent on a covert mission - Poe - has gone missing. She shows the committee the hologram recording Poe sent her - choppy and incomplete (in the same vein as one she sent to Obi-Wan all those years ago, only the roles reversed now) - but what truly catches everyone's attention is the brief, flashing glimpse of a figure who finally takes down Poe... the image of a Stormtrooper, something no one's seen in nearly 30 years. This entire scene could convey everything I was trying to get across earlier - Leia suspected an emerging evil, based partly on rumor, partly on her feeling it through the Force, no one really paid her any attention, but this is now proof enough for the committee to grant her a faction to further investigate and possibly even engage.

- From there on out, I'd get rid of that stupid sequence with the giant squid monsters on that cargo ship, and I'd find a way to make everything having to do with Han/Rey/Finn/Maz/the lightsaber less coincidental. Actually, I'd lose Maz altogether as well and just have Rey and Finn seek shelter on some nearby planet - maybe one Poe told Finn go to before dying, where he was to rendezvous with a cohort or something. It would be so much better with Rey and Finn having to go it alone for at least another 10 minutes or so of screen time, they run into trouble on this planet (could still have the cantina vibe and all that), and just before they're about to be toast Han shows up to save the day. Either he had been tracking the Falcon and it popped up on his radar same as before - OR - maybe he's the cohort Poe was to rendezvous with. And maybe Han/Leia aren't broken up, but rather Han has simply been on a covert mission of sorts.

- My only remaining issue would be to figure out how Rey comes to be in possession of Luke's lightsaber, but whatever I come up with couldn't be any more random than how it already goes down.

- Regardless, it would be super easy to keep the same basic structure and still have Han and Leia discover that Ben is now a central figure in The First Order, rather than simply discussing it after the fact.

Weird. They took the video down. I was able to see it when it first went up, but that's odd that it's now missing after having been linked to from every site under the sun.

Tillerson; Mr. President, our target is set to Syria.
POTUS: Single reactor ignition. You may fire when ready.

Pretty good rundown of what to expect...

If it were only that easy.

I feel like we got enough explanation for Han finding the Falcon. The Solo clan clearly has history on Jakku, Han lost his ship there years ago, Rey steals it in the attack, turning it on activated the tracking beacon. This is from someone who knows nothing about the books.

The reason I bother saying that is that once Han and Rey link up, there's your ploy to get Luke's lightsaber to Rey: Han has been hanging on to it for years. Maybe Luke left it with him years ago when he renounced the known universe and his role in it.

So maybe now Han sees Rey have the Force vision on the Falcon. The dialogue with the smugglers or whatever they are takes place via radio, and it's a space battle that begins unlocking her power (replacing the episode with the rathtars and the blast door). She slides into the turret and now it's Han giving Obi-Wan's little speech about letting go and trusting your feelings 40 years later in an ironic turnabout on the first ride we saw on the Millennium Falcon (cut to Han in the cockpit with a wry, reminiscing smirk).

But I also would more or less scrap the whole super weapon concept and go with a little more of a plot in the second half. Maybe start with a raid on a small FO outpost that uncovers evidence that the FO is about to launch a major offensive. Recover to the target, a regional capital, but lose a conventional space battle where the planet and its inhabitants are effectively destroyed with lasers and bombs.

It's not Abrams-esque but it lets you organically build in more context around what should be super tragic but ultimately gets forgotten when Starkiller base pops. Plus, you get to end the first act of a trilogy with something left to do. Finding Luke becomes a ray of hope instead of "and to top it all off we found our friend!" The next movie is going to have to convince us all over again that the FO is still a problem.

Ulrich said:

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I feel like we got enough explanation for Han finding the Falcon. The Solo clan clearly has history on Jakku, Han lost his ship there years ago, Rey steals it in the attack, turning it on activated the tracking beacon. This is from someone who knows nothing about the books.

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Uhhh what?

TCTTS said:

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Funny but I think that's the press watching.

Yes, obviously. It was just a funny occurrence.

TCTTS said:

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Weird. They took the video down. I was able to see it when it first went up, but that's odd that it's now missing after having been linked to from every site under the sun.

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http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/bad-lip-reading-star-wars-force-awakens-copyright-takedown-1202026108/

Edit: It's back up.

Exactly one week to go for The Last Jedi panel / trailer!

Work is slow today. Let's get some discussion going.

1. What do you want to see in the teaser?

2. What do you expect to see in the teaser?

3. Will Luke speak?

They'll probably put a shot of Luke looking at Rey with a closed mouth, and have a voice over say "who are you," so everyone thinks he doesn't know her, but it's from 2 separate times in the movie...thus trolling everyone.

1. What do you want to see in the teaser?

Luke ignite a lightsaber.

2. What do you expect to see in the teaser?

Probably no longer than 2 minutes. Some shots of Rey training with a lightsaber, Kylo in Snoke's chamber, and maybe Finn waking up from his coma. Defintely one shot of the Knights of Ren.

Luke, if shown at all, will be saved for the final shot. (A-la "Chewie, we're home.")

3. Will Luke speak?

Nope.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Work is slow today. Let's get some discussion going.

1. What do you want to see in the teaser?

Luke and Rey with ignited sabers.

2. What do you expect to see in the teaser?

A lot of quick cuts, but mainly Finn, Rey, and Chewie. Maybe Phasma greeting Finn.

3. Will Luke speak?

50/50, going with a little something at the end.

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Man, I really want to hear Luke say something in the teaser. He said nothing in TFA.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Work is slow today. Let's get some discussion going.

1. What do you want to see in the teaser?

2. What do you expect to see in the teaser?

3. Will Luke speak?

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1. Resistance in some state of getting their asses kicked
2. Luke and Rey training
3. 1 word.

Luke speaking could go one of two ways.

1. They look at the impact him not speaking had on TFA and keep the ball rolling.
2. They decide "been there, done that" and treat Luke like a standard character and don't really withhold him.

I think for the teaser we'll see:

- The film's opening shot of Rey holding out the lightsaber
- Rey and Chewie flying the falcon with TIEs in pursuit (we'll later learn this is on the way to or from Mustafar)
- Ren getting utterly abused by Smoke (off camera) during his training
- Phasma on the hunt with a squad of troopers
- Poe and Finn and BB8 together in some sort of action sequence
- some sort of scene showing Ren commanding the Knights of Ren
- close with Leia in a dramatic moment saying "may the Force be with us"

I think the whole thing will feel like the Resistance is being wiped out and Rey/Luke are coming to help

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Work is slow today. Let's get some discussion going.

1. What do you want to see in the teaser?
Signs that point to us getting an epic space battle

2. What do you expect to see in the teaser?
Snoke voice-over saying something involving "the last Jedi"

3. Will Luke speak?
I don't think so

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Work is slow today. Let's get some discussion going.

1. What do you want to see in the teaser?

2. What do you expect to see in the teaser?

3. Will Luke speak?

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1. Force ghost Obi-Wan ( but it won't happen)
2. Kylo and or Rey training.
3. No, but he will do something with the force in the trailer.

Gonna stir up tctts

Too many coincidences. TCTTS is gonna rip wholes in your plot and make it look like swiss cheese