The Force Awakens The Force Awakens SPOILERS ALLOWED Discussion Thread

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

New Force users should make that obvious by scrunching their faces up like they're straining.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Like they are having a tricky shit?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Double post

[Wojo 2,453]

So you can be a Jedi only once you've been constipated? 

[Incanus 5,714]

2 minutes ago, Woj said:

So you can be a Jedi only once you've been constipated? 

You must face constipation! Only then a Jedi you will be!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Well you do have to force it out.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Thats how Lucas came up with the name. The day after a barbecue. Too much meat!

[crumbs 14,311]

I guess metamucil wasn't invented in their galaxy.

[Scarpia 132]

Being strong in the Force has been presented in the entire series as a source of special, unexplainable powers, as people have said here, and Anakin is an incredible case, flying in those pod races and instinctively blowing up the droid control ship. I think The Force Awakens was careful to show precedents for the protagonists' skills, like Rey's masterful use of the staff (she is unstoppable when she beats the two aliens who wanted to steal BB-8) and her agility is due to her work as a scavenger, using ropes and climbing tricky surfaces.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yep.

[Incanus 5,714]

It is clearly shown that she also has innate instincts and knowledge when it comes to the machines and flying as well.

[Quintus 5,399]

I always forget (and then get reminded) that people give a stuff about that shit. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Im sure it didn't used to be like that. Internet has turned many into continuity whores and amateur film critics.

 

Its really off putting sometimes.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I remember fondly the bad continuity of yesteryear.

[Scarpia 132]

Well, I think continuity has always been an issue with Star Wars, since the first trilogy's brother and sister kissing. The prequels complicated things further.

 

But still it's true that over-information in internet maybe takes away some of our own ability to just enjoy things as they are. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

This isn't limited to Star Wars. Many these days seem to expect character motivations to be SPELLED OUT for them. And consider it a flaw if a film doesn't do that.

[Scarpia 132]

Probably due to over-intellectualization and standardization of the creative process, a model followed by educational institutions.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

4 hours ago, Woj said:

Yes. 

 

Chewie's blaster is called a bowcaster. 

 

"Through the use of magnetic acceleration, bowcasters were more powerful and accurate than the average blaster. Designs differed through the materials used and the creator's artistic approach, although the end result was visually similar to a crossbow-like weapon.[2]

The weapon used metal quarrels enveloped with energy as ammunition. Two polarizing orbs, balanced on each end of the bow, created a magnetic field that boosted the quarrel's momentum. Once the cocking spring was pulled back, the trigger fired the quarrel, which was charged with plasma energy."

 

So it looks like a crossbow because of the orbs at either side, though there is no cord to pull back. Wookies used standard bolt and cord crossbows centuries earlier, so the design aesthetic was there. The idea is that it's stronger and more accurate than normal blasters, but too big and powerful for humans to properly aim and handle. A perfect Wookie weapon. 

 

It is included in several Star Wars video games from the 90s that make no mention of its aiming difficulty, and it is not presented as unusually powerful as in The Force Awakens. 

That.

 

I would add it's a 'wookie bowcaster'. And that in jedi knight, it could kill some enemies with one shot...

 

And the wookies and chewie have them also in ROTS.

 

I still dont understand why Han Solo is so impressed with it, after seeing it at work for 40 years. It's makes for a funny scene, but makes no sense whatsoever.

 

 

After seeing the film a second time, i liked it better.

 

I think han solo may know who rey is (probably not her daughter nor niece, maybe just a jedi apprentice he remembers seeing at the temple). Everytime he is going to tell/tells someone about her (Maz, Leia) it happens always off screen.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Manuel.

 

If Han knows who Rey is, then why does he want to dump her off the Falcon?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Just because he knows her doesn't necessarily means he likes her.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Sure.

 

there's no indication in TFA that Han or Chewie know her.

[karelm 2,913]

Is there a good answer for why R2D2 wakes up at such a convenient time?  My thought is that R2 is in low power waiting mode for Luke or someone who has demonstrated sufficient Force skills to be a proxy for Luke...basically, all the pieces are in place for Luke to resurface.  So even if all the elements had been in place earlier, it wasn't until Rey had resisted Ren and his feeble attempts at wooing her to the dark side that she reached a sufficient level of force awareness that R2 woke.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Very convoluted explanation.

 

Why not just say "The Force woke him"

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So badly they had a choice between a very complicated explanation or none at all?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

No, but all the stuff about R2 being connected to the Imperial mainframe etc...

[nightscape94 965]

Waking R2 up at the right time was a cinematic choice that had more to do with audience impact and less to do with logic.

[Wojo 2,453]

Han is impressed with the bowcaster's power for the sake of the audience. We only saw glimpses of the weapon in Episode IV and had no idea of its newly written power in this sequel. If Chewbacca had taken his bowcaster to Endor, by 2015 rules, the Ewoks would have been obsolete. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The whole continuity ruined for the sake of some cheap laughs!

[Wojo 2,453]

Well, no, not really. We saw Ren block and slow a normal Rebel blaster shot, albeit at ground level. Maybe he can't deflect something stronger, a Wookie bolt, albeit from above, and we needed Ren to be wounded for his duel. 

[Romão 2,274]

I still think R2 woke up due to Rey's presence

[nightscape94 965]

Yes, yes, we should do our own novelization!

[karelm 2,913]

2 minutes ago, Romão said:

I still think R2 woke up due to Rey's presence

 

Maybe...I forgot Rey wasn't there the first time R2 is explained to be in low power mode since she was just abducted by Ren.  This would be simple to satisfy Mr. "Oh, it's too complicated my head hurts" steef but still make sense in the movie.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

3 minutes ago, Romão said:

I still think R2 woke up due to Rey's presence

 

Even if the writers/producer/director say otherwise?

[Romão 2,274]

It might be an important plot point that they only want to see addressed later on

[BloodBoal 7,538]

27 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

It's explained in the novel (and I think a deleted scene): someone mentions the Imperial archives, and R2 wakes up because of that.

 

http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-r2-d2-woke-up-in-star-wars-the-force-awakens-2016-1?r=US&IR=T

 

End of story!

[karelm 2,913]

JJ needs to learn how to better set up a scene.  Spielberg should couch him.

 

 

That sample video just oozes with quality.  Immediate establishment of setting, characters, backstory, camera, tone, etc., with minimal intrusiveness.  Spielberg really did set the bar high.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

5 minutes ago, Romão said:

It might be an important plot point that they only want to see addressed later on

 

Maybe, but I don't think so. It's not important anyway. I certainly don't plan to attend Ep 8 with a clipboard of things that need to be adressed.

[leeallen01 2,136]

I said a while ago that I think R2 didn't wake the first time because Rey wasn't there, but at the end she was. I thought R2 was instructed by Luke to only give the map when Rey was revealed, thus forcing her to find him. 

[nightscape94 965]

11 minutes ago, karelm said:

Spielberg really did set the bar high.

 

With a scene set inside a bar no less.

[Demodex 557]

58 minutes ago, Woj said:

Han is impressed with the bowcaster's power for the sake of the audience. We only saw glimpses of the weapon in Episode IV and had no idea of its newly written power in this sequel. If Chewbacca had taken his bowcaster to Endor, by 2015 rules, the Ewoks would have been obsolete. 

 

He did take it to Endor. There's a shot of him using it, plus Luke tells him to give it to the Ewoks. 

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

I asumed that after rey's awakening on starkiller, Luke sensing it would remotely activate R2 or something.

 

But the novelization explanation makes more and enough sense.

3 minutes ago, Demodex said:

 

He did take it to Endor. There's a shot of him using it, plus Luke tells him to give it to the Ewoks. 

just was going to point that.

 

he blasts one speeder bike with one or two shots.

 

1 hour ago, karelm said:

Is there a good answer for why R2D2 wakes up at such a convenient time?  My thought is that R2 is in low power waiting mode for Luke or someone who has demonstrated sufficient Force skills to be a proxy for Luke...basically, all the pieces are in place for Luke to resurface.  So even if all the elements had been in place earlier, it wasn't until Rey had resisted Ren and his feeble attempts at wooing her to the dark side that she reached a sufficient level of force awareness that R2 woke.

That would make R2 wake if Kylo Ren got near him too...
 

It would have made more sense if R2 was awake, with the map of the galaxy with encryped names and location. And the part that was in jaku has the decryption codes. They could have devised some way of not putting together BB8 and R2 until the end of the film...

[Wojo 2,453]

Whoops. 

[Quintus 5,399]

4 hours ago, Luke Skywalker said:

I would add it's a 'wookie bowcaster'

 

I still dont understand why Han Solo is so impressed with it, after seeing it at work for 40 years. It's makes for a funny scene, but makes no sense whatsoever.

 

I agree with this, those little moments didn't really work for me. It just didn't make any sense.  

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Maybe I'm odd, but I got the impression that Luke had something to do with R2's reactivation.  The scene in the vision with him putting his hand on R2, I don't know, I connected those two things together.  Luke was ready to have someone, particularly Rey, find him, after feeling everything that had happened?  Maybe not?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Unknown at this point 

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

14 minutes ago, Quintus said:

I agree with this, those little moments didn't really work for me. It just didn't make any sense.  

 

I assume Chewie had his bowcaster upgraded, This one has way more punch than in previous films.

[Jay 37,353]

1 minute ago, Sharky said:

I assume Chewie had his bowcaster upgraded, This one has way more punch than in previous films.

 

This.