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The Force Awakens: What would you change and how?


leeallen01

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Here is what I would have written for the plot of the Force Awakens -

I would have had everything mostly the same up until they leave Jakku, then I would have them head straight for the Ileanium system or wherever they said the resistance was based. (They don't run into Han and Chewie)

When they get there, they are reunited with Poe, who Finn thought was dead, and meet 3PO and R2. They learn that Leia was once with the resistance but she left to find Luke many years ago. She is a Jedi herself who trained with Luke and the other children after ROTJ.

They then put the map together and learn where Luke is. What they didn't know was that they were being pursued by the first order when Ren detected the Falcon was on the move (because Ren found the Falcon a few years ago and put a tracking beacon on the ship because he thought it could lead him to Luke if Solo found it. Also Ren isn't Han and Leia's son).

Ren tracks them to the resistance where the first order discover them and launch an attack. The first order cripple the resistance, and Akbar, leader of the resistance, tells them to leave quickly with the map and find Luke and maybe even Leia too as a result, who could stop Ren and the first order. Poe is involved in the defence of the resistance base and tells them if they make it to Luke, to meet at a secret resistance rondezvous point. They find and remove the tracking device and escape in the falcon just in time as the resistance base is overrun by the first order.

There is no Starkiller base, no snoke as well, just General Hux is the leader of the first order and Ren is the darkside presence with them.

At the end of the second act, they make it to Luke, ( He has his own lightsaber with him) who they discover blames himself for Ren's fall to the darkside because he should have seen the darkness within when training Ren. Luke also senses a power within Rey but doesn't tell her. They leave the first jedi temple on the falcon (Rey, Finn, BB8, Luke, R2 and 3PO). R2 gets jealous of 3PO talking to BB8 and they have a sort of lovers tiff for a bit of lighthearted humour and R2 and BB8 have a little scrap with their many accessories and gadgets. 3PO puts a stop to it.

They head to the secret rondezvous point that Poe told them about. They get there and Poe isn't there, but some resistance are, who tell them the resistance main base has been destroyed and that only the forces at the rondezvous are left and a few smaller factions elsewhere.

The third act sees Rey becoming interested in the force and she even moves something with the force slightly, but gets scared by it and stops, telling no one. Luke watches her with interest.

Finn wants to go and find Poe, who he believes he owes a debt to after helping him escape the first order. Rey agrees they must search for survivors, but the resistance at the secret point tell them they have lost all communications with the resistance main base and they have heard from no one. They still refuse to not help and just leave anyone who might be captured.

3PO and R2 stay put and Rey, Finn Luke and BB8 head for the resistance base to search for survivors and discover if anyone has been captured. They arrive in the falcon and find it totally decimated. No first order ships are around. They land and look around the wreckage. They find no survivors. They hear an alarm from the falcon, a ship approaches. They rush back and find a first order destroyer has emerged. They attempt to escape, but are shot down and crash on the planet surface.

They are brought aboard as prisoners to the destroyer, as is the falcon itself (luke doesn't fight back against their capture as he wants to get to Ren). They discover Akbar, a couple of senior officers of the resistance and Poe and a couple of pilots are prisoners also. Rey and Finn are escorted to a separate cell, but Phasma intercepts the troopers and tells them she will deal with Finn herself. She takes him and Rey is distressed, angry and shouts for him. The walls slightly shake around her in the corridor from her force anger, and Ren appears, and tells her to come with him. He takes her to a room where Luke is being held, and Ren shouts at Luke to tell him who this Rey is and why Ren can sense a power within her. Luke doesn't tell. He just says "why?" to Ren.

Meanwhile BB8 appears out of a small compartment in the falcon. He was hiding in the falcon as the others were captured. He sneaks out into the first order ship and heads to a control panel. He finds where they are being held. He shuts down power to the section where Poe, Akbar and the other resistance are being held. They try to fight their way out.

As that is happening, Phasma is interogating Finn about what he has learned in his time with the resistance and Luke, but as power is shut down, Phasma dispatches troopers to the prisoner cells to contain them. As she is distracted, Finn attempts to escape but she knocks him down. They begin to fight.

The action cuts back to Ren, Luke and Rey in a room together. Rey asks Ren "who are you?" and Ren replies "I was like you once. Young, naive. I thought I could stop the darkness. But it isn't a choice. It's destiny." Luke has known who Ren is all along and says "The force is strong in my family. My father had it. I have it. And my sister...." Cue some Williams Imperial March. Rey looks in utter disbelief at Ren (now revealed as Leia, but she never removes her helmet the entire film) Leia/Ren then turns her lightsaber on and points in at Rey. "You couldn't save me. Now you can't save her."

It cuts to the resistance fighting their way out to a ship. Poe sees Finn getting his ass kicked by Phasma and goes to help, shooting Phasma in the side from afar. Finn then kicks Phasma to the ground and runs. Phasma is still alive but unconscious. Finn joins the few resistance who are escaping, and get to the hangar bay. BB8 is there waiting and directs them to the falcon. Finn asks Poe where Rey is and he says he doesn't know. Finn says he has to find her and runs off, Poe tells the few resistance to take off and says "take care of them BB8." Who looks sad to see his master leave. Poe follows Finn saying "I have a bad feeling about this."

Luke looks worried for Rey but defeated and ashamed as Leia turn her lightsaber to him. He sits there in despair, not wanting to escape, but Rey closes her eyes and uses the force to snap her restraints. Leia throws her across the room into a wall using the force. And she is seemingly knocked out. Leia force rips Luke's restrains off and takes out his lightsaber from her cloak and throws it at Luke saying "take it. This ends now." Luke gets up and throws his saber to the ground, "I will not fight you sister." As he says that, he has a little flashback in his head, just Vader's voice saying "sister, you have a twin sister. If you will not turn to the darkside then perhaps she will." And Luke closes his eyes, ready for death (like Obi Wan in A New Hope) but as Leia pulls back her lightsaber to swing at Luke, you here Luke's saber turn on. Leia looks behind and sees Rey standing there holding it. She says "who are you?!!" And Rey replies "I'm no one" and swings her saber at Leia. They begin a lightsaber duel, but Rey is being dominated.

After a short but brutal duel, just as Rey is about to be killed, you hear Finn shout "Rey!" And Leia turns to them, and Luke suddenly grabs Rey and pulls her away. Leia is shot at repeatedly by Finn and Poe but reflects the blasts easily. But it gives Luke and Rey time to escape. As Finn and Poe run off too, Ren pursues with storm troopers. They make it to the Falcon, but the troopers and Leia catch up and Luke tells them to go on without him as he uses the force to literally stop Leia and the troopers dead in their tracks. They can't move. Rey wont leave without him, as Leia slowly moves towards them, like she is walking in slow motion against Luke's force. He says to Rey "I wont be able to hold them for long. You have to go. I have seen great power in you. You must realise your potential. You must live. Go to where you found me. Learn the ways of the force. Go." They leave and jump to hyperspace.

Leia reaches Luke as he stops using the force, and he says "When I lost you Leia, I saw no way back. But now there is hope." Leia replies "You cannot save me." And Luke says "I know. But there is one who can." We cut to Rey, who stares out the cockpit of the Falcon. She understands she must realise her destiny.

CUE THE END TITLES.

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R2 gets jealous of 3PO talking to BB8 and they have a sort of lovers tiff for a bit of lighthearted humour and R2 and BB8 have a little scrap with their many accessories and gadgets. 3PO puts a stop to it.

:folder:

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Here's what I'd change. A lot of this comes from other threads here on JWFan and from conversations with friends. It also took me a while to type up, so forgive me if I repeat stuff from further up in this thread. For the record, I did enjoy the film.

- Cut the rathtar sequence entirely and connect our characters with the resistance sooner. I don't think this scene was the right tone for Star Wars anyway, too much like Guardians and NuTrek.

- Keep Poe around for the long haul.

- Make the Resistance more obviously and unabashedly heroic. A New Hope didn't give us many details on who the Rebellion was, but it was clear that they were the only ones left willing to stand up against great injustice.

- Make Kylo more obviously evil OR keep him as an ambiguous character and bring in another character who can be as menacing as Vader was. I want to really believe in the cause of the Resistance and I think having an example of evil that I can take a little more seriously than Kylo would have helped a lot.

- Save Phasma for the sequels OR have her as Finn's major antagonist re: the anti-saber-stick fight. Personally, I think the anti-saber stick could be kind of cool if it was presented differently. What if Ren had bodyguards who carried the anti-saber-sticks because he's afraid of being confronted by other Jedi?

- Save Snoke for the sequels.

- Hell, save the Star Killer for a sequel(s).

- Make the Star Killer a big deal. When the weapon finally came and Leia, Ackbar and Greg Grunberg were standing around looking at their battle plans, the film just felt kind of been here, done that. The least the filmmakers could have done was amp up the drama a little, but no, nobody seems to take this weapon terribly seriously, despite the tiny 5 planet Republic having been instantly annihilated shortly before.

- This brings up another point. The weapon is a FREAKING PLANET this time around. Why was it so freaking easy to destroy? This makes the power of the Death Star in the first movie seem rather insignificant as all it takes to blow up a planet is a small group of X-Wings and however many thermal detonators happen to be laying around the Falcon. It also makes Luke's victory in the first movie less significant as these people with no plan and no apparent investment in the situation were able to blow up something much bigger WITHOUT THE FORCE.

- Make the fighter subplot interesting. Even TPM sort of managed to do that! Here, the fighters only seem to exist because, well, most of the other Star Wars movies had fighters.

- Finally use names for things, damn it! I don't know the name of a single new planet besides Jakku and I'm sure by now there are thousands of people who've seen this film who couldn't tell you the superweapon was named "the Star Killer."

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- Make Kylo more obviously evil OR keep him as an ambiguous character and bring in another character who can be as menacing as Vader was.

I actually prefer that the villain has a complex emotional struggle to contend with as well as a complicated past that directly links him to the other parts of the story. There's more of an investment now in his character arc.

Absolute and unflinching evil gets old.

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I didn't really care about the Rathtars, but it's not like the sequence went on forever. It was a minor detour, the film washed its hands of it pretty quickly. I recognize that makes it pretty pointless, but I just enjoyed getting to see Han in his element. He had some great quips, only time we ever really got to see him as a smuggler. I had fun with it. Also Finn almost gets eaten and Rey's fearing for him felt very believable to me, plus Chewie gets shot so it at least shows the good guys aren't invincible.

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- Make Kylo more obviously evil OR keep him as an ambiguous character and bring in another character who can be as menacing as Vader was.

I actually prefer that the villain has a complex emotional struggle to contend with as well as a complicated past that directly links him to the other parts of the story. There's more of an investment now in his character arc.

Absolute and unflinching evil gets old.

I don't disagree with that. I just feel that the unflinching evil of someone like Vader could have added much needed desperation to the heroes' cause, while simultaneously contrasting with their "goodness." Mostly this would help me bond more easily with the new heroes at the start of their trilogy, maybe even as much as I did with Luke, Han and Leia once upon a time. There's no reason you couldn't save the ambiguity and perhaps even the entire Ren character for later movies. Either way, I look forward to seeing how the conflict within him plays out.

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That's another thing I didn't get. Why did the rathtars eat all the random bad guys immediately, but then pick Finn up and drag him away?

Just because he's a main character and not an extra?

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I didn't really care about the Rathtars, but it's not like the sequence went on forever. It was a minor detour, the film washed its hands of it pretty quickly. I recognize that makes it pretty pointless, but I just enjoyed getting to see Han in his element. He had some great quips, only time we ever really got to see him as a smuggler. I had fun with it. Also Finn almost gets eaten and Rey's fearing for him felt very believable to me, plus Chewie gets shot so it at least shows the good guys aren't invincible.

Yeah, I think that last part makes the film seem more real. Well that and things like the stormtroopers turning around while Ren destroys the interrogation room. What would you do if you worked for a Sith lord? :lol:

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That's another thing I didn't get. Why did the rathtars eat all the random bad guys immediately, but then pick Finn up and drag him away?

Just because he's a main character and not an extra?

Meh. This kind of nitpicking is usually reserved for the Cinema Sins guy.

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That's another thing I didn't get. Why did the rathtars eat all the random bad guys immediately, but then pick Finn up and drag him away?

This bothered me too.

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I didn't really care about the Rathtars, but it's not like the sequence went on forever. It was a minor detour, the film washed its hands of it pretty quickly.

Probably the only sequence in the film that didn't work. When the two groups of smugglers board the ship it almost seemed like a different movie.

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That's another thing I didn't get. Why did the rathtars eat all the random bad guys immediately, but then pick Finn up and drag him away?

Just because he's a main character and not an extra?

Asked and answered!

Lol yes. I mean, come on, haven't you people ever seen a movie before? Do you even like movies?

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Is that any more ridiculous than the trash compactor monster showing up for 30 seconds, letting Luke go for no reason, only never to show up again?


Yeah, I think that last part makes the film seem more real. Well that and things like the stormtroopers turning around while Ren destroys the interrogation room.

That was a great scene!

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Star Wars movies should be better than that, though.

Why? Because the previous ones were the height of airtight internal logic and believability? Star Wars movies are better than a lot of things, but I don't think they've ever been above sparing main characters just because. It's just a trope of the genre, nothing to put much thought into IMO.

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In the beginning of the film when Finn was shooting the Star Destroyer guns when escaping with Poe, and then in the Rathtar scene when they chose to pick him up rather than immediately eat him, I thought it was all because he was Force-sensitive.

Turns out not.

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I'd make changes and adjustments all over the place if I really cared enough. But why bother? It doesn't matter that this movie isn't fucking flawless. I am capable of enjoying it for what it is.

There are times that I love you!

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That's another thing I didn't get. Why did the rathtars eat all the random bad guys immediately, but then pick Finn up and drag him away?

Just because he's a main character and not an extra?

I saw them as the equivalent of the wampa, sarlacc, or rancor.. Basically, those are the "giant space monster at the beginning that has little to do with the movie". The rancor immediately ate the piggy and walked slowly for Luke.

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I'd make changes and adjustments all over the place if I really cared enough. But why bother? It doesn't matter that this movie isn't fucking flawless. I am capable of enjoying it for what it is.

Couldn't have said it better.

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How many times does someone on here have to say "can't you just enjoy it and not analyse and nitpick everything?!" If the world was run according to those people, it would be. "I liked The Force Awakens, what did you think?" "I didn't like it. Goodbye." And we'd all fall into a coma.

I'm not sure whether you realise where you are...this is a place specifically designed for people to create a topic and discuss it ferociously until there's nothing left to discuss except the choice of paint that the First Order had in their toilets.

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People have the right to their opinions. Don't start a thread if you can't deal with that!

Is that directed at me? Because I'm not sure what you mean.

I specifically started this thread for peoples opinions. What annoys me is someone saying we shouldn't have opinions, just enjoy it and stop nitpicking. It's what this place is for.

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Pardon me, but how about this for a first act: Film opens with Daisy scavenging on Jakku, finding a strange capsule of valuable material. Inside is a map in unintelligible script. She is about to toss it away, but pauses, and keeps it. Next we see the massive Nazi-esque rally on the First Order's capital planet, with pageantry, a propaganda minister making an expository speech, and cheering subjects. We zero in on Poe, disguised as a local. Now we shift to a spacecraft somewhere in deep space, where Leia, 3-PO and general Hux are discussing terms for a possible cease-fire in a highly secret meeting. They seem to be getting close. We cut back to the rally, where the First Order's new leader, Supreme General Veers is preparing to address the crowd. Kylo Ren forcefully protests against the cease-fire negotiations. Veers goes out onto a balcony, and is assassinated by Poe, who runs off. We now see a scene of Finn in the stormtroopers's barracks, being caught with illegal material about Luke Skywalker by a bunkmate. Finn says he does not know who or what to believe anymore. They are interrupted by a call to action. Hux receives word of the assassination calls off the peace talks. Poe is captured on his way to a special stealth X-Wing. But, BB-8 sees this and goes after him. Leia meanwhile is furious at Resistance military leader General Jerrjerod, for ordering the assassination and is upset at Han Solo for planning it. Jerjerrod wants to use serious measures on the Order. Leia is afraid of the loss of life that would ensue. Finn realizes that he will be reported, so he aids in Poe's escape, which BB-8 sets in motion. They steal a spacecraft and escape detection. They go into hyperspace with Jakku as a random destination, crash land in their now disabled ship, and are found unconscious by Rey, who eases BB-8, and takes care of the other two.

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Criticisms I understand, but I don't quite get what the point is of all these plot fan-rewrites?

This.

You're an idiot! That's what this place is for! How dare you not agree with me! My first post on this forum certainly wasn't a bullshit condemnation of everyone here for being closed-minded!

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Just a bit of fun. Don't twist your panties over it. No harm in coming up with our own ideas about the film and discussing what we would have done different. That doesn't mean we don't respect the choices of the film makers, and that we didn't enjoy the film. It just means we have an imagination and aren't instantly happy with everything just because it's Star Wars.

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