The Force Awoke

Well, it happened...the moment I'd been waiting for, realistically for years, hypothetically for decades, came and went and in its wake it left some answers, more questions, but, first and foremost, one hell of a good time. I've only seen it once, so far, so consider these my first musings, to be followed up by more in-depth theorizing and speculation throughout the next two years until the next installment comes out...Tom Petty could be on to something, the wait may be the hardest part, but it's also the part that fans get to fill with ideas and discussion about our beloved galaxy far, far away, so, all in all, it's not so bad...oh, and, just by the way, there will be spoilers below, so, yeah, duh, but you've been warned...now, without further delay, The Force Awakens...



Who are you?
Now that we know a little more, it turns out we don't really know anything at all...or do we? We know Rey was left (or hidden) on Jakku when she was quite young based on the flashback/Force images she sees when she picks up the fabled lightsaber, so there had to be someone to take care of her and raise her, because I refuse to believe she was left to fend for herself on such a harsh planet at such a young age...so is it a coincidence that the person carrying the partial map to Luke Skywalker is also on Jakku? I think not...I think he's there because he's the one who was watching over Rey at the behest of her father, who thought he was too inadequate to care for her himself, and would surely allow her to be taken by the dark side like his nephew was, so he left her somewhere no one would think to look with the information needed to find him should the need ever arise. And based on what we saw of the First Order, the need has scarcely ever been so pressing...so, Luke, can you be what Yoda once was for you for you own daughter? Can you hone her exceptional skills into the sword of the Jedi, a weapon that could rid the universe of the darkness that is Supreme Leader Snoke and redeem or destroy her cousin, your failed student and nephew? It's a different role, but, once again, the fate of the galaxy rests on your shoulders, Luke Skywalker...don't let us down...

FN-2187
Okay, I'm just going to toot my own horn here really quick:

That's right, I'm a Star Wars prophet. Keep coming here, folks, get all your Star Wars reveals direct from my brain to you for the low, low price of completely free! It's the best bargain in the business! Okay, anyway, I may have hit a home run here, but most of my wild theories are so far out in left field they're next to parked cars (two baseball references in one sentence...and I don't even like baseball), besides, if you've read The Secret Academy then connecting the dots from Commodant Hux's plan to Finn's line in the trailer, "I was raised to do one thing," is practically a no-brainer...but, still, it's nice to be right about something...and on that note:

Starkiller Base

Huh? Not bad...not exactly right, but closer than saying it's "just another Death Star"...I actually really liked the scene where they put the image of the Death Star on the holodisplay and then put Starkiller Base next to it and Han being Han says something like (I don't remember if this is it exactly, forgive me) "okay, it's big, how do we blow it up?" One more thing on Starkiller Base, I liked that it enabled those two great lightsaber battles in an outdoor, wilderness environment, it was a nice change from the much more common indoor duels.

I miss Han already...
I kind of had a feeling that he wasn't going to make it out of this movie, but I was holding on to hope that perhaps he would, in fact, see the sequel trilogy to completion...sadly, no, and sadder still, as soon as he shouted "Ben!" to his son I knew how it was going to end...I knew he wouldn't be turned in the first episode, if he is ever to be turned at all...though I think that last shot before Han tumbles to oblivion down yet another of those long drops to nowhere that are so prevalent in Star Wars architecture, where he reaches up and touches Ben's face, I think that will haunt his son and perhaps be a memory that will awaken not the Force, but goodness and light inside him...or be a memory that will continually cause him to hate himself and the things he's done, continuing to fuel his not anger, but unadulterated rage...where the Sith used their anger to give them focus, the darkness in Kylo seems to make him wild and unstable...I don't think there's much of a shelf-life on the sanity of someone living like that...

Supremely Large Leader Snoke
This is the character I'd been looking forward to seeing the most simply because we knew so very little about him...and, to be honest, I think there may be some Wizard of Oz inspired trickery going on here with his size. I wouldn't be surprised to find out he's actually a more Yoda-sized character, but, instead of embracing it like Yoda does, he worries about people judging him by his size so he stays behind the curtain and lets his massive hologram do all his public speaking...

Captain Sadsma
I'm hoping that there is more than one chrometrooper captian in the First Order and that the minuscule amount of screen time Phasma got won't be all we see of them, but, then again, it wouldn't surprise me to see a great character design be little more than a bit player...look at the Crimson Corsair, for example, though he got more screen time than I would have guessed he would...anyway, I'd say my sole disappointment with the movie is how little impact Captain Phasma had and how she, presumably, blew up with the base while stuck in the garbage...or did she? I think the timing of the base's destruction is a little misleading...if Hux has time to collect Kylo Ren and Chewie has time to find Rey & Finn, land, pick them up, and take off being escaping, I think it's feasible that Phasma makes it out alive...

Okay, I think that's enough for now...I could probably go on for several more hours, but real life calls and there'll be time to expand on different aspects of the story and such after seeing it a few more times and digesting what other people have to say...in conclusion, though, I will mention that Kylo stopping the blaster bolt in mid-air and holding it there for so long was amazing, and I was incredibly happy to see strange galactic creatures featured in the scene on Han and Chewie's weird ship-eating freighter...basically, everything from start to finish was great, and speaking of finish, the power behind the lack of dialogue from Luke was outstanding...I don't think there's anything he could have said that would have been more meaningful than not saying anything at all...anyway, I've got myself all worked up and want to go see it again right now, but, alas, I cannot, but I'll be going again this weekend, and, hopefully, you will be too, so, while you're re-watching and re-re-watching, may the Force be with you...