# Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Seen It (Assume Spoilers Within)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 16, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645 "2015-12-16T23:16:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 63

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**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1241 "2016-01-05T21:55:55Z")

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> [@RickJay](#):
>
> I’d say she looked pretty good for a woman who has been responsible for leading armies in fighting wars more or less continuously since she was a teenager.

Meh. I’ve got no problem with her physical appearance, but I didn’t buy her as a general at all. Does she actually do anything military-like in the movie, much less general-like? She seemed more like someone’s grandmother wandered onto the set and they put her in front of the camera. Now Judi Dench’s M from the Bond movies, there’s a woman that would make a good general in an interstellar war.

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**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1242 "2016-01-05T21:58:58Z")

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> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> From [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=778786), it looks like he made upwards of a million bucks. Not bad for a couple minutes’ work. And also way more than what the new young cast members made.
> 
> Of course (shocker), Harrison Ford got much more money than the entire rest of the cast _combined_.

It makes perfect sense, considering the relative bargaining powers involved.

New cast members - they could be any one of a number of good young actors. If this movie is a hit (and of course as we now know, it is) - then their careers are well and truly launched: at the least, the filmmakers will need them back for the (inevitable) follow-on movies. At that point, they will make a lot more, because they will not be replaceable.

Old cast members - the film-makers need them, and them specifically; they are not easily replaceable, because the fans already associate them with the roles.

Ford - he’s the most recognizable big name actor among the old cast members, he’s starred in lots of hit movies.

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1243 "2016-01-05T23:16:00Z")

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> [@August\_West](#):
>
> I just saw it this weekend and loved it, it was glorious.
> 
> Now on to my prediction/observations.[ul]  
> Finn is force-sensitive[/ul] I have a few reasons for this.
> 
> 1. Kylo Ren senses him on the battlefield, and pauses for a moment as he’s walking into his ship. Later, Ren instantly recalls his FN-number designation, so he remembers it very clearly.
> 2. He picks up the operation of the _Falcon_’s blasters just like Luke did in ANH.
> 3. He seems to sense the explosion of the planets/moons that the Starkiller explodified.

I’m wondering if that’s going to be the case, too, but I don’t think your evidence is that strong.

1. People who are Force sensitive can read emotions from people who are not Force sensitive. Ren being able to pick up on Finn’s turbulent emotions following the massacre doesn’t prove anything about Finn.

2. He actually struggles quite a bit with the blasters - much more than Luke did in ANH.

3. The destruction of the Hosnian system was visible with the naked eye from the planet Finn was on at the time. Everyone in the scene was reacting to it, not just Finn.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1244 "2016-01-05T23:28:05Z")

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Everyone in _Star Wars_ is a tiny bit Force Sensitive. That’s why they keep saying “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

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**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1245 "2016-01-06T01:45:20Z")

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> [@duality72](#):
>
> Meh. I’ve got no problem with her physical appearance, but I didn’t buy her as a general at all. Does she actually do anything military-like in the movie, much less general-like? She seemed more like someone’s grandmother wandered onto the set and they put her in front of the camera. Now Judi Dench’s M from the Bond movies, there’s a woman that would make a good general in an interstellar war.

Have you ever served in the military? I’ve got a secret to share with you: Generals typically tend to act like someone’s grandparents (because they often are someone’s grandparents). And not everybody’s grandparents are gonna act like James Mattis. Some of them are gonna act like Jimmy Stewart.

Also, the discussion of the gold bikini raises a good point: How come we sat through 136 minutes of this and they couldn’t even give us one shot of Han Solo in a pair of gold speedos and heels?

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**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1246 "2016-01-06T02:06:05Z")

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> [@Raguleader](#):
>
> Also, the discussion of the gold bikini raises a good point: How come we sat through 136 minutes of this and they couldn’t even give us one shot of Han Solo in a pair of gold speedos and heels?

I think you might be the only person in the universe who wants to see that particular image.

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**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1247 "2016-01-06T03:05:23Z")

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> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I like the early suggestion that he’s gigantically larger and this is just a miniature of him.

When I saw Ren standing before Supreme Leader looking so tiny in comparison, I had an immediate impression of [Dark Helmet](http://media.theiapolis.com/d4/hTZ/i1VJR/k4/l1W4T/w13Z/rick-moranis-dark-helmet-and-george-wyner.jpg) (Rick Moranis) from [Spaceballs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceballs).

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**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1248 "2016-01-06T04:00:33Z")

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> [@Dajn](#):
>
> I will shit myself if mark Hamil plays a decent Luke Skywalker in the next movie.

Considering how much you just shit all over your keyboard I doubt anyone will be surprised.

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1249 "2016-01-06T04:11:24Z")

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> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> I noticed the music a little more the second time around. A similar theme plays when we first see Rey, scavenging from the crashed Star Destroyer on Jakku, and then again when the _Millennium Falcon_ arrives at Luke’s island at the end.

That was Rey’s Theme, which is heard throughout the movie, often interspersed with the Force theme (a.k.a. “Binary Sunset”). I anticipate it will be heard a lot more in the subsequent two films. See my musings over in the separate [soundtrack thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18986701#post18986701) which, alas, hasn’t got much traffic.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1250 "2016-01-06T04:13:37Z")

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Poe - a friendly pilot man  
Rey - a Force to reckon with  
BB8 - a helpful droid  
Ren - Kylo is not a Sith  
Solo - here to help you out  
Finn - a trooper with some doubts  
Maz - she knows a bit about  
What will bring us back to Luke

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1251 "2016-01-06T05:09:17Z")

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Heheh. Nicely done.

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**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1252 "2016-01-06T05:16:09Z")

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So this gal Rey lives on the desert planet. She makes a living selling junk from crashed empire spaceships to a weirdly deformed ogre-like creature, who pays her in “units”-which look like plastic wrapped bars of soap. She eats some kind of MRE-like stuff that manages to cook itself. Jakku seems to be inhabited by bipedal monsters, but they do have a decent bar (no Benny Goodman jazz though). So, why were all these epic battles fought on this dumpy little desrt planet? And why two suns? Somehow, she manages to avoid sunburn from those twin suns, whilst traipsing around in this sand and gravel pit.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1253 "2016-01-06T05:30:23Z")

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> [@botsgotme](#):
>
> So this gal Rey lives on the desert planet. She makes a living selling junk from crashed empire spaceships to a weirdly deformed ogre-like creature, who pays her in “units”-which look like plastic wrapped bars of soap. She eats some kind of MRE-like stuff that manages to cook itself.

Not 'units, those were called “portions”. She sells scavenged ship parts for food portions.

> [@botsgotme](#):
>
> Jakku seems to be inhabited by bipedal monsters, but they do have a decent bar (no Benny Goodman jazz though).

The bar was at Maz Kanata’s castle, on a different planet called Takodana.

> [@botsgotme](#):
>
> So, why were all these epic battles fought on this dumpy little desrt planet? And why two suns? Somehow, she manages to avoid sunburn from those twin suns, whilst traipsing around in this sand and gravel pit.

Epic battles were fought across the galaxy, this is just a small sampling. Also, I don’t think it was clear how many suns Jakku had. It was speculated it might be three, but that was based on an overly-scrutinised piece of poster art.

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**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1254 "2016-01-06T06:01:23Z")

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> [@botsgotme](#):
>
> So, why were all these epic battles fought on this dumpy little desrt planet?

I don’t know, why was a major battle fought in some shitty no-name backwater town like Gettysburg? Battles happen in a lot of places.

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**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1255 "2016-01-06T07:51:21Z")

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> [@Snarky\_Kong](#):
>
> Considering how much you just shit all over your keyboard I doubt anyone will be surprised.

Hahaha! Well played.

> [@StarvingButStrong](#):
>
> Well, of course. Don’t you know that the only purpose women serve is to please men? Once an actress can no longer serve as eye candy in a bikini she ought to be taken out and shot.

Yes, precisely. A [recent Onion article](http://www.theonion.com/article/nation-satisfied-selena-gomez-completes-transition-51874) about Selena Gomez described the process well:

> [@](#):
>
> [P]leased citizens across the U.S. announced Thursday that Selena Gomez had completed her transition into a sexualized plaything just as they had expected. “Good, very good—the cycle is complete,” said Carlisle, PA resident Greg Deleon, one of millions across the country who nodded in approval at a recent Glamour magazine photo spread and Access Hollywood feature segment that signaled the conclusion of the former Disney star’s multi-year transformation into an eroticized puppet meant to occupy the attention of the American mind. “Yes, it is fulfilled, and it can never be undone. She is now but our playtoy, an object of carnality to suggestively dress and pose as we wish, just as those who came before her.” At press time, the nation’s populace had grown bored of Gomez and cast her aside to begin the sequence anew with a fresh, young 14-year-old.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1256 "2016-01-06T08:08:42Z")

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> [@botsgotme](#):
>
> And why two suns?

Lots of planets in the universe are in binary solar systems (two suns). For a long time astronomers thought that the _majority_ of systems were binary, actually, but apparently this isn’t exactly the case. Nonetheless, there are tons of them.

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**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1257 "2016-01-06T09:11:58Z")

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> [@botsgotme](#):
>
> So this gal Rey lives on the desert planet. She makes a living selling junk from crashed empire spaceships to a weirdly deformed ogre-like creature, who pays her in “units”-which look like plastic wrapped bars of soap. She eats some kind of MRE-like stuff that manages to cook itself. Jakku seems to be inhabited by bipedal monsters, but they do have a decent bar (no Benny Goodman jazz though). So, why were all these epic battles fought on this dumpy little desrt planet? And why two suns? Somehow, she manages to avoid sunburn from those twin suns, whilst traipsing around in this sand and gravel pit.

Tatooine has two suns. Jakku has one.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1258 "2016-01-06T09:27:45Z")

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> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> Huh, I didn’t think she looked that bad really. For her age not really bad at all. Ford looked a lot worse than Hamill or Fisher; of course that’s kind of to be expected since he’s a lot older than both of them (73 vs. 64 for Hamill and 59 for Fisher). Ford is also in the credits for Ep. VIII, so he’s coming back as perhaps a memory or a force ghost or something.

Really? I think Harrison Ford looks fantastic and has aged the best of the three by far. Mark Hamill started losing his good looks around ROTJ. I’m pretty sure his beard in the new film is to hide the wrinkles and sag in his face.

Carrie Fisher’s aging is a product of decades of chain smoking and drug/alcohol abuse. When she speaks her mouth barely moves (face lift, probably) and her voice is dreadful. She must have smoked as many cigarettes as Eddie Van Halen to destroy her voice like that. Fisher is not yet 60 but looks like an old woman. It’s sad what drug addiction can do.

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**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1259 "2016-01-06T09:47:06Z")

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> [@RickJay](#):
>
> I honestly cannot think of a single element of the art of cinema in which “Revenge of the Sith” was a good movie by the standards of Hollywood fare, or better than “The Force Awakens.” Not one. I will grant it was better than the other two prequels, in the sense that they were such an incoherent mess even a mediocre film would be better than them.
> 
> But otherwise… How is Revenge of the Sith better? It has a stupid story rife with more holes (by a country mile) than The Force Awakens. It’s boringly filmed, poorly blocked, and very shittily acted with a few exceptions. It was dull and carried no emotional weight at all.

Agreed. ROTS was absolutely dreadful in every way. Okay, it wasn’t as horrifying as the first two prequels but it was still a complete failure. It had Hayden Christianson in it. Enough said.

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**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1260 "2016-01-06T11:27:47Z")

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> [@botsgotme](#):
>
> So this gal Rey lives on the desert planet. She makes a living selling junk from crashed empire spaceships to a weirdly deformed ogre-like creature, who pays her in “units”-which look like plastic wrapped bars of soap. She eats some kind of MRE-like stuff that manages to cook itself. Jakku seems to be inhabited by bipedal monsters, but they do have a decent bar (no Benny Goodman jazz though). So, why were all these epic battles fought on this dumpy little desrt planet? And why two suns? Somehow, she manages to avoid sunburn from those twin suns, whilst traipsing around in this sand and gravel pit.

I’m wondering how much attention you were paying to the movies if some of these are your complaints.

They show Rey using the portion (plastic-wrapped bar of soap) to create instant bread.

Jakku is clearly different from Maz’s planet (Takodama), and this is pointed out by Rey, who has admitted not left Jakku since she was abandoned there and wants to return (hence Maz’s bar is NOT in Jakku). Also she mentions clearly how she has never seen so much greenery (well perhaps she has, but she can’t remember). Hence again, Maz’s bar is not in Jakku.

I don’t see a reference to Jakku having two suns. Also, if you live all your life in a sunny place, working around, you will not necessarily walk around with a constant sunburn.

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