# Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Seen It (Assume Spoilers Within) **URL:** \ **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:** 75
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1481 "2016-03-08T00:40:26Z")
Threepio can do over 6 million things. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1482 "2016-03-08T01:33:42Z")
“My specialty is human/cyborg relations.” _BOW-chicka-WOW-wow_ ---
**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:** [March 8, 2016, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1483 "2016-03-08T06:15:02Z")
He’s gonna need more lube. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1484 "2016-03-08T06:26:44Z")
He had a bath full of lube. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1485 "2016-03-08T06:35:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Mark Hamill says Luke might be gay. I guess having a crush on your sister could make _anyone_ rethink things… > > [News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](http://www.aol.com/article/2016/03/07/luke-skywalker-could-be-gay-says-mark-hamill/21324001/) Y’know, that kind of implies to me that Rey is _not_ Luke’s daughter - or if she is, Hamill doesn’t know about it. Obviously, homosexuality doesn’t preclude having children. Still, if Hamill knew Rey was Luke’s daughter, I don’t think he (or most people) would open that door without being reminded of that. Could be reading too much into this. Could well be. Good news, as far as I’m concerned - I don’t like the idea of this…dynasty of Force users. There were a whole bunch not that long ago, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1486 "2016-03-22T21:57:14Z")
FINALLY watched this last night (and managed to avoid spoilers for this whole time). I’m only up to page 9 in this thread, but thought I’d comment on a couple things I’ve read so far. > [@N9IWP](#): > > Why did Teedo (I had to look that up) give BB-8 to Rey? That may have been an early example of Rey using the Force without realizing it, as somebody else mentioned. If so, it was very subtly done: Rey: “Gimme that.” Teedo: " 'kay." > [@Jophiel](#): > > What’s the deal with droids in Star Wars anyway? They get called by a designation (R2D2, BB-8, etc) and others say stuff like “That’s an R2 unit” but then they also get treated as having unique personalities and no one ever says “Yeah, we have a pallet of R2’s in back, go bust open a box and fire up a new one”. Despite their personalities and people bantering with them, no one seems to be bothered to name them either, sort of like owning Cat: Tabby [Brown] and Cat:Tabby [Black]. Who’s making these things? Are they mass produced? The X-Wing has a spot to slide one right in, although maybe astromech droids are universal like USB plugs. As discussed in other threads, droids are generally seen as toasters. Personal attachment to individual droids is pretty unusual. This is seen right before the run on the Death Star in Ep. IV. Luke is getting into his X-wing, and a tech mentions that his astromech looks pretty beat up, and offers to get him a new one. It doesn’t occur to the tech that Luke might have a personal attachment to R2D2. _The Clone Wars_ hints at this as well. There, Anakin is quite attached to R2D2, while Obi Wan goes through astromech droids like … toasters. One is like another to Kenobi. > [@MaxTheVool](#): > > This is another one I paid more attention to on a second viewing, and there was a line about how the Falcon is an easy ship to track, or something. So I think the implication is that it was hard for Han and Chewie to find as long as it was on the ground (and there was another line about how they should have kept looking on that planet), but once it was in the air it showed up on their scopes in some fashion. This is sort of confirmed a few minutes earlier, when Finn advises Rey to “fly low, it confuses their scanners”. And remember that the Falcon was under tarps while on the ground - those tarps may have had some scan-blocking potential. > [@control-z](#): > > For example I guess it’s nice in a nostalgic way that Han Solo said “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” but was it really necessary? For what it’s worth, somebody uses this line in nearly every episode of _The Clone Wars_. It’s a running joke, having been also used at least once in each of the first six movies. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1487 "2016-03-23T00:50:07Z")
Further illustration of the regard with which droids are held: Poe reacts almost violently to the notion of using a serial number as a name for a person, and absolutely refuses to call Finn by his number… and yet he has no problem calling his droid “BB8”. And that’s a droid for which he admits to having a personal fondness. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1488 "2016-03-23T01:18:43Z")
My kids are getting it for me for Father’s Day.[Does anyone know if this is the correct version to buy if I want the special features? I don’t want to waste $20 on a copy that is only the movie.](http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Awakens-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B018FK66TU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458695860&sr=8-1&keywords=force+awakens) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1489 "2016-03-23T04:37:53Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > For what it’s worth, somebody uses this line in nearly every episode of _The Clone Wars_. It’s a running joke, having been also used at least once in each of the first six movies. It’s a franchise-wide running gag. You see it in the books and video games and such too, with the occasional variation (like an annoyed companion telling the speaker to assume it’s heartburn and shut up). ---
**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:** [March 23, 2016, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1490 "2016-03-23T06:56:35Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > My kids are getting it for me for Father’s Day.[Does anyone know if this is the correct version to buy if I want the special features? I don’t want to waste $20 on a copy that is only the movie.](http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Awakens-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B018FK66TU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458695860&sr=8-1&keywords=force+awakens) I’m not completely certain but from what I’ve read every version will have all the main special features, and also come with both a BluRay and a DVD edition. However, there are some available at different stores that have alternative covers, and maybe an additional exclusive feature (usually a 2 minute bit of nonsense). And also it may be that the DVD copy will not have the special features on the disc, so a BluRay player may be a minimum requirement. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1491 "2016-03-23T12:27:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’m not completely certain but from what I’ve read every version will have all the main special features, and also come with both a BluRay and a DVD edition. However, there are some available at different stores that have alternative covers, and maybe an additional exclusive feature (usually a 2 minute bit of nonsense). And also it may be that the DVD copy will not have the special features on the disc, so a BluRay player may be a minimum requirement. I’ll wait and be sure. They really need to confirm the special features on that Amazon page so I can pull the trigger and buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1492 "2016-03-27T01:08:14Z")
So, did people actually like this film? It was such a forgettable mess that I had forgotten about it, until it was dumped on the internet recently. The characters were absolutely unlikable, boring, and not well developed. Finn’s complete 180 is almost comical. I laughed when Kylo Ren took off his mask. He looked like a high school kid climbing out of his parent’s basement, squinting at the daylight, and about to go out Larping. Or in other words, high school me! 😉 This was a serious miscast, IMHO. Leia and Han felt like they were only there 'cause they felt they had to. No chemistry, no interesting role to play. Rey’s character was the most interesting, but her interactions with Finn, specially the whole “rescuing the girl is so 1970’s” was so heavy handed and… I can’t describe it better than what I would expect from a Disney movie aimed at teenagers. Nothing about this movie felt sophisticated, or well written, or even just FUN. I’ll take some silly space opera fun - that’s what the original movies were, on top of some fantastic casting and characters that were excellently written. I mean the damned thing was essentially a retelling of the original series. Big planet killing machine, have to send the xwing’s to hit weak spot. Running from the Republic into a tavern full of space pirates, jeebus, not a single original plot point. But all I hear is praise for this thing. I also hated the Star Trek remakes so maybe I just have to park myself on my lawn and yell at kids? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1493 "2016-03-27T01:24:06Z")
It was a mediocre movie. It just looks good in comparison with the disastrous prequels. I suspect that’s a huge portion of the enthusiasm for it. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1494 "2016-03-27T01:24:59Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > So, did people actually like this film? Yup. > [@](#): > > But all I hear is praise for this thing. I also hated the Star Trek remakes so maybe I just have to park myself on my lawn and yell at kids? Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1495 "2016-03-27T01:25:34Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It was a mediocre movie. It just looks good in comparison with the disastrous prequels. I suspect that’s a huge portion of the enthusiasm for it. I give it that. There was no jar jar binks at least. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1496 "2016-03-27T01:26:35Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Yup. > > Yup. Ok, thanks for expressing the intricacies of your opinion. I now know where you’re coming from. Another issue with the film, IMHO, was the fact that the damn thing was a retelling of the original movies. Running away from the empire, looking for droids, into a tavern full of space pirates, into the millennium falcon, and at the end you’ve got the death start v2.0.1beta and you gotta send int he Xwing’s to take out it’s weak spot… I mean, I know they must have done this on purpose, but instead of making me feel like they were paying homage, it just looked lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1497 "2016-03-27T01:47:26Z")
I actually went to see it a second time, to see whether I had missed anything and whether my initial impressions were correct. A lot of my opinions are similar to yours. - The whole movie felt very calculated and manipulative. The music cues were the most obvious way in which it did this. It used bits of Luke’s theme and other musical bits that are associated with key moments from the original _Star Wars_ to try to force you to feel the right emotions at the right times. - None of the the emotional turns felt earned. They were also rushed as hell. It felt like someone was just flipping switches. - Darth Greasy was laughable. I wish he had kept his helmet on. Once he took it off, there was nothing at all menacing about him. - I have almost zero investment in Poe or Finn emotionally. Rey is slightly more interesting to me. - The characterizations seemed rushed. There were no beats the story. The timing was all off. I think they tried to cram too much into it. - The unexplained disappearance of Poe at the beginning and his unexplained reappearance near the end was jarring. Also, he kind of seems like a dick. - I kind of liked Maz Kanata. - Carrie Fisher’s performance was a heartbreak. She was the best damn thing about the original movie, and was a huge part of what was good about _Empire Strikes Back_. There was zero life in her performance. Her eyes were dead and her face was frozen. I don’t know whether to blame the director or Fisher or what. I hate to blame it on excessive botox injections, but that’s what it looked like to me. - Han Solo’s appearance was weird. It felt like they had to erase his entire character arc and reset it in his old age. We watched him grow a bit in the early movies and now hi’s back at square one at 70 years old. At least Harrison Ford can still act though. - I was fascinated by the Glaswegian gang leader. I wanted to hear him talk some more. - Daisy Ridley’s smile is so electric and perfect in an almost unreal way that each time she blasted it out, it knocked me out of my chair and out of the movie. - Mark Hamill looked badass. What was he eating while living on that rock though? - I didn’t understand the politics of the story. At least the central conflict wasn’t a trade dispute, but it was still slightly murky. - The climactic conflict was just a repeat of the destruction of the Death Star. - I don’t understand how the planets of the insurrection were so close together that you could watch them all being blown up from the same place. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1498 "2016-03-27T01:56:01Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Another issue with the film, IMHO, was the fact that the damn thing was a retelling of the original movies. It was a reboot by way of sequel. It had to [LIST=a] [li]win back its fans[/li][li]maintain the familiar aesthetic[/li][li]restart a concluded story[/li][li]kickstart a new story[/li][li]maintain the Skywalker throughline[/li][li]be an ongoing franchise with no fixed ending[/li][li]introduce new characters[/li][li]include existing characters[/li][li]be fun[/li][/LIST] That is no easy task, and I think the way they did it was admirable, and very successful. A few things they might have changed would’ve helped, like have it not be a new version of the Death Star (make it an artificial plague, or some kind of planet-to-planet wave of terrorism) or not start it in a dune-filled desert (make it a savannah or scrubland) but everything else was very carefully designed to make audiences have faith in Star Wars being fun again. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1499 "2016-03-27T02:23:00Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > So, did people actually like this film? > > It was such a forgettable mess that I had forgotten about it, until it was dumped on the internet recently. > > The characters were absolutely unlikable, boring, and not well developed. Finn’s complete 180 is almost comical. I laughed when Kylo Ren took off his mask. He looked like a high school kid climbing out of his parent’s basement, squinting at the daylight, and about to go out Larping. Or in other words, high school me! 😉 This was a serious miscast, IMHO. > > Leia and Han felt like they were only there 'cause they felt they had to. No chemistry, no interesting role to play. > > Rey’s character was the most interesting, but her interactions with Finn, specially the whole “rescuing the girl is so 1970’s” was so heavy handed and… I can’t describe it better than what I would expect from a Disney movie aimed at teenagers. > > Nothing about this movie felt sophisticated, or well written, or even just FUN. I’ll take some silly space opera fun - that’s what the original movies were, on top of some fantastic casting and characters that were excellently written. I mean the damned thing was essentially a retelling of the original series. Big planet killing machine, have to send the xwing’s to hit weak spot. Running from the Republic into a tavern full of space pirates, jeebus, not a single original plot point. > > But all I hear is praise for this thing. I also hated the Star Trek remakes so maybe I just have to park myself on my lawn and yell at kids? Exactly. If it wasn’t for the aging of the original actors this could have been pulled from the cutting room floor of the original. I would much rather have seen Forbidden Planet again. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2016, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645/1500 "2016-03-27T08:51:36Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > How long did it take Hitler to rebuild Germany? 12 parsecs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645.md?page=74) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-force-awakens-seen-it-assume-spoilers-within/740645.md?page=76)