# Star Wars: The Last Jedi - seen it thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 13, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441 "2017-12-13T21:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/621 "2017-12-29T17:50:49Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > Did they say it couldn’t? They didn’t have to. Even as a ten year old I could figure out that the gas giant was a lot bigger. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/622 "2017-12-29T17:57:40Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > They didn’t have to. True, they didn’t have to. Lots of people wanted them to, but they didn’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/623 "2017-12-29T18:00:50Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > It’s just as likely to be a change in me as it is to be a change in the films. Maybe. But I thoroughly enjoyed Fury Road and Spider-Man: Homecoming and other stuff that requires you to just enjoy it for what it is so I don’t think I’m dealing with an inability to have fun while villains act villainous and stuff explodes. TLJ had some moments like that for me but, as a whole, couldn’t keep me in the moment strongly enough to overlook its flaws. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/624 "2017-12-29T18:01:15Z")
In case anyone else is having their inner geek run rampant about this planet-destroying stuff, I figured I’d link to [this](http://www.sciencealert.com/watch-how-much-power-does-it-take-to-blow-up-a-planet): > [@](#): > > Watch: How Much Energy Does It Take to Blow Up a Planet? > > … > > Those of you with some skills in calculus will be able to add all those values up to form a relatively simple equation that states that the energy equals three-fifths of the gravitational constant, times the mass of the planet squared, and divided by the radius of the planet. Easy! > > When Manley runs the particulars of Earth through this equation, he figures out that it’d take about 2.25 x 1032 joules, or 225 million trillion trillion joules. For much larger planets such as Jupiter, you’re going to need about 2 x 1036 joules, which means 2 trillion trillion trillion joules of energy. Of course, we don’t know how big the gas giant that the rebel moon is orbiting around is or how big Alderan is (though there is probably something written about it somewhere :p). One thing though…even if you didn’t blow up the gas giant, imparting even 2.25 x 10 to the 32nd power to the gas giant is going to cause Bad Things™ to happen to the rebels on a moon orbiting said gas giant. I seriously doubt that you’d need to blow it up completely to destroy the rebel base. Another thing would be…you don’t build a weapon that has it’s maximum damage output limited to Earth…I mean, what if you wanted to blow up a super earth or a super duper big ass earth? In the end, it’s just a movie, and really where would the fun be if they just flew into the system and instantly killed all the rebels? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/625 "2017-12-29T18:15:03Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Maybe. But I thoroughly enjoyed Fury Road and Spider-Man: Homecoming and other stuff that requires you to just enjoy it for what it is so I don’t think I’m dealing with an inability to have fun while villains act villainous and stuff explodes. TLJ had some moments like that for me but, as a whole, couldn’t keep me in the moment strongly enough to overlook its flaws. I liked Spider-Man: Homecoming, and really liked Wonder Woman, so I know I’m not quite broken in the fun department yet, either. Just some cracks showing on the surface. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/626 "2017-12-29T18:15:38Z")
What was the Death Star’s rate of fire, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/627 "2017-12-29T18:23:48Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Nah, I’m good. I’m cool with all of these issues with the OT, just like I can look past any similar nitpicking in the new ones and enjoy them for what they are. How awesome for you. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/628 "2017-12-29T18:24:48Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > True, they didn’t have to. Lots of people wanted them to, but they didn’t have to. No, really no one wanted them to. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/629 "2017-12-29T18:30:50Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > No, really no one wanted them to. Diogenes the Cynic, is that you? (AKA “What am I, chopped liver?”) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/630 "2017-12-29T18:31:50Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So…they repeat a bazillion other things from earlier SW movies in TFA and TLJ, but not that? Mmmkay. :dubious: TFA was very derivative and repetitive. TLJ less so. We find out later that Rey took the sacred texts. Did she spend some time studying them as well? Just because we didn’t see it on screen doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And, like Empire, the timeline is a pretty fuzzy. How long was Rey really on that island? Days? Weeks? The rest of the movie appears to take place over the course of about 24 hours, but we see at least several days pass on the island. > [@Alessan](#): > > I disagree. I think we were supposed to see that scene as an isolated incident, and not as part of some training montage. That, and when she confronted Luke, were the only times she activated the lightsaber on the island. > > Consider: angry, lost and distraught, she decides to train with her staff. Considering her proven combat skills, it’s obviously something she’s done many times before. After a while, more out of spite than anything else, she decides to move to her lightsaber. She’s successful at first, but she eventually gives in to the exhilaration and loses control, destroying what is probably an ancient and religiously-significant rock. Luke, who has been watching silently from afar, has all his worst fears confirmed once more. And… scene. > > That’s it. Best as I can tell, nothing important happened at Ach-To that were weren’t shown. Could be. That’s not the impression I had when watching the movie, but I’m not going to claim that my reading of the movie after one screening is the best one. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/631 "2017-12-29T18:33:58Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > How awesome for you. Yeah, and how depressing for you apparently ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/632 "2017-12-29T18:34:34Z")
Couple of nits i havent seen yet: Why didn’t the rebels split up?? Why didn’t the non-cruiser ships take off before they ran out of fuel?? What in the \*\*\*\* made them think Justin Theroux would stop hot chick make money look good in a casinoing…to take off on a suicidal mission to fuck with the First Order??? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/633 "2017-12-29T18:39:01Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Yeah, and how depressing for you apparently Wow, another incorrect assumption. You’re really on a troll…er, roll, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/634 "2017-12-29T18:42:12Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Couple of nits i havent seen yet: > > Why didn’t the rebels split up?? Why didn’t the non-cruiser ships take off before they ran out of fuel?? > > What in the \*\*\*\* made them think Justin Theroux would stop hot chick make money look good in a casinoing…to take off on a suicidal mission to fuck with the First Order??? Also, why the fuck did the Rebel ships start floating backwards towards the First Order ships when they ran out of fuel? I understand they want to make things look like WWII, but naval ships in WWII didn’t capsize and float backwards towards the enemy when they ran out of gas. It doesn’t happen to airplanes either; they run out of fuel and they glide. It sure as hell doesn’t happen to spaceships; they just keep going the same direction they were going at the same velocity they were going, they just stop accelerating. So WHAT was he trying to make them behave like? It’s like there was a black hole back there drawing them in, it looked really damned stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/635 "2017-12-29T18:45:25Z")
Rather than hijack this thread with the discussion of whether Mark Hamill’s acting was good or whether A New Hope was a good movie by today’s standards, I have continued this topic in [a separate thread,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20691605#post20691605), which I hope you, and other posters, will take a look at. I have decided to critically re-watch A New Hope and analyze what makes it a good movie, from the standpoint of cinematography, writing, and acting, not just “entertainment.” > [@SlackerInc](#): > > Totally agree with you and **GuanoLad**. Every time I hear complaints about Mark Hamill’s acting in the first movie and citations of lines like the one about Tashi station and the power converters, I grit my teeth and feel the complainers are entirely missing the point. I’m pretty picky about movies in general, which extends to Star Wars movies (I believe there are only really four good ones, that happen to be linked in chronological order although not in release date order: _RotS, Rogue One, Star Wars, ESB_) and I think Hamill portrays the young farmboy dreamer perfectly. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > 100% agree with this. I’ve always been a defender of young Luke, and never laughed at his whininess. His arc is so clear through the trilogy, he has to be a naive teen longing for adventure in the first. It’s very much deliberate and perfectly realised. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Out of curiosity, what lines do you have in mind? Because, sure, _Luke_ has some bad ones, but he’s _supposed_ to be the earnest farmboy who errs on the side of ‘whiny’: folks tell him things, and then explain when he fails to get it; folks lie to him, and he believes it; he says “what’s this” and “who is she” and “what’s going on” and “I don’t understand” and “why didn’t you say so” and “do you know what he’s talking about”, and et cetera; and he provokes reactions he genuinely didn’t expect, because, well, he’s basically just an ignorant young fish-out-of-water protagonist, is all. > > It’d be weird if Mark Hamill \*did \* sound assured and professional, is my point. > [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I think the dialog and acting from the original trilogy was pretty good. The only really bad parts came from Mark Hamill, and even then, mostly in A New Hope. He had some lines that were just horribly delivered, but by Empire he had improved his acting skills. But everyone else was fine. Harrison Ford was great, Carrie Fisher was great, Alec Guinness was great, and James Earl Jones was great. Billy Dee Williams had some cornball bits but I found him endearing. > > Something else worth mentioning is that all of the Imperial officers and functionaries - whose interactions with Vader and each other made up a substantial portion of the movies - were very believable, probably because they were almost all played by a bunch of older British men who would have actually served in the military at some point in their lives. Everything about the officious and formal rigidity of the Imperial military was totally believable and immersing. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/636 "2017-12-29T18:46:25Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Wow, another incorrect assumption. You’re really on a troll…er, roll, I mean. First snowflake, then you call me a troll. What are you so angry about then? I assumed you were upset that others are able to enjoy something you cannot. No idea where all this hostility is coming from. All I said is your opinion isn’t the only one that counts and you can’t seem to tolerate that idea. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/637 "2017-12-29T18:56:38Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > First snowflake, then you call me a troll. What are you so angry about then? I assumed you were upset that others are able to enjoy something you cannot. Actually, I didn’t call you anything. But you keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel superior. Reading is fundamental. > [@](#): > > No idea where all this hostility is coming from. All I said is your opinion isn’t the only one that counts and you can’t seem to tolerate that idea. No, I am not trying to convince you of anything. I am addressing points you bring up as arguments because you brought them up and apparently you find that offensive enough to attack me personally rather than deal with the argument. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/638 "2017-12-29T18:59:59Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Actually, I didn’t call you anything. But you keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel superior. Reading is fundamental. > > No, I am not trying to convince you of anything. I am addressing points you bring up as arguments because you brought them up and apparently you find that offensive enough to attack me personally rather than deal with the argument. You are the only one that has been doing any personal attacking here, but I say lets just drop it so you can calm down and get back to spending all of your time posting about a movie you hated. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/639 "2017-12-29T19:02:28Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > You are the only one that has been doing any personal attacking here, but I say lets just drop it so you can calm down and get back to spending all of your time posting about a movie you hated. No, you abandoned the discussion of the movie and went directly at me, telling me that I was insulting people by not acknowledging that their opinions were valid. You’re the one that needs to calm down and get back to defending the movie, since it seems oh so very important to you. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441/640 "2017-12-29T19:11:04Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > No, you abandoned the discussion of the movie and went directly at me, telling me that I was insulting people by not acknowledging that their opinions were valid. You’re the one that needs to calm down and get back to defending the movie, since it seems oh so very important to you. says the guy with the most posts in this thread… I suggest you re-read the thread then, because you are way off. Can you cite one of my “personal attacks”? You not liking what I said does not constitute a personal attack. Calling me a snowflake and skirting the rules about calling someone a troll on the other hand are. Also “I’m calmer than you are” dude. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-last-jedi-seen-it-thread/804441.md?page=33)