Star Wars Episode 8 - What comes next? (Episode 7 Spoilers)

[Arataniello]

I think there will be some sort of 'searching for family/roots' element to the next film - Finn possibly trying to find his birth family (twist - he is Lando's son?) and Rey finding out about who left her on Jakku and why.

Whilst Luke and Rey are bonding/Force-teaching on the Skellig islands, the Resistance goes hunting for Snoke, Ren and Hux, leading to some sort of setback for the Resistance (another death perhaps?).

Hopefully more backstory is given to explain what exactly happened when Ren upset the New Jedi apple cart - Rey sees him in her spare-induced flashback killing someone; R2D2's blackened dome when Luke put's his robot hand on it; who was leaving Jakku in the spaceship when Rey was a toddler.

Guess we will have to find out more about Snoke as well.  Is he a Force ghost of Plagueis, or something else.

 

 

[jurble]

8 could go basically anywhere.  For all we know, Reality Gem shenanigans merge Star Wars with the MCU and we get Thor vs. Kylo Ren.

[The Mance]

One thing I am sure about is that I will feel cheated if we don't get to see the meeting between Rey and Luke play out, yet there's traditionally been a time skip between movies in the franchise (whereas the movies themselves all take place over the course of rather short periods of time).

I doubt we'll get to see any more of that scene.  Rey is going to have to be trained up by the start of the next movie or they'd need to insert a time jump mid film (or *shudder* a training montage).  So figure we'll pick up  several weeks or months after the end of tFA. It's possible that a lot of what should have been covered in their first meeting has gone unsaid, and we'll get to see a similar conversation as Rey and/or Luke gets ready to go save the galaxy.

And personally I'm glad they left it the way they did.  That last scene was perfect the way it was.  So much was convied between the two of them just from the look in their eyes, and Rey's posture of thrusting Luke's saber at him, pleading on behalf of the galaxy for him to take it up again.  And Luke recognizing the significance of her presence, regardless of who she is.  Just the fact that someone has gone to the trouble of seeking him out means that he can't go on hiding from his guilt any longer.  Really a powerful scene.

 

[Jabronius Maximus]

I really hope they don't turn Luke into the Yoda of the series. Yes, he'll be training Rey, but he has quite a bit of unfinished business with Ben and Snoke. Maybe 8 will have Luke training Rey, but refusing to join the fight. Then the Resistance could suffer yet another setback, forcing Luke into action for IX. 

Aside from that, this trilogy seems like it's Ben's story as much as Rey's. There should of course be a good amount of exposition on their characters. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

And personally I'm glad they left it the way they did.  That last scene was perfect the way it was.  So much was convied between the two of them just from the look in their eyes, and Rey's posture of thrusting Luke's saber at him, pleading on behalf of the galaxy for him to take it up again.  And Luke recognizing the significance of her presence, regardless of who she is.  Just the fact that someone has gone to the trouble of seeking him out means that he can't go on hiding from his guilt any longer.  Really a powerful scene.

I wish R2 had been in that scene. I thought it needed a familiar face (or control panel) for Luke to react to.

[The Mance]

I wish R2 had been in that scene. I thought it needed a familiar face (or control panel) for Luke to react to.

Ugh.  I'm just glad it wasn't Chewie.  There's a big furry bear hug in Luke's future and it's gonna choke me up big time.

[dog-days]

Thanks OP for the topic. I've been waiting for the discussion to move on from reviewing the film to thinking about what comes next. And thanks Kindly Old Man for the laugh. 

I do hope that VIII breaks away from the pattern of the OT. Not sure it will, but I hope so. 

Stuff that needs to be given attention in VIII

- What went wrong after RotJ. Kylo Ren barmy, Han and Leia separated, Luke in self-imposed exile. Ren tells Rey that his father was a disappointment to him. Why? Me being fond of Arthur Miller, I immediately recalled Biff in Death of a Salesman. But I don't think his problem with Han is that he was faithless to Leia! (For a start, Han didn't appear to have been castrated in The Force Awakens.) 

- Rey's Past Almost certainly related to the first point. 

- Snoke Who is he; what does he want. 

Stuff that I'd like to be in VIII/IX

- Phasma pursues Finn. In disgrace and possibly sacked after TFA, she blames Finn for what happened - either intending to kill him, or else get him humiliated and kicked out of the Resistance. She will not, of course, succeed in killing Finn, but she will cause quite a lot of damage a long the way. She may offer some insight into the training and beliefs of the First Order soldiers through dialogue with Finn. 

- I quite like the idea of one of the big three from the original dying in each movie. TFA was Han, VIII will be Leia, IX will be Luke. But before that happens, I would like to see Luke and Leia meet. I think they only had one conversation in RotJ in which both knew they were brother and sister and the children of Anakin. 

General comment: 

Episodes 1 through 6 were bound together threw being part of the same grand arc. The fall and redemption of Anakin embodying the collapse of the corrupt old order and the promise of something better. With some bildunsroman and space battles thrown in. 

Episodes 7 through 9 qualify the apparent conclusion of the first six, simply through existing. The fairy tale ending of RotJ has become compromised. The redemptive power of Anakin's death and Luke's faith in his father has been qualified by future disaster. To some extent, we're out of the fairy tale and into the real world, where happily ever afters don't last ever after. They just last until the hangover the next morning. 

I think that to be satisfying, Episodes 8 and 9 really do need to diverge from the OT. Because having undermined one fairy tale ending, they can't just present us with another. They need to take a different direction. I'm not sure what that direction should be. 

Naturally, I've been turning the possibilities over in my head. Today I watched the Branagh version of The Winter's Tale. I was amused, if not terribly surprised, to find myself reminded of Star Wars. Everything does this month. The short version - King Leontes becomes mad with paranoia about the faith of his wife, whom he suspects of having slept with his best friend. This madness apparently results in the death of his wife, of his son and his daughter. After his brief but horrible fall to the Dark Side, he spends the next fifteen years repenting his actions. Ultimately he's reunited with his wife and daughter, but not his son, who really is dead. Leontes rises out of his melancholy, and his kingdom gets an heir. So that's Star Wars Episodes 1-6 as a Jacobean romance.

Afterwards, I wondered if Episodes 7 - 9 could have Shakespearean parallels. At the moment, I'm inclining towards The Tempest, but that's almost entirely because it's about a wizard living in exile on a mysterious island. OK, and the end also involves the reconciliation of opposing factions. So happily ever after, but in a different way to RotJ. 

[Persicaria]

I have a theory that is full crackpot. I believe Rey is a Solo, that familiarity with the Falcon was a real red flag to me. She also exhibited some strong Leia tendencies "don't grab my hand." I know that if Leia or Han knew their daughter was missing I'm sure Rey would have raised some red flags. But, it doesn't eliminate the possibility of her being related. Especially if they think their daughter was dead. Something made Ben angry, very angry and had his parents worried for him. Something that made them feel immensely guilty I don't see Han or Leia as being the type to indulge a sulking cry baby.

If say there had been an assassination attempt on the Solo children , and the parents believed their daughter was killed while their son survived; I'm sure that would have been a great source of anger for Ben that they wouldn't have been able to soothe. Their daughter may have survived the attempt, and been abducted, having her memory erased and left on a planet to wait for her parents to come. Ben may have even been initially enticed to the dark side by the promise that he could find his sister. It's very obvious by how he interacts with Rey that he knows,or thinks he does, who she is.

Yes,I know it's cliched crack. Still, I claim this crack as mine.

As for Fin, being an African American Character in a mainstream movie, he has to in some way be related to other black characters we know , right? I'm only being partly facetious. So,  I think he could very well be related to Mace Windu.

[RumHam]

I have a theory that is full crackpot. I believe Rey is a Solo, that familiarity with the Falcon was a real red flag to me.

I think she's familiar with it because she worked on it while it was on Jakku. She's familiar with all the modifications that have been made to it recently, while Han is not. 

[Persicaria]

Why would they allow her so much access? She is a scavenger, and while they may have pulled her to help on somethings, I do think she wouldn't be privy to a lot the logistics of the ship. Then again she could be pulling a Luke , in which she somehow knows everything or anything about airships despite being confined to a small back water planet. Still, I do think Rey thought of Han as a father, and there was a lot of good parental chemistry. I can't really see Han being as bad of a father as Ben makes him out to be, unless something major happen to poison the idea.  As I said, it's full crack pot. The only thing I could solidly say about the narrative, is we need to explore Luke's reluctance to accept the Light Saber from Rey. I also think the narrative would benefit from understanding Ben's transformation more, and that Rey will/or has played a role in it. Fin's ability to break from his training could mean he has innate abilities in the force (hence the whole relation bit), or he may hold the key to breaking through to his fellow soldiers (which would be cool). 

[Kalbear]

It's Unkar Plutt's ship, she works for and was guardian of him. She's incredibly good at it too. Makes sense to me that he'd pay her a couple portions to try and get it working again.

[Persicaria]

That could be it. Still, If she's better at being a mechanic why sending her scavenging through the wastelands. I don't know there was something that seemed very familiar in their interaction. Han seemed to genuinely like her, and while he wasn't a bigsofty he did take on a fatherly role. Then again it could be because his own kid rejects him. As I said crackpot. I acknowledge there are a lot of mental twists to get there. It may very well be that she is not anyone's child, or a Kenobi, but Why does Ben seem to know her? or at least become upset at the thought of her. 

[Kalbear]

They send her scavenging because that's all there is to do. Working on the Falcon is a cross between a hobby and the big payoff, but it's not like they're going to be able to get a spaceport and big sales there. That's what they have pretty much.

Han does seem a bit familiar with her quickly, though he really does like people who like the Falcon. And she rerouted the compressor, after all.

I think from a story perspective that it would be really odd if she was han and leia long lost daughter. Why did they stop looking for her? Why wouldn't they mention it ever? Just seems too weird with the setup we have.

[Rhom]

They send her scavenging because that's all there is to do. Working on the Falcon is a cross between a hobby and the big payoff, but it's not like they're going to be able to get a spaceport and big sales there. That's what they have pretty much.

 

Han does seem a bit familiar with her quickly, though he really does like people who like the Falcon. And she rerouted the compressor, after all.

 

I think from a story perspective that it would be really odd if she was han and leia long lost daughter. Why did they stop looking for her? Why wouldn't they mention it ever? Just seems too weird with the setup we have.

 

Agreed.  Before the movie, I thought she was a Solo.  Thought the Falcon was inside the Star Destroyer and maybe the Solo family had been caught in a battle with Empire remnants and somehow mom, dad, and son were whisked to safety while daughter went down with the ship by accident.  They don't know where Star Destroyer eventually crashes and think daughter is lost.

With the set up we get, I don't see how she could be a Solo at this point.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

It's Unkar Plutt's ship, she works for and was guardian of him. She's incredibly good at it too. Makes sense to me that he'd pay her a couple portions to try and get it working again.

Guardian? Where did you catch that? She seemed like a free-lancer to me, just bringing him salvage for portions like any other scavenger.

[Persicaria]

It probably is just crack, and I can acknowledge that. However, we are still left to wonder what the significance of Rey is to Ben. He is very emotionally invested in her long before Snook is aware. Snook wants her, only as a person capable in the force. Ben's reaction to her, and that scene where he is interrogating her -- when I first saw it I was baffled by Ben's cry eyes-- indicate an emotional connection on his part. She was able to turn the table on him pretty quickly as a novice, and you can see he isn't completely calm throughout the meeting. He took of his mask, why? It's almost as though he wanted it to be personal with her. I think he is sensitive to her, or has difficulty controlling his emotions around her for some reason. There is a history there somewhere; one that probably plays into the Ben transformation. However, from the age of (6/7) she's been on Jakuu. I'm uncertain of how old she is supposed to be, but the characters don't seem to be that far in age to me. It would be a stretch to say she last saw him at the massacre. If she did, why spare her? If she was spared Snook would be all up on him to finish what he started. Unless , he placed her there before killing the rest of the Jedi. However, I don't think the massacre happened over a decade ago. I feel like Ben would have been a more polished villain by now if it did. So he knows her, probably since Jedi days, but  his parents don't recognize her.  She was stranded on that junk land for over a decade and no one knew to look for her. Even if she isn't a Solo, she is someone's ghost.

[Kalbear]

Guardian? Where did you catch that? She seemed like a free-lancer to me, just bringing him salvage for portions like any other scavenger.

He's the one dragging the rey as a girl away in the vision. Best guess is that he was the one who ended up raising her at least in some capacity.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

He's the one dragging the rey as a girl away in the vision. Best guess is that he was the one who ended up raising her at least in some capacity.

Ah, I did not catch that. Seems odd that he would even pay her then. Or perhaps she earned her freedom some how?

[Kalbear]

Ah, I did not catch that. Seems odd that he would even pay her then. Or perhaps she earned her freedom some how?

Yeah, maybe. Maybe she earned it.

Maybe Unkar had a deal worked out already.

In any case, seems like a natural thing that she'd be working on the Falcon from time to time.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 

Yeah, maybe. Maybe she earned it.

 

Maybe Unkar had a deal worked out already.

 

In any case, seems like a natural thing that she'd be working on the Falcon from time to time.

 

I don't know, I'm still not clear on the Jakku salvage economy. I guess portions are food, so it's at best a sort of "company store" sort of setup. Some form of indentured servitude to begin with.