Happy 2016!

Happy New Year to all of our Han and Leia fans out there. Let's have 2016 be when we write our stories that show us the couple we remember and maybe it will also give us some time to come to terms with the movie and enjoy the other aspects of it. And who knows, maybe other people will start coming around to our side.

It's been a long year, and things were often very, very quiet around here. But if anything, the great thing about the movie coming out is that it has brought so many of us together. Let's see if we can keep the momentum going in a positive direction. Although you can of course still use this post to continue to vent your Episode 7 woes, share links to articles and stories and artwork as there has been some good stuff from that as well.

Also, for fun, go ahead and suggest some things that you think maybe our favorite characters would've done to celebrate a New Year.

I hope everyone has a good year and sticks around!

Ten Days Later, More Episode 7 Talk

I like to look at this photo above now and pretend they are thinking.... wait, WHAT did you say happens after we get married?!?!

Someone requested another new post, because once we get over 200 comments it gets tough to see stuff. So, here is another one.

We've covered a lot, of course. And the more we talk, the more problems seem to come up. It irritates me so much because anything that doesn't have to do with the old characters I don't really have a problem with. There are parts of this movie I really liked, but so much of it makes me so mad it makes it really difficult for me to enjoy it in general.

A couple of points specific to Han and Leia as individuals that have come up in the later comments on the last post. In regard to Leia, it is almost an afterthought that she is Kylo's mother. It is a much bigger deal to the plot and to the enemy for some reason that Han is his father and not even really mentioned that Leia is his mother. Why? Is it just because of plot convenience or are we going to get a reason? My fear is it will just turn out to be plot convenience. We don't have time to get into the mother/son stuff so let's just not think about it right now. Maybe because Snoke didn't believe Kylo would be able to kill his own mother, but he COULD deal with killing his father. And it is also basically ignored that Leia is essentially sending her little army out to blow up her son. That never seems to be addressed at all. Why is it Han's job to bring him back and not hers? Has she tried at all? I am still quite fearful that we are going to find out that Han was the worst dad ever and kind of deserved what he got.

So now then back to Han. I said in some comments below, the more I think about his entire involvement here, the more annoyed I get. His "reluctant hero" journey during the OT worked for the character because it wasn't his fight, but he chose to stay involved anyway. His initial involvement was accidental, but he decided to stick around to take care of his friends and to help the greater good. That was a great growth and development of his character. Here, he kind of follows the same path except it IS his fight that he had been running away from for years. His involvement was accidental once again, but he only stepped up because he kind of had to at that point, and it was something that he never should've been running away from in the first place. What does that say about him when he turns his back on his son and his wife to just disappear and live in relative obscurity for his remaining days? I'm losing sympathy for his character the more I think about it. I mean, I can kind of understand regressing from pain and going back to "the only thing he was good at" in the face of so much heartache, but man, with the issue you're running from being the defining one in the galaxy, it's a lot more difficult for me to believe he would've just run away like that and not looked like he had any intention of going back.

The point of this movie was to move us forward with the story about the new characters. It has probably set us up to do that. But, there are a LOT of things I feel like need to be reconciled with Han and Leia especially, and even Luke, in order for me to feel better about their whole situation and give them some sort of meaning here other than just screwing up the galaxy by all collectively creating and then screwing up Kylo Ren.

As a somewhat unrelated side note, Push and I will be bringing back the EU book reviews and moving forward with those, hopefully at least covering all of them through the NJO. Not sure if we will go beyond there but time will tell. In revisiting the now "legends" version of the timeline, we are taking comfort in the fact that in spite of whatever else thrown at them, Han and Leia's relationship/marriage tended to remain strong. Yes, there was that estrangement, but they came back together and were stronger from then all the way until they "retired" at the end of Crucible, which I also recently re-read as it made me feel better. I know we used to complain about the EU, but overall, and compared to the alternative, it really wasn't so bad!

Oh, and one other side note, I'm kind of laughing about all these articles popping up about Harrison Ford getting paid more than anyone else for this movie, but especially compared to Daisy Ridley, like it is some strictly male vs. female thing. Sure, it can't possibly have anything to do with the fact that Harrison Ford first started making his mark on film 20 years before she was born, or that people go to see movies to see Harrison Ford, especially Harrison Ford as Han Solo, and not Daisy Ridley, regardless of how well she did. Or how about that she earned something like 40 times more than he did when he did ANH? Or how there is not similar outrage over the fact that Carrie and Mark earned more than John Boyega? But no, let's pretend none of those things matter and it's just because Harrison is a boy and Daisy is a girl. I'm really sick of people being outraged over everything for no reasons.

Merry Christmas and Happy Blog Comments Only!

Merry Christmas (and everything that means something to you) Everyone! This is Push.

First, I'd like to thank Zyra for keeping the blog going while I was gone - she did an awesome job. And second I want to say how happy I am to be back (even considering the current circumstances). Lastly, the movie.  

The movie. 

I'd like to state very briefly how much I abhorred that film, but I do not wish to comment, analyze or dwell on it. I'm not in denial, I know it happened, but I just don't want to think about it too much. Such is my therapy. Please don't hate. Besides, I think between the hundreds of comments that have been posted here since the movie aired, everyone has hit on everything that I hated and more. That, plus a little PTSD may be the major reasons that I just don't care to talk about it at all.

Sooooo, I'm posting an alternative place to post happy comments. Feel free to keep up the conversation regarding the movie and all that is wrong with it on the other post, but let's keep happy, old-fashioned Han and Leia speak over here. It is the Holiday Season after-all. Let's take a break from the negativity and awfulness that is what JJ did to us.

With that in mind, I have a few challenges for you:

First, for fun - tell us what you think a holiday gift exchange might look like in the GFFA. It can be anytime and between anyone. Like does Artoo exchange gifts with Threepio and what would that gift be??

Second, tell us if you bought any Star Wars themed gifts this year, what they were and who they were for. And it goes without saying that you must've picked something up for yourself to, so tell us about that as well.

Let the Holiday posting begin and Cheers!

Because We're Still Not Done Talking About Episode 7

And another new post because the comments were getting to be a little too much for one page. As always, you can continue to go back and comment on other posts.

Since now everyone is allowed to actually talk about plot points in the film, some of you are linking articles about JJ talking about some of the decisions that were made. It basically sounds like he made the worst possible choices when it came to every single option concerning Han and Leia. And just.... WHY?  I do not, and never will understand it. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. There was no valid reason to have them be split up. None. It did not add to the tension or drama. There were plenty of other sources for tension and drama, and if anything there could've been more of it if we'd had a tearful goodbye or something. Or an emotional reunion if Han had been gone for a while on a mission, NOT because he ran away. Was it not enough that their son was evil? They needed that, too?

Not only was it not necessary, but it honestly took me out of the film at points. It stung so much that whenever I'd hear more bad news about them, like Han saying Leia didn't want to see him was the first major clue, it would take me a couple of minutes to stop thinking about it and being angry about it, so I would temporarily stop being invested in whatever was happening on screen. I know that some of us may wonder if we are the only ones who think this way, as we obviously have different priorities maybe than your typical Star Wars fan, but I've read several articles written by men that have mentioned the same thing. Not even just in relation to Han and Leia but for Luke as well. WHY have our heroes been so decimated after what we saw at the end of ROTJ? Even my own brother who I went to see the movie with, afterward with zero prompting from me and the fact that I don't think he has any idea about my level of investment in the Han and Leia romance, said something about how they could've accomplished all of the same things without having them be split up. It is a decision that just doesn't make any sense to me unless it was just one of those attempts to be edgy and unexpected, or because of that stupid crap that has permeated every facet of movies and television where there is no such thing anymore as a couple that can stay together. Honestly at this point it would be edgy to actually KEEP a couple together.

Speaking of taking you out of the movie, I said the same about Han's death. What happens immediately following is arguably the most important scene in the movie, and yet I was still just reeling, because they actually killed Han Solo. And they did it in what was supposed to be a high tension scene but it could've been so much more because we wouldn't have known anything about the relationship between those two unless we were told about it. There isn't much background or context there. Han just got his ship back, just saw his wife again for the first time in many (MANY?) years, spent the last however many years being a lonely, no-good smuggler, and we're just going to kill him. Ok how much longer is it going to take before I can think about this and not get so worked up that tears come to my eyes? And as one of you so rightly pointed out after JJ mentioned something about how they needed to have some guts here, if only one moment in the film has any guts, maybe you need to take a look at the rest of the script.

Because really, the rest had no guts. Even every planet, while different in name, was something we had basically seen before. Except the final 2 minutes of the movie. Starkiller base might as well have been on Hoth (oh except there are TREES on this snowy planet, so it's different... right)  Wherever the heck the Resistance base was might as well have been Yavin. Jakku was Tatooine minus a sun. For a galaxy full of so much advanced technology why do so many of the planets seem to be stuck in the equivalent of ancient times on Earth?

It makes me kind pretty sad not just that they did this, and that it was unnecessary, but also that it took so much away from an otherwise pretty enjoyable film. There was a lot about it that I liked. A lot! Almost anything that had anything to do with the other characters I found enjoyable. Or Han and Chewie when we weren't talking about the fact that he and Leia weren't together. I feel like I've been robbed of my ability to enjoy this movie, when so much of it really was pretty good.

Also, let's talk about Leia. What is her purpose in the grand scheme of these movies? At this point it just seems like it is someone we can throw absolutely anything at and show that she can persevere and keep going. But really she doesn't DO much, she just takes on more heartache and loss and keeps on being there, standing in the background and "leading" and being this symbol for everyone. What does she have left to live for? What does she have to look forward to? She wasn't even really given the chance to be her normal "feisty" self. Even Carrie's comments before it came out, before she could really say anything, were about how Leia's story was pretty heavy in this one. And it's true. All she really got to do was be miserable, and that's not a fun thing to watch. It can't really be any better for her in future films, either.

I still want to know too what the point of this trilogy is going to be, where are we going with it? I suppose you couldn't have figured that out based on only ANH either, but still. Can Kylo be redeemed? Whose job is it going to be to bring him back? Leia's? Rey's? Luke's? Even if he is redeemed he can't make it out alive. Maybe in the end he sacrifices himself for one of the good guys? So if he doesn't make it out alive, even if redeemed, Leia is again, left without anyone. Well maybe Luke.

And again, who is Rey? I can make a lot of arguments that she is a Solo. Why does she understand Chewie? Why does she so easily and instantly bond with Han? What's up with the hug with Leia at the end? But really, I'm going to prepare myself for her being a Skywalker. Why? Because that is the option I hate. And so far, when it comes to anything I've cared about regarding these movies, they have gone with the option I hate. I mean, I guess Han and Leia DID get married at some point, and they did have a kid, so that is slightly better than Han disappearing immediately after ROTJ. But that is a rather small consolation. I also just read a theory that not only is she Luke's daughter, but also Obi Wan's granddaughter. Double whammy. Everyone else gets the good kid. I seriously can't even describe how mad it makes me that Han and Leia only had 1 kid and he was just about the worst human ever created.

More Episode 7 Discussion

Once again the comments were making the page a little more difficult. You can always go back and comment on old posts, but I think it's a little easier for all of us if the comments are spread over more posts so we don't run into that problem where you have to figure out how to load more and people think their comments didn't post when really they did. 

But clearly we are not done talking about this, so more posting! 

Here's what is probably my biggest gripe about the whole thing. When looking at this story as a whole, when thinking about writing and telling an epic tale such as this, most things we see happen for a reason. Now we can say all we want that hey at least they still loved each other, and maybe there were some happier times and in the end what Han did was for the love he had for his family and his incredible desire to have them back together or die trying. That's all true, absolutely. But what redeeming value does Han and Leia's love story really have? What was the point of it? Just to produce an antagonist for the future movies? Because that's not a good enough reason. We should not have to look at them falling in love and procreating as the worst thing that ever happened to the galaxy, but at least for the time being, that is basically what we are being told. And it is completely unfair for a lot of reasons, and for other reasons also kind of lazy story telling. "Well, those two were together, we'll let them birth the bad guy and that's the end of it."  Uh, no, that doesn't really make any sense.

Even Anakin, who was evil himself, produced some good in the galaxy by having Luke and Leia. I mean, presumably in spite of Luke's failures he will help Rey become just what the galaxy needs. Leia has always been a leader and fighting against the bad guys without ever showing the slightest hint that she could fall to the dark side. While Anakin and Padme's love story was ultimately tragic, at least their offspring have done some good.

Not so, apparently, for Han and Leia. They fell in love, both good people trying to make it work. Both offering something to the other they didn't even know they were missing. They did not NEED each other, they weren't desperate or looking for it, but they found each other and just couldn't help but fall in love. They evolved during the OT. The love and commitment was part of the character development. But then apparently we are told that in spite of that love, nothing good came of it. If they had not fallen in love, we can assume that both of them would've been doing the exact same things they were doing in Episode 7. Think about that. They would've been the same people. Easily that could've happened. Really it should've been more like a ghost of Christmas future type nightmare situation, if they hadn't found each other she'd still just be leading the Resistance, and he'd just be an old lonely smuggler who owes everyone money. I mean forget the fact that if not for Han they all would've died a long time ago, but still. Same people, minus the horrible complication of having Kylo Ren. I would be so much better about Han's death and the rest of this situation if they had another decent kid somewhere.

The only thing them falling in love accomplished was having the next Vader. Of course this is unless later there is more to this story they haven't told us, but as of now, that's it. That is more than a little bit harsh. Just about the only thing that will make this a little better will be if Rey is also theirs and we learn that later. Because at least then their love will have produced something good, something that will help as opposed to just something awful. There can be no redemption for Kylo Ren. The absolute best I think we can hope for there is a Vader-type situation where at the very end he gives us some sign of lightness where he saves Rey or stops fighting her or maybe decides not to kill his mother before killing himself, I'm not really sure. But that doesn't really matter because that all could've simply been avoided if they had never had him in the first place. I would just like to see something, ANYTHING that will ever tell us that there was some good to be had by that love story.

On another note, anyone have any ideas on what the overall point of this story is going to be? Bringing back Kylo? Simply killing him? Something to do with Snoke? Rey being the ultimate super Jedi? Will she struggle with the dark side or is none of that in her? At this point I'm not clear on any of it.

Just some things to think about that I'd be interested in hearing your comments on. But you can of course also comment on all of the other things we've been talking about as well. When we get into the 300 comments in a single post range it gets a little hard to follow!

Another SPOILER-Ridden Post For More Comments

I needed to put a good photo up. And we needed to do another post because when the comments start getting too long clearly there are some issues. You can comment on whichever posts you want, I just think it is easier to spread it out a little bit.

I would like to say I'm glad you've all found your way here. It is nice to see so many people who are similarly affected by this. And let me also say that I recognize that perhaps it is a little silly to be so emotionally drawn into this, but since it appears that there are quite a few of us who feel so similarly, it clearly is not that unique of a situation.

Why did EVERYTHING about them basically have to be so, so terrible? I'm starting to wonder if maybe it would've been better if Han had skipped town not long after ROTJ and they never saw each other again. At least relative to what we are getting. But really, every aspect of their lives is awful. Even my brother who shares my love of Star Wars but I don't believe is aware of my Han and Leia obsession said without me prompting, was it really necessary to have Han and Leia split up? Couldn't they have accomplished the exact same thing and kept them together? Exactly. I mean, Leia even still could've been mad at him for something to keep the interactions tense, but it didn't have to be THAT bad, did it?

So the ONE kid they had is absolute pure evil. Basically you're telling us that Han and Leia falling in love and procreating is now what might destroy the galaxy. It's all their fault. I'm also curious if people in general know he is their son or if it is some sort of secret. I might feel better about this whole situation if they had had another kid or two and those were ok. But seriously, just why? This makes me curious though when we go back and fill that in to find out if there was a decision there or an accident or what. Clearly in our own fanfic and even in the old EU a strong theme was Leia worrying that any child she had could be the next Vader. Would she have been worried about that? Did they decide to go for it anyway or had they decided not to risk it and it happened anyway? What about how long they waited before they got married? Watch now to make it all worse (if that were possible) they'll have Leia accidentally get pregnant and then they are reluctantly forced to get married so there is resentment about that as well.

This will also bother me even more if Rey turns out to be Luke's. I mean first there is a lot that needs to be filled in about who the mother is and what happened there. But also it appears that it would make it so that Leia's kid is pure evil, and Luke's kid is he awesome-est most badass and flawless Jedi girl who ever lived. That seems a little unreasonable. Especially since presumably she was left to fend for herself, which doesn't usually result in such well-adjusted children, while Ben was presumably loved and cared for. Or at least they attempted to do that, because from what a lot of you are telling me about the novelization, he was basically evil from birth. Which also makes me want to ask how exactly Snoke's manipulation works. Is it telepathic? Did he somehow have access to him? I don't quite understand, nor do I understand where he came from or if they knew about him before or what.

Random side note: how did Han and Leia have a son that was so freaking tall? I mean Han was tall, sure, but Leia would surely dilute those height genes quite a bit.

Let's see, other things that were the worst: Oh how about how Han hasn't had the Falcon in YEARS and then he finally gets it back only to fly it for like 20 minutes and then die? Yeah, that's awesome. Again, what was the point? Could it not have been missing for, say, a year or 2 maybe? A few months? Do those ships need fuel or anything? If it's been sitting there for years how is it so ready to go? Why did you take his ship away from him?

And of course let's get back to the real reason we're all here: the separation. Honestly, who else would've taken the whole movie as a LOT less of a kick in the teeth if not for that? Years and years of being apart, and for what? Also seriously has the Resistance been fighting for 15+ years? Would Han really have completely immersed himself in smuggling and disappeared? Would he not at all like, try to stay sort of close and check on Leia sometimes? What if she had died? But seriously why was their ONE child the worst human ever created?!?!? It also seems that if that was Han's back story, he would've probably been a fairly tortured soul. You can run away all you want, but that kind of stuff would have to weigh incredibly heavily on anyone's conscience. Our favorite characters have been relegated to living a miserably tortured existence for years. How many is unclear but possibly all the way back to right after we last saw them.

Speaking of that, also thinking this morning, Kylo's whole character felt very underdeveloped and rushed. I was also a little surprised at how early in the movie they told us Han was his father. At that point we weren't positive that Leia was his mother, but it was pretty well obvious before he started talking about his grandfather. The "pull to the light" thing was interesting to me. But at the same time, it was so brief and frankly other than him actually saying it, there didn't appear to be based on his actions any actual internal struggle there. Even when Han walked out to see him, and please debate this with me if you disagree here, I didn't actually see him as struggling with what he had to do. I saw him as manipulating Han to come closer to make it easier. I mean, "Will you help me?" was just asking basically if Han would let his son kill him. That's how I saw it, anyway. I did not see him struggling with that decision. Was Han a bad dad or was Kylo brainwashed into thinking he was? I almost don't even want to know the answer.

And Leia. When I was worried about all of this awfulness being true, and consoling myself with the fact that they couldn't possibly do ALL of these bad things to them, could they? Oh, yes they can! Anyway, even when I was wondering about it, I wanted to ask has Leia ever had a happy moment in her life? Born to Vader, mother dies right after she is born, separated from her brother and "hidden."  Ok, her adoptive parents actually apparently were really good people and she had a decent childhood, so that's a good start I suppose. But then she is a young senator and has this innate sense of duty all of the time, always living for other people and not herself. Gets captured and her planet and her entire family is blown up right in front of her, loses everything she had.

Ok, so she finds some new friends. One of them turns out to be her brother. Cool! A brother! And he's a pretty good guy and we were already friends! Don't get too used to him, though. And then she meets this really hot guy and he drives her kind of crazy but there is just something about him and eventually he kisses her and oh my god that was amazing and they fall in love and some tough stuff happens there but in the end they decide to stick together. Except maybe everything about that sucks too and nobody is ever entirely happy there. And then maybe they get married, or maybe she gets pregnant and then they get married, we don't really know. Did they want to get married? Were they over-the-moon in love and couldn't wait or did they just kind of get married because they had to or what? Based on the way things have been going, I'm suspecting it was all reluctantly or begrudgingly or something. Anyway, she has a baby. Maybe she wanted it and maybe she didn't. Again based on the general trend of things, I'm just going to assume the worst and say that she never intended on having a baby and perhaps just to add insult to injury, the particular sexual encounter that resulted in this child was awkward and/or unsatisfying and maybe they were mad at each other or something and neither one of them is happy about having a kid but they don't know what else to do. (for real though, I'm actually curious to see if because of the importance of the character if in some book or comic they will actually kind of make a big deal about going back to when he was conceived. Not that I think they will be all explicit about the sex or anything, just that it will be apparent when it happened)

Ok, so she has a baby. That's supposed to be great and joyous, right? Except this is Leia we're talking about, and apparently her baby was evil immediately, so clearly having a baby is the opposite of good for her. He probably screams all the time and looks at her with baby rage eyes and Leia never gets any sleep and tries desperately to just be a loving mother but just gets nothing back from her evil child. This madness drives Han insane because he can't deal with it, Leia is all consumed by the Sith-baby and he stars to resent both of them. Maybe at this point he starts going away and distancing himself? Not leaving her completely, but basically checked out. So now Leia is basically alone with Sith-baby who hates her and the man she sort of loved but maybe already didn't anymore is gone. Sith-baby gets older and more Sith-like, and remember that cool brother? Well he can help, so she sends the kid there but instead he turns completely evil and your cool brother disappears and your son killed a bunch of Jedi and your husband runs away and never wants to see you again. She is alone with no family and no friends and the knowledge that her son is out being super duper evil and constantly killing people and will probably eventually kill you, too. For real, this is Leia Organa's life. How has she not hurled herself off a bridge at this point? Clearly some of that I made up and may be wrong about, but given the general trend toward the most awful things you can think of, I'm probably not far off.

Anyway, where was I going with all of this? Oh yeah, mostly just talking about how they made everything the worst. Maybe ONE good kid? Maybe not as long or permanent of an estrangement? Maybe Han had the Falcon? Maybe they got to make up before Han died? Or maybe just Han didn't die? I love your resurrection theories but I'm really gonna have to go with him being gone for good. As much as I love the idea of him coming back, how are we to believe any deaths going forward if we find out people can just come back? He looked really dead, and I have to say I still tear up every time I picture his limp body tumbling down into the abyss. And Leia knowing he's gone, but what does it matter to her anymore? He's been gone to her basically forever and she very well may have never seen him again.

Remember when the EU was the worst thing that happened to Han and Leia? At least there they were happily married. A few rough patches but once they made up in the NJO they were inseparable. I wish I could remember exactly how outraged I was when Chewie died, and the estrangement, and then Anakin died and then Jacen was a Sith and Jaina had to kill him. There were a lot of tough moments in there. This also reminds me of when we first started talking about this and it was like, cool, no more EU! And then they said we'll keep some stuff but get rid of others and it was like, so, what if they keep the worst parts of it and get rid of the good parts? Oh, good, you did just that. Sith child, great. Oh but instead of keeping them married or having any good kids you'll just get rid of those things. Awesome. Anyone else miss Jaina Solo terribly right about now? Anyway, what I was really getting at here, is I wish I could remember how upset I was, and how long it took me to get over it. Because before this movie came out I had certainly been able to erase from my head the thought that their 2 sons had died and one was a horrible Sith. I could write my fanfic with those 3 kids being young and good kids without constantly having in the back of my mind how horrible things became. I just pretended that stuff didn't happen.

Will I be able to do that again? Will I be able to watch the OT and Han and Leia without suddenly wanting to push them away and be like, listen guys, maybe go find some other people. Or at least don't do anything until we get Leia sterilized. Can I get back to that happy place in my head that forgets the terribleness that apparently followed and insert my own happily ever after? I do hope so, but I'm not sure. It's certainly going to be more of a challenge having it be in a movie and not a book. Also, what about all of that Han and Leia couples merchandise? Who wants to model themselves after that now? People who have things engraved on wedding rings and such. Would it have really been so difficult to have just one successful relationship in these movies?

One final note now with you guys talking about irredeemable patricide. I do agree that seems like something you can't come back from, which is why it bothers me that it happened so early and without really giving us a whole lot of background or context to that whole situation/relationship. Yeah we know SOMETHING happened there, we know the general idea that Han is his dad and it didn't go so well. But we are never given much insight into the actual struggle for Kylo between light and dark, or how he REALLY feels/felt about his father and if he struggles with those feelings. I don't see much of that. We are given a brief glimpse of something, and then he kills him. Almost like this should've been the second movie and the first one should've covered his entire background and maybe give us more insight into why that all went down how it did. 

I think I've ranted long enough for now. Mostly this was just supposed to be a place to put more comments but clearly I got carried away.

Ok So Now For All of Us Who Have Seen it SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS IN THIS POST NOT JUST THE COMMENTS!!!

I have seen it. I'm going to try and get out what I need to get out. I also just spent like 90 minutes trying to catch up on all of your comments from the other post. 

First, I'm glad I didn't read all of the spoilers. It did not make the heartbreaking stuff any more heartbreaking and in fact allowed me more time to pretend for a little while longer that maybe Han was going to still be alive even though from the time they announced it I was convinced he would die. It was nice not knowing absolutely exactly what I was waiting to have happen.

I am not sure what to think at the moment. I do think a few of you may be overreacting more than slightly by ditching Star Wars completely or saying it was a bad movie. It was a pretty good movie, I just hated a lot of the things they had to do for it and think a fair amount of it was unnecessary to have just as much dramatic impact.

So where to even begin? It felt surreal, reading an opening crawl I really needed to read to know what has been going on. Poe in the beginning, I like him a lot. I thought it interesting after I had read some discussion of Leia being fairly close with him that they really almost didn't interact at all during the movie. Finn is maybe trying a little too hard to play off the cool-guy quips but overall he was fine and I think he and Rey had good chemistry. I want BB-8 to be my best friend and his design was marketing genius because he is endearing and adorable. It's like a puppy version of R2-D2. I love Daisy as Rey, I thought she did a fantastic job and I will be happy to see her carry the franchise forward. But seriously you guys, who the hell are her parents?!?!? My questions were all supposed to be answered and we still don't know. It would seem to make no sense at all to me that she is not Luke's or Leia's. But if she is Luke's who is her mom? And if she is Leia's why was that not made clear but then she and Han were saying all the same things! That was frustrating.

I spent much of the beginning waiting to see the characters I had gone there to see. Except once I did finally start seeing them it was like all of my worst fears were slowly being confirmed. "Well maybe Han is still with Leia and he's just.... oh, wait, he's saying Leia doesn't want to see him so that can't be good. Well maybe it hasn't been that long... oh, wait, nope it kinda seems like it's been a while. Well maybe they will kiss and make up or say I love you or... oh, nope he's saying goodbye and hugging her now and I bet this is the last time they ever see each other and then. Oh no oh no oh no Han don't go out on that bridge don't do it don't... wait, maybe he is softening, maybe this isn't really happening, maybe... nope, he definitely just stabbed his father through the heart. Grief stricken Leia.... yep, this is all of the worst things they possibly could've done."  It was just more bad news heaped onto other bad news, topped off with finding out that the movie was going to end without finding out who Rey's parents are.

The first hour of the movie though, before they started tearing my heart out piece by piece and slowly removing every ounce of hope I had left, I did really enjoy. It was a cool start, although I felt like Finn's deflection was pretty quick and not well explained. It was more like, here's this guy, he's going to leave the First Order. I did like how he chose to take Poe though, not so much because he was being noble, just because he needed someone to fly him out of there. I liked Rey from the beginning, I thought they did a good job with her. But again who is her freaking family?!  I knew immediately when Rey said "That ship is garbage" that the reveal was going to be it was the Falcon. I feel duped that the footage we saw of the Falcon flying in that first teaser, Han wasn't even the pilot. Also how is Rey a pilot if she has just been stranded for so long. And by the way, WHO ARE HER PARENTS?

I had a feeling too when the Falcon got pulled in that Han was going to be on that ship. Oh, Han. It was so, so, so good to see him again. I guess it was good that they really utilized him a lot here since we never get to see him again. I did enjoy the optimism from some of the comments in the other thread where apparently some of you think maybe he'll come back somehow and I'd love to hope for that but I think I'm all out of hope at this point. He seems pretty gone. Like, very, very dead. But that comes later, so still here we had Han, and poor Harrison you could kind of tell that running wasn't super easy at parts here. But he felt like Han, I loved him and Chewie together again but you had to laugh when they totally used having Chewie get injured and having to lie down as a solution to the fact that Peter Mayhew can't really even walk very well at this point in his life.

So then we get to Maz's castle. Her character was cool, I guess. What the heck happened to the clip in the trailer from April where Maz hands Leia the lightsaber? Someone explain where that went. As well as the "Hope is not lost today, it is found" line that is also nowhere to be found. This is the part of the movie where MY hope started to become lost. Specifically the part where Han mentions how Leia doesn't want to see him, and clearly it's been a while. Step 1 of worst fears coming true. Maybe it's not so bad? I had a feeling when Rey went down to that basement and we could hear child's cries that she was hearing echoes of herself from her past but I still don't know what happened there. Can we also talk about whether her parents are Luke or Leia or someone else, what kind of parent leaves their like 5-year old alone on a planet with nobody to look after her? And why is this all the same? Orphan left on desert planet, dresses the same, unaware of Force abilities (and presumed Skywalker heritage of some sort) fighting against Empire stuff and Death Star like weapon with port you can shoot and blow the whole thing up. Oh and while we're at it let's kill another one of Leia's loved ones, we haven't done that in a while. She almost maybe could've been happy for five seconds.

But we're not there yet, are we? I did like Finn and Rey together, I thought they had good chemistry. I'm not ready for it to turn romantic, but as friends and partners so far it was good. I did have a feeling when that ship showed up and we saw Han looking all hopeful that Leia was going to be on it. But wait, then it was time for more of my dreams to be crushed as it became apparent that it had been a while and things were not good. Seriously, how many years? It might as well be a lifetime because remember, all of my hope is gone now. I was waiting for that same spark. Some hint of something more being there. There was... something, but not what I was hoping for. I spent the last few years looking forward to seeing my favorite screen couple together again for the first time since 1983 after thinking there was no chance to see it at all, and that was what we got. Can we put the Force back to sleep? I mean, I was watching it all unfold while not even being able to take it all in, hoping for something different but finding it becoming clearer that it was all just horribly, tragically bad for them. I guess I liked that she still didn't take any crap from him and got kind of mad at him, but still.

Han is being Han again, and talking about blowing up definitely-not-Death-Stars that can be blown up just like actual Death Stars. Oh and I forgot, since BB-8 has to steal the show (but how cute is hat droid, though?) even R2-D2 has apparently not been working since Luke disappeared.

This whole section of the movie just goes by in a flash for me. I think largely because in the back of my mind I was thinking, ok, so we're pretty far in now and a lot still needs to happen and I bet Han is going to die which means he needs to leave which means we are totally running out of time for any good Han and Leia scenes and ANY potential for anything good left to happen. Unless Han lives, which seems doubtful.  Ok, so then Han and Leia had a nice little emotional scene where it becomes apparent it's been a while and that Han left because every time Leia looked at him she could only see their son and they both went back to the only things they were good at. It is poignant and there is some glassiness of tears that don't fall. But for the love of God why is it necessary to the plot to tear these two apart like this? So apparently they got together, looks like they had exactly one kid and he turned out to be worse than Vader. Is anyone else starting to wish Han HAD been killed in ROTJ? So, really, I guess now we maybe are going to get books or something where they get married and have a baby maybe but is anyone going to enjoy reading that knowing how it all ends?

Oh right Rey was abducted. I was totally expecting some sort of reveal from Kylo to her that she was his sister or something, but that didn't happen. That was the only hunch I had that didn't turn out to be true. Probably because there was some hopefulness implied. I did like her little Jedi mind trick but wow she picks that up fast, doesn't she? HOW DID SHE GET THE FORCE AND WHO ARE HER PARENTS? Ok so back to Han and Leia's final moments, and again I was thinking yeah this is probably the last time they'll ever see each other and I hope they kiss and.... nope, no kiss. I could actually feel my heart thudding as we approached this scene, knowing time was running out.  I mean I guess I liked the stuff about how there were good times and such, and he really forcefully pulled her in for that hug and she totally melted into it like she had been dying for it so to me at least that was like, yes, we still love each other but there is just nothing else we can do about this right now.

And then that was it. I was pretty sure that was the last time we'd see them together. My last hope was some sort of marketing hoax, they made us believe he was going to die but then were going to pull the old switcheroo at the last minute. And then they got to the base and of course Han was killing it like usual and getting things done. And then he remembered what Leia had said, there was still light in him, he could bring him back because he was his father. His father... I mean how did that go down? I have so many questions and I'm afraid of the answers. Is it all going to get even worse? Is Han going to suck as a dad? Are they even going to go there? Basically now I'm just going to be thinking the worst possible thing I can think of will probably be what will happen.

So then here it comes. As soon as Han and Chewie split up to plant the explosives I knew this was it. I had been afraid of his possibility from the moment this movie was announced, even before we knew Han was going to be in it at all. And my heart started pounding like crazy. I know I said I would be ok if Han died. Seriously go back to old blog comments in 2012, I said it more than once. But that would've been if it had been done right. Like if he had to fly the Falcon in front of a laser blast to save someone, or stay behind to detonate something. Some sort of sacrifice. This was just walking up to his son and being brutally murdered for no reason other than trying to bring him back, which is clearly impossible. I'm seriously tearing up as I write this. I did not cry at the theater because I think I was still just so shocked, but they really did it. They killed Han. I thought for a bit that maybe it wasn't going to happen, and maybe Han was going to take the lightsaber and take him home but again, why would I think that? What reason have I been given to be hopeful at this point? It was just heartbreaking to see Han staring at his son, knowing he had just killed him, touching his face and possibly wondering what had gone wrong to bring him to this. Then we go to Leia, who felt it happen. Poor, grief-stricken Leia, losing the love of her life (presumably, because while we're busy losing all hope I suppose it is possible that in the time she and Han have been apart she met Isolder's this-universe equivalent and found out what love really is, and it isn't Han) and suffering terrible heartache AGAIN. Seriously, someone please tell me that this poor woman has ever experienced a moment of happiness in her life. You know what else made me really sad? That she had nobody to turn to at that point for comfort. I guess maybe Chewie when he got back, and she and Rey had a nice moment there, but really, she has nobody. How is that woman still functioning?

Ok, so now Han is dead and it is time for some lightsaber fighting. This, at least, I thought was done pretty well. I don't really get how Finn can just kind of spar with a lightsaber without ever using one before, but whatever. Same could be said of Rey except the whole Force thing where apparently she is just crazy Jedi intuitive. Again during this battle I was waiting for some sort of relationship reveal that never came. I did like her turn when suddenly she overpowered him. But oh yeah, PS guys there is a huge battle going on where they are trying to take out the Dea... uh, I mean Starkiller, the WAY BIGGER THAN THE DEATH STAR base. This battle was supposed to be the climactic moment and it came on like an afterthought whenever they reminded us of it. Oh, right, Poe and his crew and stopping them from blowing up Yavin... wait I mean whatever system they said they were on. Then the Falcon shows up to save the day, now without Han forever. And we see mourning Chewie which was really where I started to get sad. Honestly I was still in shock here.

Back to the Rebels... wait I mean Resistance. I did like that nice moment for Rey and Leia where they hugged. And AGAIN I was waiting for maybe some sort of reveal there, or maybe people's memories had been wiped or something, but again we got nothing. And now Rey is going to find Luke because Artoo woke up when Rey showed up (probably another hint that she is maybe Luke's but again FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SOMEONE TELL ME WHO HER PARENTS ARE!) and was able to fill in the rest of the map to where Luke was. That seemed convenient though, didn't it? Why is there a map? And why was that guy entrusted with it? So why doesn't Leia go with her to see her brother, the only family she has left? And why did I just now realize that we lost our chance to see Han and Luke on screen together again? As soon as she got to that island and started walking up those stairs I thought, she's going to see him, and the movie is going to end, and we're not going to get any of these questions answered. And I was right. And poor Mark had to lose like 50 pounds and wear a big beard for a long time just to be in the movie for 5 seconds and not eve speak.

So, there we have it. This is my emotional, sleep-deprived reaction. I do wonder if at some point in the near future I'll feel more positive about it. Though again, all of my worst case scenarios came true. Mere hours before I went I was saying to someone, they wouldn't really have them be estranged, AND have their only kid be evil, AND kill Han, would they? Oh, yes they would. And by the way that was their only kid. And while we're at it, Han didn't even get to fly the Falcon anymore until that last couple of days of his life. I'm just.... sad. Like, really sad. I wasn't so sad during it because I think I was just so shocked it was really happening that bad but now thinking back I'm really, really sad. A long time ago some of us joked that we would want the EU back. ALL of it. Bria, Isolder, the long separations, losing Anakin, Sith Jacen, losing Jacen but hey at least they had 1 good daughter and a granddaughter and at least they stuck with it TOGETHER. Speaking of sticking with it, what the heck was that quote from Carrie about in that one article? They stick with it? Seems like they actually ran away from each other.

I don't know, you guys. I really don't know. I am sure I'll have to sleep on it. I'm also really curious to see what the general fanbase thinks when they can really start talking about it. JJ said he wanted it to be delightful. I was not delighted. The only delightful stuff was maybe Han and Chewie being Han and Chewie, but that is a small bright spot. I did see a comment just go up in the spoiler thread that discussed the acting. I agree Harrison was wonderful. Which makes me really sad that this is the last we'll ever see of him in that role (though also sort of makes me wish that ROTJ remained the last we'd ever see of him in that role) and totally found Han Solo again. That is about the only reason I kind of want to watch it again. Daisy I thought did an excellent job and I guess in spite of the horrible sadness of everything else I can look forward to her carrying the movies further. They literally can't take anything away from me at this point. If Leia dies of cancer in the next movie I won't even be upset about it, I'll be relieved she is being put out of her misery. They just can't make anything worse. I also agree with the recent post that I have to say I can't really say Carrie nailed it. It wasn't bad by any means, it just wasn't quite the Leia I remembered. But maybe we can just blame it on the fact that the poor woman has been brutally beaten down by life and no sense of her real self remains.

I'm also curious how in the world they are going to do books and stuff to fill these gaps. If all of our heroes have been separate, what are they going to do with them? I don't want to read about Han doing smuggling stuff in his 50s or whatever, or worse yet, with some new fling. We can't read about Luke staring into space on an island for years. And Leia leading the resistance without her crew... I don't know. And sure, we have potential to see new books or comics of Han and Leia getting together and falling in love but... seriously, considering what that love produced, can we even be happy about that? I don't want to read about Leia having a baby when I know that baby grows up to kill Han. I mean, maybe there was real love there but still, it seems too tainted at this point to be able to enjoy any of it. This is just so, so, so tragic.

I don't know, guys. You saw my comments before, I tried being hopeful about this and then all of my worst fears were realized. I actually wasn't that sad right away. During early parts of it I was like, wow, I'm really seeing this for the first time. I'm still glad I didn't spoil it, but it would've been nice to have had a GOOD surprise. Like ANY good surprise. It was more like waiting for how much darker and more tragic they could make it. And speaking of hope, what happened to the "Hope is not lost today, it is found" line? Did they take it out because guess what, hope was totally lost today? Also missing from the trailers was someone handing Leia Luke's lightsaber. Where would that have gone in the movie because it looked like Maz handing to Leia but those two were never on screen together.

I'm not going to go quite as off the rails as some of you with the done with Star Wars forever comments or treat it like some sort of personal attack on Han and Leia fans or something. I'm just disappointed. And it is a very different kind of disappointment from the prequels (speaking of which, remember when we all thought nobody could make things worse than George did?) which were disappointing from a quality standpoint but that was basically it. This was like tearing out my soul. I think Kylo's lightsaber went through my heart the same time it cut into Han's. So really Han died a lonely old man who had lost his son and eventually Leia is going to die a lonely old lady. Fun, right? Star Wars!

To think I was so excited this morning. Speaking of which, since I've been up for 24 hours now, I need to go to sleep. Feel free to try and make me feel better. As I said, I don't think I was feeling so negative right after I saw it and I could still remember some of the good parts, but now I really just can't believe they did so many tragically bad things.

Premiere Tonight. The Week is Finally Here

They'll still look.... sort of like that, right? For any of you who were not aware, the big premiere is tonight in LA. The event (NOT the movie part) is going to be live streamed online, and I definitely plan on watching. After that, I think I probably have to spend the next three days diligently avoiding all Star Wars media. I may or may not read comments on the non spoiler posts here at the blog, not really sure yet. I just know that with the premiere, and then other countries following I think starting tomorrow being able to see it publicly, I need to make sure I don't read anything I don't want to read.

I have appreciated you guys keeping the spoilers contained to the spoiler thread. I have a million email alerts for comments there I'll have fun reading in a few days. Please continue to keep your spoiler-related comments confined to that thread until I post my post-movie blog, at which point comment wherever, however you want. And for any of you who are seeing it later than I am and wish to remain unspoiled, I suggest you stay away from the blog until you see it. In fact I suggest you stay away from the internet entirely until you see it.

Has anyone else completely forgotten that Christmas is next week? I have been so fixated on December 17th that it has completely escaped me that I still have tons of shopping to do. Like, for pretty much everyone I have to buy presents for. Oops.

This is it, guys. We've been waiting a long, long time for this. When I saw ROTJ in the theater I couldn't even read Jabba's subtitles because I hadn't hit kindergarten yet. I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to be quite emotional afterward, really regardless of the content. It's just been such a long time coming. I'm looking forward to the conversations we get to have once we do all finally get to see it. Hopefully it will be good!

The Spoiler Comments Post

All right, guys. I'm a little reluctant to do this because I'm afraid you'll start alluding to things you write here in comments sections on other posts, but I'm also afraid that if I don't do this you're just going to say too much when I don't want to read about it. So use the comments section of this post to discuss spoilers of any kind. Those of you, like myself, who wish to remain in the dark for six more days, just don't click to read the comments.

Be nice to each other, since I can't moderate anything and read what you are saying. And again contain all of your spoiler comments to THIS THREAD. Do not mention any discussions going on here on any other post. Keep it contained.

I'll be interested to read this in another week.

Just Over ONE WEEK to Go!

For any of you who missed it, here is the still we were talking about in the comments on the last post. I don't read anything in it, I'm just going to enjoy it for what it is and be happy that after the movie comes out there is a good chance we'll get even more good Han and Leia pictures they couldn't show us before we knew what was going to happen.

So, for a lot of us including myself, one week from tomorrow we will finally get to see this movie. Star Wars has taken over everything, everywhere. Commercials that aren't even for Star Wars will have like, kids wearing Star Wars pajamas for no reason, or I even saw a car commercial yesterday that had nothing to do with Star Wars, the whole commercial was normal except it had Star Wars music in the background. It's almost too much even for me.

There are dozens of cast interviews on the internet. My favorite recent one was when Harrison commented that his favorite part of the first movies was when Leia was wearing the bikini with Jabba. I really can't even keep up at this point with what is out there. Harrison is in Australia at the moment for you lucky Australians, doing a fan event I think tomorrow. I think I saw somewhere Daisy is in South Korea. These poor people must be exhausted.

Some of you had also been asking about that People magazine with all of the Star Wars stuff in it, I do believe it was to hit news stands today so you can probably go check that out.

Really, after over three years of waiting since this was announced, it is finally time. FINALLY. It is both exciting and terrifying. What are they going to do to everyone? Is this the last time we get to see Han Solo alive? Or anyone else? Where the heck has Luke been all this time? What has happened in the last 30 years? Our questions will be answered soon.

Monday is the big premiere in Los Angeles. It will be live streamed online. For myself, I do believe that after I watch that live stream that will be my moment where I have to avoid any Star Wars media online for fear of spoilers. I may or may not do another post (or more) here before the movie comes out, but I just wanted you all to be aware of that. You can continue to comment, I will just likely not be responding. If I can help myself, anyway.

Now I just have one last anxiety left, which is hoping my online ticket purchase was as legitimate as it appeared, and making sure we get there in time to get good seats and sit together. One more week, you guys!

Harrison and Others Making the Talk Show Rounds

First, let's just appreciate this photo of Harrison walking down the street in Beverly Hills a few weeks ago. How does anyone age this well?

All right, now on to the talk show appearances. I'm hoping I will manage to catch all of them. These three were all from the same day. He appears to be in remarkably good spirits. In fact, probably better spirits than I've ever seen him in interviews. It did occur to me though that maybe part of that is he really can't say anything at all about the actual movie, due to all that secrecy, so maybe the interviews aren't as boring to him? Hopefully not because somewhere in the back of his mind he is thinking, "I never have to do a press tour for Star Wars again, because Han Solo is dead."

Let's show these to you in order of their actual appearances on television. First up we have a nice little interview on Good Morning America.

Looking good here. Let's try not to speculate as to why he had to dodge the "relationship status" question. I'm getting more and more nervous about that the closer this movie gets. Partly because I worry I only have 2 weeks left of thinking they ever got to be happy together. Not included in the video but was on the show earlier, they had said, "We love Harrison Ford" and they cut to him live in the studio saying, "I know." If they don't say that to each other in the movie I'm going o be upset. I'm basically going to be upset about a lot of things in this movie, I think.

Next up another nice interview on Live with Kelly and Michael:

Still looking happy and relaxed and like he is enjoying himself. One thing I had noticed on a lot of talk shows is it's like he talks kind of slow, but there was none of that here. Also of note in this one is the mention of Indiana Jones 5. They just keep talking about a good script. Seriously, I am sure there are some fanboys who have amazing ideas out there somewhere, let them do it! Someone must be able to come up with a good script! Maybe Harrison has relaxed some after his near death experiences this year. Whatever it is, I'm liking this version of him, enjoying interviews and seeming genuinely excited about Star Wars.

Last we have The Tonight Show:

This is not the entire interview, there are a few other clips from it though. This was mostly just crazy silliness, and basically zero discussion about the actual movie. But that's kind of to be expected. Again, having a lot of fun here. His eye that was kind of held open after the accident seems to finally be settling down, too.

Tomorrow, meaning Thursday, Carrie will be on Good Morning America and Live with Kelly and Michael. I suspect she will also say absolutely nothing related to the actual movie. I basically want them all to redo their interviews in 3 weeks once they can finally talk about the actual movie.

Two more weeks. How did that happen?

Lastly, there is a great article online now from Rolling Stone. Let's take a moment to appreciate this quote from Carrie:

 “Not long ago, Ford ran into Fisher at a production office. “I went up to hug him,” she says, “and he did a line from the new movie – this one! And I didn’t recognize it right away because it was really organic.” Harrison Ford, quoting Star Wars? “Before it’s quotable!”

Yes, Harrison is even quoting lines from his own movies now, apparently. Hopefully it is a good one. 

Three Weeks to Go, Some Funny Stuff with Harrison, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I believe I promised you a new post because the last one was getting out of hand with so many comments, and we are due anyway. Also I thought the Jimmy Kimmel show was going to be totally worthy of its own post because it was going to be so great, but I wound up being kind of disappointed there. Mostly because Harrison wasn't there but also because they didn't really talk that much to the cast, or at least not for very long. I really hope that there isn't a lot more disappointment to come in the next few weeks.

By far the bright spot was this fun clip of Harrison and Chewbacca. I don't know how many of you saw a few years ago when they did a little thing where Harrison had a "feud" with Chewie because he had apparently cheated with his wife or something. That was funny even then. But then now there is this:

I had seen some pictures of them shooting this weeks ago when Harrison was on the show then and couldn't figure out why there were all of these pictures when it clearly wasn't on the show, but now we know it was a way for him to be "on" the show without actually being there for this episode. That said, it is definitely pretty funny. And it has been strange and surreal to see Harrison be so enthusiastic in his participation in all things Star Wars suddenly. He definitely didn't look like he was being reluctant in his participation in this thing here. Maybe his plane crash also softened him a little? I don't really know, I just know that I am almost skeptical and waiting to see what his real reasons are. I don't know what I would think those reasons would be, but I just would never have expected this from him after so many years of not being particularly interested in Star Wars.

We also just got this new image:

I mean, if these are just the images we're allowed to see before we all see the movie, imagine all the cool stuff waiting for us once nothing is a secret anymore.

I don't know if I can handle any more speculation. I don't want to think about it anymore, I just want to see it. I also think that at some point in the very near future I'll be abstaining from any internet things that are Star Wars related, just in case. I'll warn you all when that happens. And then once I see the movie, you can expect a post probably just about immediately, so for anyone not seeing it the first night it is out, stay away until you see it! To my foreign friends who get the movie before we do, please wait until those of us in the US have seen it. But anyway, still not there yet, so continue to comment away at least for now.

And finally, again to the US readers, happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the turkey and other delicious things. And be thankful that we only have to wait THREE MORE WEEKS!!!

Just Over Five Weeks To Go....

But more importantly, let's all just take a moment to admire this photo of Han Solo from the new movie:

I didn't think it was possible, but really, every single photo of him I see I think he looks even better. This is why when the movie was announced I was like, no, it's fine if he dies. But now when I'm actually seeing Han Solo again, and how much I still love it even though he's old (how is he so old but looks so good?) I'm just like, please don't kill him! 

Admittedly though considering that they are focusing so much on Han/Harrison, talking to him so much, showing so many photos, it makes me wonder if they are doing it because this is for sure the last time we will get to do it. Or, maybe we can hope that they are only spending so much time focusing on him because he's awesome and why wouldn't we want to spend so much time focusing on him? I do miss the bloodstripes down the sides though.

In my head a long time ago I was thinking how as we got closer we'd get to see more photos from the set and such, but I'm still just taken aback every time I see a new one, and surely there are tons more to come, before the movie, and surely some we won't see until after as they will give too much away plot-wise. There is a lengthy article online and promise of more to come in the upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly, so I'll surely have to pick one of those up. There are some things in the article that make me a little nervous, most notably Harrison mentioning that Han Solo is still having some trouble with accountability for his actions. Yeah, that makes me nervous. To make myself feel better I'll just stare at that photo a little more.

Lastly, watched Return of the Jedi last night, and I got goosebumps several times just thinking about seeing the next movie and not know what is coming next. Hopefully happy Han and Leia in ROTJ is not the last time we will ever see happy Han and Leia.

And Yet Another New Trailer....

Seriously, you guys. I don't know how much more of this I can handle. It is bad enough when you know these things are coming, but now it's like every other day something new is on the internet just when I thought we had finally seen the last of all of the new stuff we were going to see.

Every new piece of footage I see of Han makes me think he looks better and better. I absolutely cannot wait to see him in this movie for 2 hours. I really can't even believe that we get to. I also noticed some things in this one that I'm hoping were done intentionally that give some clues, but for now that is all I'll say.

How much longer again do we have to wait?

International Trailer With New Footage

Well, this snuck onto the internet without much fanfare. I don't even know if there was an intention of a major release or it being a big deal or if it's just the international trailer and we weren't really meant to think much of it, except now that the internet connects the whole world of course we are all interested in everything.

Did you watch? Not a whole lot new here, but I suppose some interesting things. We hear Rey talk a lot more and it is abundantly clear now that she does not share the same accent as any of the big 3, though she does have a family.... or at least maybe is hoping for one. Finn and Rey still only have first names. Leia still apparently doesn't speak but perhaps that is a side effect of having to hang out with Threepio. Luke is still missing, and Chewie looks like he gets to blow something up.

So, overall, not a whole lot of excitement here. The music to me also seemed to be not quite Star Wars music, not recognizable like in the other ones. I feel as though maybe I've reached my limit on excitement over this one, because this didn't do much for me. I think still at this point I just want to be able to see the movie. Soon enough, I suppose. But I did at least feel the need to bring this one to your attention, so take a look and let us know what you think.

New Character Posters, Just Over Six Weeks to Go

Well, isn't that nice, huh? It reminds me how cool it is going to be when we start getting even more publicity stills and behind the scenes stuff to show us what we are not allowed to see until after the movie comes out. In a lot of ways this whole thing still doesn't quite seem real. An entire Star Wars movie with Han in it. And don't forget Leia:

Now, I'm going to have to state the obvious here, which is that someone did a little bit of digital fixing to Carrie's lips, but overall let's just look at these and be like, holy crap, Han and Leia in a movie! And let's remind ourselves that for those of us in the US seeing the movie at the first possible moment, we will be sitting in that theater a mere six weeks from tomorrow. Just let that sink in a little bit.

So, how is everyone doing at this point? For myself, I have completely abandoned any attempts at speculating what may or may not happen. That isn't even a conscious effort, it's just that it is so close at this point, I just want to SEE it finally, and let the movie speak for itself. Sure, I'm almost certain that amidst the wave of excitement that overwhelms me as I finally sit down in that theater on December 17th will also include a wave of terror as I wonder what they might have done to my favorite characters. But, I'm still very much looking forward to it.

Largely what I'm looking forward to is the once in a lifetime aspect of this. When is the last time you looked forward to a movie coming out anywhere near as much as this one? I like movies in general, I get excited when cool ones come out, but I am almost never a "first show on the first day" kind of person. Unless I just happen to be free and bored, that day, that is. Like, I think I actually saw Pitch Perfect 2 the day it came out, but that had more to do with boredom. Do you even remember the first time you saw Star Wars? I have no recollection of the first time I saw ANH or ESB. I have memories of watching them basically as far back as I have memories. I do remember the first time I saw ROTJ, though my only vivid memories of that are that it was really loud, and I thought it was pretty cool that Leia was under that Bousch mask. I was in preschool and already well enough versed in Star Wars to know the characters, but I wasn't like, emotionally invested in it.

I am very much emotionally invested in this movie. I care way too much about what may or may not happen to these characters. I mean, I love the Marvel movies, but I am not personally affected really by whatever happens to Iron Man and Black Widow and Captain America, even though I was admittedly kind of sad that he didn't get a chance to give things a shot with Agent Carter. (And as a complete side note: if you haven't, you guys should totally watch Agent Carter.)  Many of us have been waiting for this movie for over 33 years, while some of you lucky people have waited less if you didn't see them until later. That said, I'm sure even the rest of you have waited plenty. Most of the time we didn't even know we were waiting for it.

And now it's almost here. We get to see Han and Leia and Chewie (and maybe Luke, depending on where the heck he is hiding) on screen again together. And I'll tell you right here that I'm going to cry really regardless of what happens in the movie. It could probably be two hours of watching them wander around a desert and I'll still cry because OMG! Han and Leia! I don't want to know anything else about it until I actually get to see it.

Now as another side note: beware of Target. Holy crap to they have a lot of Star Wars merchandise. Just when I thought I had enough Star Wars t-shirts, they had to go and make Star Wars hoodies. There is even a fair selection of women's stuff for once. Honestly, half the time I think I'm in the 80s again. Star Wars is everywhere, Muppets are on TV, there is another Rocky sequel coming out and at this point I don't even know what number that is because I stopped watching after 4.

Anyway, mostly this was an excuse to post those gorgeous posters. And to warn you about spending all of your money at Target. Or online as there is also a Death Star waffle iron available currently. And to check in and see how everyone is doing so late in the game. It has been just over three years since this was announced and I can't believe it is almost here!

Episode VII: The Poster and Trailer

Finally, after many months of no news, we finally have something to look at!

First, the poster. I like it, but I also doubt they would've done anything with it I wouldn't have liked. It fits the same style as the other posters, and while our favorite characters are clearly not the main characters, at least they are next to each other, which I will take as a good sign. The lack of Luke is interesting, to say the least. But since Luke really isn't a main reason I want to see this movie, I'm not really concerned about that. Though I'm sure there are lots and lots of irate Luke fans out there. I would also guess there is some significance to the fact that Rey's weapon is parallel up against Kylo Ren's lightsaber, but I'm sure we will eventually learn why that is not a coincidence.

And the new trailer!!!! What else can we even say. I am writing this fast because I want to get it posted so we can start talking, but at least now from the trailer we know that Han and Leia at least hug in it. So, there is that. AAAAHHHHH!!!!! What does it all mean?!?!

Look at them!!!

And ok, final edit, to add another photo of this moment, this time with Leia's eyes open so you can really see he anguish:

And, to top of the night, I have tickets to a show at 7pm on December 17th!!!  That was incredibly stressful. Online sales were a mess, Fandango was crashing, everything was moving incredibly slowly, and the theater I wanted to get the tickets from was entirely not working. So I had to broaden my search a bit. I did not get my first choice theater, but I do have tickets to a show at 7pm. And actually I also have tickets to a show at 10pm. During the stressful ticket buying process, my movie buddies and I were conversing and trying to figure out what to do, so we got those too while we were worried we might not be able to get any at all. Phew, that was the last thing I was worried about, and now we just have to wait. And of course show up early enough that we can get good seats and sit near each other.

And another edit, to add this:

Will Return of the Jedi Be Rendered Meaningless?

We are a little over two months away from The Force Awakens. Given that it has been months since we've seen any new footage, six months since the last trailer, and an awfully long time since any real news, I actually haven't been thinking about it all that much. I'm not spending any time worrying or looking over web sites searching for news. I would guess we will get a new trailer in the very near future, and surely that will ignite my interest once again and cause another wave of excitement. But for now, mostly I'm just kind of sitting here noticing it getting colder and colder outside and realizing that December 18th (or 17th now I guess) actually isn't all that far away anymore.

That said, of course I do think about it sometimes, and I only caught a piece of an article that sparked this question in my mind. Let's remember first that I am not reading spoilers, I would prefer not to discuss them, but like most of us I have at least been trying to piece together some things about this movie based on the official information we have been given, and of course in spite of not reading spoilers, I still speculate in my own head. One of the things I've been speculating on of course is Han and Leia's relationship. Now, when this whole thing was first announced, them being together seemed like a given. The more time that passes, the less sure I am of that, to the point where basically I'm just expecting them not to be. What happened, and for how long they have or haven't been together, I really have no idea. I just have a bad feeling that they will not be together when this movie takes place.

That is bad enough, of course. But another thing that seems inevitable based on what we've been seeing, is that things aren't going so well for our heroes, whether they are the Rebels or Resistance or whatever the not-Empire people are calling themselves these days. Clearly, things are not good there. That of course brings another question, being how bad is it, and how long has it been bad? And has it basically been this bad all along? Did destroying the second Death Star do nothing?

Which brings me to the point of my post. If, in fact, destroying the second Death Star did not actually defeat the Empire, or even come close to it, doesn't that basically mean that the entire movie Return of the Jedi is completely meaningless? I mean, seriously. Think about it. 80% of the movie focuses on this big epic battle and the destruction of the Death Star. At the end of the movie, we're looking at them all smiling and happy, like they truly accomplished something and this long nightmare is over. But what if it isn't? What if they're just going to tell us that everything still sucked and the Empire was still basically in control of the galaxy? Then we just spent a whole movie focusing on a minor battle but then failing to tell us that they lost the war. It'd be like doing a sports movie and focusing on one mid-season game that was ultimately meaningless, but treating it like the win was a HUGE deal, but then coming back later and telling us that that team didn't even wind up making it to the playoffs.

It'd really make me sad if they render that movie meaningless. I mean, it is not completely without purpose. Luke goes through a lot, Anakin comes back to the light in the end, Leia learns of her parentage and connection to Luke, Han and Leia are finally truly together (or are they? I guess this is another thing that might become meaningless.)  But, still. Can you ever watch that movie the same way again if you knew that the "win" meant nothing? That the morning after the above photo they all woke up and things still sucked? If the prequels had come first, and we came back to Episode IV after the end of Episode III and after seeing the bad guys win and the Empire being in control and most of the Jedi dead it wouldn't make any sense to come back and suddenly have the Republic be in power and the Jedi be totally fine, would it?

I guess I'm just worrying more and more that they are going to further destroy the original trilogy. Even more annoying is that there is simply no reason to. I can almost guarantee you that whatever craziness they have going on in the universe when we get back to Episode VII could've been accomplished equally successfully without rendering Return of the Jedi meaningless. These movies are set thirty years apart. That is a very long time during which an awful lot can happen. And there would seem to me to be no reason why they couldn't have enjoyed several years or more of "winning" after that whole Death Star battle and everything, before things turned back around.

It has been nearly three years since they announced we'd be getting this movie. I just need to see it already and stop wondering and worrying and knowing for sure what I have to be enraged over!

The Force Awakens.... A Few Hours Earlier For Some of Us

It's been pretty quiet lately. Force Friday came and went. It's been two months(!) since the behind the scenes footage at Comic-Con. A whopping five months since the last trailer was released. And several weeks since that random little tease of footage that showed nothing but footage we had already seen plus like four extra seconds we hadn't, that included Finn holding a lightsaber.

Personally, I am enjoying the quiet. It allows me to not think too much about what may or may not happen in the movie, and less worrying about potentially bad things. I will surely watch the next trailer when it comes out (likely next month) but I'd be just as happy at this point to know nothing more, and simply sit down and watch the movie. I know I said I wanted to know some stuff to mentally prepare myself, but I'm not sure that is true anymore.

The good news is, apparently we may not have to wait quite as long as we originally thought. For those of you who are unaware, apparently there will be screenings in the US at 7pm on December 17th. I guess this has been a trend for some of the larger releases (this would count, since it is probably the largest release in the history of cinema) rather than midnight shows on the release date, to have 1 show at 7pm the day before the official release. This, of course makes me happy because not only does it mean that I will get to see the movie 5 hours earlier, it also means that I don't have to stay up all through the night. Not that I wouldn't have, it's just nice not to have to. I don't know how widely available these 7pm shows are, but I do know that locally for me we've gotten these early shows for things like Hunger Games, so I have no reason to believe it'll be different.

Also, for our non-US based readers, apparently several countries are getting it in the days prior to the 18th (or 17th now, as the case may be.)  As early as December 15th. I know the UK is getting it on the 17th. I don't quite understand this, because given that it is the biggest movie EVER it makes more sense to me to release it all on one day. And really, the US is behind everyone else anyway when we are talking time zones, so even if we all get it the same day, we're still last, so why do so many other people get it earlier?  Also, for several days before the release this means I will have to be extremely careful on the internet so that my overseas friends don't spoil it all for me.

Which reminds me, and I'll remind you all later, but when the time comes, I've decided that the rules for posting about Episode 7 on the blog will be that nobody can post anything on here about having seen it until I see it and post. I know that may not be fair to some of you who might not see it right away, but it's my blog and it is easier for you to not look here than for me to not look here!

I'm also curious: which format are you planning on seeing it in first? This movie was shot in IMAX 3D. The trailer, for those of you who have not seen it, looks pretty darn cool in IMAX 3D. That said, I think the first time I see it will be in regular, 2D format. I will absolutely be seeing it in IMAX, but sometimes the 3D can be distracting or make me miss something on screen, so the first time, I'm thinking I'm just going to see it "normal." Or, really, whichever possible way I can see it the soonest.

Anyway, now I know what I'm doing at 7pm on December 17th, just a little earlier than I thought. Now I just have to have the anxiety about getting tickets on top of the anxiety over what they are going to do to my Star Wars.