Like a lot of people in this fandom (and by "this" I mean Han and Leia more than just like, general Star Wars... although the general Star Wars fandom is actually in a similar place now) it's becoming more than a little bittersweet. The new stuff is trying to force out the old stuff. They're trying to sell merchandise with stupid Fauxlo on it instead of actual Harrison Ford, as though anyone wants that.
But, then again, here we all still are. Still writing our fanfic that flies in the face of all the garbage they are trying to tell us happened to our favorite characters. And that, my friends, is a good thing. A very good thing. There has been more great fanfic over the last couple of years since this fiasco started than there has been in a very long time. It's challenging to even keep up with.
And in three weeks, we will have the Solo movie that nobody wanted. And let me tell you, I think people still don't want it. I will be going to see it. Yes, I know, I totally know that it is ridiculous for someone so vocally and adamantly against this to be going to see it. It's become a family tradition, and we know I'll see it eventually anyway, so we are in the process of getting our tickets as I type this. The cool thing is... it's really easy to get tickets. We have bought tickets in advance for all the recent releases, and it was stressful every time. Trying to find tickets in general, or in the theaters with assigned seats trying to get seats together was challenging, to say the least. Currently there are plenty of tickets available everywhere. This makes me happy. I really hope this movie sucks and flops bigtime.
Anyway, May the Fourth be with you!
My theatre was sold out for three weeks when I looked today, I can’t remember what TFA sand TLJ were like.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is it does comparable to the other stand alone Rogue One but not as much as TFA or TLJ. People on the JC were initially very skeptical but the mood has been pretty universally very excited ever since the trailer dropped so I think most General SW fans will probably see it at least once.
I hope it doesn’t do TOO well because Alden is signed on for 2 more movies and I do NOT want sequels.
Lando seems to be the only thing I’m looking forward to in this film (Donald Glover is killing it in the trailers) but apparently he doesn’t even show up until 2/3 in. Weird he’s being promoted so much.
Oh and May the Fourth be with you! I stocked up on a bunch of Han and Leia mugs and even Han and Leia lip gloss haha. Got “Rebellion” eye shadow makeup too! Also got a Star Wars T shirt with the real Han Solo at Target but there were way too many Alden as Han T shirts there!
ReplyDeleteMay the Fourth be with you all!
ReplyDeleteReading your post, Zyra, one sentence above all struck me.
"...here we all still are. Still writing our fanfic that flies in the face of all the garbage they are trying to tell us happened to our favorite characters."
This is such a vital statement. Sure, Disney owns the franchise. Sure, they've treated our characters abysmally. In all likelihood, they will continue, and there's not a darn thing we can do about it.
Officially, that is.
What that statement says to me is this: We've proven since the release of TFA in 2015 that, try as they might, they will not force us to accept their version of events. They will not split up Han and Leia in the minds of the fanfic authors and readers who love them and strive to erase what they've done. We can make for them an alternate future, one in which they are happy, healthy, and together. So keep writing, and keep reading...give our OTP the happy ending they deserved.
A special note of thanks to you, Zyra, for keeping this little enclave thriving for us all this time. Long may you continue, too! :D
Exactly, take that! Han and Leia seem to be doing just fine in our universe, don't they?
DeleteHan and Leia (and Luke and Chewie) live happily ever after. I'm sure they have adventures and face dangers and hardship, and even heartache from time-to-time. But they die in old age, surrounded by their loved ones, having lived full and meaningful lives. They die heroes. They become legends. The End.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Lucas himself could not persuade me to accept the current official canon, even if he were inclined to do so (which I am pretty sure he is not).
I get what Kels was saying on Discord about May the 4th being horribly exploited, and I do sometimes have misgivings about continuing to fork over cash to Disney. I absolutely would not give them a penny for anything TFA/TLJ-related, nor anything featuring Fauxlo's face or even Rogue One stuff. But as long as they're still producing OT-branded items, I figure I will vote with my pocketbook. If most other people do the same, quickly stripping the shelves of all the OT-branded stuff, but leaving Disney holding huge warehouses full of unwanted merch featuring Alden Ehrenreich's face and the Mother of Dragons on it, maybe they'll finally get the ******* message. Your sequel trilogy is shite. We don't want it. Give us the Star Wars we love.
I feel bad for AE, though. I truly do. Fauxlo sequels or no, I think he will have to hit it out of the park to survive this role. And it isn't looking like he has hit it out of the park.... But who knows. Ron Howard is talented and maybe he has salvaged something from the ashes that audiences can relate to and enjoy. For my part, though, that 'Han Solo' is the one whose own kid murders him, so.... meh... I don't see the point in reliving the past glories of a character who never matures, never grows as a person or learns to maintain healthy and happy relationships, and who eventually meets such a pathetic end.
Ah, the closer this movie gets, the more dread I feel. It just seems like there is such a good chance of it being even worse than we feared. Especially since everything else so far has managed to do that to us.
DeleteBut yes, they all lived happily ever after. Because they were on TV all weekend, I watched the end of ROTJ twice in less than 24 hours. And I can say with confidence that when I see them all smiling at the end there, I only see good things for them, and not the terrible things Disney claims happened to them. Nope, it's all good for them.
But, then again, here we all still are. Still writing our fanfic that flies in the face of all the garbage they are trying to tell us happened to our favorite characters. And that, my friends, is a good thing. A very good thing. There has been more great fanfic over the last couple of years since this fiasco started than there has been in a very long time. It's challenging to even keep up with.
ReplyDeleteYes! Even in my odd ships, the fic has tripled at least since TFA came out. Proves you can't keep the classics down. It got me back into the fandom and so much good writing is out there, I love it!
Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Lando, the Rogues and the droids are all had terrific lives and died peacefully in old age, still heroes, still legends. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I wore a Star Wars shirt to work out in on Friday. I was gratified to see May the 4th all over Twitter and I'd say 95% of it was OT and PT, not ST so, yes, I was happy about that.
I feel bad for Alden but he knew what he was getting into. I hope they all escape nicely - they're reporting big presales, but it's a 4 day weekend vs 3 days for Panther, so I think it may be less than Disney wants. We'll know soon enough... it opens at Cannes on the 10th. Erin, I like your idea that that's a whole 'nother Han Solo - that works for me!
Amazing that in every corner of the Star Wars fandom the interest level picked up.
DeleteThey are reporting big pre-sales. I'm not happy about that. I think we delayed purchasing tickets because one person hadn't replied about whether a spouse was coming so we may not get in when we thought we would. Ugh, I just want to get it over with!
All right, I've got a ticket to Solo on opening night. I don't know if I buy this record-breaking pre-sale talk. Because as of now there are PLENTY of seats left in every local theater I checked. Seats for TFA, Rogue One, and TLJ all went really quickly and buying them was stressful. This was really easy.
ReplyDeleteI see they're saying it is outselling Black Panther and it's the "second highest" of pre-sales in 2018 so far, but I don't see where it is in the overall rankings.
DeleteI don't even know when it opens here. I am waiting for you (and anyone else who goes to see it) to tell me what I'm in for. If it's harmful to the OT or H/L in some way, I think I will just give a miss completely, which would be the first time I've ever failed to see a new SW movie since 1977. Makes me sad.
Want to know what is weirder? I just looked at Deadpool 2 pre-sales at the same theaters. There are WAY more tickets sold for that than for Solo. Um... something seems off here...
DeleteI suppose they're spinning it to guard against potential box office failure. I'm sure there's a name for it in the industry... the "unwanted item" effect, where people will avoid buying something that no one else seems to want? So you have to make it seem desirable / in demand in order to create that demand and make it truly desirable? If so, it's hardly surprising, considering the troubles they've had getting it made.
DeleteAbout the Fauxlo film - My local multiplex (the good one with the reserved recliner seats in the 3D auditoriums) is only about 50% sold for the first screening on opening night and there are no tickets sold for the second. No other screening all weekend has sold more than 20 seats yet. I am starting to feel better about the part of the country I live in :) (where I note we had nearly round the clock screenings of TFA on 8 screens in one venue for the first 2 days of release less that three years ago, so something has changed, and it's not the demographics of my area). I do think based on what Ewokkey said about her area, there may be bulk ticket buying going on in theatre chains where someone knows they can get away with it. Cough. I'm just a little suspicious that all these pre-sales may not be legit if they are more grouped in one theatre or theatre chain than another.
ReplyDeleteBecause from the pre-sales around here, you could seriously hunt buffalo in the theatres where Solo is playing. They are wide open spaces.
Can't wait for Deadpool though! I'll be out of town the weekend Solo opens, but I am going to make sure to drop by at the multiplex in the town where I will be and see Deadpool, just to assist the grosses of a competing film, even if it gets bad reviews. I like Ryan Reynolds, he seems like a decent sort, and he's funny on twitter, so hey, he gets my money.
Yeah, I'm not a May the Fourth kind of girl. It's just to me an excuse to sell merch now. It was fun when it was a fan-led thing, but nothing feels fan-led anymore in the SW universe. It's all top-down, YOU WILL DO THIS, and I just refuse to participate in something that feels corporate now. But I happily wish all of you who do celebrate a belated Happy Star Wars Day, and here's to keeping the part of Star Wars that is worth keeping - the OT, the EU and the relationships among the big three - alive as we weather this rough period.
WTF, the movie isn't even out yet.
ReplyDeletehttps://movieweb.com/solo-star-wars-story-alden-ehrenreich-better-than-harrison-ford/
"What If Alden Ehrenreich Is a Better Han Solo Than Harrison Ford?
But seriously, what if Ehrenreich ends up doing an even better job that Harrison Ford did in the original trilogy?...The young actor may end up shocking everybody and overshadowing Harrison Ford's portrayal of Han Solo. Seriously, it could happen. Wink. Solo: A Star Wars Storywill show the young version of the character gaining respect while Ehrenreich tries to accomplish the same respect, but in real-life, proving himself to Star Warsfans of all ages as the worthy successor to the role. Alden Ehrenreich has many advantages that Harrison Ford did not have when he was starring as the character, which may very well end up with Ehrenreich as the superior Solo."
Geez, the movie isn't even out yet and this "OMG everything is SO MUCH BETTER than the OT!" has started. I'm sure they'll be a million "Why Han and Qi'ra are such a better couple than Han and Leia!" and "the BEST SW movie including ESB!" articles coming out next.
The premiere is tomorrow so the leaks will start then. I am actually seeing it because my partner is a big SW fan and wants to see it opening night but I am definitely going to spoil myself beforehand.
That sort of headline just seems designed to evoke maximum nerdrage to generate ad revenue. I'm not even going to click on such articles and give them my $0.0002!!
DeleteAlso: there is no other Han Solo in Erinland so idek what they're talking about. *grin*
Yeah, 2 words: CLICK BAIT. The guy even says in his opening paragraph that it is basically a troll-y question.
DeleteIt's an idiotic question for movieweb to ask if they've even seen one of the clips, because the answer is eminently clear. This kid was tossed to the wolves and his acting in general--never mind his acting-as-Han-Solo--is terribly weak in the clips.
DeleteI don't know if I want it to suck or not. It would be nice to be happily surprised, which has never happened to me with a new Star Wars movie. [I'm born in '82 so the Original Trilogy simply existed to me, it was never new. ;)] Would you blog about what should the Solo and/or Episode 9 be like, in an ideal world? How would they make us happy? Han didn't really love Kira etc..?
ReplyDeleteI think, I really don't want those movies suck. Of course, I never wanted the Solo movie and still don't. I didn't really even want the sequel trilogy. I wasn't expecting them to ever happen and I was ok with it. I don't want them to succeed either. But I'd love to leave the theatre happy. And stay happy after all that new information sinks in.
Now, I have left the theatre in awe every single time (even with the Prequels). But after really realising what they had done to Han and Leia and Luke, I've been genuinely sad and kind of grieving. With eps 7-8 it was worst. The Prequels, Rebels and Rogue One didn't take anything away from me. Well, maybe part of Leia's childhood (plot hole with Leia remembering her mother) and I thought Leia had a bigger role in stealing the Death Star plans. But they are not as important to me as Han ♡ Leia. It's something too personal that Disney has raped. I hope someone is genius enough to fix that. Or even put a nice Winnie the Pooh bandage on it. So the last feeling about the Skywalker saga wouldn't be sorrow. I want a new ROTJ ending! ♡♡♡♡
When I said I don't want the movies suck, I naturally meant it from a certain (Han♡Leia) point of view! :D I don't care if the movie flops. I'm very selfish now.
DeleteThe movie won't suck in MY point of view, if it left me feeling good about Han♡Leia. :) Not forcing us to create AU fanfics with stories that were supposed to be canon.
I don't want Han's past love interest ruin his love for Leia. I'm ok with him having multiple partners. Reading fanfics, I've bought the idea of Han being the experienced one and it's only beneficial for Leia. And he has to get that experience somewhere! As long as it's not very serious, then I get jealous for Leia's sake.
Don't get me wrong for what I said about the Prequels: I left the theatres excited but when the reality sunk in, I never liked them. They would have been ok enough, if they were tied better to the Originals. I think it was the most important job of the ROTS; sew those two trilogies together, but it failed in it.
According to the composer John Powell at the premiere "We have a new love theme coming -- but is it real love?"
ReplyDeleteEarly reviews are raves, but I don't really trust critics since they all raved about TLJ too: http://variety.com/2018/film/news/solo-a-star-wars-story-first-reactions-1202806823/ Most common thing I've seen is that Alden is great, but Donald Glover steals the show which I was expecting. Weird thing is none of the reviews so far have mentioned Emilia Clarke who has the biggest role next to Han judging from the trailers.
ReplyDeleteNo real spoilers in except that the movie does a Marvel like blatant set up for a Solo sequel (no surprise there) and that Boba Fett makes a cameo.
I'm mostly curious on how the Han and Qi'ra relationship ends, since almost everything is spoiled except for that. One critic who saw the movie replied to a Han/Leia fan asking them "Who is the love of Han's life, Leia or Qi'ra?" with "It's complicated" so I have no idea what that means for the movie, but he's a dude so he probably doesn't really get it anyway.
My first "love" was intense. He was hot and very, very cool at the same time, and I was crazy about him. The year we spent together was life-changing.
ReplyDeleteBut not in a good way. Not at all. In fact, it took me a long time to recover from that first heartbreak. Looking back at it from the comfortable distance of nearly 30 years, I now realise that it wasn't love at all; at least, not in the way I understand the term now. It's certainly no match for the close and loving relationship I have with my husband. It was just youthful sexual attraction mixed up with lots of (mostly) unhealthy emotions and with many unrealistic and hopelessly naive romantic expectations. Of course, I can see that now (and could see it even a couple of years after the fact). But I couldn't see it then.
So, whatever comes of this relationship Han Fauxlo has with Miss Q-tip, I will view it with those spectacles on, insofar as I think of it at all.
Sure, maybe it's an intense and important and life-changing relationship...but it's not love at its best. Even if it leaves a lasting impression, it doesn't last, and so it can never match what he eventually feels for Leia. Qi'ra is a life-lesson, never forgotten but not lamented, either. Leia, on the other hand, becomes the woman he chooses to put at the centre of his life, forever and ever. The end.
(All of the above is how I would take the Fauxlo/Q-tip relationship if I took it on board at all, which I don't. Disney cack just doesn't exist in Erinland. I just feel compelled to refute whatever they may put out there about Han/Leia that contradicts what we saw in the OT.)
I like that you take the time at the end to remind us that it doesn't really matter, because none of this happened anyway, lol. Gah, I just hope it is portrayed as unhealthy and bad for both of them. My fear is it will not be. And as mentioned, sounds like this relationship covers a LONG span of time, that at that age seems even longer.
DeleteI just want it all to go away, basically! That is what I want.
Thank you Erin for those wise words!! They mean a lot to me and I will keep that in mind WHEN I will see the movie. I guess I can't avoid that because it's a tradition for me and my sister. We experienced Star Wars together, plus my brother, but he doesn't spend a lot time with us now that we are adults. My sister is so excited to see the movie and it will be released almost at her birthday. She seems quite happy with anything Lucasfilm has to give... She was a big fan of Padme and now Rey. Han is her favourite male character... I guess I should envy her openmindedness because getting dissapointed or even devastated with every single new Star Wars movie doesn't really make me feel good! :D Now I have some healthy "tools" with the Solo movie so maybe I would see it with a better attitude and won't end up grieving.
DeleteOkay, I read spoilers and it's...actually not as bad as I thought? I totally thought it was going to be Qi'ra dying tragically in Han's arms as he proclaimed his undying love for her, but it actually isn't that at all.
ReplyDeleteCliff Notes version:
Only peeople who die are Val and Jon Favreau's character and Vos.
Darth Maul makes a cameo as a crime lord.
Han and Qi'ra have been romantically together since they were 12 and only known each other on the streets, neither of them have any memory of their parents. Han gets involuntarily separated from her at 18 and spends 3 years desperately trying to return to her. They reunite and get back together and pull off the Kessel Heist, then they team up to kill Vos. Han asks Qi'ra to marry him and run away with him, but she declines and says she's going to take over Vos' crime Empire. She takes over and becomes "queen" of the crime empire and Han leaves with Lando.
Last scene is Han winning the Falcon from Lando.
Enfys Nest is a young girl, no one we know.
Jabba is mentioned by not seen.
There is a Marvel like ending which blatantly sets up a sequel.
I'm honestly super shocked Qi'ra survives, I wonder if they are keeping her around for sequels? But Han seems decidedly single in Last Shot so I'm not sure what their plan is. But I vastly prefer the "they went their separate paths and it didn't work out" to "Qi'ra dies tragically in Han's arms as he swears he'll never love again" deal. So yeah, it's not as bad as I had feared. Basically it seems like Han is totally crazy in love with her but she is meh about him and more interested in her own ambitions. Which still makes Leia the only woman who truly loved him.
The guy who I talked to said he didn't think the film was all that great FWIW, he thought Donald Glover was the stand out and Alden did a good job, but that the first part dragged a bit and there were some jokes that fell flat.
Jon Favreau is in this movie? Wasn't he in TFA and very much alive? Why is he in all these movies?
DeleteBlah, I still don't love the idea that Han was with her for SO long. I mean, at that age that's like... half your life. That is a big deal. Especially when it sounds like neither of them really had anyone else. I agree I'm shocked that she didn't die. But then of course now that makes me VERY nervous about what ELSE they might do. Seriously, everything they do just leaves me with dread about what they might do with her next. Because this is for sure not the last we have seen of her if she is still out there. And as I was typing this someone told me there is a sex scene in the movie. Oh, GREAT! That will surely help, too!
I read too that there is some big secret, that I don't know yet but now I need to know and I'm sure that it will be terrible most likely and make things worse... again.
Oh the secret is the Darth Maul cameo I think. At least that's the twist that everyone was talking about. Personally I don't really care lol.
DeleteYeah, that is a really long time, but on the other hand most high school relationships don't last. People don't really know what they want at that age.
Yeah I am curious how they wrap their story up. According to the people who have seen it there is some sort of Marvel like ending scene that basically blatantly sets up a sequel. So maybe she will appear in that as a villain crime lord or something. Or they will finish it in a book and kill her off. But in Last Shot which is 2 years after Solo Han is definitely single, so I doubt they ever get back together or anything.
Ugh yeah, I was not happy to read about the sex scene. never mind that I don't want to watch a sex scene between Han and Qi'ra, it just seems out of place in Star Wars. I mean we didn't even get a sex scene between Anakin and Padme and they were married. If anyone was going to get a sex scene it should be Jyn and Cassian since they died right away lol.
Oh and Jon Favreau plays a different character in this one. If you've seen the trailer he's the alien that goes "Is that a Wookiee?" I think he just likes cameoing in SW.
DeleteWhat about the stupid dice? Does she really give them to him? Or is it just from the Falcon winning? If it's the later, at least that makes some sort of sense.
DeleteThe guy I was chatting to logged off before I could ask. But Han does win the Falcon with the dice.
DeleteWell, shocker that. Y'know, after reading that WSJ article, more and more, the whole new SW reads like Kasdan's revenge on Lucas.
DeleteAbout that dice thing... In the Last Jedi it seemed like something special, like I should have known about it. Have we seen it before? Did it appear in the OT or TFA?
DeleteSex scene in SW? :O Weeeelll, Han has to learn it someday and someone else than Leia, I already new it and am comfortable with it... As long as it's not eternal love. :P
I agree that it could be better that she didn't tragically die and traumatize Han on the way... It's good that Han decided at some point that he's better off without her. I don't like the possibility to a sequal. I don't want a sequal to the movie and I don't want to hear about Qi'ra again.
Best comment I've seen all day:
ReplyDelete"when it comes to Disney Star wars, the critics have demonstrated they are to be trusted less than a hitchhiker waving a bloody axe."
And these folks aren't even critics. Critics are embargoed for the next 5 days so the shills can get ahead of them if the critics are negative.
But I will put money on LFL officially announcing that this is actually the first film of a trilogy at some point before the movie is released in order to puff the narrative of "IT'S SO GREAT WE'RE MAKING TWO MORE" before the film is even out there. Maybe they announce it at Cannes next week (same day as the embargo breaks, which would be interesting)
I wouldn't trust any of the reviews, anyone who goes to a premiere are getting paid in flights/hotels/screening passes, so they're not going to be unbiased.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to be completely spoiled, this guys video goes through everything and someone summarizes it on the same page: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsLeaks/comments/8ipaol/full_spoiler_review_this_is_a_spoilerspoiler/
Sounds like it's left REALLY open for a sequel. Like Han and Qi'ra don't even seem to get a break up scene, she just holocalls Darth Maul and that's the last you see of her. They're definitely setting up to do two more of them.
The other weird thing is the timing, Han is only 21 at the end of this movie, but in Last Shot he's 26 and he's pining about a girl where it really sounds like she died. That really makes me think they are doing sequels with her in them and then she dies at the end of them.
That plot sounds stupid as all hell. Also dull. Also the big surprise - are they really kidding with that??
DeleteI am so confused by everything. Qi’ra was working for Darth Maul so Han responds to that by proposing to her? Huh?
ReplyDeleteThe sex scene has been debunked. Doesn’t happen. Plus, someone who saw it last night said on Twitter that after this movie there is no doubt that Leia is Han’s true love. That said, Qi’ra is secretly working for Darth Maul so Han proposes to her? WHAT?
Yes, I've seen the sex scene was debunked. Phew! I'm thinking that people will interpret it the way they want to. We will say it doesn't at all look like it was a good relationship. People who want Qi'ra to work out will think their relationship is amazing. Much like how I didn't see any romantic tension between Kylo and Rey in TLJ, but the Reyloers see it and think... OMG they practically had sex right there! Ugh.
DeleteYeah I saw someone who saw the film directly asked and said that there is no sex scene, but Han and Qi'ra do make out a LOT but Beckett cockblocks Han a couple of times.
DeleteI think it depends on your interpretation of the film. This person here seemed to think the movie was saying Qi'ra was the love of Han's life and that they were star crossed lovers who wanted to be together but couldn't: https://musicoftheknight.tumblr.com/post/173800538394/hey-i-saw-you-saw-solo-can-you-tell-me-what but I read her posts and her interpretation seems kind of off from what I've been hearing from other people. Like basically she says Qi'ra was kidnapped by Vos' gang (which is confirmed) so she is an abuse victim and at the end she just goes back to her abusers because she is so broke down and beaten by them she doesn't know anything other than to go back to her abuser over and over again. The spoilers I saw don't really paint it like that, they say that Han is crazy in love with Qi'ra and she likes Han but she prioritizes climbing up the crime syndicate ladder over their relationship and chooses to be a crime lord instead of being with him.
But yeah, I'm sure we'll see a bunch of articles about how this movie clearly shows Qi'ra was the love of Han's life and they were soulmates, even though from what I can see she didn't really love him as much as she loved her ambition. Like at best you could say if she had never been kidnapped and they had gotten off Corellia like they planned maybe they could have lived happily ever after, but she got kidnapped, she changed drastically as a person, and chose a life other than Han.
It doesn't make me feel better at all that she didn't love Han. I don't care what she felt or didn't feel for him. I care about how he feels for her and how Leia is the damn Jan Brady of Star Wars and always getting screwed. So if he proposed to Qi'ra, does that make her his backup choice? I'm angry with Disney. Again.
DeleteLeia the Jan Brady of Star Wars. I've never heard it put quite like that but.... it's perfect.
DeleteHan gets dumped in this film, like a lot of people in their 20s. He's only 21 when this happens. Plenty of time to get over Qi'ra by the time he meets Leia almost a decade later.
DeleteI've been broken up with in my 20s, eventually ended up with my partner in my 30s. That doesn't make my partner my back up because who knows if it would have even worked out with that other guy.
If you're feeling upset, I suggest you read Last Shot which is all from Han's POV and which makes it very clear Leia is the love of Han's life.
I will say though, that it's hard to compare this particular romance to what most of us may have experienced at that age. You're talking about someone it sounds like he was close to for like half his life at that point in his life. His only friend and companion when he had no family and nobody else. That's... a much bigger deal than your average teen or 20s romance. I'm not saying that I believe that she would be the love of Han's life, just that it is somewhat understandable that he would be VERY affected by losing her.
DeleteOh yeah I definitely think he would be. And I think she is supposed to explain why he is so guarded and closed off in ANH. But he IS only 21 when he loses her. That's really young in the grand scheme of things. We see in Last Shot he's still affected by it at 26, but then in the book he does start getting over her and moving on with his life. And then by the time he's with Leia, he's 32 and it's been over a decade since she was a part of his life.
DeleteI still do find the beginning of their relationship weird, like I think if you grew up side by side as children together it would foster more of a brother/sister type dynamic than lovers. Like you've seen EVERYTHING that person has done since they were a baby, you know? There's a reason even unrelated siblings and foster siblings don't usually hook up. I find it kind of odd.
What I was surprised at was even several guys on the JC were saying they wished that they had just given Han an Indy or Bond girl he met during the course of the movie that didn't work out instead of this girl with this long history and that they were worried it was going to undermine the Han/Leia love story. I wish they had too!
I have a bunch of hilarious Leia as Jan Brady gifs I've been working on on and off for about two years now. I need get a Tumblr account and put them up. I started making them because I am so sick of the way she always gets the short end of the stick in this film series. She's a gorgeous princess, but she always ends up looking a loser thanks to the misogynistic writers.
DeleteWould LOVE to see that. I hope you post them and let us know when you do!
DeleteI thought it was said they didn't meet until they were 12? That's old enough that it could've STARTED as an attraction. Yes, that is creepy... but possible. I do get what you are saying about sibling dynamic, and I would've hoped for that. But I thought they didn't know each other before that?
DeleteAnd yes I had always said just a random girlfriend. Like Salla or Xaverri from the EU. They didn't feel so entrenched in his life. This is different.
No, they have been a couple since they were 12. They have known each other since they were babies, and neither of them has any memory of their parents, only each other growing up.
DeleteAnd yeah, Kasdan was always good at the Indy girls so I wish he had just given Han one of them. Though I guess he did have history with Marion too, so maybe that is his thing.
Oh one thing I thought was kind of funny. Remember in the HST, how they had Bria stay celibate for 10 years waiting for Han while Han was sleeping with bunch of different women? Well in this version Han stays completely faithful for Qi'ra for the three years they're separated while Qi'ra hooks up with Vos as her sugar daddy. I thought that was an interesting flip around, it always annoyed me that Bria stayed celibate for 10 years lol.
DeleteHe actually SAYS in the movie that he stayed celibate for 3 years??? I think I'm going to be sick.
DeleteThen again, he did moon over Leia for 3 years. LOL I can't believe he actually tells Qi'ra he was celibate for 3 years. It seems like an odd thing to bring up in a Star Wars movie. Are you certain your source is right about that?
DeleteI'm not sure if he tells her it directly, but we see him during those three years and he spends all the time desperately trying to get back to Qi'ra and calls her his girlfriend. Qi'ra on the other hand moves on and hooks up with Vos.
DeleteAnd hey, for those worried that Han wouldn't be celibate when he was separated from Leia before TFA, maybe this proves it's not so hard for him to be celibate :P
Hi Zyra,
ReplyDeleteDo we know for sure that Han really proposes to Qi'ra? And is Qi'ra secretly evil by working for Darth Maul but Han doesn't know?
I don't think we know ANYTHING for sure. Depends on how much we trust the sources. Just looking at linked sources, I'm not even the one finding them!
DeleteHi miaty,
DeleteThere are kind of two proposals. When we first meet Han and Qi'ra they are making plans to get off Corellia and get married but then Qi'ra gets kidnapped and Han gets hauled away by Imperials and they get separated for 3 years. When they reunite, Qi'ra tells Han Vos is holding her captive and they make plans to take down Los together and run off and get married and spend the rest of their lives together. But then after they kill Vos together, Qi'ra instead gets into her ship and contacts Darth Maul, Vos' boss as she's now replaced Vos as the crime lord for his syndicate.
Qi'ra isn't evil. She's just ambitious and she wants to move up in the crime world. She gets rid of Vos and takes his place. She doesn't deceive Han, she just takes a different path than him.
"She's just ambitious and she wants to move up in the crime world. She gets rid of Vos and takes his place."
DeleteThat crosses the ambition/evil line by a pretty good distance for me, I gotta say. Even if there is some "goes back to the abuser" thing at some point in the movie, taking the place of your abuser and climbing the ladder of a crime syndicate run by a Sith, if that's all accurate to the film when it finally comes out...yeah, that's evil.
I mean yeah I think when she joins up with Maul we can expect her to be a full on villain in the inevitable sequel or the Kenobi prequel (I totally think the cameo of Maul is setting up for him to be the villain in the Kenobi prequel announced).
DeleteBut in terms of being the leader of a crime syndicate in a dictatorship it's not necessarily evil, since it seems most of what Vos does is like smuggling forbidden goods and evading taxes on legitimate goods and stuff. In a dictatorship a lot of things that are unlawful aren't actually evil, like the Rebellion for example.
I was hoping they'd go full on villain for her and have her betray Han somewhere, but it seems like for most of the film she's just your standard plucky SW heroine who's good in a fight. She even hands the cargo she and Han got for Vos over to the Rebellion. The only time she shows a selfish side is at the very end where she gets off in her ship and leaves without even properly breaking up with Han. Though given that she's kidnapped into the crime syndicate life against her will then it's questionable how much she's just brainwashed into that life. I knew KK wouldn't be brave enough to do a full on villain which would have been far more interesting.
I don't get it. They make plans to run off and get married after they kill Vos together so they carry out the plan and Qi'ra gets in her ship and calls Darth Maul and Han doesn't say anything??? Not even, "Um, are we still getting married" He just lets her leave without even a goodbye? Not even a, "Hey, nice job killing Vos." ?
ReplyDeleteSo if she doesn't deceive Han, he must know that she is secretly working for Darth Maul, and he's cool about it?
She gets into her ship and leaves so Han doesn't have the chance to say anything. In the trailer you can see a clip of Han looking super sad looking at the sky so I think that's where he sees her taking off. Han then goes into his ship and finds Beckett, kills him, and then goes to Lando, wins the Falcon, and then goes to Tatooine to find Jabba for a job. So I guess he decided to get on with his life after she rejects him.
DeleteHan doesn't know she's working for Darth Maul from what I heard. Just that she decided to get into her ship and leave instead of joining him.
So she is backstabbing him if he doesn't know she is working for Darth Maul
DeleteIt's not really clear when she decides she's going to work for Darth Maul. Darth Maul is Vos' boss and her and Han kill Vos, and then she decides instead of going off with Han she's going to take over Vos' previous position as crime lord. Vos reports to Darth Maul. So I don't think it's clear she deceives him, more like she rejects him in favour of working for Darth Maul.
DeleteOkay so maybe backstabbing is the wrong word, but if she is keeping her association from Darth Maul a secret from him doesn't that mean it i
ReplyDeletes deceit?
Well Han knows that she reports to Vos and Vos reports to a big crime lord. It's not revealed until the end that Vos' boss is Darth Maul. So she doesn't really hide that from him.
DeleteSo the only genuinely interesting thing about this movie is the Darth Maul cameo? Huh.
ReplyDeleteThis is funny: https://maurice-dandi.tumblr.com/post/173832997441/if-the-spoilers-for-solo-are-true-lawrence-kasdan
ReplyDeleteApparently if I had sat through The Clone Wars, I would know that DM is a gangster now??? Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI did sit through the Clone Wars and didn't remember that he is a gangster
DeleteChatted with someone who was at the premiere, and he said emphatically that there was no proposal or talk of marriage between Han and Qi'ra so I don't know what to think. In all the spoilers I have read, I have only seen one person mention a proposal. No one else has so I'm hoping that person who talked about the proposal was just trolling.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I wonder if it's a matter of different perception, like maybe Han doesn't use the word marriage but says he wants to spend the rest of her life with her and the person interpreted as a proposal. I keep reading vastly different interpretations on this film so I think I'll have to wait until I see it to find out which one I believe lol. Did the person you talk to feel that the love story undermined Han/Leia?
DeleteLike this person here https://musicoftheknight.tumblr.com/post/173832207869/as-a-reminder-if-you-want-me-to-answer-your-solo seems to really think that the movie was a real gut punch to Han/Leia's romance and that it was showing Han and Qi'ra were meant to be together and would have been together had Qi'ra been able to escape her abusers and that Qi'ra really loved him and wanted to be with him but couldn't escape the criminal life she had been kidnapped and abused for years into.
But I talked to someone else who knew someone who saw the film and they said "Qi'ra has agency and chooses to walk away from Han and that's what I'm coming away with. Maybe he *would* have wound up with her but there is no indication of *should*. Leia is the person who would never betray him. Leia is the person who not only comes *with* him, but who comes *after* him. Qi'ra flat leaves him and doesn't care it breaks his heart- she doesn't even bother to think about it."
I think whether the audience will view them as "the one" for each other will depend a lot on whether they see Qi'ra as a victim of abuse and unable to leave her abusers or not. I've seen quite a few people (a lot of guys actually) express that they wish Kasdan had just given Han a Bond or Indy girl instead of such a serious love interest that he had such a long history with though. I did read that Kasdan borrowed a lot from the Crispin and Daley books and it really does sound like he borrowed from the Bria romance (lovers as teenagers, separated but unable to get over each other, and then reunited but it ends badly).
The review embargo is over and many reviews are out. They are mostly not good (grade of C or 2 or 3 out of 5 stars). The Variety review has a lot of spoilers
ReplyDeleteRotten Tomatoes score is at 73 percent. Some of the reviews that they are scoring as positive didn't sound too positive to me when I read them.
DeleteWell I don't think we have to worry about unfavourable comparisons with Han/Leia. The reviews so far (this is just from 20 or so that I've read):
ReplyDelete“If only Solo and Qi’ra had a fraction of that chemistry. For a film that is constantly nudging us in the ribs with allusions to the original “Star Wars” trilogy, it does “Solo” few favors to bring to mind the incendiary interplay between Ford and Carrie Fisher that gave those films so many of their standout moments. Clarke and Ehrenreich have little such spark, although that seems less the fault of the actors than the unimaginative relationship they’re given to work with.“
“Where it loses its way is with Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra. She is Solo’s childhood sweetheart and we start the story with them being torn apart. Han’s ultimate mission is to reconnect with her outside the Empire’s reach. Thankfully that is not the through line, but their relationship really does not work. Qi’ra switches between good and bad with no gray area in between. You never understand her decisions. SOLO is about the relationships between the characters, but no one besides Han and Chewbacca are consistent. By never settling down and building the other relationships, we never really care.”
“Emilia Clarke’s Qi'ra is a complete enigma of a character, who spends the entire film as good girl heroine until the very end when the film decides it needs to explain why she isn’t with Han when we meet him in A New Hope. The ending of the relationship makes no sense, and there’s absolutely no build up to it.”
“Unfortunately, the other new characters don’t really much of an impression. While it’s nice that the movie just jumps to a love story between Han and Qi’ra rather than going through the motions of a romance, the relationship never convinces because it lacks definition. We can tell that Han and Qi’ra are close, but the only thing that seems to link them is their past rather than any mutual affection or characteristic. They’re in love because the film says they’re in love. A similar issue afflicts Beckett, who is a waste of Harrelson’s talent as he’s relegated to simply playing a tired old crook who’s still looking for that one big score.”
Delete“Han and Qi'ra’s romance plays out like a sappy Nicholas Sparks novel for most of their scenes together, until the abrupt inevitable parting (as we know Han is single when we meet him in A New Hope) which comes out of nowhere and is given no satisfactory explanation.“
“Han and Qi'ra spend every scene either telling each other how much in love they are or making out, as if to overcompensate for their utter lack of chemistry. One longs for the sparks between Ford’s Han and Fisher’s Leia.”
“Much of Solo concerns its namesake figuring out how to tell actual good guys from the bad ones. This theme is driven home in the film’s worst passages of dialogue, most of them between Solo and Qi'Ra, who ominously assures him she’s not the same girl he once knew.”
“Emilia Clarke is never sympathetic nor femme fatale enough to really work as Han’s would-be flame Qi’ra. The movie flirts with the idea of her being a darker character (“a survivor”) but it never fully commits to that arc, making for a frustrating and disappointing resolution to her and Han’s storyline.”
“Alden and Emilia kiss far more times than Ford and Fisher ever did in all three Star Wars movies and even get a surprisingly explicit implied sexual scene between them for the normally PG Star Wars. It’s as though the writers are trying to force to the audience that they’re the hotter couple. It fails miserably, as they have the chemistry of a wet cloth and a match.”
Delete“What’s left is swagger and a smile but not a whole lot of soul (the unemotive Clarke is no help, meaning the romance suffers from a fatal lack of chemistry).”
“The romantic subplot is the least interesting thing in Howard’s film.”
“And we’re not talking about Clarke as Qi’Ra, who sadly turns out to be the film’s weakest link; as a romantic pairing, she and Ehrenreich sadly just don’t pop.”
“But the film’s third act, when we see how Han and Qi’ra part (or are torn apart), as we know they must, never justifies the decision to tell this particular story, beyond adding another new character to the Star Wars mythos. And, really, that goes for many of the new characters in the film, including Woody Harrelson’s Tobias Beckett and L3, a droid voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. They’re there to fulfill story functions, not really to become characters in their own right.”
Me, remembering Kasdan trashing Han and Leia and saying Han was never attracted to Leia and how he hated how they turned out in ESB and disliked them as a couple:
*tea*
Someone said there is a riff on the famous "i love you" "I know" exchange. What is it? It better not to be with Qi'ra.
ReplyDeleteNot to sound smug, but I predicted Emilia would be the weak link. She's known for her wooden acting.
It's with Han and Lando as a joke.
DeleteOh, like that's not insulting at all, considering Lando is right there when Han says it again - in a horribly stressful situation, as proof of their relationship. Kasdan can cram it. Ugh.
DeleteI'm waiting for ya'll to post real reviews/spoilers for Solo before deciding if I'll see it. I trust you.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I saw Deadpool 2 today (after dragging my ass away from the Royal Wedding coverage). It was hilarious. Great music as well.
You know what's funny? According to this new timeline Han is celibate for 8 years from when he was a teenager to 26, he's faithful to Qi'ra from 18-21 when they're separated and then according to Last Shot when he's 26 he hasn't been with a woman since he and Qi'ra broke up at 21. So much for "Han Solo is a womanizer who can't keep it in his pants" head canon from the dude bros....
ReplyDelete