Haven't you heard? Stormtroopers are deadly accurate. They just had orders in the original Star Wars not to kill anyone because it was one big fake out because a tracker was put on the Falcon.

Look how easily they took out the rebels when they captured Leia, or how many Ewoks they massacred before simply being overwhelmed.

Slave Leia VS. Hoth Leia has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.

Slave Leia VS. Hoth Leia has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.

Slave Leia VS. Hoth Leia has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.

Slave Leia VS. Hoth Leia has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.

Slave Leia VS. Hoth Leia has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.

There are a LOT of similarities. It definitely blurs the line between "reboot" and "homage", but I'd argue that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I think it will take a few years for me to digest and figure out where I think it ranks in my personal assessment of the Star Wars movies.

That being said, I'm excited about the future of Star Wars again -- the prequels came very close to destroying any optimism that I had in that regard.

For the moment, consider Episode VII but ignore the plot and parallels / homage / blatant copying between it and A New Hope. In all three prequels combined, there wasn't a single character that was interesting; that we could identify with. Anakin was annoying -- in kid form and adult form. Ewan McGregor did OK with the material and directing he was given, but the script and writing in general did NOTHING to connect prequels Obi-Wan with the original trilogy. Padme, Jar-Jar (ha!), Palpatine, Dooku, etc. -- not a single memorable, interesting character that made me want to learn more about them. Sam Jackson's Mace Windu was probably the closest, but didn't get enough screen time or depth to really establish interest.

Already I feel confident in saying that in terms of characters, Episode VII is massively, overwhelmingly better than the prequels. Rey, Finn, and Poe are each individually far more interesting than every character from the prequels combined. AND, I want to see how those new faces interact with the old stars also. Luke, Leia, even Chewbacca (my personal favorite of the OT) all seem like they will continue to be very important to the story moving forward -- and continue to develop their own story arcs in addition to the new cast.

The Force Awakens wasn't *perfect* -- I tend to think it leaned a bit too much on revamping A New Hope also -- but it was very good and very entertaining. And I am definitely excited about the future of Star Wars again.

When I watched the first Star Wars movies, it always seemed that the Jedi were just extremely long lived due to the Force and that the Empire had been in power for such a long time people had forgotten about the republic. Even Yoda mentioned he was many hundreds of years old.

It wasn't until the horrible prequels that this was shown to be incorrect and that it had only been a couple of decades. Of course the prequels also introduced other stupid crap like midichlorians (sp?), ship and vehicle designs that seemed far more advanced than anything the empire had 20 years later, tech like robot sized force fields that block light sabers, the Emperor's face being caused by force lightning (instead of just being ancient), etc etc.

Plus, it wasn't just Han Solo who felt this way. For instance:

Tarkin: The Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion.

Motti: Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebels' hidden fort-(begin force choke).

So, to be fair, either the Jedi should have had very little presence in the Republic in the prequels (like to the point that nobody really believed in them beyond 'that's a bunch of hokum), or it should have been many years between the fall and the rebellion. Of course, that means that Luke and Leia would have to have been like great great great grandkids of Vader's, but either way would have made more sense. Having them basically 'running' the Republic's military and people seeing them use the Force all the time just doesn't fit.

Lulz at the end.

Bad choice though, Leia proved it's the Trooper, not the blaster, at fault for accuracy.

I've always felt the greatest thing they could have done was reveal that Obi Wan actually fell in love with Amidala and fathered Luke and Leia behind Anikin's back.

So obviously the story will be about Leia.

Because JJ Abrams.

Ten Hours of Princess Leia Walking in NYC has been added as a related post - related requested by Trancecoach on that post.

Ten Hours of Princess Leia Walking in NYC has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.