What I Realized About Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Michael Unplugged
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- čas přidán 17. 05. 2024
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While working on the next Star Wars video, Michael had a realization about The Rise of Skywalker and the depth of the incompetence of J.J. Abrams. - Komedie
Hey all - At one point in this video I mistakenly say Darth Sideous when I meant to say Darth Plagueis during an offhand mention. SUE ME. That's why this is an "unplugged." No script, just riff analysis. Sometimes these small slip ups happen. In this case, it doesn't change the main points of the discussion.
Everything you said is now completely invalid because of that less than minor slip up that I never even caught. Delete your channel 😂
AUCHALLY!🤣 Nah I wouldn't do that 🤣
Still like Dark Empire. It didn’t ruin Vader’s redemption, Vader saving Luke and also destroying the second Death Star/the Empires grip on the galaxy.
You're not the one that decided all the Sith would be named "Darth".
That's okay. Disney and Kathleen Kennedy doesn't know the difference 😂
Just imagine being one of JJ Abrams' kids on Christmas... (kid opens another empty box) "Daaaaaaaaaad! Again? Really?" (JJ smirks) "Isn't this FUN kids!?"
No child would want him as a father.
LOL
The rise of Skywalker stinks!! It looks like it thrown together in 5 minutes. Too fast paced.. Nothing had time to breathe.. Just a total disregard for the intelligence of the audience. He should be ashamed of himself
I didn't know Jews celebrated Christmas.
@@JasonT-xp3kh Expectations subverted!
"Wannabe jocks that were never accepted" is a perfect description for these directors 😂
I remember Kathy Kennedy ince said it was harder to make Star Wars than say Marvel, because there were no books or other source material to draw from. I was at a loss for words.
If true, she never NEVER gave a fig about SW beyond being an amorphous product, and later a messaging platform after she gained ultimate power.
Yep! I saw that same interview, baffling how she is so clueless
So, for those that love the books…I get the disappointment in such a statement. Yes, there are plenty of Star Wars books and stuff.
But I feel fairly confident in the reading that she’s not meaning that there are zero books period. She’s likely fully aware, but the books are not the “source” in the same way they might be for LotR or the comics for Marvel. Star Wars was never an adaptation, and so they seemed to be approaching that statement with that perspective. There is no book Star Wars *originally* pulls from, rather the other way around and the movies are meant to be the original source for books. After all, Lucas disregarded details in books that addressed the Clone Wars, opting to make his own new version, and is on record stating that he views the books as separate from what he views as Star Wars.
@davidbeer5015 GL gets a particular dispensation in that regard: He is the creator. So he could ignore the books and other media in his endeavours, and to varying degrees of success. The EU proper (not the rubbish published since Disney bought Lucasfilm) was almost always tremendously entertaining.
Good news is JJ hasn’t directed a movie since TROS.
But his minions are still a blight on entertainment. See Rings of Power.
Good news would be that he had wasted all the staggering amounts of money he made and is in debt having to take a humiliating menial job to pay the bills. Him having a millionaire hollyday that may potentially be his retirement isn't good news, its essentially neutral unless we hear that he is blacklisted which would be marginally better than neutral since he specifically can't do more damage.
@@dookie_12 was Rings of Power really a Bad Robot production? That explains a lot...
Matt Reeves is the only creator from the Bad Robot crowd that comes to mind who isn't a terrible hack. Reeves actually knows how to make really good movies that actually puts some respect on the establushed properties he's worked on (Planet of the Apes and Batman).
He was going to be the architect of DC for a bot minute. He had a bunch of projects in the works until Zazlav figured out that he was all talk and no payoff. He's basically a flashy ideas guy who doesn't know how to actually deliver anything with substance. He just comes up with half baked ideas for other people to figure out what to do with. Basically the only thing he was producing that seems to have survived is Batman: Caped Crusader, but that hasn't come out yet, and assuming it's still coming out, the only reason it will see the light of day is because Bruce Timm and Matt Reeves (the only guy from Bad Robot I can think of who isn't a talentless hack) are the guys actually making the series. WBD realized they blew billions of dollars on a no-show, fired Abrams and Bad Robot, and that's how we ended up with Gunn and Safran. I don't love all of what they have down the pipelin, but at least they seem to actually have some genuinely good ideas, a unique creative vision, and an actual plan. Unfortunately, they're hanging way too much on the success of Gunn's Superman movie. It absolutely needs to be an excellent and popular movie, or they might be in some serious trouble.
SO Mark Hamill was right! His script wasn't for Luke Skywalker, it was for JAKE Skywalker, his evil clone!
**Jedi mind blown**
The gesture for the _Jedi mind blow_ is not a hand wave as it is for the _mind trick,_ it's a *backhand!*
If I was tasked with writing Rise of Skywalker after The Last Jedi, and didn't have the option to self-delete,
then I would have done what you just said; Explain the lightsaber by having exiled Luke some failed clone,
with the real Luke arriving at the end of Rise of Skywalker. It would have been a 1 out of 4 stars movie!
You mean _Luke Skinwalker._
> A far more apt name, especially w/ today's public affection for the paranormal (i.e. Demons).
Film theorist Belas Balázs encouraged aspiring filmmakers to make adaptations of mediocre or bad source material because he believed that, in the right hands, you could make something great out of it. Unfortunately, JJ Abrams stopped listening after hearing the “make adaptations of bad books” part.
Poe Dameron in an alternate universe: "Somehow Luke returned"
9:41 It gets even crazier.. Originally Abrams wanted to open Force Awakens with Luke's floating hand and lightsaber. Here's Mark Hamill's tweet:
"As my hand hurtled through the stratosphere, the flesh & bone burn away & the lightsaber impales the surface of an unnamed planet. Just imagine: Had this sequence been retained, I would've had bookended cameos, plus TWICE the screen time!"
So that's how Maz Kanata found it. Screenrant has an article about it.
But… but… why was it floating in space???
@@Wolf359incwhere did it go once it was cut off?
@@Wolf359inc don't ask difficult questions, just consume product!
But you would think it would've fallen to the ground on Bespin if it fell through the same chute Luke fell through? I don't know my Star Wars lore well enough to know whether Bespin had a giant hole in the middle of it or not? 😉
Interesting. Mark Hamill got so shafted in all three recent films... Such a shame. What's even sadder is that by the time anyone in power in Hollywood realizes they wasted the character of Luke, and could have done so many things with him while he was still not too old and was eager to do it, he may be too old or sick or, heaven forbid, deceased.
Bespin is a gas giant. If the lightsaber fell out of the bottom of Cloud City it would have continued to fall and eventually atmospheric pressure would have destroyed it. It’s a unrepentant violation of established canon if they did that scene - which of course means it’s probably real.
Great points. I Never watched this film and never will. Disneys sequel trilogy is the greatest blunder in filmmaking history.
I haven't watched it either, or Indy 5 - and I'm a huge Indy fan, no 5 for me... The ONLY Disney SW I like is Rogue One, that's cuz it's a compelling story and does NOT hurt ANY Legacy characters like the sequel trilogy did in spades.
@@minnesotajones261 I like Rogue One too. A damned solid adventure.
Watch the opening WWII sequence of Indy 5. It really is the best part and is worth your time.
You’re not missing anything.
Great job Michael. Thought provoking and I wholeheartedly agree that this alternative premise would have been superior to what was presented.
JJ had one job. To get the band back together. He couldn't even do that.
Correction: It's Rise Of Palpitine. After all, Rey *IS* Shiv's granddaughter.
Shiv actually would have been preferable to Sheev, even though Shiv is short for Siobhan, a female name. Shiv like the shank fits a Sith lord.
Palps metaphorically shivved his master.
@runswithphantoms1757 - Darth Shank.
Honestly Rey being created from Luke's hand would've answered a lot of questions on why she was so force sensitive and her mysterious past.
They could have done both Rey and Evil Luke, making them BOTH clones of Luke.
That could have been... com-pel-ling.
I completely agree with you. TROS is basically Dark Empire. And how original was Luuke? That name cracked me up more than it should've.
I agree ....
But we got was horses riding on a star destroyers....
As you've always said "the fans are doing the best work" Love your Idea especially when you described what Rise of Skywalker could actually have meant
Another great video!! Calling it like it is, that is why your channel is great!!
The fish rots from the head down, and the Luke hatred comes from there too... We all know about that photo in the Lucasfilm offices with the red cross through it.
Speaking of fish, Jeffrey Abrams wrote the flop comedy movie Gone Fishin', then later started going by J.J. Abrams.
I’ve never heard that story before. Is that true? Lucasfilm has THAT photo in their office?
@@nickm2483 Modern lucasfilm did 100%. I saw it on either a video or a screencap somewhere.
Sad! These are sad people…
This is fantastic. It also gives the ideologically driven creators the thing that they want most, the destruction of Skywalker. They would’ve been able to have Rey kill Luke. For this reason I’m surprised they didn’t do it but, as you realize there’s no way to save this movie but what you thought of would’ve been incredibly cool.
And maybe if they had had this good idea they would’ve done the rest of the movie better, who knows. Because I feel like they’re just giving up and weren’t even trying. But if they made the movie around this core of an idea it could’ve been something almost decent. Except Hollywood never allows themselves to do that anymore.
This is really a fantastic idea. I think they could’ve even had a mystery element to it where the light saber was the clue that allowed them to figure out who the big bad was.
But alas, all of this requires creativity which is no longer found in these people.
Your line about Jar Jar Abrahm's being more interested in asking questions than providing answers was so true. This is the dude responsible for "LOST," a series notoriously known for that very thing.
subscribed - the "good question for another time" always made me crazy, and this is an elegant solution to how they can at least bring that topic back around.
The truth about Rise of Skywalker……it sucks
Definitely! The only SW I have ever fell asleep during it!
the entire sequel trilgoy sucked.
Pop Quiz Time! How did Palpatine return?...
Answer: Somehow.
You might be right that JJ didnt like Luke's character, but Im under the impression this was also Disney's plot point/mandate, meaning, ignoring Luke and betting all in on Rey (female Jedi lead).
What exactly does "JJ" have to do with Luke? He didn't write The Last Jedi nor did he direct it. JJ made a movie that was the final part of a trilogy, trying to clean up what had been done previously. DISNEY who just had zero issues letting Rian Johnson do whatever he wanted screwed the "trilogy". Not sure why so many people seem to hilariously have JJ Abrams living rent free in their head, but it does seem to be the exact people who are the opposite end of the turd who constantly cry about everything being "woke". Its not hard to figure out TWITTER ISN'T REAL LIFE, its not hard to ignore twitter and the "special" people who cry about everything being woke or the people crying about things not being woke.
IF anything IF they felt the need to make them exactly how they were, 5-10 seconds should have been shaved out of the "Luke dying" scene after Carrie Fisher passed, knowing that they weren't going to have her for the third movie, you have her off doing something and you keep Luke alive.
But then again IF anything they should have written a trilogy before they even started making the first of the three films. Something that actually tied into each other and tied into the other 6 films it was meant to tie to because what was made were terrible as a trilogy and terrible as part of a "saga"
Protip "woke" has ALWAYS existed considering Lando was only created because there were a lot of people complaining about how there were no black people in A New Hope and that was 1977.
I’ve stepped away from certain things for a time because of life and crap but I love that I can come back to the rants that help ground me in regards to the state of entertainment. Thanks Michael. It’s nice to see like minded folk explain things way better than I ever could.
Love that you used Edvin Biukovic's artwork from The Last Command in your video. He was a great artist and even better friend. He is forever missed. He loved Star Wars a lot. He had SW model kits that he built. Drawing SW comics was a huge deal for him. RIP Edvin Biukovic (1969-1999).
Sidious reminded me of Overdog from "Spacehunter".
J.J. Abrams' high school English Composition teacher's report card remarks, probably:
"Beautiful handwriting, but story lacks meat... depth. Lots of loose ends. Story protagonist had no arc."
C-
And now he is infinitely wealthier than that teacher.
I'm not even a JJ fan, just keeping things in perspective
Thank you, Michael. Actually my big idea was that Rey was a clone of Shmi. The Emperor had caches of Shmi clones hidden all over the Galaxy such as his Jakku observatory (LucasFilm Story Group was charged with a new cohesive continuity, right and that was laid down in the Battlefront II 2017 game story mode). Lord Vader went through an amazing amount of blood and internal organs and clones of the mother worked very well. Then she really could be a Skywalker...rising. Cheers to you, Melinda, and Broken Vader!!!
I never built up enough courage to watch Rise of Skywalker and probably never will :(
I grew up on Star Wars literally. Born 1980. I love Star Wars. And I’ve never watched Episode 9, and I never will.
Great Video and thoughts Michael!
I immediately smiled when I recognised “Luuke” in the thumbnail and realised where you might be going with this. Fantastic. This would have made a much better movie. Since the 90s, I always loved the expanded universe, for example shadows of the empire, dark empire, the Thrawn trilogy, and the numerous video games. Some amazing stories there.
Cheers!
Wonderful analysis. Thank you for sharing!
Excellent video Michael!
I’m really glad you pointed out the similarities between Rise of Skywalker and Dark Empire. Not many people talk about that
I am flabbergasted by these amazing connections you made that would have been so much better than what we got in Indy 5 and SW9.
Great video! Thanks for going unplugged. 100% agree with everything you've said. What makes Disney Star Wars even more sad for me personally at this point, is that they have spent every show in the past 5 years, trying to explain away this terrible decision! Mandalorian, Kenobi, The Bad Batch etc. all wasted to explain how "somehow Palpatine returned"!
Wow! Love this idea Michael. That would have been amazing & an excellent way to properly wrap up the saga without compromising it by bringing the Emperor back. Dang dude, my mind is blown by this. 🤯
I try not to think of Rise of Skywalker, I saw it twice, the second time was just to make sure the movie was as bad as I thought (It was worse) and could never bring myself to view it again. But all your points are indeed valid. I've said a dozen times I am still not sure how Abrams gets work at all, Let alone how he got Star Wars and Star Trek.
Dude. Only my first video but absolutely love your thinking and approach. Much love!
I’m currently watching a CZcams documentary about the 2014 Godzilla, and are currently at a section about JJ, and how he wanted to create his own iconic American original monster. That’s how we got Cloverfield.
Of course. That film is full of vagaries as well. So how are people suppose to latch on to this new monster?
I don’t understand how this man keeps getting work.
He's a nepo baby - Abrams was born in New York City with the name Jeffrey Jacob Abrams to veteran television producer Gerald W. Abrams (born 1939) of Polish-Jewish descent and Carol Ann Abrams (née Kelvin; 1942-2012), a Peabody Award winning television executive producer as well as author and law academic.
Can’t wait for the EU video, as a huge fan of post ROTJ pre Disney content I eagerly anticipate it. Also I’m curious if you’re familiar with Fate of The Jedi series and if so what are some quick thoughts on it?
Loved Michael's Indy video and watched it in a few sittings. It's worth your time.
Hey Michael, this is a very clever and interesting idea. Listening to you almost got my heart beating in excitement for Star Wars again. I think what you have just said only goes to show what massive potential was completely wasted by Disney Lucasfilm, so much so that had these sequels been written properly, they would be the world beating entity they were in the past. Probably best not to let your mind go there as it’s kind of painful even now. Thanks for this Michael.
Spectacular! Michael. You sir, have theorized responsibly. And quite frankly, put more thought into this plot than anyone at "Duplicitous Film" (ILM) - Good Show!
The worst thing about having fantasy thoughts of how great a movie could have been is they just make the movies worse and that sickening feeling of knowing we've been cheated tugs even harder at our hearts.
Looking forward to your video on the EU Michael. When I was younger I never really got into it and I only recently started buying some of the EU books and I plan on reading as many of them as I can.
Always two, Michael: an apprentice (JJ) and a master (KK).
I wish that were so
I like your thinking! It would definitely made more sense. I thought it would have been interesting/tragic if Rey found out she was a clone of Palpatine. Possibly rescued from a cloning factory plant, as they were attempting to bring back the Emperor. So even though she was searching for her parents she finds out she doesn’t really have any. It could also set up a battle between an evil Rey clone, like we see in the movie.
It could of been cool in this version of the story to maybe play into how Luke's legend spread at the end of 8, with the Empire maybe using their clone to try pevert Luke's legacy to help quell the rebellions he could of been inspiring after the last movie, sell the idea Luke had turned so people should embrace the new order. The ending of Rey becoming a Skywalker could then be made so much stronger with Rey's final fight being defending the legacy of the family
I think that by creating an evil clone out of the hand of Luke would even reference all the other stuff that originally Lucas had "borrowed" (Koff Koff stole Koff Koff) from the DUNE novels, since in the last two DUNE novels there were two clones (Gholas= Sort of clones made from the remains of the dead person, basically resurrecting the dead person) of Paul Muad'Dib Atreides. One was the good one, and the other called Paolo which was the evil one, and he too was made to be a Kwisatz Haderach, both Paul and Paolo would then fight at the end with Paolo almost killing Paul.
Hell, it would had been even better into making Rey be also a clone of Luke with Palpaltine's DNA for the "struggle" of the Dark and Light sides that she was thrown in to have in the ROSW. Rey would then have the voice of Palpaltine almost driving her mad, to which with Kylo's sacrifice would had given her the resolve to adhere to her Skywalker side and renounce her Palpaltine side.
The evil Luke Clone could also have Palpaltine's DNA and resemble both Luke and Palpaltine, with Ian McDiarmid voicing the character as well, yet still played by Mark Hamill. So at the end when Rey defeated the evil Luke/Sidious Clone, Anakin's, Luke's and Leia's legacies would indeed live in Rey as she maintains balance in her, Then at the end it would had justified that indeed the Rise of Skywalker took effect in her and in the Galaxy. Perhaps as simple as this idea may be, it would had been too nuance for Abrams, Kennedy and their ilk. And thanks to them, Star Wars is dead...
Exactly on point Michael! Great idea about a missed opportunity by Lucasfilm for E9, which is the biggest dumpster 🔥 of all. What a miss since they were thinking the original opening of TFA was Luke's severed hand floating through space still grasping the lightsaber.
I have come to the conclusion that you are a genius in your thoughts on Indy 5 and all these other topics Michael- no joke!
/mike you are on fire tonight! Yet, I love they way you formulate the dark Luke. You keep up the great work.
On point sir! It’s very hard to combat bad writing. JJA and Lucasfilm had a great opportunity to better deal with the legacy characters and then take the story to a completely new level. They didn’t. Same with Indy.. all those characters deserved better
I recently wrote up an old Star Wars TTRPG character for a friend I used to label as an acolyte of the Sith. He wanted a full update to incorporate the sequels trilogy.
I decided to breakdown the sequels trilogy into parts of the Thrawn crisis and Dark Empire. Matt Smith's character actually Executor Sedriss and supreme leader Smoke an actual derivative of Joruus C'Boath.
This acolyte, reputedly related to the Emperor, got slighted and betrayed by the Emperor reborn/Cult of the Eternal Sith, being a former inquisitors would turn on him.
She would acquire for herself a with talisman from the tribe of the post brethren of the Sith and finally destroy the Emperor Reborn in order to save her remaining offspring as he attempted to possess her daughter.
It ends with her surrounded by destruction and rage, before setting out to become the Sith Inquisitor.
Heading what you argued, think you have sold me good points. Thanks
So love this idea!
"Somehow he managed to acquire that hand and the light saber" riiiiight...
I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed J.R.R Tolkien’s Legendarium, as an adult, was that I was finally able to understand and appreciate all the world building he did. The Silmarilian, The Hobbit, and the Lord Of The Rings are not without flaws, but they are are an example of what ONE devoted writer can do with a larger than life set of stories. STAR WARS, by comparison, is now a virtually irredeemable mess! Especially the more recent films. I guess it is why I prefer the three originals over everything else. I could go into into more detail, but I think we've flogged hat particular dead Bantha enough! More importantly: Thanks Micheal for another great video!
I think it's a great story of Luke being a clone in the 9th movie, Rise Of Skywalker.
Also it would have been one hell of a battle and fight, plus as you said plot twist.
It really sucks they didn't do that, jeez what a missed oppertunity.
They claim that Snoke dying in TLJ ruined their plan for TROS so they use a clone of Palpatine. If they’re going to use the CLONE route why didn’t they just make it that SNOKE was using clones of himself so his real self doesn’t get put in potential danger, just his clones.
That’s what I’ve been saying all along!
Some speculate that Snoke was gonna be Darth Plagueis all along, and his death would’ve been a red herring, but they changed it to Palpatine because he’s more recognizable.
Just have it so that Snoke sent a clone of himself to confront Kylo Ren as a “final test” of loyalty, but when Episode IX begins Kylo Ren gets attacked by a group of ships claiming to be of the First Order, and we slowly learn that “Snoke” is the remnants of Darth Plagueis, now putting his spirit into imperfect homunculi, who has created clones of himself to hide the secret of his power.
Kylo Ren is then forced to ally himself with Rey and the remnants of the New Republic/Resistance ala Vegeta in DBZ, and when they confront Snoke/Plagueis he reveals he has perfected his true ultimate weapon, a new vessel to contain his spirit in, and Kylo Ren’s “replacement”; an evil clone of Luke Skywalker.
I came up with that in only a couple of minutes.
As for how it would end, Luke’s Force Ghost would aid in the final fight (ideally, Luke would still be alive in my version of the ST at this point, fighting his doppelgänger, but I digress), and managed to force Plagueis’ spirit out of the clone’s body, taking control of it himself, temporarily resurrecting Luke. The Rey, Luke, and now reformed Ben Solo defeat the evil spirit, but Luke feels the imperfect effects of the clone body, and realizes he might not have much time left. Ben apologizes to him and he to Ben, and says to Rey that the Jedi Order must continue on with her.
Rey and Luke rebuild Luke’s Academy just before he passes on, and Ben goes off into hiding to begin his own quest for redemption, and the galaxy is at peace once again.
Again, came up with this in only a few minutes.
I read the Heir to the Empire series, and I barely remember the Luke Clone at all. Good memory, sir. And, I think your idea of using that in place of Palpatine is a good idea.
ok Im no longer drinking while watching a video. "That story was never told because JJ Abrhams" i spit my coffee out. LOLOLOL
When your priority is telling a good quality story you can create something magical and if you’re lucky, eternal. That’s not what Abrams and Lucasfilm prioritizes in their productions.
I always viewed Dark Empire as a what if story
Originally Episode 9 was suppose to be written and directed by another director. And from what I heared about that old Episode 9: "Duell of the fates" script, it might had been the best outcome for the sequel trillogy.
Great points! Now you have me wishing for the "what if" version of a film that we'll never get.
Even though I don't particularly like the idea of Evil-Clone version of character, I would have preferred this over "Somehow Palpatine has returned."
Evil-Luke being the father of Rey and planting the voice of Vader in Ben's mind to turn him to the dark side would have been a decent conclusion to those plot threads.
I know that your video was just about TROS, but your idea of a clone could have been used to explain the whole sequel trilogy: The reason Luke disappeared was that he was kidnapped and replaced by a Bizzaro Luuke clone. (The Thrawn Trilogy introduced ysalamir, force canceling lizards that could have been used to capture and imprison the real Luke). Most of TLJ could have been kept the same and explained by the Bizzaro Luuke being the one trying to train Rey (which explains why he was not like we expected) although the ending would need some rewriting. Finally, the actual rise of Skywalker would be the three heros rescuing Luke who would then be able to use the Force and save the day. This ending could have had Luke die or seriously injured so that the next trilogy could focus on the new characters. Great video but now I hate the sequel trilogy more for what they could have been. 😢
Not only does the plot undermine ROTJ, having a fleet of Star Destroyers (seemingly amassed out of nothing) with planet blower upper guns added to their underbelly completely undermines the need for Death Stars.
RetroBlasting: "This must make JJ Abrams the WORST storyteller in Hollywood, possibly in history."
ME: clicks the LIKE button immediately.
Thanks Michael, I still have yet to watch that abomination.
I actually sold my blu-ray of TROS after finally rewatching The Last Jedi and discovering it has aged horribly.
I have to recommend that you don't. I'm an OT fan waited until I saw it on streaming. It was infuriating.
Ive always said they missed a trick not revealing that Leia was the evil puppeteer opperating Snoke. Jedi establishes that she could turn to the Dark Side. She was a politician like Sidious. The chaos of trying to control the new Republic could have forced her to conclude that they would only unite behind a common enemy. She starts the first order as an imperial tribute act to make the new Republic work using a literal puppet leader as her mask. But eventually the Dark Side takes her over and rather than kill his sister Luke goes into hiding disillusioned. Hoping to find a way to save her. Carrie would have loved playing a villain.
I always thought rey was going to turn out to be a clone, The Last Jedi cave scene fits with that, "show me my parents" shows her an infinite line of herself
Very good video.
That is an infinitely better idea than Somehow the Emperor Returned.
Good stuff Michael. Curious, since, as you say, we can't save that entire trilogy, you should do a video analysis of how upcoming SW projects could potentially dig the franchise out of the hole that it caused. Can plot lines be written that could essentially retcon the sequel trilogy and what would they be?
You want studio executives to be smart? They're not there to fuel creativity. They're there to keep the shareholders happy. Audience reviews don't matter. Profit matters.
20/20 hindsight is a great thing… I actually like this, and don’t understand why Disney didn’t just film this trilogy, instead of what we got. Need to make some changes for the age of the actors, but it would have worked. In my head canon, we found Luuke on Achtoo (bless me), and Luke, our Luke, is still out there, somewhere…
Thing about it all at this point, I keep saying to myself, like truthfully in my brain, when are they going to make the final three movies of the saga?
You have a very valid point, if they had brought clone luke to be the big bad at the end , A) it would have been epic, and B) It absolutely would have become a skywalker story... but that's just it, the first six were a skywalker story and the last three should have been too.
And, seriously, they had the Zahn trilogy right there... I mean, it wouldn't have taken much to just make scripts and shoot that surely???
ANd then after that, you could have given us new stories and characters, no worries. But not only that, they basically reshot a new hope and labeled it number 6 so... I swear, if Lucas gets the rights back, he oughta do the final three, hire spielberg to do the thrawn trilogy.. give disney the big middle finger as he sits back and earns like 3-4 billion dollars off that alone.
The main (and probably very much unintended) thing I got from all this was that there's a Last Command box set.
I adore that trilogy of novels and they will always be 7,8&9 to me, so I may have done a bad thing and pre-ordered it.
As for JJ, The Disney Trilogy and all of Disney Star Wars. It can burn for all I care.
Proof that Sometimes all it takes to make a story better is to just think about where you've been and use that to determine where you are going...wait...isn't that called...PLOT? It seems that Abrams, as well as many writers and editors today, have NO IDEA how to tell a story.
This is a Brilliant analysis, Michael!
Michael, just the initial premise you present improves the film immensely.
They always like to truck out Abrams and Johnson claiming to be such devoted Star Wars fans who have loved it since the day it was released, but what I've never been able to figure out is what exactly it is *they* actually like about it. I mean, I know what *I* love about Star Wars, but it seems like Abrams & Co. just liked the fact that there are action sequences present in the movies.
Your ideas are gold, of course Disney wouldn't know anything about the prior Indy movies, characterisation, quality film making etc.
That would have been a much better film if they confronted a cloned evil Luke at the end and Rey finding out that she is the daughter of that cloned Luke. Story would have come together better, but she still would have been a Mary Sue.
Would be easy to retcon TROS Palpatine into the Sith'ari, that the Rule of Two is actually a kind of spirit transfer and possession of the apprentice. The ancient Sith spirits would have used all of their power to protect Sheevs body from breaking down completely as it was their only possible vessel at that time.
Then I would like to go one step further and have the movies talk about how and why the force would allow these events to transpire when it apparently can and does assert control on some events and people on the regular. Would be very suspenseful to imply that the force may be in control of these Sith spirits for most of the Sequel trilogys runtime until Rey has destroyed their sole connection to the world as Sheev has still not found any apprentice by the end and the sole other dark force user Ben Solo would have turned to the light.
But of course the expanded universe authors under Disney including The Mandalorian and Bad Batch have already written at length about how the Knights of Ren are dark force users, that Palpatine was looking into force sensitive cloning and that Palpatine is definitely a clone even though J.J. was kind enough to leave it ambiguous.
I'm now completely convinced that Helena was meant to be Mac's daughter and that Basil was created because maybe the actor wasn't available or didn't want to do it or Disney didn't want to pay to deage yet another actor for the opening. Helena's dialogue all just makes way more sense if she's Mac's daughter, and it goes a long way towards fixing the character and making the movie a tab better.
As I understood it the original opening to The Force Awakens was supposed to be Lukes hand floating in space.
Great video and i prefer your idea of a clone Luke. It wouldn't have diminished the original trilogy the same way bringing back Palpatine did.
I think they were hinting that Snoke was a clone made of Luke and Palpatines genetic material in the comics. But JJ and Rian don't give a damn about their own expanded universe.
A little off topic, but I always thought that the smarter choice would have been to make Rey Obi-Wan's daughter/grand-daughter.
J.J. is pretty derivative in literally everything he does.
Thanks for another great video!
You couldn't be more spot on. For some unknown reason, Hollywood and many in political power these days seem to feel the need to tear down long-established traditions and beliefs. Instead of representing their constituents, they decide to take a direction on their own. Perhaps they have always held these beliefs and finally now that they are in a position of influence will use that position as a platform, which to me is reminiscent of the lyrics and Billy Joel's song Angry Young Man, "I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view." Maybe they are being told what to do. Who knows. The results are horrible and it doesn't seem like they care. They believe they are right at all costs and others' opinions don't matter.
I'm one of the weird ones who actually enjoyed the sequel trilogy. The Force Awakens was excellent. I saw it multiple times in the theater. Rise of Skywalker could have been better but ultimately it was an enjoyable ending to the trilogy. The Emperor's return was a little forced but I think they did a great job w/ the visuals regarding that character - the crane thing holding his body up was an excellent addition. Would an evil Luke clone have been a better option? Maybe. But at the end of the day even that seems a little hokey.
I'll never forget the resigned indifference of my older brother when the credits rolled at the end of ROS: "Well, that was terrible."
I borrowed it from the library a few years later just to double check. It took four days to finish because I kept turning it off.
The sequel trilogy had to he a Communist assault on art and culture.
It had to a PsyOp. Must have been.
Those dummies.
You always make great points. And the one about Indiana Jones with Helena/Mac is spot on. I might even have enjoyed her character had they done that. Like seriously, who writes this stuff now?
Wow, how weird i saw and ordered the 'Last Command' figures and I see this video!
I ordered the set yesterday because to me, The Last Command is Star Wars canon and better than Disney's crap.
What's funny about your observation with Luke's hand and everything is that in the current Marvel Star Wars comics, Darth Vader actually goes to Exegol in between Empire and Return of the Jedi (as an explanation as to why the sith way finder is on Mustafar near his castle) and on Exegol he finds the ships being worked on their, the experiments that we see in the movie and funny enough Luke's severed hand in a jar. So apparently the people writing the current Star Wars comics put more thought into the overall story being told than Abrams and co did. 😂😂😂
Great points, as always Michael. Take what works with what has been established and make it all great....as much as you can with Kathleen Kennedy in charge.
The redeeming quality of Rise of Skywalker is the fact it retconned TLJ.