(SORT OF SPOILERS FOR SW:BLOODLINE MAYBE)
Having just finished reading Bloodline, I’ve only just realised it was Korrie who Leia sends to her vainful death…
J.J. prioritized ‘fan service’ over effectiveness.
What? I think this is proof of the opposite.
He wanted Leia to appear at a certain moment in the film, for maximum “nostalgia” effect. Thus, important scenes like this were left on the cutting room floor.
Maximum nostalgia or not, that was the most effective place to put her introduction. I think having her in the film from the start would have been fan service when she only becomes important to the story halfway through.
That being said, I think Leia’s introduction in the final cut is perfect, but we lost scenes that could have provided much needed context.
Is that context really necessary for this film though? Whether the Resistance has the full support of the Republic isn’t something that really affects the story of TFA in any significant way.
Not to say there couldn’t or shouldn’t have been more context, but it wasn’t worth sacrificing the pacing and structure of the film just for the sake of these Resistance scenes.
I’d say it does need context, especially since this cut scene shows us Korrie’s relationship with Leia. In the final cut we only see her being vaporized, with no idea who she was.
That was my biggest gripe with TFA - there was no thorough explanation as to who was doing what in the New Republic. It is just miraculously destroyed… again.
TFA Restructured v2 may re-incorporate this scene into the Resistance Base, which would make it my go-to version of the film.
Still need to watch the first version, as I hear it really fixes up the final act of the film. If that scene can somehow be wedged into the film, I’ll definitely give it a watch.