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Post #1166089

Author
yotsuya
Parent topic
The Last Jedi: Official Review and Opinions Thread ** SPOILERS **
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1166089/action/topic#1166089
Date created
1-Feb-2018, 1:00 PM

Mrebo said:

The expectations thing is too often overstated. Of course there were expectations. Who here doesn’t have expectations about Star Wars? If someone didn’t like the movie, saying expectations were not met, well, that should go without saying. Same for those who like the movie, expectations were met. That doesn’t mean the expectations on either side were very specific.

Ah, but expectation are a big thing. It colors peoples views. When a favorite novel is made into a movie, many expect the story they saw in their heads and don’t like it when it comes out different. Expectations are huge. I guess I learned a long time ago to expectations to a minimum. I’ve read a lot of series and it is always best to take each new installment with an open mind and accept what the author has setup for the new story. That’s how I face Star Wars. Each new movie is a new story that will take us in new directions. Expecting something from it besides being true to the Star Wars universe (which to me is very tied to the hero’s journey, golden age science fiction, and samurai cinema) gives the story tellers no room to maneuver. I think that is why the Prequels were received so badly (no, they aren’t as good and ATOC had the lowest points of any Star Wars story, but they were the story GL wanted to tell). I think GL make a lot of mistakes on those, but I don’t think they are as bad as some make them out to be. The same way I found TFA very disappointing. It met the expectations of many, but I found it to be full of lazy storytelling and that he failed to give a solid conclusion to the story. In that way I find it to be the worst of the Star Wars movies. I cringe at C-3PO in the droid factory every time I see AOTC, but that pales in comparison to Finn and Han seeing the beam that destroys the Hosnian system.

Now, I am not impervious to expectations. I have a few for anything, but it is mostly that it stays within a bubble of what has come before in terms of feel and story telling. Star Trek has violated that over the last decade. And when I compare the complaints that Star Wars fans level at the PT or ST to what Star Trek fans are being asked to swallow, it is kind of funny. All the Star Wars movies look and feel like the same universe. The new Star Trek films didn’t even try and setup an alternate timeline and decided that because some effects called for a bigger ship that the so called JJ-prise should be the biggest Enterprise ever (bigger than the two ships Picard captains). And it gets worse. CBS decided that Star Trek Discovery is back to the prime timeline. Except they drastically changed the Klingons, the technology, the uniforms, went against several things that are said to have explicitly never happened, and just dropped the ball on any kind of research what-so-ever. Now, that would be fine for a reboot, but… Well, I’ll just say that in comparison, complains about TLJ are very nitpicking to me. My expectation for Star Trek is that they follow the established timeline and canon and that they keep to the mix of Roddenberry’s vision (a Utopian future where the human race had evolved and handles situations based on higher ideals) with the space action adventure that NBC wanted. Star Trek Discovery violates canon and ignores Roddenberry’s vision to so me that isn’t Star Trek. TLJ is Star Wars. At least to me. At least JJ and Rian are fans and are following canon and making something that looks and feels right, even if the story doesn’t go where you like.

I hope that makes clear where I’m coming from in this discussion.