As I have thought about this more, I’d like to take a quick stab at the whole “fan service” complaint that is often thrown at the Force Awakens.

When re-watching the Prequel trilogy, it made me realize how awful all the shoe-horned fan service moments that were in those films. Like the following:

-why in the hell does Anakin construct 3PO?
-why in the hell does R2 have to be the droid that saves the ship?
-why in the hell do we need child boba fett?
-why in the hell do all the clones have to be cloned from Boba Fett?
-why in the hell is Chewie there with Yoda?

I could go on all day. But the fanservice in the PT shrinks the universe and makes everything feel so implausible. The Force Awakens just has fun lines of dialogue that throw back to things like the Kessel run. Not to mention the well executed reveal of the falcon which was fan-servicey but will last as a genuinely joyful and charming moment.