As usual I’ll have to strongly disagree. IV, V, VI, VII, VIII is already far more emotionally satisfying than I, II, III, IV, V, VI ever was. Going from III to IV is much more jarring a shift than going from VI to VII (and I’m not talking about quality). Just because nothing important plot-wise happens in between the PT and the OT doesn’t make them a cohesive and continuous unit, far from it. Lucas’s conception of the six episode saga was incredibly faulty and unsatisfactory. Hard to say how the nine episode saga will look without having seen the last chapter, but it can’t be anymore slapdash than the six episode one (if anything it’s working to rectify the problems).
I’ll have to strongly disagree too. 😉 The PT is conceptually, and visually far more interesting to me than the ST, and that’s coming from someone who feels the PT is deeply flawed. I also don’t feel, it’s the current owners’ job to rectify percieved problems with Lucas’ story. Write your own story with your own characters, if you feel, you can do better. I prefer the OT as a three act story over Lucas’ six part saga, but I appreciate the creative vision he was going for while developing the PT. The ST feels like a postmodern take on the OT to me. It’s interesting as a sort of meta commentary on the story that preceeded it, but also in many ways the antithesis of what Star Wars used to be, and for many is supposed to be.
I’ll just say the ST feels far more in the spirit and heart of what Lucas originally conceived for the series than the PT ever did. Not antithesis at all, but a perfectly fitting continuation of what Star Wars is all about. Whereas I see the PT as being George trying to fundamentally realign the scope and drive of the series in a way that didn’t always completely fit with what came before.
I also think you misunderstood what I meant by “rectifying.” Honestly for the most part I meant solving the absurd idea of the films being all about “the tragedy of Darth Vader.” No matter who was in charge of these films (even if they were Lucas), they’d be fixing that.
I can see where you’re going, and in some respects probably even agree, but for me seeing Luke raise his lightsaber over the head of his sleeping nephew, and to hear Luke say, he cannot save Ben, whilst Leia says her son is gone, far more fundamentally alters the spirit of the series than Lucas’ prequels ever did.
Hard disagree. Doubt and imperfection was always a big part of the characters in the OT. What was important was that they came through in the end.
Giving up on your child is not doubt. Leia does not express doubt. She says “I know my son is gone”. That seems pretty final to me.
It sounds exactly like a moment of doubt and weakness, considering the context.
Considering Carrie Fisher is gone, and this is her last statement on the matter, it has a sense of finality to me. The last moment these iconic characters spend together is them giving up on Ben Solo. That’s my context for this scene.
The scene ends with Luke refuting her statement.
Luke is the first in the scene to say, he cannot save Ben, so his statement that nobody’s ever really gone feels pretty hollow to me.
Like says he cannot save him, not that he cannot be saved. Big difference.
Criticizing it based on Carrie’s passing is unfair to say the least.
Considering TLJ was edited and released after her passing, I think it’s very appropriate. RJ was perfectly aware, that this is the last scene these characters share together.
Rian made the tough but absolutely respectable decision to keep Fisher’s work in tact. Considering as I said, Luke refutes the statement, there’s nothing about Leia’s brief doubt that ruins a perfectly fitting last scene for the pair.