Paralleling the ANH crawl with Rebel spies/First Order spies was one thing I liked. I think another reason I had for using it was that if First Order spies were in the Republic/Senate, it helped explain why Leia needed to make a separate, independent organization that could operate without the threat of information leaking.
In the film itself, Finn is worried about being seen by “First Order sympathizers” on Takodana. In Maz’s castle, we do see both a First Order spy and a Resistance spy, so the idea is sort of supported by what’s already in the movie.
Not in the film, but in the “Jakku Message” deleted scene, Snap asks Leia if they should contact the Republic, and she says, “No, we have to be smarter than that.” Which could imply that Leia she was worried about spies.
I think the deleted scene reinserted in Restructured (“Not all the senators think I’m insane”) could work with that angle, or with the “not wanting to star a war” or complacency angle.
I think some criticisms I’ve heard regarding those angles (even spies compromising the Republic angle), is that it makes the New Republic, the government the OT heroes fought to establish, seem like a failure even before the First Order destroys it. But that might be the point, since Luke also failed with his new Jedi Order. Victory wasn’t as final as our heroes might’ve thought.
I do agree that a big theme of the Sequel Trilogy is the cycle of darkness and light, good and evil, war and peace. I guess, like you said, it might be beneficial to try and help make that clearer. Because I think for a lot of people, the transition between what feels like victory in ROTJ, to going back to the same situation by the end of TFA does not feel properly set up or “earned”, I guess.
The idea to add the “inevitably” statement into the crawl is a good idea, although at the moment I’m not sure I have many ideas how to build off of that concept. But I’ll try to think of some more ideas too.
I’m probably going on too much of a tangent as well, but this is sort of why I would like to add a new shot at the end of ROTJ of some Star Destroyers escaping after the Death Star explodes. Knowing my luck, IX probably won’t go in the direction I’m expecting, but I think a part of the issue as to why ROTJ wasn’t the ultimate victory is because they didn’t really solve the Empire problem. The New Republic seems to have failed at trying to reintegrate former Imperials back into society (although in their defense, I guess they didn’t realize a fragment of the Empire went into hiding to bide their time).
To me, it’s not about purging the Shadow, but integrating with it. Assimilation. That’s why I’m hoping IX ends with reunification on some level.
I think another thing is how the Sith have been tied to the idea of ultimate victory. There was a millennia of peace when they thought the Sith were gone, but since they survived in secret, it was only temporary. The whole thing with the prophecy emphasized that once the Sith were destroyed, balance would be brought to the Force (supposedly). Since the Sith were seemingly destroyed in ROTJ, I think people have questions regarding the ST that don’t have answers yet.
I think the cyclical theme you mentioned is definitely true, and suggesting that idea in the crawl might help. Though people might wonder if “inevitably” refers to the cycle of war and peace, or that the New Republic was fundamentally flawed.
I guess after all of this talk, the simplest thing you could do is, like you said, at least give a reason why the Resistance is dealing with the First Order instead of the New Republic. I personally like that “Not wanting to start another war” is at least an understandable reason for their inaction, whereas “complacency” paints them in a more negative light. Out of everything, they are probably the most effective options without changing a lot.
With the New Republic not wanting to start another war, General Leia Organa mobilizes a covert Resistance to counter the rise of this Imperial remnant.
Hoping to avoid another war, the New Republic has secretly mobilized a covert RESISTANCE, under the command of General Leia Organa, to counter the rise of this Imperial remnant.
With the New Republic not wanting to start another war, General Leia Organa mobilizes a covert RESISTANCE to discover if the First Order is secretly preparing for invasion.
Then again, I do see what you’re saying about complacency.
Lately I’ve been reading a lot about fascism, and how complacency can play a part in its rise. To me, the First Order represents fascism, and this in particular reminds me of Finn’s story, and how he learns that if he runs away from the problem, or is just a bystander like DJ, then he is actually a part of the problem.
If we went with the complacency angle, I do think a con of that would be how the New Republic apparently suffered the same fate as the Old Republic. And I think people would want to know why that happened again. And like I said, it might add to that feeling of all of the OT heroes’ victories going down the drain. We all hoped they would make things different, but it turns out they suffered the same fate as their predecessors. But maybe that tragedy is a part of the story, and that is just hard for fans to accept.
I mean if you think about it, Leia never grew up in a democracy, so starting one would be new to her (and her superiors like Mon Mothma might’ve unintentionally brought over problems with the old government), and I can just see Leia seeing the New Republic becoming complacent in peacetime and not being able to do anything about it (especially after her true parentage was exposed). This is another reason I’m hoping Leia survives IX so she can spend her remaining years helping the galaxy finally get on the right track.
So maybe the best options would be something along those lines, or even “failing to convince the New Republic” like Restructured has it. “Unwilling to start another war”, “not wanting to start another war”, something like those. Though if we go with the complacency angle, I could imagine an argument along the lines of, “If the New Republic was complacent or dysfunctional, why should we feel bad when it is destroyed?”
Sorry for this long post. It honestly has just been a stream of consciousness as I’ve thought about this and what you said, and you can probably see how my opinion has changed from the beginning of this post to the end. But maybe my thoughts will give others something to think about too.
I do have a crawl for ROTJ that’s still in-progress.
The Alliance is doomed. After suffering terrible losses, spies loyal to the Rebellion have reported that the Empire nears completion of a new dreaded Death Star.
As the rebels prepare their next move, Luke Skywalker sets in motion a desperate plan to rescue his friend Han Solo from the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt.
Little does Luke know that Darth Vader, under the commands of his cruel Emperor, hastens their own sinister plans that will bring about their ultimate victory once and for all…