StarkillerAG said:

Goddammit MR, you ruined my point! 😉

Although technically, those were just one off gag sequences, and didn’t interfere with the tension of the movie. I was just contrasting that to TLJ’s nonstop use of bathos.

So to bring the convo full circle, I suspect some editing of the more tone-deaf humor would improve TLJ quite a bit. Sort of like how reducing Jar Jar’s stupid comic moments makes Phantom flow a bit better too.

Here’s an interesting removal of the lightsaber toss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-alL-AT6mJI

Note how well it works when keeping the tone consistent. Luke’s disillusion is still clear, but it doesn’t disrespect the themes Lucas built Star Wars on–the passing of Excalibur from teacher to student.

Think about Qui-Gon; even though he was only in one movie and died quickly and unceremoniously, people remember him and the archetype he represented. Lucas got a lot wrong with Phantom, but he did nail that theme spot on.