Okay, I know we said we were done here but I’m gonna put down one final alternate:
EPISODE VII
THE FORCE AWAKENS
It is a time of despair.
Luke Skywalker, striving
to reforge the legendary
Jedi Order, has vanished.
Emboldened by the Jedi’s
absence, soldiers of the
evil FIRST ORDER have
risen from the shadows
of an Imperial fortress
to claim supremacy over
all star systems beyond
the fragile New Republic.
Desperate to unite these
planets in RESISTANCE,
an intrepid militia armed
by the New Republic has
sent its pilots in search of
the last Jedi, seeking to
restore the light of hope
to the darkening stars….
The only real difference is in changing ‘loyal to the New Republic’ to ‘armed by the New Republic’. I keep coming back to this as the better option for a few reasons.
The first and strongest is that establishing that the New Republic has indeed supported the Resistance is essential to Hux’s plan. Without a clear understanding that the Resistance is reliant on the New Republic, Hux’s reasoning for destroying the Republic falls apart. This is probably why the theatrical crawl established the support between the two organizations.
The second reason is that now that the Republic is merely ‘fragile’ and the subjugated star systems are not ‘beyond the reach of the New Republic Starfleet’, it feels almost necessary that the Republic is involved in protecting these systems in any way it can, short of sending its entire fleet.
The third reason for this change is that it leads to a stronger flow for the paragraph by allowing for the Resistance to be understood as an extension of New Republic power, regardless of its independent leadership. Keep in mind that while the deleted scene does give the impression that the Resistance has little support in the Senate, Leia is specifically asking them to take direct action against the First Order, which is a very different demand than merely asking them for a few X-wings to help find Luke. It is also possible that the situation between the Senate and the Resistance has deteriorated since arming the militia.
Anyway, those are my arguments 😃