btw do you guys think that there should’ve been more scenes involving the Republic? I know there was one with Leia, but it was cut. Do you think more scenes would’ve improved TFA, adding to the background and making the Republic’s planet’s destruction more moving?
The planet’s destruction is problematic, though I don’t know if I’d add more scenes of the Republic. There’s two ways they could have done it, I guess. They could have had more scenes of the Republic which would have invested us more in its destruction(as the novelization does and an early cut possibly did), but it likely would have ruined the structure and pacing (not meeting Leia and the Resistance until after the battle on Takodana is perfect). However, taking those scenes out does make the destruction of the Hosnian system lose its power, certainly. They could have just done it like ANH. We don’t need the destruction of the planet to be emotionally moving, we need it to see the evil of the First Order and set up their threat. But the film tries to have it both ways, preserving the leaner structure while trying for that emotional power. What they should have done is removed the shots on the surface of Hosnian Prime and eased it on the tragic music (it’s probably the one spot in the score where Williams is compensating for what’s not in the film[like in the PT] rather than supporting what is).