I enjoyed TFA, don’t get me wrong. I rate it as the 3rd best in the saga (just barely over ROTJ, which may change in the future). I just didn’t really grasp the relationship between the Republic and the Resistance. Now that I have EU (nuEU) explanation, I do understand it, but upon first viewing of the film, not knowing anything, I didn’t know how the Resistance existed. “Is it the Republic fleet under a different name? Is it funded from someone embezzling from the Republic?” and other ideas crossed my mind.

TFA left me grasping at straws as to how the Resistance existed and it could have easily been cleared up with just one scene (that is rumored to exist and was left on the cutting room floor). I don’t see why it couldn’t have just been the Republic Army that would become a Resistance after the Republic’s destruction.