dunkachug

I’ve had a few ideas I’ve thought of since it ROS came out, been thinking a lot about it lately since being on break.

Something JJ and Kasdan did really well with TFA, I thought, was this idea of making things “convenient and compelling”. Take Kylo Ren: We want a masked villain to sell toys and feel “familiar”, but they’re just going to feel like a cheap Vader rip-off. So let’s use that, make his own insecurity around that a part of his character. As they’re fleshing that idea out, perhaps someone notices some parallels to how a lot of angsty young men feel in the internet age, picking up causes (ie., neo-nazis, young ISIS recruits) that they channel their insecurities and rage into. Little by little, you have this unique villain woven together from a variety of older sources with modern parallels. From the beginning, that sort of construction is what makes my favorite parts of Star Wars. I feel like there either wasn’t enough time to flesh things out in ROS and/or more of that came from Kasdan than JJ or something.

Anyways, my proposal for a ROS re-write would have the mantra “convenient and compelling” at its thematic core. After 9 episodes and generations of conflicts that always seem to lead back to the same place, what’s the point? Unfortuantely, that’s a bit of the feeling that I had when watching ROS. I’m sure that’s something JJ and the rest of the crew thought of when making the film as well. But, with reflection, I kept thinking, why not use that?

The thematic conflict of ROS in my re-write, then becomes a bit of a meta one.

Rey’s opening training scene with Leia is now diplomatic. They’re having a holo-meeting with a regional power who are open to the Resistance’s cause. However, they express fear and, frankly, exasperation, with the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance. “They blow you up today, you blow them up tomorrow. That’s just business” has become the attitude of most of the galaxy. Generations of war and conflict have left most average joes simply feeling burnt out, and like nothing makes a difference. The group Leia and Rey are meeting with express this in a movie-exposition way. There’s a bit of comedy as Rey wants to do things like mind-trick them as she gets more and more frustrated with their ahem resistance, and Leia shoots her disapproving looks. Rey fails to win them over, and in her frustration she decides to run the obstacle course. These physical, violent feats are all she feels like she’s really “good” at, the stuff her new master teaches her just doesn’t work for her. They know they’re in the right, fighting against evil, why not take give fence-sitters a show of strength?

This gives Rey’s arc–imo–a clearer focus. Now when on Pasana, she summons up some fresh courage to recruit General Lando Calrissian, hero of the Rebellion, to the Resistance cause. Even a close friend of Leia, Han, & Luke’s turns her down. Another disappointment, another fresh swelling of rage as she feels that same temptation that Anakin once did to force the galaxy to see things her way. In this frustration, she allows another vision with Kylo for the first time since TLJ (this idea also gives me the funny mental image of angsty fuccboi Kylo being “left on read” for the past year or so). Kylo senses what she’s feeling, and tells her how he feels the same. Again, he’s the only one who understands. First Snoke, and now Palpatine, these old powerful men want nothing more than to use him as a pawn for their own schemes. “But is that any different from how they use you? Rey? Skywalker, the General. They’re using you to fight their own failures. Their petty political struggles. It’s no different.” He promises that, when he offers him her hand again, she’ll take it. “As for Palpatine, I have my own plans.”

I’ll write more later if folks are interested! I love TFA and TLJ, and am willing to accept TROS for what it is after a year of reflection. It’s the only one of the three, though, that I felt could have been… baked for a bit longer in the writing-oven, however.

Hey, I’d love to get a PM for a copy of this edit! Thanks 😃