This is a post about why I'm not going to go see The Force Awakens (TFA)
Why I'm not planning on seeing it at all.
Perhaps there are some things here you (the reader) may have thought of already.
Maybe you've thought of none of these (yet) but might think of sometime before, during, or after seeing it.
No, this isn't about the movie content itself. I don't know what that is, but of course anyone who's seen the past ones, has read any of the books that take place after the originals, or thinks through any of the plot lines or potentials or even any serials or drama already has a pretty good idea. (Perhaps the trailers tell the bulk of the story as they all seem to do these days.)
If there be spoilers about why somebody who's a fan doesn't want to see TFA, ideas that you've never considered and wouldn't have thought of if you hadn't read this, maybe you should think it's a big spoiler and skip it.
At first as things were leading up to wherever TFA is going, I was rather unsure how I felt about continuing the story of let's say The New Republic. How is current modern movie making going to treat this? Would it be like the originals (IV V VI) or the um effects-filled modern-ish-style too long (really, 6-9 hours of movie material?) and klunky prequels (I II III)? How would no George Lucas but JJ Abrams, with Disney, etc, be?
As time came closer to the release (in the wrong month one might say) I more and more felt like I didn't want to see something that would have been awesome in the mid '80s but that today might be just as disappointing as the prequels. I mean, if all you (people in general) can say is "Yes, but it's Star Wars!" what else can you say about three movies (or any of them).
Then I figured it out. Why I didn't want to not just not bother with opening day, but felt like I wanted to skip entirely. (Probably all of them, but certainly TFA) Why I felt ..... wrong about it all. (Hey, sometimes even I get boarded. And sometimes we do get a bad feeling about this.)
Why don't I want to see TFA.
Part of it is the status of Mark, Harrison and Carrie. Were they all in mind when the plot(s) were being developed, or an afterthought? Inserted into the stories (replacing stock character types ) as them (Luke, Han, Leia) only after the actors said yes, or part of the fabric of the story in roles only they as Heroes of the Republic could fill? Or really, did I want to know how the characters were planned or not when it came to the story. (Depending on the source material being from say books or from say fully new ideas.)
That's just a part though. Another part, remember the well done off and on romance between Han and Leia that developed, with much of it skipped over, and just this and that tossed in. Compare that to the heavy-handed overly ponderous and really bad way they horribly handled the entire "romance" in the prequels. It's even harder to ignore than Jar Jar and how feedback totally changed that character. I'm not sure I could even handle whatever they'll come up with either for the new characters, much less the old characters.
That's all also not the primary thing, just a consideration
Okay, again, you might want to stop reading if you don't already know where this is going.
When we last saw Luke, Han and Leia, they had nothing but potential. The future. Caught in time. Han and Leia a couple, Luke a full Jedi. Chewbacca, Lando, the droids and everyone else. All one big happy family, including our Force Ghosts (preferably to me, as they were like in the first theatric or first video tape version of VI.)
In the original story, then, we had a conclusion. After that, our imaginations of what might be. It ended and we remember how it ended. They were, and have been for the last thirty-ish years, there as they were. As we remember them.
No matter what else, it seems that TFA is going to ruin that memory. For those that have it at least. Of course, if you don't have it, perhaps it doesn't matter. Or maybe you've just recently watched the digital versions in order (I to VI) and would like it to remain how you remember it.
All I know that unless some time after it opens (days, weeks, months) everyone that sees it says it was awesome, I'll skip it, and the reviews, and the complaining.
May the Force be with you, always.
But TFA, no thanks.
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