J.J. Abrams Admits The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Needed A Plan
(boundingintocomics.com)
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I despise The Last Jedi, but I've come to appreciate how singularly destructive it truly was. Rian Johnson ripped down the foundations of the franchise in a way that didn't seem possible given the money and stakes involved. It's a perverse miracle that a filmmaker with that much disdain for the IP somehow ended up at the wheel. I don't think even Kathleen's most ardent feminist disciple could have done what Rian did. And now that I don't give two shits about Star Wars, I almost appreciate the man for opening my eyes.
To be clear: Rian could have delivered a bog standard sequel predictably following the threads established in TFA, and a lot of people would have been happier with that outcome. The soul of the franchise would still be dead at the hands of The Devil Mouse, but the corpse would've shambled on for another decade or so. Instead, TLJ straight murdered Star Wars in front of everybody. Maybe it was better that way.
I told everyone when TFA was released that it was a feminist movie with a Mary Sue. I got blasted in the comment section on my video
People are stupid. I remember when Game of Thrones destroyed their entire franchise with the 8th season, and at least 50% of the viewers didn't realize how badly everything went. Most people have zero concept of story arcs.
Imo the core story of the prequels was pretty dang gud. As far as origin stories go, which it's basically just an origin story for the empire and Vader, it was uniquely compelling and didn't feel like pointless fan service like every other shitty origin story in existence.
It was just the almost everything else about them that sucked.
And then tRoS cemented the whole sequel trilogy as literally a reboot of the original trilogy with feminism and patricide.
Back when TLJ came out I've donated my ship collection to a 10 year old boy. This is how pissed off I was. There was some time and money put in to that.
But now I think it was a good thing, for one it did open my eyes on how big SJW/ Marxist influence has gotten and how much hate they have. Another good thing it taught me is not be emotionally involved in any franchise.
It was the point that turned me from a happy delusional fool to a grumpy dude who does not trust.
I would not go back.
When I watch a non-cerebral movie, I like to shift my brain to low gear and not let all the plot holes, bad acting, virtue signaling and even the occasional time travel mechanic ruin the experience. I admit I mostly enjoyed the MVC, DC, Harry Potter, LOTR + Hobbit, Star Wars and Star Trek movies by being able to do that and enjoy the fight scenes, campy dialogue and pretty special effects.
That being said, movies are changing and I'm changing...and the most recent crop of movies has been so unentertaining to me that it's no longer a surefire thing that I'll watch any comic book movie anymore; or even movies that look like they could have come from comic books.
Things are pretty bad when even woke people I know think that Army of the Dead on Netflix is too woke.
When I was a kid I would have given anything to have seen all these superhero films.
Now I dread them.
Then why didn't you make a plan in the first place you daft bastard? God damn, the only thing sparing these people from the roasting they deserve is the current stupid paradigm which won't last forever. Mark my word, in time the Star Wars sequels will be used as seminars for how not to write stories or make films.
So the guy who never plans anything didn't plan yet another thing?
And this is why the new long-format television shows don't quite work right yet, either. They almost never have a plan, they have no idea how many seasons they'll be allowed to run, and still want to wander into Chris Carter Land (looking at you, Manifest.)
The best shows of the modern "everything is now a soap opera" TV era had a plan, told their story, and then fucked off before their welcome wore out. Gravity Falls is the best example of that off the top of my head, and it's a fuckin' "kid's show".
(Though I never thought I'd hear something like "Excuse me, but there's a couple of kids I have to turn into corpses" on a "kid's show".)
Anyway ... Fringe. Do something like that again, you tosser.
This is an ongoing problem with all serialized media. It's more apparent to me in a lot of shonen anime/manga. How many series are just a sequence of big bads to knock out that just meander for years without actually having anything meaningful happen? The answer: far too many.
The most basic tenet of telling a story is having a story to tell. You don't just start writing and hope for the best.
OMG, I watched Dragon Ball in its proper order a few years ago (I remembered my kids watching it back in the 90s, and I got really bored). The "Z" sequel is pretty much the epitome of that. I understand why, but still.
(Anyone else prefer it when it was still a simple chop-sockey story? I think it started to go off the rails when it turned into Wizard Wars instead.)
Dragon Ball is probably the most high profile offender. I don't know if it ever had a specific destination but the Frieza saga definitely felt like it was supposed to be the finale. The meandering definitely started all the way back in the original Dragon Ball with the perpetual martial arts tournaments though.
The Dragon Ball episodic story seems to happen to any show that doesn't have a plan. If the show goes too long, it turns into a story where every move has its own episode, and then everyone comments on it. Each team is amazed at the power, and then the other side throws down an even bigger fireball.
It's a D&D adventure where everyone got to level 20 in the first season, and now needs another god to kill.
It's still a little shocking that a corporation would spend record breaking amounts of money and then completely skip basic actions to prevent failure. Like buying a car but then refusing to change the oil.