TFA is good! Good enough that I will be going back to see it again soon and take my grandchildren. And, I will likely drive for four hours both ways to see the IMAX version as well.

And to put my comments in perspective - after I saw Star Wars in the the theatre in 1977 (before it was renamed a New Hope), I went back and saw it two more times as well. (I didn't bother to see any of Episodes 1, 2, or 3 in the theatre.)

I have a good feeling about Ep 8 + 9 ! !

Cool fact:

The voice calling rey's name at the end of her vision is obi-wan Kenobi...voiced by ewan McGregor!

Hoping he shows up as a force ghost in one of the sequels along with yoda and Anakin.

Imagine Anakin talking to kylo to tell him how messed up he is for worshipping Vader.

Please, no more Hayden Christiansen. I don't think I can take any more.

Hayden is love, Hayden is life.

If you've seen any of his stuff since Star Wars, he has gotten slightly better. He still has some ways to go as far as what we all did not enjoy in the prequels, but he isn't a solid block of wood anymore.

I noticed something from watching the movie again. during the flashbacks after Rey touches Luke's/Anakin's lightsaber, pay very close attention to the part where she's a little girl crying for someone not to leave; the voice and hand of the person that is clutching her arm appears to belong to Unkar Plutt (the salvage dealer Rey puts up with on Jakku). not sure if this is something that is significant or not, but wanted to point that out.

Oh, Unkar Plutt. There we have a named Scum pilot for the Millennium Falcon.

I noticed something from watching the movie again. during the flashbacks after Rey touches Luke's/Anakin's lightsaber, pay very close attention to the part where she's a little girl crying for someone not to leave; the voice and hand of the person that is clutching her arm appears to belong to Unkar Plutt (the salvage dealer Rey puts up with on Jakku). not sure if this is something that is significant or not, but wanted to point that out.

Who ever handed Rey over to that monster was probably not anyone from her immediate family. Unless Rey's mother was a real ***** and didn't tell the father anything about her or where she ended up. Giving her to Unkar Plutt is not the same as handing a baby over to a moisture farmer and his wife, far from it.

Posted somewhere already but I'm convinced it was Ren while he is still Ben. Jealousy of her drives him to do so but he isn't far enough to the dark side to do worst.

Might explain why Luke vanishes. He didn't just lose his fledgling order to a family member but his daughter too.

Cool fact:

The voice calling rey's name at the end of her vision is obi-wan Kenobi...voiced by ewan McGregor!

Hoping he shows up as a force ghost in one of the sequels along with yoda and Anakin.

Imagine Anakin talking to kylo to tell him how messed up he is for worshipping Vader.

Please, no more Hayden Christiansen. I don't think I can take any more.

Hayden is love, Hayden is life.

If you've seen any of his stuff since Star Wars, he has gotten slightly better. He still has some ways to go as far as what we all did not enjoy in the prequels, but he isn't a solid block of wood anymore.

The character of Anakin is portrayed pretty well in the Clone Wars cg TV series. The show is worth checking out.

Cool fact:

The voice calling rey's name at the end of her vision is obi-wan Kenobi...voiced by ewan McGregor!

Hoping he shows up as a force ghost in one of the sequels along with yoda and Anakin.

Imagine Anakin talking to kylo to tell him how messed up he is for worshipping Vader.

Please, no more Hayden Christiansen. I don't think I can take any more.

Hayden is love, Hayden is life.

If you've seen any of his stuff since Star Wars, he has gotten slightly better. He still has some ways to go as far as what we all did not enjoy in the prequels, but he isn't a solid block of wood anymore.

The character of Anakin is portrayed pretty well in the Clone Wars cg TV series. The show is worth checking out.

That was a different voice actor. Hayden wanted that part but they never called him in for any of it. To Hayden's credit he did make up for it with good body language and facial expressions, but it was namely his monotone voice is where he fell flat.

Posted somewhere already but I'm convinced it was Ren while he is still Ben. Jealousy of her drives him to do so but he isn't far enough to the dark side to do worst.

Might explain why Luke vanishes. He didn't just lose his fledgling order to a family member but his daughter too.

Just out of curiousity, why does everyone assume that Rey is Luke's daughter? I get the feeling that she is Hans long lost daughter. He thought her to be dead, and then lo and behold she shows up on the Falcon. He doesn't tell her out right because he isn't sure that will do any good, but he finds her capable enough after she helps fix the Falcon.Or maybe he is in disbelief that it is actually her.

Also that explains why she could get into Kylo Ren's head without force training, because of the brother-sister link. However this does backfire some on the account that Kylo couldn't get into her head.

First off: If Han was Rey's father, they would recognize each other. As would Leia.

Second: Han has lost his son, he feels empty and Rey is waiting for her family. There was no more to that relationship than each other being longing and connection for things lost

Finally: while it is possuble that Luke is Rey's father, I think it unlikely. Once again there didn't seen to be a recognition of "oh high dad!" but more of "hey, this is the island from my dreams, and karking Luke Skywalker who i know about, and is standing in front of me and totally NOT a myth". I believe Rey's parents dropped her off on Jakku because the First Order was abducting children to fill its ranks. Remember that Finn was on his first combat mission, similar age to Rey, and was sent to RECONDITIONING. It seems stormtroopers are now raised from a very young age. No, I feel that Rey doesn't have a familial link, but is strong in the force and meant to be TRAINED by Luke. Once again, she dreamed of the island in the ocean, and Luke went to find the first Jedi Temple after his new Jedi Order was wiped out. He likely meditated in his seclusion and got a vision of the moment through the force of Rey's arrival. Hell, he probably felt or knew about Han's death at Kylo's hand. His nephew who he trained killed his best friend. He will be hesitant, which i see in his reaction, to train another in the Force.

I had posted this in the ship thread, in response to someone saying Luke or Han is Rey's father. I figure I should post it here.

Posted somewhere already but I'm convinced it was Ren while he is still Ben. Jealousy of her drives him to do so but he isn't far enough to the dark side to do worst.

Might explain why Luke vanishes. He didn't just lose his fledgling order to a family member but his daughter too.

Just out of curiousity, why does everyone assume that Rey is Luke's daughter? I get the feeling that she is Hans long lost daughter. He thought her to be dead, and then lo and behold she shows up on the Falcon. He doesn't tell her out right because he isn't sure that will do any good, but he finds her capable enough after she helps fix the Falcon.Or maybe he is in disbelief that it is actually her.

Also that explains why she could get into Kylo Ren's head without force training, because of the brother-sister link. However this does backfire some on the account that Kylo couldn't get into her head.

Given her being drawn to Anakin's lightsaber makes it seem more likely that she's a Skywalker of some sort, plus with all the parallels with ANH, I can see the big secret(?) of the second movie being Luke saying "No, I, am your father"

Cool fact:

The voice calling rey's name at the end of her vision is obi-wan Kenobi...voiced by ewan McGregor!

Hoping he shows up as a force ghost in one of the sequels along with yoda and Anakin.

Imagine Anakin talking to kylo to tell him how messed up he is for worshipping Vader.

Another cool fact: Ewan McGregor wasn't the first choice for the voice in Rey's vision. That would be James Arnold Taylor, who did the voice of Obi Wan in The Clone Wars and Rebels.

I for one loved it. Sure it was similar to Episode 4, but it's not like the Star Wars movies have ever been the most original things. Plus it makes perfect sense for the First Order to make a superweapon, with the ambition of being even bigger than the Death Star. Their entire MO is bringing the Empire back in the biggest way possible, and what was the Empire's most infamous trait?

Kylo Ren was perhaps my favourite part of the movie, and the majority of complaints against him I've seen are that he's not a good antagonist because he's not a one-dimensional "lol I'm evil" outright badass Sith. If he was just that I probably wouldn't have liked him that much. And that scene was so artistically done...

On the contrary, my complaint is that he WAS very shallow. I'm sure they'll expand his character more in future movies, but it really felt like he was: lol I'm evil just for fun.

A slight PS to my earlier post, Who the heck was the old guy in the beginning?? That's driving me crazy!

Just got back from my first viewing.

I REALLY didn't care for Emo McCry-Face as the primary villain. He just seemed too "angry rebellious teenager" to be convincing. That being said, I expect this is his starting point, and Gollum explicitly mentioned that his training wasn't complete, so that all makes sense. Kind of like if Luke really HAD killed his father and joined the Emperor, his first weekend away at Evil Camp might have looked a LOT like this.

I expect he'll be MUCH more convincing in the next episode. (His fits of rage felt right, both as an angry teenager and as a Sith/Darksider who is ruled more by fear than anger, though he did seem to deliberately stoke his own anger - repeatedly punching his wound during his battle with Finn and Rey.

Harrison Ford was ON F*CKING POINT, from start to finish. And I loved seeing Chewbacca being more than just set dressing. "He said it was YOUR idea."

I expect it will be revealed that Rey is Luke's daughter, somehow or another. The voice, in her flashback to her family(?) leaving Jakku sounded just like Cry-Face Ren, to me - and while it wasn't explicit, I feel like there's plenty there to show that he recognized her and their connection. Plus it would fit in too much with her affinity with the force, her reaction to the Skywalker saber, and Star Wars's generally familial plot overtones in general. I can totally see, as someone else mentioned, a jealous family thing being part of what drives Emo McCry-Face away/"evil." (I'll be pretty annoyed if they turn out to be siblings, of course.)

I actually feel really bad for Mark Hamill for how little screen-time he got when he was so clearly unhappy about having to deal with his "contractually obligated" beard. I can't wait to see how his role works out in the next movie - I came in fully expecting him to mirror Obi-Wan from New Hope. The man looks GOOD as an old Jedi who's getting all ready to jump back into the fray.

I loved this movie. Great action, great humor with zero fart jokes, good tension. I felt like there were just the right amount of call-backs. Any more and they would have become obnoxious, fewer would have been fine, but maybe a little surprising. And sure, some of the plot elements were re-used, but if we're honest, the original trilogy wasn't High Cinema, either.

A+, will pay theater money to see again.

Cool fact:

The voice calling rey's name at the end of her vision is obi-wan Kenobi...voiced by ewan McGregor!

Hoping he shows up as a force ghost in one of the sequels along with yoda and Anakin.

Imagine Anakin talking to kylo to tell him how messed up he is for worshipping Vader.

Maybe Rey is a Kenobi? Maybe Satine had a child by Kenobi but hid that child away? Maybe Obi-Wan had a brother or sister who had kids and whose kids had kids and one of those kids was Rey?

Posted somewhere already but I'm convinced it was Ren while he is still Ben. Jealousy of her drives him to do so but he isn't far enough to the dark side to do worst.

Might explain why Luke vanishes. He didn't just lose his fledgling order to a family member but his daughter too.

Just out of curiousity, why does everyone assume that Rey is Luke's daughter? I get the feeling that she is Hans long lost daughter. He thought her to be dead, and then lo and behold she shows up on the Falcon. He doesn't tell her out right because he isn't sure that will do any good, but he finds her capable enough after she helps fix the Falcon.Or maybe he is in disbelief that it is actually her.

Also that explains why she could get into Kylo Ren's head without force training, because of the brother-sister link. However this does backfire some on the account that Kylo couldn't get into her head.

Given her being drawn to Anakin's lightsaber makes it seem more likely that she's a Skywalker of some sort, plus with all the parallels with ANH, I can see the big secret(?) of the second movie being Luke saying "No, I, am your father"

Ezra was drawn to Kanan's lightsaber. Does that mean that Ezra is Kanan's son? Does that mean they're related?

No. Force sensitives are drawn to lightsabers. Probably because they more than likely resonate strongly with the Force - or at least their crystals probably do.

First of all, I liked the movie very much, but:

I cannot believe that the liason between Han and Leia ends up in nothing than a nightmare for them and many others (and Hans life becomes worthless, if not negative).

Hopefully it will go into another direction, because anytime now watching the original trilogy seeing Han an Leia will always let my head shake. It was always one of the best parts in Star Wars, that despite evil thing something good came out of it, and Hand gets the girl.

Can anyone convince me to still be delighted for Han and Leia in the original trilogy please?

My favorite theory thus far is that Rey is a Kenobi. Imagine this, Obi-wan has gone into exile on tatooine. After some time he thinks that he is out of the woods and that the empire could never find him or Luke. He decides to leave the planet and raise a family. After he has gotten married and had at least one child the empire finds him. He decides that his responsibility to the Jedi order and to the protection of Luke is more important than his responsibility to his family so he runs and goes back to tatooine. He presumes that his entire family is killed but his son survives. This son is Rey's dad.

While this does seem far fetched, I think that it would be a better reveal because it is already expected by pretty much everyone that Rey is a skywalker.

I honestly think that it would be far more interesting to have Rey NOT be related. Family isn't always formed by bloodlines.

Rey's parents discard her, but she longs for that family connection. Kylo Ren had the family, evwrything Rey wants, and he discards that.. I think the message of family and loyalty would mean more, if something like Luke sacrificing himself, or choosing to save Rey, instead of his own blood.

It was mentioned that Ezra from Rebels was drawn to Kanan's lightsaber, and that is a very good point. I imagine the number of lightsabers is rather small in the galaxy, let alone one that resonates with, and was weilded by, the last Jedi. I suspect that the force, resonating through the lightsaber, was waiting for the right person to claim it.

First of all, I liked the movie very much, but:

I cannot believe that the liason between Han and Leia ends up in nothing than a nightmare for them and many others (and Hans life becomes worthless, if not negative).

Hopefully it will go into another direction, because anytime now watching the original trilogy seeing Han an Leia will always let my head shake. It was always one of the best parts in Star Wars, that despite evil thing something good came out of it, and Hand gets the girl.

Can anyone convince me to still be delighted for Han and Leia in the original trilogy please?

The interaction between Han and Leia may have been a bit dull to some people, but it is far from worthless. They build up on the hope of returning Kylo and rekindling the family relationship they once had, hence the whole "bring him home" aspect of it all.

But... Han is a gambler and that's how he's always lived his life. When he stepped on that bridge to convince Kylo to come home, he took a gamble and, ironically, his luck had finally run out when he decides to take that gamble on his son. You can even see Han was quite hesitant before approaching him and waited until he was at an advantageous point (one on one on the bridge) to confront him, and it all backfired and the dice came up cold.

On a side note, I did love the Wookiee rage from Chewie. No prolonged lamentation or seconds spared of mourning or disbelief, just "RRRRAAAAAA!!!!!" Pew Pew! Dead stormtroopers, boom goes the station. Golden moment right there.

Kylo Rens command shuttle is awesome, i hope they come out with it.

Someone (maybe multiple somebody's) thought that Ren lost a hand. I can confirm that he does not lose a hand. I watched very carefully this evening. He still had both hands when starkiller base split apart.

Someone (maybe multiple somebody's) thought that Ren lost a hand. I can confirm that he does not lose a hand. I watched very carefully this evening. He still had both hands when starkiller base split apart.

I thought he lost a hand at first then quickly noticed be still had it. I did, however, think his right eye had gone cloudy whilst he was lying on the floor with blood on his face? Could well be wrong.

yay finally got to see

gotta say, I realized why my non-Poe T-70s keep ******* dying

even poor Asty doesn't seem like he'd avoid a similar, ignoble fate...

First of all, I liked the movie very much, but:

I cannot believe that the liason between Han and Leia ends up in nothing than a nightmare for them and many others (and Hans life becomes worthless, if not negative).

Hopefully it will go into another direction, because anytime now watching the original trilogy seeing Han an Leia will always let my head shake. It was always one of the best parts in Star Wars, that despite evil thing something good came out of it, and Hand gets the girl.

Can anyone convince me to still be delighted for Han and Leia in the original trilogy please?

The interaction between Han and Leia may have been a bit dull to some people, but it is far from worthless. They build up on the hope of returning Kylo and rekindling the family relationship they once had, hence the whole "bring him home" aspect of it all.

But... Han is a gambler and that's how he's always lived his life. When he stepped on that bridge to convince Kylo to come home, he took a gamble and, ironically, his luck had finally run out when he decides to take that gamble on his son. You can even see Han was quite hesitant before approaching him and waited until he was at an advantageous point (one on one on the bridge) to confront him, and it all backfired and the dice came up cold.

On a side note, I did love the Wookiee rage from Chewie. No prolonged lamentation or seconds spared of mourning or disbelief, just "RRRRAAAAAA!!!!!" Pew Pew! Dead stormtroopers, boom goes the station. Golden moment right there.

Totally agree about Chewie, awesome scene.

People forget that 30 years happened, life happened, the war waged on for at least a year until Jakku led to the treaty that kept the 'peace' until the FO sent a nuclear first strike on Washington.

Han and Leia obviously had a lot of good times, they got to raise their child like any normal family until he became a rebellious teen. It just happens that this teen was the type that not just ruined his life but the lives of many people, much worse than being on drugs or drunk driving. Leia and Han reacted like real people to their son's actions. It makes them human, relatable. Sorry the fairy tale ending wasn't permanent. Happy endings only happen if you don't continue the story.

And I agree, the green dice totally betrayed Han. Fickle was right all along!

OK, so, the Rey "grieving" scene following the battle with Kylo Ren. There was a lot of talk following the trailers that she might have been grieving over Chewbacca's body.

This is the particular scene:

Now, while it's difficult to work out, to me that certainly looks like wookiee fur on the right hand side of the picture. Certainly I can't attribute it to Poe's jacket or anything else Finn was wearing, for that matter.

So, what do we reckon? Was Chewie originally a candidate to bite the fish biscuit in the film? Do we think multiple versions of the scene may have been shot to throw people off the scent? Or did Finn's Soul Glo just not handle those conditions?

Someone (maybe multiple somebody's) thought that Ren lost a hand. I can confirm that he does not lose a hand. I watched very carefully this evening. He still had both hands when starkiller base split apart.

I thought he lost a hand at first then quickly noticed be still had it. I did, however, think his right eye had gone cloudy whilst he was lying on the floor with blood on his face? Could well be wrong.