laser.

A hyper laser?- no it is a Hypo laser- it is slower since everyone watched it as it slowly went by for the obligatory JJA multi planet orgasmic destruction.

JJ really does seem to have a thing for killing planets. He got a taste of it with Vulcan, and now he's addicted!

I think we can fix all the issues with Starkiller firing impossibly far by shifting the beams from Red to Blue. Implicate both Hyperspace AND the superluminal nature of the weapon to give an answer to the simultaneous viewing of the event in multiple systems.

Is anyone else worried a qusai, less-known, 1-real movie director Rian Johnson is doing Episode VIII?

Is there any mention outside of the movie of which planets were destroyed by the Starkiller base?

None were mentioned on screen other than the "senate world" and "fleet" headquarters.

Was that supposed to be Coruscant?

Was the Republic in fact wiped out, or was it more like hyperbole on General Hux's part?

That was the current capital of the Republic. You can see a dozenish capital ships in low orbit that also go foom.

I didn't catch the ships in orbit. I'm guessing they are too small to see clearly?

You can see a number of fairly large ships in orbit that are disintegrated as the beam hits the planet.

Is anyone else worried a qusai, less-known, 1-real movie director Rian Johnson is doing Episode VIII?

Yup.

Like Rian Johnson's a decent director, however his writing is... err not great. And apparently he's writing the final screenplay. Even if it's already been outlined by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams, I'm worried

I think we can fix all the issues with Starkiller firing impossibly far by shifting the beams from Red to Blue. Implicate both Hyperspace AND the superluminal nature of the weapon to give an answer to the simultaneous viewing of the event in multiple systems.

Still wouldn't quite explain the photon emission from a massive fusion blast making it that far that fast unless hyperspace somehow speeds up light or warps space in a way sufficient to decrease the relative distance traveled.

I know, I'm just knit picking, as for entertainment purposes I'm totally okay with it (well, mostly okay). I just had a moment of actual science nerd happen at that very scene when I saw it.

knit picking

I'm going to start off by apologizing. Ordinarily I would let such an inconsequential error go - but it's just too appropriate, and therefore hilarious, to let slide.

Nits are what you pick, knits are when you are knitting.

Sorry, just had to pick that nit.

(Now you'll tell me that it was autocorrect, and the humor will diminish.)

As for the science... Yeah it's not great. Even if the beam can traverse space-time (I'm willing to grant that in a galaxy with Jedi, and millennia old FTL capabilities) why would the photon emissions from the burst travel laterally faster than light? Why would the beam be brighter than the parent star was?

Oh well, I won't let a fantasy space opera rustle my jimmies too much.

Im going to throw this one to the nerd wolves

I got the impression that Snoke might be a failed Palpatine clone, what with the hole face half fallen off thing

Discuss

As far as the political side of things, we dont get much, I will agree. But even in ANH, we didnt get much info either.

(V) We got that there was an Imperial Senate, We got a "governor" class- we got a framework of an officer class for the Imperial Navy. We got that Palpatine "took over". With this movie it is up to our imagination.

The empire was evil and there were a group of people called the rebels fighting them...that was basically all we got in terms of political happenings. Same with episode 7 though, first order is evil and tehre is a group of people called the resistance fighting them.

As far as the super weapon is concerned, cant really say much about the sucking the power from a sun thing, that was a little weird. But as far as the how long the beam takes to reach the system that was targeted, we do not know. It is never specified (nor, to my knowledge, was the distance between that planet and starkiller base). Due to it being a movie, that blast could have been going for a few minutes, hours, or days, we just don't know. Just like when Luke went to train on Dagobah with Yoda, how long was he there? We just see a few minutes of dialogue and him floating rocks. Then next thing you know, hes off to cloud city to save his friends. So was Luke only on Dagobah a few minutes?

(V) Not enough to beat Vader- note it only took a few minutes for the female star of the new movie to a) learn to amazingly fly an antiquated freighter and 2) beat a trained lightsaber wielder

(K) Rey used the force to fly the falcon, this has been done previously, see Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker (luke had never flown an xwing prior to going to yavin, the most he had experience with was a t-47), they unknowingly used the force which made them very good pilots. Also Rey vs Ren fight, Ren is not fully trained (see line from Snoke "And bring Kylo Ren, it is time to complete his training") and he was also hurt, he took a bolt from Chewie's boltcaster to the gut, that really slowed him down. He also took a few small hits from Finn, but those I dont think had much vearing on the fight.

Just curious, what specifically do you not like about the villains?

(V) They are as hollow as a gourd and JJA sense of scale

(K) hollow is your opinion, but I can see that there is a lot of potential, we just have yet to delve in to those backgrounds.

The First Order is a brutal faction of the Imperial Remnant, they do whatever is necessary to complete their goals (such as killing an entire village).

(V) Wow- Destroying a village is certainly up there amongst their capabilities- they couldn't even find a droid...

(K) well, if memory serves correctly, a certain Empire couldn't find a droid either...But still The First Order is portrayed as a very brutal sub sect of the Empire, and you can tell that by some of their actions.

Snoke, we can't really say much on as he hasn't been developed much.

(V) JJA; "Quick find a substitute for Emperor Palpatine except make him look like a giant!"

(K) "Make him look giant" - palpatine did the same thing, the very first time we see him he is just a giant floating head. It is to make his underlings feel small compared to him (which fits somewhat, as he is somehow involved with the dark side and we all know how they just love to show off how important they think they are)

Kylo Ren, he is the grandson of Darth Vader, he feels that he should inherit his title/legacy and bring order to the galaxy. Hence the look he adopts, it is because he is trying to take after his grandfather.

(V) How does he know his grandfather's motives? Just winey teenager angst that he inherited from his grandfather Anakin

(K) Not hard to find out what the motives were, Palpatine and Vader had a very warped idea of "order and justice", when Palpatine declares himself emperor he even said it will bring order to the galaxy. Also 2 lines in the movie show what Kylo Ren thinks, first is when he is talking to Vader's charred helmet "I will finish what you started", this tells us that he is trying to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. Second is when Rey pulls Anakin's Lightsaber to her, Ren said "That belongs to me", this tells us again that he believes he is the only one that is able to continue Vader's Legacy.

As far as his saber is concerned, sabers are unique to each jedi, they make what matches their style.

(V) Not really supported- they seem to throw them away like candy. Yes they know how to build them but you don't just hand a sword to the son/daughter of an expert swordsman and think that they will "know" in a flash- also how do you explain Finn's handling of a light saber unless he is also the son of a Leia-Lando tryst.

(K) Nope, this is fully supported. Star Wars The Clone Wars, season 5 episode 7. The series is cannon and part of the story, lightsabers are unique to each jedi.

Kylo Ren makes a "broad saber", which would seem to favor power strikes. The cross guard (the 2 beams on the side) is actually kind of interesting, gives his hand a little more protection from other sabers as those blades can catch the opponents blade.

(V) Are you saying there are other proto-Jedi running around? Just seems like a way to impale yourself- didn't seem to stop every Jedi before from guarding against other lightsabers. Again- JJA: "Darth Maul had two- I have to have THREE!!"

(K) there could very well be, we know that Palpatine's "Purge" didn't kill all the Jedi like he claimed. There could easily be other Jedi (case in point, Rey, she has the potential to be a powerful Jedi and she was just "running around"). But also practical use for the cross guard portion of Rens saber, during his fight with Finn, they get into a saber lock (not sure on the proper sword fighting term), Ren keeps pushing closer and then ends up using one of those cross guards to actually burn into Finns Shoulder, if it was a normal saber he wouldnt have been able to do that.

And yes, I know plenty of people who have seen episode 7 multiple times and still enjoyed it. I myself will be seeing it again tonight, and probably a few more times if I have friends that still want to go see it.

(V) Again not a bad movie but how many times are you going to go see it in the movies?

(K) Already seen it twice, if I know someone that wants to go see it and they invite me I will certainly go. I enjoyed the movie and think it was very well done.

Here are some rebuttals vsolfronk

Im going to throw this one to the nerd wolves

I got the impression that Snoke might be a failed Palpatine clone, what with the hole face half fallen off thing

Discuss

I second that. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that that while his hologram might be huge, that he's going to be tiny and decrepit in real life. Like almost Yoda sized.