• Pre-release Discussion December 15 - 8:09 am

Is mine the first post-release discussion?
I try to avoid major spoilers, but be warned because a few may creep in during the review.
First impressions:
It is a very good movie. I'm still deciding where it would rank among the others. The style is very similar to the original trilogy, and borrows story elements from those movies. I read one review with the point that you could take the script from A New Hope and just change the names. I would add that the show seemed to add elements from the entire original trilogy.
In fact I think the show could have been called Star Wars: The Next Generation, and at the very end it was The Search for Luke.

Some nits, observations, & questions:
We discover at the very beginning that after Return of the Jedi, the Jedi (Luke) eventually went into hiding. So the Jedi returned but then left again.

Kylo Ren was a good bad guy and had some neat Force tricks. However he was not as imposing as Vader since he is basically a bad guy in training. I was surprised that the newbie was able to give him a good fight.

When the Falcon first blasted off from the planet Jakku, why did no one else follow it?

People complained about the prequels having too much politics, but I think there could have been more in this movie because I was confused as to who was actually governing the different planets.

A lightsaber was revealed as having been both Luke's and Vader's. But that saber was lost when Luke lost his hand at the end of Empire. I know the trilogy by author Timothy Zahn explained it's return. Are those events considered canon?

One thing the prequels lacked, especially the first two, was the presence of both C-3PO and R2-D2. It seems that BB-8 takes their place in this show. The old droids do have cameos. It was funny that 3PO had a mismatched arm, but why had no one replaced it or at least painted it?

The Day After: A few more points...

Terminator Genisys is an homage to The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Jurassic World is an homage to Jurassic Park. Star Trek Into Darykness is an homage to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
The Force Awakens is an homage to A New Hope and the original trilogy.

One of the early trailers was misleading. It has a voice-over from Luke lifted from Return of the Jedi. He spoke about the Force being strong in his family. It implied that Luke would be a mentor to a new hero who is also his relative.
That was not the case. But maybe it will be in future movies.

I am still trying to avoid spoilers, but I gave to ask:
How did one character get from one planet to the next? Why did he leave without finding what he hid?

Some chacters use words such as "hell" and "d@mn" which implies a concept of afterlife similar to Christian.

The two new heroes and the new villains are worthy additions to the Galaxy. They really make the movie work in concert with our old friends.

Terik: One thing the prequels lacked, especially the first two, was the presence of both C-3PO and R2-D2.
Lacked in what way? I thought the droids were way overused and downright shoehorned in at times during the prequels, with the possible exception of RotS. Their roles were certainly changed between the two trilogies, such as in ANH they were very important plot elements, where as in the prequels they were just characters the plot didn't depend on.

Thanks for the review!

Regarding the role of the droids:
It is my understanding that C-3PO and R2-D2 are supposed to be witnesses to most of the events.
At least one of the pair is present with at least one hero during the original trilogy. The exceptions I can think is when Luke confronted Vader and the Emperor on the 2nd Death Star as well as the attack on the station.
In TPM, R2 only shows up when the group escapes Naboo. 3PO only had a cameo. At the end R2 was only witness to Anakin in his battle, meanwhile the Jedi were fighting, the Queen was fighting, and the Gungans were fighting.
In AotC, 3PO didn't show until the visit to Tatooine.

In Force Awakens, the duo only have cameos. BB-8 takes their place.

Luke Skywalker has vanished. Does the entire Republic care? Especially since he seems to be little more than a myth at this point?

The Republic is the governing body, and the New Order is challenging the Republic. So why is there a Resistance? What are they resisting? Why aren't they the Republic military?

If Luke Skywalker went into exile, why did he leave a map of his wherabouts behind?

Who was Max von Sydow's character, and why did he have a piece of the map?

Poe Dameron couldn't have raised his X-Wing's shields long enough to blast off Jakku?

The stormtroopers shot Cameron's ship to scrap, but they failed to notice BB-8's trail?

What business did Rey have releasing BB-8 from the other scavenger's net? Seems like Jakku is a finders-keepers world.

If Rey could beat down the salvage buyer's goons with such little effort, why do any of the scavengers respect him?

Any stormtrooper can walk into the brig and take a prisoner, then march said prisoner through the hangar without suspicion?

If the Millennium Falcon was capable of flight, why was it abandoned? And why wasn't it stripped of all useful components, like the rest of the spacecraft on Jakku?

The story seems to establish Rey was left on Jakku at an early age, and she stayed to await rescue by her family. She very clearly aches to get back as soon as she can. How would she know anything about piloting or repairing a spacecraft?

The Falcon was stolen from Han Solo, then passed through two other sets of hands. How did Han just pull up beside it?

JJ Abrahms is a fine director, but he seems to enjoy adding annoying slapstick scenes into his films. The entire scene on Han's freighter was nothing but slapstick.

BB-8 knew the location of the Resistance base. Since the critical information concerned Luke, why didn't Han take them straight there?

Another cantina. Where Han, the fugitives and the droid were immediately recognized. Shocking.

Of all the blue milk joints in all the bars in all the galaxy, Han picks the one... where Luke's lightsaber is being kept?

Seems to me the big guy in the cantina and his girlfriend could have snatched BB-8 from Han after Finn left and Rey was in the basement.

Rey heard the sound of a child calling out to her, which turned out to be the Force guiding her to the lightsaber. So who was the child? A youngling cut down by Vader?

Han took Rey and Finn to the cantina to arrange passage to their separate destinations. So after the battle with the First Order, why did he change his mind and go to the Resistance base? Why not just go there in the first place?

The First Order has a weapon capable of destroying star systems. And no one knew this until Finn explained it? Does the Republic or the Resistance have any intelligence-gathering apparatus?

In 35 years, bad guys haven't found a way to protect their ultimate weapons from Rebel fighters. Shocking.

Han and Finn watch Rey climb onto a platform on the far side of a chasm from them. Then she ducks into a corridor and runs into them. How did they cross the chasm without being seen by stormtroopers Rey had been evading?

Captain Phasma... whatever. Cool action figure, I guess.

Oh, I wish Han had shot first.

I get that Kylo Ren was injured, and had just used the Force to hurl Rey into a tree. But he should have had no trouble cutting Finn down.

With the few hours of training under Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke was able- with a great deal of concentration- to summon his light saber to his hand and decapitate a wampa. With no apparent training, Rey is able to resist Kylo Ren's mind probe, perform a Jedi mind-trick and defeat Kylo Ren in a duel. Girl power.

Why would Leia and Han name their son Ben? Leia knew him as Obi-Wan and Han thought he was an old fossil.

Why do the Resistance members wave to the departing Millennium Falcon? There are no rear windows on the ship.

Maybe Luke would have appreciated seeing Chewie's familiar face, rather than the daugh... er, strange girl who offers him his father's lightsaber.

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How is Kylo Ren going to be rescued by the First Order? It didn't seem like there was time. General Hux tells Snoke that the planet is collapsing/exploding/whatever, and Snoke tells him to bring Ren to him. But at this point, Ren is out on the surface having his fight with Rey and Finn. It didn't look like there was enough time for Hux to even get out of the base to find him, much less get him into a ship and escape.

Apparently Daniel Craig had a cameo as the Stormtrooper who calls Finn a traitor.

According to IMDB, his character is: "Stormtrooper JB-007 (uncredited)".

That is awesome.

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The Republic is the governing body, and the New Order is challenging the Republic. So why is there a Resistance? What are they resisting? Why aren't they the Republic military?

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Oh. I misinterpreted the question. Good question, Matt!

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Poe Dameron couldn't have raised his X-Wing's shields long enough to blast off Jakku?

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Seems to me the big guy in the cantina and his girlfriend could have snatched BB-8 from Han after Finn left and Rey was in the basement.

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Terik: At least one of the pair is present with at least one hero during the original trilogy...
That's true. While their roles in the prequels were indeed changed, perhaps I felt they were overused because their portrayal was downright terrible, since they were essentially relegated to comedy relief along with the battle droids. Thanks for the realization

Obi_juan: How would she know anything about piloting or repairing a spacecraft?
The level of piloting skills she displayed was a bit unbelievable to me as well, but the repairing piece can be explained by her livelihood; knowledge about parts is a better way to learn how things work than the other way around.

So who was the child?
I thought TPTB was eluding to the child being Rey when her family left her on Jakku, but that's just how I took that scene.

after the battle with the First Order, why did he change his mind and go to the Resistance base?
Because he didn't want to face Leia and come to terms with what's become of their son.

Does the Republic or the Resistance have any intelligence-gathering apparatus?
With no apparent training, Rey is able to resist Kylo Ren's mind probe, perform a Jedi mind-trick and defeat Kylo Ren in a duel.
Why would Leia and Han name their son Ben?
Thank you! I wondered about these points as well. If the New Republic is indeed the governing body, how is it possible they didn't know the left-overs of their main enemy was turning a planet into a weapon. Ren was injured, and self-conscious about his abilities, but he's trained under Luke and Snoke at least a little.

ScottN: Apparently Daniel Craig had a cameo as the Stormtrooper who calls Finn a traitor.
I thought he was the trooper Rey mind-tricked? I could've sworn I recognized his voice. Eh, maybe he was both.

Although I liked the character Finn (FN), his decision to leave the First Order was weak at best. He was 'recruited' during childhood, has been with them for upwards of 20 years, and he's completely oblivious to what the organization stands for and who runs it?

I thoroughly enjoyed the film but Disney/Lucasarts/Abrams played things pretty safe with the story and 'borrowed' too many plot points from the original trilogy IMHO. Although Lucas went a different direction with the prequels people complained it didn't capture the spirit of the OT. TFA is practically a mirror image of the OT and many give it a pass saying it's an homage. Go figure

Maybe he was that storm trooper. I was told it was the other one, but who knows, since it was uncredited.

Why do they ALWAYS build a super-weapon with a major design flaw in it?

PS..I'll bet Rey is Luke's daughter.

Where & when did C3PO lose his arm?
One line of monologue would've been nice.

Time has not been kind to Carrie Fisher

Either that or it's from all the drugs / booze she took earlier in life

Any stormtrooper can walk into the brig and take a prisoner, then march said prisoner through the hangar without suspicion?

The First Order has a weapon capable of destroying star systems. And no one knew this until Finn explained it? Does the Republic or the Resistance have any intelligence-gathering apparatus?

Yes, very odd. My thought is that the First Order (somehow) has such a tight "conditioning" of its people that internal security is not an issue; people seem to be very surprised that a stormtrooper could go rogue, and Finn is called out as traitor in a way that suggests that defections are rare. But then why can Finn shake off being "reconditioned" so easily?

The stormtrooper who called out Finn as a traitor had a flamethrower or longarm, but he never tried to use it as a projectile weapon and when he used it as a melee weapon it stood up surprisingly well to a lightsaber, more like one of the Magna-guards force-staffs than what you would expect a random trooper to carry in a post-Jedi galaxy.

Is it just me or do people (especialy real fans) are more intrested in the new episode of Dr. Who than the new Star Wars movie? Today's last day at nitcentral seems to confirm this.

So what did you think of this movie? What worked and what didn't? And how do you rank the seven films?

I think the idea of the original cast having a subdued role in this film was a good idea....for continuity reasons.

The film is not so much about them...it's about the new characters.

Over a week later I've seen it several times, so yeah, I love it. It's fun, thrilling, funny, well paced, and introduces characters that I'm already in love with and can't wait to see where they go in the next film. It's a worthy successor to everything that's come before, fitting the style of the trilogy without feeling like an attempt at a carbon copy for movies made in the 70s and 80s (as opposed to, say, Super 8, which aped old Spielberg films a little too much, IMO).

It's not without its flaws, though. In many ways, maybe too many, it borrows heavily from the original trilogy, at times feeling like a remake of A New Hope in particular. Again a droid is on the run on a desert planet with a MacGuffin in its possession. Again you have a superweapon that is essentially a Death Star. Again, Leia stands in her military headquarters, watching and waiting as her starfighters race against time to blow up that superweapon as it prepares to fire at her base. Again the shields must be lowered to attack the weapon, charges must be set, and an X-wing must fly into its structure to destroy it.

So yeah, it could have used more originality. That said, sometimes execution and performance elevate unimaginative material. Daisy Ridley is a revelation as Rey, a spectacular female hero and lead who runs the gamut of emotions in her character's arc, showing strength and capability, vulnerability and insecurity, never giving up even when she might be in over her head. John Boyega infuses Finn with likability and emotion, a man with reserves of compassion and courage he doesn't know he has until his friends need him most. Oscar Isaac gets the most supporting role of the new trio, but still manages to introduce a character with swagger and heart, a loyal friend and ally and a damned good pilot. Adam Driver also infuses our new villain Kylo Ren with suprising complexity, at times in complete control and others strugging to, of all things, resist the light. I can't wait to see where these characters go as this trilogy continues.

That said, nits! It has them.

That Rathtar pulls Finn along for quite some time without bothering to eat him. It's good to be a main character.

As with Abrams' initial Star Trek movie, questions about the setting remain unanswered in the film itsef, left to supplemental material. The political situation isn't made clear between the First Order, Republic, and Resistance. I feel like it's implied more than outright stated that the Republic supports the Resistance, but its own military doesn't directly confront the First Order.

The size of the First Order also isn't really made clear. Poe's reaction to being brought aboard the Star Destroyer implies they're more formidable than the Resistance thought, but is that because they're thought to be still on the rise or is it just because seeing a Star Destroyer is more impressive than just knowing their scale?

The size of the Resistance also brings up some questions. Are they basically just X-wings and that one transport? Does the First Order not know their location because otherwise, why can't they just wipe them out?

The reason I wonder is, why did the Resistance not evacuate nonessential personnel off of D'Qar when they realized the Starkiller Base was targeting them next?

NANJAO: That Star Destroyer is surprisingly lightly armed if destroying two cannons knocks out any turbolasers that can target it. Good thing they have those ventral cannons.

Do we need to even go into the craziness of the Starkiller weapon? An earth-sized planetoid draining a star that's at minimum larger than Jupiter? Firing it at a speed that has to be many times the speed of light but is still easily observed? The fact that the light traveling from the beam would take years to reach any surrounding star systems, making it impossible for anyone to observe it destroying the Hosnian System in real time? I mean, whatever, it's fantasy, but this is a nitpicking site, so it's what we do.

R2-D2 waking up when he does is amazingly convenient. Again, we have a behind the scenes explanation for it (BB-8 apparently told him about the map, slowly bringing him out of his coma), but it's not clear in the movie, so plot hole/nit.

Phasma is surprisingly willing to just lower the shields. Then again, she is the era's version of an Imperial and they're not exactly known to be noble. Maybe she does value her own life over protecting the base.

The Falcon reaches Starkiller base at lightspeed. Amazing that Han shouting "Now!" and dropping out is precise enough to nearly but not quite crash into a planet, especially if the Star Wars galaxy speed of light is the same and they're going at minimum 186,000 miles per second.

NANJAO: I see the First Order, like the Empire, doesn't believe in railings.

Anyone else surprised that Leia doesn't go to find Luke? Well, not plotwise, but seeing as that was her main goal the whole time and it's her brother, she's happy with Rey, Chewie, and Artoo being the only ones to go? I understood why she didn't herself try to go convince RenBen to come back, she had a Resistance to run and attack to coordinate. But Luke? The threat's passed for a time. You'd think she'd have the freedom to make the trip.

All of that said, I still loved it. I'll probably see it a few more times before its home release in April.

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Terik: Kylo Ren was a good bad guy and had some neat Force tricks. However he was not as imposing as Vader since he is basically a bad guy in training. I was surprised that the newbie was able to give him a good fight.

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Terik: A lightsaber was revealed as having been both Luke's and Vader's. But that saber was lost when Luke lost his hand at the end of Empire. I know the trilogy by author Timothy Zahn explained it's return. Are those events considered canon?

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Terik: One thing the prequels lacked, especially the first two, was the presence of both C-3PO and R2-D2. It seems that BB-8 takes their place in this show. The old droids do have cameos. It was funny that 3PO had a mismatched arm, but why had no one replaced it or at least painted it?

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Terik: One of the early trailers was misleading. It has a voice-over from Luke lifted from Return of the Jedi. He spoke about the Force being strong in his family. It implied that Luke would be a mentor to a new hero who is also his relative.
That was not the case. But maybe it will be in future movies.

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Terik: Some chacters use words such as "hell" and "d@mn" which implies a concept of afterlife similar to Christian.

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Obi_juan_awakens:
If Luke Skywalker went into exile, why did he leave a map of his wherabouts behind?

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Obi_juan_awakens: If the Millennium Falcon was capable of flight, why was it abandoned? And why wasn't it stripped of all useful components, like the rest of the spacecraft on Jakku?

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Obi_juan_awakens: The Falcon was stolen from Han Solo, then passed through two other sets of hands. How did Han just pull up beside it?

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Obi_juan_awakens: BB-8 knew the location of the Resistance base. Since the critical information concerned Luke, why didn't Han take them straight there?

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Obi_juan_awakens: Rey heard the sound of a child calling out to her, which turned out to be the Force guiding her to the lightsaber. So who was the child? A youngling cut down by Vader?

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Johnalang: Where & when did C3PO lose his arm?
One line of monologue would've been nice.

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Tgarrison: Yes, very odd. My thought is that the First Order (somehow) has such a tight "conditioning" of its people that internal security is not an issue; people seem to be very surprised that a stormtrooper could go rogue, and Finn is called out as traitor in a way that suggests that defections are rare.

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Tgarrison: But then why can Finn shake off being "reconditioned" so easily?

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CCabe: Is it just me or do people (especialy real fans) are more intrested in the new episode of Dr. Who than the new Star Wars movie? Today's last day at nitcentral seems to confirm this.

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Saw the show a second time. Still consider it very good. There are a few one-liners which are said quickly that explain things I had questions about after the first viewing. But still there are issues where fans need to come up w/ explanations & assumptions.

I assume the Republic is in control of most of the galaxy, but there is still a Civil War against the remains of the Empire that is now the First Order.
Much like prior to the Clone Wars the Republic does not have an official military; for whatever reason. An unofficial group of volunteers band together to resist the First Order. I consider the title of The Resistance a confusing choice.

I still don't know why no one aboard the Star Destroyer noticed the Falcon leaving the planet and attempt to track it's course, or why no Tie Fighters that should have been in space gave chase.

Why did Han take BB-8 w/ him when he talked with the Space Pirates? Why not allow him to hide w/ the others? Perhaps it was insurance that they wouldn't steel the Falcon. But then the Pirates see the droid.

I assume Poe learned that BB-8 left the planet.

Finn asked Han about the possibility of FO agents in the cantina w/ Maz. Han seems to blow him off, but he was right. Maz is very wise, but either she allows anyone into the cantana or didn't know about the agents. Once she knew about the importance of Han's friends & droid, she should have realized an attack was coming.

Regarding Rey learning the Force quickly; here is my theory: Something happened when she resisted Ren reading her mind. At first she was defending herself, but then she was able to turn the tables and learn a bit about him. Perhaps it was like a mind-meld. I believe that was when she learned more about the Force. It was after that when she knew to influence the Stormtrooper. And finally during the saber duel, Ren mentioned teaching her the Force. She remembered the words of Maz. That, along with what she may have learned from the mind-meld, helped her to use the Force and best Ren.

We heard Snoke command that Ren be rescued and brought to him, but we didn't see it.

So now we have Rey, Finn, and Ren who is Ben.

Why have a map when coordinates would be better? Even if no one has been to that point before, with coordinates anyone could find it. Maybe I just answered my own question.
Also I admit that during my first viewing, when they first had the complete map, for a very brief moment I thought someone would say something like: Luke is in another galaxy far far away. In a system in the western-spiral arm. On the third planet.

Much like prior to the Clone Wars the Republic does not have an official military

Clearly they do as there mention of their fleet being destroyed by the Starkiller.

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Terik:
I assume the Republic is in control of most of the galaxy, but there is still a Civil War against the remains of the Empire that is now the First Order.
Much like prior to the Clone Wars the Republic does not have an official military; for whatever reason. An unofficial group of volunteers band together to resist the First Order. I consider the title of The Resistance a confusing choice.

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Terik:
I still don't know why no one aboard the Star Destroyer noticed the Falcon leaving the planet and attempt to track it's course, or why no Tie Fighters that should have been in space gave chase.

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A few more points:
When Poe & Finn stole the TIE, I was thinking that someone would try to close the blast doors on them. There seemed to be time before the guys at the controls got blasted.

Speaking of blasting...
Han blasted a door control panel to open a door.
Usually blasting a door panel results in the door closing or remaining closed. I guess it just depends on what you need the door to do.

I assume the Starkiller could move. Otherwise, after it drained the star it would be stuck there.
I also assume it was able to generate it's own heat & light, since those fighting on the surface didn't freeze and it didn't get totally dark.
Regarding the weapon being able to destroy planets in another system: There was a line about the weapon using hyperspace.

Another question on that TIE fighter scene...

Why is the TIE fighter chained to the base floor? Who (well, other than Finn) is going to steal it? There's artificial gravity, so it's not going to slide around on impact.

Follow-up. Also, IIRC, it's in a service bay. Again, this means that it had no need to be tied down.

Carrie Fisher came out against those who complained about how she looked in this movie.

Excuse me...

The fans did not make you to drink all that booze.

The fans did not make you to take all those drugs.

The fans did not make you to gain all that weight.

Lynda Carter had issues too and she still looks fabulous.

What's your excuse?

Mark Hamill doesn't look that great either. Why is there no outcry about HIS physical appearance?

That's why Ms. Fisher is upset. It's sexism.

YOu're right John. How dare she get old! How dare she not look exactly the same as she did in 1978! I thought you were better than that John. Seems I was wrong.

And Scott makes a valid point

Male nerds are just upset that they can't fantasise about Carrie being put back in that gross slave bikini.

Let me clarify...

You can be old and look fabulous.

EXAMPLES:

Marina Sirtis (always)
Lynda Carter
Julie Newmarr
Nicole Kidman

(MST3 Comment warning . . . )So what did Rachel do to make Ross turn to the Dark Side?

Why is the TIE fighter chained to the base floor? Who (well, other than Finn) is going to steal it? There's artificial gravity, so it's not going to slide around on impact.

I don't think it's a chain, I think it's an umbilical, for refuelling, recharging, diagnostics, maintenance, etc. TIE fighter pilots obviously know how to disengage it when taking off, but it was Poe's first time flying one and he had to fiddle a bit with the controls before he figured it out.

Just finished the novel of TFA. It is very close to the movie. There were added scenes with Leia as well as Poe:
Leia sends a representative to convince the government of the New Republic that the FO is dangerous. So while the Resistance supports the NR, it is not an official military.

Poe was knocked out after the TIE crash. As soon as he came to, he realized he needs to leave the planet & get to the Resistance; instead of making sure BB-8 was safe, which was the reason he returned.

Other nits & observations in the book are similar to the movie:
Snoke and Ren realize that the Force has awakened even before Rey has displayed any Force ability. Did something on Jakku help shield her?

Rey's vision did not receive more explanation in the book. I'm hoping the future Blu-Ray/DVD will include subtitles that confirm who is saying what.

That fact that Rey was able to get into Ren's mind, when he tried to get the vision of the map, later gave her reason to attempt the same with the stormtropper.

The operation of Starkiller Base is different in the book. It uses dark energy. It seems that the light from the local sun was not drained, instead it was only blocked as the dark energy went into the planet and charged the weapon. The actual discharge is able to travel in hyperspace, which explains how it got to the other system so quickly. But doesn't explain how the heroes in yet another system were able to see it.

Rey suspects that Ren may know something about her that she doesn't know herself. Probably due to the mind-meld. During the lightsaber battle he says "it is you". But that could simply mean that he realized for certain that she is the one in whom the Force awakened. But he should have known that earlier.

Then there was the embrace b/w Leia and Rey who had never met before. The book doesn't say, but they could have communicated while Rey and the others were on the way back.

R2 'woke up' once Rey was in the room and revealed that the FO extracted the rest of the map from Imperial archives. R2 had cataloged that data during past interaction with the enemy.

I find it interesting that the movie & book had a cliff-hanger ending. Empire also had a cliff-hanger, but the fact that Han was frozen meant that the next movie didn't have to pick up right where Empire ended. With this movie/book, it seems the next story might pick up as soon as Rey finds Luke. That would be a first for Star Wars. Or perhaps, like other sequels, the next one will happen sometime later and anything we need to know will be written in the opening crawl. Maybe we will be treated to a flash-back as Rey learns to use more of the Force.
I hope we get to see Rey find crystals and make her own lightsaber which should be double-bladed.

THIS IS FOR THE EPISODE VIII BOARD, WHEN IT'S CREATED:

A production teaser (yes, that's a thing now) for Episode VIII, and of course, I noticed a production teaser nit (yes, those are things, too!): When Rey found Luke at the end of Force Awakens, the sky was cloudy and gloomy. But when we see the same scene of her handing the lightsaber to Luke in the teaser, it's sunny.

Maybe she stood there a long time until Luke accepted the lightsaber; patience is part of Jedi training after all

But when we see the same scene of her handing the lightsaber to Luke in the teaser, it's sunny.

They might correct it digitally for the actual film?

Why doesn't Finn go for the Falcon's other cannon when his gets struck? Was it simply because he didn't look around and realize it was there?

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Luigi Novi: A production teaser (yes, that's a thing now) for Episode VIII, and of course, I noticed a production teaser nit (yes, those are things, too!): When Rey found Luke at the end of Force Awakens, the sky was cloudy and gloomy. But when we see the same scene of her handing the lightsaber to Luke in the teaser, it's sunny.

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Available for digital download April 1, 2016 with a Blu-Ray release April 5. More here.

Just hit me... OK, if Finn is a sanitation engineer, then what the hell is he doing on the Jakku raid?

@JoshM:
{I like to imagine this has become a morning routine for them. Every day Rey walks up, holds out the lightsaber and he sadly stares at her. For hours. :-O}

"Good night, Rey. I'll probably kill you in the morning..."

ScottN: if Finn is a sanitation engineer, then what the hell is he doing on the Jakku raid?
Because he's still a solider of the First Order? I'd guess that combat/security is their first priority; the same for US Marines who are also in sanitation. Just my thoughts; it's not explained in the book either.

I thought about that, AWhite, but it doesn't make sense.

Consider the US military.

Naval personnel do not become directly involved in ground actions; Marines do.

Even if Stormtroopers use the Marine ethos: "All Marines are riflemen first", someone who's MOS is "cook", for example, probably wouldn't be going on a surprise raid.

Finn had simply been recently promoted from sanitation engineer to actual stormtrooper. It's obvious that this was his first taste of real combat.

The sun-draining weapon was totally botched up in logic. Let's assume the sun in that system was one-fifth the mass of Sol, it would still massively outweigh every planet that orbits it. Long before half of it is gone, the planet's mass would have increased so much that it would have an immense gravity, pulling trees down, pulling objects down, making the fights with Kylo Ren impossible. The decrease in the sun's mass would result in a shutdown of the thermonuclear reactions in its core, and the planet would get cold and dark. Also, why was the gas still glowing while being drained away, and what use is the planet after one shot?

Furthermore, the planet would only be aimed at its intended target for about a tenth of each day (assuming some directional ability was designed into the orifice), and only within a narrow range of the planet's total pole-to-pole circumference.

It would have made much more sense to just build a new death star, probably much smaller, but at least it would be portable. It could drain just a fraction of a star's gas and still have a potent weapon.

Most the movie works for me, but the "drain-the-star-and-fire-then-retire-this-weapon" is so silly, it ranks with Abrams turning Vulcan into a black hole using some red goo.

If you subscribe to Starz, you already know that this movie will begin its run on the pay-cable channel Saturday, Sept. 10; they've only been promoting it between every film they run. This is probably the last Disney movie that Starz will run; after a 20-plus year run with Starz; Disney movies released from 2016 on will be available exclusively on Netflix, skipping the pay-movie channels altogether.

GREAT MOMENT:

Kylo Ren stopping a laser blast in mid-flight.

OTHER GREAT MOMENTS:

* The Falcon cutting off its engines and dropping down to let Finn get that last Tie Fighter

* Rey using the Force to get the light saber during the last battle.