Let's Talk About THE FORCE AWAKENS!

Well, the last time I wrote here the Star Wars teaser had just been released and I analyzed a bit of it, made some predictions. Most of my predictions were wrong. Ha! I thought it would be fun to go through my entry and talk about the things that we did discover and how they lined-up. I'll also share my thoughts on the movie in general.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD STOP NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FORCE AWAKENS!


My Previous Predictions

I thought this ---> was Tatooine. WRONG. This is Jakku, but I did guess partially right that this was either Luke or Rey on the speeder (original entry I misspelled Rey's name "Rae")

I conjectured that maybe the ghosts of Anakin and Obi-Wan would be in the film. They weren't. But I still think they could come around for Episode 8. The door is open, especially because we heard Obi-Wan's and Yoda's voices in Rey's vision at Maz's.

Where is Luke!? We didn't find out until the end, but I'm excited to see what happens between him and Rey.

I thought Luke was living in an old star destroyer. This was proved WRONG, but I was right that he was secluded and/or training new Jedi

I thought that this --->  was Leia handing Rey a lightsaber. I also thought that Leia and Han were Rey's parents. More on that later.


 I was right here. I knew Poe would be a central character and yes, he is very Han Solo - ish.

Han Solo, Ben Solo, Leia, and Rey

I originally made a big prediction about Han back in April: "Final thought: we see a whole heck of a lot in the Falcon. I think Han is going to play a big role. I also think he might die."

Boom. Not much else to say here, other than to discuss Ben Solo (I don't like calling him Kylo). I'm just not sure if Ben can come back from the evil he's done. I think there's a possibility he is completely torn between light and dark, but we've only seen one side of him. I'm excited to see more in 8. I want to see more of Carrie Fischer in 8, too, perhaps to confront her son.

I was so convinced that Rey was Leia and Han's baby girl. I still might be right, but after seeing episode 7 I'm leaning more in the direction that she's Luke's daughter. Leia and Han looked awfully guilty/happy/whatever when they see Rey's face reappear, but not the way you would look if you were seeing your daughter again for the first time in years. Especially from a mother's perspective. Sure, Leia looks delighted and misty eyed when she's hugging Rey, but if that were her daughter, she'd be sobbing. No question. End of debate. So my vote is on Luke being the daddy.

Luke

We see Luke for maybe a minute in episode 7. AHH! I can't wait to see more of him. I think we're going to see a torn-up guy. I mean, he trained these new Jedi only to have one of his students betray him and murder his pupils. Yikes. Sound familiar? That can't be healthy for a person's self-confidence. 

Rey and the Mary Jane argument

Just stop. She's going to be a powerful Jedi. Luke barely had any training and became a Jedi master in very little time. I saw an amazing article about this that sums up my perspective: http://io9.gizmodo.com/please-stop-spreading-this-nonsense-that-rey-from-star-1749134275

Finally, let's address the argument that The Force Awakens copies the story and structure of A New Hope.

Look, JJ did what he needed to do to set up a new wonderful Star Wars trilogy that felt right and good. He made a movie that included everything that we love about the originals and eliminated everything we hate about the prequels.