We have a new geeky boner episode filled with jokes about erections! We talk about the stuff that has us super excited right now. Tim and Molly have a couple of mini boners to share and Nick has a gigantic boner for the spring slate of TV shows coming out. Meanwhile, Tim is looking at maps and molly is playing Tomb Raider. Because we’re geeks. It’s right there in the title of the podcast.
Echoes? Echoes? Ok, I’ll preface by saying I agree with your responses to most of the criticisms of TFA up to that point, but Echoes?
If it were that, people wouldn’t be complaining. It was indeed to a large extent a rehash. And no, good storytelling is NOT, having almost all the same character roles, almost all the same story beats, and then changing each one just a bit. That’s called lazy storytelling.
See, I thought it was amazing storytelling. I loved the way they took Kylo Ren and made you think he was going to be the same kind of character as Vader and then turned that expectation back on itself. I’m not going to go into a big old geek debate about this because you and I so clearly disagree on such a fundamental level, it isn’t going to do either of us any good.
I’m totally OK with the word “echo” though because it is defined as “a close parallel or repetition of an idea, feeling, style, or event.” That, to me, perfectly describes parts of TFA. There are moments that are clearly close parallels to Episodes IV, V, and VI with a promise that what we see next is going to be a dramatic departure. That, to me, is perfect. It wraps you in a universe you are at least somewhat familiar with before it moves in a new direction.
But that’s my take. I fully recognize there are others. I just find most of the “40 plot holes” articles to be complete bullshit because they are written by people who apparently aren’t able to understand dialogue that directly contradicts their point.
Well like I said before, I agree with all your other responses. I didn’t think there were plot holes (except for how someone got Luke’s light saber out of Bespin, but whatever); I thought the story was perfectly coherent. Just too familiar.
And I agree with you about Kylo Ren being a great character and a great new take on a Vader-type. I liked all the characters. I just think that that’s basically the only new thing about the movie.
I thought it was a good movie, by the way. As a movie, it was certainly better than the prequels. But I wasn’t expecting just a good movie. I was expecting to be taken further into that Star Wars universe. I was expecting a continuation of the magnificent plot arc that was built from ep IV-VI and yes, also, to some extent the prequels. I was expecting tying up loose ends from Jedi, I was expecting to actually *see* that Luke Jedi school I heard so much about. I wasn’t expecting just the same structure as ep. IV. again.
That is at least *one* understandable reason a devoted Star Wars fan would be disappointed by this movie.