"The Force Awakens" (with SPOILERS)

Something overlooked here is that he bad guys basically won.

The first order planet killer blew up five planets and it looked like the important ones. And sure it got blown up at the end but it already killed billions and billions of people.

I think what will be interesting is the explanation for why the force is awakening. I suspect it will get teased out but the guess is Luke is working behind the scenes to make things happen.

 

The bad guys really didn't win. Just like in ANH, the empire/First Order blew up a planet to demonstrate the power of the weapon, but the real goal was destroy the Rebels. To that end, they failed. The destruction of Alderan/Hosnian System didn't deliver a decisive victroy and the Rebels rallied to thwart the Empire/the first order.

 

Also, I am a little more convinced Rey is not Luke's daughter. When she has the Force premonition, you first of all see her when she would be old enough to remember who her family is. The fact she doesn't recognize her uncle or even know who Luke does not bode well for a daughter pinning for her family's return. Also Mos tells her she's waiting for a family that will never return, but there is one who will return, Luke. I think she's the daughter of one of Luke's trainees. When Ren started wiping out the Jedi, she was whisked away having demonstrated abilities in the force.

The the dark horse theory I have, but can't really make the ages work and is countered by one of my arguments above, is she is Han and Leia's daughter born after Han left Leia. When Ren goes nuts, she is hidden on Jakku to protect her from a brother who would love to team up with her on the dark side. So Han has no memory of a daughter be knew nothing about and she doesn't recognize him. Leia knows who she is, but understands she must train with Luke, so doesn't let on. The problem with this is Ren has to be at least 34 and Rey 17 and Ren has to have gone crazy at 15 or 16.

 

That assumes Ren is the one who killed off the Jedi academy.

I'm not sure that's the case. It might have been Snook, or a yet unseen bad guy, and Ren copied his look from Snook or the other

 

The Rebels/Resistance would be in big trouble if the Borg attacked. They do pretty good blowing up spheres but would not have a clue what to do with a cube.

 

Yes, they did. Luke takes his X-Wing to Dagobah in Empire, which would require hyper speed, and the X-Wings come out of hyperspace with the rest of the fleet in the attack on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi.

 

I haven't seen anyone say the characters are identical. But they fill very similar roles in TFA to that of ANH. Rey's the Luke character on a desert that gets swept up into a war. Finn's the Solo character that turns away from a shady past to fight with the good guys. Han's the Obi-Wan character that recruits the new guys into the fight and dies. Ren's literally a wanna-be Vader. Luke's the new Yoda character in exile on another planet, except the show him for three seconds in this film instead of waiting for the next like with Yoda. They're not the same at all, but they fulfilled similar enough roles. That and the plot has me and a select few others (not on this site, but elsewhere) disappointed with the lack of originality.

 

Are you sure it wasn't Pauly D or The Situation?

 

I can't see Rey being anyone but Luke's daughter. The theory that she is Han and Leia's daughter makes no sense. Why wouldn't they say so in TFA? They talk a great deal about their son, so why wouldn't their daughter at least enter into the conversation. BUT, they certainly do treat her like family, the way Leia hugs her or the way Han takes a shine to her immediately. Much like you would a niece. Plus, it would explain why she was drawn to that island and had that vision/premonition with Luke's hand touching R2 (I believe that was her).

 

Kylo's look comes from the Knights of Ren. So there will be other Rens, just as there were multiple Darths.

 

I thought they said as much in explaining why Luke went into hiding. Luke was training a new order of Jedi until Kylo Ren seduced by Snook wiped them out with the knights of Ren (as seen in Rey's premonition).

 

I think Ridley, who bears a pretty strong facial resemblance for Natalie Portman, may be a cousin from Padme Naberrie's family on Naboo.

Padme had an older sister who had two daughters, aged about 8 and 5 when Padme died (and first cousins Luke/Leia were born). Rey could certainly be the daughter of one of them.

I know TFA avoided all connections to the prequel trilogy like the plague but I think there will be some overt prequel references in Eps. 8-9.