How would you change the Force Awakens?

[Wrex Brogan]

What would I change? Make it so that Rey can do everything. Because everyone complains what a Mary Sue she is? I'll show them a REAL Mary Sue.

You know, stating that you'd make her even more of a Mary Sue doesn't change the fact that the canon version of the character is still a Mary Sue in literally every way save the fact she's an official character instead of a fan fiction derived one.

...You know, the statement 'I'll show them a REAL Mary Sue' implies he doesn't think Rey is a Mary Sue, right? Just putting it out there. Hard to say you'll make her 'more' of a Sue if you don't think she's a Sue to begin with.

[sub]Not going to get into that whole 'Rey is/isn't a Sue' though, those battlelines were drawn long before. Just pointing out what you think he's saying isn't what he's actually saying.[/sub]

 

[DudeistBelieve]

keep it exactly the same.

Then at the very end when Rey meets up with look, all of a sudden they hear...


The Tenth Doctor stumbles right out of the box, staring right at Luke.

Luke: What?!

Doctor: What?!

and then we hear...


It's Jean Luc-Picard!

Picard: Gentleman, I'm afraid we have a problem.

CREDITS

 

[circularlogic88]

I like a lot of the ideas presented in this thread. Particularly having Phasma be the one to fight Finn rather than TR-8R. It never made sense to me to have her be casted and not do anything.

I like the idea of Kylo keeping his helmet on until the bridge scene.

If I could contribute to this thread I would say to cut out the rathtar scene and use it to better explain the state of the galaxy. Movies should be able to stand on their own without having to rely on supplemental material to understand why after 30 years there's a resistance even though a new republic is pretty much calling the shots now and why we're still using TIEs and X-wings (yes, I'm well aware that the actual real world military has been using vehicles and crafts well outside of their intended use, this is supposed to be a fantasy world with space wizards, where the he'll are the inventive ship designs after 30 years?)

Make the big conflict be that the New Order has infiltrated not only the New Republic but also those other factions the movie neglects to tell us about a la Winter Soldier (hail Hydra!) the galaxy is in literal chaos as sleeper agents take control of assets, resources and planets thought secure under the new republic because blowing up a planet is stupid, let alone 5, that's wasted resources and materials. Now you have a reason to have a Resistance as only a handful of ships and outposts are left out of control of the First Order. The final fight should be a major down note as Kylo Ren is hunting down Rey to either recruit her to his cause or strike her down should she refuse.

I quite like the idea of Kylo being this unknown agent, seemingly helping or at the very least not interfering with our protagonists, until the 3rd act where he reveals his true colors and explains his (or Snoke's) grand scheme to unite the galaxy or some such nonsense.

I have a big problem with JJ's thesis on the "mystery box." Yes people by nature are intrigued at mystery and the unknown, but a mystery with no payoff or all build and hype and a payoff that doesn't meet them both equally is annoying and tedious and bottoms out people's interest really quickly. He's more interested in making you question what's in the box above anything else and I think, critically, it fails for him more often than it succeeds.

 

[Erttheking]

What would I change? Make it so that Rey can do everything. Because everyone complains what a Mary Sue she is? I'll show them a REAL Mary Sue.

You know, stating that you'd make her even more of a Mary Sue doesn't change the fact that the canon version of the character is still a Mary Sue in literally every way save the fact she's an official character instead of a fan fiction derived one.

Yes literally, because that's what literally means. Literally mean without any exaggeration, and there are countless aspects of being Mary Sue that Rey doesn't even exist in the same star system as. Like I said, if people think Rey is as big of a Mary Sue as you can get, then they need to see a real one.

 

[Zontar]

What would I change? Make it so that Rey can do everything. Because everyone complains what a Mary Sue she is? I'll show them a REAL Mary Sue.

You know, stating that you'd make her even more of a Mary Sue doesn't change the fact that the canon version of the character is still a Mary Sue in literally every way save the fact she's an official character instead of a fan fiction derived one.

Yes literally, because that's what literally means. Literally mean without any exaggeration, and there are countless aspects of being Mary Sue that Rey doesn't even exist in the same star system as. Like I said, if people think Rey is as big of a Mary Sue as you can get, then they need to see a real one.

She's definitely one of the single worst offenders to ever make it to the big screen for a big budget movie, that's for sure. Sure, she could have been handled worst, but there are infinitely more ways she could have been handled better. I honestly hope they're using her to pull the rug from under us and Finn ends up being the protagonist of this new trilogy, because unless there are massive changes in the next two movies she's not going to be an interesting lead for this trilogy.

 

[Fox12]

I'd start be rewriting the beginning, then move onto the middle and end. If also fire the writers and hire a competent director.

The rise of a naive child to a Jedi has already been done! I want a new angle. I'd introduce Rey as a kind of lost Jedi or ronin. Someone who has experienced battle and abandoned Luke and his school. Knights of the Old Republic II did this, but we don't need amnesia. As a ronin, her path could go either way (dark or light side). There'd be more nuance.

I would love to see a Star Wars version of Seven Samurai. Lucas has already admitted to getting ideas from other Kurosawa films.

 

[Erttheking]

What would I change? Make it so that Rey can do everything. Because everyone complains what a Mary Sue she is? I'll show them a REAL Mary Sue.

You know, stating that you'd make her even more of a Mary Sue doesn't change the fact that the canon version of the character is still a Mary Sue in literally every way save the fact she's an official character instead of a fan fiction derived one.

Yes literally, because that's what literally means. Literally mean without any exaggeration, and there are countless aspects of being Mary Sue that Rey doesn't even exist in the same star system as. Like I said, if people think Rey is as big of a Mary Sue as you can get, then they need to see a real one.

She's definitely one of the single worst offenders to ever make it to the big screen for a big budget movie, that's for sure. Sure, she could have been handled worst, but there are infinitely more ways she could have been handled better. I honestly hope they're using her to pull the rug from under us and Finn ends up being the protagonist of this new trilogy, because unless there are massive changes in the next two movies she's not going to be an interesting lead for this trilogy.

I'm sorry what? The shit that get pulled on a daily basis in big budget action movies, and Rey is worse than all of them? Really? Bigger than John Mcclane outlasting a harrier jet in a semi in Live Free or Die Hard? Bigger than all the nonsense Arnold gets up to in every action movie he's ever been in? Bigger than everything Tony Stark gets up to in the Avengers movies, including creating a revolutionary form of energy technology "in a cave with a box of scraps", inventing a new element in his garage, creating a suit of armor that can go toe to toe with the Incredible Hulk, miraculously curing Pepper of Extremis, and thats without getting into how he essentially created new life with Vision. Bigger than Anakin freaking Skywalker, the one who took out a warship at the age of ten despite never having flown in his entire life before? Because he was the chosen one and his power level was over 9000?

If Rey is honestly considered one of the biggest examples of what a Sue is I can't help but feel like people are being pretty freaking selective in who they label a Sue.

 

[Zontar]

I'm sorry what? The shit that get pulled on a daily basis in big budget action movies, and Rey is worse than all of them? Really? Bigger than John Mcclane outlasting a harrier jet in a semi in Live Free or Die Hard? Bigger than all the nonsense Arnold gets up to in every action movie he's ever been in? Bigger than everything Tony Stark gets up to in the Avengers movies, including creating a revolutionary form of energy technology "in a cave with a box of scraps", inventing a new element in his garage, creating a suit of armor that can go toe to toe with the Incredible Hulk, miraculously curing Pepper of Extremis, and thats without getting into how he essentially created new life with Vision. Bigger than Anakin freaking Skywalker, the one who took out a warship at the age of ten despite never having flown in his entire life before? Because he was the chosen one and his power level was over 9000?

I think you may be the one with an incorrect idea of what a Mary Sue is given who you mentioned as counter examples. There are many flaws those characters have which make them definitively not such characters. McClane isn't invincible, Arnold usually is often easily manipulated in his roles (which often drives the plot), Tony is a narcissistic alcoholic squandering his genius, and Anakin is such a weak minded immature child he was tricked into betraying everything he cared about.

If Rey is honestly considered one of the biggest examples of what a Sue is I can't help but feel like people are being pretty freaking selective in who they label a Sue.

It's not selection, it's the fact that what makes a Mary Sue isn't just what they are, but also what they aren't. A character needs to have the (often unrealistic) positives without the negatives to balance things out.

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

In the original movie sure, but he gets up to some pretty stupid shit in Live Free or Die Hard. Ok, how was he manipulated in Commando? And True Lies? And Terminator? And End of Days? And Running Man? His other movies I give you, but that's a lot of movies with no manipulation. And I don't care how much of a weak immature child Anakin is, everything he does is pure bullshit and everything in the Phantom Menace is dedicating to building up what a precious little chosen one he is. Also squandering his genius? In Avengers they made it clear that he's turning Stark Industry into a front liner for clean energy. How is that squandering his genius?

I don't remember a single negative thing about Anakin in the Phantom Menace. And I honestly hear less Sue accusations directed at him than Rey. And if a lack of flaws is the mark of a Mary Sue, then Rey doesn't qualify. Because her balking at the pressure of taking up Luke's light saber caused her to be captured, leading to Han Solo being killed. Rey is responsible for Han Solo's death.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

I'd probably move it to a different direction, make it less like EpIV and build on where Jedi left off. I like the movie, I get why they went that route, but I barely got the feeling that this was a free galaxy. It felt like it was retroactively canceling the ending of Jedi. Everyone seems to still be in the same role they were in the original trilogy, just with a higher rank and a kid or two running around. The prequels did a horrible job in a lot of things, but world-building wasn't one of them.

I'd probably nerf Rey a bit as well, but for the most part it was the mystery around her and not her skills that kind of annoyed me. She fits the "videogame hero has amnesia" trope, which takes away from her when there are more interesting characters around her.

Disclaimer: I speak from memory, I haven't seen the movie since December.

 

[DefunctTheory]

I liked Episode 8, so I'd keep the changes simple.

1. Keep Star Killer Base, but make it more of a back drop piece - They could set it up as a threat to be dealt with in a later movie. Keep it in, and have it firing and destroying the Republic's new capitol, but then show that it's popped its load and ran out of star fuel. Replace the threat to the Rebel base with something a little less ambitious - An 'Ultra Star Destroyer,' something that's not game breaking, but it's certainly something the Rebel base can't survive with fighters alone, and even if they could Rey's on it so they can't blow it up without rescuing her.

2. More Rey - I like Rey, but Finn just outshines her in every capacity as a character. I don't know if more time would fix that, but lets give it a shot.

3. Keep Kylo Ren's mask on until his confrontation with Han Solo - I just think this makes more sense.

There's some other stuff, like making it more explicit why R2-D2 is able to finish the map (Something that makes more sense if you've watched Clone Wars). Stuff like that is nitpicking, though. I could probably go on for days nitpicking, on Star Wars, or any other movie you can think of.

 

[Leg End]

Disclaimer: I am not a fan of Star Wars(the movies at least, you cheeky fucks get all of the good games) and I really did not like the original trilogy(or the prequels for that matter) except roughly the last ten minutes of Empire. I actually liked TFA more than ANH.

Now:
Remove the cockblocking of removing Poe in the scene he is introduced and shift the movie to two guys on both sides of the war with an outsider's perspective on The Force and all the bullshit.

Retool Rey into just a really good mechanic/scavenger that can beat ass or have her appear later in the movie keeping her force powers with the incredibly stupid amount of time we've wasted on her instead used for Fin and Poe's antics to recover BB-8 and more building of the events prior to the movie/building current events. Also, give her actual character.

Make Kylo Ren not a whiny goth who lost his mascara.

Explain in-movie why C-3PO is Big Boss because that would have been much more interesting than everything else.

Make Phasma not useless.

Make the TR8R scene even more epic with a cut of it I saw beforehand making the scene even better with music elsewhere on the soundtrack(I think)

Insert bro moments with Poe covering Fin's ass on the ground and lots of brochatter.

Don't fucking announce beforehand that BB-8 is a female droid and just let any magic with Artoo happen naturally.

Explain who the fuck Snoke is.

Introduce possibly more stormtroopers rebelling and joining the resistance.

Give a reason to shove Rey in my face or just remove her as a character.

This is all just stuff off the top of my head but the first point is probably my most desired one. You basically make a fucking movie where you tease a newly formed duo right in front of us, we LIKE the duo, and we don't see them do shit for another hour. And even THEN, for the rest of the movie, you get roughly blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearances by Poe. What was the point?

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

I liked Episode 8, so I'd keep the changes simple.


2. More Rey - I like Rey, but Finn just outshines her in every capacity as a character. I don't know if more time would fix that, but lets give it a shot.

Greetings from the past! So is episode 8 just a retread of Empire or are they branching out?

But on your point of more Rey: she was in the movie enough as it is, just utilized poorly.

On to my points. I'll try to keep them to the points I haven't seen already mentioned.

1. Don't fridge Finn. Seriously, the fuck.

2. Give Rey force powers from the very beginning. Small ones, like prescience or thought sending to indicate she has potential but nothing game-breaking like mind probing or telekinesis. She can learn those in later films.

3. Have Finn keep the lightsaber and also go with Rey to see Luke. The image of Finn holding that thing in the promo material was kickass, and losing to the riot trooper would be good inspiration to learn melee weapons. He can learn force powers, too, but his strength should be in weapons.

 

[Something Amyss]

2. Give Rey force powers from the very beginning. Small ones, like prescience or thought sending to indicate she has potential but nothing game-breaking like mind probing or telekinesis. She can learn those in later films.

She had the telltale sign of a main character Jedi: she's an excellent pilot.

 

[irish286]

Start it out the same way. Poe meeting some one for the location of something. But instead of it being a piece of a map leading to Luke, make it the location of the star killer base. Have it play out the same way, Poe gets captured, Finn helps him escape, they crash on Jakku. Now, instead of Rey being some poor lost soul have her be one of Luke's younger students taken into hiding by one of the older students because of Kylo's betrayal. Have the other student leave her there in order to go search for Luke in order to help them. The other student is captured and killed but never reveals her location. A combination of Rey being so young and the events being so traumatizing she loses her memory of everything before she was left on Jakku. Now have everything else happen in the movie up until she find's Luke's lightsaber. Have her start to remember what happened once she touches it. Then let the movie play out until the end. When Leia first goes for a hug SHE HUGS CHEWIE. But then notices Rey. Realizing who Rey is she hugs her as well saying "You're alive. Thank the force you're alive. We all though you were dead. We have to find you father. Tell him what's happened. We need him to return." Then have the rest of the movie play out with R2D2 knowing where Luke was. Have it end in the same way as well. With Luke in shock Rey is there. Have it be Luke didn't go into seclusion only because all of his students were slain, but because his family was also killed by his nephew who he trained.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

2. Give Rey force powers from the very beginning. Small ones, like prescience or thought sending to indicate she has potential but nothing game-breaking like mind probing or telekinesis. She can learn those in later films.

She had the telltale sign of a main character Jedi: she's an excellent pilot.

I don't know if I'd call Luke "excellent." Competent, especially since there was no indication of him having training, but flying in a straight line, turning, and not getting shot down don't make for "excellent" the way stunting the Falcon through the wreck of a star destroyer does.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't know if I'd call Luke "excellent." Competent, especially since there was no indication of him having training, but flying in a straight line, turning, and not getting shot down don't make for "excellent" the way stunting the Falcon through the wreck of a star destroyer does.

Good enough to survive when almost every other pilot died.

 

[Veylon]

I think a big problem with this movie going forward is that it gets rid of its major villain and major threat. Kylo Ren is revealed to simply be a brat in Dark Side high school, and the biggerer Death Star gets blown up. Now I'm sure The First Order has more up its sleave, but there's no major threat that gets carried along into the sequels. Snoke is just a hologram at this point and The First Order appears to be led by a bunch of kids. So once Episode 8 comes out it needs to re-establish the Big Bad almost from scratch.

Alternatively, they could go with The Republic Strikes Back, wherein the attack has horrified and enraged the galactic populace and swept aside the political barriers that prevented the Republic from finishing off the Imperial Remnants.

The main characters are ecstatic that the Resistance is going to get real support and praise for their efforts. The vile First Order will finally be ground to dust and it's captive peoples freed. They are caught up in this new wave of enthusiasm and eager to join battle in this galactic crusade.

And somewhere in the upper echelons of Republican society, someone else is seeing plans come to fruition. Every cause has it's leader and it's champions that it raises to rulership in it's moment of triumph. The Republic will need special men with special abilities for the forthcoming struggle and will not question too closely where they come from or what they do so long as they are clearly fighting the same enemy.

 

[Jux]

More time spent with Rey.

Finn is there too, but Finn is now a woman

Poe is also a girl

They meet up with Leia and fight Kyla Ren who is now Han and Leia's daughter

the movies 99.9% women

Han is the only guy

there is a great disturbance in the nerds, as if a million voices whined out in unison only to be silenced by how awesome it would be

But what about Chewie? Replaced with his wookie daughter. I really was going to come in here and just say 'make them all women' but I was beaten to it.

Honestly, TFA did exactly what they wanted it to, as far as plot goes. They wanted to mirror ANH and just make a fun movie. Didn't want to take risks, and pretty much just hit the reset button and hope people forget about the prequels. As for personal preferences, I'd have liked to see more Phasma, but I'm guessing this was just to establish her as a character, we'll see more of her in the next movie.

 

[Kyrian007]

Well, I wouldn't have shitcanned the entire EU. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the EU was terrible. But there were good stories there that would have made for decent movies. However; I understand that Disney needed to establish their control over the franchise, and declaring the EU non-canon sent that message loud and clear very early on. So with that, I didn't mind where they went with TFA. So, if it's a given that the EU is out... and given that there were clear parallels between the prequels and the original movies... I get where they were going with the story structure mirroring the originals, where others just whine about the "copy and paste" nature of the story. It works within the context of the cannon storyline, and given J.J.'s preoccupation with the "mystery box," the "copied" structure of the story actually becomes a fairly funny punchline. So, I can dig it as is. Especially since they got rid of that crappy looking wire-fu, all-motion-blur lightsaber fighting and went back to a more classical stagefighting style.