How would you change the Force Awakens?

[Metalix Knightmare]

Okay, I know there's been a bit of a Star Wars fandom Civil War after The Force Awakens came out. Some liked it, some disliked it, whatever. All I know is that even I'M starting to think those of us who disliked it are getting WAY too negative about the whole thing, so I thought I'd try and get a more positive discussion going here.

How would you change The Force Awakens? What would you do to try and, in your opinion, make the movie better?

In my book, one of the VERY first things I would change would be NOT having Poe just Instant Transmission out of the story after the TIE fighter crash. Either kill him off there, which was the original plan, or just have him stick around with Finn. I'd actually recommend the latter if only because their quick bonding session escaping the Star Destroyer was one of my favorite parts of the movie. As an added bit of fun, this also still gives a reason for Poe, Finn and Rey to meet up and NOT have Poe break his promise to BB-8. This also leads right into my next change.

Have Poe fly the Falcon to escape Jakku. Poe was established from the title scroll as one of the Resistance's best pilots, and that fact was pretty well established with the simple fact that the guy was actually able to last awhile while flying a frigging TIE fighter. He's obviously pretty darned good at what he does. As for Rey, you have two options for what to do with her in this scene. You could have her up front and co-piloting/coaching Finn through the modifications she made to the thing, or have her join Finn in shooting fighters. (You could even do a variation of the mid-air pause where she and Finn BOTH shoot down the last TIEs at the same time.)

If Poe was dead instead, I'd recommend just a script change. When Rey and Finn are celebrating and Finn asks "How did you do that!?" Do NOT have Rey reply "I don't know, I've never flown before." Take a frigging page from the novelization. "I have a flight sim back home. I spent SO MANY hours on that thing. Nice to see it wasn't just good for passing the time eh?" Boom. My complaints here are dead in the water.

As for the scene where Rey was fixing the Falcon, no changes here. I REALLY liked this scene.

Next change I would make would be in the escape from Han's ship. I wouldn't change much here, but I would've liked Finn to have been a BIT snippy with Rey over the monster thing. Not much, just a bit of sarcasm over the whole nearly got him eaten thing.

Next the cantina. Again, not much to change here. As much as I dislike the whole "Force vision from a lightsaber" thing, I can at least acknowledge it's use as a storytelling device. That said, make it Luke's green saber. Not Anakin's. The last time we saw that thing it was tumbling into the clouds of Bespin while Luke was holding on to antennas. Aside from that, I'd just have Rey miss a bit more when running from the Troopers.

Actually, by having Poe stick around with the rest of the crew we also alleviate HIS big Gary Stu moment when the ships start attacking. He's on the ground, so he won't be able to do his "Nail two Stormtroopers behind my friends while I'm in an X-wing" thing. (Seriously, can't argue with anyone on this note. This one scene was EASILY equal to the worst of Rey's, if not actually exceeding them.)

Now, you may have noticed that I haven't said much about the vilains. Do I not have much to say there? HA! You wish.

First off, Kylo Ren keeps his freaking helmet on until ONE point in the movie. Till that point, which I WILL mention, that bucket stays on him. Also, find whoever was working on the script who decided to bring up his parentage so early in to movie, and drag them out back to be done in execution style because that was EASILY one of the dumbest things they could've done with him. A big part of the appeal of Kylo Ren was his mystery factor. No one knew who he was, and theories were abound. "He's Luke's son! He's Luke fallen to the Dark Side! He Han and Leia's son! Etc." They should've kept that crap on the hush until the scene with Han and Ren on the walkway. Perhaps drop subtle hints every now and again, but that's it.

That scene is also the point where Ren would remove his helmet. All through the movie Ren should be seen as a intimidating, but VERY unstable individual, and the movie was actually doing pretty well in this regard. Then he removed the helmet for Rey and the effect was kind of ruined too early. We see him with Rey and he's just a man. Keep it saved for the scene with Han though and it ends up having a deeper emotional impact. Ren's not just a marauding madman. He's a scared and confused young man, not certain where he belongs. Keep the helmet on him till this point and the scene carries a LOT more gravitas.

Next up, Captain Phasma. For the love of god, give this woman something to freaking DO! It's like she's here for diversity points! I know they were trying to make a new Boba Fett, but even freaking Fett got more to do! My ideas: First off, give here a couple of scenes with Finn that gives him a REASON to be so eager to toss her in the garbage. From what I saw of their only interactions I didn't see anything beyond what I would expect from a superior officer and their subordinates. How about having her replace TR-8R? As much as I love that scene, having Phasma administering the smack down would at least give Finn a damn good reason for his displayed dislike of her. (Plus, you've got Brienne of Tarth here! Take the blaster away, and give her a freaking melee weapon!) As for how she survived the bowcaster? Easy. "Do you thing this armor is for decorative purposes?"

Next thing I'd change, give us more of a reason to give a crap about those planets. I'd actually forgotten that one of them was the Republic capital. I had less emotional investment there than I did with Alderann.

Next, Rey's interrogation and escape. Now, Rey resisting the mind probe I have NO issue with. Clone Wars showed that Non-Force Sensitives could be trained to resist it, I'd imagine someone who actually HAS the force would be a tougher nut to crack. However, rather than turning it around on Ren, I'd have him get called away for a meeting with Snoke. For Rey's escape, I'd have her attempting to get loose, and just getting more and more frustrated and enraged with it. Added bonus, have the Stormtrooper watching her start taunting her. Rubbing in what's going to happen to her friends soon. Then, with the fear added with the rage the room starts shaking, things start getting tossed around until something large is tossed into the, now terrified, Stormtrooper into some computers that end up releasing her bonds and letting Rey loose. The room stops shaking, and Rey just stands there confused for a moment before running off.

So why make a change like this when I get so pissy over the mindtrick scene? Simple. Telekinisis is quite possibly the EASIEST trick Jedi have. We've seen a, admittedly gifted with the Force, baby using it to mess with it's toys. Plus, we've seen Vader pull off that exact thing near the end of Ep3, and he clearly wasn't in a good state of mind there, so any Jedi training would probably be mostly uneeded to do that. Not to mention we'd have Rey tapping into the Dark Side of the force which would give her a few needed flaws. (In this case, I'd say anger and rage for the most part.)

Plus, I feel like I've been kinda hard on Rey here, so she should get a pretty badass scene like this.

Finally, I would change the final battle between Ren against Finn and Rey. Look, as much as it pains me to admit it, Rey winning that fight isn't QUITE the Sue moment I tend to make it out to be. Ren's injured, his mind is in disarray, it's feasible for him to lose. That said, while it's not a big Sue moment, it is still a REALLY bad storytelling moment to have your primary antagonist lose like this in the first movie of a trilogy. Luke survived Vader the first time due to what looked to be sheer dumb luck, and the next time he tried to throw down with Vader he got the crap beaten out of him. Vader maintained an air of menace and dread all throughout the first trilogy and came off like an unstoppable juggernaut. When he joined the fray, you ran or you died. Heck, even when Luke finally DID beat him in a fight he had to tap into his own rage and aggression to do it.

Ren though? Ren LOST. His first real throw down with the heroes and he LOST. The planet cracking saved HIM. Any dread he could bring with him in the next movies has been utterly shattered. Yeah, he'll be getting stronger for the next movie, but so will Rey. The audience now has to root for the villain to get stronger just so that they'll actually have a movie to watch. It's like watching DBZ and rooting for Feeza to get stronger to stand a chance against Goku.

So my change? Ren fights Rey to a draw, with the Starkiller's cracking interrupting the fight. This way, Ren still maintains an intimidation factor. He's wounded, he's in a bad state of mind, and Rey still had to tap into the force (potentially the Dark Side of it which was mentioned as being the quicker route to power) just to fight him on equal ground! BOOM! Villain keeps his intimidation factor, and gives Rey more reason than ever to actually NEED Luke to train her!

So that's the changes I would make to episode 7. Anyone else got any other ideas? Possibly comments on my own changes? Post away.

 

[Saelune]

Id make the movie start with everything being pretty all right. The New Republic is steadily uniting everyone, though there are plenty of rogue groups and those looking to take some of the left over power to be self ruling or whatever but otherwise things are fine. Luke is training the new generation of Jedi. Maybe The New Order is known but is considered just another rebel instigator and given little thought. Wouldn't be as exciting as the movie is now, but it kind of shouldn't be. Perhaps the main antagonist isn't even the New Order in this first film. Id also imagine we'd actually see Luke training and struggling to control his own child and Han's, since he wants to be a better father than Vader (obviously) but is struggling to do right while rebuilding the Jedi since he isn't old school Jedi and is conflicted on how to modernize the order.

Basically the point of this is to set up the next movie where The New Order surprises everyone by actually turning out to be a threat taking the New Republic offguard and bringing chaos back to the galaxy. Id imagine many of the new Jedi wanting to help fight them but Luke wanting them to keep training and not be rash or emotional but obviously this doesn't work out. Likely some new Sith Lord would turn out to be somehow feeding into the young Jedi's desires to fight even if its against their parents.

 

[Casual Shinji]

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.

I would've liked it had Han Solo and crew discovered some even greater threat while on Star Killer base. Something that would set up anticipation and tension for the sequels.

I also would've made Rey look a bit scruffier. For someone whose lived in the desert in ramshackle since she was a toddler, she looks surprisingly well groomed. Just giving her short messy hair would go a long way, as I doubt anyone who is constantly desperate for water would want to have long hair in need of washing.

And while we're on appearences I would've made Han Solo look a bit different, maybe have his hair combed back or a beard, and made Chewie not look identical to how he did in Episode 6.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I would remove the scene with the Rathtars and just have Rey and Finn hop aboard the Falcon while Chewie and Han were already on board, just stopping by Jakku for space gasolene or something. Use the extra minutes to establish the galactic situation better.

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

Id make the movie start with everything being pretty all right. The New Republic is steadily uniting everyone, though there are plenty of rogue groups and those looking to take some of the left over power to be self ruling or whatever but otherwise things are fine. Luke is training the new generation of Jedi. Maybe The New Order is known but is considered just another rebel instigator and given little thought. Wouldn't be as exciting as the movie is now, but it kind of shouldn't be. Perhaps the main antagonist isn't even the New Order in this first film. Id also imagine we'd actually see Luke training and struggling to control his own child and Han's, since he wants to be a better father than Vader (obviously) but is struggling to do right while rebuilding the Jedi since he isn't old school Jedi and is conflicted on how to modernize the order.

Basically the point of this is to set up the next movie where The New Order surprises everyone by actually turning out to be a threat taking the New Republic offguard and bringing chaos back to the galaxy. Id imagine many of the new Jedi wanting to help fight them but Luke wanting them to keep training and not be rash or emotional but obviously this doesn't work out. Likely some new Sith Lord would turn out to be somehow feeding into the young Jedi's desires to fight even if its against their parents.

I LIKE this idea! It's basically Episode's 1 and 2, but done better! Plus, I'd actually would've liked to see how Luke was rebuilding the order.

 

[Breakdown]

I wouldn't make sweeping changes, the Force Awakens worked well enough. I'd get rid of the Death Star thing and have a much smaller scale ending though, and Phasma should have been the one to beat the crap out of Finn instead of some random storm trooper. I'd also get rid of the Resistance in favour of an actual New Republic force which Leia commanded.

 

[The Purple Grape]

Stop wallowing in something that is 30 years old and show some creative thought. More mystical Sith, who is more eldritch horror less whiny brat and can kill you before even igniting a lightsabre. Look into the criminal and slavery side of the galaxy, with bounty hunters or the Hutts? Something slightly challenging.

 

[Glongpre]

Phasma and Ren are hunting down Luke and any Jedi. Phasma is the leader of some specially trained anti Jedi group, who use anti lightsaber weapons, and maybe have some way to counter force powers.

The Empire doesn't have a death star, and we follow one fragment of about 4-5 star destroyers. They become like the rebellion and do espionage and stuff. The Republic is becoming the dominant force in the galaxy again. There are other fragments of the empire floating around, but they are largely at odds with each other, vying for control of the whole.
Hux keeps Ren because having a force user is a big advantage although he doesn't trust him. He uses Ren to complete objectives for him, unbeknownst to Ren (because of his instability and fanaticism).

Phasma follows Rey as she tries to escape with the map piece, and generally hounds her, with Rey narrowly escaping many times because of her natural ingenuity and reflexes (which becomes known to her as the force). Phasma is actually a good character with lines and scenes and stuff.

Ren has the same arc, I liked it. He tries to avoid the pull to the light side.

Snoke has a different name, and is largely an unknown person somewhere, but is definitely pulling strings and doing stuff, but is saved for the sequel and ultimately the final boss if you will.

 

[Zontar]

I would have scrapped the whole thing and started from the top.

The opening scene would be of a very clearly New Republic capital ship being pounded by two Star Destoryes, one of the more classic design while the other of a much more modernized one. We're introduced to Poe here as he's about to pilot a shuttle with crewmen out. The ship is going down and only those who can't make it out in time or who are putting up a time saving last stand are remaining aboard. As they leave the ship their shuttle takes a hit and is forced to land on Jakku.

During the battle the fight becomes a three-way as the moment the New Republic ship is destroyed both Star Destroyers begin fighting each other. The older vessel is outclassed, leading to its own evacuation. This is where we meet FN-2187, clone soldier of Admiral Pellaeon's Governate.

Officers on the shuttle FN-2187 is on realize that the First Order is likely to start a war with the other Imperial factions now that the New Republic has been crushed. The conversation goes over FN-2187's head, and before he can understand the meaning of what's happening the shuttle is forced to land on Jakku due to First Order ships overwhelming their fighters.

On the planet, we meet a mechanic working on an engine her attention is stolen by a burning shuttle crashing close to the space port/settlement she's working at. She pays it no mind and goes back to work.

At the Republic shuttle crash site, Poe and several survivors start making their way towards the settlement, talking about what the Imperial infighting they saw could mean. Overhead they see an Imperial shuttle landing in the space port. They continue towards it as there is no alternative.

At the space port the Imperials start to search for a proper ship to escape the First Order with, their shuttle not standing a chance against them. FN-2187 makes contact with the mechanic we saw, asking her if the Corellian YT-1300 she's working on could be used. She states she doesn't own it, only that she's been hired to work on it.

Poe and the surviving Republic crew enter the settlement and also begin searching for a ship to escape with. The YT-1300 is close to the settlement's edge, so it is the first they spot. Before anyone can discuss matters First Order fighters can be seen in the distance, and panic starts to enter the settlement as everyone realizes they are under attack. The Republic group runs for the YT-1300. FN-2187 is already inside, as is the mechanic. Both are trying to start the ship as Poe boards them, demanding to be taken to safety at gunpoint. At this point several imperials also enter the ship in their own attempt to escape, leading to a stand-off between Imperials and Republic forces.

Between them a young man enters the area, demanding who woke him up and why they're on his ship. He has a gun but drops it as he notices members of both groups pointing their own at him.

He tells them his ship doesn't work, to which the mechanic says she's already done repairs.

Before things can be made clear explosions can be heard in the background. The ship's owner says that things need to be cleared later and goes off with the mechanic to pilot the ship out of there. With a group of Imperials and Republic troops still pointing weapons at one another, the captain and mechanic (with the assistance of the captain's droid BB-8) pilot them out of the system in a daring escape.

That would be the opening scene. The movie would be about the two sides coming together to fight a common enemy as the First Order challenges all. The focus would be on Poe and FN-2187 becoming friends despite their opposed upbringings and the mechanic Rey and the captain Jacob learning that they don't have to be alone in the universe.

Humour would be derived from things like the realization that the ship they're on is the Falcon, both groups learning that Jacob is the son of Han and Leia Solo, and that the Imperials of Admiral Pellaeon's Governate view themselves as being in the same light as the New Republic: the heroes fighting the good fight for freedom against the tyranny of those who wanted to bring back the broken system of the Old Republic which saw the senators of a few worlds dictate over the entire galaxy.

The big bads for the movie would be Kylo Ren and his Knights of the New Order, a group of Sith who defected to the Dark Side from the New Jedi Order. We see very little of them until the climax of the film in the form of an assault by New Republic and Imperial forces against a New Order shipyard. Jacob Solo and Rey are part of the assault due to the offer of money, and confront Kylo. Jacob takes out a light saber, which Kylo laughs at him in response due to his having been kicked out from the New Jedi Order, while Kylo has left on his own accord.

The two fight and Kylo wins, cutting off Jacob's hand in the process (because it's Star Wars). Rey prevents a killing blow by shooting Kylo's torso while he's detracted, and Kylo elects to retreat due to the station falling apart around them.

With the assistance of FN-2187 (now called Finn by everyone) the two escape to a shuttle piloted by Poe. As the station blows up they land on a waiting Imperial Star Destoryer, where we meet General Han Solo, who informs them that while the New Republic has been forced underground, they are officially working in cooperation with Admiral Pellaeon's Governate against their common foe.

The movie ends with Jacob and Rey parting ways with the rest, saying goodbye to his father after not having seen him in such a long time. When asked where he is going, he stated to the Jedi Sanctuary where Luke and the Jedi Order have gone into hiding, so as to teach Rey how to use the force as he can feel her connection to it. Han informs him no one knows where they've gone, to which Jacob replies he will find the way. The movie cuts to credits as the Falcon enters hyperspace.

 

[Evonisia]

A lot of people are bringing up big changes I certainly agree with, so I'll mention a nit-picky one.

Explain how those planets didn't know the big Death Star was there - or at least mention that the First Order had destroyed some crappy shield generators they'd made that might have saved them. Just giving us a shot of them looking glum patiently watching this big death laser launch towards them just made me question everything. The actual shots we get of the beam are haunting and beautiful: the fact those planets are just kinda eh about the whole thing right before they die ruins the mood entirely and frustrates me.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

A lot of people are bringing up big changes I certainly agree with, so I'll mention a nit-picky one.

Explain how those planets didn't know the big Death Star was there - or at least mention that the First Order had destroyed some crappy shield generators they'd made that might have saved them. Just giving us a shot of them looking glum patiently watching this big death laser launch towards them just made me question everything. The actual shots we get of the beam are haunting and beautiful: the fact those planets are just kinda eh about the whole thing right before they die ruins the mood entirely and frustrates me.

This drove me NUTS for a long time too. "Shouldn't you guys be evacuating the planet or something? Can you not see that this weapon is right there?"
Turns out, Starkiller Base wasn't in the system. The attack stretched across the galaxy. The Republic didn't see it coming until it was too late. Sub hyerspace or something like that.


A few things I would change:
1) Rebel ground troops. Can we see them, please? Or ANY ground troops fighting back? Yeah, we got the villagers at the beginning and a few people from the bar, but that was it. I wanted to see some people fighting back against the Stormtroopers, like the Honor Guard in Star Wars when they're boarded.

2) More ships. X-Wings are not the only snub fighters out there, guys. The Rebels were using Y, A, and B-Wings by Return of the Jedi. Can I see more of those please?

3) Kylo keeps his helmet on the whole time. One of my friends brought this up. If Kylo had kept the helmet on, up until Han told him to take it off, it would have been more of a reveal. We think that, from using the Dark Side so much, that his face is twisted and ruined, but when he finally removes it, we see that he's just a kid. Instead, he takes it off when talking to Rey and it not only takes away from the moment and his character, but it's kind of creepy too. "Look, girl I have tied to a chair. I'm normal. See?"

4) Han doesn't walk out into what is obviously a trap. There are plenty of other ways to have killed his character. I did like the little touch on the cheek before he fell, but the SECOND he saw Kylo and called to him, you knew he was dead. A death of a character like Han should come as a gut punch, like Wash in Serenity. "Did they just really do that?!" Not something you can see coming from a mile away.

5) Phasma. Oh Phasma, you have so much potential. As someone already said, she should have been the one to kick the crap out of Finn. I also like the idea that she finds Rey in Starkiller base and kicks the crap out of her. This would have also helped with people complaining that Rey is too good at everything, which I kind of get but I still like her.

6) Wedge and Lando. Okay, so Wedge's actor didn't want to come back. Fine. Can we at least have a passing mention of what happened to one of the greatest starfighter pilots in the Rebellion? And where was Lando? Billy Dee is one of the few Star Wars actors who has no problem renewing his role for ANYTHING Star Wars related. Be it Rebels, those Star Wars Lego shows, or even the freaking Lego Movie. Do you mean to tell me that you guys couldn't find some way to put him in, even if it's just a quick holo call between him and Han?

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Nerf Rey a bit. Make Finn a bit less of a buttmonkey. Maybe nerf Poe, then again he seems to be the Awesome McCoolguy side character that isn't meant to be taken as more than a merchandise fuel, so i'm not sure if there's a point.

Slow things down a notch, and bring some explanation on how we'd have ended up with this New Order vs. Resistance thing(again).

Change Death Planet into something less ridiculous.

Either make Phasma do something or cut her out entirely. Space left could be used for, let's say, exposition of these planets that FO blew up, and we knew fuck all about.

Have Ren loose his helmet later.

In general, SERIOUSLY tone down on nods towards A New Hope, jesus.

 

[twistedmic]

Next the cantina. Again, not much to change here. As much as I dislike the whole "Force vision from a lightsaber" thing, I can at least acknowledge it's use as a storytelling device. That said, make it Luke's green saber. Not Anakin's. The last time we saw that thing it was tumbling into the clouds of Bespin while Luke was holding on to antennas.

Minor nitpick, Luke loses his first/Anakin's lightsaber several minutes before he jumps off of the bridge/walkway so there is no way that the lightsaber fell with Luke. Second, we never see where the lightsaber ended up, so it is entirely possible that it ended up in some trash compactor, landed on a balcony/walkway or even jammed in a ventilation fan/duct.

More mystical Sith, who is more eldritch horror less whiny brat and can kill you before even igniting a lightsabre.

Kylo Ren and Snoke are not Sith. The Sith are/were a specific and distinct sect of Dark Side users. Kylo Ren and Snoke are members of a different, previously unseen, sect of Dark Side users called the Knights of Ren.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Less copy-paste from A new hope but my two main ones are Luke's exile and Kylo Ren.

Luke trying and failing to train new Jedi, resulting in all of his new recruts dead thus making him go into exile, I can believe that. But leaving a powerful dark side user to run around the galaxy to inflict death and destruction, that I can't buy.

And Kylo, just make him less of a whiny *****. Every time he threw a temper tantrum, hell every time he opend his mouth I just wanted to slap him and tell him to get over himself. I did not think he was powerful, I did not think he was intimidating, I throught he was pathetic. I know people have different tastes and opinnions, and I realise that this is exactly what JJ was going for but IMO if my first reaction to seeing your main bad guys face for the first time is to laugh and then shake my head in disbelief I think you have failed to make a good bad guy.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

The first step would be to not start the first draft by taking the script to A New Hope and and pressing Ctrl+H.

Honestly, call me a pretentious arsehole, but I'd rather the factions had a bit more depth than virtuous rebels vs thinly disguised space Nazis. I'd actually like it if instead of just blowing up another Death Star totally original super weapon, the former rebels have properly established themselves as the new authority and instead have to deal with the moral complications of establishing order across the galaxy without basically becoming the very empire they disposed. Considering probably the most major theme of the entire franchise is all about falling to the dark side and letting hate and anger consume you it really doesn't seem all that out of line to have a story based partially around them figuring out how to deal with their defeated enemies in a just manor. Maybe the conflict could center around a new set of rebels splitting off and fighting against the republic because it's fallen too far and basically become the new empire. Maybe they even have to team up with former empire supporters and put aside their differences in order to take down this new empire.

I guess the idea of the republic turning evil does sound rather similar to the prequels in a way, but still.

I don't know, perhaps Star Wars isn't the appropriate venue for that type of thing, but anything would be better than just remaking ANH (yes, I know a lot of people take offense to the idea that it's a blatant rip off for some reason, but it really is shameless). It served its purpose of making a heap of money and convincing the fans that this new trilogy wont be like the prequels, I have a feeling that as more and more Star Wars movies come out this one will be looked back on increasingly negatively as the initial relief and hype dies down and it is remembered as a decent clone of ANH.

 

[necromanzer52]

Lose the whole searching for luke thing. Have a few references to him as having mysteriously disappeared/people questioning whether he ever existed in the first place. Then, at the end, have Leia turn to Rey and say something like "A great power has awoken within you. There's someone you should meet. You can find him on this planet in a distant part of the galaxy".

Make whatever Poe goes to Jakku to find and ends up being the driving force of the plot be something that ties into the third act, rather than having them totally forget about the search for Luke, in favour of redoing the end of a new hope.

 

[Dazzle Novak]

Along the path of "I would have done it this way..." lies folly and ruin. Beware all ye who tread there.

I'm a hypocrite, though. Rather than going beat-for-beat with A New Hope, instead I'd shamelessly plagiarize Knights of the Old Republic (unless there's a greater copyright case to be made regarding de-canonized supplemental material).

SETUP:
The Republic was at war with the Mandalorians who had been gangbanging the Outer Rim worlds in total war fashion for kicks. Feeling the Republic isn't doing enough and Luke's Jedi pacifism is passe, Ben Solo defects from Luke's new Jedi order with a gang of acolytes forming his own New Order. They push back the Mandalorian threat, committing comparable war atrocities in the process, and flee into uncharted territory when confronted by the prospect of court martial. Ben and the gang return as Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren with an inexplicable supply of war ships and military infrastructure at their disposal, essentially becoming a looming new Empire, and are recruiting/conscripting Storm Troopers from various planets. Spoiler: They've discovered a Star Forge.

CHARACTERS:
- Kylo Ren is Revan. A charismatic natural-born leader having fallen to the dark side. The surprise, when we meet him, is that he seems like a genuinely good guy. He's magnanimous and polite rather than Anakin 2.0. He's gregarious and chummy rather than broody. The "seduction by the light side" claptrap is more than empty lip-service.

- Rey stays the same with the exception of being scruffier/grittier and leaning into her force-using "prodigy" status. Rather than being all "Golly gee, I don't know how I'm so amazing!", she's a bad *****, knows it, and acts as such. She's Han Solo with a lightsaber and space wizard powers. That said, she's still untrained and gets knocked on her ass when going against mature combatants. Also, she has bloodlust. That cheeky smile Wonder Woman got fighting Doomsday in BvS? That's how Rey rolls in a fight.

- Finn also stays mostly the same, but with the "Kevin Hart-esque" comedy toned way the fuck down and his status as a brainwashed child soldier played up. Boyega is surprisingly adept at comedy and charismatic to boot, but his bread-and-butter is straight drama. Line readings like "You don't know the first thing about me. If you'd seen what I saw, you'd know we should all run!" are his baseline. Maybe make him the team pilot when Poe's not around so Rey doesn't have to triple stack Jedi/Pilot/Mechanic.

- Han takes over Leia's position. Sorry, but Carrie Fischer can't act anymore. Whether due to drugs or disinterest, she couldn't even get through single lines without requiring editing to fix it. Watching her so zoned out was depressing. More than that, I don't like the idea that Han Solo stayed in stasis for thirty years doing the exact same seat-of-his-pants smuggler routine well into his seventies.

- Captain Phasma is a Mandalorian POW that Kylo Ren turned into commander of his Storm Troopers. She's as badass as Boba Fett is hyped to be and gets the infmaous "TR-8R" scene with the exception of Finn being swapped with Rey. They fight and either A) Rey gets her ass whooped and captured or B) Rey wins and is prepped to fucking decapitate before being stopped by Kylo Ren (setting up Rey's potential to fall to the dark side). Either way, Phasma is Kylo Ren's dragon.

- Poe Damaran is a clone of "the best pilot in Republic history" and slips in and out of the plot with increasingly impossible revivals every time he dies on screen.

I can't really rope all of this into a coherent narrative in the same off the cuff fashion, but the main takeaway is A) hop off the OT trilogy's nuts and B) more clear and consistent characterization.

 

[maninahat]

The main thing I would do is take out the damn Death Star knock off. Sure there are a lot of gratuitous references to The New Hope, but the worst is the damn superfluous star killer base. If the enemy base was simply a superior star destroyer, that would have been enough to get the point across - having a shitty super deathstar that gets introduced in only the last third of the movie and gets destroyed with comparatively limited planning is a bit of an anti-climax.