#plotgate

[frumfrumfroo]

I was reading some old Reylo posts and came across a user on here saying that even if Rian Johnson had directed TROS, it still would've been bad, because of interference from higher ups (Rey Skywalker was a consistent theme across the two scripts - but imo, I think that might've just been because they were collectively mad she wasn't a Skywalker lol).

If this isn't an annoying and tiresome question, what do you think? It's hard to speculate but I do find it a bit fun, because there's always been that 'what if' for me that if Rian had done it, maybe it wouldn't have been awful... I guess the implication here is that, was TROS always going to be bad?

I'm ruminating on it a bit because it seems like Disney has kind of segmented the SW fanbases across their shows - Prequel stuff, worldbuilding stuff, OT stuff, and now the romance/Force storyline stuff. All of these combined elements is what made SW so potent, what made something like Reylo so powerful, but it's what makes it a hard brand to sell.

What we heard was that Kennedy asked Rian to do it, but he said he needed more time to write the script and Iger/DLF was unwilling to move the release date. I'm not sure how verified that ever was, but it's the most depressing fucking thing imaginable if true. The same short-term only, immediate profit and your quarterly bonus over the integrity of the company and the franchise which has been destroying Disney as a studio over the last decade or so.

I do think the most blame for tros must ultimately rest with Iger, but it's not like that absolves JJerio from responsibility for how bad it actually is.

I have answered this exact question before, and speculated on related stuff a few times, but unfortunately I haven't been able to find that post for you.

To me, if we learnt anything from DotF being a thing, it's that there was never anyone at the wheel, plotgate was totally true, and the directors were allowed to do whatever they wanted. If Rian had been making the third film from the start, I don't think they would have tried to impose any major story beats on him. The reason it became such a shitshow was The Book of Henry came out and they realised Colin's script was totally unacceptable way too late.

And once the can of meddling was open and you're back to JJ 'no thoughts, head empty' Abrams as a workman director, the suits were basically writing epIX with Terrio's incest fever dreams as connective tissue. They kept elements from Colin's version because they were trying to save time and use as much of the work which had already been done as possible. There was no commitment to any of those ideas, it's just incompetence and with no direction or ideas of their own, they were making a reddit checklist to try to please the whiners rather than writing any actual story.

Like, none of this would have happened if Rian were involved, because Rian would have written an actual story.

SW is mythology and very few people working at DLF seem to have ever understood that or have any idea what it means. Disney has segmented it because that's what they know, they want to have different product to sell to different demographics to maximise saturation and profit. That's their business model. They don't understand the foundation, the Saga itself, and its universal appeal, they seem content to let that stay dead and focus on compartmentalising and pandering to smaller, separate audiences.

[burnsopale]

Scarlet Pimpernel - Letting go (P/M/C)(excerpt 2)

(Another excerpt for you all while I wrestle the plotgator. Warning for death-wishing!)

Percy crossed to Chauvelin, crouched down and cupped his chin, lifting his face.

Chauvelin grasped feebly at Percy’s arm, but he could barely move his stiff fingers. “I deserve death,” he whispered. “Why do you deny it to me?”

“Do you want to die?” Percy asked.

“I serve no purpose now, I have nothing left. I owe my life. Let it be taken.”

“Do you want to die?” Percy asked again, more firmly.

“I will not burden my child with the onerous duty of loving a monster! In her heart she will thank you to fail this idiotic rescue!”

Percy growled. “I asked if you want-hey!”

Chauvelin had elbowed him backwards onto his ass.

“Leave me be!” the Frenchman cried.

But Percy felt more strongly than ever that this was what he wanted to do. The right thing? He did not care; it was what he wanted. This broken little man was his.

“I will not,” he declared, leaning back in the grass in a deliberate show of carelessness. “Instead, since you have no need of your life anymore, I will take it off your hands.”

Chauvelin looked at him in wary surprise.

“I picked it up when you threw it away, and he that finds, keeps.” Percy grinned in a way he knew would be absolutely infuriating to his dear enemy. “And do you know the first thing I am going to do with it?” He winked, giving Chauvelin a few seconds to grow apprehensive. “... I am going to give it a bath.”

[softgreylo]

hey guys remember plotgate

[emperorren]

So do you think Lucas Films had been planning Palpatine all along? or do you think it was JJ's idea since taking over 9?

Well, unless Trevorrow is full of shit, his recent interview proves that Palpatine’s return wasn’t a pre-planned fixed point, but it was JJ’s idea. Palpatine coming back was never part of Trevorrow’s script.

I believe the general idea was always to bring the story full circle to one final epic good vs evil fight that would fix the wrongs from the past permanently and wholly and give Ben the chance to *finish what Anakin started*, but perhaps the evil in question was originally conceived to be Snoke, as Palpatine’s ideal heir and successor, rather than Palpatine’s being literally back. 

Rian, certainly not without some prior consultation with JJ and/or Kathleen Kennedy, removed Snoke as an option. Trevorrow was probably given the “bring the story full circle and make it a climax and conclusion to the entire 9 movie saga” guideline, but also had enough creative freedom to... fuck it up and be fired. JJ, on the other hand, might have always had Palpatine in mind in *his* ideal concept of the sequel trilogy’s plot, and once given the opportunity, made it happen exactly the way he wanted it. Or maybe it’s something he only came up with after Rian’s decision to kill Snoke off. 

I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure unless they explicitly reveal which parts were pre-planned and which were the product of each individual director’s creative freedom. But my gut instinct is that Palpatine was never meant to be literally back, and Snoke was supposed to embody his legacy and be the ultimate bad guy until the final climax.

[kirstyofjakku]

Fans trying to figure out the Sequel Trilogy:

Lucasfilm trying to figure out the Sequel Trilogy:

[starwarsnonsense]

Some long thoughts on a few #Gates

Right, I’m back and plan on reopening my asks soon-ish. Before I do that, though, I just want to address a few of the big dramas that unfolded in my absence. This is mainly so that I won’t end up addressing these questions through various ask replies, so if I don’t respond to your message it’s probably because I’ve said the last thing I’m going to say about it here. Onward!

On #RomanceGate

As we have previously established thanks to a tweet from David Kamp with the full, unedited transcript of the excerpt of the interview pertinent to romance, the published Vanity Fair article did not fully reflect what Rian was actually trying to say about the question of romance in Episode VIII. The Vanity Fair article said this:

FIVE THINGS THAT ARE NOT IN THE LAST JEDI

A big, central-to-the-plot romance. For all the fan-fiction fantasies of “Reylo” (an imagined union of Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren) or “Stormpilot” (the same, for John Boyega’s ex-stormtrooper Finn and Oscar Isaac’s pilot Poe Dameron), Johnson says that The Last Jedi offers “no one-to-one equivalent of the Han-to-Leia, burning, unrequited love. In our story, that’s not a centerpiece.”

And this is what was actually said between Kamp and Johnson in the interview:

Now, what initially seemed to rule out any inclusion of romance in The Last Jedi actually suggests something quite different - Rian seems to be saying that he was keen to include a big, sweeping romance, but that when it came to it the characters didn’t seem to be in the right place for that to happen. He doesn’t at all rule out subtle traces of romance or flirtation (as Kamp highlights in his tweet), thus the classic ‘wait and see’-style response. 

It is also very important to point out that the references to Reylo and StormPilot were clearly Kamp editorialising. While terms like ‘imagined’ and ‘fan-fiction fantasies’ sting to anyone familiar with all of the misogynistic BS female fans have to deal with for daring to be interested in the human relationships in these stories, as I see it the references to popular ships are simply there to provide context for the mainstream audience and boost SEO rankings. Rian Johnson has been very emphatic about distancing himself from Kamp’s phrasing, and the full quote makes it clear that no specific relationships were raised in the context of the original interview.

So, while I still think we need to be cautious and keep expectations for an overt Reylo romance in The Last Jedi low (as Rian says, there is no central romance plot in his film), I certainly think that the full quote should relieve the anxiety that love and attraction won’t be in play to some extent. Although I don’t think that we’re going to get a Reylo kiss (that’s my opinion re. The Last Jedi - come back to me after December to get my thoughts on Episode IX), it clearly isn’t out of the question that The Last Jedi will progress Rey and Kylo so that they are ready for a full-blown romance in the next film. I can’t stress enough that Rey and Kylo end The Force Awakens on different sides, with Kylo having killed his father and Rey having just slashed Kylo’s face open. They both have huge personal journeys to go on (Rey has to come into her own in the Force, and Kylo has to wake up to Snoke’s evil and show remorse for his terrible mistakes) before they can truly go on a journey together. Essentially, to progress from the current state of affairs to a consummated love affair in the space of a single movie would, to put it mildly, be pushing it. 

Speaking for myself, I would be ecstatic if The Last Jedi simply shows Rey and Kylo developing empathy and perhaps even compassion for each other. Rey has already defeated Kylo in a duel, so their journey together going forward won’t simply be one of antagonism - as J.J. said in his commentary (which was recorded after he had read the script for The Last Jedi), Kylo is “a character who [Rey’s] going to have a very interesting relationship with moving forward”. In short, I have no fear that the dynamic between Rey and Kylo Ren is going to remain static or be less important going forward. Rey and Kylo are crucial to each other’s stories, and we have every reason to believe that Rian is honouring that. 

On #PlotGate

These are the tweets that started the famous #PlotGate:

Now, this actually didn’t worry me at all. But why would I - one of the people who has written thousands of words analysing the minutia of The Force Awakens - be unconcerned by the suggestion that Rian could do whatever the hell he wanted in The Last Jedi? Why am I not freaking out when there doesn’t seem to be a plan for the trilogy?

Well, the simple answer is that I’m not alarmed because these kinds of sentiments are far from new. From the very beginning, the narrative has always been that each filmmaker has a considerable degree of freedom to tell the story they want to tell. For a great explanation of how the early development of The Last Jedi worked, see this quote from J.J. Abrams from November 2015 (particularly the bold bits):

The script for VIII is written. I’m sure rewrites are going to be endless, like they always are. But what Larry and I did was set up certain key relationships, certain key questions, conflicts. And we knew where certain things were going. We had meetings with Rian and Ram Bergman, the producer of VIII. They were watching dailies when we were shooting our movie. We wanted them to be part of the process, to make the transition to their film as seamless as possible. I showed Rian an early cut of the movie, because I knew he was doing his rewrite and prepping. And as executive producer of VIII, I need that movie to be really good. Withholding serves no one and certainly not the fans. So we’ve been as transparent as possible. Rian has asked for a couple of things here and there that he needs for his story. He is an incredibly accomplished filmmaker and an incredibly strong writer. So the story he told took what we were doing and went in the direction that he felt was best but that is very much in line with what we were thinking as well. But you’re right—that will be his movie; he’s going to do it in the way he sees fit. He’s neither asking for nor does he need me to oversee the process.

There are endless quotes from J.J. and Kathleen Kennedy supporting this picture, and I think this is exactly as it should be. Rian is not making The Last Jedi in a vacuum - he is building it on the foundation set by The Force Awakens, and had a say on the development and presentation of that film so that it would weave seamlessly into his movie. Rian even reiterated this sentiment himself in the main Vanity Fair article on The Last Jedi:

J.J. and Larry and Michael set everybody up in a really evocative way in VII and started them on a trajectory.

Rian is insistent on stressing his independence as a filmmaker at every stage because people are keen to paint him as a slave to the Walt Disney Company’s whims. At every turn, he has to deal with people assuming that The Last Jedi will repeat the trick played by The Force Awakens by mirroring its famous and beloved antecedent - for The Force Awakens this was Star Wars, and people expect it to be The Empire Strikes Back for The Last Jedi. Understandably, Rian wants to stress that The Last Jedi is his baby - it’s infused with his own creativity rather than studio notes and nostalgia. 

But, at the same time, that doesn’t mean that Rian can do whatever the hell he wants. I can almost guarantee that Rian would have received furious correctional notes if he had tried to pitch a story where Rey Rey Binks died in the second act. There will be certain strands established in The Force Awakens that The Last Jedi will nurture and evolve, and Rian will be taking pre-existing characters and relationships and building on them further. As Pablo appeased an anxious fan on Twitter:

In short, there absolutely is collaboration - between the individual filmmakers, and between the filmmakers and Lucasfilm. Rian is free to tell the story he wants to tell, but that story has a baseline in The Force Awakens and also has a responsibility to establish a platform for Colin Trevorrow to build on with Episode IX. The filmmakers are talking to each other, and there is absolutely collaboration and handoff between them so that these film will ultimately make sense as a trilogy as well as on their own terms. 

In other words, I really don’t see much to worry about. I have seen nothing but praise for the script for The Last Jedi, and Rian’s filmography amply demonstrates his talent as both a writer and a director. 

I’m as excited for The Last Jedi as I ever was, so I hope I’ve been able to put some people’s minds to rest with this. Bring on December!

[son-of-alderaan]

I think we’re all pretty fed up with this thing already so I’m not going to comment or reblog most of those #plotgate posts that I’ve seen on my dash lately. All I’m going to do is give you these three links: (x) (x) (x)

They contain a lot of great quotes from production members that they’ve made before and after the release of TFA. I just picked some interesting quotes here and there but I read through them all and now I’m really tired.😴

J. J. Abrams: “The script for VIII is written. I’m sure rewrites are going to be endless, like they always are. But what Larry and I did was set up certain key relationships, certain key questions, conflicts. And we knew where certain things were going. We had meetings with Rian and Ram Bergman, the producer of VIII. They were watching dailies when we were shooting our movie. We wanted them to be part of the process, to make the transition to their film as seamless as possible. I showed Rian an early cut of the movie, because I knew he was doing his rewrite and prepping. And as executive producer of VIII, I need that movie to be really good. Withholding serves no one and certainly not the fans. So we’ve been as transparent as possible. Rian has asked for a couple of things here and there that he needs for his story. He is an incredibly accomplished filmmaker and an incredibly strong writer. So the story he told took what we were doing and went in the direction that he felt was best but that is very much in line with what we were thinking as well. But you’re right—that will be his movie; he’s going to do it in the way he sees fit. He’s neither asking for nor does he need me to oversee the process.” (November 2015) 

J. J. Abrams: “There were things that we – at the very beginning of the process – were outlining and discovering and we just knew would be in ‘Episode 8’ or ‘9’. A couple of those were things I was so excited about getting to do, but realised early on that there was no way we could shove them into ‘Episode 7’. Then of course Rian Johnson came along and is incorporating some of these things very closely to what we were thinking about – and in other cases things that we would never have imagined.” (December 18, 2015)  

J. J. Abrams: “We didn’t write a treatment [for the next episodes] but there are countless times we came up with something and said ‘oh, this would be so great for Episode VIII!’ or ‘That’s what we could get to in IX!’ It was just that kind of forward moving story. But we knew this had to neither be a backwards moving nostalgic trip only nor a beginning of a movie without a satisfying conclusion, and that was part of the balancing act — embracing what we have inherited and using that where and whenever possible to tell a story that hasn’t been seen yet. We also knew that certain things were inevitable in our minds but that didn’t mean it would be inevitable for whoever came in next. When Rian [Johnson], who I admire enormously and adore, came on board, we met and talked with him about all the things we were working on and playing with, and he as a spectacular writer and director has taken those things and has written an amazing script that I think will be an incredible next chapter, some of which incorporating things we were thinking of and other things are things we could never of dreamed of.” “There were a handful of things we talked about that were going to be helpful to him. Some were very easy to do, and some things were things that I didn’t want to do for other reasons, but I tried to be as accommodating as I could.” (December 15, 2015)

J. J. Abrams: “Larry and I had a bunch of thoughts of where certain things could go and we shared those things with Rian Johnson, who’s directing VIII. He had things that he came up with where he asked if it was possible if we could make some adjustments with what we were doing at the end, most of which we did — there were just a couple that didn’t feel right, so he made adjustments — but it was just collaboration” (January 8, 2016)

J. J. Abrams: “Well, when Lawrence Kasdan and I were working on the story, we had a sense of where we thought things would go. So of course there a number of things we use and set up. And it’s wonderful to see how Rian Johnson has taken our story. Of course we had meetings and stuff beforehand, but he’s taken it and really made it his own and continued the story his way. But there are, of course, many things in this film that are very clearly part of a continuum.” (SFX magazine January 2016)

J. J. Abrams: “ I’ve been very lucky to work with people, like, in the case of The Last Jedi, Ryan Johnson, who is a filmmaker who doesn’t need a babysitter. He needs to be given the room and the space to do what he wants to do. We collaborated really well from the moment he came on, but this is his moment to tell his story.” (May 15, 2017) 

Lawrence Kasdan: “[J .J. Abrams and I have] not really [sketched out the next episodes]. [The Force Awakens] sets up a lot of stuff. There’s a lot of people to deal with. And Rian took on that job and he’s going to change it, because he’s Rian. And I’m sure Colin will change what Rian does…. These movies will all be so different. Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he’s going to make some weird thing. If you’ve seen Rian’s work, you know it’s not going be like anything that’s ever been in Star Wars.” “We talked about [the ending of the new trilogy] — and there’s a certain thing that people who are involved with it feel should happen. There’s a kind of movement that happens. But it’s not in your control. It’s going to veer off with Rian, and it’s going to veer off another way with Colin.” (December 22, 2015)

Lawrence Kasdan: “We didn’t [plan the next episodes]. We should have, but we didn’t.” “What we thought was it was a big enough job to wind up with something we really like.” “It fulfilled those desires to get back to a certain spirit.” “Nothing is settled at the end of this movie, so that suggests ‘Episode VIII’ and ‘IX.’ But we did not say we had to lay that out. That’s someone else’s job.” (December 16, 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “George had done a sketch of the story he had in mind, but that was done for the sale of the company. It wasn’t really a document to sit down and start developing a movie from.” (Empire magazine – October 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “We haven’t mapped out every single detail yet. But obviously everybody’s talking to one other and working together […] that collaboration is going to guarantee that everybody’s got a say in how we move forward with this.” (December 7, 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “[Lucasfilm Story Group head] Kiri [Hart] has been very good about creating a narrative timeline, and having everybody involved in a certain narrative understand where it might fit. That’s become important to the way we talk about these stories.” (December 12, 2016) 

Kathleen Kennedy:  “No [J. J. Abrams didn’t do a treatment for future Star Wars episodes], because at that point we were sitting down and talking about where this might go, even as early on as with Michael Arndt. We were sort of plotting out, because obviously if you know up front that you’re building the pacing inside a trilogy structure, we needed to have some sense of where this saga was going without locking in on things and leaving room for creative development. But we had to have some sense of where we were going.” (December 17, 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “Yup [Rian Johnson came in and gave notes while The Force Awakens was in development.]” “Yes. We talked a little bit about [setting up plot points for VIII and seeding things], but we didn’t end up doing a great deal of that — but we did talk about that. And Rian did come in very early and he read, and came and visited the set. J.J. and him had a lot of conversations. I think Colin will end up doing more of that more-so with Rian as he develops Episode IX.” (December 17, 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “Part of it is Rian Johnson [to push the series forward in new directions]; I love his talent [and] his commitment to these stories, and his understanding of the mythology that George [Lucas] created. It’s really something that I think you’ll see that he takes these characters [and] develops their complexities. He’s not afraid to try things that move this into a more complex universe, and I think that’s great. I think that’s what [Star Wars] needs.”(April 14, 2017)

Colin Trevorrow, director and writer of Star Wars: Episode IX: “A story must evolve or perish, and Rian [Johnson] and I are working closely together to make sure our stories build off of each other and continue to evolve and take us to new places, and I think that’s what the fans expect and what they want.” (January 11, 2016) 

[starwarsconnectionarchive-blog]

Pablo Hidalgo’s Many Revelations About The Last Jedi at Comic Con Chile

Pablo Hidalgo, he of the witty Tweets wrecking Reywalker (exhibit 1), cat lover and Lucasfilm Story Group top banana, was recently at Comic Con Chile for a panel called “Mysteries of Star Wars”. One of our Spanish-speaking members from Reylo Skyforum has made a recap/translation of the panel. Behold the wisdom gleaned from this video.

Pablo (PH) opened by revealing that he wrote the captions that appear under the Annie Leibovitz photos in the Vanity Fair spotlight of The Last Jedi. He went on to scroll through the photos and added commentary about the characters and filming process as follows:

About Kylo Ren:

“Here are the bad guys in The Last Jedi -  Kylo of course, carrying the scar that he got from Rey. Kylo has a lot to prove. Even though the First Order was successful in a lot of what it did in TFA, you can't forget that Kylo was defeated by a newcomer. The Last Jedi starts off right where TFA ended, and he has to go visit his boss. We can all imagine how that's gonna turn out."

Audience member question: “Does Kylo Ren know that Darth Vader turned good in the end?” PH: “I think Luke would have told him. He may only have heard a certain side of the story from someone else, and he decided to choose what he chose to believe.”

About Luke/Mark Hamill:

Luke's gloved hand is touching "an ancient Jedi book" in the trailer.

Ahch-To is the site of the first Jedi temple, but the stone hut featured behind Rey and Luke in the VF picture is not a temple. PH: "The island is home to caretakers, and these aliens live in those huts - so Luke hasn't been entirely alone."

“The space siblings (Luke and Leia) have moments (in The Last Jedi) as well.”

Audience member question: “What can you say about Mark Hamill's displeasure with the creative direction of Lucasfilm? He has talked about this in a lot of articles.” PH: “Mark has been quoted out of context. He said he had disagreements with how his character was shown because he didn't think it was going to work out, but then he said ‘I was happy to be proven wrong.’ I think that Mark gives an amazing performance in TLJ and he has nothing but incredible things to say about Rian Johnson. I think any reports about him being unhappy are probably being framed that way for some reason.”

About Rey:

Rey has inherited Anakin's saber and the pilot's seat in the Millennium Falcon, and Chewbacca is a loyal co-pilot. 

     That’s it, wop wop :(

About Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia

"Carrie Fisher's role is much bigger in TLJ than in TFA. We didn’t intend for it to be that way at the time, but TLJ will be an amazing tribute to Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia.”

“Even though we lost Carrie Fisher it doesn't mean we're done telling stories about Princess Leia. There's chapters of her life that haven't been told yet. We have a book coming out by Claudia Grey which follows sixteen-year-old Leia. I think we have opportunity to tell more stories about her.

About Snoke: 

Audience member question: “Was Snoke's first appearance in TFA, or have we seen him before? Is he related to Darth Plagueis?” PH: “Snoke was first seen in TFA. He is a new character we have never seen before.

About the new characters:

“Kelly Marie Tran’s character Rose Tico is a mechanic in the Resistance, her sister Paige is a gunner on a bombing ship.”

Laura Dern’s character: “You had best not underestimate Vice-Admiral Holdo."

"Here is Benicio del Toro as DJ. There are all sorts of rumors about DJ on the internet; he is so shady that there's probably all sorts of rumors about him in the galaxy as well. If you shouldn't judge Holdo by her looks, you can probably judge DJ by his looks."

About Phasma:

"We'll learn a lot more about Phasma this year": there is a new comic about how she arrived on Star Killer Base. There is also a forthcoming novel from DelRey which “talks about how the First Order came to find her in the first place, her past, her home world.”

The picture of Phasma in Vanity Fair “is Gwendolyn behind the scenes, not what Phasma looks like without the helmet.”

About the filming process of The Last Jedi and episode 9:

Rian Johnson went to Skellig Michael to film the continuation of Luke and Rey’s meeting scene for start of The Last Jedi about 2 weeks after JJ wrapped up filming the end of TFA - so before TFA was released.

Audience member question: “Did Carrie's death affect The Last Jedi?” PH answer: “No, because she had already completed her part in its entirety. It did create a challenge for Colin in episode 9, because we all wanted her to feature quite prominently in it, but that can't happen anymore. We are evolving the story from the loss of that, to tell us where it should go.”

About the Force:

“If the Jedi have existed for thousands of years, they would have explored all aspects of how the Force works, from the spiritual to the biological. Only thinking of one side of the equation is an incomplete understanding.”

General Star Wars questions from the audience:

“Was Anakin Skywalker created by Darth Plagueis? PH: “All clues point to yes. This is just a theory, everyone can believe what they want; I think Sidious and Plagueis tried to provoke the creation of The Chosen One so that they could control it, and it didn't work out.

“Did Palpatine have any involvement in Padme's death?” PH: “You can theorize about it; I doubt we're ever going to get any more detail as to exactly how she died. That is a story George presented and we'll leave it as is in the movie.

“Did Palpatine influence Anakin's dreams?” PH doesn't think so. “He is a fearful person, and Palpatine took advantage of it.”

“How did you guys get over the criticism of the PT?” (lol) PH: “Lots of kids love the PT. That generation will get a chance to get out of the shadow of the previous generation. Then they also have to deal with the next generation, who have staked out episode 7, 8 and whatever comes next as THEIR Star Wars. That's healthy.”

“Is Return of the Jedi plural or singular? PH: “People should figure it out for themselves, it's magical that we're still arguing about what it means 30 years later. This is like our religion and we are not done studying it; it doesn't matter what I think about that, it matters what you believe."

“Is Jango Fett Mandalorian or just a mercenary wearing Mandalorian armor?” PH: “All we have to go by is Prime Minister Almec's word. if Jango is Mandalorian he has to be of such shaky standing that someone like Almec can say "No he's not," but there's more to come about this.”

“Are you going to make movies about the survivors from Order 66?” PH: “The era of the early Empire while Jedi were being hunted is an area of storytelling we're interested in. We just launched a new Darth Vader comic series that takes place right during that era. We're not done telling those stories, so it's always a possibility.”

“We saw Mace Windu fly out the window but we never saw his corpse. Is he alive or dead?” PH: “Depends on who you ask. Sam Jackson says he's alive and well, and I don't want to argue with Sam Jackson.”

PH: “Dave Filoni wants to do something special with stories he didn't get a chance to tell. I'll leave that for him to describe.”

“Is Disney interested in doing films about the Old Republic era?” PH: Creative direction for Star Wars is under Lucasfilm - we are always looking along the timeline to see what stories to develop, if we find a filmmaker passionate about that era we may consider it but for now the story is told through the video games.”

“There's a rumor that the First Order will fight against an external galactic threat like the Yuuzhan Vong; will there be something like the YV in the Sequel Trilogy?” PH: The First Order has its hands full trying to take over the known galaxy... The Yuuzhan Vong where going to appear in Clone Wars, they were going to be different than what we read in the books, and it was going to be mysterious aliens encountered by the Jedi - but it was never produced. In our mind there is a version out there where the Jedi encounter Yuuzhan Vong.”

“What do you think about the "Jar Jar is evil" theory?” PH: “Poor guy, he's been through so much but still has  a heart of gold.”

If you made it this far, we regale you with our quick-fire impressions:

As discussed in our podcast analyzing the The Last Jedi teaser trailer, we believe events shown in the teaser will be occurring in the first 1/3 of The Last Jedi. Pablo’s comments about continuity and Kylo having something to prove after just being defeated support that. Don’t expect to see Kylo Ren appeased at the start of TLJ, he will probably be a hot mess. (Hot because he’s attractive, get it? u_u)

The picture of Rey and Chewbacca in Vanity Fair + Pablo’s brief comment about Rey inheriting the Millennium Falcon and a loyal co-pilot in Chewie point to her eventually leaving Ahch-To in The Last Jedi. Some have speculated she will probably spend the entirety of the film on the island, but we disagree.

We are relieved and thanking the Maker after hearing Pablo say “WE are evolving the story (episode 9)” - it’s not just riding on Colin Trevorrow’s shoulders (sorry, Colin). This should also be reassuring in light of PlotGATE: the filmmaker has freedom, but Lucasfilm is always a part of the process. 

They have more Princess Leia stories to tell! And Claudia Grey is involved, huzzah!

Barely any questions about Kylo Ren and zero questions about Rey - but y’all ask about Darth Jar Jar? Get it together, my dudes. -___-

[sleemo]

Let's relax

First, fandom blew up when Vanity Fair published a post saying there was no reylo and stormpilot romance in The Last Jedi.

… Later, Rian Johnson clarified and writer David Kamp shared his transcript to show that, in context, Rian didn’t rule out romance/flirtation—only romance in the style of Han and Leia being the centerpiece.

Next, it was reported in a spanish article that Pablo Hidalgo (during a comic con in Chile) confirmed that Luke and Leia would have a reunion in the next movie.

… Later Pablo tweeted that no, something was lost in translation and what he meant was that they reunited for the Vanity Fair shoot.

Now we’re dealing with #plotgate whereby Rian Johnson said there was “no mapped story beyond Force Awakens”, contradicting what Kathleen Kennedy said in another interview.

What will inevitably follow is a deluge of tweets from fans to Rian/Pablo/the story group demanding answers and reassurance that the trilogy is indeed following some set course, even with the amount of creative leeway that directors are given…

See where I’m going with this? After all the -gates that’s happened and drama over the past week, we should know by now not to overreact when we hear bad news. Context is important.

Haters overreacted when Adam didn’t return John’s hug on set, even when John laughed it off (and Ford responded to his hug the same way). Fanboys overreacted when Mark Hamill said he wasn’t happy with the direction of Luke’s character, even when he shortly admitted that he was glad to be wrong about it.

Try not to be those people. The film is in good hands. Please don’t harass the actors, directors, and others involved in this trilogy.

[reylosource]

wait, what's going on with kathleen kennedy?

nothing, just that Rian responded to some more questions on twitter relating to the parts in the Vanity Fair article where he talked about how there was very little direction given to him on the plot or story for Ep. 9.

plotgate tag for your reading.

also my post about it early on in reading the VF article

http://reylosource.tumblr.com/post/161024683611/what-the-story-group-does-not-do-hart-said-is

so, you know, i want to TALK TO KATHLEEN GOD DAMN KENNEDY TO SEE WTF IS GOING ON OVER THERE AT LUCASFILM

wyd lucasfilm, did you really give rian and colin (ep 8/9 writers/directors) no plot points or vision? 

[obi-wan-ken00b]

Seriously, how on Earth can anyone believe that there wasn't at least some basic outline for this new trilogy right off the bat? Some basic framework the directors are supposed to put their visions into? Plot points such as who's related to who, the main romance, who (of the major characters) gets to live and who dies, the shocking revelations - all this HAD TO be planned from the beginning for the story to not fall apart. It's just common sense, people.

I don’t know who you are, but I will find you, and I will love you.

[kylo-ren-is-alive]

Oh you! 😅 Can you imagine, though, an all improvised Star Wars movie?

[oldadastra]

All in Good Time: Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi, and creative freedom

A deep-seated fear in the Star Wars fandom is that the filmmakers are working without a plan; that they are making things up as they go along, or that they don’t know what they are doing. I understand the origins of this fear; I’m an old fan of the original trilogy who experienced the truth “from a certain point of view,” in the theater.

Rian Johnson’s recent comments regarding the freedom with which he approached the creation of The Last Jedi have fanned these fears to a level of hysteria that’s both exhausting and foolish. Some perspective is in order.

Public announcement of Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm was made on October 30, 2012. 

Take a look at this quote in the article, from Bob Iger, then the Disney CEO:

“Mr. Iger said Disney acquired a detailed treatment for the next three “Star Wars” films as part of the acquisition.”

In an interview published THE VERY NEXT DAY, October 31, 2012, Rian Johnson discussed his newly-released feature film, “Looper.” At the end of the story, interviewer Brad Brevet asked Johnson what he was working on next:

And with that I have to ask what’s coming up next for you. Do you have any plans, are you directing any more episodes of “Breaking Bad”? Do you have a movie in mind? What’s going on?

“I’m writing right now. I’m trying to dig into this next idea that I’ve got and I’m still in the relatively early phases, but I’m moving ahead with it.”

Can you give me an idea of what kind of genre are you working in for your next film?

“It is, actually, still kind of in the sci-fi world, but it’s very different from Looper though. But it’s a type of sci-fi.”

Children, he’s talking about Episode Eight. Rian Johnson was already beginning work on what would become The Last Jedi before the official announcement of the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney.

Yes, there is an overall plan.

Yes, Rian Johnson has had creative freedom to tell his own story.

These ideas are not mutually exclusive. For those of us who follow the development of these stories at a fine-grained and obsessive level, there’s a danger in focusing on minutiae to the point we lose sight of the big picture. Disney did not spend four billion dollars on the Star Wars franchise to start making movies without a plan in place. Please stop saying they did. It makes you look foolish. 

This is not to say that the storytellers’ plans have not changed. I’ve no doubt that Carrie Fisher’s untimely death forced the creators of the new saga to change their plans, and that the way in which Episode IX unfolds will be different than it would have been had Fisher been around to play the important role that was hers. Even so, the big arc of the saga is likely to be what it was always intended to be. Why? Because there is a PLAN. There has always been a plan. 

I’ve explored some of my own questions about the evolving story, and the ways in which the hand-off from one director to the next may manifest themselves in what I’ve called the “shifting terrain” of canonical material, and how the story may be told in the wake of Carrie’s passing.  If you’re interested, you can find some of that material here and here.

In the meantime, take a deep breath, step away from the screen, and enjoy life. Rian Johnson is an amazing writer, a brilliant director, and loves Star Wars; he’s going to tell a great story.  The Last Jedi is coming in December, and chances are, it’s going to be awesome. Talented people have been working on it for YEARS.

[thatjedirey]

The progression of my experience on Tumblr this morning, ft.Hocus Pocus

[emperorren]

If the second movie’s director hadn’t killed off Snoke though, I don’t know how Palpatine’s return would fit without making the narrative overcrowded with villains. They’re both the same fundamental type of character so it has to be an either/or scenario, otherwise if you kill off Snoke during IX, there’s that whole issue of what to do with Kylo’s allegiances now that his master’s gone. Would Kylo immediately serve Palpatine? Join the Resistance because Snoke is dead? It would be complicated.

Or, maybe nobody said Snoke and Palpatine couldn’t be the same character. You know, TFA Snoke was a giant hologram after all.

Snoke was always going to be taken out of the picture / revealed as a red herring. The “how” and the “when” weren’t set in stone, imo.

[skylorennn]

#plotgate

I feel like JJ dropped our favorite child off at daycare, said goodbye, and Rian and Kathleen and Colin are all trying to be the rightful guardian and we are the stressed out daycare workers trying to figure out who is going to do right by said child