Everlong wrote:I'd agree that his appearance in the second was dumb, but the first was ingenious. Sure, using Spock to do it might have been a bit of fan service, but definitely not cheap. They needed a way that they could create these movies using their own storylines and not having to worry about continuity with the Original Series. That alternate timeline thing, created by Spock being chased back in time by Nero and the Romulans, was a brilliant way of doing it.
They didn't really NEED a way to restart the franchise with new stories. Movie franchises restart frequently nowadays. But yeah, it was a fun idea in the first film. But now looking back on that first film, it's the only thing I remember. I don't know, it just seems that they didn't have their priorities straight. They didn't get me psyched for the new films, they got me psyched for the old ones.
Everlong wrote:Well it was a prequel trilogy, so by the very definition of a prequel, a lot of things were going to connect to the original trilogy. Some of it could have been left out (the Fett stuff, some of the stuff from Episode 3) but overall I have no problems with them trying to connect the movies, given that was the entire point of the new trilogy.
Well yeah, obviously it had to be linked to the original trilogy. I'm not a muppet. But they just took it too far. They should have had more new characters and less of the old ones. It would have made it a better trilogy. More interesting and less second-rate. The Fett stuff was pointless, much of the C3PO and R2D2 stuff was completely pointless and created plot holes. Yoda was overexposed and lost all of his original mystique.
Everlong wrote:The difference here is that the Star Wars saga was ALWAYS meant to be nine parts, the first three being about Anakin, the second three being about a young Luke/Han/Leia, and the final three bieng about an older Luke/Han/Leia and potential children and new Jedi generations. They're sticking to the story that had always been laid out, just a few years later than expected. I have a problem with unplanned movie sequels released years later, like the rumored Goonies and Mrs. Doubtfire sequels coming up, but the story of the upcoming trilogy has been in the works for decades. If the new movies wind up sucking, it won't simply be for the fact that they're sequels released years after the originals.
Yeah, the first three parts were part of the original plan too. It didn't make them good.

The multiple generation angle is a better way to go. The prequels being about Luke Skywalker's father and the sequels being about his son/daughter or whatever. To be honest a lot of my reaction is based on a story I heard a while back that there was a dispute about whether or not they should be the main characters and Abrams was pushing for it. And that really doesn't sound as appealing to me. It sounds like it would be a way to prioritise fan service rather than making the best possible films.
Smaller roles would be fine though. I just don't have confidence in those actors to really knock it out of the park at this point in their careers.
Everlong wrote:Let's be real: these new movies could be the greatest sci fi/fantasy movies of all time, and people would still find a way to slight them in comparison to the originals.
Yeah, same goes for any other film. That's no reason not to make it as good as it can possibly be.