I was wondering why your episode isn’t available when you buy the series. It’s weird anyway great episode and I love all your critical thinking videos on YouTube keep fighting.

Hugs and love to you Chukicita. xx

Hugs back to you, chica-la!

You really do find good in everything. I am in awe. All the hugs in the universe for you..

My son was here only briefly, but he taught me to appreciate life. And because he lived as long as he did, living tissue samples were able to help doctors and scientists learn a whole lot more about his disease.

(I’m no pro, although I do play one on TV sometimes)

I didn’t know that, sweet lady, I’m so sorry.

And I hope Rieand takes your advice, you’re obviously a pro at this as much as everything else.

Oh, boy. Well, if you replied to me then I have to reply back. You asked for it 🙂

K2 was awesome…he had no fucks to give. I was surprised at how sad I was when he died. I could watch that last 30 minutes repeatedly.

This. I have a feeling that when we get the DVD we’ll probably skip a bunch of the early bits but sit straight through the last half hour.

K2’s death was actually the most affecting for me. All the “organic” characters are human beings who have some kind of special burden, and K2’s burden was just… his humanness.

The question “instead of giving the pilot a hologram saying the plans are somewhere on a secure military planet that will be nearly impossible to invade, why didn’t Galen just give the pilot the plans” is, for me, the movie question that once and for all tops “why didn’t the Eagles just fly the Ring to Mordor.” There’s, like, really no excuse for it. You can’t say “well he couldn’t smuggle a copy out” when he was able to smuggle the hologram out, and when a couple of Rebels manage to waltz into the information room and snag a copy like getting a snack from a vending machine. I get that the movie would be too short if a pilot just landed, waved “hi” and handed over a disc, but there were other ways for that plot to have been convoluted enough for a feature film, without making a brilliant scientist seem like a dumbass.

Besides all this, the franchise needs to let go of the idea that the technical plans would be so big they would be unwieldy to transmit, or have to be put on what looks like a floppy drive, or that they would risk sending a single copy from place to place instead of uploading it to some kind of Rebelnet with at least a dozen mirrors. That’s clearly a case of real-life technology overrunning a 70’s concept of the future. They can’t ditch it for this film, because of ANH, but they could at least manufacture a clumsy backstory about why they have to keep it off the net. This is a universe where everybody has interstellar travel and hyperdrives, but nobody has the technology to keep a darknet running to go under the government’s radar?

You can tell they thought a little about this, because of the clever stall of having Jyn go re-align the transmitter. That scene wouldn’t have happened in any of the original trilogy, because in those days, their tech was so far removed from our own that it “just worked” automatically. In TOT, things only have trouble because their engines break down. In the 21st century, we may not be able to do what they can do, but we understand how they do what they can do.

Also, why is a “communications master switch” in the middle of a goddamn field, how is it readily identifiable as such amid a multitude of other switches, and why, after it gets pulled, does the Stormtrooper who took out the offending Rebel not immediately run over and reset it, since it’s obviously vital to the Rebellion’s plan? But I digress.

I don’t think I really cared for the Vader and Leia cameos (except for the Vader freakout at the end, of course). They feel different from the rest of the film, more fairy-tale-ish compared to the grittiness of the scenes surrounding them. Also, Leia’s face = Uncanny Valley! Tarkin too, a little, but he wasn’t too bad. Thank god James Earl Jones is still going strong. My husband said Vader felt “off” to him (probably because his walk is so different), but I’m good with having Vader there because it gives Ben Mendelsohn a great scene.

Random thought: you know who Mendelsohn really reminds me of? A young Ian McKellen. I’d love to see a film in which they share a character at different ages. They would tear up the screen between them.

I can’t believe I typed all this at the Underground Bunker.

**Spoilers** Thank you so much for coming back and giving your review-yay! I agree with everything you said too. Now that my *high* has worn off, it’s a bit easier to look at objectively (as possible!). I am looking forward to seeing it again too. Ben was great…he was scary and many people have been comparing him and Miscavige-more proof Leah’s show is penetrating the public in a huge way.
About Galen’s idea. I absolutely agree! When it was revealed I even had this little shadow in the back of my mind that I pushed away. It really stands out though and almost feels like it was added or forced in. At least it does not ruin the whole story (midichlorins-need i say more?) going forward.
K2 was awesome…he had no fucks to give. I was surprised at how sad I was when he died. I could watch that last 30 minutes repeatedly.
Thanks again for giving me your thoughts.
I am one with the force and the force is with me…x a million! 😀

So, I just saw it. And it really does help that it’s so different from Teh Prequels. Feels more “real” than the other SW movies, and I LOVE LOVE the cast. Especially Donnie Yen and Forrest Whitaker and Ben Mendelsohn. And they found yet another way to create an original droid character who’s as engaging as any of the humans. I love the way the Rogue team came into being, I loved seeing the old footage cut into the new movie, and I though those final scenes on Scariff were epic.

But I have to say I really only felt fully engaged once they got to Scariff. Before that a lot of it felt like disjointed planet-hopping. And I suppose since this is days old now I ought not to worry about spoiling people, but there was for what felt like a plot hole that rated a 10 on the Starkiller Plausibility Scale, specifically Galen’s bright idea. I’m sure you know what I mean.

Got it, thanks