4 the Record: Why I'll Be Waiting For 'TFA' On Disc

Oh, and spoilers, for both the movie and the EU books.

But this is why this case is so ridiculous as well: I haven't even seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens yet, and I already know I've been badly spoiled by the things I've seen posted on Google+. There are four major errors within which JJ Abrams done goofed in a major way. These areas completely robbed me of my motivation to see this film while it is still in theatres, whereas my original plan was to see it in theatres with my parents to continue a long-standing tradition of 'things seen on my birthday.' Well, screw that noise now!

To make this perfectly clear, most of the ways in which TFA fails is due to the 'old' canon of the Expanded Universe / Legacy books (Disney's label for them is confusing enough because there's a comic series called Legacy, and then there's the Legacy of the Force novel series as well). I do understand the old levels of canon, with the movies being G-Canon, however the difference here is that, at least according to what I've heard and seen, the choices for the film were just plain bad. On top of that, the books that do it better are also written so much better.

I think I've given this as much space as it needs, so now lets get into where Abrams goofed.

1. I Know Who Ben Skywalker Is
The movie has 'Ben Solo / Kylo Ren,' who has a reputation for being whiny, and he has an unstable lightsaber, so... issues. On top of that, he definitely has daddy issues, so yeah, pretty messed up.

The books have Ben Skywalker (seen below with Keshiri Sith ally Vestara Khai), the redheaded offspring of Luke Skywalker (Jedi Grand Master, ace pilot, and Hero of the New Republic / Galactic Alliance) and Mara Jade (Jedi Knight, super spy / assassin, and all-around ultra-hot bada$$). Mara taught Ben spycraft, and although Jacen Solo chose his cousin as his apprentice when he was going dark (we'll talk about that later, too), Ben's main Jedi mentor was his own father, especially during the time Luke got called to account for every time a Jedi cut off someone's hand in the pursuit of justice. Ben is not only a skilled spy and assassin, but a pretty competent Jedi as well.

(Ben in Fate of the Jedi: Fury)
Clearly, given the contrast, I'm going to prefer Ben Skywalker over Kylo Ren.

(Mara Jade)
While we're here, lets talk about Jacen and how he became Darth Caedus. The reasons? Well, his little brother Anakin died a hero while they were fighting the Yuuzhan Vong. Then the Vong captured and tortured Jacen, who came out of the experience very warped, only to be found and seduced to the dark side by Lady Luminara, an old flame and adversary of Luke's. She led Jacen on his descent to darkness, and even into teaching Ben about the dark side a bit. But at least with all of this, Jacen had plenty of reasons for going dark. It was also a good way of showing how far his family would go to try to get him back, and then simply in trying to stop him. I mean, besides his twin sister Jaina being the Sword of the Jedi, there was a really cool scene where Boba Fett sent Han a pair of crushgaunts even though they were old adversaries. It was the ultimate sign of respect and understanding, with Fett saying 'hey, I know he's family, but you gotta do this now. Here's my way of saying 'my the Force be with you.' So that was awesome. An unstable lightsaber and an all-black suit and mask, not so awesome.

(Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin Solo)
So I also choose Jacen Solo over Ben Solo.

(FYI Jacen's bada$$ of a wife, Tenel Ka Djo, Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium)
2. Reminding You We Did All This Before
I've heard about all of the call-backs to the original, and maybe the prequel, trilogy this film makes. Yeah, the occasional reference is cool, but when you start to make too many it starts to look lazy and repetitive. It's saying, 'hey, remember when we did this and that and that? That was cool, right?' Yeah it was cool... 30 or 40 years ago. So much of Star Wars has passed into the land of cliche and tropes, though, that it's no longer funny.

The sad thing is that it's not as though there isn't any original or newer material available for the movie writers to use. Even among the new continuity we have material from several new books. Heir to the Jedi might not have been Heir to the Empire, but at least it had new stuff and was interesting. That's not even including the over 200 books, comics, and games from the EU. But instead of using it, Disney decided to just dump it, all the while reassuring fans of the EU that they had not done that. Well, TFA shows us otherwise, doesn't it? Why toss so much material? The only reason I can think of is to avoid giving the authors credit and royalties for money they would have gotten from the movies. For a multibillion dollar corporation like Disney, that seems very, very petty, and also very, very unwise: It's a very inefficient way of handling material, and it can piss off a lot of fans very quickly. But the movies aren't entirely broken yet. They can be redeemed. Maybe.

3. The Death of Han Solo
I told you Kylo Ren had daddy issues. Yup, I've seen the posts, and the pictures of good ol' Han getting stabbed through the stomach by that red lightsaber. I don't know the reason why it happened, but I doubt it was really necessary to do that. Heck, Abrams has cast younger actors in beloved roles successfully before, so why couldn't he have done so here in order to make a movie that happens more immediately following ROTJ, for a setting similar to Heir to the Empire? Instead, I guess someone decided Harrison Ford was getting too old for the role or something. From my uninformed position, it just seems like a meaningless death.

Compare to New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by RA Salvatore, when, while faithfully repaying his life debt, which transfers to all members of Clan Solo, Chewbacca dies a hero ensuring all the Solo kids are off-planet before a Vong wave hits. Chewy dies, but he dies a hero. For a very good reason. With meaning. But Han? I really couldn't say until I see the movie for myself.

The biggest problem I have with Han's death, though, is that in doing this he can no longer be a part of the narrative. Han Solo's adventures end with a lightsaber through his stomach. Compared to his run in the EU, which extends for 40 more years and to the end of Crucible, and it seems so... unfair. Han is such a great and complex character when he's written well, and he had some very important contributions. But because Disney did what they did to the EU, none of that can happen anymore. This is where their canon starts to trump the EU irreparably, which is unfortunate because the books are vastly superior, in my opinion -- I mean, not all of them are great, but with over 200 of them odds are you'll get some flops lying among the winners. It just seems lazy.

4. Luke the Hermit
I have seen indications that in TFA, Luke has gone the same route Obi-Wan Kenobi did, and hid somewhere the Imperial Remnant would not be able to find him. Again, contrasted with how he acted in the books and you will see how I cannot see this being his response to the Imps, as well as to his role in the deaths of Palpatine and Anakin. For one thing, Luke is supposed to create a new Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, and a new Jedi Council on Coruscant. He cannot become the leader and character he is meant to be if he hides, shuts the galaxy out, and runs from the responsibilities to the consequences for his actions. This is not the Luke Skywalker I grew up reading about. This is Kenobi 2.0, and I do not like it.

Of course, you may have a different opinion. Chances are you enjoyed TFA a great deal, and if you did good for you. My feeling is that with the level of knowledge I have of the EU, I'd just call 'bull' too many times. If money is involved in my experience with this movie, my feeling is... I'm gonna have a bad time watching it.

And I just don't want to have a bad time watching Star Wars. I want to enjoy the legacy with which I've grown up. That's why I plan on waiting until the disc releases before I watch it.