Why are the heroes called "The Resistance?"
What are they resisting? The First Order?
That's fine, but shouldn't they be called the New Republic Armed Forces?
Or was there something else going on that I missed?

Quote from: Aglondir;994460Why are the heroes called "The Resistance?"
What are they resisting? The First Order?
That's fine, but shouldn't they be called the New Republic Armed Forces?
Or was there something else going on that I missed?

Catchy names to sell the toys. There's no other reason any Star Wars movies have been made since 1983.

Nope. It's just a bunch of Star Wars references thrown at the camera in the hopes that something sticks. There's no coherency.

Just like the original films you mean?

Nerds obsessive attention to detail will drain the fun and energy out of everything.

Quote from: Voros;994526Just like the original films you mean?

Nerds obsessive attention to detail will drain the fun and energy out of everything.

The originals are guilty of many things, but lack of coherency isn't one of them.

Aglondir - the New Republic made peace with the remnants of the Empire. Both The First Order and The Resistance are unofficial paramilitary organizations that are working outside any government, receiving funding and recruits from fanatics of both kinds. The First Order is getting WAYYYY more funding than the Resistance, because the New Republic actually believes in rule of Law. The remnant Empire regards the First Order as officially disavowable but ultimately extremely useful and channels mucho dinero to it secretly. Any further questions?

Quote from: flyingmice;994588Aglondir - the New Republic made peace with the remnants of the Empire. Both The First Order and The Resistance are unofficial paramilitary organizations that are working outside any government, receiving funding and recruits from fanatics of both kinds. The First Order is getting WAYYYY more funding than the Resistance, because the New Republic actually believes in rule of Law. The remnant Empire regards the First Order as officially disavowable but ultimately extremely useful and channels mucho dinero to it secretly. Any further questions?

That would be interesting. Too bad none of it is in the film.

Quote from: Aglondir;994460Why are the heroes called "The Resistance?"
What are they resisting? The First Order?
That's fine, but shouldn't they be called the New Republic Armed Forces?
Or was there something else going on that I missed?

Isn't the Resistance separate from the New Republic? http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Resistance

Quote from: Ratman_tf;994587The originals are guilty of many things, but lack of coherency isn't one of them.

Really? They feel pretty thrown together to me. Lots of lapses of logic, Obi Wan's behaviour doesn't make a lick of sense, the Death Star's super convenient autodestruct 'button' on the outside, the storyline of RotJ being 'let's blow up the Death Star again!' etc.

Course they're just pulp inspired space opera adventures for kids so I never bothered to critique them with the sort of OCD attention to detail rampant on the net.

Seems that Lucas was interested in creating a fun, fast pop culture mashup and was making it up as he went along (oh hey, let's make Vader his father! And Leia his sister!). Coherency is really beside the point in this genre, he wasn't trying to make some hard sf masterpiece.

Quote from: flyingmice;994588Aglondir - the New Republic made peace with the remnants of the Empire. Both The First Order and The Resistance are unofficial paramilitary organizations that are working outside any government, receiving funding and recruits from fanatics of both kinds. The First Order is getting WAYYYY more funding than the Resistance, because the New Republic actually believes in rule of Law. The remnant Empire regards the First Order as officially disavowable but ultimately extremely useful and channels mucho dinero to it secretly. Any further questions?

That makes sense, but was it in the films? They could have mentioned it in the screen crawl, which is terribly thin:

QuoteLuke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed. With the support of the REPUBLIC, General Leia Organa leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy. Leia has sent her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Luke's whereabouts....

Quote from: Ras Algethi;994649Isn't the Resistance separate from the New Republic? http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Resistance

That makes sense too, but was it in the movie?

Quote from: Voros;994700Really? They feel pretty thrown together to me. Lots of lapses of logic, Obi Wan's behaviour doesn't make a lick of sense, the Death Star's super convenient autodestruct 'button' on the outside, the storyline of RotJ being 'let's blow up the Death Star again!' etc.

Course they're just pulp inspired space opera adventures for kids so I never bothered to critique them with the sort of OCD attention to detail rampant on the net.

Seems that Lucas was interested in creating a fun, fast pop culture mashup and was making it up as he went along (oh hey, let's make Vader his father! And Leia his sister!). Coherency is really beside the point in this genre, he wasn't trying to make some hard sf masterpiece.

I never said any of that wasn't true. There are plot holes, and "plot holes" (Things that seem like plot holes but are nit picking) but the story does make sense, and it's in ROTJ that it starts to feed on itself (recyclying the Death Star scenario) while FA gets to the cannibalism right away.

Really. I don't see Obi Wan's behavior not making a lick of sense. The Death Star's weakness was explained in the film itself, Whether someone thinks they were effectively done is one thing, but the details were there. There's strong hints that Lucas did plan out something re Darth Vader, and decided on it during Empire. Leia was likely an ass pull, but a romantic side story is nothing like not explaining one of the central conflicts of the film.
ROTJ recycling the Death Star was a weak point, but I think that ROTJ is where Lucas started to lose the thread of what he'd created. So I'd agree with you there. Doesn't make FA recycling of a recycle an excuse.

"It's for kids" is an excuse. One that Lucas used to "explain" the lack of effort and skill in the prequels. I don't put much stock in it.

I don't consider something made for kids as an excuse for shoddiness but it does suggest the interest is in areas other than intricate, consistent world building. Buck Rogers was a major influence after all. Colour, energy, humour and romance are what matter and in that way I think the new films are faithful continuations of the original films.

Quote from: Voros;994779I don't consider something made for kids as an excuse for shoddiness but it does suggest the interest is in areas other than intricate, consistent world building. Buck Rogers was a major influence after all. Colour, energy, humour and romance are what matter and in that way I think the new films are faithful continuations of the original films.

I'd agree if we were talking about the first 30 minutes of FA. The Falcon sequence is where it gets off the rails for me, and never quite recovers.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;994605That would be interesting. Too bad none of it is in the film.

Yes. This was all found out after seeing the film. Knowing this makes the film make a lot more sense - why are they using space superiority X-Wing fighters to bombard the power station? Because that's all they had the money for! There were no big warships, let alone B-Wings and other dedicated bomber-types. I assume all this was cut from the movie for some reason.