Desert Planet, Ice Planet, Forest planet - it went through all three settings from the originals in a single film. And ended on planet Irland (or Westeros).

Wonder what they will come up with in the next two (I can see them revisiting Bespin at some point).

Quote from SamH :

All the allusions to a bitter/angry Lucas are just click-bait. There's nothing to see there.

That's good to hear. I wish I had the time to watch the interview .

That lack of time for people to read and understand things is what leads to a lot of ignorance in today's world. Also leads to a lot of click bait. It's sad.

Alright, saw the film yesterday, so here is my opinion: for me, it was just an OK film... Yes, the action and the effects were great, the characters are intriguing (Team Fin!) - but the plot holes and overbearing fan service ruined it for me.

[rant]
mrbogeyman mirrored my feelings about this being more "A New Hope" II rather than Ep. VII, so I won't make them again here...

This film is supposed to be 20 years after Ep. VI, which makes it about 40 - 50 years from the first episodes? So 50 years is enough to make a long standing war between Jedi and Sith-led armies myth? Or the (probably) centuries of culling force-sensitive children by a Paladin Order preaching "the Force" attached to the Senate most worlds belonged to has become legend in just a few decades?

That in turn makes Rey the single most OP character in the whole franchise! Even the former King of OP Vader needed years of training to have such a cakewalk as she did:
- Captured by the bad guys? No problem, just a quick mindtrick and off she goes.
- Sneaking through evil base crawling with minions? Spider-sense - excuse me, Force-foresight engaged!
- Battling a (somewhat) trained Sith apprentice with will and lightsaber who just moments ago tore through his enemies? EZ...
That is quite the feat for an untrained girl who days before thought such things just stories...

The end was a bit contrived as well, with R2D2 miraculously turning on just when it was time to begin the next arc, but that could be explained (by a vision of Luke maybe) in the next episode (I doubt it will be)...
[/rant]

I hope the fan service is done now and Abrams can bring something new to the Star Wars Universe, the characters would definitely deserve that...

Quote from bbman :

I hope the fan service is done now and Abrams can bring something new to the Star Wars Universe, the characters would definitely deserve that...

Great post, but Episode VIII does not involve JJ Abrams. Episodes VIII and IX are written by Rian Johnson. Episode VIII will also be directed by him, and episode IX will be directed by Colin Trevorrow.

Both are young, and relatively new in their profession, but have already saw fairly big success. It will be interesting.

Personally, I think the whole episode had to be done this way to write off the old characters.

The next ones will be back to new plot I hope, maybe writing off a couple old ones along the way.