Those problems started with 7 when JJ set up a nonsensical galaxy without any explanations in mind. 7 was a fun movie but had terrible world building. That set up all subsequent movies for failure.

The sequel trilogy lacked an overarching story. It was idiocy that they didn’t have someone oversee the big picture with one coherent story in mind. Those problems started with 7 and just got more and more apparent.

The problems with 8 stemmed from the problems with 7, which failed to lay any groundwork for the rest of the trilogy to build upon.

I feel like episode 7 was bad because it follows A New Hope far too closely. I loved the vibe he was going for, it was more intense star wars, the Special effects and sounds were remarkable - it successfully felt like an honest sequel.

I do not think that the situation he put the story into was a good position for the subsequent writers, however, and it is very strange to then hand off the next movie to Rian Johnson, as it suggests JJ Abrams didn’t have a trilogy-long plan to follow. The lack of experimentation story-wise also suggests a huge lack of confidence in his (and the other 2 writers) own writing abilities

Episode 8 didn’t really match any other star wars movie in terms of its scope, which was far too small. That might not be the case if JJ hadn’t killed off most of the good guys & their allies to make everything resemble a new hope. I find all 3 of these movies profoundly demoralising because its just a strugglefest.

The problems with episode 9, if we’re being completely honest, came from the fact that there wasn’t a coherent plan for the trilogy. Yes George lucas didn’t follow his original plan for the originals but he did plan out the prequels, and I think Episodes 2 and 3 largely stuck to that plan. Disney being what it is, has no excuse to have not planned out the sequels or taken more care with the story.

Episode 9 was meaningless. There was no reason that it had to be a graphically assaultive hyper-speed chunk of brainrot with no discernable events or story other than characters rushing around very very fast. Nothing that happened in previous movies had any consequences on episode 9, except for Kylo’s feelings for Rey (from episode 8). Episode 9 didn’t even need to be labelled as a star wars movie, it was more like an event from Kingdom Hearts or something.

• Episode 7 disrespected the original stories by being a re-write of A new Hope
• Episode 8 disrespected the lore by having a hyperspace jump, being “subversive” and utilising moral pandering which doesn’t apply to that universe. (The Denizens of SW galaxy are VERY familiar with the existence of arms dealers, LOL, and they aren’t ‘scared of female admirals’ like Holdo seemed to suggest)
• Episode 9 disrespected the franchise by chewing up the concept of being a jedi and spitting it out again. Rey utilised 4 or 5 abilities we haven’t seen jedi use before - which is fine, but it was done cheaply, just like palpatine’s return was, so that they could have a story premise.

Sorry… just don’t think JJ deserves or needs the love here.

I heard it described this way, and I feel there’s some truth in it: “Episode 7 is a love letter to Star Wars, but it failed to actually be Star Wars.” I absolutely feel Abram’s love of the franchise in it, and that’s a good thing. Somehow he just seems to have missed the core of what made the stories feel like Star Wars. He did an admirable job trying to course correct with 9, but man, how do you fix the errors of 8 🥲

Yeah, that’s definitely Mike Stoklasa.