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cough JJ. Abrams cough Lost cough Star Wars sequels cough https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/jj-abrams-lack-of-plan-in-star-wars-latest-trilogy-was

*cough* JJ. Abrams *cough* Lost *cough* Star Wars sequels *cough* https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/jj-abrams-lack-of-plan-in-star-wars-latest-trilogy-was-a-critical-flaw/?comments=1 https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/jj-abrams-lack-of-pla...

handrous 5y ago
Abrams does this in miniature constantly, in most of his films. The result is that they're heavily coincidence-driven (you don't have to plan a coincidence!) and he often has to invent a coincidence to fix a coincidence he just introduced[0]. He's good enough at keeping action flowing that one may only notice the most egregious cases at first, but it's the kind of thing that once you realize how he operates, you can't not notice it. [0] My go-to example of this from Star Wars is the sequence in which Our Heroes just happen to find the Millennium Falcon, and Rey just happens to know how to fly it excellently, and then Han and Chewie just happen to show up on another ship with what can't conceivably have been more than 20 minutes' notice, assuming we want to be generous and grant that they were somehow notified—they show up because Abrams needs them there now, and so he just has them appear by whatever conveyance is convenient for him, that is, lets him keep flowing and not need to edit or re-arrange anything or operate under any constraints whatsoever—but now Abrams has written himself a second ship he doesn't need, so he... has another set of coincidences happen, for no plot reason aside from destroying the ship he just added but doesn't need anymore.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
  Or in Star Trek when Kirk is marooned on a planet at the exact same spot as Old Spock. How lucky was that? Also, the planet case a very convenient view of a destroyed Vulkan up in the sky... Just like that rebel base in Ep. VII has a view of several destroyed planets in the central part of the galaxy. Ugh.
bemmu 5y ago
Got to admit that Lost is a great example of not resolving things properly. I wonder though if that's because it was impossible, or just the JJ. Abrams's style. He's said in an interview that he keeps an unopened box on his shelf that he never intends to open, just because he likes the feeling of a forever unresolved mystery.

*cough* JJ. Abrams *cough* Lost *cough* Star Wars sequels *cough* https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/jj-abrams-lack-of-plan-in-star-wars-latest-trilogy-was

handrous 5y ago

Abrams does this in miniature constantly, in most of his films. The result is that they're heavily coincidence-driven (you don't have to plan a coincidence!) and he often has to invent a coincidence to fix a coincidence he just introduced[0]. He's good enough at keeping action flowing that one may only notice the most egregious cases at first, but it's the kind of thing that once you realize how he operates, you can't not notice it. [0] My go-to example of this from Star Wars is the sequence in which Our Heroes just happen to find the Millennium Falcon, and Rey just happens to know how to fly it excellently, and then Han and Chewie just happen to show up on another ship with what can't conceivably have been more than 20 minutes' notice, assuming we want to be generous and grant that they were somehow notified—they show up because Abrams needs them there now, and so he just has them appear by whatever conveyance is convenient for him, that is, lets him keep flowing and not need to edit or re-arrange anything or operate under any constraints whatsoever—but now Abrams has written himself a second ship he doesn't need, so he... has another set of coincidences happen, for no plot reason aside from destroying the ship he just added but doesn't need anymore.

Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
Or in Star Trek when Kirk is marooned on a planet at the exact same spot as Old Spock. How lucky was that? Also, the planet case a very convenient view of a destroyed Vulkan up in the sky... Just like that rebel base in Ep. VII has a view of several destroyed planets in the central part of the galaxy. Ugh.

bemmu 5y ago

Got to admit that Lost is a great example of not resolving things properly. I wonder though if that's because it was impossible, or just the JJ. Abrams's style. He's said in an interview that he keeps an unopened box on his shelf that he never intends to open, just because he likes the feeling of a forever unresolved mystery.