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Did you know that apparently tHeY fLy nOw?!
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00:00J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson's Star Wars movies certainly had their moments along the way.
00:06However, this was also a trilogy crammed full of absolutely ridiculous developments, idiotic
00:12pieces of writing, and the unforgivable wasting of many a compelling hero and villain.
00:18So I am Gareth, this is WhatCultureStarWars, and here are the 10 dumbest things in the
00:23Star Wars sequel trilogy.
00:2510.
00:26Undoing Rey's Nobody Origins
00:28Coming into The Last Jedi, the Force-sensitive scavenger from Jakku, known as Rey, had spent
00:34years waiting for the return of her parents, with many assuming this was all leading to
00:38the sensational reveal of the central figure being related to another famous family in
00:43the galaxy.
00:44But Rian Johnson had no interest in giving fans what he saw as the easiest thing she could
00:50hear though, brilliantly making Rey a nobody instead as a way of forcing her to find out
00:55who she was for herself.
00:57Then J.J. Abrams took one look at that unexpected and rather bold development, and said that's
01:02great and all, but what if she was actually a Palpatine?
01:05In the director's mind, coming from the worst possible place was the more shocking thing
01:10to discover.
01:11Now sure, Abrams felt this Rise of Skywalker retcon would ultimately show how some things
01:15are more powerful than blood, but Johnson's twist surely did the same thing, right?
01:20So choosing to undo such a strong narrative shift, and instead getting Rey wrapped up in
01:25silly Palpatine Skywalker last name nonsense, just undermined what was already a powerful
01:30message one film prior.
01:32Number 9, Wasting Numerous Antagonists
01:35For every terrifying Darth Vader or despicable Emperor Palpatine, pre-return that is, there's
01:41also been a number of once intriguing villains who ultimately ended up being stupidly wasted
01:46in the Skywalker saga.
01:48That was sadly very much the case throughout the sequel trilogy too.
01:51Though Kylo Ren certainly made for a compelling and layered villain turned hero, the rest of
01:56the enemies on show ranged from needlessly dumb to ridiculously underutilised.
02:01Captain Phasma once seemed destined to become an icon in her own right, after catching the
02:05eye during trailers for Episode 7, The Force Awakens, but she just ended up being a slightly
02:10shinier stormtrooper to be swatted away a few times.
02:13General Hugs could have been the sequel's slightly more unhinged answer to Grand Moff Tarkin,
02:18but just wound up turning into a silly pantomime distraction.
02:22Then you have Supreme Leader Snoke.
02:24A properly sinister top villain brought to life by a fully motion captured up Andy Serkis.
02:30Only instead of backing Ren's master as an even bigger and more horrifying threat than
02:34the last wrinkly menace of the series, Rian Johnson opted to chop him in half before
02:39JJ Abrams came along and made him a silly Strangcast Palpatine puppet.
02:43Why create more engaging and frightening new adversaries for our heroes to overcome, when
02:48you can just idiotically turn them all into unintimidating jokes instead eh?
02:52Now I've got a quick question for you, who is your favourite Star Wars villain of all
02:56time?
02:57Probably not a sequel's one, but you let me know in the comments section down below.
03:00Number 8, Deciding to Ignore Some of the Most Compelling Central Figures
03:05Along with unforgivably wasting a bunch of interesting new villains during Episodes 7 to
03:109, a number of central heroes were also ridiculously ignored in the sequel saga.
03:15After being introduced as another brave Resistance member in The Last Jedi, the fearless Rose Tico
03:20went from being near the centre of our heroes' fight against the First Order, to almost
03:25disappearing entirely in The Rise of Skywalker.
03:28Rather than doubling down on Finn's new love interest in the face of racist online bullies
03:32targeting Kelly Marie Tran for her work in the middle flick, the folks behind Episode
03:369 ended up giving her a grand total of just over one minute of screen time.
03:41Nice one Disney.
03:42Then you have the magnetic John Boyega, who helped introduce the world to the defecting
03:47First Order Stormtrooper Finn in The Force Awakens.
03:50Despite being marketed as one of the major players in the new films, Finn just ended up
03:54being little more than a side character, being sent out on side quests before becoming a
03:59completely wasted bit-part player in the final episode.
04:02Boyega himself put it best, telling GQ back in 2020,
04:06Do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise
04:10than they are, and then have them pushed to the side.
04:12It's not good.
04:14Not good indeed.
04:15Number 7, Not Having Leia Hug Chewbacca
04:18In the wake of the tragic demise of everyone's favourite rebellious smuggler Han Solo,
04:23Rey, Chewbacca and Finn reunite with the rest of the Resistance towards the end of The
04:27Force Awakens.
04:28It's here when an understandably heartbroken General Leia Organa meets Rey for the very first
04:33time, offering the young scavenger a hug as the two grieve the loss of Solo.
04:37Only what could have been a rather touching moment instantly had many puzzled.
04:42Why on earth would Leia choose to squeeze a woman she's never met over the long-time
04:46pal of Han and her own old friend Chewbacca?
04:49The iconic Wookiee was right there, and she just wandered right on past the no-doubt devastated
04:54Chewie.
04:54JJ Abrams has even gone on record to note how he regrets not having Chewie hug Leia here.
04:59The director explained that the Force-sensitive Rey and Leia would have likely still learned
05:03about each other off-screen before ever meeting, and he also admitted to SlashFilm that his
05:09intentions were to show that an in-pain Chewie was just focused on looking after an injured
05:13Finn in the scene.
05:14But with the Wookiee still being in Leia's vicinity so soon after the death of a person
05:19they both held dear, he'd unintentionally felt almost like a slight, and Abrams' foolish
05:24oversight ultimately undermined a potentially quite moving embrace.
05:276. Not Killing Off Chewbacca
05:30Two films after being shockingly ignored by Leia on Dakar, Chewie was suddenly captured
05:35by the villainous First Order during The Rise of Skywalker.
05:38Then as Rey attempted to bring down that Chewie-carrying transport, whilst Kylo Ren pulled the spacecraft
05:43in the opposite direction, the granddaughter of Palpatine inadvertently pulverized that
05:48ship via unexpected Force lightning.
05:51Just like that, one of the OG icons was tragically killed by his mate.
05:55A daring move that highlighted the level of raw power Rey possessed, and supported the
05:59idea that she may even be moving that little bit closer towards the dark side.
06:04But rather than let that heartbreaking and deeply surprising moment be, Abrams and co. just
06:09opted for the coward's way out, soon revealing that Chewie was actually on another transport
06:13the whole time.
06:15Instead of leaving folks watching on relieved, the lazy twist just irritated many a Star Wars
06:20fan, and made them feel stupid for ever believing Disney would have the guts to commit to such
06:24a bold idea in the first place.
06:27Cheers for watching this WhatCulture Star Wars video today, now go and hit that subscribe
06:31button down below for more of this sort of glorious stuff.
06:345. The Sith Dagger Matching Up With The Destroyed Death Star
06:38As you likely expected coming into this list, The Rise of Skywalker unfortunately contains
06:43more unbelievably stupid moments than any other sequel entry.
06:47Yes, it was also the Star Wars flick that finally brought back the incredible Lando Calrissian,
06:52and chucked one of the finest duels of the series into the Skywalker saga on Kef Beer.
06:57But that latter part of the story also involved one of the dumbest moments of the whole trilogy,
07:02as Rey and co. search for the Sith Wayfinder that will take them to the Sith World of Exegol.
07:07The granddaughter of Palpatine uses the Sith Dagger they've picked up to locate the
07:11all-important item. You see, that special knife just so happened to match up perfectly with the
07:16way the completely wrecked second Death Star was lying in the sea, with its tape-measure thingy
07:22then showing the gang where they needed to go. That's right, not only did the group manage to
07:26land on exactly the right part of the planet to view this section of the broken space station,
07:32Rey also conveniently pulled out the Wayfinder Finding Dagger in the precise location needed for
07:37it to line up with the one vital chunk of Death Star wreckage.
07:40What are the chances, eh? As far as plot contrivances go,
07:45they just don't come much sillier than this dumb dagger nonsense.
07:48Number 4, Finn has something to tell Rey, but decides to keep it to himself.
07:53As already noted, John Boyega's charismatic one-time stormtrooper Finn
07:57was massively underutilized in The Rise of Skywalker in particular.
08:01When our heroes find themselves being dragged into a sinking field on Persona,
08:05Finn lets Rey know that he has something to tell her.
08:08But when nudged on the subject after they survive, he simply says he'll let her know later on.
08:13Later, bafflingly, never actually comes in that flick though,
08:16with the dumb call being made for him to just keep that interesting information to himself.
08:20Boyega was quick to confirm on Twitter slash X that Finn wasn't going to tell Rey he was in love
08:25with her.
08:26Then, after choosing not to deliver the answers to this mystery in the film itself,
08:30Abrams eventually revealed at a Q&A screening afterwards,
08:33that Finn wanted to tell Rey he was actually Force-sensitive.
08:37Admittedly, there are a few hints to be found in the flick that point to Finn being a Force-user,
08:42like the fact he had a feeling where the nav signal was coming from during the Battle of Exegol,
08:46but choosing not to reveal such a massive detail in the film itself,
08:51and just throwing it out casually at a Q&A, was a hugely puzzling move.
08:55Number 3, A Good Question For Another Time
08:58The Force Awakens not only introduced viewers to Rey, Finn, and other new faces like the pirate queen, Maz Kanata,
09:05it also saw the return of an item just as iconic as any member of the original and prequel trilogies,
09:11Anakin and Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.
09:13But how did the little old alien Kanata come to possess such a legendary laser sword?
09:18Well, that's exactly what Han Solo wanted to know in the feature,
09:21only instead of just chucking out a simple but intriguing response,
09:25Maz shrugged off that massive question and told the group she'd share another time.
09:29Just like Boyega's thing he needed to tell Rey,
09:32that revelation never actually ended up on screen though,
09:35because J.J. Abrams seemingly just gets a kick out of teasing fans with things he has no intention of
09:39fully explaining in his Star Wars movies.
09:42The director did actually intend on originally revealing this secret in a montage during Episode 7,
09:47but noted during the movie's director's commentary that it was a story they could just tell another time,
09:53before then proceeding to infuriatingly do anything but that.
09:56Cheers, J.J.
09:57Number 2, They Fly Now
09:59Closing out with two more totally unwise things that went down during that modern-day masterpiece known as The Rise
10:05of Skywalker,
10:06poor John Boyega was once again caught up in a rather dumb scenario in that final sequel.
10:11Remember when the gang are trying to keep from being blown to bits by the First Order on Pasana?
10:15Well, as they speed across the desert, Finn spots how these particular stormtroopers are equipped with jetpacks,
10:21meaning that they can very much fly now.
10:24But what may have initially just felt like a poor throwaway joke in the flick
10:28was actually a somewhat dumb statement when you take a second to think about it.
10:32Troopers soaring through the air with rockets on their backs isn't exactly anything new in this galaxy far, far away,
10:38is it?
10:38Boyega himself even rolled his eyes at the stupid line whilst doing press for Episode 9,
10:43noting how clone troopers were using jetpacks in the Clone Wars.
10:47Either as a cringy attempt at humor, or just a generally puzzling statement in this universe.
10:52They fly now, they fly now, they fly now!
10:55Is an undeniably dumb few seconds of sequel dialogue.
10:59And number 1, Somehow Palpatine Returned
11:02Cheating death wasn't anything new in the Star Wars universe before the events of The Rise of Skywalker,
11:07But even with Darth Sidious suffering a somewhat similar fate to the eventually returning Darth Maul during Episode 6, Return
11:14of the Jedi,
11:15it was largely accepted that the Emperor wasn't going to pull a Maul and return from the grave.
11:20Even George Lucas let Palpatine actor Ian McDiarmid know that the powerful Sith was definitely dead after his Death Star
11:26fall.
11:27But somehow Palpatine did ultimately return, didn't he?
11:30And in doing so, J.J. Abrams and co. provided Star Wars with one of its dumbest ever developments,
11:36along with one of the most idiotic lines in movie history.
11:39Oscar Isaac deserved better, damn it.
11:41In a move that absolutely no one understandably saw coming,
11:44it was revealed that Palpatine's essence had survived the fall and been transferred into a clone body on Exegol.
11:50On top of feeling like the worst kind of nostalgia,
11:53Palpatine's return also completely undermined the sequel's other big bad Snoke,
11:57after it was revealed, as already noted, that he was just being used as the Emperor's stupid puppet this whole
12:03time.
12:04If that wasn't bad enough, this unwanted resurrection undid one of the greatest moments of the entire Skywalker saga too,
12:10with Vader stepping back towards the light and killing off Palpatine to save his son,
12:15ultimately meaning far less in the wake of this dumb return of the Sith.
12:18If only someone told Abrams and the gang not to do it!
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