Star Wars: The Force Compareth

Aka JJ Abrams "Inspiration"
My comparison of A New Hope and The Force Awakens

              As I previously mentioned last week the new Star Wars movie takes a lot of inspirations from the original. This has caused some derision from fans as well as some dividing opinions. Since I've seen the new one more than I'd like to admit on here (sorry wallet) I thought I'd do a comparison between the two. I won't be going into too much detail since some similarities were intentional fan service but I will do a general outline and well as a comparison diagram. Hope this helps the fighting stop and we can just concentrate on the fact that it was a beautiful movie to watch (thanks to 3-d light-sabers). Everything in italics and bold is similar.

                           A New Hope:                                                 The Force Awakens:

Open space, ship coming down	Open space, ship coming down
Worried droid is worried	Desert world with rebels on it
Evil villain introduced	Gives info to droid, stays behind
A female hero introduction	Evil villain introduced
Gives info to droid, stays behind	Torture of rebel
Evil villain introduced	Rescue attempt
Droid stranded on desert planet	Aided by a friend in stormtrooper disguise
Desert world with rebels on it	Dogfight, shot down
Saves droids from evil captors	Droid stranded on desert planet
Montage of boring dessert and life	A female hero introduction
Whiny hero is whiny	Montage of boring desert and life
R2D2 won't explain himself	Saves droids from evil captors
Chance meeting of 2 heroes	Chance meeting of 2 heroes
Boring board meeting	Evil guy has family issues, meditation
Torture of rebel	Millenium Falcon dogfight (not in space)
Family slaughter	Han and Chewie suckered in to “help”
Jedi Mind trick on stormtrooper	Han doesn't want to help
Cantina scene	Bad guys attack due to Hans debts
Han and Chewie suckered in to “help”	Tentacle monster almost kills hero
Bad guy attack due to Hans debts	Cantina scene
Death Star 1 Test	Finn decides to leave the fight
Rescue attempt	Rey finds lightsaber, vision, freaks out, runs
Aided by a friend in stormtrooper disguise	Death Star 3 Test
Tentacle monster almost kills hero	Cantina destroyed, heroes captured
Saved by droids	Finn decides to help
1 on 1 saber fight	Return to rebel base
Millenium Falcon dogfight in space	Hasty plans made
Return to rebel base	Glaring weakness in weapon
Hasty plans made	Rebel torture
Glaring weakness in weapon	Jedi Mind trick on stormtrooper
Han doesn't want to help	Dogfighting at Death Star 3
Dogfighting at Death Star 1	Explosions
Explosions	Injured villain disables all but 1 hero
Injured villain disables all but 1 hero	1 on 1 saber fight
Attack run by 1 ship	Attack run by 1 ship
Han decides to help	Explosions
Hero prevails due to the Force	Heroine prevails due to the Force
Celebration at base	Celebration at base
No cliffhanger	Finding Luke
Fin	Fin

          As you can see, the similarities are highlighted in bold. While still adding new characters, plot and scenes the Force Awakens sticks close to a New Hope. If you only list the similarities it somewhat mind-boggling how someone could make it so similar. Even though it is juggled and rearranged in several places the themes and features are an almost carbon...ite copy. While the fan service was stellar, fans of the original like myself wanted something new and not a rehash of familiar ground. I'm really hoping the next movie, after establishing its love for the fans and the material will set itself apart and actually show us something new. Cinematography and 3d effects aside the familiar does make one feel at home and happy with the treatment of said material. I hope everyone is enjoying the Blue-Ray release while holding out for the actual 3d version (5 different version of that). See you all in December at the premiere of Rogue One.