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00:00J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson's Star Wars movies certainly had their moments along the
00:06way.
00:07However, 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 What Culture Star Wars and here are the 10 Dumbest Things in
00:23the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.
00:2510.
00:26Revealing Rey's nobody origins Coming into The Last Jedi, the Force-sensitive
00:31scavenger from Jakku known as Rey had spent years waiting for the return of her parents,
00:37with many assuming this was all leading to the sensational reveal of the central figure
00:41being related to another famous family in the galaxy.
00:45But Rian Johnson had no interest in giving fans what he saw as the easiest thing she
00:49could hear though, brilliantly making Rey a nobody instead as a way of forcing her to
00:55find out who she was for herself.
00:57Then J.J. Abrams took one look at that unexpected and rather bold development and said that's
01:03great 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
01:10thing to discover.
01:11Now sure, Abrams felt this Rise of Skywalker retcon would ultimately show how some things
01:16are 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
01:25in silly Palpatine Skywalker last name nonsense, just undermined what was already a powerful
01:30message one film prior.
01:329.
01:33Wasting Numerous Antagonists For every terrifying Darth Vader or despicable
01:38Emperor Palpatine, pre-Return that is, there's also been a number of once-intriguing villains
01:43who ultimately ended up being stupidly wasted in 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
01:56of the 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 VII The Force Awakens, but she just ended up being a slightly
02:10shinier stormtrooper to be swatted away a few times.
02:14Little Hooks could have been the sequel's slightly more unhinged answer to Grand Moff
02:18Tarkin, but just wound up turning into a silly pantomime distraction.
02:22Then you have Supreme Leader Snoke, a properly sinister top villain brought to life by a
02:27fully motion-captured up Andy Serkis.
02:30Only instead of backing Ren's master as an even bigger and more horrifying threat
02:34than the last wrinkly menace of the series, Rian Johnson opted to chop him in half before
02:39J.J. Abrams came along and made him a silly, strong-cast Palpatine puppet.
02:43Why create more engaging and frightening new adversaries for our heroes to overcome,
02:48when you can just idiotically turn them all into unintimidating jokes instead, eh?
02:52I've got a quick question for you, who is your favourite Star Wars villain of all time?
02:57Probably not a sequels one, but you let me know in the comments section down below.
03:018.
03:02Deciding to ignore some of the most compelling central figures
03:05Along with unforgivably wasting a bunch of interesting new villains during Episodes VII
03:10to IX, 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
03:20Tico went from being near the centre of our heroes' fight against the First Order to
03:24almost disappearing entirely in The Rise of Skywalker.
03:28Rather than doubling down on Finn's new love interest in the face of racist online
03:32bullies targeting Kelly Marie Tran for her work in the middle flick, the folks behind
03:36Episode IX 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
03:54up being little more than a side character, being sent out on side quests before becoming
03:59a completely 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.
04:13It's not good.
04:14Not good indeed.
04:157.
04:16Not having Leia hug Chewbacca In the wake of the tragic demise of everyone's
04:20favourite rebellious smuggler Han Solo, Rey, Chewbacca and Finn reunite with the rest of
04:25the Resistance towards the end of The Force Awakens.
04:28It's here when an understandably heartbroken General Leia Organa meets Rey for the very
04:32first time, offering the young scavenger a hug as the two grieve the loss of Solo.
04:38Only 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 longtime
04:46pal of Han and her own old friend Chewbacca?
04:49The iconic wookie was right there, and she just wandered right on past the no doubt devastated
04:54Chewie.
04:55JJ Abrams has even gone on record to note how he regrets not having Chewie hug Leia
04:59here.
05:00He later explained that the Force-sensitive Rey and Leia would have likely still learned
05:03about each other offscreen 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.
05:15But with the wookie 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.
05:286.
05:29Turning off Chewbacca Two films after being shockingly ignored
05:32by Leia on Dakar, Chewie was suddenly captured by the villainous First Order during the Rise
05:37of Skywalker.
05:38Then, as Rey attempted to bring down that Chewie-carrying transport, whilst Kylo Ren
05:43pulled the spacecraft in the opposite direction, the granddaughter of Palpatine inadvertently
05:47pulverised that ship 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.
06:09just opted for the coward's way out, soon revealing that Chewie was actually on another
06:13transport the whole time.
06:15Instead of leaving folks watching on relieved, the lazy twist just irritated many a Star
06:20Wars fan, and made them feel stupid for ever believing Disney would have the guts to commit
06:24to such a 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!
06:34As 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
06:51Calrissian, and chucked one of the finest duels of the series into the Skywalker saga
06:56on Kefbier.
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 all-important
07:12item.
07:13You see, that special knife just so happened to match up perfectly with the way the completely
07:17wrecked second Death Star was lying in the sea.
07:20With its tape measure thingy then showing the gang where they needed to go.
07:24That's right, not only did the group manage to luckily land on exactly the right part
07:28of the planet to view this section of the broken space station, Rey also conveniently
07:33pulled out the Wayfinder-finding dagger in the precise location needed for it to line
07:38up with the one vital chunk of Death Star wreckage.
07:41What are the chances, eh?
07:43As far as plot contrivances go, they just don't come much sillier than this dumb dagger
07:47nonsense.
07:484.
07:49Finn has something to tell Rey, but decides to keep it to himself
07:52As already noted, John Boyega's charismatic one-time stormtrooper Finn was massively underutilized
07:59in The Rise of Skywalker in particular.
08:01When our heroes find themselves being dragged into a sinking field on Pasaana, Finn lets
08:06Rey 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
08:12later on.
08:13Later, bafflingly, never actually comes in that flick though, with the dumb call being
08:17made for him to just keep that interesting information to himself.
08:20Boyega was quick to confirm on Twitter that Finn wasn't going to tell Rey he was in
08:25love with her.
08:26Then, after choosing not to deliver the answers to this mystery in the film itself, Abrams
08:30eventually revealed at a Q&A screening afterwards that Finn wanted to tell Rey he was actually
08:35Force-sensitive.
08:36Admittedly, there are a few hints to be found in the flick that point to Finn being a Force
08:41user, like the fact he had a feeling where the nav signal was coming from during the
08:45Battle of Exegol.
08:47But choosing not to reveal such a massive detail in the film itself, and just throwing
08:51it out casually at a Q&A, was a hugely puzzling move.
08:553.
08:56A Good Question for Another Time The Force Awakens not only introduced viewers
09:01to Rey, Finn and other new faces like the pirate queen Maz Kanata, it also saw the return
09:06of an item just as iconic as any member of the original and prequel trilogies – Anakin
09:11and Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.
09:14And 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.
09:22Only instead of just chucking out a simple but intriguing response, Maz shrugged off
09:26that massive question and told the group she'd share another time.
09:29Just like Boyega's thing he needed to tell Rey, that revelation never actually ended
09:33up on screen though, because JJ Abrams seemingly just gets a kick out of teasing fans with
09:38things he has no intention of fully explaining in his Star Wars movies.
09:42The director did actually intend on originally revealing this secret in a montage during
09:46episode 7, but noted during the movie's director's commentary that it was a story
09:50they could just tell another time, before then proceeding to infuriatingly do anything
09:55but that.
09:56Cheers, JJ.
09:572.
09:58They Fly Now?
09:59Closing out with two more totally unwise things that went down during that modern-day masterpiece
10:04known as The Rise of Skywalker, poor John Boyega was once again caught up in a rather
10:08dumb scenario in that final sequel.
10:11Remember when the gang are trying to keep from being blown to bits by the First Order
10:14on Pasaana?
10:15Well, as they speed across the desert, Finn spots how these particular stormtroopers are
10:20equipped with jetpacks, meaning that they can very much fly now.
10:24But what may have initially just felt like a poor throwaway joke in the flick, was actually
10:28a 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
10:36in this galaxy far, far away, is it?
10:39Boyega himself even rolled his eyes at this stupid line whilst doing press for Episode
10:439, noting how clone troopers were using jetpacks in the Clone Wars.
10:47Either as a cringey attempt at humour, or just a generally puzzling statement in this
10:52universe.
10:53They fly now?
10:54They fly now?
10:55They fly now?
10:56Is an undeniably dumb few seconds of sequel dialogue.
10:591.
11:00Somehow Palpatine Returned
11:02Cheating death wasn't anything new in the Star Wars universe before the events of The
11:06Rise of Skywalker, but even with Darth Sidious suffering a somewhat similar fate to the eventually
11:11returning Darth Maul during Episode 6, Return of the Jedi, it was largely accepted that
11:16the 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
11:24definitely dead after his Death Star fall.
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, dammit.
11:41In a move that absolutely no one understandably saw coming, it was revealed that Palpatine's
11:46essence had survived the fall and been transferred into a clone body on Exegol.
11:51On top of feeling like the worst kind of nostalgia, Palpatine's return also completely undermined
11:55the sequel's other big bad snoke, after it was revealed, as already noted, that he
12:00was just being used as the Emperor's stupid puppet this whole time.
12:04If that wasn't bad enough, this unwanted resurrection undid one of the greatest moments
12:08of 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.
12:19If only someone told Abrams and the gang not to do it.