6. More Details On Finn, Rey, And Poe Dameron
Rey effortlessly manages to take control of the Millennium Falcon, but how is a scavenger on Jakku such an accomplished pilot? Well, it turns out that she's built a flight simulator of sorts from all the bits and pieces she's collected from the remains of the ships scattered all over the planet, spending her spare time using that to hone her abilities. It's probably not a bad thing that that was cut from the movie in all honesty! The novelisation meanwhile spends a lot more time with Finn, exploring the time he spent training as a cadet and building up to the moment FN-2187 is sent on his first mission to Jakku. Surprisingly, it's revealed that he's an exceptional leader and fighter, with those on his squad of Stormtroopers actually looking up to him. This is quite a contrast to how he ended up being portrayed in the movie when we first meet him. As for Poe, the novelisation also provides a much more satisfying explanation as to how he managed to survive that crash on Jakku. We learn that the pilot woke up in the crashed TIE Fighter and wanders away pretty much at the same time Finn is running towards it. Poe eventually ends up meeting a scavenger who he he protects from an attack by a group of thugs by piloting a speeder, and in a bid to thank him, said scavenger helps Poe reach an outpost where he contacts the Resistance for help. Was this ever shot? It's not hard to see why such a large subplot was scrapped, but we'll likely find out when the Blu-ray hits.