2. It Was All A Dream...
Final scene of Star Wars VII: The last forces of the New Repulic, struggling to preserve their society under the onslaught of Sith Lords, storm troopers and wobbly CGI droids, are surrounded and about to die. Their leader, a poorly-written and flatly-acted padawan, steps forward to make a brilliant last speech and is gunned down. It is disaster for the New Republic and, indeed for the forces of good throughout the galaxy. Suddenly, the scene shifts. We see a young Obi-Wan Kenobi lying down, his eyes closed. The eyelids flutter, he wakes up, and we see he is in a Republic spacecraft. He wanders to the bridge, says hello to Qui-Gon Jinn, who is enjoying his breakfast, and says, wow, I had the weirdest dream. The it was all a dream trick is useful for providing a sudden twist to a series, and a pseudo-Deus ex machina that resolves a seemingly intractable situation in a kind-of plausible manner. It also helps out scriptwriters who have written themselves into a hole. It worked on Dallas, when the season-long absence of Patrick Duffy after his character was killed in a car accident was revealed to his wife, Pams, dream. And, of course, in the final episode of the Bob Newhart Show, when we find out the entire show was a nightmare! So why not Star Wars? Jar Jar Binks, really boring trade disputes, the two-headed pod race announcer: all part of Obi-Wans dream. Sure, this might make Episodes IV-VI figments of imagination as well, but sacrifices must be made.