@Background Pony #127B
It goes like this.
ANH: The Death Star is the problem it’s the embodiment of the threat of the Empire. There’s the young hero learning about his father about the power he has but that’s not the main focus of the film the driving force is finding away to stop the Death Star.
ROTJ: New Death Star yes. Rebels wanna destroy it yes. But it’s not what the movie says matters that’s Luke’s confrontation of his father and the Emperor. Things have flipped what was the threat in the first movie is now just a backdrop.
It’s important to note that while both had a Death Star the way they are used is different.
Which is why I think Starkiller Base was the biggest problem in TFA and what ended up hurting the New Trilogy the most.
TFA: Starts our like ANH bad guys looking for a Droid with critical intel on a dessert planet and a local hick gets swept up in it. Same story beats but the difference is of course the intel isn’t plans for a super weapon it’s a map the Luke Skywalker that bad guys and good guys are desperate to get and that’s fine that’s a good enough plot. But then half way through it the movie introduces Starkiller the bigger badder Death Star that can fire through hyperspace(?) and hit multiple planets. Now the search for Skywalker story takes a backseat to this thing that’s introduced in a way that feels like it’s just there to tick a check mark than actually being needed for the story “the Empire had a big planet destroyer so the First Order must also have one”. Which leads to the complaint that TFA is just rehashing ANH and thus leads to the next movie needing to be “different” by tuning ESB “on its head”.