Star Wars BEWARE SPOILER ALERTS NOW AHEAD

Now this is getting cool
Couple of notes/ theories:
On Finn's sabre skills, it could be he also has the force, but doesn't know it fully...yet. But remember when Luke first picked up a sabre? Took him about 2 goes to be able to hit those remote thingies with a blast visor on, so it's feasible Finn could hold his own for a bit.
On Rey. Luke's sabre "called out to her". Could it be that Luke's "remote piloting" the weapon from Craggy Island? Or was she able to absorb a good zapping of force when Kylo was trying to interrogate her?
That the ship designs are almost identical lends itself to keeping the identity of the franchise. Let's face it, they were pretty iconic.
As for the Falcon, I still think it's the coolest ship in the whole SW universe. So what if it looks like 2 dustbin lids stuck together with a satellite TV dish on top? It just wouldn't be Star Wars without it would it?
The original films were meticulous about having a universe that was a bit "bashed up" & "worn". Home-made even (C3PO for example). That was such a refreshing departure from sci fi featuring gleaming vessels that looked as if they'd just rolled out of the show room & I think the X-wings carried that sort of feel in TFA.
Certainly it was made for the fans. I think Abrams took on board all the criticism of the prequels & endless tinkering with the original trilogy & dropped all those notions into one of those garbage crushers from episode IV. He realised the Anakin/ Vader chapter was pretty well closed & looked to start new discussion, theorising & general debate with TFA. It seems to have worked too
I think it was a bold step to dump the existing SW universe/ canon, but it paid off largely. Yes, there are plot holes, but then (as a few of us have pointed out already) there were plot holes in episode IV big enough to fly a star destroyer through.
I won't be buying this on DVD though.
Blu Ray, on the other hand....

Finn dying would've been a shock but I don't think using anger to fuel Rey would be what the story needs. She needs to be fuelled by righteousness and light, not anger and darkness..... we all know where that leads....

I get that every X years the comic world seems to reboot and rewrite - see Crisis On Infinite Earths but after COIE there were good portrayals of characters... the New52 Superman in Action Comics is a jerk!

Here's a list of DCU Events

Finn dying would've been a shock but I don't think using anger to fuel Rey would be what the story needs. She needs to be fuelled by righteousness and light, not anger and darkness..... we all know where that leads....

Assaj Ventress was Dooku's apprentice but was in The Clone Wars TV show only I think, and Aurra Sing was a force using bounty hunter who killed Jedi adn took their sabres as trophies. Lumiya but she's now been relegated to Legends status same with Darth Zannah.. so, in short, no not really... aside from Assaj