The cheery image of humanity projected by social media selfies isn’t an attempt to fool us into believing in the contentment myth; it’s how we want to see ourselves.

The film clearly oozes attention to detail and is well-crafted and intel­ligent, with outstanding special effects and excellent perfor­mances all round. But once the end credits started rolling, my sons’ gut reaction was, “What the hell kind of weirdo movie was that?!”

There is a whole host of perfectly acceptable dead people whom you never knew and who can still be of service. They are the artists and philoso­phers, scien­tists and vision­aries whose presence is still felt long past their due date.

The nerd-baptism of watching a new Star Wars movie for the first time is, to quote a certain Supreme Leader, “something truly special.” The antic­i­pation, the chills, that stirring feeling in your gut… there’s nothing else like it.

The notion that things “happen for a reason” is a powerful idea. It is also a dangerous one. The concept of “agency” is so central to our under­standing of ourselves and our world that we apply it even where there is no agency to be found.

From breakfast on Cloud Nine, we travel at point five past light speed to the Nostalgia System. “The Last Jedi,” here I come!