BB-8 is Ballin' /rimshot
Kylo and Rey are fine with me, but I don't like Finn or Poe as names. The X-wings will realistically probably be named a "Mark" something or other.
Oh i dunNo because the Emperor WANTED total control? Wasn't that the point of the Death Star to maintain control and bully the other systems in applying to the will of the empire as stated in the original film? Isn't that the purpose of the clones in the prequels? Considering how big a galaxy is you need numourous numbers of clones to enforce any type of edict if you are going to turn it from a republic into a empire..its just common sense.
Lucas screwed things up when he used the clones gave various numbers and THEN in the special editions which are still being used as canon that the Storm Troopers are clones..since the actor who played the clones and their original template Jango Fett voiced all the storm troopers in these editions..which are curently the only version of the films peole can get now..Now that they have reverted back...to the original concept they still have to cvlear up the frigging mess created.
People weren't afraid of the death star because it had stormtroopers.
People were afraid of the death star because it could blow up planets. This is an argument in my favor, as discussed a page or two back. The US military isn't the top ranking Global military because it has the most troops. Any sufficiently advanced war capable technology reduces the need for an available land force and subsequently reduces the need for deploy-able troops as such efficiency increases.
Your second point is a good one, if Lucas was still the go to person for all things canon. He isn't. Let us explore this. Which is actual canon? The original, or special edition? There was an essay written on canonwars that concluded that the Special edition was the true canon, but like this, it based its argument on the fact that Lucas was head honcho. So how do we now determine what is canon?
Simple. Whatever the Lucasfilm Story group says or otherwise approves as they are in charge of the canon now and they had this to say.
He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.
Which means that every story going forward will have to consistent with the events in these properties.
So have we received any media to indicate either the original or special edition as canon? Yes we have: Star wars Rebels.
Storm troopers have differing voices. Lining up with the original films.
Imperial Academies on Lothal and Mandalore train young cadets to fill the roles of various imperial personnel, most commonly storm troopers. Lining up with the differing voices.
There was even at least one part in the original trilogy, even in the special edition(ROTJ) where the stormtroopers were different heights, something that didn't happen with clone troopers.
Even without such things, if the prequels were GL's "Original Vision", then the prequels would have been made to maintain continuity from the originals and the originals would have been produced with the prequels in mind. Instead what we got was GL rushing to change the originals to fit the prequels, a move that made him more of a laughing stock than he already was.