So I haven't read all the posts in this tread, but here is my response for EU vs this film and various other gaps in SW logic.
First: financials. I don't think that financial constraints were particularly important to the Empire. Their solution to labor shortages? Enslave an entire race (wookies). Their solution for a lack of resources? Most likely just threaten a planet with destruction unless the resources are given up. An authoritarian government like that with such dominant military power won't be terribly worried about paying its subjects for goods/labor. The part that would need to be paid for is knowledge and skill. These were achieved through enslavement/coercion or through rewarding the smartest people with privileges that others didn't have access to. In the EU, some of the super smart scientists were hidden in the Maw and not told the truth about what their inventions were doing. Which led to defection when the possibility arose.
How did the Republic pay Kamino for all of those clones? Was it done because they just loved cloning things or was there a reason? How does Kamino as a society even exist? A hidden planet with the capacity to clone an army of unlimited size? Wouldn't they have just taken over the entire galaxy on their own? I know I would have if I was in their position.
One of the only people who gets paid in SW movies is Han Solo. Remember him loading boxes and boxes of credits onto the Falcon before Luke goes to attack the death star? Why in such a futuristic society can't they pay people electronically? They should have used bitcoin so the empire didn't notice.
Most of the other "transactions" seem to be the result of bets and wagers.
EU vs New movies: The EU was great, but it was not written in a way that would allow a good movie. The stories were not written chronologically, so stories written later (but set earlier) include information that could contradict earlier stories, or at least make them very convoluted. I read numerous EU books and really enjoyed them. However, I think that trying to make a movie that could be received by a wide audience, at least some of that needed to be disposed of.
If the EU was going to be used for new movies, I think basing it on the Yuzung Vong would have made some sense. That was an epic story which could have been well adapted for a new movies series. However, the backstory and all of the technological elements that had to be described lent themselves much more to a literary medium.
Writing stories about removing the Imperial warlords from the Core would have been good for movies as well. There were some great settings in those books and it would have been a good follow up to the originals. The actors are too old now, though.
One of my largest complaints about the new movie compared with the EU is the lack of new planets, tech, etc. Essentially one new planet, which is just tattooine. In just the first few chapters of the Thrawn series, there are numerous societies which are introduced and explored. We meet numerous species and learn about their cultures. I think this was missing from the new movie. I am hoping this will change in the next two, and that this first one was to introduce new ideas and plots. I do think there was A TON that was left unexplained with no backstory. I'm hoping that this will be expanded in the new movies and will give us a larger world to play in.
For all of their faults, the prequels did this. GL said in his interview that he always tried to introduce new tech, new planets, new ideas into his movies. He did that. Some of them were bad ideas (Jar Jar), but they at least added to the universe.
For the points about atmosphere and the death star hyperdrive: Yes, the Death Star had a hyperdrive (at least the first one). Most likely it needs time after leaving hyperspace to charge the weapon, which is why it entered on the opposite side of the planet to Yavin IV. Entering on the back, it had some element of surprise and time to charge the weapon and set targeting trajectories. Without scouts, the Rebels wouldn't have known it exited hyperspace with the Death Star hidden behind the planet. If the empire was smart they would have had intradictors and fighters stationed to prevent any scouts from getting back around the planet to alert the base on Yavin IV. In the EU, the Death Star has both hyperdrive and sublight. Not sure about the effectiveness of either. Also - it may have needed to exit hyperspace on that side to get into a safe orbit, without risking crashing into a moon or drifting into a planet.
From my understanding, it would not be possible to bring a planet with an atmosphere into hyperspace. Although Zonama Sekot is an interesting counterpoint. That is a little different because Zonama Sekot was alive. It may have been able to somehow regenerate its atmosphere, or perhaps it never went to hyperspace and just moved around at sublight somehow. A planet accelerating to hyperspace would most likely disintegrate before reaching that speed regardless of the atmosphere. If it didn't the atmosphere would be stripped like on a comet.
TL;DR: SW is full of plot-holes and inconsistencies. Money exists but only when convenient. EU was fun but is too convoluted to make into movies. I wish there was more newness to the Ep. VII (new species, new planets, new tech).
