All Things Star Wars

[EgonSpengler]

Meh, didn't really like the latest episode. :/

Same. It was kind of boring when it wasn't being disturbing, and it didn't advance the story at all. I'm surprised by the positive reviews I'm seeing around the web.

 

[Traitorfish]

Meh, didn't really like the latest episode. :/

Same. It was kind of boring when it wasn't being disturbing, and it didn't advance the story at all. I'm surprised by the positive reviews I'm seeing around the web.

It felt like they were hoping that a few big sci-fi concepts- "giant ice-spider! salamander lady! space... traffic cops?" - would carry the episode, but it ended up feeling like a filler episode, which is a weird thing to have in your nine-episode prestige miniseries.

Definitely a bit of a let-down after the first episode, which was so richly imagined as to practically be a self-contained little spin-off movie in its own right.

 

[Clubber Lang]

R5-D4

 

[EgonSpengler]

R5-D4

So either that's really the very same model from the original movie or the props department for the show is so nerdy professional that they actually looked at the original film when rebuilding it for this episode.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

the props department for the show is so nerdy professional that they actually looked at the original film when rebuilding it for this episode.

This^

They also had the repair to Fett's jetpack in the exact same spot where it was damaged in ROTJ.

 

[Clubber Lang]

Would George Lucas's Star Wars sequels have been better than Disney's?
It was a relief to many fans when the creator of Jar Jar Binks lost control of the space saga but his vision for the films that followed made a lot of sense

The worst Star Wars movie since Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure … The Rise of Skywalker.

As Darth Vader learned in Revenge of the Sith, the only true victories are pyrrhic by nature. When Disney bought out George Lucas in 2012 and installed a new team in charge of Lucasfilm and Star Wars, many of us who detested the terrible prequel films (but loved the original trilogy) were delighted that the man who brought us Jar Jar Binks, as well as those awful CGI-assisted special editions of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, had been unceremoniously removed from the tiller.

It all started out so well, too, with the world-beating JJ Abrams-directed The Force Awakens. Gone were tedious trade delegations, midi-chloreans and galactic senates, back were knockabout space romps and realistic looking sets. And yet, in retrospect, it’s possible to glean the rotten roots that ultimately led to The Rise of Skywalker being the worst Star Wars movie since Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure – gaping plot holes, lost story threads, and a determination to cannibalise everything that was great about the original trilogy movies without ever moving the action forward. These failures were eventually crystallised in the abomination that was Abrams’ second turn at the helm, a movie that seemed determined not just to rinse Lucas’s early films but ruin them in the process.

So what if we got it all wrong, and Lucas should have been allowed to deliver the sequel trilogy himself after all? A new book, The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005, details the film-maker’s abandoned plans for the first time. The horrifying thing is that they would have made a lot more sense than bringing back the Emperor from the dead, turning Luke into a moaning wimp (though I still have a soft spot for The Last Jedi) and having Han Solo’s emo-Sith son commit patricide.

It seems Lucas would have kickstarted the new trilogy almost immediately after the end of Return of the Jedi, mining the same furrow that the incredible The Mandalorian is working within on TV. “Episodes VII, VIII and IX would take ideas from what happened after the Iraq War: Okay, you fought the war, you killed everybody, now what are you going to do?” says Lucas. “The stormtroopers would be like Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist fighters that joined Isis and kept on fighting. The stormtroopers refuse to give up when the Republic win.”

Leading the dark side in this new reality would have been Darth Maul, the Phantom Menace villain who was once thought dead after his battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel film, but has already been resurrected (albeit with robot legs) in the Star Wars Rebels animated series. Disney also brought Maul back in Solo: A Star Wars Story, but abandoned that storyline when the movie tanked. Lucas would have paired the red-and-black-striped alien with a new female Sith Lord, Darth Talon, who acts as the Vader of the new trilogy.

What’s striking about these ideas is that they make sense as part of a coherent multi-episode narrative arc. Many Star Wars fans might have hated the prequels, but at least they offered a rational (if glacially paced) explanation for how Anakin Skywalker eventually became Vader. The sequel trilogy doesn’t even bother to explain how the First Order came into being in The Force Awakens, while The Rise of Skywalker brings back Emperor Palpatine and reinstalls him as Sith Lord Big Bad with no viable explanation of where he’s been all this time, and how he managed to build a huge fleet of star destroyers without any of the resources of the Galactic Empire available to him.


The sequel trilogy felt rushed and under-planned, while the prequel trilogy felt like Lucas spent far too much time focused on cosmic macro-politics. Perhaps, as Yoda would no doubt tell us, the secret to Star Wars is finding the right balance between such hugely varying positions.

Of the two standpoints, Lucas’s currently seems the more sensible. And yet we should not forget who we are talking about here. The authors of The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 also find time to get the film-maker’s view on his appalling special-edition versions, and it’s clear that Lucas will go to his grave insisting that these are the definitive cuts of his famous trilogy, CGI Jabba, stoopid lizard Sarlacc and all.

“A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the special edition. The other versions will disappear,” says Lucas. (I like to imagine him cackling evilly at this point, like Palpatine in Return of the Jedi.) “Even the 35 million VHS tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years.”

And so we have it: just as it seemed we might start dreaming of a Lucas-shot remake of the sequel trilogy, the man himself brings us right back down to Tatooine’s sandy surface. Never mind, there’s another episode of The Mandalorian out soon.

I stlll got an original ROTJ VHS tape from '83.

 

[r16]

as ı was just saying in the off-topic . Through accepting the fact that the Sequels are sabotage , now talking bad of he might have done ? Very badly , too . No twileks accepted as well .

 

[Laurana Kanan]

S02E03 -

Spoiler :

 

[JohannaK]

What's the woohoo for? Who are these people?

 

[Takhisis]

The one in the middle appears to be a live-action version of somebody from the animated series.

Spoiler :

Duchess Satine, IIRC

 

[Laurana Kanan]

The one in the middle appears to be a live-action version of somebody from the animated series.
Duchess Satine, IIRC

Lol, yes & no. It's Bo-Katan Kryze. Katee Sackhoff voiced her character in both TCW & Rebels. She's the sister of Duchess Satine and leader of the elite Nite Owls force. She also became the last Mand'alor of the Mandalorians before The Great Purge and wielded the Darksaber before it somehow ended up with Moff Gideon.

 

[Takhisis]

I mostly recognised the helmet, really. I 99% stopped watching anything related to Star Wars (especially Disney!Star Wars) after last December.

 

[warpus]

I started watching the Mandalorian season 2 yesterday.. What happened? The first season ended on such a high and the first 2 episodes of this 2nd season were just.. not very good. Standard predictable "aliens of the week" episodes with not very much depth.. The sand people episode was obviously a homage to Dune. The whole episode reminded me of that episode in the 1st season where they had to hunt down the ATAT walker or whatever. i.e. a ripoff script with zero depth. The writers attempting to write a realistic society around the grunts of the sand people was just.. silly. The villagers working with the sand people was okay except for all the scenes when they did't trust them. The acting wasn't very good and it was all just so predictable. And the way the dragon was slayed was stupid and none of the distances made sense throughout those scenes. The episode with the spiders was better, but as soon as the spiders started attacking and chasing them, I didn't buy any of that.

With only such a limited amount of episodes each week, these filler episodes really stand out. As soon as I realize it's "one of those episode" I basically wait until the episode is over.. but still watching it cause you know, the action scenes can be fun. And baby yoda antics.

But it's so disappointing. I'm on the 3rd episode now hoping that we go back to the story, instead of doing another brainless episode. We'll see.

I think what's happening as well is I'm comparing the depth here to what I've been seeing on Star Trek Discovery lately. The storytelling is just so much better on that show right now. But I bet as soon as Frings comes back and does something and we get back to the story, the Mandelorian will seem magical again.

/rant

edit: okay thank god the 3rd episode was good again. back to the main story we go. SW dudes, listen, leave the aliens of the weeks episodes to the Trek dudes. They have been making those for decades and they have the formula down. I'm sure this sort of episode can work in the SW universe, but not like this..

 

[EgonSpengler]

I started watching the Mandalorian season 2 yesterday.. What happened? The first season ended on such a high and the first 2 episodes of this 2nd season were just.. not very good. Standard predictable "aliens of the week" episodes with not very much depth.. The sand people episode was obviously a homage to Dune. The whole episode reminded me of that episode in the 1st season where they had to hunt down the ATAT walker or whatever. i.e. a ripoff script with zero depth. The writers attempting to write a realistic society around the grunts of the sand people was just.. silly. The villagers working with the sand people was okay except for all the scenes when they did't trust them. The acting wasn't very good and it was all just so predictable. And the way the dragon was slayed was stupid and none of the distances made sense throughout those scenes. The episode with the spiders was better, but as soon as the spiders started attacking and chasing them, I didn't buy any of that.

With only such a limited amount of episodes each week, these filler episodes really stand out. As soon as I realize it's "one of those episode" I basically wait until the episode is over.. but still watching it cause you know, the action scenes can be fun. And baby yoda antics.

But it's so disappointing. I'm on the 3rd episode now hoping that we go back to the story, instead of doing another brainless episode. We'll see.

I think what's happening as well is I'm comparing the depth here to what I've been seeing on Star Trek Discovery lately. The storytelling is just so much better on that show right now. But I bet as soon as Frings comes back and does something and we get back to the story, the Mandelorian will seem magical again.

/rant

edit: okay thank god the 3rd episode was good again. back to the main story we go. SW dudes, listen, leave the aliens of the weeks episodes to the Trek dudes. They have been making those for decades and they have the formula down. I'm sure this sort of episode can work in the SW universe, but not like this..

I liked the first episode, but the second was a clunker. #3 was much better, even though I didn't know the characters from the cartoon. I was disappointed that Sasha Banks didn't get to do any stunts, though. I figured that was why she was on the show.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I was disappointed that Sasha Banks didn't get to do any stunts, though. I figured that was why she was on the show.

Must of watched a different episode, 'cause she, along with the other Mandos, did quite a few stunts/fighting.

the second was a clunker.

The only problem I had with E02 was the poorly thought out egg-eating gag, and the subsequently poor explanation from Lucasfilm. I, however, liked that the Krykna have made the jump from McQuarrie/Rebels art to live action, and that Appa has been enshrined in SW canon now!

 

[EgonSpengler]

Must of watched a different episode, 'cause she, along with the other Mandos, did quite a few stunts/fighting.

I'm not sure Banks did any stunts, though. IMDb lists two stuntwomen for Mercedes Varnado, which is the name Banks was credited under (her real name, I guess?). That's not 100% conclusive, though. IMDb doesn't give actors multiple credits if they do some of their own stunts on a movie or show. Tom Cruise doesn't show any stunt credits for the Mission: Impossible movies, for example. I'd have to go back and look again to be sure, but off the top of my head, I don't remember if Banks' character did anything acrobatic with her helmet off, up close enough to see her face.

But now that I'm thinking about it, I'd be surprised if her wrestling contract would let her to do any stunts and risk injury on another show or movie. The Mandalorian's insurance policy might've be a factor, too. There was one dangerous stunt in Atomic Blonde that Charlize Theron wasn't allowed to do, even though she wanted to, because the insurance company wouldn't cover it. It wouldn't delay The Mandalorian if Banks broke her leg, but the WWE's insurance policy probably wouldn't cover an injury suffered on another job, and Disney's insurance wouldn't pay the WWE, so the WWE would have to sue Disney.

The only problem I had with E02 was the poorly thought out egg-eating gag, and the subsequently poor explanation from Lucasfilm. I, however, liked that the Krykna have made the jump from McQuarrie/Rebels art to live action, and that Appa has been enshrined in SW canon now!

Right, the egg-eating bit was gross. I read that it was supposed to be funny? Aside from that, though, I thought episode 2 was too much a rehash of the first episode, but without any interesting guest characters like Timothy Olyphant's. I also didn't pick up any of the Easter Eggs because I haven't watched enough of the animated series. I have no attachment to Bo Katan, either, but I thought episode 3 was strong enough that one didn't need to.

Minor spoiler for the first episode:

Spoiler :

What happened to Boba Fett's armor after episode 1? Is it just sitting on Mando's ship? I didn't specifically look for it in episodes 2-3, but after ep 3 was over, I suddenly remembered it. I didn't go back to look for it, though.

 

[warpus]

The only problem I had with E02 was the poorly thought out egg-eating gag, and the subsequently poor explanation from Lucasfilm.

Are you talking about the suspiciously silly timing of the eggs happening to hatch at that very moment? Or something else?

I thought episode 2 was too much a rehash of the first episode

The Mandalorians "aliens of the week" episodes seem to be usually based on very simple/common tropes, like the ATAT episode from season 1 which was essentially that "Our village is under attack by bandits, can the 3 amigos help us?" thing, which has been done so many times. That was essentially what the Dune nod episode was as well. This can be fine, but it's so predictable and most of the time I yawn through these filler episodes. I wish they stopped making them or figured out how to make them more interesting or just stuck to the main storyline, which makes the show.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Are you talking about the suspiciously silly timing of the eggs happening to hatch at that very moment? Or something else?



The Mandalorians "aliens of the week" episodes seem to be usually based on very simple/common tropes, like the ATAT episode from season 1 which was essentially that "Our village is under attack by bandits, can the 3 amigos help us?" thing, which has been done so many times. That was essentially what the Dune nod episode was as well. This can be fine, but it's so predictable and most of the time I yawn through these filler episodes. I wish they stopped making them or figured out how to make them more interesting or just stuck to the main storyline, which makes the show.

Right, the whole show is an adaptation of Lone Wolf & Cub, set to the tune of American Westerns, with homages to classic sci-fi, as you say. Nothing new there. It's all in the execution. I thought the episode you mention was great. I liked the twist that the bandits the villagers could normally handle had found an abandoned Imperial AT-ST, which suddenly made them incredibly powerful.

 

[warpus]

Right, the whole show is an adaptation of Lone Wolf & Cub, set to the tune of American Westerns, with homages to classic sci-fi, as you say. Nothing new there. It's all in the execution. I thought the episode you mention was great. I liked the twist that the bandits the villagers could normally handle had found an abandoned Imperial AT-ST, which suddenly made them incredibly powerful.

The execution was decent from my pov, but these tropes are so old they just get so boring so fast (for me). I've seen it all before and don't see anything new there at all, so I get bored. The way these episodes are written it seems that the main objective is to show SW fans various parts of the SW universe, and that's the main thing people are getting excited about. They also seem to hire cheap extras who can just act enough to be sort of believable in that role. That's the impression I'm getting anyway, some of the dialogue is not very good in execution (from the non-recurring rando character like the villagers or whatever)

 

[EgonSpengler]

The execution was decent from my pov, but these tropes are so old they just get so boring so fast (for me). I've seen it all before and don't see anything new there at all, so I get bored. The way these episodes are written it seems that the main objective is to show SW fans various parts of the SW universe, and that's the main thing people are getting excited about. They also seem to hire cheap extras who can just act enough to be sort of believable in that role. That's the impression I'm getting anyway, some of the dialogue is not very good in execution (from the non-recurring rando character like the villagers or whatever)

Yeah, if you're looking for innovation, Star Wars probably isn't the droid you're looking for. It's always been about the execution, the setting, the fun little details. I mean, the original was heavily inspired by The Hidden Fortress, and more or less dresses up sword & sorcery fantasy tropes in a sci-fi suit.