The Star Wars Thread

[Cube]

Some thoughts in episode 1 and 2 of Obi-Wan

Spoiler

- all the parts with Obi-Wan are great. A lot of facial acting to get lots of emotions across without having to say anything. Ewam McGregor is doing a fantastic job.

- I was very surprised at the amount of focus on Leia, the actress is doing a great job with her.

- The inquisitors, however, are just terribly acted. Doesn't help that the grand Inquisitor looks so derpy that it's hard not to laugh whenever he's on screen, or that the brother's costume doesn't seem to fit him properly.

- The parkour scene was fine to begin with, but then it just went on and on, reminded me of this by the end

 

- also doesn't help that it was for absolutely nothing, as Obi -Wan had a fight, stopped Leia from falling, walked down the building to collect her and slowly walked away by the time she got there. 

- nice that Temuera Morrison finally gets a good live action role in Star Wars.

- Alderaan looks lovely, I hope we get to see what it looks like in The Mandalorian, would be a shame for all that work to go to waste.

- also loved this new planet. Similar to other planets like Nar Shaddar, but still felt like it had it's own identity.

- ah, so dumpy head Inquisitor isn't the same as the one in Rebels then?

- interesting that she knows about Anakin, she's definitely one of the kids at the Jedi temple.

 

[Ronnie]

Nabbed you an Andor poster too @Julius although I don’t think it’s particularly great looking lol

[Sméagol]

I happen to have watched the first 2 episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, as my brother was here and started to watch it, and I thought "why the hell not" and watched along. I've not seen a single episode of any Star Wars shows, including the Clone War animations, so here's a fresh take on it.

It's fucking shit.

Spoiler

Most characters apart from Kebobi are dumb. Most are badly acted, directed, or written, or some combinations of those.

That Safdie brother playing one of the last Jedi.. Lasted 10 years, only dying right after finding Obi-Wan. Such a pointless character introduction.

The inquisitors are fucking retards. Completely incompetent. I take it they are villains of the show, but they come across as the comic relief. Spending all time bickering instead of doing villainy stuff (apart from finding and killing a character no one cares about). Those 3 have some really shit cliché dialogue between them.

The kidnappers are retards. I don't know how, but they miraculously manage to kidnap an annoying little Leia. That's all pointless because Kenobi saves her in one episode, while Reva is doing parkours as an exercise. Then the other inquisitor shows up, they bicker some more, then she finally kills him, while Kenobi and Leia are long gone. It's a dumb end to a dumb character. Fucking idiots. This (them killing eachother) feels like something that should have happened long before the events of this show, and I don't know how this boss inquisitor didn't see it coming. All talk, but he should have killed Reva himself a long time ago. Like I said, they are all retards, and deserve to be shot in the face by a little girl (not Leia). 

Leia is safely returned home, so this feels like a good point to end the series on. Unless the 3rd episode is a Jerry Springer episode with the remaining inquisitors as guests.

This was too good to hide in a spoiler. At one point the show was so dumb that it was hilarious. This pretty much sums up the show for me.

 

[Ronnie]

Well that’s certainly a take. 

You know you’ve made bad choices when you pay any attention to what Red Letter Media say. imo. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Ronnie

[Sméagol]

10 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Well that’s certainly a take. 

You know you’ve made bad choices when you pay any attention to what Red Letter Media say. 

I don't even know what red letter media is. I was laughing out loud during that scene when that green guy ran into that branch after two minutes. I was wondering if anyone uploaded that clip, and that was one of the videos that showed up.

[Ronnie]

5 minutes ago, Sméagol said:

I don't even know what red letter media is. I was laughing out loud during that scene when that green guy ran into that branch after two minutes. I was wondering if anyone uploaded that clip, and that was one of the videos that showed up.

The whole point of Star Wars is that it’s supposed to be a cheesy space fantasy with larger than life characters. It’s not and never has been subtle or watertight, and doesn’t claim to be. Pulpy action adventure. 

[Sméagol]

16 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

 Pulpy action adventure. 

Then they've still done something wrong, because that's not at all the vibe the show was giving.

You must remember that

1] I once was a Star Wars fan, and

2] I had no preconceptions at all before watching this show, no bias whatsoever. I haven't watched any of the trailers, and didn't know anything besides the show being about Obi-Wan. My opinion is as objective as possible. I had no particular interest in watching the show, but neither did I have any particular reason to not watch it. If I knew I was going to hate it beforehand I wouldn't have watched it.

[Mandalore]

I enjoyed the first couple of episodes, surprised to see certain characters and worlds appear. It's still not clear how much of a role Hayden Christensen will play, I was thinking maybe it'd be more flashbacks with him as opposed to Vader appearances.

Spoiler

Wasn't expecting to see Leia or Alderaan make an appearance. Nice that they (mostly) got the old actors all back. I wonder if any other returning characters will make an appearance?

Leia outrunning those guys was silly, but it's not like silly stuff doesn't happen in all the movies. Like Ewoks defeating the empires most elite troops? 

Watching it has inspired me to give Fallen Order another try. I played it a little bit on PS4 but it kinda got lost in my backlog. Downloaded the PS5 version and started from the beginning again. Also looking forward to the Knights of the Old Republic remake, but that seems like it's still a long way off.

@Cube it'd be nice to see that world fleshed out more, but all you'd see of it in The Mandalorian is space dust and debris. 

[Ronnie]

 

3 minutes ago, Sméagol said:

Then they've still done something wrong, because that's not at all the vibe the show was giving.

You must remember that

1] I once was a Star Wars fan, and

2] I had no preconceptions at all before watching this show, no bias whatsoever. I haven't watched any of the trailers, and didn't know anything besides the show being about Obi-Wan. My opinion is as objective as possible. I had no particular interest in watching the show, but neither did I have any particular reason to not watch it. If I knew I was going to hate it beforehand I wouldn't have watched it.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying you went in with preconceptions, just that a lot of the stuff you talk about has always been a part of Star Wars. It’s supposed to be goofy with idiot bad guys (mostly) or ewoks defeating the empire like @Mandalore says. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Ronnie

[Sméagol]

21 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

 

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying you went in with preconceptions, just that a lot of the stuff you talk about has always been a part of Star Wars. It’s supposed to be goofy with idiot bad guys (mostly) or ewoks defeating the empire like @Mandalore says. 

It feels different to me. It needs some drama, but I didn't feel anything besides annoyance. It's just badly acted, directed and written. None of the characters besides Obi-Wan, including Leia, were interesting to me, and all the plot points so far felt pointless.

Spoiler

Again.. Watching Obi-Wan and Leia casually escape while those two inquisitors have an argument, is simply not exciting television. Not to me anyway.

 

[Ronnie]

7 minutes ago, Sméagol said:

It feels different to me. It needs some drama, but I didn't feel anything besides annoyance. It's just badly acted, directed and written. None of the characters besides Obi-Wan, including Leia, were interesting to me, and all the plot points so far felt pointless.

  Kenobi 1 & 2 (Hide contents)

Again.. Watching Obi-Wan and Leia casually escape while those two inquisitors have an argument, is simply not exciting television. Not to me anyway.

 

I just can’t agree but hey ho. And to be fair you did call Star Wars dead a while back. Now the last few years have obviously proven that’s as far from the case as possible, but it does suggest a little bias, even if subconscious. Anyway, shame it didn’t land for you. 

[Sméagol]

I did, and for the most part it is to me, though I'm still going to judge individual stories on their own, if for some reason I'm still giving something a chance. I wouldn't mind trying Fallen Order for example, and to be fair, I've watched 3 films since the latest reboot before I gave up on the films, so you can't say i didn't give it a chance.

Last thing I'll say about Obi-Wan Kenobi:

Spoiler

Keep in mind that currently, there are no stakes at all. The inquisitors have proven themselves to be incompetent and are no threat, and Leia is saved so that situation is resolved.

So these first 2 episodes are just a prologue for whatever's coming in the following episodes. Everything up until now has been noise. Whatever they're setting up, they could've done it much better.

 

[Julius]

Trailer for the second season of The Bad Batch, airing this Fall:

 

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Sméagol said:

I did, and for the most part it is to me, though I'm still going to judge individual stories on their own, if for some reason I'm still giving something a chance. I wouldn't mind trying Fallen Order for example, and to be fair, I've watched 3 films since the latest reboot before I gave up on the films, so you can't say i didn't give it a chance.

Last thing I'll say about Obi-Wan Kenobi:

  Obi-Wan Kenob 1 & 2 (Reveal hidden contents)

Keep in mind that currently, there are no stakes at all. The inquisitors have proven themselves to be incompetent and are no threat, and Leia is saved so that situation is resolved.

So these first 2 episodes are just a prologue for whatever's coming in the following episodes. Everything up until now has been noise. Whatever they're setting up, they could've done it much better.

 

Fair enough though I don’t know how you manage to sit through Marvel stuff. Those shows are full of idiotic stuff and plot holes galore. The bad guy in Wandavision being caught by someone driving a car into his and blocking his way out “You’re not going anywhere, smirk” or highly training security specialists being taken out by a computer nerd  Lol. But it’s the same as Star Wars, it’s not meant to be taken that seriously.

[Ronnie]

Bad Batch panel was amazing as expected. What a guy Dee Bradley Baker is. He’d constantly interject every so often with the various character voices. 

At one point him and Michelle Ang performed a scene on stage. Fantastic. 

The poster for season 2 is stunning. Just like the actual show really. 

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Ronnie

[Sméagol]

18 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Fair enough though I don’t know how you manage to sit through Marvel stuff. Those shows are full of idiotic stuff and plot holes galore. The bad guy in Wandavision being caught by someone driving a car into his and blocking his way out “You’re not going anywhere, smirk” or highly training security specialists being taken out by a computer nerd  Lol. But it’s the same as Star Wars, it’s not meant to be taken that seriously.

The problem for me is that you're right, and I can see Marvel heading the exact same way, with all these shows coming out. I still following the films  because I love the characters, and all the castings have been on point, and there's usually some funny dialogue. But story-wise not everything has been great. WandaVision definitely wasn't great, and I don't care much for any of the other shows. I can imagine a future where I stop watching Marvel stuff altogether the same way I stopped watching Star Wars stuff. For now, I'll keep following the films, but I'm all but done with the shows. I'll give the 2nd season of Loki a chance, but have no interest in any other Marvel shows at this point.

[Julius]

Volume 2 of Visions is coming in Spring 2023:

End of this year and start of the next is looking absolutely packed between Andor, Bad Batch S2, Tales of the Jedi, Mando S3 and now this. 

[Ronnie]

So much great stuff.

Apparently Volume 2 will be from animation studios around the world, not just anime. Which I have to say is music to my ears. I enjoyed Visions ok but I just don’t think anime is really my cup of tea sadly. 

hopefully volume 2 will branch out and not just be telling stories of Jedi v sith. 

[Julius]

The map shown highlights that episodes of Visions Vol. 2 will come from Japan (as before), the UK (seems like Ireland may have been specified?), France, India, South Africa, Chile...and did they just highlight California as a country? 

So, fingers still crossed for Cartoon Saloon as they were before! 

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

I enjoyed Visions ok but I just don’t think anime is really my cup of tea sadly. 

Eh, if you're basing that on your experience with Visions, I'd try not to let it cloud your opinion of anime too much.

On the whole it still might not be for you, and if you decide to not check it out based on what you've seen its fair, just think you'd be missing out a bit as at the end of the day, it's a medium and not a genre, so I can pretty much guarantee that there's at least one thing out there that's anime that you'd like.

Films are shorter and generally higher quality, so they're normally the better place to start.

No idea if you've ever watched it, but Avatar the Last Airbender is a great gateway as far as series go (it's not actually anime, for starters), as it's a Western made show which can help you get used to the style and sensibilities of anime (which it drew heavy inspiration from). It is also basically the Hero's Journey meets Asia, meaning a loooooooooot of overlap with Star Wars themes with some great writing across the board. Oh, and Dave Filoni directed about half of the first season before Lucasfilm picked him up. 

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

hopefully volume 2 will branch out and not just be telling stories of Jedi v sith.

I'm crossing my fingers that it means we see more of a focus on culture in the GFFA, I feel like that's definitely the reason to get so many studios from different places onboard. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Julius

[Julius]

 

[Ronnie]

I think I probably let out the biggest cheer when London was announced. Fantastic. I had heard a rumour but didn't want to get my hopes up in case it was bullshit. I hope that means you can go @Julius. And I can bring my 13 yo nephew who loves Star Wars!

11 hours ago, Julius said:

Trailer for the second season of The Bad Batch, airing this Fall:

 

How weird, that's not the one they showed in person. A lot of the same clips but some new, and a completely different edit. Anyway, looks great.

This was also a fun moment from the panel:

9 hours ago, Julius said:

Eh, if you're basing that on your experience with Visions, I'd try not to let it cloud your opinion of anime too much.

On the whole it still might not be for you, and if you decide to not check it out based on what you've seen its fair, just think you'd be missing out a bit as at the end of the day, it's a medium and not a genre, so I can pretty much guarantee that there's at least one thing out there that's anime that you'd like.

Films are shorter and generally higher quality, so they're normally the better place to start.

No idea if you've ever watched it, but Avatar the Last Airbender is a great gateway as far as series go (it's not actually anime, for starters), as it's a Western made show which can help you get used to the style and sensibilities of anime (which it drew heavy inspiration from). It is also basically the Hero's Journey meets Asia, meaning a loooooooooot of overlap with Star Wars themes with some great writing across the board. Oh, and Dave Filoni directed about half of the first season before Lucasfilm picked him up. 

Sorry I didn't mean to sound like I was disparaging anime, even on a personal level. I can definitely appreciate it's a huge genre and Visions is a tiny chunk of it so I'm not basing my potential enjoyment on that show. I'll definitely dive in at some point though and give it a proper shot, just too much else to watch these days!

Edited May 30, 2022 by Ronnie

[Julius]

5 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I think I probably let out the biggest cheer when London was announced. Fantastic. I had heard a rumour but didn't want to get my hopes up in case it was bullshit. I hope that means you can go @Julius. And I can bring my 13 yo nephew who loves Star Wars!

Yeah, I'll definitely be looking into it! Would prefer to drag some friends along, but if I can't convince them, then I'll just go solo 

It was funny, I didn't even think about the possibility of it coming over to London next year initially. When Ewan came onstage during the Doug Chiang panel on Saturday (by the way, not sure if you see, but they cut away in the middle of Doug's panel on the stream for Ewan to say bye -- which felt a little disrespectful to Doug?) he said something to the effect of "I'll be back next year, hopefully I'll see you guys in San Antonio or Edinburgh" which is when I started thinking about the possibility. Then during the closing ceremony you hear one of the guys whisper to the other guy about "Europe" and I was sitting there like a kid going "...Celebration Europe? ", and once they brought out Rupert Friend I immediately looked him up to figure out where they were going with this.

From a place in Oxfordshire, went to an acting academy in London...oh it's going to be London!

So yeah, very excited! What makes it even better is that it's over the Easter weekend next year too, which is genius, as those in the UK attending could potentially go without booking time off (head down on the Thursday after work and come straight back on the Monday evening after it wraps up), though I'd probably want to book time off all the same 

Curious to see how things are handled next year in terms of the livestream, but even more so how the big panels are handled at Celebration itself. I think lotteries are the smart way to go in terms of who gets into the room, but from the sounds of it they could definitely do a better job of ensuring everyone present at least gets eyes on what's being shown? Either way, I'm just excited by the thought of being surrounded by Star Wars fans 

[Ronnie]

4 hours ago, Julius said:

Curious to see how things are handled next year in terms of the livestream, but even more so how the big panels are handled at Celebration itself. I think lotteries are the smart way to go in terms of who gets into the room, but from the sounds of it they could definitely do a better job of ensuring everyone present at least gets eyes on what's being shown? Either way, I'm just excited by the thought of being surrounded by Star Wars fans 

I think if they figure out a way of making sure everyone gets at least one panel that would be good. I was quite fortunate in that I made it to all the big ones, but obviously not everyone was able to do that.

And yeah I stupidly didn't make the Rupert Friend connection. Weird how they don't put London in the logo, and instead call it Europe. I'm sure there's a London in the US somewhere but come on guys 

PS: Mando Season 4 confirmed

Right, off to Galaxy's Edge! 

[Cube]

4 hours ago, Julius said:

he said something to the effect of "I'll be back next year, hopefully I'll see you guys in San Antonio or Edinburgh" which is when I started thinking about the possibility.

I do find it interesting that he's allowed to mention comic cons that aren't officially affiliated with Star Wars in any way.

[Julius]

Not at all unexpected: Obi-Wan is the most-watched premiere on Disney+. 

Elsewhere, the minority of the Star Wars community continues to embarrass us all, as Moses Ingram has been the target of racism since the premiere of Obi-Wan, which she shared in her Instagram Stories. Every time I see things like this I can't help but think that these people clearly aren't Star Wars fans, and shouldn't be considered as such.

Thankfully, her colleagues and the community have reacted in kind:

While I'm grateful that the wider community seems to be learning - you never really saw this for the prequels, or even the sequels - and though it was awesome seeing so many get their dues during Celebration (Kelly Marie Tran got an overwhelmingly great reception during the livestream!), the stupidity and malice of others never ceases to surprise me. 

I'm not at all saying this would be okay otherwise, but the show isn't even close to done as we're only two episodes in (of six!), still setting things up and having just completed the first act of the show -- so what the hell are they even reacting to?! It's got absolutely nothing to do with her work, or her presence on the screen, it's just racism for the sake of racism. As it pretty much always is. 

Clearly, these assholes never watched the prequels, otherwise they would've known Qui-Gon called them out back in 1999:

Edited June 1, 2022 by Julius