The Star Wars Thread

[Julius]

40 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

but when they said they were visiting Bracca I audibly groaned at the prospect of them somehow shoehorning in a young Cal appearance.

Less a groan on my side and more of an "Oh no, please don't" every single time they showed the Trader's Guild. Thank goodness they decided against it! 

41 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Now if only they could ditch blander than grey paint Echo... 

I really hope Echo gets more screen time and is fleshed out more, because going into the show, he was the character we knew the most due to him being in The Clone Wars, and he's definitely seen some stuff. But he just comes across as stale here. I know he's just a "reg" and that the Bad Batch are exaggerated personalities by comparison, but he can hold his own, and deserves more time. He barely even spoke to Rex, to the point that if you watched this before The Clone Wars, you'd think they'd never met before! 

[Ronnie]

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Today, Anime Expo announced that Lucasfilm will bring a galaxy far, far away to Anime Expo Lite this July with the panel Star Wars: Visions – Sneak Preview.

Join host Chastity Vicencio and Lucasfilm executive producers Jacqui Lopez, James Waugh, and Josh Rimes, Qubic Pictures’ and co-executive producer Justin Leach, and producer Kanako Shirasaki for an inside look at Star Wars: Visions before the series debuts on Disney+ later this year.

Check out the full details below.

Star Wars: Visions – Sneak Preview
July 3, 2021 / 3 p.m. PST
Duration: 30 minutes

Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Visions is an upcoming anthology of animated shorts celebrating Star Wars through the lens of the world’s best anime creators and storytellers. Tune in for a sneak peek that will leave you excited for this all-new vision of the galaxy far, far away!

 

[Ronnie]

Really great Bad Batch episode. The past couple have been awesome.

Stunning visually, really well edited, the usual stuff. Wrecker is just amazing, love him.

Spoiler

Filoni and co need to calm down with the cameo of the week though, it's getting a bit OTT now.

The setpiece on the Jedi Cruiser/Venator class (?) and the engine was great. 

 

[Julius]

Brilliant episode this week, I saw some of the staff posting on Thursday ahead of it going up that it wasn't one you'd want spoiled, and it certainly wasn't. 

Spoiler

OH MY GOD THEY ACTUALLY DID IT, THEY BROUGHT BACK CAD BANE! You know how long I've been waiting for this?! We haven't seen him since what, Season 4 or Season 5 of TCW? And haven't really heard his name uttered by the team since the 2017 Celebration panel where Filoni disclosed that their plans were to have him and Boba have a showdown? Insane, I was over the moon at that -- totally thought it might end up being Boba or Fennec that had turned up, but as soon as we heard his voice I knew. Hell yeah.

Story is really ramping up now, but the animation and framing in this episode was particularly delightful. The shots of Crosshair exiting and entering the shuttle had some great lighting, the framing of Cad vs Hunter, that first-person perspective (!), it was a great episode. The show's definitely picked up in momentum these last few weeks, really hope it doesn't stop the ball. Wrecker got a good few chuckles out of me, lobbing that canister at that flamethrower-wielding clone definitely got me 

A different credits theme this time around was cool (it always is) and the music during the face-off was great too. The ion engine setpiece was awesome. 

 

On 16/06/2021 at 5:04 PM, Ronnie said:

 

At this point I really just want to know the names of the people and studios working on this, as it will really help gauge what to expect from it. Sneak preview should be good, but seriously, just give me those credits already! 

11 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Really great Bad Batch episode. The past couple have been awesome.

Stunning visually, really well edited, the usual stuff. Wrecker is just amazing, love him.

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Filoni and co need to calm down with the cameo of the week though, it's getting a bit OTT now.

The setpiece on the Jedi Cruiser/Venator class (?) and the engine was great. 

 

Spoiler

I think this one was completely warranted, if anything it was the Fennec one which felt completely forced earlier in the season, as most of the others have made sense. Like I said above, we haven't seen Cad Bane in a pretty long time at this point, and it makes sense that the Kaminoans would hire the best bounty hunter in the galaxy at the time to go get Omega. It also gives me renewed hope for seeing the Boba and Cad Bane showdown at some point down the road (not necessarily in this show, but as a one-off). 

And yeah it's a Venator-class, but Republic attack cruiser and Jedi cruiser are also used to reference it pretty interchangeably. 

 

[Ronnie]

Spoiler

7 hours ago, Julius said:

OH MY GOD THEY ACTUALLY DID IT, THEY BROUGHT BACK CAD BANE! You know how long I've been waiting for this?! We haven't seen him since what, Season 4 or Season 5 of TCW? And haven't really heard his name uttered by the team since the 2017 Celebration panel where Filoni disclosed that their plans were to have him and Boba have a showdown? Insane, I was over the moon at that -- totally thought it might end up being Boba or Fennec that had turned up, but as soon as we heard his voice I knew. Hell yeah.

He's very cool, I saw a few episodes in my TCW watch but probably not enough to fall in love like others clearly have. I do have this feeling even before he showed up here that he would be the villain of The Book of Boba Fett, dunno if he's still around after the Empire. If he is, introducing him here could point to his inclusion later in another show.

And yeah Wrecker has me in hysterics, absolutely love him. He's the real emotional core of the show, him and Omega's relationship is great. First it was Wrecker + Tech's bromance in the first episode, then Hunter + Omega, and nowadays it's Wrecker + Omega. Now if only someone could give Echo a personality [/Weekly Echo bashing].

Speaking of Omega I love the smaller blink and you'll miss them details with regards to her and the Batch. The episodes are having me smile and laugh a lot more lately, which is great. A small bit of the camaraderie that made me fall in love with Rebels. 

And yeah, the framing and editing is top notch. The showdown with Bane was fantastic. Crosshair getting an engine exhaust in the face was 

 

7 hours ago, Julius said:

At this point I really just want to know the names of the people and studios working on this, as it will really help gauge what to expect from it. Sneak preview should be good, but seriously, just give me those credits already! 

I'm interested to see if every episode looks different or if they'll all be visually similar. I also wonder if they'll focus on one period of time or jump around each episode. Will there be recognisable characters or will it focus on brand new ones.

Spoiler

7 hours ago, Julius said:

I think this one was completely warranted, if anything it was the Fennec one which felt completely forced earlier in the season, as most of the others have made sense. Like I said above, we haven't seen Cad Bane in a pretty long time at this point, and it makes sense that the Kaminoans would hire the best bounty hunter in the galaxy at the time to go get Omega. It also gives me renewed hope for seeing the Boba and Cad Bane showdown at some point down the road (not necessarily in this show, but as a one-off).

Yeah sorry I didn't mean to sound dismissive. I think I'm still put off by the pointless Fennec Shand cameo. Another like Echo who does nothing for me. 

 

[Julius]

17 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

  Reveal hidden contents

7 hours ago, Julius said:

OH MY GOD THEY ACTUALLY DID IT, THEY BROUGHT BACK CAD BANE! You know how long I've been waiting for this?! We haven't seen him since what, Season 4 or Season 5 of TCW? And haven't really heard his name uttered by the team since the 2017 Celebration panel where Filoni disclosed that their plans were to have him and Boba have a showdown? Insane, I was over the moon at that -- totally thought it might end up being Boba or Fennec that had turned up, but as soon as we heard his voice I knew. Hell yeah.

He's very cool, I saw a few episodes in my TCW watch but probably not enough to fall in love like others clearly have. I do have this feeling even before he showed up here that he would be the villain of The Book of Boba Fett, dunno if he's still around after the Empire. If he is, introducing him here could point to his inclusion later in another show.

And yeah Wrecker has me in hysterics, absolutely love him. He's the real emotional core of the show, him and Omega's relationship is great. First it was Wrecker + Tech's bromance in the first episode, then Hunter + Omega, and nowadays it's Wrecker + Omega. Now if only someone could give Echo a personality [/Weekly Echo bashing].

Speaking of Omega I love the smaller blink and you'll miss them details with regards to her and the Batch. The episodes are having me smile and laugh a lot more lately, which is great. A small bit of the camaraderie that made me fall in love with Rebels. 

And yeah, the framing and editing is top notch. The showdown with Bane was fantastic. Crosshair getting an engine exhaust in the face was 

 

Spoiler

With Cad Bane, from the way the Boba and Cad Bane showdown came off to me when Filoni talked about it during Celebration 2017, it always seemed like that showdown would be where Boba usurped Cad Bane as the most renowned bounty hunter in the galaxy, very likely killing him, and finally starting to live up to this father's name (notably, Cad Bane was described as being the best bounty hunter since Jango Fett, which implies he wasn't top dog while he was around). So unless there plans have changed, I don't think we'd see Cad Bane in Book of Boba? But I'd be happy to be wrong! 

This is the incomplete look at the duel we got to see during Celebration 2017, if you haven't seen it yet:

Think it's really cool that Cad was going to be the one to give Boba's helmet that famous blaster mark, and yeah, I think the implication here is that Cad dies. Some might argue that this was supposed to take place in The Clone Wars show, so what's Cad doing in The Bad Batch? To which I'd point out that we've known for ages that the original plan for The Clone Wars was to see it run alongside the events of Episode III, and then see the fallout (which we're getting to some extent with The Bad Batch), so I think this could probably still end up happening. 

Cad Bane is cool because he's pretty much the only bounty hunter who consistently takes on Jedi and wins, and I reckon he might even have a better record against them than even Grievous. He takes on a wide array of jobs compared with most other bounty hunters that we've got to see too, whether it be holding up the senate, kidnapping young Force-sensitives, or hunting down some Jedi.

Funny thing worth noting too, and makes for great trivia: he's also the only character in canon so far to beat Obi-Wan on uneven ground. 

 

16 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

I'm interested to see if every episode looks different or if they'll all be visually similar. I also wonder if they'll focus on one period of time or jump around each episode. Will there be recognisable characters or will it focus on brand new ones.

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7 hours ago, Julius said:

I think this one was completely warranted, if anything it was the Fennec one which felt completely forced earlier in the season, as most of the others have made sense. Like I said above, we haven't seen Cad Bane in a pretty long time at this point, and it makes sense that the Kaminoans would hire the best bounty hunter in the galaxy at the time to go get Omega. It also gives me renewed hope for seeing the Boba and Cad Bane showdown at some point down the road (not necessarily in this show, but as a one-off).

Yeah sorry I didn't mean to sound dismissive. I think I'm still put off by the pointless Fennec Shand cameo. Another like Echo who does nothing for me. 

Spoiler

No problem, didn't come off as dismissive  I do agree though, that Fennec cameo was pretty bad. I honestly would rather see other bounty hunters from The Clone Wars in this, like Embo. I get that they want to make it feel more connected, but it does just feel forced. 

And yeah, I've said it before, but Echo is getting short-handed considering just how vital he and his squad were to getting attached to the regular clones in The Clone Wars. I do hope we see him more fleshed out (I honestly still don't have a great feeling about Wrecker making it through this season, so wonder if Echo would step up to the plate in a second season). 

 

[Ronnie]

It's so interesting how these unfinished clips get released. It feels like these days that sort of thing would never happen. Everything is too controlled in most entertainment. Still waiting on TROS deleted scenes. Especially the one of Snap and Klaud which apparently had the whole crew in hysterics. From what I read Abrams doesn't like showing stuff like that, whereas Rian Johnson loves the art of filmmaking and was happy to show his process.

But yeah my hope for Cad Bane in the Boba Fett show has less to do with continuity/canon and more to do with, I just he looks and sounds cool and I could see Filoni tweaking his plans to fit him into live action. 

[Julius]

47 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

It's so interesting how these unfinished clips get released. It feels like these days that sort of thing would never happen. Everything is too controlled in most entertainment. Still waiting on TROS deleted scenes. Especially the one of Snap and Klaud which apparently had the whole crew in hysterics. From what I read Abrams doesn't like showing stuff like that, whereas Rian Johnson loves the art of filmmaking and was happy to show his process.

Yeah, I think it helps in this instance that Filoni and the team had the rug pulled from under them after Lucasfilm was sold to Disney and had to cut Season 6 short, meaning they could only finish up and release a limited number of episodes for the Lost Missions (Season 6, especially with how it ends, really feels like it drives The Clone Wars towards its end and a point of realisation).

Clips have been released on StarWars.com, but we've also heard and seen a lot directly from Filoni himself during different Celebrations about episodes which never came to be, many of which were in varying stages of production, with some fully rigged and voiced (hence the clips and pretty much full episodes we've got to see). Some have been adapted into novels (Dark Disciple, and to an extent Ahsoka) and comics (Son of Dathomir). Heck, even what became Season 7 of The Clone Wars was pretty much a known quantity: we'd been shown the entire Bad Batch arc, we'd seen tidbits and heard major beats of Ahsoka's Walkabout arc, and Dave told Ashley on stage how the start of the Siege of Mandalore panned out with Ahsoka's return. Arcs like Return to the Jedi Temple (about a Sith shrine and the skeletons of giant Kaiju under the temple, the presence of which hazed the Jedi's ability to sense Palpatine -- in terms of being built on top of it, it's like how some places of worship today are built on the ruins of others), a Yuuzhan Vong arc, a Bad Batch arc with Yoda on Kashyyyk, among others, are the ones which got unlucky.

We also got to see Crystal Crisis on Utapau in full, which I'm surprised didn't get included in Season 7, where Anakin and Obi-Wan aim to retrieve a massive kyber crystal which would potentially go on to be the one used in the Death Star (to an extent it's pretty similar to the Mygeeto mission in the original Battlefront II where Ki-Adi-Mundi retrieves a massive crystal). It's an episode I really want to see adapted down the line, as we finally got to hear Anakin and Obi-Wan talk about a certain someone leaving the Order. 

It's definitely worth tracking down what you can on these, I think it's a fascinating thing to watch and learn about, but these last few arcs were also George's final direct works on Star Wars. This playlist has all of the clips and fully rigged episodes we've seen so far, and the Celebrations where Filoni spoke about them I believe were mainly 2015, 2016, and 2017. 

I mean, just look at how close we were to getting Revan be part of canon from the Mortis arc 

In terms of the sequels, it's worth remembering that The Last Jedi was the only one of them to have a smooth production, which is why I think we've seen much more of it than The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker. Michael Arndt, who wrote the first script for The Force Awakens, was kicked off in 2013, which is when other familiar names came in to write the script with J.J., and this is purely because Disney weren't happy to give him more time (no surprises there). The Rise of Skywalker we all know about, and I think it's a large part of why we never saw the 'Making of' books by Rinzler make a return -- Disney didn't want the tumultuous production getting coverage, and it got pulled in 2015 if I'm remembering right. I doubt we'll ever hear about the full story of what happened with the sequels, and if we do, it's probably a decade or two away. 

Rogue One and Solo also underwent major changes, which is why we've seen and heard so little about their production - other than it being anything but smooth - in an official capacity. It sucks considering just how much we got for the two other trilogies, but it is what it is 

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But yeah my hope for Cad Bane in the Boba Fett show has less to do with continuity/canon and more to do with, I just he looks and sounds cool and I could see Filoni tweaking his plans to fit him into live action.

Oh yeah, they could totally tweak it -- even if they do the Boba and Cad showdown, it might even be the case that he survived. I'm just not sure if he'd turn up there without that arc being realised, if there are still potential plans to release it down the road, as the tension of the moment would be totally gone. 

[Ronnie]

22 hours ago, Julius said:

In terms of the sequels, it's worth remembering that The Last Jedi was the only one of them to have a smooth production

You can tell from the final product. Though tbf I wouldn't have guessed TFA had any production trouble based on the end result either. Same with the two spin-offs. TROS on other hand... ooof. Hopefully a learning experience for all the higher ups at Lucasfilm moving forward. 

It's interesting hearing Boyega say he'd happily return to Star Wars if Kennedy and Abrams were in charge. The clickbaity YouTubers must have had a field day with that.

22 hours ago, Julius said:

Oh yeah, they could totally tweak it -- even if they do the Boba and Cad showdown, it might even be the case that he survived. I'm just not sure if he'd turn up there without that arc being realised, if there are still potential plans to release it down the road, as the tension of the moment would be totally gone. 

I guess we'll find out soon, if we see it happen in Bad Batch then that's that, if it doesn't I'd put money on it being TBoBB (terrible acronym )

Thanks for the insight re TCW, I'll seek out some clips but I've still to finish season 7. My point about Bad Batch's cameos was more in terms of we've had 8 episodes so far and had cameos from Saw Gerrera, Cut Lawquane, Fennec Shand, Trace and Rafa, Rex, Bib Fortuna and now Cad Bane. It's not a real issue cause most were done well, but it's getting to the point where you wonder what character will show up this week.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Ronnie

[Julius]

Was finally able to catch up on the latest episode of The Bad Batch earlier today after a very hectic weekend. 

Spoiler

Can't believe they killed Taun We off-screen like that! And at the hands of Fennec, no less! 

Speaking of whom, glad Cad Bane survived, but I'm not a fan of how Fennec seemed to be able to go toe-to-toe with him. I mean I guess it was mostly close quarters, so maybe she has an advantage there, but considering this is some 20+ years before The Mandalorian - when she seems to have a legendary status as a bounty hunter - I'm just not a fan of how she got the better of him. Oh well, let's see him take her down next time I guess? Was a bit disappointed it wasn't Boba rather than Fennec to be honest, but I think we'll see him in the show at some point (even if not necessarily this season). 

And speaking of Bane, that metal plate on his head makes me wonder if he has already had that standoff with Boba -- even though I'm struggling to see how he'd survive, I guess he very well could have, and the metal plate is roughly in the same position as the dent on Boba's helmet. Love Bane's theme in this, by the way. 

I was surprised at how quickly the Batch got Omega back, but I'm also glad it wasn't stretched out for no good reason as we've seen happen in the past. Her name makes sense if we consider that Boba was 'Alpha', two different ends of the same cloning process, with two very different purposes. 

Also cool to see an old Kaminoan facility. I was a little worried they might be trying to make some ham-fisted ties to Snoke or Grogu, but instead we got a deformed Sullustan and a much more Grey-like Kaminoan (the much rounder eyes for one), amongst others. Would be curious to see if the cloning process comes up in earlier canon eras like the High Republic. 

Think the show couldn't be more blatantly setting up a Kamino Uprising finale, especially now we have a very clear picture of why Omega was created, so I really hope that pans out! 

 

[Ronnie]

Funny I literally just finished the episode myself. Enjoyed it, some stunning animation as per usual.

Spoiler

Cad Bane is cool af. And so is his ship, awesome. Actually Fennec Shand's one was lovely too. God I love SW ship designs. 

13 minutes ago, Julius said:

but considering this is some 20+ years before The Mandalorian

28 years before Mando! They're definitely playing it fast and loose with her age/ability 

15 minutes ago, Julius said:

the metal plate is roughly in the same position as the dent on Boba's helmet

They definitely made a point of calling attention to it a couple of times.

15 minutes ago, Julius said:

I was a little worried they might be trying to make some ham-fisted ties to Snoke or Grogu, but instead we got a deformed Sullustan and a much more Grey-like Kaminoan (the much rounder eyes for one), amongst others. 

Even so I definitely think between this show and Mando 'the Siege' they're trying to flesh out (if we're being kind) / repair (if we're not) the whole Snoke/Palpatine cloning thing. Just like TCW legitimised the prequels to a lot of people, it's a smart move.

 

[Eddage]

14 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Funny I literally just finished the episode myself. Enjoyed it, some stunning animation as per usual.

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28 years before Mando! They're definitely playing it fast and loose with her age/ability 

 

Spoiler

Is Fennec's age stated anywhere? Ming Na Wen is 57, so if Fennec is meant to be a similar age then she would be around her late 20's in The Bad Batch - seems reasonable

 

[Ronnie]

7 minutes ago, Eddage said:

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Is Fennec's age stated anywhere? Ming Na Wen is 57, so if Fennec is meant to be a similar age then she would be around her late 20's in The Bad Batch - seems reasonable

 

She's 57!?! Wow. Fair enough then

[Ronnie]

Time to dive in!

If it's half as good as Light of the Jedi I'm in for a treat 

[Ronnie]

Bad Batch episode 10, easily one of my favourites of the season. No cameos to shoehorn in and take attention away from the main cast, just a fun (if basic) storyline with the usual stunning visuals, and lots of blink and you'll miss it little touches between the characters. It probably won't review as well as other eps, but I've noticed my tastes in SW don't often fit the majority (The Passenger was my fav Mando season 2 episode for instance)  

Oh and Sid is awesome. More of her please.

Edited July 2, 2021 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

Star Wars: Visions dated for 22nd September, so just over a couple of months away 

The panel was really good, they showed sneak peaks of most (every?) short, each by a different studio (though a couple were doing two). All looked really cool, even for someone like me who's never been into anime.

It was mostly concept art though there were plenty of final stills in there, and it was fun hearing about each one. We'll get a trailer at some point but it's probably smart to not show too much.

All but one seemed to feature new characters. I got the feeling it was mostly original trilogy era but there was some sequel era stormtroopers in one of them.

EDIT: D'oh, I should have checked first, they just posted this:

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Ronnie

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

Star Wars: Visions dated for 22nd September, so just over a couple of months away 

The panel was really good, they showed sneak peaks of most (every?) short, each by a different studio (though a couple were doing two). All looked really cool, even for someone like me who's never been into anime.

It was mostly concept art though there were plenty of final stills in there, and it was fun hearing about each one. We'll get a trailer at some point but it's probably smart to not show too much.

All but one seemed to feature new characters. I got the feeling it was mostly original trilogy era but there was some sequel era stormtroopers in one of them.

EDIT: D'oh, I should have checked first, they just posted this:

 

Hell yeah, this is exactly what I wanted it to be. Couldn't care much less if it's canon or not (you definitely get the sense it's up and down the timeline), this looks incredible, and you could sense the passion not just from those working on the anime, but also those on the Lucasfilm side of things. 

Studios involved and their episodes are:

• Kamikaze Douga – The Duel
• Geno Studio (Twin Engine) – Lop and Ochō
• Studio Colorido (Twin Engine) – Tatooine Rhapsody
• Trigger – The Twins
• Trigger – The Elder
• Kinema Citrus – The Village Bride
• Science Saru – Akakiri
• Science Saru – T0-B1
• Production IG – The Ninth Jedi

I think to anime fans the most recognisable names here are Trigger (Kill la Kill, Promare) and Production IG (Ghost in the Shell, Psycho Pass, Haikyu!), without a doubt. Given that there are those big names on here, I'm really surprised by just how strong the "smaller" studios are: Geno Studio (Golden Kamuy) and Studio Colorido (Penguin Highway), Kamikaze Douga (some of JoJo's intros), Kinema Citrus (Made in Abyss, The Rising of the Shield Hero). Of the "smaller" studios though (I guess they'd be more borderline compared to the other smaller studios), the one that has me the most excited is without a doubt Science SARU, they do some really awesome yet unique and weird stuff! The most bizarre yet visually stunning episode of Adventure Time (Food Chain, it's seriously worth looking up if you haven't seen it already, it is real weird), Ping Pong The Animation, some work on Space Dandy, Devilman Crybaby...think we can safely say that will be the most uniquely animated and weirdest of the we'll see going in. 

There's a full press release here, but heck yeah, I'm all in on this. I was talking to a friend earlier who isn't as much of a Star Wars fan, and we were talking about how even though we've both enjoyed Disney-owned Lucasfilm's content to varying degrees, it feels like it's missing something a bit unique and off-kilter to keep it fresh -- this could be exactly that. 

Man I hope the openings for these are good. I know it's a fan edit of bits and pieces of Galaxy of Adventures using Shinzo wo Sasageyo, but this is still one of the most hype Star Wars trailers I've seen in the last few years:

Praying that Visions is successful just so we can see some other studios take a crack at this too. Bones, MAPPA, Studio Wit (I know, technically Production IG, but it's a subsidiary and they're credited differently), Madhouse, A-1 Pictures, Ufotable...hell, I'm just imagining what Shinkai could make 5 minutes on Coruscant look like. Now that's the dream. 

@Ronnie I know you mentioned you've never really been into anime -- not to call you out or anything (!), but is it something you've given a go? Because I'd be happy to recommend some stuff which I think you'd really enjoy. The weird thing about anime is that sometimes from the outside looking in it can seem like its own weird thing, almost like it's own genre - I know because even though I grew up with some of it, it's only been the last 5-6 years where I've really sunk my teeth in - but it's a medium above all else with some great stuff that I don't think anyone who enjoys a great story wouldn't enjoy - and who doesn't like a good story? Heck, one of my three favourite movies of all time, alongside the likes of The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather, is an anime movie (Princess Mononoke). I'd really recommend checking some anime out, because there's absolutely an anime for everyone, and I'd be happy to suggest some things to you (if not in this thread, you can always shoot me a message ). 

And if my words won't convince you, hopefully Visions will, so fingers crossed it's good  I think it could be a great gateway for a lot of people into anime, the only potential pitfall I guess being that there aren't any on Disney+, but there's plenty on other streaming services at least. 

Oh, and as a total side: The Bad Batch was good this week, definitely felt a bit like a boilerplate Saturday morning cartoon at times, but I'll take it, as I still enjoyed it. Hopefully the next episode or two will start setting up the final arc, which I'm nervous to see play out! 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Julius

[Ronnie]

@Julius Sorry I should have been clearer, I didn't mean to put anime down when I said I wasn't into it, because I've never really given it a go to begin with! I can absolutely see the charm and why people love it, I've just never really felt compelled to check it out for myself. So it wasn't a judgement I was making on it, just an admission of ignorance! Of course feel free to suggest a few starting points, but you saw how long it took me to watch TCW  I googled that Adventure Time episode you mentioned, looks very trippy and cool.

Really pleased you're so excited by Visions, I didn't realise you were such a big anime fan! Star Wars definitely needs something a bit out of the box to freshen things up and this looks like it'll fit that bill.

As for Bad Batch, I found myself smiling throughout most of the episode this week, which is always a good sign. "I never really cared for that vase." 

 

Oh and I just finished The Rising Storm, just amazing. As good as if not even better than Light of the Jedi. Huge credit to the publishing arm of Lucasfilm, The High Republic is absolutely on fire so far, I'm so exciting to see what comes next.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Ronnie

[Julius]

11 hours ago, Ronnie said:

@Julius Sorry I should have been clearer, I didn't mean to put anime down when I said I wasn't into it, because I've never really given it a go to begin with! I can absolutely see the charm and why people love it, I've just never really felt compelled to check it out for myself. So it wasn't a judgement I was making on it, just an admission of ignorance! Of course feel free to suggest a few starting points, but you saw how long it took me to watch TCW  I googled that Adventure Time episode you mentioned, looks very trippy and cool.

Really pleased you're so excited by Visions, I didn't realise you were such a big anime fan! Star Wars definitely needs something a bit out of the box to freshen things up and this looks like it'll fit that bill.

Oh no it didn't come off that way at all, sorry if I sounded stand-offish, was more just excited because anime  yeah anime was something I watched bits and pieces of growing up (Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, bits and pieces of Dragon Ball Z, some Ghibli films) but it wasn't really until I started getting into films way more in 2015, as high school was winding down for me and with The Force Awakens in sight, that I started to seek out new things to experience and learn more about how they're made, the history of it, and so on, and eventually I got onto really seeking out anime. I think there was part of me that put it off for so long simply because I'm half Asian and it seemed like unnecessary ammo for people around me to say unkind things, and while bullying hasn't gone away, a lot of the baggage that comes with being into these things has slowly faded since I've left highschool. My younger brother who is in highschool now, for instance, loves it, he has plenty of friends who love it, and there's no real shaming going on, which is always cool to hear. The globalisation of things like this has been pretty awesome to see from the outside. 

In terms of recommendations, I'd honestly point you in the direction of some anime films to get your feet wet, as jumping straight into a series (especially a long one) can be tough to commit to, so I'll recommend a few. It almost feels like cheating, but Studio Ghibli - and specifically the films directed by Hayao Miyazaki - would probably be an ideal place to start, as they are all very accessible, with well-written characters, purposeful dialogue, some beautiful hand drawn scenery and animation, and many of them are backed by amazing soundtracks from Joe Hisaishi (the only composer still living that I'd put on John Williams' level in terms of influence). They also have probably the most consistent voice for great female lead characters, and this stretches back to the early 80's.

All of Miyazaki's works are worth checking out, but I think Spirited Away would be the obvious jumping in point, as it (somehow, ridiculously) is the only film from the East to have ever won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and it would be underselling it to not say that it's a masterpiece. It's a coming-of-age story which is incredibly heartfelt and relatable, I think you'd enjoy it. After that I would point you in the direction of Princess Mononoke, which is my personal favourite, and I'm convinced you'll love it for two reasons: it was clearly a huuuuuuuuge influence for Breath of the Wild, and it's also one of Filoni's favourite films (trust me, all of the wolves we see from him in Star Wars will make much more sense after you've seen it). It's an epic tale on morals and mankind's destruction of nature, and is by far the most mature of Ghibli's films, but I really don't want to say too much other than that it's a must-watch. For something a bit lighter, and perhaps more Disney-like, My Neighbour Totoro is a tale of two sisters and these cat/rabbit/bear-like creatures that are spirits, and it's just a very cosy time.

I'm not even joking when I say that I could list all of Miyazaki's films and wholeheartedly recommend them, but those would be my suggested starting points, and then you can experience his other great work. A great thing about these as well is that, thanks to the English dubs by Disney, they all have stellar English voice casts. A good chunk of them - the three I mentioned above included - are also all currently available on Netflix. 

In terms of other anime films I'd suggest, Akira would have to be one. It's the film that helped anime break out in the West, and its influence on popular culture worldwide is immense. It's set in a cyberpunk Tokyo where things have, as in most cyberpunk settlements, gone awry, and things get weird. But I think it's also a great insight into Japanese creation in particular (the impact of the nuclear blasts in the dying days of World War II) and will help get over the hump for some of the other, stranger things in anime.

Your Name would be another, imagine Freaky Friday but just, well...made about a million times better. Makoto Shinkai's and co.'s art is fantastic, it's genuine eye candy and it's hard to not be dazzled by it, but it also has a really well told romance, I think it's the only time I've audibly rooted for someone in a film. Also has a killer soundtrack. 

Last recommendation for an anime film would be A Silent Voice, it's a good bit heavier than some of the other things I've mentioned, but it's got a very endearing cast of characters and sinks it hooks into you. It's about a bully connecting with a deaf girl he bulled in school, and I think it can hit hard for most. 

Lastly, if I do want to recommend a series, I think there can only be one. As much as I've enjoyed plenty of other shows - and don't get me wrong, there are other great jumping in points - I think a lot of them can be hard to relate to because of the location, or how edgy some things are (or try to be), or just not that approachable in how they rely on some tropes of the medium. The one anime series I would recommend to anyone for a first time series would be Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Awesome set of characters, a great journey set in what is effectively an alternate universe's Germany, and another great soundtrack, it focuses on these two brothers and their quest to find a Philosopher's Stone to restore their bodies after one of their attempts to perform alchemy goes wrong. It's on the same level as The Last Airbender for me, and it's a similar length too (64 episodes long). I've recommended it to a lot of people at this point and I don't think one of them hasn't ended up enjoying it. For its length, it also has surprisingly little filler and recap content, as it didn't need to stall (the 2003 series suffered for this and they needed to stall and then just ended up going in a direction not dictated by the manga). 

And all of those other films and the show I mentioned are all on Netflix too! 

[Ronnie]

Wow, thanks for the recommendations. I can't do a post like that justice. A few there I recognise like Spirited Away and Princess Monoke, but like I said given how long it took me to watch TCW, it may take me a while to actually get round to it. 

Thanks again for taking the time to write all that 

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

Wow, thanks for the recommendations. I can't do a post like that justice. A few there I recognise like Spirited Away and Princess Monoke, but like I said given how long it took me to watch TCW, it may take me a while to actually get round to it. 

Thanks again for taking the time to write all that 

No problem! No rush, but would enjoy reading your thoughts if/when you get around to trying one out! 

[Julius]

Probably one of my favourite episodes of The Bad Batch so far this week. 

Spoiler

That shot of the ship against all of those clouds was beautiful. I need to track that down to make it my new desktop wallpaper, they've killed it with the look in so much of this show! 

Surprised we're getting a two-parter at this point in the season, especially seeing as we're likely to see things ramp up towards the final arc after the next episode, but I'm a big fan of it. Many of my favourite episodes of The Clone Wars had the primary protagonists in tertiary roles at best, or in some cases being completely absent, instead allowing for the spotlight to shine firmly on another set of characters or situation.

It's also one of the things I wish we had more of in Rebels, so I was over the moon to see Hera here (thought she and the events on Ryloth were handled really well) and to have the focus squarely somewhere else, just because it gives such a better picture of the state of the galaxy when compared with following the Batch around each week, and also because it's less about how she interacts with the Bad Batch and more about her character, which I think is where some of the other cameos so far have fallen a bit flat. Was not expecting the accent though, and Hera definitely came across to me as being older than I seem to recall her being (I think she's supposed to be around 10 here? Yet seems like a 13/14 year old). Also, I guess Omega won the match against Hunter! 

Quite liked Howzer - one of the few regular clones we've seen so far to clearly retain a sense of identity, wonder if that means he's from an earlier batch? - and even if the episode was a little on the predictable side (and I think the events of the next episode are a bit predictable based on what we saw here: Howzer defecting or sacrificing himself, Hera's mother potentially kicking the bucket, etc.), I still really found myself enjoying it. It was really well paced too, which is always something I try to feel for. 

Seen some mention that Taa is in Lords of the Sith which is set half a decade or so after this, but seeing as Rampart mentioned specifically that it was an "attempted assassination", are we supposed to take away that Crosshair didn't kill him on purpose? Because I'm having a tough time buying that 

Look forward to next week's! 

[Ronnie]

My god this series is STUNNING.

Brilliant episode, and I'm a big hypocrite for loving it when it was yet another cameo-fest, in fact probably the most cameo-ist of cameo-fests 

Spoiler

But who cares, Rebels characters yaaaaaaay!!! Hopefully this is setting up Hera's (and Chopper's) live action debut in an upcoming show. Great to see Vanessa Marshall continue to voice her too.

It's interesting, everyone was drawing parallels from the opening couple of episodes about how this show was worryingly copying the Mandalorian in terms of 'gruff reluctant father figure looks after helpless child', but actualy whilst that's a part of it, the story-telling has been much wider.

3 hours ago, Julius said:

just because it gives such a better picture of the state of the galaxy when compared with following the Batch around each week

I agree to an extent, but the show has leaned a fair bit on side characters up till this point when we really should be learning all about the main cast. That's why I loved last week's episode because there were no cameos, it was just the Batch doing something cool. I think they need to get the right balance, that's all.

3 hours ago, Julius said:

Quite liked Howzer - one of the few regular clones we've seen so far to clearly retain a sense of identity, wonder if that means he's from an earlier batch?

Had we seen him before? His compassion surprised me. Maybe Rex already got to him.

3 hours ago, Julius said:

That shot of the ship against all of those clouds was beautiful.

Incredible shot. I threw my arms up in amazement at that moment. It's nothing particularly over the top, just beautiful. My jaw was nearly on the floor multiple times this episode.

 

 

Edited July 10, 2021 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

Trapper Wolf gets his own action figure 

[Ronnie]

 

Niiice! Yes please