Ronnie Posted February 8, 2022 Posted February 8, 2022 Now I just want to watch Solo again for the 19th time. But yeah, probably just a dude in a helmet, but I think they knew fans would speculate given the vague similarities.
Julius Posted February 8, 2022 Author Posted February 8, 2022 The legend himself turns 90 today, the man who provides Star Wars it's oxygen: John Williams! I remember being concerned that he wouldn't see the sequels through to the end due to his age, but he's still kicking on and going strong, thank goodness. He's back to working with Spielberg on The Fabelmans this year and Indiana Jones 5 (directed by James Mangold) next year, so he's definitely got more great stuff left in the tank! 1
Julius Posted February 9, 2022 Author Posted February 9, 2022 Finished the seventh and final chapter of The Book of Boba Fett... Spoiler Overall, a really solid episode. Where to begin? The negatives, I guess, because I don't think there are any big ones, but it felt like there were plenty of small ones: • Firstly, Boba is an idiot for thinking anyone was going to stick to the agreement of staying neutral, and that his plan depended so much on people who anyone with any experience of living in the world of Star Wars - let alone a bounty hunter! - wouldn't trust for a moment just makes him feel thick as bricks, to be honest. He doesn't need to be some brilliant, intelligent mastermind, but he should have the street smarts in spadefuls to figure out how that was going to go. Though it did make for a nice Godfather reference ("It was the smart move"). • I really hated some of the Marvel-esque lines which completely undercut the tone of a scene. It happened a few times throughout the episode, but the worst offender was the serious talk between Mando and Boba and Mando putting his life on the line and committing to his word, then the Twi'lek - did I miss something or did we never get his name?! - coming in and being like "Hey hold up guys, actually...". Yeah, it made for a good distraction for them to fly out,l with their jetpacks in the end, but I was audibly groaning. • ...were there no human casualties in this episode? Seriously? Were the only guys to die on Boba's side the two Gamorrean Guards backed off a cliff? • Boba scouts an army of eight to take on an almost endless army of Pykes. Genius. • Luke sent his X-Wing and R2 with Grogu across the galaxy to drop him off, and didn't question how dangerous this could have been? It's one of those where the only real reason Luke isn't there is for story reasons (wouldn't be much of a fight if he showed up and stick around) and budget reasons (what they do with Luke ain't exactly cheap) rather than the logical choice of him going along so that Grogu doesn't get killed/injured/lost/what have you. • Boba: "this is my town, I must protect it." Also Boba: brings a rancor into town, destroying or damaging multiple buildings "I'm not sure if this job is for me." • I feel like Boba should've got the last word, so to speak, with the Pykes, mayor, and heads of the other families, especially after learning that the Pykes were (kind of obviously) responsible for the murder of the Tuskens. And the positives: • for the most part, the episode looked fantastic, especially after the rancor turned up. • Boba riding a rancor • I'm still not keen on Grogu being back with Mando this quickly - I know you said @Ronnie it seemed like his heart wasn't in it to stick around, as Luke said, but I got that vibe from the very moment when he left Mando in the first place, and it doesn't feel like they've been apart that long - but his inclusion was adorable. Seeing him snuggling up to a rancor was cute, we'll surely see some great fan art and products spawn from that moment I'm sure. Not to forget the scream at the end! • the tease of the standoff between Boba and Cad Bane and then actually delivering on that promise later on in the episode. Sucks that Bane is gone (easily my favourite bounty hunter outside of the OT, possibly in all of Star Wars) but this should give Boba some street cred, and I appreciate the callbacks to their time together as well as Jango. Finally bring it back around to his staff too! • music was really good, as ever. Overall I don't think the soundtrack for The Book of Boba Fett quite matches the heights of Mando S1 or S2, but that would have been a big ask anyways, and it was still a great OST. Look forward to giving it a few listens! • they decided to not go crazy big with the post-credits scene, and I'm very grateful for that. I'm glad Vanth will be on the mend and more than likely show up again elsewhere, Freetown is an interesting place and I always love when characters from the books make their way into the big screen, so I'd rather he not be killed off. • dude, bug ass droideka dudes that look exactly like the Scorpeka (spelling?) concept art from Episode II and Episode III? Heck yeah! My overall thoughts on The Book of Boba Fett are that the first few episodes were a bit of a mess, before things finally started to click mid-season, and made for an interesting (and long) finale. It's the weakest of the live-action Star Wars shows so far for me, and I do think overall it was a missed opportunity to do something interesting with Boba, as he feels as much a side character here as he has felt elsewhere -- despite the camera being set on him most of the time, I just don't think he was a good protagonist, and the show generally felt much more disjointed as a result when compared with how both seasons of The Mandalorian fleshed out Mando. It was like they were stuck between wanting to make him cool and making him practical in this world - as if they had to choose between the two - and as a result there really wasn't that much development for him as the show went on. It's a show with cool moments, and cool characters, but it just didn't come together for me as much as I had hoped/expected based on the quality of The Mandalorian. It's a shame I came away feeling that way, but there is plenty to see here if you're a Star Wars fan in the mood for Star Wars, and I'm curious to see what ramifications come out of this show. Elsewhere, and tangentially related... Spoiler ...it's been confirmed on StarWars.com that the temple seen in TBOBF was indeed the temple from The Last Jedi: Considering how few trees - if any - are around by the time of the flashback in that film, I'd say Luke and his Jedi had it coming
Julius Posted February 9, 2022 Author Posted February 9, 2022 (edited) Kenobi is coming on May 25th - the date of the 45 year anniversary of the release of the first film! Obligatory. Edited February 9, 2022 by Julius
Ronnie Posted February 10, 2022 Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) I would very much appreciate never having to watch another Star Wars episode directed by Robert Rodriguez. The literal showrunner has the dubious honour of helming the three worst received episodes of the series, chapters 1, 3 and now 7. I thought Chapter 7 was a bit of a mess from that point of view to be honest, and really sloppily put together. The action sequences simply went on for far, far too long, and were Marvel-like in their style, ie. forgettable and OTT. Much like The Tragedy, Rodriguez just doesn't know when enough is enough. The Pyke on-screen death count reaching 60 was bad enough, let alone 80 or 90. Spoiler The whole three bosses of Mos Espa turning on him might have been a good moment if the "agreement" with them wasn't so bizarrely lame in the first place. And it might also have been a good moment if it was well directed. The sequence of the Gamoreans being harrased off the cliff was embarrassing. We got to see Boba riding the Rancor, hooray! It would have been nice to see him train a bit more instead of fast forwarding directly to that. I didn't dislike the episode, it had some good moments, but I'm actually the opposite of you @Julius in that I thought the first 2 chapters + chapter 4 were excellent and set up the character really well, only for it to fall apart at the end when Mando showed up. And for the record, Chapter 5 was my favourite live action SW episode ever, but it also drove the whole premise of the show off a cliff. Easy to say that with hindsight. Crossovers only work when both parts of it are set-up and there's an emotional attachment. Season 1 should have been about Boba. I'm surprised Mando and Grogu are back together so soon, it cheapens the end of season 2 a bit, but oh well. Loved their little scene at the end. I'm glad they killed Cad Bane, some finality. Their face off was a highlight of the episode for sure. 6 hours ago, Julius said: I feel like Boba should've got the last word, so to speak, with the Pykes, mayor, and heads of the other families, especially after learning that the Pykes were (kind of obviously) responsible for the murder of the Tuskens. Definitely. Another really weirdly put together scene. And yeah I'm glad no crazy post credits scene, I'm not really a fan of them and it's good they're not training people to expect a huge surprise every series. Mind you I'd have probably left the one they did include out, felt a bit pointless. Nice to see Cobb Vanth ok though. A real mixed bag of a show for me. 2 and 5 were genuinely excellent, but 3 and 7... My order of preference: 5 > 2 > 4 > 1 > 6 > 7 > 3 3 hours ago, Julius said: Kenobi is coming on May 25th - the date of the 45 year anniversary of the release of the first film! Wow, they're wasting ZERO time having people focus on the next thing. Kind of lines up with reports I was reading that Lucasfilm are really excited about the show, and less so about Book of Boba Fett. Much as I love the Mando-verse, I'm looking forward to having a fresh series not written by Jon Favreau as a palette cleanser. This, Andor, Bad Batch S2 in the next 9 months? Yes please. Edited February 10, 2022 by Ronnie
Julius Posted February 10, 2022 Author Posted February 10, 2022 6 hours ago, Ronnie said: Hide contents The whole three bosses of Mos Espa turning on him might have been a good moment if the "agreement" with them wasn't so bizarrely lame in the first place. And it might also have been a good moment if it was well directed. The sequence of the Gamoreans being harrased off the cliff was embarrassing. We got to see Boba riding the Rancor, hooray! It would have been nice to see him train a bit more instead of fast forwarding directly to that. I didn't dislike the episode, it had some good moments, but I'm actually the opposite of you @Julius in that I thought the first 2 chapters + chapter 4 were excellent and set up the character really well, only for it to fall apart at the end when Mando showed up. And for the record, Chapter 5 was my favourite live action SW episode ever, but it also drove the whole premise of the show off a cliff. Easy to say that with hindsight. Crossovers only work when both parts of it are set-up and there's an emotional attachment. Season 1 should have been about Boba. I'm surprised Mando and Grogu are back together so soon, it cheapens the end of season 2 a bit, but oh well. Loved their little scene at the end. I'm glad they killed Cad Bane, some finality. Their face off was a highlight of the episode for sure. Definitely. Another really weirdly put together scene. And yeah I'm glad no crazy post credits scene, I'm not really a fan of them and it's good they're not training people to expect a huge surprise every series. Mind you I'd have probably left the one they did include out, felt a bit pointless. Nice to see Cobb Vanth ok though. Spoiler To be fair, I did actually enjoy some parts of the earlier episodes, just not much of the present day stuff - I thought it was boring and very typical next to the Lawrence of Arabia-styled stuff we were seeing with the Tuskens - so would agree that Chapter 2 was one of the highlights, if only for the high volume of flashback sequences. I was much, much more interested in Boba's PTSD and flashbacks to being a child, and honestly am surprised that we didn't get more short flashbacks. Totally agree that Chapter 5 was brilliant but shot the show off a cliff. The first four episodes didn't do a good enough job of making Boba a great protagonist, even if there were enjoyable parts to them, and once he's competing with Mando for screen time in his own show, there's only one way it can go, unfortunately. He was relegated to a side character in his own show. It's actually insane. Yeah, also glad they killed Cad Bane - to be fair, I'm surprised he lived this long in the first place - because as much as I love the character, he is insanely OP. It's nice to have a bounty hunter of that S tier ilk, though, who can show up and just devastate where you think the episode is going, and I still hope we see his and Boba's Clone Wars showdown animated one day. Also, want your opinion on this: do you think that post-credits scene could have been shot more clearly? I was paying full attention when it showed up the first time but had to rewind and pause to double check that was Vanth. 6 hours ago, Ronnie said: My order of preference: 5 > 2 > 4 > 1 > 6 > 7 > 3 Mine right now would probably be: 5 > 2 > 6 > 1 > 7 > 4 > 3 I do wonder if my opinion of Chapter 4 was hurt by being forced to take a break and coming back to the show at that point, though, so would be curious if that would change at all if I were to rewatch the show. Which, admittedly, I have very little desire to do outside of Chapter 5 6 hours ago, Ronnie said: Wow, they're wasting ZERO time having people focus on the next thing. Kind of lines up with reports I was reading that Lucasfilm are really excited about the show, and less so about Book of Boba Fett. Much as I love the Mando-verse, I'm looking forward to having a fresh series not written by Jon Favreau as a palette cleanser. This, Andor, Bad Batch S2 in the next 9 months? Yes please. Yeah, I honestly can't blame them! Anecdotal, but the few friends of mine who did watch Book of Boba Fett quickly fell off, and they've been known to stick with shows that I'd say were all around weaker than Boba. I wouldn't at all be surprised if viewership waned as the season went on and would be one of their weaker performing Star Wars shows so far, which I think is kind of hinted at by just how aggressively the official Star Wars channels were, unfortunately, very openly ruining certain aspects of Chapters 5 and 6 in what I would imagine was an attempt to get more people back for the finale. Obi-Wan is one of maybe two universally loved characters from the prequels (the other being Palpatine), not to mention the date they've chosen and the character's popularity before that, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if we hear that the show has one of the strongest premieres on the platform. I'm nervously excited in that I feel it's a show that could just as easily go right as it could go wrong (I've said my piece before on how the direction they're going raises a lot of questions compared to what I would want to have personally seen in such a show), but Episode III is by far and away my favourite of the prequels and one of my most watched Star Wars films, so it's hard to not be excited. I'm getting giddy at the possibilities of rearrangements or incorporations of prequels tracks like Battle of the Heroes, Duel of the Fates, Anakin's Dark Deeds, Across the Stars, not to mention some classic themes...I'll stop there, because the list gets long quickly, but the point is -- I'm excited! Probably the most excited I'll be going into a Star Wars show since the launch of Disney+ I imagine, and yeah, that hunger to get back on the metaphorical Boga and rewatch the films is just returning with this announcement As much as Favreau has helped spearhead live-action Star Wars shows, I do agree, it'll be nice to see someone else's vision fleshed out, which is very much needed after the muddled mess of Boba Fett. The rest of the year is shaping up to be a lot of fun, though admittedly, I do miss having a film to look forward to within the next 12 months!
Ronnie Posted February 10, 2022 Posted February 10, 2022 Spoiler 20 minutes ago, Julius said: unfortunately. He was relegated to a side character in his own show. It's actually insane. I mean it says it all when the final shot of the show is Mando flying off to new adventures. Although to be fair I did enjoy that scene immediately before with Boba and Fennec walking around town and the bit of humour with Santo and the meiloorun. Really bizarre though, these shows were always supposed to be inter-connected but it feels like it was badly executed or at least far too early. Surprised you weren't too keen on 4 though, but like you said maybe due to your circumstances. I thought Boba getting the Slave I back and his campfire chats with Fennec were really good. Plus the Rancor bit and that awesome shot of him blasting the speed bike gang from the air. 24 minutes ago, Julius said: Also, want your opinion on this: do you think that post-credits scene could have been shot more clearly? I was paying full attention when it showed up the first time but had to rewind and pause to double check that was Vanth. Yeah I was pretty sure it was Vanth but had to double check afterwards too. Just a weird scene overall. I wonder if they're setting him up as being the new boss of Mos Espa after Fennec's "if not us then who" comment immediately before. 27 minutes ago, Julius said: Obi-Wan is one of maybe two universally loved characters from the prequels (the other being Palpatine), not to mention the date they've chosen and the character's popularity before that, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if we hear that the show has one of the strongest premieres on the platform. Yeah the show is going to be huge, I think it could easily have the highest viewership of any series on Disney+. I don't think you should be all that nervous though, I think they'll do the character justice. 28 minutes ago, Julius said: and yeah, that hunger to get back on the metaphorical Boga and rewatch the films is just returning with this announcement Like I said I didn't dislike yesterday's episode but it definitely made me look fondly at all the great SW content that I've loved over the last few years, Rebels, Bad Batch, the films. 30 minutes ago, Julius said: As much as Favreau has helped spearhead live-action Star Wars shows, I do agree, it'll be nice to see someone else's vision fleshed out, which is very much needed after the muddled mess of Boba Fett. The rest of the year is shaping up to be a lot of fun, though admittedly, I do miss having a film to look forward to within the next 12 months! My problem with Favreau is I think his dialogue in the various scripts is utterly terrible. Like really really bad. In Boba Fett and Mando frankly. I'm sat there thinking "who the hell talks like that?". It's all so stiff and unnatural. It reminds me of Harrison's Ford to George Lucas about how "you can write this stuff but you can't say it". Chapter 6 was especially bad in that regard for me. So yeah, looking forward to a new creative vision to mix things up a bit. I just hope Obi-Wan gets off Tatooine pretty quick. Concept art seems to suggest that'll happen. Looks like we might see an Inquisitor or two, which would be cool.
Julius Posted February 11, 2022 Author Posted February 11, 2022 (edited) On 10/02/2022 at 10:03 AM, Ronnie said: I don't think you should be all that nervous though, I think they'll do the character justice. But yeah, I hope you're right. Nervously and excitedly optimistic is pretty much how I'm feeling about it at the moment, because as many problems as Revenge of the Sith has, it's final few scenes really do try hard to close the book on that chapter of Star Wars, Obi-Wan, and Anakin, and set the pieces in place for A New Hope. Rebels obviously used the McQuarrie art by the spadeful, but sometimes I do wish Lucas had Vader entering something of a proto-Vader suit at the end of ROTS rather than the complete package. I know there are slight differences, but for a guy known at the time for his knack of squeezing out new designs out of his team when not absolutely necessary - meaning more toys! The clones say hey - I do find it funny that he didn't do it the one time where it might have made sense. On 10/02/2022 at 10:03 AM, Ronnie said: Like I said I didn't dislike yesterday's episode but it definitely made me look fondly at all the great SW content that I've loved over the last few years, Rebels, Bad Batch, the films. Yeah, I get what you mean. Seeing something kind of middling in Star Wars is nice - obviously I'd rather it didn't happen, but you get what I mean - because you can reframe your perspective of your enjoyment without all of the drama and negativity surrounding something being absolutely slated or praised a little too much. It really does get me foaming at the mouth for their next animated series, though. As much as I love The Bad Batch, there's so much more they could do, and it's a shame that a lot of those ideas seem to have been pulled into live-action stuff -- as much as I enjoy it there, there's a timelessness you can achieve in a coherent animated project that just isn't possible in live-action, as the technology is still finding new ways to be advanced. I'm definitely getting that feeling of the run-in to IX, when we had the film itself, Mando, Fallen Order, and a Battlefront II update all within a month and a half or so. We've just come off the back of Boba, and now we've got LEGO Star Wars in just over a month and a half, Kenobi and celebration a month and two thirds after that, Bad Batch S2 at some currently nebulous point in the future - but surely not too far away? Not to mention everything else they've got going on in terms of published works (think I'll be cracking on with the High Republic once I've rewatched the films). It's a good time to be a Star Wars fan with so much stuff coming our way. On 10/02/2022 at 10:03 AM, Ronnie said: My problem with Favreau is I think his dialogue in the various scripts is utterly terrible. Like really really bad. In Boba Fett and Mando frankly. I'm sat there thinking "who the hell talks like that?". It's all so stiff and unnatural. It reminds me of Harrison's Ford to George Lucas about how "you can write this stuff but you can't say it". Chapter 6 was especially bad in that regard for me. Hard to disagree. I find that throughout Favreau's career it's obvious that he needs a certain type of actor to express some range to his writing, such as RDJ as Iron Man, which I just don't think he's got here. Not that these actors lack talent, but when you add in the fact that he's not directing and probably wants to leave the episode directors with some wiggle room, etc., I think it's a combination of him leaving them a lighter script for them to unravel themselves and just not being the right guy to write Boba. Because I'm still super confused about his 180° from the end of Mando S2's post-credits to this show, it's like they're entirely different characters. On 10/02/2022 at 10:03 AM, Ronnie said: So yeah, looking forward to a new creative vision to mix things up a bit. I just hope Obi-Wan gets off Tatooine pretty quick. Concept art seems to suggest that'll happen. Looks like we might see an Inquisitor or two, which would be cool. Yeah, I'd hope that he's either off Tatooine by the end of the first episode or about to leave, going by the type of show they seem to be setting up for us. If there's any dilly-dallying about him getting off-world I think we're going to come away wondering why there isn't more urgency. I can see it effectively going the typical 'Call to Adventure' route that we've seen with both Luke and Rey, it's pretty much required at this point considering that when we last saw him, he was consigning himself to a life of solitude on Tatooine to watch over Luke. We'll probably get a look at his day-to-day - getting food, staying quiet with any locals, walking across the desert, typical hermit in the desert stuff - and I wouldn't be surprised if it's another long, "let's see how many minutes we can go without talking" situation, before he gets back to his home, maybe tries to reach out to Qui-Gon (or Yoda, though I could see him appearing as a projection to help teach Obi-Wan how to commune with Qui-Gon if they didn't cover that before splitting up in ROTS) but to no avail or has difficulties with meditation, drifts off, and then has a nightmare (flashback to the prequels or clone wars). 15 - 20 minutes in there's some call to action, be it him being hunted down and feeling like he is putting Luke in danger, or any nightmares/attempts at meditation ending with mechanical breathing. We know very little about the path to ghosthood for a Jedi, but I think the thing that will be blocking it for Obi-Wan will be sensing - and ignoring - that he thinks Anakin is still out there. Coming to a point of acceptance of the choice he made at the end of Episode III to leave his closest friend to burn alive and accepting - and finding some sort of peace with - the ramifications of his choice to not carry out the deed I think might be the conclusion of the show. I wouldn't be surprised if the show ended with Obi-Wan finally being able to commune with Qui-Gon before cutting away (because I don't think they should ever spill the beans on the actual training process), but if he manages it on Tatooine, I hope they keep it consistent and he is only heard rather than seen, as he never completed his training, only appearing "physically" (either interacting with the world or as a Force ghost) in places with an incredibly high saturation of the Force (such as Dagobah or Mortis). In terms of cameos, I'm really hoping for the Grand Inquisitor to turn up at some point, and maybe even Satine if we do get flashbacks (played by Cate Blanchett, obviously, because that's so obviously who she's based on!), just considering her role in Obi-Wan's life. Heck, have the show start with Obi-Wan daydreaming about what his life with her could have been like before being snapped back into focus. But yeah I'm excited Edited February 11, 2022 by Julius 1
Ronnie Posted February 11, 2022 Posted February 11, 2022 16 minutes ago, Julius said: Rebels obviously used the McQuarrie art by the spadeful, but sometimes I do wish Lucas had Vader entering something of a proto-Vader suit at the end of ROTS rather than the complete package. I know there are slight differences, but for a guy known at the time for his knack of squeezing out new designs out of his team when not absolutely necessary - meaning more toys! The clones say hey - I do find it funny that he didn't do it the one time where it might have made sense. That would have been cool. I imagine if he knew there'd be more Star Wars down the line he'd have given us a half step but as far as he was concerned that was it I think. What a bold move by Rebels to give us McQuarrie designs, especially as it was the first SW of the Disney era. Such a fun idea, even if those Star Destroyers looked stupid . I'm not going into Obi-Wan super hyped but I am looking forward to it. I get the impression they're pulling out all the stops for it. Hopefully the story is good. 21 minutes ago, Julius said: Yeah, I get what you mean. Seeing something kind of middling in Star Wars is nice - obviously I'd rather it didn't happen, but you get what I mean - because you can reframe your perspective of your enjoyment without all of the drama and negativity surrounding something being absolutely slated or praised a little too much. Exactly. And tbf, I did enjoy the season overall, I just think the execution could have been better. And I really didn't like Rodriguez's direction. 23 minutes ago, Julius said: As much as I love The Bad Batch, there's so much more they could do, and it's a shame that a lot of those ideas seem to have been pulled into live-action stuff -- as much as I enjoy it there, there's a timelessness you can achieve in a coherent animated project that just isn't possible in live-action, as the technology is still finding new ways to be advanced. Rumours of more animated shows on the way, but yeah I know what you mean. I enjoy the more laid back tone of the animated shows, the dialogue feels more real and down to earth, and there's lots of humour. Was wondering when you think Bad Batch S2 might land, apparently Andor is releasing in the Aug/Sep and that's 12 episodes long so should take us to the end of the year. I think they might have to have it and Obi-Wan on at the same time tbh. Maybe May 4th again for Bad Batch? Can't wait for it, the last two episodes were pretty outstanding I thought. 28 minutes ago, Julius said: I'm definitely getting that feeling of the run-in to IX, when we had the film itself, Mando, Fallen Order, and a Battlefront II update all within a month and a half or so. We've just come off the back of Boba, and now we've got LEGO Star Wars in just over a month and a half, Kenobi and celebration a month and two thirds after that, Bad Batch S2 at some currently nebulous point in the future - but surely not too far away? Not to mention everything else they've got going on in terms of published works (think I'll be cracking on with the High Republic once I've rewatched the films). It's a good time to be a Star Wars fan with so much stuff coming our way. Fallen Order 2 shouldn't be too far off either, maybe a year or so away? Glad to hear you'll get onto the High Republic train. The benefit of being set in a new era means they can tell bigger stories, rather than what a lot of recent books have done which has been a bit more subdued. Still gutted Rangers of the New Republic was shelved though, I'm definitely in the minority but that was my most hyped series haha. Maybe it's been re-imagined into animation. 31 minutes ago, Julius said: Hard to disagree. I find that throughout Favreau's career it's obvious that he needs a certain type of actor to express some range to his writing, such as RDJ as Iron Man, which I just don't think he's got here. Not that these actors lack talent, but when you add in the fact that he's not directing and probably wants to leave the episode directors with some wiggle room, etc., I think it's a combination of him leaving them a lighter script for them to unravel themselves and just not being the right guy to right Boba. Because I'm still super confused about his 180° from the end of Mando S2's post-credits to this show, it's like they're entirely different characters. Yeah I can see that. I think Pedro Pascal does alright with his script, he makes it a bit more natural, but you have characters like Greef Carga or Ahsoka and it's really tough to connect with them I feel, just because of the dialogue. I don't think it helped that I went into these shows straight from Rebels, which had a very natural script, and where it feels like the cast kind of made the characters their own. As for Boba's 180, I think they thew a line in there about how 'cowardly' Bib Fortuna betrayed Boba or something like that, hence killing him. But yeah, kind of weird. Feels like they toned back his villainous streak a bit. 36 minutes ago, Julius said: I can see it effectively going the typical 'Call to Adventure' route that we've seen with both Luke and Rey, it's pretty much required at this point considering that when we last saw him, he was consigning himself to a life of solitude on Tatooine to watch over Luke. We'll probably get a look at his day-to-day - getting food, staying quiet with any locals, walking across the desert, typical hermit in the desert stuff - and I wouldn't be surprised if it's another long, "let's see how many minutes we can go without talking" situation, before he gets back to his home, maybe tries to reach out to Qui-Gon (or Yoda, though I could see him appearing as a projection to help teach Obi-Wan how to commune with Qui-Gon if they didn't cover that before splitting up in ROTS) but to no avail or has difficulties with meditation, drifts off, and then has a nightmare (flashback to the prequels or clone wars). 15 - 20 minutes in there's some call to action, be it him being hunted down and feeling like he is putting Luke in danger, or any nightmares/attempts at meditation ending with mechanical breathing. I wouldn't be surprised if that is pretty much beat for beat EXACTLY what happens I can see some Rey-like pottering about in his home for sure, they'll throw in some of that growable bread stuff for him to eat too haha. Can see him getting off at the very end of the episode for sure, it'll be nice to stretch our legs after TBoBF. The ring world from Chapter 5 was such a breath of fresh air, so cool. Qui-Gon is pretty much a given at this point, be great to see him back. Hadn't considered Yoda might make an appearance, seems pretty likely too! I just hope he's more 'The Last Jedi' Yoda and not TCW Yoda, but that's just a personal taste thing. 41 minutes ago, Julius said: I wouldn't be surprised if the show ended with Obi-Wan finally being able to commune with Qui-Gon before cutting away (because I don't think they should ever spill the beans on the actual training process), but if he manages it on Tatooine, I hope they keep it consistent and he is only heard rather than seen, as he never completed his training, only appearing "physically" (either interacting with the world or as a Force ghost) in places with an incredibly high saturation of the Force (such as Dagobah or Mortis). I try not to think too deeply on the whole force ghost thing. Like why could Luke see Obi Wan and Yoda given he wasn't trained. I'd be fine with a bit of ret-conning here to smooth things out. I think Yoda's line at the end of Ep 3 should have been left out. I could definitely see some Satine flashbacks, probably not super relevant to the storyline but just the occasional sequence to show his state of mind etc... 1
Julius Posted February 11, 2022 Author Posted February 11, 2022 49 minutes ago, Ronnie said: That would have been cool. I imagine if he knew there'd be more Star Wars down the line he'd have given us a half step but as far as he was concerned that was it I think. What a bold move by Rebels to give us McQuarrie designs, especially as it was the first SW of the Disney era. Such a fun idea, even if those Star Destroyers looked stupid . Oh yeah, George was done by the end of III. For all of the hate the sequels get at times - rightly or wrongly, I think there are clear issues there, but it's seriously not the end of the world - the very vocal minority of the fanbase who gave George crap for the prequels brought it on themselves. The only real reason he was up for selling Lucasfilm is because of how he and much of the cast (Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best come to mind) were absolutely rinsed in hatred for years during and after production, and he chose Disney to continue the story, hence the "low" sale price. It's a real shame, because he didn't really get to see how loved the prequels themselves are hy so much of the fanbase until Celebration 2017 -- by his own admission, Star Wars has always been aimed at and for kids, but he never really got to see a lot of the prequels audience grow up and have their voice. But yeah, tangent aside, using McQuarrie's concept art so much in Rebels - and beyond - has been absolutely awesome, though I do remember the hilarious reactions to the skinny lightsabers when we got a first look at them. Next to George Lucas, think it might be fair to say Ralph McQuarrie is probably the most important person to Star Wars alongside John Williams. Looking at his concept art today still gets the mind racing! 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: And I really didn't like Rodriguez's direction. Neither do I, and I actually thought that his episode of Mando S2 was one of the weaker ones, too, so I've always been a bit stumped as to why he was chosen to helm The Book of Boba Fett. He's clearly close to Jon Favreau - probably most apparent in The Chef Show - but I hope that's not the only reason he got the gig. I would love Bryce Dallas Howard to get a show at some point. Fair play to her for proving herself, coming from being the daughter of Ron Howard leaves a lot of expectation, and I think she's delivered so far. It's looking back at her being Gwen in Spider-Man 3 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: Was wondering when you think Bad Batch S2 might land, apparently Andor is releasing in the Aug/Sep and that's 12 episodes long so should take us to the end of the year. I think they might have to have it and Obi-Wan on at the same time tbh. Maybe May 4th again for Bad Batch? Can't wait for it, the last two episodes were pretty outstanding I thought. A May 4th shadow drop (or maybe just a short lead-in with week or two of a heads-up) would be fantastic, but yeah, we're definitely getting to that weird point where there has to be overlap between the shows. The Bad Batch episodes are short enough that I definitely think you could get away with it overlapping with Kenobi and/or Andor, so long as they're not on the same day. And yeah, I'm very excited to see where they take the show moving forwards. Easily the best looking animated Star Wars show we've had so far I think, though being an evolution of their existing assets and style from The Clone Wars certainly helps! 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: Fallen Order 2 shouldn't be too far off either, maybe a year or so away? Glad to hear you'll get onto the High Republic train. The benefit of being set in a new era means they can tell bigger stories, rather than what a lot of recent books have done which has been a bit more subdued. Man, I know it's a stacked year already, but I think Fallen Order II is definitely aiming for late 2022. Whether it makes it is another conversation, it could easily slide into 2023 with a long list of other games currently slated for 2022, but I would be surprised if it didn't turn up at Celebration or whatever event that EA plans to hold this summer. And yeah, I'm looking forward to digging into the High Republic stuff! I'll probably start there and then get back to work on picking up all of the hardcovers I've missed from not reading Star Wars novels the last few years. There's definitely a huge benefit to having some distance from the Skywalker Saga when it comes to what you can do from a storytelling perspective, though I do still find it funny that they didn't go straight to the Old(er) Republic - I guess you've got to keep something in the tank, and that could easily be a decade or so of focused content by itself at some point! Do find the decision to have the first show set in the era's dying days a bit of an odd one, though. 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: Still gutted Rangers of the New Republic was shelved though, I'm definitely in the minority but that was my most hyped series haha. Maybe it's been re-imagined into animation. Yeah, could easily be it's own animated show, or included in a New Republic era animated show whenever we get around to getting another one that's their main focus and not some side hustle. *crickets* 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: As for Boba's 180, I think they thew a line in there about how 'cowardly' Bib Fortuna betrayed Boba or something like that, hence killing him. But yeah, kind of weird. Feels like they toned back his villainous streak a bit. Yeah, just a weird way to go about it. Fennec basically took over the badass role Boba had in the Mando S2 post-credits, and I do wonder if they'll eventually come to loggerheads over something. But man, was some of the writing around Boba outright stupid. "I have lots of credits" + "Boba, you know what you can do with credits? Buy muscle" (seriously?! How do you not notice how stupid Boba comes off being told this by Fennec?) = "we hired only a couple of guys and found some stylish kids from the big city to help us out". Super bizarre! 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: I wouldn't be surprised if that is pretty much beat for beat EXACTLY what happens I can see some Rey-like pottering about in his home for sure, they'll throw in some of that growable bread stuff for him to eat too haha. Can see him getting off at the very end of the episode for sure, it'll be nice to stretch our legs after TBoBF. The ring world from Chapter 5 was such a breath of fresh air, so cool. Qui-Gon is pretty much a given at this point, be great to see him back. Hadn't considered Yoda might make an appearance, seems pretty likely too! I just hope he's more 'The Last Jedi' Yoda and not TCW Yoda, but that's just a personal taste thing. Right?! I think it's either that or it begins with a flashback or dream sequence that he snaps out of, but it certainly writes itself since we learned that he would be getting off Tatooine. I'm thinking we see some popcorn or something this time around and hey, so long as we don't see another sand planet, I'm fine with wherever we go! And man, I've got nothing but respect for how much Liam Neeson clearly loves the role of Qui-Gon. It's been years since The Clone Wars finished it's initial run, and I still can't believe that he wanted to come back and do it (I do wonder if him doing some VA before, such as in Ponyo, helped? But I think he just wants to be involved every chance he gets). Weirdly I'm not a huge fan of Clone Wars Yoda either outside of his own arcs, though I like him in Episode III (well, when he's not flipping around the place). Either way, so long as his look is either ROTS CG or original trilogy/TLJ puppetry rather than the original monstrosity they had for The Phantom Menace: 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: I try not to think too deeply on the whole force ghost thing. Like why could Luke see Obi Wan and Yoda given he wasn't trained. I'd be fine with a bit of ret-conning here to smooth things out. I think Yoda's line at the end of Ep 3 should have been left out. You don't need to be trained to perceive one, just to become one, has always been my understanding of it (and possibly only perceived by Force sensitives, and probably appearing only to who they want to). Anakin won the Force lottery as he's the Chosen One is how I'd wave off the follow-up question of how Anakin became one too. And I mean, Yoda's actual line at the end of the film is definitely what I'd prefer to what was cut and in the novelisation ("I am your apprentice now, Qui-Gon")! Personally, I think the Force ghost stuff is really interesting from so many different angles, mainly because of the irony that the Sith actively search for immortality but to no avail, and it's discovered (in the modern era at least) by a rogue Jedi, Qui-Gon, and is later learned by people who have disassociated with the Jedi Order to some extent, largely no longer taking its teachings as gospel like the prequel era Jedi did. It's a very roundabout way of showing that neither side has the answer. Don't get me started on Leia being a Force ghost at the end of IX, though. The Rise of Skywalker has many problems, but throwing away years of small details dropped throughout the shows and films, just to get that shot...and then there's the voices of the countless throwaway Jedi. Man. There is just no escaping my opinions on that film, is there? 1
Ronnie Posted February 11, 2022 Posted February 11, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Julius said: For all of the hate the sequels get at times - rightly or wrongly, I think there are clear issues there, but it's seriously not the end of the world - the very vocal minority of the fanbase who gave George crap for the prequels brought it on themselves. The only real reason he was up for selling Lucasfilm is because of how he and much of the cast (Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best come to mind) were absolutely rinsed in hatred for years during and after production, and he chose Disney to continue the story, hence the "low" sale price. Yeah for sure. Unfortunately that's what happens when people are so passionate about something, they take things too far. It was nice seeing Ahmed Best get a warm reception at Celebration a few years back. As for the sequels, I'm not a fan of this revisionist history I've started seeing online about them. People adored The Force Awakens when it came out, yes it has issues but so does literally every SW film. The Last Jedi reviewed extremely well by critics (as most Rian Johnson films do), it's still at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, But fans didn't like how Luke wasn't a badass so they bitched and moaned and Lucasfilm made the mistake of listening to those complaints and ret-conned some of it in TROS. So yeah, fans absolutely brought it on themselves. Fans were demanding to know who Rey was, so they made her connected to someone famous. Fans demanded to know where Snoke came from, so they told us. 1 hour ago, Julius said: But yeah, tangent aside, using McQuarrie's concept art so much in Rebels - and beyond - has been absolutely awesome, though I do remember the hilarious reactions to the skinny lightsabers when we got a first look at them. Next to George Lucas, think it might be fair to say Ralph McQuarrie is probably the most important person to Star Wars alongside John Williams. Looking at his concept art today still gets the mind racing! I got that massive two volume art book for Christmas and it's AMAZING. I'm a big fan of Doug Chiang's work too, it's obviously an impossible job stepping into McQuarrie's shows but he's done some amazing work. This bit of concept art is still one of my favourites: Spoiler 1 hour ago, Julius said: Neither do I, and I actually thought that his episode of Mando S2 was one of the weaker ones, too, so I've always been a bit stumped as to why he was chosen to helm The Book of Boba Fett. He's clearly close to Jon Favreau - probably most apparent in The Chef Show - but I hope that's not the only reason he got the gig. I would love Bryce Dallas Howard to get a show at some point. Fair play to her for proving herself, coming from being the daughter of Ron Howard leaves a lot of expectation, and I think she's delivered so far. It's looking back at her being Gwen in Spider-Man 3 I still can't figure out how Bryce Dallas Howard did that sequence of Mando walking along the street on that ring world, into the elevator, out into the club, into the meeting room, the camera circling around the table, then Din goes back into the lift to go down a level... all in one shot. I guess the outside corridor was CG, but still, awesome. Loved this shot too, I choose to believe she made Din hold her head very still for the gif potential Spoiler 1 hour ago, Julius said: A May 4th shadow drop (or maybe just a short lead-in with week or two of a heads-up) would be fantastic, but yeah, we're definitely getting to that weird point where there has to be overlap between the shows. The Bad Batch episodes are short enough that I definitely think you could get away with it overlapping with Kenobi and/or Andor, so long as they're not on the same day. I think May 4th is likely, exactly a year after S1, I think I read rumours that was the case. I can't see them wanting to shadow drop with no promotion at all (I can imagine viewership probably isn't massive for it) but at the same time would they want to get in the way of Obi Wan's marketing push? We'll see I guess. 1 hour ago, Julius said: though I do still find it funny that they didn't go straight to the Old(er) Republic - I guess you've got to keep something in the tank, and that could easily be a decade or so of focused content by itself at some point! Do find the decision to have the first show set in the era's dying days a bit of an odd one, though. I definitely think they're saving the Old Republic for, like you say, a decade's worth of content down the line. Once all these currently slated shows and films are all done with they can start that era as a new phase as it were, not for a decade at least though mind. There's been rumours of another High Republic show in the works, with younger protagonists, described as 'Stranger Things in space', we'll see I guess. 1 hour ago, Julius said: Yeah, just a weird way to go about it. Fennec basically took over the badass role Boba had in the Mando S2 post-credits, and I do wonder if they'll eventually come to loggerheads over something. But man, was some of the writing around Boba outright stupid. "I have lots of credits" + "Boba, you know what you can do with credits? Buy muscle" (seriously?! How do you not notice how stupid Boba comes off being told this by Fennec?) = "we hired only a couple of guys and found some stylish kids from the big city to help us out". Super bizarre! Yeah really weird. Have to say though the series made me like Fennec a fair bit more. The (admittedly rare) occasions when she wasn't just used for robotic dialogue and exposition dumps and instead actually emoted like a real person was nice. "Manners!? I like it." or her "You wanna share Santo?" with the melon at the end of the last episode. It's stuff like that I latch onto and make me connect with characters, not bad-assery. Though her shooting the door mechanism as the ramp of the Slave I was closing was pretty awesome tbf. 1 hour ago, Julius said: I'm thinking we see some popcorn or something this time around Yes please... Spoiler 1 hour ago, Julius said: Weirdly I'm not a huge fan of Clone Wars Yoda Same problem I have with a lot of the dialogue in recent shows, I found it stiff and exposition-heavy. I was relieved to see the more natural, prankster style Yoda back in TLJ. Oh and never show that image of TPM Yoda again please. 1 hour ago, Julius said: You don't need to be trained to perceive one, just to become one, has always been my understanding of it (and possibly only perceived by Force sensitives, and probably appearing only to who they want to). Ok that's what I thought, I was just confused by Yoda's comments about training for Obi Wan on Tatooine. He said something about how he would teach him how to commune with Qui Gon. 1 hour ago, Julius said: Personally, I think the Force ghost stuff is really interesting from so many different angles, mainly because of the irony that the Sith actively search for immortality but to no avail, and it's discovered (in the modern era at least) by a rogue Jedi, Qui-Gon, and is later learned by people who have disassociated with the Jedi Order to some extent, largely no longer taking its teachings as gospel like the prequel era Jedi did. It's a very roundabout way of showing that neither side has the answer. Nice. I'm torn really, on the one hand I think they should just throw away the line about training being needed to be a force ghost, and just have it as a Jedi thing, but at the same time the complexity about it needing a balance between the prequel Jedi and the Sith is good too. Either way works for me. 1 hour ago, Julius said: Don't get me started on Leia being a Force ghost at the end of IX, though. The Rise of Skywalker has many problems, but throwing away years of small details dropped throughout the shows and films, just to get that shot...and then there's the voices of the countless throwaway Jedi. I think Star Wars should always push things forward and not be too tied to the past and afraid of adding new lore. The Jedi voices speaking to Rey was one of my favourite parts of that film, that whole scene on Exegol was awesome, but I can understand how it might be considered a bit too silly and done for cheap 'hype'. There was a fan edit I saw on YouTube where they had all the former Jedi show us as Force ghosts, now THAT would have been silly haha. Edited February 11, 2022 by Ronnie 1
Julius Posted February 14, 2022 Author Posted February 14, 2022 On 11/02/2022 at 3:11 PM, Ronnie said: It was nice seeing Ahmed Best get a warm reception at Celebration a few years back. Absolutely. This video where he talks about nearly committing suicide hits incredibly hard. Didn't deserve an ounce of hate - he was paid to do a job, and that's pretty much that. On 11/02/2022 at 3:11 PM, Ronnie said: As for the sequels, I'm not a fan of this revisionist history I've started seeing online about them. People adored The Force Awakens when it came out, yes it has issues but so does literally every SW film. The Last Jedi reviewed extremely well by critics (as most Rian Johnson films do), it's still at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, But fans didn't like how Luke wasn't a badass so they bitched and moaned and Lucasfilm made the mistake of listening to those complaints and ret-conned some of it in TROS. So yeah, fans absolutely brought it on themselves. Fans were demanding to know who Rey was, so they made her connected to someone famous. Fans demanded to know where Snoke came from, so they told us. In fairness, this is what I was talking about when I was talking before about a piece of art - film, games, books, whatever - being timeless, and how we get much less of that these days. It's definitely not helped by oversaturation and rushed schedules, mind you. I loved The Force Awakens when it came out, I saw it five times in cinemas, I've listened to the OST hundreds of time, and the same goes for The Last Jedi to an extent (though I came out initially 50/50 on it, it grew on me during my other visits to the cinema to see it). There's stuff to like there, and The Force Awakens felt magical the first time I watched it, especially that opening act. But I really don't think they hold up as well to repeat viewings as a lot of the earlier Star Wars films, and in honesty, for me that's not just a sequel problem, that a Disney Star Wars film problem. None of them are really timeless. Sure it's subjective, I'm open to different opinions, and they don't need to be timeless - but when you're a Star Wars fan or a fan of anything and a new entry releases, comparing to what came before is only natural. Now, to the extent that directors, actors, and actresses are getting harassed? Not at all. If you have a problem with those films, in my eyes, direct it at the big wigs at the massive mouse-eared company that oversaw all of those films. There's a hell of a lot of studio interference to be found there, as I've mentioned before, and I mean, come on, just logically and taking away all of the sequel hate for a moment, putting my tinfoil hat on: I do not believe for a moment that any Star Wars fan, much less JJ Abrams, would make Rey a Palpatine. And then make her take the name of Skywalker. There are definitely things wrong with the film, and even I tend to say "oh, that's on Abrams", but that's more to do with his own mystery box approach to TFA coming back to haunt TROS rather than his direction. There's a reason we never got - and probably never will get - those Making Of books for the sequels! As for The Last Jedi specifically, I don't really care about Rotten Tomatoes and critics anymore. That was the film where I learned that I really don't care about a general consensus opinion on things that I care about and want to form my own opinions on, and it killed my enjoyment of a lot of movie reviewers and movie related channels. Forget jarring, it was straight up exhausting going through that film's critical narrative. All I'll say about Rotten Tomatoes is that I don't give it the time of day because of it being a Yes/No system which is easily skewed one way or the other, and it's flawed in that way like other score aggregation sites such as IMDb or Metacritic, where they have the issue that reviewers don't seem to know that the scale extends below a 7. Re: Rey and Snoke, it's not really a chicken and egg situation, and I don't blame the fans for talking about it so much, even if it did go too far. Like I said, The Force Awakens is written in a way that pushed the audience to ask those questions, and even if it wasn't, those questions were going to be asked anyways. It was incredibly effective at it, and again, Abrams is a master of raising those questions - but that's bordering on useless when you don't know the answers to begin with. On 11/02/2022 at 3:11 PM, Ronnie said: I got that massive two volume art book for Christmas and it's AMAZING. I'm a big fan of Doug Chiang's work too, it's obviously an impossible job stepping into McQuarrie's shows but he's done some amazing work. Oh nice! I've been following its price ever since it first came out and have put it in and out of my online basket a whole lot over the years. One day, maybe! And yes, absolutely, Doug Chiang's work is phenomenal. I spent days as a kid just going through the pages of his and his team's concept art for Revenge of the Sith in the Making Of book, I just love imagery that gets your own creative pulse going. Iain McCaig is another! On 11/02/2022 at 3:11 PM, Ronnie said: I think May 4th is likely, exactly a year after S1, I think I read rumours that was the case. I can't see them wanting to shadow drop with no promotion at all (I can imagine viewership probably isn't massive for it) but at the same time would they want to get in the way of Obi Wan's marketing push? We'll see I guess. Honestly, Disney+ has generally just had such a weird marketing cycle for its shows. Other than that Investors Day meeting which was essentially a Disney+ Direct, they've been all over the place. We're three months away and have nothing but a poster and some concept art for Kenobi, which says it all. On the one hand I'm glad they're not showing much, but on the other, it makes it difficult to read how they're spacing the marketing for these shows, and so it's tough to figure out when Bad Batch is going to land. On 11/02/2022 at 3:11 PM, Ronnie said: Have to say though the series made me like Fennec a fair bit more. The (admittedly rare) occasions when she wasn't just used for robotic dialogue and exposition dumps and instead actually emoted like a real person was nice. "Manners!? I like it." or her "You wanna share Santo?" with the melon at the end of the last episode. It's stuff like that I latch onto and make me connect with characters, not bad-assery. Though her shooting the door mechanism as the ramp of the Slave I was closing was pretty awesome tbf. Oddly enough, I'm there with you, she had a lot more personality here than she's had in everything else she's appeared in. I can't tell if that's just emphasised further because they did so little with Boba, though. And I think you mean the Firespray gah, I hate that they changed it. I'm all for being more socially and culturally acceptable, but things like this and claims of cultural appropriation every single time there's some type of tribal savage on screen these days is incredibly frustrating! On 11/02/2022 at 3:11 PM, Ronnie said: Ok that's what I thought, I was just confused by Yoda's comments about training for Obi Wan on Tatooine. He said something about how he would teach him how to commune with Qui Gon. Yeah, Qui-Gon is a rare case, as he never completed his training and so isn't as much a Force ghost, but rather a Force voice? You watched the final arc of The Clone Wars when you watched it, right? In that Yoda can hear Qui-Gon and is guided by him, but everyone else thinks he's going nuts. On 11/02/2022 at 3:11 PM, Ronnie said: I think Star Wars should always push things forward and not be too tied to the past and afraid of adding new lore. The Jedi voices speaking to Rey was one of my favourite parts of that film, that whole scene on Exegol was awesome, but I can understand how it might be considered a bit too silly and done for cheap 'hype'. There was a fan edit I saw on YouTube where they had all the former Jedi show us as Force ghosts, now THAT would have been silly haha By all means I think adding new lore and abilities is perfectly fine, but I think there needs to be some form of consistency, especially if it's something that's been explored in side material like The Clone Wars. Again, not necessarily blaming JJ even if it could have been his fault, but whoever had that idea to have Leia be a Force ghost doesn't understand the ramifications it brings, especially with so little context behind it. It brings about questions about the internal logic we already have of that system: what has Leia learned in her very limited time learning about the Force that means she would be able to come back that way, but not Ben, or other Jedi? That's my biggest issue with it. I'm glad you enjoyed that scene on Exegol, but personally I just cringed a lot. "I am all the Jedi" rings extremely hollow in the same year that we got "And I...am...Iron Man", and I think it kind of fell flat because it really should've been Rey and Ben going "We are all the Jedi", what with the focus of Palpatine for the entire film being their connection as a dyad in the Force. And it sucks that we probably didn't get Force ghost in IX because of wanting to fit in with China, but I think an even bigger missed possibility once Ben climbed out of the hole was to have his face lit up by flashes from the fight as he walked towards Palpatine, and have it cut between Adam Driver's face and Hayden Christensen's. Palpatine was always concerned about Vader (I mean, look at how restrictive he made his suit), so I think seeing something like that could have petrified him. 1
Ronnie Posted February 14, 2022 Posted February 14, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Julius said: I loved The Force Awakens when it came out, I saw it five times in cinemas, I've listened to the OST hundreds of time, and the same goes for The Last Jedi to an extent (though I came out initially 50/50 on it, it grew on me during my other visits to the cinema to see it). There's stuff to like there, and The Force Awakens felt magical the first time I watched it, especially that opening act. But I really don't think they hold up as well to repeat viewings as a lot of the earlier Star Wars films, and in honesty, for me that's not just a sequel problem, that a Disney Star Wars film problem. None of them are really timeless. Sure it's subjective, I'm open to different opinions, and they don't need to be timeless - but when you're a Star Wars fan or a fan of anything and a new entry releases, comparing to what came before is only natural. I think you said it yourself in terms of the reason why so much modern day media feels less timeless than back in the day. Over-saturation. We're utterly spoiled for content these days, just think how many series are coming this year, not just SW but the dozen Marvel shows and films, then Game of Thrones series, the LOTR series all coming out in the next 2022 + tons more. Same with games. As soon as one Disney+ series finishes we're like 'ok, what's next?', that's exactly how I felt after every Marvel show. TikTok is so successful for the simple reason that people's attention spans are so short these days. So I don't think it's down to the films themselves, it's just the context and circumstances we're in. Take away the fancy visuals and release The Force Awakens in 1977 and it would be just as iconic as ANH. 1 hour ago, Julius said: I do not believe for a moment that any Star Wars fan, much less JJ Abrams, would make Rey a Palpatine. And then make her take the name of Skywalker. There are definitely things wrong with the film, and even I tend to say "oh, that's on Abrams", but that's more to do with his own mystery box approach to TFA coming back to haunt TROS rather than his direction. I quite liked her story being about forging her own path instead of living up to her upbringing. Similar message in Book of Boba Fett actually. But I genuinely think fans demanding she be someone had a big part to play there. 1 hour ago, Julius said: As for The Last Jedi specifically, I don't really care about Rotten Tomatoes and critics anymore. That was the film where I learned that I really don't care about a general consensus opinion on things that I care about and want to form my own opinions on, and it killed my enjoyment of a lot of movie reviewers and movie related channels. Forget jarring, it was straight up exhausting going through that film's critical narrative. All I'll say about Rotten Tomatoes is that I don't give it the time of day because of it being a Yes/No system which is easily skewed one way or the other, and it's flawed in that way like other score aggregation sites such as IMDb or Metacritic, where they have the issue that reviewers don't seem to know that the scale extends below a 7. I think that's a really healthy view to take. I stopped caring what people thought after The Last Jedi too (apart from you of course ), that and the uproar over GOT season 7, but sometimes I'm a hypocrite because I bring up RT all the time, and really need to cut it out. My point was that at the time the positive reception from reviews seemed to point towards a well made, beautiful film with more depth than most SW films, but the entire narrative and course of the sequel trilogy went off the rails because fans didn't see the film/Luke they "wanted" to see. And then from that a litany of nonsensical complaints were fabricated just to prove their point. things like "Bombs don't drop in space".... except Y-wings that have been doing it for 45 years. etc etc. I've tried to leave expectation at the door a lot with Star Wars from then on and just engage with what's on screen, not what isn't. 1 hour ago, Julius said: Like I said, The Force Awakens is written in a way that pushed the audience to ask those questions, and even if it wasn't, those questions were going to be asked anyways. It was incredibly effective at it, and again, Abrams is a master of raising those questions - but that's bordering on useless when you don't know the answers to begin with. Fair point. 1 hour ago, Julius said: We're three months away and have nothing but a poster and some concept art for Kenobi, which says it all. I think it's similar to Mando season 2 in that they know everyone is going to be watching Kenobi, so no sense showing too much off, too early, and keeping the surprises for the actual episodes. One of my favourite memories of Disney SW was going into the last 4 episodes of Mando S2 having zero clue what they would involve, no footage from those last 4 Chapters had been shown until they were released. Masterful. On the flip side, really really weird of Robert Rodriguez to mention how all the Boba Fett trailer footage was from the first half of the first episode. I try not to take interview comments like that too literally (unlike most of the internet lol), but come on pal, there's being flexible with the truth and there's just outright lying. Very strange. 1 hour ago, Julius said: On the one hand I'm glad they're not showing much, but on the other, it makes it difficult to read how they're spacing the marketing for these shows, and so it's tough to figure out when Bad Batch is going to land. I'm with the marketing so far, but yeah Bad Batch is definitely an interesting case given it's likely proximity to one of the most anticipated shows this year. Be interesting to see how they go about it. 1 hour ago, Julius said: And I think you mean the Firespray gah, I hate that they changed it. I'm all for being more socially and culturally acceptable, but things like this and claims of cultural appropriation every single time there's some type of tribal savage on screen these days is incredibly frustrating! Unfortunately the world we live in. The internet will explode if/when StarWars.com change it's databank entry and remove Slave I. As long as they don't literally give it another name in a series then whatever, it can still be called that in fan's minds. Firespray is just the type of ship, like Razor Crest. 1 hour ago, Julius said: but whoever had that idea to have Leia be a Force ghost doesn't understand the ramifications it brings, especially with so little context behind it. It brings about questions about the internal logic we already have of that system: what has Leia learned in her very limited time learning about the Force that means she would be able to come back that way, but not Ben, or other Jedi? That's my biggest issue with it. Again fair point and I can totally see what you mean but I give it the benefit of the doubt because of Carrie's passing. It's literally story-telling with one hand tied behind their back, so it's hard to read too much into the storyline or little details like that. For me personally I teared up at that bit, I thought it was a beautiful ending. 1 hour ago, Julius said: I think it kind of fell flat because it really should've been Rey and Ben going "We are all the Jedi", what with the focus of Palpatine for the entire film being their connection as a dyad in the Force. And it sucks that we probably didn't get Force ghost in IX because of wanting to fit in with China, but I think an even bigger missed possibility once Ben climbed out of the hole was to have his face lit up by flashes from the fight as he walked towards Palpatine, and have it cut between Adam Driver's face and Hayden Christensen's. Palpatine was always concerned about Vader (I mean, look at how restrictive he made his suit), so I think seeing something like that could have petrified him. I feel like Ben calling himself a Jedi so soon after his turn might have been a bit confusing, but I like the flashes of Darth Vader idea. Potentially pretty confusing too though. Dunno. Who'd be in charge of the final scene of a 42 year epic eh Oh and as a bonus, new infographic for anyone who still cares. https://www.locationscreentime.com/#bobafett 31% of the show takes place in the past. 81% on Tatooine. As always great fun picking out the beauty shots Edited February 14, 2022 by Ronnie
Julius Posted February 15, 2022 Author Posted February 15, 2022 The cinematic trailers for The Old Republic never miss, do they?
Julius Posted February 18, 2022 Author Posted February 18, 2022 One. Last. Time! There were rumours going around that he was doing something for TV only a week or so ago, and here we are: John Williams is (for a second time) getting what will likely be his Star Wars bow out, this time in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Seems to be a similar deal to Solo, for which he also composed the main theme. Very intrigued to see where he goes with it: a play on the Force Theme (which, originally, was very much Obi-Wan's theme in the original film), maybe a twist on Battle of the Heroes and/or Duel of the Fates, or something new entirely? My hype is going through the roof for this now, and we've still got more than 3 months to go
Mandalore Posted February 18, 2022 Posted February 18, 2022 I resubscribed to Disney+ to catch up on Boba Fett and a few Marvel series. Really enjoyed Boba Fett overall, this and Mandalorian are by far my favourite Star Wars things since Disney took over. Spoiler It was really cool how they added to the lore, like the Tuscan Raider stuff in the early episodes and the little bits about the Dark Saber. Cad Bane was a nice surprise, kinda hope he didn't actually die though. Hopefully more of the old bounty hunters will make an appearance in season 2. After seeing the empty rancor pit, it was great when Fett got gifted a new one. I noticed an article on the BBC about people complaining that Disney had changed Fett's character too much. I don't really get it, he didn't exactly have much character development in the movies? A similar thing happened in Karen Traviss's Legacy of the Force books, she got some really unpleasant online abuse for it. Main Star Wars stuff I'm looking forward to now is the Obi-Wan series and the Knights of the Old Republic remake. 1
Mandalore Posted February 18, 2022 Posted February 18, 2022 On 2/15/2022 at 4:11 PM, Julius said: The cinematic trailers for The Old Republic never miss, do they? Wow I was surprised how great that was. I haven't bothered watching The Old Republic cinematics since the original one had dual of fates playing over it. Having dual of fates playing on something that was set 1000s of years before Republic era just spoiled it for me. The musical themes are so specific to movies/characters of that time, it felt really out of place just shoehorning it in like that. Thankfully the 6 months or so of The Old Republic I played all had an original and much more fitting soundtrack. 1
Ronnie Posted February 18, 2022 Posted February 18, 2022 31 minutes ago, Mandalore said: I noticed an article on the BBC about people complaining that Disney had changed Fett's character too much. I don't really get it, he didn't exactly have much character development in the movies? A similar thing happened in Karen Traviss's Legacy of the Force books, she got some really unpleasant online abuse for it. Yeah it's pretty weird. Vocal minority most likely incapable of understanding that characters can develop and not be the exact same person all their lives. 1
Julius Posted February 18, 2022 Author Posted February 18, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Mandalore said: I haven't bothered watching The Old Republic cinematics since the original one had dual of fates playing over it. Having dual of fates playing on something that was set 1000s of years before Republic era just spoiled it for me. The musical themes are so specific to movies/characters of that time, it felt really out of place just shoehorning it in like that. I actually really like Duel of the Fates being used in the first cinematic, but to each their own for me it's because the fate of the galaxy is very much being decided in that cinematic in the same way it was The Phantom Menace (Anakin loses his father figure and potential mentor, which has a huge bearing on his trajectory) and Revenge of the Sith (Sidious and Yoda throwing senate seats at each other). Being choral it also brings that touch of timelessness and legend. I would totally agree with you when it comes to some of the other cinematics, though. Losing a battle with guys in white armour does not mean that Anakin's Dark Deeds needs to start playing. 1 hour ago, Mandalore said: I noticed an article on the BBC about people complaining that Disney had changed Fett's character too much. I don't really get it, he didn't exactly have much character development in the movies? This a big problem when you have an audience going in with preconceptions about a character based on what's been scrapped as having any form of relevancy when it comes to what is considered canon and thrown onto the pile labelled 'Legends', unfortunately. I mean, not that I can really blame them, as there were some 43/44 years between his first appearance and The Book of Boba Fett, which is a lot of expectation to live up to. And it's probably not helped by all the winking and nodding we got about Boba's fate before he even appeared in Mando. Personally I don't think how he's presented in the show lives up to the promise of how he was presented in Mando at times, but meh, it's not big deal 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: Yeah it's pretty weird. Vocal minority most likely incapable of understanding that characters can develop and not be the exact same person all their lives. I mean, Luke's is a very different situation, but that doesn't at all excuse some of the behaviour you see from Star Wars fans. It's for kids. Always has been. It can absolutely fail to deliver despite that, but yeah, the treatment of the Star Wars cast and reactions to how characters have been presented since moving on from the original trilogy has been straight up inexcusable at times. That was true for the prequels, the sequels, and now everything since. Like you said, it's a very vocal minority (it almost always is on the internet), but it's a huge thorn in the side of the community. One of those franchise communities which is so massive that you'll be lucky to get a consensus at the best of times, and is at civil war at the worst. Edited February 18, 2022 by Julius
Mandalore Posted February 18, 2022 Posted February 18, 2022 One thing I wasn't such a fan of... Spoiler Luke giving Grogu the binary choice of attachment or Jedi training. Seems a pointless thing to cling onto from the old Jedi order. Especially when he will later go on to train his own nephew. And possibly train his own sister, not sure if that is official canon anymore? And besides that, aren't friends like Han, Chewbacca, R2D2 etc attachments for him? And going forward to the next trilogy, is Rey just going to tell all her friends to bugger off so she can go and be a Jedi?
Happenstance Posted February 20, 2022 Posted February 20, 2022 Thought I would finally get some of the modern Star Wars comics after I tried the legends series. Currently waiting for the Doctor Aphra omnibus to get a price drop but until then I’ve got the Charles Soule Darth Vader omnibus coming today and I heard that was an excellent run so I’m looking forward to reading that. 1
Cube Posted February 20, 2022 Posted February 20, 2022 Watched the last three episodes if The Book of Boba Fett. Had no choice as it has vital parts for The Mandalorian. Those parts were great, Boba Fett parts not so much, the few parts I saw just seemed to be him wondering what to do and everyone else (particularly Melinda May) doing it. There was one sad moment Spoiler Cad Bane. Although he has lots of life support stuff and survived getting shot in the head so perhaps he can return.
Ronnie Posted February 21, 2022 Posted February 21, 2022 On 18/02/2022 at 2:40 PM, Mandalore said: One thing I wasn't such a fan of... Hide contents Luke giving Grogu the binary choice of attachment or Jedi training. Seems a pointless thing to cling onto from the old Jedi order. Especially when he will later go on to train his own nephew. And possibly train his own sister, not sure if that is official canon anymore? And besides that, aren't friends like Han, Chewbacca, R2D2 etc attachments for him? And going forward to the next trilogy, is Rey just going to tell all her friends to bugger off so she can go and be a Jedi? I think the suggestion is that he's basically a little clueless at this point in time, having received barely any training, and so falls back on the old Jedi ways and copies them, assuming them to be correct. By the time of The Last Jedi, he's obviously realised the old ways (ie. the prequel Jedi) aren't the way forward, and how much they screwed the galaxy up. I agree it's hard to stomach but I think Filoni probably knows what he's doing when it comes to this sort of thing so it's one of those wait and see type deals.
bob Posted March 7, 2022 Posted March 7, 2022 Not sure where else to put this, but i noticed in Spotify when listening to a Star Wars track, your song timeline thingy turns into a lightsabre. Oh, I also watched Boba Fett. Thought it was pretty meh. It's like they ran out of stuff for him to do halfway through, so just started Mando Season 3 instead. 2
Julius Posted March 9, 2022 Author Posted March 9, 2022 (edited) I feel a disturbance in the Force. It's as if a million voices suddenly cried out in joy and died of the hype. EW's article can be found here. Bunch of great images to take a peek at and some light details to get the marketing ball rolling. Edited March 9, 2022 by Julius
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