The Star Wars Thread

[Julius]

Watched the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and thought they were solid. I'll post more in-depth thoughts after a rewatch, because I need to organise my thoughts a bit more I think. 

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Inexplicable decision not to stream the opening panels, not just this one but presumably all of the big ones. I'm annoyed for you @Julius, and I noticed their Twitter post that mentioned live-tweeting was full of angry confused replies. Like you say it's the lack of transparency that is annoying. If they made this decision a while back, as it seems, then tell people a while back. I still can't figure out why they did it given they showed the Ep IX one and all the other big ones in Chicago. I have to imagine it's a Disney thing as opposed to Lucasfilm, but still frustrating. And to not even stream it to the people literally at Celebration! Weird. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the rest of the livestream regardless.

Absolutely. The silly thing is, I've since seen all of the stuff people captured there on their phones...so, yay for the potato quality Mando S3 trailer I guess? It's barmy that companies still do this when it's obvious these things will leak through the cracks. In all earnest it looks great, but there was absolutely (yeah, yeah, I know: only a Sith deals in absolutes) nothing shown that I feel warranted not having a livestream, and pushing that further was that the Kenobi premiere wasn't even following or at the panel as we'd previously speculated it might be. I'd want to say because of the live performances, but we've seen John Williams conduct live through the stream before, and it was greatly received by fans. 

Much as I've enjoyed some of the trailers under Disney - the Saga ones and the first Kenobi one in particular - man, I really just got a feeling of being totally tone deaf from them and Lucasfilm yesterday. I get wanting to have exclusive things at the show for attendees, and by all means I'm for it to an extent - premiere full episodes there, clips of things far off, etc. - but your opening panel (and seemingly the other big panels) at the first Celebration back, again, "post"-COVID (special emphasis on the quotation marks) not being livestreamed...to what end? Like I said before, if this is supposed to promote more people to come to a sold out event -- well, it's sold out, there's literally no way more people could attend? I don't want to lay it on too thick, but it's taking the piss a bit, and just feels like it's trying to drive a wedge between the fanbase (as if we need more of that). It's a disastrous misfire in my eyes, because they're entirely missing the point of the event, which is to celebrate this thing we all love as a community. Limiting the biggest parts to the fortunate few who can attend (and how many reasons are there to not attend, by the way? It's an expensive trip, COVID is still a risk, you need to book a fair bit of time off, etc.) is one of the most hilariously anti-Lucas things Lucasfilm/Disney have managed to do since LFL was sold.

Thankfully some in the crowd rebelled (heh) and got the footage out to us anyways, which I'm very grateful for. Another saving grace is that, like I said, there wasn't anything not shared with us at home that I thought was too crazy? It wasn't the blowout I'd have expected from a general 90 minute SWC opener that isn't homing in on one product. Like you say, the focus on Willow (while a really good trailer I thought, pretty stunning to look at) and Indy (which, being a year off, was a whole lot of nothing) just seemed a bit misplaced (yeah I know it's Lucasfilm still, but come on, that isn't why anyone is there this weekend!). 

Overall I'm still just confused, and on the other side of the Showcase I'm less annoyed than I thought I might be. I'm happy for those attending and it seems on the stream that everyone's having a great time, but by the Force, what a dumbass corporate decision  I don't even catch wind until a good 5 or 10 minutes into the livestream that it wasn't even being streamed at Celebration, as it was super weird just how crazy the crowd were going for the Andor trailer (as I thought they'd already seen it). Honestly, beyond meeting other fans and just being surrounded by Star Wars, the mess of how they handled all of their fans worldwide yesterday left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth which, if anything, puts me off the idea of Celebration. It just splits the fanbase and almost invites this sense of elitism...which then falls flat on its face, because it's so clear from yourself and many others I've seen tweeting from SWC that they're gutted for those not in attendance (hell, I was reading about one guy who had to cancel attending last second because his wife went into labour a week early!). 

The abhorrent lack of news on films does have me wondering: are they saving that for D23? And if so...man, I would not want to be at LFL for the blowback. 

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

They were giving out free posters afterwards, I picked up a second one for you @Julius so I'll get it in the post when I get home.

You're too kind! Thanks Ronnie 

Don't want to comment on everything you've written about your first day at Celebration (would be here a while!), but it sounds like you're having a great time and those are some lovely pics! Look forward to reading/seeing more from your time there, hope the weather's treating you well too 

Oh, and also, yeah, the rest of the livestream was pretty neat! We got all the interviews from the live stage (like I said above: I'm always here for Ewan and Hayden getting a rapturous applause), Ian McDiarmid is always fun to watch and we got to see his panel, and they showed off the High Republic: Into the Light panel (yes, I was absolutely lost, but the authors seem like cool people!).

No idea how it shakes out today (I think we'll be getting the AOTC 20th anniversary stream seeing as it's not in that 11:00 - 12:00 slot, and I'll happily tune in for that!), but I'll just take it as it comes 

[Happenstance]

Hmm, not too sure on some of the writing choices in Obi Wan Kenobi, the second episode especially had some questionable moments. Also it had some of the worst cases of excessive flipping for excessive flipping's sake I've seen in a long time 😆 

[Hero-of-Time]

Just finished the first episode. Really surprised how things played out...

Spoiler

I wasn't expecting the story to revolve around Leia. In fact, I wasn't expect her to feature much at all. Kid actor was annoying though, as is usually the case. I burst out laughing when I seen who the kidnapper was.

Oh, and I loved how it gave a recap of the movies. 

 

[Happenstance]

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Just finished the first episode. Really surprised how things played out...

  Spoilers (Hide contents)

I wasn't expecting the story to revolve around Leia. In fact, I wasn't expect her to feature much at all. Kid actor was annoying though, as is usually the case. I burst out laughing when I seen who the kidnapper was.

Oh, and I loved how it gave a recap of the movies. 

 

Spoiler

Yeah I was surprised by Leia as well, it hadn't even occurred to me that she was in it.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Spoiler

Decent follow up to the first. Again, surprised me a little when Obi Wan was told about Anakin. I figured by this point he must have known that Vader was Anakin but I guess not.

The kid wasn't as annoying in this episode and her acting was a little better. Although it does baffle me how she keeps managing to outrun adults.  

I dunno if it's how I've got my TV set up but all of these Disney+ shows look far too dark when there is scene or episode set at night. It's very hard to make anything out. It was the same in Mando and Boba Fett as well.

[Happenstance]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

  Second Episode (Hide contents)

Decent follow up to the first. Again, surprised me a little when Obi Wan was told about Anakin. I figured by this point he must have known that Vader was Anakin but I guess not.

The kid wasn't as annoying in this episode and her acting was a little better. Although it does baffle me how she keeps managing to outrun adults.  

I dunno if it's how I've got my TV set up but all of these Disney+ shows look far too dark when there is scene or episode set at night. It's very hard to make anything out. It was the same in Mando and Boba Fett as well.

Spoiler

There were a few moments when she outran Obi Wan that I just wished they'd re-filmed it. It was like watching a parent chasing a child where they can obviously catch them they were so close but pretend they can't.

Also Obi Wan asking her how old she was despite being there for her birth and going on in the last episode a couple of times about how it's been 10 years seemed dumb. You can kind of wave it away by saying he was asking to make a point about how she didn't act like a 10 year old but it still seemed poorly written.

Ep 2 has the excessive flipping from the inquisitor I mentioned earlier as well. Some of her rooftop run seemed like it would have gone quicker if she'd just run in a straight line 😆 

 

[Julius]

Alright, I'm back from my rewatch of Parts I and II of Obi-Wan Kenobi – am I the only one who hates that it's not just called Kenobi, by the way? Anyways, here are my more comprehensive thoughts and notes from my rewatch:

Spoiler

• return of 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....', love it. 

• best recap for a Disney+ show yet, essentially a prequel supercut which. My only issue with it is the incidental music is *incredibly* generic, so I wish we had something which better captured the weight of the moments being shown (either an original piece or a medley of the important and recognisable themes). Love the echoed dying whispers of "Leia" and "Luke" from Padmé at the end of ROTS then cutting to them, that part gave me goosebumps. 

• Lucasfilm jingle opens with a very similar ascension to the one we hear at the start of Tales of a Jedi Knight, known now as the Force Theme, and originally as Obi-Wan's Theme. 

• I will never say no to seeing Order 66 carried out, even more so at the Jedi Temple at night. Second time we've had live-action clones (after BOBF - assuming those were live-action, anyways) and we'll be getting them a third time judging by the Andor trailer. Love it. The scene of them running through with the darkness of the Temple lit up by blaster fire and lightsabers is beautiful. 

• Think it's very obvious that Reva is one of those kids, so I'm curious to see how that plays out. 

• While I love to see Order 66, what I will say watching it here is that I'm a little surprised they didn't delay the episode/s a little bit in light of recent tragic events; students being massacred and their teacher dying protecting them rings uncomfortably close to the Uvalde shooting. 

• I'll wait for a clean version of Obi-Wan's Theme, but from what we hear in the show I hear hints of the Force Theme, the Main Title (aka Luke's Theme in the OT -- musically representing the core of Obi-Wan's current mission), maybe some of Leia's Theme (which is used as Obi-Wan's death music on ANH, but similar to Luke could also represent his new mission), maybe even some of the Kamino/mystery theme from AOTC? Some parts hilariously sound kind of like the Spider-Man PS4 theme, think I might also hear some ANH Vader/Imperial theme in there, and tonally at times reminds me of some of the darker music in Episode III, like Anakin's Betrayal and Anakin's Dark Deeds. But yeah, I'll dive in more once we get a clean and official version out there. 

• okay I think I just hate Lucasfilm's digital Tatooine sand, it just looks wrong. Said the same in Mando and in Boba, and it's true here too. 

• still not really quite how I'd like them to look, but the Grand Inquisitor and Fifth Brother both look far, far better than they did in the first teaser trailer we got for the show. I can live with it. Big fan of the GI's intro in the show. Not sure if I'm really a fan of Reva's. 

• from here, the show turns pretty much exactly into what I imagined the first episode to be: Obi-Wan's day-to-day, and a lot of it with him in silence. Chopping up parts of a massive fish out in the deserts of Tatooine? Not at all what I was expecting - but I like it! Always happy to see a Gonk droid, glad to see Kenobi exercising restraint in confronting their boss for underpaying them. Love his astromech part security system. Of course we see him cook some food. 

• Tika (?) is immediately the best jawa and I love him stealing parts of the vaporator to sell them back to Obi-Wan. Love him trying to push soap on him too. 

• nightmares, again, exactly what I wanted and expected, love the prequel flashbacks. I do wish that even if they didn't get a live-action version of her that we heard Satine's voice, though, I know she's not a huge part of what went down in ROTS, but she means a lot to Obi-Wan all the same. Still calling out for Qui-Gon as was always going to be the case too, think that's clearly going to be the progression which bookends the show. 

• I'm not sure how I feel about Obi-Wan trying to leave the T-16 skyhopper toy for Luke, as it kind of implies that he's trying to subliminally set Luke's sights on the horizon rather than him getting there himself? We'll see how it plays out I guess. 

• Alderaan aka Switzerland in Space™ looks absolutely wonderful, essentially a cleaned up version of what we saw at the end of ROTS, love the scene of them dressing Not-Leia. Awesome and not too surprising that Jimmy Smits is back as Bail, but odd that they got someone else to play Breha; I'm sure there's a reason, but she was noticeably Asian-looking at the end of ROTS. Still, I had to look it up to confirm 100% that this was the case, so close enough I guess? 

• so a few months back I read a back and forth between some fans speculating that seeing as they were going off-planet for Kenobi, that maybe the reason was Leia. It wasn't something I'd thought about until then, but that's when it clicked for me that that was what they were probably doing, and if so, I was okay with where the series seemed to be heading. We'll see how it plays out, but if you aren't doing the introspective character study I'd dreamed of, that's pretty much the only other way you could have gone with this to get Obi-Wan off-world that I'd be okay with. 

• I'll get into it more, but Vivien Lyra Blair is so far a perfect young Leia (wasn't really feeling it too much in the first episode, but a lot more in the second). "It is like raising a boy" pretty much nailed it, and Lola is a cute little droid. Love how crafty Leia is apologising to steal Lola back! Transition music at the end of this scene reminded me of some music from Mando. 

• can we just talk about how perfect the casting of Joel Edgerton as Owen was in AOTC? They nailed it. He's perfect here. Yeah, I know we heard the line in the trailer, but man, that venom in his words and clear disdain for Obi-Wan. Staring down Reva, love it. 

• I have no idea what Reva's problem is but daaaaaaamn lady chill. When even the Inquisitors are telling you to chill, you need to chill. Fifth Brother seems tired of her crap and like a babysitter. Interesting that they can't keep her in line; I wonder if we'll see Vader do that at some point? 

• I like how Reva's intentions are kind of unclear...but I also don't? I don't really know how they want me to feel about her. To what end does she want Kenobi to get what she is "owed" -- does she want revenge against him (for not being at the Temple to save them?), or an audience with Vader to get revenge against him (as I won't be surprised if she sees what he did in the Temple?)? Or is it something else? 

• I love Bail's and Leia's relationship kind of going against what Breha wants to set as boundaries. 

• C-3PO and R2 cameos during the party were perfect. They'd obviously be there but they didn't draw any attention to it, which I really appreciate -- this story isn't about them. 

• Leia being courteous to droids is cute as all heck, but good lord the absolute demolition job she performs on her cousin had me dying. "You thank your droids? ... You don't need manners when talking to a lower life form", "Then I guess I don't need manners talking to you." Chef's kiss on that dialogue. Leia reading people's emotions to intuit their personalities is great, makes sense that she made the Senate so young and, further, kind of hints at her Force abilities. "I don't want to be a Senator" and "That's why you'll be one of the best" is great too. 

• so I'm fine with Leia being kidnapped (by Flea is kind of hilarious though), but why are these fully grown adults so inept at chasing such a little kid? It takes me out of it a bit. Also, apparently sending a unit as requested by Bail amounts to just the one guy? 

• thought the other Jedi was going to be hanged for a moment there, but thankfully (?) he's only strung up. Yeah, that'll get Obi-Wan to give into the Call to Adventure that he'd refused. Well, that and Jimmy Smits turning up at his house...don't know how I feel about them clearly trying to fake you out into thinking he was a Jedi with his robe and hood up. 

• bunch of times towards the end of this episode and the start of the next where the music, lighting, framing, etc., suggest a jump to credits (most noticeably when you cut away from Leia after Lola is destroyed, but there are other smaller opportunities where it feels like they were wrapping up as well, such as when Obi-Wan looks around after digging up the lightsabers, or when Reva tells the bounty hunters that she's confident Obi-Wan will come to them, or "Well, are you coming or not?"). I wouldn't be surprised if they originally had the two episodes cut together as one big thing and tested going to credits at several points after it was scored and edited together, which is why it might feel that way. Total speculation, obviously. 

• kind of get the neat through line now of having Anakin and Obi-Wan's lightsabers buried in the sand on Tatooine before Rey at the end of IX buries the Skywalker legacy saber and Leia's. 

• yeah okay, it doesn't start with the finale encore, but I love the use of more traditional Star Wars credits. 

Spoiler

• so, contrary to the excellent recap at the start of Part I, Part II goes back to the recap style we've seen in all of the other Disney+ shows. I don't know if I've voiced my opinion on this before, but I think these recaps they do absolutely suck. I don't know if I'm just spoiled by the recaps we get in anime, but seriously...LFL, whoever is editing together the recap, go watch more anime. Several times it felt like they got to a great point to cut away (a lot of anime does this in a great way which builds tension), and I don't think these recaps need to be anywhere near as long as they are -- 30 seconds tops to recap the essential points, and especially anything which will impact the episode you're watching (aka Part II); like, why do we need to know about Leia's spat with her cousin or that she'd rather be slowly digested, just show her running out and being confronted! Instead, you just get a supercut of the previous episode. Kind-of-rant over. 

• having a 501st clone veteran begging for money...man, you can really see the PTSD in Obi-Wan's eyes. Almost a faint look of recognition between the two (which you'd expect given how closely Anakin, and by extension Obi-Wan, worked with the 501st). Having him then immediately bump into stormtroopers to sort of jolt you back to the present day was smart. 

• Haja (Kumail Nanjiani) and his little scamming pal were pretty much perfect. They didn't go too far with the comedy, but really pushed the idiocy of posing as a Jedi for credits, yet still kind of doing a good deed by getting people off-world safely? Star Wars has always been about these grey areas, so I'm always happy to see more of it. Kenobi wasn't taking his crap which was very funny to see -- "Goodness, that light *is* unforgiving." Haja then immediately realising he was out-everything'd and immediately agreeing to help with no resistance got me good too. All made better by the fact that it looks like he's wearing an actual bathrobe rather than a flowing Jedi robe. 

• Obi-Breaking Bad-Kenobi! 

• it was short, but I loved how effective that fight was, Obi-Wan clearly working off the rust then getting into the flow and taking those guys out. "Well, everybody bleeds" then dropping the spice and kneeing Flea was awesome. 

• Leia hitting Obi-Wan in the nutsack (my head canon) was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. 

• okay for some reason, with the way Reva paused, I thought she was going to say "maybe that stench is your face" rather than "maybe that stench is your failure" to the GI 

• the alien that's essentially a dino with a gun killed me

• I feel like Obi-Wan calling himself Ben around Leia in this kind of makes him her original saviour and makes her decision to call her own son Ben a much easier one, considering they had no real contact in ANH. 

• "You think the less you say, the less you give away, but really, it's the opposite" "How old *are* you?" "10" "You don't sound like you're 10" "Thank you!"

• oh damn was that an Anomid from Rogue One? Nice! Love their helmets. 

• "No noise from that" "Her name's Lola, and she won't make any. She's hurt" "Good" so much savagery in this show and I'm lapping it all up

• again...adults who can't chase a little kid down. Makes way more sense in a busy market though I guess. 

• Reva's flips felt they went on longer than Obi-Wan and Anakin's duel in ROTS. Just...tone that down a bit. The pacing of the scene made it seem like she'd turn up during the shootout on the rooftop. 

• man Obi-Wan really hasn't kept up with shooting a blaster after killing Grievous to end the Clone Wars, huh? What a bad shot! 

• okay, I know he's got his own theme now, but as far as I'm concerned you should be blasting the Force Theme when Obi-Wan uses the Force for the first time in this show to save Leia. 

• half expected Haja to play them, but he's actually a decent guy, and it was an amusing scene in the alleyway. I'm guessing he's sending them off to a proto-Rebellion? 

• hey, Flea lost his head in some helicopter blades! 

• okay, Haja's showdown with Reva was good fun

• Leia reminding Obi-Wan of Padmé 

• Reva and Obi-Wan having an ROTJ style showdown with a reveal and him hiding was really smart. The absolute fear on Ewan's face when he hears that Anakin is still alive, awesomely done! 

• I really don't know how I feel about Reva knowing that Anakin is Vader. I think they'll explain it by her witnessing Anakin killing in the Temple and her putting two and two together, but to my knowledge, the only others in/around the Empire who knew his identity were Palpatine, Tarkin, Thrawn...and that's it, which is why it'd be strange if Reva knew I feel (Palps knew for obvious reasons, Tarkin and Thrawn both kind of figure it out). 

• they really tried to go all the way with the Grand Inquisitor fakeout (he's eyes being open and him motionless), huh? 

• and that ending. This is where the fun begins. 

Overall, I thought it was a solid start to the show, definitely taking their time to warm up to it (which is fine but means as a premiere it felt a bit lacking?), and we'll see where it goes from here.

I wasn't too keen on the music if I'm being honest, as while there are plenty of hints of things throughout (outside of Kenobi's theme there are definitely numerous hints at the Imperial March), and while I understand the decision for Boba and Mando to really dial it back and go with original music...this show is screaming for the themes we know and love. Hopefully they're holding them back, but the music was a bit of a letdown outside of the new Kenobi theme if I'm being honest. 

Still have some big concerns, but a lot of those predate me watching the show (potential of Qui-Gon coming back as an actual ghost, what I've said before about Reva, etc.), so I'll just wait and see. 

Hopefully it's only up from here! 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Julius

[Happenstance]

I'm wondering if the music has been done this way intentionally and it will get a lot more epic towards the end of the show when he gets his mojo back.

[Julius]

8 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I'm wondering if the music has been done this way intentionally and it will get a lot more epic towards the end of the show when he gets his mojo back.

Yeah, it's totally possible, and I could see them doing that, having his new theme be specifically for lost Obi-Wan before reverting him back to the Force theme by the end of the show in preparation for A New Hope. There are definitely enough recognisable melodies within his new theme that it could work. 

But if that then feels consistent with the rest of the show if that's the route they go, though, is a whole other question, and I do still think it especially feels like it's missing the Force theme in that one particular scene I mentioned. If there's one moment in the show so far (albeit only two episodes in) where I'm like "here, this is exactly where you should put a recognisable theme" it's there, because that is him getting back into his mojo as a Jedi and...

Spoiler

...using the Force for the first time in the show, which he'd clearly been reluctant about using up until that point. 

The other moment would probably have been the opening of the first episode, rather than using some generic incidental music. 

To clarify my last post, as reading it again I sound a bit down on it: I'm not disappointed with the show, as I always thought it should be a slow burn anyways, so I'm very open to it slowly coming to a boil before it all spills over. Just felt a bit lacking at points, but hey, they've got four episodes left in which they could blow me away 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Julius

[Julius]

Well we get a recap of the Lucasfilm Studio Showcase omitting the best bits, so...woo? 

 

[Ronnie]

I could barely walk back to the hotel after day two, my feet are pretty much gone after 20K steps each of the last three days. Totally worth it though. Thankfully tomorrow if all goes well I should be in four panels, so lots of sitting down!

First up, Light and Magic. I enjoyed it but it wasn't the right fit for a big early morning panel, and I still believe it was a last minute substitution. Some people were leaving constantly after few minutes which is never a good sign (extremely rude to do so mind). It told some fun stories of just starting out ILM which was fun but ultimately a bit lacklustre, I was kind of hoping for a good chunk to be spent on modern techniques though to be fair the write-up mentioned Ron Howard and Lawrence Kasdan so I suppose it was never going to be modern day stuff. But yeah, pretty underwhelming.

I went to a Lucasfilm Non-Fiction Publishing panel straight afterwards, it was in the smallest room of the three, but was still enjoyable. I was hoping for a few more reveals, but the couple we got were pretty fun. Still no word on a visual dictionary/guide for the Mandoverse. I guess it's coming down the line.

The highlight of the day was without question the installation Favreau mentioned on Thursday, The Mandalorian Experience. Please excuse the bad language, but it was FUCKING. INCREDIBLE. I genuinely could have stayed there all day, and I almost did. They funnelled you through a series of smaller rooms with nifty things like a life-size prosthetic version of Kuill or IG-11 behind glass, or stuff that I found really cool, the practical models of the various ships. There was a life size (?) cockpit of the Razor Crest with flashing lights and sound effects. Truly wonderful. There were some wonderful hologram type displays that had the various ships moving around, I guess it was stereoscopic 3D, looked very real.

Then the room opened up. And my god did it open up. The photos definitely don't do it justice.

The giant life-size N-1 in the middle of the room was the highlight. Each mini installation including that one had subtle music and sound effects playing in the background. And yes, there was a swaying animatronic bantha.

Spoiler

Strangely Ahsoka's ship from the end of Rebels hasn't appeared in live action, but the model is still here. 

https://u.cubeupload.com/browneyes/IMG6967.jpg

Ferry droid was enormous!

I'm genuinely tempted to go again. A wonderful last minute surprise, I imagine they'll put the exhibition on tour. The merch from the gift shop suggested as much.

Later on I was wondering past the Star Wars Show Live Stage at seemingly the perfect moment, because a couple of minutes later Anthony Carboni introduced Doug Chiang. What a superstar. He got a massive welcome from the crowd.

Wandered the show floor lots more. I'm spending an absolute fortune on this trip.

And finally, some people go for autographs of Ewan McGregor or Ashley Eckstein... Me?

Spoiler

So sue me.

 

[Ronnie]

Mind. 
fucking. 
blown. 

[Julius]

10 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Mind. 
fucking. 
blown. 

Just seen a photo of the thing

Patiently waiting for someone to go rogue and put up the footage  Natasha Lio Bordizzo definitely looks the part for Sabine, could be some good casting there! 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Julius

[Ronnie]

Incredible panel. Incredible. The crowd were going utterly bonkers.

Not just the Ashoka footage and Sabine reveal but a much longer trailer for Mando. Looks spectacular. That final shot. Wow. 

[Ronnie]

14 minutes ago, Julius said:

Just seen a photo of the thing

Patiently waiting for someone to go rogue and put up the footage  Natasha Lio Bordizzo definitely looks the part for Sabine, could be some good casting there! 

She does and she also sounds the part. At least here. 

chopper!!

The Ashoka footage looked brilliant. The thing that struck me was the music though. Seemed to fit perfectly. 

[Ronnie]

Wonderful decision to bring out Lateef and Brendan Wayne, the stunt doubles for Mando, out for the panel alongside Pedro. Well done LF. 

Dave seemed to get choked up a bit at the reaction to Sabine and THAT live action shot from the epilogue of Rebels. And he’s obviously used to big reactions. 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Ronnie

[Julius]

11 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Incredible panel. Incredible. The crowd were going utterly bonkers.

Not just the Ashoka footage and Sabine reveal but a much longer trailer for Mando. Looks spectacular. That final shot. Wow. 

Oh man, of all of the panels shown this is the one that I think is going to really piss fans off for not being livestreamed, what with how far back so many fans first started to experience Ahsoka and Rebels -- there's a through line which stretches back to 2008 (!) which is harder to stomach missing out on compared with something newer like Mando. They've dropped the ball so phenomenally hard this Celebration for those not attending, but still, it's nice to see the love in that room! 

Somehow Huyang returned is the funniest thing going through my head right now, wonder if David Tennant will return to voice him? Also, did they say who was playing Hera? I feel like they would've confirmed it if it was Vanessa Marshall, but I know Ewan let it slip a few weeks ago in an interview that his wife (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) was working on Ahsoka, so it makes me wonder! 

[Ronnie]

11 minutes ago, Julius said:

Oh man, of all of the panels shown this is the one that I think is going to really piss fans off for not being livestreamed, what with how far back so many fans first started to experience Ahsoka and Rebels -- there's a through line which stretches back to 2008 (!) which is harder to stomach missing out on compared with something newer like Mando. They've dropped the ball so phenomenally hard this Celebration for those not attending, but still, it's nice to see the love in that room! 

Somehow Huyang returned is the funniest thing going through my head right now, wonder if David Tennant will return to voice him? Also, did they say who was playing Hera? I feel like they would've confirmed it if it was Vanessa Marshall, but I know Ewan let it slip a few weeks ago in an interview that his wife (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) was working on Ahsoka, so it makes me wonder! 

I lay the blame entirely on Disney. The love on show from LF there’s no way it was their call not to livestream. I guess they’ll do a recap video of the best bits soon enough but yeah, really sucks for those not here.

Anyway no they didn’t actually mention Hera, just that one shot of her with others walking away from camera. I imagine they’ll have the full cast out next Celebration just before the show launches maybe? Including Ezra obviously. Blows my mind we’re getting the Rebels cast in live action. That shot of the mural from the epilogue man, tears were flowing. The show looks (and sounds) beautiful though. Especially after just three weeks of production! 

Grogu looked amazing too, waving to everyone. 

Temuera Morison performing a Haka as he came out too  what a lovely guy. Very funny  

Sorry I’m not trying to gloat, just trying to share the love a bit. 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Ronnie

[Cube]

Not live streaming just means they people will watch low quality versions of footage instead. Don't understand why it's still done these days.

[Julius]

17 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

I lay the blame entirely on Disney. The love on show from LF there’s no way it was their call not to livestream. I guess they’ll do a recap video of the best bits soon enough but yeah, really sucks for those not here.

Yeah, we don't know 100% what's gone on behind the scenes, but I think there's a good chance it was a Disney call rather than LFL's. Think it will be very telling if we see in September that movie news has been held back for D23. 

Honestly, I can stretch my thoughts a bit and understand not showing Ahsoka stuff (it's been filming, what, three weeks?) after how the early Mando clip was received at SWC 2019 (hadn't gone through post- and people thought it looked rough), Mando a bit less so (am I reading right that today it was essentially an extended trailer?), but it's not showing the panels themselves which is leaving me so stumped. The recaps are what they are, but as someone who loves the interviews and hearing about the creative process, it's just not long enough to give us that insight  

Is it the same as the opening panel where even those at the show aren't able to see it unless they're at the other stages where it's being streamed to? That's another bonkers thing to me. The lottery is better than waiting all the time, but this is Star Wars, Lucasfilm, Disney -- they can absolutely get a bigger and better venue. 

24 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Anyway no they didn’t actually mention Hera, just that one shot of her with others walking away from camera. I imagine they’ll have the full cast out next Celebration just before the show launches maybe? Including Ezra obviously. Blows my mind we’re getting the Rebels cast in live action. That shot of the mural from the epilogue man, tears were flowing. The show looks (and sounds) beautiful though. Especially after just three weeks of production! 

Yeah, imagine we'll see that stuff announced in due course (again, my mind goes to D23, but could be a bit further afield I suppose). I was expecting Sabine and Ahsoka, but not others from the Ghost crew, so it sounds more and more like it's a true and proper Rebels sequel! 

27 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Sorry I’m not trying to gloat, just trying to share the love a bit. 

You don't need to apologise for having a good time, like I said before, I'm so happy to see the love in the room for Rebels and for the prequels this Celebration, just a bit of a shame those of us not there don't get to see a bit more of it!

23 minutes ago, Cube said:

Not live streaming just means they people will watch low quality versions of footage instead. Don't understand why it's still done these days.

It's such an ass backwards thing, isn't it?

There's the fact that it will leak (it's not like some events Disney have hosted in the past where they've taken phones away), so potato quality is ensured -- at that point, seriously, there's no reason to not put it out there. 

Then there's the fact that we're "post"-COVID (emphasis on the quotation marks), and so some won't have entertained the idea of going due to the stress that might bring. I didn't. And I didn't entertain it because, well, what reason did we have to expect going in that it wouldn't all be livestreamed? 

The crazy thing to me is that they're not utilising Disney+ in all of this, if Disney made the call to not have these things on the livestream, then you'd think they'd be leveraging it in some other way through Disney+ (i.e. a paid-for Disney+ pass to access these SWC panels?). I feel like when it comes to SWC there are those who know about it and those who simply don't, and the barrier probably seems high for those Star Wars fans not in the know, so breaking down that barrier and getting to them through Disney+ seems the smart thing to do. 

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Is it the same as the opening panel where even those at the show aren't able to see it unless they're at the other stages where it's being streamed to? That's another bonkers thing to me. The lottery is better than waiting all the time, but this is Star Wars, Lucasfilm, Disney -- they can absolutely get a bigger and better venue. 

Not sure.

It’s funny I got today’s Mando+ panel ticket from someone on Facebook who couldn’t make it down for Celebration and I messaged saying how much I loved it and to thank him. I was also mentioning how annoyed people were that they weren’t steaming this sort of thing. He suggested streaming the big stuff isn’t the norm for conventions at all and there should be some exclusivity otherwise what’s the point in paying for it and attending. 

Not saying I necessarily agree with that but it’s an alternate take. Obviously they set a precedent in previous shows so it makes it tougher to take this time. 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

2 hours ago, Cube said:

Not live streaming just means they people will watch low quality versions of footage instead. Don't understand why it's still done these days.

True but it’ll be a tiny fraction of the many millions of people who would watch an official release on YouTube or Twitter. 

[Julius]

Tales of the Jedi officially revealed, coming this Fall:

Ahsoka and Dooku will each have three episodes, with Liam Neeson returning to voice an older Qui-Gon and his son voicing a younger Qui-Gon. Seems from the images shared that it will look a lot like The Clone Wars and Rebels. Looking forward to seeing how this shakes out! 

41 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Not saying I necessarily agree with that but it’s an alternate take. Obviously they set a precedent in previous shows so it makes it tougher to take this time. 

Well it's certainly an opinion, and hey, everyone's got a right to voice theirs.

I think the thing with Star Wars Celebration is that despite being a globally beloved franchise, 10 of 14 Celebrations have been held in the US (with the other 4 being split between 3 across Europe and 1 in Asia), so once they started spreading it out and streaming the whole thing at SWCA 2015 building up to The Force Awakens, it seemed the smart thing to do.

Not everyone can afford the £1.5k+ to put down on a return flight, 4 day SWC ticket, hotel, etc., but more importantly - and the part which for me just pushes it all a bit further to "what the hell were you thinking?" - is just the period we're in that they're doing this; we're "post"-COVID, how many people a few months out from the event want to face the financial risk of these things potentially falling through, not to mention the risk of getting COVID, and so on? 

It just seems like we're going backwards as quickly as possible. It's a real shame, and it seems disrespectful and tone deaf considering how they kept quiet about the livestream for so long. This should be an opportunity to connect to the fans, not make anyone feel guilty for attending or feel left out for not? 

I do have to ask out of curiosity though - was the guy who sent you the Mando+ ticket based in the US/North America by any chance? Because, if so, I imagine that might have coloured their opinion somewhat. 

Like I said before, I think it makes to keep some things exclusive to SWC. Obi-Wan premiere, Mando S3 extended trailer (think the first one could've been shown) and any clips, Ahsoka footage (only three weeks in), Tales of the Jedi premiere, and very likely the Bad Batch S2 premiere...that's quite a bit, and I think all of those could have been kept exclusive. But not showing the panels at all? It's just so weird. 

Maybe it's just because I've been watching them for so long, though, that like you say it almost becomes the expectation that these things will be streamed  

27 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

True but it’ll be a tiny fraction of the many millions of people who would watch an official release on YouTube or Twitter. 

The thing that doesn't add up to me, like I said above, is that they aren't even trying to leverage this content elsewhere. There's an argument that people have paid to attend and so on, but why would you not try to get people at home to pay too? 

The smart business thing to do - surely - is to have a livestream which is basically as it is now (missing all of the big and important panels) on YouTube, but then have some exclusive Disney+ pass that you pay for (say £30 or something - not too high, but definitely premium) and which they advertise a load on YouTube and elsewhere to give those at home the chance to catch all these big panels too (like I said above too, it'll help blur the line between more casual and hardcore fans if something as hardcore as Celebration is pushed more and easily accessible through Disney+).

As it is they're just pissing off fans and losing out on money, and that's the part I don't understand. They could then do the same for D23 and other events. 

To sum it up: Disney are weird 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Julius

[Ronnie]

4 hours ago, Julius said:

I do have to ask out of curiosity though - was the guy who sent you the Mando+ ticket based in the US/North America by any chance? Because, if so, I imagine that might have coloured their opinion somewhat. 

Like I said before, I think it makes to keep some things exclusive to SWC. Obi-Wan premiere, Mando S3 extended trailer (think the first one could've been shown) and any clips, Ahsoka footage (only three weeks in), Tales of the Jedi premiere, and very likely the Bad Batch S2 premiere...that's quite a bit, and I think all of those could have been kept exclusive. But not showing the panels at all? It's just so weird. 

I totally agree with you, I've been arguing about how bizarre a decision it's been and how much it sucks for the 99.99% of the fanbase not here. And yeah, there's a balance to be struck between keeping some things like you suggested exclusive but showing everything else to the general public. 

I think he's US based so yeah maybe that clouds his opinion. It was just a take that made me think that's all. I'm pretty clueless about how things are done elsewhere. I couldn't tell you for instance if San Diego Comic-Con streams its big Marvel reveal panels or whatever, I just tend to see updates from those on Twitter. But yeah obviously more complicated here because of the precedent (and the 3 year gap).

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

As for Celebration itself...

It's hard to eloquently describe how much I enjoyed that Mando panel. For some reason I got it into my head that it was going to be Jon and Dave sat in armchairs talking about their experience making the show and then maybe some teases about S3. Turns out, it was a hell of a lot more than that. I certainly didn't expect an all star cast, Giancarlo Esposito, Pedro Pascal, Tem Morrison, Katee Sackhoff, Rosario Dawson, etc etc. Then you add Chopper rolling and bopping around on stage (I guess he's in the Ahsoka show!!) and Grogu himself waving to the crowd, just magical. I pretty much lost it in those last twenty minutes between the extended S3 trailer and all the Ahsoka stuff. The Sabine casting put my mind at ease, she seemed like she could be a good fit. I'd love Vanessa Marshall as Hera but if it is Mary Elizabeth Winstead then fair enough, good luck to her. Steve Blum as Zeb though, has to be. What an advert for StageCraft that three weeks of production and they can produce that sort of polished footage. On the flip side you have Andor that looks like it has three times the budget but took three times as long to make.

Then they just played the Mando S3 trailer a second time cause why the hell not. The panel actually ran a good 15 mins longer than scheduled. It was hilarious when the lights came back on though after the second trailer viewing, the whole cast were lying down on stage gazing up at the screen to watch along with everyone else. 

I stayed in the room for the next panel a behind the scenes one with Richard Bluff and other ILM execs, very interesting and fun.

I could have gone into the Tales of the Jedi one next but decided to hold back and I ended up being at the front of the standby queue for Doug Chiang's Mando Design panel. Didn't want to risk missing that cause it was the one, apart from the big ones, I wanted to get into the most and it didn't disappoint. The man's a legend. At one point he commented quite rightly that Star Wars is supposed to be a fantasy universe, not everything needs to make sense, for instance why does a Naboo starfighter float but an X-wing needs landing gears. I immediately thought of the bOmbS DoN'T drOp iN sPacE!!11 crowd.

Sadly Greg Grunberg seemingly had to cancel his autograph signings so I didn't manage to get my Snap Wexley bobble-head signed, oh well. 

Visited the Droid room instead though, man, just incredible work by some of the droid builders. At least 50 droids of all shapes and colours. Some wacky ones too.

Spoiler

The Dejarik pieces looked incredible, and genuinely like holograms, all done with spinning animated LEDs.

 

Only one more day  I'll take an epic Bad Batch S2 trailer though to make up for it...?

Edited May 29, 2022 by Ronnie