Star Wars

[peter12]

Just tried to rewatch Rise of Skywalker on Disney Plus and whoa boy, that is a bad movie. What a joke. The writing is like an SNL skit.

[direwolf]

Anybody watching the Mandalorian documentary series on Disney Plus? It's really interesting so far. Dave Filoni is clearly the biggest SW nerd of the bunch. Dude definitely knows his stuff.

Trigger warning for the sequel haters: Kathleen Kennedy appears in the 2nd episode.

[CaptainCrunch]

Yeah, I think its great to watch. I don't hate Kathleen Kennedy she drove a lot of the star Wars rebirth. But she's made some really questionable decisions in terms of what she perceives as sound business decisions over story.



I mean even George has made some really bad decisions in Star Wars, need I remind you all of the Christmas Special, or the Ewok Adventures. But what always comes back is that the story side of Star Wars when George was in charge was always secure.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Yeah, I think its great to watch. I don't hate Kathleen Kennedy she drove a lot of the star Wars rebirth. But she's made some really questionable decisions in terms of what she perceives as sound business decisions over story.



I mean even George has made some really bad decisions in Star Wars, need I remind you all of the Christmas Special, or the Ewok Adventures. But what always comes back is that the story side of Star Wars when George was in charge was always secure.

Was he not the one who wrote the prequels and directed them? They were utter garbage.

[agulati]

I’m watching the whole list of Star Wars for the first time. I know some of the major plot points, but have never really watched any of the movies (except one of the first three). I have usually been more of a reading books/watching tv shows guy but trying to catch up on the classics/backlog list I had created a few years ago.
I got done the prequels over the weekend, and i’m planning to watch Solo and Rogue One before moving on to the original set and the sequels. I haven’t added the Star Wars based TV shows/extras yet and I’m not sure if that is a major miss.

[Muffins]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

Was he not the one who wrote the prequels and directed them? They were utter garbage.

Overall story they were fine. They were bad because of the awful acting and dialogue.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Yeah, I think its great to watch. I don't hate Kathleen Kennedy she drove a lot of the star Wars rebirth. But she's made some really questionable decisions in terms of what she perceives as sound business decisions over story.



I mean even George has made some really bad decisions in Star Wars, need I remind you all of the Christmas Special, or the Ewok Adventures. But what always comes back is that the story side of Star Wars when George was in charge was always secure.

I met someone who is on a first name basis with Kathleen Kennedy.



I told that person to tell Kathleen she ruined Star Wars and that I hate her.



You're welcome, everyone.

[CaptainCrunch]

There are lots of reaction video's on youtube to the Clone Wars and Rebels that are kind of fun to watch, just to see how emotionally invested in these series and Star Wars overall. There was one I think her name was Louis Jean and she was just bawling at the end of Clone Wars, not because of Anakin or Ahsoka, but because she had been so vested in the Clones like Jessie that she was crushed by his turn and his death.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by agulati

I’m watching the whole list of Star Wars for the first time. I know some of the major plot points, but have never really watched any of the movies (except one of the first three). I have usually been more of a reading books/watching tv shows guy but trying to catch up on the classics/backlog list I had created a few years ago.
I got done the prequels over the weekend, and i’m planning to watch Solo and Rogue One before moving on to the original set and the sequels. I haven’t added the Star Wars based TV shows/extras yet and I’m not sure if that is a major miss.

I'm going to say that not watching Clone Wars and Rebels would be a huge miss, they're just exceptional and add so much weight to the prequels that those movies become an entirely different beast. Frankly they make the Palpatine storyline that much deeper, and the Clone's executing order 66 becomes really emotional, especially in terms of Cody and Obi-Wan



I wouldn't bother with Resistance though, it just wasn't that good and the characters didn't capture me.

[blankall]

I just don't know how Disney can possibly think that keeping Kennedy around in a major decision making role is a good idea. Everything she touches turns to ash. The Mandalorian shows just how big of an appetite there is for good Star Wars content.

Disney has invested billions in Star Wars. Kennedy obviously has a pretty great history producing films, and she is obviously great at producing Spielberg type movies. However, Star Wars is entirely different, and she is killing it. If you try to turn Star Wars into the Goonies, it's not going to end well.

[CaptainCrunch]

Katee Sackhoff confirmed for Season 2 of the Mandalorian making a live action appearance as Bo-Katan.


Awesome news.

[getbak]

I didn't realize she had voiced Bo-Katan on Clone Wars/Rebels.

I wonder if it will be a flashback? Sackhoff is about the same age as Dawson, but I didn't get the impression that Bo-Katan and Ahsoka were the same age.


It will be funny if Bo-Katan and Sabine both show up in season 2 because they made such a big deal about him never removing his helmet, but Sabine and Bo-Katan were always running around without their helmets on.

[GreenLantern]

I didn't even know that was her voicing Bo-Katan, pretty cool to get cast as the character you voiced.

Somewhere Sam Witwer is practicing his twirls and staff moves..

The Mandalorian story line all blur together for me, especially across Clone Wars/Rebels, going to need to some wiki reading. Unless Cap you can rattle off the complex relationships between Bo-Katan and Sabine for me off the top of your head :P

In spoilers for everyone of course..

Spoiler!

Quick internet reading reminds me of the Arc with Obi, Bo Katan and Satine, which was a great arc. She has no relation to Sabine though correct? But they are all under House Viszla? Wren and Katan?

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I met someone who is on a first name basis with Kathleen Kennedy.



I told that person to tell Kathleen she ruined Star Wars and that I hate her.



You're welcome, everyone.

The word hero doesn't get thrown around often... but it is deserved here.

[photon]

More evidence Filoni should be in charge of Star Wars

https://io9.gizmodo.com/dave-filonis...-se-1843392914

'That’s when Filoni, who co-created The Clone Wars with George Lucas and probably knows more about that era than anyone including Lucas, starts talking about the ending of The Phantom Menace. It begins about 21 minutes and 30 seconds into the episode, but here’s just a taste.

I love the lightsaber fight with Darth Maul. Not because it’s a lightsaber fight but because George is so good at crafting why that fight’s important...In Phantom Menace you’re watching these two Jedi in their prime fight this evil villain...What’s at stake is really how is Anakin going to turn out. Because Qui-Gon is different than the rest of the Jedi. You get that in the movie and Qui-Gon is fighting because he knows he’s the father that Anakin needs. Because Qui-Gon hasn’t given up on the fact the Jedi are supposed to actually care and love and that that’s not a bad thing. The rest of the Jedi are so detached and they’ve become so political that they’ve really lost their way and Yoda starts to see that in the second film. But Qui-Gon is ahead of them all. That’s why he’s not part of the Council. So he’s fighting for Anakin. That’s why it’s the “Duel of the Fates.” It’s the fate of this child. And depending on how this fight goes, Anakin’s life is going to be dramatically different.

Filoni continues from there. In fact, he continues for another FIVE WHOLE MINUTES if you can believe it, going into how Obi-Wan training Anakin made him who he was, Luke’s training, his showdown with the Emperor and just...all of it. Meanwhile, Favreau and the season one Mandalorian directors such as Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi sit there in awe at Filoni’s monologue. It’s truly magical to watch.'

[getbak]

As I was watching that, I realized that I'd rather watch Filoni talk about Star Wars for 2 hours instead of watching a couple of the actual movies.

[CaptainCrunch]

I've always loved the Maul versus Obi-Wan and Qui-gon fight.


I remember watching George talking about the Phantom Menace while it was being made and the duels that had taken place in the OT


When you break it down


ANH - Obi versus Vader - Obi was old, and out of practice, also there was a theory that he went into that fight knowing he was dead but the Force moved him into that confrontation to save Luke, and to move him on his path. Meanwhile Vader had aged a great deal and combined with his injuries and again rustiness as he really hadn't (at that time) fought Jedi for a while.



ESB - Vader vs Skywalker - Luke wasn't completely trained, he was still tentative in his use of the Force and was fearful of the dark Side. Vader in this movie was back to his aggressive powerful self, but was held back because he knew Luke's secret and didn't really want to kill him. We saw not the full power of the force, but a portion of it when Vader through the mining facility at Luke.


ROTJ - Luke was really still a fledging Jedi, he was also conflicted, he didn't want to kill his father he wanted to save him. Vader was conflicted as well. Luke hadn't gone through a life time of training in lighsaber duels, Vader was aging and trapped in a suit that had stripped many of Anakin's force abilities away.


So when George was making the Phantom Menace he had the question, what was a properly trained Jedi with years of training like. So instead of bashing lightsabers we saw stylized duels and they were a lot faster and a lot more crisp.


Qui-gon and Obi vs Maul - First of all Ray Park is awesome at what he did. He was blinding speed and agility but there was a ferocity to it especially when he killed Qui-gon, and a bit of arrogance when he turned on Obi. I loved the Obi vs Maul duel, there was speed and technique and fury.



Anakin and Obi vs Dooku - The problem with this duel is that they hadn't become good at face replacement yet so we got a lot of zoom shots of Christopher Lee sneering while swinging his saber. However, in terms of the duel, Dooku was one of the best swordsmen in Jedi history and I loved that they gave him the curved saber. He was a pure duelist and it showed. Obi-Wan was technical, Anakin was all arrogance and fury. But I liked this duel because when you watch it Dooku just outwaited them and baited them into mistakes.


Yoda vs Dooku - I didn't like this one as much but it made sense, Yoda was small so he would be all speed and agility. The problem was that there was no impact to the clash. It just felt too much like the cheesy samuri movies of the 80's that was style over substance.


Anakin vs Dooku - I loved this duel for one key moment. When they were clashing sabers and Dooku said "You have much fear in you and anger but you don't know how to use it" and there was this pause where you could almost see Anakin's mind click and he was given permission to unleash his fury and his style changed to something that was powerful and impactful and he basically beat Dooku down.



Anakin vs Obi-Wan - I really liked the speed of the battle. But it was interesting because Anakin and Obi were brothers who had fought together and trained together and knew each others moves intimately. There was the one moment where Anakin overpowered Obi and was pushing him down that was to me awesome. The duel force push was a neat bit of story telling, because it was two guys fighting that knew each other so well.


Filoni really understood duels when you watch Clone Wars, especially the last few episodes. But if you go back and watch the Sidious vs Maul and Savage duel or the Anakin vs Dooku duels they were awesome to watch.


And yeah, I would love to see Filoni take over the Star Wars movies, he's the new George in that he understands and values that at the center of these movies its about the story and lore. That's where the ST really failed. The story throughout the whole thing was fractured and confusing and disconnected and a lot of that is due to Rian's idiotic story in the second movie forcing Abrahms to toss most of it away to try to fix the triology.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by photon

More evidence Filoni should be in charge of Star Wars

https://io9.gizmodo.com/dave-filonis...-se-1843392914

'That’s when Filoni, who co-created The Clone Wars with George Lucas and probably knows more about that era than anyone including Lucas, starts talking about the ending of The Phantom Menace. It begins about 21 minutes and 30 seconds into the episode, but here’s just a taste.



Filoni continues from there. In fact, he continues for another FIVE WHOLE MINUTES if you can believe it, going into how Obi-Wan training Anakin made him who he was, Luke’s training, his showdown with the Emperor and just...all of it. Meanwhile, Favreau and the season one Mandalorian directors such as Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi sit there in awe at Filoni’s monologue. It’s truly magical to watch.'

Look....that was interesting and all and really makes a great deal of sense.

But at the end of the day if you have to explain whats happening in the movie you're making then somebody is doing a bad job of story-telling.

I find Star Wars to be a particularly egregious transgressor of post-production explanations.

"No, no, no! That didnt suck! You just didnt get it because this is whats really going on! If you know this thing and that thing then this all makes so much more sense!"

WTF am I doing watching this BS then? If I cant figure it out because the information I need for the story to make sense is literally not in the story being told then what is going on here?

[Fuzz]

I know I'm probably on my own here, but I still think that was one of the worst light sabre battles in Star Wars. It's an over-choreographed dance that happens to have laser swords as props. At that point in the movie I don't care about Darth Maul at all. He's generic middle management bad guy with "look how bad-ass I am" face paint.

[RyZ]

Originally Posted by photon

More evidence Filoni should be in charge of Star Wars

https://io9.gizmodo.com/dave-filonis...-se-1843392914

'That’s when Filoni, who co-created The Clone Wars with George Lucas and probably knows more about that era than anyone including Lucas, starts talking about the ending of The Phantom Menace. It begins about 21 minutes and 30 seconds into the episode, but here’s just a taste.



Filoni continues from there. In fact, he continues for another FIVE WHOLE MINUTES if you can believe it, going into how Obi-Wan training Anakin made him who he was, Luke’s training, his showdown with the Emperor and just...all of it. Meanwhile, Favreau and the season one Mandalorian directors such as Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi sit there in awe at Filoni’s monologue. It’s truly magical to watch.'

100% pro Filoni. Its no secret that the Star Wars fan bubble is shrinking rapidly right now and merchandising sales are at all time lows. Neither of those problems are going to get any better with Kathleen Kennedy at the helm, in fact, I would argue they are going to get a lot worse in the next year or 2.