SW - Star Wars

[asterixsmeagol]

When they made their big batch of announcements a few year this was the only series I was actually looking forward to. The trailer still has me excited.

 

[Jrzag42]

Today I have started what I'm tentatively calling "The 19-0 BBY Marathon". Basically, watching all of content set between ROTS and ANH in chronological order. To kick things off, I watched Revenge Of The Sith, Siege Of Mandalore, and episode 1 of Bad Batch. I didn't watch an edit, just manually switched between them.
From here I'll be watching:
-Bad Batch seasons 1&2 (circling back for season 3 once the whole thing is out)
-Solo
-Kenobi
-Andor & Rebels (as far as I can tell, season 1 of both shows take place around the same time)
-Rogue One

Now, I'll probably end up not watching every episode of Rebels, I haven't heard great things about it. I might cherry pick specific episodes that feature characters from other shows/movies. We'll see when I get there.

I don't have a good reason for making this a thing really, I just have a fascination with the idea of watching things in chronological order, and I thought it'd be a good way to catch up on some Star Wars content that I've missed. Might do the same thing down the line with everything set between ROTJ and TFA, but we'll see. Not sure how I'd want to tackle the chronology of BOBF's flashbacks...which just reminded me that Rogue One and Solo both feature timeskips, which means I get to be extra obnoxious by going Solo (opening) -> RO (opening) -> Kenobi (all of it) -> Solo (the rest).

Anyways, I'll probably lose interest before finishing this journey.

Finally finished Bad Batch season 2, great stuff! I kinda slept through the penultimate episode, so the finale was slightly confusing, but whatever! I went on to watch the openings to Solo and Rogue One (such a dumb idea) and started Kenobi. STarted falling asleep during episode 1 so I didn't finish it. I can already see that Kenobi is somewhat of a mixed bag, but Ewan is lovely as always so I'm looking forward to watching more (when I'm less tired).

 

[matrixgrindhouse]

Mandalorian movie now set to release in May of 2026. Meanwhile, James Mangold has recruited Beau Willimon as co-writer of his film. Willimon wrote Andor's prison episodes. So... I'm incredibly optimistic about that project now!

 

[Gaith]

"Dear ChatGPT: pitch, write, and animate a pre-ANH Dave Filoni show about Inquisitors and that one person Ahsoka fought in Mando S2. Make sure it uses only previously introduced characters, and that the preview contains absolutely nothing to entice any viewers who aren't Filoni completists. However many lightsaber battles you calculate is appropriate, increase the total by 50% from there. Also, make sure everything is as dark as possible, so we can cheap out on the animation budget by rendering a bare minimum of stuff. Thanks!"

ChatGPT:

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I know these shows have their fans, but basically Filoni leans into everything I don’t want from Star Wars. I feel like the original movie built that classic Campbell archetype story but Empire took it in a more human, grounded direction. I don’t want more fantasy from Star Wars; I don’t want witches and wizards to be the norm and I don’t want any of the mystical stuff explained. So I’ll just be in my corner waiting for the next season of Andor.

 

[matrixgrindhouse]

I don't get why people are upset about this. It's just an anthology of shorts - half to give closure to an unresolved Clone Wars character, half to give backstory to a character that wasn't fleshed out enough in recent live action works. How is any of that bad?


Also, it's unfair to say that FIloni is solely focused on the Force side of things. Mandalorian and Boba Fett are way more oriented towards the blaster-side of things. More than half the main cast of Rebels don't have any powers, and its most prominent villain has absolutely no connection to Jedi, Sith, or any such things. Resistance actually managed to go its entire two-season run without so much as a single lightsaber showing up!

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I don't get why people are upset about this. It's just an anthology of shorts - half to give closure to an unresolved Clone Wars character, half to give backstory to a character that wasn't fleshed out enough in recent live action works. How is any of that bad?


Also, it's unfair to say that FIloni is solely focused on the Force side of things. Mandalorian and Boba Fett are way more oriented towards the blaster-side of things. More than half the main cast of Rebels don't have any powers, and its most prominent villain has absolutely no connection to Jedi, Sith, or any such things. Resistance actually managed to go its entire two-season run without so much as a single lightsaber showing up!

I’m not interested in getting into a debate in the relative merits of Filoni’s stuff. Suffice to say I was using but one example. His approach just doesn’t work for me. But that’s fine. It works for tons of people and I’m jealous of those people as there’s more of his stuff than stuff like Andor that I like.

 

[matrixgrindhouse]

Totally fair. And Andor truly is an exceptional addition to the franchise. As much as stuff like Rebels and Force Awakens can make me feel like I'm ten years old again, Andor shows me a Star Wars that finally grew up with me.

 

[Gaith]

Please don't take any of this personally - and, in fairness, I haven't seen any Resistance...

I don't get why people are upset about this. It's just an anthology of shorts - half to give closure to an unresolved Clone Wars character, half to give backstory to a character that wasn't fleshed out enough in recent live action works. How is any of that bad?

I'm not upset, just completely uninterested.

More than half the main cast of Rebels don't have any powers, and its most prominent villain has absolutely no connection to Jedi, Sith, or any such things.

This is stretching things. Rebels introduced the Inquisitors, who were the main baddies of S1. Then Vader was a major player in S2, and the show brought in Ahsoka, the World Between Worlds, etc., and then Thrawn was defeated by Force-using space whales. Throw in holocrons, Darth Maul, and that big ox thing, in addition to Kanan and Ezra and the series was positively riddled with Force-related stuff.

Also, it's unfair to say that FIloni is solely focused on the Force side of things. Mandalorian and Boba Fett are way more oriented towards the blaster-side of things.

"Way more"? The overarching story thrust of the first two seasons is protecting Grogu from those trying to study his M-count stuff so they can close Sidious, and then returning him to the Jedi. TBoBF, meanwhile, spends a whole episode with Luke and Ahsoka for no particular reason, and climaxes with Grogu Force-calming a rancor.

But the problem with Filoni's stories isn't just that it's got too much Force and Jedi/Sith this and that, it's that their elements feel so similar and samey. Din Djarin's weird cult of helmet-wearing extremists may not be Jedi, but they're just as sexless and obsessed with spiritual purity and crap. And then there's Boba Fett, who wants to be a crime lord who doesn't do crimes, and keep the local biker teens out of trouble. Nobody's really passionate about anything, there's very rarely any sense of danger, and personality traits are mostly limited to "wise" or "plucky."

And what's coming up? More Jedi crapola in The Acolyte, Rey's New Jedi Order movie, Mangold's first Jedi movie, more Ahsoka, more Grogu... ugh, enough with the bloody Force users! Why can't we get movies/stories centering around space pirates, or Rogue Squadron, or the adventures of young Lando and such?? Or PT-era podracers?

Andor is great, and maybe the Skeleton Crew show will be interesting. Hmph.

 

[matrixgrindhouse]

All good. Life would be incredibly boring if we all had the same perspective on subjective media. And life is much, much too short to gripe about it. Some people (none present, of course!) take this stuff so darn personally these days.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Please don't take any of this personally - and, in fairness, I haven't seen any Resistance...




I'm not upset, just completely uninterested.




This is stretching things. Rebels introduced the Inquisitors, who were the main baddies of S1. Then Vader was a major player in S2, and the show brought in Ahsoka, the World Between Worlds, etc., and then Thrawn was defeated by Force-using space whales. Throw in holocrons, Darth Maul, and that big ox thing, in addition to Kanan and Ezra and the series was positively riddled with Force-related stuff.




"Way more"? The overarching story thrust of the first two seasons is protecting Grogu from those trying to study his M-count stuff so they can close Sidious, and then returning him to the Jedi. TBoBF, meanwhile, spends a whole episode with Luke and Ahsoka for no particular reason, and climaxes with Grogu Force-calming a rancor.

But the problem with Filoni's stories isn't just that it's got too much Force and Jedi/Sith this and that, it's that their elements feel so similar and samey. Din Djarin's weird cult of helmet-wearing extremists may not be Jedi, but they're just as sexless and obsessed with spiritual purity and crap. And then there's Boba Fett, who wants to be a crime lord who doesn't do crimes, and keep the local biker teens out of trouble. Nobody's really passionate about anything, there's very rarely any sense of danger, and personality traits are mostly limited to "wise" or "plucky."

And what's coming up? More Jedi crapola in The Acolyte, Rey's New Jedi Order movie, Mangold's first Jedi movie, more Ahsoka, more Grogu... ugh, enough with the bloody Force users! Why can't we get movies/stories centering around space pirates, or Rogue Squadron, or the adventures of young Lando and such?? Or PT-era podracers?

Andor is great, and maybe the Skeleton Crew show will be interesting. Hmph.

To be clear on my perspective, I want some Force stuff , but I want it to be rare and special and a backdrop to the human story elements, not the focus. And by “human” I mean real world stuff not in-universe human-not-alien. The OT, of course did that brilliantly even if I didn’t like a lot of RotJ. But the prequels is almost all the opposite of that. But otherwise, I pretty much concur with all of this. The Force stuff can be done well obviously, I just don’t like Filoni’s take on it and pretty much dislike his vision of SW in general. People argue against that by saying that he’s the closest voice to Lucas himself. To that I say I don’t think Lucas has ever been aligned with my wants for SW.

 

[Possessed]

I like star wars, and I like burritos. But if you put a blu Ray disc of a star wars movie inside a burrito, I would not eat it.

Sorry if this offends anyone

 

[addiesin]

I like star wars, and I like burritos. But if you put a blu Ray disc of a star wars movie inside a burrito, I would not eat it.

Sorry if this offends anyone

Reveal message

I knew somebody must have thought of this. Turns out several have, this one has the best delivery.

 

[keithbk]

This was so cool, I think it might inspire some people!

 

[The Scribbling Man]

Shared this on my star wars ideas thread the other day might be what swings me finally doing an edit of the phantom menace tbh

 

[TM2YC]

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
The 25th anniversary cinema re-release led me to re-watch this on the big screen out of morbid curiosity and nostalgia. It hasn't got any better but it's few plus points still shine bright. Doug Chiang's future-Art-Nouveau design work is spectacular and John William's score is the only part of this artistic clusterf**k that is undoubtedly every bit the equal of the OT. The latter sounded amazing on cinema speakers, the former was mired by one of the worst transfers I ever seen at the cinema. It's almost unbelievable that a movie can look this bad, if you told me it was a VHS-to-4K upscale, I'd believe you, or more probably, some kind of AI horror show. Are we sure George Lucas isn't still tinkering with these films to make them worse? If only I could time travel back to 1999 and watch it the way I first saw it in high-definition 35mm (and it'd be the theatrical cut, this was the extended/special edition/whatever?). The atmospheric opening sequence tricks you into thinking the movie might be better than you remember, the pod race is still a thrill ride, and I love it when Padme executes two battle droids gangsta style. 'The Phantom Menace' is the kind of rare, deranged work of art, that can still give me goosebumps as the epic 'The Flag Parade' march kicks in, then moments later make me cringe with embarrassment as William's magnificent score is interrupted with another loud fart joke.

Arguably the greatest trailer ever made (in 35mm):

 

[TheFoxMan]

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
The 25th anniversary cinema re-release led me to re-watch this on the big screen out of morbid curiosity and nostalgia. It hasn't got any better but it's few plus points still shine bright. Doug Chiang's future-Art-Nouveau design work is spectacular and John William's score is the only part of this artistic clusterf**k that is undoubtedly every bit the equal of the OT. The latter sounded amazing on cinema speakers, the former was mired by one of the worst transfers I ever seen at the cinema. It's almost unbelievable that a movie can look this bad, if you told me it was a VHS-to-4K upscale, I'd believe you, or more probably, some kind of AI horror show. Are we sure George Lucas isn't still tinkering with these films to make them worse? If only I could time travel back to 1999 and watch it the way I first saw it in high-definition 35mm (and it'd be the theatrical cut, this was the extended/special edition/whatever?). The atmospheric opening sequence tricks you into thinking the movie might be better than you remember, the pod race is still a thrill ride, and I love it when Padme executes two battle droids gangsta style. 'The Phantom Menace' is the kind of rare, deranged work of art, that can still give me goosebumps as the epic 'The Flag Parade' march kicks in, then moments later make me cringe with embarrassment as William's magnificent score is interrupted with another loud fart joke.

Arguably the greatest trailer ever made (in 35mm):

Your comment about goosebumps and cringe happening just seconds after each other is spot on with this movie - perfect description.

I pretty much still hate this movie - but I can say with 100% confidence that the second part of the Maul duel, when they move from the hangar to the room with the big power beams is probably one of my favorite moments in all of cinema. I watch that part and never get sick of it.

How can a movie get so many things so perfect and miss on so many other moments?? Haha

 

[henzINNIT]

This was so cool, I think it might inspire some people!

This has legit been a thought of mine for a while. The "what if the prequel trilogy was actually made first?" edits of the PT. The stilted dialogue fits well ha. I have no experience 'downgrading' modern footage into era-appropriate sounds and visuals.

 

[henzINNIT]

And what's coming up? More Jedi crapola in The Acolyte, Rey's New Jedi Order movie, Mangold's first Jedi movie, more Ahsoka, more Grogu... ugh, enough with the bloody Force users! Why can't we get movies/stories centering around space pirates, or Rogue Squadron, or the adventures of young Lando and such?? Or PT-era podracers?

Andor is great, and maybe the Skeleton Crew show will be interesting. Hmph.

Sadly Disney started off with a very narrow approach to Star Wars content and that has only grown more extreme over time. It's been market-tested to death and you can almost see the checklist of "essential Star Wars iconography" in every trailer. Risks can be expensive. Filoni's whole SW career has been playing with the toys, so I don't see hope with him. Andor's will creep out now and then though so it's just about being picky really.