chrism227.wordpress.com Info and opinions on a variety of interests.
https://twitter.com/chrisprtsmouth
Perfect way to put it. I'm still logging on and excited about Star Wars stuff, more so than the MCU, and even though I loathe TLJ (and probably have about half my internet commentary in the last few years be about how much it sucked ) I'm bemused by how I'm still coming back to it with generally positive vibes, even given my anger at stupidity I didn't expect to occur.
Cade, Jacen, and Jaina were probably the most controversial of the "Next Gen Skywalkers"... and were still largely successful. Jacen especially had arguably the best arc before they decided ot turn him evil, then when he became Darth Caedus, it was a very mixed bag... but still much more successful than Kylo/Ben Solo.
I'm just still shocked that the business people at LFL let them kill off the Skywalkers in the Disney era; it just seems absurd.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
Carrie passed away so I think they didn't have much choice with Leia. Harrison (Han was of course Skywalker by marriage) had wanted Han to die since the OT so that probably was inevitable too.
As for Luke, yeah, they could have had him probably stick around in some form.
chrism227.wordpress.com Info and opinions on a variety of interests.
https://twitter.com/chrisprtsmouth
It’s not just that, though; it’s that they also introduced a new Skywalker, but only the one, made him terrible, and then doomed him through stubbornness as well - all in a way that made even using his more popular and beloved family awkward, difficult and difficult after he’s born, and damaged and poisoned his co-stars even after his death.
Yes, I know that it sounds presumptuous and entitled to say that an obvious and profitable expectation would have been for heroic new Skywalkers, or that any kind of business wisdom would have demanded Rey be a member of the Skywalker Family, and with with only highly dubious creative arguments against it… but I think I’m right, and can “prove” it, because it’s that obvious. More Skywalkers = More Stories and More $$$.
But Kylo’s arguably the “Nega-Grogu” or “Reverse-Din” or they’re his “Good Twins.” They are new characters who encouraged the creation of other new ones and start new stories by being intriguing and interesting and tying into established lore in awesome new ways, spawning multiple new shows - and Kylo basically semi-cancels any Jedi Academy story for Luke, or stories of Rey and Finn as new Jedi because LFL feels compelled to trash everyone around him out of insecurity of him as their only original Skywalker family member.
I seriously think that the Rey movie took so long to get conceived, and is taking so long to get going, in part because LFL sort of tricked themselves into not giving a damn about her and towards seeing Finn as threat - much like Kylo’s fellow students from that comic that just “pulled a TLJ Rey” on them as well.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
The saving grace of the franchise has been their ability to take bad/poorly done stories and add enough context to not only make them make sense (at least somewhat) in retrospect, but also drive current/future stories as well. I mean, the prequels were awful and nothing will change that, but Clone Wars built on the framework, filled in the blanks, and gave us Ahsoka. Now the era is one of the most interesting ones in the timeline.
"We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."
~ Black Panther.
Over all I am pleased with the Disney Star Wars. The Comics have been pretty decent over all, and Rogue One and Bad Batch were big hits for me I also enjoyed Mando. I did not like the ST but for the smaller stuff I am pleased.
This Post Contains No Artificial Intelligence. It Contains No Human Intelligence Either.
Like the shows. The movies started with the mediocre TFA, and went down hill from there.
There came a time when the Old Gods died! The Brave died with the Cunning! The Noble perished locked in battle with unleashed Evil! It was the last day for them! An ancient era was passing in fiery holocaust!
Pros and Cons like everything. Far too many to list but if I had to pick my Top 3:
Pros:
Darth Vader: Always has and always will be my favorite Star Wars Character. Vader is Star Wars in my books. Disney did him justice. They made him the scary boogeyman he is supposed be. Loved his portrayal in Star Wars Rebels, Jedi Survivor, Vader's 2015 Comic Book was crazy, and of course the iconic Hallway Scene from Star Wars Rogue One. Also the best part in the Kenobi Series
Replaced Starkiller with Ahoska: Never liked Starkiller but very fond of Ahsoka
Hayden Christensen: I always knew he had it in him. Glad Disney gave him the chance to show it.
Cons:
Sequel Trilogy: I could make such a long post explaining why I despised this. Other than Puppet Yoda returning, I can't think of anything good to say about it. I thought it was really that bad.
Removing Tartakovsky's Clone Wars as Canon: By far the best Prequel Footage in my books. I could definitely understand why Dooku promoted Tartakovsky's Grievous to lead the armies. That Grievous fought like the devil! Post-Tartakovsky? Man, what a disappointing downgrade. Poor Track Records at everything.
Cementing Vader Killing the Younglings: Yes, I get that it wasn't the first time when he slaughtered the sand people but dude, he was a teenager and his mom literally died in his arms from being tortured to death. Not saying that gave him justification, but at least made his rage somewhat understandable. I just refuse to believe he'd go from Galactic Hero to Child Killer in under 24 hours. I wish there could have been a chapter in Ahsoka or Mando where they found a bunch of elders with force powers. Turns out Vader let them go but made a threat for them never to use it. (Hell, I'd use that angle in the Sequel Trilogy to snap Luke out of his own depression)
Last edited by Godzilla2099; 12-05-2023 at 08:42 PM.
Overall I think its been fine. Andor, Mando, Ashoka ( well most of it) Bad Batch, recent Clone Wars stuff has been pretty good in my eyes. Some other stuff no. But when you have so much product your gonna miss sometimes. I think they have hit especially on TV more than they have missed.
Some small parts of Gendy's series are still sort of canon; Mace Windu did fight a droid army on Dantooine that's mentioned in the CG series and comics.
chrism227.wordpress.com Info and opinions on a variety of interests.
https://twitter.com/chrisprtsmouth
Same, basically.
Mandalorian was great. Book of Boba didn't seem to know where it wanted to go, but wasn't bad. Ahsoka, pretty decent, even for me, not a Rebels fan. About the only clunker was Kenobi, IMO, which I found dull (although kid Leia was great, which is like, 100% not-me, usually I *hate* the kid character and like the grown ups!).
The movies have more or less blown goats. Just badness after worseness. (Except Rogue One, which was amazing, and Solo, which I alone in the universe thought was a good movie and wanted to see continue...)
I've always felt that TFA was actually a *good* Star Wars movie that gave the ST a lot of potential... but almost all that potential (Rey as an engaging and 3-dimensional protagonist, Finn as a character who got more development in one movie than anyone else had yet*, Kylo as a "reverse Vader") was diametrically opposed to what LFL wanted to focus on (mostly, just Adam Driver and a fervent obsession with Empire vs Rebels tropes over characterization and good Jedi stories) and so the next film did an almost surgical job of demolishing everything that made TFA good in the public conscious, retroactively making people see only its flaws. TLJ only brings flaws or (at best) one-off and deflating tragedy stuff, and TROS is just house-keeping trying to reconcile two movie that hate each other into something with a resolution
*Seriously, I'd stack up Finn and John Boyega's performance in TFA against every other Star Wars movie character on a film-to-film basis, and argue Boyega and Finn did better in one movie than everyone else did in one movie. He covered more ground and depth than anyone else has. Better than Han in ANH, better than Anakin in ROTS, better than Vader in ROTJ, better than Lando in ESB, etc. I'm also convinced that was why Rian Johnson and LFL seemed dead set on sabotaging him afterwards.
But Rogue One is amazing and free from being tainted by a hostile sequel by its standalone nature and how Tony Gilroy himself started working on the prequel, and I think the TV shows have generally stuck to what makes Star Wars great, or at the worst not gotten offensively snide and hateful of the product the way TLJ did. Even Obi-Wan's somewhat inconsistent execution never got in the way of how focused it was on solid character arcs and acting (which I'd argue is more important than cinematic presentation), and while I'd argue The Mandalorian Season 3 wasted a hug amount of potential and made a mistake in not being a character-focused story... I only had those expectations in the first place because the first and second season were much better at that than I had expected.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
I think restorative nostalgia is the number one issue with comic book fans.
A fine distinction between two types of Nostalgia:
Reflective Nostalgia allows us to savor our memories but accepts that they are in the past
Restorative Nostalgia pushes back against the here and now, keeping us stuck trying to relive our glory days.
Think Solo kind of suffered a bit from the director issues/problems on set causing some bad press and also being released so soon after TLJ so it still had some of the backlash.
Also released when Infinity War was still big probably didn't help (Kind of Disney competing against itself).
chrism227.wordpress.com Info and opinions on a variety of interests.
https://twitter.com/chrisprtsmouth
I think Solo was a fun movie. I would have liked it as a book where I could imagine Ford as Han. But I just never saw Ehrenreich as Han Solo. And Glover as Lando either.
There came a time when the Old Gods died! The Brave died with the Cunning! The Noble perished locked in battle with unleashed Evil! It was the last day for them! An ancient era was passing in fiery holocaust!