Star Wars Discussion Thread v. Rise of Skywalker / Mandalorian (merged)

[hefdaddy42]

From Obi-Wan himself:

https://www.ign.com/articles/obi-wan-kenobi-series-delay-wont-change-release-date-says-ewan-mcgregor

I don't even care about an Obi-Wan show.

[axeman90210]

Been burning my way through a bunch of Clone Wars lately, and man is early season 4 a giant drop off in quality for me. Did not really care at all about the three episodes set on Mon Calamari and the R2/3PO adventure episodes have been a drag too. If not for wanting to be caught up in time for season 7 I'd probably be switching off to something else for a while.

[Polarbear]

Been burning my way through a bunch of Clone Wars lately, and man is early season 4 a giant drop off in quality for me. Did not really care at all about the three episodes set on Mon Calamari and the R2/3PO adventure episodes have been a drag too. If not for wanting to be caught up in time for season 7 I'd probably be switching off to something else for a while.

Stick with it! Some of the best episodes are still to come!

[axeman90210]

Oh I am. Just especially a bummer because I dug a lot of the latter part of S3. But I figure Darth Maul's gotta be coming up at some point soon.

[lordxizor]

Watching through the Clone Wars as well. Never watched the show when it was first on so it's all new to me. It's pretty hit or miss as to whether I really enjoy the episodes or not. Midway through season 4 at this point. I feel like seeing the clones with personalities and without their helmet definitely takes away some of the mystique of the storm troopers.

[MinistroRaven]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21123262/mandalorian-season-2-october-disney-plus-star-wars

[lordxizor]

Nice! Looking forward to it. Not sure how I feel about potential spin-off series about some of the other characters though.

[The Walrus]

I for one can't wait for The Adventures of Baby Yoda.

[jingle.boy]

I for one can't wait for The Adventures of Baby Yoda.

That's a weird way to spell Cara Dune.

[jammindude]

I for one can't wait for The Adventures of Baby Yoda.

That's a weird way to spell Cara Dune.

Are you talking about DUNC?

[The Walrus]

I for one can't wait for The Adventures of Baby Yoda.

That's a weird way to spell Cara Dune.

Really? She sucks. 

[gmillerdrake]

Tomorrow! Can't wait. 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Star Wars: The High Republic | Announcement Trailer

This looks cool but honestly, I can't keep up man. Haven't seen either The Mandalorian or even the new movie. 

[jingle.boy]

So, novels and comics?  Cool indeed, but I'm just completely tapped (actually, I'm in a deficit) on my disposable time for stuff like this.

[Adami]

Star Wars: The High Republic | Announcement Trailer

This looks cool but honestly, I can't keep up man. Haven't seen either The Mandalorian or even the new movie. 

It's books and comics. There's already a billion of those, so really nothing new there.

[lordxizor]

Personally not interested in anything but movies or TV shows. I stopped being able to keep up with the books decades ago.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Star Wars: The High Republic | Announcement Trailer

This looks cool but honestly, I can't keep up man. Haven't seen either The Mandalorian or even the new movie. 

It's books and comics. There's already a billion of those, so really nothing new there.

Oh sry, I missed that. Carry on then.

[MirrorMask]

Totally random and out of the blue realization: if Rey really was a nobody, the daughter of a couple of random What's-Their-Names, her decision at the very end of the movie would have been more powerful. She was a nobody, so she could be whoever she decided to be, with her temptation to the Dark Side remaining intact... and her finally opting to go team Skywalker. It's a nice scene indeed to have her closing the whole thing full circle, being on Tattoine and picking up the Skywalker name, but if she wasn't a Palpatine and if she was really a nobody, it would have made it even better.

[lordxizor]

Totally random and out of the blue realization: if Rey really was a nobody, the daughter of a couple of random What's-Their-Names, her decision at the very end of the movie would have been more powerful. She was a nobody, so she could be whoever she decided to be, with her temptation to the Dark Side remaining intact... and her finally opting to go team Skywalker. It's a nice scene indeed to have her closing the whole thing full circle, being on Tattoine and picking up the Skywalker name, but if she wasn't a Palpatine and if she was really a nobody, it would have made it even better.

I had this same thought after seeing ROS the second time. I think the whole Palpatine thing was completely unnecessary. Not the end of the world that they did it, but just didn't really bring a whole lot to the table. I still enjoyed the movie quite a bit though.

[jingle.boy]

I simply viewed it as a way to bring McDiarmid (and his "gravitas") into the concluding film.

[hefdaddy42]

I simply viewed it as a way to bring McDiarmid (and his "gravitas") into the concluding film.

Same.

[Adami]

I simply viewed it as a way to bring McDiarmid (and his "gravitas") into the concluding film.

Which, in my opinion, is bad writing. You don't create a plot to justify a conclusion. You reach a conclusion from the plot you've created.

[jingle.boy]

I simply viewed it as a way to bring McDiarmid (and his "gravitas") into the concluding film.

Which, in my opinion, is bad writing. You don't create a plot to justify a conclusion. You reach a conclusion from the plot you've created.

I can't disagree with you here.  And my statement wasn't to suggest this was a good reason to make Rey's lineage to be Palpatine.

[Orbert]

I'm sure this has been posted somewhere in this thread already, but I just saw it today.

How It Should Have Ended: Episode IX.

Nowadays, HISHE videos aren't just about the ending, but rip on pretty much anything in the movie.  One really simple thing that jumped out at me was how, if they'd dropped the bomb (or even just hinted) that Palpatine was somehow still alive at the end of Episode VIII, it would have improved a lot of things.  We would've been wondering about it the whole time, and it wouldn't have come out of nowhere.  The Rey connection would be a lot easier to swallow because we're already thinking about Palpatine.  And of course it would've been a cool cliff-hanger ending; instead we got Broom Boy.

But that would've required continuity, unified vision, Johnson and Abrams making out, and other things we know didn't happen.  But it would've been cool.

[lordxizor]

I'm sure this has been posted somewhere in this thread already, but I just saw it today.

How It Should Have Ended: Episode IX.

Nowadays, HISHE videos aren't just about the ending, but rip on pretty much anything in the movie.  One really simple thing that jumped out at me was how, if they'd dropped the bomb (or even just hinted) that Palpatine was somehow still alive at the end of Episode VIII, it would have improved a lot of things.  We would've been wondering about it the whole time, and it wouldn't have come out of nowhere.  The Rey connection would be a lot easier to swallow because we're already thinking about Palpatine.  And of course it would've been a cool cliff-hanger ending; instead we got Broom Boy.

But that would've required continuity, unified vision, Johnson and Abrams making out, and other things we know didn't happen.  But it would've been cool.

Completely agree. The biggest flaw of the sequel trilogy is the lack of unified vision.

[Volante99]

I'm sure this has been posted somewhere in this thread already, but I just saw it today.

How It Should Have Ended: Episode IX.

Nowadays, HISHE videos aren't just about the ending, but rip on pretty much anything in the movie.  One really simple thing that jumped out at me was how, if they'd dropped the bomb (or even just hinted) that Palpatine was somehow still alive at the end of Episode VIII, it would have improved a lot of things.  We would've been wondering about it the whole time, and it wouldn't have come out of nowhere.  The Rey connection would be a lot easier to swallow because we're already thinking about Palpatine.  And of course it would've been a cool cliff-hanger ending; instead we got Broom Boy.

But that would've required continuity, unified vision, Johnson and Abrams making out, and other things we know didn't happen.  But it would've been cool.

Completely agree. The biggest flaw of the sequel trilogy is the lack of unified vision.

To me the Star Wars Sequel trilogy is one of the biggest Hollywood mysteries ever. Speaking from first hand knowledge, Disney plans, analyzes and scrutinizes everything from how many strands of hair on Elsa's head to the Pantone color of Goofy's socks and yet they didn't put together a unified plan/vision and decided to "wing it" for the biggest franchise in move history. It's baffling to me.

[MirrorMask]

The weird irony however is that the original trilogy was winged, while the prequel trilogy was planned 

[lordxizor]

The weird irony however is that the original trilogy was winged, while the prequel trilogy was planned 

Haha. Good point.

I'm halfway through season 5 of the Clone Wars series and I have a few annoying observations about this series and the rest of Star Wars in general.

1) The Jedi get themselves captured an awful lot and the villians are always too stupid to kill them right away. This feels like lazy writing to me.
2) The Jedi seem to forget to use the Force an awful lot to avoid capture or to escape when captured.
3) The Droid army (and the Clone army for that matter) at times seems completely inept and unable to kill the other side even given overwhelming numbers and other times seem to have no problem winning a battle. Wildly inconsistent abilities is annoying.
4) When using multiple lightsabers both the Jedi and the Sith or Grevious, seem to have no idea how to use them effectively. Grevious's four lightsabers are regularly stopped by a Jedi using a single lightsaber. Engage the opponent's lightsaber with one of yours and then use the second to cut their legs out from underneath them. Shouldn't be very difficult.
5) The planets in the Star Wars Galaxy must either be very small or must all be inhabited by only a single city or colony. Taking a full planet like Earth would require hundreds of millions of troops and all we ever see are a couple ships with a few hundred troops taking whole star systems. Along the same lines, the Republic would require billions of clones and many thousands of ships to fight in hundreds of planets, yet in Attack of the Clones they only talk about hundreds of thousands and a.million clones being prepared.

Just a lot of nitpicky stuff. Overall I am enjoying the Clone Wars series and live Star Wars overall.

[lordxizor]

The weird irony however is that the original trilogy was winged, while the prequel trilogy was planned 

Haha. Good point.

I'm halfway through season 5 of the Clone Wars series and I have a few annoying observations about this series and the rest of Star Wars in general.

1) The Jedi get themselves captured an awful lot and the villians are always too stupid to kill them right away. This feels like lazy writing to me.
2) The Jedi seem to forget to use the Force an awful lot to avoid capture or to escape when captured.
3) The Droid army (and the Clone army for that matter) at times seems completely inept and unable to kill the other side even given overwhelming numbers and other times seem to have no problem winning a battle. Wildly inconsistent abilities is annoying.
4) When using multiple lightsabers both the Jedi and the Sith or Grevious, seem to have no idea how to use them effectively. Grevious's four lightsabers are regularly stopped by a Jedi using a single lightsaber. Engage the opponent's lightsaber with one of yours and then use the second to cut their legs out from underneath them. Shouldn't be very difficult.
5) The planets in the Star Wars Galaxy must either be very small or must all be inhabited by only a single city or colony. Taking a full planet like Earth would require hundreds of millions of troops and all we ever see are a couple ships with a few hundred troops taking whole star systems. Along the same lines, the Republic would require billions of clones and many thousands of ships to fight in hundreds of planets, yet in Attack of the Clones they only talk about a million clones being prepared.

Just a lot of nitpicky stuff. Overall I am enjoying the Clone Wars series and love Star Wars overall.

[bosk1]

Bosk1's officially unofficial coolness SW film ranking:

1.  Rogue One:  This film was FANTASTIC.  If I were king of Star Wars, the only things I would change would be to remove any reference whatsoever to Bor Gullet (that was stupid AND it creeped me out), make Krennic kill Galen (which makes Jyn's turn toward stopping the Empire more believable and has stakes), don't have Leia at Scarif.  Otherwise, this movie was almost perfect. 
2.  The Force Awakens:  I should probably have Empire at #2, but TFA was so good.  The visual of Rey against giant, wrecked star destroyers alone made everyone in the audience forget the prequels and feel like everything Star Wars was gonna be great.
3.  Empire:  Yeah.  "I am your father."  Legendary.  My only quibble is, if Lucas was going to go back and CGI-retcon all the OT to death once the technology allowed, I am completely onboard with him barely touching this one, but he could have at least made the giant worm look less like a penis.
4.  The Rise of Skywalker:  See my review.  Flaws aside, I loved it.
5.  A New Hope:  I give this one a slight nod over ROTJ.  It has pacing problems and feels VERY slow at times.  And it is harder to watch.  But it does SO much right. 
6.  Return of the Jedi:  Luke's plan was stupid.  And parts of the battle of Endor...  (Ewoks, I'm looking at you)  But still.  This was great.
7.  Solo:  I like this movie.  A lot.  I'm kind of surprised it is #7.  But that is more a reflection on the strength of 1-6 than this film.  Yeah, it has its issues.  But it is fun.  And it feels more Star Warsy than some of the films.
8.  The Last Jedi:  My review highlights the problems I had.  I like this movie.  But it had issues that bothered me.
9.  Revenge of the Sith:  I kinda felt guilty having all the prequels in the bottom 3 as I was doing this, and almost felt obligated to have this one higher just because.  But I just can't.  It is a lot better than the prior two.  But it has some glaring issues, namely that Anakin's turn, which is supposed to be the setpiece and premise of the entire PT somehow feels completely unearned.
10.  The Phantom Menace:  Lucas made some very strange decisions in writing, directing, etc.  But Darth Maul.  And there is some other good stuff. 
11.  Attack of the Clones:  Like TPM, it has some cool moments and cool ideas.  But it just doesn't work.  And although it tries to plant the seeds of Anakin's turn, it just meanders too much and doesn't go anywhere.  And it doesn't have Darth Maul to make you go, "Well, at least that final lightsaber fight was epic."  Why exactly did he have to die in ep. I and leave us without a compelling B villain to pair with Palpatine?

[Adami]

No Deadpool on your list?



Also, it's apparently confirmed that Palpatine in TROS is a clone.

[bosk1]

Also, it's apparently confirmed that Palpatine in TROS is a clone.

Yeah, I saw that.  My reaction when reading it was:
1.    We already pretty much knew that.  Or at least, most of us did.  Why is this article making it sound like this is some groundbreaking revelation?
2.  For the handful that didn't, I guess maybe the film could have been a little more clear to avoid some of the uninformed raging?

[Adami]

Also, it's apparently confirmed that Palpatine in TROS is a clone.

Yeah, I saw that.  My reaction when reading it was:
1.    We already pretty much knew that.  Or at least, most of us did.  Why is this article making it sound like this is some groundbreaking revelation?
2.  For the handful that didn't, I guess maybe the film could have been a little more clear to avoid some of the uninformed raging?

I'm gonna be honest, I didn't know that. A lot of what I read considered it a possibility but also that he is the original Palpatine and that the one from the other movies was a clone, or that he survived the destruction of the death star or whatever. I mean, it's all dumb to me, but I guess it least clears up some stuff? I dunno.

[The Walrus]

I thought it was the real Palpatine but there was no confirmation either way, only hints...  then again I'm stupid, so

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I'm sure this has been posted somewhere in this thread already, but I just saw it today.

How It Should Have Ended: Episode IX.

Nowadays, HISHE videos aren't just about the ending, but rip on pretty much anything in the movie.  One really simple thing that jumped out at me was how, if they'd dropped the bomb (or even just hinted) that Palpatine was somehow still alive at the end of Episode VIII, it would have improved a lot of things.  We would've been wondering about it the whole time, and it wouldn't have come out of nowhere.  The Rey connection would be a lot easier to swallow because we're already thinking about Palpatine.  And of course it would've been a cool cliff-hanger ending; instead we got Broom Boy.

But that would've required continuity, unified vision, Johnson and Abrams making out, and other things we know didn't happen.  But it would've been cool.

Completely agree. The biggest flaw of the sequel trilogy is the lack of unified vision.

I often wonder how our opinions of the sequels are impacted by knowing there wasn't a unified vision behind the scenes. In other words, if we didn't know about all the behind the scenes drama, are there any plot points - Rey's parentage for instance - that would resonate differently? I guess we'll never really know, but I feel like it probably matters to some extent.