#i think every star wars fan wants to know more about the sith pre phantom menace tbh

[tenthdocter]

I've nearly finished watching tales of the empire and honestly all I can think about is how no one really asked for more story on morgan elsbeth and barriss offee lol?? They've really missed a trick here and could have done a "Tales of the Sith" instead and had more backstory on palatine, dooku, maul and even further back to plageuis and the ancient sith even!

[andrewuttaro]

Reviews with Andrew: The State of #StarWars Episode 1 - Pre-Episode IX

Star Wars maybe the sample case to end all sample cases on what toxic fandom is. I’m not saying that to be a predictable ass but come on, have you been living under a rock? I am personally saddened to see how the response to the Last Jedi has ruined the fan unity, if that ever even existed, on Star Wars. It’s okay to not like a movie. That’s the bottom line. It’s okay to be lukewarm all puns intended. I was a little sour after my first viewing of the Last Jedi but after two more viewings I put it together a bit more. But at the end of the day there was nothing in that movie that was downright unforgivable… even Canto Bite.

On a scale from 1-10 Star Wars nerd, 10 being you can name different species of aliens that only appeared in de-canonized Expanded Universe books and 1 being your experience of Star Wars can be summed up by being captivated by a slutty Leia costume, I consider myself right in the middle of the pack at 5 or so. I’ve seen all the movies, played as many video games as possible and dabbled in some books. I’ll admit there was a time I would’ve said 7 on that scale but I’ve fallen back as life has changed for me. What I want to do today is talk about the State of the franchise. I think there is two parts to this. The state of the in-universe story and the state of the creative output making new material for us to consume.

Obviously these are my opinions and obviously I am going to spoil some movies, books and TV shows here. If you’re up-to-date on the basic lore I think you’ll be fine. Moreover, I want to talk specifically about these things in a Pre-Rise of Skywalker context. There will be a similar piece I will do sometime after the Rise of Skywalker. Disney has advertised this final installment in the sequel trilogy as “the end of the Skywalker Saga” and that’s a notable before and after moment in my humble opinion. Feel free to tear me to shreds in the comments. Review with Andrew is all about the discussion so let me know what you think. With entertainment properties the size of Star Wars it’s such a collective experience that to not be aware of popular opinion is to kinda miss the point. So with no further ado, let’s start with where we sit in-universe prior to the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga’s Sequel Trilogy.

Fate of the Galaxy

I am 25 so I grew up with the Prequels as the backdrop of my Star Wars experience. Here comes something that will probably get many of you to click off: I enjoyed the politics in the prequel trilogy. Disclaimer: that does not mean I love the prequels overall. That trilogy lacked clarity and compelling performance in multiple places. However I am not going to lie and not tell you Emperor Palpatine seizing control of the Republic Senate and reorganizing it into the Galactic Empire wasn’t the most simultaneously jaw-droppingly dreadful and entertaining moments of my young life watching movies. It was. It sticks with me to this day. However the political machinations come at the expense of dragging the whole story into the dirt on several occasions in those movies particularly in the Phantom Menace.

The Sequel Trilogy clearly and obviously overcompensated for this popular grievance with the prequels. I have not gotten around to the New Canon books yet, I know they explain the politics leading into the Force Awakens very well, but the first two films in this sequel trilogy have departed so far from galactic-level political movements that their plot is confusing at times. Had the character development and narrative pace not been so good in the Force Awakens it would’ve been an incoherent film given the lack of political setting. I don’t need Senate deliberations or trade negotiations, I get it; but how is there a whole fleet of bad guys who had enough time and Empire-like resources to build a planet-sized death laser to decapitate galactic government? This problem carries over to a movie like the Last Jedi where Resistance leadership is axed at every turn before the whole movement can fit in one spacecraft!

The fact that none of it is explained in the movies is the real kicker here. Setting was something the Original Trilogy did effectively on a flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants basis while the Prequel Trilogy did it haphazardly with CGI heavy establishing shots and exposition dumps built into the script. The Sequel movies have done neither and had it not been for great acting from the core cast of both of these main saga films this would be a huge problem. In the scale of my earlier Star Wars nerd spectrum, anyone beneath a 6 or 7 on the scale is having trouble following along story wise. Good thing the CGI and character writing is good because that constitutes a story-building shortcoming too great for many franchise films to overcome.

That said, the Anthology films have been superhot fire in spite of the main saga. In fact, the broader strokes of galactic politics and setting worked against both Rogue One and Solo. The direct connection between the battle at the end of Rogue One and the beginning of A New Hope provided for good food for thought and a totally rad Darth Vader scene, but it also made you scratch your head and call BS on Leia in New Hope when she says that ship is on a diplomatic mission. You just came from a battle and this same guy was two corridors away from chopping your head off, that’s a really poor cover story. And who could forget the collective groan that was Han Solo getting his name from the Imperial recruiter in Solo. Give me a break.

I don’t think it’s unfair to say broad world-building has not been a strength of the Disney-Era Star Wars films so far. Again, I know the books, comics, TV shows and other media are doing that world-building in spades. If you enjoy that media that’s great. When the animated Star Wars Clone Wars was on the air it wasn’t explaining things we didn’t get about Episode III, it was filling in gaps in fun ways. Star Wars has always been a property for a mass audience and when that mass audience, which you have to assume does minimal research beforehand, might walk out of a film not knowing broadly what was going on, that’s a problem. Star Wars isn’t supposed to rely on content beyond the films and if the Rise of Skywalker does we’re going to be in for a messy finish to the sequel trilogy.

Finally, let’s talk about where the characters are going. Rey seemed to gain full control of force powers by the end of Last Jedi, so I am excited to see how her power is deployed in wrapping up this trilogy. I am an admitted sucker for a redemption story, but I can’t envision one for Kylo Ren that would be close to satisfying. That character kinda has to die a bad guy. If they stick with the themes Rian Johnson setup with the main characters in Last Jedi then Kylo needs to die the legacy guy who is consumed by what he thinks he needs to be simply by virtue of parentage. We’ll see about that. Finn, Poe and their respective orbits of characters are… I guess great supporting pieces. I loved the arc Finn went through in Force Awakens and I love the arc Poe went through in Last Jedi but now I don’t see where that leads both of them. I don’t know if there is a logical end point for their stories based on where they’ve been. After seeing Luke’s time in this trilogy wasted after seeing Han Solo’s time in this trilogy more or less wasted I just can’t see a world where at least one of the new core cast isn’t wasted in the end. But I’m not married to that opinion, in fact I really hope I’m wrong and JJ Abrams ties it all together.

Fate of the Brand

Let’s talk about the thing we all love about Star Wars: Jedi and Sith. With JJ Abrams returning for the final installment of the “Skywalker Saga” as it were we have a distinct possibility at hand that the dualist dichotomy of light side versus dark side is undermined forever. For a pragmatist such as myself it’s weird to be against the discovery of a middle ground but here I am. The Jedi and the Sith represent the fundamentally flawed nature of the Force. It’s always making corrections. It’s always pulling someone too far too one side and correcting and sometimes overcorrecting. Like most all spiritual forces there is an acute degree of imperfection that makes the perfection of its divinity real. Turning the force into something that can be mastered and controlled with Grey Jedi turns the whole thing to magic tricks. Yes, I am aware of the Grey Jedi plotline in Star Wars Rebels. No, it doesn’t change the problem here.

The problem is the resolution of the whole light/dark side narrative with Grey Jedi is the perfect Disney ending… but more importantly, it’s probably the JJ Abrams ending. Fans of his work on Lost as well as his movies will tell you he’s a master of the mystery box. Historically he’s not so great at answering the questions he sets up… as in resolution. He is now responsible for resolving the Sequel Trilogy and I am going to have a real problem with 42 years of Star Wars Jedi/Sith lore building ending with a variation of: They figured it out and lived happily ever after. If the last piece of the Skywalker Saga ends this way it will be the fan toxicity that followed the Last Jedi times twelve except this time without the even-keeled nerds like me defending the writing.

It's pretty clear that Star Wars was going to be different from the moment George Lucas sold the property. The fact he’s felt regret about that is another discussion for another day. He sold it to a mega corporation he knew was going to get started making sequels and spinoffs. Disney prints money at a rate the Federal Reserve gawks at. Every Star Wars film before 2012 was more or less a Lucas project. They were all one man’s vision carried out through different producers and directors to varied results. Post-Sale different creators coming in was going to change the creative flow and result in different takes on the world. That’s not a bad thing. Star Wars fans need to accept Star Wars canon with a new dividing line: Lucas Canon versus Disney Canon. I enjoy both but if you wake up in the morning upset about Disney-Era Star Wars then you probably should just decide to believe in the Lucas Canon.

I thought Kathleen Kennedy was a wonderful person to bring in as the puppet master of the Disney Era Star Wars franchise. I still think she has the career bona-fides to justify being at the head of the beast. However, in the hiring of Kevin Feige you can tell she and the brain trust she built around Star Wars has realized they saturated the market too much and damaged the product a little. Solo was not an awful film, but it will forever be the first Star Wars movie to lose money. However that happened aside, the Disney Star Wars Brain Trust needs to decide what it wants going forward. I’ve already discussed how the pieces of the anthology films that were unmoored from the broader Skywalker narrative were the best of the Disney Era films. The rate at which directors and producers have been fired indicates there was a confusion about how much Star Wars was going to be allowed to be different.

Are you going to let the directors play on your playground with the toys you bought for 4 Billion dollars or are you going to tell them how to play until they storm off in anger? Disney Star Wars has chosen the latter in all but one of the four films they’ve produced so far. Rian Johnson did his own crazy thing with the Last Jedi, you let it ride and you let that predictable nerd backlash screw up Solo. Now you don’t know what you’re doing. You have to pick. If you want to let the property rest for a few years after Rise of Skywalker and then drop it on us on some Tuesday in 2024 that’s great! It will probably be best for the brand. But when you do come back please commit to the degree of creative freedom you’re actually going to give your directors.

The four films of Disney Star Wars are batting at about .750. Solo was your bomb but even that one was an enjoyable movie. The whole thing will be more fun and piss off fewer people when it appears you guys have unified marching orders. Star Wars as a brand is okay but if its comes back looking as confused as it did with whatever comes after Rise of Skywalker it’s not going to be good. At that point sinking one of the biggest entertainment properties in history would be an accomplishment all it’s own. The Studio and brand questions post Rise of Skywalker will be very interesting. For now let’s wrap up the conversation of the State of Star Wars before that epic conclusion.

Conclusion

Star Wars still makes mad money and reels in younger people with no experience with the property. By that logic it’s doing just fine. Any nerd property is going to have a segment, even a large vocal segment like we’ve seen here, that will get upset with a new creative direction. That’s okay, move past it like professionals. If that can happen and that new creative direction sees a commitment to it from the studio I see some fun Star Wars to come. If not then I am fully prepared for Star Wars to be run into the ground. Which is also okay because it’s just an entertainment product (see Indiana Jones and the Lord of the Rings). The in-world story faces a lot of loose ends it needs to wrap up to stick the landing in Episode IX. I don’t have total confidence JJ Abrams can do it, but I am interested to see.

I won’t be doing a grade here because this is more a meta-review than an individual movie review. So let me hit just a couple of those loose ends that will be the hardest to wrap up in a satisfying way: Poe and Finn’s friendship, Palpatine’s Return and not making Darth Vader’s sacrifice worthless, Rey’s place in the Force, the fate of Kylo Ren, the very nature of the Force, and of course what is this thing between Kylo and Rey? Like and share this blog. I want to do reviews more and more and reader input is important to that so leave a comment with your thoughts! I can also do weird little think pieces like I did after Force Awakens like “Is Star Wars about disarmament?” so if you like reviews of all media coming off a screen let me know what you want to read about!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Last Christmas looks like grade A date night material. It could be next level if the plot actually makes sense beyond the normal romance narrative rigmarole.  

[movietvtechgeeks]

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Why 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' is so polarizing

I’m not exactly a Star Wars fan, but I’m still a geek who appreciates good sci-fi and watch them whenever I can, and I’ve seen all the films several times. I’ve also seen the Ewok special as well as the Star Wars Christmas special when I was a kid. I sit through the films on cable whenever possible but not always, and watch the Clone Wars series and Star Wars: Rebels whenever I catch them. No self-respecting geek would miss out on any Star Wars theatrical run. Besides, it’s part of my job to share some thoughts. As I’ve said I’m not much of a fan and don’t know the names of every species and character and I don’t care who shot first but in my opinion, it was Han. But the point is, I think I know enough to know why Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a very polarizing Star Wars film despite it being a hit with critics and the box office. The film’s been out for weeks now, so a spoiler alert is no longer that critical and discussion would be difficult without going into details. As a film in itself, it wasn’t bad. It was okay; it was entertaining yet despite the stunning effects it wasn’t as profound as The Lord of the Ring: Fellowship of the Ring. I didn’t find it as having the same level of impact as The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi to which this film paid much homage to, as much as The Force Awakens paid homage to A New Hope. It’s not a re-hash and did some surprising twists, but it has made its mark as a much-hated entry since The Phantom Menace. If there was any entry that disappointed fans and myself, it was Episode I: The Force Explained, to which the Force was due to something viral. Toss that aside, though it’s a good film and that fan theory about Jar Jar Binks actually redeemed the film to some fans. Even though I’m not a real Star Wars fan, I pride myself in being able to see this film’s many callbacks to previous films. After The Force Awakens, I couldn’t help to compare this with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Plus, what really drew me to Star Wars as a kid and perhaps other fans were the special effects, the costumes, the droids and the epic space battles which this film offered at the very beginning and at the end. Though as an adult, story and characterization becomes important. So, what did I think about Luke Skywalker’s characterization here? Well, he’s not Yoda, Obi Wan nor is he Qui Gon Jin. He wasn’t a properly trained Jedi like his father Anakin. They knew the ways of the world unlike the standard youngling could. They are more prone to make mistakes but at the same time have what might be called real-world insight that helped them in times of crisis. But yes, they have flaws. I view Luke’s mistake as a likely product of those. But I totally agree with fans that on how inconsistent his character was. If Luke saw good in Darth Vader, didn’t he find anything redeemable in Ben Solo, his nephew, and his best friend’s son? Plus, at the time, he wasn’t even a full-blown Sith. It was Luke’s mistake that triggered Ben’s turn to the dark side. To Luke’s credit though, Kylo Ren did seem unredeemable by the end of the film. If as a Star Wars fan you thought Luke’s mistake was disappointing, imagine the reason for his departure. He simply wanted out of being a Jedi. He actually wanted the Jedi order to end with him. His hiding wasn’t part of any elaborate plan to make a grand comeback that was such a fuss in The Force Awakens. He just wanted to catch fish and drink milk disturbingly taken from alien sea cows. Anyway, I can chalk up Luke’s uncharacteristic mistake as being too force-sensitive like his father. He sensed that Ben Solo/Kylo Ren might turn out to be the scourge of the galaxy the way he felt good in Darth Vader, and Solo had to be nipped then and there. His mistake was a human weakness and not a Jedi’s. A point driven in by Yoda who has made an awesome comeback from the afterlife as a puppet again. His re-appearance as a puppet by a large tree was very reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back, and it’s wonderful that this film took such a direction. I truly wish films would go back to a mix of CG and practical effects and not rely too much on green screens the way Justice League did. Maybe Warner Brothers would eye their film’s failure as the greatest teacher as Yoda told Luke. Another disappointment was Snoke. Snoke seemed awesome in The Force Awakens. Snoke has a lot of mystery and fans wanted the backstory of this seemingly gigantic force-sensitive creature that may even have pre-dated Darth Sidious. If he did pre-date Palpatine, then he wouldn’t be a Sith. Just a massively force-sensitive evil entity. Maybe Snoke was Mace Windu back from obscurity turned evil after being betrayed, maybe he was the legendary Darth Plagueis, and maybe he was Jar Jar Binks after intense cosmetic surgery. In the end, he was half of any of them. Nothing much really, as he stated (correct me if I’m wrong). He may have been one of Vader’s inquisitors from Star Wars Rebels or another force-sensitive agent of Darth Sidious. Snoke’s death was a good twist though from Return of the Jedi where Rey was given the same treatment as Luke in watching her friends get shot down one by one. Snoke then gives Kylo Ren the same shot to ‘complete’ his turn to the dark side by killing Rey. Instead, Snoke dies along with his supposed backstory giving unstable Kylo Ren the Reygns to the First Order. It would have been something totally different if Kylo Ren had turned back or left the First Order with Rey as hinted in the trailers. But someone had to be the bad guy, and it’s not Hux. Speaking of bad guys, another disappointment for fans was Captain Phasma, the Boba Fett in this trilogy. What I found compelling about Boba Fett as I assume with many Star Wars fans was his bad-ass costume, and the same goes with Captain Phasma. If people think that Storm Troopers are cool, then Captain Phasma with her shiny getup and cape would be dope. Plus, there are hardly, if at all any female-voiced storm troopers in the films. There’s much potential in this character only to be fed to the flames in her battle with Finn, as Boba Fett was fed to the Sarlacc. I do have a new hope that she’ll be back in the next film. As for Rey, another disappointment fans had to cope with was Rey’s parents. This film really shot down a lot of fan speculation. It was revealed that there’s nothing special about Rey’s parents just like there was nothing special about Anakin’s. Just a couple of deadbeats who sold their kid. Rey is not at all related to Kylo Ren nor is she Luke Skywalker’s lovechild. I also have to agree with fans that the Canto Bight mission seemed unnecessary or at best could have been handled better. I would equate this mission as the necessary parallel to Lando Calrissian's betrayal at Cloud City. Maybe there was a better way to work the Rose character better into the story. Besides, DJ’s function could have been done by R2-D2. Not really griping here, it’s a story with R2-D2 on the sidelines for once. It’s not that I hated the Star Wars: The Last Jedi despite the points described. It bordered between okay and great. Rotten Tomatoes rank it fresh, and it already made 800 million. As many critics said, this film took risks and had the courage to evolve past working formulas which they still used. It was very obvious that The Force Awakens was a rehash of A New Hope, but The Last Jedi made sure it was different but had some of the same for that Star Wars feel. I completely agree that the series needs to go a new direction even if it has to use this film to set that up. It was just not handled as well as Empire Strikes Back to which this film owes much from. The rebellion loses big time but a lot can happen in ten years.

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