#the last jedi is the best star wars film since the empire strikes back

[sjbattleangel]

Like Shaun here, I believe The Last Jedi is THE best Star Wars film right alongside The Empire Strikes Back. As Shaun defends the film. he even goes on to tackle its most common nitpicks ("Luke was out of character", "the Canto Blight sequence was pointless", ect), all whilst noticing its striking similarities with The Empire Strikes Back.

I recommend watching this video wholeheartedly.

[lilyorchardstuff]

Oh my gosh! You too? The Last Jedi AND The Empire Strikes Back are not only two of my favourite Star Wars films but two of my favourite films of all time!

That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate. Saving what we love.

[lilyvalerieorchard]

Hey, Lily. Since I know you search your own name on alt accounts. Let me say a few things:

.Steven Universe is a hopepunk masterpiece about loving yourself and loving others. It was never about Nazism, white supremacy, sexualizing minors or pacifism.

.She-Ra is a beautiful love story that does NOT promote abuse or incest.

.The Owl House got even more awesome as it became more serialized.

.Baldur's Gate III is one of this generation's greatest games and a worthy successor to Bioware's Baldur's Gate celebrated duology.

.Hunter, Astarion and N are NOTHING like Kylo Ren.

.Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is NOT a "rip-off of Kingdom Hearts."

.Fantasy action-adventure is awesome.

.The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars film alongside The Empire Strikes Back and both are better then any of the prequels combined.

Come on then. Send me an ask, I even have the anon option turned on.

Fight me, bitch.

[ladystoneboobs]

i present: small and non-verbal but very funny star wars moments:

ep. V: the empire strikes back--the millenium falcon achieves hyperspeed again, despite the imperials' best plans to the contrary. admiral piett and his men are terrified of vader's reaction, all trying to stay out of his path. but he's still too busy brooding on his loss of luke to even force-choke anyone. that's how thrown off he was by his newly-mutilated son running away from him!

the sole exception to this collective terror being this guy, so intent on his own important work, that he doesn't even notice his scary boss until darth vader has walked right past him.

ep. III: revenge of the sith--padme's droids somehow getting her unconscious body back on her ship.

in the novelisation, r2-d2 just drags her up the ramp with his gadgetry, but in the script it's c-3po who carried her up bridal style. which would be impossible to film when 3po could barely manage to move around under his own weight. what makes it really funny for me is that there was no need for any of this. why not just have obi-wan pick her up as he's hurrying outta there after failing to kill her husband? i mean, it's surely not good to be lying out in the open on a volcanic world with poisonous gases, but it wouldn't be good for obi-wan running around out there either, and this lady was about to have broken heart as her only known cause of death. when has science ever held back star wars? and i can't imagine that being dragged by wires from artoo or dropped every few steps by threepio could've been too good for her body either. just makes for an absurd little (offscreen) background detail amid the tragedy of the end of padme's life, imho.

ep. IV: a new hope--obi-wan vanishing into thin air when struck down and vader's (very understandable) bafflement afterward.

by this point in the second screencap, luke is shooting at him in retaliation and the stormtroopers are all shooting back at luke, but anakin is still dealing with this unprecendented vanishing and busy searching for any corporeal remains of obi-wan kenobi with his boot. "where did you go, my old master? how could this happen? i wasn't done fighting with you yet."

ep. V: the empire strikes back--vader inviting lando calrissian, chewbacca, han solo, and princess leia to share a meal with him and boba fett, before taking chewie, han, and leia prisoner and torturing han.

i think a lot of people must assume there was no actual meal, but it's not like vader had to go to all that trouble in the first place of setting out an entire banquet table with proper containers and utensils. just because that was lando's pretext to bring them to vader does not necessitate actually having a table set. darth vader could have had them led into any other room with boba fett and stormtroopers waiting to just arrest them right away. instead, as we can see in the second screencap, (over lando's shoulder and leia's bun), vader did sit down at the head of the table, waiting for his prey to join him. and i swear, in one of the earlier drafts of empire's screenplay there is actually a scene showing their awkward meal together. or rather, han and leia being served food and drinks while darth vader just sits there, watching evilly, explaining his great villainous plan to use them to trap luke. it's like dr. evil making austin and vanessa sit down at his table in the first austin powers movie. darth vader really did always live for drama

ep. VI: return of the jedi--leia telling han that she loves luke, but not that way. he's her brother, silly! as if this is something they all knew all along, with zero follow-up explanation. you can just see han wordlessly processing this bombshell of brand new information through his facial expressions alone. (this lasts so long that i wouldn't even count it were it not likely overshadowed by everything else in the ending of rotj.)

wh-what did you say? your brother? since when?

wait-wait-wait. i've seen you mouth kissing luke right in front of me before. i'm so confused now.

just what kind of weirdo family have i gotten myself mixed up with here?

oh, well, she's only kissing me now. that's good enough, i guess. maybe?

hey, as long as you do love me and luke in different ways ...

i don't know much about families, but i've heard they all have their weird traditions. so who am i to judge you, babe? as long as we're together now, that's all that matters.

[that-one-kiddo-in-the-back]

Hey, fellow Star Wars fan who has relogged your work in the past. Just wanted to say I loved The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi (the latter I consider the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back), as for The Rise Of Skywalker...that's a can of worms for another day. I didn't find them boring at all, nor did I think TFA was a "rehashing of A New Hope". I felt they were fresh, compelling adventures that explored the themes of legacy all while, especially in TLJ, challenging the status quo of Star Wars, flipping the series on its head. No. I never saw Finn, a black man, being side-lined in favour of Rey, a white woman. He was given solid arc in TFA and TLJ was a natural progression of his arc. I feel this "Finn was side-lined" idea is a result of hindsight bias caused by TROS, which DID side-line Finn, Poe and others in favour of Rey and Kylo Ren, but you can blame Disney and focus-groups trying to pander certain people for that. So, yeah, I'm like Linkara (a great video content creator you need to check out): Loved TFA and TLJ, not a fan of TROS. That's me.

Hey man, that's great you can't enjoy something that I just couldn't. Most of my problems do fall on TROS and TLJ as I feel TLJ destroyed Luke's character and made him something unrecognizable, and TROS was probably the worst of it with really getting rid of the more fun characters Rose, Finn, and Poe. I know more people who also like the TFA and TLJ, but for me personally, I just couldn't get into it or shake that feeling that it could have been better.

I also didn't see the point in bringing in characters from the original series other than pointless fan service.

But again, like I kinda said in my post. I have friends who enjoyed Solo. My taste isn't the law (thankfully). I'm glad you had fun watching them, but I just couldn't.

I will go check out Linkara if they made a video about the movies. Maybe they can change my mind about them

[forzasedici]

i love it that you reblogged the “get to know the blogger” post bc i saw you reblog a lot of “le belle et la bete” gifs and was curious about your general taste/favourite films 👁️👁️

this is going to be so long i'm sorry but i just love talking about it so let's start!

i'm going to highlight some of the movies from my favourites list on letterboxd aka the movies that butter my bun:

— Skyfall (2012) and 1917 (2019) both directed by Sam Mendes are honestly great movies with Skyfall for me being the best Bond movie and 1917 as one of the best war movies. What made 1917 one of my favourites was the watching it at cinema experience plus the reveal in the end is just *chef's kiss*

— Tarantino movies. Like that's it. I know a lot of ppl don't like him but for me he's one of the best writers and sure has his problems but you cannot deny his work is great. Inglorious Basterds for me take the cake as his best movie with Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill: Part I being up there as well. One of his underrated movies is definitely Jackie Brown which I've loved.

— Period dramas. Another one of my fave genres. Emma. (2020) being one of my favourite movies. Emma (2009) is also a great adaptation albeit it is a series. Pride and Prejudice (2005) and (1995) are great as well. Little Women has recently grown on me way more and remains my favourite Greta Gerwig movie. Another underrated movie for me is Ophelia which as the title says focuses more on Ophelia from the play Hamlet. It's really well done and I've enjoyed watching it.

— This one is also a period drama but it is a bollywood movie so I wanted to highlight it. Jodhaa Akbar is a MUST watch such a good movie it's insane like I'm sorry you have a sword fight sequence between two lovers and you have won me over.

— Let's get franchises out of the way. Obviously Marvel movies are some of my favourites with Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: Ragnarok which are in my top 3. Both Black Panther movies and Spider-man: No Way Home are taking honourable mentions. For their series my favourite has been Moon Knight. (Sony gets their cookies for Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse and obviously Venom because come on now eddie and venom are otp y'all don't get it like i do)

— Next big franchise is Star Wars. Original trilogy: Empire Strikes Back. Prequel trilogy: Revenge of the Sith (I'm an Anakin girlie unfortunately) and Sequel trilogy: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson supremacy). Series: Obi-wan Kenobi (i cried). Honourable mention to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (i also cried).

— Since I mentioned Rian Johnson let's expand on that because the man just gets movies and everyone should watch Looper and Knives Out!!

— Denis Villeneuve. MY MAN!!!! Arrival and Dune *chef's kiss* if you can bear longer movies also Blade Runner 2049 but it isn't one of my favorites exactly because it was long and boring. And since probably someone will say the same for Dune at least Dune has you looking at Oscar Isaac and Timothee Chalamet sure they look miserable but that's when men look the best.

— Spy movies? like idk how to call this but let me list them all. Anna (2019) they succeeded where The Red Sparrow failed like if you're looking for anything similar to Black Widow Anna is the one I would recommend a thousand times. The Nice Guys and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. great comedies I just love them. It's not really a spy but assassin I guess but John Wick franchise is the shit and the best movie is obviously John Wick 2.

— Another director that has me is unfortunately Christopher Nolan. Can I get more basic than that? I do admit his faults and that's sound mixing is fucking awful, I don't understand his movies while I am watching them most of the time and this man cannot write a female character for the life of him BUT 🎶 shapes and colours 🎶. His ideas are what draw me in and it's just visual masterpieces doesn't matter if I can't hear the dialogue if it looks good am I right?

— Smashing musicals and animation together because this is already becoming too long. Singin' In The Rain and The Sound of Music are a MUST watch and also I'm a Phantom of the Opera girlie so if you're going to watch anything watch the 25th anniversary version. I am also unfortunately a Hamilton girlie and the damage to my life caused by that damn musical is irreparable. For animation musical Hercules, The Emperor's New Groove, Anastasia, The Lion King and Tangled and purely animation Howl's Moving Castle, Lilo and Stitch, The Incredibles and Inside Out.

— Now it's time for a quick fire: Ford v Ferrari and Rush are two best movies for my motorsport girlies, Gone Girl and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire for my book girlies, Death at a Funeral and Hot Fuzz for the british comedy girlies, i'm also unfortunately a Titanic girlie probably the movie i've watched most in my life, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS!!! A. MUST. WATCH. Monty Python movies are great if you ignore some of the outdated jokes. Jackie is one of my favorites just because it's one of Natalie's Portman's best performances and that's also including Black Swan but both movies are also visually stunning.

— The Death of Stalin is one of the best comedies as well. Ready Player One is one of my weirder favourites since many ppl see it as an average movie but i'd recommend it to anyone (literally can't believe it's my favourite Spielberg movie 😭😭). Also add to the video game genre Tron: Legacy because I will also recommend that movie to anyone. The Grand Budapest Hotel is also a must watch like if anyone made the world go through a pink paint shortage before Barbie did then it's this movie and finally The Batman (2022). Let's end on a battinson note just because.

— Crazy to think I haven't even mentioned all of my favourites but I guess this is kinda the jist of it all. Basically my taste is anything as long as I like it I guess jsbsjsbsjs. (I forgot to mention the horror genre but that's just because I don't really have a favourite movie like if I had to say anything it would be The Conjuring movies.)

— As for Le Belle Et La Bête it's one of my new favourites and honestly got me into a french cinema mood so I'll probably find more favourites there. One of my goals has always been to watch more foreign movies but not many have entered my favourites club unfortunately. Also fuck disney live-action remakes (except you cinderella (2015)).

get to know the blogger

[90shaladriel]

My son just watched the Star Wars OT for the first time and some observations.

Ok this is a bit of cross-fandom random thoughts, but I wanted to put somewhere.

I'm a child of the 80s-90s. I grew up with Star Wars, was legitimately obsessed with it from ages 3-7 me and my brothers endlessly rewatched the Original trilogy (or just 'Star Wars' as it was known then) on VHS tapes in those years. I remember being so excited for the theatrical re-releases and later the prequels.

My son (4) doesn't watch a lot of non-educational TV or movies, partly we don't show him much, but also he tends to be easily frightened by any tension or scary villains. Probably the scariest movie he had watched before this was Cars 2 (which was weirdly violent!) I also thought that maybe the violence would be something he wasn't really prepared for, none of his books or TV shows really shows graphic deaths. The worst thing he's seen are clips from TV News about the war in Ukraine which isn't often.

Last year I picked up some old children's books from my parents, and I had a stack of books that were the Star Wars read along books (that used to come with a small vinyl record) for the OT and a Star Wars ABC books. I would occasionally read these books at bedtime and my son gradually became enthusiastic about them, so we would get other Star Wars books from the library, most of those were either Prequel-era or even now Sequel-era stuff which he seemed to like and get. I think what's important is that going into actually watching the films he had been "spoiled" somewhat on the basic storylines and characters, like he knew Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, but honestly I think at his age he doesn't follow stories that well, so knowing all the characters and places upfront probably helped him enjoy it more I think?

So I thought with this I would just sort of give some observations about my son's experience and also my own re-watching the films for the first time in years. I had the Blu-ray Special Editions that were released maybe 5-6 years ago?

A New Hope

On rewatch this is by far my favorite, it's funny, gritty, action packed. It is pretty violent, dead bodies seen in the first firefight on the ship, Vader force choking people, Owen and Beru's burnt corpses, but overall this didn't seem to be harmful to my son, we did talk a bit about it being a war and that people were 'hurt'. He seemed most affected by the death of Obi-wan, and kept asking where he went. My son seemed to like Luke and R2-D2. I will say a lot of the audio was kind of uneven on this edition, I had trouble hearing dialog and my son can't read subtitles so I was explaining stuff and then the action or score would be super loud.

I think that the special edition CGI additions are the weakest in the trilogy, particularly the ones on Tatooine. IMO they don't add much and look fairly cheesy by today's standards. To be fair a lot of the Cantina alien costumes also don't look the best now in HD resolution.

Sadly one of the areas I feel suffers the most now is the continuity with all the Prequels and series. Like the way Obi-wan talks about the past makes it sound like 30-40+ years ago when it was really more like 18 and, now with the Kenobi show, things like him meeting Darth Vader was <10 years ago. I'm only 40 and events 10 years ago feels like nothing. So Vader's line "I sense something; a presence I've not felt since..." just feels like doesn't carry the weight it should. The Jedi shouldn't be an "ancient religion" they were still be hunted down in recent years and Han would have been alive when the Jedi were fighting in the Clone Wars I would think? I kind of think George Lucas backed the franchise into a corner a bit by setting the Prequels too close to the beginning of the OT, I get why to somewhat explain Luke and Leia's ages. I dunno, I would have rather ret-conned them to be mid-20s or something.

Empire Strikes Back

Very enjoyable still. Son liked the Hoth battle scenes, loves AT-ATs. Kind of less interested in some of the Dagobah planet and Yoda scenes. He didn't understand at all what was happening in the Dark side cave which was pretty scary for him, eventually the explanation that stuck was "It was a robot Darth Vader, not the real Darth Vader" that Luke killed. He had little or no commentary on the Han-Leia romance, something I remember feeling cringey about it as a boy that thought girls were like the enemy, he doesn't seem to care, but doesn't like it either as far as I can tell. My son was shocked when Vader cut off Luke's hand, because the Read Along picture books sanitize this as "Vader slashed Luke's lightsaber away" or something more PG. These are violent movies!

I don't remember as much additional scenes or CGI in this one, the old models of Star Destroyers and Rebel ships looked amazingly good I thought, I think Executor and generally imperial navy scenes overall are so good still. I think they added a few shots of the Falcon flying around Cloud City and maybe the snow monster scene looked a bit cheesy now?

Something that struck me on this rewatch in particular was how good the lightsaber duel between Vader and Luke was. I always remembered it as Luke losing pretty badly. Which is true, but he seriously held is own for most of the fight, counterattacking even getting a few glancing blows on Vader. The fight was way more intense than I remember it being and super fun to watch especially with how later jedi duels in the prequel movies get a lot of praise. This really held up in my opinion.

Which is impressive with what we now know Vader to be, like the greatest Jedi warrior ever. Again some continuity stuff bothers me more about the prequels, especially in Kenobi the Darth Vader vs Third Sister fight where in the how Vader could basically force block her lightsaber, and she was pretty much fully trained in the force. Similarly the hallway scene in Rogue One he can toss people around, it's hard to imagine Luke being able to compete with him at all. I kind of prefer the OT Vader without the prequels, strong with the force yes, but not superhuman powerful.

One nitpick though. Several times The Falcon is being chased by TIE fighters, why didn't Han or Leia go back and use the turret cannons to shoot them down like in ANH Death Star escape?

Return of the Jedi

Confession, growing up this was always my favorite Star Wars movie. On rewatch for me it kind of felt the weakest of the three. I guess you have to be an adult to kind of see it?

My son seemed to get a bit bored at parts. I think the Jabba Palace scenes were a bit more subdued and slow-paced than I remember, and so was a few of the middle scenes with Yoda or Luke's revelation to Leia, very quiet and somber, but definitely nothing like what we saw in ANH or ESB in terms of action-pacing.

My son thought ewoks were kind of silly and funny, but doesn't seem like to make an impression on him since we watched, unlike the AT-ATs or some of the human characters. He was afraid of the emperor, on some level I think he "got" the dynamics between Luke and Vader as it's clear Vader is his dad and Vader used to be a good guy (Anakin) in contrast to the truly evil Emperor so that all seemed to work well for him. I have to say, as a Dad now myself the final fight scenes and what Vader did hit way more deeply than anytime I've watched before, definitely teared up a bit. One question I got from him which I struggled to answer was "What does it mean to turn to the dark-side?" I'm not really sure I have a good answer other than "be tricked to do bad things" which is as good as I could explain it to his level. I guess that is a pretty abstract and fictional concept for a 4 year old.

Overall I loved the Luke - Vader rematch, again, Vader seems to be slowing down with age or wear and tear when compared to even Rogue One or ESB but Luke is getting stronger. Since Luke is the only Jedi left at the time, it was never clear how strong he was supposed to be, also being physically a small guy he doesn't seem as impressive a hero but more of an underdog in the saga, yet he took on Vader 1 on 1 and defeated him, so maybe the Force is stronger with him than I used to give him credit for? The fight was good, emotionally intense, I almost wish the actual lightsaber battle was a little longer.

One new takeaway that never really struck me before was that the ultimate climax to STAR WARS was the hero throwing away his weapon and choosing Non-Violence and ultimately being saved by (a father's) Love. That's kind of a radical notion for the 2020s let alone the 1980s. Props to George Lucas for that unconventional twist there. I almost feel like this doesn't get talked about enough compared to other aspects of Lucas' philosophy or themes in the films.

The Battle of Endor still is one of the best space battles I've ever seen. I do think the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One is probably on-par with it, but for the 1980s it's so impressive what they were able to achieve with the technology then. Also my favorite minor character of the series is Admiral Ackbar. I'm glad my son enjoyed him as well (also I felt his costume held up better in HD than the ANH alien rubber mask costumes). I wish he had his own spin-off show or movie tbh.

Overall Thoughts

I was so happy to finally be able to share this treasured part of my childhood with my son, and he seemed to take as much enjoyment from them as I did. He still asks to read the books at bedtime and we have been trying to branch out and get more Star Wars books about the Prequels and Sequels. As far as toys goes, he likes LEGO in general so we've got him a couple of Star Wars LEGO sets. It's a far cry from the collection of action figures and space ships I had in the mid-80s, but he enjoys it.

Next Star Wars to Show Him

I think that I would like to show him some of the Prequels next. Those were never my favorites, but maybe they will appeal to him at his age? The prequels were released when I was in HS/College and already had a lot of head-canon for what I thought would be in them from the EU and other sources. Maybe the Clone Wars animated show would be appropriate? I've never actually seen it myself so don't know if it's good for him to watch, maybe it's more for older kids?

I think Rogue One is also a natural fit with the Original Trilogy, but that's probably a bit too dark/adult for him right now I think. I do wonder if there are any good sanitized kids picture books about it though 😂

[themattress]

^ This right here, this is what I was talking about in this post. Rian Johnson, in his own words, admitting why he was the worst (and yet somehow also the best) choice to direct the middle installment of the Sequel Trilogy. He isn’t a serialized storytelling kind of guy, which is why his Benoit Blanc series are all self-contained stories and why he resents the A Knives Out Mystery subtitle being attached to Glass Onion. He flat-out calls the idea of an intellectual property “poisonous”...and Star Wars is literally the biggest IP in all of cinema. He’s an eccentric auteur who has a very specific philosophy for films which includes how films end, which means that by his own admittance he left little to no plot points for the follow-up to The Last Jedi to work with. He left a situation and characters in that situation, yes, but otherwise specific story elements and character arcs were all wrapped up conclusively by design, which was absolutely not the case for The Empire Strikes Back or Attack of the Clones (which is not me saying Attack of the Clones is a better movie than The Last Jedi, btw, since it isn’t).

Rian Johnson burned the boat. That’s why Lucasfilm was stuck trying to find a new one.

[ylojgtr]

star wars movies ranked by how much i like rewatching them:

1. Revenge of the Sith - the culmination of the prequels, where everything comes together so nicely, just such a satisfying story. my favourite characterizations of pretty much everyone who appears in it (except grevous lmao) and the 3d cgi finally came into its own to make a very unique aesthetic imo

2. A New Hope - the original, full of creativity from so many people, just a perfect movie honestly. the special effects are absolutely fantastic and the story is simple but so well told. i feel myself getting swept away by the adventure and mystique in this one more than any other

3. The Empire Strikes Back - personally my favourite star wars movie, it builds on the original in every way i could hope for. some excellent character development for luke and the jumping between storylines is super fun. it has some great silly moments with yoda and lando and also some seriously dramatic set pieces on hoth and bespin

4. Rogue One - what was probably pitched as a nostalgia bait plot hole filler turned out to be one of the best character driven team movies in the last decade (all in my opinion, of course). jyn's faith in life and hope being restored is what makes the conclusion so heartbreaking and krennic is such a hateable villain with stakes directly connected to the protagonist. of course the whole cast is amazing. i remember being surprised at how fast i learned the names of all these previously unknown characters because i just liked them so much. each one is unique in personality, aesthetic, and what they bring to the discussion of the movie's themes. they don't all get a ton of screentime, but for what they're given each has a really well deserved heroic conclusion, however sad they are

5. Attack of the Clones - while its not my favourite in terms of characterization, plot development nor does it have my favourite gags, i still find myself coming back to this one for the vibes. it's 85% cgi, but the giant battle on geonosis and the intrigue of kamino are so fun and i think those awkward special effects kind of add to it. it's just fun, yk? the mystery elements are some of my favourites in the movies, although i think that aspect is better done in the clone wars series

6. The Last Jedi - really difficult spot to pick but i ultimately chose this over phantom menace because honestly i usually just watch the maul fight lmao. this movie is tricky for me since i like a lot of the ideas present, but hate it at the same time for completely derailing the sequels. had jj made all 3, we could have had a mildly entertaining if very repetitive nostalgia trip. with the way it was done, we have one of those movies, one movie that completely swerves the opposite direction and gives a taste of something more, then violently course corrects to the point of everything going off the rails. i think had rian johnson been given control for the whole series, we could have gotten something very special, and so this movie is here because it's fun to live in that world even for just one film. kylo is at his peak here and i love the idea of rey coming from no "important" background, i don't love how rey developed in this movie but had it been followed up on properly it probably would have been better. really i like rose and finns story as well as the end scene, which is more of the movie than phantom menace, so there

7. Solo - i really like this movie, don't get me wrong. the star wars underworld is super cool to see on the "big screen" (so they say) and i think han's portrayal is EXTREMELY well done. his arc fits perfectly into his story, the naïveté at the start and the reluctant hero at the end. he's a pure hearted boy thrown into a situation where heroism is punched in the stomach and kicked in a corner and seeing him navigate it is endlessly captivating. i like the new characters too (especially l3-37 and enfys) and it's so cool to see lando in his prime. all the forced-in explanations about how han got his name, how the millennium falcon ends up looking like that, etc etc is kinda unnecessary but id imagine they needed to do that to get the movie greenlit lmao, but honestly those are the things that drag it down in terms of rewatchability for me. once you see how the falcon lost its escape pod for the first time the novelty wears off, and enough time is spent on it that it becomes a drawback, time taken away from what i really want to see: character interactions, development, and fun, unpredictable action. the end where han kills beckett never gets old though and everytime i watch it i have that same feeling of relief, sadness and shock

8. Return of the Jedi - i love this movie, but in terms of rewatching it for fun on its own, i get a lot of what i like about it from other movies. ive always been a little underwhelmed by this one tbh. the death star again is fine, but it doesn't hold the same existential horror as the first time around. the emperor is perfection, but he's way more over the top in rots which is more entertaining lmao. vaders redemption is awesome and the perfect way to end the trilogy, but it is what we were expecting, isn't it? ewoks are fun and work symbolically i thinkbut they make for less spectacular action than other combatants

9. The Phantom Menace - qui-gon is one of my favourite star wars characters, ever. liam neeson's performance is excellent, and i love watching him throughout the whole thing. however, the story isn't as tight as other movies and while i love the thought and implications of the politics it explores, the senate and trade disputes kinda bring it down if im just watching it for fun. the podrace section is really popular for how fun it is, and i do like it, but car chases and races are often my least favourite type of action and i would sooner choose to watch a different action set piece. the fight at the end is AMAZING but i can watch it on youtube if i want so yeah, it goes here

10. The Clone Wars - it's...not good lmao. everyone knows this. but it is pretty fun. and most importantly, it kickstarted the best star wars media of all time, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. seeing the introduction of ahsoka and rex, and the reintroduction of ventress and cody, while neat to look back on, are improved upon in the series so id sooner just watch that. i have no problem watching it, despite its faults, but definitely not my go-to (i do wish we got to see rotta the hutt again though smh)

11. The Force Awakens - literally just watch a new hope. lmao that's not entirely true but all the characters here i prefer in tlj. there are some great moments, like when you think ben is going to accept help but he cements himself on the dark side or when finn and poe escape the star destroyer. the practical effects are nice, the sets and costumes are cool. but really this movie just makes me sad seeing how much promise these characters had and knowing how they all went to waste. maybe this will change someday and ill be able to take it for what it is, but now is not that time lol

12. The Rise of Skywalker - *sigh* yeah this one is just painful to watch. i honestly can only think of one character moment i like from this movie, which is when c3po calls the cast his friends. and thats like one line. i hate what they did to rey, to ben, to finn, to poe. rey's arc just sizzled out, she's more just going along with whatever comes her way, doing what she's told. she has more agency than that!! i honestly think she should have turned to the dark side. my ideal head canon was that rey and ben essentially switch sides at the end of tlj before both realizing that absolute adherence to either the extreme light or dark would only result in death and destruction as the universe fought to have balance. so they both come together in the middle and try and explore the practicality of living in the neutral area of the force. this would have opened up some really cool discussion about good vs evil (which is what star wars is known as being an excellent example of), it would have created a new, unique era of star wars to set future stories in in the future, and it would have ended the saga in a poetic way (the prequels end in darkness, the originals end in light, the sequels end in the middle). alas, this didn't happen, and this movie just makes me sad. there's nothing wrong with liking it, to be clear, i just like to pretend it doesn't exist

[wevegotbackissues-blog]

Mangold's Star Wars Gets An 'Andor' Writer

Beau Willimon will work on the script for James Mangold’s Dawn Of The Jedi film that was announced last year at Star Wars Celebration. Willimon created Netflix’s House Of Cards but is best known to Star Wars fans for writing the Narkina 5 arc of Andor that received the franchise’s best reviews since The Empire Strikes Back. The film will be set 25,000 years before the Skywalker saga and explore…

[sjbattleangel]

That was brilliant min-essay right there. Your summarization of its darker themes and human tragedy is why I consider Revenge Of The Sith to be the best and strongest of the Prequel Trilogy. One day, once I get the chance, I might write a mini-essay on The Last Jedi, describing why it's not just one of my favourite Star Wars films but THE best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back and a legitimacy, brilliant piece of cinema that doesn't deserve the backlash or bad faith criticism.

Why Revenge of the Sith remains my personal favorite Star Wars movie

I think one of the main reasons I have such a fondness for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in particular amongst the entire saga (controversial opinion I know, but ROTS is my personal favorite Star Wars film period...) is because of the experience I had with this movie as a kid growing up!

This film came out in 2005 when I still would have been in the 3rd Grade, and I had already grown up loving the Star Wars franchise, watching the unaltered VHS copies of the Original Trilogy, as well as Episodes I & II on DVD constantly as a child. So when I started seeing tons of trailers and promotions for Episode III popping up, you'd better believe that I was incredibly huped about this film! I still remember seeing the initial teaser trailer for Revenge of the Sith when I first saw Pixar's The Incredibles back in 2004, and you'd better believe that little kid me was excited as all heck!

I personally remember the build-up and anticipation for Episode III being wild back in the day, since not only was this being promoted as the "final entry in the Star Wars saga" since George Lucas stated his intentions to not make an Episode VII at the time (hindsight can be funny sometimes... lol!), but this would be the film that finally answered the question of how exactly Anakin Skywalker turned to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader! Plus, Episode III was also promoted as being the darkest film in the entire franchise since it was the first to ever receive a PG-13 rating (all the previous movies were rated PG here in the US…). Heck, I remember the PG-13 rating causing a lot of caution and concern among both parents and teachers, since not only did one of my teachers state that my 3rd Grade class was "too young to watch Star Wars Episode III," but when my Dad and I finally saw in cinemas, he calmed my Mom down by telling her he would cover my eyes if any scene got overly violent. Fortunately, my Dad did not end up not having to shield my eyes... although funnily enough he almost did so during the scene when Anakin ignited his lightsaber in front of the younglings before it immediately cut away (so their deaths occurred offscreen...). It wasn't until I was much older that I later learned that the primary reason Episode III was given the PG-13 rating was that in addition to Lucas’ personal recommendation due to the film’s darker tone, the rating was specifically aimed at the immolation scene on Mustafar when Anakin is burned alive by the lava after losing his duel to Obi-Wan.

When I finally saw Revenge of the Sith in theaters in May of 2005, to say that I was completely blown away by the film would be a massive understatement! Not only was I completely immersed in the sheer epic scale of the space and lightsaber duels, but the aesthetics of the planets like Utapau & Mustafar, as well as creatures & droids like General Grievous, captured my imagination to entirely new levels that surpassed even the previous Star Wars films. Heck, General Grievous in particular was a character that I became completely obsessed with as a kid in a similar manner to how many other fans are with Boba Fett (both for his badass design, as well as his status as a Jedi-killing cyborg who wields 4 lightsabers simultaneously while also foreshadowing Anakin's similar future transformation into a being "more machine than man")!

However, the elements of Revenge of the Sith that especially captivated my young mind in the theater were the portrayal of Anakin Skywalker's turn to the Dark Side, as well as Chancellor Palpatine's rise to power as the Emperor. Before the movie's release, I would constantly speculate about what exactly would cause Anakin to become Darth Vader (little kid me came up with wild theories such as him being mind-controlled into being evil via Sith lightning or some such bullcrap... lol!) and the revelation that Anakin turned to the Dark Side primarily out of fear of his wife Padme dying at childbirth was certainly not what I was expecting back then. At the same time though, this plot point made perfect sense to me and I couldn't help but be engrossed in the whole Greek/Shakespearean tragedy portrayal of Anakin's descent into darkness being motivated primarily out of love. Additionally, as I continued to rewatch Revenge of the Sith on DVD and Blu-Ray as I grew older, I began noticing more of Anakin's growing frustration and distrust with the Jedi council, and how it heavily correlated with the political themes about the corruption of democracy and the rise of fascism (which makes both the Order 66 montage and Padme’s line, “So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause,” hit even harder)! Furthermore, Palpatine himself made for such a phenomenal main antagonist & master manipulator, with scenes such as him telling Anakin the legend of Darth Plagueis story at the Coruscant opera house as well as his reveal as a Sith Lord being particularly chilling standouts for me!

While some of those more complex themes went over my head as a 3rd grader, Revenge of the Sith was probably one of my earliest exposures to darker forms of storytelling dealing with flawed characters & complex themes. Elements that I now actively search for in my consumption of media, ranging to films, comics, TV, and video games. Additionally, as a child these aforementioned elements made me rewatch Episodes I & II with an even greater appreciation and attention to Anakin’s gradual downfall and Palpatine’s manipulations which all culminated in Episode III. As a kid, I used to primarily focus on the action scenes in Star Wars films above all else, but as an adult elements such as the corruption of bureaucracy with the Jedi Order, the downfall of democracy & the rise of fascism with the Old Republic's devolving into the Galactic Empire, and the Shakespearean tragedy of Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader are the elements of the Prequels that continue with stick with me!

It's for this reason that despite whatever flaws Revenge of the Sith might have along with the rest of the Prequel Trilogy, it honestly still remains my personal favorite Star Wars film in the entire saga, followed closely by both Return of the Jedi and The Last Jedi (which means that my Top 3 Star Wars films include one from each trilogy! Lol!)! And for the longest time I thought that Episode III would have been the ONLY Star Wars movie I'd ever get the chance to see in theaters... thank goodness I was wrong with the release of the Sequel Trilogy a decade later! Still though... I will forever cherish that initial hype of Revenge of the Sith as my first-ever theatrical Star Wars experience!

[sjbattleangel]

Behold some of the worst Star Wars takes you've ever seen. "I love Star Wars!" No you don't, Lily. Just like certain reactionary hacks, you hate Star Wars for the most idiotic reasons ever. Case in point: 1) Lily decides to rewrite the sequel trilogy into angst-fest that over-worships the Sith as a misunderstood, persacuted race of people, turns classic characters like Luke and Leia into "old racist white folk" and of course, has her "heroic" character straight-up murder unarmed rich people!

Plus, as someone who adores The Last Jedi as one of the best Star Wars films since The Empire Strikes Back, Lily completely missed the point of the film! It doesn't need to be "fixed" as it's already a compelling deconstruction of Star Wars that challenges the notion of destiny and fixed traditions by having the characters grow through their mistakes: Like Rey learning she doesn't need to be related to someone special know where she belongs; Poe learning to stop and listen to other people's ideas; Finn learning about how other people are effected by the war; Luke learning not to give up on himself.

I get the feeling Lily's bitter because it didn't line up with her own bloated "SWTOR-and-KOTOR-II-are-the-only-SW-media-that-matters-and-the-Sith-are-the-real-good-guys" headcannon.

That and the real reason Lily hates Rose Tico is because she wasn't a sexy traumatized black lesbian with a high body-count. Because, let's face it, Lily didn't create Darth Amorosa because she wanted "diversity" and "representation". No, it was simply because she wanted a black woman to fetishize.

[ferretfyre]

[gffa]

You asked for this! I've got timeline specific questions because I'm struggling either because I can't do math or because it's sw maybe both. Anyway. If Obi-Wan was born in 50 BBY then what is his birthdate called in times of tcw when BBY didn't exist yet? What's the calender before BBY called but also what's Obi-Wans birthdate!! I've been losing my mind over this and I'm actually so frustrated. Help lumi 🥺

*HAND SHOOTS UP*  I CAN HELP WITH THIS. BUT FIRST THE LINER NOTES: - This is sourced to only one reference book, BUT it was an in-canon reference book, meaning it was written as a text that exists within the GFFA, not as an omniscient Doylist reference book. - It’s never specifically said this is the dating system used, but in lieu of having literally nothing else, I actually love it. - Everyone is perfectly free to ignore this niche content and do whatever works best for your fic!!! So, Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious had several pages on the prequels:

This system of numbers is called the C.R.C. in the book! We don’t know what that stands for (probably something like Centralized Republic Calendar or Common Republic Calendar maybe?) and we’re doing a lot of guesswork, but those numbers line up exactly with the BBY dates used out-of-universe. Using the BBY/ABY system, we know: - Attack of the Clones takes place in 22 BBY (Padme’s assassination attempt) - Nack Movers died in 21 BBY - Rogue One takes place in 0 BBY - A New Hope takes place in 0 BBY / ABY (destruction of the Death Star, Leia’s arrest warrant), the film was also released in 1977 in our world - Empire Strikes Back takes place in 3 ABY (Han Solo frozen in carbonite) Now compare these to the dates we have for some of these (mostly) known events in Scum and Villainy with what we know of the BBY/ABY events: - 7951.131.6 is a Quinlan Vos security image (26 BBY) - 7955.314.3 is a security image of a Coco Town Eatery (Dex’s Diner) (22 BBY) - 7955.422.1 is Padme’s assassination attempt (22 BBY) - 7956.101.2 is Nack Movers’ death from TCW s02e11 Lightsaber Lost - 7656.103.1 is when Boba Fett was first imprisoned by the Judiciary from TCW s02e22 Lethal Trackdown (21 ABY) - 7956.123.2 is the Moogan tea from TCW s03e05 Corruption on Mandalore - 7956.901.3 is “Rako Hardeen’s” arrest from TCW s04e15-s04e18 (20 BBY) - 7956.881.4 is Moralo Eval’s intake holo/arrest (21 BBY) - 7956.919.5 is Han Solo’s arrest warrant (21 BBY) - 7957.101.4 is Bail Organa and Mon Mothma security image (20 BBY) - 7957.338.1 is a Hondo Ohnaka security image (20 BBY) - 7957.910.3 is a Senate District Law Enforcement Recruitment Poster (20 BBY) - 7957.203.3 is the Jedi Temple bombing from TCW s05e17 (19 BBY) - 7973.121.0 is the date on Ketsu Onyo’s bounty hunter profile (4 BBY) - 7976.994.5 is Jyn Erso’s arrest warrant, which was set before Rogue One (1 BBY) - 7977.331.3 is Leia’s arrest warrant which happened after the events of ANH (0 BBY / 0 ABY) - 7977.934.1 is Aphra’s wanted file (0 BBY / 0 ABY) - 7980.421.2 is Han being sealed in carbonite, which happened during ESB (3 ABY) - 8009.332.1 is a patrol of New Republic guards (32 ABY) So, I’m cribbing from myself from this post if you want a longer, more detailed version of the different calendars used in the GFFA (and what they change to once the Empire takes over, then once the New Republic takes over) as well as @glompcat has a lot of excellent posts on their Scum and Villainy tag. But the basic gist of it seems to be that the Republic during the PT (again, in lieu of anything else that has ever touched on this!) would be to say it took place in the ‘50s or ‘950s CRC. So, if someone asked, “When were you born?”, Obi-Wan would answer with, “I was born in ‘18.” or “I was born in 7918.” (Or “‘918″, maybe?  Go with what feels natural.) since he was born in 57 BBY. (At least according to the trading cards, I think?  But 57 sounds about right for how old he was when he died.) Some helpful numbers to give you a scope of things: - Obi-Wan was born in 7918 CRC - Anakin and Grogu were born in 7936 CRC - The Phantom Menace takes place in 7945 CRC - Attack of the Clones takes place/The Clone Wars starts in 7955 CRC - Revenge of the Sith takes place in 7958 CRC - The war in TCW lasts from 7955 CRC to 7958 CRC

[theuntitledblog]

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - REVIEW

SYNOPSIS

The evil Darth Vader, obsessed with capturing Luke Skywalker, has deployed the Imperial Starfleet across the galaxy to drive the Rebellion from their new base. Pursued by the Empire, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca makes a desperate play for freedom while Luke Skywalker seeks out Jedi Master Yoda.

How do you follow up one of the greatest and most pioneering films of all time? You go and make arguably the greatest sequel of all time and pretty much establish the standard blue print while you're at it. It's of no surprise to me that Empire received mixed reviews at its time of release; it was my least favourite of the Original Trilogy growing up and didn't feel the most satisfying. But like a lot of things as we grow and mature; our tastes change and the added darkness and greater complexity of Episode V is appreciated more and more as time goes by. Empire doesn't provide easy answers nor does it follow convention but it's all the better for it and is surprisingly forward thinking even now. 38 years before Thanos snapped his fingers, the Empire had successfully driven the rebellion from their base and across the galaxy, Han Solo had been frozen in carbonite and Darth Vader had defeated Luke Skywalker. The Empire Strikes Back does a masterful job in expanding the Star Wars Universe and upping the stakes. It remains the greatest Star Wars film and also stands as one of the greatest films of all time.

The mysticism of the Force is one of the most significant expansions of the main story established in A New Hope. The scenes on Dagobah take the concept further and is where Star Wars feels at its most spiritual and meaningful. John Williams delivers perhaps his best score for Star Wars with two significant musical entries with Yoda's theme in particular that captures the essence of that spiritualism. Only The Last Jedi has come close to emulating what Empire does with the Force here but it is with the latter where it is most successful and that, for me, comes down to the introduction of Master Yoda. The Yoda puppet conveys so much expression for something artificial and Mark Hamill's reaction and performance sells it even further. Luke's Jedi training with Master Yoda is the soul of the movie, the rest is a thrilling chase movie against a ruthless foe.

Producing arguably the greatest sequel of all time with perhaps the greatest villain of all time who delivers the greatest plot twist of all time is a ridiculous and over the top thing to say ... BUT ... how is it wrong? With an iconic look and distinct breathing difficulty, Darth Vader establishes his reputation and lasting legacy in this film. His ruthless pursuit of Luke sees him murder Imperial officers at whim and threaten other worlds with occupation. Vader is at his most villainous here and the confrontation in Cloud City is powerful imagery and thrilling content. Star Wars has not been as good as this since. There are other moments that could be talked about further; the battle of Hoth, the Asteroid field, Han and C3P0's great exchanges, Lando's betrayal, freezing in carbonite, that moment. The Empire Strikes Back, like A New Hope, has moments that have stood the test of time which other films could only dream of. To do it once is incredible, to repeat the feat twice? George Lucas and Irvin Kershner, we salute you.

VERDICT

Bigger, darker and more complex with a great twist. Simply put; this is perhaps the greatest sequel of all time and 40 years on remains the best Star Wars film.

5/5

[jadelotusflower]

It’s Cold in that Fridge: The Case of Nakari Kelen

Since The Case of Mara Jade has been doing the rounds again, I’ve finally gone back to this post that has been sitting in my drafts for literally years. So let’s honour this absolute badass who deserved better:

Once upon a time, the Star Wars universe was but six films (and a tv series) in the story of the Skywalker family. But beyond George Lucas’ story was an absolute boatload of books, comics, games, and other materials that made up the Expanded Universe. When Disney purchased Lucasfilm and the rights to the Star Wars saga, everything in this universe was decanonised and deemed “Legends” - some aspects of this universe were retained or re-purposed, others sit in Disney’s figurative vault and will likely never see the light of day (and seeing how the ST turned out, maybe that’s for the best).

But this transition between Legends canon and Disney canon was not so simple, because the nature of publishing meant that there were novels approved during the time of Legends canon that would be released in the time of Disney canon. In particular, there had been the planned trilogy “Empire and Rebellion”, set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, with each novel from the perspective of one of The Big Three.  

Razor’s Edge (Leia) and Honor Among Thieves (Han) were released prior to the Great Canon Split of 2014.  But while the Luke-centric novel had been planned, it was not due to be released until well after the Split. So Heir to the Jedi (so called as an homage to the Legends progenitor Heir to the Empire) became one of the first books of the Disney canon.

What does this background have to do with Nakari Kelen?  Perhaps nothing, but I do wonder how the writing process was affected by the shift from Legends to Disney - was the novel a relic of the old EU with any reference the LFL storygroup didn’t like excised during editing, or was it a trendsetter for the new EU, a Sign of Things to Come?  

The most salient point being, of course, that Nakari Kelen - like so many love interests before her - was not allowed to go along her merry way at the conclusion of the novel, but was shoved into the fridge.

If there was one constant of the Legends EU, it was that Luke Skywalker’s love interests couldn’t catch a break. Mara Jade naturally lasted the longest relationship-wise, with almost twenty years of marriage to Luke before some bright spark decided she had to go (as per the aforementioned case study). But before Mara there was Jem, Shira Brie, and Gaeriel Captison (who came close to escaping the curse), and in the Legacy of the Force series they brought back sole survivors Akanah and Callista, only to kill them off for good too (and rather brutally, if I may add).

So perhaps when Kevin Hearne began writing HttJ within the confines of the Legends continuity, he was merely sticking to the status quo, or perhaps once subsumed by Disney they needed to make sure Luke's slate was clean (so to speak).  And I can’t put all the blame on Hearne since I don’t know whether it was his idea, or LFL mandated - but regardless it was a poor decision.

The root cause of fridging, imo, is limited imagination.  How best to cause your male protagonist pain if not kill off someone they love, or at least have strong feelings for? The answer is of course, easily. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Luke Skywalker of HttJ is fresh from his victory in ANH, a lieutenant in the Rebellion: young, not dumb, and full of...

Nakari Kalen is an absolute Queen a civilian volunteer and crack-shot sniper who loans her ship Desert Jewel to the Alliance. Luke is immediately attracted to her, they bond over a mutual love of fast ships and leaving behind desert home planets, and engage in the inexpert flirting of two nineteen year olds while also risking their lives several times over.

I want to make it clear: I actually really like this book. It's a breezy read, almost serialised as The Early Adventures of Luke Skywalker, and is ofttimes genuinely funny. And credit where it’s due to Hearne, many of of the supporting roles in the novel are female. Other than Nakari, there's Soonta, the Rodian who gives Luke her uncle’s lightsaber, Sakhet the Kupohan spy, and the Givin cryptographer/math genius Drusil Bephorin. In a genre where male characters are often the default for these kind of roles, it was nice to see, but makes the regressive fridging of Nakari even more egregious.

Luke and Nakari make a good team fighting brain-sucking monsters and Imperials, but more importantly they have fun together - she encourages him to work on his Force skills, and he successfully moves objects with his mind for the first time (leading to Nakari adorably dub him "a little noddle scooter"). It's a very sweet, if brief, relationship, and a respite from the danger of the mission. They spend the night together (leaving the reader to decide exactly what happened behind closed doors), and share a kiss before splitting up to try and escape bounty hunters. No prizes for guessing what happens to Nakari immediately after she received the Skywalker Kiss of Death.

I assume there were two motivating factors for why Hearne and/or LFL couldn't let Nakari live:

1. If she survived, fans would wonder why she doesn't appear in ESB/subsequent material.

I recall this bandied about on forums back at the time of the book's release, and to that I say - so what? Fans are always going to wonder, and try to paper over the gaps in canon, to make up their own headcanons to explain any any perceived inconsistencies. It's certainly no reason to kill someone off.

It is in fact possible for two young people to have a romance that just fizzles, or doesn’t work out for whatever reason - it should not require great maneuvering or explanation. If Nakari doesn’t show up in the next book in the timeline, what about it? The reader is smart enough to assume she and Luke broke up, decided to just remain friends, whatever. But it seems that the only way for a female character to exit stage left is for her to die, which is bullshit.

And actually, there's no reason why she couldn't have shown up again. ESB and RoTJ cover a month and a few days, respectively, of Luke's life - just because there was no mention of Nakari doesn't mean she didn't exist at that time, whether or not she and Luke were an item. She could have made an appearance in a subsequent novel, or Rebels, or the comics - she could have become a recurring character, showing up when the Rebellion needed her, or - heaven forbid - even have her own comic/book/show! Her existence in Star Wars canon didn't need to begin and end with Luke Skywalker, merely to service his plotline and backstory and abandoning the richness of her own.

No, the only reason Nakari had to die was to facilitate this:

It was a blow to the gut, realizing what that sudden absence meant. I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but I had felt Nakari's life snuffed out through the Force, and into that void where she had shone anger rushed in - anger, and a cold sense of raw power and invincibility...I took a step to join in the hunt but stopped, breathing heavily, unaccountably sweating even though I felt so cold inside and the power of the Force roiled within me... I shook with emotion and power, and none of it felt the way the Force had before...I saw what kind of space it was , a black hole that would always be hungry no matter how much I fed it. I might never feel warm again if I didn't get myself under control.

Luke feels the dark side and is tempted by the boost of power it offers him, but immediately identifies it as dangerous and unnatural. I can understand why Hearne wanted to include this - it is a book of firsts after all: Luke's first solo mission, his first time using telekenisis, and ending with story with his first experience of the dark side makes sense. But it wasn't necessary, which leads to:

2. How to push Luke to touch the dark side without killing someone he has romantic feelings for?

Also, obviously, shite of the bull (or nerf, if you prefer). Even if this brush with the dark side was absolutely necessary for the novel's climax, there's any number of ways it could be achieved. At this point, Luke is fresh from losing important people in his life - Owen and Beru, Ben, and Biggs - lumping another death on top of that a narrative trick for Luke to react not only to losing Nakari, but the others as well. But it's cheap, the first card in the deck, and why not show a bit of imagination? Luke is young and inexperienced enough at this point that any number of things could be the catalyst - the whole book he's struggling with his growing powers, why not try and reach too far in the firefight with the bounty hunters, his anger and frustration with himself in not doing enough trigger the dark side temptation? It would work thematically and doesn't involve a fridging that ultimately has very little payoff.

Because Nakari is killed less than ten pages from the end of the book - afterwards Luke grieves, but ultimately chooses to honour her memory and be grateful for what he learned with her, recommitting to becoming a Jedi. It's all very surface level, and once again a female character's death facilitates a male character's development. Was it so imperative that Luke lost someone he cared about as part of this story? Sure, this was a time of galactic civil war, and it's far from unrealistic that these stories have a high body count, but who to make collateral damage remains an authorial choice, and in this case Nakari Kelen was (a) a female character of color, (b) a love interest of the protagonist - not just of this book, but the entire Original Trilogy.

I don't know to what extent (if any) race had to play in the decision. I'm sure there was a segment of the fandom absolutely livid that Luke Skywalker kissed (and maybe had sex with) a black woman. Was her death LFL hedging its bets, or demonstrative of the general lack of attention/respect they show their characters of colour?

In any case this was a chance to stand out from the old EU and it's fridge full of Luke's dead girlfriends, but instead they chose to introduce and kill off Nakari for the sole purpose of Luke's manpain and character development, and that's gross.

And then there's this:

A grisly yet reliable fact about custom bounty hunter ships is that you can always count on them to have body bags stashed somewhere for the easy transport of their kills. They often have built-in refrigerated storage, too.

NAKARI IS KILLED AND LITERALLY STORED IN THE FUCKING FRIDGE I COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT I WAS READING.

I really hope this was unintentional on Hearne's part, because yikes. He was halfway there, this book was full of interesting female characters who had agency - Drusil in particular was a delight with her super math and inability to understand human interaction. Nakari was full of life and fun - capable but relatable, showing a different side of the Rebellion and those that suffered under the Empire's rule. Fridging her in her first appearance is considerably more vile, because it reduces her to a footnote of Luke's story, a plot device to Help Him Grow, rather than a springboard to tell more of her own story.

Because Nakari was a compelling character ripe for spinoff potential. I would absolutely have read or watched her continued adventures, juggling missions for her father's Biolabs company and trying to aid the Rebellion, shooting her slug rifle and cracking wise, maybe even finding a way to amplify her mother's song Vader's Many Prosthetic Parts to really stick it to the Empire, or try and free the political prisoners on Kessel.

The old EU was made great by allies and enemies of Our Heroes showing up again to help or hinder them, and/or branching out into their own material. We fell in love with them, and followed their stories even as they diverged from the main saga, eager to read more about their lives.

Nakari Kelen never got that chance. In many ways, she exemplified what Disney Star Wars was to become: an exercise in wasted potential.