"And you rage and scream and reach through the Force to crush the shadow who has destroyed you, but you are so far less now than what you were, you are more than half machine, you are like a painter gone blind, a composer gone deaf, you can remember where the power was but the power you can touch is only a memory, and so with all your world-destroying fury it is only droids around you that implode..."
I'm honestly not that hype on most of the forthcoming series because it feels like an endless treadmill of corporate focus-grouped to death stuff that will probably be aggressively OK.
I feel like the thing that really rams it home is that, just like Marvel, it's going to be doled out at regular intervals. Even with the five new films dropping in consecutive years, except with Solo, there was the sense of an event. That's largely gone now.
I still find it pretty wild it is, given how plainly the Prequels present almost everything, that had Stover's take on Sidious revealed been filmed, it would've been the most fantastical portrayal of the Dark Side in live-action.
I'm a simple man. I read "Matthew Stover's Novelization of Revenge of the Sith", I say "But have you read Matthew Stover's novel on Mace Windu called Shatterpoint?"
I don't know. I think I've been so burned out by the fandom war that this isn't funny anymore, even if it takes shots at everybody (though even then you can see the biases). It doesn't help that I'm one of those people who fall under multiple umbrellas (which makes the stupid fandom warring and stereotyping worse).
I don't know. I think I've been so burned out by the fandom war that this isn't funny anymore, even if it takes shots at everybody (though even then you can see the biases). It doesn't help that I'm one of those people who fall under multiple umbrellas (which makes the stupid fandom warring and stereotyping worse).
I don't know. I think I've been so burned out by the fandom war that this isn't funny anymore, even if it takes shots at everybody (though even then you can see the biases). It doesn't help that I'm one of those people who fall under multiple umbrellas (which makes the stupid fandom warring and stereotyping worse).
It also gets the "ST fandom" utterly wrong. That's not a unified faction, it's an incessant battle being fought by at least four sides.
On a happier note, I think I found a place for Archex in my Siege of Ryloth fic. Also staggered that " Cyborg Phasma" wasn't already a tag on Ao3, given that it was the subject of theories aplenty.
I mean, at this point it's hard to actually make The Rise of Skywalker dumber. Except maybe for everything surrounding the Xystons being in initial production as of before the Battle of Endor. Not least as implicitly, the Empire actually lost the Civil War because of bad industrial policy rather than the heroes' actions.
Luuke Skywalker was a genetic clone of the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, grown from cells extracted from the hand Skywalker lost during his duel with the Dark Lord Darth Vader on Cloud City. Skywalker's hand and lightsaber were recovered by Vader and taken to Emperor Palpatine's Mount Tantiss...
So I just finished all of the Star Wars Day stuff on Disney+.
The biomes were sort of relaxing. Basically a series of overhead tracking shots. The kind you would see in a nature documentary. But without any commentary. So, some of them were boring.
The starship flythroughs (there are two of them) were stupid. They're basically just a series of renderings of starship interiors and exteriors. It's not even remotely a tour or anything.
The Simpsons Maggie special was fun and short.
The Bad Batch premiere was great, though I will admit one choice they made upset me in the beginning. That said, it won me back over by the episode's end. I do not like the fact they retconned Kanan's Order 66 experience. I really liked how in the comics, they were all just hanging out around a campfire when the order came. Really hit home the contrast and betrayal. That said, I am willing to reconcile that as Kanan's memories conflating two different events. Maybe the campfire was the night before?
So I just finished all of the Star Wars Day stuff on Disney+.
The biomes were sort of relaxing. Basically a series of overhead tracking shots. The kind you would see in a nature documentary. But without any commentary. So, some of them were boring.
The starship flythroughs (there are two of them) were stupid. They're basically just a series of renderings of starship interiors and exteriors. It's not even remotely a tour or anything.
The Simpsons Maggie special was fun and short.
The Bad Batch premiere was great, though I will admit one choice they made upset me in the beginning. That said, it won me back over by the episode's end. I do not like the fact they retconned Kanan's Order 66 experience. I really liked how in the comics, they were all just hanging out around a campfire when the order came. Really hit home the contrast and betrayal. That said, I am willing to reconcile that as Kanan's memories conflating two different events. Maybe the campfire was the night before?
He is explicitly impressed with their skills. But he wants soldiers he can control.
As for why he's down on clones in general, I assume he figures quantity is better than quality, especially when the quality option relies on third-party monopoly.
He is explicitly impressed with their skills. But he wants soldiers he can control.
As for why he's down on clones in general, I assume he figures quantity is better than quality, especially when the quality option relies on third-party monopoly.
Plus if the chips ever short out you have an army that is going to be pissed about being forced to kill the guys who gave a shit about them for guys who are using them as disposable cannon. fodder.
Tarkin is the kind of guy who is obsessed with the discipline of his men. A relative informal group like The Bad Batch are going to get on his bad side real quick. Mix that with an overwhelming need for domination and control...
I mean, Tarkin's the guy who tried to Dangerous Game Darth Vader (at the latter's insistence but still...).Nobody said he was in any way sane or intelligent.
Here is video I would normally post in the general video game thread, but I think what it brings up is pertinent to Star Wars generally. Mind it's two hours long, so you might need to find time or watch it in increments.
For those not in the know: this video is made by Noah Caldwell-Gervais. He does long form video essays on various video games. In this one he covers the Knights of the Old Republic games, the second of which you may know from frequent arguments on this very site.
I decided it would fit here because it not only discuses the games themselves, but also how both are intimately defined by their relationship to the core inspiration of Star Wars itself, Joseph Campbell's Hero of a Thousand Faces.
Anyone who has hung around Star Wars long enough probably knows about how the Heroes Journey is a key component of the Original Trilogy. But this video proves how that connection is deeper than most might possibly imagine. Did you ever find the puritanical monastic aspects of the Jedi to be off-putting? That is directly lifted from Joseph Cambell's idiosyncratic views embodied in the Monomyth. Gervais does not hold back pointing out the ugly parts of the text like it's racism and gender essentialism.
It's core thesis is how both games relate to the heroes journey, one wholeheartedly embracing it, the other aiming to skewer it. I hope this will provide understanding to how the Monomyth is is wedded to Star Wars on the level of the DNA strands.
Right going in blind, I've not read anyone's posts, I may as well give Bad Batch a chance. Not sure what I expect tbh, but I find the chosen group of stars a bit... dubious, going by their single TCW arc, apart from Echo. They were fairly generic stock characters that I don't think ever needed to be seen again. But, if the writers had an idea for them, maybe they can surprise me. If Maul shows up again I will be very unhappy.
Like, they're the A-Team in space during a fairly interesting time period.
I enjoyed the episode just because the whole Republic to Empire thing is just a massive mindfuck to anyone fighting it who isn't brainwashed or already a closet facist. Like you'd just helped win the American civil and suddenly during the big victory speech Abraham Lincoln pulls off his face to reveal he was actually Hitler the whole time and is establishing the Greater American Reich.
So... it's not horrible, and it has its moments, as well as a decent amount of narrative craft as well as guaranteed animation quality. But I feel it really misses the mark in important ways in terms of thematics and character. I'm not put off to the point I'm not gonna check out episodes, but I'm not really gonna be clamouring for more either. I'll try and articulate my full thoughts over the weekend, since I feel there is much more to say.
