I like “Announcement” for the second movie title. Its events are referred to as such later in the series.
Hi, I’d love to check this out : )
I was thinking back to how Mando season one felt like so well done at the time, compared to how things have unravelled now. So much in Ahsoka is tell not show. Whereas Din barely speaks so you have great moments like the Super Battle Droid attack or that scene where the probes search the fires on Mandalore. Where the hell was that stuff here, in show heavily relying on a series of past events to lend it drama? Where was Sabine’s family or her decision to become a Jedi?
Exactly this.
And to me, nothing suffers more from the “tell don’t show” pattern than Thrawn. Ahsoka and some of the New Republic figures act like the prospect of him returning is basically equal to the second coming of Palpatine but there is nothing in this series (and I would argue in any other cannon sources) that would justify this point of view. He was supposed to be a brilliant tactician, nothing more, nothing less. That Mandalorian Season 2 episode re-established him as Morgan Elsbeth’s master for some reason and the only thing he seems to have accomplished since his exile was making friends with some Dathomiri witches while slowly running out of resources until Morgan came to pick him up. His only real achievement after that was getting two second-rate Rebellion heroes stranded on Peridea, while giving a ride to another Rebellion hero, who would have stayed on Peridea if Thrawn hadn’t provdied Sabine with means of finding him. But the real threat to the main galaxy really seems to lie with the necromancer witches, not this overhyped imperial has-been who’s coming along with them.
The fact that we did not see Ezra trying to sabotage Thrawn’s ship and thus ending his campaign before it could even start is just another massive missed opportunity.
This felt really on point…
Overall, this season has been very underwhelming for me. It looked mostly alright and had some nice ideas, but the casting was very hit and miss and the writing has been absolutely atrocious, especially for characters and their motivations. That blue guy they had there just doesn’t pass as Thrawn, I’m sorry. Filoni should really stick with animation.
Fanedit idea: after Ahsoka says “Better than allowing Thrawn’s return as in ‘Heir To The Empire’”, she should just straight up look into the camera and wink.
I agree with much of Emer16O1’s sentiment. If people were expecting this to be the show that would win back the general audiences, I really don’t think this will do. Lot of it felt like a glorified stage play and much of the plot happens only because the characters keep making very stupid decisions. I think this would actually work much better in animation but as is, the final product is nowhere near the quality of Andor. Just good enough to keep me watching for now, hopefully it will pick up in the coming weeks.
I hope the topic title doesn’t get me in trouble around here, but please, hear me out.
It has been shown time and time again in various media, that Bail Organa’s heart is very much in the right place, but what about his head? Some of the content that came out this year seems to raise serious concerns.
In chronological order, the first major culprit is Resolve, the final episode of the Tales of the Jedi animated miniseries. If you look at its events strictly from the imperial perspective, Bail’s actions seem very careless. First the Empire receive a report of a suspected Jedi presence on Mon-Hella. They send out an inquisitor, who goes missing. Some time later senator Organa, a known Jedi sympathiser, just lands there with his flagship to do whatever.
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series depict several instances of Bail acting extremely foolishly, with his ill-advised phone call to Obi-Wan in Episode 5 being perhaps the main offender. But in context of the larger continuity, it goes deeper than that. The Rebels show previously established, that it was senator Organa, who confirmed Kenobi being killed (which in itself seems very suspicious and at the very least Reva wasn’t too convinced). But then the Empire officially finds out that Kenobi was indeed alive as late as 9 BBY, which really makes it seem like they should have some questions for the impetuous senator.
I realize these discrepancies are more than likely the result of flawed writing and Bail is not really meant to be stupid, but now I kinda want Andor Season 2 to make a plot point of Luthen refusing to work with Bail Organa because of the massive bullseye that man managed to paint on his own back. It also doesn’t reflect all too well on Tarkin, who really should have taken Bail in for questioning before ordering his planet to be destroyed.
What do you guys think? Is this something that could somehow be worked into the actual canon, either by establishing Bail as a very unreliable ally or perhaps making his actions somehow make sense, or is this not an issue that needs to be addressed in any way?
Also, as a side-note, according to the currently available canon, Bail doesn’t inform Ahsoka nor Obi-Wan of each other’s being still around, despite being in contact with both of them. I can kinda see him wanting to keep Obi-Wan an absolute secret and until this year, we could just assume he didn’t speak with Kenobi after the events of ROTS to even have a chance to mention Ahsoka to him. But then again, we could still somehow find out that Kenobi was actually well-aware of Ahsoka’s survival.
And it doesn’t rhyme either…
Nice background, but we can see why those scenes were cut from ROTS.
What the hell are you talking about?
The political stuff on Coruscant. None of it adds to Cassian’s journey.
None of it was cut from ROTS though.
You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but this is baffling to me. Mon Mothma’s storyline intersected with several other characters, including Luthen, Vel and the ISB. It is clearly meant to collide with Andor’s journey in the second season.
You haven’t watched the ROTS deleted scenes recently, have you.
Of course I have. But if you mean to suggest those were cut because of Genevieve O’Reilly’s performance, then that’s both asinine and factually wrong. And apart from being set on Coruscant, those scenes have very little in common with what’s in Andor.
Nice background, but we can see why those scenes were cut from ROTS.
What the hell are you talking about?
The political stuff on Coruscant. None of it adds to Cassian’s journey.
None of it was cut from ROTS though.
You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but this is baffling to me. Mon Mothma’s storyline intersected with several other characters, including Luthen, Vel and the ISB. It is clearly meant to collide with Andor’s journey in the second season.
Nice background, but we can see why those scenes were cut from ROTS.
What the hell are you talking about?
Yoda doesn’t appear at all, but is talked about a lot, being a living legend with unknown current whereabouts. Obi-Wan is kind of a big deal in the Jedi order as he has been trained by Yoda himself. Anakin and Obi-Wan may actually only be supporting characters in this story to preserve the surprise reveals of the OT. Obi-Wan takes multiple apprentices during the prequel trilogy.
At least three decades separate the Clone Wars from the OT and it is actually the bad guys who start with the cloning, creating themselves an army of mutants of all shapes and sizes to combat the Republic and its Jedi. The Clone Wars is actually a series of conflicts, not just one war.
Cloning, especially for military purposes, is generally considered unethical. However, chancellor Palpatine shows a remarkable interest in the technology. Shortly after the discovery of his own DNA in a cloning laboratory on enemy territory – which proves to the Jedi he has been orchestrating the war all along – he manipulates most of the Republic military into turning against the Jedi and declares himself the Emperor. All (or nearly all) of the cloning facilities are however destroyed during this period. Palpatine’s possible Force-sensitivity is suggested, but is never confirmed.
Most of the antagonist figureheads – some of whom are Force-sensitive – are interested in the cloning technology as a means to achieve immortality. Others are however motivated mostly by ideology or greed.
The Jedi are not celibate monks and they don’t wear Tatooine hermit robes. Leia’s mother doesn’t die immediately after giving birth. No Boba Fett origin story and no Chewbacca. The Jedi are very much present throughout the prequels, but many of the main characters are not Force-users – there’s the military, politicians, and common people of many different trades and convictions. Bail Organa plays a prominent role.
This show could have been called Mon Mothma. Genevieve O’Reilly is absolutely terrific in this. All of the performances are actually as good as anything in live-action Star Wars. And while it could probably benefit from some trimming, I really dig the storytelling. Reminds me of the 90s pre-PT X-Wing book series for some reason.
Bro, this guy explained my feelings on the show so well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUo0yHfQHug
Yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings as well.
Maybe if every basement dweller in the world didn’t feel the need to create butthurt videos about supposed “woke agenda” in a series some of them didn’t even watch, this strategy wouldn’t work. Hollywood knows well enough that by taking certain creative decisions – ones that are provocative, but hardly shocking in this day and age – they can easily get so much free publicity. If you don’t want them to succeed, you might just listen to your previous impulse and leave “The Rings of Power Spoiler Thread” to go get offended at a trailer somewhere. There is really no need to push your agenda down anybody’s throat 😉
stupid agenda rammed down my throat
To be honest, when this series was first announced and details started to surface, I was expecting exactly that. But so far, this series is a pleasant surprise. The only “woke agenda” elements I can really see and acknowledge are these two:
Either of these two don’t offend me in any way, on the contrary.
I have no problem believing that Middle Earth thousands of years into the past would have been a different place in many ways. I think this show gets it right where it counts.
It’s pretty clear that it is created by people who know and greatly respect the source material, even if they are only allowed to use its basic outline. The characters, both old and new, are likeable and well portrayed, the cinematography is amazing and the storytelling actually manages to feel very “Tolkienesque”. If keep this up, at worst this could turn out to be one of the greatest fan-fictions of all time. I say bring it on.
And I think there’s really no need to try to get people not to enjoy The Rings of Power – or any other show, I guess – for what it is.
This is very well put together. Both entertaining and insightful. Really looking forward for your take on Kenobi.
What is it with half the development happening off-screen?
Reva somehow survives and she is suddenly on Tatooine. She inquires about Owen and the scene cuts. Next thing we see the merchant is warning Owen about her.
The Empire doesn’t resume their pursuit and Roken’s ship makes it to safety. Why don’t we see it but apparently that’s what happens.
Reva is left broken and wounded among the dunes. What happens with her? I guess we find out in Season 2.
Vader makes it out of the planet (simply because Kenobi didn’t finish him off AGAIN) and gets his suit fixed off-screen.
Ben is about to get what could be a meaningful scene with young Luke, but nope, we cut away.
Oh and Qui-Gon finally shows up! Will he share some great wisdom with Ben and the audience? Nope, the show ends.
At that point in time he had no way of knowing Leia would (or was about to) be captured.
The sheer incompetence of the bad guys in this is really baffling. The scene with Tala whispering into her comlink in a room full of imperials felt almost like a parody. And then when the troopers overhear Obi-Wan’s radio, they just aim into an empty corridor, completely ignoring a huge hole in the wall just two meters to the left. The escape at the end of the episode also felt very un-earned.
RIP Wade, though. We barely knew him but it was delivered asi if we were really supposed to care.
Leia is great and Ben ain’t too bad either. Other than that I don’t really see what’s the point of this show.
This is one of the most exciting Star Wars stories anybody could think of. It’s baffling they are telling it in the blandest most boring way I could imagine. You really couldn’t make this show feel less inspired if you tried.
If you enjoyed BOBF, you’ll be fine with this one too. But to me this just feels like Lucasfilm on autopilot.
Just do a show around the Galactic Civil War. There is no coherent story in the sequels to build on. Star Wars Resistance could have done that but that didn’t go anywhere.
I suppose a show leading up to the events of TFA could work, for the folks who care.
Well for what it’s worth, Rodians do indeed blink in both The Clone Wars and Rebels.
Very nice job on that Domino Squad episode! Some early notes from me:
These are all fairly minor nitpicks. I think you managed to craft the three episodes into a solid narrative.