StarkillerAG said:
But Yoda was only a joke for one scene in ESB, and he was intentionally acting silly to test Luke’s patience. It wasn’t his entire character for the whole movie, like slapstick Hux in TLJ.
I realized what was so “off” about TLJ’s tone: it felt like the prequels–specifically, Phantom Menace.
When making the originals, Lucas had people reigning him in to keep his manchild humor at bay. That’s why ROTJ started to go offbeat, since he didn’t have his ex-wife and editor peers going “man, that idea just doesn’t work.”
Phantom was the same way, especially when you look at the infamous documentary footage where his yes-men think he went too far in places but no one stood up to him. People hate Jar Jar because of the tonedeaf slapstick, and most of the side characters are already long forgotten. Anyone really remember Boss Nass or the Shatnerians? Likewise, very few people are demanding more Holdo, Rose, or nameless Mr. “Don’t Join”…and Hux and Finn were reduced to useless Jar Jar gags.
I think Rian Johnson was a bigger fan of the prequels than anyone else at Disney, which is why TLJ had the most direct references. Unfortunately, this also brought Phantom’s manchild humor back…and it really hurt the tone and writing. Solo would’ve been a better film for Rian to go wild on, since its self-contained nature wouldn’t clash with the other sequel films’ tone as much.
I think a good edit could fix Finn and Hux, but as I’ve said earlier, the tech and footage just isn’t there yet. For all its flaws, the Colin T. script gives BOTH of them a better plot and resolution. Maybe someday we can deepfake that into a real movie…assuming Disney doesn’t just erase the sequels anyways.