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Unpopular Opinion Thread — Page 24

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ATLA is one of the most beloved pieces of 21st Century pop culture there is - and while Filoni is to thank for setting the tone and mood of most of the show, it’s largely due to the showrunners and head writer.

As for an unpopular opinion… hm… JJ Abrams was the worst director to touch Star Wars until Robert Rodriguez. (Guess it counts?)

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SparkySywer said:

If it weren’t for 2000s nostalgia being in right now, ATLA would be seen as just kind of above average.

I guess I agree with you, although I’ve only seen the first 3 episodes, so I don’t know if I’ve seen enough of the show to make that judgement. People always say it “gets good” after the first season, but I feel like if a show doesn’t hook me by the third episode than it will probably never hook me. That’s a major weakness of Filoni’s writing in my opinion: his shows always “get good” in season 2 or 3, but before the audience gets to the good parts they have to suffer through an entire season of stupid BS.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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And once again, Filoni left after S1. Also S1 gets better as in progresses.

With TCW/Rebels/his other endeavors, you’re on the money there.

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Double post, but here’s a surprisingly unpopular opinion:

If somebody can do a good impression of Dennis Lawson’s Wedge voice, it would be nice to see a fanedit that redubs Wedge in ANH and ESB with the more-accurate voice.

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SparkySywer said:

If it weren’t for 2000s nostalgia being in right now, ATLA would be seen as just kind of above average.

I have no nostalgia for ATLA because I watched it for the first time fairly recently. It is one of the most perfect pieces of fiction I have seen in my life.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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I also have no nostalgia for ATLA and never watched until a year ago and can vouch for it being well made, still a kids show and probably overrated (what isn’t with the modern internet?) but in some ways I think it sticks its landing better than Harry Potter was able to, does right by the hero’s journey.

“The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.” - DV

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I don’t understand why everyone says the age difference between Anakin and Padmé is weird. I mean, when they met in The Phantom Menace they were both minors, and when they met again in Attack of the Clones they were both adults, so I don’t understand what the problem is. Anakin and Padmé have an age difference of 5 years, while the age difference between Han and Leia is 10 years, yet I have never heard anyone complain about the age difference between Han and Leia. Not to mention that in The Phantom Menace Padmé wasn’t in love with Anakin, she only fell in love with him in Attack of the Clones, when they were both adults (Anakin was 20 years old). It was Anakin who was in love with Padmé since The Phantom Menace, not vice versa. So I really don’t understand what the problem is and why people complain.

«This is where the fun begins!»
(Anakin Skywalker)

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Darth Malgus said:

I don’t understand why everyone says the age difference between Anakin and Padmé is weird. I mean, when they met in The Phantom Menace they were both minors, and when they met again in Attack of the Clones they were both adults, so I don’t understand what the problem is. Anakin and Padmé have an age difference of 5 years, while the age difference between Han and Leia is 10 years, yet I have never heard anyone complain about the age difference between Han and Leia. Not to mention that in The Phantom Menace Padmé wasn’t in love with Anakin, she only fell in love with him in Attack of the Clones, when they were both adults (Anakin was 20 years old). It was Anakin who was in love with Padmé since The Phantom Menace, not vice versa. So I really don’t understand what the problem is and why people complain.

The age difference is made creepier by the fact that Padme’s relationship with Anakin in TPM seems almost maternal. And Padme largely acts like an adult in that movie, and interacts with the plot and the other characters in ways that an adult would, while Anakin is still very much presented as a child. Even Marcia Lucas thought it was weird when she watched it.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.

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If Anakin and Padme had been close in age, I could buy their romance as authentic (well, more authentic, anyway). As-is, it feels like Anakin, suffering separation anxiety from his mother, latched onto the closest friendly female to ease the pain of his loss. That, combined with his unhealthy fixation on Padme in the years between TPM & AOTC — a girl he’d only known briefly, mind — leave me with the impression that he wasn’t truly in love with her; he was only obsessed with this idealized surrogate maternal figure.

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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Superweapon VII said:

If Anakin and Padme had been close in age, I could buy their romance as authentic (well, more authentic, anyway). As-is, it feels like Anakin, suffering separation anxiety from his mother, latched onto the closest friendly female to ease the pain of his loss. That, combined with his unhealthy fixation on Padme in the years between TPM & AOTC — a girl he’d only known briefly — leave me with the impression that he wasn’t truly in love with her; he was only obsessed with this surrogate maternal figure.

You just reminded me of that scene in the movie Analyze This in which Dr. Sobel explains the Oedipus complex, to which Paul Vitti reacts by asking “Are you saying I wanted to fuck my mom?”

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Admiral Ackbar is an example of a “Glup Shitto” despite the extensive EU fiction around the character.

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BedeHistory731 said:

Originaltrilogy.com needs better safeguards against spambots.

LOL. I wanted to contact someone yesterday, but I didn’t know how to do it. All the mods weren’t active. 😄

«This is where the fun begins!»
(Anakin Skywalker)

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I was watching Elliot Roberts’ decidedly scathing review of Yesterday, and it got me thinking - that premise would probably work more with Star Wars. A world without Star Wars ever existing would be easier to portray than a world without The Beatles ever existing, especially since it’s more limited to film and television.

  • Perhaps people are more familiar with the movies that inspired Star Wars?
  • Would there be the same mainstream appreciation for directors like Kurosawa and the classic serials?
  • What would the blockbuster and movie merchandising look like in today’s age? The blockbuster phenomenon would probably still happen (Jaws), but would the template be different?
  • Whatever happened to the lesser and more known actors within the movie?
  • Did Jodorowsky make his adaptation of Dune?
  • Does Star Trek have a different fate, one where Planet of the Titans happened and different kinds of spin-offs existed?
  • How does the '80s play out in pop culture, without Star Wars generating so many of the tropes of that decade’s popular media? Is the nostalgia boom different as a result?

…and the big one,

  • What if George Lucas works with Coppola on his big Vietnam War movie? I find a Lucas-influenced or Lucas-edited Apocalypse Now a fascinating idea.

Also, pitching Star Wars in this different universe - would it ever get off the ground or was it purely a product of its temporal and locational context?

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The Star Wars Legends EU is full of dumb stuff, contradictions, and retcons, but the internet seems to be hell-bent on defending it.

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darklordoftech said:

The Star Wars Legends EU is full of dumb stuff, contradictions, and retcons, but the internet seems to be hell-bent on defending it.

Because every story in the EU had the courtesy to be optional. Subpar stories generally got ignored or glossed over by later authors. And the EU was something that developed organically along with the movies and evolved over time. It had its low points, and the continuity was often messy, but when the old EU was good, it got really good, and took the Universe in interesting new directions.

The new Canon has taken many of the worst aspects of the old EU and brought them back in even worse ways. And is already rife with inconsistencies despite being started much more recently and with the express intention of having greater consistency across canon material. Not to mention, it’s generally staler and less innovative in its approach to the setting.

It bugs me when fans dismiss the old EU as worthless simply because a corporation doesn’t recognize it as official Canon.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.

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I do like Legends Vader (pre-Force Unleashed) a lot more than canon Vader. He didn’t feel overexposed or overpowered, with plenty of works centering on his loss of humanity and his self-loathing. It could get goofy (e.g., becoming the leader of the space hyenas in The Savage Heart), but I like it more than canon Vader.

This is missing from canon Vader and the franchise is worse off for it:

vision

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Servii said:

The new Canon has taken many of the worst aspects of the old EU and brought them back in even worse ways.

Sometimes it isn’t even the worst aspects.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ulic_Qel-Droma

If this article’s accurate, Disney Ulic has the same exact history as Legends Ulic. Tom Veitch originally intended Ulic to die unredeemed. Why couldn’t the new writers honour Veitch’s vision and provide longtime readers a fresh, new take on an old character? There’s a painful dearth of creativity at play.

It bugs me when fans dismiss the old EU as worthless simply because a corporation doesn’t recognize it as official Canon.

Me too. Regardless of whether they’re indifferent newcomers or oldtimers who’re upset their beloved stories aren’t “true” anymore.

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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Superweapon VII said:

Servii said:

The new Canon has taken many of the worst aspects of the old EU and brought them back in even worse ways.

Sometimes it isn’t even the worst aspects.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ulic_Qel-Droma

If this article’s accurate, Disney Ulic has the same exact history as Legends Ulic. Tom Veitch originally intended Ulic to die unredeemed. Why couldn’t the new writers honour Veitch’s vision and provide longtime readers a fresh, new take on an old character? There’s a painful dearth of creativity at play.

Wookieepedia counts an RPG that began before the end of Legends and Italian magazines as “canon”, so I think they’re too quick to declare things canon and I wouldn’t go by them. In fact, the “canon” Ulic Qel-Droma article you linked to lists the RPG I mentioned as its only source.

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What I miss the most about the old EU is that the writers had genuine freedom to let their imagination run wild, and even wrote stories that were completely disconnected from the movies despite taking place during the same time period. I remember one story about a Rebel unit having a skirmish with Imperial forces far away from the Battle of Endor, and the characters had never had any interaction with the main characters. There’s also the character of Darca Nyl, a human with no Force sensitivity who nevertheless learned to wield a lightsaber so he could properly duel the Dark Jedi who murdered his family.

Under Disney all the stories seem obsessed with linking everything with the main saga, and even when they are unrelated to the main saga, sooner or later they start shoehorning the main saga into the plot (The Mandalorian, anyone?).

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BedeHistory731 said:

Originaltrilogy.com needs better safeguards against spambots.

Shh. They’ll cast a death spell on you if you’re not careful.

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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The series would be better if in ROTJ Luke was Vader’s son, but Anakin was still a different person. Leia could be a little older and the “real” Skywalker.

JFS

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JF_Sanderson said:

The series would be better if in ROTJ Luke was Vader’s son, but Anakin was still a different person. Leia could be a little older and the “real” Skywalker.

Yes.

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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I don’t know, I think that raises more questions about why Obi-Wan would be looking after the son of the man who murdered his friend rather than the daughter of his friend. And combining Luke’s father, with all of his traits as described by Obi-Wan, and Vader into the same character makes for a more interesting story.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.