Knight of Kalee

Hi there! I asked you for the links a long time ago and I really enjoyed the edit, but my PC suffered some file losses since then. May I get a link again for this amazing work? May the Force be with you.

I’m a bit worried about its “low budget” look (why have these shows been so inconsistent in that department?) and maybe Thrawn’s physical appearance, but I think that’s more of an angle thing and I’m sure Lars Mikkelsen will deliver a top performance. Otherwise I’m very hyped for this, seems to be an stylistic bridge between classic EU-Legends adventure and the character-driven story from Rebels. Speaking of that, I’m sold on the live action reimaginings of the Rebels main cast - why no Ghost though?. I can easily see this becoming Rebels season 5 - hopefully in the good sense. Maybe one could feel worried about the secondary characters overshadowing our main protagonist, which seems to be an unfortunate trend in the latest Star Wars shows (Book of Boba, Kenobi, Mando S3). However considering Filoni’s soft spot for Ahsoka this may not be the case. I also like that we will be seeing a mix of both familiar (Corellia) and new locations, and seems to be a lot of ties to the larger lore - the New Republic fleet, a transition to T-70 X-Wings, etc.

I don’t think Sabine will be force-sensitive. She learned lightsaber combat from Kanan and Ezra, so when she refers to Ahsoka as her ‘master’ she could be meaning training with a lightsaber. Also the dark Acolyte girl tells Sabine “You have no power” or something like that, possibly regarding her lack of Force-sensitivity.

This episode almost redeemed the season for me. Wish the revelations in it were set up much earlier, during the first half of the season. It’s the same mistake they did with Book of Boba Fett, where the cool story elements such as Cad Bane felt like too little, too late. There’s no reason why the reveal of Gideon having escaped or the Shadow Council scene couldn’t be written in some form as part of an earlier episode (for example Chapter 4, which is the most lacking in the story department).

But moving on to what I loved: I was fist pumping the air when I recognized Gilad Pellaeon and let out an audible gasp when they showed Hux Sr. Part of me wishes they had included Rae Sloane as well, she’s great, but on the other hand it may had been too confusing for a casual audience to have 2 Grand Admirals to keep track of.

The reveal of the IG-12 was a surprisingly good alternative route to sort of bring back IG without undoing his heroic death, and also to give Grogu some much-more needed agency. This is also something that should have happened sooner.

Really liked the worn-down scout Mandalorians including Skinny Pete from Breaking Bad. But I wonder whether they knew anything about the Imperial base, especially as it’s hinted they have been roaming Mandalore since the end of the Purge. Also I’m not very sold on the fan-theories claiming the Armorer or another Mando is a double agent.

The Beskar Troopers were so cool and effective is almost a shame that clearly something’s gonna happen to them as they won’t be the main forces of the future First Order. And Paz Vizsla went out like a badass, I saw his sacrifice coming lightyears away but it still hurt.

The writing and setting of Andor reminded me a lot of classical EU storylines. It would be awesome if the people behind the Filoniverse could take some notes from those. Hopefully getting Zahn himself as a consultant will be a promising start. He’s already written several canon Thrawn books and set the stage for interesting story developments there.

The highs of S2 so far have been surprisingly consistent beginning with the 2-episode midseason special and I’m so glad for that.

The latest episode with Crosshair and (rip) commander Mayhem was one of the most tense, mature and emotionally wrenching pieces of animated Star Wars media I’ve seen. Character development this good in the span of only 20-ish minutes makes you wonder why the heck do they bother with mid filler episodes like that treasure quest one.

I can’t believe we got to see a living, breathing mythosaur of all things. But the thing that has surprised me the most is the fact we already caught up with the redemption ritual storyline, which everyone though would be a season-long plot thread, by the 2nd episode. That leaves me very hyped to see what things await us for the rest of the season, especially after being slightly underwhelmed by the premiere. I’m particularly hooked on the dynamic between Din and Bo-Katan, that could lead to some very interesting developments…

The racing episode at least was fast-paced, it was a sorely needed change of pace to make Tech the protagonist, and nicely set up some possible outcomes for the season, so it ranks fairly highly for a self-contained episode. The last one instead felt like a retread of the first treasure arc, they even end the same way, with the Batch leaving empty-handed, but without significant character development or thought-inducing conflicts this time around. A random, fun adventure, but nothing more.

I really loved that Echo and Tech, particularly the former, got more screentime and development this time around.

Accidental Double post

I would love to get a link for this once it’s ready

Andor has grabbed two nominations at the Critic’s Choice Awards: Best Drama Series and Best Actor (Drama) for Diego Luna. The Golden Globes, just announced today, only nominated Luna.

Part of me wishes they nominated Stellan Skarsgard or Genevieve O’Reilly.

Hopefully it grabs more award noms at the Emmys.

I’d like to get the updated version please!

Are there any news regarding the Lando series?

I’m really digging this crawl as it helps address a number of issues.

• Giving the New Republic an active role, while its destruction in the original was treated as little more than an afterthought.
• Why the flagship, the support ships and the bombing fleet were nowhere to be seen in TFA.
• It could help explain why the rebel fleet was so constrained by hyperfuel in the first place - constantly running from the FO has ran their fuel reserves almost dry.

I’m glad the first three episodes premiered at once because they feel like three acts of a miniarc or one long pilot episode. Taken by themselves the first two feel incredibly slow-paced, but the exciting 3rd episode rewards the viewer’s patience.

It feels and looks so different compared to other Star Wars shows and movies but in a good way. For once I’m happy to be looking forward to the actual story and development rather than thinking about what sorts of fan service we’ll see. The darker and more mature tone quickly sets it apart from other stuff…is this the first time we see a brothel called by that name, or hear the word “sh*t” uttered onscreen in a SW live action product?

I would love to get a link for this!

My man Quinlan Vos is not only alive but also actively helping the Jedi relocating effort. Such a cool detail.

I’m glad they didn’t pull their punches with the violence on this one. The bisected stormtrooper, Vader honoring his tradition of killing random kids, Obi-Wan injured by fire, etc. Only thing I was left wanting was the loadlifter droid wrecking some stormtrooper’s head with that hammer 😄

Also liked that they sort of addressed how Leia could have memories of her mother.

Vader felt like a horror movie monster, in a good way.

I’m so hyped for seeing so many different takes on the Star Wars universe (including one from my home country, Chile) but I still have some hope they eventually go back to anime and continue on some of the most interesting storylines from the original season.

It could be a stranded Neebray, a space-dwelling large creature similar to a cross between a whale and a manta ray. It appeared in Clone Wars.

I’m enjoying it a lot. Found the first episode to be a lot better than the second one, but I remain hooked to the story. At least for the time being, it looks it’s going to tie the prequel and original trilogies more organically than I expected, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Pros

• Ewan’s doing great as Obi-Wan, no doubt helped by the better character direction and dialogues he is provided with. I really like how he feels at midpoint between his ROTS portrayal and some aspects of Alec Guinness’s beloved turn.
• The young actress playing Leia does a phenomenal job. I had no trouble believing she’ll grow up to become a rebellious Carrie Fisher. She also embodies the similar traits of Padmé really well.
• I’m really onboard with the premise of pairing Obi-Wan and Leia. It makes Obi-Wan’s reaction to her plea in A New Hope more meaningful in hindsight. Also fixes the inconsistency on how would Leia know his ‘Ben’ nickname.
• Order 66 flashbacks from new perspectives are always welcome. Does somebody know if they finally used actual people to play the clones rather than CGI?
• Temuera’s cameo as a clone trooper-turned-beggar was heartwrenching.
• A minor detail but I’m so glad they fixed the Grand Inquisitor’s eyes.

Mixed

• John Williams’s Obi-Wan theme is great as usual, but the rest of the music doesn’t stand out that much for the moment (The Mandalorian and Book of Boba’s scores had me hooked a lot sooner).

Cons and/or headscratchers

• The production aspects are hit and miss. The costume and set design ranges from stunning (Alderaan, Daiyu) to awkward (the Inquisitors). The action and stuntwork also leaves a bit to be desired (Reva’s parkour being the worst offender).
• In the second episode, why are they so fixed on suggesting the Grand Inquisitor is dead? Seems pointless knowing he’s still around for Rebels and if they really killed him off I doubt the showrunners and canon consultants would let such an oversight to pass.
• Didn’t really grasp why would Kumail Nanjiani’s character decide to help Obi-Wan so soon, wish there was more context to his motivations.

Octorox and Hal9000’s edits follow your ideas about Anakin and Padmé’s plotline. However, take into consideration that those edits omit Yoda’s lightsaber duel with Dooku.

I’m on the team that favors nuanced takes on the classic Star Wars elements. IG-11 in The Mandalorian should by all accounts just been a cold, ruthless and effective bounty droid based on what we know about IG-88, but they took the time to deconstruct the archetype and deliver an engaging arc for him tale while delving into topics such as the nature vs nurture debate.

That’s one awesome display of Windu’s precision-based fight style. Loved it.

Lol that spin was just campy in a good sense, it fit the rest of the chapter.

I don’t know if I can really say anything that hasn’t been said by now. Was a solid finale for the series, entertaining even if not great (as is my opinion above the series overall).

I’m pretty sure there were corporate constraints to bring Din and Grogu back together as soon as possible. As much as I love the duo, I was pretty pumped to see how Din would act in the absence of his newfound moral compass, i.e. more scenes like the butchery fight in the cold open of Chapter 5. I also concur it’s going to be a pretty awkward experience to bingewatch The Mandalorian without throwing BOBF in.

In retrospect I find it so easy to imagine ways to improve the show that it ends up being frustrating on how Rodriguez or Favreau didn’t think of them. It’s clear the series wasn´t one of the priorities for Lucasfilm which is a shame.

The series could have been fixed so easily by establishing Cad Bane earlier, maybe at the end of the third episode when we see the Pyke forces land on Mos Espa. Then have Bane and Fett meet in an extra episode set right before the finale, and we sould see flashbacks of Cad mentoring Boba as a teenager and having a talk about Jango. Maybe show some past incident that led to Boba’s resentment about how other people use bounty hunters, as he told Fennec in chapter 4.

BUT i found Cad Bane’s death to be necessary. Boba had to be the one that killed him. But his defeat would have held so much more weight if we saw their prior interactions. We literally saw once when Boba paid a favor to Bane in prison (TCW) and all we’ve seen of Bane’s passing of the torch to Boba was a cancelled arc and a couple of animatics.

I wish Mando’s visit to Luke’s temple had been kept offscreen, and saved for the first couple of episodes of The Mandalorian S3. Or have the epilogue/post credits scene for the finale be Mando flying his starship to Luke’s planet, and we see Luke and Grogu from a distance (much like a shot of the actual chapter 6). That way it would have been far more open-ended, hype-inducing, and less insulting to the ending of Mandalorian S2.

CarboniteSolo said:

Remember this is only 6 episodes

Well Book of Boba is 7 episodes long and half the galaxy has showed up in that span 😄

I will be left happy with at least hearing Liam Neeson’s voice as Qui-Gon. My nerdier side wishes we get to see Clone Wars flashbacks, maybe including Commander Cody or even Obi-Wan’s old flame Duchess Satine.