Omni

This probably isn’t the thread for this - since this is a thread mostly for people that don’t like the movie finding other people that don’t like the movie - but I absolutely LOVE Rogue One. It nailed the Star Wars aesthetic and feel for me.

It’s the first one, since the original movie, that gave me the true feeling of the underdogs going on a hopeless, suicide mission, for something greater than themselves. I don’t think it undermines Star Wars in any way, Luke’s miraculous, heroic shot is still that. If anything, it makes Rogue One resonate even more, given that all the effort that went down to steal the plans payed off.

I loved every character (even if Chirrut and especially Baze are quite underdeveloped) and I thought the movie had the best humor in a SW movie since TESB. It was a fantastic and joyful experience for me, and I especially love how harmless it is. Don’t like it, move along, like it, alright! I also love that the movie had the balls to make the entire cast die at the end, fulfilling their selfless goal of bringing people hope to fight another day against tyranny. That’s literally what Star Wars is all about, and Rogue One nails it.

I haven’t watched ROTJ in its entirety in years, probably 4 or so. I’m waiting for me to finally get off my ass and edit it for it to go back to regular rotation. TESB I usually watch once every couple of years. Star Wars I watch at least once every year, but usually more.

As for the others… I’ve only seen Solo twice, and Rogue One three or four times. I don’t think I’ll revisit them very often, though Rogue One is my favorite of the two and one of my favorites in general. TROS only once, and I intend to keep it that way, TFA many times in 2015/16 but I think only once since (two days ago, and I don’t think I’ll watch it anytime soon), and TLJ I’ve seen like 7 or 8 times, but I don’t see myself watching it more than once every 2/3 years. As for the PT, I don’t usually watch TPM or AOTC, but I’ve seen them tons of times, and ROTS I watch once every couple of years ish, like TESB.

Really great moment and great episode. I usually cry at the end when Aunt Beru calls Luke and we see him running. Can’t explain why, it just gets me.

The one movie I changed my opinion on, over the years, was TLJ. Still, it wasn’t a drastic change, it’s mostly that when it came out, it almost left a sweet taste in my mouth. Almost. I didn’t hate it, I thought it was very middle of the road due to very high highs but mostly average moments and very low lows. I thought the editing was subpar at times, with the movie being way too long (I really felt the runtime) and some very unfortunate 2010s “Joss Whedon” humor, which has no place in Star Wars and made me feel like I was watching a parody sometimes. I seemed to be alone in neither hating nor loving it though, it seemed like it was either one or the other.

Then came the TLJ debates. They were endless, and talking about the movie eventually swung me to the “hate” side, because the people on that side were, in the end, saying lots of things I agreed with. I hate the setting of the Sequel Trilogy, the reset in the status quo for nothing, just because they needed to make a soft reboot of the original movie for nostalgia reasons. I can’t bring myself not to hate TFA. I hate it on principle, and that barrier is seemingly never going to come down. TFA has no heart, no soul, and that unfortunately bled over to TLJ. So I can never fully love TLJ due to the context it’s in, due to how everything around the movie is, due to being a sequel to TFA.

Luckily for me, TLJ is not really about that. In fact almost nothing “story-wise” happened, as in, not a lot you’d put on history books. It’s almost all character stuff, even the big moments. So slowly, over the years, I’ve been softening up on the movie. I eventually came back to my original opinion that it’s okay, and now I love it. It’s not on par with top-tier SW, but it’s pretty damn close, and I’m happy I appreciate it. There’s still stuff it does I don’t like, obviously, but I like almost all of it.

Emanswfan, is there possibility of a lower bitrate, 1080p render with the colors and the grain? It wouldn’t be nearly as taxing, and I’m betting it’d still look wonderful.

So my girlfriend actually had this complaint about Mando that didn’t even cross my mind and I didn’t see anyone else talk about: she said that Ahsoka in Chapter 13 was very out of character, in not wanting to train Grogu because of his attachment to Din, and she argued that it goes against Ahsoka’s TCW arc.

I guess in a way Ahsoka does leave the orthodox PT Jedi way behind when she refuses to come back to the order, but I’m not sure if that means she disagrees that attachments are bad and potentially lead to the dark side. At the end of the Clone War she just thinks the Jedi lost their connection to the real world and are little more than war mongers, even if some of them have an honest heart. Plus the only other, more affectionate, loving and compassionate Jedi she knew was Anakin, whom she formed a strong bond with, but we all know where that led him.

So I disagreed with my girlfriend, but I saw where she was coming from, that Ahsoka isn’t meant to be a PT Jedi, in fact quite the opposite. But I’m not too big on TCW myself, and only saw Rebels once, so maybe there are more factors here that I’m not considering. What do you Ahsoka and TCW/Rebels fans think?

Stotchy, how are TESB: TDE and SW: TDE coming along?

I’d like a link as well, Kane.

Any perspective on MalaStrana’s alternate audio for V7? I unfortunately deleted my V6 which had it and didn’t even remember, so I’m in the hands of fate.

Huh. Seems weird that a former member feels the right to ban a current member of the site. Maybe it’s just me.

Edit: oops, just re-read the whole post. Good for you that you still have your mod capabilities, oojason. More power to you. Though the banning seems a bit unnecessary given a mod had already intervened. However, I’ll say no more. It’s not my place. Apologies.

Very interesting theory, but since she was just shot in the back in the latest episode without much attention being paid to it… I’m inclined to believe she’s just an Imperial officer.

The Luke “deepfake” (or whatever technique is it they used) looks progressively worse, IMO. Starts off very strong, but those last two shots… straight out of Battlefront II. And I’m not sure if the 2017 one or the 2005 one.

My top 3 is the original Star Wars, followed by V for Vendetta, followed by Interstellar. Love all three almost equally, but SW has a slight advantage. It is my favorite movie, hands down.

NFBisms said:

See, I’m of a completely different mind about it. I think the show could’ve just not had a story.

Grogu and Din traveling to different pockets of the galaxy doing random stuff and growing together along the way, would have been better than what we got IMO. The little adventures they did have ended up being so half baked and bare bones because of the obligation to get somewhere. It only got in the way of fleshing out how interesting the vignettes could be.

It’s not sidetracking if there is no track, and it leaves you with an entire galaxy as a canvas to explore. Din and Grogu just along for the ride. I genuinely think the show would have been better served focusing less on those two and more on the “guest world” or character of an episode. Make it the Cobb Vanth Show, Greef Carga Show, Egg Lady Show, or Mayfeld Show for the episode(s) they’re in. Flesh those characters and their dilemmas out - invest us in them more than the Mando and Baby Yoda. The duo then comes out of an episode having learned or changed by interacting with them.

As it was, it felt like we were just passing through sidequests to exchange favors. But I’d rather we took on the perspective of those being passed by. It’s not like Din and Grogu wouldn’t be in every episode for us to gather an identifiable thread.

The issue for me is that it ended up being very middle of the road, and not in a good way. They didn’t go all in into “big story split into parts”, but didn’t go all in in the “adventure of the week with Mando & the Child” either, so particularly for this Season 2, we ended up with a lot of story crammed into a few episodes.

I was surprised to find out Ezra receives so much hate. He’s a kid, and a charismatic kid at that. He’s not the best character in Rebels, but that’s because Rebels has some phenomenal characters. I honestly don’t get the hate.

Tobar said:

Omni said:

I’m really unhappy with the characterization they gave him. He’s already the cold, calculist Jedi Master, the one that fails Ben and prompts the ST into existence, and… that’s not Luke. Luke is all about emotions and attachments, that’s how he saved his father’s soul. He went against his masters, he was a truly unorthodox Jedi, that’s how he won. He won through love, he understands that that’s what the Jedi are all about, so that’s how his Jedi Order should be. And that character would never remove Grogu, an infant, from the care of a loving father figure, because he knows the importance of such a figure. That was my biggest - and only - problem with TLJ Luke too (that got a pass because Hamill’s just so fantastic). I buy depressed/disillusioned Luke, that’s an extremely emotional Luke, but I don’t buy how he got there, and it’s already showing here. How he seems to have become a cold, detached Jedi, without the love and compassion that won the revolution and his father’s heart in ROTJ. That’s exactly why the PT Jedi failed and exactly why he fails in the post-ROTJ world, but it goes directly against his character IMO.

I’m surprised, to me the Luke from this episode is the exact same Luke we last saw in ROTJ. First, let’s address that Grogu is in fact a danger to those around him. We’ve already seen this when he force choked Cara Dune last season over an arm wrestling match. He’s spent decades alone and afraid and needs guidance on how to control his emotions or he runs a very high risk of either falling to the darkside and/or hurting someone by accident.

Now getting back to Luke. Luke doesn’t just show up and snatch Grogu and run off. He’s there because Grogu called out for help on Tython. And Grogu wants to go with him as is made clear in the dialog of that scene. What you interpret as cold and detached, I interpret as the serenity he carried himself with through Return of the Jedi. Throughout that scene Luke is very warm and reassuring with both Mando and Grogu. He assures Mando that he will protect the child with his life, he reasserts why it’s so important that Grogu complete his training. He gives them all the time they need to say goodbye for now. And he continues to reassure Mando with a “see he’ll be okay” look while Grogu is interacting with Artoo.

It was all consistent with the compassionate Luke I know from the end of the Original Trilogy.

Very good points, Tobar. I’ve been going back and forth on what you said and what I said. I initially had the same impression as you, but then when I gave it more thought it left a sour taste in my mouth, then I came to terms with it again, and so on.

I think once again the rushed execution is to blame. For this season it really feels like Favreau and Filoni lost track of how much stuff they wanted to put in. Since they wanted to do so much story-wise, introducing many new characters and plot threads, and literally wrapping up (for now) Grogu’s story, I don’t think we had the time for a filler episode with Frog Lady, for instance, even if episodes like that are at the very core of the show.

I’m also a bit surprised by how much acclaim Luke’s appearance is getting. I loved it, but only because it’s Luke and I have my nostalgia and love goggles on. Otherwise, from a narrative standpoint, it’s very anticlimatic. The episode is all about the crew and specifically Din giving everything they could to rescue Grogu. That as soon as they find him he immediately gets taken away, is very awkward writing. Again, it mostly works because it’s Luke and everyone loves him and the writers obviously knew that when writing the script, they only wrote it like this because it’s Luke, but it’s weird nonetheless, and I’m never too fond of when something works solely on the grounds of nostalgia.

Ha! That wasn’t the only time this episode I thought about TPM. The Din and Grogu moment is the Anakin and Shmi moment except it’s good.

There were two or three shots of Luke that I thought were really off, but other than that, I think it was great. Like it has already been noted, the de-aged voice in particular was fantastic.

Overall I think S2 was better than S1, but this week’s episode was subpar, IMO. As soon as I finished watching it I was obviously in awe, I felt like a kid again, I teared up, all that. I mean, fuck yeah, that’s Jedi Master Luke, he’s literally my favorite character ever by a good mile, and he’s back and in his prime! I was so happy. Last time I was this happy with a sequence was Master Skywalker in TLJ and before that Vader going apeshit on the Rebels in RO, which curiously is a very similar sequence to this one. You also have the emotional Din & Grogu moment, which is just fantastic. So I walked out of the episode in awe.

However, I thought it was VERY rushed. Compare it to last week’s episode: they dedicated the entirety of Chapter 15 to the quest of finding the location of the cruiser. There was room to breathe, several character moments for both Din and Mayfeld, the action didn’t feel overwhelming because there was actually tension building up due to the slower pace. There were scenes of people sitting down and talking. This one felt like it should’ve either been 20 - 30mins longer and/or be split in two. So much happened. And most of it is not very good - the way they brought back Bo-Katan felt incredibly rushed. A 1min scene in a bar, a 20sec scene planning an attack, then BAM, just action upon action and more action and, WOW, look at that, even more action! And I wasn’t invested at all, killing hundreds of stormtroopers isn’t really interesting anymore. I will say I loved the opening with the scientist and the chase and hostage crisis, though, that was great. The Din and Gideon sword fight was also fantastic.

It doesn’t help that the one character aspect of the whole Bo-Katan affair was just brushed aside, for no good reason other than “Wow, look, Luke’s here!”, either. The problem isn’t that Luke got the spotlight (though some would say that that in itself is a problem, and I’d potentially agree), it’s that they literally ditched the Mandalore aspect of the episode and don’t even go back, like, not even for a couple more lines. I mean… right, we had to have a resolution to Grogu’s story (but not a final resolution like this episode appears to be, that’s rushed!), it’s what the season was all about, but the Mandalore aspect is also very important - Din’s whole identity is in check, come on - and they literally just forget about it. Obviously they were setting up something to be resolved in the next season, but, I mean, literally not even go back for one more shot, really? End the episode on Luke and Grogu? I dunno, I think we needed at least a little bit more in order for it to feel like a proper cliffhanger, in order for stakes to actually be high.

Regarding Luke: I love that he’s back, and I hope we get to see more of him, but that’s fanboy me talking. I had hopes and kind of expected him to show up once the temple thing was mentioned, but realistically I thought there was no way. But, alas, I was actually right, he did show up, and I had a blast. However… if I actually choose to turn my brain on, I’m really unhappy with the characterization they gave him. He’s a cold, calculist Jedi Master, and… that’s not Luke. Luke is all about emotions and attachments, that’s how he saved his father’s soul. He went against his masters, he was a truly unorthodox Jedi, that’s how he won. He won through love, he understands that that’s what the Jedi are all about, so that’s how his Jedi Order should be. And that character would never remove Grogu, an infant, from the care of a loving father figure, because he knows the importance of such a figure. That was my biggest - and only - problem with TLJ Luke too (that got a pass because Hamill’s just so fantastic). I buy depressed/disillusioned Luke, that’s an extremely emotional Luke, but I don’t buy how he got there, and it’s already showing here. How he seems to have become a cold, detached Jedi, without the love and compassion that won the revolution and his father’s heart in ROTJ. That’s exactly why the PT Jedi failed and exactly why he fails in the post-ROTJ world, but it goes directly against his character IMO.

I dunno though, maybe I don’t really understand the character, I guess. But then again, maybe Mando’s writers actually agree with me, but are stuck with this characterization since this is a prequel to the ST after all, and JJ Abrams and co. chose to give Luke’s OT arc to Rey, at the cost of coherence between OT and ST Luke. Rian still managed to bring back idealist Luke, but other than his redemption in TLJ, we’re told he was just another PT Jedi for a good while, which is the antithesis of his OT journey. Sad.

Apologies if this has already been answered, but Ady, are you going to release a 1080p MKV of the color corrected and picture enhanced version you’ll use as base for your edit, like you did for ANH?

Wow, I loved the grade, looks phenomenal! It’s slightly too grainy for my taste, but other than that, it’s… perfect. It’s absolutely the best ROTS has ever looked.

Apologies for touching on matters that don’t concern me but I, too, thought Fated-Dualist was oojason, in hiding after being harassed. There were some “winks” thrown around back when Fated-Dualist took over oojason’s thread making duties, writing and phrasing things the exact same way, etc. I thought it wasn’t meant to be a secret, and that the post from September had been to throw the harassers (this TV’s Frink person, it seems) off.

It hadn’t ocurred to me that having two accounts is against the rules, so I thought it was just an unspoken agreement that he’d continued with another, lesser known, non-moderator account. I don’t think it’s too ludicrous to think they’re the same person, given the way they both write and format things in Markdown, a very unique and frankly unintuitive (even if incredibly sophisticated) way.

Once again, it appears that lots of water’s gone under this bridge I’m standing on, and I’m sorry if I’m only making matters worse. But given the circumstances I thought speaking my mind might clear some things up with the mods.

He’ll upscale ANH:RHD from 720p to 1080p. The original ANH:R from 2008 will stay 576p, I think.

Terrific news, emanswfan. I’m incredibly excited for the beta.

Carry on, then. I think it’s all there and never had to do mental gymnastics, it was all very clear for me.

Except it is. Not only that, it’s very obvious.