Superweapon VII

So I bit the bullet and watched Andor. As someone who initially loved Rogue One but found it weaker with each subsequent watch, and as someone who’s been turned off by everything else Disney’s had to offer thus far, I didn’t think I’d ever touch this show, but the continual praise convinced me to take a leap of faith.

I thought the first half of the season was a bit on the boring side, but once the proceedings on the sheep planet were through, I really came to admire the show. Though I love certain EU stories more, this is definitely the best thing to come out of the live-action/television corner of the SW Universe since 1980.

I give it a tentative 9/10. Here’s hoping Season 2 keeps the flow going strong.

StarkillerAG said:

Spartacus01 said:

a movie so poorly written as AOTC.

Yeah… No.

“Just being around her again is… intoxicating.”
“Attachments… FORbidden.”
“I’m haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating, hoping that that kiss will not become a scar.”
“Don’t leave. Your presence is soothing.”
And of course, the ultimate example:
“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything’s soft… and smooth.”

I’m sorry, but if you can’t see how crappy half the dialogue in AOTC is (especially whenever Anakin’s on screen), you’re delusional. And the extremely subpar directing doesn’t do it any favors either.

I was around sixteen when I first saw AOTC. Even at that age, when I unironically liked lots of subpar crap, I found Anakin’s dialogue on the cringey side.

There’s no legitimate defense of that movie.

Stargate SG-1 is Star Trek for conservatives.

NeverarGreat said:

I legitimately wish something along these lines had occurred in the PT. I’ve long felt Padme would’ve been a stronger character if she’d been the Lady MacBeth-type.

I’m a “man”*, and I’ve rarely ever “directly said what I want.” Chalk it up to my restrictive upbringing, but I was never open about my feelings when I was younger, and still rarely am.

*Non-binary, if you want honesty, though I identify mostly with my biological sex, so whatever.

I prefer to call it SW or SW '77. ANH if I’m referring to any of the SEs, maybe.

JF_Sanderson said:

If Vader was Luke’s father in 1978, was he Anakin at that point? The whole “Obi Wan never told you… Etc… I am your father” does not entirely preclude the possibility that he, as a separate guy named Darth, sired Luke with Mrs. Skywalker.

I imagine Lucas was keeping his options open at that point.

Tarantino’s best film is his R-rated Star Trek film. And don’t tell me that it never got made; I don’t care.

Like Maul, Grievous only works for me as a piece of concept art.

I used to think I liked the Beatles. Then as I grew older and started listening to music other than what my parents listened to/was on the radio, I came to realize I really didn’t.

I don’t much care for '60s-'70s rock in general anymore. Except Gerry Rafferty; he’s the main exception.

Channel72 said:

G&G-Fan said:

Michael Corleone from The Godfather is a better young Darth Vader then the actual young Darth Vader.

The Prequels miss so much of the nuance that made Vader so great in the OT. His sadistic humor, his boldness, his cold, domineering presence, how calculating he was. In the Prequels, he’s a hot-head that flies off the handle. OT Vader got mad, but he wielded it like a blunt weapon. OT Vader is like Michael Corleone, but PT Anakin is like Sonny Corleone (at least in terms of temper; Sonny was never intolerably whiny). And that doesn’t mix. They’re two different characters.

If I wrote the Prequels I would have at least one scene where Anakin says “Impressive” and maybe another scene where he says “All too easy.”

I would have zero scenes where Anakin says “You will not take her from me!!!1!!”

Don’t forget the trademark belt grip.

TNG is overrated as is Gene Roddenberry’s vision.

That time Arnold Schwarzenegger saved The Oompa Loompas

Marooned Biker Scout said:

I really like the cover art for Lightsider, old style EU, as it should be!

It’s not bad, but it’s a collage. That Luke comes from the cover of a Dark Empire trade paperback, and that Kam comes from the New Essential Guide to Characters.

Servii said:

I get the disdain for a lot of larger EU projects though. Especially the entire Shadows of the Empire project, the disdain for that one I totally get. Prince Sex Pest and the Han Solo replacement don’t have much lasting appeal.

It’a funny you mention that, cause I’m actually rereading Shadows of the Empire right now. I read it over a decade ago, and the writing is a lot cornier than I remembered. The writing style is clearly oriented toward a younger reader, which makes the creepy Xizor scenes feel even more out-of-place and weird.

The best thing we got out of that whole MMP was all the cool artwork the Hildebrandt brothers did depicting scenes from the book. I love those.

I still don’t get why’d people get vitriolic about it, though. It’s non-canon and has no bearing on current Star Wars. It’s just something harmless that’s there for people to look back on and enjoy, if they want to.

I loved Shadows of the Empire when I read it in high school. All the SW material I’d consumed up to that point had been pretty chaste, so I was … interested … by the plot’s relatively heavy involvement of sex. I also really liked the insight into Vader’s character. But when I revisited the novel in my twenties, none of that wowed me anymore. I find it meh nowadays.

BedeHistory731 said:

As far as the dumbest EU stuff I can remember, it’s Death Troopers. Star Wars but a zombie movie! Han and Chewie showing up laughably kills all tension it ever had.

As far as zombies in SW go, Galaxy of Fear did it first and did it better.

All I can say is that a big chunk of my own antipathy towards the EU back in the day was fueled by supercilious EUphiles* who were adamant that the Expanded Universe was incontrovertibly canon. And I won’t deny that I experienced schadenfreude when those same people were forced to eat crow.

*They also tended to be diehard PT/SE apologists, which also fanned the flames of contempt.

I’m not a science buff, but I have at least a rudimentary understanding of biology and physics, and it does vex me immensely when I see sci-fi works blatantly disregard physical laws. Star Trek is a perfect exemplar of what I’m taking about, which is why I have an immense love/hate relationship with that franchise. And this came to colour my perception of Star Wars, too. But there’s a thread on this site which makes a strong case that SW was never meant to be viewed as sci-fi, but rather Surrealist fantasy.

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-is-Surrealism-not-Science-Fiction-essay/id/82402

Viewed through that lens, the 2D space travel, human-piloted fighters, giant legged walkers, and other logically implausible elements SW is rife with don’t bother me so bad.

StarkillerAG said:

Superweapon VII said:

At least 99% of all modern mainstream musicians with any acclaim are overrated, IMO. Genuinely great modern music isn’t the stuff you’re likely to hear on the radio.

I definitely agree, especially in the last few years.

I saw a very interesting video, arguing that the rise of TikTok is what killed pop music. Ever since Old Town Road became a massive hit due to its popularity on the platform, record labels have been demanding that pretty much every song needs to be “danceable on TikTok”; with a trap beat, gimmicky lyrics, and a general feeling of generic-ness. Indie music is the only genre where you can escape producers demanding that artists pander to ADHD-addled teenagers.

Heh. As someone who felt mainstream music had already reached its nadir by 2010, the notion that it’s gotten even worse makes me giddy.

Men in Black: The Series is better than any of the movies. Yes, including the original.

At least 99% of all modern mainstream musicians with any acclaim are overrated, IMO. Genuinely great modern music isn’t the stuff you’re likely to hear on the radio.

I prefer to think the average person becomes part of a combined consciousness, which is actually the ideal state post-mortem. Lightsiders who retain their individuality are essentially bodhisattvas, while their darkside equivalents are ghosts trapped in a Sheolic quasi-existence.

The Crimson Empire trilogy was a letdown. Excellent first part; okay second part; pointless third part which only rehashed the “resurgent Empire” trope that had already been played out by the end of the '90s instead of realizing the trilogy’s raison d’être (the last of Palpatine’s Royal Guards seeking vengeance against Luke).