MalaStrana#2

jedi_bendu said:

I just don’t like how Ahsoka currently looks in live action

There is a noticeable stiffness in the way she’s played in live action. She totally lost her agility and smooth moves that I felt very refreshing in TCW.

On the narrative level, we get to see the first known encounter bewteen Luke and his father’s former padawan, and all the exhange is shrinked down as the same comment Beru did 10 years back in Saga timeline (“so much like your father”). Filoni is again just staging something we will never see. All SW shows seem to be about staging other shows or to pretend to correct errors from the past (this short Jedi Temple purge scene which doesn’t add any substance to what was already seen in ROTS…). What about actual new and fun content like the dragon hunt of Season 2 ?

I really wish they would stop trying to tell SW stories which always cross the paths of the main Saga characters. I’m not al all excited to see Luke, R2, or anyone else we have 6 to 9 movies about already… the introduction of BOBF episode 5, with Mando getting a Bounty, is way better than seeing CGI Luke (still not welll done and looks fake all along) building a small temple with spider robots task force (terrible design). And fucking again this training sphere… it was already shitty in AOTC and TROS, it still is here.

Is it so difficult to innovate ?

oviniboy said:

BUT HEY IT’S CAD BANE!!! DO YOU REMEMBER HIM FROM THE CLONE WARS??

Guy is still wearing the same clothes since TCW. And he literally comes out of the blue. Not sure Filoni intended the pun though.

Bottom line is this tv show has been completely disjointed and weirdly produced. I don’t watch that many modern shows but from my experience I have never seen something like that, with such a poor narrative structure, such poor character objectives, unclear world building (I really don’t care about the Pike syndicate, the biker gang, the mayor, etc.: everything is highly uninteresting since the very beginning).

If the future of the SW tv shows is just to get animated characters confrontations to please fan around weak scripts that cannot actually finish any arc begun in previous series, I’m getting worried by OWK series which is probably gonna deliver the same kind of « let’s put everything fan want to see and no pressure about linking all of that with a script ».

I thought we were gonna explore the underworld of the post Empire era and all I got was Boba being merciful and Luke training a puppet to jump 👀

(WTF is that ?!?)

jedi_bendu said:

I think Dave Filoni’s work on Clone Wars, Rebels and Mandalorian season 1 is generally great. Either Jon Favreau or massive fan expectations or both have been a bad influence on him.

I didn’t like Mando that much but TCW and Rebels are mostly fine yeah.

CarboniteSolo said:
What do you think?

I think Disney is simply unable to tell a good story so they rely on existing and established characters to throw easy, weak and unsurprising fan service, which always looks quite ridiculous. It’s again the case with this episode. After the disaster of the ST, one would have thought they had learned from previous mistakes, but nope. It’s getting worse…

It’s a shame, really.

To sum up: let’s wait on a behind the scene feature to know how it was done.

Fan theories are funny but I still prefer facts 😅

Yeah I see your point. PT references have become more and more common after TFA. It might indeed be related to Dave Filloni getting more involved in LFL. It also can be related to the ST backlash and subsequent PT “aftermath” (re)appreciation (outside this site, I have noticed that most people actually like the PT and dislike the ST).

Bottom line is: PT references are actually a good counterbalance to pure OT continuity (and rehash in a way). It works fine. I’m less enthusiastic by new ideas that don’t really blend. On this particular show, I still can’t buy that Temuera is the same guy (physically and in term of personality) we discovered in TESB/ROTJ 😦

CarboniteSolo said:

Chapters 5 and 7 will be memorable for everyone.

So far I have not really seen many memorable stuff in the 2 series. It’s been an overall good series but nothing historical to my view. Seeing Mando clumsy with a dark saber or having CGI Luke showing up out of nowhere is not really my definition of great storytelling. Granted that after the ST it’s still good enough to be very much welcome. I hqve fun watching these episodes, I just don’t feel they really top the best SW has offered before.

That’s being said, I’m looking forward to some cool action in Chapter 7.

jedi_bendu said:

Interesting how much they’re throwing in the prequel references

That has been the case for all SW productions released after 2005. Not even to mention SE references. Binding the 2 trilogies together has been one of the moto of all SW Productions even before Lucas sold to Disney.

Decent but a tad boring 5th episode. This series has strong issues with pace and humor.

Not only characters no longer die in Star Wars, but they even get clone sisters now. The hell…

'Cause Vader got a new helmet. He’s not even totally dressed the same and his voice is a tad different as well. Things happen between movies.

Chapter 4 wasn’t making much sense around a few plots (why is he looking for his armor while he should remember he escaped from the sarlacc with it? why does he tell the rat droid “I am Boba !”? many weird choices as well here and there) but it was fun and Boba is more objective driven with leadership than the unsecure version we have seen since the beginning of the season. I dig a bit more Fennec as well thanks to the pleasant Mission Impossible-like infiltration scene.

Not great but if they keep this level of brainless fun until the end, it can be decent. Not sure I’ll ever revisit it unless the ending really is surprinsingly epic (I also have never rewatched Mando at the exceptoin of the episode with the dragon, which is great).

CarboniteSolo said:

He would rather have the young group with resources working for him, then some scared old man who would run from danger the first chance he could.

Is it really what this scene was about? I’m not even sure Boba could take down the biker gang anyway…

Unless I’m mistaken, Boba is taking over Bib and Jabba’s business, and it was an organized crime business, right?

Damn I wish we got a badass Boba into action around the Galaxy…

Rodney-2187 said:

Boba doesn’t want to be a part of the old corrupt system.

Too bad that’s exactly what he’s doing. If he does not want to be part of the corrupt system, he could become a waiter in a restaurant and start building his own business; such as a discount water distribution.

The more the people who like this series defend it, the more I see why I don’t like this series 😄

Rodney-2187 said:

This is going to be a great year for Star Wars fans!

Let’s see if anything good is actually showing up (you know, quality vs quantity), because so far Boba is quite controversial.

Darth Muffy said:

Ultimately the main issue is theres no actual character development “arc” as we go from the old bad ass Bobba to Rancor hugging compassionate Fett way to quickly.

Too quickly or not, I don’t even get why they chose this path. Boba being nice and respectful, there is absolutely no point. It’s a complete waste of a character.

idir_hh said:

I think the quality of these shows would improve immensely if Favreau got a team of writers working with him. His scripts for some of these episodes feel like they needed a few redrafts to say the least.

When the guy just re uses visual Lucas humor from previous movies, it really is uninmaginative and very lame… he’s showing his limits and should leave others do the writting yep.

Rodney-2187 said:

Perhaps Mos Espa is the Star Wars equivalent of Dubai. The chase did look slow though.

On a social level, it’s the complete opposite though. The SW equivalent of Dubai is more Coruscant.

I hope at some point Boba Fett shows up, because this old guy, wearing the cheap plastic Boba cosplay and leaving the entire decision making to Fennec, really is boring… And it looks more and more like “AOTC: the tv series” with bits of recycled shots from Rogue One (I think they confused Mos Espa with Jeddah).

It’s just getting worse 😦

Omni said:

Wow, really can’t believe the near universally positive reception from you guys. I hated basically everything from these first two episodes, don’t think I’ll be coming back for more…

Well, after seeing the tiresome and dull second episode, I tend to agree: I liked the first episode but it’s absolutely not looking good at all now. Too bad…

jedi_bendu said:

Yeah, the desert monster did give me Harryhausen vibes.

So true! I like when other pulp references are smartly displayed this way, since they were part of the same cultural mayhem SW was born from, especially as I felt that JJ was only circling SW on itself in his dry takes on the Saga.

Good first episode: nothing great but nothing bad either (well, maybe the way Roberto does shoot action, it’s still atrocious on the editing). 35 entertaining minutes, that don’t change SW by doing non sense, and which expands on little inoffensive details. Perfectly fine in my book (!). More or less the same level as Mando season 2.

oojason said:

^ That’s all very well, Mala. Though how can you put Star Wars behind you… not knowing your true feelings and rankings for the one and true Prequel Trilogy - the Holiday Special, Caravan Of Courage and Battle For Endor?!

😉
 

ahah true 😄

For ranking those I’m waiting to watch them as they have always been intended, ie as a “Jedi supercut” (ROTJ + The ewok movies) and a “Death Star Supercut” (Rogue One, ANH and the Holiday special): when they exist in their final form just ping me 😃

I’ll still watch the new tv series beinùg released because they mostly are quite entertaining and kinda fun; just saying that after trying one last time the ST - with very nice fanedits: starlight, legendary and ascendant, which represent almost perfect cuts of each entry - I’m a bit burnt with it and I’l leave to rest for a while the original hexalogy; I have seen them so many times I need to wait a few years before revisiting them.

MalàStrana said:

For one last time, Skywalker/Palpatine Saga only:

1. A New Hope : 10/10
2. The Empire Strikes Back : 10/10
3. Clone Wars (micro series) : 9/10
4. Return of the Jedi : 8/10
5. Revenge of the Sith : 7/10
6. The Phantom Menace : 5/10
7. Attack of the Clones : 4/10
8. The Last Jedi : 3/10
9. The Force Awakens : 2/10
10. The Rise of Skywalker : 0/10

I just cannot fathom how Kennedy, who is a skilled producer and a very intelligent woman, could have produced such non sense. Something went wrong with the ST from its very root, I don’t know how to explain… or maybe I don’t really care now. I feel Adam Driver’s pain: such a good actor in such a mess…

To sum up:

1. OT
2. PT
3. ST : but I just want to forget this trilogy.

So real ranking:

1. OH : Original Hexalogy

See you all. Have fun. I’ll probably come back from time to back to check out OT hybrid cuts and a ROTS conservative edit.

After rewatching the ST with proper fanedits, my ranking doesn’t change much:

The good ones (lucky me that’s they actually form a complete narrative):

1. A New Hope
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Revenge of the Sith
   (with Clone wars 2D it’s a perfect run: 5 high quality flicks to get to the heart of the Saga)

The “it’s still kinda OK” ones:
5. The Phantom Menace
6. The Last Jedi

The “it’s really getting difficult” ones:
7. Attack of the Clones
8. Rogue One

The “I can no longer say something even remotely nice about” ones:
9. Solo
10. The Rise of Skywalker
11. The Force Awakens (this one truly is unwatchable: cheap, uninteresting, déjà vu… the matrix of everything which is wrong in the nostalgia trend which has plagued modern cinema)

I can finally put SW behind me 😃

Next time I’ll follow my own advice ahah 😄

PM sent. I didn’ know the original editor had made a HD version with more alterations: sounds great 😃