Re-reading the original SW books

[Starlight]

Makes me justifiably angry at Lucasfilm and Disney for their atrocities to the SW universe. THE ROADMAP WAS THERE! ALL THERE!

Also... Thrawn Trilogy is still *chef kiss*

[Pryde]

I think the infuriating thing was when Kathleen Kennedy claimed they had no source material to pull from. Like, bitch! You just threw out all the source material you would ever need. ><

[Pryde]

Or when they made three movies and had absolutely no plan. Really you can take your pick, there's just so much to hate about Lucasfilm.

[Halomek]

Some good stuff has come out of Disney. Rogue One is a great film.

And, of course, the Mandalorian and a few other miniseries series have been pretty good at being interesting and keeping the old school feel of Star Wars alive.

But I agree that Disney has largely bungled the franchise. The new trilogy got progressively worse with each installment with plotlines that went nowhere or came from nowhere. Established characters were badly written, new characters were generally unlikable or pushed to the sidelines, and no one had any idea what they should do with the storyline except try to make money off of nostalgia.

Of course the most damning thing about all of the new canon stuff is that Disney keeps bringing things from the old canon into the new canon. Thrawn is probably the biggest example, but it can be seen all over.

(Although I will never be sad about the Vong being wiped from existence. A lot of what happened in the New Jedi Order series of books felt like it was there for shock value and not much else).

[Pryde]

The Disney era did bring us the infamous, "Somehow Palpitine has returned." The best example of the worst writing you'll ever see.

[Starlight]

Yeah... can't possibly forget that...

[Pryde]

I have to hand it to Disney, though. Everything they've done with the possible exception of Rogue One is like an extensive how-to of what not to do when attempting to write a captivating story.

Seriously, though, for fuck's sake, can we stop having side characters exposit the main character's backstory to their face? Presumably they were bloody there when it happened.

[Starlight]

Freakin facts

[Halomek]

I'm watching Disney Star Wars like I watch a train wreck these days. Occasionally you'll get some gems, but most of it just makes me sad.

Rogue One is great despite a couple of uncanny valley moments. It's arguably the best thing Disney has done with the franchise.

Andor is a very slow burn, but I liked it. I really hope they can stick the landing with Season 2.

I've enjoyed both seasons of Visions. Honestly it reminds me of the kind of stories that we've created here. The different art styles are also appreciated.

Mando is still pretty good, IMO. The latest season didn't have the same spark as the first two, but it's still better at being Star Wars than most other things Disney has touched.

[Pryde]

The way they fumble about implementing their messaging is just so mind bogglingly stupid. Episode 3 of the Acolyte suggests the galaxy is unwelcoming toward lesbians, but there were same-sex relationships in Star Wars: The Old Republic 3000 years earlier. Prejudice against LGBTQ+ people did not exist in Star Wars until THEY INVENTED IT. If you have to create a problem to comment on a problem, then maybe you're looking in the wrong place.

Also, they suggest the Force is a thread, not an energy field and they also imply that these witch ladies know how the Force really works and the Jedi are just using it as a weapon, like a blunt instrument. Or, you know, like what the Sith do in real Star Wars.

[Halomek]

I just watched episode 3 of the Acolyte.

I don't have a problem with the witches thinking that they know how the Force truly works since every Forcer group thinks they know the "true" nature of the Force. Nobody really knows. Not even the Jedi. Now if a more authoritative source comes along later in the series and agrees with the witches, then I might get a little upset about it. However, even then I've written off Disney canon as nonsense a long time ago, so at this point I'm just cherry picking some of the designs and concepts I like and ignoring the rest.

I also made a note that the witches would've saved themselves a bunch of trouble if they'd installed a few fire safety measures. Who knew stone was that flammable?

[Pryde]

The writing in this show is just so subpar. They put the main character up against a Jedi Master so OP she can't even touch him, but rather than having her come up with a creative or clever way to outsmart him she says drink this poison and I'll forgive you and he does it! OMFG! Is that the limit to your brain capacity, Disney? Write yourself into a corner and Deus Ex Machina your way out of it? Not to mention the opening was pure cringe, "Attack me with all your strength." And then she says it again. She kills Master Andara, but don't know anything about her so don't care. She's just there for the wow factor, like wow Mae can kill a Jedi Master, she's so skilled. Then the very next one she's like, "I can't kill you so drink this." And he's like, "Okay."

[Pryde]

Also, like... would a Jedi Master really self delete themselves? If he did something he feels remorseful for then isn't there a chance he might feel an obligation to make up for it by doing as much good as he can instead? How many people does he help by dying? Zero. How many does he help by being alive doing Jedi stuff? Potentially billions. But no, let's do the self delete thing, literally the only way to atone for my sins. Just don't see any way out of it, you did a bad thing so now you must die.

[Halomek]

Carrie-Anne Moss deserved better.

I'm actually a little shocked this episode didn't turn the Jedi into child-stealing boogeymen ala "Your child can use the Force, so they're coming with us whether you like it or not."

Honestly, I thought the Jedi were almost too polite about it. It's clear the witches are a Dark Side-using cult and were in the process of indoctrinating the two girls into following their ways despite one of them clearly not being into it.

The episode hinted that the fire was not the only thing that went wrong though, so we'll see where that goes.

[Pryde]

Oh my God, I had no idea how close to death I was last night. Who knew stone could catch fire so quickly? Man, if my supervisor didn't put out the fire that homeless person started in front of the hotel last night we could've lost the whole city!

In all seriousness, though, what the fuck? Materials have ignition points and the ignition point for stone is way higher than paper. Plus there's time to burn, a thin sheet of paper burns quickly, too quickly to ignite wood. She burned a book, though, which okay sure, but unless the whole building was sprayed with accelerant the fire would not have spread that quickly. That's if the building was wood. A building of stone? Hell no. The book would burn to ashes and do nothing else like the damn magazine that transient burned last night.

I know it's Star Wars and it's more sci-fantasy then sci-fiction, but it has to at least make sense. ><

[TalRaimi]

I'm finding The Acolyte quite painful to watch. It's not the direction the story is taking, or the central mystery, but the execution is pretty bad. The chat GPT level diologue really doesn't help, and there are some baffeling decisions happening, like why have all of Ep 3 be a flashback episode? We've barely got to know any of these characters and one assumes the plot hasn't really kicked into high gear yet... it just kills all momentum. Nevermind that Mae simply seems to be a psychopath, that's it, that her motivation and character, end of.

Yeah, overall I'm in agreement that most of what Disney has put out is substandard and simply 'content' rather than meaningful and well executed story telling.

[Jagtai]

I don't hate The Acolyte (yet), but every time I watch I can't help thinking that they should hire us SW-E people to write their shows. They'd be way better.

Sure, we'd need to clamp down on all of the super-epic stuff we sometimes do, but the vast majority of stories I've read here is a 1000 times better than most anything Disney Star Wars has come up with.

[Vox]

I would say it could get worse... But... I'm not sure how.

[Starlight]

It can always get worse

[Pryde]

I would say it could get worse... But... I'm not sure how.

They could do a movie based off a High Republic book with the co-pilot who is literally a giant stone slab. That's what passes for character design these days.

"So, he's a rock."

"Yep."

"How does he move?"

"Nobody knows. He just gets closer to you when you're not looking, and he's intelligent."

I wish I was making this up.

[Halomek]

I can't tell if that's really lazy or kind of clever...

[TalRaimi]

I can't tell if that's really lazy or kind of clever...

Humour wise it's not Lieutenant Kettch that's for sure.

[Starlight]

I can't tell if that's really lazy or kind of clever...

Humour wise it's not Lieutenant Kettch that's for sure.

Beat me to it.

[TalRaimi]

Yub, yub, Commander!

[Starlight]

Yub, yub, Commander!

[Pryde]

I can't tell if that's really lazy or kind of clever...

I suppose it is kind of hard to come up with an immobile rock as a character idea. But then some of us created a tree and those people live with regret everyday. >.>

[Halomek]

Credit where credit is due: your immobile tree isn't inexplicably piloting starships.

[Starlight]

But some *can* wield lightsabers (YJN series)

[Pryde]

Credit where credit is due: your immobile tree isn't inexplicably piloting starships.

But what if it could?

[Halomek]

There are plenty of plant-based species in Star Wars, and a few that are trees, but I think just about all of them can move around like normal.

You probably could create an immobile tree as a starship pilot and have it make more sense than a slab of rock that "somehow" makes it work. Just say the tree roots are integrated with the starship controls somehow. It's just plausible enough to work.

[Pryde]

I suppose it's nice to know even my worst idea is still better than their best. *shrug*

[Vox]

I can't tell if that's really lazy or kind of clever...

This was a video with a cat in it about twenty years ago...

[Vox]

Credit where credit is due: your immobile tree isn't inexplicably piloting starships.

What if it was an Ent?

[Pryde]

Credit where credit is due: your immobile tree isn't inexplicably piloting starships.

What if it was an Ent?

Gonna need a bigger boat.

[Halomek]

Credit where credit is due: your immobile tree isn't inexplicably piloting starships.

What if it was an Ent?

Gonna need a bigger boat.

If it was an Ent, they'd still be discussing where to go.

[Vox]

That book would still be better than the crap coming out about star wars these days

[Pryde]

What if it was an Ent?

Gonna need a bigger boat.

If it was an Ent, they'd still be discussing where to go.

Don't be hasty now.