• Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 2,486

Re: Star Wars: Movies and Shows on Disney+ and More

Mandalorian is a really nice show because it's fun and breezy.  I think it's essentially everything that I wanted from the sequel trilogy but didn't get.  Even as the Mandalorian's story gets more complicated and more tangled in the bigger Star Wars universe, it doesn't have the same level of burden that you get with the movies.  It all feels like A New Hope, and I think that's very fun.

Minor spoilers but I assume everyone knows about the Mandalorian season 2 finale by now:

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There are people who are upset about the Luke appearance.  I don't get it.  It made me so happy.  It's funny - I've consumed a lot of Star Wars content and I guess I like it more than I thought, but I've never considered myself a big fan.  But I absolutely love Luke Skywalker.  One night before The Last Jedi, I couldn't sleep because I was worried Luke would be evil.  And to see him finally get a huge fun heroic moment of dominance was so satisfying.

  • Registered: 2015-06-30
  • Posts: 745

Re: Star Wars: Movies and Shows on Disney+ and More

I've barely seen any who are upset that Hamill "appeared," though some like me have been critical of the CGI.  I felt the appearance had the appropriate grandeur and suspense, though it's unfortunate it was done on a streaming series and not a film. 

One thing I'm kind of confused about is this over-emotional sentiment, which got a Lucasfilm exec in trouble for poking fun at a fan crying after watching.  I'm a massive Star Wars fan, and Luke was Star Wars for me.  I was not that upset with his arc in the sequel films like many others.  That said, I truly do not understand how a brief appearance in this finale "fixes that?"  Many friends were like, there you see, you see!!!  This is the Luke we all wanted.  This is who he was supposed to be after ROTJ.  I'm like, well, okay, yes, that's how he was written in a multitude of Expanded Universe material 20-30 years ago. 

I will say that Filoni/Favreau did it the RIGHT way.  They kept it quiet, and it did not feel like fan service.  That is really I think the biggest threat to what the franchise will do going forward.  Like I think this idea of bringing back all the Spider-Man actors for the next movie is completely absurd.  What kind of disaster will that be?  Oh wait, it's Marvel, the script is irrelevant.

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 2,486

Re: Star Wars: Movies and Shows on Disney+ and More

I agree.  I think season two had a decent amount of fan service, but I think it made sense for the plot.  Boba Fett is absolutely fan service, but he's wearing Mandalorian armor so it makes sense that Mando would run into him.  Same with Bo-Katan.  And Bo-Katan would reasonably lead him to Ahsoka.  And Ahsoka leading him to a Jedi relic that sent out a signal across the universe would certainly come to the attention of Luke.

I think it all made reasonable sense, even all happening in one season.  I do worry about watering down the quality of the shows with *so many* spinoffs.  It makes me think of the dropoff from Family Guy spinoffs or the decrease in the quality of the Arrowverse.  But I assume they'll all be 8 episode seasons so instead of 100+ episodes a year, we're only talking 20-40 a year maybe?  Possibly less if they stagger the episodes.  I think Filoni can manage that fairly easily and there should be enough writers to make it work.

  • Registered: 2015-06-21
  • Posts: 3,196

Re: Star Wars: Movies and Shows on Disney+ and More

Netflix shows are infamous for overstretching insufficient material to fill in time because more episodes means more revenue. Did you feel this happened on Disney+?

  • Registered: 2015-06-30
  • Posts: 745

Re: Star Wars: Movies and Shows on Disney+ and More

If you can't write enough for 8-10 Netflix episodes you shouldn't have a show.  I think Lucasfilm on D+ will be fine.  You're going to have shows which are part of this mini-Mando universe, and shows which are not (like Obi-Wan).  I don't think there's too many spins-off, and frankly you need to have several new seasons a year to justify having the service.  Each series will be 10 or less, likely 8 or less, with some rumor Boba-Fett may only be 4.  Even with the use of that new set technology they have, which allows for quicker, less costly work (few location shots), each show is costly.  Building sets, costumes, etc, can be reused, but I think the streaming model has always been about shorter, quicker arcs.

Here again, I wouldn't be against a post-ROTJ Skywalker mini-series, but I don't think the technology is good enough, nor that Hamill would do it, but who knows?  I know they've tried to get him for a Luke animated series several years ago. 

PS: I encourage all to watch the Disney Gallery for Mando S1, it's extraordinary.

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 2,486

Re: Star Wars: Movies and Shows on Disney+ and More

I've been reading a ton of Star Wars comics recently.  I think they're a lot of fun, and I've enjoyed essentially every one that I've read.

The problem is that I struggle with these stories as anything other than non-canon (ireactions shudders....this is one of those conversations).  But it's just hard to imagine that, in between hiding out from the Empire, all these characters had these extraordinary side missions and met all these extraordinary characters.  There's all those scenes with Anakin and Obi-Wan in the prequels where they reference these fun adventures that we never got to see.  But in the original trilogy, I don't get the sense that they've had countless adventures.  It feels like what we saw is what we got.

But the idea that Leia had this secret mission to rescue Alderaanians and Luke was tracking down Jedi artifacts just doesn't feel genuine to me. I do like the Darth Vader stuff because it does feel like his story is incomplete.  And stories like Doctor Aphra make sense, although she also crosses over with Luke and Leia a lot.

It also made me think about how little I care about the sequel trilogy gap.  I've been thinking about what I'd do differently, but the gap between Episode III and Episode IV seems important because so many things changed.  The Empire took over, the Jedi are now gone, and the galaxy feels different.  Between Episode VI and Episode VII....the universe feels the same.  So anything that happened doesn't really matter, in my head.  I'm sure there are fun stories they could tell, but none of it really mattered.  And it makes it feel like the original trilogy didn't matter.  And Luke in Episode VIII makes so much sense.

Have y'all read much of the post-Disney Marvel comics?  I'm going to read all the First Run ones that I can, and I'll probably wait to read the Second Run ones.

  • Registered: 2015-06-21
  • Posts: 3,196

Re: Star Wars: Movies and Shows on Disney+ and More

I have really only read the Mark Waid Princess Leia comic book series and the DARK EMPIRE comics. In terms of canon, STAR WARS originally took the view that all novels, comics, video games and trading cards were canon, but right from the start, there were serious contradictions. The novels HEIR TO THE EMPIRE, DARK FORCE RISING and THE LAST COMMAND had the New Republic/Rebels successfully establishing a new government after RETURN OF THE JEDI; the DARK EMPIRE comics showed the Rebels' new government collapsing almost right away after RETURN OF THE JEDI. Yet, both were declared canon despite the DARK EMPIRE author confessing he hadn't known anything about the novels.

Some awkward continuity patches were implemented with the initial novels repositioned to just before DARK EMPIRE and the latter novels re-rebuilding the government right after DARK EMPIRE, and constant patching was needed and then THE FORCE AWAKENS threw out all this content anyway in favour of a new Expanded Universe that is supposedly canon but likely has just as many problems.

The main issue is attempting to fit so much material directly into the post-RETURN OF THE JEDI time period -- and this is also common when trying to fit novels, comics, video games, audio dramas and other tie-ins between live action installments of a film or TV series. Unless there is a massive change between installments, tie in stories can't really do *anything* that doesn't put the pieces back where they found them. And, of course, there's the space constraint that tie-ins can either address or ignore.

In the STAR TREK novel, AVENGER, by William Shatner, a character remarks that for all of Captain Kirk's supposed adventures to fit into the original five year mission, it would have had to be a 100 year mission, a hilarious reference to all the novels and comics.

The key would be, I think, to seize on how Luke, Leia and Han are very different in EMPIRE than they were in STAR WARS, and how Luke is very different in RETURN OF THE JEDI than he was in EMPIRE. STAR WARS' Luke didn't have too much depth and seemed certain to always win; EMPIRE's Luke is a far more insecure and fallible character who's clearly had a lot of setbacks and failures; RETURN's Luke is so much more mature than he was in EMPIRE. STAR WARS feels a bit like a children's movie version of space opera whereas EMPIRE is Serious Drama with some jokes.

I think that in comic book publishing, the wish is to keep publishing Luke, Han and Leia's adventures infinitely and indefinitely without worrying about actors aging or dying to keep their characters perpetually at their prime and at the same ages where they originally debuted. Comics themselves are prone to time expansion where there is no sensible way for Spider-Man and Iron Man's adventures to have all taken place without Peter Parker and Tony Stark having been superheroes for 40 - 50 years while only aging 5 - 10 at most. And STAR WARS comics would be no different.