Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

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andersonh1
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by andersonh1 »

Wow, it's been awhile. Anyway, we got the free week of Disney+ to watch the Mandalorian and the final Clone Wars episodes. Four chapters of Mandalorian down, and it's very, very good. Four episodes into Clone Wars, and I'm not sure why they spent time on "The Bad Batch", even though the episodes were as good as anything we see on that show, when I wanted to see more long term plotlines addressed. Still, it's good to see Admiral Trench's fate and to see some of Anakin's final days on the right side, even if he's getting more ruthless. Looks like the final two arcs (that I haven't watched yet, though I've seen the trailers) will deal with what happened to Ashoka after she left the Jedi order, and the siege of Mandalore, which will feature Darth Maul, last seen being captured by Sidious himself. Portions of the final episodes take place concurrently with Episide 3, so looks like we'll see how Ashoka and Rex survive Order 66.

Disney Star Wars stumbled on the big screen, but the the television series have been excellent.
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andersonh1
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by andersonh1 »

The second four-part story arc in the final Clone Wars season deals with Ahsoka's attempts to figure out what her life is going to be after she left the Jedi. It's a good story, but again doesn't feel like the type of big-stakes storyline we should be seeing at the end of this series as Ahsoka falls in with a couple of sisters who live in the poor lower levels of Coruscant and who get mixed up in spice-running and the Pyke Syndicate. This story does set up the final arc by showing that Maul is again free and controlling some of the underworld criminal activity, and by having Bo Katan and some Mandalorians contact Ahsoka for help. But here at the end of the Clone Wars (both as a fictional war and as a series) I was expecting bigger storylines. But I think the final story arc should delliver on that expectation.
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by Shockwave »

I haven't seen all of Clone Wars, in fact, I haven't seen much of it at all. A few episodes here and there and the arc that was centered around Darth Maul. And I probably wouldn't even have seen that if I hadn't seen the statue for sale on BBTS of him with the robot spider legs. I would be interested in seeing the stories about Ahsoka and why she left the Jedi Order.
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by JediTricks »

The Ahsoka arc was a massive disappointment. Here we could be spending time with Ahsoka, learning about the broader world she's thrust into, and instead it's just these 2 moron characters written from the perspective of the dumbest people ever, who continuously make the same bad choices with nothing interesting to say. The message about how the Jedi let them down felt like it was under-served when the story spent so much time focusing on antics and stupidity rather than that. What a let-down.

Luckily, the final arc at least felt like it had something to say, even if that wasn't especially surprising material. I won't say more due to spoilers, the last ep only dropped yesterday morning.
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andersonh1
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by andersonh1 »

JediTricks wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 11:19 amThe Ahsoka arc was a massive disappointment. Here we could be spending time with Ahsoka, learning about the broader world she's thrust into, and instead it's just these 2 moron characters written from the perspective of the dumbest people ever, who continuously make the same bad choices with nothing interesting to say. The message about how the Jedi let them down felt like it was under-served when the story spent so much time focusing on antics and stupidity rather than that. What a let-down.
Yeah, I have to agree. I think I'd have preferred a story arc where she explored different aspects of life on Coruscant so we could see exactly if or why those other options would not work for her before she returns to the life of a Jedi, whether or not she rejoins the order. Spending all four episodes with those two sisters who kept making dumb choices did seem like a wasted opportunity. They would have been fine for a mid season story of an ongoing series, but I don't want to waste time with incidental characters when we have this one last chance to revisit this era and this series.

Think about who we're not seeing. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been around, but not much. No sign of Count Dooku or General Grievous. No follow up on Ventriss, so we'll likely never know what happened to her. It would be interesting to see Maul and Dooku meet and see Palpatine's two apprentices interact. It would be interesting to see Anakin and Obi-Wan discuss what the Jedi did to Ahsoka. There are just so many more interesting story choices and characters that we could have spent the four episodes following.

At any rate, we've been going back and forth between the two series, so we watched episodes 6 and 7 of the Mandalorian last night. It was good to see the earlier episodes tie into the later ones. Some of the episodes have felt disconnected, which wasn't a big deal since they were very good, but I still like seeing the returning characters again. One episode to go for that show. Dave Filoni's cameo was fun.
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by andersonh1 »

The Mandalorian ended well. The show looks great, it fits nicely into the Star Wars universe and wisely sticks with small scale stories and stakes. The chaos of the post-Empire, early New Republic galaxy allows the writers to use familiar villains like Stormtroopers, etc., while not having them be as all-pervasive a threat as they were during the OT. I enjoyed the flashbacks to the Clone Wars and the appearance of the
Spoiler
darksaber
in the final scene, hinting at something larger going on with Moff Gideon.

Now to finish Clone Wars. Should be good!
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andersonh1
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by andersonh1 »

Now THAT felt like a series-ending storyline. Some of thsoe episodes were just about perfect. Well done to all involved with Clone Wars, they recaptured the old look and feel of the series very well.

Thoughts:
Spoiler
- it was very effective storytelling to show the events of "Revenge of the Sith" from Ahsoka's point of view.
- I was surprised that Rex took part in Order 66. I expected him to have removed his chip beforehand, but no, he's trying to kill Ahsoka along with all the other clone troopers.
- the conversation between Maul and Ahsoka is every bit as good as the fight between the two. As he did in Rebels, Maul tries to make connections with others and just can't do it, lacking the necessary empathy and good will needed. And yet he still almost persuades Ahsoka at one point. Maul himself has become more and more competent and thoughtful and powerful as the series has gone on. They really did an outstanding job developing him as a character, fully justifying what I once saw as a gimmicky "back from the dead" stunt.
- I knew when Anakin and Ahsoka met in part 1 that it would be the last time they'd see each other.
- We get a little bit of Obi-Wan and Anakin discussing Ahsoka's departure from the Jedi order, so while it was not quite as in-depth as I'd have preferred, what we got was appreciated.
- Good to hear the Order 66 music from Episode 3 employed, tying those scenes in nicely with the movie.
- Mace Windu is a jerk.
- the final scenes where Ahsoka and Rex are trying to escape are so well done. I was completely caught up in the drama of the whole situation, even knowing that they both live to turn up decades later in Rebels.
- I presume that was Kanan/Caleb getting a cameo in part 1.
I think they missed some opportunities with this revival, most notably by spending too much time with the two sisters during Ahsoka's story arc, but by and large I'm very glad they revisited Clone Wars and ended the series properly. Well done. The Siege of Mandalore arc is up there with the best of the series.
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by JediTricks »

Yeah, the final 4 episodes of The Clone Wars were back to form, although the final episode itself felt perfunctory rather than especially necessary thew way the penultimate ep felt.

It's funny, we watched Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens on Monday for May the 4th, and ROTS is still just dead awful,
Spoiler
I felt badly for The Clone Wars' finale having to tie into it at parallel segments.
As for the final season of Clone Wars as a whole, it did feel like a wasted opportunity. We had already seen the Bad Batch episodes in cruder form, so that was filler, and the level 1313 sisters was a lot of filler with very little actually saying the thing the eps were trying to say about the normies viewing the Jedi, so it was really just those last 4 eps doing all the work. I assume that's how Disney could justify the budget on it, they already had some work done.

TFA is still a clunky movie that feels like a complete pretender to Star Wars, a fun ripoff but not Star Wars, that's what I said 5 years ago when it came out and my opinion hasn't wavered.
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by andersonh1 »

Rumors are that we'll see Temura Morrison playing Boba Fett and that we'll see a live-action Ahsoka Tano in Season 2 of the Mandalorian, and I think Katee Sackhoff has been confirmed to be playing Bo-Katan. It will be good to see some of these formerly animation-only characters make the transition to live action, and I have faith that Filoni and Favreau will do them justice.
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Re: Star Wars - General Discussion Thread

Post by JediTricks »

There have been SO many names attached to Mando season 2 that I'm worried it's going to be overload.
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