Star Wars Movie and Streaming Series Discussion

[Damien]

What we need is another period like the late 80s until the mid 90s or so, where the franchise gets mostly dormant. Clearly that will not happen for a long time. Ultimately, oh well.

To me this ties in to what you said about it WILL happen one day. It can't. Because they're unwilling to stop making Star Wars stuff (for obvious reasons). I feel like a complete reboot is hamstrung by keeping the series active -and constantly referencing the OT-. Andor, by itself, has pushed the OT back into the spotlight again. Every time they do something like that, they reset the timetable for when it would be appropriate or accepted to start over.
You've got people my age that will age out of caring as much about this stuff in 20-25 years, so they can start working on a whole new Star Wars in 10-15 years and avoid a lot of the outrage because MOST of the people hyper-invested in this are already not really keeping score anymore, as it were.
But instead, they keep re-introducing the OT to every generation of kids, to the point where even my 15-year-old daughter would think it's weird if Stormtroopers changed, or if someone else played Luke Skywalker, ya' know? They're doing it to themselves.

Eh... you can but they probably would anyway. The aesthetics, I feel, wouldn't need to be touched. But it would probably end up being something akin to the JJ Abrams Trek movie where it's inspired by the original designs but taken further in another direction. And that's not something I'm really into.

Even that was less extreme than I'd imagine seeing in the future with SW. I mean, you theoretically can redo it and change nothing. But no one ever would. The new owner of the franchise will want to stamp everything new as definitively theirs and unique. They'll want to make all your toys and posters and picture-books obsolete. They benefit from everything being new and different. And from an artistic perspective - concept artists, designers, etc want to CREATE, not trace. These are all core reasons why every new SW thing that exists has new designs, new troopers, new everything - even in timelines where the OT stuff or PT stuff should still exist. There's no NEED for yet another type of walker, or yet another style of trooper that does basically the same thing as all the established troopers. But someone wants to flex a little of their artistic ability, and some company wants to sell a new toy.

So realistically, you have to square with the idea that a remake of Star Wars will include, probably fairly sizable, changes to basically every design element we're familiar with. From the way lightsabers look, to how Stormtrooper armor looks, to even the costumes of Luke and Darth Vader.

It is, and that's why I always come back to "Disney should just do an Old Republic story, and claim that era as their territory going forward". I know they're working on something exploring the origins of the Jedi Order and maybe that will be neat, but I'm also thinking more like the Darth Malgus period. Seriously, it's laid out pretty well, just take it.

Disney could do a lot of things. They could have even gone forward in time and done the Cade Skywalker story. I think possibly the best way to approach 'I now own Star Wars,' if you're not going to just start over, is to carry the story forward. You never have to worry about tripping over yourself to not change events that matter to the OT. You don't have to dogmatically stick to 'but it has to end in this pre-determined place.' You can use the past as a springboard to create a whole new future for the franchise and create this generation's main characters. They just won't do it.

 

[Ru1977]

To me this ties in to what you said about it WILL happen one day. It can't. Because they're unwilling to stop making Star Wars stuff (for obvious reasons). I feel like a complete reboot is hamstrung by keeping the series active -and constantly referencing the OT-. Andor, by itself, has pushed the OT back into the spotlight again.

That's a good point, and you're right... they keep pushing the reboot back. But I know it WILL happen, just like they rebooted Star Trek. it was a soft reboot but the time came where they ran out of ideas for motion pictures, were done with the TNG people (at least, at the time they thought so), and came up with this idea to reboot without throwing away the decades of continuity. Kinda.

So I feel like there will come a time, maybe after a slew of catastrophic failures, where Disney's only option will be reboot.

You've got people my age that will age out of caring as much about this stuff in 20-25 years, so they can start working on a whole new Star Wars in 10-15 years and avoid a lot of the outrage because MOST of the people hyper-invested in this are already not really keeping score anymore, as it were.

Good point. I dunno....

But instead, they keep re-introducing the OT to every generation of kids, to the point where even my 15-year-old daughter would think it's weird if Stormtroopers changed, or if someone else played Luke Skywalker, ya' know? They're doing it to themselves.

Again, you're right. Maybe they can trojan horse it somehow. Have the first one appear to be about something else, then they slip some surprise Skywalker in there at the end and you realize, ohhhhh, okay, this is a reboot.

Even that was less extreme than I'd imagine seeing in the future with SW. I mean, you theoretically can redo it and change nothing. But no one ever would. The new owner of the franchise will want to stamp everything new as definitively theirs and unique. They'll want to make all your toys and posters and picture-books obsolete. They benefit from everything being new and different. And from an artistic perspective - concept artists, designers, etc want to CREATE, not trace.

But again, you're absolutely right. And they're artists, I'd want them to do their thing. And their thing could be more amazing that the tracing.

These are all core reasons why every new SW thing that exists has new designs, new troopers, new everything - even in timelines where the OT stuff or PT stuff should still exist. There's no NEED for yet another type of walker, or yet another style of trooper that does basically the same thing as all the established troopers. But someone wants to flex a little of their artistic ability, and some company wants to sell a new toy.

And, to be fair, I want to buy a new toy. That ISB Agent coming out in Black Series, I keep looking at it and thinking "if only you had a new type of trooper helmet..."

So realistically, you have to square with the idea that a remake of Star Wars will include, probably fairly sizable, changes to basically every design element we're familiar with. From the way lightsabers look, to how Stormtrooper armor looks, to even the costumes of Luke and Darth Vader.

And some of those... I can be down with. I love Vader as is, but I wouldn't hate it if they changed him some. in 2005, I actually was hoping when he got his helmet at the end of ROTS, they'd have gone with one of the other McQuarrie concepts, showing that his armor evolved over the 18 years before ANH. It's fine that he's wearing the same clothes for almost two decades.... Lord knows I have. But I thought that could have been cool.

Disney could do a lot of things. They could have even gone forward in time and done the Cade Skywalker story. I think possibly the best way to approach 'I now own Star Wars,' if you're not going to just start over, is to carry the story forward. You never have to worry about tripping over yourself to not change events that matter to the OT. You don't have to dogmatically stick to 'but it has to end in this pre-determined place.' You can use the past as a springboard to create a whole new future for the franchise and create this generation's main characters. They just won't do it.

Right, because we still end up with the Emperor again. I do agree, if they aren't going to own some era thousands of years in the past, then they should absolutely go forward in time. Even beyond Rey. And I'm not even kinda a Rey hater, but I would like a fresh break from the OT things. And I say this knowing they'll likely STILL be doing things like Andor and Mandalorian, or the Rey sequels, and that's fine with me. I'm ready for five Star Wars things at once. I've been keeping up with the various eras they're covering just in their shows (Acolyte, Kenobi, Andor, Mandalorian/Skeleton Crew/Ahsoka), so that's fine. Do something 200 years after the Emperor died again, while also having a Dash Rendar show set in the period between ANH and ESB. Fine, but let's try that 200 years in the future idea. There are babies born right now who will be ready for a whole newly defined Star Wars to claim as their own.

 

[Fletch]

I don't actually mind that the prequels are flush with Jedi; it's the distinct flavor of that series. I like that both the preqs and the orig trig have their own atmosphere. That's part of why the sequels landed so flatly for me. They didn't create their own flavor and just tried to capture what had been done before.

Also, I'm so surprised to hear anybody advocating for a reboot. When you have an entire galaxy and millenias-long history to expand into or explore, what is gained by trying to make a "more correct" Darth Vader?

Now, I'm a huge "here's how I would've done it differently" fanfic writer, but I would never endorse actually doing that. If you want Phantom Menace with an older Anakin (as I think he should've been), then make a different movie about a guy brought into the order at a later age and maybe explore why the age limit is a policy.

 

[Damien]

I don't actually mind that the prequels are flush with Jedi; it's the distinct flavor of that series. I like that both the preqs and the orig trig have their own atmosphere. That's part of why the sequels landed so flatly for me. They didn't create their own flavor and just tried to capture what had been done before.

Also, I'm so surprised to hear anybody advocating for a reboot. When you have an entire galaxy and millenias-long history to expand into or explore, what is gained by trying to make a "more correct" Darth Vader?

Now, I'm a huge "here's how I would've done it differently" fanfic writer, but I would never endorse actually doing that. If you want Phantom Menace with an older Anakin (as I think he should've been), then make a different movie about a guy brought into the order at a later age and maybe explore why the age limit is a policy.

While I'm not necessarily advocating for a reboot, so I don't want to step on Ru's toes here, I think the response to that is 'why keep writing stories about Wolverine?' He exists in a version of earth with billions of people in it at the same time as him, and billions of people before him, and billions to come after him. The earth of the Marvel Universe is as rich and varied as ours, and there's uncountable decillions of possible stories to tell. Why do we have even TWO Wolverine stories, in such a case?

'Cause he's cool.

I think that's all there is to it. Luke Skywalker's story as told in the OT is one of those stories. You can argue that you can tell -any- story, so why tell this one again. But I think that maybe ignores a bit of what makes us repeat stories in the first place. What makes this or that story simply MORE than other stories? I think it would be hard to deny, warts and all, that the OT is a story that simply connected with people in a way many other stories just didn't.
And when you have stories or characters like that, it's natural to want to tell those stories over and over, and reimagine them. Human history is full of people re-telling and re-writing the stories of their legendary characters. The medieval Welsh, English, and French -could- have told stories about any great king. But they kept returning to King Arthur for a reason.

I imagine I could write a dissertation on why we do this, and what value it has to us. At the end of the day, all that matters is that it's just something we do and will probably always do. I don't think Star Wars should be any special exception to that, even if I'm not personally chomping at the bit to see it happen.

And it's fair to point out - no one is suggesting remaking the OT in defiance of ever making something wholly new. In fact, I'd argue that Ru is probably arguing it from the standpoint of creating something more cohesive that better works with creating something new as well. A new, unified vision starting with a re-make of SW could, in fact, garner WAY more high quality stories spiraling off it than the slapdash, stitched together stuff we tend to get now.

So I feel like there will come a time, maybe after a slew of catastrophic failures, where Disney's only option will be reboot.

I'm undecided on whether or not I agree with that. Disney could just self-destructively continue to reach for something that hearkens back to the OT without touching it directly for fear of corrupting the 'source' of the profits. I really think it's probably 50/50 and will just depend on how the franchise looks and who is in charge when that decision is being made.

And, to be fair, I want to buy a new toy. That ISB Agent coming out in Black Series, I keep looking at it and thinking "if only you had a new type of trooper helmet..."

Lol. We're all guilty. If that stupid trucker-Cal two-pack had nicer lightsaber hilts I'd probably buy the stupid thing despite not even liking really any element of the set besides that.

And some of those... I can be down with. I love Vader as is, but I wouldn't hate it if they changed him some. in 2005, I actually was hoping when he got his helmet at the end of ROTS, they'd have gone with one of the other McQuarrie concepts, showing that his armor evolved over the 18 years before ANH. It's fine that he's wearing the same clothes for almost two decades.... Lord knows I have. But I thought that could have been cool.

I don't think there's value in trying to pretend there's no world where we could do Star Wars better in every way. The problem is that WE won't be the ones to appreciate it, because we are always going to be tied too heavily to the originals. The person to judge the new Star Wars would need to be someone who, for them, is watching their first ever Star Wars. Only time would tell if the new one could eclipse the old one and become what the old one became. I'm not sure that'll actually ever happen, but I'm fairly sure I won't live to see it and probably wouldn't appreciate it properly if I did.

Right, because we still end up with the Emperor again. I do agree, if they aren't going to own some era thousands of years in the past, then they should absolutely go forward in time. Even beyond Rey. And I'm not even kinda a Rey hater, but I would like a fresh break from the OT things. And I say this knowing they'll likely STILL be doing things like Andor and Mandalorian, or the Rey sequels, and that's fine with me. I'm ready for five Star Wars things at once. I've been keeping up with the various eras they're covering just in their shows (Acolyte, Kenobi, Andor, Mandalorian/Skeleton Crew/Ahsoka), so that's fine. Do something 200 years after the Emperor died again, while also having a Dash Rendar show set in the period between ANH and ESB. Fine, but let's try that 200 years in the future idea. There are babies born right now who will be ready for a whole newly defined Star Wars to claim as their own.

Man, I'd love Rendar but I don't think they can really do a good Rendar show without actively choosing to recast Leia and Luke, at least. So that's a big struggle.

I could probably sit here and go over all kinds of ideas I've had for how SW should move forward for hours. I've got the ideas ready to go. Get me on a real ADHD-tangent kind of day and I could probably verbally write the next six movies and 2 TV shows for you in one sitting. I've got 'em ready to go.
In my perfect world, we could delineate 'old canon' from 'new canon' and have separate, concurrent versions of the Star Wars universe to enjoy. But that's just not practical on a wider scale. But frankly, I also think the current canon for Disney Star Wars is so bloated with trash, bad ideas, bad writing, etc that it isn't really salvageable except to just move WAY beyond into a period of time where almost nothing we know already actually matters anyway. And even then it's still inherently mired in some really shitty decisions. I don't know what the answer to that is. All I know is anything that comes directly after the ST and follows Jedi anything is doomed because of the connection to 'grumpy grandpa suicide Luke' and whatever the fuck the entirety of the final movie was supposed to be (besides utter and unrepentant trash).

 

[docsilence]

Without getting into ANY details because it's so soon, I just want to say that this week's Andor installment was so tensely written that my heart rate is such that I feel like I just narrowly avoided a deadly car crash. I can't DO anything after watching, I just want to sit here and stew in my own emotions.

 

[Ru1977]

what is gained by trying to make a "more correct" Darth Vader?

Well, it's not even Vader I really wanna correct. If we're redoing it, then yeah, starting with Anakin older is something I'd be into. but really.... to be utterly honest here, what I want? Is for Leia to not be Luke's sister. It's obviously something I can't get over, heh. And I'm willing to start completely over to fix that one thing, as well as endure whatever ripples it causes.

I don't want to step on Ru's toes here

Appreciated.

Luke Skywalker's story as told in the OT is one of those stories.

Definitely.

I think it would be hard to deny, warts and all, that the OT is a story that simply connected with people in a way many other stories just didn't.

Right. My son got into the OT immediately when I showed it to him. The PT took him a while to warm up to, and the ST he still hasn't gotten into, even though he was around the same age for the ST as I was for the OT.

Human history is full of people re-telling and re-writing the stories of their legendary characters. The medieval Welsh, English, and French -could- have told stories about any great king. But they kept returning to King Arthur for a reason.

Also, with more ancient myths, spanning across the world. Some Native American myths are incredibly similar to things from ancient Ireland, and ancient Greece, and so on.

The thing is... should we start a new star wars that 'fixes' the faults of the OT? But isn't that just going to be a Luke copy? Maybe that could end up being amazing, but some fans are going to hate it for not being original enough. Or make that character female to change it up more... well you know how that goes. Make it Luke's great great great grandchild and that's another reason to hate it. Which brings me back to... why not just retell Luke?

no one is suggesting remaking the OT in defiance of ever making something wholly new

Exactly! Actually the opposite. I'm ready for Disney to be giving us a few different Star Wars every year, set in different eras. It's fully what I expect. Not saying they should destroy every copy of what exists already, not stop producing things that tie to it. But give this a try.

I keep bringing up a Mon Mothma spinoff from Andor, and that's kinda my compromise. Retelling the OT from a new perspective, which can also be a great way to relive some of our favorite moments from a different vantage point.

I'd argue that Ru is probably arguing it from the standpoint of creating something more cohesive that better works with creating something new as well.

Yes, please! Where Leia isn't Luke's sister, OR they never kiss in ESB. Something like that. The other thing, for me, is knowing Lucas's original intent for episodes 6-9, with 6 being about rescuing Han Solo and defeating Jabba, then the next trilogy was about Luke seeking out his lost sister, turning Vader back, and defeating the Emperor. Part of me would really love to see that version, especially since it spends four movies-worth of time in the galaxy far far away rather than just one.

A new, unified vision starting with a re-make of SW could, in fact, garner WAY more high quality stories spiraling off it than the slapdash, stitched together stuff we tend to get now.

Definitely. Continuity is my big OCD thing.

I really think it's probably 50/50 and will just depend on how the franchise looks and who is in charge when that decision is being made.

You're probably right. I just know, at least several years ago, the easiest greenlight to get was pitching either an adaptation of a successful property (book, comic, or some other medium), or a remake of a successful film/show.

Lol. We're all guilty. If that stupid trucker-Cal two-pack had nicer lightsaber hilts I'd probably buy the stupid thing despite not even liking really any element of the set besides that.

Heh heh, yes!

The problem is that WE won't be the ones to appreciate it, because we are always going to be tied too heavily to the originals.

Man, I'd love Rendar but I don't think they can really do a good Rendar show without actively choosing to recast Leia and Luke, at least.

I could probably sit here and go over all kinds of ideas I've had for how SW should move forward for hours. I've got the ideas ready to go. Get me on a real ADHD-tangent kind of day and I could probably verbally write the next six movies and 2 TV shows for you in one sitting. I've got 'em ready to go.

Spoiler

it isn't really salvageable except to just move WAY beyond into a period of time where almost nothing we know already actually matters

Agreed. It really seems the best and most universally acceptable option.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

My wife and I finally finished episode six today. I'll probably have to dip out of this thread until we're caught up on today's episodes. I wanted to see what the general consensus was and of course you guys dovetailed into larger discussions about franchise IP and Star Wars. You assholes roped me into writing a 30-minute reply.

My position on Star Wars was fairly well documented on Fwoosh. The tl;dr is I used to love Star Wars. It was easily my second-favorite property after Marvel. Then Disney slowly beat the love out of me. It became commercial storytelling for the sake of making money. All commercial art exists to make money, but some of it actually has other reasons to exist. I don't think Star Wars had another reason to exist since RotJ, and that's coming from a RotS defender.

Taken as a whole, I think the sequel trilogy is the worst art I've ever seen. Despite its massive budget, it's totally directionless. I could go on a two-hour rant about how Finn was set to be one of the most interesting Star Wars characters before Disney let some racists grab the wheel. I think we're all aware of the ST's shortcomings, so I won't belabor the point.

Coming out of the ST, I liked The Mandalorian season one and 90% of season two. Then they shoehorned Luke Skywalker in. To me, it was stomach-turning fan service for the sake of fan service. I fully gave up on Star Wars after The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan, two shows that technically happened.

I was begrudgingly pulled back into Star Wars when Andor premiered. I had no intention of watching it, but I had no choice when I heard real critics singing its praises. I was shocked. Despite loving Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton, I didn't care for Rogue One. I thought it was fine. Then season one blew me away.

Now, 18 episodes in, I can't laud it highly enough. I think it's easily the best Star Wars thing ever made. It's among the best science fiction shows or movies, if not the very best. I'm not foolish enough to think Andor is representative of Star Wars turning a new leaf. A blind squirrel finds a nut, etc. I fully expect that the next Star Wars release will be another Book of Boba Fett.

I'm starting to think that franchise-fatigue is a coy way of not admitting (or not saying, or not realizing) that some stuff is just not really very good. A lot of people with SW-fatigue during the new trilogy suddenly didn't have it for S1 Mandalorian. Ya' know? I think the fatigue sets in very specifically when something isn't good enough on its own merits to not just be a nostalgia grab. The more the show makes you think about how you only like it because you've always liked this whatever it is, the more it feels like 'fatigue' of that thing, when really you just don't like crappy movies or TV shows.

This is a good point, though enough bad content can clearly turn me off of an IP for good.

I think the MCU exists in a similar space for me right now. I'm probably at the point that I was after The Last Jedi. I'm fed up but still buying tickets.

Same for the target audience argument, which I've seen in a lot of places. I am not really the target audience for Teen Titans Go! I watched that show because my son liked it. And I will STILL watch it with him whenever there's a new episode, even if I don't really need to be in the room at the time, because it's a fucking hilarious show most of the time. Things can be good or not good. I don't think there's legitimately a specific target audience for 'a good time.'
The obvious exception being stuff written and filmed very specifically for extremely young children. Totally valid that adults aren't going to have a good time watching someone teach you how you count or what colors and shapes are. But if you can't get into a kids' cartoon, for example, it might just be BAD rather than 'not made for adults.'

Adventure Time is my go-to example. Adventure Time is one of my five favorite TV shows, period. Like Pixar movies (the early ones, at least), it isn't "adult content in a kid wrapper." It's just good art.

I've banged this drum for YEARS. George is absolutely terrible at writing. You can feel the lack of oversight and free-thinking creative input in the Prequel Trilogy. It's painful how obvious it is that these were films made after the period where George had become so rich, famous, and powerful that no one could, or was willing to, tell him how fucking stupid all of his writing was. Terrible.

Jamelle Bouie had some good ideas for the prequel trilogy today in the thread below. The prequels have some redeeming qualities, but you still have to qualify that with a lot of "buts."

https://bsky.app/profile/jamellebouie.net%2Fpost%2F3lojueqvwfk2i

I don't think we disagree here, it's definitely a problem of Lucas' own making. Coming out of the OT, lightsabers were certainly iconic, but I'm not sure they were integral. Genuinely feel that it was actually the prequel trilogy that made Star Wars 50% about lightsabers.

Yes. I'm running a sci-fi-themed D&D campaign soon. In telling my players what to expect, I compared it to Firefly and Cowboy Bebop. Han is easily the most notable smuggler in popular entertainment, yet I didn't even mention Star Wars to them. Characters like Han, Luthen, and Andor were sidelined for more fucking lightsabers.

The impressive thing Mandalorian did, at least in the first season, was recapture that idea that the SW galaxy isn't defined by lightsabers, but by a general tone, feel, and visual style of the setting. I'd argue that Mando nailed SW more than the Prequels ever did and felt more like something in line with the OT and even the early novels. It's also worth arguing that Mando S1 was extremely well-received, so we're not the only ones that don't think you have to have big lightsaber fights for it to be Star Wars.

Remember when Star Wars was a space Western? Disney doesn't.

Also, I'm so surprised to hear anybody advocating for a reboot. When you have an entire galaxy and millenias-long history to expand into or explore, what is gained by trying to make a "more correct" Darth Vader?

This is ultimately my biggest problem with Star Wars. I'm sick to death of the Skywalker saga. Not every Star Wars story needs to focus on the Skywalker family. Nearly every Star Wars product (term used pointedly) hits on the same family and the same 60-year timeframe. Expand your fucking horizons! That's what made Knights of the Old Republic so interesting. It wasn't just about the next Glup Shitto cameo.

 

[Fletch]

@Ru1977, I'd read somewhere a long time ago that the original original idea for New Hope didn't include the destruction of the Death Star but they didn't know they'd get a trilogy so they put the grand finale there. Then they got the trilogy and just sort of did the grand finale again.

As long as we're pitching a remake, I'd like to contribute that. Death Star in  either ANH or RotJ, but not both.

 

[Ru1977]

Right, and the concept of Coruscant was a possibility for ROTJ but it became a second death star instead. But yeah, a single death star would be a good idea. Somehow, the death star returned.

 

[Ru1977]

Without getting into ANY details because it's so soon, I just want to say that this week's Andor installment was so tensely written that my heart rate is such that I feel like I just narrowly avoided a deadly car crash. I can't DO anything after watching, I just want to sit here and stew in my own emotions.

I watched the first two and had to save the last one, but yeah. I'll be happy to watch it tonight rather than next Tuesday though. The second episode had me half getting up in my seat then sitting back down a few times.

 

[Ru1977]

The tl;dr is I used to love Star Wars.

I had a period like this. I accepted the OT will always be Star Wars for me, but I can also enjoy some of the other stuff. I'll always give Star Wars a try, but I'm not forcing myself to watch stuff that doesn't grab me. Skeleton Crew, for example, didn't strike me as bad, or 'not Star Wars', but just didn't grab me.

I could go on a two-hour rant about how Finn was set to be one of the most interesting Star Wars characters before Disney let some racists grab the wheel

Yep. The only thing I'll say, which I've said a lot already, is ROTS could have saved the whole trilogy. TLJ would have been seen as a masterpiece had ROTS stuck the landing. But now I realize, the ST set a trajectory to suck much earlier than that.

Coming out of the ST, I liked The Mandalorian season one and 90% of season two.

Agreed. I always sneered at the idea of them bringing back Fett, especially the movie they were planning, but... damnit, they turned me around. Then BOBF faced me back at sneering.

I'm not foolish enough to think Andor is representative of Star Wars turning a new leaf. A blind squirrel finds a nut, etc. I fully expect that the next Star Wars release will be another Book of Boba Fett.

Right, definitely. But I'm hopeful we get an Andor once in a while.

Jamelle Bouie had some good ideas for the prequel trilogy today in the thread below.

Yeah, really good ideas, and perfect for a reboot, heh heh heh.

Not every Star Wars story needs to focus on the Skywalker family.

Hard agree, but even if they do a reboot, or a retelling from someone else's POV, I still expect Disney to pump out other stories and releases from other eras.

Knights of the Old Republic

This will always be my first choice.

 

[Wicker_Basket]

Right, and the concept of Coruscant was a possibility for ROTJ but it became a second death star instead. But yeah, a single death star would be a good idea. Somehow, the death star returned.

seldom a day goes by where I don't wonder how RotJ (and maybe Star Wars as a whole) would have been different if Gary Kurtz had remained on board

though that would probably mean no Ewoks so for starts I'd have a different name/profile picture

 

[Ru1977]

seldom a day goes by where I don't wonder how RotJ (and maybe Star Wars as a whole) would have been different if Gary Kurtz had remained on board

though that would probably mean no Ewoks so for starts I'd have a different name/profile picture

Ha, perhaps yeah. Or maybe that's an argument George would have won and Gary would have won on something else. I also lament Marcia Lucas. I'm not saying she and Kurtz were the secret masterminds of Star Wars, but I think their input really helped Lucas's creativity. I'm a massive control freak, creatively, but I still have three or so people I trust to bounce idea off now and then to see where I feel it should go.

Ah, that's okay. At least we got Radioland Murders. /s

 

[docsilence]

I saw someone complaining today that certain things in Andor are enhanced if you watched Rebels because it takes place in the same time frame, but I gotta say, of ALL the live action shows and frankly even most of the animated stuff, Andor best elevates itself from required previous viewing. You could hand this to someone and just say "it's a spy show and all you need to know is there's an evil fascist empire ruining everyone's lives, these are the people fighting to stop that" and you can roll with it - but it's peppered with so much lovingly crafted winks and nods to age-old lore that it feels deeply embedded in the galaxy.

I mean I love Rebels, but it benefits from Clone Wars, and so does Bad Batch, which might be my favorite of the animated series. And Ahsoka DEFINITELY benefits from Clone Wars. Kenobi is literally a sequel to the prequels. Much of Mandalorian stands alone which is one of its strengths, but a lot of times it feels like Filoni is playing with all his favorite toys there so it helps to have seen the animated stuff. Andor every episode has SOMETHING that I do Captain America "I got that reference" smirk at but it's not plot pivotal in a way that is distracting. It's MASTERFUL how well the show lives in the cracks and crevices of the bigger picture.

I also love the time jumps because we don't need to know every single way Andor got his hands dirty during the years., We just see the weight of that grime building up on his soul.

 

[Revox]

I'm not here to rehash tired, old arguments, I'm here to praise the absolute fuck out of this week's arc. Episode 8 in particular isn't just the best ep of the season or even series, it's possibly the best episode of anything I've ever watched. Just completely absorbing, unbearably tense, heartbreaking, and brutal.

The biggest surprise to me was that

Spoiler

Syril was the only one to cash out this week, I was dreading a main cast massacre to go along with the poor Ghormans. And even then, Syril's reaction to the horror unfurling to these people he'd come to respect was just and good and I wish he hadn't spotted Cassian in the plaza because maybe he could have gone on to make a positive difference from there (if he were able to get the hell out).