Star Wars Black Series

I can't pick up extra Jedi for the sake of it. Even for cheap. I come from a time when Jedi were scarce. And that made them special. Then came a time when the story flashed back to when Jedi were plentiful. It took me some time to come around, but it was cool to see new species and get a sense of new force sensitive abilities. But the concept of Jedi definitely got watered down for me. I never watched Acolyte. I doubt I will.
 
NORM said:
I never watched Acolyte.
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Sadly you're better off. I went into it desperately hoping for something like KotoR, a fun look at a different period of Star Wars separate from the Skywalker bloodline. Unfortunately, the writing just isn't there. And it's a real shame, because they've got some good actors in there. The story just doesn't work, and relies too much on the notion that the mystery it's teasing is its strong suit. It is very wrong about that.
 
I'd say judge for yourself. It wasn't the best thing they did, but I enjoyed the experience of watching it. It definitely falls into that category of "for me but not for thee" entertainment and we're at this point where everything has to be for everyone that a show that flops with some of the audience flops for all.
 
altcunningham said:
I liked Acolyte. It had problems. Probably should have been a movie.

But. It's now bad because it was cancelled.

They fuck you over by not continuing it. Because the meat that I wanted was the cliffhang. And now I don't get it because whiny bitches on the internet.
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Honest folks can disagree, but the fact that there is a cliffhanger at all is a huge art of the reason I think it's pretty bad already. There's hours of trying to duck the reveal of what happened at the Nightsister compound. And then the reveal comes and it's... not really a shock? I was never clear on the stakes of the show in terms of the twins. Aside from being a different order of reclusive mages, I don't see why the Jedi are so keen to get the girls away. They act as though the girls are being horribly abused or something, but we never see that.

We never really get much information on why their birth is important (like, potentially force generated but so what? why does that matter to anyone? what are the consequences that they're terrified of?) and we never really get a clear picture of why the baddy is a baddy (if he even is one).

I also kept waiting for them to turn the whole "kill a Jedi without a weapon" thing to be revealed as meaning "kill an unarmed Jedi" instead of it being a weird combat challenge. Then it would be a moral choice of murder, which seems to track better with the vibe the Stranger gives off. I know they sort of wanted it to be about baiting Jedi into breaking their code, but that seems to already have been done, and it's an overly oblique way to frame the challenge.

They saved so much for later that I didn't know why I was supposed to care about what was happening now.
 
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All fair points.

One of the real tragedies of modern fandom, Star Wars and otherwise, is that there is so much astounding antisocial toxicity that earnest disagreements tend to get either buried or else inflated to toxic levels by default. Which REALLY sucks.
 
AceofKnaves said:
All fair points.

One of the real tragedies of modern fandom, Star Wars and otherwise, is that there is so much astounding antisocial toxicity that earnest disagreements tend to get either buried or else inflated to toxic levels by default. Which REALLY sucks.
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Oh yeah. I saw all the folks talking about Acolyte being "woke" or whatever. Chuck all those folks into the bin. My problems with it are entirely from a structural and script standpoint. I don't get the stakes of the narrative, and because everything was drawn out for a season 2, I can't even be sure the show runners knew.

The characters, actors, and setup are all perfectly fine. And I'd love to see a good show with all of them in it, I just don't think this was that show.
 
Chooch555 said:
My issue was the same I had with the High Republic comics. I find Jedis boring. You can't really do anything with them aside from turn them evil.
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To me that's the classic Superman problem. I agree, Jedi the way they are generally written are very boring. I don't think that's an intrinsic trait, rather a commentary on how rare it is to find a well written paragon type character.
 
JakeEkiss said:
Honest folks can disagree, but the fact that there is a cliffhanger at all is a huge art of the reason I think it's pretty bad already. There's hours of trying to duck the reveal of what happened at the Nightsister compound. And then the reveal comes and it's... not really a shock? I was never clear on the stakes of the show in terms of the twins. Aside from being a different order of reclusive mages, I don't see why the Jedi are so keen to get the girls away. They act as though the girls are being horribly abused or something, but we never see that.

We never really get much information on why their birth is important (like, potentially force generated but so what? why does that matter to anyone? what are the consequences that they're terrified of?) and we never really get a clear picture of why the baddy is a baddy (if he even is one).

I also kept waiting for them to turn the whole "kill a Jedi without a weapon" thing to be revealed as meaning "kill an unarmed Jedi" instead of it being a weird combat challenge. Then it would be a moral choice of murder, which seems to track better with the vibe the Stranger gives off. I know they sort of wanted it to be about baiting Jedi into breaking their code, but that seems to already have been done, and it's an overly oblique way to frame the challenge.

They saved so much for later that I didn't know why I was supposed to care about what was happening now.
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You have given me food for thought. I'll marinate with this.
 
I'd say give Acolyte a chance too. Especially if you go into it with low expectations; not everything holds up to much questioning/scrutiny, but it does take the "from a certain point of view" thing that Star Wars loves to do and runs with it. Who knows if a lot of the other questions folks have would've been answered in future installments (I have a feeling that the qualm with Jedi taking young kids would've been explored more in season 2 with Vernestra). I guess I can't blame them for leaving threads dangling and hoping for a second season- most big shows do it; it's possible Disney even required it on the chance that it was a hit. There was enough to keep me invested, and it took some big swings, not all of which paid off. That said, I liked the characters- I thought Sol was one of the more interesting Jedi we've had in a while, and my praise of The Stranger has been well-documented. If anything, I'm just bummed that we probably won't see more of him, at least in live action. But especially now that it's all out, binge it in a day or two and see what you think.
 
joshsquash729 said:
my praise of The Stranger has been well-documented
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Manny Jacinto was done so dirty by that show. Honestly that pisses me off more than them icing Carrie-Anne Moss (who I think would have been better in the Vernestra role). Manny was *ready* to play a badass, smooth, morally weird Sith guy. Every time he's on screen I want to know more about his deal and I was let down every time.
 
It's interesting how fandom almost always falls for the bad boy even though said bad boy is a serial murderer. Same thing happened with Kylo, Spike and Angel, countless examples from other franchises.

But swap that pretty face with Steve Buscemi and it's a whole different story.

It's also interesting that the lasting draw/legacy of a show designed around two powerful female characters is almost entirely about the male side character.
 
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