Star Wars Movie and Streaming Series Discussion

(Now that I think about it, "did that really just happen?" seems to be the theme of all the films. The shows, even the worst Star Wars TV show, seems to be conscientious enough to avoid weird glaring messes like that, but almost every film has a few moments where if you think about it too long it goes to a really weird place. "I'm going to buy your child because he's special but leave you to die on this desert shithole planet," for example. I love these movies but there's something in every film that makes you wonder, like, who did the Ewoks eat so Leia could have that dress?)
 
Did you see the fan edit of TPM where they completely changed Jarjar's personality to be a braggard dick who keeps taking credit for the Jedi accomplishments despite being a clumsy coward, and they dubbed an alien language over him and had all his dialogue subtitled? It was actually pretty well done.
 
It's probably singularly the one film I both admire for it's artistic ambitions but also hate to the depths of my heart.
I don't remember the context of this line since I saved it so long ago, but I wanted to respond that this movie, for me, is Whiplash. Hate everything about that film and it's complete unchecked abuse of authority, but admire it's technical prowess. It's a weird feeling.
This is correct. The only way it works is (as they should have done) to end the Yoda/Palpy fight with Yoda diminished immediately - unable to reach prior levels of power or functionality so that the idea of actually fighting any Sith becomes a non-option, as well as to really press on the idea that Vader is more powerful than Anakin, not less powerful. Then you can explain Ben/Yoda not immediately teaming up. But even then, that relies on there being almost no Jedi left.
There's a lot of ways to write it that it could make sense - they just didn't choose any of them.

This thread has re-contextualized a piece of this for me - Order 66 killed most Jedi (let's say). So then Vader spent the next decade hunting down the rest. Why did he even need a throne on Mustafar - he should have just remodeled the Coruscant Jedi Temple. This gives Vader something "special" to do - a purpose - but also explains why there are so many. It makes sense that a bunch of Jedi did survive.

On the Yoda ROTS front - re-watching the film in theatres I had this exact thought - Yoda just gives up and let's Palpatine go. It's HORRENDOUS. If ever there was a time to die trying - do, or do not - it's right then. And he just saves his own puppet skin.

BUT have y'all revisited the animatic for this sequence lately - I know we all watched it in 2005. :) It's on D+ and it shows the two being separated in a way where Yoda CAN'T get back to him and I was struck - why the hell is this not in the movie? Also, the animatic sequence was very interesting with the cameras recording the whole thing and beaming the fight out to the galaxy, all proving Palpatine's POV - the Jedi are trying to kill him. And then Yoda realizes just how much he's getting played. It also lends to him going into hiding - the bounty on his little head would be astronomical for his attempted assassination and everyone would know his face, which renders him useless to any future fight.

And again I wonder - how have we never gotten a Senate seat playset in either scale?

On the "we don't serve their kind" front - what is Wuher supposed to serve them? If he can't make money on serving them food and drink they can't partake, they are taking up space in his bar from a scoundrel with money who can. Makes sense to just not let them in - while also being it's own version of racist.

But I'm someone who thinks the Star Wars galaxy is a pretty vile place - asshole, isolationist space monks who allow slavery all over the place and fascism to rise, every person has a gun, most every person uses those guns to murder without consequence. I much prefer Star Trek's view of the future than a long, long time ago.
 
asshole, isolationist space monks who allow slavery all over the place and fascism to rise
One of my biggest gripes about the PT: pretty much all the “heroes” are totally unlikeable. And sure, sure, one can make a “that’s the point” argument re: the Jedi, but it’s just such a bummer that the only one of them with any charisma or moral rightness is iced pretty much immediately (I’m talking Qui-Gon here) and ALL the rest of them (Obi-Wan and Anakin VERY MUCH inckuded) are just really REALLY hard to root for. I would contend that a lot of it is the simply awful dialogue and writing of the PT in general, but like the whole universe just seems to totally suck. Like not “morally grey and politically realistic”, just shitty. I’m pretty much only rooting against the Sith/Empire because I already know they are the Bad Guys from the OT, but the Jedi and the Republic in general are not presented in a way that makes them aspirational or heroic at all. The whole “there are heroes on both sides” scrawl-line falls flat, not just because now it echoes shitty MAGA rhetoric retroactively, but because there seem to be NO heroes at all. It’s bleak, but not compellingly so: just sad and lazy and disappointing.
 
I disagree about Obi-Wan, he starts out condescending in TPM, but seems like a real person with a clear sense of right and wrong by the start of AotC. I found rooting for him and Padme to be very easily.

Seeing that Yoda was totally outnumbered, being played, and had to retreat would have made a lot more sense than what we got. Something that happened a few times in the Star Wars editing/filming process is they cut out some small yet needed sequence that I think would have added some emotional depth. Like how exactly Padme was Queen - she was elected as a child, and there was a scene with her parents I think filmed for TPM, that would have made clear she was a normal kid, not "royalty" from some lineage. That thread I think would have helped in AotC to support why she and Anakin could have a connection due to being thrust into an "adult" role as kids. If nothing else it would have meant we didn't first see her parents during her funeral. In the TPM novelization Anakin helps/saves a Tusken Raider - it goes a long way to show him as being a good person at the start with a pure heart, but also helps explain his betrayal and subsequent anger at the Tusken Raiders kidnapping his Mom (and the Jedi not letting him go to deal with that). Even in The Last Jedi they inexplicably cut the 45 seconds of Luke needing to be alone when he hears about Han's death.
 
Right. Well, we want the OT characters in the movies but we don't want to give them too much stuff.

wow.gif
 
@Ru1977, by itself, I'm okay with that idea. It's a new trilogy with new heroes. The OT characters should be cameos and supporting characters.

I don't even mind that they didn't have a scene all together. As far as I'm concerned, they had their movies; this is the new crew's time to shine. If your movie can't survive without fan service, you've got other problems. Unfortunately, these movies had other problems.
 
@Fletch right, that was my issue. They didn't want these movies to be all about the originals, but refused to ever let the new characters stand on their own either. It reminds me of the bit on Wonder Boys when she points out he always says writing is about choices but when she read his manuscript, it was like he didn't make any choices at all.
 
I think they just gave them bad stuff to do, and the concept, which seems to have been to give each of them their own "film" (a Han focused TFA, then Luke focused TLJ, then Leia focused RoS), probably was because thy wanted the new cast to be the stars. I think they overthought it and didn't want any Han, Leia and Luke scenes together to swamp everything else, so kept them apart - which I do think was a mistake.

If you are going to have the OT cast comradery collapse, you need to show that happen early on, and have the blame go to the bad guys for that situation - not the blame go to the writers for "why did you do that?" - they left it to the audience to fill in the gaps/try to figure out why Han and Leia couldn't work it out and why Luke abandoned everyone, both things that if you are fans of the characters were disappointing. Not that you can't go that route, but if you do, you want someone to blame and hate in the film itself...
 
Aside from misusing the original cast, I also think they really shot themselves in the foot with the new trio. I was EXCITED to see what they'd do with Rey, Finn, and Poe after TFA. And then it feels like they pivoted with all three of them to things they weren't supposed to be. The three actors had fantastic chemistry in the first film.

Part of my resentment with TLJ. Artistically I get why it's a fascinating film, but it was like he was handed a toybox and wanted to play chess, which is admirable, but also left at least two of the heroes kinda rotting in the basement with other unwanted toys.
 
Well, for that show, sure, but you can still have those moments. if they did a second Obi-Wan show, stuff like that could be worked in. I know some really have Skywalker fatigue, but none of the alternatives to Obi-Wan discussing Leia's real parents with her is nearly as impactful for me, personally.
Oh for sure. Like I said - it can be impactful and well-written and still be totally the wrong thing to exist. It doesn't fit. It makes no sense. And it really doesn't jive with the OT unless we assume Leia was hit by a Men In Black flashy thing as she walked back into the palace of Aldaraan at the end of the show.


I hate everything about him being in that show.


But honestly, I'm READY for a great Boba Fett show to come along and be at least a few of the things I want for the character.
I genuinely feel like the only way to make a good Boba Fett show is to recast the actor and do pre-ESB Boba. I genuinely don't think they have any idea where to take 'Jabba Fett' and I don't actually think it's necessarily even a good idea to try.


And as far as "watching this thing changes how you feel about the other thing", is Empire Strikes Back ruined by Leia being his sister? I mean, come on, two serious liplocks in that movie. AND, on top of that, when doing interviews for (I think it was) Attack of the Clones, he was talking about how, in Star Wars anyway, kissing is as serious as sleeping together. So that's why Anakin and Padme.... but wait, George, seriously? Have you watched Empire lately? Big goddamned yikes. (I have googled for twenty minutes to find it but cannot. One of these days damnit, but I read it over 20 years ago so maybe my memory has even embellished.)
I don't take things George says seriously. The narrative in the story is what matters. George's weird sexual hangups don't matter to me. It actually never bothered me much that they kissed for a lot of reasons (not like 'I'm okay with incest' reasons or anything like that). That being said, it's also not a contradiction just because it's weird. Even the 'from a certain point of view' thing was a copout but still effective -enough- to explain it away. He lied. Great. It doesn't necessarily have to be a good explanation to be an acceptable one.

But if ESB had come out and the Death Star was just floating around still functional and they went 'turned out it didn't blow up after all!' - then yeah, that would have ruined that film and ROTJ by proxy, by literally ignoring actual events we witnessed in ANH.

I also think we will tend to give the OT a break for two reasons; 1) Nostalgia, and 2) We understand now that it wasn't written all at once and that George and Co. were writing on the fly to create the stories. Given how it all came together, it's understandable that it wasn't all perfectly planned out. But there's NO reason why new media 40 years after the OT came out should conflict with the OT. So when it does do so, it stands out way, way more as just oblivious stupidity and a lack of respect for the material, which makes it far harder to just 'get over.' As it were.

Maybe my point would be clearer if instead of "personal canon" its more "related IP I care about vs the related IP I don't care if I see again"
That definitely makes a lot more sense to me. For me, 'personal canon' implies you're actively pretending part of the material doesn't exist and refusing to acknowledge anything it, rather than just something you don't want to watch again but recognize technically happened.


Regarding the droids slavery thing- it's a tricky line. Because you have some folks that clearly use droids as slaves (and other living beings as slaves) like Jabba, but then you have people like Luke or Ezra or Cal who treat droids well
That doesn't seem tricky. That seems like 'some people are bad to their slaves and some people are nice to their slaves.'


I wonder if Lucas was going more for a Frodo/Sam thing with Luke and 3PO, since (in the books) Sam does call him master, but isn't a slave. It was more of a British officer kinda thing.
'Master' is actually, sort've, an old world version of 'Mister.' You might address a guy as 'Master Blacksmith' or 'Master Innkeeper.' It's a term of respect for someone that is essentially NOT landed gentry and does not have authority to use any legitimate title - again, the same way we use 'Mister' or 'Sir' today.

That being said... it still reads very wrong coming from a literal slave.


I may have been giving Lucas waaaaaaaay too much credit, though, especially given how he doubled and tripled down on ethic stereotypes for aliens in TPM. The Nemoidians? Oof. Watto? Yikes on bikes.
Yeah, I think the real problem is George himself has some serious latent racist beliefs.

"I'm going to buy your child because he's special but leave you to die on this desert shithole planet," for example. I love these movies but there's something in every film that makes you wonder, like, who did the Ewoks eat so Leia could have that dress?)
I think that's my problem with Star Wars. I'm exactly the kind of person that immediately pinpoints and then dwells on shit like this.


lso, the animatic sequence was very interesting with the cameras recording the whole thing and beaming the fight out to the galaxy, all proving Palpatine's POV - the Jedi are trying to kill him.
And then less than 20 years later people think Jedi were just a myth? It still doesn't make any sense.


what is Wuher supposed to serve them?
Oil? Haven't we established in Star Wars that droids will drink oil and shit? There's like a whole droid bar.


One of my biggest gripes about the PT: pretty much all the “heroes” are totally unlikeable.
Hard agree with al of this. Everyone in the PT is just a fucking dickhead. Going way back, many pages, to my complaint about how Anakin only becomes Vader because everyone in his life is committed to turning him into an evil psycho by being just the worst pieces of shit in his life at every possible turn.

I disagree about Obi-Wan, he starts out condescending in TPM, but seems like a real person with a clear sense of right and wrong by the start of AotC. I found rooting for him and Padme to be very easily.

I think AotC and RotS Obi-Wan still read as arrogant and short-sighted to a fault. TPM Ben was just a different kind of arrogant and short-sighted - because it was less earned, less deserved, and he was standing next to basically the only Jedi in the entire franchise that wasn't one of the worst people alive.

Seeing that Yoda was totally outnumbered, being played, and had to retreat would have made a lot more sense than what we got. Something that happened a few times in the Star Wars editing/filming process is they cut out some small yet needed sequence that I think would have added some emotional depth. Like how exactly Padme was Queen - she was elected as a child, and there was a scene with her parents I think filmed for TPM, that would have made clear she was a normal kid, not "royalty" from some lineage. That thread I think would have helped in AotC to support why she and Anakin could have a connection due to being thrust into an "adult" role as kids. If nothing else it would have meant we didn't first see her parents during her funeral. In the TPM novelization Anakin helps/saves a Tusken Raider - it goes a long way to show him as being a good person at the start with a pure heart, but also helps explain his betrayal and subsequent anger at the Tusken Raiders kidnapping his Mom (and the Jedi not letting him go to deal with that). Even in The Last Jedi they inexplicably cut the 45 seconds of Luke needing to be alone when he hears about Han's death.
This is the problem with Capitalism. Artists can't just make art. There's got to be a businessman who doesn't understand art at all that gets final say. So we end up with SO many movies and TV shows having cut content that explain really important elements of the story.

I remember when the studio wouldn't allow Ridley Scott to release his version of Kingdom of Heaven. The film bombed and got pretty terrible reviews for a truncated story with a lot of 'oh how convenient' moments. But when Ridley finally released his extended cut, all of a sudden it was getting really good reviews and almost all of the complaints people had were actually answered in the film by small pieces of dialogue and exposition.
Studio execs ruin movies. Period. They WANT movies to just run between the flashiest scenes because that's all studio execs are wired to understand. Because they, themselves, have no fucking depth, media literacy, or souls.
 
That doesn't seem tricky. That seems like 'some people are bad to their slaves and some people are nice to their slaves.'
I suppose you're right. I do wonder how much of it- especially in dealing with Cal and BD, and by extension, Kay and Nyx (even though Nyx isn't a droid) can be excused away by being a video game and it just being a part of the mechanics. You need your cute, conveniently sized sidekick to do certain things that you can't, but in return, both BD and Nyx are treated quite well by their owners. And in the case of Cal, he doesn't so much "own" BD as he does rescue him and work alongside him. Same with R2 and Chopper; I don't think I ever really considered either being mistreated. Not that astromechs aren't mistreated, but both R2 and Chopper seemed overly competent, to the point that one could argue if they were the owners and their humans were the "pet", so to speak. In episode 1, Amidala (or her decoy) even makes it a point to commend R2 for his bravery. Then again, astromechs seem far more tech-focused than protocol droids, who do seem to be more of the indentured servants. I suppose it depends on circumstance too; someone like Amidala, who has all her handmaidens (another form of slavery, I guess?) seems far less likely to need/abuse a droid than someone like Uncle Owen who lives and works a tough life in the dirt of Tattooine.

Interesting topic. I never really thought of it (which I suppose makes me part of the problem 😅 )
 
heh, right, then she makes Padme go clean him. Do Padme and Sabe see-saw on making each other do menial tasks when in the make-up?
I took that as Padme/Amidala wanting to get up-close with the droid personally, not so much with the doing of menial tasks.

That said: thinking too hard about droid service and slavery in general in the SW universe leads to bad thoughts for me.
 
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