Star Wars Megathread

[Habbaku]

Seems to me that, though they're dipping their toes into it with Andor, a Cold War-style spy-games series where the protagonists are ISB and Rebel spies would be great.

[crazy canuck]

Seems to me that, though they're dipping their toes into it with Andor, a Cold War-style spy-games series where the protagonists are ISB and Rebel spies would be great.

That would be amazing.

Cel, staring making the pitch 

[celedhring]

Seems to me that, though they're dipping their toes into it with Andor, a Cold War-style spy-games series where the protagonists are ISB and Rebel spies would be great.

That would be amazing.

Cel, staring making the pitch 

 

Not gonna lie, if I ever worked on a Star Wars show I'd die happy.

[Habbaku]

From what I've seen, one of the reasons Andor is so well done is because Gilroy is not a huge SW fan. Maybe staffing an IP with people that hate it is a good way to proceed. 

[Oexmelin]

It is indeed unfortunate as the numbers for Andor are supposedly bad. 

[Habbaku]

I hope that the word of mouth and the second season will pick the numbers up a bit. If Disney concludes that running schlock is the only way to keep people watching, I might just have to bail from the IP altogether.

[celedhring]

I hope that the word of mouth and the second season will pick the numbers up a bit. If Disney concludes that running schlock is the only way to keep people watching, I might just have to bail from the IP altogether.

The first week ratings are just in. It's not great, but not horrible either. Behind Kenobi and Mandalorian's first episodes, but behind Kenobi's (which is Disney+ most watched show ever, heh). It's also in the middle of the pack compared to the Marvel shows.

The trick here is that Andor released 3 episodes in one batch, while most of these shows went out with just 2 (and I think some released later in the week compared to Andor). So it might be masking the numbers. Will see how it holds up.

[Habbaku]

Behind Kenobi and Mandalorian's first episodes, but behind Kenobi's (which is Disney+ most watched show ever, heh).

 

[crazy canuck]

I didn't watch all three episodes in the first week 

[FunkMonk]

I'm only 5 episodes in but this show feels like the Star Wars RP sessions I had with friends in the 90s. It's like they pulled this out of the imagination of 13-year-old me and made a TV show from it. And we RPed imperial officers and even had in-character internal bickering and politicking about who commanded what. 

Yes I was a nerd 

[Syt]

I've said it a bit further up, but Andor, overall, feels more in line with some of the better Star Wars books which generally give more room to their characters and also switch up tone a fair bit.

My favorite parts of the old EU were the stories NOT about the "main cast", which is why I gravitated towards stuff like the "Tales" series (short story collections about the characters in the Mos Eisley Cantina and Jabba's Palace, and a novella collection about the bounty hunters from ESB), or the X-Wing series. Mando started out that way but is now firmly looped into the "main plot" of previous shows and movies - I still like it, but I prefer stories that expand the setting.

Andor does that quite well IMHO, showing us new settings, characters, and just giving everything more room to breathe.

I'm not up to date on Star Wars novels, but I can recommend:

Battlefront: Twilight Company
A tie in to the first EA Battlefront, but don't let that put you off. It follows a Rebel infantry soldier around the time of the battle of Hoth, with his backstory told in flashbacks. It's a decent bit of military fiction.

Battlefront: Inferno Squad
The tie in for the second Battlefront game - this one focusing on Iden Versio (the protagonist of the game's main campaign) and her Imperial commando unit after the battle of Yavin.

Lost Stars
Claudia Gray writes some of the best Star Wars stories, IMHO. This one focuses on two characters from disparate backgrounds. They were childhood friends, dreaming of joining the Imperial Navy. The join up, but the guy becomes disillusioned and joins the Rebellion while the gal stays with the Empire - she has her doubts but also feels beholden to her oath and duty. It follows them from pre-Yavin to the Battle of Jakku. Don't let the YA label and love plot put you off; it gives a pretty good ground level view of events and the struggle the characters go through.

The Aftermath Trilogy
These books are quite divisive, primarily because of the style of writing (short sentences, present tense - more like how you would narrate an action movie to a friend). The style calms down a bit in book 2, but I know many many people are put off by it. The story covers events from right after Endor to the Battle of Jakku. Main characters like Wedge appear, but it introduces some great new characters - Temmin Wexley (a young pilot who was abandoned by his mom who joined the Rebellion), his mother Norra, his murderous battle droid Mr Bones, Sinjir Rath Velus (a former/deserted Imperial loyalty officer), Zabrak bounty hunter Jas Emari, Imperial admiral Rae Sloane (trying to hold the remnants together with some remainder of Palpatine's general staff and advisors). The story told throughout the books isn't terrible but also not great. However, it paints in many little details, and sprinkles little (mostly one off) vignettes throughout the books, showing what's happening in various parts of the galaxy.

I haven't read it, but I've heard good things about Alphabet Squadron, about a fighter squadron hunting Imperials after Endor. There's been two sequels in the meantime.

The High Republic goes back to focusing on Jedi - it's set 200 years before Phantom Menace. A lot of people seem to like it, but I've not kept up with it between something like half a dozen books and comic series that all interconnect with each other. The two books I've read (Light of the Jedi and Into the Dark) were definitely more on the pulp side of things, though.

I've only read the first new Thrawn book - I thought it was all right, but I don't like Timothy Zahn's style of writing much, and from what I see it seems to suffer from Genius Thrawn vs. Incompetent Everyone Else a lot (kind of like Cumberbatch's Sherlock once the novelty wears off).

[Syt]

Oh, should probably throw in From A Certain Point of View - an anthology of short stories. There's one for A New Hope and one for Empire Strikes Back. The stories are told about and/or from the view point of background/secondary characters, and canon status is ... disputed and they range in tone from serious to melodramatic to pulp to comedy. But if you want to read about what happened to the officer who didn't shoot on the escape pod at the start of ANH, the last moments in the life of Leia's parents, some stories about the cantina characters, how the dianoga got onto the Death Star, Motti's HR complaint about Vader's behavior at the roundtable meeting, or how a mechanic on Yavin handles the battle from her point of view, it's got you covered.

[celedhring]

I could watch hours of ISB internal politics with this level of writing and be happy.

Hopefully they will make a villain protagonist series at some point. Agent Kallus from Rebels is an obvious choice, being a fan favorite character.

Wouldn't hold my breath, given that they had to turn Boba Fett into a poorly written good guy for his show...

[Jacob]

So we watched the original trilogy and moved on to the Phantom Menace tonight. Jesus Christ is that tedious to watch.

I guess it must be the direction and writing, because the acting seems poor across the board even from people I know are perfectly fine.

Are the next two movies just as tedious or does it get better?

[celedhring]

So we watched the original trilogy and moved on to the Phantom Menace tonight. Jesus Christ is that tedious to watch.

I guess it must be the direction and writing, because the acting seems poor across the board even from people I know are perfectly fine.

Are the next two movies just as tedious or does it get better?

One of the things that jumped out to me the most when I watched TPM again a few years ago, is how overused and obtrusive all the slapstick humor is. Like you'd have Qui Gon and Kenobi discuss something super-tense and you'd have Jar Jar doing stupid shit in the background. It was very jarring.

That said, they toned it down massively in the other prequels and it didn't improve them that much.