Star Wars Megathread

[Admiral Yi]

OK. Just not sure what I am supposed to take away from that. Long term fans of Star Wars? Isn't that everyone who goes to see Star Wars? Are there people who just show up and this is the first SW film they have seen?

Should I be upset or happy that there is "fanservice" stuff?

If you want others to respond to the use of fanservice in a review that angried up your blood, it would help to see that review.

[celedhring]

This isn't exactly a new phenomenon - e.g., Balzac created his own "world" in the early and mid 19th century, with major characters in prior novels cropping up with cameos in later ones. Makes sense to recycle familiar and popular characters to orient loyal readers and yes perhaps even *gasp* please them.

Goes even further back than that. For example Hercules' inclusion as part of the Argonauts is essentially fanservice. Lots of examples of popular mythological heroes appearing in very minor roles in other myths, to get a pop from the live audiences.

Personally fanservice doesn't bother me if the story has legs on its own.

[Syt]

Fan service (IMHO) is gratuitous inclusion of something fans will recognize (or something that they particularly love) for no discernible plot reason than give them a "Yay! The thing I like!" moment. I don't think it's inherently good or bad. In Star Wars, the most overt instance of it, IMO, is adding Boba Fett to the Jabba scene in the A New Hope Special Edition.

Regarding Rise of Skywalker. I think it's ok? It has great visuals, and the action sequences are good. But it just feels overly hectic, there's hardly any moment to catch your breath. Like a child making up a story on the fly: "And then ..., and then ..., and then ... , and then ...

And the plot ... I tend to not be overly critical of Star Wars plots, but I thought, overall, it was a letdown for me.

[spoiler]So Palpatine's alive? Ok, I can roll with that, if you explain why. Rey is a Palpatine? His granddaughter?? What??? And then she instead of Bend destroys Palpie ... speaking of ...
Rey: "I kill you! No, I heal you!"
Ben: "Thanks Mom/Dad for opening my eyes."
Leia: *dies*
And then he dies resurrecting her?
And Anakin going, "Yo, Rey, kill Palpatine, like I did." (because apparently my weakling grandson can't be counted on for that)
And I dislike how Kylo/Ben is basically cast out of the Force family. "No force ghost advice for you, young man! Now go to your room!"

I'm particularly disappointed in Palpatine's "plan". The canon books etc. hint at this grand masterplan that he has if/when he's taken down with all kinds of machinations set in motion. However, it apparently amounted to, "I'm gonna chill for x years and use a clone puppet to rebuild my Empire and wait for a new host/whatever to take my place properly." Err .... ok.

Maybe it makes more sense on repeated viewings, but I found it very unsatisfying. I didn't have much in terms of theories of how Palpatine would return, but I always thought that Rey being a Palpatine was one of the stupider theories out there.

Also, the plot felt a bit video gamey. We need to get the thing, but to get the Thing, we need  the Other Thing, but we need to decipher the Other Thing, and now we destroyed the Thing, but thank God I have a copy of it. Ugh. And the end scene on Tatooine .... crikey. I cringed.

Overall, the trilogy feels like a badly written fan fiction epilogue. And I hate to agree with reviewers, but it basically repeats the end of ROTJ unnecessarily.[/spoiler]

Say what you will about Last Jedi, but at least it tried to go in new directions, whereas TROS feels like "let's tick the boxes we have to" and get this over with. 

I don't think it's bad that you can tell they made the story up as they go and didn't have a grand masterplan for the overall story. Not necessarily bad, the original trilogy did the same. But while The Force Awakens retread a lot of familiar ground, it had - IMHO - heart and some passion in it, and asked some intriguing questions. Last Jedi pushed forward and tried to break the familiar mold, and succeeded in some ways, and failed in others. And Rise of Skywalker now returns to playing it safe, not challenging the familiar patterns.

Maybe it's emblematic, but I feel the best of Star Wars in the last years has been on the small screen, not the big one. Clone Wars and Rebels had some exceptional storytelling (and also low points, as all series do, especially in early seasons), and Mandalorian continues to convince. Looking forward to the season conclusion on that one.

[11B4V]

I like your last paragraph. I would add Rogue One, as exceptional, in there too.

[Syt]

I like your last paragraph. I would add Rogue One, as exceptional, in there too.

I agree. I guess part of it is that I always was curious about the Star Wars universe as a setting. "What else is happening out there?" It's why I generally didn't like the Expanded Universe's "continuation" stories, where the timeline is extended in the future and the Big Heroes (i.e. Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie) faced the warlord of the week (one of the reasons I liked the "clean slate" approach of the Contingency explained in the books/comics).

I preferred new characters and aspects, like the short story collections about the background characters in the Cantina and Jabba's Palace. Clone Wars has a lot of that, and so do Rebels, Rogue One, and Mandalorian.

And while they introduce cool and sympathetic new characters in Ep. VII - IX they seem to sag under the weight of the history of I - VI. It just feels, in sum total, off. They were off to a good start, but I feel they didn't give much room to the characters to grow and develop. In the original trilogy, Empire did a lot of that where we really get to know the characters after their introduction in A New Hope, and that gives a lot of weight to the events in ROTJ. I feel the sequel trilogy is lacking that.

[Malthus]

Maybe it's emblematic, but I feel the best of Star Wars in the last years has been on the small screen, not the big one.

I feel this has been true across the board, not just with Star Wars. Movies on the big screen are falling behind in general versus TV because they need to play it safe to be profitable.

[Syt]

Yeah, I mean to say storytelling in general, TV vs movies.

[Grey Fox]

Yeah, I mean to say storytelling in general, TV vs movies.

I agree with you. I think it's because the Original trilogy fan base is just always so vehemently unreasonable they have no freedom. While the younger TV based fan base is much more open. This is why I am glad & excited that the Skywalker saga is finally over.

[viper37]

Fan service is referencing stuff from a previous movie? OK.

Is this bad or good?

it is neutral.

In Rogue One, it was good, a nice cameo.
But if you keep doing it over&over&over, it becomes bad.

[celedhring]

Anyway, let's talk about the Star Wars story that actually has a chance at a satisfying ending: Mandalorian!

Damn, I'm amazed at how much they manage to cram in these sub-40 episodes. Gotta say that this episode felt a bit too rushed, and a lot of the plotting is downright nonsensical once you give it a little thought ([spoiler]so a bunch of bounty hunters embark on a dangerous mission, and nobody carries a medpac?[/spoiler]), but can't wait for the finale.

[spoiler]They killed Werner Herzog [/spoiler]
[spoiler]
Baby Yoda manages to stay cute even when falling into the Dark Side.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Black actors with collected voices make for great Star Wars villains[/spoiler]

[Syt]

Yes, excellent episode. Though I thought that [spoiler]Giancarlo Esposito was channeling Gus Fring hard, at least on first impression[/spoiler].

Also, I will always love Werner Herzog's performance in this show. He's so wonderfully super-serious and intense.

[spoiler]Also, I admit I squeed when I saw the Stormtrooper transport (it was originally a Kenner toy, later put into canon in Star Wars Rebels; this is its first live action appearance .... THIS is fanservice.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I liked the IG-11 montage, and I gasped at Yoda force choking Cara.

Also, it seems Yod-ling is a litmus test for whether or not you're a good guy. The good guys fawn over him, and the bad guys, well, don't[/spoiler]

Really looking forward to the conclusion next week (such a long wait).

It's a bit weird, but I normally don't have strong reactions when watching a movie or show, but with Mandalorian I find myself reacting quite strongly, cheering, laughing, gasping, etc. I guess it hits the "sweet spot" in my brain.

[celedhring]

Also, I will always love Werner Herzog's performance in this show. He's so wonderfully super-serious and intense.

That's essentially his regular self 

Even when he's like, laid-back and telling anecdotes of his films they're all like "AND KLAUS KINSKI SHOT AT THE EXTRAS SO I CONFISCATED IS RIFLE AND THREATENED TO SHOT HIM!". Man's a legend.

[The Larch]

Apparently Herzog called Favreau and Filoni cowards when he was told that the Baby Yoda puppet used during shooting (which he said was "heartbreakingly beautiful") might not be the one shown in the show and could be replaced by CGI if it was not convincing enough. 

[Duque de Bragança]

Apparently Herzog called Favreau and Filoni cowards when he was told that the Baby Yoda puppet used during shooting (which he said was "heartbreakingly beautiful") might not be the one shown in the show and could be replaced by CGI if it was not convincing enough. 

Kinski would have done worse though. 

[Syt]

They have an interesting set of directors on this show, anyways. Deborah Chow is apparently going to be on the Kenobi series. Favreau and Filoni come with a decent amount of nerd cred. Rick Famuyiwa has done some decent character work. And the final episode is directed by Taika Waititi, so all bets are off on what that's gonna be like.

And the soundtrack is great. The main theme is probably the first piece of Star Wars music since Episode III (the Anakin/Obi-Wan fight) that I find myself humming/whistling randomly.