Star Wars Megathread

[The Minsky Moment]

Some of the art previews makes me look forward to the fans melting down, with one side unhealthily obsessing over the below, and the other side going into a violent hate-fueled frenzy.

I oppose violence, but hate-fueled frenzy seems a reasonable response under the circumstances.

[celedhring]

Star Wars and Harlock Saga were my fundational space-operas when I was a kid, so I'm actually looking forward to anime Star Wars 

[Syt]

Surprisingly, the fandom's biggest concern seems to be, "Yeah, but is it canon?" Eckhartsladder (I generally like his videos despite his terrible clickbait titles and thumbnails) put it well and I agree - people shouldn't get hung up on canon. Sure, it's cool that the "main content" is in line with each other, but not everything has to be. Back during the Legends era nobody cared. I mean, look at the old video games alone, from Rebel Assault and X-Wing to Force Unleashed and Empire at War.

[The Minsky Moment]

Star Wars and Harlock Saga were my fundational space-operas when I was a kid, so I'm actually looking forward to anime Star Wars 

And i liked pizza and french fries, but I didn't want french fries baked into my pizza.

[crazy canuck]

Star Wars and Harlock Saga were my fundational space-operas when I was a kid, so I'm actually looking forward to anime Star Wars 

And i liked pizza and french fries, but I didn't want french fries baked into my pizza.

Traditionalist!

[Duque de Bragança]

Star Wars and Harlock Saga were my fundational space-operas when I was a kid, so I'm actually looking forward to anime Star Wars 

Yeah, can't be worse than the prequels or the Disney movies.

For Harlock Saga, both the '70s and '80s animes? Did you watch the latter movie?  Maybe they will recycle it for Star Wars. 

[Oexmelin]

I look forward to the continuation of the story next week, though. I feel [spoiler]Cpt Howzer (the clone captain on Ryloth) will join the Bad Batch, because unlike other clones he seems to have retained his humanity.[/spoiler]

I don't think that will happen. [spoiler]Howzer seems to be set up for a "meaningful sacrifice", perhaps as he is about to switch sides. My guess is that he will be a reverse Crosshair and chooses to do the right thing despite the chip (as Crosshair's scarring on the side of the head seems to foreshadow that he got his chip removed and serves the empire willingly).[/spoiler]

[celedhring]

Star Wars and Harlock Saga were my fundational space-operas when I was a kid, so I'm actually looking forward to anime Star Wars 

Yeah, can't be worse than the prequels or the Disney movies.

For Harlock Saga, both the '70s and '80s animes? Did you watch the latter movie?  Maybe they will recycle it for Star Wars. 

Grew up watching the 1970s anime, but I caught the 80s one at a later age. I did watch the live action movie too, which was awful.

I'm a big fan.

[Eddie Teach]

My favorite episode so far.

[Syt]

I don't think that will happen. [spoiler]Howzer seems to be set up for a "meaningful sacrifice", perhaps as he is about to switch sides. My guess is that he will be a reverse Crosshair and chooses to do the right thing despite the chip (as Crosshair's scarring on the side of the head seems to foreshadow that he got his chip removed and serves the empire willingly).[/spoiler]

Could be. But there might also be more going on. [spoiler]1. There was an action figure of Howzer before the show named "Ballast" which could be a Bad Batch name. "We don't need you, you're just ballast." And then he proves his worth and is accepted. 2. I'm surprised that Adm. Rampart allows such a "free" clone under his command, considering how they cranked up Crosshair's chip to 11. With the plot to frame Cham Syndulla (bookended by him saying to Orn Free Taa at the start that they all have their parts to play and at the end thanking him for playing his part), maybe the plan is to have him join the Bad Batch as sleeper agent? Wild speculation, of course.[/spoiler]

[Syt]

Btw, probably pure coincidence, but I loved the ship landing on the moon. The scenery reminded me of some of Ralph McQuarrie's art for Battlestar Galactica.

[Syt]

Also, I see people loving Howzer's haircut.



Maybe I grew up with too many WW2 documentaries, but I see:

[viper37]

Grew up watching the 1970s anime, but I caught the 80s one at a later age. I did watch the live action movie too, which was awful.

I'm a big fan.

What live action movie?      All I remember are a few anime movies about the Nibelungen of something, plus the most recent ones in 2013.  There are supposedly 3 more coming, btw, but all animes.
It's a shame they never went back to the original concept.  But I guess people constantly drinking alcohol and ranting about female egos might not have been approriate for todays' kids

[Syt]

So, I've watched Star Wars Resistance in its entirety.

I think it's ... fine. It's not reaching the heights of Rebels or Clone Wars in their later seasons, but I also don't think it's worse (or much worse) than the lows of those shows, esp. in the earlier seasons (Lando and the Puffer Pigs, Jar Jar pretending to be a Jedi general, etc.).

It's better than the Droids or Ewoks cartoons, though, IMHO.

It's clearly aimed at a pretty young audience (possibly younger than how Rebels and Clone Wars started out) and never really sheds this. Not sure why it then originally aired at 10 pm on a week night, considering the target demographic.

Its story telling is not particularly deep. For the most part it felt like a throwback to 80s action cartoons with familiar tropes, story lines, and "twists" - there are some episodes where after the setup you can guess quite well how it will play out if you've seen enough such cartoons since the 80s. There's some good stuff in there - esp. Season 1 has an escalating throughline for many episodes once the characters are settled in. Season 2 is more "adventure of the week" for much of its run but wraps things up reasonably well in the last couple of episodes, though it leaves some open questions regarding some side characters that were introduced at various points but who never really went anywhere.

When I started watching Rebels I really struggled with the new look at first. The show had a lower budget in the beginning and it showed, and the change in character models was grating. I mean, this was what Yoda looked like FFS:



Resistance is also 3D animated, but it goes for a more hand drawn look and seems inspired by shows like Avatar. The environments are often gorgeous, and the ships and technology have a bit of an 80s/90s sc-fi anime vibe with their high level of detailing. At the same time it has a certain goofiness in animation of some characters. There's some goofy characters - especially the lead who alternates between being slapstick clumsy and hyper competent - with exaggerated gestures, facial animations, pratfalls etc. and earnest characters who don't. Think Pete Venkman's goofiness vs the more straitlaced Ray, Egon, and Winston in the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. Your tolerance for that kind of stuff will have a huge effect on whether you will enjoy the show.



Spoilers from here on:

I find it interesting that on IMDB the second season episodes are rated higher than the first season. The first season had an ever escalating encroachment of the First Order onto the platform (it starts as an ocean platform but is at the end of season 1 revealed to be a mobile refueling station with hyperdrive etc.). It's not a deep plot but it keeps raising the stakes for the characters, esp. Kaz who is a crack pilot but now has to learn to be an inconspicuous spy (he fails the inconspicuous part quite often). The season ends with the First Order attacking the station, and the station making a last minute escape by leaving the planet and jumping away - this battle happens at the same time as the destruction of the Hosnian System in The Force Awakens. One of the characters (Tam) who was in favor of the First Order bringing more security to the station is disappointed that Kaz and her mentor lied to her about them working with the Resistance and joins the First Order as a TIE pilot.

Season 2 has the station on the run. The need to secure supplies, the race pilots have to learn how to work together as a fighter squadron, etc. and more than once they manage to make a last second escape from the First Order. Shades of Battlestar Galactica. Eventually they find a planet to park the station but of course the First Order find them and they have to flee again. Tam realizes that the First Order is bad, actually, when they assemble a dozen star destroyers to bomb out natives on the planet and she tries to defect back to her friends. In a climactic battle she's saved, the First Order ship and the two big bads of the show are killed, and everyone is happy together.

Not the deepest writing, but the action scenes are overall quite enjoyable. There's some facepalming stuff, like when people move through zero G environments by basically swimming, or when the station Captain doesn't tell anyone he's picked a planet to settle until they arrive there, and only THEN decides to maybe send out scouts to look if the place is actually safe.

I would have wished for some fleshing out for the larger events in the galaxy because that seems like a big blank spot of the sequel trilogy, but the viewpoint is kept quite narrow. I liked the ride, overall, I liked the characters, but there would have been a lot more potential. The bad guys were reasonably competent; at least more so than the early villains of Star Wars Rebels (like Commandant Aresko and Taskmaster Grint).

There were some nostalgic Easter eggs. Like when the music in the bar is the cantina music from KOTOR on at least two occasions. Or when you realize the comlink sound is the holo communicator sound from SWTOR. And the building on Dantooine which is seen briefly bears a strong resemblance to the Jedi Enclave in KOTOR.

Overall a 6.5/10 for me, but I can also understand others not enjoying the show at all and rating it much lower.

[celedhring]

I remember the 80s anime influence being acknowledged by the animators, and it's the only reason I'd have watched the show, since the sequel trilogy managed to kill any interest I might have had in that era. Gotta say your review hasn't motivated me to watch it either    But thanks for sharing your thoughts!