“Audience members want rehashed stories of beloved characters, not new stories”
Terrible take.
Also this one: “It has felt like homework to try to keep up with everything, so I wonder if that might limit their audience,”
If your writer complains about having to read, get another writer…
It also confirms what all star wars fans already knew, they dont give a shit about the universe.
We’re up to, what, 11 movies and 2.5 cartoon series, and 3ish short, and fairly simple live action series that are considered cannon?
Compared to the MCU, that’s not bad at all.
Yeah that and a couple of books and stuff. Complaining that a fantasy universe has too much depth is like complaining that a strategy game requires too much thinking.
According to Wookiepedia, it’s 12 movies and over 30 shows. I can imagine it’s a lot to take in, even if you’re only looking for relevant lore bits.
Hell, I’d call myself a fan, and I haven’t even gotten around to watching other than 2003 Clone Wars.
Well, there’s more than I thought. Although half of those I’d basically categorize under the umbrella of the Clone Wars show anyway. And There’s like 2-3 really little kid shows which I doubt are that important to canon. And an abreviated retelling or two of the films for younger audiences.
Edit: it seems we misread the part about the person complaining. It’s Rebecca Harrison, who is writing a book about Star Wars and who tries to explain why people may not be interested in the new movie. I think she means that she did watch it all, but that it has been quite a lot of work, and she expects many people will not do so.
The Han Solo and Rise of Skywalker movies or the Book of Fet proves that’s not true. We don’t want rehashed or retelling or reboots. We want new stories that feel genuine and not forced.
There have been so many poor decisions with this franchise in the last 10 or 15 years since Disney bought Lucas.
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Stop trying to tell a story in flashbacks. You’ve tried 3 time with this schtick and failed each time
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Stop trying to weave current real life political commentary into a fantasy sci-fi series set in a galaxy far far away. There’s plenty of reality in reality, thanks
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Stop the call backs and nostalgia remembers, The Force Awakens was a good opener because it felt like old Star Wars but had potential to do something new, but the next two should have been very different from the original 3 and what we got.
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Forget the Palpatine resurrection arc, you screwed up, stop forcing it. The first season of The Mandalorian captured the charm of what made Boba Fett a great character then the Rise of Skywalker screwed it up by forcing the Palp resurrection arc into a very unrelated storyline.
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I want post Empire lawlessness and a new hero arc that has nothing to do with Palp or the Skywalkers. I want maifia movie style gangsters with the Hutts. I want political intrigue and mystery with rebuilding of the government. I want badass special ops missions to hunt down former Empire officers and New Republic cleaning up pockets of old Empire strongholds.
and stop calling it science fiction. Literally no science in Star Wars.
It’s science fantasy, just like Star Trek.
Using hard science isn’t a metric of what defines science fiction by the way. Hard science is its own genre like fantasy is.
Fantasy is just a genre of fiction, science fantasy is still science fiction too.
You’re trying to be funny, but missing the picture entirely.
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Is it though?
Movie message boards clamor for original stories, but remakes, endless superhero origin stories and sequels that rehash the SSDD rule the box office.
Two of the hugely successful movies in the theaters at this time are Micheal Jackson’s Biopic and The Devil Wears Prada II.
NCIS version 8, Law and Order: version 16, Chicago-verse version 4.1, 9-11:Pork Bend Utah all rule the ratings on TV.
The author is right. Audiences want the big mac.
Audiences want the big mac.
Stale Big Mac.
Terrible take.
you obviously have not talked to a Star Wars fan.
Where’s the bar scene where kooky aliens play kooky instruments?
Where’s the next death star to blow up?
Where’s that lovable glip glorp character?
I think part of the issue is that everything feels shoehorned in to fit a time period. And it gets cringey after a while.
If they broke with the whole era and told stories from completely different periods with new protagonists and drama, we might get somewhere. You could have a natural reemergence of the force several centuries later when all the current stuff is the past. Or do one without the tech and the days when Coresont was just a random planet.
When you have a whole universe to will with, it seems strange to fix to about a 50 year period.
I feel like the only thing the headline really addresses is Ahsoka. It’s the only show or movie that’s truly enmeshed with the cartoons. I think the bigger problem is that people just aren’t going to theaters as much anymore, and Star Wars in general hasn’t offered a compelling reason to go. It feels like decisions are being made by accountants instead of storytellers.
The performances are good, the directors are good — they just need more latitude to tell compelling stories. I’m going to see M&G opening night, but my expectation is mostly CGI machines blowing up, some cute comedy scenes, and a bit of Force stuff with Grogu. It’s a movie for fans of the characters, and that’s fine — I appreciate that — but I can also see why it’s not tracking to blow up the box office.
Unless my impression is wrong and it really does have something compelling to say, in which case the marketing has failed.
I feel like the only thing the headline really addresses is Ahsoka. It’s the only show or movie that’s truly enmeshed with the cartoons.
Rogue One also assumes you watched Clone Wars. I hadn’t (and haven’t, for lack of time), and I was rather confused about the whole Saw Gerrera thing. Solo was better in that regard.
Side note: back when I watched R1 in cinema I loved it, especially the unexpected ending. However, I recently rewatched it and I was really bothered by how underdeveloped the characters are. Everyone is very one-dimensional, and Jyn’s motivation changes because the plot needs it. Is there no one at Lucasarts to proofread these scripts and correct these kind of flaws?
I had no idea who Saw Guerra was when I saw RO. I have since seen Clone Wars, and honestly I don’t think it adds anything at all. Time and events make the Saw in Rogue One a very different character.
It’s more of a “I recognize that guy” moment, I think. Maybe others got more out of the connection than I did.
I disagree a bit on Jyn, though it sounds like you rewatched more recently than I, but as I recall her motivation changed after resolving the biggest trauma of her childhood/life. I find that plausible, myself.
IIRC, it’s been a year:
spoiler
- The Empire kills Jyn’s mother, so obviously she doesn’t like them
- Saw takes care of Jyn, until something happens (no clue what) and we’re led to assume they’re on bad terms.
- Jyn does not trust the Rebels (understandable), Cassian included, and only tags along to save her father
- The Rebels kill her father
- At this point, Jyn trusts no one. Every interaction with other people felt forced and awkward
- Jyn decides to throw her lot in with the Rebels and strike at the Empire. Suddenly she gets along with the rest of the crew and they happily fly to their doom
It’s the last part that irks me. I get that she’s traumatized, but it only gets worse during the movie, and somehow she just gets over it and decides to sacrifice herself for the morally gray faction that killed her last remaining parent.
It would have been more believable if e.g. Cassian rescued Jyn’s father against his orders in exchange for her help stealing the Death Star schematics.
So first I just want to say I love nerding out over Star Wars, so this is all in that spirit and not disagreement or invalidating your points.
spoiler
I could write a lot here just to explore all of your punts, but the essence boils down to this:
Her suddenly-not-traitor fathers dying wish was that this life’s work in hiding a flaw in the Death Star be realized to undo the super weapon he’d been forced to create. So she enlisted the rebellion to her cause rather than the other way around. Her whole speech wasn’t I’m suddenly a true believer — it was don’t be hypocrites. Seize the opportunity my father provided and fucking do something.
It was all to shame them into completing her father’s work, which she suddenly could believe in — which she needed to prove to clear her father’s name.
So first I just want to say I love nerding out over Star Wars, so this is all in that spirit and not disagreement or invalidating your points.
Same <3
spoiler
Fair enough, I think that’s a valid reading.
I wish they had spent some more time on character development, to give these things some room to breathe. Show some more of Jyn’s time with Saw so we can get to know her, give her and Cassian more dialogue to discuss the turning points of the story, that dort of stuff.
Disney has over-saturated Star Wars. Star Wars used to be special. Like when the 97 Special Editions came out or the Shadows of The Empire cross media event or the Prequels or hell even the launch of new books with the Thrawn Trilogy was a big deal. It was special then. You had to wait years for something NEW for star wars and people loved that.
Now it’s a yearly thing or multiple times a year thing. it’s just not special anymore. The Mandalorian and Grogu movie is the FIRST Star Wars movie for me that I’m saying “meh, i’ll wait to see it” I’ve NEVER said that about a Star Wars movie, even the sequels.
I said that about Solo. Incidentally, it was a better movie than I expected, but it was still super unnecessary. It left me far more interested in a follow-up than Solo itself.
they just need more latitude to tell compelling stories.
Giving complete latitude is what gave us The Rise of Skywalker.
No, latitude is what gave us Rogue One and Andor.
It works both ways.
Rise of Skywalker felt like a bunch of studio mandates cobbled together by a completely checked out film maker. I don’t have the impression that there was a tonne of latitude involved.
JJ Abrams was clear about how he wanted his own vision and the studio allowed it.
I’ve seen no background information, that was just my impression. Seemed like the bigwigs were just trying to capitulate to every harebrained complaint they heard about The Last Jedi. If it was all JJ, I guess his instincts are really just that bad.
Jj was public about wanting Palpatine for the last movie. He has a history of fumbling endings.
What’s wrong with watching the original trilogy again like I’ve done all my life?
while actress Amandla Stenberg publicly called out the “intolerable racism” she said she’d been subject to in the wake of starring in the show.
Who does this? It’s just really sad to hear that this still happens. So you don’t like the show. Why go and racially abuse someone because of it? Fucking entitled removedes.
The movie isn’t even out yet for general audiences.
