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Post by Father of Dragons on Jan 28, 2020 15:54:59 GMT
Though I'm more disillusioned with Lucasfilm than I used to be, I'd still take everything with a grain of salt. Kenobi never even had a release date so it getting pushed back is not the biggest deal in the world. It's frustrating that upon hearing any slight rumour - which are sometimes completely false - the fandom explodes into conspiracy theories and demand everyone involved is fired. It's just tiring. For what it's worth (admittedly not much), McGregor has angrily disputed some of the behind the scenes drama. Obviously there's a very real chance this is spin just to cover up the drama, but if I'm being asked to believe the lead actor or some randos on the internet who say "a source close to me has told me xyz", I'd definitely give him the benefit of the doubt first. Randos on the internet also said that JJ hated TROS and it's only bad because Disney made it bad to ruin his career. Some people just want to exacerbate and exaggerate any drama they can find. Also, most importantly, I'd rather they take their time to get the scripts to be as good as they can be, rather than rush out a half-arsed product to meet some arbitrary release date. I really don't want a repeat of TROS.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Jan 31, 2020 17:59:20 GMT
Randos on the internet also said that JJ hated TROS and it's only bad because Disney made it bad to ruin his career. Some people just want to exacerbate and exaggerate any drama they can find. And as if right on cue, some guy went on a podcast yesterday claiming to have been one of the Knights of Ren, and spoke about how a version of the movie he saw had Rey dying and Kylo becoming "Ben Skywalker" at the end. Naturally he was full of shit and isn't credited anywhere in the movie. There are people out there whose sole purpose in life is stirring up shit, and others very willing to go along with them. It's beyond parody.
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Post by Enid on Mar 5, 2020 16:23:28 GMT
Finally watching "The clone wars". It took me a while to get used to the animation style and I'm not a huge fan of how it looks, but the writing is good and the characters are a thousand times more engaging than they were in the films.
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Post by Basil on Nov 8, 2020 9:24:19 GMT
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Post by Basil on Sept 4, 2021 21:12:19 GMT
I'm currently going through my periodic Star Wars obsession, and I've realized that the more I rewatch and think about the prequels, the more I appreciate them. I'm actually starting to really love them, which is weird. But sadly, the exact opposite is true for the sequels. The more I think about those, the more they fall apart for me, the more I am repulsed by the empty pandering and the fanservice, rehashing of old ideas and the meandering plot. Except The Last Jedi of course, which I still consider to be a step in the right direction for the series, and had they not just completey contradicted everything Rian Johnson set up, maybe The Rise of Skywalker would not have turned into the irrelevant dumpster fire that it ended up being. But back to the prequels, I mean, obviously they're not great movies and every piece of criticism most commonly directed at them is one hundred percent legit. The acting and directing are often wooden, the dialogue is borderline terrible at times, the heavy reliance on CGI is disappointing (which really hasn't aged the best by the way, especially in Phantom Menace). But underneath all that, I have truly come to believe that the basic story Lucas was trying to tell was actually brilliant, if not in execution, at least on a conceptual level. There is an insane amount of depth to the plot, especially in regard to Anakin's fall to the dark side and the death of the Republic and the Jedi Order. Anakin in general, whom in the past I've dismissed as whiny and unlikeable, I have really come to appreciate as a character. Again, the execution is often not the greatest, and it's hard to defend the sand speech and other things that have rightfully achieved god-like meme status, but the character arc itself is actually beautiful on paper, with a surprising amount of depth and nuance (which admittedly is sometimes hard to see past the less than stellar dialogue, but it's there). Also, Hayden Christensen definitely didn't deserve all the hate thrown at him. I'm happy to see that nowadays, the fanbase generally thinks of him much more favourably, and that he'll be returning to the franchise for the Obi-Wan series. I also really need to sit down and finish Clone Wars already ... it's just that, the amount of episodes is daunting, not gonna lie.
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Post by Basil on Sept 6, 2021 11:24:34 GMT
It's really fucked up how in the end, not only did Palpatine manage to destroy the Skywalker bloodline (albeit somewhat indirectly), but his descendant ended up assuming the Skywalker name and legacy, too. The movie frames this as an empowering, beautiful happy ending, which is also how I took it the first time I saw the movie - but in retrospect and especially with my new-found appreciation for the prequels, I gotta admit, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. And I get what the writers were trying to say, Rey overcoming her Palpatine heritage or whatever, but it's still pretty yikes if you really think about it.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Sept 7, 2021 0:24:45 GMT
Revenge of the Sith will always be a guilty pleasure for me, the score especially is maybe my favourite of Williams’ Star Wars work. My strategy is just to not think too hard about Rise of Skywalker If the stuff that’s come out about the production is any indication, there wasn’t a great deal of thought put in while they were making it. I remember hearing a daft theory some time after the release that, since the Palpatine revelation is delivered by Kylo with his helmet on, they hadn’t actually settled on Rey Palpatine on the day and just added the dialogue later. That is, it was a daft theory until Daisy Ridley basically confirmed it: One thing I can’t wrap my head around is that The Last Jedi ends with Rey’s lightsaber destroyed, and they could’ve taken that in any direction but chose to literally tape it up like nothing happened. Like, she’s a scavenger! Taking things apart and knowing how they work was her whole thing! Could’ve even written a little homage to the deleted Return of the Jedi scene where Luke builds his new lightsaber. Or maybe make it crackling like Kylo’s lightsaber, that’d be neat. I was never a huge fan of the double-bladed lightsaber idea, but even that would’ve been something different. But no, just an utter dearth of creativity. God I’ve not thought about this movie in well over a year. It’s all coming out now. You unzipped me! Really the movie just needed extra time, and I don’t want to put too much blame on the writers since it seems they had to come up with something. I think Bob Iger just wanted the trilogy out before he stepped down, and that was the end of it. It’s kinda wild to think though that if it had been delayed by basically any amount of time, it might’ve not even been released by now.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Sept 7, 2021 0:31:03 GMT
Also, now that The Clone Wars has a proper conclusion, I doubly recommend it. Even if you have to stick the slower ones on in the background while doing other stuff, it’s completely worth it to get through to the end. I actually kinda disliked the first 8 of the 12 episodes in the final season, but imo the last four are such a huge leap in quality, even compared to the show’s best moments. I think it could even be one of my favourite pieces of Star Wars media.
If I was the type to rank things, I’d go something like 1) Empire Strikes Back, 2) The Last Jedi, 3) Clone Wars finale - I genuinely think it’s that good.
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Post by Basil on Sept 7, 2021 22:45:49 GMT
I actually started watching Clone Wars like immediately after I posted about it. So far, I'm about 20 episodes in and really enjoying it. Last time I attempted to get into the series a few years back, I was watching the episodes in release order, which I now realize was a mistake and is probably what ended up killing my desire to keep going. The disjointed manner of storytelling makes virtually half of the episodes feel incredibly inconsequential and the incoherent timeline didn't exactly help either, which is why I eventually gave up on the show altogether. This time, I decided to watch them in chronological order, using this guide I found on reddit as a reference and it really does help with the pacing and structure so much. Even the slower filler episodes don't feel so much like a waste of time anymore, because they usually build up on or contribute to something established in another episode ... well, mostly. It's pretty crazy how for example literally the very first episode of the show is a direct continuation of a season three storyline, but how would you know that if you watched them in release order? But yeah, I'm feeling it, and I definitely think I'm gonna finish it this time. My guilty pleasure is definitely Phantom Menace. Maybe it's because it was one of the first movies I owned on VHS and I used to watch it pretty much on the daily as a kid that I have a soft spot for it in my heart, but just thinking about some of the imagery from that movie makes me incredibly nostalgic. The beautiful Naboo landscapes, Theed, Queen Amidala, Darth Maul. Visually, it's the most striking and memorable movie in the franchise imo and I also adore the score, I could listen to the Droid Invasion theme and Duel of the Fates all day. Also, my dad got me the Phantom Menace PS1 game one christmas and I used to play it all the time as a kid. That stupid level where you had to escort the Queen safely to the hangar and she would die all the time, I must have spent hundreds of hours trying to beat that level. And even now, 20 years later, I still have all of her dialogue memorized. Good times. I think the saddest part about Rise of Skywalker for me is how it so shamelessly panders to the most toxic, hateful side of the Star Wars fandom, as those were the people who were the loudest in their disdain for The Last Jedi. Because I genuinely don't believe that the general audience hated The Last Jedi that much, it was mainly those hardcore fans, the ones who usually hang around on reddit or in YouTube comments, who drowned out all other voices. But (and this is just speculation on my part, but it does feel that way) it seems like Disney got so scared by the backlash, that they completely caved in and scrapped everything Rian Johnson set up in his movie. So instead of sticking to whatever creative vision he might have had for the sequel, they made a soulless product that actively went against certain aspects of The Last Jedi ... you know, to appeal and to make amends with the same people who made a fan-edit of TLJ removing all the female characters, the same people who bullied Kelly Marie Tran and Daisy Ridley off of social media. The lack of integrity is just sickening to me.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Sept 8, 2021 17:27:38 GMT
I actually started watching Clone Wars like immediately after I posted about it. So far, I'm about 20 episodes in and really enjoying it. Last time I attempted to get into the series a few years back, I was watching the episodes in release order, which I now realize was a mistake and is probably what ended up killing my desire to keep going. The disjointed manner of storytelling makes virtually half of the episodes feel incredibly inconsequential and the incoherent timeline didn't exactly help either, which is why I eventually gave up on the show altogether. This time, I decided to watch them in chronological order, using this guide I found on reddit as a reference and it really does help with the pacing and structure so much. Even the slower filler episodes don't feel so much like a waste of time anymore, because they usually build up on or contribute to something established in another episode ... well, mostly. It's pretty crazy how for example literally the very first episode of the show is a direct continuation of a season three storyline, but how would you know that if you watched them in release order? But yeah, I'm feeling it, and I definitely think I'm gonna finish it this time. Honestly if you’re enjoying it so far, I agree that you’ll make it to the end. The first season is definitely the weakest for me. I think the chronological aspect is very retroactive in nature. They must’ve realised halfway through season two that the very first episode of the show is completely disconnected from any other episode, and decided to create this prequel episode to give it a bit more background (and then in turn realised that Jar Jar and Bail Organa doing some diplomacy and other hijinks wasn’t interesting enough and added an action Jedi subplot). Even in the final season - which is only 3 storylines split across 12 episodes - they’re still not in order, but only because in the second arc a character was at a certain location when they should’ve been entirely elsewhere. That in itself is a bit of a mess because the second arc (which is chronologically the first) is a direct lead-in to the third - and that is definitely the final storyline of the entire show! This is a very roundabout way of saying: don’t worry too much about any odd decisions coming from the chronological order because it’s all kind of a mess if you think too hard I’m sure a smarter person than me could explain how since The Phantom Menace is shot on film and the other two entirely on digital, it will look distinct from them by design and have a very different visual feel, but I honestly can’t tell the difference I know and see that there’s a difference, but couldn’t possibly describe it. There’s obviously more stuff shot on-location, like Theed being in an actual Italian palace, and a lot of the effects were still practical. The podracing miniature in particular looks so cool. There are models and miniatures in the other prequels of course but they’re enhanced and altered to the point that you could never know they were real ( Mustafar stands out especially), and it honestly makes me wonder why bother Oh they’re definitely way too scared to touch anything related to The Last Jedi - why else keep Rian Johnson’s (almost definitely cancelled) trilogy in a state of limbo? Either give it some far away release date or announce its cancellation. The whole "as far as I know it’s still happening" shtick that pops up every few months is repetitive and irritating, and there was no mention of it in December when they announced all their upcoming projects. Just let him make a bajillion Knives Out sequels and I’m game. I’ve said before I’m sure, but the complete abandonment of KMT is such a disgusting aspect of the movie that will always make me bitter. They completely shafted her character and the only defence they could muster was "oh well we gave her this great scene with the dead CGI lady but it had to get cut sry " Not to mention making KMT come out at Celebration and be like “yeah yeah it’s great to be part of all of this” or whatever, all the while completely removing her from the marketing to reflect her presence in the movie. Completely indefensible all-round. The fact that many of these same toxic fans can find such a home in something like the Mandalorian is also frustrating to me. It’s not the show’s fault of course (I realise my only post on it is explicitly negative and that's in no way reflective of my overall opinion, I do actually enjoy it) and can’t really be helped, but the fact that so many of these people can look at *a certain scene* in that show and do the big "now THAT’S real Star Wars, not like TLJ!!" spiel is just annoying. Neither TLJ nor Mando is a rebuttal of the other, they can easily both exist (avoiding detail because I don’t know if you’ve seen it), but these comments persist way too much. It’s a very stupid mindset and stops me from loving the show, as silly as that is. Or at least stops me from wanting to ever discuss it.
Digging deeper, the KMT situation is maybe the root of why I cannot take complaints of "cancel culture" seriously (and yes I know that's also a silly mindset - I've still not watched the Lindsay Ellis video I'm so sorry). Especially in comparison to someone like, say, Gina Carano. On the one hand, one was fired because of her vocal support for a violent insurrection based on blatant lies which she helped to push - before being immediately picked up by right-wing outlets so not actually cancelled - whereas the other person's crime was having a major role in a movie some people didn't like, and the abuse she received was so bad she had to completely remove her online presence, and even then had her role in the sequel reduced to a background character. But in the minds of these losers, the first is cancel culture, the second is deserved - it's just completely stupid. Also Gina Carano is not a good actress and I can't believe they were ever gonna give her a tv show to lead.
This post is way too long. I both love talking about Star Wars and also passionately hate talking about Star Wars.
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Post by Basil on Sept 9, 2021 20:11:35 GMT
holy shit, the Knights of the Old Republic remake is actually real I hope it's good and I hope they remake Kotor 2 as well, aka the better of the two.
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Post by Basil on Sept 9, 2021 20:20:25 GMT
a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one
Guess this is also a way for them to integrate Revan's story into the new canon.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Sept 9, 2021 21:50:25 GMT
Wow that’s exciting news! No release year makes me think it’ll be veeery far off though.
I’ve actually only played the first game twice I think, I’ve given the second a lot more attention. The gameplay is what stops me playing both of them more, hopefully that gets most focus.
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Post by Basil on Sept 9, 2021 22:14:10 GMT
Wow that’s exciting news! No release year makes me think it’ll be veeery far off though. Yeah, sounds like it. From the brief interview with the developer at the end of the show, it seems like they're still in very early stages of development. And it's going to be remade from scratch, so I don't expect a release date before 2023 at the very earliest. Still very much looking forward to it. I've played both Kotor games many times over the years, but the second one has definitely stuck with me more. I don't think there has ever been a piece of Star Wars media that has dissected the Force mythology as thoroughly and critically as Kotor 2, and that has really helped shape my opinion and thoughts on the Star Wars setting in general. If there's one thing I want from this remake, it's that they include more depth and nuance to the dialogue options. In the original game, most choices boil down to you either being a saint or an utter scumbag. There's almost never any middle ground or compromise, you're either a light side paragon, or a sadistic piece of shit. For example, having the player character spew empty Jedi rhetoric at Bastila when trying to convert her back to the light side, knowing what the Jedi have done to him, is straight out terrible writing imo, and it really undersells who that character is supposed to be in lore.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Sept 9, 2021 22:45:57 GMT
Wow that’s exciting news! No release year makes me think it’ll be veeery far off though. Yeah, sounds like it. From the brief interview with the developer at the end of the show, it seems like they're still in very early stages of development. And it's going to be remade from scratch, so I don't expect a release date before 2023 at the very earliest. Still very much looking forward to it. I've played both Kotor games many times over the years, but the second one has definitely stuck with me more. I don't think there has ever been a piece of Star Wars media that has dissected the Force mythology as thoroughly and critically as Kotor 2, and that has really helped shape my opinion and thoughts on the Star Wars setting in general. If there's one thing I want from this remake, it's that they include more depth and nuance to the dialogue options. In the original game, most choices boil down to you either being a saint or an utter scumbag. There's almost never any middle ground or compromise, you're either a light side paragon, or a sadistic piece of shit. For example, having the player character spew empty Jedi rhetoric at Bastila when trying to convert her back to the light side, knowing what the Jedi have done to him, is straight out terrible writing imo, and it really undersells who that character is supposed to be in lore. Yeah I'm hoping it's a bit more than a straight remake. I'd be super disappointed if it was just like a graphics and UI overhaul and the overall gameplay structure is the same.
But hey so long as I don't need to slowly trek through Manaan I'll consider it an improvement I'm remembering how much of a slog that part was.
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Post by Basil on Sept 11, 2021 20:31:55 GMT
I love the battle droids in Clone Wars so much
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Post by Father of Dragons on Sept 11, 2021 21:54:46 GMT
I got this recommended to me the other week. The first bit is quite technical but it’s all very interesting.
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Post by Basil on Sept 12, 2021 16:13:06 GMT
"Somehow palpatine returned." "How?" "Some."
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Post by Basil on Sept 20, 2021 20:35:33 GMT
I'm currently listening to the Phantom Menace audiobook on Audible and loving it. I vaguely remember reading it when I was like 12 or something, but no details, and I didn't remember it being this good. Like it's surprisingly well written, it doesn't read at all like a novelization of a screenplay, but as a standalone, full-fledged book. Brooks seem to have had a real understanding of the story and characters, maybe even more so than Lucas himself, because he tells it in a much more compelling and in-depth manner. The book gives you a real sense of who these characters are. The politics of the setting are explored in more detail, you get a deeper understanding of what the conflict is actually about and what's at stake. Virtually every piece of dialogue has been rewritten to sound more believable, and there's also a lot of internal dialogue, which helps smooth over some of the rough edges in regard to characters like young Anakin and Jar Jar. Like I'm not kidding, freaking Jar Jar Binks comes off as fairly complex because he's actually a POV character. We get a glimpse into Jar Jar's thought process at certain points and the author also changed some of his dialogue to make him feel far less inept. There are certain things that the movie only hints at, that are explored in far more depth in the novel. Qui-Gon's relationship to Obi-Wan is one such thing, the author made a point to demonstrate the many ways in which they are opposites of each other. I find this super interesting because the fact that it was Obi-Wan, not Qui-Gon, who ended up teaching Anakin definitely played a part in his downfall. Obi-Was was a brother to him, but what Anakin really needed was the parental figure that Qui-Gon would have been, so in his absence, Palpatine ended up assuming that role. When Qui-Gon offers to take Anakin as his padawan, this leads to conflict between him and Obi-Wan, something that, again, is only hinted at in the movie, but explored in detail in the novel. Obi-Wan almost comes off as a bit unlikeable at certain points where he did not in the movie, not because the author changed who Obi-Wan is, but because he is not a POV character. Qui-Gon is, so we only hear Qui-Gon's thoughts and perspective on things like the Jedi council and Anakin, which are often in direct opposition to Obi-Wan's. I also feel that Brooks must have known about future plot points to some extent because even though the book came out the same year as the movie did, 1999, there is stuff in it that seems like it's foreshadowing specific elements from the later movies. For example, Qui-Gon's mysterious teacher is hinted at briefly, and there is a fairly lengthy new scene where Anakin saves the life of a Tusken Raider while he's out in the desert. That night, he has strange and foreboding dreams about Tuskens, and while they don't outright hint at the fact that his mother would be killed by them, it still feels like it's foreshadowing Anakin's first big step towards the dark side. It's a fantastic scene. Also, side note, the version I'm listening to on Audible was read by the guy who dubs all of Ewan McGregor's characters in Germany, so it feels like Obi-Wan is reading it to me, which is great. He has also read the novelizations to Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, which I'm gonna listen to next. hopign they're just as good.
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Post by Basil on Sept 23, 2021 19:54:09 GMT
"Wow, if I had a nickel for every time I've killed someone and they came back as a robot, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice." - Obi-Wan Kenobi
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