Star Wars… Old And New

[pagan8thParticipant 10727xp 1]

I have been a Star Wars fan since the original film was released and over the decades that followed read a large number of books in the ‘Expanded Universe’ that I enjoyed.

I was disappointed in the prequels…

Then disney happened and the EU was made non-canon.

The sequels were… worse…

The tv series have been… average at best… and the less said about the acolyte the better… just go to youtube and see what the rest of the fans are saying… sorry… ‘toxic fans’ if you believe the bullshit being churned out by disney.

So I’ve taken a step back in time to the pre-disney era. As far as I’m concerned… it’s everything disney has churned out that’s non-canon and the EU is the ‘real Star Wars’.

P.S. Some of the Clone Wars animated was pretty good though… and I feel that Ahsoka’s character arc over the seven seasons was a lot more interesting than Anakin and his transition to Darth Vader… and the final four episodes of season seven of the Clone Wars (despite being disney) are (in my opinion) a far better end to the Clone Wars than the prequels could manage.

[grantinvanmanParticipant 2111xp 2]

I think it all went downhill after “Wrath of Khan”, personally.

[smithscoParticipant 1212xp 1]

I came of age with the prequels so I have a soft spot for them. Otherwise I agree for the most part. Took me awhile to warm up to Rebels but it paid off. Rogue One and Andor I’ve enjoyed.

I introduced my son to the EU legends books with audiobooks on car rides. He loves them. He’s mildly obsessed with Thrawn stories. Anytime anyone makes him mad he tells them to “quit being the Grand Admiral Thrawn of my life”

[grantinvanmanParticipant 2111xp 0]

[limburger 21635xp 1]

Starwars shows us what can happen to a series/setting when you get creators that care and when they stop giving a *beep* about it and only want to sell us “the message(tm)”.

The entire character arc for Anakin in the clonewars-series made his final transition to Darth Vader so much more believable than the prequel movies ever did.

Like Startrek the setting has sooo much potential for interesting stories, but commercial greed and modern identity politics have killed any interest I may have had in modern iterations.

I keep hoping Doctor Who doesn’t follow that path … but even they are showing clear signs of degradation. It kind of makes me wonder if we are ever allowed to have a series/setting that is designed to last “forever”. (the less said about what they did to Tolkien’s legacy in “Rings of Powah!” the better.

[grantinvanmanParticipant 2111xp 0]

Just look at what THEY did to our shows!

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 1]

Yeah, most of Disney’s offerings have been crap but really, what are you gonna do?  Literally the only options available are watch it or don’t.  I haven’t watched any of the new shows since the travesty that was Obi Wan, but what I can say with 100% honesty is that I haven’t missed it, I haven’t died and the world is still turning on its axis (to the best of my knowledge).

[grantinvanmanParticipant 2111xp 0]

There’s good and bad. I don’t think Walt Disney is responsible. He’s been dead for quite a while.

I saw Star Wars IV in 1977. And Empire and Jedi in their release years. Those will be my classics, always.

Otherwise, I like, in order:

– Rogue One (by far)

– Mandalorian Season One, when Taika Waititi was involved

– Solo

– Andor

– Mandalorian Seasons 2+

– Episodes 1-3

– Episodes 7-9

– Book of Boba Fett, starring the Mandalorian, with guest appearances by Boba Fett

– Obi-Wan

– The Acolyte, which I’m sort of unsure of for now. Wookiee Jedi… cool. For a few minutes, maybe. The Korean actor from Squid Game as the main Jedi is brilliant, in my opinion.

For me, ALL the cartoon series are utter crap. Unwatchable pap. Complete early 80s value cereal box ad filler. Dave Filoni was responsible for those, and I tried hard to find any redeeming qualities – there are NONE. To the point that when I see Filoni’s name behind anything Star Wars, I upchuck a little.

 

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by  grantinvanman. Reason: Typo. It happens
• This reply was modified 3 months ago by  grantinvanman. Reason: Missed one
• This reply was modified 3 months ago by  grantinvanman. Reason: Typos

[sundancer 42821xp 1]

There have been some good and some bad and some very boring things that came after George sold the IP. Let’s see if I can get this in canon timeline order

• The Acolyte – boring. It’s neither bad nor good it’s just boring as flock.
• Episode I, II and III – Wasn’t a great fan initially but they found their place somehow. Though some of the characters really could just die
• The Clone Wars – Nice watch
• The Bad Batch – Lovely grown up child television show.
• Andor – Great! A must watch. Seriously I love that series to bits.
• Rogue One – Good movie, nice tie-in ending to A New Hope but the CGI at the end was abysmal
• Obi-Wan Kenobi – not bad. But not really memorable
• Rebels – see The Bad Batch
• Solo – Oh my.
• Ahsoka – It’s ok. Still wondering why they choose a side character to name the show. XD
• Episode IV, V and VI – great movies, loved the “cleaned” versions, the extended versions not so much
• Ewoks I and II Love them, don’t @ me!
• The Mandalorian – Nice! Baby Yoda for the win!
• Book of Boba Fett – A roller-coaster. Ups and downs.
• The Sequels – oh ma gaaawd. Boooooooooring!

I think that covers most of what I have seen.  And I hope I did get the timeline correct. It’s a mix.

[grantinvanmanParticipant 2111xp 0]

I find your list mostly acceptable and reasonable. 

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 1]

I love the originals.  I liked the prequels (even of the dialogue is a bit clunky and some of the acting a little wooden).  I also enjoyed Rogue One.  Mando Seasons 1 & 2 were alright but they ruined it with season 3.  Everything else is just dross.  I will discount the animated series from that assessment, I have never watched them.  But apart from the list above, and with the caveat regarding the animations, literally everything Disney has done has been below average at best and absolute garbage at worst.  And I don’t usually use say this about entertainment products, but the Star Wars shows and films produced by and under Disney aren’t just subjectively bad as in “not really my thing”, they are objectively bad.  You can talk about them and tear them to pieces by simply talking about their storytelling techniques and dialogue quality – they’re so easy to critique without bringing in any subjective opinions.  I would even go so far as to many of the people that like the Disney do so in spite of the flaws – they accept that they exist but just say “but I liked it anyway”.  That’s a pretty bad place to be for someone with a license as expensive as Star Wars

[grantinvanmanParticipant 2111xp 0]

 

I think this would be awesome.

[grantinvanmanParticipant 2111xp 0]

@onlyonepinman – I think many do not like the Disney BECAUSE it’s Disney, and can’t get past the mouse in the house. Marvel fans are the same, frankly. Disney BAD. Movie BAD. Independent thought… BAD.

The original Lucas trilogy is laughable in its dialogue, even the cast are on record as laughing at how bad the space opera was written. It’s the special effects in a day and age before magic was at the push of a button that carried those movies. Young me was floored by the sheer wizardry of it – and couldn’t hear the bad writing.

[pagan8thParticipant 10727xp 1]

If you’re looking for Star Wars variations…

 

[limburger 21635xp 0]

the dialog may have been bad / cheesy … but they didn’t try to pretend it was trying to sell a message or something.
It was pure pop corn, leave your brain at the door entertainment done right.

The prequels were a really bad attempt at telling Darth Vader’s backstory. I think the Clonewars / Rebels series did a lot of fixing in terms of backstory and world building for those of us without access to the books that were written about Starwars. Ahsoka gets a really good character arc, which makes me extra sad to see her wasted in her own series. Same applies to Sabine.
Great character … and she becomes this boring as fck wannabe jedi, because of reasons that aren’t even explained.

I’m tempted to say that the missing backstory between Sabine and Ahsoka could have made for a more interesting tv-series.

The sequels stopped trying to tell a story with interesting characters. It tried to sell a message and used the Starwars IP to lure people into the trap as well as justify the expense.

@sundancer where is that infamous Christmas movie in that list of yours ?
I remember seeing somewhere on the interwebs that the Acolyte managed to score even lower than that one on Rotten Tomatoes.

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