Ahsoka series - Sabine Wren has been cast!

[Tank]

On 9/9/2023 at 11:12 AM, Destiny Skywalker said:

Yeah I was unimpressed. Choppy 8 minute documentary. I'm not sure what story they were trying to tell.

That this isn't a live action bonus season of Rebels and is for everyone... but no one is buying that.

[Darth Krawlie]

Sounds like I’m making the right decision not watching it, then 

[Destiny Skywalker]

I mean I like it. I'm definitely tuning in every Tuesday so someone doesn't spoil it for me.

[Rogue 3]

Yeah, I like it so far, but I have a feeling it all hangs on what they do in this weeks episode…

[The Choc]

I just get the same feeling I get from the rest of the Favreau/Filoni led shows, other than BOBF which was a level below, I like the show well enough to keep watching but thats really about all the excitement I can muster.

[Zathras]

Exactly how I feel, too. 

[Tank]

Same!

I think what kills me is that if this had come out at the actual time and place it takes place-- as in 4-5 years after ROTJ came out, it would be a HUGE deal for me. I almost feel like tonally they are trying to appeal to everyone too much.

I loved Tales of the Jedi, cause it felt like it was for kids, and that was okay. I liked Andor because it felt like it was meant for people who are adults now, but were kids during the OT. Mando S1/2 felt like just the right combo of each. But this show, Mando3, BOBF... they feel like a cartoon one minute, and something you're supposed to feel very serious about the next.

[Zathras]

Well I had a problem with the New Republic being unwilling to send a couple cruisers to blast the space ring.  Makes you feel like that if the good guys lose, they deserve it.  

[The Choc]

The show is just too dependent on a cartoon. I mean why would based on whats established in this show the audience care about Ezra? Its not like Luke Skywalker who is one of the most beloved characters in pop culture history. Same goes for Thrawn, we hear if he returns itll be war, but why? What about him? Nothing like that has been established. Its kinda crazy.

It goes back to a couple things. Firstly just this intertwined storytelling between series with characters appearing across them and all that. I just dont like that kind of storytelling.

Beyond that it goes back to the hierarcy of Star Wars. You make an Obi Wan show you don't need to establish Obi Wan or Vader or Leia or Bail or any of that because there is basically no one watching Obi Wan who doesn't know all about them. The same thing goes for Andor, you can make a safe assumption that the vast majority of viewers saw Rogue One. 

Thats not the case here, or at least they should hope its not. If this show is limited to Rebels fans thats a problem. At least I think it is. I mean people are going to say "I have to watch a friggin cartoon to get this?" I mean where does it end? Making a show where you have had to play a video game? Read a book? Read the back of action figure packages? 

 

As for the episode it kinda fits right into what I was saying in my last post. 

[The Choc]

2 hours ago, Zathras said:

Well I had a problem with the New Republic being unwilling to send a couple cruisers to blast the space ring.  Makes you feel like that if the good guys lose, they deserve it.  

Unless I misunderstood I dont think they believed the hyperspace rings were there. Whats going on here reminds me of Harry Potter when the ministry didn't believe Voldemort what back.

[Metropolis]

I knew Filoni wouldn't break his own rules. If Palpatine couldn't find his way into the world between worlds, there was no way Anakin could. It was all in Ahsoka's mind.

[Dark Wader]

21 minutes ago, The Choc said:

The show is just too dependent on a cartoon. I mean why would based on whats established in this show the audience care about Ezra? Its not like Luke Skywalker who is one of the most beloved characters in pop culture history. Same goes for Thrawn, we hear if he returns itll be war, but why? What about him? Nothing like that has been established. Its kinda crazy

I see what you’re saying and while I have problems with the show, I disagree it’s reliant on having seen Rebels (though I haven’t seen the latest episode yet, worth noting). I never watched all of Rebels and didn’t watch the seasons Thrawn was in, but I’m not lost about where this is going. 

I think part of the issue here is people want all the information spoon fed to them immediately. Why is Thrawn such a big threat and why will it be war when he comes back is something I’d expecting to learn as the season progresses, not day one. 

[Svenn]

I haven’t watched any of the cartoons, ever, and I have no problem following it or understanding that there’s some gravity to certain things happening. 
 

The flashback to the clone wars in tonight’s episode was compelling, even having never watched any of that stuff. 
 

There are some things that are obviously callbacks that I know I’m missing. But I just think about those as if they are obi wan throwing out clone wars references in ANH. I don’t have to know everything. And it seems crazy for the creative team to be building this huge body of Star Wars material and then be expected to somehow try to keep it all insulated from each other. 

[Tank]

4 hours ago, Metropolis said:

I knew Filoni wouldn't break his own rules. If Palpatine couldn't find his way into the world between worlds, there was no way Anakin could. It was all in Ahsoka's mind.

I’m not sold yet… because Maybe Palpatine did. I still think there’s some fix the ST stuff planned and the worst line in ROTS, “Somehow Palpatine has returned” is a thing what needs fixing.

I wouldn’t be surprised if in this other Galaxy we meet The Knights of Ren.

4 hours ago, The Choc said:

I mean where does it end? Making a show where you have had to play a video game? Read a book? Read the back of action figure packages? 

This was my argument back in the day during the PT about the EU, and how people who thought stuff from those books would show up were crazy. Now, not so much.

2 hours ago, Svenn said:

I haven’t watched any of the cartoons, ever, and I have no problem following it or understanding that there’s some gravity to certain things happening. 

I don’t think it’s a question of being able to follow, they’re covering that fine. Like Choc said, it’s why should we care?

They are relying on random to just accept anything branded Star Wars, which frankly, it’s been doing since the 90s when the EU started.

All my negativity aside though, I did like this episode. Hayden crushed it. He showed so many sides of Anakin that the PT scripts didn’t have the nuance for. That was some amazing redemption stuff. 

I kinda wished they’d given that second flashback to Ashley Eckstein, though she might be kinda old and not Latina enough to track as a 30 years younger Ahsoka.

[Rogue 3]

Yes, superb stuff from Hayden. Great to see him get his acting chops into some very well written scenes. Lovely flashbacks to the Clone Wars era.

Annoyed with myself for (as usual) missing the obvious. Sure, it would be much easier if they did a timey-wimey thing which results in Ahsoka getting on the ring ship (and hidden so it doesn’t impact what we saw in ep 4), before it left, than say, using the frickin’ space whales that are right there!!! Jeez….

[Svenn]

5 hours ago, Tank said:

I don’t think it’s a question of being able to follow, they’re covering that fine. Like Choc said, it’s why should we care?

Because the characters care, and they seem authentic about it (ie, it doesn't seem contrived)?

I mean maybe I'm just a cheap date, because the first marvel movie I saw was Endgame, and I enjoyed that too. But it seems to me that you don't always have to see behind the curtain to understand what the characters are doing, or why, or to empathize with what they're trying to accomplish.

Point is - I'm sure the story is more interesting to people who have seen it all, and who know the history. But the story is still accessible to the people who are new to these characters, and I think that's what matters.

[Rogue 3]

8 hours ago, Svenn said:

There are some things that are obviously callbacks that I know I’m missing. But I just think about those as if they are obi wan throwing out clone wars references in ANH. I don’t have to know everything. 

I like this comment - so true, a whole back story hinted at in a very short scene. 
Glad you are enjoying it. I do think that like in the lead up to the MCU tv shows that they could have done a little 5 min thing on Disney+ to give a little background to some characters less familiar. But hey - it is what it is! 

[CoLA]

I loved it! Granted, I've watched all of CW and Rebels, so this is all just gravy for me. Even though it was cloudy Clone Wars, it was still awesome to get a bit of it in live action. Hayden as Anakin was really good in this, probably better than all his scenes in AOTC and ROTS.

And is this the first time we've seen Ahsoka without some type of headband? It was...odd. No wonder she always has one on!

[Zathras]

13 hours ago, The Choc said:

Unless I misunderstood I dont think they believed the hyperspace rings were there. Whats going on here reminds me of Harry Potter when the ministry didn't believe Voldemort what back.

They didn't believe a war hero telling them they need to check something out to prevent another war, which is what annoys me.  The New Republic just seems dumb and as inept as the Old Republic.  One would have thought they would have learned something from sticking their heads in the sand the first time. 

[Darth Krawlie]

The new republic being dumb is 100% the fault of JJ Abrams not having a single original idea and just wanting to do rebellion vs empire again. Now these in-between shows have to make it happen.

[Metropolis]

41 minutes ago, Zathras said:

They didn't believe a war hero telling them they need to check something out to prevent another war, which is what annoys me.  The New Republic just seems dumb and as inept as the Old Republic.  One would have thought they would have learned something from sticking their heads in the sand the first time. 

This has been the point for a while. It was that way in the EU/Legends and in this new timeline. The easiest way to think about it is if there was a strong Republic there wouldn't be much Star Warsing going on. 

[Brett]

3 hours ago, Metropolis said:

This has been the point for a while. It was that way in the EU/Legends and in this new timeline. The easiest way to think about it is if there was a strong Republic there wouldn't be much Star Warsing going on. 

It doesn't need to be a strong New Republic, it just needs to be strong leadership. Why has the NR in this show already resorted back to a panel of Senators making mundane military decisions? The NR would still be a largely military-lead/military-hierarchy organization in the years following ROTJ.

[The Choc]

5 hours ago, Darth Krawlie said:

The new republic being dumb is 100% the fault of JJ Abrams not having a single original idea and just wanting to do rebellion vs empire again. Now these in-between shows have to make it happen.

They absolutely do not. We don't need every single thing that transpired between the trilogies explained. 

[The Choc]

5 hours ago, Zathras said:

They didn't believe a war hero telling them they need to check something out to prevent another war, which is what annoys me.  The New Republic just seems dumb and as inept as the Old Republic.  One would have thought they would have learned something from sticking their heads in the sand the first time. 

In your life experience how many real life governments are not inept? This tracks perfectly. Plenty of people who were war weary from WWI put their heads in the sand in the lead up to WWII. Whats transpiring in the New Republic is probably the closest to what would actually happen. 

I mean in Harry Potter they don't listen to friggin Albus Dumbledore and the timeline between the 2 wars is even shorter in Potter. 

[The Choc]

17 hours ago, Svenn said:

I haven’t watched any of the cartoons, ever, and I have no problem following it or understanding that there’s some gravity to certain things happening. 
 

The flashback to the clone wars in tonight’s episode was compelling, even having never watched any of that stuff. 
 

There are some things that are obviously callbacks that I know I’m missing. But I just think about those as if they are obi wan throwing out clone wars references in ANH. I don’t have to know everything. And it seems crazy for the creative team to be building this huge body of Star Wars material and then be expected to somehow try to keep it all insulated from each other. 

Here is the difference. In Star Wars sure there are unexplained things, as there should be, it works best with an amorphous backstory which gives the storytellers freedom. However in Star Wars the characters on screen and the basic stakes are obvious about 3 minutes into the movie.

Vader shows up, walks over some dead guys like he dont give a crap. He chokes a guy to death and throws him to the side like a rag doll. He threatens the Princess. 

Leia shows up she is cute, obviously brave and she talks back to the badass Vader. We like her immediatley.

Right from the start we are like "this Vader guy is a bad dude and someone better beat him and this Leia girl is cool as hell, someone needs to bust her out." Thats really the basics of the movie. Evil Knight takes Princess prisoner. Farm boy and good knight attempt to rescue her." Its so simple.

If anything this should be more focused like that, we don't need the crap about teh New Republic sucking and all that. But ofcourse gotta set up the climax to all of this in the cross over movie. It should be focused on the characters on screen plus the stakes of why is Thrawn so bad and why is Ezra so good.