Ahsoka Reflects Sad State of the TV Industry - "Setting aside some questionable hair and costuming decisions, Ahsoka did a disservice to its titular character, shoving her into being a franchise-furthering engine, and miscasting other beloved characters to fit that narrative beside her. From the start, Ahsoka left the viewer wondering why Lucasfilm bothered with this Herculean effort to bring the iconic Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), the newer fan-favorite Star Wars Rebels crew, and the legendary Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), into live action, only to do little with their characters except move them from point A to point B. What did this series add to Ahsoka’s, the Rebels crew’s, or Thrawn’s stories as people, or reflect about Star Wars and its enduring themes that have inspired people for decades? Not much, apparently, other than becoming the Star Wars iteration of Disney’s live-action remake agenda, in the mistaken belief that characters can only be financially viable for merchandising to the mainstream if they are adapted into live action. (Ironic, given Disney’s role in making animation merchandising what it is today)... The show’s glaring weaknesses in character development, setup, world-building, and pacing have made it the poster child for not only the issues of the entire post-Return of the Jedi Star Wars sequel era, but for the Hollywood film and TV industry right now as a whole. Ahsoka’s arrival in late August, during the final stretch of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, ended up meeting the moment; with each new episode, the show demonstrated how many of its core issues, like fewer, shortened TV seasons to cut costs, the lack of full writers’ rooms, and the disrespect for animation in favor of live action, have eroded the medium of television. At first, it was refreshing to watch a Star Wars series revolve around a mostly female, non-white cast, whose characters shared complex, adult relationships. However, the series chose to place Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), a character with a well-established arc and identity, into being a blank slate padawan role for Ahsoka’s development, in the same way it altered Ahsoka’s character for the franchise’s development. For far too many episodes of such a short series, Ahsoka left viewers wondering why Sabine’s response to losing Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) was to want to become a Jedi, and why Ahsoka suddenly became unwilling to train her in the past. Sabine not being very Force sensitive and having to access her power in nontraditional ways could have been an interesting idea for Star Wars to explore. But a show supposedly focused on a single character, Ahsoka Tano, with only eight episodes and an urgent plot goal (find Ezra and stop Thrawn), was not the place to do so. The series addressed these key questions in less than two lines of dialogue at the end, making Ahsoka’s midway “turning point” confronting her past anticlimactic, and opening up even more questions that it didn’t have time to answer. The show also neglects one of Star Wars’ most important themes — its politics, which, contrary to some fans’ complaints, are as intrinsic to the franchise as they are to Ahsoka’s character. The series briefly touched on how she’s always felt being a Jedi is not about being a soldier, and the show proposed an interesting inner conflict: is her wartorn history a worthy legacy to pass on to an apprentice? Puzzlingly, the show omitted that she’d spent the last 30 years fighting for the Rebellion, specifically as one of its original intelligence agents, “Fulcrum.” Like Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy, the most thematically consistent conclusion would have been Ahsoka coming to realize that fighting fascism was her way of bringing balance, protecting the light, and defining for herself what being a Jedi means post-Order 66. (Especially since her apprentice, Sabine, has also spent most of her life as a freedom fighter). However, the Ahsoka series, despite being written by Dave Filoni, the same showrunner who created Ahsoka’s important political arc in the Clone Wars, completely dropped this aspect of her character. In doing so, the series lost what makes her, and Star Wars, compelling... While extremely experienced in animation, Filoni learned the ropes of live-action TV from his partnership with Jon Favreau for The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka was his first solo foray. But the real root of the problem seems to be that Disney higher-ups see these characters as only dollar signs, so they gave a visionary and talented creator the bare minimum amount of time and resources to continue their stories. The show didn’t need to be good to sell merchandise, especially when the characters were already familiar to viewers, similar to how the Marvel Cinematic Universe has apparently been cutting key elements of the TV production process to churn out its many IP-stretching series."
Unsurprisingly, it turms into another left wing screed and unionisation is somehow the answer
Meme - Princess Leia: "HELP ME, OBI WAN KeNnoBI, You'RE my ONLY HOPE. Okay ARToo... ONLY THREE MORE RECORDINGS To Go..."
*Admiral Ackbar
Mon Mothma
General Dodonna
Wedge Antilles
Obi Wan Kenobi
Master Yoda
Jar Jar Binks
Chuck Norris*
Meme - "John Boyega Says 'Star Wars' Is 'So White That a Black Person Existing in It' ls a Big Deal: Toxic Fans Are 'Okay With Us Playing the Friend' but We 'Cant Touch Their Heroes'"
star wars fans (Mace Windu): "You are on this council, but we do not grant you the rank of hero"
Meme - Obi-Wan: ">"Luke, did I ever tell you about the time I was one of the most respected actors in the world, performing in renowned films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Bridge on the River Kwai? I even got an Oscar and a Knighthood in recognition for my talent and excellence. Then, while I was between shooting masterpieces with David Lean, a nerd named George Lucas begged me to play a samurai wizard from space in his sci-fi/fantasy flick. I took it to be nice, even though it meant saying lines such as "Only a master of evil Darth'. Somehow it was a huge success and he roped me into appearing in the two equally idiotic sequels. The third one had cannibal teddy bears, Luke. I didn't want to, but my code of honor as an actor and British gentleman prevented me from leaving a project unfinished. Now those movies are the only thing people remember me for. When you search my name on Google the first image is from a character unironically named Obi-Wan and the first result is from a website called "Wookiepedia". My legacy is forever ruined thanks to George Lucas. And he was a good friend""
Meme - "RESIST. Stand with Ukraine." *Star Wars The Last Jedi poster with Poe's X-Wing vs First Order Dreadnought altered to have the First Order be Russia and The Resistance, Ukraine*
This is a great image because at the start of The Last Jedi they sacrifice a lot of people and materiel the Resistance cannot afford to lose because they hate The First Order so much, but The First Order can afford to take the losses while they can't
"If you stand with Ukraine go there and fight with them then, what are you waiting for. why do we have to support them and waste our tax dollars on them?"
"If the media, and every major corporation pushes your beliefs you are not the resistance."
"Even the posters are stupid"
"Hell yea let's support another war in the countries that didn't want us to get involved and now we try and pull out we get blamed for it again even tho we just got out a 20 year war left our shit and now gotta fund Ukraines"
"Maybe your country can be the big bank for them, everyone expect thr USA to open the pocket book all the time."
Meme - Darth Vader: "DUDE WHAT HAPPENED Us? WE WERE DOING TONS OF cool flips over a pool OF LAVA LAST TIME."
Obi-Wan: "I KNOW RIGHT!"
Darth Vader: "*sigh* We got old, bro."
Savvy on X - "The people who took over don’t care about Star Wars. They turned it into THEIR platform instead of respecting lore and the fans that made it a global success. That apathy and disrespect bled out and if the people making the current day Star Wars don’t care, why should anyone else? They expressed selfish intent and a disdain for fans, so fans moved on. That is the way of the world. This whole social experiment can finally come to a close. Those who don’t care about IP should do something honorable for the first time in their life and just move on. You give undeserving people access to other’s success and you end up with today’s entitled cast and crew and directors and “writers” who are just angry. The market doesn’t owe you success. People aren’t cattle as a whole, no one has to give you money for entertainment."
If you refuse to just shut up and consume content made by people who hate you, you are a bad person
Vivien Lyra Blair: 'We Need Less Male-Centric Star Wars' : r/KotakuInAction - "Because the last few have been so male centric and did so well…"
Meme - Rachel Leishman @RachelLeishman: "Ohhhhhh Star Wars Theory decided to do a "reaction" video to my interview because if he isn't fucking grifting off of Star Wars, he's grifting off of women and sending his minions after them. Fuck off and go build some faulty lightsabers while crying on camera.
to be clear: I really don't give a fuck. anyone who resorts to calling a woman a "cow" because of a star wars show is literally pathetic. I just didn't understand why i've had to delete 100s of comments all of the sudden and it's because of this jagoff"
StarWarsTheory @realswtheory: "Who called anyone a cow? The only person throwing insults is you calling me names and making fun of my body. reacted to your interview because it has to do with that God awful show and gave my take on the Star Wars lore. No one is even focused on you. Calm down and be nice."
JKorr: "1. Triggered by criticism? *tick*
2. Tries to silence criticism vs address it? *tick*
3. Makes claims without receipts? *tick*
4. Middle school-level character insults? *tick*
5. Block chains everyone to create a 'safe space'? #SameRecipeEveryTime"
Meme - "Anakin: I slaughtered innocent people for you
Padme: Oh no, the bra fell off."
Mother of 'Star Wars' child actor details his mental health struggles - "She also wanted to set the record straight about what her son really thinks about "Star Wars." Lisa noted that her son is aware that she is speaking out to tell his story... Lisa is also eager to dispel what she says is a common misconception: that an avalanche of negative reaction to "The Phantom Menace" drove Jake to quit acting and contributed to his mental illness. “It would have happened anyway,” Lisa insists, pointing to a history of schizophrenia on his biological father’s side of the family. “I believe that it was genetic. And his psychiatrist also agrees that Jake was going to become schizophrenic.” She also insists that in 1999, Jake was largely shielded from the toxic vitriol swirling around the prequel film. “I protected him from the backlash. He was just riding his bike outside, playing with his friends. He didn't know. He didn't care,” Lisa said. “Everybody makes such a big deal about that. And it's rather annoying to me because Jake was a little kid when that came out, and he didn't really feel all that stuff because I didn't let him online.” Lisa acknowledges that high school kids would sometimes bully Jake over "Star Wars""
This is just like how Ahmed Best and Kelly Marie Tran said the media were responsible for their mental health issues, but the media and left wingers somehow blamed "toxic fans" for this. Classic projection
Meme - "Leia: Leader
Chewbacca: Mechanic
C3-P0: Knowledge
Luke: Knight
Han: Pilot
Poe: Dumb sidekick
Finn: Shouting sidekick
Chewbacca: Nostalgia sidekick
Rey: Leader, Mechanic, Knight, Pilot, Knowledge"
chompy gigante 💜 #caitvi on X - "you don’t miss old star wars, you miss being younger and happier. and one of those things you still have a shot at at if you move on to something that DOES bring you joy"
Tetsuo Bourbaki on X - "Star Wars fans hold Star Wars to a standard it has never been able to meet. You don't miss old Star Wars, you miss being younger and happier."
Ironic, given that Disney Star Wars fans tend to shit on the prequels and claim The Last Jedi was a masterpiece (so it can't be/always have been sci-fi schlock). Also, given that Disney has admitted they didn't have a plan for the Sequel Trilogy and even many of those who loved The Last Jedi recognise that The Rise of Skywalker tried to rectify the damage it did, this is just cognitive dissonance (as usual)
Rey Is A Dead End For Star Wars - YouTube - "There's one mistake that over time has proven to be the fatal mistake. And not just fatal to the sequel trilogy but possibly to the entire franchise and that is the mishandling of the character Rey. In this video we're going to look at how one poorly written main character has led one of the biggest entertainment franchises in the world down a dead end... her character was never really written and I don't say that to be hyperbolic. A character with no motivations or flaws who doesn't undergo some kind of significant change is not a character by any literary definition. I've watched three movies about Ray and I don't feel like I ever went on any kind of Journey with her... the people responsible for writing Rey's story obviously know what is necessary for a compelling main character. I don't think we can account for it by sheer ignorance of basic writing principles. Instead the real culprit is the greed and hubris of the Walt Disney Company. Famously this Trilogy went ahead without an approved story treatment or even an outline of Ray's character arc and the only way that could happen is if the key decision makers at Disney and Lucasfilm sincerely believed that Ray's character was not primarily important. That so long as the films were passable as a Star Wars product fans would keep coming back and the franchise would go on. And it's only now a decade later that they're seeing just how fatal and shortsighted that mistake truly was. With shareholders salivating over the next Blockbuster Trilogy the studio needs desperately to expand the franchise when unfortunately all they've done so far is extend it. They're now realizing that by not giving due respect to the writing challenge they inherited when they purchased George Lucas's IP they stranded themselves in a narrative dead end that is actually impossible to write their way out of. What Journey could Rey possibly go on that wouldn't feel totally overdrawn and redundant after the ludicrous excess of Episode 9?... at this point what is the Skywalker Saga even about? What unifying thread could justify these stories being episodes in the same series? If Rey has already adopted her identity as a Skywalker and has never had to learn or master the Force what moral question could she possibly pose as the story's ongoing protagonist? William Shakespeare himself could not devise a plot that makes this story make sense. Unless of course Darth Jar Jar was finally revealed to be a Sith Lord, which would explain a lot. Now if I had to guess why the Star Wars franchise is struggling most of all to retain writers I would say that it's because the studio's short-sighted profit-driven writing decisions have left its most lucrative series narratively bankrupt and unsalvageable even by the industry's most talented writers, and this fatal mistake may go down in cinematic history as proof that genuine storytelling is the franchise's most valuable cinematic asset"
Yet Another ‘Star Wars’ Movie May Be Falling Apart - "Disney’s current handling of Star Wars is something of a mess, and making the MCU look brilliant by comparison, even if perhaps that too is past its prime. Extracting themselves from the mess of The Acolyte, a little-watched show that cost an insane amount of money and sparked an enormous fan firestorm (as did its cancellation), now Disney is continuing to stumble trying to make any new Star Wars movies. The latest? The new post-sequel-trilogy Rey film is now apparently in jeopardy. According to a new report from Puck, screenwriter Steven Knight of Peaky Blinders fame has apparently left the project, which now means the film, if it does end up existing, will probably miss its rumored December 2026 release date, already over two years from now. The director, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, is still attached, from what we can tell... if this doesn’t end up happening, it is yet another Star Wars movie project falling to pieces, which has happened a stunning amount of times before this. We have:
The cancelled Patty Jenkins Rogue Squadron movie
The cancelled David Benioff and DB Weiss Star Wars trilogy
The cancelled Rian Johnson Star Wars trilogy
The cancelled Kevin Feige Star Wars movie
The cancelled JD Dillard Star Wars movie
Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie is supposedly on “indefinite hold”
Disney only managed to get out the sequel trilogy, Rogue One and Solo, before the underperforming Solo had them put on the brakes and switch to Disney Plus content, which has been hit or miss for them namely due to insane budgets that are not earning traditional box office returns. Now, its most prominent, definitely-happening movie is birthed from one of those shows, and will be The Mandalorian and Grogu. There are reportedly still James Mangold and Shawn Levy films potentially in the works, as some of the last few projects left."
Clearly anyone who suggests that all is not well in Star Wars land is a toxic manchild fanboy
Alleged Disney Insiders Admit Lucasfilm Struggling To Find Direction For Future Of Star Wars Franchise: "Rey Is The Most Valuable Cinematic Asset, In Some Ways Maybe The Only One" : r/KotakuInAction - "well when you kill off or waste everyone else...yeah"
"If they took that scene where Poe and Finn steal the TIE Fighter and stretched their reluctant-ally-becomes-best-friend vibe across two hours, they might have had the best star wars movie of all time The Force Awakens stopped being good the minute the TIE crashed. the sequel trilogy as a whole was quite literally all downhill from the fourth scene of the first movie"
"Looking back it's ridiculous how their ideologies (no-men in the spotlight, women are the bestest evar) really locked them out of any meaningful and or 'tried & tested' story beats. I also get the sense that most if not all Disney Star Wars writers are capital P petty and petulant about the fact that not all people are capable of or will ever become jedis, they are supposed to be 1 in 1000s special individuals by the new shitology time, but of course 'modernity' can't have that because everyone is special."
"We now have "differently-abled" jedis, obese jedis, starbucks barista jedis, etc..."
"Get with the times! We've got sentient Jedi rocks: Geode."
Alleged Disney Insiders Admit Lucasfilm Struggling To Find Direction For Future Of Star Wars Franchise: "Rey Is The Most Valuable Cinematic Asset, In Some Ways Maybe The Only One" : r/KotakuInAction - "Just imagine, you buy a multi-billion dollar franchise and then spend the first few years killing all the lore and characters that attracted the fans to the franchise. Then you try to force fans to like your poorly written new characters via a series of poorly planned movies. Literally billions of dollars on the line and there wasn't enough oversight to stop some management team from going "yeah just burn it all to the ground, we'll figure something out". They literally went so far out of their way killing characters like Admiral Ackbar in blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes that you'd swear someone at Lucasfilm thought scorched earth was the best option."
" Narcissist authors who think they can "fix" the old material that's "outdated" and "problematic". Same reason why DA:V blew up the entire area that earlier titles were set in, and set the game in a new area. Turns out that the old material was the only thing keeping old fans attached to the franchise, and the new writers aren't talented enough to draw in enough new fans."
"It's a combination of ego, conceitedness, and narcissism. Disney execs fully believed that anything and everything with the Star Wars property attached to it would sell like hot cakes. Regardless of quality. They wanted to make their investment back ASAP, and figured the popularity of the franchise alone would carry it indefinitely. Those further down the totem pole, likewise, wanted to tell their own stories with fresh, new characters with little to no ties to the previous legacy material. And we've seen where that's led us."
Alleged Disney Insiders Admit Lucasfilm Struggling To Find Direction For Future Of Star Wars Franchise: "Rey Is The Most Valuable Cinematic Asset, In Some Ways Maybe The Only One" : r/KotakuInAction - "You know as strange as it sounds, this is true. They've practically exhausted the existing roster for key-jangling and burnt money on their original prequel/women's bad boy romance fanfiction 'The Acolyte'. They can't keep adding bloat into the OG timeline forever, so they need desperately need a fresh start. And all they have is Rey. Imagine fucking up a franchise so rich with lore and characters so bad that your best hope of continuing it is a cardboard figure. That is the Kathleen Kennedy way."
"Lol this is true. They literally killed off not just the characters, but the legacies of the core star wars characters. How the hell do they expect to keep engagement when they're all gone? Except for Palpatine, who somehow comes back."
"it really is astounding how you had all these characters in the original films, and they somehow ended every single one of their bloodlines. even relatively minor characters like Admiral Ackbar except Palpatine"
"I literally can't think of a way for them to save this:
If they went with Rey, the movies would bomb. Nobody wants to watch a Mary Sue that has the charisma of a pet rock
All of their new characters have tanked, with the exception of Baby Yoda
And their last "ace in the hole" would be to do movies with the original characters but new actors. But they already tried that with "Solo" and it bombed
They got nothin'"
Dave Filoni Is Now in Charge of Star Wars at Lucasfilm - "Dave Filoni, who has overseen “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Rebels,” “The Mandalorian,” “Ahsoka” and is the master of all things in a galaxy far, far way, now has a new role as Lucasfilm: chief creative officer. He still holds the title of executive vice president, which he received in 2020."
From 2023. How much damage control can he do and when will the pain end?
"As if he's not literally married to a black woman": Toxic Star Wars Fanbase is Getting Out of Hands and George Lucas Warned Us About It Decades Ago
Ironic. It was the media bashing the prequels, but of course the media can't criticise itself, and it fits The Narrative to bash "toxic fans" instead to cover up Lucasfilm's ineptitude. Though they kind of quote Lucas, they ignore that in that same interview, he bashed SJWs who kept accusing him of racism because Jar Jar Binks was offensive to Jamaicans and went on to blame the media for amplifying certain criticisms to push a narrartive (plus ça change...). But of course the media need to conveniently ignore that and selectively quote Lucas (the full quote makes it clear he was talking about those who didn't like "comic sidekicks" - he wasn't disclaiming all criticism).
