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Star Wars Prequels Television

Has 'The Mandalorian' on Disney+ Redeemed the Star Wars Universe? (salon.com) 242

Posted by EditorDavid from the galaxies-far,-far-away dept.
Today a staff writer at Salon argues "The Mandalorian" has redeemed the Star Wars universe: The Disney+ series "The Mandalorian" has been both a critical triumph and commercial success. In my judgment, it's the most compelling live-action story in the "Star Wars" universe since 1983's "Return of The Jedi".

To that end, the story in "The Mandalorian's" first two seasons about a mysterious bounty hunter and "the child" (who is actually more than 50 years old) he's entrusted with as they navigate their way through a dangerous world — rife with "scum and villainy," where the remnants of the evil Empire still terrorize the galaxy — has accomplished something difficult in science fiction and other genre entertainment. Longtime and serious "Star Wars" aficionados are enthusiastic about "The Mandalorian's" attention to detail and obvious love and respect for George Lucas's "Star Wars" universe. More casual "Star Wars" fans can enjoy the series for its story of family, friendship and adventure, and of course for "baby Yoda," aka Grogu, "the Child," a character described by legendary film director Werner Herzog as "heartbreakingly beautiful...."

Where does "The Mandalorian" go next? Why is it such a compelling TV series and story? Is there such a thing as too much "fan service" in a genre film or TV series? Why has "The Mandalorian" been such a success, compared to the most recent "Star Wars" films? Disney and Lucasfilm have recently announced plans for 11 new TV series and at least three more feature films. At what point does "Star Wars" become overexposed and made into something common, a parody of itself?

In an effort to answer these questions I recently spoke with Bill Slavicsek, one of the writers and developers of the much-beloved "Star Wars" roleplaying game from West End Games. He is also the author of the "Star Wars Sourcebook," "A Guide to the Star Wars Universe," many guides to RPGs and, more recently, "Defining a Galaxy: 30 Years in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...." He was one of the main game designers for the Dungeons and Dragons RPGs and is currently the lead writer for the massively multi-player RPG Elder Scrolls Online. Fair warning: This conversation contains spoilers for Season Two of "The Mandalorian," which is now available on the Disney+ streaming service.
Meanwhile CinemaBlend shares some commentary from another source, writing that "We need more Star Wars discourse like this." No arguing about bloodlines, or one director undoing the plotlines laid down by another. Just all of us, being amused by a cat who delightfully thinks that he or she can catch the lightsaber that a brooding Kylo Ren is tossing away during a pivotal moment in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker... And it even has Mark Hamill's seal of approval...

Kitty cats aside, it's a very good time to be a Star Wars fan. The Mandalorian just wrapped up an incredible season of television on Disney+ and Kathleen Kennedy recently ushered in a wave of new programming that will keep Star Wars on our radars for years to come.
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Has 'The Mandalorian' on Disney+ Redeemed the Star Wars Universe? More

Has 'The Mandalorian' on Disney+ Redeemed the Star Wars Universe?

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  • But not a great time to be a Star Wars writer (Score:5, Informative)

    by Krishnoid ( 984597 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @08:01PM (#60888782) Journal

    Considering how they stiffed Alan Dean Foster [sfwa.org] on his royalties. But hey, entertainment and all.

  • I'll reserve judgement... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Drethon ( 1445051 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @08:07PM (#60888802)

    until they figure out how to get it to DVD. Sorry, little bitter about exclusives.

    • I find it a little hard to say The Mandalorian is "exclusive" given how many different devices you can watch Disney+ on...

  • Nope. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rockoon ( 1252108 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @08:13PM (#60888816)
    The Mandalorian has not "redeemed the star wars universe"

    What it has done is made the wedge between Star Wars and Stupid Star Wars permanent.

    Stupid is a good word and we need to use it more. Episodes 8, and then 9, were just plain Stupid, from so many angles, and I dont just mean how the stories were immediately stupid as told, but that it was also completely stupid in the franchise harming sense of building a grander multi-movie story/universe in that instead of building upon, it destroyed and/or otherwise ignored, the grander multi-movie universe.

    Basically, the people put in charge from 7 on did not understand, at all, that they were making actual sequels to actual stories. How it can happen that so many involved must not of understood that, is a matter of the word of the day. Stupid.

    Disney spent billions of dollars, and then there very next step was to maximize being Stupid at every level of it.

    • Re: (Score:2, Redundant)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

      Lol who made you the gatekeeper of Star Wars?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Malifescent ( 7411208 )
      Totally in agreement with this post. I believe J.J. Abrams was the mastermind behind this wretched failure. He should be banned from ever making big-budget franchise feature films. He's ruined both Star Wars and Star Trek, two American cultural icons. At Disney they're just too stupid to see this, they're only watching the bean counters.

  • Fans are the problem (Score:4, Insightful)

    by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @08:21PM (#60888836)
    Star Wars fans are never happy. They hated the prequels. Now with the new trilogy, suddenly the prequels are okay, and only Disney is ruining Star Wars. Back when Return of the Jedi was released, legions of fans hated it because it "became" a kids movie.

    Maybe Star Wars nerds should just grow up and realized they got older and doing the old man thing of complaining about how everything was better.

    The prequels were fine. The sequels were fine. The original trilogy was fine. None of them were masterpieces, except for creating a whole industry around visual and special effects.

    It's okay to just enjoy things for what they are and like what you like without it alwaus being the end.

    • The sequels were fine.

      I don't think they really were.

      • Even just taking away all the other complaints that may or may not have been based on real or perceived biases, the stories for 7-9 pretty much just sucked (I include 7 because 7 was basically 4 all over again). 9 was a complete mess, with plot holes big enough to drive a Death Star through.

        • Yet, one of the biggest criticisms of the prequels were that they were not like the original trilogy. Now they're not happy when they get one that's like one of the original.

          • The prequel stories kind of sucked too, but nowhere near as bad as 7-9. 1-3s issues were more about characters and execution than story (Jar Jar, Anakin being a whiny little bitch, etc).

            Oh, and the pod racing. That was stupid.

          • Re: Fans are the problem (Score:5, Interesting)

            by tmmagee ( 1475877 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @11:17PM (#60889270)
            Why are people trying to argue that people should somehow enjoy movies they didn't enjoy? No one had to do that with the original trilogy. No one has to do that with Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings or the original Matrix movie. The prequels and sequels were warmed up leftovers. Maybe they each had their moments, but they don't compare to the originals in any way. Forty years later the names Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, Yoda, Darth Vader, etc. still deeply resonate with me as amazing, interesting, and original characters. Who did the prequels and sequels give us? Darth Maul?
            • The original trilogy were critically panned, just like all the other Star Wars films. The Harry Potter films are terrible. Lord of the Rings is boring as fuck. The original Matrix was full of pseudo-philosophy that was not deep as made out to be, and was propped up by the fuss around Bullet Time (and I love the Matrix movie).

              still deeply resonate with me

              Good for you.

              Who did the prequels and sequels give us

              Bait and switch. You can't talk about resonating with you, and then switch to talking about "us".

              Forty years later the names Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, Yoda, Darth Vader, etc. still deeply resonate with me as amazing, interesting, and original characters.

              Yeah, if you're a nerd who never reads anything outside of a few nerd franc

              • > Yeah, if you're a nerd who never reads anything outside of a few nerd franchises. Literally none of those characters are "amazing", "interesting" nor "original". EVERYTHING "interesting" about those characters were developed outside the films.

                The films are all most people ever see (including myself). And you didn't answer my question. Forty years later MANY fans were excited to see Luke Skywalker on screen again (and boy did Rian Johnson fuck that up). What characters originating from the prequels a
                • Luke Skywalker is remembered because he is the face of the franchise, in many ways. Nothing to do with being "interesting", "amazing", or "original".

      • Rogue One was fantastic.

        • IMHO: No. It had a few good fight scenes, great special effects, one very memorable character, and a fantastic last ten minutes.

          It is a heck of a lot better than Episodes 6-9.

          But if you rewatch it just for the story (which I did a couple months ago), you'll notice that the story is bolted onto those fight scenes and fairly incoherent.

          Face it. The entire franchise hit a peak with The Empire Strikes Back, and it's been mostly down hill since then. Rogue one was just better than the movies that came just b

          • Watch Rogue One for what it is: a war movie. You don't watch war movies for the story(well, most of them anyway). To me, it was an excellent war movie that just happened to be set in Star Wars instead of WWII or Vietnam.

        • Rogue One was fantastic.

          Except for cartoon Tarkin and cartoon Leia, but fortunately she wasn't onscreen for too long.
          Otherwise I didn't hate that movie. It was kind of interesting.

      • They were. Any criticism leveled at them can similarly be leveled at the original trilogy. The only difference is that "fans" had decades to come to terms with the problems of the first three.

        • Re:Fans are the problem (Score:4, Interesting)

          by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @09:08PM (#60888956) Journal

          They were. Any criticism leveled at them can similarly be leveled at the original trilogy.

          What about this: the plot for episode 7 was just a copy of episode 4. How do you level that at the original trilogy?

          The first 6 episodes had a relatively coherent plot. The last three did not.

          • Episode 4 was a copy of many well known movies at the time. Lucas famously copied Kurosawa films.

            The first 6 episodes did not have a coherent plot either. Anyone can make assertions, and you must be hiding under a rock if you think there are no prequel haters out there who thinks half of the first 6 episodes had no coherent plot.

    • Re:Fans are the problem (Score:4, Interesting)

      by joe_frisch ( 1366229 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @08:36PM (#60888880)
      I think the expectations for movies have gone up in the last 40 years, so while the new movies may not be worse in an absolute sense then the first ones, they were worse relative to other big buget pictures. The plots of the recent movies had some enormous holes as well. The entire plot of the 1st 3 makes no sense if the emperor can just create an invincible battle fleet. The full resources of the empire building a death star is one thing, but their defeated remains building a far more powerful weapon? Hyperspace drives as ways to destroy far more powerful warships? Just so many plot-breakers - technologies that if true make the plots of the earlier movies seem like nonsense. Then there is popping off to "casino planet" in the middle of a space chase

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 )

        if the emperor can just create an invincible battle fleet

        It wasn't invincible, by the very fact that it got defeated.

        their defeated remains building a far more powerful weapon

        Why not? The empire built the Death Star in the 20 years in the gap between the first two trilogies. The gap between the second two trilogies was 30 years. Unlike the original empire, they basically had free reign over the resources of the unknown regions, as well as kidnapping children and indoctrinating them for those 30 years. And then add that to the fact that they've had experience and the scientific knowledge of building a Death Star type wea

    • 4-6 were classics that have stayed with me my entire adult life. Of course they looked flawed now that forty years have passed, but in their time they were original and gave us unforgettable characters and an unforgettable story. I will never forget seeing the Empire's assault on Hoth in the theater. The AT-ATs alone blew me away.

      Everything after has been a disappointment, which may have been inevitable but they could have at least tried to modernize the story, take risks, and give us something original. Th

      • I will never forget seeing the Empire's assault on Hoth in the theater. The AT-ATs alone blew me away.

        Plenty of people who grew up the prequels feel the same way about the prequels. That's the problem with Star Wars nerds, they lack the ability to look at things from outside their own perspective and thinks their own experience is the only valid one, completely unaware that people exist outside of their solipsistic view of the world.

        the dialogue was particularly atrocious.

        Have you actually sat down and watched the original trilogy? The dialogue there was also atrocious. Star Wars dialogue is always atrocious. In fact, I'd say most sci-fi dialogue

        • > Star Wars is always predictable. The original trilogy literally follows the three act structure and the "Hero's Journey" down to the t. Star Wars also gets hate for not sticking to the existing narrative. Like I said, the problems are the fans. They get angry for not getting what they want or expect, and they also get angry when they do get what they want or expect.

          Every movie (practically every movie) follows a structure. The original trilogy was not predictable. The attack on the death star (thou

          • Every movie (practically every movie) follows a structure.

            Yes, so don't pretend that the original trilogy was so imaginative when it wasn't. It is literally an opera set in space. That's it.

            The attack on the death star (though it involved a ridiculous engineering flaw) was original and very exciting

            Funny how people can so easily forgive the ridiculous flaw needed for the movie to work, but don't allow the same brush off for the problems in the prequels or sequels. But no, it was not original. It was literally what many WWII fighter pilot movies were about. Other than the fact that it was a Death Star, it is just a WWII air battle and bombing run but in space. That was eve

    • Are fans the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Comboman ( 895500 ) on Sunday January 03, 2021 @01:08AM (#60889510)

      Star Wars fans are never happy. They hated the prequels. Now with the new trilogy, suddenly the prequels are okay, and only Disney is ruining Star Wars.

      Except, that's not true. You can't say the fans are NEVER happy, especially in response to an article about "The Mandalorian" which has been universally well received by new fans, old fans and critics. The originals were great because Lucas had a great team (Brackett, Kasdan, Kurtz, Kershner, etc) who were not afraid to give honest input. The prequels were OK but were very much one man's vision and suffered because of it. The sequels in contrast were a "too many cooks" situation with no overall plan or leadership. That's not the fan's fault.

      • which has been universally well received by new fans, old fans and critics

        That's wrong, right out of the gate. Plenty of comments here, alone, already shows that a lot of people hate the Mandalorian.

        The originals were great

        The originals were not great. The only thing that saved them were the special and visual effects. Put the original trilogy into a wobbly Doctor Who set and we'll see how bad they actually are.

        The sequels in contrast were a "too many cooks" situation with no overall plan or leadership. That's not the fan's fault.

        Yes it is, because the sequels are what you get when you try to satisfy all the "fans" who hated the prequels. Just look at the comments - The Force Awakens gets shit on because it is a copy of A

        • That's wrong, right out of the gate. Plenty of comments here, alone, already shows that a lot of people hate the Mandalorian.

          "A lot of people." Come on. Rotten Tomatoes site is an exceptional barometer of critic and audience enjoyment, and according to that site [rottentomatoes.com], The Mandalorian has exceptional scores of 93 and 91. People *love* that show. "Baby Yoda" probably carries a lot of that. A few haters on some internet forum where nerds argue with each other just for something to do is not going to change that. It's a lot like Nipplegate, "a lot of people were upset", but actually, almost nobody gave a shit.

          • Rotten Tomatoes site is an exceptional barometer of critic and audience enjoyment

            Critics, yes. Audience, no. Comments, where people don't think others are paying attention is where people's real views come out. You can find plenty of people in Youtube comments disliking, to hating the show. Yes, you should ignore the cesspool of the internet to maintain calm and sanity - but you have to accept the flipside that you simply do not see what people really think about the show, and that their "criticisms" are mostly the same whiny bollocks they trot out against the prequels and the sequels a

    • It was okay when Han shot first.

  • No arguing about bloodlines

    Star Wars has never been about bloodlines, it's always been about family. And that is what, in many facets, has made The Mandalorian so amazing.

    The Mandalorian has not really redeemed anything... but what is has shown, is the highs that Star Wars can reach when done really well, and with a ton of respect and understanding of the history and many worlds that encompass Star Wars.

    I'm one of those people who can enjoy pretty much any Star Wars, including the prequel and sequel trilog

    • Yeah, but Mando at least takes Star Wars back to its space western roots. At best, it doesn't take itself too seriously either, bringing in actual Star Wars critics to come in and play what is probably one of the most entertaining Star Wars characters in recent memory, plus the little bits of humor spread throughout (I'm sorry, baby yoda eating those eggs wasn't "genocide", he was just hungry and it was funny). And with it being a TV show and not a movie, the way they are able to work in all these differen

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • It's simple. (Score:3)

    by xevioso ( 598654 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @08:31PM (#60888870)

    It's not a retread of the prior stories. Although it clearly uses blatant Western Tropes, it's not as though the writers are attempting the match any of the original films "beats". The three new films match the originals with "beats", which include the THIRD world-destroying world in 9 films. The Mandalorian includes mystery, suspense, and characters you care about.

  • A new hope for the hopeful... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by irving47 ( 73147 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @08:33PM (#60888874) Homepage

    It comes down to whether some of the rumors are true, depending on who you believe.... Rumors reported about infighting inside Lucasfilm. A Kathleen Kennedy (KK) faction, and a Jon Favreau faction.
    Some think he (JF) is walking a fine line that has been sanctioned by the Disney brass and has the backing of George Lucas for a shared vision on how things should be, story-wise. In that same camp, people think KK is apathetic about the stories, and more interested in agenda casting and stories take a back seat to that. There are even rumors that she said if she doesn't get her way she will, quote "burn this silliness to the ground" on her way out. Her contract was rumored to expire by the end of Q1 2021. This is also a reason they cancelled the next SW Celebration convention until after she was gone, but it might have just been a fear Covid was going to be with us longer than expected at the time.
    Then there are those that think she (KK) is doing a fine job and it's all thanks to her wonderful leadership and things are humming along just fine in the walls of Lucasfilm and she'll get all the credit, and her contract re-newed.

    Either way, they seem to have seriously taken a lesson from the ratings and box office results. The Force Awakens: 2 billion. TLJ: 1.33. TROS: 1.07. That likely set off alarm bells along with the merchandising numbers. Mandalorian stuff has probably eclipsed TLJ and TROS plastic shit. Very little was made. The people in their 40's and 50's are the ones spending all the money now for action figures they remember and liked (the expensive ones). There are videos of Rose Tico action figures being shredded by the palette so they can claim the losses on taxes. All this leads into what has been announced for the new shows. Most of them are in the Episode III-VII timeline. Not one of those shows is known to extend past TFA or TROS. There are rumors now circulating that KK's influence in shaping the theme park timeline stuff for Galaxy's edge is now recognized within Disney ranks as a huge blunder and they will see some refitting over the next couple of years to put it back compatible with the "safe sells" of Luke, Han, Chewie, Leia, etc... Personally, I think they should be mos eisley and mos espa for the two current parks and a minimum of re-vamping done to the aesthetics to make them look compatible with Tattooine instead of Batuu or whatever it's called.

    • Wish I had mod points right now, because I would mod this as "interesting as fuck."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by irving47 ( 73147 )

        If you have a few hours to kill, check out some of the "Fandom Menace" channels. Let's be very clear. They are rumors. They KNOW they are REPORTING and COMMENTING on rumors. They are EXPLICITLY ADMITTING they are commenting on RUMORS.

        THAT SAID, they are doing their best (from what I can tell) to weed out the chaff and analyze the franchise with level heads. In order of "seriousness" and "credibility" I PERSONALLY favor the Midnight's Edge guys. The ME guys try to play it pretty straight and not inject a lot

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 )
      I like how "fans" have to resort to making up bullshit to justify their irrational hatred of a woman.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by irving47 ( 73147 )

        I honestly don't understand why the instant assumption of misogyny. The numbers on those box office results are NOT lies. If you think she's been managing the franchise perfectly, go back and check out how many directors she has had to fire after hiring them because they don't match her vision for the franchise. Some fans hate women. Some fans hate America. Some fans hate Jews. It's a BIG fucking franchise with HUGE numbers of fans. Big fucking surprise. As far as making shit up, if even HALF of the rumors

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 )

          I honestly don't understand why the instant assumption of misogyny.

          Because the previous guy running the show does not get the same level of vitriolic hate, even though he created the prequels. Hell, she even gets the blame for "discarding" the EU canon, even though Disney has brought more of the EU into actual canon than Lucas ever did, or wanted to. When two people in charge, who do basically the same thing, gets treated the differently and the only difference between them is their gender (not to mention liberally sprinkling the letters SJW everywhere while spewing vitrio

          • Because the previous guy running the show does not get the same level of vitriolic hate,
            Sir, are you a troll, Kathleen Kennedy's mother or just retarded? Perhaps you weren't alive during the "Lucas ruined my childhood"(Han shot first, the prequels, adding Jabba to ANH), but let me tell you, there was vitriolic hate. Quite frankly some of the hate stems from the belief that KK was the safe insider to run the ship after the Mouse bought ol George out, and to watch the dumpster fire that making 3 sequels with

            • there was vitriolic hate.

              You, are an idiot, because I said:

              the same level of vitriolic hate

              You are joking if you think Lucas got the same level of abuse as Kathleen Kennedy does.

  • It makes me long for Firefly (Score:5, Insightful)

    by subreality ( 157447 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @09:10PM (#60888960)

    Firefly had better characters, better writing, and more original themes. If you want the best episodic space western out there, Firefly was it. Imagine if they'd had access to Mandalorian-level production.

    The Mandalorian was entertaining, but I can't see each episode being memorable almost 20 years later the way Firefly is.

    • Re:It makes me long for Firefly (Score:4, Interesting)

      by sinij ( 911942 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @09:30PM (#60889024)

      Imagine if they'd had access to Mandalorian-level production.

      Have you watched expanse?

      • The expanse feels closer to Mass Effect to me than Star Wars or even Firefly. Great show though.

      • Yes, just the first season. We're about to re-watch it and catch up on the newer stuff. It's different - much longer story arcs, rather than self-contained episodes - but it's excellent.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by samwichse ( 1056268 )

        Hate to be the "book is better... " guy, but:

        The Expanse as a book series was a page turner. Then I watched the tv series, and it was somehow VERY LONG. We never even finished it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tdailey ( 728882 )

        Have you watched expanse?

        The Expanse is awful. I'm 1/2 way through season 3 and am pretty much finished with it.

        I'm a Rush fan, so I knew from the moment they named their spaceship the Rocinante that the story would eventually have them fly into a black hole (or similar).

        The writing feels like one pot-smoked idea after another, barely held together. The writers literally dropped half a dozen plots in the middle of season 3 and jumped 3 months ahead on the calendar, barely trying to explain what happened to the plots and characters

    • FIrefly was great, but those of us who loved it have to accept that it just wasn't that popular.

    • I did like characters (and great cast, I don't think they could have done better there) but the scripts/plots never matched my expectations of what could be done in the Firefly universe.

      For the Sci-Fi/Western analogue, I'd recommend "Cowboy Bebop" over Firefly.

      The people that love Firefly, really love it but for most people the show was "meh".

      • The people that love Firefly, really love it but for most people the show was "meh".

        Yes. I had a friend who loved it and kept going on and on about it. I finally got around to watching the show, and honestly, it was alright. I didn't hate it, and I didn't love it.
        Man, it had a devoted following though.

    • Re:It makes me long for Firefly (Score:4, Interesting)

      by alexo ( 9335 ) on Sunday January 03, 2021 @01:46AM (#60889626) Journal

      If you want the best episodic space western out there, Firefly was it.

      *cough* Farscape *cough*

  • NO (Score:3)

    by bloodhawk ( 813939 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @09:40PM (#60889040)
    The Mandalorian while not terrible is very formulaic and predictable with so many plot holes it is cringeworthy at times. Still it is at least watchable.

  • Nope (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @09:45PM (#60889056)

    The Mandalorian is the most pathetic example of stupid writing I have seen so far in this franchise. It is full of tired old cliches. The hero is dumb, the enemies are dumber and are obviously shooting themselves routinely, because there is no other explanations for the outcomes of the fights. This is really a story for small children, pretending to be one for adults.

    • mod parent up (Score:4, Interesting)

      by bussdriver ( 620565 ) on Saturday January 02, 2021 @10:45PM (#60889210)

      Many many things today have been lowered to the level of children's programming and then re-themed as adult programming.

      The irony is that some actual children's programming comes out more sophisticated just to appeal to the adult creators hoping to advance their career or to help the suffering parents who have to watch. I suppose you'd call this quality family programming which Disney used to be pretty good with even without the now formulaic innuendos or cynicism (which the kids actual pick up on a simple level; it's odd to see them parrot this when they don't have a clue about it.)

      STAR WARS ENDED. almost a half century ago. Not letting go is why we will see it run into the ground and cheapened for anybody who is not exposed to it in the proper order (without prequels.)

      • STAR WARS ENDED. almost a half century ago.

        It did for me anyway. In fact I'd say it ended in about the middle of Return of the Jedi, so 38 years ago.
        I was only 8 years old, but I remember thinking how stupid it was that there were teddy bears running around fighting against the storm troopers. It was a huge disappointment to me. I didn't think of it as just another stupid kids movie. I thought Star Wars was serious and cool before that.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          STAR WARS ENDED. almost a half century ago.

          It did for me anyway. In fact I'd say it ended in about the middle of Return of the Jedi, so 38 years ago.

          I was only 8 years old, but I remember thinking how stupid it was that there were teddy bears running around fighting against the storm troopers. It was a huge disappointment to me. I didn't think of it as just another stupid kids movie. I thought Star Wars was serious and cool before that.

          Yes, for the movies that was pretty much the point where it was over and excessive commercialization killed it all.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        STAR WARS ENDED. almost a half century ago.

        For the mainstream, most assuredly it did. I do think that some games carried the thing a bit further, but even there is only a small selection of what was made.

  • No.

    Seriously, is this where /. is still?

  • The only TV I've watched in the past two decades has been Futurama. I find TV shows boring compared to movies - more flabby, more filler, clear that they're scrabbling to get enough material to fill their allotted showtime with a low enough budget for effects and actors and locations. So different from movies where it's clear they have to tell a leaner taughter story and then trim yet further to get it to fit in the 2hr showtime.

    I've loved Star Wars all my life, turned up at midnight showings in costume for

  • I didn't care about Star Wars much anymore after The Last Jedi. Such a bleak and horrible story. Then The Rise of Skywalker was truly a dog's breakfast... just such a mess start to finish that by the end I just didn't care anymore.

    We got a free trial to check out The Mandalorian and I told my wife "don't cancel our Disney+ membership; this show, just on its own is enough to justify the expense."

    The Mandalorian is made by people who are really deep Star Wars fans. Way deeper than I am. They well and trul

  • I'm completely unimpressed with the series. YMMV, but to me, this series doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same conversation as Star Wars. The plot is stupid.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dcw3 ( 649211 )

      Oh, and I almost forgot. Fuck Disney. Fuck them for replacing people and making them train their replacements or lose their severance. Fuck Disney for price gouging at every opportunity. Oh, and fuck Disney.

  • As a parent of a 7-year old and an uncle to 10-13 year olds, all of which are obsessed with Star Wars, I can confidently say that Star Wars is doing just fine among its most important customer base - kids. The opinions of the middle age demo are great for short term movie revenue, but appealing to kids is what locks in another generation of merchandise consumers, a classic Disney tactic.

    Here's the mind-blowing part to me: my 7-year old knows more about Star Wars than I do (of course I'm a fan), and she's ne

  • For the life of me I cannot understand the continued fascination with this franchise.

    I mean, sure I loved it as a kid when the original movies started coming out. But in the end all Star Wars boils down to is two good movies and a bunch of crap.

  • It was great to see a well produced series. It was great to see Star Wars.

    I'm almost 50. Star Wars was base. ESB was awesome. Half of RoTJ was ok. 1,2,3 were crap. 7 repeated 4, but not quite as good. 8 was bad. 9 I enjoyed. Rogue One was really fantastically great. I'll stop there. I'm used to the idea that most of SW is crap. It's not good, it's not aimed at me.

    I was disappointed in the writing. This is the golden age of television, streaming media. This was the ONLY original streaming conten

  • If a story does not have an ending before they start filming the first episode, it's probably gonna turn out rubbish after the first season.

  • If I was going to introduce Star Wars to someone, I would show them Episode 1-3, Solo, Rogue One, Episodes 4-6, and then finish with Mando. No Sequel Trilogy at all.

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