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Star Wars Prequels The Courts

Judge's Ruling Calls Disney's Star Wars Sequels 'Mediocre' and 'Schlocky' (movieweb.com) 79

Posted by EditorDavid from the umpire-strikes-back dept.
"It is now written in the annals of legal history that Disney's Star Wars sequels, specifically The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, are mediocre," writes MovieWeb: This, according to Ninth Circuit Court Judge Kenneth K. Lee, who recently referred to the movies as such in a recent legal ruling... Judge Lee recently handed down a ruling in regards to a class action lawsuit against ConAgra Foods Inc. The case had to do with whether or not the company was responsible for placing a "100% Natural" label on bottles of Wesson Oil. ConAgra Foods no longer owns Wesson Oil.... And, as the judge found in his ruling, the company simply doesn't have the power to make that sort of call anymore....

This is where things get interesting. At this point in the ruling, Judge Lee decided to make a comparison, and that's where Star Wars comes in. It would seem the judge is a fan and he decided to liken the situation to Disney producing a trilogy of sequels after Lucasfilm was sold to them by George Lucas in 2012. And, in his professional, legal opinion, those movies were not up to snuff. "That is like George Lucas promising no more mediocre and schlocky Star Wars sequels shortly after selling the franchise to Disney. Such a promise would be illusory."

That wasn't the end of it either. In a footnote at the end of that page in the document, Judge Lee added some clarification saying, "As evident by Disney's production of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker."
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Judge's Ruling Calls Disney's Star Wars Sequels 'Mediocre' and 'Schlocky' More

Judge's Ruling Calls Disney's Star Wars Sequels 'Mediocre' and 'Schlocky'

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  • Good on ya.

  • So? (Score:3)

    by RyanFenton ( 230700 ) on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:04AM (#61458812)

    Folks making public decisions wax philosophical about the subject of their day when making analogies in all our history.

    Often very flawed ones, dependent on the ideas or misconceptions of their era.

    Star Wars is a public touchstone beyond most others, in terms of the percentage of the public that has viewed and discussed it.

    And, I mean - the sequels and prequels aren't Highlander 2 bad - but they're in that same ballpark, and you'll even find folks that will at least argue in favor of even Highlander 2.

    So... seems as valid as judges musing in their decisions ever is.

    I doubt you'd see a successful appeal on that part of the decision, at least.

    Ryan Fenton

    • And, I mean - the sequels and prequels aren't Highlander 2 bad - but they're in that same ballpark, and you'll even find folks that will at least argue in favor of even Highlander 2.

      You can find folks that will argue in favor of the holocaust, but I usually try to avoid 'em

    • And yet, vastly better in every way from the Star Wars prequels. I think we hit peak Star Wars too early possibly. The entire concept was a single movie, until Lucas retconned this by claiming he had 9 movies in mind. And you can see this clearly because the first movie is the only movie that is standalone and which fits with the theme of being an homage to space opera. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. None of the other movies do that; they're all highly referential of other movies.

      Even then, h

      • And yet, vastly better in every way from the Star Wars prequels

        You think? Sure, they had Jar-Jar and the romance plot was lame at times, but at least the prequels told an original story and didn't "disrespect" Star Wars.

        And by "disrespect" I mean:
        - Luke with hate-filled eyes plotting to kill his nephew
        - Luke becoming some kind of hobo
        - Yoda shitting on Jedi lore
        - Leia walking past Chewbaca after Han dies
        - Yet another "Death Star", but this time bigger and even more destroyier than last time *yawn* Because Star Wars is about blowing up death stars, right?
        - Hyperspace su

  • Stuff that matters.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's obviously just clickbait... I'm tempted to post a defence of The Last Jedi but I won't bother, it will only get modded troll anyway. That's how polarised the SW fandom is now, people actually get trolled because other people happen to like a movie they blame for retroactively ruining their childhood.

      • There is no defense of TLJ. It was complete and utter shit apart from the special effects. The entire casino planet plot was stupid, unnecessary, and entirely there for padding since RJ neither knew(since there was NO overall plan for the sequels) nor cared(as he later admitted in a Vanity Fair interview) about how the movie would tie into the SW universe. It completely eliminates any possible plot points established in TFA(Itself nothing but a giant asspull mixed with nostalgia bait and KK's obsession with

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Fuel is well established in the SW universe. Wookiepedia has a massive list of all the times it was mentioned.

          https://starwars.fandom.com/wi... [fandom.com]

          That includes two of the prequels. Okay they were not great but fuel is a thing in SW.

          The lightspeed attack, it makes sense given what Han said she accidentally crashing into planets. Thing is it sacrifices a large, valuable ship, so probably isn't common for the same reason real navies don't do it.

          Thing is if you go down that path then you have to ask lots of other

          • Note that I did not say that fuel itself did not exist. That would be silly as even nuclear and fusion reactors use fuel. Spaceship fuel as a consumable short-term resource rather than a long term outlay did not exist. As for the lightspeed attack, you can strap hyper engines to a TIE. Which means there is no reason not to man hyper equipped small ships with droids and kamikaze all your opponents. If you try bringing up ship size the idea that mass makes an appreciable difference in impact at those speeds i

    • 100% News for Nerds, 0% Stuff that Matters

      This is hilarious for nerds. /. used to do more of this.

    • Right? It’s about time we had some properly newsworthy nerdery like this.

  • "I know it when I see it" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by K. S. Kyosuke ( 729550 ) on Sunday June 06, 2021 @02:00AM (#61458860)
    If it's good for obscenity, surely it's good for schlockiness, too.
  • Even more so when coming out of the mouth of someone who has the authority to limit people's freedom. They should strive to look non-partisan and serious and such statements go in the opposite direction imho.
  • same with their amusement/theme parks, they are all geared to extract as much revenue as possible from the people that use them,
    • And I don't mind them doing that.

      But this trilogy was basically an insult to any movie goer and specifically Star Wars fans.

      It just shouts out at you: "Look! We can produce sh*t, stuff turds down your throat and you're stupid enough to go see it and make us rich anyway! Who cares about a plot! We just edit some random scenes together and you won't even notice!!"
  • ... is not considering the original ones rubbish too.

  • He's seen them though. (Score:3)

    by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 ) on Sunday June 06, 2021 @06:43AM (#61459122)
    Which means they got his money. I'd rather be mediocre and rich than brilliant and poor.
    • I wish capitalism rewarded brilliance higher than chasing the lowest common denominator. The world would be a more amazing place, by far.
      • Capitalism is over-rated these days.

        • Myeah. It's just feudalism with extra steps.
          It's still might makes right cause the right only understands the might.

          Only thing that's really different is that the means of production are no longer huge tracts of land but increasingly automated factories and imaginary property - transferable to the next generation of sociopaths.
          As long as one lucked into a grandpa (or a parent) willing to slaughter or exploit people in order to gain power one's existence will be prosperous.
          Title and a funny drawing of an out

  • Probably the closest we'll get to a real life Chewbacca defence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • The originals were enjoyable. The prequels were a disaster. Disney's ones are IMO better than the prequels.

    • The originals were enjoyable.

      The originals were pretty amazing for their time. The opening scroll to IL&M's models, etc. really had a wow factor on the big screen; special effects have gotten better but Star War's effects were something new at the time, even if the plot lines were pretty standard fare. They really should be seen on the big screen, in the original form, TVs really do not do them justice.

      • Well you are papally right about the films beeing designed for maximum impact on the big screen, as thay shuld be, thst was the only visble way to see them at the time of release ,and for a number of years after an as such might depen on the big screen for the vfx. Does this translate well to smaller screens (even tho tvs an desktop monitors have grown larger lately, those watching on laptops, tablets etc get what they get), Meade hollywood needs to rethink hove yhey dio vfx a bit since they no longer may d

        • (Snip)

          hollywood needs to rethink hove yhey dio vfx a bit since they no longer may depend on only box office, as the tail becomes more important, they might need to comprimize so that the smaller screen experience geers better

          I agree that filmmakers need to think about how to adapt their approach so it works on the small screen as streaming becomes more common as the way content is consumed.

          The challenge is how do you optimize for not just the small screen but the sound output mechanism? One of the great things about theaters is the speaker placement ads a bit of dimensional sensory input so you hear a craft flying by as you see it on the screen; most home viewing setups lack teh sort of speaker setups to really replicate that.

          • most home viewing setups lack teh sort of speaker setups to really replicate that.

            You can lead a homeowner to surround sound, but you can't make them buy it.

            However, it's easier to come by than ever before, since these days you can get a system with wireless rears

            • most home viewing setups lack teh sort of speaker setups to really replicate that.

              You can lead a homeowner to surround sound, but you can't make them buy it.

              However, it's easier to come by than ever before, since these days you can get a system with wireless rears

              Great. Now the audio measurbators will come in and argue how wireless sucks because you get a millisecond of delay and the only real way to enjoy surround sound is by running oxygen free specially pulled unidirectional annealed copper wire to all speakers. But yea, wireless is a great option over trying to run cable. I was lucky, I ran cable in conduit before the ceiling was but even so I find I will have to use wireless because some locations are not close to the wires I ran.

  • I don't need no judge to tell me that. I'd already figured it out for myself long ago. Even the first part in the trilogy was complete garbage, with no real plot to speak of. (P.S.: to this day I still have no clue what the trilogy was about)

    I'm absolutely sure it was designed by a committee which mandated that it should have several aspects in it: a) a Death Star b) a guy with a mask c) light-saber fights d) a cute robot or alien creature (which could be marketed as merchandise)
    • Indeed. The similarity with the original films, particularly IV - VII, was astonishing, particularly in that they pulled it off and people did not reject it outright as ridiculous.
      • Well, I did. I reject everything J.J. Abram touches. He ruined both Star Wars AND Star Trek!!

      • Yeah but that is what Disney does now, the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, Mulan, Marry Poppins, Aladdin why come up with new ideas when you can just redo old ones. Stars wars didn't out an out say it but its just a remake.

        That's what get when you give companies unlimited copyright terms they just sit on their laurels and aren't forced to come up with anything new.

        • I don't know about you but I believe Hollywood is dying. There's fewer and fewer original material being produced every year and we're now even seeing remakes of remakes.

          The video-game industry has long since surpassed Hollywood in content, profits and revenue and in the future, cultural significance.

    • I don't need no judge to tell me that. I'd already figured it out for myself long ago.

      He wasn't really telling you that. He was basically citing it as a given that everyone knows this already.

      • You won't believe this but I actually know some avid Star Wars fans who liked the last trilogy.

        I am loath to accuse them of being brainless morons, but the thought certainly crossed my mind.

  • A compelling case for copyright reform (Score:3)

    by Tokolosh ( 1256448 ) on Sunday June 06, 2021 @10:24AM (#61459522)

    Copyright (and patents) are much too long. Imagine if the Star Wars copyright had expired? Disney would have to actually get off its collective backside and perform the labor of creating something new and original. Lord save us!

    Copyright duration does not achieve its Constitutional mandate to expand knowledge. There is an optimum duration, somewhere between one day and one thousand years, and we are on right side of the peak.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ebvwfbw ( 864834 )

      SCOTUS has had the opportunity to put the kabosh on that nonsense and decided to blow it off. They think Congress should figure that out. IMHO they are there to say when enough if enough. Such as a dollar amount is too high. Too much prison is too much. Many, many other examples of when they put their thoughts into when enough is enough except copyright. Is extending copyright today motive to Walt Disney when he did the Mickey Mouse stuff? Man has been dead for over 50 years and we're about 90 years, maybe

      • You are right. Prior to the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, the right to be secure in your ownership of tangible property was recognized and protected, in perpetuity. In fact, it was so obvious that it did not need explicit mention.

        However, there was no equivalent concept of intellectual "property". When the Founding Fathers created a separate part of the Constitution providing for laws leading to copyrights and patents, it was as an incentive to increase knowledge and for the common good, not to cre

  • Why it's Kathleen Kennedy, of course. She has done her best to ruin the franchise and definitely deserves all the credit.

    • Who knew that Kathleen "Klutz" Kennedy would unite both Star Trek and Star Wars fans lamenting how their respective series have turned to shit! /s

      i.e.
      Star Trek at least used to be cerebral before turning into dumb action schlock of STD. Star Wars was never cerebral but it never solely focused on dumb like the last 3 dumpster fires of Star Wars did.

  • Lee is a Trump appointee. His companion on the bench has used occasional pop cultural references with wit and charm. But this isn't Night Court and he isn't channeling Harry Anderson. In contrast Lee's self-indulgent stream-of-conciousness ramblings quickly loose all focus and in the end lead nowhere. That is a disservice to the litigants and an embarrassment to the Court.
  • Nothing from media giants have compelled me for decades. It's like buying worthless shit that fills the Kwki Mart checkout counter.

  • Marcia Lucas (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Any Star Wars film that didn't have Marcia in the editing room falls flat on emotional impact.

  • Episodes 7 and 8 were pretty good movies, 9 was probably the worst of the entire series.

    After seeing episode 9 I developed a theory that at the bottom of every unguarded chasm in Star Wars is either a giant slide (as seen in Ep. 5) or a foam pit allowing anyone to land safely, and that people only scream as they fall because they know the only way back up is either to call someone for a ride from the underside of a cloud city, or via a long set of emergency stairs. This is why neither Palpatine or Kylo Ren

  • Episode 9 grossed only half of what episode 7 did. Usually the trend in movie series like this is that the last one makes more than the first. Disney can't be happy about that and if they don't have a hit movie soon, even more people will leave the franchise behind.

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