I thought I’d start a general Star Wars thread, as there has been so much new info coming out of Star Wars Celebration this weekend. We had the new trailer for Episode IX, a trailer for Jedi: Fallen Order (which has another thread), and a bunch of info for The Mandalorian.
I’ll start with Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. Here’s the trailer:
I’ve got mixed feelings about this, as I’ve had about the whole sequel trilogy (ST). I really love the cast, they have all been phenomenal. But I feel like so far both the direction and world building have been lacking. I liked where Rian Johnson was trying to take things but, like many others, this trailer has me convinced that JJ is going to throw all that away.
The Mandalorian seems more interesting. Here is an io9 article about it, and here is the panel. Unfortunately the trailer hasn’t been officially released (you can see some phone captures of it on twitter):
It debuts on Nov. 12 on the new Disney streaming service. It’s about a group of Bounty Hunters during the chaotic period post-ROTJ (about 5 years after). The titular Mandalorian is played by Pedro Pascal, who seems super excited about his role. Gina Carano plays one of his companions, a bad-ass looking former Rebel-shocktrooper called Cara Dune. Carl Weathers plays Greef Marga, the ring leader who hires the other two for the job. Warner Herzog appears to be the main baddie, and in the trailer gives a speech that was probably written by Steven Pinker:
The Empire improves every system it touches. Judging by any metric: safety, prosperity, compare Imperial rule to what’s going on now…
Cosplayers from the 501st play the Stormtroopers (I hope they are getting paid!). It’s being described as very much a space western, with the Mandalorian being a Clint Eastwood Man With No Name type. I like the casting and it’s definitely got me interested!
More than anything, attaching the name Skywalker to this movie has wiped away a lot of the optimism that I had after TLJ. After being huge into high fantasy and chosen one tales, I’ve grown to despise stories whose narrative weight is derived from your bloodline.
I honestly feel like bringing back Palpy is one of the most boring choices they could have made.
You have the hater crowd being like, “FINALLY, back to the good stuff!”
But as soon as this movie drops they’ll be back to, “They should have done something new!”
You can’t win with these people. The best kind of Star Wars fan you can be, like me, is when you realize that every bit of Star Wars is bad, top to bottom, and you can just enjoy it for the schlock it is.
More than anything, attaching the name Skywalker to this movie has wiped away a lot of the optimism that I had after TLJ. After being huge into high fantasy and chosen one tales, I’ve grown to despise stories whose narrative weight is derived from your bloodline.
I can’t like this sentiment enough, feel the exact same way!
Also came back to say the directors for the Mandalorian have been announced: Aside from David Filoni, we have Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones), Taika Waititi (Thor Ragnarok), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), and Bryce Dallas-Howard (Jurassic Park, Solemates). So the first female and POC (and first female POC!) live action Star Wars directors.
Huh. I thought Pascal was taking over for Diego Luna in the Cassian Andor show, but apparently that’s a separate show with Luna (and Alan Tudyk) still attached. Neat!
That was my initial reaction, too, but I’ve seen enough plausible theories to be mildly optimistic that it doesn’t mean any of the boring things people assume it means. I’d have a lot more confidence in those theories if it wasn’t JJ Abrams behind the camera again, though.
For anyone who hasn’t seen Taika Waititi’s other movies, please do. Hunt for the Wilderpeople and What We Do in the Shadows (the movie), are both chef’s kiss.
Not to downplay how rad it is to have a variety of marginalized voices contributing.
A lot of this is kneejerk from after TFA when a lot of people were beating the “Rey has to be a Skywalker” drum. Also I just really, truly, fundamentally appreciated TLJ’s willingness to burn the past.
I say Palpatine is laughing because it all goes back to my theory that Rey is really the Xion of this universe and she’s an incomplete Replica of Palpatine created by some Imperial/New Order nonsense.
I’m optimistic this might be the case. Some of the footage in the teaser is folks flying through wreckage of the second death star. This was something that was initially going to be how Force Awakens was to open up, with various folks interested in the force scrambling to the last few places Luke and Vader and Palpatine were at to see if there was any physical remnant or artifact they could find. So I’m hoping Palpatine is in briefly as a force ghost during that moment in the trailer and not a huge part of the story. They considered having Anakin pop up in Force Awakens briefly in a similar context to speak to Kylo Ren.
A lot of that initial setup for Force Awakens was already going where The Last Jedi went, but none of that potentially cool stuff ended up making it into the Force Awakens that got released in any really relevant way.
Oh god their “review” of the woman Ghostbusters movie was the exact moment I unsubbed. Back to Star Wars, we all know what’s really happening here… Someone found the hand Luke lost in Empire and has grown a clone… wait…
I fucking loved The Last Jedi and any pangs the trailer gave me in thinking that the sequel may retcon some of the revelations and changes there has me riled… Who does Kylo rebuild his helmet? Why is it Rise of Skywalker? Why is the Emperor back?
I can only hope that Kylo Ren, doing the thing that Vader never did - usurp his master - to become big bad number 1. Is now in this difficult position of actually leading his autocratic regime. He’s the dark lord now (unless he isn’t). He chooses to wear his mask again because he still is troubled by the light and memories of his mother - and he is still a scared little boy at heart. I guess the whole thing about why he wears a mask is what makes his character fascinating from the usual Star Wars perspective. He’s actively suppressing the light to embrace the dark. Still think Leia is going to save her son as a counterpoint to bad dads throughout the series.
Skywalker becomes the new word for a new type of Jedi order. It is a kind of perfect name for a group of optimistic do-gooders. After Luke turned his back towards the Jedi and they’ve generally proved to be inept at things… I was a bit stunted by the title at first, but given the ending of TLJ with the slave kids talking about how Skywalker faced down the First Order, it kind of fits nicely.
Good trailer though.
I loved the jumping of the Tie Fighter next to Leia’s theme. My gosh, sometimes I think the magic of Star Wars is all in the music.
As for the return of Palpy? Well… we’ve always seen force ghosts, it would be interesting to see the sith version. I know there is some in canon reason for sith not having a force ghost equivalent because they believe so much in the material and the flesh, but Palpy was always someone who liked to be the puppet master. I just hope they don’t add extra revelations around Rey being an Anakin clone, or Palpy daughter or anything. Something tells me in the wreckage of the death star, presumably a very dark place indeed, we’ll somehow see everyone come back in an avengers kind of mashup. Anakin, Obi Wan, Luke, Rey & Kylo fighting off Palpy to kill him once and for all.
This trilogy has been about the legend of Luke Skywalker. I’m really excited to see how this puts an end cap on that, while also trying to wrap a 9 movie story.
I’ve never cared all that much for any era of Star Wars movies, they’re mostly just fine to me. I always had more fun with spinoff stuff, so I’m interested in the Mandalorian.
They should make something about this dude, Odan-Urr. Whatever he’s from probably sucks for reasons I’m not aware of but he rules anyway and his jedi master is a space jellyfish.
I really love all the vaguely Bronze Age but in space old EU stuff. I wonder what “Mandalorian” even really means in the new canon. Is it talked about in Clone Wars?
I miss the Expanded Universe’s political landscape post-RotJ, honestly. The sequels did an awful job setting up whatever is supposed to be happening with the republic and then literally blew it all up.
In the books, I really enjoyed the core conflict centered around the New Republic being too bureaucratic and slow moving to ever beat the remnants of the Empire, which could probably beat the republic at any time if it wasn’t comprised of hundreds of warlords too greedy to come together.
I won’t pretend that the expanded universe is perfect or even good most of the time but it created a universe that felt like it was brimming with adventure and action all over the place. The Mandalorian actually does give me hope but I think I’m completely checked out of the films.
At this point I really wish they weren’t going anywhere near the Mandalorian thing. I like the idea of using bounty hunting in the post RoTJ world as a setting hook. I love the actors that are attached to it, and the look they are going with. And i get that you get Star Wars fandom excited by starting with something we know. BUT. But. Mandalorian the word and its history is a thing with me. It’s always been this word that Star Wars EU (and beyond) have used as this weird placeholder for “something cool goes here”. It’s just a huge mess. If it were me, I’d let the word and it’s messy history lie, and make something that’s interesting on its own.
I wonder if Gustavo Dudamel conducted for that trailer. I know it’s a new orchestration of Princess Leia’s theme, but it sounds a little more percussion-heavy than Williams’s usual slower pieces.
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