#it’s as if sequels were written by prequels haters

[ivalice-tifalucis]

My take that he is a force ghost who comes to help Ahsoka. Right away the Vader/Anakin reminds me of this concept art for The Force Awakens. Of couse we all know it never ended up used.

As a Reylo fan I have headcannons running in my head right now 😶

[monsterblogging]

List of Official/Official-Adjacent Pacific Rim Media

Here's a list of Pacific Rim media for y'all Pacific Rim fans who want to check out as much of it as possible!

PACIFIC RIM (2013 FILM) Usually considered the primary text of this franchise. Pacific Rim fans mostly agree it's good.

PACIFIC RIM NOVELIZATION BY ALEX IRVINE The novelization of the 2013 film. The book's writer, Alex Irvine, had texts from Legendary Pictures work with, but some of the information was outdated. Furthermore, the book has a cynical, smug tone and comes off like it's written for the type of audience who thinks CinemaSins is actual media criticism. The only thing it's really good for is for scraping out lore, but it's full of contradictions and occasionally uses outdated lore, so you have to compare/contrast it with other materials.

TALES FROM YEAR ZERO Authored by Travis Beacham, this comic explores the origins of the PPDC and the Jaeger program. It's interesting for lore, but story-wise, it might not be engaging if you aren't into Travis Beacham's particular romantic storytelling tastes. Also, if you're a puritan who gets offended when main characters are kinda fucked up people, this isn't for you.

TALES FROM THE DRIFT Authored by Travis Beacham, this comic tells the haters-to-lovers story of Duc and Kaori Jessop, pilots of Tacit Ronin. Mildly interesting for lore, and another romance-oriented story. (Beacham loves those.)

PACIFIC RIM: MAN, MACHINES, & MONSTERS The official artbook. Has some interesting information and lore, though it also contains a few typos and references outdated worldbuilding.

TRAVIS BEACHAM'S TUMBLR After Pacific Rim's release, Travis Beacham answered many fans' questions. While he was often cryptic and straight-up refused to answer certain questions for fear that he'd spoil a future story, he still provided quite a bit of insight. You can visit his old blog at travisbeacham.tumblr.com

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING Largely panned by fans of the original film. Partway through production, the sequel to Pacific Rim was handed off to another director, and many plot elements were hastily changed with little to no regard for the rich worldbuilding developed by Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro, or even story coherency. The film never gives really your brain space to breathe, so it's very difficult to follow the story. Moreover, it misses the thematic and allegorical tones of the first movie, and lacks its occult influences. Overall, it's a hollow followup to Pacific Rim.

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING NOVELIZATION BY ALEX IRVINE Fundamentally, it's the same story as Pacific Rim: Uprising. The upside is that Alex Irvine's writing is significantly improved, and the story is much easier to follow in novel format. The downside is that you don't have John Boyega's acting talent.

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING JUNIOR NOVELIZATION BY BECKY MATHESON It's more or less the same as above, but edited down for a younger audience.

THE ART AND MAKING OF PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING The PRU artbook. I've never read this one, so I couldn't tell you what's in it aside from the very obvious.

PACIFIC RIM: AFTERMATH A prequel comic to Pacific Rim: Uprising written by Cavan Scott, Aftermath tells two stories: one focuses on Jake Pentecost and his relationship with his father; the other on what happened to Hannibal Chau and Joshua Griffin (one of Vulcan Specter's pilots) after the kaiju war. The comic makes excellent use of the lore, and the stories are great.

PACIFIC RIM: AMARA A prequel comic that focuses specifically on Amara Namari. I have mixed feelings about it; the mini-Jaeger designs were great but I felt that the actual storyline was a little melodramatic. I dunno, read it for yourself and see what you think.

PACIFIC RIM: ASCENSION A prequel novel to Uprising by Greg Keyes, this story gives life and focus to many characters who didn't get a lot of attention, including the Kaidonovskys and the cadets. Mako Mori is given the narrative respect she deserves, and Hermann Gottlieb's characterization is top-notch. The author makes use of the lore provided by Legendary Pictures to weave a rich and fascinating narrative that puts the actual Uprising film to shame.

MAKING OF/BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE There's a number of videos out there on YouTube, which you can find by searching up.

PACIFIC RIM CONCEPT ART There's quite a lot of concept art out there. You can start here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or search Pinterest or whatever search engine for Pacific Rim concept art.

PACIFIC RIM: THE BLACK A cash grab produced by Netflix, The Black disregards Pacific Rim's rich worldbuilding and follows bland, generic cartoon protagonists through a bland, generic cartoon plot loosely - loosely, mind you - based on the films. It tries to be dark, but it has all the skill of a sixteen year old edgelord about it. Also, the production values are nonexistent. You will miss absolutely nothing worthwhile by skipping over it. If for some reason you really want a Pacific Rim story where child soldiers are framed as a good thing, just read Pacific Rim: Ascension. If you want dark, watch Pulp Fiction or From Dusk 'Til Dawn. If you want a story where somebody makes a religion out of turning people into monsters, watch Midnight Mass or play/watch a no-commentary playthrough of Resident Evil 4 or 8. If you want an AI that looks after two stranded children, watch 3Below. Seriously, there is nothing The Black does that something else doesn't do infinitely better. "But most of these aren't Pacific Rim stories-" Wrong. Any story can be a Pacific Rim story if you're not a coward. And just about anything is a better Pacific Rim story than The Black.

PACIFIC RIM: BLACKOUT Prequel comic to Pacific Rim: The Black. Haven't read it, but it's written by the same guy who wrote Aftermath so it's probably a sight better than The Black.

[bridenore]

HD older fic recs : post HBP

Here are a few recs for older fics that were written between Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows came out. Posted in alphabetical, order as always.

Agnus Dei by SilentAuror [20k]

Post-Hogwarts. Mystery abounds in the Auror Department, and two of the Aurors find themselves experiencing a friendship more intense than it should be.

Allegiance and Sedition by SilentAuror [98k]

The war is in its fifth year, and Harry finds himself caught up in the confusion of friend versus enemy, spy versus traitor.

Avocados and Pears and Slytherin Sweaters by Ms Semicolon [6k]

In which Draco discovers the Real World.

Bagels and Barbecues and Strawberry Ice Cream by Ms Semicolon [1k]

Sequel to Avocados and Pears and Slytherin Sweaters

Bite Me, Hate Memes by pir8fancier [44k]

Draco Malfoy is incensed to realize that someone is trying to usurp his position as the premier Harry Potter hater.

Black, in the Smothering Dark by @lol-zeitgeistic [101k]

Harry Potter is rescued from the Dursleys and spends the summer with his god…father? This is the prequel to The Hush of War. Beta’d by giesha_kitten/laureen.

The Hush of War by @lol-zeitgeistic [351k]

Voldemort has made a bargain with Harry to stop killing muggles and muggle-borns (when at all possible, of course) in exchange for Harry’s cooperation. While Harry thinks he’s using the time to find a way to defeat the Dark Lord, he will realize that Voldemort is always one step ahead, and so long as he isn’t killing anyone…what’s the big deal? He has bigger things to worry about now, anyway. Includes dementors, pureblood culture, the prophecy, what exactly happened with Lily’s sacrifice, magical breakthroughs, children Death Eaters, and portraits of family. Final pairing: H/D. Sequel to Black, in the Smothering Dark.

Bond by AnnaFugazzi [173k]

Yet another one of those Harry And Draco Are Forced To Be Together By Something Beyond Their Control And Then Stuff Happens Leading To Twoo Wuv stories. Because every HD writer has to write at least one.

Coins by Inell [5k]

Coins make a certain jingling sound whenever they are tossed onto the top of a wooden bureau.

The Copper Cauldron by Newshound [150k+]

Draco thought his life had ended after being imprisoned in Azkaban.  It  will take the love of the man he regards as his greatest enemy, the   faith of his most trusted confidante, and the hope imparted by a  beloved  child to convince him that his life has truly just begun.

Double Edged Sword by @romaine2424 [554k]

Harry thinks his life has been planned out, but the night he comes of age changes everything.  Now there are decisions to be made and a path to be chosen, and the choices before him will change the lives of everyone he knows.  But when destiny calls, Harry finds himself ready to listen.

This is an epic story of the love between Harry and Draco.  Join them as they journey through their life together, through the good times and the bad, facing obstacles both external and internal, and see how they come to be who they were meant to be.

Eight Days in November by @emmagrant01 [8k]

Harry hides Draco form Death Eaters during the war. A lot can happen in eight days.

Hands Open by mizBean [5k]

Harry likes to remember.

In Which Harry Potter Discovers a River In Egypt by Kestrel_Sparhawk [23k]

A missing roommate, a mysteriously familiar male prostitute, murdered Muggles, and an angry boss are all making life difficult for Auror Harry Potter. And that’s before he discovers that the reason he’s avoided having girlfriends for three years is not just because he doesn’t like publicity.

Leave Your Field to Flower by @emmagrant01 [12k]

Draco Malfoy is like all the other Survivors of the disaster – except for one called Harry Potter.

The Longest Night by coffeejunkii [3k]

Draco discovers that waiting doesn’t equal hoping, and that some wishes do come true.

Resistance by SilentAuror [25k]

Everyone but Harry seems to have forgiven Malfoy his past, and tensions are thick in the Auror Department.

Seven Days in June by fourth_rose [46k]

The war is over, the survivors are moving on. The hero is finally   allowed to go on leave – and meets an old enemy, who is working in a   Muggle profession in a city without magic.

Seven Days in June - the DVD extras by fourth_rose [9k]

Extras for my Harry/Draco fic "Seven Days in June" (post-Hogwarts,   written before book 7) - missing scenes, little future ficlets,   alternate POVs, and so on.

Spinner’s End by SilentAuror [18k]

The war is in full swing when Harry is forced to spend an unexpected stint in Spinner’s End.

Stain of Silence by Brummel [28k]

After the war, Draco serves out his sentence in Harry Potter's house.

The Last Dance by Brummel [3k]

James Potter, 5, ruminates on his father's birthday and associated issues.

That Which Divides Us by oldenuf2nb / @dianacopland [126k]

Three years after what would have been their seventh year at Hogwarts, the war between the forces of light and Voldemort’s minions grinds on. But even within the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix there are vast disagreements over what is good for ‘the Chosen One’ and his volatile relationship with Draco Malfoy has many on edge. Sometimes even the best intentions can reap disaster.

Their Kind of Forever by furiosity [34k]

The final part of Harry’s Auror training forces him to walk the line between truth and lie, between the wizarding world and the Muggle world, between the life he thought he’d have and the disappointing reality. And through it all, he finds unexpected solace in a most unlikely person’s company.

Things That Change by eutychides [84k]

After Hogwarts, everything changes.

War Wounds by SilentAuror [30k]

Some wounds take longer to recover from than others. HP/DM, with background HP/GW. Themes of alcoholism, love triangles, and dubious fidelity.

A Wave in Windless Water by reposoir [57k]

Harry, Hermione, and Ron work together in Godric’s Hollow to find and destroy Voldemort’s horcruxes. With the unexpected arrival of Draco Malfoy, Harry has the burden of both the horcruxes and new worries weighing him down.

Woman Scorned by pir8fancier [1k]

Pansy is a little too smug for her own good.

The world of the living by fourth_rose [17k]

A traumatised war hero and a convicted criminal under the roof of an eccentric journalist make for a rather odd ensemble, but Luna has never had a problem with oddities as long as they make sense.

I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I did!

[padmsanakin]

@padme-amitabha asked 5,9,23 from the salty ask list. i accidentally deleted the ask because my fingers really went eek. but anyways here we go.

5. Has a fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

not really. i mean i do see people trashing the pairings i love but usually i keep away from it or block the tag. there’s always gonna be hate for anidala because of what tcw’08 did and most haters won’t delve deep into the books (they aren’t expected to do it) to get anidala content so they get the surface level interpretation (not wrong but not an interpretation to depend on). i do wish tcw had handled anidala better but alas, tcw was merely trying to appeal to the prequel hating audience.

9. most disliked character(s)?Why?

kylo ren. i would like to enjoy a good villain now and then but kylo ren wasn’t well-written nor was he interesting. they were basically trying to pull an anakin/vader without the proper set up and it backfired spectacularly. i mean the sequels have a poor grasp of the characters and wanted to milk the money out of the metaphorical cash cow that the sequels lacked the souls that the prequels and originals had. they had a poor grasp of the characters and they were distancing themselves from the prequels which has arguably important plot threads that connects the original trilogy and even the sequel trilogy.

23. Unpopular character you love?

Jar-Jar Binks. Bye.

[archer973]

for the fanfic ask game! L, S, U, V and W!

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

I am a consummate "edit as you go" person (which is a habit I have actually been trying to break myself of), but I usually do at least one big editing read through before I post something. I also have a tendency to edit any time I do a reread of my progress, which I generally do if I have stepped away from a fic for any amount of time.

S: Any fandom tropes you can't resist?

Oh man, so many! There Was Only One Bed and Huddling For Warmth are some classics I can never pass up. Accidental Baby Acquisition is also always fun (particularly when an unlikely character ends up being the baby whisperer). Also, Person(s) A forcing Person B to eat/sleep/go to medical/generally take care of themselves is always a yes please for me, especially if Person A is trying very hard to pretend their concern is purely professional and has nothing whatsoever to do with any tender feelings, romantic or otherwise. (SWTCW fandom, I am looking at you, you beautiful people!) And that's not even getting started on the sexy times tropes I devour at any opportunity.

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

Oof, this is a tough one, since I am less of a person who follows writers and more of a person who follows ships. But I will read literally anything @blue-charlotte (hayj on AO3) writes, and not just because I devoured a good dozen of her fics before realizing they were written by the same person, but also because she is the Marlie/CM2 shipper of my heart and was one of the first people to welcome me into the Revo fandom (which, as someone who was mostly writing “problematic” ships and was a little worried about a mob with pitchforks, I cannot even begin to explain how much her kindness meant to me).

@veliseraptor is someone who, even though we don’t share any fandoms anymore, I always enjoying seeing post updates and headcanons and fic ideas, because she is a meticulous, dedicated writer who has honestly been an inspiration to me when it comes to writing angst/whump/dark fics. Her determination in the face of The Purity Police has inspired and reassured me on nights when I am worrying about the reception of my own headcanons/fics, and given me the confidence to tell anon haters to firmly go suck on an exhaust pipe. (Seriously, if you like The Untamed, go check her out, Lise is a lovely human being and her work is a joy to read)

I haven’t found them on Tumblr yet, but countessofbiscuit gets a spot on this list because they have written some of my all time favorite SWTCW fics and the way they write the clones is one of my favorites so far, so I am 100% more likely to read a SW fic if I see it is written by them.

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

This is hard, because the fic itself is absolutely perfect, but I would love to play in the world of Erinyes_kiss' 'The Hart, The Hind, and The Hound', for a multitude of reasons. Besides the fact that it is probably one of my favorite fics to date, it was also one of the first fics to really get me on the CM2 bandwagon. I would read an entire novel of this fic, I love the premise so much. But as for personally writing in/around it, the structure of the fic itself leaves plenty of room for expansion/extrapolation, without having to risk compromising the original work. Also, I feel like I have a similar enough writing style that I would be able to (hopefully) do an addition justice.

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

There are pros and cons to both. If I am going to be writing a full-fledged fic for an exchange or something, I tend to like more general/broader prompts, since that way there is room for if the story takes a few turns (as my stories have a tendency of doing). However, if you're talking ideas/headcanons/inspirations, I love the super specific ones. Slice of life ones in particular, since those can be written without having to work them into a larger prompt.

Thank you so much, @loupettes, for sending an ask! (I won’t lie, there was a little bit of ‘Senpai Noticed Me?’, because I love your presence in the Doctor Who fandom so much, and think you are just such a lovely human being!)

[padme-amitabha]

I just watched a video countering a couple of Prequel bashers and, my god, the things the haters said should happen to Jake Lloyd! It's an abhorrent injustice that these disgusting people were catered to by the 2008 CW series. You know, however terrible they are, I'm almost glad for the sequels, because if there's one good thing that came from them, it was watching the Prequel hate coming back to bite these people hard.

Tell me about it. The people who bullied Jake Llyod are despicable. I think the actors in the sequel trilogy sometimes overacted and it came out as too forceful at times and I wasn’t a fan of Daisey Ridley’s wooden acting but that’s no excuse to bully the actors! Jake tried his best and did exactly what George instructed him to do i.e. play a simple good-natured kid. The sequels have been criticized but I think the acting is rarely brought up while prequel actors like Ahmed Best, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman had to deal with this nonsense because people didn’t agree with their characters’ actions, how they were written and/or couldn’t handle character flaws.

Still Jake Lloyd showed more emotional range than the adult sequel trilogy actors (I mean is Rey even capable of other expressions than being wide eyed or smiling in inappropriate situations or looking like she’s trying too hard?). I understand getting teased at school because let’s face it kids are immature and they were probably just jealous he got the role in such a highly anticipated movie but what angers me is when grown men picked on him and bullied him like the man-babies they were AND had the nerve to blame it on George (who still defends the prequels and it’s characters). I know it’s hard for them to swallow this but Star Wars is George’s creation and doesn’t exist solely to fulfill their male power fantasies. I have seen their version of “fix-it” videos where they are like Anakin should have been born with the suit and basically making him a psychopathic soulless monster and also a demon child. The atrocious Darth Vader Marvel comics are still trying to please said man-babies but TCW started that trend. These days actors can gain sympathy and support from fans on social media but back then people rarely stood up for little Jake and Ahmed Best. What’s worse is some reporters continued to harass and insult Jake in interviews to the point it permanently damaged his mental health. They even harassed his mom and continued to make those awful podracing jokes after the car-chase incident. He didn’t deserve any of this. And people still continue to ridicule him. I have seen people joke about him being unattractive compared to Hayden Christensen which is just so shallow and mean. Anakin is a fictional character - he can be played by any actor as long as it is convincing. 

You’re right about TCW, that’s one of the reasons why I can never accept it (no matter how much I overlook the other terrible retcons). They were made to “fix” the prequels and even George was forced to change his characters a little because of the intense backlash. TCW caters to those horrible bullies and introducing that Ahsoka character wasn’t the best decision. You know, I once saw a video where fans voted for their favorite Jedi and she came in no. 2 and one of the common reasons they provided was because they found her attractive. Now female characters in a male dominated fandom have always been sexualized but the number of times TCW sexualized a minor is disturbing. And of course, Filoni’s blatant bias for his OC is extremely annoying. TCW caters to the fanboys’ ideals of toxic masculinity and are indirectly supporting these bullies. It started this trend of changing the prequel characters to make them more “acceptable” and “stereotypical” because fans can’t grasp the concept of complex and emotional characters and changing the “cheesy” romance to an abusive/unhealthy one to make it more “realistic”. Star Wars is more like a fairytale, even George said it’s a space opera. It’s meant to be dramatic and have mythical themes. But fanboys absolutely love these changes because now the prequels have been “improved” like this show was made specifically to please them and apologize for the prequels. They complain about how prequels ruined characters like Darth Vader because sometimes you should be able to use your imagination to fill in the gaps but TCW was that gap. The originals left so many valid unanswered questions like who was the Emperor (and how could he use force lightning), what was the clone wars, how exactly did Anakin fall from grace and who was Luke and Leia’s mother? The prequels answered them all and did a fantastic job at world-building. TCW is the unnecessary extension, we didn’t need to see their everyday lives and still if anyone was curious the 2003 CW was there to bridge the gap perfectly while staying true to the characters and keeping the tone consistent.

I agree with you on the sequels. I have never been invested in them in the first place to be outraged. I was bored watching TFA and its unoriginal plot, mildly amused at how ridiculous the TLJ was and just confused at how pointless and messy TROS was. So yeah the trilogy served those people right who thought a shallow unoriginal remake of ANH “revived” Star Wars after its creator “ruined” it and thought a director (whose other films are not very original either) could do better than one of the most creative and intelligent men in Hollywood.

Star Wars is so much more than these pointless action movies with stereotypical action heroes. George had combined elements from mythology, history, literature, science fiction, fantasy to create a beautiful story with symbolism, depth and a great message. The prequel trilogy and the original trilogy are two halves of that story and both are needed to complete the saga. Hollywood and these fans don’t deserve George Lucas. They disrespected him and his work.

[burnouts3s3]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a Spoiler Review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously. I enjoyed all 5 Michael Bay Transformers films, for crying out loud.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Ticket Price: Will Vary Theater to Theater How much I paid: Nothing. A friend took me to a screening. Rated: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action. Running time: 142 minutes (2 Hours and 22 Minutes) 3-D: Yes, but I didn’t see it in 3-D. Post-Credits Sequences: None. My Personal Biases: I’ve watched all of the main Star Wars films. I’m mixed on the Phantom Menace. I actually like Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. I like the Original Trilogy. I’m okay on The Force Awakens. I actually really like Rogue One. I do not actively dislike the Last Jedi. I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars Cartoons past Rebels. I have not seen Solo or the Mandalorian. Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 are among my favorite games. I had a subscription to the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. I haven’t played Jedi Fallen Order. I have not read any of the Star Wars books. Did you read the leaks online: Yes. Are the leaks close to the theatrical release?: Pretty much, though a subplot about Lando Calrissian’s long lost daughter seems to have been removed. Wait, is Rose Tico in this?: Yes, but she’s basically a background character. She hangs around the Resistance base delivering exposition with Leia. Is Admiral Holdo in this?:  Not that I saw. I heard people say she’s a voiceover Force Ghost but the ghosts’s voices overlap so much, I couldn’t tell one voice from the other. My Verdict: After all that’s said and done, it feels like the sequel trilogy doesn’t add up to the sum of its individual parts. It feels as though Abrams and Johnson’s visions for Star Wars have vastly differed and without someone such as producer Kevin Feige to oversee the plotline, it sort of feels like a mess. Still, I had fun. (Warning: SPOILERS ahead!) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a Spoiler Review

Ever since Disney acquired LucasFilms, there’s been a curiousity that Disney would make the new Star Wars films better than the prequel trilogy of George Lucas’ vision. After the divisive reaction between fans and critics over The Last Jedi, what will returning director J.J. Abrams do?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Haters and Fans, HK units and Meatbags, this is a review of Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker.

One year after the Battle of Crait, Kylo Ren obtains a Sith Wayfinder device and travels to the planet Exegol. He discovers a physically impaired Palpatine, who reveals he created Snoke as a puppet to control the First Order and lure Kylo to the dark side. Palpatine unveils a secret armada of Star Destroyers and tells Kylo to find Rey, who is continuing her Jedi training under General Leia Organa. Meanwhile, Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca retrieve information on Kylo's discovery originating from a First Order mole. After learning that Palpatine has returned, Rey discovers notes on a Sith artifact in the Jedi texts Luke Skywalker left behind. Rey, Poe, Finn, Chewbacca, BB-8, and C-3PO leave for Passanna to seek a contact Luke knew, while R2-D2 stays behind with Leia.

Rey and Kylo Ren’s lightsaber duels are nothing compared to the dueling tones and continuities’ of Rian Johnson’s revisionist take and J.J. Abrams overwhelming need to pay tribute to the Original Trilogy.

It feels especially after the mixed reception from the Last Jedi, Rise of the Skywalker is the film they made to appease everyone, even going so far as to contradict the last movie. I have an easier time believing Ant-man and the Guardians of the Galaxy belong in the same cinematic franchise than The Last Jedi and Rise of the Skywalker.

I’m going to spoil the film so I’ll give my verdict and explain how I felt after the cut. If you don’t want to be spoiled, look away now!

Verdict:

Matinee and turn your brain off.

LAST CHANCE TO TURN BACK BEFORE I SPOIL THE FILM.

-Rey is Palpatine’s Granddaughter. Kylo continues his rant from The Last Jedi and explains her parents became nobodies BECAUSE they were Palpatine’s children and gave everything up to make sure Rey was kept away from him.

-Rey, Finn and Poe go along a journey to find Palpatine and kill him once and for all before he destroys the galaxy, such as finding Sith Daggers and erasing C-3P0’s memory to find the coordinates.

-Rey and Kylo Ren have a fight on a sunken portion of the Death Star and Rey kills Kylo Ren in a fight. Kylo Ren was distracted because Leia “used the last of her powers” to redeem Kylo Ren, thus giving Rey the opportunity to stab him. Rey heals Kylo Ren and steals his ship to go back to the planet in the Last Jedi. She does this because she’s afraid of becoming a Palpatine. Leia dies because of this (probably to pay tribute to Carrie Fisher). Poe becomes the new general of the Resistance.

-Force Ghost Luke talks to Rey while a vision of Han (it’s unclear if he’s a Force Ghost or just a vision in Kylo Ren’s head because he isn’t blue and transparent like Luke) and Han redeems him. (I’m guessing and, this is pure speculation from my part, that the scene originally had Leia come back as a Force Ghost, as in she would be the one to succeed in redeeming Kylo Ren where Luke and Han failed, but Carrie Fisher sadly passed away before the scene could be photographed.)

-Palpatine unleashes a fleet of Star Destroyers, each equipped with leftover pieces of the Death Star, meaning each Star Destroyer has the capability of destroying a planet. (Can we please have something besides the Death Star to be the final weapons? There’s been a plethora of other doomsday weapons we could use, we don’t need to keep going back to this one. Hell, SWTOR came up with a bunch of doomsday weapons.). The Resistance goes in one final battle to stop him.

-Rey confronts Palpatine and Palpatine attempts to taunt her to killing him, risking her friends dying to the fleet. If she does so, “all of the Sith” spirits will transfer into her. A redeemed Ben Solo comes in to save her. Using their Force Bond, Rey sneaks a Lightsaber to Ben while she uses another one to deflect Palpatine’s Lightning.

-Ben and Rey both confront Palpatine but Palpatine uses the Force to extract the Bond from them and let him power up his Sith Lightning so it’s capable of shooting up to the sky and destroying Resistance ships.

-Palpatine throws Ben over a Ravine and states “And so the Last of the Skywalkers Falls”.

-Palpatine shoots Lightning at Rey but Rey deflects the Lightning to Palpatine. Palpatine states “I am all of the Sith” to which Rey replies “And I am All of the Jedi”. She successfully kills Palpatine but it causes her to die as well, allowing the Resistance to defeat the Star Destroyer armada and save the galaxy.

-Ben climbs up the Ravine and sees a Dead Rey. Using the technique Rey used to heal him, he successfully brings Rey back to life. They share a kiss on the lips but then he dies.

-The Resistance meets up on a jungle planet and everyone hugs each other. Moz gives Chewbacca a medal. (I liked that part). Rey, Finn and Poe all hug each other.

-In the final scene, Rey returns to the burned Lars residence and buries Luke and Leia’s lightsabers. She draws out her own lightsaber which has an orange / yellow hue. A stranger passes by and asks her name. Rey, after seeing the Force Ghosts of Luke and Leia in the distance, answers, “Rey Skywalker”, adopting the name of her masters. She and BB-8 walk off to the twin sunsets of Tatooine and the film ends.

Obviously, there’s a lot to go over so I’ll just post my thoughts.

I don’t dislike Rey, but she feels too much like a series of reveals. I don’t think she’s a Mary Sue, but the living embodiment of J.J. Abrams’ Mystery Box, where in there’s always some sort of twist to her character. I don’t even mind the reveal that she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter and the final climax of the film is her rejecting her biological family in favor of her new family. It’s too bad that the other protagonists, Finn and Poe, don’t have much to do because their individual arcs wrapped up in the Last Jedi. Sure, there’s lipservice to the idea that Poe will be the new General following in Leia’s footsteps and Finn is still around because, as a former First Order soldier, he knows his way around ships, but they feel really perfunctory while Rey gets the spotlight.

I realize the reason I dislike the idea of Leia being Force Sensitive isn’t so much the Retcons to continuity but moreso the idea that she’s an accomplished General because she had Force Sensitivity as opposed to being just a capable woman. It’s inadvertently stating “This woman is awesome because she had space magic” as opposed to “this woman is awesome because she didn’t need Space Magic to get the job done”. It’s funny; producer Kathleen Kennedy was trying make the vision of a Female Jedi cool (which I can totally believe she’s genuine in that vision), but in doing so, it makes non-Force users such as Finn and Poe seem useless. To me, personally, I would have preferred (not demanded but preferred) that both Ben and Rey defeat Palpatine together and they both inherit the Skywalker surname. It feels like Rian Johnson was setting up parallel storylines of Ben and Rey to join together to be the new Jedi order but for whatever reason, they killed off Ben. They want to set up that Luke and Leia were a Force-sensitive Duo, but they don’t do the same for Rey and Ben?  Maybe, this should have been “Rise of the Skywalkers” instead of “Rise of the Skywalker”.

Apparently Finn skipped that part of Stormtrooper orientation about Jet Packs.

Apparently, you can also plug in ancient Sith Holocrons to your ship and it will still be legible for Future Generations. Always forward thinking those ancient Sith Lords.

CAVEAT: You know what’s weird? For all talk about continuity and lore and fanservice, the one franchise I do think accomplishes what the new Star Wars trilogy was trying to do is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which is also a Disney owned subsidiary AND promotes an inclusive globalist message). I realize the strength of the MCU comes from the fact they can do prequels, sequels and side stories in the universe and develop individual characters and do ensemble pieces since all the character work is in the other movies.

Meanwhile, Rise of the Skywalker is overstuffed with giving each of the characters screentime, dealing with the continuity and paying homage to the original movies.

However I feel about Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, Rose and BB-8, it just doesn’t seem to mesh together as seamlessly as Groot meeting Steve Rogers.

Does that feel weird to anyone else?

In a film franchise that gave us Midichlorians, Pod Racing, Jar Jar, the Clones, and Boss Nass, it doesn’t really surprise me that the silly stuff here is going to be added among those. The effects are handsome looking, the score is awesome and I’ll probably bring my family to a screening just to spend the Holidays together, but it didn’t really come together for me.

I don’t need a retcon. I don’t need an extended cut. I won’t sign a petition asking for LucasFilms to rewrite the movie. And I don’t think people that genuinely enjoyed this movie are paid shills (which clearly doesn’t work since this film has a Rotten Critic score on Rotten Tomatoes).

To me, this silly movie is just as canon as Anakin Skywalker being a snot nosed 9 year old who said cheesy lines about angels to older women. And I’ll buy the Rifftrax track for this film so I can rewatch it again with the commentary.

Then again, what do I know? I’m just some anonymous jerk on the internet.

[sauron496]

All this happened before, and will happen again

Listen up, boys, girls, beings of all genders and species. I'm going to tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a very popular fantasy fiction series. And it had an enormous, very vocal online fandom.

The series was released in installments, with several years in between each one. During those years, the online fandom speculated about where it was going, and churned out a lot of fan theories.

And then the creator released the penultimate installment, and a lot of fan theories were proven wrong. And so that installment had really split the fandom.

The fans declared they knew better. They called the characters in the latest installment to be out of character, and called them by fake names. They called the creator obnoxious names, too. They made up convoluted theories to 'fix' the canon. And they called fans who liked the latest work 'shills', and 'apologists', and implied they weren't real fans.

And so fandom wars raged for years.

There were declarations that the franchise was dead. There were calls for boycotts of the series finale. The divisive installment was called 'hack writing', 'bad writing'. There were implications that it was written in ignorance of the preceding series.

Sounds a lot like the fandom reaction to The Last Jedi, doesn't it? Well... yes. Yes, it does.

But this isn't about The Last Jedi. It's about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released in 2005.

Two years later, the series was concluded with the second highest bestseller in history, and went on to spawn blockbuster adaptations, spinoffs, imitations, and remains a powerful cultural phenomenon. Anyone introduced to the series today would have zero inkling of the emotionally charged online battles in the fandom from between releases.

And that's how it should be. Fandom controversies are largely a product of fan speculation while the series is incomplete. With Star Wars, the original trilogy is uncontroversial because it was completed before most of the current fans were even born, certainly before they got into the fandom. The prequel trilogy is slowly passing into that realm. So is Harry Potter, whose first and last installments fell two years on either side of the corresponding Star Wars prequels.

Same thing was happening regarding the Star Wars Legends EU while it was still going forward. The Thrawn trilogy, published in the early '90s, was uncontroversial. Each subsequent book, telling an ongoing story, produced fans and haters alike.

When the sequel trilogy is completed, and the entire saga can be taken in as a whole, the current controversy over The Last Jedi will be forgotten. Don't worry--there'll be something. Maybe it will be set in the worlds of Star Wars or Harry Potter, maybe not. But it'll be there.

Twelve years passed between the releases of Half-Blood Prince and The Last Jedi. There will be a fandom controversy in 2029 for which the above applies word for word. Of that, I have no doubt whatsoever.

How's that for a little bit of perspective?

[thebastardofgloucester]

all the posts collating reactions to The Empire Strikes Back or writing mock Rotten Tomatoes reviews to imply that the criticisms of this film aren’t worth paying attention to are just…so missing the point

exactly two works that said what ‘Star Wars’ was existed at the time of Empire’s release in 1980: Star Wars (not yet renamed ‘A New Hope’) and Alan Dean Foster’s 'Splinter of the Mind’s Eye’ (a sequel written in case Star Wars was a flop that could be filmed on a shoestring budget and without Harrison Ford. It’s Wild and puts the lie to the idea that Lucas had any idea where the Skywalker story was going; highly recommend)

in the year of our Lord 2017, The Last Jedi was released as the third film in a revival of a six film, single creative vision franchise, with the added baggage of over two decades of novels, comics, video games, and other media (the only thing ever fully expelled from canon was the infamous holiday special, which, honestly, had greater creative merit than some of the stuff that got to stay)

what’s the point? Expectations. No, not people who didn’t want anything to change and are Mad About It or whatever facile narrative the authors of those blog posts and reviews are using to explain why this film is probably more divisive than the goddamn prequels. The problem is that not only does The Last Jedi clash with decades of fandom, it is even at loggerheads with its sister films in this particular revival. and it doesn’t get the same benefit of the doubt that ESB got because that’s not how franchises and fandoms actually work. you don’t get to ignore everything that came before to tell your own story. they have to work together. 

Sure, not everybody read the EU (and trust me some of them are better off for it). But almost everybody saw The Force Awakens, most of them saw Rogue One, and a fair number of them, old and young fans alike, eagerly consumed the New EU content that offered glimpses into how the events of The Force Awakens came about and what mysteries were set up in what was effectively a reboot rather than a sequel. Generally, you know, regardless of how much you hate 'puzzleboxes,’ it is reasonable to expect that what one film sets up will have a payoff in the next, particularly when the first film takes such care to be sensitive to what the fans want (as JJ and Kasden did with TFA) - because while this is a money faucet for Disney, sure, there’s no point in bringing this franchise back without those fans (and of course, their kids) - and what they got from Rian and the Lucasfilm story team was…a confirmation that they had been wasting their time. It’s all well and good to pull the rug out from under the audience (as this film does incessantly) but it’s cynical bullshit to basically bait them with promo material and the preceding canon and then to deliver on basically nothing and expect everyone to just be okay with it. This film effectively penalizes the people who cared the most and spent the most time engaging with The Force Awakens and rewards people who may not have really been here for what Lucas was selling to begin with. As one review put it, it ‘does not care what you think about Star Wars’.

But when you set expectations as deliberately as Kennedy and the Lucasfilm Story Group did in JJ and Kasden’s TFA, it’s not great writing to blow them to pieces mid-narrative. It’s just lazy. the idea that Rey has no connection to the Skywalker line? a good idea, potentially, but clumsily executed, as it is played out less as an important revelation and more an excuse to not actually give any kind of answer to how Rey came to be Ben’s equal on the Light (or why she even is ‘Light’ honestly; I love Angry Rey but there’s seemingly no danger in her temptation) or where she got a skill set rivaled in this franchise only by literal Space Jesus Anakin Skywalker. Snoke is a one-noted villain; having him be betrayed by Kylo in the midst of his own villain arc? a very good idea. it belongs as the climax of the film, not the end of act 2 so there is no time for anything to breathe, just more never-ending crises and hardship.

Like, spare me the 'force visions are unreliable’ (Rey’s was unlike anything we had seen before, it wasn’t Anakin’s nightmare or Luke on Dagobah) bs; the film didn’t say that what Rey saw was wrong for x reason, it just pretended that it never happened and Rey didn’t say anything about it); spare me ‘our heroes have to fail and sometimes all the plans don’t work out’ we know that, we live in the real world of 2017 but while making your clever point you have wasted the presence of three extremely talented actors of color, and let down the audiences waiting for a chance to see people who look like them be the heroes for once. instead it turns out they didn’t actually matter all that much, but maybe next film! 

It’s not clever. It’s not visionary. It’s cheap, it’s cowardly, and it isn’t actually that original because the film leaves us exactly where we expected. Poe is the leader and Leia’s heir to command, Finn is a newly-committed Rebel brimming with unrealized potential, Rey is a Jedi character (amorphously defined) who we know exactly as much about as we started, Luke is gone, even if he went out in pretty spectacular fashion, Carrie’s death means that Leia will be leaving us soon, and Kyle Ben has become the big bad. That’s the only real development - Snoke’s death and Ben’s rejection of his redemption - and it’s buried under Rey, our erstwhile heroine, being a vehicle for the villain’s character development. The only character this film particularly cares about is a white fascist who gets every chance to be redeemed and rejects them while the film expects us to keep caring. 

So, yeah. People are mad. Not because of the same ‘the series is changed forever now’ shit that the haters of ESB were on about. Because the real changes? Ben being the real villain, the smallfolk of the galaxy being the source of light and conduits of the Force? I don’t see anyone complaining all that hard about them. 

the complaints are about the damage done to beloved characters for…not all that much of a payoff. the misuse and marginalization of the characters of color. the disdain with which the script treats the nostalgia of the Force Awakens. the unrelenting pace of the film that just grinds the Resistance (and the audience) down and just tells them to trust us, even as more and more and more is taken away. Rey’s parentage isn’t the only thing cast aside - promises of developments in Finn’s story - his identity, his potential to cause a revolt in the First Order, even his force sensitivity (you want a force user from nothing? how about a child soldier from a nameless family who as we are continually reminded used to be on sanitation crew) - are broken. Rey has her dream of family taken away…and replaced with…well the film doesn’t really bother to say because she’s a plot device for most of act 3. We don’t get to see her reject Ren and leave him. Because this isn’t her story; it’s his. Kylo is unconscious, so the scene is over. Tell me how that is a satisfying arc for our erstwhile protagonist? Poe’s character is completely uprooted from what we’ve seen before to make him an obnoxious hotheaded menace whose emotions threaten the survival of the Resistance if two old white women aren’t able to keep him in check. Rose says a lot and gets to do almost nothing. Luke…Luke is torn down to justify the fall of Ben Solo, never given the chance to establish a meaningful bond with his erstwhile successor, and is only given the chance to atone by acting as a diversion to give the others time to escape. he dies alone, a failure, even if he is at peace with how things turned out.

last year we were shown a movie in the wake of one of the more traumatic political events in the life of the people on this website where a diverse and sympathetic cast fight hard and are entirely wiped out. But their deaths come in a spectacular and charged finale that carries the desperation and grief and pathos through into the beginning of the story we know and love. it all feels worth something. Rogue One has its flaws as a film but it comes together in a way that The Last Jedi does not. In the end, what Jyn and Cassian and the others do is just enough to get the plans away, to start the sequence of events that will lead to the Empire’s destruction.

Here?

there’s just not enough left. not enough of the Resistance, not enough story, not enough hope. 

to have that hope repeatedly stripped away and cynically exploited through a narrative that drags the characters from crisis to crisis without bothering to justify itself or its role in the story (while retreading the highlights of Episodes V and VI without the emotional depth to back them up), and in so doing wears down the audience as much as the characters is not why I have devoted so much of my life and emotional energy to this series about space wizards and their galaxy-destroying family squabbles and eventual chance for redemption. for all his many, many faults, George Lucas understood that.

you can’t just talk about hope. sooner or later you have to see it. You have to feel that what you are suffering will be worth it. The text needs to tell you as much. it’s clumsy and cliched and it is necessary. In the Empire Strikes Back, after Han is captured and Luke is beaten, the turning point is Lando. Lando changes the course of the movie, rescuing Leia and Chewie, who rescue Luke. They live to fight another day, and at the end they are wounded but among friends. 

the moment in The Last Jedi where that could have happened was when Leia’s signal went out. How terrific would it have been if after being betrayed by a scoundrel the original scoundrel with a heart of gold, Lando Calrissian, arrives at the head of a fleet made up of all the alien races so inexplicably missing from the sequel trilogy so far, fending off the First Order long enough for the Resistance to escape with most of the survivors on Crait?

But Rian had to have one last twist of the knife. so nobody came. only Luke, and only as a distraction to buy time that ultimately cost him his life and reduced his legacy to giving everything to atone for his past sins. there is no Lando moment. there is no turning point, no moment where a larger victory is hinted at. and no, a single stable boy far, far away from the war is not the same thing. It makes an interesting point about the force and the metanarrative of Star Wars. It is not what this film needed after everything it put its characters and audience through.

and so at the end I’m not hopeful. I’m just tired. So, very tired. And I miss what made me fall in love with this series about space wizards and the Skywalker family in the first place

[thefuckisabook]

I want to talk about Star Wars, and why Rise of Skywalker happened, and, perhaps more importantly, why its ultimately a consequence of the way the previous movies were structured and produced(and, to a lesser extent, the online discourse around star wars at the time).  And I really want to be clear before I get started on this- the criticisms I have here ultimately aren’t going to relate to the actual quality of the previous two movies, taken as themselves.  You can have a very good, or even truly amazing, movie that fails to set up a planned sequel, and that’s a large part of what I’m going to be discussing.

So, to begin with, the first thing we need to talk about is mystery boxes.  This is a term used to describe a narrative tool used to create investment in the continuation of a series, something the audience wants to know about and is interested in.  I know people are already turning off because people have brought this up so much to say last jedi ruined such and such, but that’s really not what I’m going to say, I promise.

So, in the production of The Force Awakens, JJ created a lot of these mystery boxes, some of which were eventually paid off, some of which were subverted, and some of which were forgotten or ignored.  Again, not talking about any of that.  If it helps, assume I am 100% supportive of every decision made that you agree with on how to handle the boxes JJ left behind.  Because the fact that they had to make those decisions is the problem I have.

To quote Rian on the subject,

But I was truly able to write this script without bases to tag, and without a big outline on the wall. That meant I could react to what I felt from The Force Awakens, and what I wanted to see. I could make this movie personal. I could also just take these characters where it felt right and most interesting to take them. I think part of the reason the movie feels like it goes to some unexpected places with the characters is that we had that freedom. If it had all just been planned out and written down beforehand, it might have felt a little more calculated, I suppose.

He was given almost nothing, and as any writer will tell you, that’s bad.  And I don’t just mean, he didn’t have answers to what was in the mystery boxes, which in and of itself is bad, since it means there could be no set up in Episode 7, I mean that, as Rian said, there wasn’t a plot planned in advance, and that’s... not good.  Yes, the original star wars movies, despite what George might want you to believe, also weren’t planned in advance, but... we shouldn’t ignore a flaw in production just because it didn’t kneecap a production previously.  So, when episode eight ended, and Disney had a brewing hatedom on their hands and wanted to adjust course, it wasn’t just entering new waters and adjusting direction- they were entering uncharted waters without any effort having gone in to plan the next movie for the second time in the trilogy.  And this is made worse by some of the structural problems of episode eight.  Specifically, the lack of a clear antagonist at the end of the film.

Again, I think episode eight might have been able to work- if it was the end of the first half, or even first third, of the new ‘series’.  As the beginning of the end, it was much too late to introduce a new villain, and that’s what episode eight demanded the next movie do.

We only have four named, major antagonists at the end of episode seven.  Hux, Kylo, Phasma, and Snoke.  In Jedi, Phasma and Snoke die, Kylo is set up for an eventual redemption, and Hux is humiliated repeatedly.  None of the four can stand as a primary antagonist anymore, even if you set aside the likelihood that Disney would demand the ninth movie’s climax involve a lightsaber duel, one that Hux certainly couldn’t provide.

And so, what we’re left with is Disney, a massive, faceless corporation, who have seen their billion dollar franchise tarnished by the actions of the directors they gave control to, an audience that was divided on a very deep level by the films, with their defenders seeming heavily entrenched in the concept of Kylo’s redemption, and, perhaps most damming, the sudden resurgence of the Prequels, largely but not exclusively driven by sequel haters.  And so, of course Disney made the choice they did- everyone seems to love Sheev now, after all.  How else are they going to have their cake and eat it too?  Palpatine will lure in the people who hated episode eight but now purport to love episode three, he enables Kylo to turn good against a ‘greater threat’, and its one more recognizable element to try and restore their box office, which had dropped from two million to one point three million between episode seven and eight.  

And worse- the film is going to have more executive meddling than ever before!  Rian had a black man kiss a Vietnamese woman- that didn’t go over well in China, so we have to hide her as much as possible.  LGBT representation is popular in the US and Europe, how can we have some of that without any risk to the Chinese market?  People want Kylo redeemed and in a relationship with Rey, but other people call their relationship abusive!  How do we make Kylo get redeemed, have a romantic moment with Rey, but reduce that presence as much as possible to avoid pissing off the antis?

From a shallow, corporate perspective, it was the only decision that made sense.  And at the end of the day, the fault lies with JJ and Rian- not because their films were somehow the worst thing ever written, not because their characters were unlikable or mary sues or whatever, but because they didn’t plan ahead.  They each, in different ways, sabotaged the trilogy by not preparing for the future.

[kalbinos]

Prequel Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy

After seeing the last sequel movie, I can confirm that I don’t like the sequel trilogy as a whole. Having a story written by two directors that just want to play “who’s lightsaber is bigger” instead of following a plan that clearly didn’t exist makes the story annoying and does a lot of damage to a galaxy far far away. TLJ, whatever you might think to yourself, is awful, and ROTSkywalker was doomed from the start. 

And it annoys me to hell, because I see a lot of ideas that could have been studied. Finn could have been a really cool concept, if they didn’t forgot what he was halfway through the first movie. Poe should have had more interactions, instead of having his abilities be shunned (because he saved the Rebellion/sorry, the Resistance with the least efficient bombers in the whole saga...they had hyperdrives ?!) and be wasted to enhance Holdo. The OT characters could have been mentors without taking too much room, but they were used to cash on nostalgia. Rey is a mess, getting everything she wants and even stealing a name “even if her family isn’t what makes her”...

But why do I hate the sequels and not the prequels ?

Mind you, unlike what Ryan Johnson want you to believe, ESB was the most loved Star Wars movie of all time, getting awards left and right. So the OT in the fandom is loved. So one of the explanation for why some don’t like the prequels could be that it isn’t the OT all over again...unlike the Sequels, which stole everything from EU and the OT.

The prequels were different, a more political and intrigued trilogy, explaining the rise of Palpatine in control, while Jedi were too far up their own rear, undefeated for too long, and the Republic was corrupt, where the effort to save the galaxy from the return of the Sith were doomed from the start as the Sith were already there, where the Chosen One was the final piece of the puzzle to a plan only a Sith would have made.

Even if it was not well executed, the story was here, the characters were on a rail to start from finish, ponctuated by strong scenes.

I’m pretty sure that if Lucas had someone just rewriting the execution of some scenes and dialogues, the Prequels would have been perfect. But it’s done this way, sadly.

Also, nothing in the Prequels destroyed the Star Wars lore. Midichlorians are a pretty good way to explain force sensitivity, because it’s just potential, you still have to train to use the Force. Anakin was the Chosen One, a being made by the Force (revealed later to be Palpatine’s doing with Sith Alchemy in comics), but he still got his ass kicked in AOTC, and I’m sure that Grievous could have defeated him. Hell, Luke won against Vader in ROTJ because he used his anger, so even him wasn’t perfect, and he’s the direct spawn of Anakin. Rey...is just good. She bested Kylo thrice, how is he a threat ? She beat Luke and the Emperor because she can and have all the Jedi with her, which means she still didn’t bring balance to the Force, being a Light Sided user would at some point bring a Dark Side user and wars will start again. See what I mean ? Ths is what happens when you don’t have midichlorians. Hard Magic rules vs Soft Magic plot powers.

The Phantom Menace is quoted as the worst Star Wars movie, and I get why. It was the first time a Prequel was made, and it needed to find his place in the saga, so they did some mistakes but managed to correct them later on. This was also my critics towards TFA. I didn’t like many choices JJ made (Phasma being already gone, Han Solo here to be killed, Rey being Reydiculous, the movie being a remake of ANH), but I remembered that Phantom Menace also have those issues. Anakin was a Gary Stu at first, winning the pod race when the plot needed it, piloting and destroying the big bad ship in the end and also get taken as Padawan even if it was against the rules. But those were corrected at episode 2, showing that he’s unstable, quick to anger and even if he’s the Chosen One, he still have a long way to become a Jedi Master, which he does by fighting in the Clone Wars, a conflict that changed the galaxy and himself. His fall to the Dark Side was always planned, and he went there, because of his actions and desires, Darth Maul was killed and he didn’t get any lines, you see my point. TFA is better than TPM, not saying the opposite, but the sequels of TFA failed at fixing the mistakes and I’m pretty sure the potential wasted later on by TLJ clouds my judgement of TFA. It’s like if instead of putting Jar Jar in the background, Lucas decided to keep him with the group of protagonists, being the same clumsy and stupid gungan. That’s how I felt.

Also the Disney/Hollywood circle-jerk is going to ruin movies as a whole, every sequels of famous franchise are trying the whole “subversion” thing. Remember the Predator ? Well now he’s shit next to the Super Predator, which was given autism super powers. Terminator ? John Connor is dead, here’s a mexican girl instead. Everything needs to be bigger than before, the past is shitty, kill it if you have to. Death Stars needs to be bigger, then overshadowed by Star Destroyers that can destroy planets. Creativity is dead, and Hollywood killed it. And I’m not talking about adaptations, Alita is good and the Marvel movies built up one of the biggest franchises ever. But it seems people in control of media wants the public to love certain things. Remember how they panicked with Joker ? I’ll avoid to be political, as I’m not an expert in politics, I’ll just say that : even if the agenda is supposed to be for the greater good, it is still an agenda, information and journalism should not have an agenda. Media can be used to control, and a peaceful utopia demands as much control as a dystopia. Take your soma and go watch the screen. 

The Prequels will always be subject of subjectivity, hell I might be also a victim of denying how bad it is because of investments. The thing is I saw the 6 Star Wars movies in 2008 on a pirated dvd in Morocco. And I liked them all. Perhaps the french dub made the dialog less “cringy”, as we tend to make some lines better or worse. I’m sure objectivity would make the Prequels bad, but you can’t tell me objectivity won’t see the Sequels and see how worse it is. 

So, it is my opinion, it is why I prefer the Prequels to the Sequels. I’m open to debate, even if I don’t quite know how to use tumblr well, so let’s hope I can respond to any requests. I believe that opinions can be changed with facts and logic, and I hope I give some people something to think about, and not just straight up change them to sequel haters. You’re free to enjoy any movies you want, and even the crapiest ones could have some sort of awesomeness to it, like The Room. But we know that The Room is bad.