In the lead up to The Force Awakens, The First Order is gaining power.
I think what went wrong here is that they were determined to try to find a completely different way to do one of these shows and just did not have good ideas for how. Each of these three cover a different trilogy and take a different approach. This came out just after they did the one for the original trilogy, Rebels. So they knew that if they just did the exact same one, it would seem like they had nothing fresh left to offer, not that many years into owning the property, after having bought it from George Lucas. Because obviously with how similar the sequel trilogy was to ANH, ESB and ROTJ, it would have been very logical to simply do the same thing again.
In my opinion this did not have to fail. And obviously it is more interesting to take a different approach. That was a lesson that they learned from the mcu, which was also taking at least slightly more chances when this was being developed. The idea to show the slow spread of fascism after the defeat of the empire, with the running time that this had to answer that question, which the three films were in too much of a rush to answer, makes a lot of sense. And I think that if that had been the primary goal of this, it absolutely would have succeeded.
Basically, they could have had every episode explore some aspect of people losing civil rights, having their communication limited and monitored, encouraged to hate those in the out-group despite that not being the cause of their problems, et cetera. Some of this does eventually show up, too little too late. A lot of this really doesn't seem that interested in examining what totalitarianism looks like.
This is set largely on the Colossus, a platform suspended over a massive body of water. It serves as a living area, garage, and racing arena. So it probably isn't going to surprise you when I say that a lot of it is based around doing mechanic's work and people trying to win races, whether in person or betting. And I'll definitely grant that I cared more here than I did during the pod race in The Phantom Menace. Heck, advertising and other marketing of this did make it clear that this was what it would be. Nobody forced me to watch it. It's just frustrating to see it not live up to its potential, when you have such a great chance to warn the younger generation against dictatorships, since there are a number of recognizable red flags and especially as America and England are moving in that direction.
The protagonist and audience insert character is Kaz. When he is in the cockpit, it's amazing what he can do. However, that makes up only a tiny amount of his screen time. The rest of it he is nearly constantly engaging in slapstick, which is especially bad because it is bland. Someone will easily carry something, hand it to him and he can barely drag it. He will be hit with a wrench by someone. Other times, he will trip, bump into things and get hit in the head. He will even pull others into it, such as when gorgs, fish with piranha teeth that are eaten and kept as pets - not in that order - go flying through the air, and attach themselves to people and bite them.
He is supposed to be a spy for the resistance, and he definitely does what he can to deliver on that. A lot of the time there is not anything near him for him to report on. So we'll get a lot of him learning basic lessons. I kid you not, they actually did an episode where he has to learn the equivalent of doing homework and not spend all of his spare time on leisure activities.
This is the first recent(I'm not counting droids and Ewoks simply because I haven't watched them) Star Wars show where there isn't really a serious threat or danger a lot of the time. I mean, it is actually set between major battles. Which was another fatal flaw. It's not that there is nothing in the way of conflict. Rather, it's that a lot of what there is, kind of feels like high school or maybe boarding school.
When he first arrives, he has to get to know all these people who already know each other, learn the interpersonal dynamics and effectively maneuver the social environment, and the things he learned at the Republic Naval Academy are not useful to him now so he has to basically start over on that similar to when you graduate to a new Grade. There's even a fight that you would think played out as a bar fight since that's where it's set but it really has much more the energy of the food fight, everyone's throwing stuff at each other, no one actually gets hurt, which is a bit of a theme here.
I do want to highlight the character of Neeku, a Nikto, who takes things literally, like Drax the Destroyer, or a kleptomaniac. He is a very open honest person, always happy to meet new people, even ones that others stay away from(and is thus able to appreciate perspectives others can't), sweet, and finds joy in little things like food. So he's coded as being on the spectrum and this positive depiction can help increase empathy. It doesn't make him out to be dangerous devoid of empathy for just plain weird the way that way too much Media handles autistic people - often made by people who have never met any of them.
I recommend this only to the people who are most devoted to the franchise. Certainly it's cool when Poe Dameron shows up, and it's easy to look up which eps that is. 7/10.
I think what went wrong here is that they were determined to try to find a completely different way to do one of these shows and just did not have good ideas for how. Each of these three cover a different trilogy and take a different approach. This came out just after they did the one for the original trilogy, Rebels. So they knew that if they just did the exact same one, it would seem like they had nothing fresh left to offer, not that many years into owning the property, after having bought it from George Lucas. Because obviously with how similar the sequel trilogy was to ANH, ESB and ROTJ, it would have been very logical to simply do the same thing again.
In my opinion this did not have to fail. And obviously it is more interesting to take a different approach. That was a lesson that they learned from the mcu, which was also taking at least slightly more chances when this was being developed. The idea to show the slow spread of fascism after the defeat of the empire, with the running time that this had to answer that question, which the three films were in too much of a rush to answer, makes a lot of sense. And I think that if that had been the primary goal of this, it absolutely would have succeeded.
Basically, they could have had every episode explore some aspect of people losing civil rights, having their communication limited and monitored, encouraged to hate those in the out-group despite that not being the cause of their problems, et cetera. Some of this does eventually show up, too little too late. A lot of this really doesn't seem that interested in examining what totalitarianism looks like.
This is set largely on the Colossus, a platform suspended over a massive body of water. It serves as a living area, garage, and racing arena. So it probably isn't going to surprise you when I say that a lot of it is based around doing mechanic's work and people trying to win races, whether in person or betting. And I'll definitely grant that I cared more here than I did during the pod race in The Phantom Menace. Heck, advertising and other marketing of this did make it clear that this was what it would be. Nobody forced me to watch it. It's just frustrating to see it not live up to its potential, when you have such a great chance to warn the younger generation against dictatorships, since there are a number of recognizable red flags and especially as America and England are moving in that direction.
The protagonist and audience insert character is Kaz. When he is in the cockpit, it's amazing what he can do. However, that makes up only a tiny amount of his screen time. The rest of it he is nearly constantly engaging in slapstick, which is especially bad because it is bland. Someone will easily carry something, hand it to him and he can barely drag it. He will be hit with a wrench by someone. Other times, he will trip, bump into things and get hit in the head. He will even pull others into it, such as when gorgs, fish with piranha teeth that are eaten and kept as pets - not in that order - go flying through the air, and attach themselves to people and bite them.
He is supposed to be a spy for the resistance, and he definitely does what he can to deliver on that. A lot of the time there is not anything near him for him to report on. So we'll get a lot of him learning basic lessons. I kid you not, they actually did an episode where he has to learn the equivalent of doing homework and not spend all of his spare time on leisure activities.
This is the first recent(I'm not counting droids and Ewoks simply because I haven't watched them) Star Wars show where there isn't really a serious threat or danger a lot of the time. I mean, it is actually set between major battles. Which was another fatal flaw. It's not that there is nothing in the way of conflict. Rather, it's that a lot of what there is, kind of feels like high school or maybe boarding school.
When he first arrives, he has to get to know all these people who already know each other, learn the interpersonal dynamics and effectively maneuver the social environment, and the things he learned at the Republic Naval Academy are not useful to him now so he has to basically start over on that similar to when you graduate to a new Grade. There's even a fight that you would think played out as a bar fight since that's where it's set but it really has much more the energy of the food fight, everyone's throwing stuff at each other, no one actually gets hurt, which is a bit of a theme here.
I do want to highlight the character of Neeku, a Nikto, who takes things literally, like Drax the Destroyer, or a kleptomaniac. He is a very open honest person, always happy to meet new people, even ones that others stay away from(and is thus able to appreciate perspectives others can't), sweet, and finds joy in little things like food. So he's coded as being on the spectrum and this positive depiction can help increase empathy. It doesn't make him out to be dangerous devoid of empathy for just plain weird the way that way too much Media handles autistic people - often made by people who have never met any of them.
I recommend this only to the people who are most devoted to the franchise. Certainly it's cool when Poe Dameron shows up, and it's easy to look up which eps that is. 7/10.