I just can't get over how boring and lazily written almost all of these Star Wars series are now. It's literally "hey here's a cool concept"...and that's it. Boring writing, boring dialogue, and plotting that is uninteresting at best, abysmal at worst. This show is catching unnecessary heat because of the insufferable "anti woke" brigade, but in reality it's just more of the same we saw in Mando 3, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Boba Fett. This could have been a cast full of the whitest men possible and it still would have been meh, "wokeness" isn't the problem, being a crap product is. As a clone Wars fan, I could not have been more excited for Ahsoka and it was just so painfully mid. It's so easy to make exciting Star Wars, fans lap up memberberries, and they can't even manage to do that right.
I loved Andor. And I loved Rogue One. Both are easily my favorite things from the Disney dip into Star Wars
The biggest gripe for mainstream critics giving higher scores is that sci fi franchises like SW or Trek are stale or played out whereas the smaller number of diehard fans live and breathe the spirit of what made those franchises great. For the left column of Rotten Tomatoes, they think the Jedi universe is tapped out of ideas whereas the right side of the column will consume everything they can get their hands on the Extended universe and change their name and religion to Jedi. Disney decided to scrap the extended universe for various reasons and hired a director for episode 8 to subvert and flip everyone's expectations of the series. In doing so, you trample three generations of good will and didn't even give anything "fresh or new" to replace it. Those same critics just spit out numbers and one-off observations (it's their job to watch shitloads of movies) and generally avoid what fans think in their ratings. They will give some points for trying to be different but the main draw for any film is execution or faithfulness to the source materials spirit, preferably both. Critics treat shows or movies as one-offs. Fans like the resolution of a one-off but not a one-off... either growth or similar feeling from the best movie but different enough execution. It's almost like sports team expectations with winning and losing seasons. As for the woke issue, there's always a generational culture gap for old franchises but when you use the same cookie cutter archetypes tropes and paint historically disenfranchised characters as perfect enobled action figures with bland character flaws rather than living and changing people, it does a huge disservice to the story and the overall message. The typical heroes journey has a downfall where the character learns lessons from mistakes, fixes or improves themselves, then come back from the setback to higher heights. The reason why it has lasted in stories for thousands of years is because it makes the character relatable, more human from flaws and ultimately aspirational. Did Rei and others have that journey and was it relatable? i guess it only matters when you can buy personalized Journey crystal add-ons while boys and girls handcraft their hundred dollar plastic light sabers.
Thank goodness we won't have to see that crap around anymore. Now which crap is getting spit out next?
This. Andor was great. Season 1 and 2 of Mando were super fun, season 3 wasn't great but still better than pretty much everything else.
The first step is just having genuine characters who are authentic to themselves and their circumstances, whose motivation makes sense, and then write dialogue to match it. It's obvious that is not always easy, but it's not nearly as hard as they make it.
I think people would say Mandalorian (especially the first 2 seasons), and that answer would not necessarily be incorrect. If you wanted the braver answer, its Andor, which is a really good show that just happens to be based in the Star Wars universe.
For some reason I never caught Andor but it certainly looked promising from a trailer I just watched - I will agree with many that Mandalorian season one and two was special and it pretty much went downhill after that…Book of Boba was huge disappointing and Acolyte was pretty much an embarrassment I may have to check out Andor
Andor is a spy/jail break/heist drama that happens to be in Star Wars. Not a lot of space wizards with laser swords (and I LOVE space wizards with laser swords.) It builds slowly, and at a certain point you're hooked.
@Salvy @Jontro all that money they spent on that show $180 million, they could have made an incredible Blade movie.
Blade could make all those 180 million back if they leave woke out of it and hire competent people... Why do they hate making money on their investments? Just make movies for normal everyday people and not the woke...
Andor was great. By far my favorite Star Wars content from Disney. Mandalorian feels more and more like a commercial...
With alot of these type of shows it comes down to getting them made Someone says I want this movie that is about this the studio says nah .. .won't seel Then the people come back and say . .what if its set in STAR WARS/MARVEL/DC The studio is like. .. IT'S GOLD JERRY!!!!! Prime Example IMO is The Joker . .. .that's not the Joker It's a film that ole boy wanted to make but would NEVER SELL without the Joker name So he slaps the brand on it ..then make a few cosmetic changes and BOOM BILLION DOLLARs They think peple are stupid and brand loyal to a fault and to an extent they are right This series was fine . . .it wasnt great by any stretch and its crazy that the criticism is better than the product The creator wants to tell a story . .. but it would not get greenlit without the Star Wars wrapping paper on it The Fans saw through it .. .or just didn't like it and that's what is is While there are a bunch of white supremist A-Holes out there screaming woke woke woke there are also legit fans angry that the product they love is being bastardize to get stories told that is totally unrelatied to the original product. Story that really don't fit in the universe it their opinion and I can agree with them Rocket River
After Andor I started watching the full Star Wars timeline, just completed this. After watching the full season, there are absolutely valid criticism and inconsistencies. But this was way better than some folks review bombing made it out to be. I suspect due to agendas, but if I give Andor a 100 grade, say Mandalorian a 90, this was an 80 or B. It had moments I definitely enjoyed and some of the action sequences were cool to watch as well. It gets much better as you complete the show and I would watch a second season with some improvements. The Sith it seems are created from Jedi failures at times, but some never turn back to the light and create their own selfish hell basically.