Hello There!

OBI-WAN SPOILERS

OBI-WAN SPOILERS

OBI-WAN SPOILERS

OBI-WAN SPOILERS

OBI-WAN SPOILERS

OBI-WAN SPOILERS

 Hello there…

Two words that have me bursting into tears for two days now.

I was one who never asked for an Obi-Wan series and approached it with caution and bated breath.

Over the past few years, Disney has brought us The Mandalorian, Boba Fett and now Obi-Wan Kenobi. And I’ve enjoyed the hell out of each and every one, though I never thought I’d watch any of them.

The Star Wars properties empire is mostly referred to as space opera or science fiction but certainly has its roots firmly grounded in horror (among other genres such as Westerns) and that’s likely one of the universal appeals of the franchise. And perhaps that’s why I’ve been a fan since I was a teen watching the first one simply called Star Wars on opening day.

The mini-series Obi-Wan currently playing on DisneyPlus is very much a horror story, especially the finale, and it’s great to wallow around in.

The Obi-Wan series had a lot of what some would call fan service but when you’re dealing with a prequel full of dearly loved characters, you really need to stay with the script. We saw what happened with the final trilogy of the main movies and what a mess they were as each director/writer attempted something new when something old would have worked far better. The mere existence of the series Obi-Wan Kenobi is fan service, so haters can go hate somewhere else.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series stuck to something old. We have Luke and Leia and their requisite adopted parents, we have Anakin/Darth Vader, we have the Emperor, and so on.

We also can finally figure out how everyone aged forty years in ten years; life on Tatooine is rough if you ever doubted it before! There was even a joke about aging fast in the final episode. Ewan McGregor is up on what the fans are saying!

And how many damn light sabers are buried in that desert planet!

In the first episode, I felt like we were going through the Boba Fett depression all over again, but luckily the story soon turned to adventure. Yes, all these guys have some serious PTSD from all the shit they’ve been through, but we tune into Star Wars for fun and games, not therapy.

I watched the show week by week so had lots of time to think about it, unlike when I binge-watch things. For the first few episodes, I was on board with what they were doing but a little frustrated it was turning into another Lone Wolf and Cub adventure that we just went through with Mandalorian.

However, little Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) was great and so I didn’t mind. We had a few storylines going which is always appreciated. Little Luke (Grant Feely) did a great job as well. Both children had huge boots to fill and both did so with flying colours!

Is Carrie Fisher channeling Leia into Vivien? It was uncanny how much they were one and the same.

I absolutely loved the character of Third Sister, Reva (Moses Ingram). She rocked. I loved her parkour scene in one of the early episodes. So badass! Her story was amazing and was pretty much what I had expected but that didn’t take my joy away. Moses Ingram did a fantastic job of playing conflicted Reva, especially as we hurtled towards the end of season one. Hate and revenge had her survive that death blow and her character arc worked really well. There’s a rumour she’ll get her own show and I hope so.

 The scene where Darth is unmasked like the Phantom of the Opera or Phantom of the Paradise in the final battle with Obi-Wan was both poignant and horrific. We can see Hayden Christiensen in there which is why I’m sure they made sure to unmask him a bit. After all, why bother bringing him back if we never actually see him as James Earl Jones is still voicing Vader. But we got to see and hear Hayden as Darth for a few minutes and that was very cool. That was one of my favourite scenes, how he was Vader and Anakin, his voice changing, his face changing, the lighting changing as Anakin somewhat forgives Obi-Wan (or at least relieves Obi-Wan of Obi-Wan's guilt) and embraces Darth Vader. That’s how I see it, anyway.

Obi-Wan is set free from ten years of angst by Anakin Vader’s revelations. Much like a parent who finally realizes their child is their own person and will not always make the choices we had hoped for them.

The flashback duel in the fifth episode was great as we got to see Hayden playing younger Anakin which was worth bringing him back for. I always liked him and never got the hate for him at all, but of course, I thought he was cute, even when or maybe especially when he was evil, but that’s my horror writer heart speaking again.

How cool was it to see Darth Vader kicking ass all over the place and pulling down that Star Destroyer?

And we finally learned why Jedis are always learning how to lift rocks! It sure comes in handy to know how to lift them, now doesn't it?

How cool was that fight scene?

There were lots of touches, fan service, easter eggs, whatever you want to call them. Lots for fans to delight in but a simple enough story that new people could enter the franchise and not be lost.

Of course, let’s not forget the music. Real Star Wars music for the finale with some of our favourite official John Williams themes in just the right places to make us all sob like babies.

There were a couple of timeline/wtf issues fixed and by the end of it all, I don’t think there were any plot hole issues going into A New Hope and yet, room for another season as well with the addition of Qui-Gon Jinn.

I’m keeping this short as I’m fighting deadlines but had to chime in on this. It’s been well over a day since I watched the finale but I’m still super emotional about it all.

Which is funny because I never ever thought I’d be emotional about this show. And especially after I got to see Luke being badass in The Mandalorian, I felt I could die complete. But I’m glad I’m not dead yet and can continue to enjoy these little Star Wars shows that I had always hoped for back when I was fourteen!

Sure, there are flaws and blahblahblah but who cares? This show delivered much more than I ever dreamed and I’m thankful Ewan McGregor put so much love and care into it as both an actor and a producer. 

Thank you, Obi-Wan Ewan, you have brought us all so much hope!

Solo ISN'T Tanking Because of "Star Wars Fatigue" ...

Solo is tanking because Disney doesn't care about old Star Wars Fans, you know, the ones with money and one or two generations of children. 

Star Wars fans NEVER get fatigue. There could be a new Star Wars film every weekend and it would make millions every time 

IF

the writers cared about the fans.

But the Disney writers only care about themselves and how clever they can be in their own heads.

I've been watching it all from the sidelines. 

I saw people upset at the Force Awakens and how it was just a safe retread of The Last Hope. Some of us gave it a pass even though we were horribly disappointed about being lied to about seeing our three icons together again. 

I saw hundreds of negative reviews about Chuck Wendig's Aftermath trilogy because of his unique writing style and his immersion of United States politics into a galaxy far, far away. And he sure isn't helping himself or Star Wars franchise by calling fans, who were around long before he was born, names and that they are angry, racist, white men.

Sorry, not true. I'm a woman and Hispanic and I'm mad at the direction of the franchise as time goes on. 

Though I didn't read Chuck's Star Wars books, I saw hundreds of negative reviews. I saw hundreds of positive ones as well. It's still a best-seller. 

In Chuck's defense, he's an excellent author in horror and writing guides, but his unique style was jarring and unsettling for the Star Wars franchise. Some fan divide came there as some loved his quirky narrative and some hated it. The things that the fans didn't like from what I could discern included American politics, characters who some people call "social justice warriors," earth jargon, sexual orientation, and such. This is proving to be a theme in some of the other books and the new movie saga trilogy. And the spin-offs.

Disney is trying new things. Disney is testing a new direction. Disney has often been cutting edge and certainly was in its infancy, so it's not unexpected that Disney is trying to modernize Star Wars and taking a few risks. 

I went to The Force Awakens for only one reason. To see what happened to Luke Skywalker; what was he up to now? Was he married? Did he have kids? Was he a Captain or Governer or ruler of a Kingdom or teaching new Jedis? I didn't give a damn about Han Solo and was very curious about what happened to Leia. 

I wasn't the only one going to see Luke Skywalker. I was disappointed. So, I went along for the ride. It wasn't the movie I hoped for but I was going to be a good sport because I liked the character of Kylo Ren and some of the puzzles that were set up. Or at least, I thought there were puzzles set up waiting for eager fans to speculate about.

Thousands of us waited with bated breath for two years to see Luke's first words in something like thirty years. Quite frankly, I was in kind of a daze after the first time I saw The Force Awakens because I had fully expected the saga of Luke, Leia, and Han to continue with all three together from nearly the first frame. I expected them to be swept off on some kind of adventure that would NOT involve a Darth Vader type person nor a Death Star. I expected some of the catch phrases and lots of lightsaber battles. I expected lots of spaceships hurtling around and some newfangled alien designs. I also expected Han to die as I knew Harrison Ford wanted out of the series. 

But I accepted what we were given and played along.

In this age of social media, we all got swept up into the fun of theories and speculation. Dozens of questions were set up that we got excited about, so many teases, so many exciting ways the eighth movie could go.  So many of us spent two years writing articles, making videos, going to Star Wars Celebration, Comicons, buying toys, books, rewatching The Force Awakens to mine for clues about where the series would go. We thought Star Wars was an ongoing story, a connected universe with connected players and clues. A soap opera in space. A western in space. A simple fairy tale about good and evil with space wizards and an ancient religion. 

Star Wars is a comic book fun time. 

But those of us who were engaged, who bought toys, books, games, were in for a rude surprise in The Last Jedi.

Fans with certain expectations set up from the narrative structure of the previous seven movies were given the equivalent of a pie in the face. 

Yes, TLJ was beautiful to look at. 

There was some cool stuff.

But there were huge disconnects. It was more like a Saturday Night Live episode (jokes that don't work and all). 

And when we weren't subjected to thumb-on-nose plotlines, we were given ill-timed jokes and American politics. Free the animals but don't go back for the children. And how did the kid know to tell the story of Luke Skywalker as it happened and could move a broom? Am I allowed to think that he's a special force user related to someone in the universe or will I be mocked for thinking that? Now everyone can use the force and it's a galaxy of mind readers?

I'm all for experimental. I'm all for giving chances and that's why I'm being trying to be okay about The Last Jedi.

But fans are angry. Not because Luke was old and depressed but because of lazy storytelling. it's easy to toss a lightsaber away than to give an emotional moment to fans who have waited a long time to hear Luke speak. 

It was lazy to make him a child abuser instead of showing Snoke seducing Kylo and other interesting backstory stuff. Maybe show how the children who escaped the destruction of The Jedi Training Camp became the Knights of Ren. Maybe show Luke running off to kick Snoke's ass for luring little Ben to the Darkside.

And why was Kylo named Ben Solo? Leia and Han never knew Ben Kenobi. I never understood that unless Leia had visions of him since she has The Force?

We had to watch a lazy slow ass chase movie instead of cool stuff like Kylo talking to ghost Vader.

We were already depressed Carrie Fisher is dead and then to just kill off Luke for no reason...THAT is why Solo is tanking.

Some of the Disney people are mocking the fans. Fans that CARED about Luke for forty years, who were invested emotionally and financially in him and the franchise, who likely spent thousands on themselves and children on Star Wars merchandise over forty years. And now they are mocked for caring that the character they wanted to see have a cool story was just humiliated with the milk stuff, fallen from a hero to a child abuser, was a coward, did a Skype call and dropped dead. Meanwhile, Snoke made other people do Skype calls and didn't die. I don't believe Snoke nor Luke are dead anyway. Anymore. I suspect Abrams will bring Luke back. He sees the backlash and hopefully will be a hero and bring back Luke. 

If Disney brings back Luke, then maybe sales will pick up again. It's easy in a magical universe to make him not dead. Luke never saw Ben or Yoda or Anniken as he died though Luke saw Ben when he was dying in Empire Strikes Back, so it's very likely Luke's not dead at all. He could have just gone off to rejuvenate somewhere and come back stronger with a great plan to stop Kylo without killing him. Also Kylo hasn't seen his grandfather's ghost yet either. Why not?

These are the things fans want to see. More Luke. We just wanted a bit more time with him as new characters are introduced.

We are told all through The Last Jedi to Kill The Past and everything we loved about Star Wars was killed right in front of us, and then we're supposed to support a movie about a dead iconic character as a young man when we're not supposed to care about the past or history.

Star Wars fatigue, there is not.

How many times have the marathons been on TV in recent years? Almost every weekend and they are endlessly watched. 

Star Wars fans have no fatigue. They could watch a new Star Wars every day like a soap opera, which is originally was until recently. 

Star Wars is an addiction, a way of life for many people. Thousands of people. People with money.

I've been watching the unrest forming on YouTube for months now. I've seen channels like Geeks and Gamers who had less subscribers than I did in January when I first found them now grow to something like 50,000. All SW fans who love SW and are soo upset by the direction it's taking. Many in the comments sections are calling for boycotts and guess what, Disney?  THAT's why Solo is tanking.

Solo is a fine little movie. I had fun seeing it. But because of Johnson and his attitude in his movie towards the original fans and towards unhappy social media fans, the rage from SW fans is being shown towards Solo. SW fans won't see Solo in the theatres because they want Disney to listen to them. They want the basic premise to return and to have good storylines for Legacy characters.

Star Wars fans are voting with their wallets so that Disney will listen. They want the franchise to get back on track, for Luke to not be dead just yet, and to stop doing stupid stuff and lame jokes. 

That's all!

Han Solo Review WITH SPOILERS


Articles about Box Office:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/box-office-solo-star-wars-150247663.html


https://variety.com/2018/film/news/the-tanking-of-solo-is-a-force-of-darkness-for-star-wars-1202828835/