Revenge of the Sith was really good. It went a long way toward singlehandedly salvaging the adult Anakin story arc after Attack of the Clones just crapped all over it. You basically could have extended the opening credits of Episode III to explain away Attack of the Clones and completely removed that part of the prequel trilogy.

Nice. Yeah I remember somehow liking that movie, though I can't tell you a damn thing about it.

And there sits the answer to your own question of why people continue on in a sequence when a season or movie sucks. Sometimes it’s worth it

I get that what I've said is a bit contradictory. I should probably reel back what I said to at least be less absolute. Specific to this situation, I would have quit after Episode II if there wasn't a combination of people here vouching for Episode III as a big improvement and also Episode III having a much higher IMDb rating.

Obviously the first time, I just didn't like Episode I and I quit right then. If this were a real-time viewing where I liked Episode I and really didn't like Episode II, my reaction to Episode III probably would have been to wait to see what reaction it got, with a need to be reassured that it was much better than Episode II.

Sequels that just seem to be going back and milking a cash cow, when there was no original plan for that sequel to necessarily exist, are a whole different thing. Though I guess I'll put Matrix 4 in that same category of "if people reassure me that this is way better than Part 2 and 3, and that I don't have to watch Part 3 to understand it, maybe I'll watch."

Probably a higher mountain to climb than this, though. For as much disrespect as I've shown it, Star Wars Episode II >>> The Matrix Reloaded.

Yes.

I'm a little annoyed at how catchy to me that "Fancy Like" song is.

Okay, so I've further delved into this Star Wars business. After watching, and overall enjoying, the prequel trilogy, I was more inclined to rewatch the original trilogy before delving into VII-VIII-IX. However, I've just watched the original trilogy recently, and I wanted to take a bit of time before doing that.

I watched Solo - was mostly "meh" on that, though I didn't hate it - and was setting up to watch Rogue One next. However, some research into the Star Wars chronology alerted me to the whole Clone Wars thing that I was only vaguely aware of. I saw that the movie got a pretty negative reaction, so I expected to not like it, but if it was going to fulfill the role of being a lengthy pilot episode for the TV series I figured I should probably sit through it.

It was...not great, but the blandness of it did not irk me. When comparing it to Attack of the Clones, AotC is surely the more entertaining of the two, but unlike Clone Wars, it also told a story in a way that felt like it actively harmed the storytelling of the overall prequel trilogy. Clone Wars was probably more boring - the plot really was more worthy of a TV episode than a full-on movie - but it didn't mess anything up. Admittedly I'm more confused with the Star Wars universe in general now, because Anakin getting a Padawan of his own while still being under Obi-Wan's tutelage was strange to me.

I've watched the first two TV episodes. They're okay, but they're going to need to get better for me to watch that whole series. However, I know that - unlike the movie - the TV series is highly lauded, so I'll keep going with it.

Very excited that you're delving deeper. I'm glad you liked Episode III. I have some nitpicks with it, similar to ROTJ. But with both films, the moments that hit, really hit. I still think the prequel trilogy is too rushed overall, but the final act of III is pretty perfect (even with some wavering dialogue).

I know I'm in the minority, but I love Solo. I think a lot of the hate isn't even really directed at the film itself, there's a lot of meta criticism of it. Solo is a great adventure flick (directed by Ron Howard of all people!?!?) that seamlessly fits into the "lived in" 70s aesthetic of the original trilogy. While I of course dig the Jedi/Sith stuff, it's really refreshing to see a Star Wars story without them. We definitely need more of that, and it's cool to see them heading in that direction with the TV shows.

Oof, The Clone Wars-- here we go. I actually quite disliked the "pilot" movie, I usually recommend the curious to just dive into the show because it's so much stuff to watch already. As I said in the OOT SW thread:

One thing to point out from your post
There's 4 months between AoTC and TCW, Anakin is knighted in this time. It's likely that the Battle of Geonosis was enough to prompt the Council to promote him to knight (just as they did with Obi-Wan after the Battle of Naboo). He is no longer Obi-Wan's padawan, but it's a common practice of respect to continue to call one's former master by that title.

So basically my slightly fuller thoughts on Solo:

*It didn't do anything to make Han Solo a more interesting character.
*It didn't do anything to enrich the larger Star Wars story.
*It's pretty much just a generic sci-fi action movie if you remove the familiarity with Chewbacca and Han.

I've mentioned it previously, but what I like in TV and film is a chance to sink my teeth into rich character arcs and/or plots. Action sequences are very, very secondary, and most of them don't impress me. I do like individual light saber duels, but most other Star Wars action is nothing to me, and I just wait for it to be over. Given those preferences, Solo is not really built for me.

---

Surprised to hear that Anakin was knighted by the time of the Clone Wars. The manner in which they were being deferential to the elder members of the council during the first two episodes sure made it seem like Anakin was of a lower rank. Did I miss something where they said that? I've tried to pay good attention, and it just seems like a weird thing for me to have missed.

I have two brothers. One is a conspiracy nut and the other is a normal human being. The conspiracy nut was always a big Star Wars fan. I reached out to my other brother today by email to see where he was on Star Wars. I don't know that I've ever discussed it with him, but I would suspect he would be into it even though it seems like his first love is the fantasy genre.

He starts a reply with

Then there's a massive wall of text that I'm far too intimidated to read. I feel like I just stumbled into an intense homework assignment.

I don't think his knighting is outright stated, no. But, he no longer wears the padawan hair braid which is the key sign. The knighting ceremony was actually shown in the animated 2003 Clone Wars show (yes, there's another one), but that series was quickly deemed non-canon (for good reason, power levels are insane). That was also the series where Grievous's nasty cough was explained, when Mace Windu force crushed his rib cage.

The ranking stuff can be a bit confusing because anyone who isn't a Jedi refers to all Jedi as "master." Within the Order, knights will refer to their previous masters as "master," as well as the actual Jedi Masters. The Council is made up of accomplished Jedi Masters, but not all masters are on the Council. You cannot become a master without first guiding a padawan to knighthood. There are obviously many more knights than masters.

Ranks are:
youngling
padawan
knight
master

Yoda is the Grand Master, and Mace Windu is the leader of the Jedi Council (both are elected positions)


And your complaints with Solo are fine. It could easily have been a different character such as Dash Rendar (who was already a Han Solo knockoff). I simply love being immersed in the world and have enjoyed several rewatches of the film.

Lolll, that's awesome. Would love to hear his thoughts! It makes sense he would like it because Star Wars, while often mistaken for sci-fi, is actually space fantasy. That's why the Trek vs. Wars debate never made sense to me, they're very different universes on a fundamental level.

I feel so much despair when I read **** like this. I was supposed to have noticed a hair braid? I'm an incredibly unobservant watcher of TV and film, and I really only catch a whole bunch of subtleties through repeat viewing or through someone just explicitly telling me about it. I really only know every little wrinkle of The Godfather because of how many times I've watched those movies (the first two an obscene number of times, though I've watched Part III north of five times also).

Aside from sitcoms, I tend to watch most every TV show and movie with subtitles on now, and with stuff like Star Wars that I think has enough depth to merit it, I try to watch it with a singular laser focus rather than multi-tasking. I still miss a whole ton of stuff and still struggle to follow along.

In hindsight, it's amusing to me that my email ended with, "Are you a Star Wars watcher at all? Or do you basically have my previous relationship with it?" Feels like someone asked me, "You ever tried watching this pro wrestling stuff?"

After some personal recollections, including Episode IV being his first theater movie and apparently he and my other brother having a Star Wars room in the house that I only barely lived in (we moved to another home that I grew up in at some point before I turned one year old), he gets into his thoughts. You may or may not find them interesting.

A bit more on my thoughts on Solo:

I could probably learn to like this movie a fair bit more if they gave it a sequel and did it well. It's clear that they wrote it with the idea that it wouldn't be the entire Solo origin story. However, I guess it hasn't been popular enough to sway TPTB into doing a sequel? Given that, this movie has sort of been left to twist in the wind as a meaningless piece of stand-alone entertainment within the Star Wars universe. Fair enough that you would still like that, but my hope going into it was that it would enhance Solo's story in the IV/V/VI trilogy.

That's pretty awesome. I really dig your brother's thoughts and we would likely get along well. It's funny that he mentions Attack on Titan because that's a series I've been meaning to get around to. I'm glad he isn't as jaded as a lot of the OG fans and has been receptive to the newer material. I imagine the sequel trilogy will get much the same treatment as the prequel trilogy. It'll initially be divisive and criticized, but will come to be respected and loved in a decade or two. Each trilogy, including the OT, has its share of flaws, but the true spirit of Star Wars always shines through.

I can't really do MMOs anymore (as I'll gladly lose my life to them), but I've read the lore of the game he mentions and I've played the two preceding Knights of the Old Republic games (which are not MMOs) dozens of times. The Old Republic is arguably a more interesting period that the "current" storyline. That stuff takes place roughly 3,000 years before the current timeline. Definitely worth checking out if you're interested, The Wookiepedia (Star Wars wiki) is a great resource for lore.

It basically had no chance to succeed through no fault of its own. Production issues plagued the project, ballooning the budget and almost guaranteeing that it couldn't make a decent profit. Beyond this, Solo was the first Disney entry to suffer from "Star Wars fatigue" as the company became set on releasing a new movie every year. The fanbase was split by the direction of TLJ the previous year, so Solo immediately became the punching bag.

I agree, I would love to see that series continue (perhaps with Maul: A Star Wars Story) and delve deeper into the criminal underworld. It's a shame that we likely won't ever see it, but I understand the decision to pivot these type of stories to TV with the success of The Mandalorian. I think it's still a great film even if nothing about it is "essential." Not everything needs to be "something," and sometimes it's nice to just be immersed in a world. Again, I simply love Star Wars and have enjoyed almost all of the new stuff.

I'm seven episodes into Clone Wars. Took some getting used to, but I'm enjoying it.

I'm less than thrilled to see that, per the next episode description, Jar Jar Binks is in this.

Jar jar episodes suck ass. Also, droid episodes.

Seriously, I almost quit the series at the beginning of season 3. But, there’s still so many cool af redeemable moments even in the early seasons.

When the clones are like, “But we’re expendable sir!” And Plo-Koon answers with, “Not to me.” You go, damn. There’s some deep **** going on here. Speaks volumes.

****ing Star Wars, man.

I'm even less thrilled to hear that "Jar Jar episodes" are a whole group rather than a one-off. It felt like they had reasonably minimized Jar Jar in the remainder of the prequel trilogy after getting a well-deserved backlash for featuring him so heavily in Episode I, and I wouldn't have expected anyone to bring him back for future projects.

Plo Koon was probably a bit biased on the question of "should they incur a bunch of risk to come rescue us, or should they efficiently leave us for dead and focus on the mission," since he was on the seemingly doomed ship with them.

So far there's been a pretty silly pattern of Obi-Wan Kenobi giving an order, then Anakin and/or Ahsoka reacting with "LOL GTFO," doing their own thing, and then coming out just fine for it. But Obi-Wan did just lay into them pretty good at the end of the last episode, so hopefully that will be paid off soon enough with some actual consequences.

I started reading that Star Wars thread in OOT, though with the intent to stop before Episode VII drops since I haven't delved into that sequel trilogy yet.

Out of curiosity: does that thread continue to relentlessly hate the prequel trilogy as much today as they did in the early pages of that one (spanning 2012 through 2014)?

I have no idea, I was a latecomer to that thread. Prequel haters gonna hate.

Also, I don’t think there are that many jar jar eps.

I do remember starting into Episode II and hearing Padme refer to him as "Representative Jar Jar Binks," and being mind-blown that he had gone from being a stupid flunkie who owed his life to Qui-Gon to since having been elevated to Representative.

Shades of that exchange from Office Space.
"You've been blowing off work, and you get to keep your job."
"Actually, I'm being promoted."
"WHAT?!"

It sort of makes sense that he would help represent Naboo as a member of the Gungans.

What makes no sense, however, is that the people of Naboo were seemingly unaware of another sentient, technologically advanced species on their same planet until the events of Episode I.

Aaron Rodgers stops playing in the middle of a ****ing play to ***** to the referee for a call.

There are still people wandering the planet who will cheer for him after that display.

Glad that everyone is still reacting to things so well.

I suppose it merits a mention that he didn't even remotely have a case for a call. He was lobbying for a call that would have been horrible if the ref was dumb enough to flag it.