• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Ahsoka |OT| Ezra's out there somewhere, and it's time to bring him home.

Kraz

Member
I think people who see a "chaotic" sword fight and think that looks "realistic" and not choreographed don't actually know what choreography is. Especially when the fights they like involve blind turns and ducks and blocks. A real sword fight isn't like that. A real sword fight is what Ahsoka and Baylan were doing. The deliberate stances, the deliberate pacing, the intentional thrusts and parries. That was SAMURAI sword fighting choreography.

The fight between Morgan and Ahsoka, that was kung fu/WuShu/Shaolin choreography.

The sword fighting in the first clip is "trick fighting" choreography. It's designed to look flashy, not logical or realistic. There's no POWER behind trick fighting choreography...

But we all like what we like... I just REALLY liked the Shaolin type choreography in the finale.
I had to go back and check out the scene after reading about the Shaolin. It did seem different on first watch with the moves giving characterization, but I've kind of tuned out the sabre fights since Phantom Menace. I was watching Crouching Tiger the day before and thinking about lightsabers when Shu Lien was talking about preferring the machete. On second watch the sabre/talzin fight was really well done with the entire setting and characters adding story that bookended the first season perfectly with the resolutions of Morgan's story and Sabine & Ahsoka overcoming abandoning each other.

They really used the fights well to progress great amounts of story elements through the entire series.

I'm from the New Hope era where the saber fights simpler(batter up and pokey pokey). Viewers had to rely on story elements to support the fight scene instead of simple spectacle.
PNyNkJ7.gif


The drama to the fight with Vader and Luke in ESB had the best spookiness. The setting and dialogue "The force is strong with you young Skywalker..." then when Vader almost takes Luke's head with the jump scare before the cat walk. That last fight of the season in Ahsoka had excellent terror elements too that came from force mysteries.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
All actions tuff in Star Wars feels pretty stupid. It used to be kinda funny how nobody hits anyone with blasters but the good guys, but it doesn't exactly make for a great action scenes. And then just the incredibly inconsistent use of "the force" particularly in this show. Apparently they can force push people a 100 feet away up into the air (the end scene silly "force boost" thing) and in this show they can just constantly throw people around with that power... so why are they not just, doing that? Why ever stand there waiting to be shot at when you can swipe your hand and send all the bad guys flying?

It's just all so dumb to watch to me. Give me great character development and dialog like Andor, not people barely talking to each other and action scenes left and right.

I swear the entire season's plot would have made for a really boring movie, let alone an 8 episode * 45 minutes show.

Just a real stinker.

I'm happy for those who like it though, I'd have rather enjoyed it myself, but man... it's just bad TV to me.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
If they recast Baylan, Liev Schrieber should be it. He looks the most like Ray Stevenson, can do the type of accent and is a big guy who can grow a full gray beard and is a pretty athletic guy.
It's gonna be Clancy Brown, I'm calling it now.

U3PWiTz.jpg


The Kurgan lives!!!
 

Alex11

Member
I also never knew Star Wars had witches, which seems to draw even more "inspiration" from Dune.

If Amazon is smart, they are making a Dune universe, because it's similar to SW, just without the legacy and Billion license money.
Yeah, I don't have any problem with that, the space whales or the zombi stormtroopers, but that World between Worlds it's really annoying.

What I'm more curious is when\if a new trilogy comes out will there be some mention about any of these characters from the shows, as there was no mention of Ahsoka in The Force Awakens. Also in the Thrawn movie, I'm curious if Luke will have a presence, as by that time Thrawn will be a real threat.
 

Toons

Member
Because it wasn't stupid then? Some things work in kids show that don't translate to live action. Star wars has gone full retard.

The force allows people to live beyond death and talk to people across galaxies but conjuring a weapon is too much for you?

Actually it's not even that it's implied to be transporting a weapon.

There were much, MUCH more ridiculous and out there feats before Disney even bought the franchise.
 
Last edited:

Liamario

Banned
The force allows people to live beyond death and talk to people across galaxies but conjuring a weapon is too much for you?

Actually it's not even that it's implied to be transporting a weapon.

There were much, MUCH more ridiculous and out there feats before Disney even bought the franchise.
Even the suspension of disbelief has limits. When you keep adding on new layers, it becomes silly. Like Rey's ability to heal wounds with the force- they had gone too far.
 

Toons

Member
Even the suspension of disbelief has limits. When you keep adding on new layers, it becomes silly. Like Rey's ability to heal wounds with the force- they had gone too far.

Edit: this was covered

But yeah most of the abilities you are seeing aren't new.

Zombie stormtroopers were a thing in the EU, force heal was a thing a long time ago, weapon conjuring probably had been done but I've not seen that particular instance... the foce is a gateway to many abilities some would consider unnatural 😂
 
Last edited:

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Overall I liked this season. It has some faults, as all shows do, and I think many people (like myself) who aren't super familiar with Rebels and Clone Wars probably didn't appreciate it as much.

That said it's head and shoulders above the dreck that was Obi-Wan and Boba Fett. Rest in peace Ray Stevenson, he was amazing as Baylan. Taylor Sith is an odd character that I am looking forward to seeing more of, and of course Hera's glorious cheeks were a reason to tune in each week.

My major apprehension is that I think Filoni is leaning way too hard into the fantastical aspects of the Star Wars lore. I feel like this could get out of control after the very grounded and best foray into this universe that was Andor. But hey, we'll see. IMO Dawson has really knocked it out of the park, and Hayden has obviously grown a lot as an actor. The guy playing Ezra was also something else. He adapted that character perfectly.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Overall I liked this season. It has some faults, as all shows do
I am not sure… it was watchable and polished, it had nice action scenes, it had great actors (Baylan and Thrawn were very well portrayed), but if you look at it nothing really happened or very little. Aside from Ashoka’s WbW journey, there was no real character development for anything. No emotions, it feels like this was written by beings imagining how humans would feel and react… Sabine and Ezra’s interaction after 10 years apart was insane… like if they were both borderline sociopaths.

We also continue with the “ah, most unskilled / with least potential in the force you have seen in hundred of years? Oh sure, give this one a few days of training when piled it all together and boom, we have a Jedi master in the wings” pattern too I see…

Lots of things happen, lots of potential plot points, but yeah keeps you watching and engages but nothing more beyond that. Behind better than BoBF is not a high bar. Are our standards going lower and lower?
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
I am not sure… it was watchable and polished, it had nice action scenes, it had great actors (Baylan and Thrawn were very well portrayed), but if you look at it nothing really happened or very little. Aside from Ashoka’s WbW journey, there was no real character development for anything. No emotions, it feels like this was written by beings imagining how humans would feel and react… Sabine and Ezra’s interaction after 10 years apart was insane… like if they were both borderline sociopaths.

We also continue with the “ah, most unskilled / with least potential in the force you have seen in hundred of years? Oh sure, give this one a few days of training when piled it all together and boom, we have a Jedi master in the wings” pattern too I see…

Lots of things happen, lots of potential plot points, but yeah keeps you watching and engages but nothing more beyond that. Behind better than BoBF is not a high bar. Are our standards going lower and lower?

I agree with you that overall it felt like very little happened, but on the character development front we got a lot. Which I think was the point of this season. Filoni had to introduce a bunch of (edit: "new" for many viewers) new characters all at once for his future movie, and position them into a place where they'll be compelling once that movie drops.

Take just Ahsoka for example. Most viewers probably don't know her from Adam. But Filoni had to delve into her past and show everyone that she was once a peace-loving young girl thrust into war as a child soldier, trained by perhaps the most lethal warlord of the time. In other words she's a deeper character than most Star Wars fans are probably accustomed to.

Then we get the development of Ahsoka and Sabine as master / apprentice. The Rebel crew with Hera, her son, and Chopper. We are given glimpses of how the blossoming rebellion is factoring into all of this. I had no idea who the fuck Thrawn was, but in a few episodes I realize he's a cautious yet cunning general who will use anything to his advantage, including the willful slaughter of his own troops to turn them into zombies.

I didn't even mention everything, but even that bit is a lot of character development. In my opinion it sets up a very promising future for this material.
 
Last edited:

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
I agree with you that overall it felt like very little happened, but on the character development front we got a lot. Which I think was the point of this season. Filoni had to introduce a bunch of (edit: "new" for many viewers) new characters all at once for his future movie, and position them into a place where they'll be compelling once that movie drops.

Take just Ahsoka for example. Most viewers probably don't know her from Adam. But Filoni had to delve into her past and show everyone that she was once a peace-loving young girl thrust into war as a child soldier, trained by perhaps the most lethal warlord of the time. In other words she's a deeper character than most Star Wars fans are probably accustomed to.

Then we get the development of Ahsoka and Sabine as master / apprentice. The Rebel crew with Hera, her son, and Chopper. We are given glimpses of how the blossoming rebellion is factoring into all of this. I had no idea who the fuck Thrawn was, but in a few episodes I realize he's a cautious yet cunning general who will use anything to his advantage, including the willful slaughter of his own troops to turn them into zombies.

I didn't even mention everything, but even that bit is a lot of character development. In my opinion it sets up a very promising future for this material.
Aside from Ahsoka, as I had already conceded,
what character development did we see? You are raising interesting events, tidbits and lore, but how did the characters developed?
Things happen sure, people are part of events sure, but that is it… the end.

They do not feel like human beings to me, do they feel like people to you?
 
Last edited:

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Aside from Ahsoka, as I had already conceded,
what character development did we see? You are raising interesting events, tidbits and lore, but how did the characters developed?
Things happen sure, people are part of events sure, but that is it… the end.

They do not feel like human beings to me, do they feel like people to you?

Well, all of the characters went from point A to B in some way, so there was development in my mind.

Whatever really. It feels weird arguing about something as shallow as Star Wars.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I agree with you that overall it felt like very little happened, but on the character development front we got a lot. Which I think was the point of this season. Filoni had to introduce a bunch of (edit: "new" for many viewers) new characters all at once for his future movie, and position them into a place where they'll be compelling once that movie drops.
I disagree. We get very little character development, just a bunch of conversations with very little actually being said. Sabine joins the enemy for all of a hot second before, "well, she left, guess all if forgiven!" We get ZERO interaction with her, Baylan, Sinn, or the older lady on the trip TO A DIFFERENT GALAXY. It was just a convenient way for her to stow aboard with no consequence. Then in the last episode Ezra DOES THE SAME THING ON THE WAY BACK, is able to infiltrate a ship where the people there have been living with each other exclusively FOR A DECADE, they KNEW someone got aboard, and yet he can stowaway the entire trip and still escape with a shuttle. The beginning and the end of the season essentially just reversed the positions of Ezra and Ahsoka/Sabine and Thrawn/those other bad guys. Ahsoka, for all the events in WbW, doesn't really act any different afterwards, she was so mellow and zen from the get go she really had nowhere to go. And Sabine coming around to "being taught" is kinda meaningless when you are stranded on an alien planet with just the two of them and some snail folk.

Anyway, we can debate the pacing and economy of scenes all day on this show. We can debate the energy and excitement of the numerous battle sequences that go on and on. We can debate the "cautious yet cunning" characteristics of Thrawn as he does the Commander in Chief version of a bunch of guys standing around waiting to fight the protagonist one on one instead of dogpiling. Good for showing that the protag can fight, bad for showing Thrawn as "cunning". Then he tosses away his best asset, the lady who knows all about the current state of Galactic politics, where all the stuff is, who to talk to, etc, so he can show up on the scene with outdated info and a single old ship.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Character development is not you going somewhere but you yourself changing, discovering something about yourself, learning new things that give you perspective, accepting / rejecting something core to yourself… :/…
 
Last edited:

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Ha Ha Smile GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon


Is this a kids cartoon? People do things = characters develop?!?

:/… this is where I say we have lowered the standards a lot…

Well, I mean development is development. This is a story about space wizards and cosmic witches and space whales that travel at hyperspeed (hyperspace?). Every character doesn't need to go through Shakespearean trauma or follow a complicated Tony Gilroy written plot (as much as I love Andor).

Star Wars isn't serious business to me, so I guess I give a much less critical gaze towards it.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Well, I mean development is development.
No, again no it is not 😂. People going from point a to point b is not development of their characters.
Star Wars isn't serious business to me, so I guess I give a much less critical gaze towards it.
Ok, so lower standards it is :p. Also exaggeration because aside Ahsoka we are not debating vs Shakespeare level writing expectations but about essentially zero character development or emotions.
It cannot be humans (maybe disturbed sociopaths) that write the Sabine and Ezra reunion or the Ezra coming home scene… that is disturbing.
 
Last edited:

Kraz

Member
Yeah, I don't have any problem with that, the space whales or the zombi stormtroopers, but that World between Worlds it's really annoying.
The World between Worlds was one of the most substantial advances in force lore since the OT. It wasn't just an ability, but an expansion of the world. Having only encountered it in this live action series it seemed a very solid device for story telling with spiritually developed characters in the afterlife. I read it was inspired by Narnia(as it seemed was the title of that season ender). The premise has overlaps with the neo-Egyptian concept of the Duat, eternal life and reincarnation.

What did you not like about it?
 

Alcibiades

Member
Thoughts from someone who hated the sequel trilogy:

-The acting seemed subdued by almost everyone. Not sure if that was intentional but compared with Andor where the cast had energy, scenes generally felt sluggish.
-The characterization was so-so overall. The ideas were good (Mandalorian Jedi good with force + weapons, Ahsoka as wise Jedi but burdened by who trained her, force witches, blue general ready to revive empire, etc...) but the execution could have been a lot better and more interesting.
-The overall plot itself was lacking (maybe due to stuff not being explained?) and lots of individual moments were dumb (bringing a kid into danger, Ezra not removing helmet immediately at the end, etc...)
-I wish they would subdue the humor a bit and make the characters more serious- too many instances of characters being careless with their lives and those around them. Why are people joking when they are likely about to die or in major trouble? --A little subtle humor here and there is OK but it can be overdone at times.
-As someone that didn't read that much Expanded Universe and didn't watch Clone Wars or Rebels, not sure why I'm supposed to care about Ezra or Thrawn - they really needed to have a more self-contained story (even though I like the connections like seeing ghost Anakin).

+Seeing Anakin and connecting this story to the overall SW universe.
+Seeing SW lore expand in a way that is at least somewhat respectful.
+The best scene in the series is by far the flashback scene to the Clone Wars. Hayden Christensen and the young Ahsoka gave good performances and it sort of stuck out like a sore thumb (or good thumb?) how much better quality that scene was compared to everything else in the show. The dialogue itself, line delivery, atmosphere, etc.... - it almost seemed like a completely different show.

Despite all my negative nitpicks, I quite enjoyed the show even though I thought a lot of it was silly. It was entertaining and at least left me wanting to know what would happen next, even if everything seemed like it took too long to get to that "next". I want to see more stories like this, maybe told a bit more tightly. Also, they need to keep pretending the sequel trilogy doesn't exist. The moment they begin doing ST stuff I'm out.

I'd say between this, Andor, and Obi-Wan, it's the worse of the three but have enjoyed all of them and look forward to more. It's significantly less offense than the sequel trilogy which while maybe better on technical merits, felt like a middle finger to SW fans. This on the other hand feels like the producers were trying for something that the audience would like but stumbled along the way.
 
Last edited:

Yerd

Member
I think their worst fumble is taking too long to get to Thrawn and then failing to give him any sense of theat in his introduction. Every one of his combat commands ends in a failure. All to plan. He's so good at failing. Don't underestimate his failures. Because just when you think he's failed, he'll fail harder.

He should have been doing something that highlights his smart strategerizations or his combat ability. Anything other than a cult chanting his name. That would have been fine in that was a scene AFTER he made some combat victory. Likewise for Ezra's intro. Something more than too cool for school lean against a building.

I would guess most people watching this show haven't seen rebels. They don't know any of the history between these characters.
 

Cimarron

Member
Great season. I really emjoyed myself watching this. I was really saddened when I realized that Baylon Skoll was none other than my man who played Titus Pullo! 😔. Baylon was an excellent character and I hope they recast him and don’t do a boneheaded move like they did with T’Challa. 🤦
 

BouncyFrag

Member
Gotta admit it’s really great seeing Hayden Christensen again. This was an earlier version of the Anakin vs Dooku fight that is great. I’ll post the raw footage and then another with effects added. The end is so slick.

 
Last edited:

jason10mm

Gold Member
Gotta admit it’s really great seeing Hayden Christensen again. This was an earlier version of the Anakin vs Dooku fight that is great. I’ll post the raw footage and then another with effects added. The end is so slick.


This is just as silly, but when done at speed at least it is visually exciting. Still a lot of "let me tap your sword stick" choreography instead of actual parrys though. A lot of Ahsoka was just slooooow and languid, particularly when she was blocking blaster fire, which makes this stuff worse.
 

Vyse

Gold Member
I started watching this series on Disney+ this week. I think it's fantastic
Me too. Had to laugh when all it took to figure out the map was turn a few sides of the orb. My cat could have figured that one out.
 

Jinzo Prime

Member
Gotta admit it’s really great seeing Hayden Christensen again. This was an earlier version of the Anakin vs Dooku fight that is great. I’ll post the raw footage and then another with effects added. The end is so slick.


Hayden's expressions were excellent! His choreography was impressive! Why was this cut? After seening this and Hayden's scences in Ahsoka, I'm convinced that George ruined the prequels all by himself.
 

Dev1lXYZ

Member
In that deleted fight scene, Anakin burns Dooku’s eye with his lightsaber. That would have been awesome, because after that Anakin grins because he knows that he is going to win.

That should have been in the movie,
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
Can someone help me?

So trying to flush the disgust that was Episode IX I started this one and the first episode was…not bad?

Sabine can go die in dumpster fire but I get the sense she is not as obnoxious as your regular Gen Z character. Ahsoka is cool.

Do I need to know or watch anything to know the Ezra/Thrawn plot? I’m getting the sense that yes.
 

Doczu

Member
Can someone help me?

So trying to flush the disgust that was Episode IX I started this one and the first episode was…not bad?

Sabine can go die in dumpster fire but I get the sense she is not as obnoxious as your regular Gen Z character. Ahsoka is cool.

Do I need to know or watch anything to know the Ezra/Thrawn plot? I’m getting the sense that yes.
It's literally a sequel to Rebels, so a lot of stuff will be over your head if you don't watch that first.
Go find a summary on youtube, there were a lot of ~10-15 cuts of important Rebels stuff before Ahsoka launched.

Edit and in topic: it sure is better than the Acolyte, but like a lot of Disney stuff it eventually shits it's bed.
 
Last edited:

Cyberpunkd

Member
It's literally a sequel to Rebels, so a lot of stuff will be over your head if you don't watch that first.
Go find a summary on youtube, there were a lot of ~10-15 cuts of important Rebels stuff before Ahsoka launched.

Edit and in topic: it sure is better than the Acolyte, but like a lot of Disney stuff it eventually shits it's bed.
Ok, found some article listing key episodes to watch, going through them now.
 
Top Bottom