Star Wars

[CF Mitch]

Hey guys, quick question, I hope it's okay if I ask it over here...

As previously stated, Gendy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars was supposed to be added to Disney Plus, according to several sources on April 2nd.
However, I have not been able to find it on the streaming site, as of yet. Is the release delayed? Am I blind?

Thanks for any assistance!

Regaerds,
Mitch

[BrickG]

The Bad Batch is another grabagefest.

Spoiler

...More tactics of "lets get into melee range, or stand perfectly still and shoot the enemy. They have no aim anyways" which even babies would notice.

...Dumb writing like "this wasn't made to be a prison originally so if you punch it with enough force at this specific spot we'll break free! Trust me I'm the genetically smart one!"

Writing like that is the definition of trash garbage writing. It doesn't make sense. WHy the heck couldn't they make walls strong enough? Can't think of an actual CLEVER way to break out of prison? Even the old "pretend to be sick" is better than that!...

I'm losing the will to writer. There were many things. It's just bad. It's hard to take seriously as it's supposed to be in the same universe but I guess the Universe is half destroyed by now.

 

[1974]

Worse than the Resistance series? My son thinks it's okay, but not Clone levels. I haven't seen it and I don't think I'm going to based on the trailers

We're currently chugging through Rebels a second time and I actually think it gets better on second viewing

[Oky]

I thought it was alright, just like the CW episodes that introduced the Bad Batch. All the main characters are still one-dimensional copies of the TMNT, except maybe Hunter. Yeah, the prison break scene was kinda dumb, but the action was fun enough. I'll stick with it to see where they go with it. I'd say it's at about the same level as CW, definitely not as bad as Resistance. Rebels is still the best one out of these 3 shows.

[BrickG]

Resistance is the only one I haven't watched any of.

I kind of faded out of Rebels because I didn't like the pink dude or kid at all. Good characterizations can help a lot and I often give up on shows if the characters aren't appealing (even if they're not bad, just not my taste, like Firefly where I hate every character but that's just a taste thing since they seem really well developed).

The characters in this as it has been said are super on-dimensional so far. Especially Wrecker. I'm sick of "strong dumb guy" characters. They're just bad. Give us more "Beast" from X-Men or something half clever. (Beast is a fantasitic character!).

 

[The Stud]

I loved this week’s episode of The Bad Batch because of how it tied in with the story of Ryloth and the Rebels series, which made me come to realize that my least favorite part of The Bad Batch is honestly The Bad Batch themselves. That might be an odd thing to say as I think it’s been an okay series so far but aside from Hunter and maybe Wrecker to an extent, we haven’t enough development for me to care about most of the main characters. I don’t feel we’ve gotten to know these characters better than we did in their TCW arc. The episode with the Separatist senator, for example, could have been a really interesting moral dilemma for the crew to work through but instead, a few of them grumble about it at the start of the episode and the rest of the episode is just mindless action. Omega, on the other hand, is a refreshing character and it’s great to see her starting to come more into her own as the show progresses. When there’s not an appearance of a character from another story occurring, she is usually the one stealing the show.

I will say that the subplots with Tarkin and Rampart and the Kaminoans are the most interesting parts of the show for me personally. They all their different agendas and it’s interesting to see where their agendas clash and align. That’s the storyline I’m most interested in with this series.

[Clone OPatra]

On 7/14/2021 at 10:10 AM, The Stud said:

I loved this week’s episode of The Bad Batch because of how it tied in with the story of Ryloth and the Rebels series, which made me come to realize that my least favorite part of The Bad Batch is honestly The Bad Batch themselves.

Personally the show started to completely lose me at the Hera backstory episode. I'm probably in a tiny minority, but I really don't like or need every piece of media to so blatantly connect to other media. The first of the two Ryloth episodes has nothing to do with the subjects of the Bad Batch show, and is only cool or interesting or whatever if you've seen Clone Wars and/or Rebels. I have seen those, but I don't suddenly need a completely out of place story shoehorned in.

The second Ryloth episode at least focused on the Bad Batch, and to be honest would have worked totally fine and even been more intriguing WITHOUT the first one. They get a distress call - Cham is in prison set up by the Imperials and has told Hera to contact the Bad Batch or something like that - and then they're thrown right into the thick of it. We'd get little hints of the backstory and understand that the Empire is undermining autonomous planets. That's all we need. Whatever else happened would be left up to the imagination.

I do get the complaint that there hasn't been much character development with the Batch themselves. Personally, I'm not sure how much I care, but it's definitely a criticism that stands.

One thing that bothers me in the show is the crowd scenes. The animation overall, especially the atmospheric animations and simulated cinematography, are so good in this show, but the crowd scenes are weak. They're just not populated enough, and everyone seems quite stiff, like a SIMs person. Also in the episode with the Separatist Senator, multiple character models were repeated throughout the crowd, who then also appeared in Syd's bar at the end! I thought that was hilarious.

 

[The Stud]

1 hour ago, Clone OPatra said:

Personally the show started to completely lose me at the Hera backstory episode. I'm probably in a tiny minority, but I really don't like or need every piece of media to so blatantly connect to other media. The first of the two Ryloth episodes has nothing to do with the subjects of the Bad Batch show, and is only cool or interesting or whatever if you've seen Clone Wars and/or Rebels. I have seen those, but I don't suddenly need a completely out of place story shoehorned in.

The second Ryloth episode at least focused on the Bad Batch, and to be honest would have worked totally fine and even been more intriguing WITHOUT the first one. They get a distress call - Cham is in prison set up by the Imperials and has told Hera to contact the Bad Batch or something like that - and then they're thrown right into the thick of it. We'd get little hints of the backstory and understand that the Empire is undermining autonomous planets. That's all we need. Whatever else happened would be left up to the imagination.

I do get the complaint that there hasn't been much character development with the Batch themselves. Personally, I'm not sure how much I care, but it's definitely a criticism that stands.

One thing that bothers me in the show is the crowd scenes. The animation overall, especially the atmospheric animations and simulated cinematography, are so good in this show, but the crowd scenes are weak. They're just not populated enough, and everyone seems quite stiff, like a SIMs person. Also in the episode with the Separatist Senator, multiple character models were repeated throughout the crowd, who then also appeared in Syd's bar at the end! I thought that was hilarious.

 

I guess it all comes down to me wishing this was more of an anthology series taking turns focus on different characters immediately after the rise of the Empire. Sort of like how The Clone Wars shifted focus between different characters and sharing their stories.

I also don’t really care for most of the Bad Batchers, so shifting focus to characters I do already like (the Syndullas and Chopper), the characters I’m more interested in in this show (Admiral Rampart and Crosshair) and a new clone character who has already had more development in two episodes (Howzer) was refreshing to me.

 

And yeah, Clone Wars and Rebels suffered from a similar problem with reused assets. It’s understandable when it’s a clone being duplicated over and over but it’s very distracting otherwise. It’s kind of a fun thing to notice in the background on rewatches!

[Clone OPatra]

1 hour ago, The Stud said:

And yeah, Clone Wars and Rebels suffered from a similar problem with reused assets. It’s understandable when it’s a clone being duplicated over and over but it’s very distracting otherwise. It’s kind of a fun thing to notice in the background on rewatches!

For sure, and I guess I was already on the edge of bored enough in the Bad Batch that I was scanning the crowds for the repeats. If they don't have the budget or whatever is needed for proper crowd scenes that's fine, but then they just shouldn't do them or find a more creative solution. Given that AI things can generate huge hordes of characters and probably alternate all of their looks etc, I'm not sure why it's unachievable, but I'm not an animator.

This time frame could definitely be explored in an anthology series, and it does come down to your individual expectations and wishes for what the show is or should be. For me, as a show called The Bad Batch I expect it to be about The Bad Batch.

To your point about the Batch themselves not getting enough character development, it could be a symptom of the same thing that led the showrunners to lean totally into a Ryloth episode without the Batch. They almost seem more interested in exploring other characters, stories, and aspects of the state of the Star Wars universe post RotS than they are in really exploring the characters that are supposed to be headlining the show. After a while, it becomes too convenient/coincidental that the Batch keeps interacting with ALL of these previously established characters to the point that it should be an anthology instead.

All that said, I've still been enjoying watching it week to week, way more than The Mandalorian. It's a breezy watch and fun to see various Star Wars stuff that isn't hampered by the limitations of live action, and some of the visuals are the most impressive they've done in animation to date.

[Oky]

I also enjoyed the Ryloth arc, as well as the Separatist episode before it. It's interesting to see how different planets deal with the oppression of the Empire and it's good to see the Bad Batch doing what they do best, going on missions without being bogged down by Omega getting herself in trouble for the hundredth time. I don't really have anything against Omega, but I was really getting tired of those "chasing after Omega" episodes. The Separatist episode could have delved into the Batch's ideology being challenged a bit more and was a bit action heavy, but it was good action, so I didn't mind it. The first Ryloth episode was indeed hardly related to the Bad Batch and perhaps could have been cut, but I like Hera (she's the best female character in the galaxy since Leia IMHO), so I didn't mind seeing some of her backstory. What I don't understand is, if Omega payed off their debt to Syd, why are they still going on missions for her?

While this show could work as an anthology, I can understand that they wanted to have a main cast of characters to connect these stories together. It's good to have a continuing story arc to keep viewers coming back as the stuff with Crosshair and the Kaminoans is the most interesting part of the show as @The Stud said. It's just too bad that all the main characters are either one-dimensional TMNT knockoffs or an inexperienced child with a bounty on her head. Lets hope they continue to have Omega be useful rather than a hindrance and get back to the actual Bad Batch story.

[Clone OPatra]

7 minutes ago, Oky said:

What I don't understand is, if Omega payed off their debt to Syd, why are they still going on missions for her?

They have nothing else to do, need money to live, trust Syd as a handler, so why not?

I am looking forward to the last episodes of the first season with the promise of the Batch and Crosshair coming head to head. I do find Crosshair interesting even if his personality is super one dimensional at the moment. I'd like to see the Batch capture him and forcibly remove his chip and where that would go, but I don't think the show will go that way.

[jimmynick]

Is anyone else as excited about the KotOR remake as I am?

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-the-legendary-tale-remade-on-playstation-5/

[1974]

Yes, because it's also on PC!

[Vindicare]

Anyone watch Visions? I loved it. Overall it was a great series with some standouts. Just wish they were longer. The Duel, Ninth Jedi, & The Elder where fantastic. Seeing SW set in that realm was awesome. 

[BrickG]

Lets see if they screw this up. KOTOR is the best Star Wars story in a video game, and better than the prequels and sequels. I have high hopes but I've had high hopes for Star Wars things and almost universally been disappointed :D .

 

 

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

On 9/24/2021 at 8:25 PM, Vindicare said:

Anyone watch Visions? I loved it. Overall it was a great series with some standouts. Just wish they were longer. The Duel, Ninth Jedi, & The Elder where fantastic. Seeing SW set in that realm was awesome. 

I wanted to watch since some reviews were making a few episodes sound almost like them creative shortfilms you'll find on YT. Next to the OT and Rebels I love even some stop-motion films. To me they really show the positive potential of SW instead of just abusing and overrepeating the 5-6 typical beats.

But prequels or sequels are just a badly written commercial product in my point of view. I could say much about the Marvel films but as commercial as they are: quite a few are well produced, creative and especially well written and acted. Rogue One wasn't perfect but at least it was tonally coherent and focussed on an interesting part of the universe instead of being all over the place. To me already Ep 7 destroyed any bigger interest in SW.

I watched the 1st episode of Boba Fett - I was surprised by how creative iand well written it was! I liked the Mandalorian as some kind of "guilty pleasure" but honestly I feel like it's a bit crappy and super underwritten. This felt in some way similar but much better written and cut. The main characters are interesting so far and I am happy we finally get some kind of Boba Fett who gets to do something. Let's hope though they don't just make him a "Disney anti-hero" cause that wouldn't mean nothing. Mando authentically plays a pretty good guy but come on: let Boba be a bit of an megablock.

[Tariq j]

I thought the first episode of Boba Fett was alright. The flashback scenes were pretty good and there some cool callbacks. But I didn’t find the fight scene in Mos Espa amazing, I thought it was a little odd he didn’t try and use his jetpack or why he fired a launcher at a ray shield less than a foot away from him. I’m also hoping they go off World a bit since with Tatooine you’re kind of confined too desert and places like Mos Espa and Mos Eisley. It was a fine start to the show but could’ve been improved IMO. 

[Brickadeer]

I found the first episode, well, not good.

Sarlacc and Boba's escape reminded me of a trash-movie from the early 80s. If this was intended, well, then it was executed very well.

Boba wants to rule by respect. Like he earned the respect of the sandpeople back then. Yeah. I got it. They were supposed to be evil, but you can earn their respect. Great idea, I am so thankful for that [/sarcasm].

And the idea that Fett can become the local crime boss without having any base of power is stupid, even for Star Wars standards.

Not to mention some glitches, e. g. the fight Boba observed in the desert with the Tusken-guy.

If I had to rate on a scale from 1 to 10, it'd be 6.5 or 7.0. Favourite character so far: Mok Shaiz's Majordomo

Edited January 6, 2022 by Brickadeer

[Clone OPatra]

The first episode of Boba reeked of much of the same problems as both seasons of The Mandalorian - totally lazy, uninventive writing. Sounds like episode two is more of the same, but after the first let me down I really don't care to continue with this show.

Tatooine having a power vacuum after Jabba's death, maybe shoddily held together by Bib Fortuna, and now supplanted by Boba, is a cool concept. Let's actually see that. What's Tatooine like without Jabba. What was Jabba's actual influence on Tatooine? What was it like during Bib's years and how will that carry over into how it is now? We haven't seen any of that on screen (if it's been done in new canon books and comics, I wouldn't know), and it would be fun stuff to explore. That could lend itself to seven episodes easily. Plus, how does Boba or how did Bib play into the Hutts at large? Jabba was part of a bigger Hutt syndicate (although I seem to recall in old canon, he was a bit rogue).

Instead, we get boring as sh*t Boba and Tusken stuff with the most basic level writing imaginable behind it. The few scenes in the present also had the most lazy writing and cringey performances.

It was the exact same with Mandalorian. That show could have done literally anything, but almost every episode (especially season 2) felt like it'd been banged out in a boardroom in a couple of afternoons. 

Even if Bad Batch was not great, it explored new worlds, showed us actual development in the galaxy, and had fantastic visuals that didn't feel as if they'd been obviously tailored to a budget. There's actual care put into the animated shows.

I shiver to think what Kenobi will be like.

[BrickG]

Like the Mandalorian the characters in Boba are boring (not 100% of the time hopefully).

-spoilers-

Mandalorian has the main character who is as stoic as they come. Too much so. His character development is basically "I won't take off my mask" to "I will now take off my mask because I like you" could have been done in two episodes. He's a stale and slow moving character. He's outshined by other characters massively (the IG unit was the best character and DIED, Cara Dune was okay but she's gone forever due to Twitter stuff). But I still am okay with Mandalorian as an "average" show. But I have higher expectations of Star Wars I guess, despite the fact that most Star Wars TV is trash. I'd still rate this show okay. It's just REALLY slow and took some time to get anywhere. The first episodes with that old man were incredibly dull and that was the most boring character I've seen on TV lol.

Now we have Boba. It feels very much the same as the early Mandalorian.

Boba Fett is too stoic. He's got lofty goals that I don't understand how he plans to enact them (or at least it seems unrealistic). His whole "respect" thing is kind of dumb. But I think I'm most annoyed by the fact that they're trying to turn him into a bit of a hero. He's never been pure villain but I mean he's known for disintegration... I want to see that! But right now he's just dull. The sandpeople story is dull as heck (why do I want to watch a dumb sandpeople dance?). Everything is dull.

I forget the woman's name who he's got as a partner but she's incredibly stoic too.

WHY DOES STAR WARS KEEP GOING FULL STOIC!?

The original Star Wars movies had great characters WITH great character. You could explain them in a word and know immidiatly who it is. They were easy to describe and just were oozing with character. Han being the dashing rogue with a heart. Leia being the rebelious and strong princess not afraid of a fight. Luke being the whiny kid (I wanted to go to Toshi station to pick up some power converters!) with a hidden potential and a lot to learn. Etc etc.

Most of the Mandalorian and Boba characters are just... stoic. 

Also the Gamorrean Guard costumes look ridiculously bad. They look like painted fat dudes in rubber masks. But more to the point they look worse than the original somehow lol. While I appreciate Star Wars using phsyical stuff rather than CGI a lot of the time, the physical stuff doesn't ALWAYS work. The way the Gamorrean Guards have almost no articulation to the faces is bad. I mean, the old Ninja Turtle movies had 10000x the character on their masks. These dudes can like twitch slightly. And the bodies just look like some hobbiest body painter went to town on them... It's been a LONG time since the original Star Wars and I think we MUST have gotten better at these things since then, why does it look worse?

On the COMPLETE opposite spectrum (I can't be pleased!) the Hutts were CGI and looked like the Special Edition Hutt. I would have loved to see why a physical puppet could have done for those two. Again, all they would need to do would be make it like the originals but... better! And some shows even use a mix of puppet and CGI to enhance them and it often looks good.

 

We're only two episodes in though. Maybe it'll get "average" like Mandalorian.

 

 

[Tariq j]

That latest episode was.... not great.

Those Vespa speeders just looked very out of place on Tatooine. Maybe they would’ve looked better on Courscant but they really too me out of the episode for a bit. Even the teenagers themselves looked like something out of Ready Player One or Cyberpunk. The chase walls also very slow and whilst I don’t mind some goofy/numerous moments in an action sequence it felt like went a bit overboard here. 

It’s all frustrating that Boba has an entire arsenal of gadgets and never seems to use them. That speeder chase could’ve been so much quicker if he’d actually just done something.

I think we’re about halfway through the series now, I really hope things pick up. 

[Brickadeer]

I agree. For me, episode 3 was the worst so far. On scale from 1 to 10, I'd rate it between 3.5 and 4.5.

What bothers me is that at least since "Winter Soldier", Disney's stance on the display of violence seems to be that if the result of an action doesn't show effects of violence, the action cannot be considered harmful and violent.

I first realized that when Joaquin Torres was kicked in the head by a super soldier while lying on the ground, an attack that, in the real world had a good chance of being deadly or resulting in serious brain trauma.

The "slap" of the wookie that made Boba and others fly several meters through the air, again, in the real world, would have crushed bones and smashed internal organs.

This development makes me feel uneasy because this way, children, teenagers and even adults are given false impressions on the effects of certain actions.

[Oky]

I love how even The Book of Boba Fett is not interested in The Book of Boba Fett anymore and just wants to go back to The Mandalorian.

Spoiler

 

Chapter 5 was great because it had nothing to do with this new watered down Boba Fett and was a Mando episode through and through, complete with action, side quests, Mando-lore, nostalgia, cool new locations and vehicles, and story and characters that you actually care about.

It's pretty sad how this series managed to disappoint even someone like me who never thought that Boba was cool in any way and had pretty low expectations going in. I can't imagine how it must feel for a Boba fan to see their favorite bounty hunter fart around in the desert, trying to be a nice crime lord with only a handful of people working for him, napping in bacta, getting beat up, chasing kitchen droids around, and sticking his ship's face into the friggin Sarlacc (What made him think his armor was in there?).  Without Fennec, he'd probably be dead by now and I'd much rather watch a show about her. Learning more about the Tusken culture was neat, but we had seen some of that already in The Mandalorian.

Initially I kind of liked the concept of a Star Wars show that focused on one story arc in one location, but after 4 episodes of not much happening, I've lost interest. Chapter 5 reminded me how much I miss the self-contained adventures of each episode of the Mandalorian and I can't wait for the next season of that show. Unlike many here apparently, I think that show is fantastic. It may be simple in its story telling, but what it does it does very well I think. So, unless the Book of Boba manages to redeem itself somehow in the last couple of episodes, I hope they don't do another season.

That said, I must be the only person who actually didn't mind the Mos Vespa chase. Sure, the cyberpunks look a bit out of place, but at least it gave us something new among all the same old Tatooine stuff. Although Boba not showing up until the end was admittedly pretty dumb.

 

 

[Gorilla94]

To be honest I don't have any problems with Boba being older, injured and less fast/strong than for example Fennec,  who is like 25 years younger. Everything else would be ridiculous in my opinion. What I can't accept is his incompetence. By now I expect him to lose his helmet at the bus and watch the teenage cyborg power rangers looking for it during a whole Episode using all sorts of very "usefull" modifications ( the leg expanding instead of just normal kicking reminds me of a Simpsons parody: "I made lots of cool designs for batman's belt. Look! Here he can store his money, when he takes the bus")... Nobody of us would have gone into the building in episode 4 without at least sending the cyberpunk-children at the back door... It is ridiculous to assume this person survived that long in any other profession than with an easy desk job.

In fact I really liked the Tusken plot until they got slaughtered by some amateurs. It would have been nice, if his big goal was to make sure the tribe was save by controlling the settlers. Now we get that pathetic cheap little revenge plot... The scene where he holds the little stick is stolen from Mickey's Cristmas Carol where Tiny Tim died...

Edited January 31, 2022 by Gorilla94

[Clone OPatra]

8 hours ago, Gorilla94 said:

To be honest I don't have any problems with Boba being older, injured and less fast/strong than for example Fennec,  who is like 25 years younger.

Fennec is older than Boba  In the Bad Batch she shows up and is already an adult in full badass bounty hunter mode. Boba would've been a teen at the same time.