Rebels: "Double Agent Droid" (Ep. 3.19)

-- You are mistaking my attention to detail for an attack on your obviously fragile ego.

One might be tempted to think that I've been inspired to get back into Rebels because of the recent release of The Rise of Skywalker. One would be wrong. Actually, it was the ending to The Mandalorian which has put the fire back into me to finish Rebels. Sorry not sorry for the spoiler but the first live action appearance of the Darksaber! Well, I have to know how it ends up where it ends up because, right now, Sabine has it.
This episode has nothing to do with any of that.

No, this episode is a spy mission gone awry. On the surface, it's a chance for us to get to know more about AP-5 and Wedge... except that that doesn't really happen. AP-5 is the same as he always is. Well, except for something that happens at the end of the episode, a something that is probably the most bizarre thing I've ever seen in Star Wars. That doesn't sound quite right. Star Wars, once accepted as a world setting isn't bizarre at all. I can't think of anything from any of the movies or animated shows that I would call bizarre -- okay, a case can be made for the Holiday Special being bizarre, but I haven't seen that since it first aired, so I'm not making that case -- but this was bizarre. So bizarre that my wife looked up from whatever it was she was doing that had nothing to do with watching Rebels to say, "What the fuck is going on?" I may need to watch it again.

The appearance of Wedge in the episode, which I was initially excited about, was a letdown. His entire presence seemed to hinge on a joke that he was on the mission with the two droids because no one else wanted to be. Mostly, he just hung out in the background and didn't speak. Zero character development. It was definitely a missed opportunity to give us some background on a beloved character.

In the end, though, this episode was just a stepping stone for me to get further along in the series so that I can find out what the heck is going on with the Darksaber.
Probably, you can expect a lot more Rebels reviews in the near future.

"The odds are with us."

The Rise of Skywalker (a movie review post)

Well, here we are, 42 years later. I have to say I'm not really sure how I feel.
If you're a reader, you'll know that there are some books that leave you with a very bittersweet feeling at the end. There's a sadness that the book is over but, also, a joy in the completed journey. For me, the books that most do that for me are The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. And I could have said that about Star Wars back when Return of the Jedi was the final movie. That feeling of bittersweetness is not a not knowing how to feel; that is the feeling.

I'm not left with that feeling now that I've seen Rise. There's no sadness that it's over or any joy in a journey completed. There's just a... sort of emptiness. A sadness, maybe, that I don't have any of those feelings.

And, you know, a large part of that lack of pleasurable pain has been caused by the overly toxic fan base, mostly people of my generation and mostly white dudes. It leaves a distaste in my mouth for nearly everything to do with the movies since they drove George out with their faux lightsabers and pitchforks.

But it's not just them. It's also Kathleen Kennedy's egregious mishandling of the Star Wars franchise and her lack of any kind of vision or leadership. She's treated the movies like middle school end of term projects with no real guidelines. You know, just do whatever you want.

And there was Abram's misguided attempt to make a movie that the fans would love when he started all of this with Force Awakens. Never try to pander to the fans. Tell the story that needs to be told, not rehash one that's already out there. Abram's also lacked vision, but, then, it wasn't really his job to provide that.

Mostly, though, it's the mess that Rian Johnson caused that is at issue, which I'm not going to go into again, and which could have been prevented if Kennedy had just had control of the ship rather than letting the monkeys play with the controls. Yeah, I really do lay all of this at her feet. She was supposed to be in charge!

All of that said, The Rise of Skywalker is probably as good a movie as it could be. At least, it's as good as Abrams was able to make it. I don't have any issues with the movie in and of itself. Well, that's not true. There are a few things I don't like. Or two things...

The movie feels too fast. Too rushed. And it's nearly three hours long, so I have a hard time with why it feels so rushed and undeveloped. It goes at the speed and heedlessness of a line of toppling dominoes. Things just keep happening, and no one is making any decisions.

It also has a very questy feel to it. So did the last one. I don't enjoy that feeling of quest, quest, subquest, quest, subquest. Find this, find that, get the thing that will make this work. Neither the original trilogy nor the prequels ever felt questy. It's not a thing you want to actually notice happening in the story, just like you don't want to notice the salt in your food. Just enough to bring out the flavor, not to taste on its own.

But the movie is fine. I mean, it's good. As I said, Abrams made what was probably the best movie he could make. It has a satisfying conclusion given what he had to work with.

And, no, I don't have an issue with that thing people are complaining about. Anyone who has known Star Wars should have known that was always in the cards. Always the plan. Maybe if Lucas had been able to do what he wanted to do with Darth Maul people would have had a better idea of what's going on in the movie, but, alas, someone had a big mouth and Lucas dropped that part of the story.
No, I'm not going to speak more clearly about any of this. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it would be too spoilery. And, if you do, then you don't need me to be more explicit.

So... The Rise of Skywalker:
Not the best Star Wars movie but certainly not the worst.
Still a Star Wars movie.
Has some really cool stuff in it.
Has some stuff which is cool in the moment but I probably disapprove of because it feels like it was done for the "cool factor" and really has no basis in the mythos. Oh, well, it's canon now.

Maybe I'm not through talking about my reaction to all of this, but I figured I should get my initial review up.

Merry Christmas!