Star Wars: The Disney+ Empire Strikes Again and Again and...

I think a big reason it looks so much realer is that they used the green screen superdome a lot less for this show. Or at least, that gave them an excuse to have less scenes of people standing around in the desert.

Britell such a great choice for this series

I keep hearing good things about "Andor," but I haven't watched anything post-Mando S2. Just kind of Star War'd out, I guess. (Also totally off the LotR and GoT trains, too, though more power to you folks invested.) But maybe I'll give it a shot, since we're between Marvel things. The praise seems similar to S1 of "Mando" - just a good show set in the Star Wars universe rather than some portentous fan service playing up/with mythology.

Pretty much - it's a good show, a little elevated by the extra Star Wars mythology that it does touch and the action setpieces that finally happen

it ties in closer to the main Star Wars story than Mandolorian does because it's about the birth of the rebellion, but mostly avoids obvious fan service, most of the characters and settings are new, and there hasn't been any mention of jedi/sith stuff so far. It sidesteps the superhero aspects of Star Wars and focuses more on the human side of things.

I like the idea of the "rebel alliance" explicitly being a coalition of partisans and pro-republic politicians and aristocrats, as messy as that may be, playing out. The formal title of "Alliance to Restore the Republic" might be an interesting point in a future episode because it's been pretty strongly implied that some of the people involved hate the Empire but didn't necessarily have great faith in the Republic

I love Andor, and thought the Mandalorian post season 2, the Boba Fett thing, was dumb, as was Obi Wan. Dug the first two of Madalorian, but this is even better.

I have skipped LoTR and found HotDragon lame, so I have sorta desperate geek hopes here.

I have skipped LoTR and found HotDragon lame, so I have sorta desperate geek hopes here.

https://twitter.com/i/events/1584693275755044865

Try again:

A Secret Writers Room, a Rising Scribe and a Post-‘Skywalker’ Timeline: A Look Inside Damon Lindelof‘s ’Star Wars’ Movie (Exclusive) https://t.co/Qr3PvFqx3F

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 24, 2022

no mas

I’ve read articles by like “industry watchers” who are LIVID that Disney has not been exploiting the star wars IP more in the cinema and I’m like….. thank fuck for that

The Force Reawakens
The Penultimate Jedi
Re-Rise of Nu-Skywalker

kinda crazy that Andy Greenwald (formerly of the Ringer) is on the writing team of Star Wars movie

Ha, I knew Andy from Spin.

We saw the first "Andor." I liked it, at times it sort of had "Blade Runner" vibes, but my daughter was very resistant and found the characters "boring" (which come to think of it is also very "Blade Runner"). That means I'm on my own for finishing it, which means it'll be another ... six months before I'm done.

it's a pretty glum set of characters in a pretty glum setting it's true. i didn't exactly find them boring but i can see how someone would think that

yeah I watched the first three episodes and liked aspects of it, but the characters are definitely still pretty opaque (and kind of charmless, to be harsh) and I'm not sure I'm going to continue

'this is Murg. she's from the Cassavetes system'

new Andor episode great

the prison stuff gave me a Ghosts…Of The Civil Dead vibe but honestly it’s prob just bc its an all white future hell-prison

diego luna is so good, the transportation + arrival scenes he looked legitimately physically scared like he was going to puke at any moment, like when you are so afraid you’re involuntarily twitching

hey vg: ANDOR aka Glum Village : its own thread

Can’t believe how good the show is actually. First SW thing I haven’t had to cringe at since Empire. (Rogue was great but the digital actors were abhorrent to me.)

bring it to the Andor thread :)

Anyway since the Andor thread will have its own stuff now...there's also Tales of the Jedi which just dropped yesterday, six short animated features around 15 to 19 minutes each. Only seen the first but enjoyable of course -- if anything this appearing alongside Andor's relentless crush helps show that there's wide scope for all kinds of stories in this universe.

Super psyched to see Tales. I doubt it'll be as good as Visions but I'm still down for more Clone Wars animated content

Yeah it can't beat Visions for sheer reinvention but it does a nice job of balancing out illustrative anecdotes to -- I think rather handily -- doing a bit of filling in corners for the prequels and Clone Wars (and Rebels, just) without having to commit to a full series or movie or anything (they should use that model more going forward). It is also definitely an example of just how continually better their animation studio and affiliate partners are getting in terms of visual detail and possibilities.

the art style of tales i just find really kinda.. ugly

this, on the other hand..

pic.twitter.com/RZ74q04w7J

— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) November 10, 2022

Intriguing indeed.

Aw.

Discover Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a hand-drawn animation by Studio Ghibli, is streaming tomorrow on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/ODqHrgIwnB

— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) November 12, 2022

Aw indeed, that sounds terrible

Or at least the most unnecessary and inappropriate use of a big gun

That batch is still bad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R15uYFpeBG0

hey, it's that little wookiee padawan guy from The Clone Wars

Nice to see he wasn't slaughtered with all the other children, as we were so recently reminded in Obi-Wan

Should do some updates! So I've been enjoying The Bad Batch's second season, a little lower stakes for now but the third episode in particular was strong stuff. (And presumably sets up an eventual reunion of the team at some point.)

Meantime, more Visions incoming:

Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 starts streaming May 4 on Disney+ , featuring nine new animated shorts from nine studios from across the globe. https://t.co/41wgwbyqrO pic.twitter.com/WYsP4Eu3eA

— Star Wars | #TheBadBatch now streaming on Disney+ (@starwars) February 2, 2023

• Aardman, “I Am Your Mother”—Makers of the claymated Wallace & Gromit series

• Cartoon Saloon, “Screecher’s Reach”—An Irish studio responsible for The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers, and The Breadwinner

• D’Art Shtajio, “The Pit”—A Japanese anime studio who’ve helped out on many an anime series, but also created alt-country singer Sturgill Simpson’s absolutely wild Sound & Fury film (you can currently watch it on Netflix)

• 88 Pictures, “The Bands of Golak”—An Indian studio that made Guillermo del Toro’s kids series Trollhunters for Netflix

• El Guiri Studios, “Sith”—A Spanish studio led by Rodrigo Blaas, who worked on several Pixar films

• Punkrobot, “In the Stars”—A Chilean animation house responsible for many kids series I have not heard of, but look pretty neat

• Studio La Cachette, “The Spy Dancer”—A French studio that animated Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal series

• Studio Mir, “Journey to the Dark Head”—The excellent Korean studio behind The Legend of Korra, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, and DOTA: Dragon’s Blood

• Triggerfish, “Aau’s Song”—Makers of several BBC shorts, based in South Africa

(And per comments earlier, little Wookie padawan reappears in this week's episode.)

Aardman eh?

yeah, Aardman has me intrigued.

though, if we are going to be doing stop-motion star wars, I would love for Laika to do a star wars thing

Still unclear what & when the next movie will be: https://variety.com/2023/film/news/star-wars-kevin-feige-patty-jenkins-movies-shelved-1235545774/

Maybe Lucasfilm has figured out that their in-development projects typically end up exciting fans way more than the finished product, so they're not bothering with the second half. and on that note, that Lindelof SW movie look intersting

Star Wars romantic comedy based on When Harry Met Sally

As noted on the Clone Wars/Rebels thread, we got Ahsoka trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnzNZ0Mdx4I

Plus the overall news so far out of London:

* Footage from Skeleton Crew and season 2 Andor shown

https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-skeleton-crew-trailer-footage-description-1850298799

https://gizmodo.com/andor-season-2-first-look-star-wars-celebration-2023-1850310089

* Three new movies planned:

https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-new-film-announced-2025-live-action-1850308047

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy introduced thethree directors for the next three Star Wars movies: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold, Mandalorian and Clone Wars architect Dave Filoni, and Ms. Marvel’s Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The three films will span across the entirety of the known Star Wars timeline, which will now include the Dawn of the Jedi, 25,000 years before the events of the Skywalker films, and the time of the New Jedi Order, 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker.

Mangold’s film, set during that earliest period of the timeline, will tell the tale of the first Jedi ever in what he described as a “biblical epic.” Dave Filoni will direct a new film set in the time period of The Mandalorian, culminating in the conflict between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic. Lastly, Obaid-Chinoy reintroduced Jedi Master Rey Skywalker, Daisy Ridley herself, who will rebuild the Jedi Order in a new film.

Oh and there's only been scattered talk on here and a couple of other threads but second season of The Bad Batch was really pretty great! Ended on just the right cliffhanger.

Rebels is back... in live action form!

Zeb got intro'd the other week on Mandalorian, so here come the rest...

Forgot to mention -- Acolyte footage shown too:

https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-the-acolyte-trailer-footage-high-republic-1850307646

Pleased about the new movie news (including return of Rey). I've totally checked out on the TV stuff, but will check out new films for sure.

Mangold becoming their next in-house guy given this is after his Indiana Jones film.