Category Archives: Opinion

Will Disney Retcon The Last Jedi?

Posted on by

Via Starwars.com:

Pockets of the Star Wars fandom are expecting a desperate Lucasfilm to retcon the most controversial parts of Star Wars: The Last Jedi out of existence with Star Wars 9, but it’s pretty safe to say that won’t happen. After all, you only need look at how Disney handled the much more roundly reviled Star Wars prequels in their new canon.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi released almost eight months ago, but we’re still very much in the first wave of debate over Rian Johnson’s continuation of the Skywalker Saga. Like the Resistance and First Order at the heart of the new trilogy, conflict is locked in a stalemate of unclear balance; complaints and defenses over all aspects of the film – from the recharacterization of Luke Skywalker to the balance of bathos – have become more crystallized in that time, yet reevaluation from either side is a long way off. What is unavoidable from wherever you sit, though, is that the mood around the continuation of Star Wars has certainly changed.

Of course, it’s like poetry, it rhymes. Like the Resistance and First Order are echoes of previous Galactic forces, so too is this debate; it may take place in a new age of the internet over a shorter period of time, but Star Wars has been here before, with audiences equally irate and divided by the prequel trilogy. And that’s also true of the expectation that Lucasfilm will, in some narrative form, attempt to overwrite Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Click below to read the full article.

Star Wars 9’s Mara Jade Rumors

Posted on by

Via Screenrant.com:

While rumors of Mara Jade appearing in Star Wars 9 have generated attention in recent months, it’s unlikely the fan-favorite character will appear in the upcoming film.

Mara Jade is one of the most popular characters from Star Wars Legends; first introduced as an assassin for Emperor Palpatine, she later becomes a Jedi Master and the wife of Luke Skywalker. She was eventually killed by Jacen Solo, the son of Han and Leia, after he turned to the dark side.

The approach of J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars 9, which recently announced its full cast as production is primed to begin, has once again sparked chatter that Mara Jade-Skywalker will find her way into the new canon. Despite months of speculation, however, it has become increasingly clear that there is little-to-no proof to support the theory that Mara Jade will appear in Episode IX.

Click below to read the full article.

How Will Star Wars Episode IX End?

Posted on by

Via Forbes.com:

This week marks the beginning of filming for the forthcoming Star Wars Episode IX (on August 1st), and earlier this week the film’s casting had been officially announced. But what is the plot going to be? How will it end?

The key, I think, is found in two important elements of The Last Jedi: the collapse of the Force-heritage system and the democratic implications of the Casino scenes.

Let us dig into these themes and deduce their impact for the end of the trilogy.

Legacy and Heritage Mean Nothing

One key lesson of The Last Jedi is that lineage—both biological and the intellectual lineage of formal training and tutelage—mean nothing going forward in the new Star Wars universe. This is reinforced by much of what happens throughout the film, which explicitly states that Rey’s parents weren’t of notable force-sensitive lineages that have been established–her parents were nobodies in the scheme of the story so far.

(This could be contradicted later, but given the overarching messages of TLJ I doubt it will be.)

As a consequence, Rey’s strong force abilities break the series’ core emphasis on force-sensitive lineages.

This is also seen in the film’s rejection of the series’ traditional emphasis on formal tutelage. Kylo Ren’s killing of Snoke accords partially with the longstanding Sith Rule of Two, establishing that only two Sith lords could exist at any given time—a master versed in the dark side of the Force and an apprentice learning from the master’s power… typically killing them to become the new master. Vader broke the Rule of Two upon sacrificing himself to kill Palpatine, leaving no formal heir to the Sith mantle (as far as we know). Kylo Ren, however, kills Snoke and then offers Rey a chance to rule the galaxy together, implicitly as equals rather than as master-apprentice—and in their struggle the two break Anakin’s lightsaber, further emphasizing the rejection of lineage in a tight visual metaphor.

Click below to read the full article.

The Clone Wars

Posted on by

Via Cnet.com:

If you haven’t watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars but consider yourself a fan of the Star Wars franchise, get on it now.

The fact that the show, which wrapped up in 2014, merits a 10th anniversary Comic-Con panel underscores its importance to Star Wars fans. Over the course of six seasons, it evolved from a computer animated kiddie tie-in — serving as a bridge between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith — to a core part of the franchise, spawning successor shows and fan favorite characters.

If you need proof, look no further than the surprise cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which featured a key character who couldn’t have appeared if not for developments in The Clone Wars.

Even though Clone Wars kicked off with a weak movie (it holds a 35 rating on Metacritic) and got abruptly cancelled after five seasons, the series left an unmistakable mark on the franchise.

Click below to read the full article.

Star Wars 9: Everything You Need To Know

Posted on by

Via Screenrant.com:

Star Wars: Episode IX is the third and final chapter of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, which began in 2015’s The Force Awakens. Although no plot for Episode 9 is known, it’s largely believed this will be the last episode in the Skywalker saga. J.J. Abrams returns to direct, leading a cast that includes Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver. Here’s all you need to know about the upcoming sequel.

Release Date: December 20, 2019
Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Kerri Russell, Billy Dee Williams
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: J.J. Abrams, Chris Terrio

One of the greatest strengths of The Force Awakens was the new generation of memorable characters it introduced. Audiences gravitated towards Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren (and BB-8) instantly, and this bunch has carried the sequel trilogy to its conclusion. Lucasfilm has yet to officially announce a complete cast list, but it’s long been reported Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver will reprise their respective roles.

Click below to read the full article.

The BEST Star Wars Battle

Posted on by

Via Screenrant.com:

The best battle in Star Wars history just happened, but not in a movie – it’s in the comic book. The Star Wars comic series from Marvel, to be exact, following Leia, Luke, and Han in previously-unseen adventures of the Rebel Alliance (after A New Hope, but before The Empire Strikes Back).

The films may claim the greatest skirmishes included the Battle of Yavin, where the Rebels proves capable of destroying the Death Star thanks to Luke and The Force. The Battle of Hoth, delivering a blow to the Empire’s pride. Even the new battles of Rogue One and The Force Awakens, benefiting from blockbuster budgets. But when it comes to the hope, the heart, and the character moments fans have demanded – and some they never knew to dream of – we say there’s a new Star Wars champion.

It’s the Battle of Mon Cala that united the Rebels in what might be their greatest victory. Without this win… the Empire would probably have crushed them all.

Click below to see the full article.

Luke and Leia Have Come Full Circle

Posted on by

Via Cnet.com:

There’s a neat detail in Star Wars: The Last Jedi that reaches all the way back to 1977’s original Star Wars film.

Writer JM McNab pointed it out on Twitter on Wednesday, and his tweet has been liked nearly 100,000 times since.

McNab kinda says it all, but for anyone in need of a refresher, Luke first learned of his twin sister Leia when R2-D2 projected a hologram of Leia asking Obi-Wan Kenobi for help. (Spoilers for a 40-year-old franchise ahead.) Then they blew up the Death Star, Yoda trained Luke as a Jedi, the Ewoks danced, there were some prequels we’re going to ignore for now, Rey showed up and started kicking butt and taking names, that guy from Girls proved himself utterly undeserving of having Han and Leia as parents, and then in December Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out.

It was in The Last Jedi, of course, where the galactic boot was on the other foot. Luke ends up sending a projection of himself to help Leia, the sister who asked for help in a similar way 40 years earlier.

Maybe director Rian Johnson fully intended to have the Skywalker siblings come full circle in this way, but judging by the huge number of retweets and likes on McNab’s tweet, many never noticed it until now.

Some fans had an emotional reaction.

Click below to see the full article.

Star Wars Characters That Should NOT Cameo In Solo

Posted on by

Via Screenrant.com:

Solo: A Star Wars Story will undoubtedly feature plenty of connections to previous films in the franchise, but hopefully Ron Howard and company showed some restraint in regards to cameos. The film is a prequel covering Han Solo’s youth from ages 18 to 24 as he looks to make a name for himself in the criminal underworld. Along the way, he meets his lifelong pal Chewbacca, encounters Lando Calrissian, and wins the Millennium Falcon. For a while, Solo has been described as an origin story for the classic character, establishing how he became the cynical smuggler Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi meet at the cantina.

The modern Star Wars films are chock full of Easter eggs for people to spot, and in some cases, viewers would argue Lucasfilm has gone too far in a few places. The studio’s last anthology film, Rogue One, featured criticized appearances by A New Hope‘s Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba (the cantina patrons that attack Luke) and R2-D2 and C-3PO. In both instances, even the biggest Rogue One enthusiasts would argue they amounted to little more than cheap fan service. Time will tell what surprises Solo has in store, but there are a few legacy characters we’d rather not see again.

Vader’s presence in Rogue One made a lot of sense – and not just for the obvious business reasons. With Gareth Edwards’ film dealing directly with the Rebellion/Empire conflict, it would have been odd if the Imperial enforcer wasn’t part of the proceedings. Vader almost had to be in Rogue One, and the filmmakers ensured his brief role paid off memorably. In the case of Solo, things are different. Yes, the spinoff is set in the heyday of the Galactic Empire, but the Star Wars universe is an expansive place, so Vader’s absence could be easily explainable. From a story perspective, there’s simply no need for his inclusion, especially since Solo is more about an exploration of the seedy underbelly.

Howard also has an abundance of classic Star Wars iconography to take advantage of with Han, Chewie, Lando, and the Falcon all featuring heavily in the marketing campaign. There’s already enough nostalgic elements to complement the new aspects, so forcing Vader in too would be a disservice. There’s no need to shoehorn him into Solo, and it would probably just illicit eye rolls if he strolled onto the screen. At this point in the timeline, Vader was more of a mythical figure who stayed in the shadows, so it’d be wise to honor that.

Click below to read the full article.

DICE Is Unlocking Every Hero And Ship In ‘Star Wars: Battlefront 2’

Posted on by

Via Forbes.com:

EA and DICE continue to overhaul the progression system in Star Wars: Battlefront II. The developers just announced yet another huge change to the game’s progression system.

In the latest patch, all Heroes will be unlocked for all players from the get-go. You’ll no longer have to grind to play Luke Skywalker or Yoda. These classic Star Wars characters will be available to everyone.

DICE has also unlocked all Hero Ships, and made a variety of other changes (which you can read about here) that make progression better, if not perfect, than it was before.

EA has been under fire from the gaming community ever since the publisher included pay-to-win loot crates in the game that included powerful Star Cards giving paying customers an advantage over players who owned the base game but didn’t want to spend money on micro-transactions. Even after removing these micro-transactions the game has been plagued by a terrible progression system that was built around MTX.

With these changes, Star Wars: Battlefront II continues its laborious slog toward becoming a game actually worth paying money for.

Meanwhile, DICE is unlocking all Star Cards at their Epic tier in Arcade mode. According to the developer, this will let players test out various combinations to see what they like best and what works best in various situations. This is reminiscent of how all weapons, attachments and so forth are unlocked in Call of Duty’s offline multiplayer.

Finally, a new location is coming to the game. Bespin returns from the previous Battlefront title and is available in “Blast, Heroes vs. Villains, Arcade, and for a limited time as Jetpack Cargo” modes according to the developer.

All of these are positive, welcome changes. The fact that future DLC will also be free and that paid loot crates won’t be returning (instead players will be able to purchase cosmetics with in-game or real currency) makes this a much more appealing game than ever before. That you can also buy it at a steeply discounted price these days doesn’t hurt. EA really screwed the pooch on this one, but they’re obviously trying to do right by gamers now and, if nothing else, that’s refreshing to see.

WHY REBELS IS CRUCIAL TO CANON

Posted on by

Via Ign.com:

The Emmy award-winning Star Wars Rebels reaches its series conclusion, leaving an indelible mark on Star Wars mythology. The animated series continues the legacy of powerful storytelling, unforgettable characters, and thrilling action Star Wars is known for. But, one thing you may not be aware of is how important Star Wars Rebels is to the franchise’s lore. Executive-producer Dave Filoni and the animation team at Lucasfilm have created a crucial piece of storytelling that adds elements which have changed the galaxy far, far away forever.

Rebels has added to and deepened several iconic characters’ back stories while also building up the mythology that connects the Prequels with the Original Trilogy. Read on for why you need to add Star Wars Rebels to your pop culture resume… Full spoilers for everything leading up to the finale follow!

Click below to read the full article.