Star Wars: Critical Divide (This is the way)

[Relic]

14 minutes ago, hauberk said:

Could that be because we've never seen a white or orange blade before?

We've seen white before, once. They don't sound or crackle the same on this show. Never thought id get to a point where I found lightsabers boring, but here I am. 

[Week]

23 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

This!  So much this!  

I hate with a holy passion stories where “good people” are too stupid or naive to believe evil is working against them.  Competent heros and villains are so much more satisfying.

Have you met the Democratic party? Very realistic. 

I actually found myself really enjoying it. Letting some of the nonsense either not bother me or poke fun at. It certainly steps over the low bar I had coming in (vs Boba Fett and Obi-wan especially)

[Jaxom 1974]

1 hour ago, SpaceChampion said:

I don't see how that could be true.  Rebels took place 5 BBY to 0 BBY.   That scene was after the defeat of the Empire post Battle of Endor, 5 ABY.  In Rebels it must have been a flash-forward.

 

The final scene in Rebels was a flashforward (evidenced by Hera and Kanan's kid been a few years old). The idea is that the first two episodes, despite some small inconsistencies, is the lead up to when Ahsoka picks Sabine up at the very end of Rebels, post Rebellion, thus giving time for Sabine to have trained with Ahsoka, then had a falling out (over I suspect looking for Thrawn vs. Ezra)...it isn't perfect, but makes sense.

[Underfoot]

3 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

I agree with someone above that Volume does make the world seem empty. The coruscant of the prequels had more life in it. Also is it just me or do the lightsabers look wrong ? Like they feel too heavy and the colour seems off. Even the sound effects aren’t that sharp.

 

2 hours ago, sifth said:

Is it just me, or does something seem a bit off about the dialogue in Ahsoka. I feel like everyone agrees on too many things, preventing conflict and there also seems to be long pauses in between lines.

Agreed. The episodes were very quiet and empty sound-wise. Dialogue was too low energy and most of the lines / dialogue heavy scenes were pretty bad imo. Not PT-level bad, but without any energy in the words it makes it worse. 

[Kalbear]

3 hours ago, sifth said:

Is it just me, or does something seem a bit off about the dialogue in Ahsoka. I feel like everyone agrees on too many things, preventing conflict and there also seems to be long pauses in between lines.

The dialogue is pretty much the same cadence and emotion as in Rebels and Clone Wars. The difference is that the live-action characters aren't gesticulating wildly like they do in the cartoon. Same thing was true in a number of places in Mandalorian, especially Season 3. 

[Rippounet]

Just finished the first episode of Ahsoka. Man, this isn't good. It's slow and the acting is rather mediocre.
On paper, the idea of a fight between two master-apprentice duos is all right, but it can't be the main plot, or this will quickly get boring.
Will try the second episode in a couple of days, but this doesn't look promising. I truly don't get why they went for such a slow episode. I personally might like the characters enough to stick around, but I don't think making Ahsoka a sequel to Rebels is a good way to get new viewers hooked.
Instead of making this a quest for Thrawn/Erza, they should have shown Ahsoka doing exciting stuff (missions for the New Republic), with the Thrawn thing in the background, slowly building up. Have the news about Morgan's escape reach Ahsoka only at the end of the first episode. Perhaps re-introduce Hera and Sabine with a kickass mission in the second episode.
Give people reasons to like and care for these characters -instead of just assuming we already like them- through action and worldbuilding. There's always time to have a bit of melancholy or headbutting later, but don't ruin the very first episode of a show with that shit, ffs.

[karaddin]

11 hours ago, Poobah said:

"Humans are superior!" 

I love that show so much. 

"Better than 20/20 vision, and they're blue!"

Reactions to this seem to be spread out pretty diversely lol. If it improves from here (as most shows do, the start is rarely the best - Farscape is also a great example of that trend!) I think it will be fine. Well above the OBW bar and I didn't even care to watch Book of Boba.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

The more I think about it, the more I think the prologue to the first episode is kind of idiotic. Two “Jedi” show up out of the blue and ask to board their ship? The captain knows it’s bullshit but he decides to let them board anyway? It could have been a suicide bomber or the ramp could lower and a dozen storm troopers pour out and just start blasting*. Oh, and they happen to be transporting a high-value prisoner to trial? Nothing to worry about there. 

I realize the story required them to get on board and spring what’s her name but seriously? They couldn’t come up with something more clever than that?

*yeah, I know they can’t hit jack shit anymore but come on.

8 hours ago, Rippounet said:

Will try the second episode in a couple of days, but this doesn't look promising.

It’s not much better. The pacing is excruciating. 

ETA: I see that the tomatometer is still at 89% with an average critics score of 7.25/10. Is that based on the two episodes that have aired or did they receive screeners for the entire season? If it’s the former; this might be the most critically overrated show I’ve ever seen. 

Edited August 26 by Deadlines? What Deadlines?

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

I hate to keep bringing up a dead horse but how can you guys love Andor and complain about Ahsoka’s pace ? Andor moved at the rate of watching paint dry. Compared to that this show is a lot faster with more things happening. 

[mormont]

1 hour ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

The more I think about it, the more I think the prologue to the first episode is kind of idiotic. Two “Jedi” show up out of the blue and ask to board their ship? The captain knows it’s bullshit but he decides to let them board anyway? It could have been a suicide bomber or the ramp could lower and a dozen storm troopers pour out and just start blasting*. Oh, and they happen to be transporting a high-value prisoner to trial? Nothing to worry about there. 

The captain is over confident and played as such. But it makes some sense. He pretends to have bought the 'Jedi' thing so he can find out what's going on, but is prepared for trouble. The ship isn't large enough to be carrying a force capable of overcoming his crew in combat. A suicide bomb is unlikely - that would kill the prisoner, which could possibly be the goal but a rescue attempt has to be the major concern.

The only reason the captain's actions seem unwise is that they worked out badly.

Quote

I realize the story required them to get on board and spring what’s her name but seriously? They couldn’t come up with something more clever than that?

Such as?

[Ran]

2 hours ago, mormont said:

A suicide bomb is unlikely - that would kill the prisoner, which could possibly be the goal

I'm not sure the fact that it is a possible and reasonable, if unlikely, goal predicates letting them on.

As to how to do it? Find some New Republic fleet people, force them to give up verification codes (with violence, threats, Jedi mind tricks...) or some such, and get brought on board with no suspicion.

I feel like they really wanted to just do a reprise of TPM's opening, basically.

I realize that I am agreeable about this for because its origins as a sequel to a kid's cartoon means I'm holding it to a fairly low standard.

Edited August 26 by Ran

[felice]

19 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

I don't see how that could be true.  Rebels took place 5 BBY to 0 BBY.   That scene was after the defeat of the Empire post Battle of Endor, 5 ABY.  In Rebels it must have been a flash-forward.

Yes, a flash forward to the end of episode 2 of Ahsoka.

[mormont]

23 minutes ago, Ran said:

I'm not sure the fact that it is a possible and reasonable, if unlikely, goal predicates letting them on.

Again, the captain is overconfident, so he dismisses the unlikely in favour of 'calling their bluff'.

It's not really a critical point, and it's exactly the sort of 'plot hole' that slides by if you're OK with the episode and only seems like a problem if you're looking for reasons why you didn't like it.

From a narrative point of view, it works very well. Skoll using an old Jedi code instead of the more complex solution you suggest (that needs a lot more exposition) plants the idea of his origins early with the audience. It's also not a stretch of the imagination to supppose that if it hadn't worked, Skoll had backup plans.

[Relic]

5 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

The more I think about it, the more I think the prologue to the first episode is kind of idiotic. Two “Jedi” show up out of the blue and ask to board their ship? The captain knows it’s bullshit but he decides to let them board anyway? It could have been a suicide bomber or the ramp could lower and a dozen storm troopers pour out and just start blasting*. Oh, and they happen to be transporting a high-value prisoner to trial? Nothing to worry about there. 

 

Just a classic example of bad writing. Characters acting like idiots to progress plot. Maybe one day Disney will hire another good writer. 

[Relic]

4 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

I hate to keep bringing up a dead horse but how can you guys love Andor and complain about Ahsoka’s pace ? 

Ask yourself that question again, padawan. Why do you think that is? 

Edited August 26 by Relic

[hauberk]

19 hours ago, Relic said:

We've seen white before, once. They don't sound or crackle the same on this show. Never thought id get to a point where I found lightsabers boring, but here I am. 

I guess we saw her use the white ones in Mandalorian but only against the beskar spear.  
 

I get the impression that they’re going a different direction with the Sabre users here - her transition to a white blade and there’s to orange being similar transitions to sith blades going red. 

[Ran]

2 hours ago, mormont said:

Again, the captain is overconfident, so he dismisses the unlikely in favour of 'calling their bluff'.

It's cartoonish overconfidence, so yeah, I let it slide. It's one thing to think you can handle people trying to sneak in or fight their way... quite another to not even think of the possibility of a ship rigged to explode.

The whole thing was very simplistic. The only thing about it being cartoonish that gives me pause is that what follows is a terrible slaughter of dozens of New Republic soldiers and officers. I imagine the cartoons generally avoided that sort of thing, so there's a definite dissonance between the tone leading up to that slaughter and, well, the slaughter.

[karaddin]

1 hour ago, hauberk said:

I guess we saw her use the white ones in Mandalorian but only against the beskar spear.  
 

I get the impression that they’re going a different direction with the Sabre users here - her transition to a white blade and there’s to orange being similar transitions to sith blades going red. 

If I'm remembering correctly Ahsoka's white blades are the result of purifying/restoring a couple of crystals which had been bled by inquisitors. These orange ones being only partially bled, or maybe partially restored seems like a reasonable theory since these two retain some connection to Jedi roots and haven't gone full sith.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

A thought about Loren from Andor when he destroyed the fighters sent after him from the big tractor beam Star Destroyer the beams looked like a red lightsaber.  Given the information about how red lightsabers are created… that’s an interesting twist regarding Loren… as a character…

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

11 hours ago, mormont said:

Such as?

Such as?  Blast your way on Board; pull an Oceans Eleven; pull a Mission Impossible; steal some Republic plumbers uniforms and tell them you’re there to install new low flow shower heads; ring the doorbell and ask for a cup of flour; formulate a plan to distract the bridge crew by staging a guy fucking a grizzly bear and sneak in when they aren’t looking… I could go on. 

The options are endless.