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Star Wars: Critical Divide (This is the way)


Myrddin
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1 hour ago, sifth said:

I actually liked episode 3, the chase sequels was rather exciting. Ahsoka, Sabine and the David Tennant Droid, are starting to grow on me. All of their scenes felt like a massive improvement over the first two episodes.

What kind of armament did those fighters have… high velocity green glowing spitballs?  They didn’t even seem to tickle Ashoka’s ship.

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I really like Mary Elizabeth Winstead, but yeah, something's not working too well with her scenes. This one again felt like it was some sort of cartoon-level writing, and obviously they then shoehorn in her kid with some afterschool special vibes. It's a bit sad, misusing her and Genevive O'Reilly.

The space fight sequence was rather inert. Frankly, things felt stretched out to hit at least a 30 minute mark, because I would have tightened that episode. There's a strange sedateness, too, in the Sabine-Ashoka scenes. I don't know, it was definitely an undercooked episode, and the weakest of the three so far. Hopefully it's just a midpoint issue.

However, props to Filoni and co. for naming the blind fighting technique "zatochi", an obvious nod to Zatoichi, the blind masseuse/swordsman of Japanese chambara cinema.

Mostly, I felt the episode was missing Stevenson's presence. He and his beard bring a great deal of gravitas and a certain quiet menace to proceedings. Hopefully he'll feature more in the next episode.

Edited by Ran
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5 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Who?  I don’t recognize the two letter nomenclature you refer to…

JJ Abrams? The "force" that made Star Wars movies without really knowing anything about Star Wars...? Never met a moment of ANH he couldn't rip-off...and he created the idea that the New Republic was so incompetent that Leia had to create a "Resistance" to fight the bad guys, who weren't actually in charge of anything...

That JJ... :P

Of course, you might have been being sarcastic...

Edited by Jaxom 1974
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37 minutes ago, Ran said:

I really like Mary Elizabeth Winstead, but yeah, something's not working too well with her scenes. This one again felt like it was some sort of cartoon-level writing, and obviously they then shoehorn in her kid with some afterschool special vibes. It's a bit sad, misusing her and Genevive O'Reilly.

I distinctly recall getting chewed out for observing slightly wooden behaviour from her in an early clip. Vindication is mine! Mwaha!

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Just now, IlyaP said:

I distinctly recall getting chewed out for observing slightly wooden behaviour from her in an early clip. Vindication is mine! Mwaha!

Yeah, I don't know what's going on. I'd hate to blame her, but it's not impossible that she wasn't vibing at all with the whole look and process for makeup and it put her off her game... but the fact that everyone else around her is also weird (Genevive O'Reilly seemed so, so awkward just chatting about a little boy when serious business was afoot) makes me think it's a writing and direction issue.

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I quite liked Sabine's training scene and found her attempt to use the Force to move the cup relatable. Unlike the magical kids that were Luke, Anakin, and Rey, Sabine is a person who stretches out her hand to move an object with a power she cannot feel, much like many Star Wars fans likely attempted when they were young. And her rich background of skills and talents probably connects her to lots of people.

The space fight was pretty good, too. The small fighters were another callback to WW2 planes.

So between these parts, is why I was annoyed at how short this episode was. They could have added a few more scenes, maybe more Baylan. 

I didn't mind Hera's scenes. I think her acting was more on point getting angry at the idiot senator in this episode than before. I think Hera's animated design with her high cheekbones and narrow face is what throws people off, since Winstead doesn't have that facial structure. She's also tall, while animated Hera isn't. But what can you do? I think Winstead is doing as well as she can with these constraints.

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35 minutes ago, Ran said:

Yeah, I don't know what's going on. I'd hate to blame her, but it's not impossible that she wasn't vibing at all with the whole look and process for makeup and it put her off her game... but the fact that everyone else around her is also weird (Genevive O'Reilly seemed so, so awkward just chatting about a little boy when serious business was afoot) makes me think it's a writing and direction issue.

Part of me is starting to wonder if she got her job because of nepotism; she's married to Ewan McGregor. Don't get me wrong, she's a talented actress and I loved her in season 3 of Fargo, Scott Pilgram and Cloverfield Lane, but she's just not vibing with the Hera character or is being given very bad direction.

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30 minutes ago, sifth said:

Don't get me wrong, she's a talented actress and I loved her in season 3 of Fargo, Scott Pilgram and Cloverfield Lane, but she's just not vibing with the Hera character or is being given very bad direction.

No one tell @SpaceChampion...

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2 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

What kind of armament did those fighters have… high velocity green glowing spitballs?  They didn’t even seem to tickle Ashoka’s ship.

I'm sure they can take out womp rats. :D 

It made me think they were some really old fighters sold on the black market for pennies, good enough to scare off smugglers and small time merchants. X-wings they were definitely not.

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1 hour ago, sifth said:

Part of me is starting to wonder if she got her job because of nepotism; she's married to Ewan McGregor. Don't get me wrong, she's a talented actress and I loved her in season 3 of Fargo, Scott Pilgram and Cloverfield Lane, but she's just not vibing with the Hera character or is being given very bad direction.

It was a diversity hire, they already had hired too many green people

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5 hours ago, Ran said:

 However, props to Filoni and co. for naming the blind fighting technique "zatochi", an obvious nod to Zatoichi, the blind masseuse/swordsman of Japanese chambara cinema..

First it was that katana and shoto of Ahsoka’s dual wield style, then the split toes of her footwear, and this episode besides what you’ve referred to there were also the practice bokken.

So, I haven’t watched Rebels, when was all this Samurai styling established? Is it all just a what, Ahsoka is essentially a Ronin having split off from the Jedi, or do these influences have more meaning canonically? Anyone know?

Edited by JGP
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3 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

I'm sure they can take out womp rats. :D 

It made me think they were some really old fighters sold on the black market for pennies, good enough to scare off smugglers and small time merchants. X-wings they were definitely not.

I kept thinking they were using early WWII fighters, they only needed some propellers...

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27 minutes ago, JGP said:

First it was that katana and shoto of Ahsoka’s dual wield style, then the split toes of her footwear, and this episode besides what you’ve referred to there were also the practice bokken.

So, I haven’t watched Rebels, when was all this Samurai styling established? Is it all just a what, Ahsoka is essentially a Ronin having split off from the Jedi, or do these influences have more meaning canonically? Anyone know?

Nah. In Rebels she was using the darksaber training with Kanan. There were no practice swords anywhere to be seen. And there was none of this blind-fighting style present - though Kanan did go blind during a period. 

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28 minutes ago, Kalnak the Magnificent said:

Nah. In Rebels she was using the darksaber training with Kanan. There were no practice swords anywhere to be seen. And there was none of this blind-fighting style present - though Kanan did go blind during a period. 

ANH 60th anniversary special edition will have Obi-wan murmur, "mmm...zatochi" while Luke gets his ass zapped by the remote trainer on the Falcon.

Or exclaim, "zat-OWCHIE! Amirite???" Depends on who is in charge.

Edited by Week
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39 minutes ago, Kalnak the Magnificent said:

Nah. In Rebels she was using the darksaber training with Kanan. There were no practice swords anywhere to be seen. And there was none of this blind-fighting style present - though Kanan did go blind during a period. 

Kanan had Sabine spar with Ezra with sticks at first because he didn't think she way ready for the darksaber.

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Yeah, that was decent but no great shakes. Tennant doing a lot of good work with his voice acting.

Hera's kid being called Jacen and saying, "I wanna be a Jedi!" felt like a callback to the EU. Maybe just take it easy kid, don't do that.

I don't think Force sensitivity can be "learned," as such and in fact they say that when Sabine asks why everyone just doesn't use it and Ahsoka says you need to have the talent for it. Maybe the totally average person could learn to move a mug 3 inches with the Force, but it'd take them 90 years of constant meditation and study, so it's not worth it versus the talented who can pick that up more quickly.

Huyang also said last week that Sabine does have a connection to the Force but it's very weak. My analogy is that she has Force sensitivity but in the same way Morgase could channel the One Power (i.e. not very much).

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