Star Wars: The Mandalorian - Disney+.

Dropping the whole thing is definitely better for me, if it's weekly episodes most of the time I'd rather just wait and watch it at my own pace once it's all out

I'm generally a fan of the full drop as well, I like to watch at my own pace and if I'm really in to something then waiting can be a pain (1st world problems!)

That said for things like Better Call Saul I've really enjoyed the weekly release schedule as each episode often takes some time to digest and discuss and that's enjoyable too!

I enjoy the "event" nature you get of big shows that everyone's watching-the buildup followed by the post episode analysis can be great.

Equally, it's really annoying when Netflix drop something like Stranger Things and before you've finished work that day people have already binged the whole season and you have to be mindful to avoid spoilers online.

Maybe it's just my internet habits but I never really find avoiding spoilers to be that difficult. I've watched big movies and shows years after release that I've not had spoiled for me.

There is a greater risk of this when there is a drop of all episodes at once of course, but it's not something that bothers me massively personally.

Better Call Saul is one of the few times I've enjoyed it being episodic, but I don't think I could sit and binge that anyway. It'd be too much

Will be pirating the shite out of this

I'll give it a binge watch when it comes over here (by which time a lot, if not all, of the episodes will be out)
but it's a curiosity watch more than anything. I really don't like Disney's interpretation of Star Wars. I know the prequels get a lot of slack, and they've definitely got campy moments, but #2 and #3 have a really nice opera-esque vibe to them (Revenge of the Sith is my favourite Star Wars movie). Similarly, all of the original trilogy movies have that "opera-esque vibe". Forgetting the sins of the Phantom Menace, in George Lucas' other movies he really "got" characters. There's a reason we all remember Luke's transformation from whiny "Tadashi Station"-touting wimp to determined, strong-minded Jedi; why we remember Han and Leia's snarky comments towards one another; and why we remember Anakin's anguish. Who can we remember from the Disney stuff? Kylo's rippling pectorals? Finn and Poe's gay relationship being teased by the actors without anything of substance in the movies themselves? Kylo's temper tantrum?

Lucas-era Star Wars was an amazing opera with memorable characters. The action painted a backdrop to interesting character studies but it never took attention away from the character work. Yes, there were a couple of missteps (Phantom Menace) and in later years Lucas slipped up (PSA: Han shot first!) but that doesn't take away from how incredible the original movies were. The Revenge of the Sith, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are all up there among my all-time favourite movies.
Disney's Star Wars fails to deliver on character, ruins the already established characters and tries to justify its existence with grandiose action sequences. It's not what I want from my Star Wars movies.

So I shall watch this out of curiosity, maybe I'll like it. Disney has certainly shown they can do a good job with IP they've gotten from other people (MCU) so maybe they've finally figured out this Star Wars thing, but the trailer doesn't look too promising. Still looks like "generic action movie". The one hopeful thing about it so far? The Mandalorian only has one line in this trailer, and didn't even speak in the first trailer. It could be interesting if Disney has the balls to make him a near-silent protagonist. That would be good character work.

LightWanderer wrote: (Revenge of the Sith is my favourite Star Wars movie).

Have we actually got a release date for Disney+ in the UK yet? Hopefully we get a free month trial which means I can binge loads of the stuff on there before forgetting to cancel my trial and ending up paying for it anyway.

Moggy wrote:

LightWanderer wrote: (Revenge of the Sith is my favourite Star Wars movie).

Lemme guess, you watched the original trilogy first?
While I knew from public knowledge that Anakin would become Daddy Evil, I didn't know much about Darth Vader when I started watching the Star Wars movies, starting with the prequels. (And my first time watching the movies was in 2015, when I was in my early twenties, so definitely had enough age to appreciate it). Have often figured that if I watched the original trilogy first, me knowing Darth Vader as the menacing presence he is in those would ruin my appreciation of his younger years. Joker proves it's possible to enjoy a villain's origin story, but it's certainly tricky. But I saw the prequels first, which means it seemed like a natural progression to me. Plus, I love melodrama.

LightWanderer wrote:

Moggy wrote:

LightWanderer wrote: (Revenge of the Sith is my favourite Star Wars movie).

Lemme guess, you watched the original trilogy first?
While I knew from public knowledge that Anakin would become Daddy Evil, I didn't know much about Darth Vader when I started watching the Star Wars movies, starting with the prequels. (And my first time watching the movies was in 2015, when I was in my early twenties, so definitely had enough age to appreciate it). Have often figured that if I watched the original trilogy first, me knowing Darth Vader as the menacing presence he is in those would ruin my appreciation of his younger years. Joker proves it's possible to enjoy a villain's origin story, but it's certainly tricky. But I saw the prequels first, which means it seemed like a natural progression to me. Plus, I love melodrama.

Nope.

I had seen bits of the originals and knew the basic plot but had never actually seen one. For some reason I rented Phantom Menace (on VHS, that’s how long ago!). Didn’t think much of it but caught up with the others and then watched them as they came out.

Clones and Sith are terrible movies. PM is ok. The originals are good. The latest two are good.

Moggy wrote:

LightWanderer wrote:

Moggy wrote:

LightWanderer wrote: (Revenge of the Sith is my favourite Star Wars movie).

Lemme guess, you watched the original trilogy first?
While I knew from public knowledge that Anakin would become Daddy Evil, I didn't know much about Darth Vader when I started watching the Star Wars movies, starting with the prequels. (And my first time watching the movies was in 2015, when I was in my early twenties, so definitely had enough age to appreciate it). Have often figured that if I watched the original trilogy first, me knowing Darth Vader as the menacing presence he is in those would ruin my appreciation of his younger years. Joker proves it's possible to enjoy a villain's origin story, but it's certainly tricky. But I saw the prequels first, which means it seemed like a natural progression to me. Plus, I love melodrama.

Nope.

I had seen bits of the originals and knew the basic plot but had never actually seen one. For some reason I rented Phantom Menace (on VHS, that’s how long ago!). Didn’t think much of it but caught up with the others and then watched them as they came out.

Clones and Sith are terrible movies. PM is ok. The originals are good. The latest two are good.

I'd say Sith is the best of the prequels by quite a long distance. I've seen it rated above Return of the Jedi and, while I don't agree, there's an argument to be made there.

Tafdolphin wrote:

Moggy wrote:

LightWanderer wrote:

Moggy wrote:

LightWanderer wrote: (Revenge of the Sith is my favourite Star Wars movie).

Lemme guess, you watched the original trilogy first?
While I knew from public knowledge that Anakin would become Daddy Evil, I didn't know much about Darth Vader when I started watching the Star Wars movies, starting with the prequels. (And my first time watching the movies was in 2015, when I was in my early twenties, so definitely had enough age to appreciate it). Have often figured that if I watched the original trilogy first, me knowing Darth Vader as the menacing presence he is in those would ruin my appreciation of his younger years. Joker proves it's possible to enjoy a villain's origin story, but it's certainly tricky. But I saw the prequels first, which means it seemed like a natural progression to me. Plus, I love melodrama.

Nope.

I had seen bits of the originals and knew the basic plot but had never actually seen one. For some reason I rented Phantom Menace (on VHS, that’s how long ago!). Didn’t think much of it but caught up with the others and then watched them as they came out.

Clones and Sith are terrible movies. PM is ok. The originals are good. The latest two are good.

I'd say Sith is the best of the prequels by quite a long distance. I've seen it rated above Return of the Jedi and, while I don't agree, there's an argument to be made there.

I spoiled Revenge of the Sith by reading the much better characterised novelisation, and now the character portrayls in the film will always seem worse than normal.

But then, I rate The Phantom Menace as the best, so what do I know?

Tafdolphin wrote:I'd say Sith is the best of the prequels by quite a long distance. I've seen it rated above Return of the Jedi and, while I don't agree, there's an argument to be made there.

Better than Return of Jedi:
-It's climax is a million times better. Anakin vs Obi Wan on Mustafar is better, in terms of visuals, character development and action, than Darth throwing Palpatine down an elevator shaft. Personally, while I love RoJ, Anakin's turn to the good side came a little too easy. If Padmé, the love of his life, was unable to stop him from going down the dark path, some kid who happens to be his son but who he's never spent a good moment with wouldn't be able to. Eventually maybe, but not as quick as it was in this.
-And in general the whole of Sith has a better focus (Anakin) than RoJ (which is space war one minute, Ewok C3P0 worship the next)

I really like RoJ though and it's got a great ending.

DarkRula wrote:But then, I rate The Phantom Menace as the best, so what do I know?

First Moggy says PM is the best prequel. And now you say it's the best (of the prequels or the whole saga?) Either way, what the actual strawberry float?

Like I say, RoTS is the best of the prequels but it's still a terrible film. Return of the Jedi is not great but it's at worse an average movie buoyed by excellent performances into something approaching a good overall experience.

But it's all very much a matter of opinion. Unless you like Clones in which case god help you.

Tafdolphin wrote: Unless you like Clones in which case god help you.

Ahh the one thing that unites all of humanity.

Having gone through the whole saga from Ep 1 to 8 with my kids over the last 6 months or so I have to say that RoTS is considerably worse than I remember it being, like laughably bad for huge portions of its run time.

It basically crystallises the very worst aspects of Lucas as a film-maker into one horrible movie. The plotting is terrible, the characters are dull and often completely unbelievable and unrelatable, the dialogue remains absolutely attrocious, the CGI is jarring and somehow manages to look worse than stuff we had in PM 6 years earlier and the action sequences are just awful.

The Mustafar battle between Obi Wan and Anakin is genuinely painful to watch, and not for the right reasons! Compare the fights here to what we saw in Phantom Menace and it's light and day in terms of quality. The battle between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Dath Maul is a tight and tense affair demonstrating greater finesse than anything we saw in the original trilogy. Also from a film making perspective this battle is actually surprisingly well intercut with Padme's raid on the palace and Anakin's space battle against the droid command ship.

The battle on Mustafar however It's just nonsense. Even ignoring the ludicrous series of events that have led the characters to this point, none of which holds up to any scrutiny, you are left with a drawn out series of show boating nonsense that has no pacing to it, no finesse, no eye for what actually makes a fight believable and powerful to the viewer. Kenobi and Skywalker just twirling their lightsabers at each other and bouncing around like Sonic the strawberry floating hedgehog is not a compelling piece of cinema. And then of course there's the "high ground" moment...

And the Yoda/Palpatine battle

Oh yeah and the Windu/Palpatine fight

So yeah, RoTS is a piece of gooseberry fool basically.



That said Clones is still somehow worse.

Revenge of the sith better than return of the Jedi?
Utter strawberry floating nonsense.

The Mustafar fight was a brave move by Lucas, utilising the art of interpretive dance to convey complex emotions such as "I hate you now Natalie Portman" and "I killed some kids and feel conflicted about it".