[psmith2.0]

…or Harrison Ford in a Boba Fett or Obi-Wan cameo.

Poor guy ain’t ever gonna be done with the role. He’s like Michael Corleone in that third Godfather…

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”

That’s okay, Harry…you’ll make $17 trillion for 1-2 days of work.

[psmith2.0]

Our little Force frog baby is growing up.



I assume this is sanctioned/legit artwork (that article is a bit of a train wreck, frankly).

But, if so, it's pretty cool.

Not sure if this means we'll also be following Grogu's life/training in the upcoming third season of The Mandalorian (and, if so, I assume that'll be more Luke; maybe that's why Lucasfilm hired that deep-fake YouTuber, knowing Luke may be a bit of a presence in the upcoming season and they wanted to do a better job than they did in that final episode of season 2).

In any case, cool artwork. And a yellow lightsaber for the little guy?

I honestly assumed we'd seen the last of Grogu, as he left for a new life with his new master, but maybe the upcoming season will split between following Mando on new adventures, and Grogu as well? Maybe there will be a bit of a time jump to allow a bit more maturity/abilities for Grogu, as his training progresses and he's slowly becoming a little Yoda?

A surprise to me, that the character still seems to be on the radar. But Lucasfilm knows they're sitting on a marketing/merchandising money-printing machine, so whatever the original plan(s) might've been (no more Grogu after season 2), they could've scrapped that and said "we're gonna exploit this little cutie to the rafters...write some Grogu-centric episodes, stat!"

Not sure how that ties into The Mandalorian, but...whatever.



Interesting.

The character of Luke Skywalker got such a raw, bum deal in the sequel trilogy...maybe Favreau and Filoni are hell-bent on giving us the post-ROTJ Luke were were all denied? Even if it means some digital fakery/CGI, if it's done well then maybe we'll get a proper, satisfying depiction of Luke before he turned into a Jedi-renouncing hermit and a scraggly, lightsaber-tossing a-hole?

I'd be okay with that because that was probably my biggest problem (among many) with the sequels, what they did to Luke. And Hamill is certainly in that camp, from all he's ever said in interviews. I believe he's well on record for not being a fan of how the character was written/handled in the sequels. I'm sure he'd love nothing more than to provide voice work and any on-set participation to help do justice to the character and set things right?

"Hey J.J. and Rian...kiss my ass!"

I would not have expected/predicted this, but Favreau and Filoni can do whatever they want, it looks like. I think the higher-ups know to stay out of the way and let these two please the fans in a way those three flicks didn't.

Would they go through the trouble of creating a poster like that if those characters - or at least Grogu - weren't slated to factor into the third season?

[kscherer]

All I know is I can't wait, and I wish Disney would get on with it already!

[psmith2.0]

It would've been nice, sure enough, if they'd put a few episodes/series "in the can" so we wouldn't be sitting around for 8-12 months. Attention spans are nonexistent, and, now more than ever, people have other things to occupy/entertain themselves.

As much as I've enjoyed The Mandalorian, I have to admit that I've not really thought much about it these past few months and I've lost my spark/enthusiasm (but that's also been the case with Better Call Saul, which takes longer than any show I've ever known between seasons...I've already forgotten how last season ended, it's been so long. And I don't think anything is coming until well into 2022.

But, yeah. It would've been cool if one of those announced live-action shows (Andor, Ahsoka, etc.) showed up in February or so. I don't know if that Bad Batch show is hitting as big as The Mandalorian (I see no real talk about it online anywhere, including here; which tells me something).

They have to be careful not to overdo it and wear everyone out, but I also think two months out of 12 for any original, live-action Star Wars fare is a bit skimpy. I'm hoping that once all these shows get up and running they'll leapfrog each other and we'll get a year-round buffet of Mando, Boba Fett, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, but with a few months in between each one to let people process/cleanse their palate, etc. I don't want 3-4 shows all airing simultaneously, never-ending. Something between that and the current output would be nice.

That Andor show has been in production for quite a while. I assumed it was coming at some point in 2021 but I haven't heard a word about it in 4-5 months.

But I do think the future of Star Wars is on the small screen, via episodic, short form storytelling. I don't think we'll ever see that yellow logo on the big screen again. And that's fine, things change. I'm happier seeing enjoyable, well made stuff on my TV than two hours of bombastic, "expectation subverting" incoherency at the multiplex. The worst episode of The Mandalorian (that one with the little village and the kids and the chicken walker in the woods) is still better than the best parts of The Force Awakens.

I'll get back into this all when they come back around, I'm sure. But it's very easy to lose momentum, interest and enthusiasm with these loooooong gaps between installments (or new shows). Hopefully 2022 and 2023 will consist of a steadier diet...two months of this show, a 1-2 month "rest", then here comes season one of Obi-Wan for two months, another couple of months of a break, then Ahsoka's show, rinse, repeat. I'd be okay with that sort of pattern...3-4 shows throughout the year with a bit of a gap between each one (at least a month, just so it feels like you're not choking on anything).

Anticipation/waiting is always nice, but they're kinda overdoing it right now. It'll take that Boba show in December to light my SW dork fire again (because it's kinda gone dormant right now).

[psmith2.0]

Some "news" on the upcoming third season of The Mandalorian.

I'm not going to bother copying/quoting any of it here because, frankly, it's a bit of a lousy, poorly-written piece, but there might be a few interesting nuggets (and by "a few", I mean "about two").

I'll save you the hassle:

The Mandalorian comes out at Christmas time 2021, following the Boba Fett thing (which I still don't know if it's a series or a two-hour single movie, etc.). I have a feeling it's not a series, but that's just me...

The rest of the article is just speculation/guesswork, re-hashing of rumors/speculation from others and two knobs from Esquire trying to sound funny, hip and/or edgy.

Some things were left hanging from that final episode - Moff Gideon, that business between Mando/Bo and the dark saber, etc. - so it could all go anywhere, I suppose (including maybe even a time-jump, small or large, which I brought up ages ago).

Kinda weird/frustrating that all these shows are supposedly in production (Andor, Mando 3, Boba Fett, Obi-Wan, etc.), but there's just really no solid word on any of them and they seem to be taking forever to arrive. I'm in real danger of just going all Walking Dead/Better Call Saul with this stuff...something I enjoyed early on, but then the dragging out of new seasons just makes me lose my spark for any of it. I don't think a "hit everyone with 4-5 shows at once, and then silence for 8-9 months" is any sort of strategy, so I hope they've got something a bit more steady/ongoing in mind throughout 2022 (like all that Marvel stuff...every time I turned around in 2021 there was a new Marvel series, it seemed like).

I realize bastard COVID probably affected/changed plans here as it has everywhere else...I assume, in a world where none of this happened, at least 1-2 of the above SW shows would've been airing by now.

[turtle]

Thanks for sharing that. I've been wondering and my kids were asking are about it a few mights ago too. A Christmas release would be awesome!

[psmith2.0]

I was hoping it would've been a more information-packed article, living up to its headline, but I saw it at Yahoo, shared from Esquire, so I should've known better. That seems to be the hallmark of modern online "journalism"...clickbait-y (lying) headlines (and a promising lead paragraph), followed by 8-15 paragraphs of total "okay, we actually don't really know any more than you do, but here's what we think might happen..." speculation, guessing and the dreaded "fan theories" masquerading as insight/scoops.



Uh...I can do that, Esquire/Yahoo. You're not helping. If you're going to write/publish something, have it be stuff that I don't know or can't think up myself. I certainly don't have access to Lucasfilm or Disney or Jon Favreau/Dave Filoni...but if you don't either, then why even bother?

But at least we now know when the third season will kick off, and that it will follow the Boba Fett thing, meaning the first part of December should be something else to watch before The Mandalorian starts up. I didn't know that until yesterday. So we're less than three months away from new, live-action Star Wars-related fare on Disney+.

So that's nice, assuming everyone's still onboard, and interested, after 11 months of nothing (other than that Bad Batch show, which I still never heard a single thing about).

[psmith2.0]

Ahh, here we go...some actual, legit news.

While not The Mandalorian it's the other show most people are probably looking forward to the most, the one with Ewan McGregor.

I'll fold it into this thread until Obi-Wan merits his own thread.

Obi-Wan Kenobi has finished filming, according to star Ewan McGregor. The actor is set to reprise the role of the iconic Jedi master in the Star Wars Disney+ prequel series, which will take place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith. The show has now taken a big step forward, with McGregor revealing the news that principal photography has wrapped after picking up an Emmy for Netflix's Halston. "We finished shooting our series, and it was really, really, good fun–I really enjoyed working with [director] Deborah Chow," he told press (via Variety). "I think it will not disappoint," McGregor went on to tease. "I think it's gonna be good. I had a really good time making it, and worked with some really wonderful people, lovely people.

Good enough for me.

McGregor, like Hamill, has always been a good ambassador for the brand and, unlike some others I could name, always seemed proud of his involvement in the franchise and happy to be part of something he obviously loves (he wouldn't have returned to the role if it was a miserable, unfulfilling chore; he certainly didn't have to). His enthusiasm/interest counts for something, to me anyway.

I'm sure it still has a boatload of post-production and effects work, but it sounds like they've captured all the "film the humans on sets" stuff, so that's something. First real thing I've heard about the show in all of 2021. That it comes from the lead actor himself is nice, vs. just more baseless speculation from writers throwing darts.

With him being, by far, the best part of the prequels, I'm really looking forward to this more than any of the other stuff (including, yes, the Andor, Boba Fett and Ahsoka shows).

I'm an Obi-Wan Kenobi guy, be it Guinness or McGregor.

[turtle]

I'm looking forward to this series really. It looks like it will be way more fun than the Ep 1-3 trilogy. Plus, it isn't specifically Marvel.

[psmith2.0]

That they snagged the best part of the prequels is certainly promising. Nobody was hoping for a return of Natalie Portman or Ahmed Best (at least not me), but that they got McGregor to reprise the role is pretty amazing.

Still not sure why everyone flipped over Hayden Christensen's return, seeing as how a) he was one of the worst parts of the prequels (sorry, he's a really iffy actor) and b) if he's playing post-Mustafar Vader (in full armor, mask, etc.), couldn't anyone - with better acting chops and a more imposing presence - fill that role? The fact that they're bringing him back too must mean he's going to somehow be showing his face a bit (with all the burn scar makeup?) or maybe some flashback/memories scenes of him still as Anakin?

I've still not figured out why it was important to bring him back as well. Get some big hulking 6'6"+ bodybuilder type and put him in the suit, and then dub the voice accordingly. They've done such a thing before, you know.

Please tell me they're not going to have Christensen doing the Vader voice work as well. Even digitally-altered, he's still a worse actor than James Earl Jones could ever be.

That's the one aspect of this Kenobi show that kinda has me scratching my head a bit about how, exactly, he's going to be used. Why hire a known face, just to put in in a black suit/mask that anyone could do? There must be some other plans/approach in store that they think requires Christensen (to help with the continuity and all). It may turn out to be something cool and creative (and maybe he's taken some acting lessons the past 15-16 years).

[turtle]

Yeah, it is odd that they chose him. Maybe they just really want Vader to "move" like Christensen did for the prequels. :shrug:

[709]

Pretty excited for this one too, and looking forward to chewing on some Easter Eggs that they'll inevitably pop down for fans (first season of Mando was great for these). Appearance of a pre-teen Luke is probably a given since they're bringing back the Owen & Beru actors from EpIII. Han & Chewie are just together, so I wonder if we'll see a glimpse of the Falcon or an Alden Ehrenreich cameo. Ahsoka is out there of course, but I doubt we'll see her as they'd have to cast a younger actress (even as timeless as Rosario is ). Yoda? I don't know, I doubt it. Darth Maul and the Nightsisters (he was on Dathomir at the end of Solo)? Maybe? There's unfinished business there even if there wouldn't be a resolution (yet).

Really have no idea what to expect story-wise, but I'm sure they'll load it up with side-winks and knowing-nods.

[psmith2.0]

There are indeed so many little things they could do. I certainly don’t want it to turn into fan-service city, but there will have to be little things - glimpses or mentions of characters, events and vehicles we all know are out there with n this time frame (approx. 10 years after Episode 3 and nine-ish years before Episode 4. A ~10-year-old Luke, even if only a brief, non-speaking part, is surely a lock if Owen and Beru are in the mix.

I wrote somewhere - this thread or another - some ideas that would be cool to see. The Mos Eisley cantina will almost have to show up just thinking back to A New Hope and how Obi-Wan knew so much about it (the best pilots hung out there, it could be a bit rough/dangerous, etc.). I figure he’d do the whole “crazy desert hermit” act there, just to listen to chatter or hear directly from trusted associates about things going on re: the Empire, the Rebel Alliance, etc.

And I have to believe in all those 19-20 years in hiding Obi-Wan and Yoda stayed in touch somehow, even via the Force? Reaching out to one another in the way we’ve seen Vader to Luke and others strong in the Force. If these two Jedi don’t have the long-distance thing figured out, who would?! There has to be some Yoda, if only a one-off cameo. Same goes for the Force ghost of Qui-Gon. You know Liam Neeson will pop up at least once, transparent and glowing blue.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 There has to be some Yoda, if only a one-off cameo.

Perhaps Yoda, greatest of all Jedi, could finally win a lightsaber battle against someone...

[psmith2.0]

I think he messed up by scaling his blade down to be proportionate with his size. Granted, he probably would've accidentally cut himself in half centuries ago if he had a full-size lightsaber, but he keeps fighting six-feet humans with their full-size sabers - and losing - so I wonder if it's his little blade putting him at a disadvantage?

Lightning-fast frog-hopping can only get you so far in a fight.

He should've easily bested both Count Dooku and Palpatine. He just had the wrong equipment.

[turtle]

So size matters?

[psmith2.0]

From a certain point of view.

[709]

See what you did there, I did.

[Capella]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 I think he messed up by scaling his blade down to be proportionate with his size. Granted, he probably would've accidentally cut himself in half centuries ago if he had a full-size lightsaber, but he keeps fighting six-feet humans with their full-size sabers - and losing - so I wonder if it's his little blade putting him at a disadvantage? Lightning-fast frog-hopping can only get you so far in a fight. He should've easily bested both Count Dooku and Palpatine. He just had the wrong equipment.

Do not make me come in here and give a lecture on the seven forms of lightsaber combat and why Yoda's use of Form IV: Ataru is brilliant.

[Frank777]

It's not brilliant if you never actually win in combat.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Capella Do not make me come in here and give a lecture on the seven forms of lightsaber combat and why Yoda's use of Form IV: Ataru is brilliant.

Okay

[Frank777]

I actually posted a quick response, hoping to get the lecture.

Anyway, I guess I can do without it. After all, Star Wars is fictional, so nobody needs to debate it like it's a real thing.

[psmith2.0]

I've seen two random stories out today that Hayden Christensen will also factor into the upcoming Ahsoka show on Disney+. We all knew he was going to be part of the Obi-Wan thing, but now this.

But all I've heard is that the Ahsoka series takes place during the Mandalorian timeframe, as she continues her search for Thrawn, which is several years after ROTJ...where Anakin/Vader died.

So...flashbacks? Force ghosts? Both?

If flashbacks, it'll kinda be neat to see live-action take on Jedi Anakin and his apprentice, won't it? Rosario Dawson never ages, and with all that makeup/prosthetics, it's no problem at all to buy her as a younger Ahsoka, training under Anakin. Or the show may cast a younger actress for those scenes.

As for Force ghost stuff, I suppose it could be some good emotional stuff to have Anakin's redeemed ghost visit adult, present-day Ahsoka and they work to smooth things over?

Just wishing all this stuff would start arriving. 2022 will surely see more than 2021 did.

[kscherer]

Here's to hoping that the Disney crowd can get a better performance out of Hayden Christianson than George did.

[psmith2.0]

They must have something in mind, relying heavily on flashbacks because they certainly could've hired anyone to wear the Vader armor. There's nothing inherently Christensen-centric about his wearing that stuff. He was only in it for about 18 seconds at the tail end of Episode III, after all. And you certainly couldn't tell it was Hayden Christensen. Could've been Lou Ferrigno, or Stone Cold Steve Austin, for all we knew.

So I'm thinking they'll do some flashbacks there too? Fill in some blanks, give us a few more glimpses of Anakin and Obi-Wan as friends, etc. Play around in that area between the animated stuff and episodes 2 and 3?

The other possibility, of course, would be regular scenes of a helmet-less Vader, with burn-makeup Christensen. But if they go and humanize/normalize Vader too much - out of helmet/armor, floating in bacta tanks and thinking back on his bad behavior, they're going to preemptively make him a sympathetic character prior to the events of the original trilogy (the Kenobi show is set in that time between episodes 3 and 4...it takes until the very end of episode 6 for Vader to [i]not[/] be an asshole, after several movies of nothing but.

Let's not go and ruin this, Disney. Be careful...

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by kscherer Here's to hoping that the Disney crowd can get a better performance out of Hayden Christianson than George did.

I've always thought that Hayden C. should have been lauded for being as good as he was.
Given that the dialogue he and Natalie were given included romantic gems like "hold me like you did by the Lake of Naboo..."

Look, the prequels have their issues. Jar Jar is...jarring, both Anakins are whiny, the Emperor was obviously the Sith, etc.

But the sequels have held up much better than the other six movies in the saga. They are the only ones I care to watch anymore.

The OT suffers from outdated choreography (and you can see where Lucas was winging it in the script.)
The sequel trilogy is a dumpster fire of hot garbage.

I guess Jon Favreau and Dave The Rebels Guy are hoping to fill in missing pieces with the multiple Disney+ series as canon.

A better idea would be to delete the OT and ST from canon, and let Favreau and DTRG remake Episodes 4-6.

[psmith2.0]

Fellas, get the rope...

An even better idea would be to delete the PT and ST from canon, and let Favreau, Filoni and others like them fill in those pieces in the 5-10 years before ANH and the 5-10 years following ROTJ...which, wouldn't you know, is kinda what they're doing!

Yay!

I do have to hand it to you...whether you're subtly trolling or doing the contrarian-to-be-contrarian thing, I can honestly say I've never heard anyone ask for removing the OT from anything. On that, you stand alone, and are officially deranged. Congrats?

The van will be by shortly...careful with the net.

[kscherer]

I'll fire up the truck …


—


I was thinking that we could delete the sequels and the prequels from canon, and let Paul and Ken re-write them.

[Frank777]

We all have memories of the first time seeing the original trilogy. Treasure them.

But we're grown up now, and the flaws are more evident. Fix them.

-----

As for the sequel trilogy, there's no-one in those films that even approaches the likability of Ewan McGregor.

Actually, there's no one with the likability of Harrison Ford in Episodes 1-3, and that's amazing given that Ford is in the sequel trilogy.

[psmith2.0]

This seems like a good place to post this (because of some discussion upthread, from a year or so ago).

Disney+ now has 118 million subscribers.

I remember saying, a year or so ago, how if they eventually can get to 90-100M subscribers "at some point", at $6.99/month, that shakes out to "a lot of money" on a monthly basis.

Financial genius <-- me

Well, two things:

- They've blown way the hell past my figure, by about 20M
- Disney+ is now $7.99/month, up $1 from a year ago or earlier

So, let's do the math based on the numbers above, as they now stand:

118,000,000 x 7.99 = $942,820,000. A month. That's just under $1B/month. One month of Disney+ income could basically fund an entire trilogy, at $200-250M each to produce, and $250M+ left over for marketing and all.

And this will only grow/expand, once these other shows (SW, Marvel, etc.) debut or renew.

I know that isn't all profit, of course. But it's nearly $1B/month they weren't bringing in 2-3 years ago!

Damn.

That's almost real money!

I'd say a healthy chunk of that is on the back of The Mandalorian, and those Marvel shows as well. I suspect more of those are coming(?), but we know we've got Kenobi, Boba Fett, Andor, Ahsoka (and a third season of The Mandalorian) all on deck and coming in 2022-2023(?), so...yeah.

I can see that 118M being more in the 135-140M range a year or so from now (and I can also imagine another $1 monthly bump). If I undershot it again, this year, then just going by those guesses (140M subscribers x $8.99/month), that's a healthy $1,258,600,000 ($1.2B+) coming in on a reliable, predictable basis, monthly.

I need to go work for Disney.

As before, I'm the first to admit that I'm a complete loss at math...so please feel free to double-check my numbers/calculations above. Because it almost sounds too high to be true.

But I've plugged in 118,000,000 x $7.99 three times and it keeps coming out to that $942M+ figure. A month.



Note to Disney: take some of that boatload of revenue and try to find/hire some really good writers for any future big-screen and/or trilogy outings. And maybe pay J.J. a handsome sum to sit it out/go away. Thank you!