Personally, I don't understand all the hate around this final installment in the series. I thought this was a pretty good Indiana Jones movie, all in all, and I've watched them in the theater since they first came out (except this one).
Yes, the beginning has some de-aging and it's not great - but you get used to it pretty fast and I was seeing old Indiana Jones in no time. Yes Harrison Ford doesn't do his own stunts anymore but he's pretty old to be jumping horses through downtown New York. Lots of CGI in this one, but that's where we are today - you don't see hardly anything but CGI these days so why should this film be any different?
The story is pretty outlandish, but then again the first one that everyone loves had spirits jumping out of an mythical box so you have to suspend your disbelief if you want to watch shows like this.
If I were to rate this in the series as a whole:
#1: Raiders of the Lost Ark
#2: Last Crusade
#3: Dial of Destiny
#4: Temple of Doom
#5: Crystal Skull (mostly because Shia LaBouff sucked)
I get that some people, particularly with Temple of Doom, will disagree with my ranking but they are mine, not yours.
I went Into DoD with a ton of trepidation, all I heard was how bad it was in places like Trakt, but in reality it surpassed my expectations by a pretty large amount. They had a nice nod to all previous characters (except Brody, that was disappointing to me - I know the actor is dead but a mention would have been nice). I think this was a good final movie for Indie.
[7.3/10] Let’s get the big thing out of the way first. This Ahsoka takes some getting used to, at least for folks who’ve seen her for ten seasons in various other television shows. She looks right. She moves right. She even does some traditionally awesome Ahsoka things.
But she doesn’t sound the same. Her mannerisms are different. And the result is that, for longtime fans at least, she doesn’t feel right. That’s on me, not on the show. Dave Filoni both wrote and directed this episode, so it’s not as though this is coming from an artist who doesn’t know the spirit of the character. Likewise, there’s differences in vocal tones and speech patterns between tons of characters in live action versus in animation, so this should be no different. But for me at least, it made it hard to connect with a familiar character in an unfamiliar guise. I imagine if we continued with Ahsoka in some form or fashion, that would dissipate as we get used to her in the role, but for now, it’s a little jarring.
That said, I like how Filoni and company use her here. For one thing, they make her a total badass. The sequences where she goes against the Magistrate’s various troops are pretty fantastic. In the opening sequence, she almost feels like a supernatural attacker in a horror film, emerging from the shadows to take out unsuspecting victims. Likewise, when she returns to lay siege to the compound, the way she darts in and out of view, taking out baddies, just like the loth-cat she uses as a distraction, makes her seem scary good at what she does.
In the same way, I liked the Lady Snowblood-esque duel between her and the Magistrate. The combination of Ahsoka’s white lightsabers vs. Morgan’s beskar spear in a temple-like setting was quite cool and artsy. My one complaint is that, as cool as the Wild West standoff between Mando and the Magistrate’s lieutenant was, particularly with the twist, they cut back and forth between the two scenes too often for my tastes. The editing interrupted the rhythm flow of the saber fight, which weakened what could have been an even cooler standoff.
That said, I do like how the show threads the needle on one of the trickier questions here which is, how do you not feel like the series is just stalling forever until Mando finds a Jedi versus come up with a good reason why the Jedi wouldn’t just take Baby Yoda from Mando and remove one half of the major draw for the show?
The answer, at least here, is intuitive. Baby Yoda has attachment, specifically to Mando as a surrogate father. Ahsoka herself has seen what strong force-sensitive individuals with attachments can become, “even the best of us,” so it makes sense that she would fear what The Child might become if she were to start training him now. She feels a lot like Yoda on Dagobah arguing with Obi Wan over whether to train Luke, which feels right.
I also like the scenes where she tests him. I’ve said before that one of my favorite modes on this show is just Mando as the dad to a curious toddler. There’s something very sweet about the way Ahsoka can’t get The Child to move the stone, but that Mando’s developed a connection and understanding with him, as father and son, to where he can get the li’l tridactyl to take the throttle knob from him. It’s even cuter how enthused and proud of the kid he clearly is after Baby Yoda does it. Ahsoka’s rejection of the training opportunity works as a subtle affirmation of the bond Din and Grogu have formed, and that’s really heartening, with hints that Ahsoka thinks being in Mando’s loving care is really what’s best for The Child and maybe even something she senses as what the kid really wants.
That’s the other thing -- there’s a lot of lore and teases in this episode! We learn Baby Yoda’s real name! (Grogu? Really?) We learn that he was trained in the Jedi temple, spirited away after the Clone Wars, and that he has a spate of darkness in his memory after that. We find out that Ahsoka is hunting Grand Admiral Thrawn. We see Morai the owl! We get a hint as to another Jedi temple to visit in the hopes of giving Grogu a spirit vision akin to Ezra’s! There’s a lot of added details here, some of which are intriguing or cool, some of which make me raise an eyebrow, but all of which are at least significant.
I also like the design of Corvus and the compound. There’s a plain sense of have and have nots, with oppression in between, without anyone having to say it. The family-friendly crucifixions along the way are a nice design touch that conveys the cruelty of the magistrate. And even just having Michael Biehn’s second-in-command mercenary guy in play helps add flavor to this one.
Overall, this episode failed to live up to my expectations for seeing Ahsoka in live action and for having one of, if not the, greatest character in all of Star Wars interacting with Mando. But the truth is that those expectations were likely impossibly high, and what we got here was still plenty good.
Baby Yoda is fun and all, but this episode's premise is so overused it's painful to watch. Plus all the other plotholes:
- why does the Mandalorian seem to forget that the kid is being tracked (clearly there's no way for him to remove whatever they're using to track him or he would have done it already…) so why does he think he can find sanctuary by being in the middle of nowhere? (one reasonable theory is that the fobs are short range, so you would need to know what planet the target is on in order to track it with the fob)
- why does he leave his ship unattended again, given that in a previous episode it was ripped apart by scavengers? His plan was to go to this farm for a few months and just leave his ship alone in the middle of a forest that whole time? (maybe he got some upgrades? Or Jawas are more resourceful than the locals on this new planet?)
- I want to lay low so I'll just keep wearing my highly conspicuous armor, and engage in combat with some raiders that clearly have connections without making sure to wipe them out completely?
- (and what's stopping the raiders from returning?)
- "I can never remove my helmet in front of people and haven't shown my face since I was a little kid." then immediately removes his helmet while standing in front of an open window while facing a crowd of people (also I really want to see him eat in public — is there a flap that can flip up? Does he use a straw? The world needs to know.)
- Instead of doing a bad job of sneaking into the raiders' camp, almost getting yourself blown up by your explosive, and running back to get the farmers' village destroyed, why not just look around a bit and find the AT-ST and destroy it first, or better yet commandeer it and use it to kill all the raiders? Oh right, Disney. Slaughtering raiders is a no go? (or maybe the writers were ignorant and thought the AT-ST was a droid instead of a transport?)
- Their plan centers around the AT-ST walking in the mud, which is clearly a bad plan because of the range of its guns. Oh but now someone is shooting at them from the pond so of course it's time to go walking into the trap. Oh but she managed to get a shot through the eye hole so the plan wasn't really necessary after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- The Mandalorian's initial refusal to help, followed by his acquiescence was way too easy, and then they say they can't do it because they have a tank, but are again easily convinced to help. Quick montage showing almost nothing, and bam next day they're ready to take on an army.
This is some extremely lazy writing.
Plus the first female character who shows her face in the show turns out to be pretty much a nothing character with zero personality and is probably not going to show up again.
All of the acting was terrible.
I've enjoyed most of the show so far, but this one was a real dip for me.
[6.0/10] This was a real step down from prior episodes. So much of The Mandalorian has been remixing classic Western tropes, and “Sanctuary” is no exception. The idea of the mercenary/ronin coming to a tucked away village, defending it from some aggressors, and finding themself unexpectedly attached, is a well-established one. (see also: Shane, Yojimbo, a middling episode of Star Trek: Enterprise).
But whereas the prior episodes of this show have taken those familiar stories, melded them with the Star Wars universe, and elevated them with a less is more approach, “Sanctuary” comes off like an episode of any old Saturday afternoon adventure serial. The villagers that Mando saves barely have personalities. He and his local crush have insta-love for reasons that go entirely unexplained. And the show awkwardly makes it seem like Mando wants to settle down here, without really doing the work to establish why.
That’s the main thrust of the episode. Mando is just looking for someplace to hide. He reluctantly takes a job in exchange for shelter. It turns out to be more difficult than he thought, and he has to teach the local how to fight, but at the end of it, he finds himself attached, in more ways than one. That’s not a bad blueprint for an episode of a quasi-ronin show, particularly when it’s punctuated with the reveal that him settling down like that is a pipe dream so long as he’s protecting Baby Yoda. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
For instance, one of the strengths of the show so far has been its shorter runtimes, not stretching the story out to fill time. But here, everything felt so rushed, particularly Mando’s friendship with Cara Dune and his affections for the steely single mom he finds in the village. Given that the emotional impact of this episode rests on him feeling a connection to this place, the fact that the show either just assumes a chemistry and connection that doesn't really exist on the screen, and haphazardly yadda yaddas Mando getting used to this kind of life (a montage might have been life), really weakens the overall goal of “The Sanctuary”.
It’s also the weakest episode we’ve had acting-wise. Pedro Pascal still does great work here, but his village paramour is a forgettable nothing. Cara Dune is a more interesting character, particularly with the idea that she’s a former Rebellion soldier lying low after peacekeeper life didn’t agree with her, leaving her on the run for her own reasons. But MMA star-turned-actor Gina Carano is hit or miss in the role in her first episode. A lot of the Star Wars dialogue about aliens and whatnot can sound hokey, and a lot of the rah-rah action liner stuff is tricky to pull off, and Carano’s shaky at both in the early going.
So what’s good here? Well, the visuals here still manage to impress. The production design on the remote village is superb, marrying the cinematic iconography of Vietnam movies, with the otherworldly blue fish and circular designs that characterize the Star Wars franchise. By the same token, the Imperial Walker’s red eyes peeking through the trees in the forest is an eye-catching image. Plus, Baby Yoda continues to be the most adorable thing on television, with his village kid friendships and mischievous ship-side button-pressing each being utterly delightful.
That said, a lot of this episode is centered on hand-to-hand combat, whether it’s the semi-meetcute between Mando and Dune, or the locals fighting the raiders with big sticks, and the fight choreography and shot selection leaves both feeling somewhat flat. (Though the fight at the raiders’ camp fared a little better) The unfortunate truth is that both the uptempo action-y sequences in this film, and the quieter, supposed-to-be heartening scenes both felt off, with flat framing and moves in the former, and bad dialogue and performances in the latter.
Overall, this is the first miss for The Mandalorian, which is almost inevitable for a show still finding its voice, but which seems that much more glaring given how good the show’s been up to this point.
[6.7/10] Underwhelming finale. Again, the only thing I really liked here is Tam’s choice, which is a little unexpected, but has meaning because it’s both a tough call and one that’s well motivated. Tam is turning her back on her friends, but those same friends also lied to her, and the First Order is offering her the chance to have her dream, something Yeager didn’t seem particularly energetic in delivering. It’s a hard thing to watch because Kaz and Yeager clearly care about her, but it’s understandable, which gives it some power.
That’s more than I can say for the rest of the episode. The good guys flushing stormtroopers out of airlocks is fine but not especially exciting. The dogfights and Kaz blowing up the red first order trooper from the first episode is generic and not particularly satisfying. And there’s a fair amount of the usual capering and sneaking around without anything to distinguish it.
Even the blast into outer space, which should be the highlight set piece, is surprisiingly languid. They try to include Big Damn Hero moments for Hype/Aunt Zi and Synara, but it feels shoehorned in. And the whole “who knows where we’re going?” thing feels like a cop out. Hell, Kaz seems barely moved by the fact that his family is dead.
Overall, this is a thud of an ending to a disappointing first season of this show. I’m a big fan of what the Star Wars team has accomplished on the animation side of things, but in its first season at least, Resistance lacked the stakes of The Clone Wars and the engaging character beats of Rebels. In season 1, it’s just another generic kids show, which feels like an insult to the powerful, even redemptive storytelling that Dave Filoni and company delivered before.
This finale episode is a mildly amusing Star-Wars'ed homage to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, even down to the plot, although in this case I see Thrawn as "The Lion" (a more devilish one this time instead of CS Lewis' god-like one), "The Jedi" (and Huyang) being all the kids heroically running around trying to save the galaxy, obviously Morgan Elsbeth was "The Witch", and finally "The Wardrobe" was the conduit back into the 'real world / known galaxy'. There were various other parallels in concept as well.
It also had a very "The Empire Strikes Back" vibe, in that the the 'rebels' have effectively lost the battle (but not the war) with Thrawn and his Empirical ambitions, and have been left very much on the back foot, unable to prevent another all-out war. Again, it would seem that "the only hope" lies with one young Jedi Knight (Ezra, aka D'Artagnan) and a hugely compromised, and still woefully complacent, New Republic, who will effectively be the new Rebel Alliance. The differences this time round will be that there will be (if The Three Musketeers make it home in time) four highly skilled (sort of) Jedi Knights and (hopefully) a fully reunited Mandalorian army to back them up. There may still be other former Jedi Knights who will come out of hiding to aid the fight, if necessary, perhaps even Luke Skywalker. This is all conjecture at this point of course, as this finale has left all of these balls very high in the air, along with whatever nefarious plans that Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati are separately plotting in the unsuspecting galaxy in which they find themselves.
Overall, I felt that this finale was pretty good, apart from the plethora of unanswered questions that have been present through much of this first season, and there were some shockingly low-quality scenes. Thrawn knew that the platoon of troopers were basically just lambs to the slaughter that wouldn't slow Ashoka and crew down for long. That's fairly standard Star Wars stuff, but how in the name of Luke Skywalker did three lightsabre-wielding, Force-strong Knights manage to kill the entire platoon without having dismembered/beheaded a single one, especially given that such battles have previously resulted in an entire stack of severed hands/arms/heads? This seemed like a convenient plot contrivance so that it didn't lessen the impact of them all rising from the floor to fight again. The undead troopers initially seemed like a good idea, but was sadly a very wasted opportunity. The Night Sisters could surely have infused a generous dose of anger, speed and relentlessness into them, but all they really seemed to be were just standard troopers brought back to life, exactly as they were (apart from the green glow) as nothing more than another pointless delaying tactic. If they had been more zombie-like - in a fast, nasty, formidable way like in 28 Days Later, not the stereotypical 1960's style slow, lumbering, stupid zombies like in The Walking Dead - they would at least have appeared to be more scary, and a genuine threat to the Knights. Another thing that seemed too convenient was Sabine's swift enhancement of her Force manipulation abilities. Perhaps the genuine threats to life (her own and then Ezra's) helped her to focus her mind to be able to make the leap from not even being able to pull a coffee cup towards her, to being able to Force-push Ezra, mid-Force-leap, into the Star Destroyer. Convenient, but at least credible, unlike the whole trooper thing.
Thrawn was very good in this, masterfully maintaining his cool, calm and patient exterior whilst clearly seething at the predictable incompetence of his forces - especially the Night Sisters - in their efforts to stop Ashoka, Sabine and Ezra from getting close to him, and accepting minor tactical losses in the pursuit of his primary goal . I'd forgotten until he spoke directly to her that he and Ashoka had never actually faced off against one another. His likening of her to Anakin - her Master - was both complimentary and insightful. What would it take/how easy would it be for her to fall to The Dark Side, just like Anakin did? That maybe throws another ball into the air - will this somehow happen or not? Probably just an attempt at a bit of psychological manipulation, but it throws the possibility out there.
This whole season appears to have been about very complex plot and character building in preparation for either a second season or a whopper of a film. This is fine by me, but please don't keep us all waiting for too long...
[7.5/10] This one is astonishing to look at, but not much in the way of story. Maybe it’s just because the other shorts so far feel like they’ve extended what Star Wars is and can be. This one, instead, feels pretty traditional in terms of the Jedi/Sith/light/dark/mercy/revenge business it goes through.
Still, the visuals alone are worth cueing this one up for. The imagery of the prophetic pit in the Outer Rim, the lightsaber battle between a cocky sith lord and a vengeful former padawan, the race against time in the air and in the speeder, and the explosive setting of a giant pair of interconnected statues the tower into the sky and glow with the light and dark energies all make this one a marvel for the eye.
That said, the characters are pretty basic, which is perhaps to be expected in an eighteen minute short. They have arcs, mostly steeped in the theme of understanding that good and evil are connected, which means evil can never be vanquished but hope can never be extinguished. But again, all pretty basic and in line with the usual Star Wars schtick. The dialogue in particular leaned a bit too much into opaque purple prose for my tastes.
Overall though, still one worth watching on the back of its stunning imagery, and the short that feels the most like it wants to be the pilot for an ongoing series of adventures.
I've anticipated this movie since at least 2014 and when COVID hit, I was sure the last chance for Indy V was gone. All this to say I've been EXTREMELY hyped for this movie. It had impossible expectations to fill in but, at least for me, it most definitely did.
The de-aged Harrison Ford looks AMAZING. I loved seeing Indy fight some nazis again and it really made it feel like the original movies.
Mads Mikkelsen is obviously an amazing actor.
I also loved seeing Indy in the '60s, I feel like they acknowledged his age without making too much fun of it.
The story was amazing. I'm a sucker for time-travelling and I didn't dare hoping he would actually travel in time. 2000 years at that. Ofcourse it would have even been cooler if he ended up at a time and location of the original trilogy but that's just me.
I feel kinda bad for Shia! And for the characters in general, losing a son must be the most devestating feeling in the world. Therefore I felt genuinely happy when we saw Marion and that they reconnected.
If rumours are to be believed, the ending was rewritten. So I'm not sure at all but it did feel like Indy really intended to stay in the past. I think he would have died quickly so he wouldn't really change the past. It would have been cool if he was the skeleton buried at Archimede's grave.
I'm not sure what those final moments were about, Indy (?) picking up his hat again?
The score might go down on a rewatch and I have small complaints. I didn't understand why Fleabag would lock Indy in with some stone cold killers.
For me it's a perfect Indiana Jones movie. It had everything I could wish for and I had 2,5 hours of fun!
This one is getting high praises and I totally understand why, and don't question the 9/10 rating as anything more then disappointment that this one, frankly, feels unfinished. The Ninth Jedi is very, very good, but frankly deserves a whole series rather then a single short as much of the plot in this feels somewhat rushed in order to meet a 23 minute runtime, and as the longest of these it certainly tries to make use of all of it best it can. It's also the most traditional of all of the Visions shorts so far, being akin to the start of a new trilogy of mainline movies rather then a bold, experimental piece like The Duel or The Village Bride. This is reflected in the cast which is your standard set of "dreamer hero", "sarcastic sidekick", "cute droid", and "wise mentor", just to name a few.
None of this makes the action that follows any less cool though, which is certainly great. I especially love how brutal this does get for a TV-PG rating (pretty sure we saw some blood here!), and the overall vibe of the short is pretty close to what you would expect from Star Wars. I just wish there was more of it as some of the plot here seems rushed and undercooked. Still, worthy of the hype and would be down for a full series of this - a 9/10 short that is begging for a 10/10 series.
[8.0/10] Well hey, for however cruddy Resistance has been this season, at least its using its probable Rise of Skywalker bump for good. For once, this is an episode of the show with genuine stakes and some minor if intriguing intersection with the events of the films.
Having Tam and Kaz cross paths, even if it’s indirect, for the first time since Tam’s defection is a momentous thing. It draws a contrast between Tam and Rucklin, where Tam is starting to feel regrets and nostalgia for her old life and, if nothing else, has sympathy for the innocent people on the Colossus, whereas Rucklin is full First Order now, remorseless in his treatment of Kaz and uncaring about what happens to his old shipmates. (For what it’s worth, I barely remember Rucklin on the Colossus, so his choices don’t have the same smack of betrayal that Tam’s once did, but the show at least reminds us enough of where he came from to make the juxtaposition clear.)
At the same time, this is just a good setup. Kaz, Neeku, and CB having to sneak around a First Order equivalent of The Colossus (creatively name “The Titan”), not only gives the show an excuse to reuse some digital assets, but also creates an opportunity for our heroes to be in their element and out of it at the same time. The familiar but different setting works to disorient Kaz and company, but also to give Tam that key sense of “this is familiar, but different in all the wrong ways” that underscores her buyer’s remorse for the First Order.
Some of the usual hijinks of Kaz screwing things up plays poorly as always. But there’s a neat, very Star Wars-y set piece of him and Neeku scrambling around in a cargo room while evading blaster fire, and Tam’s choice to free them after Rucklin has reported them is a meaningful one.
On top of that, we get some legitimate, competent villain intersection here. Not only do we get the return of Commander Pyre for the first time in a while, but we get Hux himself stopping by and dressing down officers left and right. That makes the stakes extra high when Kaz and Neeku are bumbling around trying to pose as First Order technicians. It’s not much, but it’s enough of a connection to boost the stakes and importance of the episode.
Speaking of the technician angle, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the kick I got of how this obliquely references Adam Driver’s “Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base” sketch on SNL. From Kaz’s and Neeku’s outfits, to cameos from Bobby Moynihan and Taran Killam as stormtroopers, I’m going to count this as canonizing that sketch and you can’t stop me!
Overall, this one doesn't do anything groundbreaking, but it’s got an intriguing central premise and hinges on some solid character work for Tam, coupled with the sense of stakes and progression that’s otherwise been lacking for a while.
[7.4/10] I appreciated the way that this one is actually an episode! It’s nice to jump to the Sequel Trilogy era and see more of Moxie and where things stand for the Freemaker clan now. The notion of Moxie as a young Resistance member, anxious to prove she belongs, makes for a good throughline for the episode. Even though the episode follows the same “cameo from well-known movie” figure format from prior episodes, this one all takes place as part of the same series of events, which helps.
That said, it’s also kind of lumpy, as we jump from Graballa’s efforts to find the Freemakers to Moxie’s scouting mission, to Maz’s involvement with both, to their efforts to find Roger and get off Takodana without a ton of connective tissue. Still, it’s nice to see Leia understand someone’s attachment to a droid, and establishing Roger as Moxie’s best friend helps add an emotional undercurrent to these events. The same goes for Roger being controlled by Graballa, and apologizing for all his actions since it’s not what he actually wants to do.
I do appreciate the show bringing Graballa back. The fact that he finally opened his long-hoped-for Beachside Resort and Buffet is kind of joyous, even if the First Order shows up to ruin the party. And Kylo Ren running afoul of the Freemakers, at least at the margins, because he wants to take possession of his grandfather’s starfighter is a good macguffin to motivate everything.
That said, some of the nonsense on Ord Tellarom feels rote, and while Roger being pulled in both directions by his controls is amusing, it devolves into slapstick pretty quick. Still, it’s fun to see quick visits to all the old Rebel bases and the visual fun on Crait in particular is pretty good. Moxie’s dynamic with Roger and Ka-Pao is a bit silly, but still nice.
Overall, this one feels more like an episode of a sequel series to The Freemaker Adventures and less like a series of loosely-connected vignettes, which I appreciate, and sets up its new characters and conflicts nicely.
[7.8/10] Two good tales! I like Pace and Lena (who are the Freemakers’) parents teaming up with Lando and running afoul of the Empire and Grabala. Zeno Robinson does a great job of imitating Donald Glover as Young Lando (which has a certain irony since Glover was halfway imitating Billy Dee Williams), and the episode does a nice job at portraying Lando as charming but utterly duplicitous. L3 is in rare form here, undercutting Lando in an amusing fashion, and the “corsica crystal” encounter with a young Cpl. Estoc and Grabala has some cool space visuals.
I also enjoyed the fact that this is a fairly direct Freemaker prequel. Lando leading them to The Wheel so that they can let the heat die down, and telling them that they’re “free to make up” their own names is a nice setup. I also appreciate that Lena and Pace are apt to be together because Lena sees that Pace is, for the first time in her life, and honest and loyal partner, and that for Pace, Lena is “the right kind of trouble.”
I like the second tale here even better. For one thing, baby Zander and Kordi is the cutest thing ever, particularly L’il Zander’s childlike joy at spaceships and cuddling his new battle droid. For another, it sets up a good problem and solution with solid character beats and builds on what we saw last episode. Lena being thrilled to see Chewey after he saved her all those years ago, and Pace hating to see Han again after he destroyed Pace’s Jedi starfighter and more or less ruined his life (even if it led to this bit of bliss) is a nice moment. And the pair’s efforts to get Han out of dodge with the latest low-life he’s cheesed off is exciting.
But I also appreciate this as another bit of Freemaker origin story. As a Clone Wars fan, it’s cool to see the team threatened by the Zillo beast. And I really like Pace’s solution to use the old droid control station to distract it and get away. At the same time, this makes for a good excuse for why and how the Freemakers ended up with Roger (right down to a good explanation for his missing arm), and has Han making up for destroying Pace’s ship by delivering Anakin Skywalker’s starfighter to him (which, I guess, Roger will destroy later?).
Either way, the episode picks up a lot of pieces it set up in earlier episodes, and puts them together in fun and exciting ways that (roughly at least) line up with other pieces of the Star Wars universe. I’ll take that every time.
[7.2/10] This one is boosted by Rowan’s choice at the end, his amusing ploy, and the comic silliness of Roger being stuck on saying the word “genius”.
But at the same time, this is kind of a generic episode. The gang goes to Hoth, they cross paths with a Wampa, they have some dogfighting and close-quarters fisticuffs. There’s not much to it, or at least not much that The Freemaker Adventures haven’t already done and done better this season. While Zander’s friendship with the baby wampa is cute, and it’s always nice to have another turn from Ensign Durpin and sub-Ensign Plumestriker, this came off like a replacement-level Freemaker adventure with little more than the snow to spice it up.
Still, I appreciate the theme of the Freemaker siblings sticking together through thick and thin, making their home wherever they’re together, only for Rowan to decide that he can’t let his brother and sister continue to be on the run and at risk on his account. I don’t expect it to last, but it’s a sacrifice and a sign of maturity, and I’m interested to see where it goes over the final two episodes.
Overall, this one didn’t have some of the fun and flair of prior episodes (despite the amusing image of Grabala in a scarf and cap), but at least sets up some interesting things for the show’s endgame.
[8.0/10] Another great addition to this weird little pocket of the Star Wars universe. I assume this was all a way to help kids get up to speed on the prequels ahead of the Sequel Trilogy, but it also works as an amusingly jocular take on The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
There’s a lot of affectionate dunking on those movies which is roundly enjoyable. Bits like no one really understanding why Padme has to sign the treaty, or the assembled heroes falling asleep at Endor when C-3P0 starts talking about trade route taxation, or the gratuitous but still hilarious punishment doled out to Jar Jar Binks is all delightful for an old school prequel-doubter like yours truly.
But I also enjoyed the more knowing gags the episode included. L’il Anakin flipping out about the bread his PB&J is on, or Palpy not being able to rotate his head properly, or Watto’s little interlude about “red flags” are all nice bits of humor about where we know the story ends up.
As a recap, this leaves a lot out, but gets in the broad strokes (and most of what gets cut isn’t all that important anyway). They’re tasteful about Qui Gon’s death and leave out to whole sand people bit entirely, which is for the best. As I’ve said before, there’s a PG Robot Chicken-esque approach to these movies, which helps rescue their charm and set aside their rougher points (and the points where they flat out make no sense).
For what it’s worth, I’m curious as to how the show will handle all the darker parts of Revenge of the Sith and interested to find out who the mysterious cloaked figure who stole Admiral Akbar’s ship is!
[7.8/10] Another very enjoyable outing for this mini-series. I’ll admit I had some concerns about shifting things forward to the OT era, but this one handled it with aplomb. The A-story, B-story, and C-stories worked together nicely.
The A-story (in my estimation) of Luke searching for the holocrons paid great dividends. The sequence of him showing up to Utapau and fighting the giant lizard there helps continue the “mixing the eras of the franchise” vibe this series thrives on, and makes for a fun set piece. I like that it pays off with Luke being willing to sacrifice his quest and chance to get the holocrons to save C-3P0, which is a standard but surprisingly effective character beat for a fun but otherwise pretty weightless story. And him interacting with Watto and using the ol’ Jedi Mind Trick doesn't make much sense, but leads to another fun gag with gung-ho Threepio.
The B-story with Vader on the hunt as well works nicely too. They’ve been doing a lot of amusing parallels between Luke and Vader which work well here. The pair each being in an enemy ship and getting attacked by their own allies is good for a laugh. Vader realizing that Luke is in his old podracer and Luke realizing that Vader is in his old speeder is a great beat (and the two switching is hilarious). And the set piece of the two of them fighting and racing to get the holocrons and Tatooine, while a little overlong, is a lot of fun.
I also enjoyed the C-story with Han and Chewey getting shanghai’d by Vader and then trying to find the right moment to save the day (and failing to pull off the trick a second time). The pair ending up on Dagobah (with “Yo-yo” reuniting with “Ian”) is a nice way to, again, mix and match things we never got to see in the original trilogy. It’s fanservice, but in a light tone bit like this, that totally works. And the tease with Jek-14 is an enjoyable one as well.
Overall, this is another fun brick remix of classic Star Wars, and I’m excited to see where things go, story-wise and humor-wise, in the last few episodes.
[7.8/10] Another fun outing for the show. My favorite element of it is the way that Palpatine is annoyed at having to play the hapless Chancellor when he really just wants to blast off and help the Sith ambush the Jedi. That dovetails nicely with Grievous once again being the bumbling henchman, causing Palpy to have to comically fumfer and do anything he can to dissuade the still-mostly-oblivious Jedi from thinking he’s evil. Plus, both him and C-3P0 being annoyed by the Ewoks’ famed “Yub-Nub” song (which apparently translates to “it’s hot and smelly in these suits”) is a good laugh.
I also enjoy Jek-14 getting to be useful and save the day. (Yoda’s line about why everyone waits until the last minute to show up and save the day is a good laugh.) It’s another “Big Damn Heroes” moment, and while him reconstructing all the clone trooper ships into a big battle cruiser is, as is inevitable for this franchise, pretty toyetic, I like him being persuaded by the younglings to join the Fray.
There’s a lot of other nice touches here too. Dooku presiding over a group of mischievous and unruly “badawans” is corny but still enjoyable. Palpatine lamenting that the Sith keep getting defeated by “four kids, two droids and an eight hundred-year-old green guy” is chuckle-worthy. The action on Mustafar and in the asteroid field is quality. And Anakin drifting toward Palpatine because he’s jealous of the attention Jek-14 is getting is a nice note to play.
Overall, another fun outing from this mini-series.
That's probably the best episode that the show has ever done and my favourite episode of anything from 2020 so far. WOW. What a rollercoaster. We've reached the part where we've caught up with Revenge of the Sith and that can only mean that bad stuff is going to happen. I like how Obi-Wan has been able to keep Ahsoka up to date of where we are in it - he's off to Utapau, Anakin's spying on the Chancellor and they can't learn about Sidious from Dooku because Anakin killed Dooku.. on Palpatine's orders. Obi-Wan admitting that the Council aren't always right and getting Ahsoka to speak to Anakin on his behalf was a nice touch too, even if it hasn't happened yet.
This whole arc was building up to the Maul/Ashoka fight and it was as every bit as epic as I was hoping it would be, the animation is legendary and the fact that Maul knows what's going to happen and baits Ahsoka with Anakin turning to the Dark Side was handled really well. These little touches throughout the episode of showing Ahsoka caring for the Clones and them respecting her in return is only going to make the next two episodes all the more emotional, because it's going to get to Order 66. And I'm NOT READY. The idea of a Maul and Ahsoka team-up to stop Order 66 was fascinating - and might still happen - two former apprentices working together. Maul technically tried to save the galaxy too by wanting to bring Anakin to Mandalore to kill him before he could turn to Sidious really worked too - even if it was only Maul acting as the bitter ex and in his own self-interests - after all, Anakin would be the second apprentice that Sidious had since him.
Maul screaming that he would rather die than witness what was coming next and begging for The Clones to kill him rather than take him prisoner was, certainly a morbid end. I love what the show has done with his character too - I groaned when they brought him back the first time but Maul's arc has been as good over the course of the series as Ahsoka has, and as absolutely vital to the show. Revenge of the Sith is going to hit a little differently after this.
[7.2/10] This episode isn’t as strong as the other parts of this four-episode arc. There’s a good core idea at play, of whether Echo will stay loyal to the Republic after months (years?) plugged into the Techno Union’s machines, and whether he still belongs with the “regs” after all he’s been through. But the episode is far more interested in setting up another siege and commando plot than it is really dramatizing that.
It’s a fun enough commando plot though! There’s plenty of cool moments, like Mace WIndu giving the battle droids a chance to surrender before one of the B1 units declares “blast him”, or the fun interludes where Wrecker and Crosshair compete to see who can top one another in taking out droids, or the other oners that the episode includes. This is more of a combat-focused episode than anything, and while it can get a little static at times, you can see the care put into it.
On the other hand, some of the plotting and logistics is a tad opaque. Why does Echo need the droids to be near one particular site before he sends the feedback charge that incapacitates him Why is it that our heroes work so hard to disarm the bomb that will supposedly blow up most on Anaxas, but then seem blasé about letting wrecker push a detonator. Was that for a different bomb? Had Tranch’s ship moved to a safe distance or something. The episode isn’t necessarily good at communicating the nuts and bolts of what’s happening here.
Still, it’s nice to see the multi-man effort to stop the Separatists. Echo using his Borg arm to give Tranch a bad algorithmic plan and stopping the droids is a good way for him to prove his continued worth. Windu trying to disarm the bomb using the force is pretty cool. And I like that we get to see Anakin’s brutality slip out for a good cause here, when he threatens Tranch and eventually kills him in order to try to save the day, something that feels very un-Jedi and a hint at things to come.
Overall, the episode doesn't spend enough time on Echo’s personal arc here, and too much on that usual battle shtick, which makes Echo’s decision to join the Bad Batch at the end land with less force than it might. But it’s still a solid outing for the show with some cool action scenes.
Ohhhhh a space fight. Me likey!!
Dang mando ain’t doing so hot!!!
Did this mofo just use Mando’s line?? Haaaaa no sooner did I finish that thought did mando say that’s my line. love it!!!!
Oh boy something tells me baby yoda isn’t going to stay put. Haaaa
Lol back to no droids!!
And there goes baby yoda doing what baby yoda does!! :smile:hahha
Haha even this Peli chick gone all soft when seeing the little guy.
Yay Tatooine!! How cool!!!
Who this cocky cat name toro!! Finally Ming-Na is here!!!!!
Lol rookie smart enough to trash the fob. haha if it was anyone else but mando that would of been the thing to do. haha
Awww baby yoda so cute. they do a good job making you like a character real quick. Peli is pretty cool.
The speeder bikes was a fun ride!!!
I really love seeing Ming -na in the Star Wars universe.
This dude is too worried about being f’d over. Makes me wonder what’s his intentions are
And there you have it. He’s shrewd as a mofo!!!
Wow what a waste! That’s all they did with Ming-an?? Sheesh
Looks like I trusted the right one. Something was off with this dude even if this wasn’t premeditated. haha
Peli love her some baby yoda. She is going to miss him!! Haha
As always great art work and music!!!
[7.5/10] Someone had a good plan for once in Star Wars Resistance! Unfortunately it was the First Order, but still! It’s mildly impressive! Their scheme to induce the pirates to kidnap Torra Doza, and then use the fact that they arranged the kidnapping to (a.) play heroes (b.) emphasize the need for security at the platform and (c.) exemplify how they can provide it is downright cunning.
Granted, it involves some contrivances. For one thing, they clearly didn’t anticipate a relative dolt like Kaz stumbling into the situation and being a fly in the ointment. It also involves Synara just happening to get the relevant security codes after she’s been instructed to help the fellow pirates on their mission.
That said, while it’s pretty heavily telegraphed, I actually liked Synara’s beat in this one pretty well. The whole “going native” storyline, where she experiences genuine kindness and is poised to double-cross the double-crossers rather than her targets, is a cliché. But while obvious, I like that it’s the fact that the pirates are putting someone who was friendly and trusting with her in danger that seems to persuade her to break ranks.
Granted, there’s still some basic flaws in the show that keep this one from being rated higher. For one, the dialogue is still super expositional, with the show underlining every plot beat and feeling, but I suppose these are occupational hazards on a kids show. I do like that, after totally misreading the situation earlier in the episode and being blinded by his crush, Kaz has finally figured out that Synara is in cahoots with the baddies. And the fact that he’s figuring this out right when she’s had a change of heart is promising in terms of plot.
Overall, it’s nice to see someone executing a plan well and reading situations right, even if it’s the villains, and putting more of the focus on Synara pays off.
Arrested Development has ruined my chances of ever being content with another comedy show for ever. In my humble opinion, this is simply the greatest TV-series ever to have been produced in the world. Nothing else I've watched comes remotely close, and quite frankly, I don't think it's fair to compare it to any other comedy series ever made. The excellent dialouge writing, absolutely hilarious plots and utterly extreme attention to every single detail throughout the entire span of the series is, to put it ligthly, mildly mind numbing. You can rewatch it tens of times with pleasure. It's a never ending source of hysterical laughter.
There are lots of factors that make Arrested Development unique in it's genre, but the most memorable is the intense attention to detail in the scripts, and the massive payoff for the audience if they manage to keep an equally devoted focus on everything. It's completely safe to presume that no one in the world noticed every joke, gag or funny moment the first time they watched the show. Probably not even in their second or third run through. The 22 minutes of each episode is so overstuffed with funny content, that most of the hysterical points will fly right over your head. Then you watch it again, and catch something new. Then again, and again and again, until you finally think you've seen it all. But then you give it a seventh go, and discover a funny note on the fridge in the background of a scene, or catch someone foreshadowing something you now know is coming in three episodes. I'm personally currently rewatching some of the episodes for the twentieth-something time, and just yesterday I caught something completely new which has kept me laughing since. It's just a bottomless box of fun.
So, to end this 'review', I quite simply cannot reccomend this series enough. It is hands down the best and richest writing to any comedic product I have ever seen, and I seriously doubt something will ever best it. Start watching it with an open mind, spend some time getting used to the very fast pacing of the content and rapid delivery of the jokes, and I guarantee you will absolutely love it. I am 100% sure that anyone who dislikes this show either didn't give it enough of a chance, or simply doesn't share my taste in comdey. Watch it once, twice or even thrice, and you'll have established a lasting bond with what I will safely call the best writing in screenwriting history. And you can quote me on that!
9/10. Anytime you can get Liam Neeson back it's a treat, and this is another great example from this season of Clone Wars using its ability to fill in the gaps from the prequels. I really liked the fact that not only do we get to see Qui Gon contacting Yoda, something Revenge of the Sith only mentions in a single line, but that it's treated kind of seriously and suspiciously. Yoda initially thinks he may just be going mad. The other masters on the Jedi Council worry that he may have been compromised in some way by the Sith. Yoda himself seeks out help and confirmation from his compatriots as to whether there's something real there or if he's just losing it. The caution, and the not-at-all taken for granted way in which the show address even a Jedi Master hearing voices is admirable.
It's also nice to see Yoda be a little mischievous once more. The Yoda of the original films could certainly be serious, but he also had an impish quality that made him kind of fun and distinctive. The Yoda of the prequels, beyond basically one scene in Episode II, is much more stoic and even stern throughout. But here, even as he's concerned, there's a spritely wisdom to him that feels of a piece with the character we met in The Empire Strikes Back. I especially liked his scene with Anakin, where Yoda asks him for help, noting that he has a "talent" for disobeying the council and a knack for spontaneity, which both show Yoda's more playful side and also demonstrate how he gets Anakin.
We also delve heavily into the mythos here. Learning that there's a distinction between the "living force" and the "cosmic force" was kind of cool, if a bit over-explainly (and I'm not sure I ever needed to hear about midichlorians again). It's vague enough to help explain how there could be force ghosts but no one knew about them until now. I also liked that Yoda had to go into (presumably) the same cave Luke went into on Dagobah, and saw visions of the future, including Sidious slicing and dicing the place. It's an interesting point that until now, the Jedi thought Dooku was the master, not the apprentice, and had no real knowledge of Sidious.
The episode isn't perfect -- Yoda being in a little wetsuit was visually a bit odd, and him following tinkerbell around Dagobah was a bit of a strange choice -- but overall there was a great deal to like about this one. Neeson was great; the way Yoda and the Council explored the legitimate implications of a voice from the beyond vs. a Sith trick was superb; and the fact that we got a bit of the old Yoda and some big mythos development at the same time makes this episode a keeper.
I can't say I imagined that an episode where R2-D2 was the main character would be this good, but it turned out something like WALL-E by way of Star Wars and that was just right. The episode built perfectly, with the initial investigation by Mace and Anakin leading nicely to the major obstacle of the episode (the two of them being crushed under debris from a bomb set by Boba). Then, having R2 play Home Alone with the bounty hunters and Boba, not to mention battle it out with the gundarks, and earning the respect of Mace when he pilots a cruiser all the way back to the Jedi temple and gets help was superb, with impressive setpieces (the dogfight between R2 and Slave 1 in particular), and some nicely escalating stakes as the felled cruiser started to disintegrate around Mace and Anakin. The reveal of the bounty hunters and their internal dynamic was also very interesting, especially with Boba's anger, Craston's disdain, and Aurra's big sisterly vibe with Boba. Some of the exposition was clunky, and there wasn't much thematic going on (beyond hooray for R2!), but it was action-packed and well done storytelling, which goes a long way.
