AHSOKA!!

[TonyTricicolo]

Not going to lie, Ahsoka has been my most anticipated show for a good while now. Thrawn, Ezra, Sabine, Hera, "Heir to the Empire" here we come!

https://youtu.be/J_1EXWNETiI

Edited July 11 by TonyTricicolo

[Nee-Elder]

28 minutes ago, TonyTricicolo said:

Not going to lie, Ahsoka has been my most anticipated show for a good while now. Thrawn, Ezra, Sabine, Hera, "Heir to the Empire" here we come!

It looks interesting enough to make me curious , but not enough to make me give DISNEY+  any money$ .

Other than 'Andor'  ( which felt at least like it had a bit more grit & soul to it ) there's just something so blatantly sterile, manufactured, & cosplay-ish about most of these recent series  imo.

i also think Rosario Dawson, at least in the trailer, seems a bit  'wooden' .  But i guess they wouldn't want to reveal her best/most emotional acting scenes just yet maybe i dunno.

Edited July 11 by Nee-Elder
Reason: i miss George Lucas....and i really miss Irvin Kuschner

[TonyTricicolo]

20 hours ago, Nee-Elder said:

It looks interesting enough to make me curious , but not enough to make me give DISNEY+  any money$ .

Other than 'Andor'  ( which felt at least like it had a bit more grit & soul to it ) there's just something so blatantly sterile, manufactured, & cosplay-ish about most of these recent series  imo.

i also think Rosario Dawson, at least in the trailer, seems a bit  'wooden' .  But i guess they wouldn't want to reveal her best/most emotional acting scenes just yet maybe i dunno.

Good points! I think the trailer only shows glimpses of the first two episodes that will be shown on day of release. I'm some what more optimistic because Ahsoka is Filoni's labor of love. I think he'll do it justice and stay true to GL's vision. The show will tie in and connect the OT with ST and perhaps fix some of the nonsense of the ST. I still have faith in Star Wars recovering some dignity.

Edited July 12 by TonyTricicolo

[FlameYOL]

Loved the trailer, I'm excited for it.

[Whykara]

On 7/11/2023 at 9:10 PM, Nee-Elder said:

there's just something so blatantly sterile, manufactured, & cosplay-ish about most of these recent series  imo.

This, the Disney series look like fan films but without the soul

[TonyTricicolo]

So after watching the first two episodes I'm still undecided on whether or not I like it.

 

Positives:

The story is a slow build and it feels like a continuation of Rebels.

 

Negatives:

The actors. I'm sorry. I just don't see Ahsoka. All I see is Rosario Dawson with lekkus. Same goes for Hera and Sabine. There is just something off. I can't seem to allow myself to stretch my level of belief for the sake of immersion.

 

RIP Ray Stevenson

 

Edited August 23 by TonyTricicolo

[Nee-Elder]

6 hours ago, TonyTricicolo said:

Negatives:

The actors. I'm sorry. I just don't see Ahsoka. All I see is Rosario Dawson with lekkus. Same goes for Hera and Sabine. There is just something off. I can't seem to allow myself to stretch my level of belief for the sake of immersion.

Totally agree.

i just don't understand  some choices they made and frankly i'm a bit worried  Dave Filoni  has become stale ( or a DISNEY product of his own creation  )

[Char_Ell]

I'm enjoying it so far with one big exception.  For the first two episodes it seems clear to me that it is live-action continuation of Star Wars Rebels with Ahsoka filling the void left by Kanan.  And of course there is the loose connection to Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy with the use of the phrase "Heir To The Empire."

Somewhat of a spoiler:

Spoiler

I have to say I'm really tired of seeing people getting stabbed with lightsabers and surviving though.  I want to say SWTOR is the first one that did that with the early KOTFE chapters as I remember I really couldn't accept that and I just didn't care about KOTFE/KOTET story after that.  Unfortunately the idea that lightsaber wounds to the torso aren't all that lethal seems to have caught on in Lucasfilm productions as well.

 

[TonyTricicolo]

Spoiler

YES! That is also starting to piss me off. It's totally taking away the mythos of the all powerful lightsaber which is supposedly the ultimate sword and diminishes it in to a whiffle bat. To my recollection: Finn survived a slash to the back which should have at least paralyzed him for life, Kylo Ren gets slashed across the face and simply puts Neosporin on it. The Grand Inquisitor survived a gut stab in one of his stomachs which should have killed him instantly, Din Djarin cuts his own leg with the Dark Saber from a slash that should've crippled him, and now Sabine gets stabbed in the chest and just sleeps through the injury? WHAT! WTF is going on here? There is no more respect for the lightsaber. At least it fits Disney's wholesome image: Rule 1- No one dies. Rule 2- Bad guys can be turned good. 

 

Edited August 24 by TonyTricicolo

[BipolarWeasel]

On 8/24/2023 at 2:52 AM, TonyTricicolo said:

  Hide contents

YES! That is also starting to piss me off. It's totally taking away the mythos of the all powerful lightsaber which is supposedly the ultimate sword and diminishes it in to a whiffle bat. To my recollection: Finn survived a slash to the back which should have at least paralyzed him for life, Kylo Ren gets slashed across the face and simply puts Neosporin on it. The Grand Inquisitor survived a gut stab in one of his stomachs which should have killed him instantly, Din Djarin cuts his own leg with the Dark Saber from a slash that should've crippled him, and now Sabine gets stabbed in the chest and just sleeps through the injury? WHAT! WTF is going on here? There is no more respect for the lightsaber. At least it fits Disney's wholesome image: Rule 1- No one dies. Rule 2- Bad guys can be turned good. 

 

My response below:

Spoiler

To be fair, this is all Dave Filoni's fault. He started all this 'survive the lightsaber stabbing' with  started with Darth Maul returning in Clone Wars.  He was cut IN HALF and Dave thought 'sure, Maul would have lived because HATE!'.   

Let's not forget the Third Sister of the Inquisitor's, also known as Reva in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, was stabbed twice by Darth Vader, in the chest.  One of those times she was like a 9 or 10 year old child!

In fact he has been a part of every Disney-era Star Wars movie or show where someone was hit with a lightsaber and lived with only a scratch and is the driving force behind making the light saber less deadly.

Now as for my review:

Ahskoa is....fine.  It doesn't thrill me, it doesnt make me itch to see the next episode.  It's like a meal of plain white rice.   It will fill you up but it doesn't excite you or satisfy. You are not looking forward to the next meal of plain white rice.  I watched the first two episodes to give this show a fair chance.  I haven't watched episode 3 or 4 nor will I be doing so.  the writers had their chance to capture my attention, they failed to do so. I'm not interested in Ahsoka which is kinda sad since I was looking forward to a good Jedi-based live action Star Wars show (Obi-Wan should have been a 1 1/2 hour movie so I was disapointed with it).  Don't take what I'm about to say as an insult to your feelings about the show. It's how I feel, and this isn't a personal attack.  You are not going to change my mind by saying "Well you just didn't watch the cartoons so that's why you don't get it and are stupid".  Spin offs and shows based on previous media (movies, books and so on) work fine, if they don't require the audiance to 'do homework' and watch multiple other shows to understand the characters in this show.   Anyway, on with my review....
 

Spoiler

The writers could have cut a lot of standing around and staring at each other, long shots of 'thoughtful contemplation', The couple word comment, stop and stair at each other, the other person responds. Wait a beat or two and then respond with a short comment.  It was like watching paint dry.  My wife literally feel asleep watching the first episode. 

I felt the writers could have made the characters show more depth and range of emotions.  They could have written dialog for them to say that would help us understand motives of the characters and given us (who didn't watch a children's cartoon aimed at 7-14 year old kids) a reason to care about the characters. 

Unless we watched Rebels,  many people are lost at what is going on.   This was avoidable if the writers had given us some backstory.  Look at the Book of Bobba Fett which we all know Fett is a pretty well know Star Wars character.  They gave us backstory so someone would have needed to see Return of the Jedi or the Prequal movies to understand the Fett character.  The writers explained his history in his show, right away.

Again, to someone who didn't watch an animated cartoon aimed at 7-14 year old children (and truely tried as an adult just a couple weeks before this show came out...but just couldn't get through more than a couple episodes), then we don't know who these characters in "Ahsoka" are or their relationships or motives and the writers don't care to give us any clue.  They seemed to expect everyone watching the show to already know these characters and their background. 

Ahsoka seems, as another poster said, "Wooden".  She has a near permanent face of stoic resignation. It's like they copied how Luke was written in The Last Jedi and tweeked it slight for her.  There is no reason given for why she is acting like a plank of wood.  If we were shown a great trama, at least it would be understandable.   If she had some 'humanity' show through so we could see the pain she is dealing with, we could understand.  If this is what her character is like in the cartoons, honestly I don't see why she is so beloved.  

Sabine feels like her character was taken from the script of a CW young adult drama show with all her angst and 'I'm in my youthful rebellion phase of life'. It feels like she's  supposed to be 16-17 years old. Ignoring any knowledge of Rebels and based just off this show, why would we care about Sabine getting stabbed?  Sidenote: I honestly laughed for a moment when she was run through with the Elmo lightsaber because you could see that the actress playing Sabine started to bring her lightsaber down, had to catch herself and put her arms up again and wait a heartbeat so the Emo chick with the elmo lightsaber stabbed her. 

The Emo dark Jedi chick with the Elmo Lightsaber seems to be like Sabine: lifted from a CW teen drama. She had so much potential and it was squandered (and it isn't the actress' fault. This is on the writers).  

The night sister, I'd forgotten about her. She was a throw-away extra from Mandalorian. Appeared in one episode, no mention she was a night sister in that episode or any reason she was important so I was like "oh...ok. She is someone important I guess?"  I don't hate her, I don't like her, she is just miqutoast. 

The male Dark Force User, I can't get a bead on him and half expected him to die in the first episode. Unknown bad guy with unknown motives or reason for me to dislike him. That's one way to write a character.

The only character that seems to have any sense is the discount C3-PO and the green Twil'lek general seems to be the only one with any range of emotions.   

I wanted to like this show but I felt lost. So I won't be watching more. I'm part of the drop off in viewership. 

So that's my thoughts. 

I'd also say that if we back up and look at the bigger picture, the question should be: Is "Ahsoka", "The Little Mermaid", "Elementals", "Loki, Season 2" and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" enough to draw in new D+ subscribers or even just keep the subscribers they have?   (source)

D+ is increasing their subscription price from $10.99 to $13.99 in October, a 27% increase (source).  Since May, they have removed ~30 shows as well as 20 movies and specials and the only shows and movies I listed above really seem like the kind of content that would draw in or keep people subscribed. (source)  Bob Iger also announced that they’ll be cracking down on password sharing, making it impossible to split the cost of Disney+ with friends or family.

I just wonder if this show and the others I listed would keep the subscriber numbers from slipping.  

[TonyTricicolo]

I caught myself falling asleep twice already watching Ahsoka and that blonde apprentice never blinks. It's starting to freak me out a bit. Nice to see

Spoiler

Hayden Christensen show up as Anakin though.

 

[SteveTheCynic]

21 hours ago, TonyTricicolo said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Hayden Christensen show up as Anakin though.

 

Isn't he getting a bit old to be playing a barely-not-a-teenager these days?

[BipolarWeasel]

Oh look, Disney just announced they are letting people sign up for 3 months of Disney+ Basic for $1.99/mo. Then $7.99/mo  Huh.  Looks like a desperate attempt to increase subscription numbers. 

You know they will use the subscriber increase as proof to the investors that "the site is doing great".  What they won't say how many of those subscribers are just there for the cheap introductory offer.
One more day until D23, where we learn if Ahsoka gets a season 2 or not.

Edited September 8 by BipolarWeasel

[Toraak]

While I think the show is ok, I do not like the personality change Ahsoka has in this series compared to during Clone Wars, and Rebels. 

 

It just doesn't feel like the same character to me with how it is being done in any of the Live action shows she has been in including Mando episodes she was in.

[TonyTricicolo]

So...

Despite 

Spoiler

Ahsoka becoming Gandalf the White

the episode was pretty good. 

I liked all the

Spoiler

Clone War flashbacks especially Temuera Morrison voicing Capt Rex

 

[Balameb]

I like it in general. But i think is my over hyped self that is not being very objective to admit there are things that seems a little off.

[TonyTricicolo]

I give up!

Spoiler

Grand Admiral Thrawn is a fat and sloppy clown. There is nothing intimidating about him at all. I can't help but chuckle every time he opens his mouth to talk. 

The show has gone in a direction that I just can't take serious anymore.

Edited Thursday at 04:35 PM by TonyTricicolo
Punctuation, usage, spelling, and grammar.

[Jazulfi]

I desperately wanted it to be good. I originally wanted the franchise to die gracefully after the prequels, but Clone Wars and Rebels utterly turned the ship around for me. I love Ahsoka as a character, and the way they manage to remake Anakin into someone meaningful and interesting is nothing short of a miracle masterpiece.

So it gives me no pleasure whatsoever to say that it's terrible. What's worse, in light of how great Andor was, and Obi Wan for that matter, it shows they can produce very high quality spin offs if they put the money and their minds to it. Rosario Dawson is great and I was happy to believe her as adult Ahsoka, but she can't save it. This is Boba Fett levels of bad, and I'm heartbroken about what they've done with it.

Honestly, Christensen's cameo has been the high point thus far. I never thought I'd be saying that.

They've crapped on all the amazing good will and interest 'Clone Wars' and 'Rebels' clawed back. What a shame.

[Jazulfi]

I also meant to say I genuinely don't understand the obsession with turning animated films and series into live action. Animation earned it's place and respect as a serious medium long ago. A new series about Ahsoka didn't need to be live action to give it hype or gravitas. In fact, trying to brute force well-written animated characters into a live action setting has truly horrible consequences in this case - Hera Syndulla what have they done to you? It diminishes the animated characters you've lovingly created and grown, and is a distraction from the story you now want to tell about them.

As you can probably tell, I'm so disappointed.
 

[Balameb]

Ok, now that the withdrawal of the copium i inhaled while watching 342345 trailers is finally clearing my head, i think i can be more objective.

It is bad, i don't know if bobba fett bad, but it is bad.

My first sign of alarm actually came early

Spoiler

A new galaxy. We already had unknown regions, there is a huge galaxy; why add a new one? Haven't they learned from Stargate that adding galaxies to interact with is not a good idea? And my guess this will not end here, the new Jedi 'origin' movie is likely to touch things here as well. 

Second

Spoiler

Why do we need a teenage making hot head mistakes? Worst why do we need a fully grown up mandalorian prodigy behave like a teenage? In rebels she was older than Ezra and she already made her major and fatal mistakes that already had to live with. Now is like the character did not age at all, she barely has coll bad ass mando moments but then that is lost as she ends up needing the lighsaber to actually win a fight against a bunsh of sand...err i mean ronin samurai samurai in bad shape...i mean....whatever 😔

Oh, and not happy with making a mistake once, then a second time, now add a third time because she could not even guess she was going to be used to find Ezra to kill them both.

I mean, when ezra asked how she got there, she should have answered that Thrawn is comming, then Ezre could saying something cocky like 'don't worry, i have a plan'.

Third

Spoiler

Thrawn.

I loved the fact they brought Lars Mikkelsen to make the live action. I think he was instrumental in rebels to make the character great(*). But something is not working here. For me is not how it looks, it is mostly the writing: From master tactitian in rebels to obvious plans and a simple 'i don't care about anyone i'm evil' attitude.

(*) note: i do know that Thrawn came originally from novels way before rebels, but i have not read those.

And to finish this rant

Spoiler

Ezra apearence and reunion was so....bland? I mean. Bland moment, too easy to find.... And Thrawn with a star destroyer and many troops and guns at his disposal could not find him? 

 

So far the only redimable thing of this show so far was Chopper. But the coolest bit was already seen even before the show.

And i'm really sad that this happen with Filoni all over the proyect. It seems that past some point, authors end up destroying their own creations core. Maybe a regular fan could have been better running this with Filoni on the back seat.