A Star Wars Digression

On the day after the holiday, a few thoughts from a galaxy far, far away

For those that only want Cardinals baseball, you should probably click read, go about your business and move along, move along. Because while this post does have a Cardinals hook, as it were, it’s not about this surprising 21-14 juggernaut. It’s about Star Wars opinions, and if you aren’t ready for that wretched hive, I don’t blame you.

Yesterday, over at Jeff Jones’s subscription site Words About Birds (a site at which, for the next two days, you can get the rest of the season for a conveniently priced $19.77), he posted a discussion he had with Cardinals pitcher Michael McGreevy about the franchise that was being celebrated. It was an interesting discussion and one that I would have liked to have been a part of. So I’ll insert myself into it now, somewhat like Photoshopping a person into a picture.

Where we all agree: The Rise of Skywalker goes at the bottom of the pile. There are moments in TROS that are interesting and fun. I would have watched a whole movie of Rey, Finn, and Poe going on some sort of adventure because the chemistry there was a lot of fun. I wish we’d seen more of Ben Solo, because even the little bit we got was intriguing. I could imagine Adam Driver playing him as a sardonic good guy, taking some personality from Han.

Overall, though, it was a mess and the signature reason why doing three movies without having a firm overarching plan from the beginning was terrible. I can understand why you wouldn’t have all three movies directed by the same guy—that’s a decade or more of someone’s life—but the major story beats should have been fleshed out before The Force Awakens was ever even titled.

Where Jeff and I agree: The Last Jedi is good, the best of the sequels, but there are understandable arguments against it. I have never been as surprised by a Star Wars movie as I was TLJ. I honestly wasn’t sure how some beats were going to go when I was watching it for the first time. I understand the arguments against the Luke Skywalker arc and I admit, seeing him as a legendary Jedi for longer than we did would have been pleasing.

However, he ran away, like his Masters did, and everyone that says “he saw the good in Vader” tends to forget that if the Emperor doesn’t have an own goal and snap Luke out of his fury, Vader might have lost more than just a hand. I can believe it would cross his mind to try to strike down an evil before it became a threat, just like it is believable he’d not go through with it.

Plus, we’ve never see anything like his Force projection and he basically played the ultimate troll on Kylo Ren, so that’s fun.

We partially agree on Attack of the Clones. Most of the Padme/Anakin stuff is rough and it’s what sinks AOTC to the bottom of the prequel pile. However, Obi-Wan playing detective and the battle of Geneosis are a lot of fun and some of AOTC got redeemed in the excellent The Clone Wars animated series.

Where Michael and I agree: Maul - Shadow Lord has been outstanding. I’ve not gotten to the finale that came out yesterday, but I’m very excited to get a chance to watch it, maybe after the game tonight. Sam Witwer is so great at bringing depth and intrigue to what we all thought was a silent, one-note character back in 1999.

Also, that The Phantom Menace is an interesting choice for Best Prequel Trilogy. I do the years have been kind to it and it is better when it doesn’t have all the pressure of “Star Wars returning” around it. I don’t mind the political drama around it at all and it’s helpful showing how Palpatine worked his way through legitimate channels. There’s enough awkward performances and cringy dialogue (and, in fairness, both of those are in almost every Star Wars movie) that it wouldn’t be my first choice.

Where we all agree: Derrick Goold is completely wrong on Revenge of the Sith. I’m sure Derrick has some well-thought-out reasons and he does have a kid at USC film school, but ROTS is, if not great, the closest thing the Prequel Trilogy has. The opening scene is breathtaking, with the Jedi starfighters swooping into the Battle of Coruscant, and the Mustafar fight is both intense and heartbreaking. I enjoyed Yoda battling the Emperor and the fight on Utapau as well, and Order 66 is legendary. It’s not anywhere close to perfect, but it is definitely not bad.

Also, both Jeff and Michael need to get on Andor. I liked Season 2 a little more than Season 1 because of the variety, breaking it up over a number of years. I should go back and watch the entire run again. Of course, I say that about all the Disney+ stuff. It’s harder to do that than when there were just three movies.

Also, it would be interesting to hear their thought on the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu. The closer it gets, the more interested I get in it. Just 2 1/2 more weeks to go!

Michael and Jeff both gave their rankings of the various movies. (Both of them left out The Clone Wars movie, but I think that’s fair since it was basically just three TCW episodes stitched together to be released in theaters.) I’ll leave theirs behind the paywall (though I will say I was surprised at Jeff’s second one) but here’s mine as of today, subject to change without notice. The originals get an edge because I’ve seen them 100s of times over my life, versus a handful for the newer stuff. Also, all Star Wars is good and I’d watch any of these, even TROS, at any time.

The Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
Rogue One
The Last Jedi
Solo
The Force Awakens
The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
The Rise of Skywalker