Pieter Boelen

I'm not sure I loved TLJ, but I liked it well enough. This movie is a disappointment. Can it be "fan service" (quotation marks intentional) AND destroy Star Wars lore at the same time? Can "fan service" be diametrically opposed to maintaining true to its own concept? Can "fans" be wrong about that which they (claim to?) love?

Confused me too. My interpretation: it was enough to get him on his feet, but he continued healing all throughout the episode. His final flight must've still been agonisingly painful.

Certainly partly true. But it did well and truly kill off the (back then) Big Bad before the finale. And it also didn't play with Rey's parentage, which I thought was the best possible option too. Of course then along comes TROS and, well, we all know what happened there...

Indeed I also figured the explosion as that TIE crashed wasn't nearly as big as it should've been, given what I'm used to from these movies. So the twist of "bad guy still alive", yup, saw that coming a mile away. After that though... WOW, did NOT see THAT coming!! They did good with this series. They really did. Looking forward to Season 2. And curious to watch these other series they've got in development. Star Wars was inspired by serials anyway, so having it shine in TV series format actually makes a lot of sense. And without the need to be "epicer than epic", they can keep things nice and polished without going over-the-top.

Abrams never should've tried to undo much of anything in the first place. But indeed he did and no amount of reshoots could ever hope to compensate for steering such an inconsistent course. TLJ may have alienated some fans; perhaps even a lot of them. But there were also plenty people who appreciated it just fine. TROS on the other hand... I can't imagine anyone unequivocally liking it, without any serious caveats. Main reason for me believing this is because, after being quite game on the whole Disney approach, even I left feeling quite disappointed. Quite the feat to turn away a fairly enthusiastic fan like me. With Disney wanting to make infinite money, that would've been a perfect approach. And who knows... maybe one day we'll get there. Would be nice if Star Wars could be continuous non-repetitive entertainment, with some instalments being better than others, but always another on the horizon. Bit like James Bond then.

The fans are thoroughly divided. There isn't even a "the fans" and, on the whole, "they" don't know what they want. Actively trying to please them is therefore begging for failure. The way I see it, it would help if "the fans" would learn to be more open-minded. To follow the story where it goes, through unexpected twists and turns. Instead of writing their own stories and do's and don'ts in their heads. Sure, you can have your wishes, but when you get something else, it pays to judge things on their own merits. That's a difficult thing for people, inside and out of the Star Wars fandoms. We (and I fully admit I do it too) build up these unrealistic expectations. And then we get disappointed as they aren't met. Some people's disappointment then turns extreme and toxic. And that well and truly isn't conducive to anything... For some reason, "sane" and "grown-up" seem to equate to "hopeless/defeated" and "without emotion or spirit" these days. It also involves the direct rejection of anything "kid-like". At the same time, don't we also complain about the world going to shit? While doing nothing about it. It is true that this is very, very common. Certainly among grown-ups, as confirmed by the Crisis Management and Human Behaviour course that I followed. But I have yet to understand in which way this is even remotely "sane". Yup, Scrooge McDuck is a pretty darn excellent character! Fully agree with you there.

Ah; that explains a lot!

Haven't watched The Mandalorian finale just yet, but otherwise this is a very accurate and very sad summary: https://collider.com/the-future-of-star-wars-is-bleak/ @Arpy and @crumbs are exactly right; the toxicity in the Star Wars fandom is the true culprit here. The only way in which Disney or any filmmaker can be blamed is because they actually let that influence them. Honestly, with Disney having as much power as they do, they really didn't have to. They could instead have opted for true independence and make the films they themselves wanted. There would've been upset fans either way, but in the end they would've made something far more worthwhile.

Yikes! If that isn't an overreaction, I don't know what is. You're kind-of reinforcing my point though. So I suppose thanks are in order...?

I'm with @Trent B here. When I first saw The Last Jedi, I already liked it quite a bit; especially for doing the unexpected. The way I see it, TROS is Disney caving into the pressure of toxic internet fanboys. They lost a lot of my respect by returning to the route of predictability. Overfull story, undoing a lot of what came before and visual epic-ness far in excess of the emotional power. I love me some space battles, but this was more "animators got carried away with the copy/paste functionality". Who even were all those Sith audience members?!? I sincerely hope Rian Johnson will get to make another Star Wars movie. Clearly the one he made was not perfect, but it had a pretty clean look, very stylish at times and the story had some deep, creative thought applied to it. Shouldn't be too surprised, I suppose. JJ Abrams made Star Trek Into Darkness too, which also struck me as being particularly inappropriate. There are definitely parts of this movie to appreciate, but really it could and should have been so much better. Specifically, more creative, more emotionally satisfying and less "following the crowd".

Thanks for confirming, mate. At first, it did seem a bit excessive. I seem to recall previous CDs being in the 10-20 euro range. But I suppose that's the effect of streaming services leading to hard-copy CDs becoming more collectables and therefore more expensive. Since the streaming approach isn't going to disappear any time soon, I suppose higher prices are better than to not have CD releases anymore at all.

Does 23 euro for this CD sound about right to you people? https://www.bol.com/nl/p/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker/9200000126646840/

Maybe yes, maybe no. There's just no telling. Does it matter? For me, I have found enjoyment in every Star Wars thing Disney has released so far. That is what matters to me.

I'll be very excited for two out of those three options! Or Williams simply felt too much inspiration to not contribute. Let's not underestimate the power of enthusiasm.

I'll be watching the entire sequel trilogy in cinema this coming Saturday. Virtually for free too! Thank you Cineville and Heerenstraat Theater!

If you want it done right in your own way, the only way to accomplish that is by doing it yourself. Outsourcing is always going to result in something different. Sometimes for the worse. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes for the worse at first but after encouragement for the unbelievable. Even that "unbelievable" could be better or worse. There's just no telling until after it has happened.

Too bad; I would've been curious to hear what Gia would have come up with given a second chance. Some constructive feedback from Williams and/or a more comfortable time schedule could make all the difference in the world. But to be fair... they ARE Williams' themes. And he's most certainly earned the right to have his opinion. I not only greatly admire the man's music, but I greatly admire the man himself too. He's a true inspiration to me. Could this be why Williams himself was so heavily involved in Solo? And why The Mandalorian is steering clear of Williams' themes altogether for now?

Agreed. It feels a bit cut up between that one and the next track. Hadn't even realised that yet. Glad we're getting to hear the whole thing on the album then.

Loved this latest episode. Reference heavy, but felt like a comfortable homecoming while still showing a bit more of those familiar surroundings. And I suspect this might also be a deliberately fan-service-y episode before the next one pulls the rug out from under us. I haven't the faintest clue what's going to happen, but I'm expecting... Some. Thing.

Funny how "we" always beg for more, more, more and complain about truncated album presentations. And yet here "we" are, wishing for a collection of only the highlights. Oh, how the tables have turned!

Oooh, that's a bunch of pretty great scores right there! Sinbad most of all for me. But Kingdom of Heaven was also clearly quite inspired and I especially like how the Christian and Muslim themes seem to be actually the same one.

Cool! I really hope we get the good HGW on this one. With perhaps some influence from JG's original epic score in there. That even made its way into Ralph Wrecks the Internet, so that wouldn't be the most unrealistic thing to hope for...

The world hasn't stood still since 1977. The sequel scores are quite old-fashioned. The Mandalorian isn't. Can't say I'm surprised.

I don't know why, but I really, REALLY like that theme. There's something oddly satisfying about it for me. Woefully underused though.

Holy crap; I really had no clue that the point I was hinting at could suddenly seem to be THAT valid! But honestly, it only makes sense. It took me forever to start recognising the themes from Conan the Barbarian. Why? I have NOT THE FAINTEST CLUE! Now that they finally connected with me, I cannot believe how oblivious I used to be. And that's just one example out of oh-so-many. I'm sure John Williams goes through some form of similar process for all of his scores too. But he barely ever talks about his reasoning behind why he wrote what he wrote. I wished he'd elaborate on this more; just like these newer composers seem to be doing. Clearly Williams puts MASSIVE amounts of thought and creativity and effort into his work. And he's more consistent and often better at this than any other composer I have ever heard of. There is so much us and everyone else could learn from that man. But it appears that music itself is his primary means of communication. Which, in and of itself, explains a lot. This article mentions something that could be considered quite the massive shocker to certainly the die hard Star Wars mythology experts: https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-mandalorian-is-here-and-star-wars-will-never-be-the-1839793444/amp