The Star Wars Cinematic Universe

[QualityChimp]

[fishbowlhead]

Could be to do with merchandising and not having slave-1 printed on toys aimed at kids?

[Neon Ignition]

Is Slave-1 ever referred to by name in any of the films or The Mandalorian?

[Dogg Thang]

I can’t think of any instance of it being said out loud. Maybe in some cartoon perhaps? I don’t know.

[Asura]

Is Slave-1 ever referred to by name in any of the films or The Mandalorian?

Nope, it isn't. That's what makes it easy to change if they want.

It was "canon" though (I think we had this discussion a few pages back) insofar as it was the official name on the toy box, trading cards, video games (like when you fight it in Shadows of the Empire on N64). But Lucasfilm has always treated everything that isn't directly in the movies as on a lower rung of the canon, and even then, Lucas went back and changed bits of the movies to make them sync up better in some cases.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/movies/star-wars-new-trilogy-to-feature-dead-character-after-the-rise-of-skywalker/ar-AAODcHs?ocid=spartan-ntp-feeds

I call BS - Den of Nerds has thrown it out into the public arena that Disney is currently starting planning for Star Wars Episode X-XII

There's also some stuff about Kylo Ren returning

[Dogg Thang]

Seems highly unlikely.

[Asura]

I don't immediately call bull****, just because

currently starting planning

could mean all sorts.

But I'd be surprised if it was much more than some early ideas at this stage.

[kryss]

I can’t think of any instance of it being said out loud. Maybe in some cartoon perhaps? I don’t know.

The Battlefront games refer to it by name, but only in text.

[Neon Ignition]

If Disney is leaning into EpX-XII already I'd feel like it was due to them having no ideas left for Star Wars. I'm pretty sure that Ridley had practically no interest in returning to Rey either as well so it quickly strays into spin-off storyline territory.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/obi-wan-kenobi-series-filming-wrapped/

What is coming though is Star Wars: Obi Wan which McGregor has confirmed has completed filming

[Dogg Thang]

Star Wars Visions is out on Disney+. I'm three in already. Two hits, one miss for me so far.

[Asura]

Star Wars Visions is out on Disney+. I'm three in already. Two hits, one miss for me so far.

Let me be first to ask, is it better than the Animatrix?

[Dogg Thang]

So far, for me, yes. I'm five in now. But it's all personal preference. Your mileage may vary.

[Asura]

Watched Star Wars Visions and it's a mixed bag, though I guess that's the strength of an anthology show - it can be a mixed bag.

If I'm to summarise, I think it's a bit of a shame that they mainly stuck quite close to formula...

->Open Spoiler<-

They were all about Jedi, or featured Jedi in some prominent way. I thought that was a shame.

For instance, I would've loved a short which basically took the anime movie Redline and gave us a Pod Racing Days of Thunder.

Strategically, I think was something Disney asked for. I think...

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... one of the problems Disney face with Star Wars, which the old books did enormous mental gymnastics to get around, was Yoda's line about how when he dies, Luke will be the last Jedi. The books got around it in various ways; Disney seems to be getting around it by just reinforcing that Yoda isn't infallible and can simply be wrong.

This is important for Disney, I think, because more Jedi means more opportunities for stories. It's also quite good that they consider the canon as fluid, and not so rigid. As I've said before about canon, they can and should focus on what creates compelling stories; not adhering to fictional rules.

Anyway...

->Open Spoiler<-

• The Duel - loved it. Stayed very close to formula; I mean it's basically "hey, Star Wars borrowed loads from Kurosawa, what if we turned that dial up to 11" but it did so really well. Fun for the duration. Also the 3D/2D art style was good; I'm generally not a fan of "3D Anime" when used as a cost-saving measure, but I like it when they do a lot of stuff with camera movement which isn't really possible in 2D, to at least get the most out of the medium.
• Tatooine Rhapsody - hated it. Don't really have much good to say about it. I know it's like what I said above, something different, not the usual Jedi stuff, but I just felt for a short it had a massive lull in the middle and didn't have much emotional weight.
• The Twins - My biggest disappointment; when I saw this was by Trigger, I honestly expected it to be pretty nuts, but it really didn't work for me. It just felt like Trigger delivering a bunch of their trademark animation cliches with a thin Star Wars veneer. Honestly when I saw Trigger in the namecard for this I was really very excited so that might've hampered my experience. One of the most memorable though for a daft moment - where the human characters are jumping around in space with no space-suits for what seems like ages, and when a droid comes to get one of them, the droid is wearing a space-suit
• The Village Bride - Loved this. It was a straight-forward "Jedi are on a planet and stuff is going down" story but I feel it did that well. It expanded the fiction, showing how the Jedi's religion touches up to other religions and cultures; a theme of the franchise - how the Jedi often consider other religions like facets of their own. Liked the characters, the setting. Give me 26 episodes and a movie.
• The Ninth Jedi - We enjoyed this one, though felt the action going on down on the planet, before it went into space, was the strongest bit. Can this be one of the episodes of the aformentioned "give me 26 episodes and a movie"?
• T0-B1 - Absolutely LOVED this. I loved the blend of Star Wars with a visual style akin to Osamu Tezuka and Astro Boy (with shades of Megaman as that shares a lot in common with Astro too). Soft, joyful. I'm not sure I would want more but I loved what we got. This kinda typified what I thought we might get visually, Star Wars reinterpreted through totally different lenses.
• The Elder - Enjoyed this one, but again, too close to formula. Jedi and Padawan land on a planet, run into a Sith, fight him, he dies. It's kinda the most uninspiring these stories could be. That being said it was at least fun for the duration, the animation was fine, nothing wrong here just seemed a bit forgettable.
• Lop & Ocho - Loved it. Give me a whole Star Wars movie by these people, thanks. Oh, and insist that it's totally, 100% canon. The world, the setting, the characters; this one, along with The Duel, are by far my most memorable.
• Akakiri - Didn't think much of this. I had high hopes for it because the premise sounded cool, and it was last in the set so I thought Disney might've saved the best for last, but a few days later, all I can remember is the main guy looked like the dude with the hat from The Moomins.

So there we go. Unsorted stream-of-consciousness.

EDIT: So, reading the online, concerning The Ninth Jedi...

->Open Spoiler<-

Turns out this was initially meant to be two shorts - one about the saber-smith and his daughter on the planet, and one about a bunch of Jedi summoned to a space station, and the two shorts were merged during development.

This interests me because we definitely had this feeling that the parts on the planet were the stronger aspects of this short.

[Dogg Thang]

I really liked the one...

->Open Spoiler<-

with the Twins. I felt it was just Star Wars enough and just crazy enough to work, as basic as it was. I loved the saber cutting the Star Destroyer.

The Astro Boy one did nothing for me at all. But I also loved the Lop and Ocho one. I loved some of the design in that one. But as with many of the ones I liked, I felt like it tried to tell a story that was too big for the format so I don't think it had the impact that it should have had. I adored the Bride one too but felt similar with that - the flashbacks seemed clumsy and it was just trying to tell too much story in a short time frame.

Overall though, I enjoyed them. Some were great, some weren't for me but they were all interesting.