One thing I still can’t get over….



What the fuck is this? Even the sequel trilogy tried to have its vehicles feel like it’s still Star Wars.

 

Is it, though?

Think about the major surviving Jedi and their feelings about the Order and their positions in life. Ahsoka witnessed the fall of the Order firsthand through Anakin, Barriss, and her own treatment by the Council both during her trial and afterward, and insisted throughout the Imperial era that she was not a Jedi. She would have no interest in rebuilding the institution that failed her and her closest friends, and in the Mandalorian she rejects Din's offer to train Grogu. Ezra is MIA after Rebels, and exactly what his deal is will be explored in the Ahsoka show, but he has no real ties to the Jedi Order either - Kanan did, but he was never concerned about rebuilding the Jedi, nor did he care about preserving the Order's traditions beyond basic Master/Padawan training.

As for Cal, he actively chose not to pursue Force-sensitive children for a new Jedi Order at the end of Fallen Order, and though he flirts with the idea in Survivor (though more as a "training a secret army" kind of way), his perspective on Jedi and the Force is very different from that of the Order. Ultimately, with these survivors we see an effort to re-conceptualize what it means to be a Jedi around a personal connection with the Force and the people around you, not to codify a particular belief structure into an institution.

On the other hand, you have Luke, who was directly trained by the highest-ranking surviving Jedi in the old Order, teaching him the same beliefs from the old Order, told explicitly that he was the last of the Jedi (thus impressing upon him the implicit responsibility of training future Jedi), and when both of his masters die, he's left on his own with only that burden of responsibility and a very incomplete and idealistic idea of what the Jedi Order was. Luke was never exposed to the failings of the Jedi Order like Ahsoka was, and he never had to build up his own identity of what a Jedi could be like Ezra and Cal did. So of course Luke is going to be the only one to rebuild the Jedi Order, because he's the only one who believes that that would actually be a good thing.

As we see in BoBF, he's using the exact same dogmatic ideology that the old Order used, and as a result he loses his very first student the second he tries to press the "no attachments" thing. Luke in this era is constantly trying to carry on the legacy of an institution that he does not fully understand, and the weight of that responsibility led to insecurity about failing, which ultimately resulted in his fear-driven impulse at seeing Ben's future, sending it all crashing down around him. It's only after that failure does he re-evaluate the Jedi Order, and his disillusionment is so severe that he gives up on the Jedi as an institution completely. It's Rey who manages to convince him that the Jedi can be something else... which, naturally, TROS does not follow up on at all, leaving us with absolutely no idea how Rey will approach the question of training Force users. TLJ implies that she'll use the foundational texts Luke discovered to go back to the Order's roots to build something new, but TROS all but threw that out, so who knows.

 

A part of me wondere if they might have Cal Kestis form his own Jedi order that might come out of hiding around the end of the ST or something.

 

Congratulations, you have just described the premise of Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta.

If the alleged rumors are true, the inclusion of those things was Favrau getting overridden by Kennedy, who approved some stupid idea by guest director Rodrigez to include the Space Vespas (he wanted to make some stupid marketable kiddie thing I guess?) and by the time Favrau learned these things existed, they were already on set and he couldn't do anything about it.

Whatever the story is, the fact they ever made it in points to a total lack of cohesive vision within Star Wars and any attempts at fixing them were snuffed out.

 

Ya that checks out, they are quite up there with Rodriguez's past films in terms of design.

But this is not Spy Kids or Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

 

It may also be a distraction to turn the audience’s attention away from how that characters riding those vehicles look like they came from other shows.

 

Of all the problems in Book of Boba Fett, I think this one was really overblown. Nothing wrong with 1950s style scooters in Star Wars, it honestly feels like something George Lucas would have put in his movies. He loved vintage car culture. Anakin's speeder in AOTC is basically a flying hot rod. These just look like vintage Prequel-era vehicles they restored, which totally fits in-universe.

To me the problem was the story execution. Boba just recruits them in the first five minutes of the episode, and after that they're just there. Like a lot of things in the show, it feels like the writers had a bunch of ideas and didn't put a lot of thought into connecting them.

They should've had these kids be really competent thieves who break into Boba's palace and steal these scooters. The whole episode could have been about Boba going after them. But at the end of the episode the twist is that Boba doesn't want to arrest them, he wants to recruit them because he admires their skill. That would totally justify why these kids (who can't afford water) have such expensive speeders, why Boba wants them as part of his team, and would avoid the whole "crime lord who doesn't approve of crime" thing.

 

Yeah, I feel they would be right at home on Coruscant, parked outside of Dex's Diner.

Also, the "Mod Squad" or whatever they're called are supposed to be teens or young adults, so it makes sense they would want to "rebel" and stand out in the crowd on drab Tatooine by riding brightly colored scooter bikes and be all like "It's not a phase mom, I can be a scooter-riding cyborg punk if I want to! Just let me be myself!"

These dang kids and their fancy shmancy scooters and mod implants. Back in my day, you only got a cybernetic hand when you lost it in a lightsaber duel! Kids these days don't know how good they've got it.

 

All of this. The mods are harmless and feel very George Lucas. Never understood the hate.

 

The bright, gaudy colors on the bikes probably aren’t helped by the generally awful lighting and overall terrible visual design of the show, either. Like most things in BoBF, it probably would’ve worked better if they had ditched (or simply made better use of) the Volume and used a real set, or at least put more attention into how the show actually looks.

 

The thing that rubs me the wrong way is the uncanny effect… It feels less of an aesthetic and more of taking real life vehicles and cgi model them.

 

The thing I never liked about the “mods” is just how awful what they are doing is when you really think about it. They are choosing to get rid of perfectly functioning parts of their body, and for what? A shitty prosthetic? To be a part of a scene? Thats self harm.

Like, I get needing a prosthethic but “modding” yourself by replacing perfectly functioning body parts like that is mutilation. And I get that in a universe like Star Wars, there is going to be some group somewhere that are hacking off and mutilating their bodies into cyborgs. But a group of teenagers doing it? Why not save that for some Mechano-cult? Take a page out of Warhammer with the Mechanicus. Don’t just go “yeah this 16 year old cut off their arm so they could have a cheap prosthetic because they thought it would make them look cool and we are suppose to not question it.”

 

"Boba Fett enlists some cyborgs"
Expectation:

Reality:


It's a lot of wrong. There's a certain amount of grit one expects from Boba Fett, from Tattooine, from crime lords and gangs, from poverty and the lack of access to water, from cybernetics that the franchise has long equated with the loss of humanity. The Mos Vespa gang have none of that. Tonally and visually they're completely alien, and on top of that you get embarrassing shit like the infamous spin.

Maybe they'd work if they were on Coruscant.
Maybe they'd work if they had better costumes/props/etc.
Maybe they'd work if the reason they modded themselves was because water was so expensive it was actually cheaper to replace their blood with oil or whatever, and not they can't afford water because they spent all their money on fucking avocado toast mopeds.

But they didn't, and what we got was very silly.

I feel it's worth mentioning that General Grievous is very much a self-harming modder, and in an issue of "Age of Republic" he has a Force Vision that calls him out of this.

 

Honestly TBOBF’s biggest issue was its identity crisis and lack of reason for existing. I think Boba appearing in Mando S2 kind of set the show up for failure because it used elements like Cobb Vanth wearing Boba’s armor (something that would been a great source of conflict for both characters) and Boba going back to kill Bib Fortuna (for some reason) which resulted in half of the TBOBF being a bunch of flashbacks.

What the show really needed was to start at ground zero: have Boba crawling out of the sand near the Sarlacc. Don’t show inside it. Just start with that hand bursting out of the sand.

There’d be no need for flashbacks because we’d pick up with Boba right where we left off. Don’t even have him appear in Mando (yet, or preferably ever).

Follow his journey with the Tusken’s and how he’s been accepted by them. I do think Boba wanting a family is actually a genius direction to take that character. It’s unexpected (because we’re used to Boba being cold and cruel) but a believable trajectory for the character, much like Luke’s change in TLJ.

I think including Fennec and Cobb, as the devil and angel on Boba’s shoulders respectfully, would give him characters to bounce off of. Fennec would be hired to kill this new dangerous force in the desert disrupting the cartels’ business and Cobb could still be the marshal who becomes sympathetic to Boba and the Tuskens’ plight.

The show could still see Boba be the hero of Tatooine and free the planet from corruption by uniting the Tuskens and the slaves of the cartels. It could easily be a show about returning the planet to its original natives and establishing piece and understanding between off-worlders and the Tuskens. Boba would have found true purpose for the first time in his life and the show could have taken better advantage of Temuera’s kind personality. I know people weren’t really fond of kookie, old man Boba who takes his helmet off a lot but I honestly liked seeing Temuera’s face and wanted to see more silly moments from him.

I’m just spitballing here, but I think giving the plot a central through line (like wanting a family and a purpose) and a reason for existing (telling a purely native story about reclamation) would really have made this show one of the best stories in SW. But alas we got what we got. Sure the action was clunky, the environments and costumes looked cheap, and the talents of Ming-Na Wen and Temuera Morrison were kind of wasted, but the real problem lies at the heart of the (lack of a) story.

 

Okay?
I've never seen any Gundam shows, but it already sounds better than the ST! Maybe I'll check it out.

If your point was that my plot suggestion wasn't an original idea, well that's just Star Wars isn't it?! All of it is lifted from somewhere else!  

 

Thank you Kathleen Kennedy. I don't believe this story it feels far too convenient that when Favreua and Filoni do something disliked its her fault but also like, we love the Mods so thank you Kathleen Kennedy

 

What training? He was there for what two days and failed most of it. He lifts a rock and stands on his head. That's about it other than failing in the cave and failing to lift his ship Then in return with no training other than a rock push can mind control people and jump around like jackie chan!

Don from fatf would be proud.

 

Zeta is an incredible show - also very depressing but Gundam has always been a staunchly anti-war show (when not pushing the model kits with the Build series, but even then the only really shitty one of those was Build Divers and the sequel series absolutely picked up the slack). I do extremely recommend watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam first though, and then Stardust Memory, so you know the exact context of how things get so messed up by the time Zeta starts.

 

This is true - and all the more reason he would be ill-equipped to rebuild the Jedi Order. However, I meant training in terms of philosophy and education, not physical/Force abilities. Both Yoda and Ben instill a great deal of Jedi doctrine into him even in that short amount of time, and he never really has a chance to ask more questions or get clarification on anything after ROTJ. He's just left with a vague and romantic idea of what the Jedi Order was (based entirely on the accounts of its two surviving leaders) and a personal sense of duty to carry on its legacy.

 

Quite a bit more than two days.

Only about a single day with Kenobi (and then years repeating that one training).

For ESB Luke is suspected to have been on Dagobah for several weeks to a month. But considering what else happened in the movie, he must've spend months with Yoda. Because during this time the Millenium Falcon flew at sublight speed to another star system, they spent some time there, got captured and tortured before Luke arrived. Especially travel from Hoth to Bespin at sublight speed must have taken quite a while. Actually, months would even be too short for sublight speeds and that distance.

And RotJ is close to a year after ESB. If he continued training between ANH and ESB (which he did) then he likely did the same between ESB and RotJ.