Knowing Star Wars is expecting too much from those who make Star Wars?

[@ToonamiT0M]

Any director who wants to make a Star Wars movie but does not want to respect the lore, doesn't want to make a Star Wars movie.

[@Grimzilla32]

And yet Rian Johnson got to make a Star Wars film. All because the head of Lucasfilm doesn't respect Star Wars

[@saberiandream316]

And Filoni is being allowed to make his movie, and he rubs the fact that he likes breaking continuity in our faces.

[@teleportedbreadfor3days]

That is and should be the case for any franchise. The Witcher and Halo get more respect than Star Wars, and at least one of those now-onscreen-franchises had its viewers or fanbase insulted by a writer or director. The potentially only difference is that the people currently behind Star Wars are *keep* hiring directors and writers who don’t like Star Wars and dislike its fans to some degree. And this isn’t counting the unjust hate those same people give Star Wars’s creator; in this case, George Lucas.

[@anthonygvergara4778]

The halo TV show is terrible. Absolute disrespect to the franchise and the master chief ​@@teleportedbreadfor3days

[@Chops_on_tour]

Just really expensive fan fic

[@sca4789]

Once again you have shown that you put more thought into this than Rian, JJ, KK, or the Lucasfilm story group.

[@saberiandream316]

Or Filoni, let's be honest. Thor kinda downplays this, but Filoni does not like continuity and the shared universe any more than everyone else working at Disney-owned Lucasfilm.

[@mitchellhouser1572]

To be fair, so has the average person on the street.

[@ribeye5394]

@@saberiandream316 Most Star Wars fans did not read extended universe.

[@ECKohns]

Imagine if someone wanted to make a movie about a real life historical event or person and then complained about not wanting to do research the real life subject. Eyes Ridley Scott and Napoleon.

[@somedudeonline-i3t]

that depends if they want to be closer to a documentary or to abraham lincoln vampire hunter.

[@sarmeister1699]

@@somedudeonline-i3t The Lincoln Vampire Hunter at least didn't mislead with trailers

[@michaellane5381]

Would that modern Jane Austin series count? That entire concept seemed so weird I didn't even check.

[@wray2real]

They did that with Abraham Lincoln. I think they made him into a vampire hunter.

[@svensmith1991]

The woman king has entered the chat

[@GeekazonMerchHub]

When a filmmaker joins a known established universe it is their responsibility to understand it. If not, they are not the correct filmmaker for the project. It can't be terribly difficulty to find a competent person that understands a good amount of the lore or are willing to do the homework at least.

[@kaidrazarc8000]

True but never gonna happen Who's responsibility it is is the IP holder to ensure only the correct people ever get a hold of the IP Just look at lord of the rings the vast majority of creators got denied the IP as the estate was more focused on protecting the IP than making a quick buck Unfortunately the estate has changed hands & now they're looking to cash out hence rings of power

[@Stlaind]

It is also the responsibility of the studio to ensure that they both have access to people with a near encyclopedic knowledge of the setting and that they are required to stay within the bounds of established writing. It's natural that any good director is going to push the edges of it at least some. The problem is that high up Disney staff don't even hold to well known previous writing. If Dave Filoni won't even bother to stick to how his own show portrayed a scene a few years before, expecting him to hold anyone to actually follow any canon at all is probably going to lead to disappointment. And I say that as someone who had thought Filoni was one of the best sources Disney had for making great Star Wars content. Now, post Ahsoka S1, I'm not so sure.

[@saberiandream316]

Why should we expect Lucasfilm to act differently when cowboy man's done that for years and got massive praise and cheers for it? We made this damn mess.

[@Dani-kq6qq]

You got the guy you wanted, turns out everyone now thinks he is trash. Hilarious how quickly you guys turned on Filoni after demanding he take over star wars.

[@saberiandream316]

@@Dani-kq6qq I never wanted that, in fact, I worry about how much butchering of the EU there'd be if he was made CEO. I don't WANT him as CEO, I never liked him. But that won't stop the idiots with deluded hope. Lookin' at you, Star Wars Theory.

[@Hatsuzuki808]

Also, if someone wants to do their own thing, there's a super easy path. DO YOUR OWN THING. Pitch your own sci-fi movie in your own one-off universe. Accepting a job writing or directing a show in an established setting means (shockingly) writing and directing within the established setting.

[@lasercraft32]

Yeah the issue with that is _money._ If you slap an iconic brand name on it, then people will watch it regardless of what its about. Its a lot harder for a completely original film to get as much recognition compared to big franchises like Star Wars.

[@hockey1973]

I mean. . .this is what Snyder did with Rebel Moon. . . why can't everyone else do this?

[@drdwaynecuster]

Imagine if Star Wars directors actually did the amount of homework and research that Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens did with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It became their years-long passion and now those movies are beloved masterpieces for thousands of fans.

[@timothykuntze2605]

Really? Jackson changed a shit load of the lotr.

[@drdwaynecuster]

@@timothykuntze2605 I never said he didn't. Doesn't negate the fact that he and the writers did their best to translate Tolkien's work to the big screen. There's no denying that fact.

[@timothykuntze2605]

@@drdwaynecusterhe had 4 books to read not 25 books, 80 comic runs, 4 different gam arcs. I would argue that the minor changes that have happened from page to screen have been way way less than the changes to the lotr and hobbit movies

[@Amoschp524]

Nolan's Batman trilogy is a good example of an auteur who grasped the fundamentals of the cannon and characters while provide a new take on the franchise. Nolan's Bruce Wayne/Batman felt like Batman because his version held the same core characteristics of the past versions of Batman while still being new. This is where Rian Johnson's Last Jedi failed. Johnson failed with both the legacy characters, Luke and Leia, as well as the new characters like Rey, Finn, and Poe. None of the characters from either the old or new Star Wars movies seem to have the same core characteristics they did in the previous films. And yes the characters can change but it needs to be explain in a way that is consistent with the character. Luke trying to kill Ben Solo because of a feeling with nothing else supporting it; condemning Ben to death for the tiny evil in him. This does not match with the Luke who saved Vader, who was a mass of evil with a tiny bit of conflict/good.

[@abraham2172]

I thought he grasped the character of Rey as an overpowered Mary Sue pretty well.

[@BarefootPeasant]

When I first heard about Disney acquiring Lucasfilm and Star Wars, I thought it was a no-brainer that they'd that make every effort to get their new projects right. But I guess *the obvious* was clearly too much to expect.

[@pubcle]

There was a moment I was coping, thinking a new universe could be interesting, giving it a chance. Then they shuttered LucasArts to give rights to EA.

[@DavidWalker1987]

They didnt even have a plan for the ST, let alone work to make is a success. Pain.

[@saberiandream316]

All they did was burn down and destroy everything that came before.

[@Daniel_Huffman]

One would think that hiring people dedicated to doing research on the established lore would be easy for Lucasfilm. It's not like paying them would be a problem: The largest and most successful fictional universe with a fanbase devoted to supporting its then-high quality was now owned by the biggest entertainment corporation in the world. Lucasfilm might as well not have had a _concept_ of a budget.

[@liljenborg2517]

You do have to remember this is the company that made The Hunchback of Norte Dame and Quasimodo survived (and led to a direct-to-video sequel where he gets a girlfriend) and made The Little Mermaid and the mermaid lives (again, enough to have a sequel). This is the company that took one of the most amazing books ever written and turned it into The Black Cauldron. This is the company whose rendition of Merlin from the amazing novel The Sword in the Stone was so weak and clownish, Tolkien put in his will that Disney wasn’t allowed to read his books, let alone make them into movies (hyperbole, but you get the point).

[@BrickDevilTributes]

Honestly, even if the director(s) don't know much on Star Wars, keeping people around that do know it will keep everything leveled and prevent any major contradictions. Tony Gilroy comes to mind, given he came in not knowing Star Wars yet was able to put the right people together to make something that lines up perfectly with the original depiction of the Empire in the originals 3 films.

[@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t]

That only works if the experts have any level of editorial influence that the creatives are bound by. I'm not saying it's 100% why Tom Shippey left Rings of Power, but I wouldn't discount it out of hand either.

[@MedalionDS9]

With Tony Gilroy's entry into the fold, this disproves this question right off the bat. I don't need people to know Star Wars off the top of their head like hardcore fans... but people do their due diligence to research it well when it comes to coming up with the stories for projects to respect the legacy and stories that make up the canon of the franchise. That is not asking too much, that is gaslighting for laziness and apathy.

[@ThreadBareHope1234]

Same. Or listen to the "Holocron Keeper" who can tell directors how to not contradict the movies and main line stuff (I don't think it'll make good writing impossible)

[@Paul_McSeol]

Everyone needs a Sam Witwer there to correct them on canon. And should appreciate the assist.

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

​@@ThreadBareHope1234Holocron Keeper is a EU term, the position doesn't exist in Disney canon. And I don't think they're using the Holocron database anymore.

[@DavidWalker1987]

I disagree with this. Andor and Gilroy have produced good content, not because they do / dont get SWs, but because theyve done their work well. If youre Disney and youre going to continue churning out more and more shows and films... you need to rein some people in and have them commit to the key themes of SWs. Sure there is no universal singular theme, but there are themes and you cannot just undermine them (which will happen if you do enough shows).

[@ThreadBareHope1234]

@user-yq9im9dk9z Oh. Okay Well, at least a Sam Witwer that can assist. I say it coz Clone Wars writing team (I think) had the Holocron Keeper involved (unless I'm wrong. I think CW does its own thing enough that there was likely no Holo Keeper). But if I'm right, does that make CW legends, or the Holocron guy canon?

[@turtle9273]

Star Wars was more relevant from 2005-2014 than it is right now

[@28starwarsfan]

Sad, but true.

[@emilyquinn9691]

It is still relevant lmao

[@saberiandream316]

It's still relevant and well-written if you read the EU. Disney Star Wars canon and the Filoniverse? Fuck 'em, lol.

[@Dani-kq6qq]

Lol no, star wars is more talked about now and makes more content and more money than 2005-2014

[@saberiandream316]

@@Dani-kq6qq You got proof? Because we have the opposite reports from 2018 show that merchandising was DOWN for Disney Star Wars. High Republic also doesn't sell that well. Again, we have the numbers. And why should it when the Disney books are just open to being overwritten by what's on screen?

[@realDesertLad]

I know I'm repeating myself, but the guy who directed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Nicholas Meyer) didn't know anything about Star Trek before being hired, but he went back to watch what came before and came up with the script idea. On top of that, he ended up becoming a fan, and Star Trek fans to this day call it the best one ever made. If that director could do it literally anyone can.

[@saberiandream316]

Meyer is the anti-Filoni.

[@TheMaleRei]

"If that director could do it literally anyone can." Right. But very few *will* - and that is the shame.

[@Rakshiir]

There is a big difference in being a big person in Hollywood, putting out your idea for an independant movie and use your idea, style, story, characters ect. for it. That's how it should be, and honestly, that is how franchises could be created. There has to be a starting point. Issue comes if you work in one of those franchises that existed for a long time. As soon as you do that, you cannot do what you want to, you have to see if it fits in said franchise, since there is an established fanbase. Of course when it comes to style and tone of the content, it can differ, nobody would take Andor and Rebels and compare them directly, since they are meant for a different audience, one is more family focused/child friendly, the other clearly more adult focused. But the thing is: both work in the universe in my opinion. It is not like one of them existing means the other one could not have happened more or less how it went down. Basically you can play a bit with style, tone, characters as long as you stay true to the limitations of the universe (and yes, some creatives hate being forced to work with limitations, but that is the thing you have to work with as soon as you accepted a contract to work in someone else's franchise). If you create something that does not fit in the universe, doesn't matter if it is Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, the MCU, DC or whatever, fans will not like it. I am not saying it is easy to stay truthful to the lore, story ect. but the basic idea is easy. So if you wanna be part of a big franchise, you better do your homework, because one thing is for sure: fans did theirs.

[@dernwine]

The Irony about the entire "Nolan Oppenheimer" comparison thor made is that Scott did EXACTLY that with Napleon. "Oh I don't need to research Napoleon, everyone will want to watch my movie, I'm SIR Ridley Scott." Yeaaaaahhhhh......

[@saberiandream316]

I take it that it didn't do well at the box office?

[@dernwine]

@@saberiandream316 200million dollar budget film made 218million at the box office... so... no.

[@The1Zubatman]

Love your comments about Nolan and Oppenheimer, because those possible issues you imagined are exactly what happened with Ridley Scott's Napoleon.

[@Pir-o]

2:50 There's a lot of things in Andor that break canon in one way or another. One of the smallest and silliest examples would be that they have coffee in Andor. While to this point SW always insisted on having their own version of coffee called Kaff or something like that. And while I always hated that name so it doesn't bother me at all, I can admit having coffee goes against what was established before. But personally my biggest issue was that they were using regular weapons (that looked nothing like blasters) in the first couple episodes. SW weapons always had a specific art style when it comes to weapons. They always used real life weapons but they always modified them enough so they looked alien, retro futuristic. But in Andor they just looked like regular rifles, they didn't change a thing about them. It's like adding spaceships from Guardians of the Galaxy to SW. They just wouldn't fit the vibe.

[@gildor8866]

As far as i can tell most of the weapons in Andor are actually modified to fit into universe, especially those used by the imperials - they did care for the canon and the looks. What stands out are the unmodified AK-47s used by the rebels on Aldhani. I assume that they did that deliberately to use the association that this particular weapon has with rebellions and insurgents in real-life.

[@thorskywalker]

You have to keep in mind just how many planets there are in the Star Wars Galaxy. Not every world, or every group of people, is going to call everything the exact same name or have the same level or type of technology. Just look at here on Earth, one singular planet, and how different things can be from country to country. Hell, even if I just drive an hour south of where I live they'll have different names for things like water fountain, shopping cart, soda and so on. I think it would be odd if everything in Star Wars was completely uniform.

[@peterkrochmalni673]

@@gildor8866that just shows the disrespect Disney/gilroy has towards the Rebel Alliance by portraying them as the likes of middle eastern terrorists contrary to how the Rebels were established in the OT as the Rebels were more portrayed as Americans who fought WWII. The sheer disrespect Disney has, indeed.

[@Stlaind]

​@@thorskywalkerwhile I mostly agree, in Andor the "we'll just use this Ak-47 straight off the prop racks" kind of points to the same issue. The problem isn't that they don't look enough like other things in Star Wars, it's that they look too much like things that would be familiar in settings more akin to the modern world. Even in the OT there were a LOT of prop firearms converted into blasters, but they had more work and attention put into making them diverge noticably from what they started as. And there we get towards the same issue Lucasfilm has run into again and again - a lack of attention.

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

​@@thorskywalkerYou are wrong about Andor not breaking book canon. I know you know what I'm talking about. Be honest, you just don't like bad writing and don't care about canon integrity.

[@zachcurtis1283]

The Star Wars universe and the lore within it is vast, with a pretty knowledgeable fanbase. If you wanna take part in it as a creator, you better know what the hell you're working with.

[@saberiandream316]

That goes against the ethos of Lucasfilm, which is to reward those who break canon. They've done it with Filoni for YEARS, so we have zero reason to expect anything differently at this point.

[@TheMaleRei]

Nolan - "I want to do Oppenheimer - and the most important part that I'm concerned with is getting at least one of the actresses in my film topless because why not."

[@qty1315]

Hey Thor, not expecting a video on this but I think it's interesting. A few weeks ago I was listening to EFAP where they looked at the responses to Disney not doing well with Star Wars and Marvel recently and listing off the reasons why, with EFAP pointing out that among the hundreds, possibly thousands, of people giving their takes on Disney, very few of them, if any of them, ever say "The writing is bad," it's always something like "Oh, the tone was off, the VFX were bad, people didn't like Raimi's style, it wasn't dark enough, it was too dark," never "It wasn't written well," with the reverse being when those same people can't seem to say that Andor was written well and it was good because "It was dark, mature, looked great, and was made in Tony's style." So, I made it a personal project to look into every community I could think of, reading the comments, and talking to as many people as I could in real life asking them what their opinions of Disney were. Surprisingly, the vast majority of people seemed to think "Everything that's ever been done by Disney is badly-written," even classics like The Lion King, Iron Man, Mulan, Infinity War, were all poorly-written but they liked them for reasons other than the writing, according to them. It's why YourMovieSucks actually said "Every Disney movie is a poorly-written cashgrab," and then said "The Lion King is one of my favourite movies," because in his mind, yes, The Lion King is a poorly-written cashgrab, but he also really likes it. I think that's what 'normies' think. The writing on sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, and cartoons are always bad but they like them regardless, and if they don't it can't be because of the writing because in their minds the default on any Disney project is that the writing is bad. I think that might be why Star Wars and Marvel don't get respected by writers/directors they hire because in their minds the writing doesn't matter because every other project in the franchise has been poorly-written. You can see that with the infamous interviews with the Secret Invasion director where he hand-waved the implications of the show as "Well, the next guy in-line will have to deal with that in Armor Wars," and dismissing the action scene at the end as "We were just having fun with it because that's what you do with action scenes." With a movie like Space Jam you can see that Roger Ebert, possibly the greatest movie critic of all time, rated it a 3.5/4 and called it one of the 10 best sports movies ever made, but to the vast majority of people it's a badly-written movie for children that you eventually realise isn't very good when you grow up because they can't think "The Bugs Bunny basketball movie might actually be good," in the same way that Disney fans, especially modern Disney fans, can't think "This new superhero movie might actually be good." It's why I think the Echo trailer and tv series made fans think "Wow, I like the dark tone," because they're not thinking "Echo might be well-written," they're thinking "Echo is going to be a bad show, but at least it'll be a bad show with a dark and mature tone." Again, I don't think you'll respond to this because it's too long, and I don't think I'll have people try to understand what I'm saying. But, in my opinion, I think this is the attitude that has led to the problems that the MCU is facing which didn't matter until the viewership and box office numbers dropped. Even if the audience never thinks "This is a well-written movie," a movie still has to be well-written to be liked. If the creatives involved genuinely think that a project doesn't need to be well-written, like with Secret Invasion, they're not even going to try to make a well-written show, which will anger the most passionate of fans, which will make people not want to be involved with the community, which will lead to The Marvels having one of the lowest box office grosses in the entire MCU and lead to people really disliking Echo. Just my take.

[@skaidonC]

Think there's an excellent point in all this. Similar to yourself I also watch various Hollywood-critical reviewers, and the main takeaway I have (biased by my own training as an actor) is that technical details such as writing, pacing, dialogue, characterisation, theme (as defined by The Closer Look) plot consistency, acting etc etc... are all VERY important. The thing is....the vast majority of audiences do not have the experience or technical background in writing / directing / acting / filmaking to be able to critique productions on those merits ("objective" criticism - because you can use the same criteria to compare the quality of different productions) and instead rely on "feels". I strongly believe that these objective criteria matter, as creatives need critical feedback in order to improve their work, and that even if, as an audience you are not aware of these technical criteria they absolutely make a difference to the quality of the finished product: If characterisation is inconsistent, the character becomes less believable If pacing is off, audiences can become bored or disconnected (depending on which extreme it veers to) If wordbuilding is insufficient, the entire story becomes 2-dimensional, and so again less believable. And so on.

[@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917]

​@@skaidonC The point you made about how the audience judges movies primarily based on 'feels' and not too much else reminds me of Ebert's review of Pokemon: The First Movie. He said that it was terrible and basically just a cash grab due to the way it's structured, which I'd probably agree with re-watching it. The movie feels like a bunch of shorts cobbled together to make something that doesn't even resemble a cohesive movie, with the actual movie being this weird thing where trainers go to an island run by a Pokemon that clones more Pokemon then makes them fight and wants to take over the world or something, intercut with a fun short film about Pikachu going to day-care, and even that's intercut with random shorts that serve no purpose. However, it has one scene where Ash Ketchum dies and is resurrected by Pokemon tears. Therefore, because it made the audience of children sad for a minute or two it's a masterpiece, while a more cohesive movie like Space Jam is a bad movie because it features Michael Jordan and has Lola Bunny wearing revealing sports clothes. Makes me think that the way to 'save' the MCU is to literally just have a sad death scene in every movie. As long as you can get some tears from the audience they'll claim it's a masterpiece, even if the writing quality is the same otherwise.

[@skaidonC]

​@@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917 Indeed! The answer is: in all things, balance. Some more examples to expand this point: use of music in MCU products ("quick, this bit is meant to make the audience FEEL SAD, queue the string section!") i.e. - "feels" without the setup for WHY the audience is meant to feel that way. Counterexample: Setup and payoff done well - read "The Stormlight Archive" by Brandon Sanderson. When Dalinor opens Honor's (Honour's?) perpendicularity for the first time that was a hugely emotionally satisfying moment - because we'd had about 1.5 million words worth of character development as setup - thus "objectively good" artistic criteria really do matter, as the "feels" created will be far more meaningful (and memorable) as a result. Some examples from LoTR too: Battle of Helms Deep Ride of the rohirim "I can't carry the ring, BUT I CAN CARRY YOU"

[@simlucien]

The entire goal is to have people who neither care about nor like Star Wars. I grew up watching the OT with my dad and its some of s few happy memories I have from being a child. If I ever had the honor of getting to create ANYTHING in this world, in the back of my mind every single step, I'd be thinking about some dad and his son hopefully getting to share something like that. I couldn't live with myself if I messed that up. And even moreso, I'd dread if I ever had the opportunity to meet Lucas The Creator and have him not think what I did belonged. Star Wars is special because it has touched millions of lives in the 5 decades it has been in the cultural zeitgeist and reason the legacy fans have been so angry with Disney is because they act like they hate us, but expect us to pay them for the privilege of them telling us they hate us.

[@saberiandream316]

They neglect us and mistreat us, and then blame us for that. It's so depressing.

[@TheMaleRei]

@@saberiandream316 A classic abusive relationship.

[@DMisigoy]

You’re right, but it’s not even as difficult as creators learning a bunch of Star Wars lore. After all, isn’t that what the Story Group is for? I remember hearing about it during Rebels Recon in the early Disney days and thinking what a great idea it is. Have a dedicated group that keeps the lore consistent across movies, books, games, and anything else. Of course, they never actually did that even from the very beginning. Rian Johnson even said openly that he basically had complete freedom when creating TLJ, and that was long before they started, retconning Disney era books and comics. If the Story Group simply did the job that we were told they would do all of this could be avoided, and you wouldn’t really need creatives to learn tons of lore because somebody else would manage it for them and provide those guardrails to maintain consistency.

[@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917]

It might be. I mean, we haven't seen a case yet where creators learning a bunch of Star Wars lore hasn't resulted in something at least passable. Like, the problem with the Story Group is that they didn't really do much at all. Maybe if they had more influence and were more familiar with the lore it could have made the movies better? I mean, doesn't it kinda disprove your point that pretty much the only 'good' Star Wars show was Andor where the creators did take the time to learn the lore, while Ahsoka and Kenobi disliked because the creators ignored the lore?

[@istari0]

It goes beyond those who make Star Wars often not knowing much about it. Often they do but just want to make their own movie/show and call it canon when it's really just a "What-if" story and often not a good one.

[@moffjendob6796]

I think you hit the nail on the head. "Oh, I guess I can slum it a bit in Star Wars to bless those nerds with my amazing talent" rather than, "Oh, boy! I've always loved Star Wars! I hope I can make a good contribution!" On the other hand, I've also imagined what I'd do if I could make a movie, or series, or even novels. I have my pet canons that I'd love to carve in stone (so, better hope I'm working on screen and not the printed page)... even if there's some reference books or novel that says the Empire and Rebellion don't use an Anglo-American naval rank structure, or the Imperial officers don't eat food as it's seen as weak whereas I'd have them... um, being human beings.

[@ericbrown8627]

All this just makes me think even more R.I.P. Star Wars 2012.

[@jasonreynolds6643]

Wasn’t the whole justification for Pablo Hidalgo’s job to prevent the lore from being contradicted?

[@Daniel_Huffman]

Hidalgo tried to salvage the EU's shattered continuity following _TCW,_ and now his ex-Twitter account consists of him lying about the EU's validity and insulting its fans on a regular basis. I am much more sympathetic to Leeland Chee: The Keeper of the Holocron. It was his job to keep the lore consistent, and he helped iron out the continuity issues in the EU that sometimes rose up in the years leading up to _TCW._ But then he had to put up with Filoni repeatedly and blatantly retconning the established lore, and on at least one occasion using George Lucas' authority to bypass Chee's objections, namely to undoing Eeth Koth's death. The man spoke very highly about the EU's integrity prior to the show, and I honestly feel bad for him having to put up with Filoni's antics for six years, only for the franchise's new leadership to erase the EU and render all of his efforts meaningless while his colleagues betray the very thing they used to work on.

[@lordcarnorjax8599]

Pablo is one of the worst offenders now after Filoni. Crazy right? He got hired at LucasFilm thanks to his very detailed documenting every lore & canon clash in Star Wars and now he's this "The history textbook version of events “persons X and Y where on planet B when A occurred” is the canon; a fictional expression of it is potentially dramatized and embellished for its medium. This allows for the inevitable variations that must occur in transmedia adaptations of stories across formats." So essentially it's all a myth or the events are true to the current narrator. He's a massive sell out.

[@seancrowley3142]

If you want to make a good Star Wars movie/series, you must do your homework. If you don’t, you end up with the ST😑 I think Tony Gilroy is an excellent example. I’ve heard that he doesn’t even like many aspects of Star Wars but you can absolutely tell that he did his homework when you watch Andor. I honestly don’t think it’s expecting too much for a director to do research before making their content.

[@CmdrBrannick]

You don't need to know everything canon when creating something for an IP, but you need to know the basics and anything to do with the things you're going to use. Wouldn't expect someone to know something about the sequel trilogy if they're making a series set during the clone wars.

[@Werrf1]

Very few of the people who write legal dramas are lawyers, and rightly so - the skills you need to be a great lawyer and the skills you need to be a great writer are rarely the same. Still, people writing legal dramas can reasonably be expected to have specialists who can advise them about the law, and if they get it egregiously wrong, they can expect to be called out. The same goes for people writing medical stories, or military stories, or political stories. Why do we expect less from people writing Star Wars? You don't need to know absolutely everything there is to know about Star Wars, in fact expecting that would damage the product by limiting the people who could write the stories, but it does seem reasonable to ask that someone writing a Star Wars story have somebody around who can tell them about Star Wars.

[@saberiandream316]

Hey Thor, hypothetical. If Filoni was made CEO, do you really think he could save Star Wars? I've always been skeptical that he could for much the reasons you rail against Disney, which is that he doesn't adhere to the idea of a shared universe, and he only cares about his own projects and nothing else. I think people are setting themselves up for disappointment if they think Filoni can undo what Disney has systemically done for ten years now, or that he'd ever want to undermine his Disney bosses.

[@greatazuredragon]

Yeah, its like asking that your doctor knows medicine before treating you. Crazy, right?

[@matthewwheeler469]

I think Tony Gilroy is a perfect example of what a Star Wars director should be. He came in, not even being that much of a Star Wars fan, and simply created an amazing story that didn't mess up existing lore. He respected what Star Wars is, even though it may not really be his thing. He didn't rely on character cameos just for the sake of cameos. Instead, he did research on what was relevant to his story (exactly like you said, Thor). This led to the inclusion of the only two big outside characters, those being Mon Mothma and Yularen. It made sense for them to be in a show with the setting of Andor. The show in general made sense, because it was well written and respected the source material.

[@SithScorp]

Only Kennedy Star Wars matters to Kennedyfilm. They do not need to respect anything that came before. This is the disconnect and why they are failing. It is no longer the IP that George created and what Disney paid billions for. It no longer appeals to the people that paid their money for it and made it the valuable commodity that Disney paid George BILLIONS for. The new audience that Kennedy is chasing has not shown up and they never will. As Ruin Johnson wrote for TLJ, "Forget the past. Kill it if you need to." Mission Accomplished, KK and company.

[@OrthoLou]

They could quite easily hire a nerd panel and pay them a salary that's chump change compared to what the storyboard shitheads from TROS were paid... Average Joes who know their shit about Star Wars would accept that job with glee.

[@EndThusIAm]

Funny you used NYC as a reference because recently my wife watched a romcom that takes place in it, and I'm an Islander, so when I saw the driving scenes I went "Wait, these city folk have cars and zero traffic?? Now I know this is wrong."

[@JoRoq1]

Remember the series "Heroes"? Clearly nobody on that crew ever looked at a map of Texas, because there are no mountains in the Midland/Odessa region (Permian Basin) that the cheerleader came from. Outside of artificial formations, that area is almost as flat as Kansas.

[@pdzombie1906]

Watiti already said he made the Thor movies just for the money, no wonder why he "ruined the mythos" as he himself put it. Imagine what he would do with Star Wars: Rian Johsnson to the second power!!!

[@davepost7675]

When someone like Tony Gilroy writes for Star Wars, he easily (and probably does) hire people whose responsibility is to know the entire canon. So Gilroy can focus on the story without worrying too much about those details then have his advisors point out problems that Gilroy can then correct.

[@SalAvenueNJ]

Lucasfilm could hire people who know a lot about the lore to go over scripts and point out any conflicts. If they're willing to pester all these people with DEI notes, one more person talking about the lore shouldn't be too much to ask.

[@starwarsnewsandmemes8289]

Hey Thor, I recently noticed something about SW, that I can't quite unseen. SW always seems to put a heavy emphasis on family even being called a family drama in space, although the main characters always seem to not come from a traditional family. Even the main characters of each trilogy have had weak family ties. Anakin has no father and was separated from his mother when he was nine. Luke wasn't raised by his biological parents, and his aunt and uncle were killed early in the first movie he was the protagonist of. Rey was abandoned by her parents. Even in the anthology movie protagonists have this, as Jyn was separated from her parents early in her life, and Han describes himself as having no "people" and doesn't even have a last name. The supporting characters have this too, with the Jedi all being taken from their parents as children, Leia being raised by an adoptive father who's killed early in the first movie she plays a heavy role in when her adopted mother is already out of the picture, Finn being implied to have been raised by the First Order itself, etc. My question comes down to can SW, a series that puts family at the forefront have a protagonist who comes from a traditional loving family with a stable mother and father? Or does that conflict with the storytelling formula (can't make 'found family' stories, the character not as sympathetic, having a family would tie them down from going on a big adventure, etc.)?

[@treycarter6736]

Hell, I’d see the Rey movie if Nolan directed it. I have no plans to currently.

[@emilyquinn9691]

I’m sure Disney are crying and shaking becuase you won’t see the movie

[@hakimzane]

I was just about to say be careful, because saying you won't watch the Rey movie means someone will give you hard time about it. And then I saw the first comment. Figures. You're not allowed to not like it according to THAT side of the fanbase

[@TheMaleRei]

I would be interested to hear what people have to say about before I go see it - people whose tastes are in line with my own. Let them take the hit first. If it's good, then sure I'll take the plunge, otherwise...

[@emilyquinn9691]

@@hakimzane people like the sequels. Grow up and get over it

[@Takwygladapilaw]

​@@emilyquinn9691 Yeah few thousand of you...

[@robertdickson9319]

It all comes down to the gatekeeper - for Star Wars it's KK, for Marvel it's Feige. When they make the decisions to hire the directors, approve scripts & watch the dailies it is their job to ensure that whatever the director is doing is hewing to the "proper" vision of Star Wars/Marvel. It does not matter how famous the director is - the lines should be drawn out prior to the hiring interview about what the guidelines are and how to stay within the lines. KK does not have the knowledge or enthusiasm for the properties she is responsible for to properly gatekeep. She is extremely susceptible to letting "hot" directors come in and kind of push her around, trusting that they know what's going on. I don't believe for a second that at any point she followed up with JJ Abrams to say that TFA was un-original. At no point did she push back on Rian Johnson to say that maybe this should not be Luke's character arc. At no point did she question either of them about plot lines & working together. I doubt she questioned Favreau regarding Mando S3. I doubt she questioned Filoni on Ahsoka. Only Gilroy has really rewarded her hands off approach. She, rather than the directors, is the real reason behind the failures of Disney Star Wars. Feige has far more enthusiasm & knowledge of his property than KK does yet even he let his guard down or his focus drift for phase 4 & 5. Seven films in 2 years showed me that he let some directors get away with doing things that, in hindsight, hurt the films. Raimi made a technically good movie but Multiverse struggled because of a failure to really work on tying the Scarlet Witch into a better character arc. Every other movie in phase 4 really could have used more Feige in the special sauce and he let the franchise down however unintentionally that may have been. So basically, go ahead and hire a Nolan or a nobody to direct your next Star Wars/Marvel movie. The gatekeeper is the one that will make or break the final product, not necessarily the director.

[@gunroswell2706]

Amen! Leave the big names (egos) outside. i am sure there are ppl talented enough to do SW for free if asked!

[@Steel-101]

Man I would love to see another Star Wars movie with Genndy Tartakovsky’s art-style(The Samurai Jack Style). Maybe even a Don Bluth, Star Wars movie(Having the same style as Titan A.E). That would be fantastic.

[@geek8555]

Y'know, I always imagined Genndy Tartakovsky doing a darth bane adaptation.

[@Steel-101]

@@geek8555 Oooh that would be good. Maybe even some KOTOR stories(with Revan or Zayne)

[@geek8555]

@Steel-101 what if they got studio ghibli to do a star wars film? If so, what should it be?

[@saberiandream316]

I'd trust Tartakovsky over Filoni.

[@GreaterGrievobeast55]

Oh dear, not sure we'll ever find ourselves graced with an animator of Don Bluths caliber in the industry ever again.

[@playframe6231]

Ryan Johnson was hardly on top of hollywood when he got the movie.

[@Nyurzo]

This is why Story group exists. What they are doing all these years is a mystery for me.

[@zacharyfett2491]

I appreciate JJ for building practical sets and models and puppets. That’s it. Every other creative decision in that movie, and the rest of the trilogy, was abysmal.

[@caseyjp1]

The brass tacks problem with Lucasfilm (and Disney) is that they fully embraced DEI over meritiocracy. Hollywood has ALWAYS been nepotistic, but in the past that nepotism at least was grounded in knowledge and experience. Now? Let's hire someone who does documentaries, has a penchant for putting a foot in their mouth, and has no experience with big pictures. Tony Gilroy is the outlier here. He probably got the 'in' via Rogue One, but this is a person with experience and knowledge and surrounded himself with people who not only love the IP, but ALSO had experience and knowledge. It still boggles my mind that Andor got made, tbh.

[@hockey1973]

What we need is a lore primer. Someone who DOES know the in's and outs needs to maintain an easy to digest primer that a new director reads. Heck Brandon Sanderson has cosmere lore buffs consulting for his books and he's the one who CREATED the universe to begin with!

[@kenbrockfarm8656]

Setting experts are a thing in every single movie based in something already established (typically historical movies) and people love seeing the details be correct.

[@cjstenzel]

Hey Thor, God I'd love to buy you a beer and talk some Star Wars, thanks for your common sense videos man. YOU would be a great producer/writer for Lucasfilm.

[@jkb2016]

The trick with big franchises is to hand over material in development to a trusted loremaster - mostly a superfan who consumed all franchise releases - who can point out discrepancies. It's the IP-owners' decision how to pay those loremsters - or maybe a team - but I believe a compensation per project consultation would be reasonable. I think loremasters would do this gladly even for "small" money. Both, fans and studios would benefit from that.

[@LocrianDorian]

Star Wars has its own style, whoever gets hired to make a Star Wars movie should be faithful to the franchise and not the other way around.

[@timothykuntze2605]

I am just wondering a what major changes did they make from other forms of media, to the movies/ tv shows?

[@Grimzilla32]

I'm just gonna say, if a director can't put aside their ego and work with a franchise, they shouldn't be making a film for ANY franchise I respect Adam Wingard from Godzilla's "Monsterverse" because he flat up said " (he) knows no one is coming for the actors, the Monsters are the real stars and I'm gonna give them what they want"

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

Well, Godzilla Minus One proved that wrong 😮

[@Grimzilla32]

@user-yq9im9dk9z Minus One is the exception to the rule, the director through some miracle, made the entire human cast PERFECT

[@gameragodzilla]

I’d argue the reason Andor doesn’t break canon is because it’s largely self contained in its own corner of the galaxy with little connection or references to the rest of the franchise, which also contributes to why it doesn’t “feel” like Star Wars to some. And I regard that as still part of the same issue, since I either get a wholly self contained story that’s good but doesn’t feel very Star Wars-y (like Andor), or I get a more substantial and consequential story that’s crap because it messes with established canon (like Last Jedi). A lot of old EU material was both good and felt Star Wars-y because they were made by genuine fans who wanted to expand upon Star Wars rather than their own ego.

[@mazkeraid4039]

Andor is still a prequel to Rogue One though… that only gain a minority. Nobody watched it due to Disney+ which was helmed by Bob Iger.

[@gameragodzilla]

@@mazkeraid4039 Yeah, but Rogue One only expands on the Death Star plan theft, and even then, Cassian isn’t even the principle character in that story. Jyn Erso was (though she was a pretty boring character). If Cassian died or did nothing in Andor, the Rogue One story itself wouldn’t change much since only Jyn is directly relevant to that story.

[@Glendon34]

I think an example of this being done well is what James Cameron did with “Aliens.” He brought his own brand and vision to the franchise and even changed genres (horror to action), but stayed true to the original’s aesthetic, sensibility and story elements in a way that allowed him to expand the universe and plant seeds for future films that would carry the story forward. (And you could argue that what David Fincher did with Alien 3 is an example of the exact opposite impulse, much to the franchise’s detriment.)

[@Stlaind]

And it's a good thing the franchise stopped after those movies, right?

[@saberiandream316]

It's funny, because what Alien3 did is kinda like what The Last Jedi did.

[@Teampegleg]

I think directors and show runners can add their own flavor to their part of these franchises, but you it still needs to embody the core elements of the franchise. A good example of this is DS9, that wasn't Roddenberry's Star Trek. But Sisko, despite sometimes completely breaking the rules (Solosos III and Vreenak), he was often attempting to live up to the ideals of the Federation while responding to the imperfect world that he was thrust into. Nick Meyers was a great example of this, he came in and made a ton of change for the Wrath of Kahn making the ship more like a true warship with sharp looking uniforms and realistic sets simplifying the story to a simple age of sail style cat and mouse game, but at its core it was still a Star Trek movie with optimism and philosophy.

[@reneszeywerth8352]

One great example is Nicholas Meyer who came into Star Trek without knowing little and not being a fan and then directing the greatest Star Trek movie ever. Also I think guys like Roddenberry and Lucas had the advantage that they made this up as they went along. They didn't have to respect canon - they made canon. And when they changed stuff it was later explained as "true from a certain viewpoint". For example Vader being Luke's father - which was not intended at the making of ANH. And originally it was the stated (and as I understand only) job of the story group to point out inconsistencies with the canon.

[@MarvinNoFun]

Is there some board, like Skywalker Ranch in the old days, that checks that everything is in line with the canon? Because, it's understood that no filmmaker or writer is obliged to study all the lore before proceeding with his or her story. But there should be some people who would approve the stories and correct certain things to keep the continuity more or less in tact. With the old EU such approach mostly worked. For a time being, at least.

[@abit_gray]

It would be nice having "canon" films and few "StarWars Story" films which could be "legends". What-If scenarios or what happened somewhere we did not see during existing films. There you could let your writers and directors run wild (but limit the budget and length). Maybe some of it will influence canon. Maybe it will be what fans want. But you will be sure it won't ruin the canon. But that would mean YOU care about the canon.

[@saberiandream316]

It's insulting to Legends fans. We've been waiting and asking for new stories in the EU for almost ten years, and what they give us is more Infinities? Bah!

[@TheMaleRei]

Dark Horse did "What-If" stories. It was titled "Star Wars Infinities"... I only read one - and, spoiler, it ended with Yoda mind controlling Death Star officers to *crash the Death Star onto Coruscant to kill the Emperor along with a trillion other people.* Who knew Yoda was a mass deleter, eh?

[@Solo13508]

I agree that it's not the responsibility of every director to know the lore inside and out. That is (or at least should be) the responsibility of Lucasfilm Story Group. They need to be the ones to keep the lore/continuity together and feed the directors what information they need to remain consistent with the overall story of Star Wars. Sadly, it seems more and more lately that the story group has no real say and directors get to pretty much override any canon that interferes with the story they want to tell.

[@JoRoq1]

It's more that the story group is out for their own creative careers and coming up with their own agenda stories, rather than taking on the responsibility for franchise cohesion. Recall that they spent their time conceiving and building the High Republic era (remember "Dinosaurs" on the white board!) while things around them were going in vastly different directions.

[@Solo13508]

​@@JoRoq1First of all it's not the story group that developed the High Republic. The authors of those books did. They were basically given the task of creating a new era for Star Wars to create new stories with new characters. They chose a period of time that hadn't been largely explored in either canon or EU yet. The Story Group of course approved these ideas and helped to further develop them but definitely did not create the High Republic themselves. Secondly, the "dinosaurs on the whiteboard" was very obviously a joke.

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

​​​@@Solo13508 Story Group doesn't seem to consider anything substantial from EU when developing lore anyway. Neither have they ever enforced how hyperspace is supposed to work. In fact, each new canon project seems to add more and more stupid things to hyperspace. Ahsoka was the last project that broke all the rules about intergalactic travel. Pablo Hidalgo treats canon as X happened on planet Y, and thinks that's okay and any type of details of how and why don't even matter... How is that lore? That's not even history, it's just overview.

[@pulcherius]

Star Wars has been reduced to a brand label. They think just because its Star Wars it will automatically be a overwhelming success. They use the name to make social/political statements and or create personal vanity projects. I think you are right that many directors and producers think they they are doing the franchise a favor by merely being involved.

[@alastairwinder6657]

I find it interesting your points about Christopher Nolan and that you would assume a director would do research on a character/historical figure before making a story about it… meanwhile Ridley Scott clearly did the very bare minimum of research on Napoleon (arguably one of the biggest figures in European history) and made a plethora of inaccuracies in the Napoleon film

[@peterkrochmalni673]

Tony Kilroy doesn’t even know that there are supposed to be aliens in Star Wars which is why andor is severely lacking in aliens which is among the reasons andor seriously doesn’t feel like it belongs in the Star Wars universe. He obviously thought he was making some generic sci-fi space series with no substance. And he’s surprised that andor needs to chase its audience. Doesn’t surprise me, you serve people a sh(i)t sandwich and don’t be surprised that nobody is gonna eat that up.

[@Telorchid]

There's a difference between not knowing much lore but operating in a genre which can be contained within the larger mythos (say, a political thriller or heist film) and destroying lore and/or characters in handling a flagship film. The former is Gilroy/Andor and the latter is Johnson/TLJ. Beyond that, respect that people love the property, and try to tell a good story and not outdo yourself or others with expectation subversion.

[@permeus2nd]

3:59 this is the job of the star wars story group (allegedly) a director dosnt make a star wars project in a vacuum there is talks meny talks with lots of different people, the story outline is already known (allegedly, I mean you would never let a director just do whatever they want.... right?) So the story group should whip up a short summary of all the info related to the things touched by the project and if the director wants to focus in more on something they can go hey can I get some more details on XYZ. So I'm making the solo film the info I will need is a bio on all the main character, a summary of their life leading up to my project, what they will do next if anything just incase they need to end in a certain place or state like say they get an arm cut off or something (the left arm of course because it's always the left arm) so I can.make sure they get there by films end, a bio on the planets the story will be taking place on so I know what they look like and any interesting characters that may be there to include, and lastly any thing that is has or may be happening near to the setting of the project like say they are thinking of there been a war in this sector of space in an upcoming film I could use that to flesh out the background of my film by having people in the setting talking of raising tension, all that and were probably talking a 25 to 50 page document that I can skim over to get me accustomed to the setting I'm working with.

[@bozimmerman]

So many good points, and almost all those points also apply to any other character and lore-based franchises. (as opposed to telling a new, e.g. Twilight Zone story).

[@zarekshadowmoor9263]

Not many if ANY people outside the USA knew who George Lucas was when Star Wars came out. I still had no idea after seeing it in 1977. But it was huge. Everyone loved it. And we never thought we would see the likes of it again. Then Empire was announced and then came out. No one I know went to see it because of who the director was, and I am guessing, not many people outside the US even knew who Irwin Kirchner was and probably at this point in time was directed by George again. I know I did at the time. But we all went to see it because it was a STAR WARS movie. And better yet, it was a continuation of the first movie. Same thing with Jedi. I am guessing that few people outside the UK knew who Richard Marquand was. We went to see it because we loved the franchise, and needed to see how it all ended. Have all our questions answered. The prequels were a hit because George had written the rise and fall of Lukes father, Anakin Skywalker, and thats all good and all, but people went to those movies because they were STAR WARS movies, and all 3 were directed by George this time; not that that mattered really who directed it because we already knew other people could do it having seen Kirchner and Marquand do it. Now here in the new millennium, here comes Di$ney Star Wars. Are you seriously going to tell me people were going to go watch it because Jar Jar Abrams was the director and NOT because it was a STAR WARS film, that fans had waited 30-35 odd years to get get a continuation of the saga began in '77 and finished in '83? Fans went because it was a STAR WARS film. NO ONE gave a shit it was Jar Jar directing. There was NO way it wasnt going to make money, in fact you wouldnt have even had to bait the fans with images of Han and Chewie and they STILL would have turned up in droves, at least until the word got out at how actually bad it was. Then TLJ, not many people really knew who Ruin Johnson was, but he was doing STAR WARS. Surely it could not be as bad as the last one, but we were so wrong, but it was still technically a success, I guess, on some level... Then Jar Jar was back for TRoS, and by this time, we were twice bitten and reserved going to it until we got some sort of feedback from the reviewers, and not just the shill media, but people still went to see it because it was Star Wars, but no one had any expectations but rather wanted to see the end of a once great franchise. It was still claimed to be a success, but I would ask you, by what measure? GOOD Star Wars is good Star Wars REGARDLESS of who the maker is, writers, directors, producers etc. But BAD Star Wars is bad Star Wars BECAUSE of the writers, directors and and producers etc. I may go see a movie BECAUSE of who is IN it, but NEVER because of who made it, with the exception of a lot of old Lucas stuff Willow, Indiana Jones etc, and in the current modern era, Jon Favreau, but even Favreau is starting to get a little iffy these days.

[@thephantomfanboy]

Tony Gilroy managed it. Competent film making is a lot harder than googling lore

[@TheMaleRei]

But that takes work. And most Hollywood directors / writers would rather go - "LULZ! Eye due watt eye want, yo!"

[@beskamir5977]

The authors who know the canon the best create the best stories. So I think it should be expected that directors/writers that create Star Wars films/books/games/etc should be experts on the series as a whole. They maybe don't need to know every single detail but the more they know, the better it will be. James Luceno's Darth Plagueis novel is considered legendary because James did his research far beyond what was necessary.

[@dianesinger9729]

Agree with you about the directors I mean either do or don't. They should fins genuine writers a directors to give us a good show or movie

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

Hmmm, either do or don't. What a lesson found somewhere...

[@CraigS1124]

As a director joining a franchise, they have a responsibility to know at least the foundational cannon. Gaps can be filled by consultants, or subject matter experts. Even Cecil B. Demille respected the source material (the bible) when making the Ten Commandments. No modern director is near his talent or standing.

[@muskatDR]

"But i dont wanna do any research. I just wanna do the bare minimum cause im too important" Ridley Scott felt that

[@GAdmThrawn]

6:45 A lot like Ridley Scott and his Napoleon film.

[@priscillabrown210]

If you’re going to write ANYTHING that is meant to a continuation or prequel to a pre-existing series/franchise, you have to put in research, especially on the elements/characters that you plan to use. To fail to do so, you run the risk continuity errors and other lore breaking stuff… In other words, in regards to Star Wars, George set the beat, everybody else has to dance to it, they can make up some of their moves, but they still have to keep to that same beat. There is also the question of how well a writer actually understands the elements/characters he is writing. An example of this is the characters of Luke Skywalker… Many of the old eu writers struggled with Luke’s character, with Tim Zahn being one of the few to actually get it right consistently.

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

When you go to a restaurant, it is too much to expect that chef knows how to cook. You are grateful for whatever scraps and miscellanious bits you get!

[@Bruh-ft7me]

Hey Thor, considering Dave Filoni wrote some of the best Ashoka content (notably the last episodes of clone wars) why do you think the writing quality of the Ahsoka show was so low?

[@JoRoq1]

Personally, I think it is in large part because he was left alone with his own devices. He's a good idea guy and has the lore knowledge, but still needs someone else to rein in his larger impulses (Lucas for TCW, Favreau for The Mandalorian). It's also not clear yet how much influence/interference came from Kennedy forcing certain things into or out of the story.

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

Dave Filoni also wrote Martez arc, he's just schizophrenic. Or maybe someone was ghost-writing ending of Season 7.

[@saberiandream316]

Professor Geek explains this - Filoni was credited with a writer's role when he wasn't actually writing it for TCW.

[@michaellane5381]

I think the main takeaway from Ahsoka and D+ series in general is the story format isn't being used appropriately. 8 episodes is too short for a series they keep trying to format the episode formula into and far too long for the stretched movies they seem to be writing. For example apart from Andor and Mando S1 everything pre-Ahsoka seems to be about 2.5 hours of movie with 2-3 "filler" episodes(by "filler" I mean episodes unrelated by large to the main season conflict). Most good series disguise the overarching conflict within minor parts of many such "filler" type monster of the week episodes, but in the DSW almost all these 8 episode series just have 2 episodes nearly completely disconnected and the rest are pretty hamfisted full of main plot which removes the mystery(BoBF even went further by having them episodes with another shows characters almost exclusively). Ahsoka has the other problem, rather than focus on Ahsoka it seems like it has only 2 episodes about her, 2 about Sabine, and about 3 series/movie crossover storylines and everything else was a total afterthought then episode 8 just tried being some epic movie conclusion.

[@Cheattoe]

A guy who throws out all context of what he’s making in hopes his name will bring in a crowd? Did I hear you say Ridley Scott’s Napoleon?

[@pwmiles56]

Why do people say "flush out" when they mean "flesh out"?

[@thibaud1832]

General G’Rasp is one of my favorite character.

[@Cheattoe]

Christopher Nolan in charge of the kotor movie and then orbital bombards taris ❤

[@dilbertfish]

Perhaps they did the research, but the archives are incomplete?

[@MrChupacabra555]

6:40 : No, that would be "Napoleon" 😅😂

[@richardziolkowski7246]

Hey Thor, do you think directors are avoiding making SW movies because they won't be given creative control to make the movie they want to make versus what Lucasfilm wants them to make? The director from Dial of Destiny has made some good films but there's a lot of speculation that he had to add a lot of elements to please KK rather than make a movie that showed respect for the previous movies .

[@villainus957]

Your meritocratic sentiment is lovely. However that isnt how hollywopd do.

[@chpet1655]

Ridley Scott doing Star Wars might be interesting and before he died ( or was murdered ?) Stanley Kubrick doing Star Wars might have drawn an extra group of people to the theatres. Perhaps some day Denise Villeneuve will get to do one that’s unless Disneys managed to destroy the franchise totally

[@Paul_McSeol]

Hiring directors who feel gratitude for the chance is crucial. For example, I love Wes Anderson but I wouldn’t put him in the chair for a Star Wars film. Well, maybe a Caravan of Courage remake…

[@esalkor03]

MoM is great example of this. It seemed more important what Ramey could bring from his previous works to the MCU, creating narratives issues in it & for future works. Gilroy hilariously didnt know anything & admitted it, yet researched it for his story during the pandemic.

[@mitchellhouser1572]

I mean the blame goes on the writer. They wrote a shit film that didn’t work on basically any level.

[@esalkor03]

@@mitchellhouser1572 Which, granted, is a fault on Disney for appointing Waldron to I believe his first writing for a film without at least co-writer. Though poor reception doesn't help any of them in the end; writer, director, & studio.

[@vehnashur2771]

I am in the camp that believes the writers matter the most. I would want an excellent script with a conventional director. It just needs someone who understands the genre and will direct the actors.

[@wray2real]

Disney didt that exact same thing when they bought Star Wars. They got rid of the expanded universe and rejected George Lucas ' story treatments. They just hired directors for vanity projects so they could be associated with billion dollar movies. Canon and lore and back story just something they tell you they care about because it sounds good.

[@gianfri7640]

With all the people that work on a movie I really don't see the issue in hiring just ONE more man/woman as a lore expert to help with consistency. Or you know, you can form a permanent group of experts to do just that franchise wise, you can call them "the story group" or something like that and helping writers providing all the needed knowledge would be their whole job. Crazy, uh?

[@mcash232]

And if you don't want to do all the research yourself, talk to people who do--lots of media makers do this with historical subjects, and there would be plenty of "experts" you could talk to, chief among them being George Lucas.

[@Solo13508]

Hey Thor. I'm curious regarding your statement "It's a gigantic galaxy. There's a lot of room for new things." I agree with this. I just find it curious that you seem overly cynical regarding the newer books and comics. You often criticize them for "trying to fill in every gap of a character's life." I just find this strange because isn't that exactly what this hypothetical Boba Fett movie would do? Boba on one of his missions wouldn't really be an essential chapter in his story. It would mostly be "filling in another gap" as you like to say. Then take the upcoming book The Living Force. It's an interesting sounding story from an author who you've praised in numerous of your previous videos. Yet you seem to be apprehensive at best for that and any other books and comics that get announced. So what's the difference between your hypothetical Boba movie and the current books and comics? Wouldn't both just be filling in gaps? And if so what's the problem with that? There are many talented people who are currently or would love to one day work on Star Wars. If they wanted to tell a story with one of their favorite characters (even if it doesn't change the overall plot/arc of the character) then I personally see no problem with this as long as it's still a good story that doesn't interfere with prior lore/development of that character. I'm curious why you always seem to take issue with this. Just to be clear I'm not trying to be antagonistic or anything. You're one of my favorite Star Wars content creators so please don't take anything I've just said the wrong way. I'm just interested to see if you have a deeper reasoning beyond what you've already expressed over these types of "filling in the gap" stories.

[@thorskywalker]

The Boba Fett movie was a generic example, not something I think they should make.

[@Scorkey333]

Can we not get a Quentin Tarantino movie about Lando Calrissian?

[@dondoesdoodles9726]

Can you imagine a Director wanting to make a Spider-man film that outright said they'd never read/watch/played anything Webhead related? Would the excuse of "They shouldn't have to research the character" still fly? No. Of course not. That was rhetorical. 😘But thank you for clicking the Read More anyway. 😘

[@jasonworsner3307]

😢 beautifully said

[@BRONZALiVE]

Honestly so many directors want to direct a Star Wars film, but for real whose come in and actually gave us something truly special in the universe, I mean in the Disney era, it’s really only Favearu with mando and Andor with Gilroy, these are original stories set within the sw universe, and were received well, then one of them got to caught up in Falonis whole thing it ruined the show, skeleton crew and acolyte are original and have potential we shall see, and obviously the sequel were just a lazy rehash and using pre established characters and new characters people didn’t like, what made Andor and mando eariler season work is its entirely an original concept and feels like a creator who wanted to add something to the sand box rather then abuse what’s already there, sequels and Ahsoka show, and of course rogue one is great original characters and story

[@corso-travin]

Hey thor, how should we as starwars fans approach seeing whatever movie disney releases first? Should we lower our expectations so there's a lower chance for disappointment? Or should we stick to our "guns" and demand excellence? And if it is just an ok movie, how do we react? Should we let it pass and say "its the first movie in yrs give them a break". Or should we bring out our pitchforks over mediocrity?

[@DuncanColeman]

Would love to see denis villeneuve make a star wars movie 😊

[@jadoyon]

Andor is the most "Star Wars" thing to come out of Disney. It feels exactly like Star Wars.

[@playframe6231]

Luthen Rael is the best SW character since Yoda