@TheBreadmonkey yeah it’s messed up my chronological watch through. I had two two-years waits for subsequent series of Bad Batch, though I’m back on a roll now. If something’s not out before I get there I’ll just come back to it another time once I’m finished.
A long time ago on a social media platform far, far away (well, October 2020 on Twitter) I began a chronological watch-through of the Star Wars canon. I am barely on Birdville now, so have moved the thread here.
Below is a link to a pdf with a very crude copy & paste job of my entire thread so far, so you can go back to the beginning and read the whole story. I will pick up the thread again below this tweet.
Happy reading, and may the force live long and shiny.
Ok so we’ve been in a fairly steady timeline since Solo: the prequel films, Clone Wars and Bad Batch have all been about the rise of the empire and the decline of the Jedi and republic supporters. Solo was quite the departure from this albeit, as I say, fitting into the broad context and atmosphere. But now with OWK we are back to “core” Star Wars, if you will.
I confess I was intrigued and doubtful when I heard there’d be a series about Obi Wan. As we remember from the end of film Episode 3, Obi Wan went into hiding - partly to monitor the baby Luke but also to train with Qui-Gon Jinn. I’m not convinced there’s an entire series to squeeze out of watching Ewan MacGregor in the desert glued to binoculars by day and having mock fights with a ghost by night. We meet him again in A New Hope as something of an enigma so surely that’s enough?
Well, this is Star Wars so there are always stories to squeeze out of the situation. And the series starts well with a recap of the first three films that almost makes them seem quite good, and emphasises that continuity of the story.
And episode 1 feels slow, but rebuilds Obi-Wan well, and the contrast between the loves of alike and Leia is done well: world that are lush and worlds that are dusty. The inquisitors are suitably baddy-like, and it’s fun to see characters like Senator Organa back. It perhaps feels predictable so far, but mostly enjoyable. Episode 2 has a bit of a Bad Batch feel to it, with a plucky narrow escape, and it’s good to see Obi-Wan start to rediscover himself.
Episode (or I should say part) 4 takes into cliche a little, with some formulaic stuff that Bad Batch did so often: child in danger, last minute escape etc, but the dynamic of Leia and the Third Sister was compelling, and some old fashioned Jedi-doing/his-thing. Only two left in the series. It’s weird to be progressing so quickly through the stories.
And an excellent episode to follow, with some cracking action, clever nods back to the prequel films to which the series acts as such a neat follow, and a good cliffhanger at the end shifting the balance back from Leia to Luke. I’m just hoping they’re not settling things up for a second series. After my Bad Batch delays I’m not hanging around for that.
Se estas tiom da programistoj en Esperantujo, kial la oficialaj Esperantaj retejoj aspektas kvazaŭ el la 1990-aj jaroj? (Mi estas programisto, sed mi ne kreas retejojn. Ne rigardu min.) 😂
I’ve finished Daniel Kalder’s Dictator Literature, or as it was titled in the USA (with in my view a better title) The Infernal Library - a darkly humorous dive into the writings of dictators. It’s an often enlightening insight into some horrible minds, and a call for scepticism and critique of our leaders. A big book and a long read, and the first change in my reading list for a while. Not sure I’ll add anything at the moment.