Ahsoka Live Action Series | Disney Plus | August 23

[Porthos]

30 minutes ago, Geo1500 said:

I think personally Mando and the Mandolarians of Mandalore are the new face of Star wars now. They have a very interesting arc and it should be explored in depth 

 

While you're not alone in thinking that (or being Tired of Skywalkers [waves at @Cap]), I do think having a direct Mando connection in this series might be a little... controversial with some fans given how Mando crossovers in The Book of Boba Fett/the Teva-centric episode in Mando S3 went over. 

 

...

 

Then again, the sun rising in the east can be controversial for some fans so pretty par for the course for this fandom.  

 

====

 

A bit more to the point though is that there is some major unfinished business between Anakin and Ahsoka and I think it's fairly clear that Ahsoka is holding some major trauma over it all (we only saw her for any length of time in one episode post-Vader fight back in Rebels so I might note it wasn't clear how much that shook her up once she was over the initial adrenaline of the fight/had time to reflect on it all). 

 

Her not Dealing With It Well/having low grade PTSD could explain both why she refused to train Grogu and why she's pretty standoffish right now.  

 

So her having Thematic Closure with Anakin/Vader is aksually Pretty Damn Important from a character standpoint, and would give a clear reason for Anakin/Vader/Force Ghost to show up. At least IMO.

 

Mind, she is dealing with it better/differently than Obi-Wan did in his series, but I would be very surprised, and frankly a little disappointed, if her trauma/closed off nature wasn't explored as this series progresses.

 

Not that I wouldn't mind seeing Mando/Grogu/Bo-Katan, and I'm sure it would be popular with many, just that I'd want it to make story sense for them to be around.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Porthos

[ZeroHour]

Mando hijacking The Book of Boba Fett is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen on TV, but those were the best episodes of that show. I feel like I read somewhere that this is taking place concurrently with Mando S3? If so, a crossover probably wouldn't make much sense.

 

I do think Anakin popping up does make sense with this show's focus on masters and apprentices. Though Ghost Anakin showing up to Ahsoka when he's never appeared to his children or grandchild is a strange thought. I also think along with "lol droids are kinda slaves," we're never supposed to think too much in Star Wars about how 30 seconds of good behavior on Anakin's part redeemed decades of murder and upholding fascism, so maybe a flashback would be better.

 

I hope the show spares us CGI AI-voiced Luke who I'm not a fan of personally.

[George Parr]

I'd say that was a pretty good start. Definately more structurally sound than Book of Boba Fett, Kenobi or The Mandalorian season 3

 

I didn't particularly care for the characters prior to the show, I don't particularly care about them now, but they weren't bad either.

 

I had heard some reports about the dialogue being a bit weak, but it seemed fine to me. Not great, but better than much of what we've gotten lately.

 

The fights were a mix of some really cool shots and some that felt more like they were taken straight out of the animated shows (and I never liked how fights looked there). Moves should have purpose, and each strikes and parry needs to follow a flow. They need to make "sense", if that makes any sense

Here, at times it feels like the clashes were mashed together as if they weren't part of the same fight. Two characters swinging at each other while their lightsabers ignore the impact the enemy's weapon should have. And then they switch over to a close up, and suddenly the engagement between the weapons is right there. It's not like it doesn't work all the time, it's that they jump back and forth between doing it right and not doing it right.

 

Some stuff was so obvious though that you could see it coming a mile away, which just feels off:

Spoiler

The first one right at the start. Why on earth did they let the ferry get on board? That's just gross negligence. Explaining it away with cockiness or overconfidence of the captain barely works enough to give it a pass.

 

Another two things that got telegraphed way ahead before it actually happened were Sabine taking the map-thing and leaving, and the villains arriving just in time to take the map away. Thats just way too obvious too often. You shouldn't end up knowing what is bound to happen minutes before it is actually happening.

 

Someone miraculously arriving just in time happened a bit too often as well.

 

The escape of Morgan Elsbeth was also too similar to the one of Moff Gideon. Not in terms of how the actual escape played out on screen, but in how a high-value Imperial commander just gets rescued on a space-transport, shortly after being captured. You would have thought that someone of such value would be better protected, and / or a captain being told in most certain words not to take any risks the way they were taken here in the beginning.

 

It also feels a bit like they looked at how much people loved Vader going on a romp in Rogue One, and now feel they need to mirror that scene again and again. There really is no need for it. It just cheapens the original scene.

 

And please, for the love of god, someone tell them not to have heroes slice through tons of low-level henchmen or villains slice through tons of redshirts. It just adds nothing whatsoever beyond taking away all sort of danger. Just watching the OT should be enough to understand how to treat them in a way that they don't turn them into complete jokes. Yes, stormtroopers didn't get all that much done back then, but the heroes were still constantly on the run from them, not taking them head-on. Of course the heroes will survive, but you need to make it look at least somewhat dangerous for them, which doesn't happen if you turn the henchmen into a joke.

 

Oh, and I almost forgot: please stop with everyone and their mother being perfectly fine after getting stabbed by a lightsaber. If you want someone to be wounded, do it in a way that looks survivable. Don't have someone get stabbed Qui-Gon style and somehow be jumping around merrily a short time later.

 

Filoni loves to throw in stuff that just reminds me of KotOR. Makes me wish they would actually try and tell that story. I'd definately take it ahead of all the movies or shows announced right now (minus Andor season 2).

Edited August 23, 2023 by George Parr

[Arlborn]

1 hour ago, ZeroHour said:

I do think Anakin popping up does make sense with this show's focus on masters and apprentices. Though Ghost Anakin showing up to Ahsoka when he's never appeared to his children or grandchild is a strange thought.

To be fair, Ahsoka is pretty much his adoptive daughter(whom he was actually present for), in the same way Obi-Wan became his adoptive brother. Anakin was never one for respecting master and apprentice hierarchy from the Jedi I guess, he always got too close obviously.

 

 

[ChipDerby]

I fell asleep watching this (because I was tired) I'll try to finish it tonight. But I was really liking what I saw before sleep hit!

[Arlborn]

Just finished the second episode and so far so good, I'm really enjoying the beats of this. Excited to see where the story takes us.

 

Spoiler

For some reason I feel like this will touch on the Grysks, some way, somehow, in that far galaxy they talk so much about. It might even be a cliffhanger for season two. We will see though.

 

[ChipDerby]

Finished the first episode last night, I really liked it. 

[ChipDerby]

Episode 2 was great. Can't wait to see where it goes. Rosario has such a calm presence in this.

[nox]

Couldn't finish even the 1st episode, unfortunately. Adult Ahsoka seemed a bit too dull, didn't sound and act like the Ahsoka from TCW at all (I know that the actress is different), while Rebels characters were utterly uncompelling.

[Morieris]

Doesn't seem like Hera's used for more than staring incredulously at people except the flight sequence.

[filmlover]

This is pretty good so far! I can already feel that Rosario Dawson will be the highlight of the entire series.

[SnokesLegs]

Really didn’t know how to feel about this. The first episode was drawn out to the extreme and could easily have been cut down, Rosario Dawson just seems to be annoyingly aloof all the time which makes Ahsoka hard to like, and it really feels like the show just expects you to have watched Rebels, as the other characters seem like cardboard cut outs since all of the character development was done on another show. I’m happy for the Rebels fans who seem to have got a live action Rebels season 5, but for me, it feels like it has a barrier to entry to new watchers who have no interest in the cartoons (I’ve tried, they aren’t for me).

 

I’ll give it another episode, see if it grabs me.

[Porthos]

Gonna post this in the dedicated streaming tracking thread in a moment, but also worthy of being here...

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/ahsoka-premiere-views

 

Quote

Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company are thrilled and humbled to announce that Part One of Ahsoka, "Master and Apprentice," was the most-watched title on Disney+ this past week. The debut episode garnered 14 million views, making the series number one globally on the streaming platform.

 

“Ahsoka has become a fan favorite with people of all ages and it’s wonderful to see her continue to resonate with viewers in her very own headlining series,” says Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm president. “I want to recognize the fantastic work done by our creative team, led by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the incredible cast led by Rosario Dawson, and our talented crew — and on behalf of the team and all of Lucasfilm, we give our thanks to all the fans who have been with Ahsoka on every step of her journey and to all those who are just learning about her now in Ahsoka on Disney+.”

 

New episodes of Ahsoka arrive every Tuesday at 6 p.m. PT., only on Disney+.

*A view is defined as total stream time divided by runtime available.

 

That last bit is key as it stops the whole "watched for five minutes and peaced-out" shenanigans that often occurs here.

 

Be very curious to see how this aligns with Nielsen, or if it is indeed pulled straight from Nielsen.

 

 

=====

Awwwww, shit, I just realized there is a ***HIGH*** likelihood that this is global viewing.

 

Yeah gonna snip out all of my analysis as it is likely flawed.

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Porthos

[Porthos]

-edited away-

Edited August 29, 2023 by Porthos

[ZeroHour]

13 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Gonna post this in the dedicated streaming tracking thread in a moment, but also worthy of being here...

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/ahsoka-premiere-views

 

 

That last bit is key as it stops the whole "watched for five minutes and peaced-out" shenanigans that often occurs here.

 

Be very curious to see how this aligns with Nielsen, or if it is indeed pulled straight from Nielsen.

 

Also, for those curious, not quite even higher than Obi-Wan Kenobi levels (EDIT: Misremembered first week of OBK) and much much much better than Andor and also better than The Book of Boba Fett by a decent degree.

 

ETA:::

 

Direct comparsion, presuming a Tue-Sun cutoff and not a Tue-Mon one:

 

 

TBOBF	Min View (Weekly)	Min Added (Weekly)		Min View (Total)	Minutes (Total)		Views (Total)
Week 1	389m	38		389m	38		10.24m

 

Kenobi:	Min View (Weekly)	Min Added (Weekly)		Min View (Total)	Minutes (Total)		Views (Total)
Week 1	1026m	92		1026m	92		11.15m

 

Andor	Min View (Weekly)	Min Added (Weekly)		Min View (Total)	Minutes (Total)		Views (Total)
Week 1	624m	117		624m	117		5.33m

 

Mando is still a whooooole different level, so not used for now.

 

 

Isn't Nielsen just US numbers? Are the global numbers they reported today comparable?

[Porthos]

1 minute ago, ZeroHour said:

Isn't Nielsen just US numbers? Are the global numbers they reported today comparable?

 

See my edit.

 

(I in fact re-read the presser and deleted almost all of my anaysis)

[ZeroHour]

3 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

See my edit.

 

(I in fact re-read the presser and deleted almost all of my anaysis)

Didn't mean to call you out. Looking at the two just mad me go "hmm." The ratings info these companies occasionally spit out is so frustrating. Since they've never given a number like this before (as far as I know), it's really hard to say if this is good or not compared to their other shows. 

[Porthos]

1 minute ago, ZeroHour said:

Didn't mean to call you out. Looking at the two just mad me go "hmm." The ratings info these companies occasionally spit out is so frustrating. 

 

No no, it was absolutely the right thing to do as I should have caught that before hitting Submit Reply.

 

2 minutes ago, ZeroHour said:

Since they've never given a number like this before (as far as I know), it's really hard to say if this is good or not compared to their other shows. 

 

Might have something from the Trades for a prior number, or maybe they blasted out a presser for OBK (didn't take the time to check).

 

Until then probs have to wait about three more weeks for the Nielsen numbers to start coming in, unless the Trades or other sources like TVGrimReaper chime in.

[Potiki]

Glad they are finally giving out numbers but nothing to compare because this is the first weekly number they have provided. 

 

I do wonder if this article was released before or after Netflix gave their global top 10 (it's actually 40 but for the purpose of comparing US shows) of the week as nothing there was over 14m globally although you are comparing full seasons to 1 episode and I'm not sure when the Netflix shows released may only be partial week data (you could argue the same for Ahsoka technically as it is at least a few hours short of a full week) but still interesting even with those caveats. 

 

 

source for Netflix top 10: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/top10/tv

 

Edit: To provide a little more context, only two Netflix shows (both English language) have been over 14m views since the started doing the views metric starting week ending June 18th. Depp v Heard at 16.2m week of August 14-20 and The Witcher Season 3 at 15.2m week of June 26 to July 2, both were in their launch/premiere week.

 

The caveats I listed above in comparing Ahsoka still exist though and would have loved for them to provide one or more of Mando S3, Kenobi, Andor and Book of Boba Fett as a comparison to gauge things, it would surely be below the first 2 listed and likely above Andor but as @Porthos said above and in the tracking thread just have to wait for Nielsen data, still if Lucasfilm or other parts of Disney provide data like is in the future it is a helpful metric to have. 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Potiki

[Potiki]

Wait it seems like Lucasfilm released this number to counter Samba TV numbers, and you know what I respect it LOL. 

 

 

Top and bottom of the screenshot from a Deadline article, I'm personally going to try to stop linking to the trades given their position in the ongoing strikes but I'm sure it will be easy to find the article if you wished to see it.