Ahsoka Live Action Series | Disney Plus | August 23

[Porthos]

3 minutes ago, JustLurking said:

let's say I am not a big star wars fan myself so I'll be fine not getting everything laid out about the lore lol mostly was just curious if I'd be able to watch without constantly feeling like I'm missing groundwork to know what's going on and it sounds like I'll be fine on that front.

 

 

Yeah, I'd say the only real important piece of outside info is that the titular star of the show (Ahsoka) was the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker and she has... conflicted feelings about it all.  I mean, even that is fairly well established within the series I feel, but that's the only real piece of outside info that is that important in the grand scheme of things.

[Cap]

1 hour ago, JustLurking said:

So how watchable is this without clone wars and rebels?

I feel like Clone Wars and Rebels are essential.  The show isn’t it’s doing very much. The plot is easy to follow. But who these characters are and why they important, eh. It’s very flat. I have felt a lot of the big, emotional moments, come from the fact that Ahsoka is my favorite character, and I’ve watched all of clone wars two times. The last episode that aired was an excellent example of that. I was projecting so much onto the text and I don’t know if it was there or not.
 

 

[ChipDerby]

I guess yeah I'm not as emotionally invested as I'm sure the show wants me to be. But I have a good grasp of the characters and their connections to each other. Really the only thing that's "lost" with not watching the animated series, is the connection between Ezra and Sabine. I assume they have a close connection, but that's something Ahsoka hasn't really sold me on yet.

[4815162342]

15 hours ago, JustLurking said:

So how watchable is this without clone wars and rebels?

 

To be honest, while it is decently easy enough to follow along without having watched any TCW or Rebels, it seems like the show is playing very fast and loose in a few places and just giving the briefest bits of explanation to non-alumni. The show is definitely made with those alumni in mind.

[4815162342]

12 hours ago, ChipDerby said:

I guess yeah I'm not as emotionally invested as I'm sure the show wants me to be. But I have a good grasp of the characters and their connections to each other. Really the only thing that's "lost" with not watching the animated series, is the connection between Ezra and Sabine. I assume they have a close connection, but that's something Ahsoka hasn't really sold me on yet.

 

The show heavily plays as a sequel to 1) Rebels, and 2) Several years of backstory that we get the barest hints at in dialogue, namely that Ahsoka 3) previously tried to train Sabine in some Jedi arts, and 4) that Ahsoka apparently refused to help Sabine when the Purge of Mandalore happened and Sabine lost her whole family as an apparent consequence

 

Oh and 5) Jacen has been hanging around clearly force sensitive but Ahsoka seemingly has never offered to train Jacen herself or told Hera "hey you obviously must know Luke Skywalker cause you've been a General for years that guy is a solid dude maybe you might want to have him train Jacen if Jacen is interested?"

 

 

Putting aside the Rebels/TCW connections, it in many ways feels like a Season 2 where Season 1 was written out fully but never actually shot or aired.

Edited September 17, 2023 by 4815162342

[Kalo]

6 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

Oh and 5) Jacen has been hanging around clearly force sensitive but Ahsoka seemingly has never offered to train Jacen herself or told Hera "hey you obviously must know Luke Skywalker cause you've been a General for years that guy is a solid dude maybe you might want to have him train Jacen if Jacen is interested?"

 

I think this part is pretty easily explained, of course Hera knows who Luke is, but 1 Jacen is only like what 10? and his father died for being a Jedi, which you can see through her interactions with Jacen she is reluctant to have him trained, even though she pretty much knows he is force sensitive, as for Ashoka it is implied that she left training Sabine at least a couple years ago I would say (when Jacen was even younger) and has too much guilt to train anyone. I really like Jacen as a character so far (love the little nods to the EU Jacen Solo), I think Ezra might train him tbh.

 

so after Episode 5 I am super invested in this show. I am a huge Clone Wars and Rebels fan though and I just don't think you will get everything you need to out of this show if you haven't watched those shows. 

 

this show is far from perfect, but it has some moments of clone wars level greatness (mainly ep 5 so far). I was really worried after season 3 of Mando (which I still haven't finished). but this is slowly restoring my faith in the direction star wars is heading. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Kalo

[Avatree]

I watched the 5 episodes yesterday. Found the first couple a bit boring, it took a while to get going, but I'm enjoying it a lot now. The last episode was pure fan service, actually like someone's fanfiction. But I cant complain. It was pretty cool. Jacen listening to the waves of the ocean gave me serious goosebumps all over. Thats one of the best moments of any Star Wars I've ever seen. I found the de-aging jarring at first but once they went back to replay scenes, it was all good. Hayden Christensen still can't act though lol.

 

One of the things I loved about Rebels, and probably the reason I rate Rebels above Clone Wars, is that it leans into the mystical and spiritual side of Star Wars, how the force goes through animals and plants and space and time and makes it mysterious and awe-inspiring. So getting some of that in live action is right up my street.

 

I am a bit surprised by how closely it is tied to Rebels, and given most people watching it won't have seen the cartoons, I expect some of it doesn't really make much sense or isn't very engaging for those people.

 

I am glad to get another good Star Wars show after the awful Mando season we had this year.

 

Oh also, super glad to see David Tennant return for a longer role. He was great in clone wars.

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Avatree

[Marek the Jedi]

I am sorry if this was already posted, please delete if so...

 

nice to see them together
 

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Marek the Jedi

[Porthos]

First real transitional/setup episode we've had so far, I think.  Even ep 3 of this series played more like a Pt 1 of a two parter than a true transitional one.  As such, bit hard to judge, especially coming off the high of the last episode.

 

Think fandom will probably be a bit cool to it, especially following in last episode's footsteps.  Gonna hold off my own judgement until I see how it connects with the last two episodes.

 

I think my only real concern, and I admit a concern I've had ever since the extra-galactic plotline was introduced is...

 

Spoiler

just what the heck have Thrawn and Ezra been doing the last 10/12/however many years it has been?

 

Neither one of them really seem the type to just sit on their asses, twiddling their thumbs.  Or just sticking to Local Politics.  Especially with the resources Thrawn had at his disposal.

 

Not sure there is gonna be a satisfactory answer to that, actually.

 

Think I'll hold off further thoughts until I ruminate a bit more over it.

 

===

 

Actually, hold that.  Do have two other thoughts:

Spoiler

The Sabine/Ezra reunion was done very well, I must admit.  They had to nail that and I think they did.

 

and

 

Spoiler

Just what the heck is Skoll playing at?  Have to admit he's playing a much deeper game than I originally gave him credit for a few pages back.

 

That I have to admit is... interesting.  Look forward to seeing just what he's really after and why it's here of all places.

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Porthos

[Menor the Destroyer]

My favorite episode of the show easily and absolutely nailed the vibe that I wanted to see from this show. It certainly won't have the euphoric fandom response that last week's did but I just loved the atmosphere and fun that this had.

[4815162342]

You know, given what the destination world in this episode is, and the dollops of Nightsister lore in it and implied to come, it sure would have been nice if the Filoni Brain Trust in their infinite wisdom hadn't killed off Asajj Ventress in a random novel several years ago to serve the character arc of a guy who was barely in the CW show and hasn't been seen since, just because they felt obligated to showcase their cut CW ideas in some form.

 

Cause that decision, bad as it was at the time, seems to be aging rapidly worse now.

[Liiviig 1998]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

First real transitional/setup episode we've had so far, I think.  Even ep 3 of this series played more like a Pt 1 of a two parter than a true transitional one.  As such, bit hard to judge, especially coming off the high of the last episode.

 

Think fandom will probably be a bit cool to it, especially following in last episode's footsteps.  Gonna hold off my own judgement until I see how it connects with the last two episodes.

 

I think my only real concern, and I admit a concern I've had ever since the extra-galactic plotline was introduced is...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

just what the heck have Thrawn and Ezra been doing the last 10/12/however many years it has been?

 

Neither one of them really seem the type to just sit on their asses, twiddling their thumbs.  Or just sticking to Local Politics.  Especially with the resources Thrawn had at his disposal.

 

Not sure there is gonna be a satisfactory answer to that, actually.

 

Think I'll hold off further thoughts until I ruminate a bit more over it.

 

===

 

Actually, hold that.  Do have two other thoughts:

  Reveal hidden contents

The Sabine/Ezra reunion was done very well, I must admit.  They had to nail that and I think they did.

 

and

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Just what the heck is Skoll playing at?  Have to admit he's playing a much deeper game than I originally gave him credit for a few pages back.

 

That I have to admit is... interesting.  Look forward to seeing just what he's really after and why it's here of all places.

 

4.5/5 . Best episode . Love they get straight to business. No last minute reveal nah thrawn is here and getting straight to business.

Enjoyed all the interactions btn baylan and shin

And liked the the lore of the dathmari and the planet.

 

Stuff involving Ezra was the mixed for me, felt like " super easy barely an inconvenience" .

 

Yeah thrawn just sitting there longtime just waiting for the one plan to unfold to set his escape feels Abit shaky.

 

The major reason last episode had more buzz and traffic  was due to Anakin and clone war references which I just found all by the numbers and very predictable and it's been done before in star wars.

 

Honestly Ashoka stills remains one of the weaknesses of the show. Adore TCW and her character but just don't really care much live action  ahsoka  in this show. In her briefs moments in mando and BOBF she is definitely better for me.

 

Ahsoka  was filoni's creation so can't help but be kind of dissapointed with what I've seen from her so far.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Liiviig 1998

[Cap]

[Youngstar]

That's 3 10/10 episodes in a row for me now. I adore everything about this show.

[4815162342]

10 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

You know, given what the destination world in this episode is, and the dollops of Nightsister lore in it and implied to come, it sure would have been nice if the Filoni Brain Trust in their infinite wisdom hadn't killed off Asajj Ventress in a random novel several years ago to serve the character arc of a guy who was barely in the CW show and hasn't been seen since, just because they felt obligated to showcase their cut CW ideas in some form.

 

Cause that decision, bad as it was at the time, seems to be aging rapidly worse now.

 

To be clear I thought the episode in and of itself was fine. Pretty much a setup episode. I just think if they're going to be going heavy on Nightsister stuff it'd be nice if they hadn't killed off their main Nightsister characters in random side projects years ago

 

It was nice to hear Lars' voice again 

[ZeroHour]

11 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

You know, given what the destination world in this episode is, and the dollops of Nightsister lore in it and implied to come, it sure would have been nice if the Filoni Brain Trust in their infinite wisdom hadn't killed off Asajj Ventress in a random novel several years ago to serve the character arc of a guy who was barely in the CW show and hasn't been seen since, just because they felt obligated to showcase their cut CW ideas in some form.

 

Cause that decision, bad as it was at the time, seems to be aging rapidly worse now.

Ugh this one does hurt. I'm still bitter they wasted half of the final season of CW on filler instead of at least finishing out her story in animation. You could definitely imagine Asajj stepping in to a more nuanced version of the Elsbeth role if she was still in play for this show.

[ZeroHour]

This episode had a big challenge because they've been teasing people about this other galaxy that's been lost to Jedi fairytales and they've let people's imaginations about what that could be or look like run wild for five episodes. There's no way the actual location could live up to that and it doesn't in this episode. It's a whole other galaxy that just has typical Star Wars stuff in it. That said, I think what they did here mostly works pretty well on its own terms. If I have a concern, it's that there's a lot to wrap up now in just two episodes. 

 

I do think the outlines of what we're going to see seem pretty obvious though. 

Spoiler

Baylan wants a magic doohickey that will make bad things happen. Ezra will be the person who knows where the magic doohickey is and will reluctantly or accidently help Baylan find it. Ahsoka and Sabine will fight Baylan and Shin over the magic doohickey and barely stop them from fully using it. Sabine will finally do something with the force in a clutch moment. They'll be forced to choose to stop Baylan instead of preventing Thrawn from getting back to the regular galaxy, so the season will end with Thrawn's return. Cut to a post credits scene where Thrawn is back in the regular galaxy and either meets with another imperial officer we know or says something ominous about uniting the imperial remnants.

 

[4815162342]

1 hour ago, ZeroHour said:

This episode had a big challenge because they've been teasing people about this other galaxy that's been lost to Jedi fairytales and they've let people's imaginations about what that could be or look like run wild for five episodes. There's no way the actual location could live up to that and it doesn't in this episode. It's a whole other galaxy that just has typical Star Wars stuff in it. That said, I think what they did here mostly works pretty well on its own terms. If I have a concern, it's that there's a lot to wrap up now in just two episodes. 

 

I do think the outlines of what we're going to see seem pretty obvious though. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Baylan wants a magic doohickey that will make bad things happen. Ezra will be the person who knows where the magic doohickey is and will reluctantly or accidently help Baylan find it. Ahsoka and Sabine will fight Baylan and Shin over the magic doohickey and barely stop them from fully using it. Sabine will finally do something with the force in a clutch moment. They'll be forced to choose to stop Baylan instead of preventing Thrawn from getting back to the regular galaxy, so the season will end with Thrawn's return. Cut to a post credits scene where Thrawn is back in the regular galaxy and either meets with another imperial officer we know or says something ominous about uniting the imperial remnants.

 

 

I do think there was heavy over reliance on the Volume this episode. This was a brand new world with it's own mythology and setting and it just didn't feel the slightest bit tactile 

[ZeroHour]

The Volume is so funny. Sometimes you can tell they've choreographed things so that no one runs too far and slams into a wall. 

[ChipDerby]

I'll watch the new episode tonight.