Saga Unpopular Star Wars opinions!

In my opinion Haden Blackman is a better Star Wars writer than Dave Filoni.

Haden wrote Battle of Jabiim which is one of my favorite Star Wars comics.(I think Clone Wars 2008 used the idea of Obi Wan kinda dying between episodes 2 and 3 from that book.)

The only bad Star Wars story that Haden wrote was TFU 2 which I don't think it was his fault since:
1.He was forced to make bring back Starkiller from the death.

2.And he was forced to turn that franchise into a trilogy which is why in the end you feel that TFU 2 only had half of the story.

 

Some of the best decisions in TCW were Lucas choices which Filoni took the credit for. He normally just likes to rely on mystery boxes. He also likes to put it out he's George student and follows what he says etc. Yet in an interview just after TCW S7 was released, he was forced to admit he doesn't speak to George and hadn't for awhile. So that was all spi by him.

I Iiked the first Force Unleashed game and thought was fine on its own imo. They didn't need a second let alone a third.

 

Starkiller and Kota was much better than Ezra and Kanan

 

They made TFU 2 since that was their only real successful game at that time(With Battlefront 3 canceled and in development hell.)

For TFU 2, they should have either changed the protagonist or set it after episode 6.(That would be a better choice imo.)

 

Don't get me wrong, Filoni is a good writer. He is very capable of telling interesting and compelling stories. TCW is proof positive of this, and we've seen glimpses of it in Rebels and the Mandalorian. He just needs to be kept in check. Left to his own devices, Filoni gets out of control, and cannot get out of his own way. His inability to let his pet characters die, and his need to make them the most important characters in a saga that isn't their own, is proof of what happens when he's allowed free reign. Canon and continuity are important, and Rogue One is proof that it's not difficult to follow both with a little effort. Filoni willingly, and unabashedly disregards what has been previously established, and turned Star Wars canon into his own little fan fiction playground, regardless of any negative impact or direct contradiction to established canon and continuity.

 

I think Filoni is too in the pockets of his higher ups though. At the end of the day, he'll do exactly what they tell him. He likes being the guy, and he'll never do anything to jeopardize that. It's why I wouldn't feel confident if they hand Star Wars over to him. Because it would be a clear sign that the corporate overlords are just putting somebody there that they know they can control.

Favreau, on the other hand, has a career outside of Star Wars. And is genuinely interested in doing right by the franchise, not that of his higher ups. He's also not in it just to put his name on the brand like Abrams, Johnson, and so many others who would do it solely for that reason if given the opportunity. Favreau would walk away if he wasn't given creative control and had to do everything at the whim of what Disney tells him to do. Which makes him the perfect candidate, because he specifically can't be controlled in the way that so many others would be.

I cannot wait until Kathleen Kennedy's contract is up and we can actually see what the future of Star Wars will be. If it's just going to be more of the same, I won't really be invested the way I have been. If they hand it off to Favreau, I will truly be excited for Star Wars again.

 

Star Wars shouldn't be handed over to any one person. There should be a diverse team of creative masterminds who collaborate with each other and the Story Group to bring the franchise to new heights.

 

We've already seen how some people have chosen to take the franchise to new heights. They need to step aside now. Doing right by the franchise should take precedence. And Star Wars needs somebody at the helm who makes that a priority.

 

The whole story group was just a gimmick by Disney nothing more, they meant nothing

 

The Story Group is essential for continued canon consistency. Especially as the universe keeps expanding.

Because...? They seem to be doing really well at the moment.

Somebodies.

 

The whole one vision thing is a big joke

 

TCW is more a Filoni product than Lucas

 

There are literal contradictions with what's canon and what isn't in their own material. I can't think of it off the top of my head, but there's at least a few examples of something that is in the movie that is then contradicted in the official expanded encyclopedia that's supposed to explain everything. Or vice versa, where something is in the encyclopedia but then is contradicted in one of the movies.

The entire ST was a colossal failure.

 

The ST era is over. Haven't you noticed?

 

The Lego Holiday Special disagrees.

 

Well, fair enough. Still, the ST itself is over and done with. They're moving on to focus on other projects and eras.

 

The ST might be over, but as long as Kennedy is head of LucasFilm than it remains the same era. They might be able to improve things, which would mean this era has its highs and lows, but ultimately it would still be the same era under Kennedy's leadership. And I wouldn't say the ST is irrelevant at the moment. In fact, there's a lot of debate right now in regards to The Mandalorian and if certain things introduced in the show are going to directly tie in to the ST.

If they want to truly move on from the ST era, then part of doing that is not renewing Kennedy's contract next year. And not just replacing her with somebody who is just like her, but somebody who will take Star Wars in a fundamentally different direction than she did.

 

I think a lot of people use Kathleen Kennedy as a scapegoat for their overall dissatisfaction with Disney Star Wars. I'm not convinced that she takes as much creative control over the projects as you guys seem to think. TFA and TROS feel like JJ Abrams movies. TLJ feels like a Rian Johnson movie. Even Rogue One, which did have a lot of reshoots and re-editing, still feels a lot like a Gareth Edwards movie. I don't think it's fair to blame a producer, no matter how powerful, for the creative decisions within the stories themselves, especially when said stories are so clearly the products of the actual writers and directors. It also irritates me when people downplay her contribution to The Mandalorian, despite the fact that she fulfilled exactly the same role on it as she did on the ST.

 

I reckon The Mandalorian will delve into The First Order and ST elements.

 

@Huncrweo : The thing is, if the ST was considered a success in every way, shape, and form, Kennedy would be acclaimed for being the one in charge while it happened. Similar to how Kevin Feige is given a lot of credit for the success of the MCU. But since the ST era didn't turn out so great, people want to pass the blame off to individual directors and writers and say that Kennedy didn't have anything to do with it. The writers and directors are certainly to blame as well, but that doesn't minimize Kennedy's involvement and absolve her of blame either.

 

But people blame her for the wrong things. If you want to criticise Lucasfilm's decision to release Solo in the summer rather than in December, then she's a fair person to blame for that. But blaming her for plot points within the actual films, which many fans do, is nonsensical. From what I understand, Kevin Feige is a much more overbearing creative presence on the MCU than Kennedy is on Star Wars. Didn't Feige propose the MCU in the first place, and map out a lot of the wider story beats himself?

Plus, I like the variety of creators under Kennedy, from Abrams to Edwards to Johnson to Favreau to Filoni, and I like that they're more or less free (unless you're Phil Lord and Chris Miller) to put their own stamps on the projects. The fact that most MCU movies have a consistent voice (i.e. a similar visual style, sense of humour, plot structure etc.) is, in my opinion, a weakness, not a strength, and this is coming from someone who enjoys the MCU. I don't think I'd want one creative voice leading the whole thing. The beauty of Star Wars is that you can tell a lot of different stories in a lot of different styles using the same lore, and I think if you have one person (no matter how talented) leading it then you risk ending up with only one type of story.

 

Like I said, if the ST had been an overwhelming success, then we would be giving a lot of that credit to Kennedy, even if she had the exact same level of involvement as you described. So I don't understand why people feel that she is exempt from getting a good portion of the blame as well. And It's not like she was some hidden figure behind the scenes either. She was out and about promoting herself as the head of LucasFilm at every turn. We're talking about the greatest franchise in the history of film here. You just can't let that colossal of a failure happen under your leadership and then not shoulder most of the blame for it. This wasn't just some mildly popular series of movies that got mixed reviews.

 

Being one of the most successful producers in cinema history, I think she's earnt the right to promote herself a bit.

Well, it was more than that. If we're talking commercially, it was massively popular. The least profitable film in the trilogy still made a billion dollars, that's huge. If we're talking about fan reaction it certainly generated an enormous level of discourse, which is the most any movie can hope for. And the reviews were very positive for every instalment except TROS. Whether the movies worked for you personally is another thing (and I certainly had my issues with them), but by every criterion that a studio would judge success by (box office, reviews, impact on the public etc.), the ST was mostly a success, and a pretty big one at that.

I don't want to act like I'm an Acolyte of Kathleen Kennedy or something. There have definitely been examples of poor decision-making from the producer side of things, especially on the spin-off films. But if the quantitative success of the ST is any indication, she's done her job well and, if you add The Mandalorian's single-handed carrying of Disney+ to that, I'm sure the Disney higher-ups are very happy with her.

 

Mandalorian season 2 has been destroyed by fan service.

 

@Huncrweo: TFA could have been done with sock puppets and potatoes and it would have still made a billion dollars. And the fact of the matter is every aspect of TFA and TLJ that carried any weight at all was made completely irrelevant and irredeemable by TROS.

I wouldn't say destroyed. But the fan service is certainly edging on being a bit overdone.