Animated Shorts Visions: The Elder - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

For the elder himself, yep. The padawan was ok I guess but man, the Jedi felt like he was half asleep and phoning it in. All in my opinion of course.

 

That rain during the duel though. It gave me Genndy Clone Wars vibes.

 

Definitely liked it more after watching the making of.. for such a short story it was maybe too slow in my opinion but overall loved the lesson and the fight..

 

A more introspective episode - though with some great action towards the end - that benefited from it's philosophical vibes. Yes, the "it was time that killed him" line isn't remarkably deep, but it was thought-provoking all the same. The showdown between a darksider who obsessively seeks power and a Jedi who accepts his own mortality really boiled down the darkside/lightside conflict in a perfectly minimalist way.

And while I get what people are saying about the Jedi master's 'monotone', I think David Harbour actually found a way to make it compelling. I think the VAs knocked it out of the park here.

 

A bit underwhelmed by this one. While I liked the premise, the villain was great, and the duels fluid and fun, there was a tad too much standing around talking, made it feel like an age before the plot kicked in. And it's not like I'm opposed to a slower pace, The Village Bride did that wonderfully. Also felt kinda limited visually speaking, the backgrounds felt dull. Still, having some old fashioned Jedi and Padawan mission action was nice.

 

I love everything about this one, but especially the concept of a character who is a former Sith, not because he found the light, but because he had watched the order crumble into ruins around him at the end of their reign and at some point decided that those losers didn't even deserve the right to associate their name with what he had achieved on his own.

 

I loved the disinterested monotone of the Jedi with his deadpan delivery. What might have happened if Han Solo had trained to be in the Order.

It was clearly a deliberate choice, and a good one i thought. I found him funny, and a refreshing break from the usual yelling from cartoon and anime characters.

 

This one was very Star Warish. The evil David Lo Pan/Yoda combination was interesting. A refusal to die and being too good to kill but instead of dying of old age he instead opts to die at the hands of a worthy Jedi. Also interesting he didnt kill the padawan . He blew up his ship to prevent his secrets and Sith existence from being explored I think was a nice touch. This elder character and Ronin one are a lot like Darth Maul, a lot of emphasis on swordsmanship and warrior tradition and a dark side equivalent to Knight-errant surrounding the characters.

 

One of the best Star Wars villains in recent memory, IMO. Studio Ghibli-level.

 

I kinda like the half-asleep Jedi Master bit that some actors do, sells the whole monk aspect. And it contrasts nicely with the loud muwha-ha-haaa of the Elder.

 

I gave this one a 9 out of 10.

Things that would have reduced that grade:
- Very classic and typical storyline of Jedi VS Sith, not that there's anything wrong with that. But bonus points always go to something new and fresh.
- Not my favorite type of animation/drawing, especially for The Elder

Things that elevated this to a 9:
- The character of the Jedi Master and the interaction with the apprentice. I chuckled quite a lot during this one
- The concept of the Sith who is hiding because the episode is almost certainly during the High Republic era and he is hiding

 

Blasphemy. The Elder was the best-animated element of the episode. Fact!

 

At the beginning, this felt like standard SW fare. Master and padawan, a disturbance in the Force, wanderers looking for the source on an alien world.

The intro of the Elder raised this to a whole another level. Great character design (loved the gold/yellowish eyes), loved his lightsabers' designs and his dialogue was sinister and downright menacing in revealing his attitude and goals. Hong was spectacular here.

The duel(s) were great and the last killing blow was swift and brilliant. The Master's admission that he had fought this Elder in his prime things may have ended differently was chilling. Great mystery around the Elder and his origin.

9/10

 

The Extras for The Elder say that the filmmakers intention was that the titular Elder himself had been training by himself for a long time. Personally, I went with he's a dark sider who is sick of the Sith's betrayal BS and went off on his own so that sorta kinda still fits.

 

His voice is nothing like that in the Japanese version, where he reminds me a lot of your classical anime mentor type character with his intonation and even the vocabulary he uses.

 

I liked this one…for me, James Hong, and especially, David Harbour were excellent in the VA. Harbour nailed that monotone drone some kids hear all adults talk in. Not as funny as Peanuts Trombone wah wah wah adults, but I liked him as a sage and as a ‘boring’ adult rambling philosophically.

The title character was decent and creepy. The resolution and the bits about time were interesting. Not my favorite episode, but I’d be happy to hear or see David in a similar role at some point.

 

This ep had a very creepy, Claymore (or a very toned down Berserk) vibe to it. Which is something I can definitely get behind in my Star Wars.

Give me an OVA continuation, Disney you cowards!

 

I know it might come off as overdone, but I loved the master padawan duo found here - it felt so… familiar, but in a good way, to me - they felt like their own characters with vivid pasts and futures, and we were dropping in on one moment. The master’s teaching really sold the episode for me, and honestly, it would have felt more cliche to kill the padawan off than what happened. I think it sheds unique light on the Elder; on some level, he came off as bored, but not necessarily with a grudge against jedi, I don’t know. A great episode overall!