Tag Archives: Lucasfilm

Jun 1 2025

After Andor What’s Next For Star Wars?

The Disney + Star Wars TV series Andor concluded to much deserved acclaim, and it did something that seemed improbable given the state of the Star Wars franchise. Andor has helped create renewed enthusiasm for Star Wars as it showed how versatile and mature the franchise can be.

Ever since Disney acquired Star Wars from its creator George Lucas, the projects the company and Lucasfilm put out have received mixed reactions. At first, the franchise received a lot of renewed enthusiasm after the releases of Disney’s first two Star Wars films, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

But the reception to the following films, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, was a lot less muted as many fans soured against the Disney films. As a result, the box office returns were not quite as high as the early films and in fact, Solo did not perform well in theaters.

This Was the Way

The Star Wars franchise recovered significantly when the first Disney + Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian, debuted on the streaming app in 2019. For a couple of years, Mandalorian fever gripped fans and the larger public as Grogu, the infant Yoda-like co-star of the show captured the public’s hearts and imagination. It seemed as if the TV show single-handedly rescued the franchise and injected new life into it. However, many of the other Star Wars TV shows were not as popular or had the level of quality as The Mandalorian, except for Andor. In fact, although Andor did not have the high viewership numbers that The Mandalorian enjoyed, it was a massive critical hit as it presented a fresh and adult take on Star Wars with its grounded look at how the Rebellion began in earnest against the Galactic Empire.

Still, despite Andor’s critical success, Star Wars on the whole was floundering as inferior TV shows like The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka disappointed fans and emboldened toxic trolls to attack Star Wars. Then there was the fact that the film franchise was essentially dead as many announced films never went into production, except for next year’s The Mandalorian and Grogu. Even recently, The Mandalorian fell out of favor with many fans because of its third season, which was not as well received as its first two seasons.

New Heights of Quality Star Wars Television

When the second season of Andor first streamed fans and critics applauded the show’s mature, sweeping and complex nature with its nuanced and well-developed characters that quickly generated memes and online discussion about the nature of defiance, sacrifice and societies.

What truly captured the hearts of fans were its story arcs devoted to the Ghorman Massacre and the final arc that wrapped up the story lines of many characters including Cassian Andor himself. The last time we see him, he was departing for what would be his final mission in Rogue One. A mission he never returned from. What made his final on screen moments so heartbreaking was the revelation in Andor’s final scene that he fathered a child that he would never know. And no, this child is not Poe Dameron from the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.

What made Andor so great and unique was that it had no connection to the Jedi, the Sith, or the larger Star Wars/Skywalker saga. It instead focused on random, everyday people living regular lives and how the Empire affected them to either join the cause or support the Empire through simple acts that cascaded into mass movements that affected the galaxy.

It should be noted that Andor was not the only TV show to break out of the traditional Star Wars mold. Others like Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte gave us different stories that took place at different time periods and had little to do with the Skywalker Saga. However, they were not as regarded as highly as Andor.

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Jan 16 2025

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Is An Unexpectedly Fun Star Wars Adventure

When Star Wars: Skeleton Crew was first announced to stream on Disney +, few fans could muster any excitement for it. The only thing of note about the TV show was that it was co-created by Jon Watts, the director of the recent Spider-Man films. What did not help was that very little was known about it except that it involved children. Most fans were quick to write off Skeleton Crew as a kids show on the level of those Spy Kids films. Well, imagine everyone’s surprise when the TV show turned out to be much, much better than expected.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew tells the story of four children living a typical suburban lifestyle on the planet of At Atin who end up getting much more than they anticipated when they set out to inject some adventure into their lives. The show centers on Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), a boisterous young human boy who hangs out with his best friend Neel (voiced by Robert Timothy Smith), an elephantine boy. Together, the boys go through the usual trivialities in their dull suburban lives. Wim dreams of adventure but is slated to become a bureaucrat like his father (Tunde Adebimpe) and every adult on the planet.

One day, the two boys meet two young human girls, the headstrong Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and the quiet KB (Kyriana Kratter), the latter who is a cyborg. The four find a buried starship and accidently activate it, which then takes off and leaves At Atin with the children onboard. They soon get lost in space, unable to navigate their way back home, as the ship’s pilot, the pirate-like droid SM-33 (voiced by Nick Frost) takes them to a space pirate outpost. Once there, the pirates take an interest in the children after they use a rare form of currency called dataries which is highly prized in the galaxy. The dataries are a commonplace on At Atin where they are minted, and it is revealed that the planet is nearly mythical to the outside galaxy. After getting into trouble with the pirates, the children and SM-33 meet the final member of their ragtag crew, the pirate Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), who is Force sensitive and promises to get the children home in exchange for a reward.

Throughout the episodes, the skeleton crew avoid mishaps and stay on step ahead of pirates as they desperately search for a route back to At Atin. But many questions are raised in this TV show, such as why is At Atin hidden? Who is Jod exactly? Was he a former Jedi?  It is revealed several times that he has numerous names such as Dash Zentin, Crimson Jack and Mad Captain Silvo and has run afoul of numerous people they meet on their journeys. The children and the audience are constantly wondering if Jod could be trusted because of his constant lying and mysterious motives. These questions and many others are what help make Star Wars: Skeleton Crew such a pleasant and engaging adventure.

In addition to the many questions, the TV show has a genuine and natural sense of adventure that never talks down to the audience. Even though it primarily features children, the TV show is not a kids show. Think of it more in the tune of Stranger Things, or The Goonies, or Steven Spielberg’s films from the 1980s that featured children but could be enjoyed by everyone.

What also makes Star Wars: Skeleton Crew so distinctive is that while it is set in the Star Wars universe, it isn’t beholden to the primary stories set in that universe. There is never any mention of the Skywalkers, the Empire and the Jedi are for the most part considered to be myth. Unlike say, Ahsoka, where you had to know what happened in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, anyone can easily follow Skeleton Crew with little or no knowledge about the greater Star Wars universe.

As with other Star Wars productions, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has cinema-quality production, special effects and other technical merits which elevate the TV show. The early scenes in At Atin perfectly evoke the humdrum, yet ethereal aspect of those 80s Spielberg films. Anyone could sympathize with Wim and the other children, who are bored in their comfortable lives and want something more. In many ways, the TV show emulates aspects of The Wizard of Oz and Treasure Island with its tale of youngsters swept up in a grand adventure with its own unique take.

Another important feature with the TV show and why it works, are its characters. They are all interesting with distinct personalities and backgrounds. Plus, the people the skeleton crew meet throughout the show are also as engaging. One standout was the owl-like Kh’ymm (voiced by Alia Shawkat), a Yoda-like associate of Jod that does not trust him. Then there is SM-33, he perfectly emulates a scraggy pirate with his speech patterns, his wobbling gait and code of honor. SM-33 steals many scenes and is easily one of the best droid characters featured in any Star Wars production. And yes, his name is a play on Smee, Captain Hook’s right-hand man in Peter Pan.

Jude Law was also a standout in the show as Jod and instantly became one of the most intriguing Star Wars characters ever. We want to root for him as he seems like a more devious version of Han Solo or Lando Calrissian but with a harder, deadlier edge. At the same time, his actions and words make us and the children hesitate in trusting Jod He is a true anti-hero and the less said about him in this spoiler-free review the better.

Of course, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew would not have worked if the children were not engaging or well portrayed. This was a difficult task for the show makers but they pulled it off with the casting and direction. The children are not know-it-alls. They make many mistakes, they get scared, they have insecurities, they act like the way children would probably behave in that situation. In other words, their behavior and vulnerabilities in this coming-of-age story were believable.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (and Star Wars: Andor) has proven how rich the Star Wars universe has become. It’s regrettable, that it has not had stronger streaming numbers. It deserves a second season or at least the characters should reappear in another Star Wars project. It is easy to see that these children would probably grow up to become members of the Resistance in the Sequel films and beyond. Perhaps word of mouth will help the show later, but we’ll see. Thankfully, we can enjoy these eight episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew over and over again with our families.

José Soto

Nov 15 2021

Lucasfilm In Disarray?

Something is not right with Lucasfilm. It can be seen by the behind-the-scenes drama going on with the film studio once owned by George Lucas before he sold it to The Walt Disney Company nearly a decade ago. Another sign is the lack of solid information about their upcoming films and TV shows.

Lucasfilm has been mired in controversy for several years despite its early Disney-era success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. What is often overlooked with the latter film is that it had significant re-shoots which ultimately made the film a success. After that dilemma followed the film studio.

There was the heated reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi which sharply split Star Wars fans. Then the saga of revolving directors plagued Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. With those two films the original directors were removed from the projects. Solo suffered greatly as the directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired when filming was nearly complete and forced the film to be essentially redone from scratch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D62UfAOklCc

Now that the final Sequel Saga Star Wars films have concluded nearly two years ago, there is little sign of new Star Wars films coming up. Of course, there are many Star Wars TV shows slated to stream on Disney+ and they are eagerly awaited. In fact, many rightly argue that the TV shows are what is keeping the franchise alive thanks to The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Bad Batch and hopefully The Book of Boba Fett, which debuts next month.

The upcoming TV projects such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new season of The Mandalorian, Andor, and Ahsoka are eagerly anticipated, but we have little news about those shows. The recent Disney+ Day event which revealed many exciting Disney, Pixar and Marvel projects failed to deliver anything significant that was Star Wars related. Only a documentary about Boba Fett, cast interviews of the upcoming Willow TV show, and a sizzle reel for Obi-Wan Kenobi streamed on Disney+ while other studios rewareded subscribers with first looks at upcoming projects. What is confounding are rumors that there were Star Wars trailers and footage planned to be unveiled, but for some reason this did not happen. In the end, while the sneak peaks at other Disney properties were impressive, Star Wars looked threadbare on the streaming platform.

As for the films, there are more signs of trouble. The next Indiana Jones film was filmed and expected to come out next year, but has been bumped to 2023 with rumors of extensive re-shoots and revisions of the plot pending. This is alarming given the age of the film’s star Harrison Ford and declining interest in the film.

But the most disconcerting news came recently that director Patti Jenkins’ pet film project Rogue Squadron has been put on indefinite hold. Originally, the film was supposed to come out in 2023, but supposedly creative differences between the director and Lucasfilm derailed the project. Now, it is doubtful Rogue Squadron will ever be made. This is embarrassing for the film studio after all the hoopla they created last year when they released a video promoting Rogue Squadron that featured Patti Jenkins passionately talking about the film as she was shown next to a full-scale mock up of an X-Wing fighter. Talk about putting the cart before the horse!

That is not all, ballyhooed announcements of Star Wars films from director Rian Johnson and executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have led nowhere. What is next? Will the announced Kevin Feige-produced Star Wars film be shelved as well?

Many have pointed fingers and blame on Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. She has proven to be a somewhat controversial film executive who has enraged some fans and members of the alt-right. Despite the overreaction from some, she should accept the blame for the issues with the directors and the delays these events are causing because it is damaging the brand of Lucasfilm and its properties.

Given the image of Lucasfilm being in disarray, several fans have called for Kathleen Kennedy to be replaced by someone else, such as Jon Favreau, the showrunner of The Mandalorian. However, news has come out that Disney extended Kennedy’s contract for another three years. Surely, this demonstrates that the Disney executives have faith in Kathleen Kennedy, but can she turn things around? What convinced Disney that she deserved to continue running Lucasfilm? We have to hope that Disney’s continued faith in Kennedy is warranted because Star Wars as a film property sorely needs a win and there isn’t anything on the horizon. More importantly, Lucasfilm and Kennedy have to prove to fans that they can still deliver quality films and TV shows and time is running short.

Dec 13 2020

Marvel (MCU) & Star Wars Have A Bright Future At Disney

By now, everyone reading this must have heard of the Disney 2020 Investor Day announcements on Decelber 10, which left us geeks and nerds salivating and tickled pink with excitement over what Disney has planned with our favorite IPs in their Disney+ streaming platform and theatrically. That last point alone is enough to hearten us since Disney more or less declared that the theatrical viewing experience will not die out. The best example of their commitment came when presenter and Marvel Studios head, Kevin Fiege, affirmed that the long-delayed Black Widow film will debut in theaters next May. This squashed any rumors that the film would premiere first on Disney+ and marks a return of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

MCU Phase 4

Marvelous News

Kevin Feige gave perhaps the most anticipated presentation since we’ve all been suffering from MCU withdrawal this year. Fortunately the wait will soon end as WandaVision will finally stream next month on Disney+ and the new trailer shown on Disney 2020 Investor Day was just as bizarre and trippy as the previous trailers. WandaVision looks like it will be a pivotal anchor in the MCU going forward and is rumored to be the first of a multiverse-connecting trilogy that will be further explored in the next Spider-Man film before concluding with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It was confirmed that the Doctor Strange sequel will feature America Chavez.

By the way, very little information was given about the new Spider-Man, probably because it’s a Sony film, but the non-stop reports about cast members from all the previous Spider-Man  films coming back just leaves us very ecstatic.

Other highlights from Feige’s presentation were the news that the She-Hulk TV show will star Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany, have appearances by Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and Tim Roth will return as the Abomination; two mini-series about the Secret Invasion and Armor Wars comic book events will stream on Disney+; the third Ant-Man film (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) will feature Kang the Conqueror as the villain; Christian Bale will play Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder; and from the footage shown the best were the previews of the new Loki series which will deal with the Time Variance Authority, the animated What If…, and the tantalizing behind-the-scenes footage of Ms. Marvel, who will also appear in Captain Marvel 2. Perhaps the most exciting news was the confirmation that Marvel Studios will produce a proper Fantastic Four film to be directed by Jon Watts, who directed the MCU Spider-Man films. Finally, a chance to do the Fab Four correct! Hopefully Spidey can make an appearance in that film!

Aside from Black Widow it is at this point too early to go into the release dates announced by Feige because we all know the schedule can change. But it is exciting and comforting to know that Marvel Studios is plowing full-steam ahead with their productions and 2021 will mark the Great MCU Comeback. Continue reading →

Jan 14 2020

The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy: An Honest Assessment

With the release of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy and the entire nine-film Skywalker Saga has come to an end. The film has had its share of controversy, scorn and praise from all parties. Despite what trolls hoped for, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is an actual hit film. Now as to its quality, that is another story. Personally, I truly enjoyed the film but am honest enough to admit the latest Star Wars film is riddled with plot holes and faults. Still it did enough to entertain me and others and provided closure to the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. Looking at the three films in this trilogy it is fair to opine that on the whole, the trilogy was badly flawed and can be considered to be the weakest of the three Star Wars trilogies. And that is due to many reasons, especially one: it is clear that Lucasfilm and its owners Disney did not have a clear plan for the sequel trilogy and it hobbled the films overall.

Inconsistent Characters

Looking at the past three films (standalone films aside), it was difficult to tell what was the main story. The only consistent arc that flowed logically was Rey and Kylo Ren’s personal journeys in their understanding of the Force. Not surprisingly, this storyline is what received the most praise. Everything else, not so much.

future jedi finn

Look at Finn’s story in the films. He had a brilliant setup, the world of Star Wars told from the POV of a normal Stormtrooper, and how he comes to believe in a greater cause than his lot in life. As well as his story was set up in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it stagnated in the followup, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, where he became a bumbling comic relief shuffled off to a pointless side quest. Then in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, his story arc had a radical course correction as we are tantalized with him developing Force sensitivity, which hinted at his potential future as a Jedi.

Even more jarring was figuring out who was the main bad guy in these films. Kylo Ren’s story was fine and flowed smoothly as he struggled with his conflicting emotions. But he was set up to be the main villain according to The Last Jedi. In that film, he killed the supposed main boss, Supreme Leader Snoke, and took his title. Meanwhile, Snoke was dispatched too early and the filmmakers were left scrambling to find another villain for the final film. This is why director J.J. Abrams and others hastily resurrected the long-dead Emperor Palpatine. As great as it was to see him cackling and oozing evil on the screen again, his reappearance into Star Wars lore was sloppily handled. If he had been hinted at in earlier films, his revival would have made more sense and not come off as a desperate plot ploy.

Then there are the other supporting characters who were treated as disposable plot beats. Take poor Rose Tico, first introduced as an annoying and self-righteous wannabe crusader in The Last Jedi, which led to toxic online backlash from misogynistic and racist trolls attacking the actress. In The Rise of Skywalker, her role was noticeably reduced to that of a glorified extra and any hints of a romance with Finn alluded to in the previous film were gone.

Aside from Rose, the most contentious character introduced in The Last Jedi was Admiral Holdo played by a badly miscast Laura Dern. This supposedly brilliant military leader did not exude any kind of gravitas as a leader, which infuriated many viewers and emboldened Internet trolls. But hey, at least she had a cool death scene where she used her ship to take out the ginormous uber star destroyer.

Then there was Hux, the First Order leader who instead of inspiring dread and fear like Grand Moff Tarkin became an ineffective joke in The Last Jedi. His character was so mangled that he was mercifully killed off in The Rise of Skywalker after he nonsensically was revealed to be a spy working against the First Order.

Contrasting Visions

The fault for the way they and other characters turned out has to be with the scripts, which reeked of being written on the fly. Another important reason for the disjointed feel of the sequel trilogy was the contrasting visions of the directors of the films, J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson.

abrams johnson

Although both men are talented directors who brought good ideas to Star Wars, their viewpoint clashed wildly. With The Force Awakens, Abrams was clearly doing an homage to the original films, especially Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

A valid criticism of The Force Awakens was that it was too similar to A New Hope: both films opened on a desert planet where good guys and bad guys sought a droid that held vital information. The heroes run into an older mentor type who gets killed and the films end with a space battle to blow up a superweapon planet. Be that as it may, The Force Awakens was a fun film that served as a soft reboot and reintroduction to the world of Star Wars for a new generation. It also set up many plot threads that Abrams left for future directors to follow up.

The problem was that the next director, Johnson, obviously was not interested in doing that. Instead he had a mindset of doing a deconstruction of Star Wars. Luke Skywalker, set up as a long-lost would-be savior in The Force Awakens, turned out to be a bitter old man without any hope. His final moments disappointed fans who were itching for him to decimate the First Order.

rey the last jedi

Rey, who was to be the next generation of Jedi, had a mysterious past and was seeking to learn about her parents. Was she related to anyone in the Original Trilogy? Why was she so powerful with the Force? Johnson obviously did not care with the casual dismissive announcement that she came from a family of nobodies. Something that had to be retconned later.

Supreme Leader Snoke was introduced as a trilogy’s final threat was unexpectedly killed by Ren. Meanwhile, Ren was hinted at in the film of having a redemptive arc but instead turned his back on Rey and embraced the dark side of the Force.  Both films are clear evidence that there wasn’t a coherent vision with the trilogy.

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