Star Wars: The Acolyte

WezV

After episode 4 I am convinced they are purposely goading the more vocal elements of the fan base

We have a cameo from a Jedi who shouldn't be alive yet, at least not according to legends.   His date of birth. or lifespan of his species is not mentioned in anything canon. This isn't really an issue that needs solving.  Lots of much bigger stuff was relegated to legends.

 The same Jedi is also known for his prequal quote "The Sith have been extinct for a millennium.”, in a show where we have Jedi hunting a Sith like baddy.  I'm assuming this is an intentional part of the mystery, and not the oversight or lack of respect for Lucas that many seem to be claiming it is.  We will see. 

digitalscream

WezV said:

After episode 4 I am convinced they are purposely goading the more vocal elements of the fan base

We have a cameo from a Jedi who shouldn't be alive yet, at least not according to legends.   His date of birth. or lifespan of his species is not mentioned in anything canon. This isn't really an issue that needs solving.  Lots of much bigger stuff was relegated to legends.

 The same Jedi is also known for his prequal quote "The Sith have been extinct for a millennium.”, in a show where we have Jedi hunting a Sith like baddy.  I'm assuming this is an intentional part of the mystery, and not the oversight or lack of respect for Lucas that many seem to be claiming it is.  We will see. 

As with all these things, the default position is "incompetence until proven otherwise".

Must say, I'm finding The Little Platoon's recaps of the episodes far more entertaining than the episodes themselves.

slacker

Star wars joins the list with Indian Jones, star trek and doctor who. Its not for me anymore.

WezV

digitalscream said:

As with all these things, the default position is "incompetence until proven otherwise".

That is an odd default position to me, but I have often been proved wrong on that front  

tekbow

digitalscream said:

WezV said:

The showrunner claims she was writing Star Wars fan fiction in her youth, she has a Leia tattoo on her hand. I think she is more invested that most of us.

I need to crack on with some work, but this kind of got an instant reaction - E L James was a Twilight fanfic writer. I'm not entirely convinced that it implies quality or dedication, and - after The Acolyte's first few episodes - I'm damn sure it doesn't qualify someone to run a show with a $180m-budget

180 million??

Which ties in nicely with my main criticism of the show.

There's something off about the tone and quality. It feels, I dunno.. cheap and plasticy? It has the feeling of campy superhero movies from the 90s (when they tried to adapt the visuals directly from the comics) or 70s sci like Blakes 7 or Dr who, which starwars didn't even feel like IN the 70s.

I reserved judgement until this last episode when I gave in and turned it off, never to return. That is a first for Star Wars with me.

Perhaps my earlier observation is the issue. It is set in the era of a recent comic series (the High Republic) and It looks exactly like the comics.

We've had takes on "High" eras of the jedi before, like The Old Republic stuff, and this isn't like that.

And it's not the actors, because Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung Jae are good actors plus Carrie Anne Moss was Trinity (she gets a pass on that basis).

It's the writing.

Switch625

It's terrible but I'll still watch it to see where they take it in the end.

DuploLicks

digitalscream said:

WezV said:

Must say, I'm finding The Little Platoon's recaps of the episodes far more entertaining than the episodes themselves.

I hadn’t seen his videos before, a good suggestion. They are amusing and manages to stretch a 30min show to 90min observations. Not sure I have the time though. 

One thing that constantly struck me on TLP’s video was the light levels. Non-Acolyte I could see what was happening, Acolyte - hadn’t a clue, it was dark. The environments, the costumes. Maybe it was his choice of shot cuts but you’d need the TV contrast at max for most of Acolyte on what I’ve seen. 

AntonHunter

Just caught up to Episode 4 last night, I'm enjoying it well enough to keep watching. I agree with the criticisms of how cheap it looks at times, but as we're also working our way through season 7 of the X Files, I can't complain too much!

Definitely agree with this bit too, it's a huge universe, seeing more stories where the Jedi are not all-knowing is good.

WezV said:

...

We get one small view of it in the original films, and Jedi are already relegated to a myth by most of the everyday folk we see.   The lore we know is one small part a very big universe. 

George Lucas was the one to say the Force connects all living things.  What we see in the expanded universe is different ways the force can be perceived or utilised outside of the very prescriptive Jedi/Sith view.  Filoni tends to lean into the animalistic side of this, and people lap it up. The nightsisters showed something very non-jedi/sith, as do things like Bandu or the Mortis gods, it's all stuff that expands our view of the force.   
...

WezV

Gotta say, episode 5 was pretty good.

It is probably was middling for me to this point.  Not the best, but not deserving of the level of criticism it was getting.   

This one steps it up a notch.  The mid episode reveal was obvious, but there was a lot to surprises in there too.

Can't wait to see how the "True Fans" tear this one apart!!

littlegreenman

Enjoyed ep 5 quite a bit. Plenty of light sabre action.

But...

No way a Jedi wouldn't know Osha wasn't Mae and vice versa for the Sith dude.

WezV

I guess we shouldn't see them as totally different if they are similar enough to fool a Jedi 

It was set up as a light vs dark twin story, but it isn't going to be that.

I do find the parent trap style switch pretty hilarious though...leaning into he disney side there

guitargeek62

Much better episode, and I liked the build-up in 4 too.

However...

Is anyone going to survive this show?! I guess it's one way to avoid any issues with introducing Sith at this point and over-looking the "not seen for 1,000 years" line from TPM

WezV

I agree.  They need to kill off almost everyone for the 1000 year line to work.

But we do have the sith like character in this program say he has no name when asked what he is, and he says the jedi would call someone like him a Sith.  He then goes on to tell us just how much he dislikes rules.... like the rule of 2 for instance... in a show called the acolyte... 

He's recognised by a Jedi suggesting he may have been trained by them in the last, seems to have Sith training, and seems to totally reject both ideologies.

He's much closer to the Knights of Ren, which is likely intentional at this point.

But it is unlikely the jedi council will get enough info to know about it, so there will be more deaths to come!