Ahsoka D+ Show (Spoiler Thread)

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
I'd say yes and no. It's hard to compare the very first entry into the series with this. With a new hope you were introduced to Vader right off the bat. And as soon as you saw him it was clear, this is the big bad of the story. They gave you the information you needed for the story being told. With this, a lot is unclear or makes little sense if you arent familiar with the animations. Why should someone care about Thrawn if you haven't seen rebels? A simple 5/10 min intro explaining why we should care would have made a big difference.

It's hard to gauge. I haven't seen most of Rebels but I know of Thrawn from the old novels and a couple of the newer ones. The text at the beginning of Ahsoka was sufficient for me.

It's kind of a weird show being a sequel to a cartoon that I assume had a smaller and different audience than the movies.

Unlike ANH, the content IS out there. Maybe they wanted to avoid a detailed recap because this show might lead people who haven't done so, to watch the cartoons.

Maybe they thought a detailed recap of a recently aired show would have been overkill. I still find it amusing that Obi-Wan felt the need to recap the Star Wars movies.

A recap isn't a fun way to open a show either. Maybe they could have incorporated the backstory into the show a bit more. Have the characters recall the past a bit. Throw in some flashbacks instead of holding Thrawn for some big reveal.

A New Hope let you know the stakes immediately. That opening shot of the small rebel ship being chased by a massive star destroyer instantly told you who the good guys and the bad guys were and the huge power imbalance between them. Then, Darth Vader and Princess Leia's first appearances tell you everything you need to know to establish the story. Even though we knew nothing about the larger Star Wars fictional universe in 1977, the first scene told us all we needed to know to become engaged in and follow the unfolding story.

I'm only a casual Star Wars fan, but the first episode of Ahsoka did none of that for me. I don't know who these characters are, their relationship to each other, or why their motivations are important, and the show did very little get me engaged like the original movie did instantly.

That's a good point. A good show can lay out a premise very quickly. See the first appearance of Jack Sparrow. In just a few minutes we gain a complete picture of his background and personality.

I wonder what the ideal intro would have been here. Something that establishes Ahsoka for new viewers without making us sit through a long "previously on".
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
A recap isn't a fun way to open a show either. Maybe they could have incorporated the backstory into the show a bit more. Have the characters recall the past a bit. Throw in some flashbacks instead of holding Thrawn for some big reveal.
That's why I said intro explaining. The recap should have been a well produced special that went up on D+ a week or two before. Then you wouldn't bog the show down with it. The crawl was ok but didn't really give you enough in my opinion. Couple it with a sequence with Thrawn, and what he's capable of, like Vaders intro in new hope, immediately gives why they are trying to find him weight. It's a tricky balancing act for sure.
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
That's why I said intro explaining. The recap should have been a well produced special that went up on D+ a week or two before. Then you wouldn't bog the show down with it. The crawl was ok but didn't really give you enough in my opinion. Couple it with a sequence with Thrawn, and what he's capable of, like Vaders intro in new hope, immediately gives why they are trying to find him weight. It's a tricky balancing act for sure.

I'd probably do it as an optional prologue episode rather than a recap special. With that you'd have people complaining that they have to do homework or complaining it wasn't part of the show.

Ultimately, I think this show can be enjoyed on its' own as is because it does give us a lot of standard Star Wars tropes we're already familiar with.

A mysterious map leading to someone. A Jedi with a reluctant student. Jedi training sequence. The usual light saber fights and ship battles.

It's hard to say because I do know the overall story of the preceding animated series, but it feels like a familiar Star Wars story the way Force Awakens did.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
In a lot of ways I think movies and television have become far too obsessed with spoilers and mystery. Something that culturally has very much been driven by Star Wars beginning with The Empire Strikes Back. Go watch old trailers and they’ll tell you the whole plot. Watch A New Hope and right up front you know things the characters don’t know, you know this is going to be the story of how the Death Star is defeated because you are told. What makes it engaging is the journey.

I think this obsessions with spoilers and mystery is what has really hurt the Marvel and Star Wars shows. It’s what’s given them this weird sloooooow to suddenly frantic pace because everything is about the mystery so you drag thing out by introducing mysteries through the season and then have to reveal them all at once.

As someone who didn’t watch the previous shows, I find the whole open secret of what happened to Thrawn and Ezra weird. It’s a bizarre open secret where some people seem to know but then others don’t and nothing really tells you why (probably because it has to be a mystery). But we already know from The Mandalorian that Thrawn is important and more people actually are involved in all of this. Why not just tell us what’s up and not try to make it a mystery? This is the story of Thrawn’s return and the story will be the journey of how that happened. That then would also give more opportunities to naturally pepper in the background from other shows because things like the discussion with the senators could be more direct and specific instead of so wishy washy.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
I think the whole “confusion with ANH” question boils down to this:

It was confusing…for everyone.

But it was visually unequaled in a time of limited options…in a dull period of history…

So everyone put up with it.

You don’t have that leeway now
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, there were Jedi and a Rebellion, and they fought the Sith and an Empire in a series of Star Wars...

Who would have thunk we'd ever see Thrawn in a live action Star Wars, but here we are.

I'm not sure I buy the whole grand entrance with a hanger full of Stormtroopers. Seems like the type of pomp and circumstance he would eschew.
 

mf1972

Well-Known Member
my reaction when huyang said a long time ago in a galaxy far far away…
IMG_4002.jpeg
 

Jedijax719

Well-Known Member
Thrawn looks like a blue Data from STNG. But he is far more ominous and foreboding than anyone from the sequel trilogy. Well, I take that back. Snoke was pretty darn evil looking but we all know how that fared.

This episode makes me think that the villain in the Rey movie might be connected to these villains or even be Night Sisters.
 

LSLS

Well-Known Member
Boy, I kept swearing Thrawn was Robert Patrick (T-1000).

Anyways, episode was good. BUT, my major complaint with it. This is a series titled "Ashoka" and we had 0 minutes of her in the actual episode.
 

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