A Long Time Ago In a Galaxy Far, Far Away.... - Star Wars General Discussion
- Thread starter SHIELD Agent 47
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Yeah, they’ll just film 25-30 episodes over a few months and take the next 3 years to doll them out
There's weirdness about it that I don't understand. On a network TV show, even a Sci-Fi one with special effects, they run by the seat of their pants. The actors make about 1 episode every week. Scripts are getting churned out and the episodes are not being filmed very long before they air. A brand new show might just get picked up for 8 episodes, but in a few weeks they get renewed for the full season and usually before the 1st season ends, they are renewed for a second if it is a successful show. They get the actors on long contracts then and they take a break for the summer and the writers come back a little ahead of the actors and they all work hard and fast.
A streaming show writes 8 episodes, films 8 episodes and then doesn't release for 6 months or even more and a lot of the time they play out all the episodes before they announce a renewal. By this time the actors haven't been doing the job for close to a year. They may be making a movie. They may be making another streaming show (in which case those 2 shows are always going to have to work around each other). They may have lined out an episode of Law and Order and an episode of....sorry I don't know the names of any other network shows anymore. They could be a regular on a network show now and you'll have to wait for their summer break. They could even be in a Broadway show now and if that happens you're gonna have to kill them offscreen. Multiply these possibilities by 6-10 characters, whatever you have, and you could be a year from green light to lights, camera, action.
A streaming show writes 8 episodes, films 8 episodes and then doesn't release for 6 months or even more and a lot of the time they play out all the episodes before they announce a renewal. By this time the actors haven't been doing the job for close to a year. They may be making a movie. They may be making another streaming show (in which case those 2 shows are always going to have to work around each other). They may have lined out an episode of Law and Order and an episode of....sorry I don't know the names of any other network shows anymore. They could be a regular on a network show now and you'll have to wait for their summer break. They could even be in a Broadway show now and if that happens you're gonna have to kill them offscreen. Multiply these possibilities by 6-10 characters, whatever you have, and you could be a year from green light to lights, camera, action.
I'd say the Sfx on an older style network sci-fi show are significantly different than what you see on any given prestige streaming show though. The blessing and the curse of the D+ Star Wars or Marvel shows is that they are more like mini-series movies, not your typical TV program. Post-production is going to take almost as long as filming.
And as others have mentioned, working conditions for not just actors but the behind-the-scenes people have improved which does add time to things. Listen to interviews with the Star Trek TNG cast for example and it was a pretty brutal lifestyle, and they were the ones in front of the camera. The days of 22+ episode seasons are mostly gone now.
And as others have mentioned, working conditions for not just actors but the behind-the-scenes people have improved which does add time to things. Listen to interviews with the Star Trek TNG cast for example and it was a pretty brutal lifestyle, and they were the ones in front of the camera. The days of 22+ episode seasons are mostly gone now.
There's definitely a difference in how money is spent in the streaming era. Many streaming shows, despite having only a few episodes a season, cost many times the amount per episode (even after accounting for inflation) compared to their pre-streaming counterparts.
And that's probably a massive factor in why most network shows tend to be more "grounded" than on streaming. The days of scifi or fantasy shows have, largely, been costed out on network television. And the higher expectations that streaming has cultivated has pushed budgets on those kinds of shows ever higher.
That said, I think the argument still remains that Disney's need to "feed the machine" has forced diminishing returns on a lot of streaming shows. Not to mention the broader issue of “brand focus” Star Wars is suffering from right now.
But on a brighter note; Retail images are flowing out for the 2025 Epic World of Adventure products, and I like the trends I’m seeing! First off, the entire line is now sporting increased articulation, making them more in line with the Marvel offerings. In conjunction with the Speeder bike assortment, the line is clearly pushing more into “fun kids toys” realm thanks to the new flair on the lightsabers and the new Mech toys. Also of note is the “Power the Force” branding now appearing. In Demand Toys posted images to their social media, but here’s the Yakface link to view the images:
New 4” Epic World of Action Images | Yakface.com
yakfaceforums.com
Single figures:
Darth Vader- It’s a new Darth, but I love the extra flair added to the lightsaber
Dark Trooper- It’s a cheap way to build an army of these guys. The lesser articulation might even allow for greater sturdiness than on the TVC version. The red blaster is a noticeable compromise…but the inclusion of the effects piece adds a nice pop.
Yoda- Did they do a big person change over or something? Not only is it a decent Yoda…but he has clear VALUE. Relative to “glorified prop” Grogu, Yoda comes with Force lightning (effects piece?!), a lightsaber with that nifty stylizing AND a hoverpram of sorts styled like a Jedi starfighter. The micro vehicle even looks like you could turn it around and use it as a reasonable facsimile of a council style hover chair.
SM33- Like Armor Gideon, the kids line is getting this character before the collector crews. Looks nicely big, bulky, unfortunately a bit bland. The shields are a nice addition, and should be compatible with other figures with the necessary ports. I think it would have maybe looked nicer in a “charcoal grey” to make some the details pop…but for $10 it’s not a bad option this spring.
Stormtrooper and Mando Mechs- If nothing else, I love them for being so unabashedly “toy” in ways this brand really hasn’t in years, if not decades. While still lacking compared to what Spin Master is doing with DC, just these existing is showing a WONDERFUL change on Hasbro and/or Disney’s flexibility with this brand. I’m digging the Stormtrooper with the mech for the splash of red, but I think Mando kind of suffers from the loss of detail.
YakFace has some “Intercepted Transmission” which have been accurate in the past concerning additional products, including IG-12 and Chewbacca (I’m betting both will be our 2025 Deluxe figures) as well as a Pirate Brutus from Skeleton Crew (maybe a fall wave figure?). In addition, they claim mech suits for Darth Vader and Captain Rex are on deck (likely fall assortment). I’m assuming that means Mando will get a refreshed single figure about that time as well.
The big Vehicle for next holiday season is rumored to be a “Epic Strike Force X-Wing”.
Side bar: I almost wonder if the initial rollout for Epic Heroes for Star Wars was a rushed thing? Mission Fleet seemed to crash and burn pretty hard in 2022 and 23, so I wonder if Hasbro rushed out the 4” figures for 2024 to compensate? Or maybe somebody finally stepped in to say “this is garbage, our competition is doing it better and cheaper, we need to step it up”. The latter might hold some weight after Star Wars was cited as being a particularly weak Partner brand last year.
I haven't done a detailed scan, but I never felt like anything on DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise was held back by needing more effects shots. There might be some episodes that had very little, but we saw transporters, phasers, Odo shapeshifting, EMH appearing or disappearing, and external ship actions on most episodes. I don't have any feeling that there is more of it on Discovery and Strange New Worlds.
On Skeleton Crew, we have external ship actions, a few light saber scenes, all the external of the scene going into the vault was CGI. The pirate droid is a puppet and they just have to wipe out the puppeteer. I think the blue kid is just in a costume? It doesn't feel really special effects heavy to me.
On Skeleton Crew, we have external ship actions, a few light saber scenes, all the external of the scene going into the vault was CGI. The pirate droid is a puppet and they just have to wipe out the puppeteer. I think the blue kid is just in a costume? It doesn't feel really special effects heavy to me.
Neel the blue kid can NOT just be a costume. If it was, holy cow, that would be an incredible work of craft.
Huh, SM33 was a puppet? If he was, I didn't realize. I also thought he was CGI.
Huh, SM33 was a puppet? If he was, I didn't realize. I also thought he was CGI.
That's the thing; having a tight budget means you learn how to use that budget (and how to plan ahead and use restraint), as opposed to modern "auteurs" who just throw as much CGI and lensflare at the screen as they possibly can whether or not the scene needs it (while overworking their effects department, resulting in substandard work and unfinished scenes).
Skeleton Crew...was it perfect? No
But after all the pretentious "prestige" shows Disney has shoved out for Star Wars (which get a LOT more marketing and exposure than Favreau and Filoni's projects, it seems), I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a good time. Andor might be the better "drama", but Skeleton Crew has been a damned bit more enjoyable than either Obi-Wan or Acolyte.
And huge props to Disney for actually letting this end with a satisfying conclusion. Will it get another season? I don't know. But I wouldn't be adverse to another galactic adventure with a pirate jedi and his salty droid...
But after all the pretentious "prestige" shows Disney has shoved out for Star Wars (which get a LOT more marketing and exposure than Favreau and Filoni's projects, it seems), I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a good time. Andor might be the better "drama", but Skeleton Crew has been a damned bit more enjoyable than either Obi-Wan or Acolyte.
And huge props to Disney for actually letting this end with a satisfying conclusion. Will it get another season? I don't know. But I wouldn't be adverse to another galactic adventure with a pirate jedi and his salty droid...
I have seen pictures of him with a guy behind him holding controls. He's like Timon in the Lion King Musical, if you've seen that.
So. That was a satisfying conclusion to what wound up being a pretty good show. I would have cut episode 4 out, but whatever. It's funny. D+ calls it "a surprising end" on the menu screen and it wasn't a lie, but it was because of us. The end was actually very pedestrian in retrospect. Every element of the story was always leading to this in a straight line, but we are so used to the surprise twist now that the surprise twist can be that there isn't one.
I had thought up several ideas of who Joe was and I didn't hit on the real one. He was the makeshift Padawan of a post-Fall Jedi on the run.
I had about come to terms with the supervisor most likely being a droid. But I was surprised that at least Fern's mom totally knew that. It probably isn't even a secret. I WAS miffed that a droid controlling a planet that is even room sized in the room where he talks...his brain is a foot behind his red light eye. There's no need for that.
Speederbike chase through the woods just to remind you of ET.
Characters realize in the end something that seems obvious in retrospect, but never occurred to me. At Attin is only in danger because of the barrier, really. The dataries aren't going to be worth anything with the barrier down. They obviously aren't the current currency and their secondary market will be nil when a huge supply is known to have been discovered, even if they don't make more. They are just some planet now and it will be a while before someone is trying to take over planets again.
No redemption of Jod. He just gave up when he was beaten. He'll probably escape arrest, but there probably won't be another season. They did give a little hint of what season 2 could be, but it wouldn't be this story. It would be starting its own thing. This story was done.
Saw the last ep. C'moooon, they had the parents get the important push? It should have been the kids.
I reeeeeally wanted to see a special guest star (Ezra in active action) but I have no idea who the three face pilots were.
Is that it? I was waiting for an extra scene to show Jod escaping and some such. Or a SM33 joke.
KB was the MVP but she still doesn't have enough character (even with her near death scene). Fern is so empty too. Wim is passionate but doesn't really accomplish a lot (tho he was smart enough to push the booby trap exit before). Neel is ok. I feel like if you combine the four into two kids, they'd be more complete characters.
I reeeeeally wanted to see a special guest star (Ezra in active action) but I have no idea who the three face pilots were.
Is that it? I was waiting for an extra scene to show Jod escaping and some such. Or a SM33 joke.
KB was the MVP but she still doesn't have enough character (even with her near death scene). Fern is so empty too. Wim is passionate but doesn't really accomplish a lot (tho he was smart enough to push the booby trap exit before). Neel is ok. I feel like if you combine the four into two kids, they'd be more complete characters.
Dropping the barrier? That was after KB piloted out of the barrier to get the message out, Wim distracted Jod long enough for his dad to reboot the system, Neel fired on the frigate to get KB a chance, and Fern told the Supervisor that Jod was a pirate. They had a great extended scene where everyone was right where they needed to be and did just what they needed to do.
What for, though? Was there any reason to expect that? And speaking of expectations, they meta'd Rian Johnson here. This whole episode subverted expectations by being pretty dot-to-dot pedestrian and that's an impressive trick.
Jod will probably escape, but I think they left him in a good spot. He just gave up. Not surrendered because the kids and their parents ran off and left him. They left him because he didn't matter now and he dropped his weapon because he didn't matter now. He had nothing else to gain and he understood that and didn't do something desperate or malevolent. He really didn't want anyone to get hurt. He just wanted his score. When he couldn't have it, he just stopped. That's a really interesting beat to end on.
This here is kinda what endeared me to him at the end, he's not a good guy, but he's not all that bad a person either. His ideal scenario is just him replacing the supervisor and everyone going back to their normal lives. As you say, he gets his score and that's it. Even when the other pirates arrived and started blasting he got annoyed at the though of them actually killing anyone. Its kinda rare to have a SW villain who still has this much humanity in them without out a life altering realization.
I was impressed by Fern here. She kept her head and made strategic decisions, and I like her moral observation that "even in the worst places, there are good people." That's a solid message to have in a kid-friendly show.
I'm less impressed with the Republic's "help" (they just come in blasting and end up wrecking a chunk of the city) but it kinda fits the post-Endor era of the Republic becoming more morally ambiguous.
Even if Jod escapes, there's not a lot of places he can run to. Plus, the Republic knows he's there and will be actively hunting him.
So, Jod gets arrested, then what? We know (from The Mandalorian) that the Republic has a rehabilitation program, but that's just for ex-Imperials. They could just put him in a conventional prison, but his Force abilities make that an iffy proposition. I'm sure Luke would take an interest in trying to rehabilitate him --which raises the question of where Old Man Jod is when the Academy is destroyed. . .
I'm less impressed with the Republic's "help" (they just come in blasting and end up wrecking a chunk of the city) but it kinda fits the post-Endor era of the Republic becoming more morally ambiguous.
Even if Jod escapes, there's not a lot of places he can run to. Plus, the Republic knows he's there and will be actively hunting him.
So, Jod gets arrested, then what? We know (from The Mandalorian) that the Republic has a rehabilitation program, but that's just for ex-Imperials. They could just put him in a conventional prison, but his Force abilities make that an iffy proposition. I'm sure Luke would take an interest in trying to rehabilitate him --which raises the question of where Old Man Jod is when the Academy is destroyed. . .