Moving with purpose

I've had a bit of a running text chat with a couple of friends that starts to erupt Wednesday evening, after I watch The Mandalorian. It's preceded by some running commentary while my wife, son, and I watch, and my latest exchange was "what the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck is this episode."

I've been trying to keep expectations in line for The Mandalorian, and for all of the other shows: I've grown frustrated with episode-by-episode recaps, not because they're clickbait that entertainment sites realized would draw in traffic for discussion, but because it's largely pointless to review a book chapter by chapter. An episode might seem like it's not going anywhere, but that sometimes ends up as just setup for a bigger payoff down the road: the impulse for instant gratification over the gradual building of a story is something that I think should be avoided.

And yet, I've been exasperated with this season, because the story feels like it's been ping-ponging back and forth over the course of this year's story, with tantalizing bits of story that advances it forward, lumped together with stuff that just feels like it's designed as a way to move the characters from point A to point B, without any real impact on the story. I could be wrong: the last pair of episodes might wrap up everything in a way that lets me go "aha!", but I don't think that's going to be the case. Sigh.

Here's a pair of examples [spoilers ahead for the first two and latest episodes]: Episode 1 had to do a bunch of things: remind folks who hadn't seen The Book of Boba Fett that Din Djarin and Grogu were reunited, and get them moving on their quest to get to Mandalore. We headed to Navarro to recover a IG-11 (which backfired), then to Tatooine to get R5, to ... test the atmosphere, something that a spacefaring ship should be able to do? It was a circuitous route that felt like it was designed to get a story running about pirates, and to bring in a (frankly unneeded) cameo, just to get the series to Mandalore for Din's "cleansing" – a story that's felt either under-examined or just straight-up unneeded as it plays with the idea of rebuilding a Mandalorian civilization.

Fast forward to this latest episode, and we're sent off to a new planet, Plazir-15, which is populated by not only Jack Black, Lizzo, and Christopher Lloyd in some impressive stunt casting, but by a civilization that relies on droids in a sort of weird, direct-democracy experiment. Din and Bo-Katan head off to figure out the mystery behind some malfunctioning droids, which again feels like an opportunity to show off some familiar designs from the Clone Wars, before we get to the meat of the episode, Bo-Katan taking control of a Mandalorian flotilla under the command of a former ally.

This is the crux of my issue with the series. It's a fun adventure, and we see some neat things each week, but it feels incredibly scattered, and that the main storylines – Din and Bo-Katan rebuilding Mandalore – is essentially an afterthought as they run around working on other adventures, like hunting down random droids, saving kids from monsters, and so forth.

I went and rewatched a bit of Andor the other night, and was reminded of this really incredible moment from it: Nemik's manifesto, which really sets the tone and stakes for the entire season. It's a mission statement for how tyrannical and the Empire really, and how that worldview sets the stage for oppression and mass-murder. It's that speech that's really stuck with me because it sets a purpose for the entire series: it's about the development of the resistance movement that defines the entire original trilogy – in a way that immeasurably adds and expands depth to that story.

Mandalorian really doesn't have anything like that: at its best, it's a small story in a much greater arena, one in which we get glimpses of the rise and fall of the New Republic. At worst, it's a story that only exists to fill that timeline gap, treading water without materially adding anything to the greater story and world that we see in The Force Awakens/The Last Jedi/The Rise of Skywalker.

Of course, it's hard to glean out the larger picture when you're in the middle of it, but this season (and The Book of Boba Fett) feel very much like they're mere setup for greater things, willed into existence because of the need for #Content for Disney+. I don't think that's a good way to tell a story, and the world suffers a bit for it.

Hopefully, this is just that – part of a longer storyline that we'll see play out in a satisfactory fashion. I just wish that they'd spend more time applying that relentless focus that we saw in Andor.

All the updates thus far from Celebration Europe

Three new Star Wars films

This is the big news out of the con, and something I was somewhat expecting, given that Disney has a couple of Star Wars films on the schedule. It's an interesting lineup: James Mangold (Ford vs. Ferrari, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) is directing a "Dawn of the Jedi" film, said to be a "biblical epic" abotu the origins of the Force, which should be interesting. He had been lined up to write/direct a Boba Fett film years ago, so it's nice to see him back in the fold.

Dave Filoni will direct an Avengers-style crossover film that will tie together The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and Skeleton Crew. This is something that's been on the roadmap for a while: back in 2020, Kathleen Kennedy noted that we'll see those shows "intersect with future stories and culminate into a climactic story event," and I mentioned that it felt very much like they're taking a leaf from Netflix's playbook with their Defenders mini-franchise in which they crossed Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist with its own series, The Defenders. A film feels fitting for all of these stories (and which of course draws heavily from the animated series Rebels), and as I just discussed, it'll be good for them to have an end point to build to.

And finally, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is directing a post-sequel film about Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order, with Daisy Ridley set to come back and reprise the role, set sometime around 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker. I'm glad to see this: I did like the ending of ROS, even if the film and sequel trilogy needed some structural refits as a whole. I think it'll be good to continue to build on that world and characters, and hopefully, they'll be doing so carefully. This is the same film that Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson had been working on, and who just left, but it seems that Lucasfilm is happy with their starting point. Also notable here: she'll be the first woman (and person of color) to direct a Star Wars feature film. No word on whether or not we'll see Finn or Poe return.

It's also worth noting that we've been down this road before: Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy have announced big projects, such as Rangers of the New Republic, Rogue Squadron, films by Taika Waititi, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Rian Johnson, and J.D. Dillard, none of which have materialized, for a variety of reasons. (I'm still holding out hope for Rogue Squadron). It's entirely possible that we'll see these projects share the same fate and end up in the bone yard, although Filoni and Obaid-Chinoy's films feel a bit more likely, given the momentum behind the Mandalorian franchise and that they've already lined up Ridley to return. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves until the cameras actually start rolling. (And even then, maybe once we're sitting in theaters.)

Ahsoka gets a trailer

We've seen smatterings of footage, but we finally have a teaser trailer and release window for Ahsoka, the next big streaming project from Lucasfilm.

I might have been a bit down on this season of The Mandalorian, but this looks like a helluva lot of fun. This feels very much like the payoff for the animated series Rebels, while also building on Ahsoka's appearances in The Mandalorian. Morgan Elsbeth, who we saw in the show second season also makes an appearance. What's also really cool is that we've got some of Rebel's biggest characters like Hera, Chopper, and Sabine in live action form, and I've seen a bunch of people nerding out over that. (We also just saw Zeb in a recent Mandalorian episode.)

Most excitingly however, there's the first tease of Grand Admiral Thrawn (in the form of the back of his head), which is the culmination of something that I've wanted to see ever since I first read Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire back in 1998. The series doesn't have an exact release date just yet, just August 2023. Heir to the Empire is actually namechecked in the teaser, and given that we've seen other references to the books in The Bad Batch, I can't help but wonder if we're seeing some loose adaptation of Zahn's novels coming together. (That would be very cool)

A first look at Skeleton Crew

The trailer hasn't been released to the public yet, but there was a teaser for the upcoming Skeleton Crew series, which is another part of that New Republic franchise that was announced last year. This'll follow a group of kids who get lost and have to travel across the galaxy to get home, and somewhere along the way, they encounter a Jedi (played by Jude Law), which sounds like it has the potential to be a lot of fun.  It'll apparently come out sometime in 2023, although we don't know more than that.

A first look at Acolyte

This is one of the projects that I'm most interested in seeing more of: it's a High Republic-set project that'll come before the events of The Phantom Menace. Celebration attendees got a teaser for the project, with folks noting that there was a lot of lightsaber action, and it was pitched as "Frozen meets Kill Bill", with the bad guys as underdogs. It'll be interesting to see what that ultimately looks like, especially with someone describing it as "This isn’t about good or bad. It’s about power, and who is allowed to use it." This series will hit screens sometime in 2024.

Andor Season 2 footage

Andor is currently shooting in England, but Tony Gilroy noted that they're halfway through principle photography, and there was a brief teaser (again, shown only to Celebration attendees) with some footage of the upcoming season. Alas, the series is set to return in late 2024.

A new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

While Star Wars has been the main focus of Celebration, Lucasfilm also debuted a new trailer for its upcoming Indiana Jones series (they brought a trailer for Willow last year), which looks like it'll be a lot of fun (and might have some time travel elements?)

Lando is apparently still happening

This has been one of those projects that has been lingering out there, but there was a brief bit of news about it the other day by Lando Calrissian actor Donald Glover, and in an interview with IGN, Kathleen Kennedy noted that the project is still happening, and that Glover is onboard. Hopefully we'll get some news about that at some point.

A bigger timeline

Polygon pointed this out, which I thought was interesting: with the new films, we'll be exploring two new eras: "Dawn of the Jedi" (Mangold's film), and "New Jedi Order" (Obaid-Chinoy's Rey film.) New Jedi Order is interesting, because that's the title of the long-running post-Empire book series that kicked off with the death of Chewbacca and a galaxy-wide invasion by a Force-resistant alien civilization known as the Yuuzahn Vong. I don't expect that we'd see that particular storyline up for adaptation (it's out there), but that ... would be interesting to see.  

Currently Reading

I've been still picking away at the to-read list, but at the top is Annalee Newitz's The Terraformers (almost done with that!), Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks, and Eon by Greg Bear. And A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, which I'm reading to Bram.

Also on the list? The latest edition of Asimovs (which I recently wrote about here), which I haven't gone too far into, but I've been carrying it as a reminder that I need to get back into reading short fiction.

I'm also reading a handful of nonfiction, most recently Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them by Tove Danovich, which is delightful. (Our chickens are doing well: we're thinking of adding some more soon.)

Further reading

April book list

It's a new month and there's new books coming out. I've rounded up a bunch coming out in the first half of April: the next list will drop in about a week or so.

Big brands in theaters

We kinda new this already, but Axios has a look at how studios are increasingly focusing on established brands when it comes to new films, shows, and games.

Catan's founder

Some sad news from the board game world: the guy who created Settlers of Catan, Klaus Teuber, passed away.

Confusion at Amazon

The Hollywood Reporter has a big report out about Amazon Studios, and how it hasn't really settled on a mission or vision for its projects.

Giveaway!

In case you missed it, I'm giving away a copy of the Folio Society edition of Iain M. Banks' Consider Phlebas. You've got time to enter, and you can find the details here:

Many Worlds Kickstarter

Here's a thing I backed on Kickstarter recently: Many Worlds, an anthology from Cadwell Turnbull that's part of an ongoing, cooperative/shared world SF project. It sounds pretty neat.

Return to the Spider-verse

Sony released a new trailer for Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse, which I'm very, very excited for.

Star Trek updates

Star Wars is in the news today, but there's been plenty going on with Paramount's franchise: Strange New Worlds season 2 debuts on June 15th, Lower Decks season 4 debuts in "late summer" and Prodigy will come this winter. Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks also earned renewals for their third and fifth seasons, respectively. Star Trek Discovery will end with its fifth season next year, but there's a new series that's been in the works for a while, Starfleet Academy, which just got a series order.