The Acolyte - Disney Plus Star Wars Series

[jvmacross]

https://gizmodo.com/disney-acolyte-cancelation-costs-lucasfilm-star-wars-2000541990

[Thom]

I like one of the reviewers saying it was 'so god-awefully terrible,' but they watched it twice anyway... C'mon!

[azrael]

4 hours ago, jvmacross said:

https://gizmodo.com/disney-acolyte-cancelation-costs-lucasfilm-star-wars-2000541990

Yeah, we kinda got wiff of that reasoning back in July/August when they announced the cancellation. It really costed twice the amount The Mandolorian costed per episode and didn't garner as much ROI.

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, jvmacross said:

https://gizmodo.com/disney-acolyte-cancelation-costs-lucasfilm-star-wars-2000541990

Yeah, that's about what I'd expect in terms of Disney trying to frame the show's cancellation in suitably neutral corporate language.

Instead of saying "we didn't think it would flop like this", you say "we were happy with it, but it did not meet expectations".  Instead of "audiences hated it", "engagement was good but not as high as we'd have liked it to be".  Instead of "we cancelled this because making season two would be like burning a quarter of a billion dollars in the parking lot" you say "it wasn't where we needed it to be in terms of cost performance".  

 

5 hours ago, Thom said:

I like one of the reviewers saying it was 'so god-awefully terrible,' but they watched it twice anyway... C'mon!

Some folks want to be thorough and not base their whole review just on a first impression.  I can respect that.

It's similar to how I tend to refuse to drop a show partway even if I don't like it because it doesn't feel fair to criticize the work as a whole based on just part of it.

[Thom]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Some folks want to be thorough and not base their whole review just on a first impression.  I can respect that.

It's similar to how I tend to refuse to drop a show partway even if I don't like it because it doesn't feel fair to criticize the work as a whole based on just part of it.

I get that, but if I don't like something, I don't finish it and then watch it again, and still complain that it's not good. As far as I'm concerned, it someone didn't like it the first time but went through it again, they secretly did like it, but don't want to admit it to themselves.😉

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 11:28 PM by Thom

[pengbuzz]

53 minutes ago, Thom said:

I get that, but if I don't like something, I don't finish it and then watch it again, and still complain that it's not good. As far as I'm concerned, it someone didn't like it the first time but went through it again, they secretly did like it, but don't want to admit it to themselves.😉

Yeah, not like it's going to suck less with repeated viewings, right?

I think they should do a Season 2, but:

Spoiler

Both main characters gain a ton of weight and get really big.

They can title it The Acoheavy.

 

Edited Sunday at 12:22 AM by pengbuzz

[Big s]

5 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

but:

  Hide contents

Both main characters gain a ton of weight and get really big.

They can title it The Acoheavy.

Maybe that should be for the son of Jabba. Maybe give it a slight tweak to your title and call it the Anchovy and be the reverse of the Whale where the son is just too thin for other Hutts to take seriously, so he’s gotta go through some serious weight gain training to be able to eventually take his father’s throne.

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Thom said:

I get that, but if I don't like something, I don't finish it and then watch it again, and still complain that it's not good. As far as I'm concerned, it someone didn't like it the first time but went through it again, they secretly did like it, but don't want to admit it to themselves.😉

 

 

 

It’s possible, I didn’t like it, but can only handle it once. Although I do have to admit that I liked Smilo Ren totally destroying those Jedi and especially Watching her die still brings me great pleasure and I like rewatching that triple tap over and over and try to pretend the rest of the show didn’t exist 

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, Thom said:

I get that, but if I don't like something, I don't finish it and then watch it again, and still complain that it's not good. As far as I'm concerned, it someone didn't like it the first time but went through it again, they secretly did like it, but don't want to admit it to themselves.😉

What I recall from the one film studies class I took in college, film enthusiasts generally recommended to watch a film two or more times to fully appreciate it.

Most people wouldn't, if they really hated it, but there are some sticklers out there.  (Not to mention Star Wars fans determined to catch every little easter egg and bit of lore.)

FWIW, I only watched The Acolyte once.  If it hadn't been so offensively awful I might've done it twice just to make sure I was taking it all in.  But nope, no thank you, once was once too many for this hot mess.

Edited Sunday at 01:41 AM by Seto Kaiba

[Thom]

15 hours ago, Big s said:

JEKKI!!!!!

[TangledThorns]

1 hour ago, Thom said:

JEKKI!!!!!

 

Dafne Keen is a much better actress than Amandla Stenberg who was so wooden and unlikable in both her characters. How come they didn't give Dafne the starring role??

So many mistakes in this series but I place most of the blame on Kathleen Kennedy giving the wrong show runner the job.

To this day. How does KK still have a job at Disney??!!??

[Seto Kaiba]

18 hours ago, Big s said:

It’s possible, I didn’t like it, but can only handle it once. Although I do have to admit that I liked Smilo Ren totally destroying those Jedi [...]

The one good call that Leslye Headland made in The Acolyte was increasing Manny Jacinto's screentime.

Qimir was the only character written with anything resembling a personality, and as a result ended up being the only likeable or interesting character in the show.

 

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

Dafne Keen is a much better actress than Amandla Stenberg who was so wooden and unlikable in both her characters. How come they didn't give Dafne the starring role??

Casting a different actress as Osha/Mae would not have improved The Acolyte any.

The Acolyte's (main) problem was nothing to do with its cast.  Its screenplay was a full-fledged Idiot Plot full of "that sounded cooler in my head" fan fiction-y set pieces with a cast consisting largely of typically stoic Jedi, a Sith Lord, and the twin protagonists in questionable-at-best mental health due to severe childhood trauma.

Even a great actress would not have been able to rescue The Acolyte from its writers and directors.  Amandla Stenberg delivered the performance that the director and the script she was given called for, which was wooden and unlikeable and frequently idiotic.  If her performance wasn't what as the director and producers wanted it, it wouldn't have made it into the final cut.

So if you want someone to blame... well... start with Leslye Headland (showrunner/director/writer), and go down the chain of command to Kogonada, Alex Garcia Lopez, Hanelle Culpepper (the other directors), Jason Micallef, Charmaine DeGrate, Jasmyne Flournoy, Eileen Shim, Claire Kiechel, Kor Adana, Cameron Squires, Jocelyn Bioh, and Jen Richards (the other writers).

... 

...

...

This show had way the hell too many writers, and no one writer worked on more than two episodes and six of the eight episodes had two or more writers.  Every single episode effectively had a completely different writing team.  What's that old saying?  "Too many cooks spoil the broth"?  Compare to The Mandalorian, which had only five writers for the entire twenty-four episode run and only four episodes with more than one writer.  

 

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

So many mistakes in this series but I place most of the blame on Kathleen Kennedy giving the wrong show runner the job.

To this day. How does KK still have a job at Disney??!!??

Simple.  Because her performance goals as LucasFilm President and CEO are tied to LucasFilm's overall financial performance.

[electric indigo]

5 hours ago, Thom said:

JEKKI!!!!!

Meanwhile, in another galaxy far, far away:

[Big s]

7 hours ago, Thom said:

JEKKI!!!!!

Tears of joy. It really was great to see her go. 

 

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The Acolyte's (main) problem was nothing to do with its cast.  Its screenplay was a full-fledged Idiot Plot full of "that sounded cooler in my head" fan fiction-y set pieces with a cast consisting largely of typically stoic Jedi, a Sith Lord, and the twin protagonists in questionable-at-best mental health due to severe childhood trauma.

I have to agree. The cast was pretty good, but in my opinion the writing and direction were terrible 

[Seto Kaiba]

8 minutes ago, Big s said:

Tears of joy. It really was great to see her go. 

At the very least, she went out with far more dignity than the entire rest of the Jedi task force that got absolutely curb stomped by Qimir.

[Thom]

Have to say I don't understand the harsh feelings about Jekki. but that's okay. She was more Jedi than all the other Jedi there.

 

JEKKII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Big s]

5 hours ago, Thom said:

Have to say I don't understand the harsh feelings about Jekki.

She was at best an empty character and at worst was the kind of person that would take advantage of someone at their emotionally weakest moment by getting them drunk. But really, the reason to celebrate her death was that it symbolized that Jedi weren’t gonna just get lightsabered and survive anymore and that’s a very important thing for Starwars to be somewhat taken seriously. Her death was necessary and has brought one of the few moments of joy to anyone that suffered through that horrible show 

[Thom]

6 hours ago, Big s said:

She was at best an empty character and at worst was the kind of person that would take advantage of someone at their emotionally weakest moment by getting them drunk. But really, the reason to celebrate her death was that it symbolized that Jedi weren’t gonna just get lightsabered and survive anymore and that’s a very important thing for Starwars to be somewhat taken seriously. Her death was necessary and has brought one of the few moments of joy to anyone that suffered through that horrible show 

I'd counter and say she was mostly a blank slate with potential to have been a great Jedi - if she had not been led by incompetent fools. As for 'lightsabered' i.e. dead, pretty much all of the central Jedi in this series were killed off. Which happened before (a lot!) in spectacular fashion in the prequel trilogy, so we've seen that the Jedi were not covered with plot armor.

[Big s]

7 hours ago, Thom said:

I'd counter and say she was mostly a blank slate with potential to have been a great Jedi - if she had not been led by incompetent fools. As for 'lightsabered' i.e. dead, pretty much all of the central Jedi in this series were killed off. Which happened before (a lot!) in spectacular fashion in the prequel trilogy, so we've seen that the Jedi were not covered with plot armor.

Yeah, she could’ve been a good character, but due to poor writing, just was forgettable other than dying more entertaining than the rest. It’s not so much that she was the first to die in a while, but more like first female closer to the main story to not just get up after a little break.

[Seto Kaiba]

14 hours ago, Big s said:

She was at best an empty character and at worst was the kind of person that would take advantage of someone at their emotionally weakest moment by getting them drunk.

I don't think her intentions were anything that malicious... like everyone else in the story, she seems to have massively underestimated just how emotionally damaged and volatile Osha was.

 

14 hours ago, Big s said:

But really, the reason to celebrate her death was that it symbolized that Jedi weren’t gonna just get lightsabered and survive anymore and that’s a very important thing for Starwars to be somewhat taken seriously. Her death was necessary and has brought one of the few moments of joy to anyone that suffered through that horrible show 

Ah, yeah that was a bit odd... The Acolyte writing team apparently missed Filoni's patch notes about NERFing lightsaber damage.

None of that Sabine Wren "oh just walk off the lightsaber impalement" nonsense here.

[Dynaman]

I know I've said it before but I'll say it again.  The problem with this is the same problem that happens in all of the Prequel Jedi stories.  The Jedi are Anal Openings.  Not only are they arrogant they are stupid too with a healthy dose of hypocrisy thrown in as well (including Yoda).  That makes an undesirable combination in the "heroes" of a show. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Dynaman