Star Wars: The Acolyte

[The Buffinator]

This is funny:

Fantastic Frankey's "Interview with Leslye Headland", posted on Youtube 2nd November 2020.

"A very special interview with one of everyone's soon to be favourite director, creator, show runners, Lesyle Headland..."

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Headland (Youtube transcript):

i think that sometimes when people think dream project they
20:58
think maybe something cushy or something you know uh i see this as a as a massive
21:04
challenge to uh um to take on and and and a very serious one and and
21:10
have an immense amount of respect for the the world that george builds and and
21:15
that has like um but also canon you know like everything that's going do you know what i mean like like
21:21
everything um that uh uh in legends and canon like all of that stuff
21:27
it's all i don't know there's a lot of stuff there and so not to you know to take any of that kind of
21:34
like lightly and like hey i'm gonna bring my thing into that you know what i mean i think would be a mistake it feels like i have um
21:42
i'm joining almost uh a religion

I just watched most of this interview and I'm glad I didn't see it before the show came out as I would have been even more disappointed in the result. Despite the consistent uhs & ers (which I can look past because (a) she's a writer not a public speaker and (b) sadly those are quite common in speech these days) I actually found LH to be quite affable and dare I say even likeable here, what with her admitted nerdiness, talk of "respecting SW history & canon while telling a fresh story" and view that an inclusive show shouldn't exclude any part of the fan base (i.e., men). Either that was all a facade or from that point on KK and company constantly encouraged her most extreme impulses, because 3-1/2 years later what we just consumed is evidence that its creators weren't particularly concerned with either respecting what came before or upsetting a large section of fans, and LH's reputation is now anything but that of a likeable nerd.

 

[JacktheRipper]

Well, if she is doing this much talking she should learn to be a better speaker. Her being a writer seems to be topic for discussion.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

IMHO, one could argue that what much of the modern Star Wars slate lacks ( at least one of the major elements) is the kind of relatability that came from young Luke Skywalker, who had ambition and hopes, that is almost universal with young people, and wants to escape from what he sees as an impending doom/fate of total mediocrity in his life. But again, this is something that the every day average working class person growing up has to think about and struggle with in a way that the more "elitist" type current Star Wars just plain ignores.

The Acolyte was not without some merits. I found Lee Jung Jae to be very compelling and effective as Sol. The scripts and characterization didn't give him a ton to work with at times, but he uplifted the material he got. Manny Jacinto is IMHO quite underrated. This Qimir role was pretty difficult. But Jason from The Good Place was also a tough role too. Unfortunately the show couldn't just have kept it simple and stuck with their best performers and focused on them.

Where the rubber might meet the road is, during the Prequel Trilogy, maybe the most underrated performance was from Ian McDiarmid. He took some pretty horrible writing and lots of nonsensical plot points and carved out a great performance from it. It's a good enough portrayal to wash over the reality that Palpatine was obvious, pedantic and moronic based just on the writing alone. Lucas wrote a villain with absolutely no nuance at all.

I'll give Headland credit for that too. Lucas gave us protagonists in the PT that simply didn't deserve to live, much less win. So she wrote her version of characters in that vein, with no sense of any kind of real self preservation. It's not going to make legacy fans happy, but based on what Lucas gave her to start, it is however IMHO very honest.

Try to imagine a Star Wars universe that's not an endless tribute to Beta males. Good God, what fun the series could be again.

 

[wormlander]

Where the rubber might meet the road is, during the Prequel Trilogy, maybe the most underrated performance was from Ian McDiarmid. He took some pretty horrible writing and lots of nonsensical plot points and carved out a great performance from it.

While I take it you don't refer specifically to the scene where The Emperor is channeling the spirit of a rejected Gollum on acid, McDiarmid's PT performance really only appears semi-decent because everyone else and their mother are doing even worse. Hell, even Samuel L. Jackson delivers maybe the least inspired effort of his entire carreer in this absolute mess of a trilogy. Post-OT Lucas was so out of touch with both the actors and the dialogue he makes a middle of the road director like Richard Marquand look like Ingemar Bergman...

 

[Sassafras]

I just watched most of this interview and I'm glad I didn't see it before the show came out as I would have been even more disappointed in the result. Despite the consistent uhs & ers (which I can look past because (a) she's a writer not a public speaker and (b) sadly those are quite common in speech these days) I actually found LH to be quite affable and dare I say even likeable here, what with her admitted nerdiness, talk of "respecting SW history & canon while telling a fresh story" and view that an inclusive show shouldn't exclude any part of the fan base (i.e., men). Either that was all a facade or from that point on KK and company constantly encouraged her most extreme impulses, because 3-1/2 years later what we just consumed is evidence that its creators weren't particularly concerned with either respecting what came before or upsetting a large section of fans, and LH's reputation is now anything but that of a likeable nerd.

I don't feel like watching this interview, but....

IMO, fan fic writers always love whatever property they are co-opting. Sometimes professional creators as well, whatever that means.

The core problem being - and it's a delicate balance - of (besides being able to write and understanding narrative flow, character pacing and motives) is does your "story expansion" work with the created world already in existence, or are you crow-barring your narrative into character arcs, and worlds, that are already built? The Mandalorian is an example of doing things the right way. There's reasons the Force isn't even thought of, or the Jedi. The Imperial remnants under the Client are dirty and scruffy. The whole of Nevarro looks like what you expect an Outer Rim society to look like, after the collapse of a government.

Nicely, the collapse of a government is alluded to time to time, like the scene with Migs Mayfield commenting on how "little people" don't care who is in charge. That's maintaining internal consistency.

A Ytuber pointed out there were ten writers working on Acolyte. No wonder the show was all over the place. LH made a lot of mistakes.

 

[Sassafras]

Try to imagine a Star Wars universe that's not an endless tribute to Beta males. Good God, what fun the series could be again.

Don't agree with the assessment. Actually have a lot more respect for the PT in hindsight.

Mostly I imagine both the MCU and SW the way Mando and the MCU started. Just tell a good story with good characters. Get some folks in there who know how to write, produce, edit, understand narrative flow. Stop worrying about the check boxes - that whole way of creating has been a fail. Cast for the part. Cast people who can act and put some time into it. Do screen tests.

IMO it's hard to believe a production like Andor and the Acolyte are part of the same universe.

 

[Johnny Utah]

It's hard to believe Headland's pitch was approved. KK hasn't a clue about Star Wars.

Right now all I want is Andor season 2.

 

[Khev]

It's hard to believe Headland's pitch was approved.

Really? At this point shows like Andor are the ones that shock me.

 

[jaztermareal]

I am betting that post gets shifted to the DEI political thread as aoon as mods see it

 

[ironwez20]

It’s kinda hard to have a Star Wars discussion and have it not turn political. I mean that’s what they wanted right? Instead of just making a good story they injected a lot of real world issues into it and then baiting the fan base with certain things they say.

Back then arguments for Star Wars consisted of of its better than Star Trek or if the PT needed to happen and so on. Now it’s the force is a woman and men suck or something like that.

 

[ebor]

Oh and Star Trek is still better than Star Wars— there someone had to say it— since is was brought up….

 

[a-dev]

Oh and Star Trek is still better than Star Wars— there someone had to say it— since is was brought up….

 

[jaztermareal]

Oh and Star Trek is still better than Star Wars— there someone had to say it— since is was brought up….

Have you seen modern Trek (Picard s3 aside)? Lots of naff Trek too.

 

[a-dev]

Have you seen modern Trek (Picard s3 aside)? Lots of naff Trek too.

True. Anything since Voyager apart from Picard S3 is non-canon to me Even taking Picard S3 requires me to hold my nose at certain things that reference the abominable first and second seasons.

 

[ironwez20]

So what’s better then? modern trek or modern Star Wars?

 

[JacktheRipper]

I am betting that post gets shifted to the DEI political thread as aoon as mods see it

Naw, not right away. I love MeatHook's contributions to this board, but Moderator will be like, "Look at that wall of text. I'll read it later or maybe not."

 

[Fujita]

I am betting that post gets shifted to the DEI political thread as aoon as mods see it

Nope. It gets deleted now. The Dark Rooms are open. If you'd like to discuss DEI, or any other political or controversial opinion not related to collecting that's where it goes.

Everyone, please help the staff and me out but just putting it there.

 

[JacktheRipper]

 

[ebor]

So what’s better then? modern trek or modern Star Wars?

Modern Trek

 

[Khev]

The Dark Rooms are open.

Thank you. Now will someone just kindly start a duplicate thread for every one that's currently in this section so that we can all just go there, lol.