Disney + Originals

This article covers a topic that, by its very nature, is a magnet for flamewars. Try not to get too assmad at what you're about to read.

This article or section is about a topic that is particularly prone to Skub (that is, really loud and/or stupid arguments). Edit at your own risk, and read with a grain of salt, as skubby subjects have a bad habit of causing stupid, even in neutrals trying to summarize the situation.

This article or section contains opinions shared by all and/or vast quantities of Derp. It is liable to cause Rage. Take things with a grain of salt and a peck of Troll.

Since getting the brand, Disney has been pumping out Star Wars originals on their personal streaming service like their lives depended on it. The first and most popular of these is The Mandalorian, but there have been plenty of others since. This page lists them all in detail.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

"Good Soldiers Follow Orders."

– Crosshair after putting an insubordination in line.

See here. TL;DR, not too bad. It shows a nice take on the Empire’s hiring process, as scenes with conscripted troopers who try to be good soldiers get punished for their insubordination. Dee Bradley Baker is back playing all the main characters, and giving most of them a unique accent to discern between them, such as the heroic Hunter, the cyborg Echo, strong man Wrecker, techsavvy Tech, and the villainous Crosshair. The first season released in 2021, and the second is coming the year after that.

LEGO Shorts

Initially, it just seemed like the idea was to do a Star Wars Holiday Special that doesn't make you question your status as a Star Wars fan and/or want to claw your eyeballs out. But it has since become clear that Disney+ has opted to do these as a sort of "seasonal" thing, with a follow-up short based around Halloween (called "Terrifying Tales"), and another based on Summer Vacation (creatively titled "LEGO Star Wars: Summer Vacation"). Not terrible for what they are, but being both LEGO and Disney, they can't have the same satirical bite that, say, the Family Guy Star Wars parodies do. Tellingly, the second of these managed to do more with the Knights of Ren than the actual Sequel Trilogy movies did.

Star Wars: Visions

Basically, the prayers of every Anime fan with even a passing interest in Star Wars were finally answered. And even if you aren't an Anime obsessive, Star Wars: Visions is still Awesome. A series of shorts, all of which are decent to great, they managed to do well with both critics and audiences, proving that it is still possible for Star Wars products that don't have Baby Yoda in them to do that. The shorts are:

Season 1

• The Duel: Where most of the shorts are meant to be neither clearly canon or non-canon, first one, The Duel, is the exception. It explicitly takes place in a kind of "Elseworlds" Star Wars universe that is basically if Kurosawa (one of George Lucas' main inspirations) had done Star Wars himself. This short in particular borrows heavily from Yojimbo (morally gray ronin anti-hero fights a bunch of thugs in a suffering town). One of the characters has a lightsaber umbrella (trust us, its much less stupid than it sounds).
• Tatooine Rhapsody: About a Jedi survivor of Order 66 who finds a new life as the singer in a band that also includes a young Hutt who is on the outs with Jabba. Temura Morrison guest-stars voicing Boba Fett.
• The Twins: Takes place some time after Episode IX, and deals with a couple of super powerful, Force-Sensitive twins who aren't Luke and Leia. Takes full advantage of its being Anime to have some truly crazy, over-the-top action (as in, the title characters fighting on top of a Star Destroyer in outer space without space-suits and somehow being able to breath), and not-Luke slicing through a Star Destroyer with a fucking giant lightsaber. Villain's design is like a female blend of Darth Vader and General Grievous.
• The Village Bride: A more slow-paced, low-energy short focusing on a low-tech village under the heel of some local dickheads that a mysterious masked Jedi fends off at the end. Has a "beauty of nature" type feel.
• The Ninth Jedi: Takes place an undetermined amount of time after Episode IX. It's an era where lightsaber construction has become a lost art...which is why what Jedi and Sith are left all want a piece of one of the few folks left who can make them. Notably, the lightsabers in this short change color to match the alignment of whoever is wielding them...leading to one heck of a plot twist towards the end. One of the most popular and beloved of the shorts.
• T0-B1: Basically Astro Boy meets Star Wars, going for a very similar art-style and protagonist to the former.
• The Elder: Set before Episode I, it centers on a Jedi Master/Apprentice duo who cross paths with an elderly Dark Sider who isn't a Sith (though might have been once). Moody and slow-paced.
• Lop and Ocho: Centers on a rabbit girl alien who gets taken in by a father and daughter pair. The latter joins the Empire later, forcing Lop to combat her. Believe it or not, not the first time Star Wars has had rabbit people.
• Akakiri: Short loosely based off of the Kurosawa movie "The Hidden Fortress" (a major inspiration for Star Wars). Ends on a notably downer note compared to the rest of the shorts.

Season 2 Coming Soon!

The Book of Boba Fett

"You’re going soft in your old age"

– Cad Bane

"We all do"

– Boba Fett right back at him

Basically a spin-off/midquel to The Mandalorian, centering on Boba Fett and his efforts to succeed Jabba the Hutt as Tatooine's Corleone/Soprano overseer. Naturally, fan expectations were high, but at this point we should all know what tends to happen next.

Of the stuff released after the end of the sequel trilogy, it has been the least beloved thus far, though nowhere near to the point of the Sequel Trilogy. Currently one of Youtube Video reviewers' favorite whipping boys along with Kenobi (as shown below), with over a dozen different videos as of this writing bashing it. It has its moments, but the show is still probably most remembered for a very slow chase scene involving neon-colored scooters going 5mph at best.

You can probably compare it to the Prequel Trilogy: cool fanservice and good actors, actually coherent character progression (in theory), and shaky execution at various-to-most points, and probably amplified by stratospheric expectations for the fan-favorite character in the hands of well-regarded showrunners which made the flops bomb harder. Basically, it had good intentions of worldbuilding and character growth, but didn't quite stick the landing. That, and the hardline fans wanted their Fett to be a stone-cold badass crushing his opposition instead of trying to grow out of it and try negotiation to inspire loyalty and respect or a green armored nice guy. Also a popular point of mockery/criticism was in how two whole episodes focus on Din Djarin instead of Boba Fett himself, leading to Fett getting effectively upstaged in his own mini-series. A second season might be coming, so hopefully the writers can course-correct.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

"Goodbye...Darth."

– Obi-Wan after his rematch with Vader and leaving him alive to kill more people.

Live-action series featuring the return of Ewan McGregor as the titular character set 10 years after Revenge of the Sith. Hayden Christensen also has returned with voice over work from James Earl Jones, albeit with possible digital voice de-aging assistance like Mark Hamill received. Released May 27th 2022 (around the time of the 45th anniversary of the franchise) and ran as a six-episode mini-series. Went for sort of a "Logan" style tone according to the director, having a 10 year old child serve as a foil to a reluctant hero forced out of hiding.

Unfortunately, where Logan was/is universally adored, Obi-Wan Kenobi...less so. To be clear, this mini-series nearly rivals the Sequel Trilogy in terms of pure Skub, Flame-Wars, and Rage generated which resulted in this page’s creation. In this case, largely due to a mix of plot holes fixed vs ones that were caused, with jarringly bad/mediocre episodes (mostly Episode 1 and 4) in between the legitimately good parts.

The best parts were the performances from the actors, and especially the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Its ideas, in a vacuum, are popular concepts on most fans' wishlists of material to adapt: Obi Wan Kenobi protecting Luke Skywalker as the last of his order, and a wanted man by the rest of the Galaxy. But, y'know...execution.

Its biggest source of skub by far is the Third Sister, Inquisitor Reva. As a survivor of Order 66, she vowed revenge against Anakin by joining the Inquisition and attempting to get close enough to stick a saber into him. Unfortunately, the writing for her character is too hammy to take seriously, and her actions are far too inconsistent and insubordinate for the audience to immerse properly. While there are toxic individuals who become hateful against the actor, the response by Disney tarring all critics with the same brush and using the same buzzwords to dismiss legitimate criticisms and hatred didn't go over well. Naturally, this made having a civilized discussion about the character almost impossible, but the general consensus, even if you work through all the noise, was that the character herself is not well written.

In the end, this show wasn’t well received by its main audience, who proceeded to talk down and nitpick it into oblivion. It got a rather tepid response from critics as well. The most pointed flaws were the previously mentioned Reva, as well as Young Leia. Not only does everyone seem to have trouble catching up with her, but has an inconsistent way in how she speaks; sometimes she speaks maturely and about defining other people, but then reverts back to being a kid whenever she’s around actual danger. This is not going into other problems frequently mentioned such as the chase sequences, the lack of lighting in the fights, the infamous trenchcoat moment…

Still, it promised us "the rematch of the century", and it did give that. But general consensus is that the show never quite explains why it needed to exist apart from that one reason. Ultimately, Kenobi had the chance to end Vader’s life by the 6th episode, and just walks away, causing him to continue being a Sith Lord that will eventually kill him. Though, it also lets Vader live long enough to redeem himself, save his son, and kill Palpatine. Somehow Palpatine Returned.

Star Wars
About:	The Franchise, The Setting, The Movies, The Video Games
Television Shows:	The Clone Wars, Rebels, Resistance, The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch, Disney + Originals
Star Wars Games
Miniature:	X-Wing, Armada, Legion
Tabletop:	Rebellion
Roleplaying:	FFG, WotC (d20), WEG (d6)