oh dear. for some reason i am going to try and write of something called The Acolyte. this is, for those that don't know or don't care (yet for some reason are still reading) the, at time of writing, latest of things Star Wars what them people at Disney have gone done. it would be fair to say that this has all caused a bit of a stir online, look you see. whether it's a vocal minority or the loud majority i know not, but generally it would be fair to say most comments are rather negative.
the show is certainly not the bestest greatest Star Wars thing ever. i would argue it is also not exactly what could fairly be called the worst, for it's not as bad as, say, Solo or The Last Jedi. my view, or if you like take, on it is that The Acolyte is one of the most interesting, clever ideas what they have had, but ultimately it is a clunky, frustrating experience. my understanding is that if one dares to be critical of this show you get labelled all sorts of "ists" and "isms", as it simply must be that your problem is all them non-white, non-male characters. i have every confidence such is true of some, but certainly not all. i am going to at least try and explore the "natural" dislike of it.
plot or premise? actually difficult to give in a simple way, which underlines some of the issues. to have a go at it for you, and please note from here on out there be *** SPOILERS ***, it's all set some one hundred years before the 'prequel trilogy'. someone is going around killing jedi. the main suspect turns out not to be the killer, but the (possibly) twin sister of them. off the jedi go to try and work out who is doing it, to stop them and to maybe cover up some jedi business of indiscretion. kind of.
what i really, really liked about The Acolyte was it was a genuine and real attempt to "subvert expectations" and delve into the "expanded universe" in a way which was not quite the "f*** you" delivered by them what made The Last Jedi. the premise was one of "hang on, no" it isn't so that those calling themselves jedi (or sith) have some exclusivity to all this "force" business. others that can use it are happy to do so without being labelled. having the jedi run around trying to vanquish a "threat" to their status as guardians of it all is an interesting concept.
but, as i said, the execution of this all is a right f*****g mess. don't really think it is the actors and/or actresses at fault. some, but certainly not all, of the dialogue is all right, and the somewhat hammy nature of the acting isn't, if we are honest, all that out of character for Star Wars films. it feels lazy to say it, but the pacing and structure are just a convoluted mess. not sure if i can say one easily loses track of what the hell is going on and ends up not caring to try and work out what they missed or forgot, but i very much can say this is what happened to me in chunks. as in when they revealed the (presumed) big bad and it was all a "surprise" i was more like "who was he earlier again, please".
every now and then i have, here, had a dig at them special "fanboys" (and to be fair fangirls) who have in the eyes of some plagued Star Wars enjoyment for years. them ones i generally describe as living in Momma's basement in Wisconsin (or similar), spending all their lives expressing their distress at absolutely anything Star Wars and finding it hard to come to terms with how neither George Lucas nor Disney ever read their ideas online and came straight to them with a billion dollars to make the most bestest ultimate Star Wars thing ever. but there is another side to this, which i shall get to, after a somewhat brief break.
certainly there's grounds to suggest Disney did kind of deliberately annoy (p!ss off) hardcore Star Wars fans in the last episode. well, last in particular. above is instance one. apparently that is Darth Plagueis. to the casual Star Wars fan this might not mean much, yet for a pretty significant amount of the fanbase this is a huge "expanded universe" character. were it so that Disney wished to make loads of money and get some largely positive feedback, well. a film or series of this character would probably go down more better than what The Acolyte did. instead they just have him lurking in some shadows for a few seconds.
many years ago (north of 40) when we got our first ever video machine Mum & Dad bought us two videos for it, when owning videos was a rarity. they were The Muppet Movie and Making Star Wars. care to guess which got played most? yes. in that one (the latter) there was a bit at the end which showed kids at school in America making Star Wars films. mostly, for many years, i was like "wow, how come they get to make movies at school". however, over the years i have warmed to one aspect. the children are interviewed about their feelings on Star Wars and one young girl says she loves it as it "helps her escape from reality". and that one line is the root of all fandom of all nature.
at heart Star Wars, when it came along, was a simplistic, basic good vs evil story. even when they made everyone relatives of everyone in the progressive films. the outlandish, exotic and intriguing setting helped make it all the more magical. but that's the core. people fell in love with it all, i would argue, because for a couple of hours you could switch off and immerse yourself in a thoroughly enjoyable, simple and straightforward world.
it is entirely understandable why people go and get all upset when someone comes and "does Star Wars" but in a way that's not connected to their feelings, what they have invested in it. by no means by that do i mean to in any way justify some of the outlandish reactions to the upset, and no i am not going to share some of the more outlandish (bonkers) comments people have posted. when all this "expanded universe" stuff came along in the form of books, graphic novels and what have you, it was fine, as you could very easily opt out of that. Disney coming along saying "no this is Star Wars and if you don't like it you are the problem you are not a proper fan" is a very big deal. messing with people's fantasies, telling them their thoughts are "not right" is quite a mean and dangerous thing to do".
likely the worst thing The Acolyte did is right there above. set one hundred years before The Phantom Menace? right, Yoda will be around and likely in it. that's kind of why i kept watching. and the reward was a couple of seconds of looking at the back of him. oh. unless, like the previous "cameo" above, this is all intended as a "tease" for a second series, it does feel somewhat like they are just messing with fans.
you can easily forget that Disney are perfectly capable of making mistakes. in the 80s they kind of nearly went to complete sh!t by seriously misjudging what audiences may want. but they used to learn from things like that and make a better product. exactly how The Acolyte, so full of potential and with truly great ideas, got released in the convoluted mess of a form it did is a bit of a mystery.
no, i don't live in Momma's basement, and i am certainly not clever enough to have some brilliant, billion dollar idea for an "ultimate Star Wars movie". what i do have is a willingness to see what ideas and stories they come up with next. and back to thinking sessions, i believe, is the wisest approach they could take for now.
live long and prosper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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