Tag: Disney

Sleep and Spoilers

I did something I rarely do. I let myself sleep late on a work day. Not too late, but later than usual.

The last few nights I have had the worst sleep. Barely five hours on Sunday and Monday nights. Less than five hours on Tuesday night. I was practically in a coma for much of the day yesterday. I needed sleep so badly.

Last night? Almost seven hours. Still not enough sleep, but so much more than I’ve been getting. Bliss. I usually set an alarm on my watch for 5:00am. Jen has an alarm set for a half an hour after that, but I am usually down cellar exercising before her alarm goes off.

Today? I slept until a little after 6:00. It meant I was running behind throughout my entire morning routine, but it was worth it. I’ll still probably be asleep on my feet by around 7:00pm tonight, but for now? I feel a little better.

Okay then, part two of this post is going to deal with Star Wars: The Acolyte and it is ABSOLUTELY SPOILER FILLED. If you haven’t watched the show, bail out now. I have two stupid comments that are burning a hole in my tiny little brain and I have to get them out and THEY ARE SPOILERS so you have been warned.

Seriously… if you want to watch the show and you haven’t yet, get out now.

You have been warned… again…

Last warning…

Okay. So this is the same comment made twice. Once is me being a snob, the other is me getting mine.

Before the show aired, people online were over the moon about Carrie-Anne Moss playing Jedi Master Indara. People who’ve read the High Republic books and/or comics were all excited about what a bad ass warrior Indara is and how viewers were going to be over the moon at how awesome she is. Also… it’s freakin’ Carrie-Anne Moss. People were foaming at the mouth over having such an awesome actor in the cast.

Episode one… the first scene… Carrie-Anne Moss as Jedi Master Indara in a lightsaber fight. This is it! Here it comes… oh… she’s dead… oh.

I laughed out loud knowing that the internet would be turned on its ear over that scene. People were going to be pissed and it made me happy. Screw your expectations! Take that, know it all book readers! I was just tickled.

Fast forward to episode five. The episode was awesome. They saved up a whole season’s worth of action scenes and threw them all in our face at once. Just fight after fight after fight. It was fantastic. When Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon started fighting our dark side bad guy, the action was incredible. I was watching on my laptop and I thought to myself, if they want to do a spin off show where this kid just fights everyone, I will be totally, 100% on board… oh… she’s dead… oh… I guess that’s what I get for laughing at the Indara fans… Okay… I totally got what was coming to me. Serves me right for being snobby about people being snobby. Lesson learned, Acolyte. Lesson learned.

Okay, the spoilers have ended. You may go on with the rest of your day now. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I appreciate your patience.

The Acolyte Episodes 1 and 2 Mini-Review

It’s always a good day when there is new Star Wars content to devour. Am I right, or am I right?

Being sick in the springtime absolutely sucks, and last night I went from feeling like I might be getting better to feeling like I was definitely getting worse. I was exhausted after a long and stressful afternoon at work and when I tried to watch the two new episodes of the new show I found myself nodding off. That is not a review of the quality of the episodes, but a comment on the poor quality of my brain last night.

I made it through the first episode and about half of the second when I gave up and went to sleep. This morning while doing my morning exercise silliness I started over and watched both episodes all the way through.

My spoiler free review is that I am intrigued. I like it so far. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next. Is the dude with the red lightsaber a Sith or is he something else? Who is he? We haven’t even seen his face yet (and we saw him in the trailer so his existence is not a spoiler). Also, what did the victims of the crimes being investigated do to earn what they’ve gotten? What’s the back story? They gave us a tiny bit of motivation but there has to be a lot more.

I’m really looking forward to seeing more of this show. I needs to know what’s going on, and I needs to see some lightsaber fighting. Use the Force, folks!

I like that we’re seeing a period in Star Wars history that we’ve never touched on before. We saw the Jedi and the Republic in the prequels, but the wheels were already coming off the wagon by the time those stories start. This new show takes place about a century earlier, when the Jedi were at the top of their game and the Republic wasn’t a political mess yet. I want to see more.

Okay this part is going to get a little spoilery, so if you are being cautious about such things and haven’t watched the first two episodes yet you might want to stop reading now.

I will be as vague as I can, but there will be spoilers after this point.

You have been warned.

My one issue is not with the show, it’s with the fandom. I have watched some youtube videos and listened to some podcasts in prep for this. There is a book series and some comics and some other extended universe things dealing with the High Republic period, and many of the preview things I read/saw/listened to reference those stories extensively. One common thread was how the Jedi were different than they were in the prequels, and many referenced characters that we knew were crossing from books to the show.

One frequent comment from one youtube source kept harping on how the Jedi aren’t as hung up on attachments being bad during this period. Then in the first episode there were 3-4 moments when one Jedi says to another, what’s up with you being so attached to this person/place/thing. Don’t you know that’s bad and will lead to problems? Heh. I guess they are has hung up on attachments after all, eh? Another talked about how one character was this amazing warrior and how we were all going to love getting to see that character do some kick ass Jedi-Fu and how awesome it would be… then six minutes into episode one that character is gone. HA! I guess we won’t be getting much excitement watching that particular Jedi kick ass, eh?

My point being is that expectations are silly. It’s a new show, a new time period, and I don’t care how many novels or comics you’ve read, it’s a new setting and new characters. Unfortunately there will now be a significant chunk of what is already a super toxic, asshole fanbase who are going to HATE this show because it isn’t exactly what they expected after reading the books. That sucks, but we all know it’s going to happen. My hope is that I can avoid such negativity and just enjoy the show for what it is. Something 100% brand spanking new.

Can’t wait to get episode three next week. Bring it on, Disney+.

The Bad Batch is Over

This morning, while doing my usual morning exercise, I watched the new episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch that was released today. Not only is it a new episode, it’s the last new episode. Ever. The series finale wrapped everything up nicely.

Well… nicely may not apply to everything it wrapped up. No spoilers, but some of the stories didn’t so much wrap up as just end. It was a good episode and it closed out a very good season. The first two seasons were a little on the hit or miss side, though more hits than misses, but season three was a banger from start to finish.

There was a lot of speculation on spin offs and it does open the door to something, but not any of the things people were guessing. Those things could still happen as there is a lot of ground to cover. I’m still hoping for a Ventris/Omega buddy cop show, but today’s episode didn’t hint at anything in that direction.

There were a couple of dark moments, but nothing even remotely close to what I had predicted. When the first episode of the first season premiered, I made a prediction on how I thought the show should end. I expected it to answer the question, why are there no clones around in the original movies? The reason, of course, being that George Lucas hadn’t come up with the idea of a clone army yet. He mentioned The Clone Wars in the original movie but never gave any details at all. It wasn’t until the second of the prequel movies that we learned what that name meant. Back in the 70’s and 80’s? Ol’ George didn’t have a clue.

That’s the real reason why there are no clone troopers in episodes 4 through 6, but what is the retconned story reason? My prediction, after watching season one episode one of The Bad Batch, was that the ending to the series would include The Emperor giving an order along the lines of Order 66 which would result in all of the clones just dropping dead. Poof, all gone. Dead clones everywhere. No muss, no fuss, no clones around for A New Hope. That would have been dark. Really dark. Alas I was wrong with my prediction (big surprise there, right?) and as the series ended there are still clones all over the place.

Maybe if there is a spin off my predicted Order 67 (or whatever) might come to pass. We’ll have to see, my fellow Star Wars fanboys and fangirls. We’ll have to see.

Yankee Swap

I won a cup of hot chocolate with Baby Yoda at my work’s yankee swap today. Best. Yankee swap gift. Ever!

Of course it has 30 grams of sugar and if I drink it, it will trigger dumping syndrome and I’ll feel like I’m going to die for a few hours so… I’ll save it for Jen or the kids. Maybe one of them will enjoy a beverage with Grogu.

Doctor Who Anniversary Episode 1/3

My step daughter and I watched the first of the three 60th anniversary episodes of Doctor Who today. I only started becoming a fan about five months ago, but I’d seen every previous episode in the most epic TV binge watch in history so this was the first time I had to actually wait for a new episode.

No spoilers as far as plot goes. It was definitely a fun watch and it fits right in with the show as it was the last time David Tennant played The Doctor. There was nothing earth shattering in it, but I enjoyed it.

One clear difference was the budget for visual effects. It has definitely been increased in a big way. It seems like they have a truck load of Disney cash to throw around and they made excellent use of it. The episode looked amazing.

I’m looking forward to next week’s second of the three anniversary special episodes. Here’s hoping the bigger budget fun continues. Enjoy.

Loki Finale

I just finished watching the second season finale of Loki on Disney+. No spoilers, just go and watch it. The whole season is very good.

The reason for this post though has to do with the guy who plays Loki, Tom Hiddleston. Simply put, is it time to cast him as the next James Bond, or what? I think he would be a great choice. He wouldn’t be the blunt instrument Daniel Craig was. He’d be something else, but he’d be great.

Just call me Spartacus and join my crusade. Hiddleston for Bond: 2024.