Nielsen Ratings Company Reveals That Not a Single Disney Sequel Is in the Top Ten of Most Viewed Star Wars Movies or TV Shows

Nielsen is spinning this as if it's good for Star Wars that the original, from over 40 years ago, remains the absolute ratings champ among movies, and the disastrous Disney "saga" sequels aren't even in the top ten.

WDW_Pro discussed this disclosure. "Andor" is number one, but mostly because it has 18 episodes over two seasons -- so there is something like 12 hours of Andor to watch, as opposed to two hours of Star Wars: A New Hope.

And these ratings were complied while the show was running in 2025. Tales of the Underworld was also fresh in 2025.

One Disney movie, Rogue One, made the top ten. None of the Daisy Ridley Force is Female saga sequels.

Further proof that the Disney sequels are absolute failures: When Disney's Star Wars Land was being designed, the imagineers were planning it to heavily reference original movies. But mid-design, Kaffeine Kennedy called them and ordered them to abandon all references to the original movies and make it firmly set in the Kaffeine Kennedy era, with "her" characters. She femspained that she wasn't interested in appeasing the 50+ year old fans who actually like Star Wars, but the Modern, Diverse Audience she was sure would celebrate her Stunning and Brave retcon of Star Wars into yet another female-centric Disney Princess Brand.

It did not work. Galaxy's Edge has been a perennial disappointment as far as attendance.

So now that Kaffeine Kennedy is finally out and her skinny talons have been pulled away from the corpse of Star Wars, suddenly Star Wars land is set in the Rebellion Era and actors who are supposed to look like Han, Luke, and Leia are roaming the park.

Unfortunately, it's Disney, so this was another huge embarrassing cringe failure.

Man.

This is so bad, guys. pic.twitter.com/k8DpbfdNbm
— Huff (@Huff4Congress) April 17, 2026

The WDW_Pro panel pointed out that when one corporate regime replaces another, the incoming regime has no strong incentive to cover up for the last one. In fact, the new regime has an incentive to release the bad news that the old regime long suppressed, so they can show they're improving on the old regime's failures.

It does seem strange that months after Kaffeine Kennedy was booted out of Lucasfilm, the long-hidden ratings -- once held in the same warehouse where they stored the Ark of the Covenant -- are suddenly being published.

And the rumor is -- and I'd say this is a fact -- that Disney will re-cast Han, Luke, and Leia and start making movies about their adventures immediately after the fall of the Empire. The Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy, for example.*

RUMOR: Disney to Remove Star Wars Sequel Trilogy From Timeline to Resume Focus on Original Characters

"If true, this would be one of the most dramatic franchise shifts in modern Hollywood history." pic.twitter.com/tqB5V8uo9x
— Geeks + Gamers (@GeeksGamersCom) May 4, 2026

And you have to imagine the new films will have exactly as much respect for the old timeline, the "Rey/Finn" timeline, as the Rey/Finn movies had for the original timeline -- none at all. Even if they don't explicitly say that the sequels are now retconned and no longer exist, it will become obvious when events happen that are inconsistent with Kaffeine Kennedy's movies.

For example: Luke Skywalker will almost certainly court and marry Mara Jade, as he did in the books, which would be incompatible with the Kaffeine Kennedy content. They're not going to avoid a crowd-pleasing romance just to keep kosher with the Kaffeine Kennedy disasters.

As the WDW_Pro panel speculated: The ideological people failed badly, so now the soulless money-grubbing investor people are calling the shots.

And frankly they cannot be any worse than the ideological zealots.

BP
@everyonebpup
May 4
> be Disney executive
> pay $4B for Lucasfilm in 2012
> greenlight a new trilogy to print money
> Force Awakens hits $2B. you are a god
> Last Jedi splits the fanbase
> Rise of Skywalker barely clears a billion
> teens now call Star Wars "out of order"
> Mandalorian and Grogu tracks franchise-low
> can't admit trilogy failed. shareholders watching
> tell Filoni the sequels need to be "branched off"
> cast members at parks start citing a time portal
> May the 4th merch quietly drops the sequels
> rumor leaks: Ahsoka finale severs the timeline
$4B of canon about to get filed under "alternate universe" because nobody can say the word "mistake"

But I don't think returning to Han, Luke and Leia will help. Once you fall completely out of love, you don't usually fall back in love. The bubble is burst, the magic is gone. The Force is dead.

It's really incredible. The biggest IPs in the history of the world destroyed themselves because The Mary Sue claimed that girls liked boys' action-adventure movies just as much as boys and it was #Sexist to not let girls See Themselves in boys adventure/war stories and these fucking idiots believed them and bet $40 billion dollars on what "Princess Weeks" from The Mary Sue told them.

Below, proof that the supposedly "good" sequel film was just an embarrassing rip-off of the original trilogy movies, as if you need it.

I hear that this was a mandate from Creative Genius Bob Iger, who issued the very creative corporate mandate that the "new" movies should just be remakes of the old ones. So I don't think that choice can be blamed on Kaffeine.

She can be blamed for everything else, though.

If you have four minutes to spare, this video comparing The Force Awakens to Star Wars explains better than a million words ever could why the sequel trilogy was doomed to fail, and from the start. If you've never seen it, it's an absolute must. https://t.co/kZIErDv1uZ
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) May 5, 2026

* Which I never read, of course, though I heard they were pretty good. Anyone read them? Are they worth it?

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:00 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Saw the Hamell and Obama library video. So very lame.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at May 05, 2026 05:01 PM (abIsI)

2 I like this gray format. Agreeable gray is nice.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at May 05, 2026 05:02 PM (abIsI)

3 I let the udders know.

Posted by: Dad of Six at May 05, 2026 05:03 PM (OI6JV)

4 Stephen Miller's America First Legal has won its lawsuit against Katie Hobbs

Only American citizens can vote in all (15) counties in Arizona...this is what pushback looks like

Also, nood Disney

Posted by: Maj. Healey at May 05, 2026 05:03 PM (abIsI)

5 With as many Leia cosplayers I’ve met and “researched” this one by Disney has to be a sith psyop.

Posted by: Brometheus at May 05, 2026 05:03 PM (dJMrS)

6 Put a chick in it, make it gay, make it lame!

Posted by: They'll never recover, nor should they at May 05, 2026 05:04 PM (TbWk/)

7 Ooops

Posted by: Maj. Healey at May 05, 2026 05:04 PM (abIsI)

8 Which I never read, of course, though I heard they were pretty good. Anyone read them? Are they worth it
===

They are outright bad.

Zahn is a bad writer caught up in corporate dictates about what has to be included.

It was painful to read.

Posted by: TJM's phone at May 05, 2026 05:05 PM (w4o6z)

9 May the Farce be with you...

Posted by: It's me donna at May 05, 2026 05:05 PM (FtULh)

10 I really liked the Thrawn Trilogy.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of my favorite villains of all time.

It's a shame the Bantam-era Star Wars EU was such a mixed bag.

The Del Rey era, starting with the New Jedi Order was generally pretty decent.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 05:05 PM (gnNyN)

11 One young actress I like who's about 16 now, Kyrianna Kratter, was in that kid's version of Star Wars a year or so ago. She had on a stupid visor and whatever.

Work is work.

She's going to be playing a transgender in that 'All of Us' or whatever it is zombie show.

It must suck to be a Western actor or actress.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:05 PM (Sco7b)

12 That cleaned up nicely ...

Posted by: man at May 05, 2026 05:06 PM (XuXeR)

13 1 Saw the Hamell and Obama library video. So very lame.
Posted by: Maj. Healey at May 05, 2026 05:01 PM (abIsI)

Cringe worthy

Posted by: It's me donna at May 05, 2026 05:07 PM (FtULh)

14
Man.

This is so bad, guys.

-------------

At least they're not Black Tranny Pedos ...

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:07 PM (9Kqhl)

15 >>>They are outright bad.
Zahn is a bad writer caught up in corporate dictates about what has to be included.

ooof!

Then again, as Rick Sanchez said: "Your boos mean nothing. I've seen what makes you cheer."

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (1wjle)

16 That cleaned up nicely ...
Posted by: man at May 05, 2026 05:06 PM (XuXeR)
---
It's amazing what a slash or an angled bracket in the right place can accomplish...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (gnNyN)

17 I haven't seen one episode of the Star Wars franchise since 1983. It doesn't sound like I have missed much.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (D1E+2)

18 10 I really liked the Thrawn Trilogy.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of my favorite villains of all time.

It's a shame the Bantam-era Star Wars EU was such a mixed bag.

The Del Rey era, starting with the New Jedi Order was generally pretty decent.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 05:05 PM (gnNyN

====

Leia wanders around for the 2nd book with nothing to do.

Thrawn is introduced in the first scene, denying him mystery.

The whole macguffin of the second book doesn't matter in the end.

The whole Luke being with the clone Dark Jedi stuff is laughably terrible because Zahn has no clue what to do with Luke or even who he is.

Genuinely, they're trash.

Posted by: TJM's phone at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (w4o6z)

19 At least they're not Black Tranny Pedos ..."

*Disney exec pulls up grok*

Posted by: man at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (XuXeR)

20 I enjoyed the Thrawn Trilogy. Hopefully they can work Sidney Sweeney in as Mara.

Posted by: Dad of Six at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (OI6JV)

21 15 ooof!

Then again, as Rick Sanchez said: "Your boos mean nothing. I've seen what makes you cheer."
Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (1wjle)

÷====

Well, then read and enjoy!

Posted by: TJM's phone at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (w4o6z)

22 OT but this is definitely full retard at the Met Gala:

https://tinyurl.com/2zwhzzc8

Posted by: beckster at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (kX27y)

23 >>>They are outright bad.
Zahn is a bad writer caught up in corporate dictates about what has to be included.

Then again, as Rick Sanchez said: "Your boos mean nothing. I've seen what makes you cheer."
Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (1wjle)
----
Don't listen to him, ace!

He admits he's illiterate!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 05:09 PM (gnNyN)

24 the RISE OF THE RESISTANCE ride you can see where is was supposed to be HOTH and then they just stopped and went with the new Crap, and the ride barley works they just refurbished Big Thunder and it caught on fire.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at May 05, 2026 05:09 PM (ubCxQ)

25 And the rumor is -- and I'd say this is a fact -- that Disney will re-cast Han, Luke, and Leia and start making movies about their adventures immediately after the fall of the Empire. The Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy, for example.*

==

Well , there is plenty of "Legends" material, I gather. Thrawn is already being run through the Ahsoka series. And he was in Rebels.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:09 PM (GD0B3)

26 DJ Marco Rubio sold it. Get that guy a job making political ads.

Posted by: brak at May 05, 2026 05:09 PM (jGJov)

27 but this is definitely full retard at the Met Gala:"

You will applaud, tovarish....

Posted by: man at May 05, 2026 05:10 PM (XuXeR)

28 Genuinely, they're trash.
Posted by: TJM's phone at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (w4o6z)
---
You have no idea how bad Star Wars novels get until you read Darksaber or Children of the Jedi.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 05:11 PM (gnNyN)

29 When are they going to remake the original Star Wars movie?

Posted by: fd at May 05, 2026 05:11 PM (vFG9F)

30 OT but this is definitely full retard at the Met Gala:

https://tinyurl.com/2zwhzzc8
Posted by: beckster

Kick the tires, take her out for a test drive, and we'll see.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at May 05, 2026 05:11 PM (ndZc7)

31 Disney's star wars is just lesbians and fags cosplaying.

Same with Paramount with Star Trek franchise.

Posted by: Frank Barone at May 05, 2026 05:11 PM (IifOV)

32 Who else heard that Cara Dune/Gina Carano migh be back ?

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:11 PM (GD0B3)

33 Thrawn Trilogy was good. I always thought it was stupid that they didn't use it for the sequel trilogy.

Posted by: Mark1971 at May 05, 2026 05:12 PM (CNl8/)

34 I've missed Disney news.

Posted by: toby928(c) at May 05, 2026 05:12 PM (4NO2D)

35 >>>32 Who else heard that Cara Dune/Gina Carano migh be back ?

N O P E

that was a false leak pumped out by Disney to trick people into giving the new piece of shit a chance. Carano denied it.

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:12 PM (1wjle)

36 Andor is one of the best series ever done, Star Wars or not.

Posted by: YOHAN THE LIBRARIAN at May 05, 2026 05:12 PM (3TalN)

37 Actually, this isn't about anything important.

Posted by: Wesley Crusher at May 05, 2026 05:12 PM (RIvkX)

38 You have no idea how bad Star Wars novels get until you read Darksaber or Children of the Jedi.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 05:11 PM (gnNyN)

Zahn's stuff is really for grade school/high school ..but some of us are just kids at heart! Is "Bloodlines" any good?

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:13 PM (GD0B3)

39 Spaceballs will also suck Balls after seeing who is in charge of making the sequel and if it's anything like History of the World part II it's going to be very very bad, Oh you didn't know they made a sequel to History of the World well nobody did

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at May 05, 2026 05:13 PM (ubCxQ)

40 that was a false leak pumped out by Disney to trick people into giving the new piece of shit a chance. Carano denied it.

===

oh..

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:13 PM (GD0B3)

41 Star Wars should have ended with Star Wars.

Posted by: My Ridiculously Circuitous Plan at May 05, 2026 05:13 PM (kMNVd)

42 Even the 'good' Star Wars movies are bad.

Posted by: garrett at May 05, 2026 05:14 PM (Lu7y1)

43 I read Zahn's 80's Blackcollar and Cobra Military SF series' and they were fairly pedestrian in the field, both involving supersoldiers made by drugs and technology respectively.

he went off into Star Wars stuff and I did not pursue even in the OT era.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:14 PM (8avO+)

44 Is it just me, or does the Luke actor look kinda like a female?

Posted by: Dr. Fausti - I WAS The Science at May 05, 2026 05:14 PM (qivay)

45 The yelling girl has like 50 teeth.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:14 PM (Gqar8)

46 There's just no part of me that cares about the Star Wars universe anymore. And I'm really not interested in watching any ret-con version of Star Trek, even though I still love TOS. Maybe one day I'll go back and read or re-read some of the Trek novels, or get a DVD set of DS-9.

Posted by: PabloD at May 05, 2026 05:15 PM (5Ewx3)

47 "teens now call Star Wars "out of order""

I thought it was 6-7.

Posted by: fd at May 05, 2026 05:15 PM (vFG9F)

48 44 Is it just me, or does the Luke actor look kinda like a female?
Posted by: Dr. Fausti - I WAS The Science at May 05, 2026 05:14 PM (qivay)

He looks precious.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:15 PM (Gqar8)

49 But I don't think returning to Han, Luke and Leia will help. Once you fall completely out of love, you don't usually fall back in love. The bubble is burst, the magic is gone. The Force is dead.

---------------

It can (1) take you years to gain a new customer, (2) take you seconds to lose them, and (3) be virtually impossible to ever regain them after having lost them.

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:15 PM (9Kqhl)

50 I hated Andor Season I - total revolutionary marxist garbage, and season 2 was only watchable because they dumped the socialist crap, and focused on adventure more.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:15 PM (GD0B3)

51 Thrawn Trilogy was good. I always thought it was stupid that they didn't use it for the sequel trilogy.
Posted by: Mark1971 at May 05, 2026 05:12 PM (CNl8/)

even dumber to use it up for Ashoka.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:15 PM (8avO+)

52 >>.It can (1) take you years to gain a new customer, (2) take you seconds to lose them, and (3) be virtually impossible to ever regain them after having lost them.

yeah... i've heard someone talking about how much it costs to gain a single customer.

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:16 PM (1wjle)

53 Disney is going with General Leia not Princess Leia because ....

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at May 05, 2026 05:16 PM (ubCxQ)

54 I would like to know how Spock got into Star Fleet without anyone knowing about his periodic Pon Farr freakout.

Posted by: fd at May 05, 2026 05:16 PM (vFG9F)

55 Below, proof that the supposedly "good" sequel film was just an embarrassing rip-off of the original trilogy movies, as if you need it.

It's an homage!

Posted by: Bob Eyegore at May 05, 2026 05:16 PM (LSV6F)

56 Spaceballs will also suck Balls after seeing who is in charge of making the sequel and if it's anything like History of the World part II it's going to be very very bad, Oh you didn't know they made a sequel to History of the World well nobody did
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at May 05, 2026 05:13 PM (ubCxQ)
******************************

In fairness, the only good section of History of the World Part I was the previews for History of the World Part II.

Posted by: My Ridiculously Circuitous Plan at May 05, 2026 05:16 PM (kMNVd)

57 Watched most of Epire Strikes Back yesterday, probably the best of the bunch

Posted by: Skip at May 05, 2026 05:16 PM (Ia/+0)

58 53 Disney is going with General Leia not Princess Leia because ....
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at May 05, 2026 05:16 PM (ubCxQ)

Full-Tilt Girlboss.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:16 PM (Gqar8)

59 Gee I wonder if it will turn out everyone good in Star Wars was actually either a racist sexist homophobe or a gold star earning loyal leftist social justice revolutionary. Gonna be totally shocking when that happens!!!

Posted by: ... at May 05, 2026 05:17 PM (vE0+H)

60 Justice Jackson could play Leia. Or Baby Chewbacca.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at May 05, 2026 05:17 PM (ndZc7)

61 Funnily enough I was there in CA about a month ago. For the start of Spring Break, so the Park was packed. Galaxy's Edge (Aspach-Cole series plagerism aside) was pretty quiet. The whole section was low on people compared to the rest of the park. Except for the Resistance ride and the Falcon ride. They were both ok.

It feels weird in that its got a lot of space and is built to traditional Disney quality, but doesn't have much there to do. Just a few shops and the two rides. Few characters around, no Stormtroopers. Blue milk was good though, had that twice.

I did appreciate my 3yo niece. New Republic spy (nice, young castmember) came by to ask her if she wanted to be part of an event. My niece took her hand and said "lets go see these rocks!" And proceeded to drag the poor thing to go look at blast doors and rock formations. Castmember did a good job and let my neice drag her around. Good sport.

Posted by: AFlyingSqrl at May 05, 2026 05:17 PM (CW2c6)

62 Justice Jackson could play Leia. Or Baby Chewbacca.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at May 05, 2026 05:17 PM

She's a born Ewok.

Posted by: toby928(c) at May 05, 2026 05:18 PM (4NO2D)

63 DisneyChannel is actually better than peak woke. I'm still watching the worst horror movies - so much dismemberment - but some of the new DC stuff is pretty funny.

Not safe for kids though. Every white girl has a crush on black guys. And they keep cancelling live action shows after 2 seasons.

And as woke as Disney is, you know what you'll NEVER see on DisneyChannel - a REALLY black, black guy. Caramel or lighter.

Someone should protest.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:19 PM (Sco7b)

64 >>>proof that the supposedly "good" sequel film was just an embarrassing rip-off of the original trilogy movies, as if you need it.

they don't care if it's a rip off -- they're just redoing it to market merchandise to a new generation, and keep the IP active

Posted by: brak at May 05, 2026 05:19 PM (jGJov)

65 60 Justice Jackson could play Leia. Or Baby Chewbacca.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at May 05, 2026 05:17 PM (ndZc7)

she's the size of an Ewok, after seeing her that clip in the play she looks like a Dwarf.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at May 05, 2026 05:19 PM (ubCxQ)

66 Watched most of Epire Strikes Back yesterday, probably the best of the bunch
Posted by: Skip

I loved it when I first saw it in the theater circa 1980.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at May 05, 2026 05:19 PM (ndZc7)

67 Oh

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 05, 2026 05:19 PM (nzPxx)

68
The original Star Wars is based on old low budget science fiction movie shorts, modernized. It has nothing to say about the human condition. It was never substantial, just a novelty. Maybe basing an entire industry on a lightweight trifle is the real issue here.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (azNOR)

69 Prepare three letters . . .

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (wVcYX)

70 Fun fact, Hispanics now outnumber blacks in the Windy City. We are about a couple of election cycles away from blacks being a diminishing force in Chicago and Illinois politics.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:05 PM (E4rtv)

As the voting power of the black dissolves, we will get to find out once again what Democrats really think of them. So that'll be fun. Not for blacks though.

Posted by: ... at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (vE0+H)

71 I learned today that, subsequent to the events in Return of the Jedi, there is lore that the real motivation of ol' Palp wasn't just evil, it was he knew the secret of what lay beyond the galaxy.

A race of warriors from another galaxy, immune to the Force, who viewed using machines as blasphemy, growing their ships and weapons.
Like a mash-up of Warhammer 40k.

That the whole purpose of the Empire, the massive war machine, and the Death Stars was the only chance they had to defeat them.

Instead, the goofy hippie space wizards and their primitive magic destroying the Empire caused the death of some 360 trillion sentients before the invasion was defeated.

Which is to say, there were/are so, so many better stories they could have told after the original; complex characters and plots.

Instead they chose shittier, boring re-hashes of the original stories--but with More Girl Power.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (MtSIY)

72 There’ll never be another Jar Jar Binks though.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:21 PM (Gqar8)

73 I quit reading Star Wars EU novels around the time I stopped sucking my thumb with the nightlight on, so 35 or 36.

Posted by: Kristian Harloff, Collider at May 05, 2026 05:21 PM (aKk9a)

74 Star Wars is lame. Even the good ones were just kid's movies. I pray they aren't making K-Pop Demon Hunters movies in 50 years and having adults buy tickets for themselves.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at May 05, 2026 05:21 PM (BI5O2)

75 Disney seeks to employ heterosexuals to develop story lines and recruit actors.

Nah.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 05, 2026 05:22 PM (nzPxx)

76 The original Star Wars is based on old low budget science fiction movie shorts, modernized. It has nothing to say about the human condition. It was never substantial, just a novelty. Maybe basing an entire industry on a lightweight trifle is the real issue here.
Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (azNOR)

Shooting up the bad guys IS the human condition.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:22 PM (8avO+)

77 I liked Mara Jade in the books, especially in her introduction. There hadn't really been anyone to rival Luke at that point, and she was perfect.

Biggest thing I hated when they "legacied" all this was getting rid of her and Luke's relationship.

Posted by: Nova Local at May 05, 2026 05:22 PM (tOcjL)

78 Logan's Run came out in 1976. New Hope in 1977. The difference in special effects is amazing.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:23 PM (GD0B3)

79 Prepare three letters . . .

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (wVcYX)

------------

... Maria, address it to my wife

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:23 PM (9Kqhl)

80 I'll say it until I'm blue in the face: The Thrawn Trilogy is definitely worth it.

Posted by: Dodd at May 05, 2026 05:23 PM (vl9MY)

81 I thought the Mara Jade story in the Thrawn trilogy was kinda stupid. Not that Luke did not need a "partner", but how they got introduced.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:24 PM (GD0B3)

82 Hamell did a turn as a vampire with a beef with Laszlo in an episode of What We are in the Shadows. He's actually got pretty good comedy instincts.

Too bad he's a dolt.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at May 05, 2026 05:24 PM (l26NL)

83 "I would like to know how Spock got into Starfleet without anybody knowing about his periodic Ponn Farr freakout."

Dude, what happens on Vulcan stays on Vulcan

Posted by: P'Diddy at May 05, 2026 05:24 PM (5Ewx3)

84 Spaceballs will also suck Balls after seeing who is in charge of making the sequel and if it's anything like History of the World part II it's going to be very very bad, Oh you didn't know they made a sequel to History of the World well nobody did
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at May 05, 2026 05:13 PM (ubCxQ)

Just like Caddyshack II. Very, very bad.

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (wVcYX)

85 >>.80 I'll say it until I'm blue in the face: The Thrawn Trilogy is definitely worth it.

I think that is definitely the majority view.

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (1wjle)

86 Mouse is dead Jim.

Posted by: bones at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (ehY6c)

87 Star Wars literally had an entire galaxy of stuff they could make up and run with that hundreds of millions of fans would pay huge money to watch and re-watch but they chose to go woke and pi$$ off most of their fans.

Bold strategy cotton let's see how that works out for them.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (0N4FZ)

88 74 Star Wars is lame. Even the good ones were just kid's movies. I pray they aren't making K-Pop Demon Hunters movies in 50 years and having adults buy tickets for themselves.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at May 05, 2026 05:21 PM (BI5O2)

In honesty for me the interesting part of Star Wars was Carrie Fisher, the droids, and Indiana Jones smartassery. The rest was filler.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (Gqar8)

89 70 Fun fact, Hispanics now outnumber blacks in the Windy City. We are about a couple of election cycles away from blacks being a diminishing force in Chicago and Illinois politics.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:05 PM (E4rtv)

As the voting power of the black dissolves, we will get to find out once again what Democrats really think of them. So that'll be fun. Not for blacks though.
Posted by: ... at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (vE0+H)

They won't entirely abandon them though, they'll still use them for "street actions".

Posted by: Dr. Fausti - I WAS The Science at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (qivay)

90 There’ll never be another Jar Jar Binks though.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:21 PM (Gqar

-----------

Ketanji Brown "Affirmative Action" Jackson hardest hit ...

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (9Kqhl)

91 People without imagination are worthless. Losers, you might say. Can't possibly have success of any kind. Just saying.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (GD0B3)

92 Is there even a market for the Thrawn material? I know fanboys of a certain age love that stuff. But the original Thrawn trilogy was written in the early 90s. Or, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. After watching them fuck the franchise's corpse for the intervening three decades, I have some doubts.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026 05:26 PM (nTGnD)

93 The original trilogy was classic. The prequel trilogy has some moments. The next three bit the big one. Rogue One wasn't bad, but the rest was crap. Unless the writers go back to the original trilogy formula Star Wars is dead. Unfortunately the writers are all woke idiots and the entire movie industry is brain dead so nothing will come of it

Posted by: Smell the Glove at May 05, 2026 05:26 PM (gu0hJ)

94 Which is to say, there were/are so, so many better stories they could have told after the original; complex characters and plots.

Instead they chose shittier, boring re-hashes of the original stories--but with More Girl Power.
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (MtSIY)
----
I really enjoyed the space opera of the New Jedi Order series. They could have easily turned that into a decade-long MCU-style franchise if anyone at Lucasfilm had the vision to do so...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 05:26 PM (gnNyN)

95 i'm old-school, I'm a "Han Solo at Star's Edge" and "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" stan

(no not really. the only star wars books I read were Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, which I read before I saw the movies, because I was a Poor)

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:26 PM (1wjle)

96 90 There’ll never be another Jar Jar Binks though.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:21 PM (Gqar

-----------

Ketanji Brown "Affirmative Action" Jackson hardest hit ...
Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (9Kqhl

What's Lori Lightfoot doing these days?
She's been on my mind...

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:26 PM (Sco7b)

97 82 Hamell did a turn as a vampire with a beef with Laszlo in an episode of What We are in the Shadows. He's actually got pretty good comedy instincts.

Too bad he's a dolt.
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at May 05, 2026 05:24 PM (l26NL)

He does. He's also a good voice actor. Awesome as the Joker, for example.

Posted by: Dr. Fausti - I WAS The Science at May 05, 2026 05:27 PM (qivay)

98 Also a sequel.....of sorts....

Here's the trailer for the new "Evil Dead Burn" movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr-CPXcYgv4

It looks like a very gory version of "The Monkey Paw".

Could be a good horror movie assuming that they aren't showing us all of the "good" parts.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 05, 2026 05:27 PM (iJfKG)

99 Linked this yesterday. The wages of Woke, in a 4-panel comic:

https://is.gd/DAlolb

Posted by: mikeski at May 05, 2026 05:27 PM (VHUov)

100 With Star Wars and Star Trek both going to shit there is an opening for Warhammer 40k right now to become THE SF franchise

But knowing Games Workshop they WILL screw this up

Because as we all know, selling minis is the path to prosperity...

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:27 PM (sKqQm)

101 Off, perverted Vulcan sock.

Posted by: PabloD at May 05, 2026 05:27 PM (5Ewx3)

102 Maybe basing an entire industry on a lightweight trifle is the real issue here.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug

Maybe making it an "industry" based on extracting maximum value rather than presenting maximum entertainment was the actual issue...

Posted by: Brother Tim (102mm/W59), Keeper of the Tim Continuum at May 05, 2026 05:27 PM (OUMaO)

103 When are they going to remake the original Star Wars movie?
Posted by: fd at May 05, 2026 05:11 PM (vFG9F)

I've seen a couple of AI-made fan movies on EweTube that do a decent job of recreating the originals. The clips are only ten minutes long, but you know they didn't take $10 million to make them.

Old Hollywood is dead. Seen any good vaudeville shows recently?

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at May 05, 2026 05:28 PM (hNnmQ)

104 Just like Caddyshack II. Very, very bad.

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:25 PM (wVcYX)

-------------

* "Highlander II" has entered the chat *

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:28 PM (9Kqhl)

105 I learned today that, subsequent to the events in Return of the Jedi, there is lore that the real motivation of ol' Palp wasn't just evil, it was he knew the secret of what lay beyond the galaxy.

A race of warriors from another galaxy, immune to the Force, who viewed using machines as blasphemy, growing their ships and weapons.
Like a mash-up of Warhammer 40k.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 05, 2026 05:20 PM (MtSIY)

Sounds like a ripoff of the climax of the first season of Blakes 7. The evil Empire had a secret base in an unknown location the good guys had to find. This arc covered several shows and they find that all sorts of tasks are being run through the computers there at Star One. And they are starting to fail. They find its location is at the edge of the galaxy and are going to destroy it, but then they find that another task it has is a huge shield holding back a trans galactic invasion force and there is a spy aboard the station trying to enable the invasion. They warn the evil empire about the invasion and use their superior ship to hold back the invasion as long as they can - fade to black

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:28 PM (8avO+)

106 81 I thought the Mara Jade story in the Thrawn trilogy was kinda stupid. Not that Luke did not need a "partner", but how they got introduced.
Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:24 PM (GD0B3)

Having a former emperor's hand want to get even for the emperor's death wasn't good story motivation for you? Putting Luke in actual peril wasn't good story?

I thought it was some of the strongest material that ever got written in the Legacy.

Posted by: Nova Local at May 05, 2026 05:28 PM (tOcjL)

107 Disney still not hiring white successful writers in favor of DIE and alphabet writers. Expects turn around within 2-4 decades.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Totally Unserious at May 05, 2026 05:28 PM (xvV+O)

108 *taps the Giv-o-Shit meter*
*nothing*

So...how about them Mariners???

Posted by: Diogenes at May 05, 2026 05:29 PM (2WIwB)

109 I don't know if the Thrawn books are good, but if you want to do a sequel series, postulating an "Imperial Remnant" to fight is a good way to basically continue the same Rebellion vs. Empire storyline from the original movies while changing it just enough to claim the story has advanced.

I think the next one involves, what, the Yuzang Vong or something invading from another galaxy? that's a bigger conceptual change.

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:29 PM (1wjle)

110 Wonder what TJM thinks of Star Wars, in Any of its’ iterations?

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:29 PM (Gqar8)

111 I was out all day, but wanted to share comments on an early thread:

Alito knows he’ll go down as one of the assholes who did his utmost to reverse decades of hard-won progress on civil rights. This is why DIVERSITY is important. Crazy that the Black woman might have a different opinion than an old White man.

Did KBJ hurt the terrorist judge’s wee lil feelings. Wah Daddy Roberts, the black lady called me a name! she was 100% correct as states are literally attempting to stop ongoing elections!!!

I saw another article that said over 40K early ballots had already been cast. Alito can F right off given this is now meddling in an active election for partisan reasons

Now he’s getting personal, and he breaches that wall with … a Black woman. And he’s the guy who ripped up women’s right to safe reproductive health care. He is begging to be impeached.

Yall should go watch last night's daily show. Guest was SHERRILYN IFILL and she breaks it down perfectly. Roberts has been gunning to destroy this for almost 50 years. Scotus has stolen power from Congress by overriding what they have voted on.

America has no choice but to pack the Court.

Posted by: Intercepted Reddit Transmissions brought by the Intrepid AoS Liaison at May 05, 2026 05:29 PM (jlnco)

112
A race of warriors from another galaxy, immune to the Force, who viewed using machines as blasphemy, growing their ships and weapons.
Like a mash-up of Warhammer 40k.

So...Dune?

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:29 PM (sKqQm)

113 I've seen a couple of AI-made fan movies on EweTube that do a decent job of recreating the originals. The clips are only ten minutes long, but you know they didn't take $10 million to make them.

Search "AI ruins" on YouTube sometime. You will laugh your ass off with what you find.

Posted by: Brother Tim (102mm/W59), Keeper of the Tim Continuum at May 05, 2026 05:30 PM (OUMaO)

114 Watched most of Epire Strikes Back yesterday, probably the best of the bunch
Posted by: Skip
*
I loved it when I first saw it in the theater circa 1980.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at May 05, 2026

***
+ 100 It expanded what we'd seen in the first film, showing us the ice planet and the workings of the rebel alliance. We were pleased they'd gotten a real SF writer, Leigh Brackett, for the script, and she had realized there were more stories to be told in the SW universe, not just another spaceship attack on a giant Imperial fort. And the story was darker, with a screeching bombshell of s surprise at the climax, and events in the first film -- Solo's debt to Jabba, for instance -- came back to bite the original characters. It was a delight.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 05:30 PM (wzUl9)

115 Good sequels are a Rara Avis.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:30 PM (Gqar8)

116 Highlander Eleven? Great movie!

Posted by: Ilhan Omar at May 05, 2026 05:30 PM (5Ewx3)

117 China insisted that the Force had to be changed or they would not allow the movies to be shown in China, so that's why Lucas changed it, the Chicoms felt the Force description was too religious.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at May 05, 2026 05:30 PM (ubCxQ)

118 i'm old-school, I'm a "Han Solo at Star's Edge" and "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" stan

(no not really. the only star wars books I read were Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, which I read before I saw the movies, because I was a Poor)
Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:26 PM (1wjle)

As I recall in Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Vader gets some limb chopped off and he's dropped into an endless shaft on some planet. Even at the time I said "No way this is canon", Vader isn't gonna miss the sequel.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:31 PM (8avO+)

119 Just have AI make the new stories. Tell it has to be set after Return of the Jedi, must include the original characters and it can rip off the original trilogy, 2001 space oddessy, Battlestar Galactica, the original Flash Gordon serials and some miscellenous Japanese samurai films.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at May 05, 2026 05:31 PM (Vh9CX)

120 >>>117 China insisted that the Force had to be changed or they would not allow the movies to be shown in China, so that's why Lucas changed it, the Chicoms felt the Force description was too religious.

you're saying this is why Lucas concocted the Midichlorians?

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:31 PM (1wjle)

121 Speaking of Dune, they are making another one and my vague memory is this is the point where the Dune books stop being mostly a traditional sort of coming of age adventure to getting very political.

Is there room to woke-i-fy it?

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:31 PM (sKqQm)

122 Having a former emperor's hand want to get even for the emperor's death wasn't good story motivation for you? Putting Luke in actual peril wasn't good story?

I thought it was some of the strongest material that ever got written in the Legacy.
Posted by: Nova Local at May 05, 2026 05:28 PM (tOcjL)

I liked the cloning angle.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:31 PM (GD0B3)

123 I thought I read Starfleet Academy cost $8 million an episode. What the hell?

Hollywood would do themselves a favour slashing the budget 80%, put an extra 10% towards white male writers and put on a damn good show.

'Stargirl' - now on Amazon - was fantastic but even that was $5 million an episode. But they had Solomon Grundy AND a kick ass robot.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:32 PM (Sco7b)

124 At least the six Sharknado movies delivered what was expected - stupid fun entertainment. No affected pretense or delusions of quality.

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:32 PM (wVcYX)

125 Seeing Star Wars in '77 made me want to go into the movie biz doing modeling.

I'd been doing it for 10 years prior. Modeling. You know; building models. Sniffing glue. Whatever.

Glad I smoked weed for 2 years after that, sobered up and built networks that became the Internet instead.

Y'all can thank me later.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at May 05, 2026 05:32 PM (jehhT)

126 66 Watched most of Epire Strikes Back yesterday, probably the best of the bunch
Posted by: Skip

Veteran sci fi writer (and script writer) Leigh Brackett wrote the screenplay and Irvin Kershner directed. Much tighter film. The first one benefitted vastly from former Lucas wife Marcia Lucas and George had crap tendencies that would have destroyed that movie. Marcia edited the first movie and whipped it in to shape. She also worked as editor with Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver for example).

Probably why George divorced her in the future; she had more talent than he did. She won (and deserved) the Oscar in 1977 for best film editing for Star Wars. Her contributions noted here. https://tinyurl.com/2n3e49bp

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:32 PM (E4rtv)

127 >>>I thought I read Starfleet Academy cost $8 million an episode. What the hell?

I think your number is way, way low.

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:33 PM (1wjle)

128
Today is the 65th anniversary of Alan Shepards's first flight. He lifted off, after a long countdown delay, at 9:34AM EST, May 5, 1961.

He pulled 6.3 g peak during launch, and a whopping 11.6 g peak during reentry.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at May 05, 2026 05:33 PM (w6EFb)

129 Both Leigh Bracket and Marcia Lucas are the real feminist heroes of Star Wars production, not Kathleen Kennedy who was and is a talentless hack deserving only to fetch coffee for her betters.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:33 PM (E4rtv)

130 Hamell did a turn as a vampire with a beef with Laszlo in an episode of What We are in the Shadows. He's actually got pretty good comedy instincts.

Too bad he's a dolt.
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at May 05, 2026

***
His horrific moment in Empire where he screams when Vader severs his hand was very effective.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 05:33 PM (wzUl9)

131 Episode VII: The Iron ShogunThe Vibe: Seven Samurai meets Flash Gordon.The Setup: The Empire didn't just vanish; it fractured into warring shogunates. Luke Skywalker is a wandering rōnin, seeking ancient Jedi shrines to understand a "Great Signal" coming from the Deep Core.The Conflict: A brutal Imperial Warlord, Grand Admiral Vane, has found a "Monolith"—a terrifyingly advanced piece of Rakatan technology that can brainwash entire systems (the 2001 influence).The Action: Leia is the "Space Queen" of a fledgling, desperate New Republic. Han and Chewie are basically freelancers running blockades in a beat-up Falcon that looks more like a Battlestar Galactica Raptor—scarred and purely functional.The Climax: A lightsaber duel in a rain-slicked neon forest on a Core World. Luke defeats Vane’s champion, but the Monolith activates, sending a signal into the void.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at May 05, 2026 05:33 PM (Vh9CX)

132 Gene Wilder mostly and Richard Pryor some, kept Mel Brooks work in the money and out of the crude fart joke column.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 05, 2026 05:33 PM (nzPxx)

133 New Hope trilogy was about Lucas' relationship with his father. The Phantom Menace trilogy was about Lucas' relationship with his then wife, Marcia. Makes sense, no?

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:34 PM (GD0B3)

134 125 Seeing Star Wars in '77 made me want to go into the movie biz doing modeling.

I'd been doing it for 10 years prior. Modeling. You know; building models. Sniffing glue. Whatever.

Glad I smoked weed for 2 years after that, sobered up and built networks that became the Internet instead.

Y'all can thank me later.
Posted by: Martini Farmer
========
CGI killed the modelling star (and mattes for that matter).

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:34 PM (E4rtv)

135 For the amount of money Hollywood spends on movies they should never make a bad one.

But they pay $$$ for big named actors of questionable value and go with a shitty script and then throw the rest away on unneeded CGI...

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:34 PM (sKqQm)

136 121 Speaking of Dune, they are making another one and my vague memory is this is the point where the Dune books stop being mostly a traditional sort of coming of age adventure to getting very political.

Is there room to woke-i-fy it?

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:31 PM (sKqQm

=====

It was political from the beginning.

Herbert was writing a cautionary tale about populist leaders and movements.

It's just he made it very clear in the second one that what Paul unleashed was very, very bad.

But Herbert is kind of contradictory because by book 4, the tyrant is necessary and good and no one understands him because he's setting the Golden Path.

Essentially, "Nixon is the devil because he has too much power. I should have all that power because I'm particularly smart and insightful."

Posted by: TJM's phone at May 05, 2026 05:34 PM (w4o6z)

137 I've read the Zahn trilogy. As well as he's two books that are basically the sequels to that. I enjoy them. I consider Zahn Stackpole and Allston's books to be the must reads for the Expanded Universe.

Posted by: Buzzion at May 05, 2026 05:35 PM (3tZV2)

138 I stopped watching the comparison after one minute. Validates all the disgust I have had for the Disney ‘creations’.

Ace nailed it. I can’t go back after Disney and Kennedy ruined Star Wars. The soulless money grubs could produce the highest concept, state of the art, master classes of film and I will not watch until they’re free to view. Maybe not even then.

Posted by: Chunk at May 05, 2026 05:35 PM (jh+Uo)

139 128
Today is the 65th anniversary of Alan Shepards's first flight. He lifted off, after a long countdown delay, at 9:34AM EST, May 5, 1961.

He pulled 6.3 g peak during launch, and a whopping 11.6 g peak during reentry.
Posted by: publius
=====
You left out his killer Jose Jiminez impressions and being a wetback for his ride into space.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:35 PM (E4rtv)

140 He pulled 6.3 g peak during launch, and a whopping 11.6 g peak during reentry.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley
---

Light this candle and get on with it.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 05, 2026 05:35 PM (nzPxx)

141 You can't "kill" Star Wars. Just like you can't kill "Hamlet" or "Macbeth", because of some bad production. It will live on, get new and better directors, actors.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:35 PM (GD0B3)

142 Episode VIII: The Great BeyondThe Vibe: 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Battlestar Galactica.The Setup: The signal has summoned "The First Ones," an eldritch, machine-like fleet from beyond the galaxy (The Cylons meet the Star Child). The New Republic’s fleet is decimated in a surprise jump-attack.The Journey: Leia leads a ragtag "Rag-Tag Fleet" of civilian ships across the stars, pursued by an unstoppable, silent enemy. The tone shifts to survival horror and gritty military drama.The Transformation: Luke enters a "Star Gate" within a massive floating Monolith. The sequence is purely visual—distorted colors and echoes of the past. He emerges not as a Jedi, but as something more—a being of pure Force energy, mirroring the "Star Child" evolution.The Twist: Han Solo sacrifices the Falcon to buy the fleet time, a gritty, "Galactica"-style suicide run that leaves the heroes broken and drifting.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at May 05, 2026 05:36 PM (SRnc7)

143 New Hope trilogy was about Lucas' relationship with his father. The Phantom Menace trilogy was about Lucas' relationship with his then wife, Marcia. Makes sense, no?
Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:34 PM (GD0B3)

Think Marcia was an ex wife by Phantom Menace times.

Interesting to think that Lucas' Dad was a genocidal space wizard though.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:36 PM (8avO+)

144 >>>Watched most of Epire Strikes Back yesterday, probably the best of the bunch

Find the despecialized versions online. They are the best of the bunch, even if the addition of Ewoks in ROTJ for the kids made that movie suck ass.

Hey, Hollywood, space westerns, if you're listening. 70s style, with boobs, foul-language, and R ratings.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at May 05, 2026 05:36 PM (dK+Kv)

145 >>>141 You can't "kill" Star Wars. Just like you can't kill "Hamlet" or "Macbeth", because of some bad production. It will live on, get new and better directors, actors.

I dunno, Mickey Rooney did like 13 sequels to some movie and they got really bad at the end and they stopped making them and no one remembers them.

most franchises do have an expiration date.

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:37 PM (1wjle)

146 137 I've read the Zahn trilogy. As well as he's two books that are basically the sequels to that. I enjoy them. I consider Zahn Stackpole and Allston's books to be the must reads for the Expanded Universe.
Posted by: Buzzion at May 05, 2026 05:35 PM (3tZV2)

This, 100%.

Posted by: Nova Local at May 05, 2026 05:37 PM (tOcjL)

147 You can't "kill" Star Wars. Just like you can't kill "Hamlet" or "Macbeth", because of some bad production. It will live on, get new and better directors, actors.
Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:35 PM (GD0B3)

Something killed Charlie Chan and Westerns.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:37 PM (8avO+)

148 they don't make Jaws movies any longer. One so-so sequel, one bad one, and then one terrible sequel and not even Cannon wanted to make more Jaws sequels.

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:37 PM (1wjle)

149 She's going to be playing a transgender in that 'All of Us' or whatever it is zombie show.

It must suck to be a Western actor or actress.
Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:05 PM (Sco7b)

You can't 'play' a trnsjenga; they're supposed to cast a real one, no matter how unhygenic, stupid or insane they are.

Posted by: Nelly at May 05, 2026 05:38 PM (6+ehB)

150 Star Wars literally had an entire galaxy of stuff they could make up and run with that hundreds of millions of fans would pay huge money to watch and re-watch but they chose to go woke and pi$$ off most of their fans.
---
Endless stories and characters.

Lando as Space Shaft, banging ho's, gambling and stealing until he scores big and wins Cloud City.

MG-88 as a sort of interstellar "Anton Chigurh"

Anyway, at least with AI, in a few years, I can have it write these plots and create the whole movie.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 05, 2026 05:38 PM (MtSIY)

151 And Disney will not be doing a retcon that removes the sequel trilogy to replace them with a Zahn inspired one. That is wishful thinking. They already stuck Thrawn into Disney Star Wars and completely ruined him. And that lisping loser Filoni is too busy making his player character Ahsoka be the most important person ever.

Posted by: Buzzion at May 05, 2026 05:38 PM (3tZV2)

152 Episode IX: The Celestial ThroneThe Vibe: Flash Gordon (1936) meets Harakiri.The Setup: The fleet reaches the "Throne of the Stars," a massive, gold-plated megastructure at the center of the universe. It’s pure pulp—guards in winged armor, ray guns, and ornate, over-the-top architecture.The Climax: A massive fleet battle that rips off the Return of the Jedi structure—Han (who survived via a "suspended animation" pod) leads a ground assault on the power core, while Leia commands the fleet.The Final Duel: In a minimalist, white-void chamber, Luke faces the "Architect" of the Monoliths. It’s filmed like a Kurosawa stand-off—long periods of silence followed by a single, decisive strike.The End: The machines are deactivated. Luke vanishes back into the Force to guide the next generation, and the New Republic finally finds a "New Earth" (a lush, green moon) to settle on, echoing the end of Battlestar.Would you like me to

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at May 05, 2026 05:38 PM (SRnc7)

153 The clown Jar-Jar Binks killed the series for me

Posted by: Skip at May 05, 2026 05:38 PM (Ia/+0)

154 It was political from the beginning.

Yes and no. The political subtext is certainly there in the background, but the meat of the first book is Paul's journey from kid to man to leader. Amusingly, it plays out a lot like the original SW trilogy.

Boy has his parental figures killed by an evil empire, learns to use his power, overthrows the evil empire.

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (sKqQm)

155
I think the gay Klingon character pretty much killed Star Trek. A gay Klingon.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (w6EFb)

156 >>>The whole macguffin of the second book doesn't matter in the end.

MacGuffins aren't supposed to matter. They are just there to give the characters an excuse to to chase after the macguffin.

Posted by: No Name Today at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (8mulE)

157 It was political from the beginning.

Herbert was writing a cautionary tale about populist leaders and movements.

It's just he made it very clear in the second one that what Paul unleashed was very, very bad.

But Herbert is kind of contradictory because by book 4, the tyrant is necessary and good and no one understands him because he's setting the Golden Path.

Essentially, "Nixon is the devil because he has too much power. I should have all that power because I'm particularly smart and insightful."
Posted by: TJM's phone
=======
I find Dune boring, the movies even more boring despite great effects.

Foundation was probably a better epic to read and film.

If you really want to get into the sticks, read some Stefan Brust (Jhereg series) mixes fantasy with a touch of sci fi (aliens).

He manages to get politics into his series books without being pedantic. And he uses different writing styles throughout. His three part original takeoff on the Three Musketeers set in his imagined world are pretty good too.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (E4rtv)

158 CGI killed the modelling star (and mattes for that matter).
Posted by: whig
---------
And I think, personally, that's a crime. It's another artist pushed aside.

Will AI get "better" at it? Sure. But the skills lost are... unforgivable.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (jehhT)

159 But they pay $$$ for big named actors of questionable value and go with a shitty script and then throw the rest away on unneeded CGI...

Posted by: 18-1

And drugs. Lots and lots of drugs.

Posted by: Brother Tim (102mm/W59), Keeper of the Tim Continuum at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (OUMaO)

160 >> Light this candle and get on with it.

And then had to pee in his spacesuit.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (w6EFb)

161 Has anyone used AI to replace the Ewoks with Wookies yet?

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:40 PM (sKqQm)

162 >>>l trilogy to replace them with a Zahn inspired one. That is wishful thinking. They already stuck Thrawn into Disney Star Wars and completely ruined him

yeah but that's what I mean when I say they will ignore the Kennedy Continuity just like she ignored the previous continuity.

they'll just say "the contradictions will all be explained in the fullness of time" and then, guess what, you been okey-doked, they have no explanations and never will and they just hope you forget they promised you explanations

Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:40 PM (1wjle)

163 Next SW trilogy is now fully storyboarded

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at May 05, 2026 05:40 PM (SRnc7)

164 "I think the gay Klingon character pretty much killed Star Trek. A gay Klingon.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley"

Actually, I'm bi.

Posted by: Worf at May 05, 2026 05:40 PM (vFG9F)

165 You can't 'play' a trnsjenga; they're supposed to cast a real one, no matter how unhygenic, stupid or insane they are.
Posted by: Nelly at May 05, 2026 05:38 PM (6+ehB)

You're supposed to but she is according to Deadline.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:40 PM (Sco7b)

166 Just like you can't kill "Hamlet" or "Macbeth", because of some bad production.

------

I don't recall a Macbeth 37: Thane of Glam, where Macbeth is a drag queen or whatever, though. Only a matter of time for Star Wars.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at May 05, 2026 05:41 PM (BI5O2)

167 taps the Giv-o-Shit meter*
*nothing*

So...how about them Mariners???

Posted by: Diogenes at May 05, 2026 05:29 PM (2WIwB)

Hopefully we (12U) get a win today. Little has just started throwing a 2 seamer.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at May 05, 2026 05:41 PM (dK+Kv)

168 Episode VIII: The Great BeyondThe Vibe: 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Battlestar Galactica. >>>
Posted by: MAGA_Ken at May 05, 2026 05:36 PM (SRnc7)

Find a way to work in some homages to Tremors and to Starship Troopers and it'll be something for sure!

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:41 PM (wVcYX)

169 But Herbert is kind of contradictory because by book 4, the tyrant is necessary and good and no one understands him because he's setting the Golden Path.

He also makes it explicit in the third book that Paul also knew what Leto II did, but wussed out...

Posted by: Brother Tim (102mm/W59), Keeper of the Tim Continuum at May 05, 2026 05:41 PM (OUMaO)

170 Anyway, at least with AI, in a few years, I can have it write these plots and create the whole movie.
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice
======
You know someone is going to do Star Whores with AI with that tech. Most likely the first use of AI films will be pron.

Don't want to see Jabba and Leia scenes done in AI.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (E4rtv)

171 The first Alien movie is a little masterpiece.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (Gqar8)

172 Ask Chicago Polacks what it was like to be out numbered

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (wBaIH)

173 The sequel trilogy should have been all about how the Rebellion’s ability to beat the Empire in a guerilla war did not translate in any way to being able to run an interstellar government. “Winning and ruling are not the same,” as Tywin Lannister memorably said. Then you could have had star systems begging for the Empire to come in and restore order, with a shadowy Sith pulling the strings behind the scenes, Palpatine-style.

However, that would have said some uncomfortable things about the Boomers who run Hollywood, so we instead got an inferior remake of ANH because said Boomers can’t ever let go of the 60’s and can’t ever picture themselves as anything other than plucky Rebels fighting The Man, even though they are The Man now.

Posted by: MrUNIVAC at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (RdCIE)

174 Hey, Hollywood, space westerns, if you're listening. 70s style, with boobs, foul-language, and R ratings.
Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon
---

Sans special effects on a production level of pre-War John Wayne westerns.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (nzPxx)

175 Foundation was probably a better epic to read and film.

I liked the books when I read them as a young man, but on reflection I'm not so sure I like the direction Asimov took it in.

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (sKqQm)

176 155
I think the gay Klingon character pretty much killed Star Trek. A gay Klingon.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (w6EFb)

They were probably always gay. They've dressed like intergalactic leather daddies from almost the start.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (nTGnD)

177 Andor was absolutely amazing. Excellent cast, real dialogue and sets, locations and costumes were top notch.

True to the Star Wars lore.

Posted by: Seems Legit at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (aZm/F)

178 And he’s the guy who ripped up women’s right to safe reproductive health care.
-------

Yeah, its not "reproductive health care"--its *abortion*.

Posted by: Crusader at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (TN0g+)

179 I'm just now glizzing all the day's posts.

Posted by: banana Dream at May 05, 2026 05:43 PM (3uBP9)

180 Are those actors or AI?
"Make Han look like a poofter. Make Luke look like a cuck and as for Leia, make her look like she's on her third margarita and needs a gay dude to walk her to her car"

Posted by: gKWVE at May 05, 2026 05:43 PM (sDWtc)

181 I have 3 hours of Starfleet Academy on the DVR. Woke shit puts me to sleep so nicely.

And on Canada's aboriginal channel, I dvr'd Rosie, about a little Indian girl taken in by an aunt working in a sex shop with 2 friends who don't follow traditional gender roles.

I don't know how many awards it's won.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:43 PM (Sco7b)

182 Sans special effects on a production level of pre-War John Wayne westerns.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (nzPxx)

Dirty, grimey, low value of life, shoot first, ask questions later.

It's ripe for the picking.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at May 05, 2026 05:43 PM (dK+Kv)

183 The sequel trilogy should have been all about how the Rebellion’s ability to beat the Empire in a guerilla war did not translate in any way to being able to run an interstellar government.

The Old Republic had slavery, crime syndicates, and political corruption.

It would be interesting to see the new Republic face the same problems AND MAKE THE SAME CHOICES...

Having a Galactic Empire/Republic is a bad, bad idea.

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:43 PM (sKqQm)

184 Foundation was probably a better epic to read and film.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (E4rtv)
**********************************

A series of short stories separated by long intervals of time is completely unsuitable for a film but could have been adapted into an episodic television miniseries (with the longest story being two episodes).

Posted by: My Ridiculously Circuitous Plan at May 05, 2026 05:44 PM (K2ZGE)

185 And I think, personally, that's a crime. It's another artist pushed aside.

Will AI get "better" at it? Sure. But the skills lost are... unforgivable.
Posted by: Martini Farmer
======
Part of it was unions. Animators, model builders, and matte artists were in IATSE union.

CGI was so new in the 80's and early 90's that movie producers could hire computer geeks to do it without them being members of IATSE with the assorted work rules and required pay.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:44 PM (E4rtv)

186 I don't think these goobers understand normal females at all. I am Carrie Fisher's age, and when The Movie came out originally, my boyfriend and I went to see it six times in the theater because I was drooling over Peak Harrison Ford and he did not tell me that he was drooling over Peak Carrie Fisher but I didn't ask. Wink.

The last thing I was particularly interested in was seeing a girl have Adventures just for the sake of it, because somehow I was able to watch adventure movies with male leads and enjoy them. If the male leads were good looking, that is!

In other words, the Hollyweirdos assumed young women have the same psychology as young men, except with tits.

Oh, wait...

Posted by: Beverly at May 05, 2026 05:44 PM (reMys)

187 The first Alien movie is a little masterpiece.

Posted by: tubal at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (Gqar

Aliens, too.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at May 05, 2026 05:44 PM (dK+Kv)

188 Next Generation had too much focus on Worf and Klingon culture in general for me. Well done stuff, yes, but somehow it bores me. Anyway, considering their culture, you'd think a gay Klingon would either be so far back in the closet he'd be smelling mothballs, or he'd have been ejected from an airlock.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 05:44 PM (wzUl9)

189 I put 1st Alien movie in my top 10 Sci-fi

Posted by: Skip at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (Ia/+0)

190 I'm still waiting for "Ringworld" to make it to the big screen or whatever.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (jehhT)

191 Lucas got lucky with the casting on the original trilogy.

He got Harrison Ford before he became one of the biggest men in Hollywood, Carrie Fisher sober enough, and the best voice Hollywood have ever produced in James Earl Jones...

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (sKqQm)

192 He manages to get politics into his series books without being pedantic. And he uses different writing styles throughout. His three part original takeoff on the Three Musketeers set in his imagined world are pretty good too.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:39 PM (E4rtv)

Those are extremely good. The Jhereg series has issues because supposedly there were going to be 17 of them. I don't think I ever got all of those.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (8avO+)

193 They were probably always gay. They've dressed like intergalactic leather daddies from almost the start.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May

Aren't they supposed to be space Spartans? That definitely points to "gay."

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (BI5O2)

194 Aliens, too.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at May 05, 2026 05:44 PM (dK+Kv)

-------------

"Game over, Dude!"

/R.I.P. Bill Paxton

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (9Kqhl)

195 Reading this while eating my Cinco de Mayo tacos is quite a pleasure.

Are we sure the Luke, Han and Leia aren't AI?
Because they look AI.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (6ydKt)

196 Wait -- so you're telling me, there was wars in space, now?

Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 05:46 PM (Av6i5)

197 Yeah...but YouTubers like WDW Pro, G&G, Clownfish, etc. are pretending that the prequels were good. Doomcock has been saying that the sequels would be retconned out since 2018.

Are we still believing these people?

Posted by: Jim at May 05, 2026 05:46 PM (D7MKZ)

198 Amy Pascal and David Heyman and Amazon MGM Studios:

James Bond to Infinity and Beyond!

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:46 PM (wVcYX)

199 Foundation.

Probably as unfilmable as Dune.

Apple has sodomized the Foundation IP recentlyish.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026 05:46 PM (nTGnD)

200 Homosexuality is either a social or genetic defect.

One should expect if there are aliens they'd be surprised that anyone would argue for gay pairings.

Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:46 PM (sKqQm)

201 At AP, 3:29PM CDT: 'Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Rubio said that “Operation Epic Fury” — the attack the U.S. and Israel mounted on Iran on Feb. 28 — “is concluded” because the objectives of the mission were all successfully concluded.'

Posted by: gp at May 05, 2026 05:46 PM (N8ZBc)

202 I think the gay Klingon character pretty much killed Star Trek. A gay Klingon.
-----

TNG pretty much killed Star Trek. Season 1 included a chick as "Chief Security Officer". And the plots moved slowly (and then faster as time went on) away from fighting Romulans and Klingons to fighting germs and stupid characters that looked like they belonged in a Disney children's park ("Ferengis"--disgusting, whether depicted as friend or foe of the Federation).

Posted by: Crusader at May 05, 2026 05:46 PM (TN0g+)

203 The new Princess Leia looks like the headmistress of an old-time Scottish girls' school. Wowza.

Posted by: Beverly at May 05, 2026 05:46 PM (reMys)

204 "Game over, Dude!"

/R.I.P. Bill Paxton

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (9Kqhl)

WTF are we going to do now?!

Why don't you put her in charge?!

So many good Paxton lines delivered.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at May 05, 2026 05:47 PM (dK+Kv)

205 And then Whoopie crapped on it and rolled in it.

Posted by: Worf at May 05, 2026 05:48 PM (vFG9F)

206
Glad I smoked weed for 2 years after that, sobered up and built networks that became the Internet instead.

Y'all can thank me later.

Thank you, Al Gore.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 05, 2026 05:48 PM (Cqx++)

207 I'm still waiting for "Ringworld" to make it to the big screen or whatever.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at May 05, 2026

***
After I saw the first SW and its model work, I declared, "They *could* make Ringworld now!" Well, true, the aliens, esp. the puppeteer Nessus, would have been a serious problem to create in 1978.

It's really possible to do it now. But wokists in H'wood would destroy it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 05:49 PM (wzUl9)

208 I liked the books when I read them as a young man, but on reflection I'm not so sure I like the direction Asimov took it in.
Posted by: 18-1
======
It is more that the overlaying arc of the story is more understandable than Dune. Dune had a lot of weird digressions that fans dig but others find ridiculous. There is a reason that Tolkien did not like allegories.

The funny thing is commercial failure as writer, Phillip Dick, actually has more movies from his short stories than most of the celebrated artists of the sci fi and fantasy series.

I personally prefer H. Beam Piper's Future History. Heinlein's as second. Space Vikings would be an amazing property to be developed. Little Fuzzy would be likewise as a trilogy.

FWIW, Piper's books, like Uller Uprising, were solid recreations of past history. Lord Kalvan is dripping with it and Paratime would be an excellent source for a TV mini series.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:49 PM (E4rtv)

209 A series of short stories separated by long intervals of time is completely unsuitable for a film but could have been adapted into an episodic television miniseries (with the longest story being two episodes).
Posted by: My Ridiculously Circuitous Plan at May 05, 2026 05:44 PM (K2ZGE)

You could get whole series' from Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation, about 2 seasons from each.

The lack of return characters actually helps modern TV where they extend intermittently over many years. You just need to keep your show runners alive and know how to cast.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:49 PM (8avO+)

210 Lucas got lucky with the casting on the original trilogy.

He got Harrison Ford before he became one of the biggest men in Hollywood, Carrie Fisher sober enough (and braless!), and the best voice Hollywood have ever produced in James Earl Jones...
Posted by: 18-1 at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (sKqQm)

In space, boobs are weightless, but retain mass and vector momentum!

(edited for me)

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:49 PM (wVcYX)

211 "Game over, Dude!"

/R.I.P. Bill Paxton

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:45 PM (9Kqhl)

WTF are we going to do now?!

Why don't you put her in charge?!
------------
and then the helicopter and aircraft crashed.....

Posted by: Martini Farmer at May 05, 2026 05:49 PM (jehhT)

212
I was a fan of "Star Wars" in the sense that I was interested in seeing the new movies.

Buuuut, Daisy Trilogy murdered any interest I had. I didn't even watch the last movie.

Don't know if I'd watch anything new even with the redone "old" crew...maybe.

I never was so interested in SW that I read any of the books.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 05, 2026 05:50 PM (iJfKG)

213 The scifi universe I'd like to see filmed (television series really) would be the Culture novels.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026 05:50 PM (nTGnD)

214 It's really possible to do it now. But wokists in H'wood would destroy it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Woke is dying along with big studio movies and AI will accelerate that as it makes the Millennial wokesters redundant to the process. I think the new generation Gen Z is ready to get back to entertainment rather than preaching and screeching shit.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:51 PM (E4rtv)

215 So a franchise from a movie that came out when I was in high school is still limping along???

I thought there were 3 and it was over...

I'm a bit shocked.

Posted by: LASue at May 05, 2026 05:52 PM (lCppi)

216 >>>Apple has sodomized the Foundation IP recentlyish.

They were going to lobotomize it, but decided this was better.

Posted by: No Name Today at May 05, 2026 05:52 PM (8mulE)

217 bear with asymmetrical balls

Good visuals in the Culture, but too much like magic as needed.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 05, 2026 05:53 PM (u82oZ)

218 And on Canada's aboriginal channel, I dvr'd Rosie, about a little Indian girl taken in by an aunt working in a sex shop with 2 friends who don't follow traditional gender roles.

I don't know how many awards it's won.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:43 PM (Sco7b)

------------

We became big fans of the period piece Murdoch Mysteries ... and then somewhere along the line several years ago, they unfortunately went full on #Woke right around the Covid PsyOps and we couldn't take it anymore.

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:53 PM (9Kqhl)

219 Here's the problem, Star Wars is so culturally embedded that casting a new Luke, Han, Leia will be nigh impossible.

I mean, they really f***ing blew it with the Sequels, all they had to do was reunite the trio, let them sheapard new young proxi characrters, and give Han, Luke and Leia hero's deaths and they could have f***ing minted money for two more generations.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at May 05, 2026 05:53 PM (XV/Pl)

220 Is there som known moment when Disney "went woke"?

As far as I know:

History of Disney

1923 - 1937 -- struggling animation studio
1937-1955 -- purveyor of old-timey conservative American values and Western civilization cultural memes
1955-19?? -- corporate money-making machine
200?-2026 -- money-losing woke dumpster fire

When did Stage 3 become Stage 4?

Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 05:53 PM (Av6i5)

221 Think Marcia was an ex wife by Phantom Menace times.

Interesting to think that Lucas' Dad was a genocidal space wizard though.
Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:36 PM (8avO+)

He had a troubled relationship with dad when he was young. And the breakup of his life with Marcia is reflected in the first trilogy - ambition, striving to do more and more, eating it up and so on.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:54 PM (GD0B3)

222 I am reading Lord Valentine's Castle again after 30 years. Silverberg's Majipoor is a very richly developed world. I just think Hollywood would find a way to fuck that up as well.

Oh well, I love being able to watch brain movies as I read.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, king of the Irish Goodbye at May 05, 2026 05:54 PM (0aYVJ)

223 I personally prefer H. Beam Piper's Future History. Heinlein's as second. Space Vikings would be an amazing property to be developed. Little Fuzzy would be likewise as a trilogy.

FWIW, Piper's books, like Uller Uprising, were solid recreations of past history. Lord Kalvan is dripping with it and Paratime would be an excellent source for a TV mini series.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:49 PM (E4rtv)

Paratime has the advantage that there are many agents besides Verkan Vall and his once and future wife Dalla. So you could have other things going with other agents in isolation. Lord Kalvan is itself a Paratime Story by the time it's done, he's a PA state policemen yanked out of his timeline and dropped in one where Aryans migrated across the Pacific from Asia into North America and settled in what is now the US.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:54 PM (8avO+)

224
This I didn't know (or if I did, I forgot). Alan Shepard was selected to the first of the Mercury 7 to fly into space on Jan 16, 1961.

Later at home, he told his wife Louise, "Hey honey, you've got your arms around the first man in space." She joked "Who let a Russian in here?"

That turned out to be ... prescient.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at May 05, 2026 05:54 PM (w6EFb)

225 The scifi universe I'd like to see filmed (television series really) would be the Culture novels.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026

***
Poul Anderson's Polesotechnic League and Empire of Earth stories have loads of great material. Nicholas van Rijn would have been a great role for someone like Hugh Griffith or Tim Curry. PA's Imperial spy Dominic Flandry would be a terrific series character.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 05:55 PM (wzUl9)

226 zombie

Good afternoon! Long may you evade the woke bubbles taking you back to the Village.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 05, 2026 05:55 PM (u82oZ)

227 Something killed Charlie Chan and Westerns.
Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:37 PM (8avO+)

The Mandalorian is very much a Western.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:55 PM (GD0B3)

228 I think the new generation Gen Z is ready to get back to entertainment rather than preaching and screeching shit.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:51 P

I liked kids shows because they wouldn't piss me off and used to not have gay characters and crap.

You're right. DisneyChannel really toned things down but their audience is long gone. One of their biggest advertisers is 'Nervive' - the old guy scared to go down the stairs because of nerve pain.

That's just funny right there.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 05:55 PM (Sco7b)

229 Got some explosions going on at the Hormuz toll gate. Probably the Amish.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 05, 2026 05:55 PM (n5tGW)

230 200?-2026 -- money-losing woke dumpster fire

When did Stage 3 become Stage 4?

Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 05:53 PM (Av6i5)

2010-2014 - When obama had forced everything to become politicized.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at May 05, 2026 05:55 PM (dK+Kv)

231 The Jhereg series has issues because supposedly there were going to be 17 of them. I don't think I ever got all of those.
Posted by: Oldcat
======
Brust is an actual commie or commie adjacent but his work doesn't really preach that much. Lyorn is number 17 and was released in 2024. I don't think Brust is in good health anymore and that is slowing his work.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:56 PM (E4rtv)

232 Woke is dying along with big studio movies and AI will accelerate that as it makes the Millennial wokesters redundant to the process. I think the new generation Gen Z is ready to get back to entertainment rather than preaching and screeching shit.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 05:51 PM (E4rtv)

Yeah, that's nice for Hollywood. But I worry a lot about the rest of the world. If you think Millennials have been a disaster thus far, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

My generation is about to inherit power in this country, and it will all be wokesters running everything for the next 50 years until they finally die in their offices, unless the country dies first.

It's basically the apocalypse... Having grown up with this cohort, I can say they're worse than you older folks understand.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at May 05, 2026 05:56 PM (BI5O2)

233 I'd go watch a film adaption of Canticle of Liebowitz, which for some reason has never been made into a movie, despite being perfect for screenplay-ization.

Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 05:56 PM (Av6i5)

234 So a franchise from a movie that came out when I was in high school is still limping along???

I thought there were 3 and it was over...

I'm a bit shocked.

Posted by: LASue at May 05, 2026 05:52 PM (lCppi)

--------------

I never saw the originals when they were released -- literally too poor to go to the movies (but I had friends who stood in lines winding around blocks literally for hours to repeatedly see the original again ... and again ... and again. Crazy times (1977) ...

I finally got around to seeing them after college in the mid-80s; the first three were fine, but they lost me after the fourth (prequel).

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 05:56 PM (9Kqhl)

235 When did Stage 3 become Stage 4?
Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 05:53 PM (Av6i5)

it was about to explode out in the Sequel Trilogy. The first one was only mildly woke but the bad writing was already there. Versions 2 and 3 were full cancer.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:56 PM (8avO+)

236 Yeah that looks pretty lame

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at May 05, 2026 05:57 PM (bXbFr)

237 Woke is dying along with big studio movies and AI will accelerate that as it makes the Millennial wokesters redundant to the process. I think the new generation Gen Z is ready to get back to entertainment rather than preaching and screeching shit.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026

***
If so, then Ringworld would be a fantastic project. And Niven has more grand stuff: other Known Space tales, The Mote in God's Eye, and Legacy of Heorot. His work has always had a strong visual element to it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 05:57 PM (wzUl9)

238 Pissney is probably better off literally remaking the original trilogy with modern special effects

Posted by: Elric the Blade at May 05, 2026 05:57 PM (kBnaz)

239 I saw some pics from the Met Gala.

First thought: We are now living in the Hunger Games and these are the people that inhabit the Capital.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 05, 2026 05:57 PM (6ydKt)

240 She joked "Who let a Russian in here?"

That turned out to be ... prescient.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at May 05, 2026 05:54 PM (w6EFb)

Noice! A funny woman is sexy.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, king of the Irish Goodbye at May 05, 2026 05:57 PM (0aYVJ)

241 216 >>>Apple has sodomized the Foundation IP recentlyish.

They were going to lobotomize it, but decided this was better.
Posted by: No Name Today at May 05, 2026 05:52 PM (8mulE)

The original works are so cerebral in nature it seems impossible one could well adapt it to the screen.

Posted by: Pretty dry sci-fi at May 05, 2026 05:57 PM (TbWk/)

242 Y'all are not into anime, but Rebels was good, The Bad Batch good, all the Tales shorts are good, though some are much better than others. And the last one - Maul Shadow Lord was good too. But you need to know the story from Rebels and to have watched Solo to understand what is going on.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:58 PM (GD0B3)

243 You create a scenario where Han and Leia die a hero's death, Luke and Chewy witnesses their sacrifice and Chewy goes banana sandwiches beast mode, Luke goes Dark Side and they f**king wreck shit and the kids join in as Luke is defeated by multi Jedi and force users and the kids avenge them all.

Tell me that doesn't create a whole new fan base.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at May 05, 2026 05:58 PM (XV/Pl)

244 Something killed Charlie Chan and Westerns.
Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:37 PM (8avO+)

The Mandalorian is very much a Western.
Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 05:55 PM (GD0B3)

no, its plagiarism.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:58 PM (8avO+)

245 The sequel trilogy should have been all about how the Rebellion’s ability to beat the Empire in a guerilla war did not translate in any way to being able to run an interstellar government. “Winning and ruling are not the same,” as Tywin Lannister memorably said. Then you could have had star systems begging for the Empire to come in and restore order, with a shadowy Sith pulling the strings behind the scenes, Palpatine-style.

Posted by: MrUNIVAC at May 05, 2026 05:42 PM (RdCIE)
---
That's basically what happened in the EU. The New Republic was fractured from the beginning and barely held together. It more or less disintegrated when the Yuuzhan Vong showed up.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 05:58 PM (gnNyN)

246 Having grown up with this cohort, I can say they're worse than you older folks understand.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at May 05, 2026 05:56 PM (BI5O2)

I was older than 29 before having kids, so I get to associate with millennial asshats more than I care. I understand. They're the post-Weimar they've been waiting for.

It's time for a national conversation on common sense millennial control. Before it's too late.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at May 05, 2026 05:59 PM (dK+Kv)

247 Has Piers Anthony's series, Bio of a Space Tyrant been mined for movies? I vaguely recall reading it decades ago.

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 05:59 PM (wVcYX)

248 Ace wrote regarding the Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy: "* Which I never read, of course, though I heard they were pretty good. Anyone read them? Are they worth it?"

I've read the books as well as the comic book adaption of Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. They're among the best books of the Star Wars legacy era, along with the Clone Wars series written by Karen Traviss. She and I had a long conversation about writing fiction on Twitter one time. She's very dry and funny in that old British lady kind of way.

Posted by: troyriser at May 05, 2026 05:59 PM (DPeYO)

249 Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Parts of the world are living Larry Niven's Organlegger series.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 05, 2026 05:59 PM (u82oZ)

250 You could get whole series' from Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation, about 2 seasons from each.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:49 PM (8avO+)
*********************************

There are six stories (counting the prologue written for the publication of the book Foundation), and each would form one hour-long episode, except for The General a.k.a. Dead Hand, which would be two, making seven episodes/hours total.

The rest of the Foundation material (the remainder of Foundation and Empire onward) consists of Asimov throwing out the fundamental premise via the character The Mule and milking fans for all they were worth.

Posted by: My Ridiculously Circuitous Plan at May 05, 2026 05:59 PM (IymbY)

251 239 I saw some pics from the Met Gala.

First thought: We are now living in the Hunger Games and these are the people that inhabit the Capital.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 05, 2026 05:57 PM (6ydKt)

Pretty much, as well as the ruling class in general. Conspicuously consuming degenerates living high on the backs of the taxpayers.

Posted by: Flamboyantly dressed pigs at the trough at May 05, 2026 06:00 PM (TbWk/)

252 I'd go watch a film adaption of Canticle of Liebowitz, which for some reason has never been made into a movie, despite being perfect for screenplay-ization.
Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 05:56 PM (Av6i5)

I agree.

Also, there's enough meat there to make a great limited series, if they don't expand the individual sections to much.

Six episodes and out would be about perfect.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 05, 2026 06:00 PM (iJfKG)

253 And Clone Wars, the original that Lucas and Filoni worked on after Lucas sold his baby to Disney. Ahsoka is Lucas' creation that Filoni made happen.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 06:00 PM (GD0B3)

254 Afternoon.

Sorry, but WDW PRO and Geeks & Gamers and the rest of that crowd are nothing but a bunch of gay retarded buffoons. A bunch of fat knuckle dragging imbeciles who sit at their computers day and night skimming Reddit for the most gaywad fan theories and repeat it like it's some kind of rare insider leak. They predicted 67 of Kathleen Kennedy's resignations before getting it right on the 68th. I can confidently predict that exactly 0% of their predictions will come to pass.

Anyway, fuck Star Wars. Star Wars sucks.

Posted by: Robert at May 05, 2026 06:00 PM (Z2yLo)

255 Something killed Charlie Chan and Westerns.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 05, 2026 05:37 PM (8avO+)

------------

My favorite TV Series as a kid was likely the last Charlie Chan Western: Kung Fu.

/Starring a white guy because Hollywood was too racist to feature an Asian like Bruce Lee (who's idea it was for the show) -- despite his enormous popularity as Cato on The Green Hornet as the lead ...

Posted by: ShainS at May 05, 2026 06:01 PM (9Kqhl)

256 So, no Star Wars is not dead, it entered new mediums and is successful there. Big screen is where they are having problems. Because Disney is 7 deadly sins.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 06:01 PM (GD0B3)

257 Also, there's enough meat there to make a great limited series, if they don't expand the individual sections to much.

Six episodes and out would be about perfect.
Posted by: naturalfake at May 05, 2026

***
Several of Niven's stories from the Neutron Star collection, including that one and the other Beowulf Shaeffer tales, would make a good limited series.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:02 PM (wzUl9)

258 I mean, they really f***ing blew it with the Sequels, all they had to do was reunite the trio, let them sheapard new young proxi characrters, and give Han, Luke and Leia hero's deaths and they could have f***ing minted money for two more generations.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at May 05, 2026 05:53 PM (XV/Pl)
----
That's exactly the story arc of the New Jedi Order.

Han, Luke, and Leia have important roles, but they are eclipsed by the next generation (including their own children), which is as it should be.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 05, 2026 06:02 PM (gnNyN)

259 220 Is there som known moment when Disney "went woke"?

As far as I know:

History of Disney

1923 - 1937 -- struggling animation studio
1937-1955 -- purveyor of old-timey conservative American values and Western civilization cultural memes
1955-19?? -- corporate money-making machine
200?-2026 -- money-losing woke dumpster fire

When did Stage 3 become Stage 4?

Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 05:53 PM (Av6i5)

I'd say Disney started flirting with the Dark Side when they purchased Touchstone Pictures, then ABC/ESPN in the 90s and 2000s.

It was at that point they moved away from family friendly fare, and started appealing to the adult market more and more.
At some point in the 2010s they went full indoctrination into LGBTQ and Girl Boss and they haven't looked back since.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 05, 2026 06:03 PM (6ydKt)

260 Something killed Charlie Chan and Westerns.
Posted by: Oldcat

The Mandalorian is very much a Western.
Posted by: runner

Firefly was a Western, too.

Tombstone might have killed actual cowboys-and-injuns westerns, in the "tough act to follow" way.

Posted by: mikeski at May 05, 2026 06:03 PM (VHUov)

261 I thought that some of Taylor Sheridan' s work , the neo Western that is Yellowstone and offshoots is good. I particularly liked 1883, for some reason.

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 06:04 PM (GD0B3)

262 Hang with me here . . . .

Green Acres . . . .

in space!

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 06:06 PM (wVcYX)

263 Tombstone might have killed actual cowboys-and-injuns westerns, in the "tough act to follow" way.
Posted by: mikeski at May 05, 2026

***
We've had Unforgiven -- which came out around the same time as Tombstone -- and Appaloosa w/ Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. But those were tough acts to follow too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:06 PM (wzUl9)

264 I'd say Disney started flirting with the Dark Side when they purchased Touchstone Pictures, then ABC/ESPN in the 90s and 2000s.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 05, 2026 06:03 PM (6ydKt)

[Nerd reply]
Disney didn't buy Touchstone, they created it. Also Hollywood Pictures. And, I think...Miramax?
[/Nerd reply]

Posted by: Robert at May 05, 2026 06:06 PM (Z2yLo)

265 The original works are so cerebral in nature it seems impossible one could well adapt it to the screen.
Posted by: Pretty dry sci-fi at May 05, 2026 05:57 PM (TbWk/)
**************************

Though they certainly aren't the most easily-adapted SF, the Foundation stories could be made into an episode television miniseries, but the audience for this wouldn't be the one that everything is aimed for, so it wouldn't be made.

There's a vast amount of classic science fiction that's never been adapted for either television or movies and, aside from a portion that really is unsuitable for the change in medium, could easily be adapted with today's cheap computer graphics, but this won't occur for the same reason.

Posted by: My Ridiculously Circuitous Plan at May 05, 2026 06:07 PM (UclD/)

266 You can't remake Spaceballs. It was perfect.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at May 05, 2026 06:07 PM (D1E+2)

267 Poul Anderson's Polesotechnic League and Empire of Earth stories have loads of great material. Nicholas van Rijn would have been a great role for someone like Hugh Griffith or Tim Curry. PA's Imperial spy Dominic Flandry would be a terrific series character.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
=====
Agreed. The Andersons were good friend with the Heinleins apparently.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:08 PM (E4rtv)

268 There are plenty of SF stories that could be made into streaming movies on Amazon, Netflix or whatever.

They don't even have to be a 3 - 5 part series.

My wife watches a bunch of them.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at May 05, 2026 06:08 PM (jehhT)

269 And was Disney merely a corporate money-making machine after 1955? They produced many a family values film (though not always *really good* ones) as late as the early '70s, didn't they?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:08 PM (wzUl9)

270 252 I'd go watch a film adaption of Canticle of Liebowitz, which for some reason has never been made into a movie, despite being perfect for screenplay-ization.
Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 05:56 PM (Av6i5)

I agree.

Also, there's enough meat there to make a great limited series, if they don't expand the individual sections to much.

Six episodes and out would be about perfect.
Posted by: naturalfake

Now let's develop our elevator pitch and get this thing made!

(Gets into elevator with film producer.)

"12th floor?"

"Press 15th floor for me."

(Awkward silence as elevtor starts moving.)

"OK, imagine a mashup -- Idiocracy meets A Boy and His Dog! A post-apocolyptic hellscape where the world intentionally goes stupid to prevent scientific advancements, and an islated monastery guards the last shreds of human knowledge. Then things go Mad Max and we're in for a hell of a ride...."

"I'm hooked! Get me a 5-page treatment by Thursday."

Posted by: zombie at May 05, 2026 06:08 PM (Av6i5)

271 220 Is there som known moment when Disney "went woke"

DisneyChannel had 'Andi Mack' with their first gay character. After that, it was no longer a safe place for kids and ratings dived.

They still haven't recovered.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 06:08 PM (Sco7b)

272 I've been binge watching Farscape. On season 3. Damn that was a great show.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:08 PM (kxLc1)

273 Brust is still working on the Jhereg series! The 17th book "Lyorn" came out in 24. Which means another one should be coming out soon - two years is a usual interval. He has one more at least to complete The Cycle: Chreotha

Posted by: Blast Hardcheese at May 05, 2026 06:09 PM (V362x)

274 We've had Unforgiven -- which came out around the same time as Tombstone -- and Appaloosa w/ Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. But those were tough acts to follow too.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:06 PM (wzUl9)

Open Range is an excellent film. Duvall and Costner had a really fun cantankerous relationship. And they both know how to ride horses.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, king of the Irish Goodbye at May 05, 2026 06:09 PM (0aYVJ)

275 Disney didn't buy Touchstone, they created it. Also Hollywood Pictures. And, I think...Miramax?
[/Nerd reply]

Ahhh, I remember now.
At any rate, they decided that entertaining kids was no longer as profitable.

Now they appeal to childless Millenials mostly, especially at the theme parks.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 05, 2026 06:09 PM (6ydKt)

276 Agreed. The Andersons were good friend with the Heinleins apparently.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026

***
Anderson was a physics major in college. Not sure if he ever went on to a master's; he'd begun selling SF stories by then. His work to me is much like Heinlein's, though not written in the same style.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:09 PM (wzUl9)

277 Open Range is an excellent film. Duvall and Costner had a really fun cantankerous relationship. And they both know how to ride horses.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, king of the Irish Goodbye at May 05, 2026

***
Yes! Tremendous movie.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:10 PM (wzUl9)

278 Hang with me here . . . .

Green Acres . . . .

in space!
Posted by: Count de Monet at May 05, 2026 06:06 PM (wVcYX)

Where do I sign?!

Posted by: Link Hogthrob at May 05, 2026 06:10 PM (0aYVJ)

279 247 Has Piers Anthony's series, Bio of a Space Tyrant been mined for movies? I vaguely recall reading it decades ago.
Posted by: Count de Monet

Piers turned to be a pervert so Space Tyrant would be more adjacent to Game of Thrones than anything. Netflix could do it but they would either gender flip it or turn the Tyrant into troon or something. I don't see the appetite for HBO to do it anymore.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:11 PM (E4rtv)

280 Two of my favorite Westerns are Australian. Maybe three if I include The Proposition.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:11 PM (kxLc1)

281 263 Tombstone might have killed actual cowboys-and-injuns westerns, in the "tough act to follow" way.
Posted by: mikeski at May 05, 2026

***
We've had Unforgiven -- which came out around the same time as Tombstone -- and Appaloosa w/ Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. But those were tough acts to follow too.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:06 PM (wzUl9)

Bone Tomahawk was good if you don't mind Western meets Eaters of the Dead. But it had some hard scenes.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (XAXi6)

282 The late Jose Ferrer would have made a good Nicholas van Rijn as well!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (wzUl9)

283 My friends (we have a group text set up) could not believe that I found May 4th to be so meh. One of them was enraged at this statement: "There are six Star Wars movies and a seventh there shall never be."

So it began. I was assured Rogue One (I saw it in the theaters, meh) and Solo (avoided like the plague for punishment after the atrocious TLJ) were great movies in the mold of the OT. Which I attacked again and again, and reminded them that I was not interested in giving money to people that hate me. They did not understand my reasoning and just dismissed me as "close minded". Yeah, my mind was closed for sure by TLJ. TFA left me satisfied but my questions grew as time went on. The video linked here confirmed everything I had long suspected. But yeah, after TLJ, I was done. As I told the group chat, "If that makes me closed minded, so fucking be it."

Posted by: Cow Demon at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (T6aVk)

284 I have never seen "Spaceballs". I guess I should, eh? I did see "Galaxy Guest" which I quite enjoyed because I have a sort of crush on Alan Rickman.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (2sfNr)

285 269 And was Disney merely a corporate money-making machine after 1955? They produced many a family values film (though not always *really good* ones) as late as the early '70s, didn't they?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:08 PM (wzUl9)

They did. Right up until the early 80s.
Then they lost their touch and the 80s were mostly barren other than animated films.
They had a bunch of bombs and pivoted to making better animated films in the 90s when they started making hits again (bought Pixar too) and expanding into movies for adult audiences.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (6ydKt)

286 Bone Tomahawk was good if you don't mind Western meets Eaters of the Dead. But it had some hard scenes.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (XAXi6

I liked The Missing with Tommy Lee Jones better than Bone Tomahawk.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (kxLc1)

287 282 The late Jose Ferrer would have made a good Nicholas van Rijn as well!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (wzUl9)

I thought he made a good Shaddam IV.

Posted by: Cow Demon at May 05, 2026 06:13 PM (T6aVk)

288 Bone Tomahawk was good if you don't mind Western meets Eaters of the Dead. But it had some hard scenes.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (XAXi6)

Yes. I liked a lot of the movie; I am pretty jaded when it comes to movie violence, but this one was jarring.

Posted by: Link Hogthrob at May 05, 2026 06:14 PM (0aYVJ)

289 Good Western novels are still being written. Loren D. Estleman's stories about deputy U.S. Marshal Paige Murdock would make fine films, esp. White Desert. LDE is as good at creating truly nasty and insane Western killers as Larry McMurtry was.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:14 PM (wzUl9)

290 Here is what I am going to do, next time I am going to watch Seven Samurai without dubbing or subtitles!

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 06:14 PM (GD0B3)

291 Anderson was a physics major in college. Not sure if he ever went on to a master's; he'd begun selling SF stories by then. His work to me is much like Heinlein's, though not written in the same style.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
=======
Like Heinlein, Anderson began on the left and drifted to the right. His UN man short story series was in the early 50's I think. Heinlein lost the glow of leftism a bit earlier I think when he left his first wife and saw post war that the Soviets had bad intentions making a world order defunct except on their terms.

Karen Anderson (Poul's wife), apparently was quite a hit on the con circuit for a long while and was one of the originators of filk singing setting a lot of sci fi and fantasy works to music and singing.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:15 PM (E4rtv)

292 I think the last good kids film that Disney made was the Freaky Friday version with Jodie Foster.

I loved that one as a kid.

Also Herbie the Love Bug movies were favs.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 05, 2026 06:15 PM (6ydKt)

293 *discards pork product sock*

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at May 05, 2026 06:15 PM (0aYVJ)

294 286 Bone Tomahawk was good if you don't mind Western meets Eaters of the Dead. But it had some hard scenes.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (XAXi6

I liked The Missing with Tommy Lee Jones better than Bone Tomahawk.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (kxLc1

That was a great movie. The one scene was short and from a distance so not that bad.

Amazing dialogue.

Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 06:15 PM (Sco7b)

295 Almost all the Star Wars book post Lucas films were pretty good, and some of them actually great.

Word is Lucas, before he left, sketched out all the sequel trilogy. Every bit of it. he had worked for decades on this. In fact, he sold Lucasfilm, and brought in Kenedy, specifically on the promise they would follow his plan.

As soon as he was out the door, Kennedy stabbed him int he back, and dumped all his scripts for the sequel trilogy, preferring to go with her own vision. Of course, not being very smart, she didn't actually think through that vision, so the first movie was just a remake of the New Hope, and the rest...whatever man.

Posted by: The Whine Guy at May 05, 2026 06:16 PM (k8xm0)

296 And people still love a good puzzle mystery, if it's told well. One or two of the Ellery Queen novels, done as period pieces ('30s-'50s), would have an audience who love the Knives Out films and the endless remakes of Agatha Christie movies-from-books.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:16 PM (wzUl9)

297 254 Afternoon.

Sorry, but WDW PRO and Geeks & Gamers and the rest of that crowd are nothing but a bunch of gay retarded buffoons. A bunch of fat knuckle dragging imbeciles who sit at their computers day and night skimming Reddit for the most gaywad fan theories and repeat it like it's some kind of rare insider leak. They predicted 67 of Kathleen Kennedy's resignations before getting it right on the 68th. I can confidently predict that exactly 0% of their predictions will come to pass.

Anyway, fuck Star Wars. Star Wars sucks.
Posted by: Robert at May 05, 2026 06:00 PM (Z2yLo)

You are conflating them with Doomcock, who kept saying "KK's FIRING IS IMMINENT!!!" I suggest he look up the word "imminent". Beyond that, tell me you don't watch those channels withut explicitly saying so.

But then, you probably are one of those people from the sounds of it that hate just about everything. (I don't like LOTR but then, I have always been more sci-fi than fantasy inclined.)

Posted by: Cow Demon at May 05, 2026 06:17 PM (T6aVk)

298 Which I never read, of course, though I heard they were pretty good. Anyone read them? Are they worth it?

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:00 PM

Pooky loved them.

Posted by: pookysgirl, passing on the book review at May 05, 2026 06:18 PM (Wt5PA)

299 I liked The Missing with Tommy Lee Jones better than Bone Tomahawk. Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (kxLc1

Watch Appaloosa. Great, unsung Western.

Posted by: The Whine Guy at May 05, 2026 06:18 PM (k8xm0)

300 I get SW as childhood nostalgia, like I still like 50s giant bug movies from time to time, but I never got adults being into it as a story...makes Star Trek seem like highly advanced SF. Nobody sits around thinking about what happened to the characters in Them!, do they?

Posted by: Azjaeger at May 05, 2026 06:18 PM (N/KpB)

301 Come now, Doomcock was right!

Eventually.

Posted by: Blast Hardcheese at May 05, 2026 06:18 PM (V362x)

302 I remember seeing some pretty fun Disney movies as a kid, featuring Kurt Russell, like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Strongest Man in the World. There was also one with Jan Michael Vincent, where he was rilly rilly fast.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at May 05, 2026 06:19 PM (0aYVJ)

303 Posted by: Stateless - He ain't heavy, he's my dog at May 05, 2026 06:15 PM (Sco7b)

That medicine man was a scary Indian.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:19 PM (kxLc1)

304 Hang with me here . . . .

Green Acres . . . .

in space!

Ollyva! Ollyva!

Posted by: DanMan at May 05, 2026 06:19 PM (8uzBS)

305 292 I think the last good kids film that Disney made was the Freaky Friday version with Jodie Foster.

I loved that one as a kid.

Also Herbie the Love Bug movies were favs.
Posted by: SpeakingOf
=======
They had 50 movies in the 70's according to IMDB, I recognized about ten of them.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:20 PM (E4rtv)

306

I think I only saw TFA, and almost walked out.

I def didnt see the last one, and forget if I saw the middle one.

But not only did they do what they did, the movies were so fucking stupid in so many ways that it ripped you out of the fantasy world entirely.

That bar scene with the orange alien with glasses...I mean, what the hell was that. The bar gets blown up and she doesnt even blink an eye.

And the magical superpowers given to that grinning idiot Daisy Ridley with the obviously perfect teeth, who grew up on a desert planet like Luke did.

They dont know how to make movies and dont care to learn. Thats the huge problem.

Posted by: Rev Dr E Buzz PhD Esq at May 05, 2026 06:20 PM (et1vG)

307 Star Wars -

The all turned to shit starting with Return of the Jedi.

Left the theater (while still in HS) saying, "WTH was that?!).

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 05, 2026 06:20 PM (/lPRQ)

308 I'm more Star Trek than Star Wars though I don't geek out about either.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:20 PM (kxLc1)

309 I liked The Missing with Tommy Lee Jones better than Bone Tomahawk. Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:12 PM (kxLc1
*
Watch Appaloosa. Great, unsung Western.
Posted by: The Whine Guy at May 05, 2026

***
No Country for Old Men is technically a Western, though a modern-day one, and disappointing in some aspects (at least to me). But it's hardboiled fiction for sure.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:21 PM (wzUl9)

310 My family watched The Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday. The think it was Sunday.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:22 PM (kxLc1)

311 302 I remember seeing some pretty fun Disney movies as a kid, featuring Kurt Russell, like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Strongest Man in the World. There was also one with Jan Michael Vincent, where he was rilly rilly fast.
Posted by: Pug Mahon

Russell grew up on the Disney lot, I think his first Disney film was Follow Me Boys in 1966.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:22 PM (E4rtv)

312 Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

"Darth Troon" is their most popular character.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 05, 2026 06:22 PM (/lPRQ)

313 Word is Lucas, before he left, sketched out all the sequel trilogy. Every bit of it. he had worked for decades on this. In fact, he sold Lucasfilm, and brought in Kenedy, specifically on the promise they would follow his plan.

As soon as he was out the door, Kennedy stabbed him int he back, and dumped all his scripts for the sequel trilogy, preferring to go with her own vision. Of course, not being very smart, she didn't actually think through that vision, so the first movie was just a remake of the New Hope, and the rest...whatever man.
Posted by: The Whine Guy at May 05, 2026 06:16 PM (k8xm0)

Yes, some even published the alleged plot/plot points. Then there were writers whose scripts were rejected and later "leaked". They sounded pretty reasonable. I hope, in the fullness of time, Kathy Kennedy is looked at as Stalin of Disney, her legacy destroyed and her name stricken from every book and tablet...

Posted by: runner at May 05, 2026 06:22 PM (GD0B3)

314 Hildago was a western in the Middle East. One of my favorites.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:22 PM (kxLc1)

315 My family watched The Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday. The think it was Sunday.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026

***
It was. Prime time TV started at 6 pm Central on Sundays; there was Lassie on, I believe, CBS, and then Disney on ABC at 6:30.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:23 PM (wzUl9)

316 @311 - he also played a space kid on an episode of "Lost in Space."

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 05, 2026 06:24 PM (CHHv1)

317 I remember seeing some pretty fun Disney movies as a kid, featuring Kurt Russell, like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Strongest Man in the World. There was also one with Jan Michael Vincent, where he was rilly rilly fast.
Posted by: Pug Mahon
*
Russell grew up on the Disney lot, I think his first Disney film was Follow Me Boys in 1966.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026

***
At age thirteen, 1964, he was in the very first Man From U.N.C.L.E. I ever saw, "The Finny Foot Affair." It may be on YooToob and is well worth watching.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:24 PM (wzUl9)

318 No Country for Old Men is technically a Western, though a modern-day one, and disappointing in some aspects (at least to me). But it's hardboiled fiction for sure.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:21 PM (wzUl9)

I like this one a lot, although I understand why some folks do not. I am okay with some stories ending the way this one did, because that's sometimes how life is.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at May 05, 2026 06:25 PM (0aYVJ)

319
Then again, as Rick Sanchez said: "Your boos mean nothing. I've seen what makes you cheer."
Posted by: ace at May 05, 2026 05:08 PM (1wjle)

THIS is the Rick Sanchez clip that makes me cheer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P3U3XKVvkM

....or is this the wrong Rick Sanchez?

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 05, 2026 06:25 PM (y9nCu)

320 When I think of the shittiest remakes ever made, I think of Wild, Wild West. Kline was okay, but Will Smith? Some DEI slapdick chowderhead playing himself. It was abominable. Robert Conrad was Jim West.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at May 05, 2026 06:25 PM (D1E+2)

321 There is an old review of the Star Wars follow up books/comics from the Caravan of Garbage guys that shows a sequel to A New Hope where Luke cracks Leia across the face with a slap. I can get on board with that story line, especially after her portrayal as a kid in that shit Obi-Wan show.

Posted by: Croaker at May 05, 2026 06:26 PM (b3InZ)

322 May the fifth be vodka

Posted by: Don Black at May 05, 2026 06:26 PM (ZxPkt)

323 Left the theater (while still in HS) saying, "WTH was that?!).
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 05, 2026 06:20 PM (/lPRQ)

That was Lucas, post divorce, appealing to his kids.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 05, 2026 06:26 PM (N8bpy)

324 They dont know how to make movies and dont care to learn. Thats the huge problem.

Posted by: Rev Dr E Buzz PhD Esq

The new breed that have power in the studios and as script writers literally have no life experiences other than brownnosing and conformity to get to the top. So when they try to adopt written works, it comes out as a bad parody of it, if they try to write original works, it is hackneyed and full of social virtue signalling. The actors are about the same--all products of the upper middle or wealthy classes with a lot of connections but no real talent. Their life experiences are minuscule compared with previous generations.

In other words, theater kids.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:27 PM (E4rtv)

325 Robert Conrad was Pappy Boyington

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at May 05, 2026 06:27 PM (KaHlS)

326 315 My family watched The Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday. The think it was Sunday.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026

One day when I was living in Germany as an impressionable nine year old they showed "Night Crossing". Something they would not DARE make today.

Posted by: Cow Demon at May 05, 2026 06:27 PM (T6aVk)

327 Open Range is an excellent film. Duvall and Costner had a really fun cantankerous relationship. And they both know how to ride horses.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, king of the Irish Goodbye at May 05, 2026 06:09 PM (0aYVJ)

Classic Western. I really enjoyed it.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 05, 2026 06:27 PM (iERP6)

328 Did Ace forget to set the next post to auto-publish?

Posted by: the lower depths at May 05, 2026 06:28 PM (GWDtl)

329 I like this one a lot, although I understand why some folks do not. I am okay with some stories ending the way this one did, because that's sometimes how life is.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at May 05, 2026

***
The ending was not my problem. It was *not seeing* the final deadly confrontation midway along between Josh Brolin's character, who'd done well staying ahead of Chigurh for so long, and Anton himself. We needed that payoff.

The novel is the same, so it wasn't the adapters' failure.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:28 PM (wzUl9)

330 Robert Conrad was Jim West.
Posted by: Rev. Wishbone
====
He made a ludicrous show somewhat believable by his portrayal. Conrad looked as though he would come through the screen and bash your head in if you didn't go along with the story.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:28 PM (E4rtv)

331 124, boom, this!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at May 05, 2026 06:29 PM (VyBeY)

332 At age thirteen, 1964, he was in the very first Man From U.N.C.L.E. I ever saw, "The Finny Foot Affair." It may be on YooToob and is well worth watching.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:24 PM (wzUl9)

Kurt Russell was Jaimie McPheeters in the short-lived Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. Dan O'Herlihy was Sardius. The Osmond boys were in the cast as well. Charles Bronson was the wagon train boss (after the first dude died)

BTW, one of my favorite books ever.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at May 05, 2026 06:29 PM (0aYVJ)

333 Conrad was also a good battery salesman

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at May 05, 2026 06:29 PM (KaHlS)

334 the crazy SOB did it

https://x.com/DHSgov/status/
2051754837683896415

Posted by: Don Black at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (ZxPkt)

335 324 The new breed that have power in the studios and as script writers literally have no life experiences other than brownnosing and conformity to get to the top. So when they try to adopt written works, it comes out as a bad parody of it, if they try to write original works, it is hackneyed and full of social virtue signalling. The actors are about the same--all products of the upper middle or wealthy classes with a lot of connections but no real talent. Their life experiences are minuscule compared with previous generations.
-----------------------
It's the same thing in the music industry. The tell is that everyone is from LA and NYC now. When Hollywood and pop music were healthy, people from anywhere could make it big and bring their life experiences with them.

Posted by: the lower depths at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (GWDtl)

336 Clearing up the story of Neuman's grandfather. First of all, he wasn't even German, he was Austrian. He was a Corporal in WWI. He was a painter who was prosecuted for his political views. Rose through the ranks to that of Der Fuehrer in WWII. He was married shortly before the end of the war, but his wife tragically died in Berlin just before he left for Brazil in 1945. So technically he was not A NAZI, he was THE NAZI. So get your stories straight, untermensch.

Posted by: An Observation sez Trump is my President at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (Da7Vv)

337 Chigurh was just Jason or Michael. That's why I disliked the movie . Okay there were other reasons also.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (kxLc1)

338
Left the theater (while still in HS) saying, "WTH was that?!).
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 05, 2026 06:20 PM (/lPRQ)

That was Lucas, post divorce, appealing to his kids.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 05, 2026 06:26 PM (N8bpy)

To be fair, if we didn't have Return of the Jedi, we wouldn't have Teh Ewok Shelving Jedi Master, the Moron Horde and the HQ.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (y9nCu)

339 When I think of the shittiest remakes ever made, I think of Wild, Wild West. Kline was okay, but Will Smith? Some DEI slapdick chowderhead playing himself. It was abominable. Robert Conrad was Jim West.
Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at May 05, 2026

***
It was travesties like that which made me fearful that the Man From U.N.C.L.E. 2015 film would be awful. I was overjoyed at how good it was. Even if it did not exactly follow the original series, it had the right spirit -- and great casting.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (wzUl9)

340 I like this one a lot, although I understand why some folks do not. I am okay with some stories ending the way this one did, because that's sometimes how life is.
Posted by: Pug Mahon
======
Movie struck me more as noire hiding out in the garb of a modern Western. A world of shady characters and a worn down lawman who had to clean up the mess they made.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (E4rtv)

341 300 I get SW as childhood nostalgia, like I still like 50s giant bug movies from time to time, but I never got adults being into it as a story...makes Star Trek seem like highly advanced SF. Nobody sits around thinking about what happened to the characters in Them!, do they?
Posted by: Azjaeger at May 05, 2026 06:18 PM (N/KpB)

Them! (which I have seen eons ago) does not feature relatable characters on heroic story arcs. That's the key.

And for me, ST is bloody boring. Never got into ST. SW, though, was far more engaging.

Posted by: Cow Demon at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (T6aVk)

342 You are conflating them with Doomcock, who kept saying "KK's FIRING IS IMMINENT!!!" I suggest he look up the word "imminent". Beyond that, tell me you don't watch those channels withut explicitly saying so.

I've seen enough. They're tiresome know nothings.

But then, you probably are one of those people from the sounds of it that hate just about everything.

Do I know you? No, I don't care. Fuck off with your faggot bullshit.

(I don't like LOTR but then, I have always been more sci-fi than fantasy inclined.)

Okay? I dont care. I didn't mention LOTR.

Posted by: Robert at May 05, 2026 06:31 PM (Z2yLo)

343 In other words, theater kids.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:27 PM (E4rtv)

It all comes across as really bad fanfic- not original stories in the universe. They have to add characters (often self inserts) and intertwine them inside the old show rather than building on it.

As a result, it often CANT be good.

I just thought of an exception but it was well before the modern era. The DS9 episode where they go back to TOS during the episode with the tribbles. They managed to make it more an homage than fanfic. Good episode.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 05, 2026 06:31 PM (N8bpy)

344 My family watched The Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday. The think it was Sunday.

we kids would be at the Matizza'a house every Sunday at 6pm to watch the fireworks explode as the opening for WWD on their color TV, they were the first to have one I'm guessing in 1964 or so

Posted by: DanMan at May 05, 2026 06:31 PM (8uzBS)

345 297 You are conflating them with Doomcock, who kept saying "KK's FIRING IS IMMINENT!!!" I suggest he look up the word "imminent".

is typo. was supposed to be "eminent".

Posted by: anachronda at May 05, 2026 06:31 PM (oY6Yp)

346 wild wild west was just james bond as a western

Posted by: Don Black at May 05, 2026 06:31 PM (ZxPkt)

347 whig.

Heinlein's second wife was the free love, open marriage woman that he left when her drinking got out of control. RAH has a forgotten 1st wife.

He really turned with his third wife, Virginia. But he still was a practicing nudist.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 05, 2026 06:31 PM (u82oZ)

348 I'm waiting for someone to do a flat out, scorching of DEI programming in a parody movie. Make fun of every single facet of their concocted society in over the top stereotypes.

THEN (and this is important), when the usual suspects come wailing with pichforks, torches, and whiny tantrums demanding an apology...laugh at them like they deserve.

Posted by: Orson at May 05, 2026 06:32 PM (dIske)

349 Movie struck me more as noire hiding out in the garb of a modern Western. A world of shady characters and a worn down lawman who had to clean up the mess they made.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026

***
Yes! And in that sense it worked fine.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:32 PM (wzUl9)

350 Even if it did not exactly follow the original series, it had the right spirit -- and great casting.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (wzUl9)

The 'feel' was also good and time correct. It was well done even if, as you mentioned, what the hell was up with Ilya?

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 05, 2026 06:33 PM (N8bpy)

351 It's the same thing in the music industry. The tell is that everyone is from LA and NYC now. When Hollywood and pop music were healthy, people from anywhere could make it big and bring their life experiences with them.
Posted by: the lower depths
======
And now AI is killing the current muzak scene first, it will come for movies and tv in a bit. Spotify and other large streaming houses like AI music because they have to pay less in royalties or can even in house it if needs be. Rick Beato has been charting the decline of real music and artists for the last two years or so.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:33 PM (E4rtv)

352 wild wild west was just james bond as a western
Posted by: Don Black at May 05, 2026

***
Of course. U.N.C.L.E. had hit big on TV the previous year, and the James Bond novels and films were all the rage in the mid-'60s. WWW's enterprising creator mixed two genres together and came up with something fun.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:34 PM (wzUl9)

353 Nood. Hits that are quick.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 05, 2026 06:34 PM (N8bpy)

354 If Robert Conrad could outrun Gabe Kaplan, he'd be acknowledged as the Network TV champion.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at May 05, 2026 06:34 PM (KaHlS)

355 If Robert Conrad could outrun Gabe Kaplan, he'd be acknowledged as the Network TV champion.
Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at May 05, 2026 06:34 PM (KaHlS)

That's when I lost respect for Conrad.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at May 05, 2026 06:35 PM (kxLc1)

356 The 'feel' was also good and time correct. It was well done even if, as you mentioned, what the hell was up with Ilya?
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 05, 2026

***
The contrast between the two leads, Solo and Illya, was essential to the concept working. Solo in the original was not a pro thief before being co-opted into spy work, any more than Illya was a devoted KGB killer. But the contrast between them, their looks and their individual styles, was important to catch. And the film did that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 05, 2026 06:36 PM (wzUl9)

357 Yes! And in that sense it worked fine.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
=====
Double Indemnity had a similar plot with the insurance investigator coming in to clean up the mess.

If you hadn't done so, a lot of the early 50's Dragnet episodes are up on Youtube for free. Very noirish and darker LA scene, compared with the later 60's show.

Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:36 PM (E4rtv)

358
Movie struck me more as noire hiding out in the garb of a modern Western. A world of shady characters and a worn down lawman who had to clean up the mess they made.
Posted by: whig at May 05, 2026 06:30 PM (E4rtv)

In a book on Film Noir in my library, the author describes The Coens as having a similar outlook to Kubrick. Namely that they think that the human penchant for stupidity and cruelty is really, really funny. I think Kubrick was rather more serious than that, but when it comes to the Coens, that nails them.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 05, 2026 06:37 PM (y9nCu)

359 nood!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at May 05, 2026 06:38 PM (VyBeY)

360 >>>I'm waiting for someone to do a flat out, scorching of DEI programming in a parody movie. Make fun of every single facet of their concocted society in over the top stereotypes.

THEN (and this is important), when the usual suspects come wailing with pichforks, torches, and whiny tantrums demanding an apology...laugh at them like they deserve.

Posted by: Orson

>Get those Wayans brothers and sisters on this. They're pretty good at this shit.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at May 05, 2026 06:43 PM (D1E+2)

361 I've read the books as well as the comic book adaption of Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. They're among the best books of the Star Wars legacy era, along with the Clone Wars series written by Karen Traviss. She and I had a long conversation about writing fiction on Twitter one time. She's very dry and funny in that old British lady kind of way.
Posted by: troyriser at May 05, 2026 05:59 PM (DPeYO)

The Clone Wars books were my favorites hands down; those books made me like the Prequel Trilogy movies more because she really told the story of the clones in a fantastic way. Prior to reading that, Zahn was my favorite EU author.

Posted by: Nelly at May 05, 2026 06:57 PM (6+ehB)

362 Kathleen Kenedy literally used to get coffee for Lucas and Spielberg.

Spielberg, 1979 "She was horrible at taking notes... but what she did know how to do was interrupt somebody in midsentence. We'd be pitching ideas back and forth, and Kathy—who was supposed to be writing these ideas down—suddenly put her pencil down and would say something like, "And what if he didn't get the girl, but instead he got the dog?"

Posted by: The Whine Guy at May 05, 2026 08:07 PM (eloIc)

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