re: Is Freddie Prinze Jr.'s take on the Star Wars series correct?

i love FPJ but he's wrong here.

the reason we dont like new Star Wars isnt because it is for kids. it's because it sucks. there is plenty of stuff that is made for kids that i watch and like. Star Wars isnt it.

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As a die hard SW fan in the perfect demographic for the OT 1977-1983, they were boys fantasy sci-fi movies with adult themes - Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were killed early in the movie and their homestead set ablaze - the Ewoks were not welcomed with open arms, most kids my age very much disliked them and thought they were a cheesy gimmick.

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Precisely. If anyone would've told me that in the future, not only would there be multiple live-action SW TV series that were released but I hadn't watched (Acolyte, Skeleton Crew) but that the majority of films released in a new mainline trilogy would be so toxic and reviled by OG SW fans that I saw them in the theater on opening night but never again... I'd have thought you were crazy.

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New Hope was made for kids.

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again.... no it wasnt... flip through... about 2 or 3 "kids" which look sot be preteens are in these photos... the rest are teenage to adults. This cam out as the new "scifi" film that would compete with Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.

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LINK

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And I don’t care about the cussing at all, like it doesn’t offend me or anything. He just seems like a fricking douchebag about it

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the reason we dont like new Star Wars isnt because it is for kids. it's because it sucks. there is plenty of stuff that is made for kids that i watch and like.

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This is really it, if you tell a good story, it doesn't matter if it is for kids or not, people will watch. Old pixar and 90s Disney are for even younger kids than Star Wars, but adults love them and watch the crap out of them. The original Avatar the Last Airbender cartoon would have a similar target market like Star Wars and adults watch the crap out of it. The difference is this content told good stories.

Star Wars has a lot of misfires and not telling good stories and ole Freddie doesn't want to see it.

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I'm not really into Star Wars as alot of you here are so I don't have an opinion... However, Ol' Freddie seems to have a pretty strong opinion.

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Okay, I gave it a listen, and here's my take on Star Wars in the Disney and the "right before Disney" era:

1. The movies - the first movie was basically just a retelling of A New Hope (or Star Wars for those of us old enough that it was released as that). Rey was a bit insufferable, mostly because she's given skills that aren't explained. Luke was a good pilot, but he talks about it - he even mentions it. He's not the SUPER MEGA ACE - he gets saved by Wedge during the Battle of Endor - but he's good, and saves the day thanks to the Force just as much as his skills. Rey gives us one line that implies she knows how to fly the Falcon (when Finn says they need a pilot, and she says "You're looking at it") but that's it. Her knowing how to jury rig something in the Falcon is fine, as I can see her knowing at least a BIT of that, but we're disconnected from her backstory as we get practically no understanding of her life and skills aside from being able to navigate derelicts and knowing what parts are good for taking for trade.

Rey is problematic in her fight with Kylo; it would have gotten more understandable if they played up just how serious Chewy's injury to him was, but we only get a few hints.

All of the issues with the first could have EASILY been fixed with a strong sequel. The first movie was a mostly paint-by-numbers "bring the fans back in" story which should have opened the door for something deeper. I guess it was "deeper" but it was terribly done and so many character choices that made no sense. I will definitely say that The Force Awakens **MAY** have been made for kids, but The Last Jedi? No, that wasn't made for kids.

Rian Johnson derailed ANY chance of the movies being good. The attempted fix was almost as bad; hell, I think if Rey or Finn had just woken up at the start of the third movie complaining about drinking too much blue milk before going to bed and it was all a dream would have been way more enjoyable.

Also, Finn? Massive waste of a character. A stormtrooper who changes sides? That had not been done yet in the movies - that was a seriously bad choice to not develop THAT. Rogue One was legitimately good though, but had the luxury of letting the writers kill off everyone. Solo, OTOH, was okay at best (it has some enjoyable moments), but made some weird decisions regarding the history of some characters.

2. The animated shows - these were absolute peak Star Wars. The Clone Wars, if it had been allowed to finish when it was supposed to (as Rebels gave away Ahsoka's fate), would have had the most epic ending (and it's still top 3). That was a great show, and was one of the few things keeping long-term fans coming back. Most of the shows were good, and some great.

3. The live action shows - aside from the first season of The Mandalorian, these have been meh to ugh. I was looking forward to Ahsoka, but the live action version just wasn't on par with the animated one. I like Rosario Dawson as an actress, but the physicality of a Jedi wasn't there, even if we understand Ahoksa is older. Other shows were even worse; the Boba Fett show was terribly bad (and honestly, the character's cool factor is mostly because we knew nothing about him and he had very limited interactions - every time they expand more on him, the worse he gets).
Andor is, of course, the exception of everything I put down. That show was great, but it is the outlier. And we won't even go into the Acolyte.


I'm honestly trying to think of what was "made for kids" - and TFA, Rebels, The Clone Wars, Skeleton Crew, The Mandalorian (Baby Yoda) are the only ones that feel that the target demographic might have been on the younger side.

So I don't agree with Freddie's take. If he were only talking about TFA, maybe.

Aside from that... his other points are not bad, BUT George Lucas was known for retroactively explaining decisions.

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you called that. seems like they are in denial.

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So cute how you guys say something stupid that you know will meet pushback, and then when it happens you’re like OH MY GOD YOU CALLED IT

frick outta here

He is right.

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think A New Hope was made for kids. kept it simple, showed some cool stuff. I think the rest of the OG Trilogy told the rest of that story to the same kids that were growing up. It was mature enough for adults at the time and simple enough for kids to follow.

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I disagree. I don’t think Lucas intended for his audience to skew to kids initially. He just stumbled into lightning in a bottle that had something for everyone. Empire is pretty dark to be honest.

By RotJ he got over his skis with the Ewoks being Delta Force and silliness like Chewy Tarzan. After that he was all in with the prequels trying to walk the line between drama and cute.

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OG star wars appeal to mostly everyone, but the main thing is George Lucas told a story, he wasnt looking at marketing data or trying to sell plastic trinkets made in China to boys, girls, and also grandma.

The marketing departments of the modern era will never make it possible to make a great movie thats not trying to sell shite.

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You may have a point with the first SW movie. But you couldn't be more wrong that GL was not trying to sell shite with anything done after the first one. Like hilariously wrong.