On 2025-10-27 05:40:22 +0000, Daniel said:

Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> writes:

Star Wars Mandalorian and Grogu is the first Star Wars movie in years that >> Disney will put out, and it seems for entirely the wrong audience. The
reaction to the trailer was muted at best, with many commenting that it
seemed like it was designed for kids. But was it, or is this just the level >> at which Hollywood can create now? Grogu itself is a basic creature that
attempts to play off a biological instinct without having any real depth, in >> fact depth would destroy the character. This does not seem like it's a long >> term strategy, nor even particularly profitable when it doesn't work on the >> majority of the Star Wars fanbase. Is this purely a Disney problem though or >> a side effect of a more foundational issue in Hollywood due to their hiring >> and presonal belief systems? Will you be watching Mandalorian and Grogu?

https://youtu.be/8LueXA9rvfo?si=GmJOja8PdvWfrODX

At this point, they have no choice but to start over with a new fanbase.

I was a young child when the first Star Wars came out. While I didn?t
collect action figures like my peers, I was still part of the rabid
fanbase standing in line for midnight premieres in the late 90s. For reference, I'm approaching fifty-two. They lost me years ago. Even Lucas himself said the movies were originally geared toward kids.

I'm sure Disney trotted out focus groups and learned that their
original, middle-aged fanbase is essentially gone. Will my peers go see
this movie? Some will, but not many. Our kids will take their kids, and
those young children won't approach the movie critically. It'll perform
just fine with that demographic. I'??d even bet someone lunch we'll see Grogu-themed crayons.

They already exist, although I don't know how official they are: <https://www.etsy.com/listing/930025742/baby-yoda-crayons-grogu-crayons-star>

These are official, but just normal crayons with a Grogu wrapper: <https://www.ebay.com/itm/276793992006>

This is only my feeling about it, but Grogu is symptomatic of one thing:
a vacancy of creativity. We now have younger Gen Z writers handling
legacy characters, and Grogu is essentially a new Yoda - but cuter. Make
him a baby so kids relate. Make him unable to speak so you never
actually have to write meaningful dialogue or character development.
Just make him cute so children want the toys. He's disposable,
marketable, and merch-friendly. Lucas created this dynamic
accidentally; Disney does it deliberately. Instead of capitalizing on popularity, they create characters for merchandise. If the merch
doesn't sell, kill off the character and revive a dead one.

The problem isn't Grogu or cute characters.

The real problem is the Politically Correct idiocy (thank largely to
the inept Kathleen Kennedy), and the near sheer lack of actual creative
talent andsensible ideas (the so-called "Sequel Trilogy" was really
just a Politically Correct reboot of the first two trilogies). These
two factors aren't just a problem for Star Wars either, but for almost
the entire entertainment industry - movies, books, comics, games.
That's why we get not a lot more than a continual stream of sequels,
prequels, reboots, remakes, and knock-offs. :-(

That'??s exactly what happened: the new Sith villain was killed, and
they brought back Sidious.

Sorry for the ramble. The simple truth, the way I see it:

Disney killed Star Wars.

Their denial was so strong at first that they blamed the fans. Actors insulted the audience. Humiliating your longtime fanbase doesn'??t make
them spend money again or leave good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. That
tactic never works, but they never learn.

So now, after waiting a few years, Disney has returned with a movie
designed to milk the two characters who found relative success on TV.
They were going to make Baby Yoda a Jedi, then changed their minds when
they realized the story arc would be too long for financial
forecasting. Ratings likely dipped whenever Baby Yoda was absent from episodes because the main character was less interesting than a
creature with zero dialogue.

Meanwhile, the episode plots play like an MMORPG questline: go
somewhere to get an item so Person #1 will help you. Once you return
with it, Person #1 can't help but refers you to Person #2. Person #2 doesn'??t trust you, sends you to get another item, and so on.

In my opinion, they completely missed their mark. Yes, animated shorts filled some gaps, but there's so much untouched content they could use
to entertain long-time fans.

For instance:

Who wouldn't watch an animated series surrounding Dooku's fall to the
dark side? Explore how Sidious seduced him. What ideological
disagreements did he have with the Order? We'd learn more about Qui-Gon
Jinn too, since he's the only Jedi to die by lightsaber in the films.

Why not show Yoda's later Padawan years, his trials, and his knighthood alongside long-dead Jedi?

Why not dig into Quinlan Vos? He barely got airtime in The Clone Wars,
yet they portrayed him as flamboyant, free-spirited, and interesting. Imagine his adventures. He deserves an entire series - maybe titled
simply 'Vos.' Start before the Clone War, end with his survival after
Order 66, and even build a movie around that. He was name-dropped
during the Kenobi series, after all.

There are so many untouched canvases sitting in Disney'??s arsenal, but instead they throw twenty tons of chimp-sh*t at the wall and rely on whatever sticks.

They could lose billions in these ventures, and I wouldn't care. But
they probably won't. Marketing an established franchise toward children works. Just look at what they did to Disneyland. If you think any of
that was done to attract people like me, you'd be mistaken.

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