illisia42

EPISODE ONE AND TWO REVIEW (will update later)

I will be honest, here; I was worried. After the mostly disappointing The Mandalorian season three and Obi Wan, my expectations were low, and with the fact that most people haven't seen Star Wars: Rebels or maybe even The Clone Wars, I was concerned those viewers would be confused and left-out. But I needn't have worried!

We start with a brief text scroll, catching us up on the events of Ahsoka's The Mandalorian appearance, and what has happened since. This makes it more accessible if you missed that show, or if you forgot what happened. It's also a lovely surprise to have a text crawl! When was the last time we had one?!

The opening scene is action packed, intriguing, and introduces us to new characters and the basics of the plot straight-away. There's no time wasted, here! The rest of the two episodes have a nice balance between action, plot and character development, I thought.

There's plenty of lightsabre battles, "car chases" (with space/sci-fi vehicles lol) and shoot-outs. Not too much, and not too little. The choreography is much better than a lot of the SW stuff we've seen in the last few years, which has been a big complaint by fans, so clearly they listened to us!

If you have seen Star Wars: Rebels, you will *adore* the live-action versions of the characters, and all the subtle throwbacks to the cartoon. In-fact, some scenes are shot-for-shot reconstructions! It's amazing. I actually found myself a bit teary a few times, feeling the emotions of the characters I love so much.

For those who *haven't* seen Rebels, don't worry, Filoni has you covered, too. There's enough exposition (explaining things that have happened) to help you get a grip on past events, but it doesn't feel forced, it "flows" well as a part of the plot. No one is sitting down saying "hey, remember when thing happened?" like in other shows. It was very natural. I still think there's other stuff that needs explaining for you, but hopefully they will in further episodes.

I gave it a nine rather than a ten *because* of the fact that people who haven't seen Rebels might get lost, and there's a few things about the plot that bugged me, where I found myself "facepalming" the actions of the characters and pointing-out what they *should have* done, for instance. That's pretty standard fare for Mandoverse, though, and Star Wars in-general, let us be honest.

I found myself "in the edge of my seat", holding my partner's hand super tight throughout several scenes, gasping at things, nodding at things, etc. I was really, really into it! And, for the first time in ages for Star Wars, we reinstated our "no talking" rule, because we were enjoying it so much.

The music, by-the-way, is incredible.

I was absolutely taken-aback by the quality of writing, acting, direction, fight choreographer, music, costunes, just *everything* ! It's not perfect, but it's pretty darned close...

I really, really hope they don't mess this up in the episodes that follow! I now have very, very high hopes for this, and the upcoming "Mandoverse Movie".

• Illisia Adams, GEEKETEERS.

Star Wars: The Clone wars us really rather brilliant, but every-now-and-then it falls flat, and this is one of those occasions, sadly.

It's a good episode for Ahsoka fans, as it's 95% her, with very little of the other main characters, and the action sequences are pretty unique and fun, but that's all this has going for it, sorry.

Here's what lets this episode down: the basic premise! In the opening few minutes Ahsoka's lightsabre is stolen by a pickpocket, oh no! Her reaction? Yell at him, chase after him a little, then spend the rest of the episode on a "whodunnit?" chase, with the help of a new friend...

But she didn't even use her force powers! All it would have taken was a simple flick of the wrist to "call to" the sabre and return it to her from the thief. Simple! Episode over.

I think what they were going for was an Ahsoka-centric "heist", "chase" style episode, but if you know anything about how force powers work, the whole thing just doesn't make sense, sorry.

Going into this, I hadn't seen the trailer, promotional images, cast, *nothing*. All I saw was a new Christmas Carol adaptation, but animated, on my Netflix Recommended, so I clicked play!

Going-in blind, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact it was a musical, and even more surprised when I heard *familiar* songs, because it turns-out this is a remake of my all-time favourite adaptation from 1970!

The animation is beautiful, the voice acting great, and the plot additions work really well, although there are classic elements from the book that were admittedly missed. Music-wise, the new versions of the old songs were pleasant although I admit I didn't enjoy them quite as much as the original, and the new songs were lovely additions.

I love how child-friendly this is! Reminiscent of The Muppet Christmas Carol, with the darker elements lessened and lighter elements added, and of course the songs. The animation and direction is *stunning* in my opinion and I think children will love it.

I see a lot of one star reviews from fans of the original, and that saddens me. Open your minds and your hearts! This adaptation was written by the same man - Leslie Bricusse - who did the original 1970 film, and yes, that includes the new songs. Sadly, he passed-away last year (2021) during production (RIP).

All-in-all a wonderful adaptation, enjoyable by newbies, and fans of the original who can open themselves to it.

Merry Christmas!