Star Wars

Star Wars

I first encountered the Star Wars franchise in the early ’90s, at which point I was already a huge fan of Star Trek! I recall being underwhelmed on first viewing the trilogy – at the insistence of a friend – but soon came to appreciate what the films had to offer. Though Star Wars’ space fantasy setting is very different from Star Trek’s take on sci-fi, both franchises have a lot of potential.

I was never a big fan of the prequel films, and since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 I’ve had mixed feelings. Some projects have been outstanding, others really didn’t work for me at all. Generally speaking, I see modern Star Wars as horribly overreliant on its earlier, more successful titles, and I yearn for the franchise to try something even a little bit bold and different.

Regardless, there’s a lot of new Star Wars content to come in the next few years, and I’ll do my best to cover it here on the website!

My Jedi: Survivor wishlist

“A sequel is an opportunity to take on board feedback, tone down things that didn’t work so well, and generally hone and refine the experience…”

Six Star Wars “Hot Takes”

“I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I first sat down to watch the original trilogy at the insistence of a friend…”

Can Star Wars survive on nostalgia alone?

“Sooner or later the creative team will have exhausted the potential of every major and minor character from the originals, the prequels, the sequels, and spin-offs… and what then?”

The Book of Boba Fett review

“All of the pieces fell into place for The Book of Boba Fett to be a series I’d expect to find completely disappointing… but I didn’t.”

The Mandalorian – Season 2 review

“I’m still disappointed that the basic premise of The Mandalorian, which seemed so appealing in 2018-19, hasn’t been fulfilled…”

Star Wars doubles down HARD

“I just feel Star Wars could do better. These shows and films are a franchise aiming for a grade C. They’re middle-of-the-road attempts to scrape by, coasting on past success…”

In defence of Luke Skywalker

“It’s [a story] that many fans needed to see, whether they realised it at the time or not…”

Star Wars: Squadrons – First Impressions

“The campaign has an unusual format in that players are assigned two playable characters, one on each side of the conflict. The main setting is post-Return of the Jedi, looking at the conflict between the remains of the Imperial forces and the New Republic…”

Star Wars needs to move on

“For the franchise to survive long-term and remain viable, it needs to step away from the original trilogy for the first time. New films and shows, whenever they may come, should look at wholly new characters in a setting and even time period that’s distinct from what came before…”

A look at Project 4K77

“A lot of Star Wars fans haven’t seen the original Star Wars. Oh sure, they’ve seen A New Hope, but not the original film as it appeared in 1977 and the years after…”

Let’s Play Jedi: Fallen Order – Final Thoughts

“I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from a game described as a ‘linear, story-driven, action-adventure’ title, and from a gameplay perspective Jedi: Fallen Order was more or less what I was expecting…”

Let’s Play Jedi: Fallen Order – Part 12

“All in all, Jedi: Fallen Order took me just shy of 20 hours to complete – and having looked online that seems about average. I enjoyed myself for most of that time…”

Let’s Play Jedi: Fallen Order – Part 11

“After the last session had some interesting story elements, but was let down by frustrating gameplay and a long section that felt like it was simply there to pad the game’s runtime, I was hoping for something different and exciting…”

Let’s Play Jedi: Fallen Order – Part 8

“I’ve complained about Jedi: Fallen Order reusing levels and sending Cal back through areas multiple times. And I stand by those criticisms, as they often feel like unnecessary padding. However, this new section managed to feel like unnecessary padding too…”

Let’s Play Jedi: Fallen Order – Part 4

“When Steam worked and we’d made it through the various loading screens and updates for Steam and Origin, Cal was back at the save point where we left him last time…”

Let’s Play Jedi: Fallen Order – Part 3

“I was hoping I’d made a good choice opting to head to that planet, but I ended up losing my first fight in Jedi: Fallen Order so far! Let’s go through how we got to that point…”

Happy (day after) Star Wars Day!

“The Star Wars series seemed complete after the prequels were released. I even bought a DVD box-set called something like ‘the complete saga’, so it seemed for years that Star Wars was done and dusted: two amazing films, two okay films, and two crap ones…”

Star Wars is right back where it started

“In terms of the overarching narrative of the franchise, Star Wars is in exactly the same position as it was in 1983 after Return of the Jedi…”

I finally saw The Rise of Skywalker… (a review)

“At one point while I was sitting down to watch The Rise of Skywalker, one of my cats sat in front of the television and proceeded to lick her arsehole… it was by far the most entertainment I got in the entire two-and-a-half hours…”

Looking back at the Star Wars prequel trilogy

“Films are subjective – a film that works for one person doesn’t work for another, and that’s okay. We don’t all enjoy the same things and that’s fine. I’m not for a moment trying to argue that the prequel trilogy is objectively bad, just that it failed to win me over. In my subjective opinion.”

Reviews for The Rise of Skywalker are mixed

“Pre-release reviews initially seemed to be positive, but now that we’ve hit release day in the United States and other territories around the world, the full picture is coming into view, and it seems as though The Rise of Skywalker is not being particularly well-received.”

It’s do-or-die time for Star Wars

“The problem isn’t that huge numbers of people will stay away. I think that most Star Wars fans, even those who felt that The Last Jedi was a terrible film, will head back to the cinema this time around, if for no other reason than morbid curiosity. At the end of the day, this franchise has been running since 1977, and the first phase of its story is finally coming to a close…”

A “Mandalorian” Hot Take

“For me, the two biggest failures are the decision to bring in Force powers in a series that should’ve tried to move away from that side of Star Wars storytelling, and the fact that the main character is, thus far, a blank slate about whom the audience knows and understands very little…”