Kathleen Kennedy to Fans: I hate your guts

By now you all know about Disney's firing of Gina Carano, the actress who played the interesting and ass kicking former Rebel solider Cara Dune in The Mandalorian. 

For a few years now there's been a war at Lucas Film between the Kathleen Kennedy faction which gave us the Woke dumper fire that is the sequel trilogy, and the Favreau faction which gave us the well executed The Mandalorian. Looks like the Kennedy faction went nuclear. 

Jesus, that was dumb. As one of our friends so eloquently put it, 'Fuck Disney.' Fuck Disney indeed. After two decades of incompetence, the Star Wars universe was righted by John Favreau's The Mandalorian and a slew of follow-on television series were planned, including one about Cara Dune. Fans were finally enthusiastic about Star Wars. 

Then Lucas Film went and fired Gina Carano on the flimsy pretext of some 'offensive' tweets.  The backlash has been enormous. Lucas Film needed this like they needed another Woke dumpster fire of a movie. All that goodwill so painstakingly earned tossed away why like a blaster, 'So uncivilized.'

Kathleen Kennedy hates Star Wars, and hates Star Wars fans. Don't believe us? Go back and watch The Last Jedi. Admiral Holdo chews out Po like an angry HR department head or frumpish librarian upset that the jocks are being loud.  It's Gamergate all over again. 

Most of our fans are probably right leaning. Not all of course, but most. Actually, we know for a fact that a lot of 4-Chan types like our books. Still, We've always worked hard to keep our novels apolitical. Not neutral, just apolitical. You'll never read, 'If only Obama had sufficiently funded the military,' in one of our books. In fact, we usually tweak Republicans. William Kristol becomes ever more sinister. Just wait till you people read Election '92. And the president in the Defend the Earth universe is a liberal. It's okay, really. 

You know what's not okay? Attacking your fans and giving them a reason to hate your guts. Thanks Kathleen Kennedy, you're the Liz Cheney of Star Wars.

Hey Gals, This is the Way

This blog thinks The Mandalorian is good. Good, not great. It's being over praised for very obvious reasons. As Mike Stoklosa of Red Letter Media has said, The Mandalorian is refreshingly 'not bad'. B+. Maybe we're just cynical and jaded. If Disney can really crank out a half dozen B+ Star Wars TV shows we'll be thrilled. 

In the season finale of The Mandalorian, Mando and his pals storm an Imperial battlecruiser. About halfway through we realized that four women* were kicking some serious Imperial butt. We thought cool. Then we thought, they wrote it this way without making a big deal about it. Here's four characters, they happen to be badass women, shooting** the ever living crap out of an Imperial battlecruiser. Also cool.

We have no idea what the writers were thinking. We don't know if they planned this all along, or, as they thought, why not make these characters women? Why not indeed?  The writers didn't pull a Kathleen Kennedy, that's for sure. This isn't liberal art. This isn't conservative art. No message, no points scored. It's just art. If John Favreau has any message at all, it's I'm not Kathleen Kennedy.

*Two Mandalorians, an assassin and a ranger.

**That was originally 'blowing'. Heh. 

Various and Sundry

The Stroocklettes are going to real, honest to Adon, in-person school this morning, something they've not done since March.

We have a weekday morning to ourselves, something we've not had since March.

We're thinking of taking a morning trip to the gym, something we've not done since March.

In other news....

We caught some of Trump's Iowa rally last night. His stemwinder about Hunter and Joe was unusually focused for him. But we're not sure how much voters will care. We'd rather Trump tout his record. The NY Post* is drip-dripping the story. There are new revelations this morning, so we'll see.

Big Tech censoring The Post's story has amplified the story and become a story itself. Not smart.

If Iowa is locked up, why is Trump stopping in Des Moines? We know a guy there, and he said it was a thank you to the state party apparatus. Also, don't ignore your states. Hillary! ignored Wisconsin. 

Speaking of, we now believe Hillary! will run in 2024, assuming the syphilis or Parkinson's doesn't get her first. 

Trump is supposed to go on Savannah Guthrie for a townhall tonight. We think this is a mistake. But who knows? Maybe he just wants to compare ratings? 

Disney has greenlit Star Wars: Kenobi starting Ewan McGregor. This is an unusually good idea. Perhaps Kathleen Kennedy's** rein of terror really is over? If so may the Lords of Kobol bless you, John Favreau, sir. The Mandalorian was shockingly not bad.

We're wondering if we should re-conceptualize The Great Nuclear War of 1975. We've written chapters with themes, farming, the military, libraries, etc. Perhaps we should organize the book by region. For example, here's what's happening in Colorado. We've done that with one chapter, actually.

We should probably complete the Nederland edits and re-read a proof again. There's plenty of time.

*NYC's paper of record.

** Is the force still female?

What Will's Watching: The Mandalorian, the Mandalorians

We like what they did with the Mandalorian, turning him into a member of a military religious order. These Mandalorians have a code and sacred rituals which include never showing one's face, though they can remove the helmets in private, we were wondering about that. The armor is all important and part of the Mandalorians sacred rituals. We enjoyed a flashback scene where a squad of Mandalorians swoops into a village and fights Imperial kill droids, no friends of the Empire are they. When our own Mandalorian takes off with baby Yoda, breaking a bounty hunter guild code, we had expected the order to cast him out. But no, his fellow Mandalorians join him in battle. All for one, it seems. Curiously, when presented with Baby Yoda, the Mandalorians seem unaware of the force and the Jedi Order.

What Will's Watching: The Mandalorian Week

It's The Mandalorian Week all week here at William Stroock dot BlogSpot  dot com/ What Will's Watching.

We finished the first season of The Mandalorian and have come away highly impressed. First off, we urge reader(s) to watch this review of The Mandalorian from Red Letter Media. We agree with everything they say especially, Less is More.

Producer John Favreau didn't cram the screen with crap. The whole show is very minimalist and in this way harkens back to Star Wars. Whether you're talking about an out of the way planet or a New Republic prison ship or a cantina, Favreau gave us small sets for a small stage. Even the Mandalorian's ship is no big deal.

This makes The Mandalorian very manageable, like a 70's or 80's drama, or even an episode of Start Trek: TNG. In this way Favreau has normalized Star Wars. His success is very refreshing. Who isn't tired of talking about Star Wars failure?

What Will's Watching

The Mandalorian Episodes 3-6: This series continues to impress. The Mandalorian feels like a modern version of a high production value and well written 70's or 80's drama, the 20's version of Battlestar Galactica.  Our protagonist meets interesting characters, ex-Imperial officers, ex-Alliance soldiers. Along the way the show references events in the Star Wars universe; Endor, Canto Bite. Bill Burr shows up and mentions the Gungans (don't worry, it works). 4/4

What Will's Watching

The Mandalorian, Episodes 1 &2: A space western. Can series writer John Favreau save Star Wars? If the first two episodes of The Mandalorian are any indication, he can. This Mandalorian is a combination of a Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western character and Batman, with  just a bit of The Wire's Omar Little sprinkled in for fun. The Mandalorian has a code. Do not mess with the Mandalorian. We loved the encounter with the Jawas. Feels like the original Star Wars. 3/4.

Star Wars!

Disney gives us...

...The Mandalorian.

Captain Mal wants his ship back.

We yawned except for Giancarlo Esposito and...Carl Weathers, which just makes us think of soup.* Looked like a couple of heroes dealing death with ease, kinda like the movies which shall not be named, mentioned or acknowledged.

Are we supposed to be impressed or even suprised by Storm Trooper helmets on pikes?

Rebel helmets, now that would have been something.

We're watching Mindhuter.

*Who get the reference?!