This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away: A May the Fourth and Star Wars Animation Recap

Happy Revenge of the Fifth Sunday, everyone! On today's edition of 'This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away', we'll be recapping a busy May the Fourth week/weekend. I've been away on personal matters for a majority of this past week, though I'll be doing my best as usual to parse through the news and offer a detailed analysis of what is going on in the Star Wars franchise.



Before we begin, some sad, non-Star Wars news. Bernard Hill, the icon who brought Théoden, King of Rohan, to life in the Lord of the Rings movies, passed away Sunday at 79. Our thoughts go out to his family. This weekend saw the release of the Ryan Gosling-Emily Blunt-fronted The Fall Guy, which I reviewed for our sister site Movie News Net a few days ago.



Let's get to it.


<h2>Three Things That May Have Flown Casual</h2>

• It's happening, I swear it is!: Steven Knight cannot say a word about his New Jedi Order script, other than 'it's happening'. Under the same topic, apparently, Zynga is back telling us that Star Wars: Hunters is a real video game that will come out at some point. More specifically, they're now saying June 4.
• Tickets now on sal... Sold Out: Preparations for Star Wars Celebration Japan are already underway. How scared is Lucasfilm of the attendance next year? They announced the first (and most predictable) lineup of guests a year in advance, and introduced a new feature where past VIP holders have first dibs over 2025 tickets. Well, thanks! Does anyone have a spare VIP one? Get in touch! I'll be rocking the 3-day pass otherwise, which I was lucky enough to get on Thursday night.
• Publishing news: On top of being Star Wars Day on Saturday, it was also Free Comic Book Day. Hope everyone had a great time on both accounts! In addition, a new Star Wars Insider was published this week, which Aled reviewed here.

<h2>Recapping Star Wars Day</h2>


Every year, Lucasfilm seems to grow more fond of May the Fourth. In 2020, they made a bunch of announcements, including Taika Waititi as the director of a new Star Wars movie. In 2021, they released a new Star Wars series. In 2022, they released a new trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi. In 2023, May 4 saw the release of both Young Jedi Adventures episodes and Visions: Volume 2. This year, they also brought out the big guns.



It'd been shaping up to be a special Star Wars Day for a few weeks. Not in terms of announcements, which they're clearly saving for future live events, but in terms of a day for actual celebration. We got to relive the past, with screenings of The Phantom Menace running all weekend, as well as look forward to the future, with a new trailer for The Acolyte dropping online along with several videos featuring the cast of the show celebrating the day. All of it rounded out by a nine-film Skywalker Saga marathon available on Saturday.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tzur6JrUEA



I loved this trailer. I've only seen it once for now, and perhaps if I stopped to analyze every frame I'd start putting some of the pieces together, but it looks spectacular so far -- and I mean that literally. The visuals are dazzling, and the choreography in the trailer already has me salivating over what Leslye Headland &amp; co. might be saving for the show. Amandla Stenberg and Dafne Keen attended CCXP Mexico to promote the series in what I imagine must have been a rock concert-like experience. I'm fascinated by how they are positioning Keen as a third lead of sorts after Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae. I wonder if she will be just another member of the ensemble, or stick out.



Other May the Fourth announcements include new Hasbro figures (Hot Toys also revealed a Dark Empire Luke Skywalker). A new Star Wars Lofi album was revealed as well, to the utter delight of our own Sydney Sumpter -- and that was on top of a new dejarik board game.



The cherry on top of the cake was the Collider report confirming that Skeleton Crew is to be expected this Christmas, putting an end to months of speculation on when the show would be released. What has caused this delay and will it really make this date? We'll have to wait to find out for sure, but I did make a prediction earlier this year that there will be some reshoots for the series happening in 2024.



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<h2>The Past and Future of Star Wars Animation: One Series Ends as Another Begins</h2>


This past Wednesday, The Bad Batch came to an end, bringing to our Disney Plus accounts the end of the Clone Wars era of Star Wars animation. At least for now. The series was originally announced in the summer of 2020 after the characters were introduced in a backdoor pilot in the final season of the main series when it was resurrected for streaming earlier that year. The first season started airing on May 4, 2021. Season 2 was originally targeting a late 2022 window, but was ultimately pushed until Jan. 2023. A third and final season was announced shortly after the second season wrapped, and it finally came to a close this past weekend.



Overall, The Bad Batch has been a subpar entry in the Star Wars animation pantheon, but it was always going to be hard for it to compete with the greatness of Star Wars: Rebels and the series' predecessor, The Clone Wars. (By the way, how cool is it that we now have the season 3 and 4 scores of Rebels available?!) By construction, I was never going to like it as much as those other two, as I can't really relate much to the stories of the clones and they were never something that appealed to me. However, I respect and admire the work put into it and the dedication and love of the creators, specifically Jennifer Corbett, Brad Rau, and Athena Yvette-Portillo. They might not be for me, but these stories about the military and the camaraderie that exists within veterans do mean a lot to them, and it shows.



(L-R): Omega and Hunter in a scene from 'STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH', season 3 exclusively on Disney+. © 2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. &amp; &#x2122;. All Rights Reserved.



The series finale worked for me. A lot, actually. I understand that some of our readers, and even members of our staff, wanted a more tragic ending, or wanted consequences for our main characters. But this is Star Wars, and if Dave Filoni and George Lucas have taught us something is that these stories are meant to bring a sense of hope to 13-year-olds as they mature into a much larger world. And the finale of the series did exactly that. I had my doubts they could tie up every storyline properly, and even though some were left hanging in more overt ways than others, I feel satisfied with how the series ended. (You can check out Josh's review here, and we also covered some post-game interviews with the creators here. SWNN Live! was also back this week discussing the new episode.)



Will we see Omega again? The door was left wide open, but I hope we don't go down that route for a while. Let this rip for a few years. I've been clamoring for Star Wars to move outside the Skywalker Saga for a while, and now it's the perfect time for Star Wars animation to do just that. Omega could still show up in live-action, but looking at that ending, was that leaving the door open for future appearances, or simply tying up her own arc? The galaxy was always too small for her, and her staying put on Pabu seemed like wishful thinking for the Batch. Her call was always going to be with the Rebellion and fighting for the greater good.



We will find out sooner rather than later what is next for Star Wars animation. I've been predicting for a while that an announcement will be made this year, perhaps at D23. The year is not even complete for the Lucasfilm division yet, as there is still another season of Tales of the Jedi in the pipeline. According to Daniel Richtman, there is a third Tales of series in the works, too.



Barriss Offee (center) and Clone guards in a scene from 'STAR WARS: TALES OF THE EMPIRE', exclusively on Disney+. © 2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. &amp; &#x2122;. All Rights Reserved.



Of course, the elephant in the room is the release of Tales of the Empire on Saturday. Though Josh is working on a full review that will be published on Monday, allow me to offer some quick words. No spoilers.



I liked it. A lot. I may even think this was better than Tales of the Jedi. Part of that is that this was focused on two stories we are actually interested in as viewers. Though I love Ahsoka Tano, the truth is that her story in animation has been played out, and I was mostly interested in what Dave Filoni had cooked up for her in Jedi because it was Dave Filoni who was interested in her.



But Morgan Elsbeth remained a mystery all throughout Ahsoka, so knowing her backstory was actually refreshing -- especially because of the dark side influences that felt new for Filoni's writing. Morgan's episodes were pretty interesting overall, though my favorite is definitely the second one. It's the one where the writing shines the brightest and the one that feels more like a story brought to life rather than a logline extended into a 15-minute short.



Barriss Offee in a scene from 'STAR WARS: TALES OF THE EMPIRE', exclusively on Disney+. © 2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. &amp; &#x2122;. All Rights Reserved.



Discussing Barriss' episodes without spoilers is a bit hard, but I will say that I loved how they turned out. Mostly, it was because of the overarching story and how it fits symbolically into the Star Wars lore. How it mirrors Ahsoka's own path yet in some respects differs from it in other ways. And what it says about what it truly means to be a Jedi -- and therefore, a role model. There are also some parallels to Anakin's own arc. The third episode was probably my favorite here, as it brought all of these points home.



Again, look forward to Josh's write-up, where he'll bring his own thoughts and analysis to the show.



Leading up to the release of the series, we had a few news items related to it. Diana Lee Inosanto, who voiced Morgan in Tales of the Empire after playing the character in live-action, described her process working with the Lucasfilm animation department. And if you forgot about the character of Barriss Offee from The Clone Wars, here's a quick recap.



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What did you think of the latest edition of “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away”? Let me know your thoughts and suggestions down below in the comment section. You can also send them, or reach out with any information tips, directly via our Contact page.



Have a great week!



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