Admiral Ackbar deserved better

I guess they killed him offscreen because they could no longer record any lines after the death of his voiceactor. I can't recall Ackbar having any voicelines in previous movies that could be repurposed to fit a deathscene. Ackbar died in such an unspectacular way because it would have been a lot of additional work to kill him off in style. Leia will suffer the same fate. They wasted the ooportunity to let her die in a graceful manner when they made her fly back into the ship. It's a real shame but at least we got to see a Luke and Leia reuninion. Was it worth it? We'll see how 9 handles her death.

 

I mean, I love Ackbar. He's fantastic, one of my favorite characters.

But at least we got him in the sequel trilogy at all! In the grand scheme of things, he's really a minor character in the films, despite his rank. Star Wars has a ton of really awesome auxiliary characters, and we can't really afford to focus on each of them. After all, I bet there's a fan out there who thinks "Wanna Buy Some Deathsticks" Sleazebaggano deserved a closure to his drug addiction arc at some point in Revenge of the Sith.

 

This might be unpopular, BUT

Ackbar matters to fans, he matters to the Resistance, but he's never hugely mattered to the story, especially in the sequels. A huge death scene for him would have served no purpose but fan service.

Sure, they could have replaced Holdo with Ackbar, but it really wouldn't matter for the story, only for the fans.

 

Holdo was there for one reason only: They couldn't have Poe mutiny against an established character and certainly not against Leia. It would not have been believable to have him mutiny against Leia so they conveniently put her aside for about an hour, setting up the conflict between Holdo and Poe.

I certainly didn't find it as legitimate. Commanding officers have zero obligation to explain themselves or their decisions to subordinates. I despised the mutiny, which happens to be a capital offense, because I hate when a group of people in a complete life or death situation all of a sudden start fighting amongst themselves more than against the actual enemy.

One thing I loved about the original trilogy is that the Rebellion is indeed a functioning military. They have a command structure, they have civilian oversight, and it is run very much like an actual military. But in E8?? Not only is there a mutiny but after all is said and done, sad sack VADM Holdo says to Leia "aw shucks, I sure like that Poe character!! What a mischievous rapscallion he is!!" Yeah, like any commanding officer just nods and winks at a mutineer.

 

All the OT character deserved better than what they have gotten to this point.

 

As a fan with a background only dictated by the films I find this a bit of a strange sentiment. I'm assuming Ackbar has a bunch of extra material written about him as he doesn't have much of a presence in the OT? Or is it perhaps that this is a character that you've grown up watching multiple times even if his role is comparatively minor? If you're less invested in the new cast than you are a character with a small cameo appearance from the OT then I might suggest that the ST isn't going to be your cup of tea.

 

Ackbar is beloved because he was a meme.
He was liked and known among die hards, but for most fans he was always "It's a trap!"
And that ballooned his popularity.

 

I know all about the memes... and I think we've all seen Robot Chicken. My question is then, why is he so popular?! I mean you may not particularly like Holdo, but she got a hell of a lot more screen time than Ackbar!

 

Because he was a meme. That's his popularity.

 

In that case they should never introduce new characters in SW as all of the B listers from the OT can do a much better job... Sod Poe, just get Wedge back. I bet there wouldn't have been any complaints about him owning the dreadnought. I do wonder if people consider overall film structure when they watch a movie rather than falling into the trap of misty eyed nostalgia.

 

i fell in love with Ackbar as a kid seeing RotJ for the first time and have always had a soft spot for him (from the very start).
the meme came much later and i never cared about it.

i agree he shoulda done the kamikaze run in place of Holdo (both to save Holdo for more stuff later and also to give him a heroic and fitting end).

 

Porkins deserved better.

 

I know war is ugly and not everyone gets the death they deserve. However if Ackbar had of been the one to ram Hux full on lightspeed with the Raddus he would have been legendary.

 

I agree.
But in order to work, you would have had to replace the whole Poe-Holdo fight by Poe-Ackbar... ending up with Ackbar sacrificing himself.

I see it work.

Maybe they felt Ackbar (being an animatronic) would have been difficult to operate in these scenes... I don't know.

RIP Ackbar.

 

Agreed. Also, they needed a "by the rules" kind of person for Poe to butt heads with, and neither Leia nor Ackbar really fit that description. Mothma might for people who are only familiar with her from the movies, but she has too much of her own rebellious streak in canon for it to make sense. So, they created their own straight-laced hero- then turned the trope on its knees by making Holdo right all along.

Agreed again. Poe was very much in the wrong, even if his intentions were pure. That's why I think it's silly how people think Poe should have been informed about the plan.

Here's a test for everyone who thinks that: join the military, then do something so reckless that you almost get dishonorably discharged. Then, ask your general for a detailed list of the battle plans. See what happens.

 

Or maybe cut the mutiny arc all together. My ideal situation would have been Finn and Poe running a mission together to capitalize on their insane chemistry from TFA. This movie was great no doubt but it could have been so much crisper and more clean than it turned out.

 

Who has time to mourn Ackbar after the rebellion is dwindling to nothing? This is not what soldiers do.

Also the question presumes "no more Ackbar", I wager he'll make all kinds of appearances, possibly even in film again. His conclusion would be properly mourned off-screen of course.

Also, you'll notice, there was no real time to mourn for Han Solo either, war is like that, these people were fighting for their survival.

 

Yeah, it's possible that could've played more to their strengths. Poe out of a fighter for almost an entire movie seems like a waste.

The only possibilities I can see for this are:

1) For his long awaited return to an X-Wing in IX to be even more triumphant

2) To establish a bit of credibility in the eventuality that he gets promoted to an admiral (which I had been expected even before this movie)