Luke Skywalker's portrayal and it's similarity with another fantasy character

Thank you for writing this. I have tried several times to summarize how I see these scenes in TLJ in the discussions about the movie and you are spot on.

 

Makes sense to me. Well written and good comparison to Frodo (i know Filoni used it before as well, but well done on the comparison).

I always loved seeing that aspect of Luke. I enjoy both versions, but absolutely love what Rian explored with it. Shame we won’t be able to get much more of Luke after that revelation with Yoda, the masterful Luke of old with the tempered wisdom, unless Ghost Luke appears to someone in future content.

 

Great post @Darth Chewie !

Play with fire, get Mustafar'd.... I guess.​

Does this mean that J-Fav and Filoni were resigned to this fate? Of using Luke to please fans and align him with fandom's head canon? Is there no chance that they disagreed with or, were unfulfilled by Luke's portrayal in the Sequels? Is there no chance that they simply wanted to portray Luke as a Jedi Knight in a lawless galaxy?

Were you not the beneficiary of the same kind of thing? I have watched time and again, poster after poster.... and the majority rail against fan service while being fans of subverting expectation(s). A subverted double standard to me. I'm not attacking you personally, I've just reached my limit on MANDO-LUKE = FAN-SERVICE. Its really simple for me and maybe I'm just an old fool but it seems that the RJ hate boils down to those who were not impressed by Luke 'the quitter' Skywalker and those who loved that he went into self imposed exile.

I am well aware of Mark's initial reaction(s) and subsequent discussions that he had with BOTH directors.
In his own words, he freaked out over the differences... he even renamed the character Jake Skywalker.​

What resonates the most though, is Mark's face AFTER the premier of TLJ. To me; the SW fans many posters speak of, were not alone.
Whatever he says now about it after the fact is legalese because he's contractually obligated.... that initial response tho. A look that kills.​

Aside from the nostalgia part, Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic was all that and then some. A tale on par with the SAGA itself.


Thanks again for making this thread. RJ made his Luke and the Mandalorian creators made theirs, different.
Neither was right or wrong. Its just Luke, at different times in his life.

 

i think, for me, this is the most important part between TLJ and Mando. Both are valid and can work together, and in fact do pretty well by how Luke speaks of his own legend, which can be seen in how he appears in Mando.

personally, my ultimate issue with the “fanservice” aspect was less that he showed up, and more how, in that he was mainly a “kill droids epically and then take Grogu.” He didn’t feel like a character to me in that moment, mainly with how few lines. Part of that is possibly due to limitations in budget or the CGI used, but that was still my ultimate issue.

Just on Mark though, since you brought it up, i believe that the initial comments came from the earlier filming, and his focus was on Luke not “giving up.” How do you reconcile that with him saying later that it was a matter of him not understanding how Luke had gotten there, which he then understood as time went on? Or how he also said he’s never been told to say anything? I’d have to see the context of that freeze frame, as a freeze frame can be..iffy at times when it comes to facial reactions. If the comments were that much of an issue, personally, i doubt they’d have been kept them in the BtS.

 

Screenshot is from the post premier interview with RJ & MH. In the shot, Mark is looking over at RJ as he "explains" Luke's "death" to the interviewer.


Rumor at the time was: Disney didn't tell Mark that he actually died and he didn't find out UNTIL we did. I; for one, still believe that because I watched MH before & after the premier and he was not the same. Mark was legit pissed after the movie whereas he'd been bouncing off the walls, doing circles in one interview, crazy energy. The change in his behavior was.... decidedly different.



Also did I mention Jake Skywalker.

 

I can’t actually find that specific interview. The only thing I found of that shot had music overlaid so I can’t hear what is actually said, and the only other closest one was a joke when Hamill said “my part is twice as big as it was” and someone says “what’s 2 times 0?”

ok, I found some comments from 2019. Seems he was hoping Luke’s death, if it came, would be in 9, and with 8 he felt like he only had one film. So it does sound as though it threw him off, but other comments seem to suggest he did enjoy it in the end.

That said, it is possible he didn’t fully know. Depends on how secret the script was on some details or if it was a later decision during editing. Personally, I thought it was a gorgeous moment.

 

That video and the Jake Skywalker interview are in my post history; together, somewhere.

I'll see if I can find them tonight or, tomorrow.

 

The Drinker fixed him.

 

Two minutes in (paused at the complaining about the map) and I regret potentially giving it a view. He’s already got a point wrong, imo

pausing at 3 minutes, and i don’t think i can handle it anymore. “The drinker”...sounds almost like a drunk rant. Luke didn’t need fixing.

 

I have never been a fan of the portrayal of TLJ Luke, but I have to say that Mandalorian Luke has REALLY turned me off. If I was forced to choose the two, I would take TLJ now. I say this because of the outright giddiness of the fans towards Mandalorian Luke shows me so many in our fanbase don't want anything new. The Mandalorian was a good show that was finally taking the franchise in a new direction/new characters that wasn't relying on the OT in terms of the Skywalkers and Vader. Then the last few episodes started to creep back with the return of Boba Fett, and eventually Luke Skywalker. It felt like the franchise took two steps back.

Again, I wasn't the biggest fan of TLJ Luke but it was something different. I just feel that everytime the franchise lurches back to the OT (the return of Palpatine in TROS, Luke in the Mandalorian, etc), we are back to square one again.

 

It’s quite the thing isn’t it?

TFA reaction “arghh it is so much fan service, JJ just rebooted ANH”

TLJ reaction “what the hell was that? It’s not Star Wars”

This “fan base” drives me effing insane.

 

I'm very lukewarm (eh) on the matter as well.
If they had done more spacing between Boba, Bo Katan, Ahsoka and Luke....it'd feel different IMO.
The last 3 Star Wars projects we've gotten have reverted safely back to the "old"
Solo, TROS and now Mando.

 

I have been fighting to make the point about TLJ Luke being the same as OT Luke for a while now on different forums as well (using the exact same examples as you), so that part of your post feels VERY validating.

In terms of similarity, Luke's arc in TLJ is the exact same as Iron Man's arc in Avengers: Endgame. This doesn't mean that if fans of one example have to like the other - life doesn't work that way. But I always funny and feel the need to point it out.

 

Think about the 3 things that have 'moved the needle' with the fanbase since Disney brought the franchise from Lucas:

-Vader in Rogue One going crazy on the Rebels

-The return of Boba Fett in The Mandalorian

-Luke's return in the Mandalorian

The franchise will never move on as long these things move the needle with our fans, as it tells me a good chunk of the fanbase just want callbacks. Now I am not calling out the fans for wanting this because you can't argue with what people enjoy. I'm just saying you can't move on to new projects with new characters too much, because that part of the fanbase will never have a connection to them without some OT representation. It's the ultimate irony that the OT is probably the greatest movie Trilogy, yet it's that same Trilogy that continues to hold the franchise back. The positive reception from the return of Vader in R1 and Luke Mandalorian really proves it.

 

I don't believe the rumours of Mark not knowing Luke's fate. We had at the time spoiler hounds on this very board and gave details of his death. I won't out of privacy reasons give out details but I have private messages talking about what she saw. Everything she said was correct (older posters may even know the poster in question). But one thing I will say, we were both fuming. Mark was not himself and this person was a big Mark Hamill fan and met him multiple times. She knew him quite well. Many of her photo's and descriptions ended up on Jason Ward's articles. How do I know, I saw the photos before he posted them. She went to both Dubrovnik and Ireland. She even posted details about the Broom Boy over on the boards at JFC.

Mark 100% knew his story.

 

One of the Greatest Posts ever in the Cantina.

Thank you and BRAVO!

 

Probably that's why The Mandalorian feels so flat to me, so unoriginal. Its more of the same using the nostalgia to please the fans.
Even if I like the show, or some part of it, in general they are showing us all the same again and again. Most of the success of this second season has it bases on nostalgia: Weequay, jawas, R5d4, Ashoka, Boba and Luke...
Disney probably will deliver the same with the dozens of tv shows and movies that will arrive soon (Book of Boba included). That's a pitty.
Star Wars before everything is cinema, and cinema is art, and art is creativity and the need to push the boundaries to deliver something new and surprising.
The most original and different thing that we had after the OT was TLJ but the fans complained...so probably we will receive the same and the same, to please most of the fans.

 

I had a similar thought. After TFA and losing Han, I had a feeling that Luke's time might also come before the ST was over. But I thought for sure that if it did happen, it was going to happen in 9. Totally did not expect it to happen in 8. Ironically, even though it was Han's death that made me think Luke's would happen too, Luke's ended up surprising me more than Han's.

We do have an interesting fanbase, don't we? And the irony is that TFA was created the way it was in response to PT haters who wanted a return to the style of the OT. They got exactly what they asked for! At the very least, the PT seems to have become much more fondly regarded over time.

I enjoy both the ST and The Mandalorian, and in both cases Luke's portrayal made sense to me. As Lord of the Rens said above, it's just Luke at different times in his life. Still, it does concern me a little that Luke's appearance in The Mandalorian seemed specifically written as a course correction and trying to appease the upset fans. I just hope that, going forward, they can find a way to square the difference between the two portrayals and not necessarily have it be one or the other.

 

Yes, to all and what @Lock_S_Foils and @RoyleRancor wrote.