Summary
- Star Wars has created iconic villains like Darth Vader, General Grievous, and Darth Maul.
- However, recent Star Wars shows and movies often give their antagonists helmets.
- Why?
Star Wars has created some of the most iconic villains of all time over its near half-century history. Not least Darth Vader, probably the most iconic a⛎ntagonist ever created. From his heavy breathing and James Earl Jones’ vocal performance, to his reveal as Luke’s father and eventual face turn, George Lucas crafted the perfect villain.
Since the original trilogy, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars has created even more classic foes. Whoever gave 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:General Grievous not one, not two, but four lightsabers is a genius, and was responsible for getting a generation of children into robots. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Darth Maul similarly is a fan favouriteꦫ, from his horned head to his tattooed toes.
However, in the last decade things have changed. Star Wars has tried to cash in on our collective nostalgia with a new trilogy of films and a slew of TV series that are far too numerous for any person to have seen them all. You can&💞rsquo;t tell me otherwise. Don’t even try. If you’re about to send me an email telling me that actually it’s not that hard to catch up on all of the Disney Plus shows, read that💦 last sentence again.
What’s worse than the quantity of these shows is how they trade solely in that nostalgia. Nearly every series forgoes a satisfying conclusion in lieu of bringing back a familiar face from some other sh🌼ow or movie. There’s no catharsis, no real ending🍌s. Every show is just a sizzle reel for the next one, context for the wider universe.
There are exceptions, of course. The first season of The Mandalorian was just Din Djarin doing stuff. It was great. Then Luke Skywalker turned up. Ironically, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Andor was excellent too. The Star Wars show that’s specifically a prequel to a movie that cashed in on a single line o𓆉f the original film is more original and interesting than nearly every original idea that Luc♑asfilm has tried to make stick in the past ten years.
This is why I was excited for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Acolyte. I was hoping for another Star Wars show that was wholly original, separate from the wider universe. I don’t want every protagonist to be a Skywalker or impact the fate of the universe. I want some people just to save their friends or their mum. But The Acolyte fell into another trap that modern Star Wars has fallen into: The Curse of the H🌜elmet.
Every Star Wars villain wears a helmet now. Kylo Ren kicked off the trend, but he had fair reasons. The narrative metaphor of trying to erase all traces o💃f Ben Solo, face included🌺, is strong. He’s also trying to ape his grandfather, Darth Vader. The Force Awakens dealt so strongly in nostalgia that it rehashed the plot of the original movie practically beat for beat, but I didn’t mind Ren’s helmet.
His followers, however, were a different story. Aside from the fact that the Knights of Ren were ruined b⛦y the hotswapping directors with seemingly no communication between them, why did they have helmets? Because their boss does? Because they were meant to be fleshed out with proper actors with real faces in later films but the idea was scrapped in favour of Palpatine returning?
Sadly, The Acolyte’s villai꧒n wears a helmet. And not just any helmet, a real goofy number with… teeth? There’s a reason for The Stranger’s helmet – it’s entirely created in order to create the big reveal of the Sith lord’s true identity as that bloke from that shop in the episode before. Howeඣver, I think there’s another reason.
How has Star Wars made all its money? Hint: it’s not through movies. It’s through toys ꦰand merchandise. Why did they make a baby Yoda? To sell baby Yoda toys. Why is there always a new droid companion to every protagonist? To sell new droid companion toys. Why is every villain wearing a helmet? To sell toy helmets.
😼This has the knock-on effect of making The Stranger toys cheaper, too. Back in the ‘70s, Lucasfilm could probably get away with paying Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford a few quid for the rights to slap their likeness on a plastic doll, but these days actors will charge a (deserved) premium.🌞 Popping a helmet on a character means you have to pay them less (and often nothing) to make toys of their character. It also makes it easier to find actors to play them at the Star Wars theme parks. There’s a reason Kylo Ren stalks around Galaxy’s Edge, rather than Ben Solo.
Unfortunately, this is the truth of the matter. Star Wars is more focused on making money than telling good stories. That’s why Luke Skywalker popped up in The Mandalorian – to make viral moments on social media, garner more viewers, and sell more stuff – and why Ahsoka got her own show.
I’m still hopeful for The Acolyte. The Ki-Adi-Mundi cameo isn’t important enough for me to burn my comics or care about fan service. The writing and story has been okay so far, although I&♍rsquo;m not sure why Kelnacca didn’t get a cool on-screen death f𝄹ight, other than to keep the mystery of The Stranger alive for another five minutes. The lightsaber fights have been top class, from the very first scene with Master Indara to the episode-length battle where The Stranger bests numerous Jedi.
I’ll watch the rest of the series and hope it can pull off an interesting and original ending, but I hope The Stranger leaves his helmet at home for the remai🍌ning episodes. And, more than that, I hope we don’t get any more cameos from the wider universe. Let The Acolyte be The Acolyte, it’ll still sell toys.
🅷 Amandla Stenberg On Tackling Two Roles In Star Wars: The Acolyte | Interview
Amandla Stenberg talks about how she approached t🎶wo different character in Star Wars: The Acolyte, and her personal experiencꦺe with the franchise.
