Before the dark times. Before the Disney Wars...

Thanks, AD. I tried to parse out the different bits of the video reel as best I could. But it was written rather hastily, on-the-fly, and I didn't bother to research/look-up all the characters that appear in it. Some parts of Star Wars, like the animated shows and "The Mandalorian", I'm not too familiar with, as I mentioned in my response. Still, it hopefully relays back a fairly good mosaic-like impression of the reel, giving a sense of just how badly -- and blatantly -- snubbed Padme is, and how deep and obvious the anti-prequel bias from Disney/LFL remains.




I'm glad you've brought that trailer into the conversation. The answer is...

Absolutely! I completely tore into it on Naboo News back in August, right when it was put out:

naboonews.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/watch-the-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-d23-special-look/#comment-7232

My response was even addressed to you, but just so it's now part of Naberrie Fields:

Note: I have slightly revised my post just now to correct a small error that I made originally.

For reference, I identified the error and briefly discussed it in the following post: 

naboonews.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/watch-the-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-d23-special-look/#comment-7233

Did you notice something else about the [D23 Special Look] trailer? Here’s a breakdown [of the "saga" part preceding the TROS footage at the end]:

0:00 – 0:09 (Black screen) … 9 seconds
0:09 – 0:26 (ANH) … 17 seconds
0:27 – 0:38 (TESB) … 11 seconds
0:38 – 0:43 (ROTJ) … 5 seconds
0:44 – 0:47 (TPM) … 3 seconds
0:48 – 0:51 (AOTC) … 3 seconds
0:51 – 0:55 (ROTS) … 4 seconds
0:55 – 1:12 (TFA + TLJ) … 17 seconds (TFA = 13 seconds, TLJ = 4 seconds)

Ranked in order of screen time (most to least):

1. ANH (17 seconds)
2. TFA (13 seconds)
3. TESB (11 seconds)
4. ROTJ (5 seconds)
5. ROTS, TLJ (4 seconds each)
6. TPM, AOTC (3 seconds each)

Interestingly, the three most disparaged saga films (TPM, AOTC, TLJ) have the least screen time, while the three most raved-about on release (ANH, TFA) or in subsequent years (TESB), get the most.

The times are just approximations, though. I haven’t run the trailer through a video package and counted the exact frames. I just played and paused a few times on YouTube, and tried to intuit which was the fairest “second” on which to determine a time-border for each film.

Also: The TESB footage has a shot of Boba Fett from ROTJ in it, but I’m treating that as a mistake/contrivance. The films don’t otherwise overlap with each other in this manner until the end of the montage with TFA and TLJ. Either way, this is how much screen time each trilogy gets in the montage, most to least:

OT = 33 seconds (mean average = 11 seconds per film)
ST = 17 seconds (mean average = 8.5 seconds per film)
PT = 10 seconds (mean average = 3.5 seconds per film)

Once again, the PT ends up making the least contribution, by dint of whoever assembled or oversaw this trailer. You might reasonably expect the sequels to feature a bit more, and they certainly do, if you consider the fact that the montage section can only, by definition, include two sequel movies, given that it’s building to the reveal of new footage from Episode IX. The mean averages tell the real story, adjusting for there being only two films in the ST montage. In other words, the OT and ST completely dominate here, while the PT gets the loser’s podium.

That said, due to the weightiness of prequel imagery, your brain can almost become tricked into believing the prequels are more fairly represented here than they actually are. But that’s really not the case. Despite the density of imagery within the prequels, and their obvious relevance to the rise of Palpatine and the Skywalker mythology, they are barely in the montage. AOTC literally has two shots representing the whole movie. Appropriate shots, to be sure (love and war), but extremely poor given the fact that TESB gets nine (or eight excluding the Boba shot from ROTJ). Even poor ol’ TLJ has four shots.

I don’t know why they couldn’t have striven to make the flashback montage a bit more balanced. And why the prequels have been diminished yet again. Well, we know the latter has been Disney’s modus operandi for a while now…

See? Even when Abrams and the rest talk a good talk about being inclusive and respectful of all eight previous films and acknowledging the full breadth of the saga (like this shouldn’t have been the case from the very beginning), they *still* find ways of treating the prequel trilogy like a second-class citizen.



That trailer is nicely done. The line(s) of quality, passion, commitment, and excellence between official stuff and fan efforts have begun to blur. From offerings like "Star Wars: Reimagined" and "Vader: Shards Of The Past", to excellent tone poem trailers, nifty analysis videos, and careful meditations -- what a difference ten years can make!

I've bookmarked quite a few fan trailers in recent works. While long, this is one of my favourites. In my view, it compresses the basic emotional and intellectual beats of the saga in a satisfying and intelligent way, allowing each film to shine out, and doing a good job at making the saga feel like one coherent work that builds to a genuine finale. It's also by the same uploader as the one you just posted, rayo, so you may have already seen it, but here goes:



A much shorter saga trailer which I also enjoy, more along the lines of what you shared, is this one:



Finally, this one, nice and short, just has a really nice rhythm, and is one of the coolest trailers/tone poems I've yet come across:

The first trailer I supplied above -- "Journey To The Rise Of Skywalker/The Skywalker Saga Retrospective" -- fits the bill nicely there.

It's linear and goes in "Story Order" (i.e., Episode I through to Episode IX). And each film gets a decent showing.

But if you don't recognise the Disney films as canon, stop the trailer at exactly 17:17. I suspect it's still satisfying that way.

Yes. It's kind of a long-form trailer/recap. Not trying to bait you into watching the rest of it, but all the films, I think, are nicely handled. 

To chime in, I’d argue that Rey is even less to those standards if they are judging Padme for being “weak” for Anakin’s sake. Far less.

She leaves her training for a man she barely knows and has only seen do evil things. The backstory was a forced way to humanize Kylo.
She pleads with him despite knowing that he could do what he did to his own father when Han tried to appeal to his son.

Even after Kylo fools her twice, Rey still feels something inexplicable towards him at the beginning of TROS to the point where she is still thinking about him and trying to get him to redeem himself even while finding out he lied about the drinking money story.

And we find out that she WANTED to take his hand. Before he did anything to show that he was more than the villain Kylo Ren.

I don’t see Padme in any of the prequel films doing that. Not even in ROTS and not to a stranger. Her husband, maybe, but probably not even to the degree that Rey catered to Kylo Ren.

Of course, Ingram makes exceptionally cogent and beautifully-phrased points, as always. I'm like Krennic every time a fresh and precisely-directed laser strike comes in:

Oh, it's beautiful.

I also agree with him strongly on the new so-called "cancel culture" he was alluding to. It's ridiculous and outright fascistic in so many ways. And if Padme isn't now caught up in that, I don't know if any character ever could be. Funny how Social Justice Warriors claim to be for humanity, when some of their actions show that they're all about the machine. Their hiveminded condemnation of Padme is actually a lot like Luke and Rey's initial ignorance toward Vader and Kylo. You're meant to move beyond petty judgements about this facet or that and seek the beautiful interior. You have to brave the planet core that offers perilous yet smooth passage to the palace. 



Well, I will come to their defence a little bit on this one:

She leaves her training for a man she barely knows and has only seen do evil things. The backstory was a forced way to humanize Kylo. She pleads with him despite knowing that he could do what he did to his own father when Han tried to appeal to his son.

But the rub is: Luke was barely training her in the first place. He initially didn't want to train her at all, or at least said he wouldn't, and then tried impressing upon her the idea that the Jedi were a hindrance, not a help, and needed to end. Rey finds a sympathetic ear in Kylo. And when she touches hands with him, she perceives a bright future that could (in her mind) become real, if she goes to him. In a strong sense, she has concluded that Kylo is her real destiny, not Luke. And she also seems moved by the "script" that the "legend" of Luke operated with in the Original Trilogy. In a way, she is impelled to emulate his legacy, even though she responds hastily due to her disappointment with the "reality" of Luke, and her attraction to the siren-song of Kylo's possible future.

Even after Kylo fools her twice, Rey still feels something inexplicable towards him at the beginning of TROS to the point where she is still thinking about him and trying to get him to redeem himself even while finding out he lied about the drinking money story.

She isn't much interested in his redemption at the start of TROS, even if Kylo is somewhat on her mind, or interfering with her thoughts. In fact, when she senses Kylo during her training in the forest on Ajan Kloss, she reacts with mounting fear, anger, and hatred. Kylo is pressing into her mind as he tries to mold her, shake her up, and prepare her for the revelation of her lineage. It works, too. BB-8 becomes an unwitting victim of her embrace of latent dark tendencies, foreshadowing Chewie becoming an apparent victim when she confronts Kylo on Pasaana, and Kylo himself, when she explodes on him with anger and ends up actually killing him on Kef Bir. This last one is the most interesting: she ritually guts Kylo when he feels Leia's death and becomes vulnerable, moments before Rey herself senses it (i.e., Rey lags behind Kylo in being receptive to the light as her anger/rage blocks and dulls down her awareness).

It's a motif in the former trilogies that the central male and female lovers -- Han and Leia and Anakin and Padme -- frequently have each other on the brain. Several solid cinematic techniques are marshalled and utilised to heavily imply this basic (and intriguing) happenstance. You can argue it's more contrived or less earned in Rey and Kylo's case, but as the offspring of major characters in the previous trilogies, it stands to reason they'd experience an attachment of similar intensity. Their own connection can also be read as symbolic homage to their ancestors' connections; even as a sort of meta-commentary on these particular connections as being the main attraction, or "the ghost in the machine". In other words, they sort of have to have this connection: it's fate, it's destiny. Like when Rey opens the chest (or the mystery box) in Maz's cellar and encounters Kylo in two configurations, on the right and the left of the screen, in two settings; and, in both, he alone seems to respond to her presence. Again, like they have some preordained interactive union. Adding a whole other set of layers, Rey and Kylo are the first Force-adept couple we see; the only one of the triumvirate to actually both have, in the words of Snoke, "raw, untamed potential", leading to the Force Dyad situation that finally emerges (or is at last given a name) in the final movie of the Skywalker Saga.  

Moreover, all the Rey-Kylo scenes show how alike they are, deep down. Their names offer a strong clue: Rey/Ren. Forest imagery also repeats and offers a pleasing resonance between the two at the start of TROS. It's our reintroduction to both characters, and we see each engaging in a kind of "fitness exercise", as they move through obstacles and push their abilities to the limit in a physical, rugged, sweat-laden (or, in Kylo's case, murderous, slayer-like) way. People and trees are alternately cut down and set on fire in the process, stressing their parallel paths all the more. There are even two identical wayfinders in the movie: one for each of them. Of course, Kylo crushes Rey's wayfinder, telling her the only way to Exegol is through him, fulfilling a pledge he made to her back in TFA: "You need a teacher. I can show you the ways of the Force." Because he is obviously trying to get her to embrace her "true nature" (obviously echoing key lines between Vader and Luke in their meet-up on the gantry on Endor), which he believes to be the Dark Side, in TROS. The start of their duel in the Emperor's old throne room is even constructed like a tango. Very expressionistic -- that close-up on Kylo sliding his foot along the ground as he moves in accordance with Rey's aggressive strikes. He is brought to life and zig-zagged to the light by his complementary "missing piece". It's something different for Star Wars, but also makes perfect sense in that mythic framework, in my opinion. A little abstract; even Kandinsky-esque. I love it.

Also, I don't think Kylo lied about the drinking money story. It's probably about as much as he could sense or discern. Maybe he knew there was more to the story, but he wasn't certain of what it was, so chose to withhold that part in favour of appearing confident and strong. There's also a real sense of desperation when he puts his hand out to Rey and asks her to accept: "Please..." A facade of confidence followed by vulnerability and desperation. That's essentially "Ben" talking. It would also be unfair to overlook the idea that he is essentially projecting his hatred/disgust of Han onto Rey's parents. To him, they are probably losers/nobodies, and Rey deserves better. He feels their commonality. At the same time, he might not fully believe what he's saying, because he spares Leia and takes his finger off the trigger before this encounter. That's the "Ben" underneath the "mask" of Kylo. If you accept the new bit of extended canon, then this reading is strengthened by the notion that Kylo has heard about Han potentially selling Luke's medal for drinking money, explaining where this misapprehension (since it could really be a misapprehension on Kylo's part) arises. 

If Kylo baited Rey to come to Snoke's ship, into the heart of darkness, it probably wasn't a complete deception. When she arrives on the ship in that coffin-like escape pod, Kylo greets her with a passive, pale expression, then walks off and lets a couple of stormtrooper grunts take over. Which could be read as stand-ins for Rey and Kylo themselves: they have incomplete identities (white armour, masked faces), but they make a pair, and they may be bound together (handcuffs closed), but they also have the ability to set each other free (handcuffs open). In a film with a strong and persistent "hand-touching"/"hand-reaching" motif, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the symbolism of that small scene. Anyway, just in gazing on Rey for a second, it's like he's checking she's real. While his walking off suggests he can't bear to more fully open up to her. I'm not sure I'd call it trickery. We see how weak, lost, and needy Kylo is around Snoke, and how he appears to be trying to formulate a plan on the fly, once Rey has arrived and Snoke boasts about stoking his apprentice's -- key words -- "conflicted soul". There's also a nice little throwback to Anakin and Watto in this passage. Kylo ducking out of the way of the flying saber is like Anakin flinching when he first runs into the junk shop and ducks (or bunches up from) an expected slap/punch from his hovering owner. 

If there's an overarching problem here, it might be how much focus and weight is given to Kylo's story -- or just his sheer gravitic presence -- over Rey's. Rian Johnson was arguably a lot more interested in Kylo than in Rey. Although I think Abrams might be a little more Rey-focused. However, when Johnson partnered them up and showed a bridge emerging between them, the Sequel Trilogy may have developed a tilt favouring Kylo. And Kylo is, after all, the first character we see in TROS. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio (and all these writers and directors have been male) imported this special mechanism that Rian Johnson developed, yet that mechanism is highly favourable to Kylo, since he is always dominating Rey, or trying to suggest his philosophies and feelings to her through it. Even in TROS, he is the one manipulating Rey and exploiting the bridge again.

The fact that Kylo has a clearly-defined lineage may also enhance the tilting effect. In Johnson's picture, Rey is a "nobody", or "Rey Random". In TROS, she may be given a kind of royal bloodline, but the details are left murky. Her ephemerality is therefore a little overwhelmed by the "dark diamond" of Kylo. The big complaint is that she essentially handmaidens Kylo back to the light, and therefore plays a secondary or subservient role, stuck in the problematic "helper" role supposedly expected of women in bad and outdated fiction, and repeated as dogma down the ages. I don't entirely disagree there.

A trilogy that was meant to be about a female Jedi ends up being more about a male one that went bad. Instead of escaping or transcending the Bryonic pull of a sassy, petulant, and broken Skywalker male, the saga doubles down and says, "This motif is totally legit and here to stay." And, of course, for various reasons, anti-heroes and villains tend to be more appealing (or at least more memorable) in fiction than heroes. So I do see some issues there. Yet the last leg of the Skywalker journey (which is what I do increasingly see the trilogy as) retains its own appeal to me.  

And we find out that she WANTED to take his hand. Before he did anything to show that he was more than the villain Kylo Ren.

Well, it goes back to that classic Star Wars motif: "from a certain point of view". From a certain point of view, Kylo was constantly showing flashes of his "Ben" side around Rey, and Rey was always sensitive to it, being rewarded with a strong glimpse of it -- almost, if you will, a kind of orgasmic sensory overload (like Spock mind-melding with V'Ger in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture") -- when she touches hands with him in their strongest "Force Connect" scene in TLJ. Kylo also invaded her mind in TFA, and a lot of Ben apparently leaked out in that event, with Rey locating a deep source of anxiety for him: "And you, you're afraid that you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader." They both appear dazed and tired in that moment. Like they've just, y'know... had sexual congress. And again in the forest on Starkiller Base. Once on the inside, once on the outside. Anyway, from that moment on, Kylo knew that Rey had had a deep glimpse into his soul, and they are set on a fateful path. 

Is it as fleshed-out as Anakin and Padme's love story? Again, I think it depends on your point of view. And your point of view depends, I think, on how you think the Force works, or how you're prepared to see it working. Because seeing is believing. And again, that's what happens when Rey sees inside Kylo's mind, and even witnesses a future she strongly feels can be made real. In a way, the Sequel Trilogy is about revealing through concealing -- which is also all of Star Wars... from a certain point of view. If Han and Leia was a largely human bond, and Anakin and Padme's a bit more ethereal, then Rey and Kylo's is positively abstract. It's the boy-meets-girl, masculine-and-feminine-forces-of-the-universe-colliding, taken to its apotheosis. Star Wars deals in the paradox of how hard and sublimely simple it can be to go that remaining inch and seal a flaw in consciousness. Rey and Kylo is the "x"-ness and "y"-ness of the universe making peace with themselves. Leaving only an itself. The greatest adventure there is.