I grew up a child of the 70's. If you told 8 year old me, that there would be a Star Wars TV show and it would hold zero interest for me, I would have called you a liar. Yet...here we are.

By this point, I'm cheering for the First Order.

"Woman suck at playing men." Saw this and busted out laughing! 😂 Well said sir.

I thought the exact same thing about the captain letting a ship that he thought was suspicious onto his ship just because he wanted to "call their bluff".

The great actress Emily Blunt: “It’s the worst thing ever when you open a script and read the words ‘strong female lead. That makes me roll my eyes. I’m already out. I’m bored. Those roles are written as incredibly stoic, you spend the whole time acting tough and saying tough things.”

It is the greatest irony that in modern feminism, a powerful woman is defined as one who is just like a man and does man things better than he can. If only they knew how much power over men they have with femininity. My wife sure does. 🙂

As an old man I can tell you that Clint Eastwood often played a bad ass gun slinger BUT while doing these roles he rarely opened his mouth to even speak a sentence. When your truly bad ass personified you do not have to speak a word ---- everyone knows it by your mere physical presence. Either you can pull it off or not , most actors cannot pull it off , and zero women actresses can do it. But women can pull of being sultry and alluring just by their mere physical presence , men cannot . So it goes.There are two sexes , each with their own superpowers. Live with it snowflakes , and please younger generation , stop trying to turn women into men and men into women. It ruins everything.

"If everyone is special, no one is special." This fact has been lost on all teachers these days.

As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I never thought I'd get so jaded I couldn't even be bothered to check this show out, but here we are. I'm not complaining about the quality of this latest "product", I'm just no longer interested.

"Lightsabers have 100% block rate against blasters." Unless you are Luke Skywalker. He took one to the hand on Jabba's barge. Shows you how much better the women are.

I didn't want this to be bad, but I knew there was almost no way it wouldn't be. The needs of story-telling are so far down the list of priorities for the industry right now, it's absurd. Thank you for throwing yourself on that stink grenade, Paul, so others don't have to.

Agreed, "Momma Bear" badassery, mixed with the accompanying emotional side, is far more convincing. It's why Ripley in Aliens is such an icon.

Yes, woman trying to seem male tough just comes off as corny as hell. When they just act badass, like Ellen Ripley then it works perfectly.

You nailed my biggest beef with the First Order! Like, how is it so well funded? The book series was CLEAR that all that was left was the Imperial Remnants, with warlords carving out their little pieces of the galaxy. It was so stupid of Disney to make the First Order as powerful as the Empire. They had literally thousands of years of stories already set in the expanded universe and they pretty much just took a dump on all of it.

The original Thrawn books did a great job exploring the breakup of the Empire. It got divided up among Grand Moffs and Grand Admirals kinda like the breakup of Alexander's empire. The new Republic is mopping up the warlords when Grand Admiral Thrawn returns from the far edges of the Empire having united several warlords under him thanks to an alien technology that allows him to brainwash you into happy, humble servitude. Han, Liea and Luke go out to face and defeat him before he can reunite the Empire while the Republic flounders under bureaucratic infighting amongst the various united planets. It's another Luke story they are taking away from Luke.

The scary part is there are Star Wars fans that are like starving animals, ready to devour anything thrown at them, no matter how bad it is. So Disney continues to shovel out rotten garbage and these “fans” are just gobbling it up. After consuming this hot garbage for so long, they are convinced that this is amazing because they can’t tell the difference any more. And this will all lead back to the recent trilogy, where this toxic spill first started.

All Disney Star Wars has done is show Qui-Gon to be a massive whimp by being killed by a lightsaber to the stomach. When three other far less powerful and important characters just shrug of that sort of damage. One of them even did it as a child and as an adult.

If Disney sells Star Wars, can the new owners of the franchise ignore the Disney garbage?

One would think Disney would have learned from the “map to like skywalker” that maps to people is a stupid idea.

In a world of galactic communicators and "light-speed tracking", this franchise pulls over for a lot of maps lately. They never asked for directions when Lucas was in charge.

"Rebel without applause." That's gold, Chato!

My own observation of contemporary actresses’ attempts at gravitas has been that they always infuse it with contempt. No matter what the situation is, serious dialogue is delivered with a sense of superiority and barely-restrained disgust.

Ironically the story you describe at 6:00 (the Rebels trying to become the legitimate government) is EXACTLY what the Timothy Zhan Heir to the Empire trilogy of books followed and they were superb. They also introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn who was a totally new (to Star Wars) style of villain of extreme intelligence and skills in planning to defeat his enemies My advice, read those and don't watch Disney 🙂

Its a shame because Ahsoka was never meant, acted, or was remotely "like a man". She was a passionate female jedi. She was strong. You don't need to be like a man to be powerful.

I’m sure Thrawn will be a disappointment, but his daughter…

What does any of this matter anyway? The whole jedi thing was a scam the whole time. They tricked everyone into fighting meaningless space battles when all they had to do was fly a ship by lightspeed into a planet or a Death Star to destroy it thus ending a threat. Kudos to a brave purple haired woman for figuring out this enduring mystery and bringing peace to the galaxy.

The best insult I’ve ever heard on Dave Filoni is “that Pennsylvania boy who wears a cowboy hat”. That made me laugh so hard I can’t believe he’s been pretending to be a cowboy for 15 years and he isn’t even from the south

I loved your review, Chato. I got many laughs out of it: "letting a Chihuahua off its leash", "rebel without applause", "doing some Indiana Jones thing"... At this point in time, I just laugh at all the stupidity in SW (they really threw cannon away!) and stop caring about it. These girl-bosses getting stabbed and nothing but a scar (it's just a flesh wound?) number is over ridiculous!

My default is to simply avoid anything Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel and DC until I hear my favorite reviewers weigh in. Saving tons of time and money. Thanks for this service Chato.

I'm here to support Chato. NOT disney. And I am unanimous in that!

I didn't expect much but they still managed to disappoint.

So, I can safely ignore Ahsoka and go back to reading good literature that is crafted with coherent story progression instead of irrational visual hyperactivity.

Fun Fact: I watched the entire series of The Clone Wars and Rebels and I went to watch Ahsoka bearing the knowledge of what happened. After I watched the two episodes of Ahsoka. I was incredible disappointed with the flat, emotionless, and boring acting from the main three leads. They're not the same characters I knew of from The Clone Wars and Rebels. It's fking bad.

As long as there is grass growing and paint drying I will always have something better to do with my time than watch Disney Girl Power Star Wars! 😮

Thank You for not insulting everyone’s intelligence. People can figure out what’s going on in a show without having seen another show. Although, one still has to care about the property in the first place to tune in.

I only watched two seasons of Clone Wars before I dropped it as it looked like the Ahsoka show, featuring Obi-Wan and Anakin. I also only watched two seasons of Rebels. That show made a terrible mess of the lore and continuously undermined its stakes. Fun fact, George Lucas killed Ahsoka, but Filoni loved her so much he introduced time travel to Star Wars to resurrect her. Count me out of the Filoni-verse.

I absolutely REFUSE to support Disney in their feminisation and desecration of entertainment and popular culture.

Speaking of gravitas, it is also rare for women to be intimidating with their shouting or yelling. Remember how comical it was when Reva tried to do a deep voice 'Tell me!' screams in Obiwan? Yeah, women aren't scary like that. A woman being intimidating is when Cersei Lannister or Furiosa were speaking in a cool, calm manor, but it was about what they were saying, not if they could scream. Whenever women in movies do the amazon scream I laugh a little. They just sound like cheerleaders excited to see their old sorority friends.

great line from the Incredibles, "when everyone is super, no one will be"

Omg why did I never stopped to analyse the mama bear trope? I freaking love it, I was fanboying all the way through with Ridley and screaming my lungs out on the few scenes from Yor in Spyxfamily. It's a really powerful tool and bad ass all the way

Representation! Can't you see the poster? It has representation!

Wasn’t going to watch it anyway. Since they fired Gina Carano from Mando Season 2 and they butchered Obi Wan Kenobi. Lmao

Ahsoka = An inferior replacement for Shaak Ti. So much so that Ahsoka doesn't even keep her proper head bits. I don't think it's a small gripe to say that the montral and lekku of Ahsoka in the live action version is too small, because the first togruta we got was Shaak Ti. While Shaak wasn't doing lots of fancy plasma fencing in the prequel films, she nevertheless literally showed us what an adult woman of her species was supposed to look like. In the animation material where Ahsoka originated, and in Rebels where she was continued, we literally see her montral and lekku grow with age, with both TCW and Rebels depicting her with the full fledged version. ...so why is Rosario wearing a crappy costume piece that in no way looks like it's actually an organic part of her body? It just looks like a sci-fi durag. In usual fashion, Disney tells us this was chosen because of the impracticality of stunt choreography while wearing the proper Shaak Ti montral/lekku. Which is absolutely hilarious to even suggest in today's world. Because CGI. And what do we all know about Disney's relationship with VFX folks? They work them like sweat shops so bad that most VFX companies refuse to work with Disney. So it's obvious that these shows are really cut rate productions; they can't afford all the CGI they need, so they had to prioritize what was essential, then work around the other limitations. Obviously if Disney hadn't pissed off everyone working on CGI today, they could've had two headpieces; a green one for stunt scenes where the head bits are filled in during post production, and a physical one for tame scenes to seal the look. That's rather commonplace in much of filmmaking for at least 20 years now. At the end of the day, I'm not really fond of Ahsoka. I watched TCW for the first time earlier this year, I've yet to actually watch Rebels, but nevertheless, I felt that Anakin didn't need an apprentice, and that Ahsoka's part in the stories could've been handed to other Jedi so we could've seen their deeds during the Clone Wars. I'd much rather have had more screentime with Shaak than Ahsoka.

what I can not get over is how filoni missed the opportunity to give sabine some (MUCH needed) humility and depth by having the apprentice slice off her hand instead of running her through. If the character is going to survive anyway, why dont we take the opportunity to grow her as a character and have sabine, the artsy, graffiti-loving character, lose her drawing hand! to the villain! Drama! Intrigue! Revenge! Motivation! instead she gets qui-gon'd and patched up by lunch time the next morning. YAWN!

Brie Larson thinks if she doesn’t smile she’s a bad***.

A great example of what Chato is opining here can be found in Javier Bardem's chilling 'Coin Toss' scene in No Country for Old Men. There is an inherent implication of cold-blooded violence in his delivery, though he never utters a direct threat at all. I cannot think of a single female actress (not even Bette Davis!) that could have replicated that performance with the same level of menace. Women are bad ass when they are fighting for a cause (family or social) - from Ripley, to Princess Leia, to Elaine Benis - as per Chato's mamma bear reference. If by bad ass we mean "this is someone you don't want to mess with" - there are men and women of all stripes I'd put in that category, for different reasons.

After all their failures, Disney still think all you need is the look/badge. If they were making cars, they would be making three wheelers, and selling them as a Ferrari.

To be honest I liked the original Ashoka, I enjoyed The Clone Wars and to a lesser degree Rebels, both of which featured the Ashoka character. If Disney hadn't thoroughly effed up the Star Wars sequels and shows, I would be excited for this live action version of Ashoka. But they did, so I'm not.

An interesting assessment. I always thought Lucy Lawless pulled it off to a decent degree. Yes, Xena was campy nonsense but she played stoic warrior pretty well when called on. Xena could be monotone, haughty and closed off but was a multifaceted character, she switched between typical gender roles and mannerisms, she was also nearly 6 feet tall which helped (Though Lucy couldn't fight for shit). But that type of character was a rarity in the 90s. Of course there were lots of good female characters in sci-fi and fantasy then, many as leaders, but hers was different. Now, Hollywood seems to ONLY want to write/play that role. Very few can pull it off.

What bothers me the most about SW is the lack of basic wall cameras in a futuristic setting.

Linda Hamilton did "man tough" extremely well in the Terminator series. But one could say she was doing *mama bear* in them but she wasn't in the last film. And Sigourney Weaver in Aliens.

It's interesting that you are seeing actresses complain that many of their roles are now "2 dimensional" by requring their characters to be the all knowing, all powerful, all caring, all knowledgeable women bosses. Unfortunately, these complaints are ignored or ridiculed by female Hollywood leaders (boses) and some male directors who are emulating females. As the leadership is replaced (due to many things such as losing billions of dollars) you will see the roles begin to change back. It's inevitable since the Hollywood's messages don't resonate with normal people.

I can't with the girl boss anymore. I'm all girl bossed out.

Desperately needed some common sense after soldiering on through those two episodes and it looks like I came to the right place. You did a great job fella. 👍

“I never saw Rebels or Clone Wars” sums up this entire review.

There's a reason why we have main characters and side characters. Now, every damn character, however tangential, is given their own show. It's like doing a whole show on the life and death of Greedo: from his birth, all the way up to that moment he came face to face with Han Solo's blaster in Mos Aisley.

Great review! Brutal Honesty is in such short supply these days.

"The map reveals the location of Grand Admiral Thrawn" Except since he's, y'know, an admiral, he takes his fleet and goes somewhere else so the map was useless.

There are women who are convincing in an action role and as main characters, but they are well written, interesting and you follow their character development. Best examples Alien, and more recently: The Expanse.

Since her creation, Asohka has been built up very well. She started as a never before mentioned padawan to Anakin Skywalker and she was loathed. She was sassy, a bit of a know it all and seemed utterly unnecessary, a character only designed for little kids to relate to.... but something happened over seven seasons of Clone Wars and four seasons of Rebels. Asohka DEVELOPED into one of the better Star Wars characters. I know the animation style puts off a lot of people and they dismiss it as a "kids show", but those shows really give us some of the best Star Wars out there. I was initially excited to see her getting her own series but when I saw the first trailer invoking "Heir to the Empire" and everything looking like another Kathleen Kennedy "girl power" wet dream I got a bad feeling. Leave it to Disney to kill every bit of good will built up for a great character. They cannot help themselves

James from Schafrillas Productions said on Twitter about Ahsoka "My childhood hero is getting her own show and I feel nothing." If that doesn't sum up not only this show, but current Star Wars as a whole, I don't know what does.

Or as we said in Arizona, "Big hat. No cattle."

Ahsoka stopped being Ahsoka when they reinvented her for Rebels.

I have started calling Disney "Yensid," because they are the opposite of what they claim to be. This synopsis of the plot makes me want to root for the bad guys. And the end of Disney... forever.

DISNEY: Please pay our streaming service and watch our new series Ahsoka ME: Why?

So hopefully it is now "In Filoni we no longer trust." Instead it is "Show me quality or F off."

This review gives me more entertaining than the first two episodes , also the acting on this review is much better as well

"All hat, no cow." - right on man, thanks Chato!

So it’s another Disney Girl Boss: The Ashoka Chronicles?

In Star Wars universe, Carrie Fisher was a great female badass. In a different universe, Dredd featured two female badasses, Lena Headey and Olivia Thirlby.

I never thought I would have this level of apathy for Star Wars…

5:38 This is the big problem I've had with the Sequel Trilogy, lore-wise it's completely illogical that the remnants of the Empire can recover so quickly and dramatically to be able to contest an opposing force (new republic). Chato you're right, that idea should have been the plot if the trilogy

Clint and Lee Van Cleef. The thought of seeing both of them in their prime doing Star Wars...that would definitely be sight to behold.

Chato, your analysis is spot on….something has been bothering me I couldn’t put my finger on. They wrote all the lead female characters as men but it comes across as dull and wooden when they execute it. 🤯

I'm excited for this review to get more views than the actual show!

"All hat, no cow." Well that and "Drugstore Cowboy".

The whole thing was boring. Cameras holding for far to long, gulfs of silence between EVERY line. It felt like padding, padding, padding.

It would be a huge help if ANY of those girl-bosses had ANY personality trait beyond "stoic". But they dont.

Funny how in the 80’s we had tough scene stealing women without forcing it. Alien,Terminator and so on. Movies are finished.

I liked the comparison Gary made. How badass was Madame Gao? Granted she was a villain but it can be done. I think you did a good job dropping the feelings we all have for SW and keeping it clean. That's pretty hard for me.

No wonder he Jedi Order failed their weapons are no more dangerous than glow in the dark toy swords I used to play with a 6 year old. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Thank you for not pulling your punches, Chato 👍

sigh.... this era in filmmaking cannot end soon enough. Seriously... I'm getting old - I'd like to see a return to good films as the norm rather than the exception before I die.

After watching the first two episodes i must agree with you. Most annoying was the knowing half smiles that were so smug

Women CAN play a role with some gravitas. Please see Cate Blanchett as Galadriel in Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. That being said, that's the ONLY example I can mention. The exception confirms the rule, I guess.

I think not having the backstory with this makes for a much better review though everyone who knows those stories are still destroying it. So far this is the my favorite review for being so brief while covering everything that needed to be explained and pointing out the best and worst of the show.

I threw in the towel when the Mando ep in BoBF undid the accomplishment of S2 of Mando. And there's been so much bad Star Wars now that stems from Vader being Luke's father that I only rewatch Star Wars (1977). The copy I have doesn't even have "Episode IV" in the opening crawl! 😛

The idea that any kind of "map" would know the exact location of a person in a galaxy where there's FTL travel is the second dumbest trope to come out of Disney Star Wars. Just rename the franchise to The PowerForce Girls and Their Star Maps

Lucasfilm, and by extension Disney, continues its streak of learning the wrong lessons.

Thank you for the videos. I feel like in original Star Wars a Jedi if fighting in a city would have accompanied a group of troops to sense danger and help in a close quarter fight. In Disney Star Wars the troops wait outside the city while one Jedi tackles it alone.

Yeah, in the original star wars and even most of the games in the early 2000s that accompanied the prequels. Force use was considered a rare thing. If you showed it off in public you wee met with gasps, and most normal folk in the universe didn't understand it. Those who had heard about it relegated it to myth and legend. The overuse of force powers is pretty terrible... Hollywood broke themselves on the superhero model, they don't know how to do something else anymore.

I’m just glad in this day and age we’re able to tend to the needs of the screaming harpies. I can rest easy knowing that they are able to find their own self worth in a children’s show. How else could they possibly learn to respect themselves? Thank you for this subscription-based heroism Disney, truly you are performing an invaluable service for all hu-person-kind.

Thanks for saving us all the emotional trauma of sitting thru it. I figured it would probably have resonance to waking up the morning after to realise you made love to bucket of smashed crabs.

"...letting a Chihuahua off its leash." - CMC 🤣🤣🤣

It seems like almost every character that Disney touches (Luke, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, etc...), the characters get ruined. Ahsoka was awesome before Disney, so were all the other characters that Disney messed up. Disney completely screwed Luke over. And then you see what they did with Rey, Finn, Rose, and so many other characters, who could have had so much potential, but Disney fudged them up. Padme and Leia were strong and powerful women (and Ahsoka--Before she was Disneyified. Disney seems to not know how to make a good character (for Star Wars, at least). I do have to say that I think that Mando (The Mandolorian) was a good character. Grogu was also a cute and entertaining character. Disney makes the characters relive and make the same mistakes over and over again, it seems like.

I remember the day that I no longer cared about starwas . It was liberating. I could hear deep with in myself self these words "Dolby has clothes, Dolby is free...."

Respect as always to you, Chato. Speak your mind. That is what living in a free society is all about.

TFA was over the moment Poe put the "map" into the droid, and that was enough for me. The ONLY silver lining of the destruction of the greatest IP ever known is that people like you give us hilarious takes on Doucheney's garbage products. THANKS!

Oh yes, you know what Star Wars really needs? A Multiverse 🎉

Bette Davis was awesome A force of nature.. she didn’t need bourbon or cigarettes to make her the raw natural talent that she was