It’s been two months since we did our “State of Star Wars” episode where we essentially eviscerated the current situation in regards to the decision making process at Lucasfilm and their seeming inability to get a movie into production, among other things. Well in that time, we’ve had a smattering of news stories of all stripes, which Julian and Rachel cover in this episode, but what really prompted another Bonus Episode was the latest piece, again from The Hollywood Reporter, exploring the...

Following the cancellation of ‘The Acolyte’, many fans are taking a step back and asking questions about the state of the franchise. And rightly so, considering the confused state that many have been left in. Especially considering that Lucasfilm continues to leave us in the dark, with no official word following the recent cancellation. They've also done very little to inspire trust in their current creative process given the number of high profile project announcements that have never come...

With the decision to go with another flashback episode last week, ‘The Acolyte’ season finale had a lot of work to do to wrap up all the loose threads left dangling. Unfortunately, the series largely didn’t leave itself enough time to conclude those plotlines in a satisfying way. Yes, the lightsaber combat continues to be amazing, and despite some very good character work in episode 6, the series continues to lack the patience (and runtime) to give the major emotional beats time to breath....

Unfortunately, the flashback format worked against this episode from the start. Not enough interesting new information was revealed to justify breaking the momentum the show had leading into this week. After an incredible action episode, 'The Acolyte' followed that up with a great character episode that teased a fascinating finish, despite there still being many threads left dangling. Due to the decision to place this second flashback episode, this time from the Jedi's perspective, in this...

After last week's action-heavy episode left our jaws on the floor from the sheer spectacle and shocking character deaths, 'The Acolyte' uses this follow-up episode to give us a breather. With the main characters now split between three different plotlines, we spend our time jumping between a series of one-on-one conversations, reminiscent of 'Game of Thrones' when it was at it's best. The most interesting of which is Osha and The Stranger/Qimir, as we see the beginnings of the temptation to...

Star Wars fans rejoice! ‘The Acolyte’ has delivered some of the best lightsaber action we’ve seen in many years. Unfortunately, the good comes with the bad. At least for the characters on the show. As expected, with The Master/The Stranger fully entering the story, it meant that some Jedi weren’t long for this world. That proved to be true more than I think anyone expected. However, as Jecki herself said only last week, “It’s always an honor to get to witness anything or anyone...

After a bit of a detour last week, spending an entire episode in flashback, we return to the main adventure. This week's episode, "Day", is largely a positive step forward for the series, bringing fun (if sparse) lightsaber action, improved character development, and an enhanced sense of place, as they spend less time in cramped sets and more time shooting on location. That all being said, it's the big finish that will leave the biggest impression. Unfortunately, the decision to cut things...

After starting off the series with a series of Jedi murders to set the tone, with episode 3 we flash back 16 years to Osha and Mae's secret origin. Which just happens to feature a coven of witches, Jedi space cops testing Padawans, and large force related questions about the twin's parentage. All under twin moons in eclipse. Though not perfect from an acting and pacing perspective, the intrigue offered by the force related mysticism, and what exactly happened that night that "Mae set a fire",...

After a very short hiatus (RIP ‘The Bad Batch’, we already miss thee), Small Screen Star Wars is back to cover the latest Star Wars series on Disney+. After a heavy dose of animation, we return to live action. Our last taste being ‘Ahsoka’ late last year, which was met with mixed reviews. However, that’s about where the similarities with recent live action Star Wars end, as ‘The Acolyte’ takes us to an entirely new era. Back nearly 100 years BBY to the age of the High Republic, where Jedi are...

Last year on Star Wars Day (May the 4th), Lucasfilm Animation surprised us with 'Tales of the Jedi' a mini-series of shorts dedicated to showing some untold stories from before the fall of the Jedi. This seems to have become somewhat of a tradition, as this year, on the same day, we got 'Tales of the Empire'. A darker twist on the same concept. This time though, it was bit more focused. Two stories, told in three parts each, for a total of six shorts. The first story follows Morgan Elsbeth...

It's with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Clone Force 99, and their adorable clone sidekick. It may be somewhat surprising that none of our heroes met an untimely end in this series finale. Sure, maybe we should have guessed as much, considering this is ultimately a kids show, but after last season's shocking death of Tech, the stakes felt more real here than they have in Star Wars for a long time. It's those stakes that allowed me, after coming out the other side of the emotional...

There are few words more exciting to use in the context of a television series than, “penultimate”. The word itself seems to exude excitement, suspense, and it comes with a heavy sense of inevitability. Unfortunately for ‘The Bad Batch’, the penultimate episode to this series instead calls to mind comparisons to ‘Game of Thrones’ final season. Which with every passing moment, audiences got more and more worried that there just wouldn’t be enough time to complete the story in a satisfying way....

As we close in on the series finale, you'd like to see episodes with longer runtimes. The concern being that we might run out of time to effectively wrap up all the story threads before the series wraps up. Despite only coming in at 26 minutes this week (about average for the series), "Into the Breach" gets a pass on this nitpick for two main reasons. Firstly, the pacing is near perfect. There isn't an ounce of fat in this episode, and the momentum caring the viewer into some extremely tense...

After this week, 'The Bad Batch' is only left with three more episodes before the series wraps up entirely. Last week's two-parter set the stage for a clear endgame - The Batch need to find Tantiss Base and rescue Omega. With that in mind, this week sets up an intriguing idea off the jump - perhaps the former Admiral, now prisoner, Rampart, knows the location. Unfortunately, the episode spins it's wheels with a "mission of the week" format without really moving the plot along in any...

This final season of 'The Bad Batch' is coming at us fast. It was less than a month ago that we were treated to a dramatic two-part episode that left the team reeling, and now again this week another two-part episode drops, and it's another doozy. First, with "Identity Crises" we spend time back on Tantiss with Doctor Emerie Karr as she takes over for Nala Se on Project Necromancer. It's the first time a current or former member of The Batch doesn't appear on screen, as we instead spend the...

The trailer for this final season of 'The Bad Batch' teased the return of a fan favourite character from 'The Clone Wars'. A Sith assassin who has been part of Star Wars since the Tartakovsky animated shorts, who seemingly died in a novel adapted from an unused story from an animated series, only to return in all her glory as neither Sith nor Jedi. That's right folks Asaj Ventress returns to the screen as the titular "harbinger" of bad news. Julian and Rachel discuss Asaj's big return, what...

After an exciting two-parter last week, where the larger clone conspiracy plotline was brought to the fore, we return to something a bit more quaint. This week's episode falls more into the "mission of week" type format. Something we got pretty used to from seasons 1 and 2, but haven't seen much of this season. That is likely due to the fact that this is the final season, and there just isn't as much time to spend on episodes that don't really drive plot or character development. This week's...

The larger clone struggle returns to center stage with the return of some fan favorites, in what feels like a sequel to the stellar “Clone Conspiracy” episode from season 2. This two-part episode ramps up tension quickly and then relieves it with exciting action set pieces framed by gorgeous scenery. Crosshair and Omega continue to play a vital role at the center of the plot, and with the assassin clones becoming a larger part of the mystery, we are eager to learn more about how everything...

The exciting escape last week left us with the unresolved conflict between Crosshair and the rest of his former squad. In the podcast we discussed how it would be a good idea for the show to slow down for a moment and let Crosshair hash things out with Hunter and Wrecker before jumping back into a larger plot driven narrative. Fortunately it seems like the folks over at Lucasfilm Animation were way ahead of us, as they did just that this week. With a return to Pabu for a reset, the team meets...

With the extra large premiere out of the way, Julian and Rachel can settle back into the traditional weekly cadence. Unfortunately life finds a way to disrupt well laid plans. As such, this podcast drops a day later than usual - apologies. The episode itself was high stakes and thrilling from the jump, and had a potent finish that gave us a good reset for the rest of the season. We got to explore a new planet, Lau, which is already under a heavy Imperial presence and ruled by the iron fist...

Smell that regs? That's the smell of fresh Star Wars animation - breath it in. 'The Bad Batch' dropped it's hotly anticipated 3-part premiere this week and your Small Screen Star Wars hosts are back to unpack each beautifully crafted moment from "Confined", "Paths Unknown", and "Shadows of Tantiss" . Buckle up, as the three episodes come in around 90 minutes in total, which means you are in for a full 2.5 hour recap and review from Julian and Rachel, as the melancholy journey toward the...

Maybe time works differently in the Star Wars universe because it feels like it was just yesterday that we were flipping over the calendar from 2022 to 2023. We were so young and naive. We didn't know a Hollywood strike would bring production of all our most anticipated projects to a grinding halt, and we hadn't yet learned to never trust a movie announcement from Lucasfilm, or that Mando S3 would land with such a thud. But here we are, a year later, looking ahead at another year of Star...

There it is folks. The big finale for Dave Filoni's first full season of live action Star Wars. Though it was a little bumpy at times, most can probably agree that 'Ahsoka' brought it in the parts that matter most. Characters and emotional through-lines were strong, the plot satisfying, the action thrilling, and most importantly they were able to stick the landing. Sure, there's still plenty of unanswered mysteries, and with no clear understanding of how the story will continue (we have yet...

It never ceases to surprise me how quickly 8-episode seasons of TV fly by. Here we are, already at the penultimate episode of the season (everyone's favourite TV related word, maybe only next to "titular"). With only the season finale left to rap things up, there's some anxiety amongst the fandom that there won't be enough time in only one episode to provide a satisfying finish to what has largely been a very successful season of TV. Both in terms of quality of storytelling but also fan...