Death Star Human Resources Department: July 14, 2023

All Ahsoka, all the time, we unfortunately discuss Rise of Skywalker, spoiler alert LEGOS, and more

Jul 14, 2023

Hello there

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter. I am off of work for a couple days so it’s likely there are more words than usual since I don’t have my real job to distract me from this. We’re going to discuss the new Ahsoka trailer and what the show means for Disney, what Dark Rey could have been, a way cool new LEGO set, and more.

As always, if you like what I’m doing please subscribe and tell a friend. Let’s get to it.

The Steady Drip of Ahsoka Teasers

We are at t-minus 6 weeks or so until Ahsoka drops. A little behind the scenes here at Death Star HR HQ for the readers. I was trying to get this edition of the newsletter mostly done by the 10th due to some personal things that would potentially cut into my writing time. And I had mostly written an article about how even though we’re only about 6 weeks out from Ahsoka’s premire on August 23rd, there really hadn’t been much new info lately. There were some new photos released on the 8th, but that had been about it. I figured I’d make a couple off-hand comments about how great of a job they did with Sabine Wren’s mural from the end of Rebels and call it a day. The photo of the mural should have been a clue since upon closer inspection, Sabine has her short haircut from Rebels, not the long hair we’ve seen in the trailers so far. This is what I focus on, hair length of a fictional character.

OK cool. Fun but not a lead article for the Death Star HR newsletter. Then yesterday (or Monday, July 10th by the time you read this) we sort of get a new Ahsoka trailer. I say sort of because there’s no new footage from the show, but a bunch of footage we’ll probably see in the Ahsoka: Gallery show. You’ve got Rosario Dawson getting into makeup and doing some filming, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni talking about the character, and some reaction clips of people freaking out from the Ahsoka episode from season 2 of The Mandalorian. Which is such fantastic episode. Again, pretty cool and a little more to talk about but nothing new.

Oh but then there’s today. A subscriber texted me the link to the new Ahsoka trailer. I didn’t realize it was a new one until later in the day, I thought it was the one I talked about above, with the clips of Rosario Dawson. Boy oh boy, was I wrong. The new trailer is pretty much all new footage and gives us a few hints at the direction Ahsoka is going to go.

Does the shot of Sabine in front of the mural confirm that Rebels season 4 finale actually takes place in the Mandoverse or is it a flashback?
Grand Admiral Thrawn looks awesome! They absolutely nailed the look. I truly cannot wait to see him in action.
He also kinda looks like Elon Musk.
The World Between Worlds is likely going to factor heavily into the show. That means the Jedi Temple on Lothal will be a big set piece as well. Which leads to the question of are Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati from another time period and showed up through the World Between Worlds?
We have what I believe are live-action1 Purrgil at the 1:29 mark.
Another shot of the new Inquisitor. I think it’s going to be Ezra but I really hope it’s Mara Jade
And finally, we have what is likely going to be our redemption arc that every current Star Wars show has. Why are Ahoska and Sabine frenemies? Did Ahsoka try to train Sabine in the ways of the Force? There seems to be an implication there. Why did Ahsoka walk away from training her? Will Ahsoka finish her training and they become friends again? So. Many. Questions.
Is Sabine going to be turned into a Force user? She was able to use the Darksaber in Rebels but being a Force user does not seem to be a prerequisite for using it. Bo-Katan, Mando, and Moff Gideon were all able to use the Darksaber without being a Force user.

There’s a lot going on. August 23rd can’t get here soon enough!

Dark Rey: What Could Have Been

On last week’s newsletter, subscriber “Chouse”2 asked about my, ahem, dislike of The Rise of Skywalker and what if anything could redeem the movie and specifically if there was anything about Rey. The short answer is two parts is:

There’s very little that can be done in terms of just minor tweaks that could fix Rise of Skywalker. Short of using the World Between Worlds to travel back in time and stop JJ Abrams from getting anywhere near Episode IX.
It’s not Rey’s fault. Much like the actors in the Prequels, they were doing the best they could with the script and direction they had.

This is not a what’s wrong with The Rise of Skywalker post although one of those will certainly be happening sooner rather than later. Nor is it going to be a character study on Rey ~~Palpatine~~ Skywalker although we’ll probably get one of these days, especially with the new Rey movie in the works. Instead we’re going to talk about one thing and one thing only, Dark Rey.

We first saw Dark Rey in the D23 Special Look trailer. There’s no context to the scene, but you see a close up of Rey holding a red lightsaber with two parallel blades, the shot then zooms out and it’s revealed the lightsaber has a hinge and Rey changes it to a Darth Maul-style double bladed lightsaber. Pretty sweet! At the time we had no idea what was going to happen. It’s interesting to read an article with some theories, none of which are really correct. Well, maybe number 4 is. It’s at least the closest. Honestly any of those are better than what really happened.

The reality was, Dark Rey was a half-ass version of the Dagobah cave scene with Luke. As we all remember, while training with Yoda, Luke enters a cave3 on Dagobah that is strong with the Dark Side. The TL, DR version is Luke enters the cave, fights and defeats what appears to be Darth Vader, only to see that it’s his face under Vader’s helmet. A chilling reminder that he could still fall to the Dark Side just like his father did. On the other hand with Rey, there’s no fight. There’s no warning. There’s no Yoda warning Luke and him disregarding it. Instead, it’s just a quick vision. What’s even is worse, it didn’t have to be this bad.

Look, if Rise of Skywalker was going to get silly and bring Palpatine back. And then get even sillier and say Rey is the granddaughter of ol’ Palpy himself because her dad was a clone of Palpatine that didn’t like being stuck on Exegol4 you might as well really lean into the idea that Rey could turn to the Dark Side. But they don’t. It’s all played way too safe. Luke is tempted by the Dark Side first by Vader to destroy the Emperor and end the galactic civil war. And again by the Emperor to give in to his hatred and kill Vader to save everyone on the forest moon of Endor. Luke rocks the all-black Sith couture look and Force chokes a Gamorrean in Jabba’s palace.

Does Rey ever seriously think about the Dark Side? Nope. Heck, Rey doesn’t even get a cool look, as noted. Even Luke got some all black Dark Side drip in Return of the Jedi.

There was even some concept art for Dark Rey where she would have worn white, a decidedly non-Sith color. Call it the flip-side of Luke wearing black.

Look, Rey being actually tempted and even turning to the Dark Side would have made her a far more interesting character. That’s what happens though when Disney decides there needs to be a Sequel Trilogy without actually first plotting out the well, plot of said Sequel Trilogy. The moments are there. Rey from a planet that’s so backwater even the Tatooine farmboy thinks it’s in the middle of nowhere. She was abandoned by her parents and forced to survive as a junk scavenger. At one point, probably 10 minutes before filming started, it was decided she’s got Palpatine blood running through her veins. So why not lean into the Dark Side? We get flashes of it. She clearly calls upon the Dark Side in her dual with Kylo Ren in The Force Awakes. She attacks Luke in The Last Jedi. Given her life I don’t think anyone would particularly blame Rey if she gave in. She could have fallen to the Dark Side in Last Jedi after seeing Luke die, and thinking there’s no hope left. Only for Leia to redeem her. Or just copy Return of the Jedi and have her to turn away from the Dark Side by killing Palpatine, again.

Great Moments in Star Wars Merchandising

The idea behind great moments in Star Wars merchandising is to focus on the weird, things that you see and wonder who exactly at Lucasfilm approved this. But every once in a while we’re going to focus on something really cool that I would love to have on a shelf here at Death Star HR HQ. That’s what we’re doing today.

Late last week some sharp eyes spotted the LEGO Ghost and Phantom II on the Australian LEGO store. This is cool, no two ways about it.

It’s interesting who and who isn’t included for the minifigs. This is clearly an Ahsoka era model, not Rebels. The Ahsoka minifig (not included) in the lower left-hand corner is the obvious giveaway.

You also get Lt. Beyta, Jacen Syndulla, First Officer Hawkins, Chopper (C1-10P), and General Hera Syndulla. Hera is wearing the same thing you see in the Ahsoka trailer and Jacen is an adult now. He was a toddler when Rebels ended. I don’t believe Jacen has popped up in the Ahsoka trailer but this seems to be a confirmation he’ll make an appearance.

I was also going to do a bit about if Jacen is the love child of a Twi'lek and a human, why does he look completely human and talk about how genetics in Star Wars works and maybe it’s just a little speciesist to ignore his Twi'lek DNA. But then I found there is, of course, a Wookieepedia article already covering this very topic. Thanks, nerds. Way to ruin my bit.

I had a decent Star Wars LEGO collection for a while but sold them years ago. It’s one of those things I often think about getting back into but ultimately decide the time and money isn’t worth it, and more importantly I just don’t have the storage space. I currently have one LEGO set, the Dagobah Jedi Training Diorama. Given to me as a present by someone5 who should know better than to tempt me with Star Wars collectibles.

https://www.lego.com/cdn/cs/set/assets/bltb94f536295aefebf/75330.png?format=webply&fit=bounds&quality=75&width=1200&height=1200&dpr=1

From the Depths of Wookieepedia

Unlike last week, this week on From the Depths of Wookieepedia we’re at least going to feature somebody with a name. And that somebody is Rini. Surely you know who Rini is? No? OK, Rini makes two appearances in the General Grievous comic book series. He works as a communications guy on a mining station that gets attacked by the Separatists. Rini and some of the other miners befriend a group of Jedi, one master and two Padawans who are trying to hunt down Grievous.

Side note, why the heck would you send a bunch of Padawans to try and stop Grievous? Dude is literally a Jedi-killing machine who collects the lightsabers of the Jedi he’s killed. A bunch of Padawans aren’t going to cut it. Anyway, Rini and crew eventually figure out where Grievous is and use a stolen Trade Federation ship to go after him and some other captured Jedi. Presumably it doesn’t end well for our heroes.