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I loved Star Wars Episode 7: THE FORCE AWAKENS. My 4th favorite SW movie after the originals. Although it was not made by George Lucas I thought TFA had even more of an authentic "SW feel" than the prequels. I loved the characters and thought it was a great set up for a new trilogy, full of potential.

Unfortunately, Star Wars Episode 8: THE LAST JEDI, was one of the biggest disappointments in my movie-going lifetime. In my opinion TLJ not only stubbornly refused to deliver on the promises of TFA, but also seemed to diminish and weaken ALL the characters, new and old. I can forgive a clumsily-made movie if its heart is in the right place. But TLJ had a sense of maliciousness about it... a gleeful breaking of everyone else's favorite toys.

So I went into Star Wars Episode 9: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER with cautious optimism but lowered expectations. And to my great relief and happiness, found myself loving it. THE RISE OF SKYWALKER not only picks up all those dangling story threads from TFA and resolves them, but also restored the characters and made me love them again. It repeatedly addressed and righted the wrongs of TLJ, sent Rey on an almost Indiana Jones style adventure and explained her true parentage - as the most wickedly perfect revelation I could have hoped for. ...And that whole subplot/ mystery about Ochi, the evil Jedi Hunter... that's the kind of stuff that just gets my imagination going. ROS is not perfect, by any stretch - as much as I love its frenetic, runaway rollercoaster pacing, there are places where I wish it would slow down and give certain scenes a little more room to breathe (Lando's intro being a prime example). I also think the genuinely cool new female bounty hunter character Zori Bliss is beautifully introduced and then criminally underused (I would have loved to see her "join the team" when they fled Kijimi and it makes no sense that she stayed behind). But overall, ROS is a fun, visually cool adventure that deserves bonus points for performing the miracle of rescuing the Sequel Trilogy from The Last Jedi doldrums.

BUT... YOU KNOW ME... My favorite things in Star Wars are ALWAYS the crazy creatures! My favorite creature in RISE OF SKYWALKER, was ALBREHK. The weird and wacky idea of the SITH ALCHEMIST being an EVIL CHIMPANZEE felt so very "1970s Sci Fi movie", to me. Yeah, he was only in the movie for 2 minutes, but the same could be said for many other Star Wars aliens I've been obsessed with since elementary school. What a cool concept and design. I very badly want an action figure of Albrehk!

This piece was drawn traditionally in inks and colored digitally on Photoshop.

Description

I loved Star Wars Episode 7: THE FORCE AWAKENS. My 4th favorite SW movie after the originals. Although it was not made by George Lucas I thought TFA had even more of an authentic "SW feel" than the prequels. I loved the characters and thought it was a great set up for a new trilogy, full of potential.

Unfortunately, Star Wars Episode 8: THE LAST JEDI, was one of the biggest disappointments in my movie-going lifetime. In my opinion TLJ not only stubbornly refused to deliver on the promises of TFA, but also seemed to diminish and weaken ALL the characters, new and old. I can forgive a clumsily-made movie if its heart is in the right place. But TLJ had a sense of maliciousness about it... a gleeful breaking of everyone else's favorite toys.

So I went into Star Wars Episode 9: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER with cautious optimism but lowered expectations. And to my great relief and happiness, found myself loving it. THE RISE OF SKYWALKER not only picks up all those dangling story threads from TFA and resolves them, but also restored the characters and made me love them again. It repeatedly addressed and righted the wrongs of TLJ, sent Rey on an almost Indiana Jones style adventure and explained her true parentage - as the most wickedly perfect revelation I could have hoped for. ...And that whole subplot/ mystery about Ochi, the evil Jedi Hunter... that's the kind of stuff that just gets my imagination going. ROS is not perfect, by any stretch - as much as I love its frenetic, runaway rollercoaster pacing, there are places where I wish it would slow down and give certain scenes a little more room to breathe (Lando's intro being a prime example). I also think the genuinely cool new female bounty hunter character Zori Bliss is beautifully introduced and then criminally underused (I would have loved to see her "join the team" when they fled Kijimi and it makes no sense that she stayed behind). But overall, ROS is a fun, visually cool adventure that deserves bonus points for performing the miracle of rescuing the Sequel Trilogy from The Last Jedi doldrums.

BUT... YOU KNOW ME... My favorite things in Star Wars are ALWAYS the crazy creatures! My favorite creature in RISE OF SKYWALKER, was ALBREHK. The weird and wacky idea of the SITH ALCHEMIST being an EVIL CHIMPANZEE felt so very "1970s Sci Fi movie", to me. Yeah, he was only in the movie for 2 minutes, but the same could be said for many other Star Wars aliens I've been obsessed with since elementary school. What a cool concept and design. I very badly want an action figure of Albrehk!

This piece was drawn traditionally in inks and colored digitally on Photoshop.