Every episode begins and is intercut with elder Lando playing a card game in a cantina, and telling an over-embellished story from his life. We get to see it with young Lando.
Interesting how everyone is focussed on his previous acting turn as Lando and not on his significant writing chops. To be in the 30 Rock writers room as a student at NYU (and just like Kenneth Ellen Parcell, he’s from Stone Mountain, GA) to doing absolutely everything on Atlanta (acting, writing, directing, producing), is a pretty solid resume arc. I’ll choose to trust his considerable skill.
I was surprisingly disappointed with Glover's performance as Lando in Solo. It felt like an impression of Billy Dee Williams more than an earnest take on the character. Donald certainly has the raw charisma that Billy Dee had, which is really all the character was ever about since we knew nothing about his backstory or personal motivations. So, not sure what was missing, but it felt out of place when I watched the movie.
As with any performance it's hard to know how much is due to the actor and how much from direction/editing, so I'm sure he can do the role justice. Assuming there's a good script and everyone else is doing a good job, of course!
Especially stuff that continues to not move on from the original universe and focusing on the same old cast of characters instead of making a brand new set of characters not held back by having ties to the original. Nothing has come close to KOTOR when it comes to post Star Wars original trilogy content.
To paraphrase a classic Simpsons episode “Just don’t watch”.
If they’re that bad the audience will disappear and they’ll rethink the strategy. If the audience remains then perhaps they’re not “lame” but just not for you anymore?
Despite other flaws, the biggest (or maybe second biggest) issue I had with Solo was Lando’s backstory.
See, I grew up reading some very old, very obscure EU books about Lando. In that series Lando was an expert card player but a poor pilot, and a lot is made of how he won the Millennium Falcon in a game of Sabacc but has no idea how to fly it. The movie reversed this, making him a card cheat.
I’m probably they only person in the world who cares.
But maybe new series, if it ever comes out, will be about Lando and his adventures with Vuffi Raa?
I agree, his character felt a bit 2D in Solo. If they had gone with Lando’s backstory from the book, it would’ve added a lot to his character. Not knowing how to pilot is a fantastic character flaw. It adds new motivations to move the story forward and makes Lando more relatable. Being a bad card player is an ok flaw, but it’s made null by being good at cheating. He’s solved his own problem, so nothing is added to his character except a little flavor.
Being the third member of a trio of pilots to ever have survived torp’ing a death star AND a notably bad pilot is certainly a major character Arc growth. Also adds a bit of flavor to the “not a scratch” gag from rotj.
You may be interested in Expounded Universe, the podcast from System Mastery where they discuss EU novels. That’s the first episode on the Mindharp of Sharu.
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