It seems some Star Wars fans are accidentally review bombing the 2008 Australian horror film Acolytes instead of The Acolyte Disney+ series. The Acolyte is the latest live-action Star Wars series to air on Disney+, premiering its first two episodes on June 4, with new episodes airing weekly until the finale on July 16. The show has earned mostly positive reviews from critics so far, but it has been incredibly divisive among Star Wars fans, to say the least.

At the time of this writing, the Rotten Tomatoes critic score for The Acolyte is a respectable 84%, while its audience score is an abysmal 16%. Without delving into spoilers, there are Star Wars fans who are not happy about some of the creative choices in the show, feeling as though it doesn't fit with the rest of the Star Wars canon. Others are not impressed with the show's quality, and are unhappy at the direction the Star Wars franchise has been going in general. There are also some people who are upset that the show focuses on female characters and has a diverse cast.

Those unhappy with The Acolyte, whether it's due to legitimate criticism about the show's quality or anger over its "woke" content, have taken to Rotten Tomatoes to let their displeasure be known, spamming the series with low ratings to bring down its audience score. However, some individuals seem to have gotten lost, instead review bombing the 2008 Australian horror film Acolytes, which has nothing to do with the Star Wars franchise in any capacity. Now, the Acolytes film was never popular with audiences anyway; from what we can see using the Way Back Machine, it's gone from about a 42% audience score to a 33% audience score. Still, it does seem as though its score has been impacted by Star Wars fans who actually want to review bomb The Acolyte instead.

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[–] Cagi@lemmy.ca 91 points 4 months ago (2 children)

The best thing I ever did TV wise was ignoring fan opinions about shows I want to watch before watching it. Hive minds plant seeds and set expectations, you can't even passively read it. You gotta shut it out and avoid it. I really liked Kenobi, I think more people would have too if they didn't see the angry reddit nerds picking it apart, coloring their first watch.

[–] ricdeh@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago (6 children)

I agree. For me, it wasn't Kenobi but Book of Boba Fett. I really enjoyed the show, however, when I went online, somehow all Star Wars fans called it the worst ever made.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 28 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I didn't like the Book of Boba Fett, but only because I wanted a different show. I wanted a loner amoral bounty hunter weaving through the galaxy. Basically I wanted the early Season 1 Mandalorian. But it wasn't as bad as people online said.

Anybody that uses the term "woke" in their review can be dismissed entirely.

[–] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 18 points 4 months ago

Book of Boba Fett would have been a decent Star Wars story if it was the Book of Bib Fortuna seizing power.

Boba Fett was saved by Tuscans, but spends the whole show talking about protecting "his people", the city folk.

It's like if James Bond was left for dead and rescued by Navajo, then became sheriff of Albequerque and needed to keep the streets clean for the saloon and "his people".

It's not the character we know, and it doesn't even make sense as a character arc!

[–] SilverFlame@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Never forget the "high speed" scooter chase with the angsty cyborg power rangers

[–] MrFappy@lemmy.world 20 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I agree entirely… except regarding the mobility scooter chase. That was absurd.

[–] ZeroHora@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And the stupid spinning shooting in the last episode.

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

And the shot where the camera pans a little and you can see the back of the set, the wood framing of the building facade...

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I liked boba, and kenobi, but they were a “meh” kind of “liked”. They didn’t have anything like Mando where it was like… “OMG!”

Mostly? I’m angry they brought Boba back from the dead. The entire show was clearly a merchandizing grab; they could have done that with something set pre RoTJ, and could have made it more, how shall we say, about Boba.

It really felt like Mando 2.5, and that kinda tanked it for me.

[–] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Boba Fett came back in the books which... aren't cannon, but a lot of the cooler elements have been borrowed and shoehorned in (ie Thrawn)

I didn't have a problem with it. I just think the show fumbled that story pretty hard.

Kenobi... man. I was excited, but honestly... the fight with Vader just fucked up so much of the continuity for me. You knew nothing was at stake because they'd have to fight later in ANH. Also, it completely invalidated Vader's while tirade about "last time we met, you were the master" because Vader effectively kicked his ass. It was a meh story that didn't need to happen IMHO

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I’m not really a fan of those books, either.

Let’s be honest, Boba was a d-tier villain before dying in ignominy. He had only slightly more screen time than Bossk. (Okay, thirty seconds to what? Two minutes?)

He had as much lines as the jabbering fat guy who took care of Jaba’s Rancor.

It was only because of that ignominy that he became an icon… why take that away?

[–] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

It was only because of that ignominy that he became an icon… why take that away?

$$$$$

I don't disagree necessarily with your take on Boba Fett. I think it's distractingly annoying how the current Star Wars universe shoehorns Mandalorians into any story they can because of Fett

[–] VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Both shows for me. Actually include Ashoka in that too. Funnily enough the only show I haven't finished has been andor as I got bored so quick with it. Yet "fans" treat it as if it's citizen fucking kane.

[–] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

Andor is a slow burn. It doesn't bloom until they're in prison

[–] Worldtrident@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago

I found Boba and Andor benefited from binging. When watching BOBF it seemed to drag in parts. But it didn't have the pacing issues when I reached it a year or so later. And Andor's first arc doesn't suck you in like the rest of the series.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

The 7/10 andor feels like citizen Kane after the 2/10 of the other series.

[–] Cagi@lemmy.ca 0 points 4 months ago

Yeah! I liked that one too!

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Like that?

[–] SilverFlame@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I genuinely enjoyed Solo. I like that they were able to tell a Star Wars story that was more self-contained. The third act was pretty shaky though.

[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Didn't the whole third act get rewritten during production? The original bad guy was some cat-man

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago

I thought Kenobi was rather awful. Probably some of the worst writing and directing to come out of a major production company.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 50 points 4 months ago

Proving once again that the people who throw toddler tantrums over a piece of fiction for being "woke" are genuinely the morons we all think they are.

[–] Skates@feddit.nl 24 points 4 months ago

I mean, of course. They're star wars fans. Attention to detail was never going to be an option.

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 22 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I would not call those doing this fans.

[–] magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 44 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans

[–] rwhitisissle@lemy.lol 25 points 4 months ago

As a huge Star Wars fan I can confirm that I absolutely loathe Star Wars. Not for being "woke," mind you, but for just being generally creatively bankrupt, poorly executed, and with new media for it effectively held hostage by the existing media for it. Which is why I don't watch any of the t.v. shows or movies anymore. In my opinion this is a superior alternative to getting online and filling my diaper in the "user reviews" section of Rotten Tomatoes.

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[–] andrew_s@piefed.social 20 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm guessing that The Acolyte has suffered the same fate as Marvel's Secret Invasion - in production for an overly-long duration, full of re-writes and re-shoots. So far, it's resulted in a show that's a mash-up of individual scenes: some are quite cool, some are oddly shoddy, many of them don't stand up to much scrutiny.

Review-bombing anything is so self-defeating though: it gives the producers such an easy out, and allows for any legitimate criticism to get folded into the more illegitimate stuff.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago

Secret Invasion was the worst thing a Marvel show can be: boring. The best part of the comics was that anybody could be a Skrull. Half of the Avengers were impersonated. The show gave us Rhoady and Agent Ross. The Skrull didn't even suit up as War Machine.

Then they gave waaaay too many powers to the Super Skrulls.

Killing off Maria Hill and Talos just felt hollow. And it was a total waste of Nick Fury. Sam Jackson was good, but the script was shit.

[–] Blackout@kbin.run 20 points 4 months ago

I watch shows to be entertained, not to become triggered by nothing. The acolyte is a fine show.

[–] Xanis@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

Summary: A ton of Stormtroopers are doing what they do best,

Missing.

Using voting as their choice of weapon.

[–] fox2263@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (6 children)

So what’s actually wrong with Acolyte.

It’s only been 3 episodes and I’ve found it fine.

Are the “fans” unhappy because there’s:

Black Jedi
Female Jedi
Black Female Jedi
Witches (Female)
Lesbian witches
Witches that used the force to create life
That the fire was too quick and didnt explain why Floating Jedi with Shit Hair killed himself.
The witches weren’t Nightsisters
All of the above

Sure there’s glaring holes and dumb stuff but it’s still entertaining. Better than Book of Boba, but not as good as Ashoka and definitely not as good as Andor. The jury is out on if better than Obi Wan, that had Vader so gets automatic points. I keep seeing YouTube’s about it being “DEI” whatever that means and just derogatorily calling out the show runner forcing in woke was because she’s lesbian etc.

Are only straight white Jedi allowed? I haven’t seen anything “woke” shoved in your face that I can think of.

And you’d think people would like lesbians.

The story is still unfolding so I’m sure we will find out what actually happened to the witches, if they got youngling’d or not etc. We’ve seen the POV of one twin so perhaps the other is coming, like what’s she been up to etc.

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Uh maybe you're missing the foreshadowing (or I could be wrong) but it seems like the Jedi killed everyone. That little fire Mae started in the upstairs bedroom wouldn't have caused all the damage we saw in the basement. The Jedi bombed them, and that regret is what caused floaty Jedi to kill himself after meditating on it for years.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I’m wondering if the Jedi just aren’t on a guilt trip and it was the sith/dark Jedi that set shit on fire.

[–] Uruanna@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The main canon has been dancing around it for a bit but the theme that Jedi ideals are actually shit has been around for a while, ever since the prequel trilogy showed that their complacency allowed fascism and corruption to rise and spread easily. I thought episode 3 showed the rift pretty well: Jedi don't like to leave strong force-sensitive kids on their own because they don't trust random nobodies to raise them "properly" therefore they make a law that they can check up on every single kid being born (but only if they want to and with the parents approval!) and obviously people don't trust the guvmint surveilling every single planet and kidnapping their kids.

I'm leaning toward "the Jedi did really do it" because they thought they were up against crazy religious fundies (especially with Joe No Chair apologizing to the point of drinking the poison voluntarily), and I'm looking forward to the real answer, whether it confirms or denies my expectations.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

The Jedi frequently can get very heavy handed- at least sometimes in cannon. Especially when it comes to other Jedi dying.

But, just hear me out here.

The sith/dark Jedi dude said “we kill the dream.” Now, hypothetically, let’s say the 4 of them saw the fire and got heavy handed. Maybe they killed a few witches, maybe not, maybe they bombed them, or maybe they just did enough to get to their recruit.

Now, let’s say they left with their recruit, and the sith dude slipped in and slaughtered everyone, while rescuing Mae. (Remember, Mae survived too, probably got rescued.) and then raised Mae telling her the Jedi did it.

as for the Jedi, they returned to keep and eye on whatever the freaky cult was doing only to find everyone slaughtered. They can’t really remember doing it, but they were angry, and it was all a bit sudden and rushed…

So, they personally accepted their guilt, and the Order just kind of brushed it off as “unfortunate “, maybe the others of the order are trying to be nice, but are ultimately patronizing because they don’t know how to deal with PTSD, so it goes untreated.

Fast forward a decade or two, and now things are even more uncertain for those 4… and those four are doing whatever they can to atone. Inara was a wandering Jedi doing the have-lightsaber-will-travel thing, Mr Floaty Jesus was doing the Floaty thing, the fireball went into exile protecting nature and Sol returned to teaching younglings.

None of them really dealt with the emotions because Jedi aren’t supposed to have them. Of course Floaty takes the poison.

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 7 points 4 months ago

Definitely better than Boba, but I think the fight scenes have been better than Ahsoka, and the plot premise also.

The witches are nothing new in Star Wars lore (I think Darth Maul came from their tribe), and I'm all for getting more of that.

[–] cordlesslamp@lemmy.today 2 points 4 months ago

Fat Jedi.

[–] anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Are only straight white Jedi allowed?

Don't you know every character is only allowed to be one of the following:

non-white
non-male
non-heterosexual
main character
Otherwise it's woke.

[–] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

That "woke" shit is so fucking stupid. Rogue One has a pretty obviously gay couple and that movie is universally loved. One can even make the argument that when the empire was in charge that OF FUCKING COURSE gay people wouldn't be out. It's even cannon that the empire was racist towards non humans.

If the stories are good, fans will eat it up. That some reprobate is butthurt because a main character isn't a straight, white dude is the dumbest shit.

Conversely, I hope this series is good, because if it isn't, I won't want to talk about it and inadvertently join the chorus of those mouthbreathers who are all screaming go woke go broke when legitimate criticisms with that show have NOTHING to do with that

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

If you haven't caught up, spoilers below.

Looks like my theory was wrong, jet fuel does melt steel beams.

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[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Imo, The Acolyte hasn't been that bad so far. It's not amazing, mind you, and it still suffers from the plague of mediocrity that seems to be going around in the new movies and shows that have been coming out, but it's definitely watchable. The set and costume design are great, the acting is alright, directing is alright, but the writing has been rather hit or miss so far.

[–] corus_kt@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

The Mae vs Sol force kungfu fight is legitimately great, I hope they just fill the runtime with fights at this point. Not impressed by the writing either.

[–] WeaselOne@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

"Fans."

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 3 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Is this show good? I'd been thinking about checking it out.

[–] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I’ve been enjoying it. There are a few things that feel like plot holes right now, but I suspect that’s because we’re only seeing one perspective, and we’re supposed to think it doesn’t all add up. And when we see the other perspective it’ll make sense.

It’s no Andor, but I like it.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 2 points 4 months ago

Thanks, sounds like it's worth a watch. I haven't really hated any of the shows (though there were definitely parts that weren't that great. like Boba Fett's technicolor scooter gang)

[–] Shawdow194@kbin.run 3 points 4 months ago

I haven't seen it, but coworkers have been talking with good regards and those guys are diehards

So fingers crossed it's just internet trolls who are bombing it and its actually a decent SW show

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 0 points 4 months ago

My brother thinks it is total garbage, but he has watched zero episodes so far. I have watched all three released episodes with my wife and we both are really enjoying it.

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago

I thought the SW Acolyte was alright so far. It's a bit slow and drawn out, but not bad.

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