Just rewatched Dr Strange… reminded how impressive it is to keep this going for 28 movies/shows through 3.5 phases. Might watch new one in a theater
I was ready to write MCU off after disastrous Eternals, but Spider-Man NWA made me hit pause.
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Is there any bigger/more complex connected extended universe? I can’t think of any.
If they find a new creative doctrine for phase 5, it could work out. Though right now it looks like they’re mostly just folding in Deadpool, X-men and Blade.
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I don’t think multiverses are it. I predict that’s just a clean-up and integration strategy for phase 4. For phase 5 they need something like the infinity stones long arc but maybe reverse the top-down Thanos type mega-god arc-design. Something more bottom-up.
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I think Star Wars pulled off a major “phase 5” equivalent refactor
Phase 1: original trilogy
Phase 2: prequels — clumsy but good scaffolding
Phase 3: the tv clone wars type stuff I didn’t watch
Phase 4: the sequels and rogue one/solo movies, meh
Phase 5: mandalorian A+
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I’ve tweeted before about why that worked (going down from epic to lore level, changing vibe to deprecate Jedi/Skywalker crap in favor of little guys)
I suspect you have to do that to revitalize really mature franchises. Profane what was sacred before.
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Star Trek imo has kinda failed to grow from franchise to extended universe.
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One of the dangers of MCU is diminishing marginal returns characters. Too many minor and overpowered dull characters nobody knows about. Hopefully Eternals warned them off that path. Needs a new core group maybe, but representing a different mood than the Avengers.
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I think the reason I like extended universes is precisely that sophisticates and auteurs turn up their noses at them 🤔
Always a reliable sign
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Also in Voyager. It’s very poorly done though. John de Lancie is very entertaining and that covers up the narrative weakness. It’s just a deus ex machina to create long-arc stakes that are not just tedious conflict with Klingons, Borg etc. No substance to Q just like irl.
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Star Trek season where utopian government is slowly being dismantled by fascist party let’s go.
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This is gold.
“Star Trek though only has 2 levels: weird planets with different foreheads and starships.”



