I would argue Luke was never a Marty Stu - he was impatient, whiny, in love with his sister, made dumb choices (but lucked out of them or was saved by a friend). Rey is much more of a Mary Sue, in that she doesn't even require training by Yoda to become a master with the force.

But there could have been a much more interesting arc to Luke's story movies 7-9 could have explored that did not require a rehash. Once the head of the Empire is defeated, it's not really 'over;' there's still many leaders who are loyal, many units, etc. and the right to freedom isn't one by one dramatic battle, it takes work every day. That could have been a much more interesting series of movies than what we got.

Labeling your item with a generic "BOMB" is such a rookie mistake. Always - always! - use more descriptive bluetooth name so you know exactly which device you are controlling. E.g., "cmdrtaco's BOMB".

Oops. Did I just make Slashdot do a U-turn?

My family enjoyed the movie, but it really made no difference in the Star Wars universe or even the Mandalorian's plot. It is basically a stand-alone monster-of-the-week episode, with little prior knowledge of the Mandalorian required (which was probably intended to make it more accessible to people who haven't watched the series).

Ebert, my favorite movie critic, once said about a movie something like: 'if it were raining, and you stumbled into the theater to avoid the rain and watched this film, it wouldn't be an unpleasant experience at all, but once the rain stopped and you left the theater you would completely forget about everything that happened in the film and you wouldn't remember much about it 10 minutes later.'

It took no risks, offered nothing new, and is basically advertising for the Disney theme parks (which is where they make most of their profit anyway).

Diplomacy with Muslim nations...rather than bombing them...what a novel idea...

I'd happily turn over 80% of the total US military budget to the space program!

If they are familiar with the UI on a Mac or if they like their Apple phones than an Apple TV would be a great investment (although if they have a bunch of TVs this could get pricey at $129+ each).

Ublock origin blocks most of the Slashdot ads, except for one banner which could probably be blocked with some more tinkering.

I don't know, they've played the World Series 121 times and people still seem to get all excited about the next one, and willing to spend thousands and thousands on travel, tickets, etc. And the World Series is grown men throwing a ball around while people cheer.

I suppose to complete the baseball analogy, would people still attend the World Series if the players didn't try? If at least the illusion of the players caring and putting forth their best effort to win was gone? To me this seems to be more of the problem than being sick of Star Wars - that those producing the content are just going through the motions, are extremely risk-adverse, and don't seem to give a crap if the fans enjoy it (and in some instances have actively shown disdain toward fans).

Their theme parks were over 25% of their revenue, and it is a segment that has a huge profit margin. Hotels, concessions, gate admissions, food, travel planning, etc. There are many of the last several years where Disney doesn't have a profit at all without its theme parks.

And as demand increases, they just jack up the price, and so far it appears maximum price is unlimited.

How many more moonrocks do we really need? And can't an unmanned craft bring back many more rocks than any manned mission, and much more cheaply?

Anything the moon has the Earth has in much greater abundance. The sheer energy cost of moving anything productive to the moon makes producing all of these things on Earth much more cost appealing. A moon-based telescope sounds fun, but I'm not convinced it would be better than a telescope in its own orbit around Earth.

I'm not opposed to science, and I'm not opposed to space exploration...but we have not had leaders who have clearly set forth a long-term vision for why we should do this, or how it will benefit humanity in the short- or long-term. And the investment is so massive and so cost inefficient, I would love to see much more of that going to making Earth sustainable and habitable for the long-term rather than dreaming some fantastical, unrealistic dream about humans living anywhere other than here.

Is there really a compelling scientific reason to send humans to the moon?

It seems to me it is more about China showing off on the international stage that it can do stuff that once was the exclusive domain of the world's former superpowers.

My kids have splattered me a few times, but I've also dodged a few times too :), back when I was more spry.

Anywhere that is close to where an outbreak is occurring, medical staff should be heavily covered prior to working with any patient. But for many places where the outbreak is occurring, the PPE just isn't there. And that's really sad because it doesn't have to be this way.

Oh, no doubt there are significant political and infrastructure and cultural issues that make it challenging. DR Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world. But, they do have significant mineral resources and lots of interested and capable people who want to live better lives.