too bad, because a lot more lando was called for, even if only fanon lando

[cimorene]

Solo was a decent action movie in spite of its flaws, and I think introduced Han, Chewie, and Lando in ways that were in character for them and fun. Other aspects of it looked a bit odd and I suspect suffered from having too many decision makers involved, or at least from having the plan changed partway through (even if those changes were for the better), like the decision to introduce droid rights and how it was handled, and the design of the whole gang of criminals where as several people have pointed out it probably could have been significantly tightened up by having Thandie Newton's character the leader and/or the survivor... . Anyway! The movie bombed and the toxic/entitled portion of male fandom hated it.

But while the movie didn't necessarily make me want to buy and rewatch it, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the note-perfect flirting between Han and Lando, which I fully expected to ignite a bunch of shipping when I left the theater. I guess the real reason it hasn't done is basically that hardly anyone saw it.

Which is really too bad. The bits that introduced Han and Lando were great - funny, full of subtext, and fully in line with the theory that Han and Lando had an on-and-off thing in the years between Solo and the original trilogy and that the reason Lando is wearing Han's clothes at the end of The Empire Strikes Back is that they had just fucked.

Of course, there also might be a lesser fannish enthusiasm available for a character whose tragic end is already canon, or a ship who aren't mfeo.

Comments

[cimorene]

It was totally the deepest or most genuinely significant part of the movie (or rather, it was part of it, since it tied in to the other freedom fighting that was going on). I meant the decision to tackle the issue was perhaps either come to later on in the writing process, or that that subplot/theme had lost some of its mass in the course of rewrites and direction changes, because it wasn't well handled.

I've thought it was unambiguous that the droids are sentient beings since the original trilogy, though it seems in verse most people don't think that much about the issue. But in my view that has important implications about the human characters associated with droids. This subplot could have been really good, had it been done well, but I don't think it was done well because of the way her activism and particularly Lando's attitudes towards it and her were portrayed (but I didn't go into all of that in the post because it was beside the point).

[stranger]

Pretty sure I agree with your reservations -- that plotline should have been more integral but was introduced abruptly and slighted, etc -- and I'm still glad it got included as world-building. If it was a late addition, good on the later contributors. You're right that R2 and C3 and their fellows performed as real characters from the first; it's my own lack of suspension of disbelief (especially in 1977-80s) that computers and therefore robots just didn't have the capacity for sentience. Kind of a mental hiccup. I never questioned the sentient aliens, so why not... ? (That's the difference between SF and fantasy, I guess.)

And, of course, your post is about Solo/Lando, which I agree has been shamefully slighted in SW fanfic and discussion. If Han/Chewie was a thing, and it was, early-on before Han/Leia took off, so why not... ?

[cimorene]

The value as world-building (to the rest of the franchise) is probably the most important part of this since there are no significant additions to backstory, ...

...but I was just SO PISSED OFF by the stuff with Lando where there was this unquestionable overtone of "the SJWs are just too LOUD and OVERZEALOUS and they should work on their TONE so it doesn't interfere with MESSAGE!" that at one point hit a definite parallel to the misogynist stereotype of shrill feminists, and Lando's reactions to her playing into that as well that are prooooobably intended to be both funny to the audience and conveying that he's still sympathetic alongside his exasperation, but - he shouldn't be exasperated, this is his close friend and business partner for YEARS at the least and the likelihood that he doesn't grasp the magnitude of the slavery issue is just - ?! (And they could've fixed that just by finessing the lines in question. They wouldn't even have needed more time spent on it. Though they certainly could also have improved it all by using the time they spent on 'She's in love with me' and the reaction beats to it to show a little more of their history with the issue and his allyship...)

I won't say they shouldn't have included it, because it's still redemptive. But like... they just should have included it better.