Rather than striking back with their new “Star Wars” television show, “The Acolyte,” Disney once again struck out, only this time the program was a critical smash while pulling in the lowest audience score in the history of the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes. Well, aside from one other very notorious piece of content that has since become both a classic and a joke at the same time.

I am, of course, talking about the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978. That is the only other entry in the franchise that is lower than “The Acolyte,” which, when meditated upon, is quite telling, as it reflects our current culture's swing back against “woke” entertainment.

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Here's a list of the entries in the franchise, ranked by audience score and featuring the critics' score next to it, via Forbes:

  • The Empire Strikes Back – 97% audience, 95% critics
  • A New Hope – 96% audience, 93% critics
  • Return of the Jedi – 94% audience, 82% critics
  • The Clone Wars (Show) – 91% audience, 93% critics
  • Rogue One – 87% audience, 84% critics
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – 86% audience, 51% critics
  • Andor – 86% audience, 96% critics
  • The Force Awakens – 85% audience, 93% critics
  • Star Wars Rebels – 84% audience, 98% critics
  • The Bad Batch – 83% audience, 88% critics
  • The Mandalorian – 78% audience, 90% critics
  • Ahsoka – 69% audience, 86% critics
  • Star Wars: Visions – 66% audience, 98% critics
  • Solo – 63% audience, 69% critics
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi – 62% audience, 82% critics
  • The Phantom Menace – 59% audience, 52% critics
  • Attack of the Clones – 56% audience, 65% critics
  • The Book of Boba Fett – 53% audience, 66% critics
  • Star Wars Resistance – 47% audience, 92% critics
  • The Last Jedi – 41% audience, 91% critics
  • The Clone Wars (movie) – 40% audience, 19% critics
  • The Acolyte – 33% audience, 93% critics
  • The Holiday Special – 20% audience, 25% critics

    • One thing that has remained consistent throughout the many ups and downs of Star Wars is that the original trilogy of films has always maintained top billing in the minds of fans and that isn't likely to change anytime soon. The prequel trilogy is slowly becoming classics in their own right over time, though diehard fans of the originals still give the movies — which tell the origin story of Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire — a lot of flack.

    Paul Tassi of Forbes wrote, “But even The Acolyte has a wide split than that, a 60% gap to Last Jedi’s 50% gap. So what’s going on? It’s complicated. Yes, I know that obviously the go-to idea is review bombing, and that this is a Star Wars project that stars a black woman, Amandla Stenberg. The only similar lead here would be Rosario Dawson, a woman of color leading Ahsoka, but that character is long-beloved, not brand new. Rogue One and the new sequel trilogy were led by women, Felicity Jones and Daisy Ridley respectively, though of course Ridley especially got massive amounts of (unjustified) hate over the years.”

    There are the “usual types” making outraged YouTube videos about the series, though the prime target appears to be its showrunner, Leslye Headland, who is being deemed a “fake fan” and the main problem with the series. Though audiences have only seen the premiere two episodes, not the four critics have. Still, I doubt anything will make up the difference.

    Tassi believes there's actually more to it than that, noting that this series is the first to be set outside of the Skywalker saga (way, way out) and isn't a prequel, but rather an “in-between” installment. The story takes place 100 years before the Skywalkers appear on the scene, during the era known as the High Republic, which isn't something that's ever been shown on screen until now.

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    The Forbes author pointed out that many Star Wars fans have a deep connection with classic characters from the franchise and thus have a difficult time accepting new ones, especially without minor appearances from those old favorites. But one of the main reasons Tassi believes the show did so poorly is simply because it wasn't very good.

    I, personally, outside of all of this, just did not think the premiere was very good, and I think critics are off the mark on this one. I did not like the central “force twin” concept and outside of a neat opening fight, I was not grabbed by the double-episode premiere, even if I will stick with the series to see where it goes. However, there is a difference between “eh this could be better” and “this is the worst Star Wars project in history by a mile except for the Holiday Special.” So a lot is feeding into this. We’ll see if both critics and fans cement these scores as time goes on and more episodes are released.

    What did fans have to say about the series and its recent premiere?

    Another factor that has likely led to the downfall of “The Acolyte” making it essentially dead on arrival, is how its stars referred to it as the “gayest Star Wars ever,” once again proving that the showrunners and producers at Disney care far more about pushing an agenda than entertaining fans with quality stories and good characters.