The Acolyte Episode 3 / Force Baby Controversy

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"Stop saying the writing is bad, tell me where it's bad" Good Writing Writing That's 00 Dune I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. The Acolyte THE POWER OF ONE. THE POWER OF TWO. THE POWER OF MAAAAAANNYYYYYY THE POWER OF ONE. THE POWER OF TWO. THE POWER OF MAAAAAANNYYYYY

ALL MUST CHOOSE LOVED BY FANS HBO ORIGINAL DF HOUSE PE DRAGON HATED BY FANS CERTIFIED FRESH Rotten Tomatoes NEW SEASON JUNE 16 max 93% Tomatometer 62 Reviews 87% Audience Score 250+ Ratings $200 Million for Eight - 60 Minute Episodes CERTIFIED FRESH Rotten Tomatoes STAR WARS THE ACOLYTE 84% June 4 Disney+ Tomatometer 134 Reviews 15% Audience Score 10,000+ Ratings $180 Million for Eight - 30 Minute Episodes Both Have Female Leads, Both Have Diverse Casts HEY DISNEY LUCASFILM, MAYBE ITS BECAUSE YOUR WRITING SUCKS

Lo-Ping, but gayer @PandasAndVidya - 22h Very big fan of millionaires and billionaires adopting the language of oppression whenever one of their products don't sell well. itsagundam @GundamIsHere ⚫ Jun 20 • Yes the privileged Hollywood actress with a billion-dollar company behind her is the revolutionary! (0°) GAMANDLASTENBERG 1:34 they spinning WOKE. bastardize it and appropriate it

You don't like the Acolyte because racism and misogyny ODN

THE MANY EMOTIONS. OF AMANDLA STENBERG HAPPY SCARED TIRED SAD PRIDEFUL ANGRY JEALOUS. OFFENDED

"ACOLYTE Star Wars: The Acolyte TV-14, Next Ep Tue Jun 25, 1 Season, Action TRAILER + LIST 84% Avg. Tomatometer 14% Avg. Audience Score You hate it just cause it has a female lead ROGUE ONE Rogue One: A Star Wars Story PG-13, Released Dec 16, 2016, 2h 14m,... TRAILER LIST CERTIFIED FRESH Tomatoes 84% Tomatometer 462 Reviews 87% Audience Score 100,000+ Ratings

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Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for The Acolyte; read at your own caution.

Overview

The Acolyte Episode 3 Controversy, also known as The Acolyte Force Baby Controversy, revolves around the third episode of the Disney+ original series The Acolyte, in which a group of force-wielding lesbian witches use the universe's iconic power to conceive the two main characters of the show. The episode itself created a large amount of controversy within the Star Wars fandom, with many calling it out on things that seem to break previously established canon, as well as being perceived as very far removed from all prior Star Wars shows in terms of tone and plot.

Background

Prior to the episode's release in June 2024, many fans who claimed to have been part of the test audience or seen leaks of the show had said that episode three of The Acolyte would be divisive among fans.

On June 1st, 2024, film and show reviewer @mypalal^[1] posted a QRT on X / Twitter claiming that episode 3 of the show would finally kill the franchise for pre-Disney Star Wars fans, sparking early arguments over the premise of the show two weeks before the episode released (shown below).

Alan Ng @ Film Threat @mypalal FINAL VERDICT: The third episode of The Acolyte will finally kill Star Wars for the vast majority of Pre-Disney Star Wars Fans. Based on LucasFilm comments of late, they are OK with that. THR The Hollywood Reporter @THR Mar 19 'Star Wars: The Acolyte' Creator Leslye Headland Talks the Unique Perspective of Her Upcoming Series hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features... 12:32 PM ⚫ Jun 1, 2024 136.5K Views 199 192 978 ☐ 90 <]

On June 11th, the episode premiered on Disney+. Shortly after its debut, many fans were already picking out parts of it and posting online to either trash or call attention to certain things that happened.

The X account for the content creator @Nerdrotics^[2] uploaded a video from the Witches chant, simply captioning it with a laugh and pointing out how Star Wars is different now with Disney at the helm, earning over 6.5 million views in two days (shown below).

This is Disney Star WarsBWHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA#Acolyte pic.twitter.com/EZ4FcnNWb8

— Nerdrotic (@Nerdrotics) June 12, 2024

Online Reactions

As more people watched the episode, further reactions to the "Force Baby Conception" began to be posted online across various sites and platforms.

For example, on June 12th, 2024, the X account @XwingsHangar^[3] created a post in which he openly lamented the direction that Star Wars had taken and wondered what went wrong behind the scenes to allow for the show to be made. The post, along with a video contrasting the fight between Revan and Darth Malak to the Witch Force Conception scene, earned over 284,000 views in one day (shown below).

Where did it all go wrong with #StarWars ? What cues did we not give as fans to show what was needed for them to make money? Who in their right mind would greenlight #theacolyte or any show LIKE the #acolyte to EVER air in front of Star Wars fans? #Disney has LOST THEIR MINDS pic.twitter.com/5cfqca010O

— Xwing (@XwingsHangar) June 12, 2024

Moving on from the topic of the "force baby," fans began to note that the series is unusually expensive, with each episode reportedly costing between $22 and $25 million. This was called out by fans as a way of increasing the amount of scrutiny the series should be getting, with X user @TheBugleDaily1^[4] pointing toward the film Godzilla Minus One as costing less than that while being generally well received by fans of both Godzilla and monster films, earning over 350,000 views in less than a day (shown below).