Have you watched any of the YouTube Channel Red Letter Media‘s film or TV reviews? They became famous for their 2009 70-minute video review of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It was released in seven 10-minute parts and Part 1 is still their most-viewed video with over 10 million views. The video review is presented by the character Mr. Plinkett and the criticism is satirical and humorous. It upset a lot of Star Wars Prequel fans because of its tone and approach.
Last weekend I did a Livestream talking about Red Letter Media’s Obi-Wan Kenobi TV Show Review. Their mostly positive reaction and comments about the show were quite surprising, as I’d expected them to rip it apart. Mike and Rich were mainly positive about it with Jay being the most critical. I wasn’t sure if they were being serious or not. They offered comments like “I feel guilty for enjoying it,” “It’s super okay,” and “It looks cheap and the writing isn’t great yet I’m having fun watching it.” Maybe they were going for the “so bad it’s good” approach? Or perhaps they just wanted to get a quick review recorded and uploaded? It’s possible their recent experiences watching the PICARD show have broken them, as they are much more into Star Trek than Star Wars. Their Picard reviews are very funny, by the way. I recommend them if you need a good laugh.
Anyway, the livestream started with me offering my thoughts, then I was joined by a few of my YouTube buddies. It turned into what I thought was a really fun nerdy discussion about RLM’s review and Star Wars in general. No ranting, raving or shouting at clouds, just a few fans giving our thoughts on why we think Kenobi is a disappointing TV show. The kind of discussion you used to hear in comic shops or conventions. Remember those?
The next morning I woke up to a surprising spurt in views. I’m not sure why but somehow it caught the YouTube algorithm and appeared to be getting recommended a lot more than usual for my videos. I checked my notifications to find a series of, ahem, “interesting” comments on the video. Comments including words like “reactionary”, “toxic”, “incel”, “profane”, “brainwashed”, “cult-like” and so on–the kind of words we unfortunately see thrown around a LOT these days. I made an effort to politely answer each one with my standard, “Thanks for your comment” for the angry ones.
These kind of over-the-top angry reactions to someone with a different opinion have become a regular part of modern social media. It’s worrying and rather sad. It seems some people just want to scream and shout without fear of any consequences. This is made so much easier by the faceless anonymity of it. Now I know that some of these comments might be from spam-bots. You can usually get an idea if you click on the commentor’s avatar and check when they opened their YouTube account. If it’s very recent, they may not be a real user. This is another thing I can’t really get my head around. How do those spam-bot comments work? Where do they come from? Who creates them? Are they generated by an A.I.? Is it SKYNET??!!
Anyway, this is turning into a Wakizashi Waffle. Time to wrap this post up. I do recommend the Red Letter Media Kenobi re:View if you are interested. I enjoyed listening to it and it did make me laugh. If you do check it out, I’d love to hear what you think of their take.
Thanks for reading!
-Wakizashi, *wilting in the heat and humidity of the Japanese rainy season*
Wakizashi's Reviews 
Sorry to hear you had to deal with this on top of the spam bots. Maybe the spam bots attacked your blog in retaliation? 😀
Unfortunately, this kind of behavior comes from being told your whole life (and believing) that everyone being “equal” (which is true in a theological sense) means everyone is the same. So if someone else doesn’t like what I like, that means I’m different from them and thus they are saying they are better than me. It’s convoluted and makes zero sense but there’s a lot of things not making any sense in the world today. Honestly, I’m not sure how you can even dialogue with people like that. Their world view is completely divorced from reality so you can’t even use logic.
Hopefully some of the people who found your channel will stick around and become friends. Get that 1 piece of gold out the 100 pieces of dross.
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Yes, Revenge of the Spam Bots! You’re right. And yes, you can’t have any kind of sane dialogue with most of these people.
Bookstooge, I really appreciate your closing comment. Look at you seeing the light in the darkness. Thank you!
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I hate to break it to you, buuuuuuut….
that’s not the end of the tunnel.
It’s a train!
😉
Seriously though, I’ve been pondering how to interact with people recently who I vehemently disagree with on social matters and I am finding it is a very hard to thing to do. Mrs B and I are currently reading through the 4 Gospels and I’m seeing how Jesus dealt with sinners, with kindness and graciousness even while letting them know that what they were doing wasn’t right. Trying to be more like Christ myself…
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I try the kindness option, too. Kill those crazy comments with a kind reply and they run screaming! Well, they just don’t return. The problem is, in my mind I’m probably not feeling 100% kind as I type those replies. I’m working on it!
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Dude I’ve been following red letter media for more than a decade now. Sometimes for some reason they suddenly decide to enjoy a crap film or show. Mike liked Jurassic World and Independence Day 2 and I still think he’s an idiot for that. But they enjoy what they call schlock.
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Have you tried expressing a negative opinion about Paddington 2?
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I’m a bit confused why you ask me this. I know it’s praised to the heavens. I can’t remember RLM’s reaction to it. I liked the film.
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I think it was meant as a comment for me.
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That’s a road I’m too afraid to walk down!
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“Schlock”, good point! Is the Kenobi show actually schlock? It feels like poor B-movie fodder at times. Mike liked Independence Day 2? Haha, that’s classic!
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I actually haven’t watched the Kenobi show, yet. And I am still in doubt whether I should start. I’m not hearing much positive news about it.
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I just read an “A+” Review on Collider. But they rate most things B+ or higher. It seems to be getting a LOT of love from mainstream media critics. I usually look at Metacritic and check out the audience scores & reviews. But hey, one man’s meat is another man’s poison, as the old saying goes. I’m curious to read your review in the future…
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Must admit never heard of Red Letter Media before, might give it a look. Sorry to hear you’ve had to deal with all the spam bot stuff. Sadly, that seems the norm now, especially if you hit a sweet spot with the algorithm – it can catapult you into the fray without you even realising. I tend to stay say from all this media noise and angry hype reaction stuff though. Some is more genuine than others. I love a good debate, but not to the point where it gets mean or everything taken too serious;.
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Definitely worth a look, Paul. They can be very very funny when they want to be.
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I totally dislike Kenobi for a number of reasons. Mostly, it’s an offense to reason – plot holes larger than galaxies, inconsistencies, retconning etc.. It’s also terribly filmed, the direction is insipid and lacks skill, and the whole show is totally superfluous. I’d been happier if I’d not seen it at all. But I am also sadly not surprised by the comments you got – it’s much easier to call people names and get on a high horse of PC instead of explaining your own opinion – you’d have to have one, first ;). That’s why I basically stopped using YT.
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It should never have been made, especially in the way it was and the story they decided to tell. Imagine if they’d told a Darth Vader story showing his search for Kenobi and any remaining jedi, alongside the growth of the Empire. Oh well.
Sorry to hear you’ve stopped using YouTube.
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Ah, it’s more a matter of lack of time than anything else. I’ll get back to it at some point, hopefully – fortunately drawing/painting videos don’t bring too many bad comments 😉
I actually hoped for a Vader/Thrawn series. Ah, well, as long as KK rules the SW franchise we are doomed to get only trashy, badly made, superfluous stuff (with the exception of Mando, for which Favreau got a lot of creative freedom).
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Thrawn should’ve been the Sequel Trilogy, simple as that. Disney have pretty much killed Star Wars and are in the process of murdering Marvel. Oh yeah, one more: R.I.P. Buzz Lightyear. It’s actually staggering when you stop and think about it. They are destroying everything they touch.
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Oh yeah, we are in full agreement here, Wakizashi. Sadly, let me add, because I really loved SW and Marvel. The only great Marvel TV series are those done by Netflix: Daredevil and The Punisher. Although I quite enjoyed the new Dr Strange, it was pretty entertaining – especially the horror vibes 😀 As for SW, we still have Mando, at least as long as Favreau can keep control over it.
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