As I've mentioned in the past, anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to Star Wars I get pretty geeked out.
And unless you've been living in a cave the last few days, I'm sure you've heard about the
announcement on Tuesday that Disney has acquired Lucasfilm for a tidy sum and are planning to make Episodes VII, VIII, and IX.
I've spent the last couple of days trying to wrap my head around it, and frankly I'm still stunned. I had already accepted that there would be no more new Star Wars films. But the saga is to continue, and that means new films, and that's good!
Right?
My first reaction was dread; Star Wars becoming even more commercial then it already was (The 6-movie saga does, after all, constitute the most successful group of independent films ever made, and now they are property of a true corporate studio), diluting the universe to Hannah Montana standards, etc.
After some research I learned how Disney buys studios and then lets them do their own thing, and have been largely successful. They bought Marvel and then produced The Avengers, arguably the best superhero film ever made. Pixar never missed a beat when Disney bought them.
That's not to mention that Kathleen Kennedy, who will now head Disney's Lucasfilm division (how weird it sounds to say that!) has been involved with Lucasfilm for several years, knows the mindset behind the saga, and has
a pretty impressive resume.
So that should set my mind at ease, and in a large way it did. But there is still some doubt, and it involves the idea of continuing the saga by making Ep. VII-IX.
I'd be more then happy and content if Lucasfilm just started making one-off films set in the Star Wars universe or even started an entirely new trilogy. The SW universe has the potential for infinite stories, some of which could be even more epic then the original saga (The Sith Wars, anyone?), so they could make cool, awesome films for all eternity, and I would happily and enthusiastically be trying to figure out how to become immortal so I could watch them all on opening night.
But continuing the original saga? What could be said there that hasn't already? It was, after all, the story of Anakin Skywalker, his fall and eventual redemption. It perfectly portrayed the joys and pitfalls of humanity in a way accessible to people of all ages and origins, and
used mythological archetypes to really drive it's concepts home. It was complete.
OK, right here is where I usually start to hear people talk about the last three movies, how awful they were, and how only the original trilogy is worthy of consideration. Some even suggest Disney redo the entirety of the prequels so that they provide a "true" beginning for the originals.
I have to admit, when I left the theaters after seeing The Phantom Menace I was pretty disappointed. Some of the stuff was completely unnecessary,
like Jar-Jar Binks. like the whole midichlorians thing. Did how people connect with The Force really need explaining, and if it did, did it really need to be done so clumsily? It was something that could remain a mystery. I remember George Lucas once saying he would never reveal what species Yoda was or where he came from because some mysteries are better off left as such. I wish he had listened to his own advice.
But the more I watched the movie, the more it grew on me. It's still the worst of the six, mainly because
of Jar-Jar Binks, it is exposition rather then action from the start. Remember the first Star Wars movie started
in media res, starting and ending with a bang. Episode I was setting up the premise of the entire saga, a very large task, and one ripe for disappointment.
Attack of the Clones came out and I was starting to get enthused. People most often complain about wooden acting and stilted dialogue. I liked it because it foreshadowed everything that was going to happen in the
entire saga, and finally we could see what this Clone Wars thing was all about. It was cool, and it made Episode I better. Where people saw poor writing, I saw Lucas masterfully, if a bit clumsily, weaving the entire tapestry of the saga.
Prior to Episode III, my favorite was Empire Strikes Back, but Revenge of the Sith took it's place. Dark, brooding, it neatly wraps the prequels and creates a whole new context for the original movies...not to mention it was a fun movie. It is the keystone that completes and supports the entire saga.
They aren't perfect. Lucas will never win an Oscar for writing or directing, but no movie is perfect, and you have to admit Lucas performed a Herculean task. Give them an honest watch again and if you don't love them as part of the whole, if not individually, then your issue is not the movies, but nostalgia.
That nostalgia thing is more powerful then the dark side. It's hard to fight against the expectations bred by years of enjoying the original films and imagining what happened before. That really was the the whole reason why I hated The Phantom Menace so much....it was not one of the original movies I had grown up with and watched a few hundred times.
It wasn't what I expected. It's not a coincidence that once I realized this and got more comfortable with the idea of new Star Wars movies I started appreciating Episode I.
In the end, the saga was complete.
And that brings us back to the present. What would be the point of continuing that story when there is just as many other possible stories as there are stars in the sky? Why continue with a new Luke, Leia, and Han? Can you imagine the firestorm that will create? Nostalgia will have a field day!
I'm finally getting to a place where this news is becoming exciting and I'm looking forward to it. I may get nervous, but in the end I think Disney will do wonderful things with the franchise and I will love all of it.
Things I don't want to see Disney do:
- Plush toys of Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters;
- Elton John (or anyone else who is not John Williams) doing music for Star Wars films;
- A Star Wars TV show on the Disney Channel starring the next generation of Miley Cyruses, Selena Gomezes etc.
- Any kind of Disney character/Star Wars crossover cartoons.
As long as we can avoid these things, I should be fine. Maybe.
So what do you think about the future of Star Wars?
