Jan 14, 2014

Star Worriers


The past couple weeks have seen some Big News coming out of the House of Mouse regarding the future of Star Wars: 

Probably the least surprising of the recent revelations. I think most of us knew it was coming before the ink even dried on the purchase since Disney also owns Marvel. It only makes sense for them to take the reigns back before the next movie hits. The big question though, is whether or not Marvel will count the 20+ years of stories Dark Horse put out as being canon. Which leads to the next announcement...


This has just as much bad potential as good. The best thing that will come from this is getting rid of the ridiculous levels of canon. I've always found it a little odd that some books, comics, video games, etc. are "more valid" than others and that basically anything Lucas didn't have a hand in (or want to admit to) was second tier at best. The biggest fallout from this won't be known until they figure out what to do with everything that has come before now. Whether or not they make any fan-favorite characters/stories non-canon, I don't care. The stories will always be there if you want to return to them, much like the original movies.

I've seen arguments against this siting Crystal Skull as evidence it won't work. There are so many other things I would blame for Skull's failures before the actors. But how will they do? I'm sure Hamill is game for it, he's a fanboy at heart. I can't believe Ford is returning given how he loathes to talk about the franchise at all and Fisher...who knows? I'm not expecting any metal bikinis but will she be able to pull off what we want in Leia?

I've seen very little positive reaction online to all of these stories. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places but I'm seeing lots of frowny faces. I suspect most of these reactions are coming from "old guard" fans like myself that grew up along side the original Star Wars. And of course, that's fine. Everyone has their opinion and the right to voice it. But if you're poo-poo'ing a Disney TV ad using Star Wars, I think you're going to have a rough time for...well, probably the rest of your time as a Star Wars fan.

Chris Hardwick has been touting a new philosophy on recent podcasts suggesting people actually experience the thing they say they hate before hating it and I'm putting my tent in that camp going forward. Although a recent Nerdist News video found host Jessica Chobot making a crack about "ruining our childhood enough" after talking about Disney's plan to add more Star Wars to its parks. Haven't we all be asking for this since Star Tours opened?

It seems like the "cool thing" to do now is bash Disney's decisions for Star Wars. And I'd bet George Lucas is glad to be rid of that target finally.

No matter what Star Wars is "your" Star Wars, I say enjoy what you like and ignore the parts you don't. Heck, I even know people that refuse to believe the prequels happened. On the other hand, respect the fact that other fans may like what you don't and vice versa. In the end, we all found something in this shared galaxy that ignited some passion within us to make us love it so much. Nothing new coming out will change the memories you have from childhood, it just might make them a little harder to relive in hi-def.

6 comments:

  1. Am on the other side of this being not such a big fan of Star Wars in my adult years. Am actually excited that Disney has a hold of this and feel this is a turn for the better for the franchise.

    I felt Lucas ruined my childhood because of his tinkering of the original movies and those god awful prequels so his selling to the House of Mouse is a good thing.

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    1. I know after Phantom Menace, some of us were hoping Lucas would hand the directing reigns over to someone else like he did with Empire. It'll be interesting for sure to see what different writers and directors will do.

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  2. Amen. As someone who's never read a Star Wars novel, It won't make a difference to me whether or not they stray from the expanded universe or not. I just hope they put together some good, fun movies. Disney is certainly capable of doing a great job, but they're also capable producing a real stinker, so time will tell.
    I'm going out on a limb now (not really) but I think the Star Wars faithful will not like the movie, even if it's good (see Star Trek for reference).

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    1. That's all i want, something fun that feels like Star Wars. I really liked the new Trek films but i've also never seen a full ep of the original series. I think it was a great idea to splinter it into its own timeline/reality.

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  3. We will repost about Vader and the New Owners later in a "less pessimistic" tone.....
    It still remains to be seen , just "how" they do the Boba Fett and "reunion" Star Wars Films....

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    1. I've always been a Fett fan but I don't know if I really want a movie. I'd rather preserve the mystery. Now Jango on the other hand...

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