Posted on 12/26/2019 3:34:00 AM PST by Kaslin
As I write this, it’s Christmas Eve. The wife and daughters – one is two and a half, the other 14 months – are asleep. Santa stopped by and wrapped the gifts he brought, also drank a couple of beers. Good times were had by all.
Now that he’s gone, I have some time to reflect on another topic I’ve been thinking about. Since it’s the day after Christmas, and it’s been (thankfully) a slow week of news, I thought I’d take a break from the usual and opine on some other issues making the rounds.
First off, everyone is wrong about Star Wars.
I’m not talking about just about the movie, though they’re wildly wrong about that, I’m also talking about The Mandalorian.
I, like almost everyone who is under 50 and isn’t Amish, grew up with Star Wars, in one form or another. The movies sparked our imaginations, the toys allowed us to expand it, and the comic books and cartoons filled in the blanks. Since 1977, there has been a non-stop drip of Star Wars something or other that has turned into an open spigot in the last 20 years.
No matter how bad it was (The Phantom Menace wasn’t good), we came back for another helping, hoping the next one would make it alright. It only ever sort of did – Rogue One was excellent, Solo was much better than expected.
But the new trilogy wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. The Force Awakens was fine, if boring, but The Last Jedi was awful – more interested in appealing to the “woke” crowd than the fans. Plot lines went nowhere and served no purpose other than killing time and virtue signaling to the left.
Worst of all, however, was they created new powers of the Force for the sake of convenience, it seemed. Suddenly the Force could protect someone from dying in the vacuum of space? Moreover, it could be used while the person who should’ve been dead was unconscious? Luke became a jackass weirdo loner and a defeatist who discovered a part of the Force that allowed him to project himself across the galaxy, but somehow this new power also killed him, or something.
It didn’t make any sense.
Fans were left hoping The Rise of Skywalker would retroactively fill in some of the blanks, unscramble the garbled mess of episode VIII. It did not.
Episode IX actually expanded on these new Force powers, creating newer ones that make even less sense. Now the Force can heal people, even bring them back from the dead? Why didn’t anyone use this power before? When Qui-Gon Jinn was stabbed by Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi just held him as he died. Why wouldn’t he heal him, if the Force can do that? Seems like that’d be a pretty important skill to teach new Jedi. But somehow, at the height of their powers, Jedi didn’t know about this? It took a random nobody to figure it out on their own?
That being said, and all the other issues with the final installment, I still liked it. Critics are giving it bad reviews, but it’s a fun movie. Sure, they don’t satisfactorily explain a lot, and they leave some things hanging, yet it brings to the new trilogy some of the joy of the originals.
Maybe my sentimentalism got the better of me, or my expectations were so low after reading one bad review after another, but I walked out of the theater happy, satisfied. And that, ultimately, is all anyone should expect from a Star Wars movie.
Considering what director JJ Abrams was left to work with after the last movie, and the death of one of his lead actresses before filming began, The Rise of Skywalker is as much as we could hope for. Though far from perfect, people telling you differently are doing so for reasons unrelated to the movie itself.
Nothing will ever compare to the memories of the Star Wars universe from your childhood, no matter where it was in the story when it entered your world. But this is it, it’s over. It goes out with a bang if you let it.
On the other hand, The Mandalorian is being slathered with praise, and it may end up deserving it. But that series is incredibly slow moving and, at least through the first 7 episodes, lacks a coherent plot or purpose. Baby Yoda is fun and has launched a million memes, whether it ends up being anything beyond that will be determined in the final episode.
So far, however, at least until episode 7, it’s one self-contained pointless side mission with a small Yoda after another without much explanation.
Yet the show is praised and the movie is panned. Mostly, I suspect, because we have an emotional investment in the storyline in the movies, expectations we’ve crafted for ourselves from our childhood played out a thousand times over in dreams and with action figures. The Mandalorian has none of that, we can take it for what it is, one 40-minute bite at a time.
My point, in so much as you can have a point about Star Wars, is expect nothing. Go into it the way you went into the universe the first time, with curiosity and an open mind, then decide for yourself. Come to think of it, that’s a pretty good way to go into everything.
The "Force" plot lines always seem to mirror Jesus Christ and the Bible. Anakin was born of a woman who had no earthly father. The Force heals people, and brings them back from the dead.
Jedi selflessly sacrifice themselves, and come back as spirit-beings.
The "dark side" of the Force is filled with demonic looking beings, with a hierarchy that reaches all the way to a Satanic figure.
Star Wars is indeed a generational attraction. Personally and according to my friends who like these sort of shows, Star Trek and it’s off spring were far better and more thought provoking.
Although all of them attempted to send a “woke” message of one sort or another I liked the Star Trek episodes better based on the pure entertainment value.
No thanks, I want to see this SJW garbage heap fail at the box office. Why was Kathleen Kennedy not fired for absolutely ruing a multi-billion dollar franchise?
Disney lost BILLIONS alone from failed toy lines and product placement because these movies alienated the fan base.
It may all be make believe but the new kid is making her own exclusive rules. Pew pew pew. It just isn't fun anymore.
> Why was Kathleen Kennedy not fired for absolutely ruing a multi-billion dollar franchise?
This is the four billion dollar question. Why would anyone put an epic story franchise aimed primarily at boys in the hands of a far-left political activist who hates men?
I keep waiting for an investor to sue over this.
“I’m from earth - know where that is?”
The wonder of Star Wars lost its lustre long ago.
By the time of the first new series arc, they added a dumb NYC diner with jukebox and swivel chairs.
By the time of Solo they added video display kiosks with dumb recruitment videos to join the Empire.
The Empire was originally akin to NAZI Germany, what with stormtroopers and mass genocide.
It was WWII in outer space. Dogfights and other things.
It wasn’t our world.
There was a battle of good and evil, dark and light. Built from a variety of legends, mythological lore, and films.
It never really expanded on that, it just added clutter.
I still contend that I’ll watch the original film but give up on the series after that. Empire ends mid story and Return isn’t a satisfying conclusion. And the rest is a mess.
The complete, total lack of character development.
The author backs up that statement (by me) by pointing to the lack of books, comics, etc.. that allowed us to fill in the blanks of the characters we grew up with.
I also read recently that George Lucas' wife used to review and "tweak" the books and scripts for him. She took a lot of care in adding the richness to the scripts that George Lucas didn't have in his original manuscripts.
That care in these "modern" scripts is missing greatly.
I was so turned off by The Last Jedi that I simply refuse to see this newest movie. I just cannot allow the fond memories I have of the Star Wars saga get destroyed by these woke-politically-correct-assholes destroy my memories.
I refuse.
You're right. I saw the first one in 1977, thought it was stupid and never went back. I did like the Star Tours ride at WDW Orlando, though.
The Force is just bugs in your blood. Women Jedi don’t need to train. Some aliens are just for comic relief. Anakin Skywalker was an adolescent crybaby. Emperor Palpatine changed his face and his entire personality in the course of about 5 minutes. Exposure to space doesn’t kill a person. Bombs still drop in space. Yoda constantly contradicts himself. Star Wars is scatterbrained.
This 21 minute video by Bill Whittle (Scott Ott plays his leftist foil to set him up) is right on the money.
They couldn't just destroy it. They had to unmake Luke Skywalker. They had to make the force for good a force for evil. And the powerful character had to be a woman, not a man.
I have always been one to say "It is Entertainment...sometimes a cigar is just a cigar".
This is not one of those instances, as your image you posted shows. This was not just "entertainment". It is political and societal indoctrination and re-engineering done in the guise of entertainment to manipulate weak-minded people.
I agree. We went to the movie Christmas Eve, it was surprisingly good. Happy to see the in your face PC gone.
Being a big fan I forgave a lot. I forgave the teddy bears in Return. I forgave Jar Jar and a plot that I didn’t care for in Phantom. I forgave any flaws in Clones and Revenge. Then Lucas sold it to Disney in the hopes they would due to the history of the studio carry on with new stories in the spirit he had given his baby. Disney however was a long way from the days of Walt by that time. I then forgave the Force Awakens for sort of redoing A New Hope. Then along came The Last Jedi. This to me was unforgivable. Basically it said all that had gone before didn’t matter. Fine Disney, Kathleen and Rian I’ll take your word for it but I’ll flip it and say your stuff doesn’t matter. Didn’t go to see Solo and won’t go to see Rise. The Last Jedi was the last straw. To me now the Disney movies are the equivalent of fan fiction and aren’t part of the Star Wars I liked. The Lucas films are a complete grouping with all their flaws and I’ll live with that. The Disney stuff I will do my best to ignore and forget sort of like my attitude to Obama. Nothing Disney can do now will redeem themselves.
I agree. Can’t tell you how much I loved the original “Star Wars” (now episode IV). That and “Return of the Jedi” are two of my all time faves.
The middle series (Episode I) was obviously technically better, but spiritually lacking and certainly without humor.
Yes, I did see the latest. Pure cardboard: CGI rampant with again, no soul and no humor at all. Worse, perhaps, I had no interest at all in Rae, Kylo Ren, or the Storm Trooper guy. I had a little interest in Dameron Poe, but they took the series from him. I went to see it more as closure of an elderly dying parent than with the wonder of a child.
”Why was Kathleen Kennedy not fired for absolutely ruing a multi-billion dollar franchise?”
Because when the communists take over the master propagandists at Disney expect to be amply rewarded for their work.
I tell you Disney’s making a killing with the new hollywood studios Star Wars area. First 25 dollars for parking. Ticket 156 dollars. Build your own droid or r2D2 at 109 a pop and for interaction another 60 bucks. Lines are insane at 8 hours. Even with hype down still need 2 hours to get in. Disney’s a happy camper.
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