The Fourth is Strong with this Post

Okay, okay. I think everyone gets that today is Star Wars Day. What better day to post about my thoughts on the new Star Wars happenings then on such a day? (Insert Yoda voice) Proceed I must hmmmm...

A couple of days ago a co-worker asked me if I was excited about the new Star Wars films. It took zero time for me to respond, "No!" Of course, I then had to explain how I could be a fan of the franchise and not be excited. See, every time Lucas does something with Star Wars he sort of makes it worse. It started when he decided to digitally enhance the original series, and THEN he thought it would be a good idea to make the prequels. I did too because I figured it would be cool to see where it all started since the originals start in the middle of the story. I was wrong. Harsh lessons were learned every time I left the theater in hopes that the next prequel movie would be better. Mainly: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (You can start at 2:41 and stop at 4:26)




Yes, Simon Pegg, just like f*&^()$ Shaft. (Although, I was a child when I first saw Return of the Jedi so I sort of loved the Ewoks.) What is going to go wrong with these new films? More wacko characters? More terrible acting? I mean, does anyone buy the fact that Christensen's whiny-ass Anakin really becomes the bad-ass Vader. Anyone?

But enough about the past, this is about the future. Disney now owns Star Wars and therefore will insist on making money off of it. This past week the cast was announced. And you know what I now have to do? Look most of them up in IMDB or Wikipedia because I have no clue who they are. I suppose it makes sense since Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford weren't really known either. When looking at it that way, I am sort of okay with a young cast I do not recognize. Still, do I really want to see an aged Luke, Leia, and Han? And do Wookies even age? Droids definitely don't. Right? They were all so happy at the end of Jedi, and I'd like to preserve them like that in my memory. Not as mortals who grow old. That's part of suspending disbelief.

Next, I hear it will occur 30 years after the end of Jedi. Okay, so we are talking New Jedi Order? Will it follow any of the numerous book series? Or will it create a whole new storyline? I've tried to keep up with all the directions things went within the books and finally admitted defeat. What I do know is that Leia has twins and one turns to the dark side. Is that what will happen in the films? Then of course it seems the Emperor is reborn and does finally manage to get his hands on Luke. Can I even handle something like that? Definitely not. Why couldn't we just end the story happily where it stopped? All I really wanted to see happen next was Han and Leia's wedding. I bet that was AWESOME! But besides that? I'm good.

The real question is whether I'm going to lay down $11 a ticket to see these new films in the theaters. The truth is I really don't know. How weird is it going to be NOT seeing the 20th Century Fox logo before the space credits? Disney hasn't disappointed with the Avenger and Muppets, but this just feels different. I just cannot be disappointed again. The prequels were brutal.

Can we just go back to a time when Solo shot first?