It could be said that Star Wars came into the world at the
perfect time, but that it also sparked the merchandising craze with its toys,
even before the toys ever came out with its infamous empty box “Early Bird
Certificate Package.” My teenage years were spent without any new “Star Wars”
movies, besides watching all the VHS copies until they were worn out. However,
with the 1990’s came a new wave of Star Wars novels, comic books and video
games, in what would become the non-canon “Expanded Universe” or “Legends”
after Disney acquired the franchise. While many of these added a much needed
backstory and between stories to the already expansive canon of the movies, it
added more variety to the Star Wars story. Han Solo and Leia Skywalker-Organa
married and had twins, Jaina and Jacen Solo, and later Anakin Solo. Luke
Skywalker would later meet Mara Jade and they would have a son, named Ben
Skywalker. Not to mention the stories that would follow their descendant Cade
Skywalker.
Now, while some of these stories weren’t great, they weren’t equal to the movies, but at least it gave many writers and artists a chance to play in the Star Wars Universe and bring to the fans a plethora of content. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Star wars is not perfect, it never was. And with this resurgence and the excitement over the infamous "Special Editions", it was time for the return of the franchise in 1999 with the highly contested and debated over prequels, beginning with “Episode I – The Phantom Menace”. Even then, Star Wars fans were as divided as they’ve ever been, with half of them regaling in the return with open arms, while half of the fans felt that their childhood memories had been stomped on like Jar Jar Binks stepping in “Icky, icky goo!” And with episodes II and III, the supposed “Star Wars” saga supposedly came to an end, with George Lucas saying in 2005 that there would never be an episode VII.
While the prequels were over, the Expanded Universe thrived
and would continue on into the 2000's in both comic book and novel form, until
the Lucasfilm franchise was purchased by Disney in 2012 for $4 Billion and
having already bought Marvel Comics in 2009, it seemed as though Disney now
owned everything! When “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens” was
released in 2015, I like many millions of Star Wars fans were overjoyed. I saw
it opening day and I came out feeling great and happy. It wasn’t until later
that I realized why that was… nostalgia!
Nostalgia was a big part of my life, and I find that as I
get older, nostalgia has started to fade away. I think that’s called “Growing
Up!” I have been a Star Wars fan as long as I can remember. I’ve spent
countless hours watching, reading, playing and waiting for Star Wars. The
biggest revelation came when I and my family attended Star Wars Celebration
2017 on April 13–16, 2017, in Orlando, Florida. It was the biggest and most
exhausting experience of my life. The crowd was HUGE! The Celebration sets a
new attendance record at over 70,000! This deserves repeating 70,000 people,
inside a 7,000,000 square feet convention center! I spent hours waiting in
lines, lines and more lines. I spent hundreds of dollars, including $90 for an
autograph from the Emperor himself, Ian McDiarmid! The convention’s main
purpose was to of course to promote the release of “Episode VIII: The Last
Jedi” in December. I got to see the trailer on another screen since the
screening room was already full when I arrived on the first day, although
disappointing, this was only the beginning of a long and arduous weekend. And
apparently, we didn’t learn our lesson because we also attended the fifth
Disney D23 Expo on July 14–16, 2017 at the Anaheim Convention Center in
Anaheim, California.
Fandom, for me, started to decline that year, especially
after seeing “The Last Jedi” which turned out to be the most divisive subject
for Star Wars fans in the last 20 years or so. Without going too much into it,
I’ll just say that I was crushed. Kylo Ren says “Let the past die, kill it…”
and even Luke Skywalker said “It’s time for then Jedi to end…” I shouldn’t have
let it make me feel so depressed, but it did. Why? It’s only a movie! It’s “the
Wars”! I love to use one of my favorite movies as an example is the comedy
“Fanboys” (2009) directed by Kyle Newman, (who is only 3-years-older than me)
is the story of a group of friends and friends/Star Wars fans, who take a
cross-country trip to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch so their dying friend can
see a screening of “Star Wars: Episode I” before its release. With a very
low-budget and a cult following, I always thought that this was the perfect
expression of the complicated love/hate relationship that many fans like myself
have/had with Star wars, particularly around the controversies of Episode I, to
which I see the very same divisiveness over Episode VII and VIII. One of my
favorite quotes is…
“You gotta find your Death Star… Greatest deed Luke
Skywalker ever did was take down the Death Star, right? As far as I'm
concerned, that's what everybody needs. You need that one bad-ass thing that
lets you live on forever…” – Hutch, (Dan Fogler)
If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it, it’s funny
and a little silly, but it’s got some great moments and great cameos too from
Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher and even William Shatner. My dad is an
original Star Trek fan as well and he introduced me to Star Wars at an early
age, so I have always been a Star Trek and a Star Wars fan, almost 60%/40%. You
can love more than one fandom there has always been this weird war between Trek
and Wars fans, but they often go hand-in-hand.
Upon the release of “Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker” I was
both relieved and saddened by the so-called “end’ of the Skywalker Saga and to
see what the franchise has become after 42 years. From the monumental film that
started it all, the sequels that grew a fan base, and the subsequent prequels
that originally divided the fan base, to the sequel trilogy that ultimately
brought the fandom to the breaking point. I still love Star Wars. I love the
original movies the most, I like the prequels for the most part, and Episode
VII started things off okay, but then went downhill from there until the saga
itself came to a crashing end.
Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts and I still say Happy Star Wars Day and May the Fourth (Force) be with you!
