Star Wars has been burned once by nostalgia goggles. Let’s not let it happen again.
“Star Wars: Episode VII” is getting in gear for its holiday release and its final trailer gives the world a lot to be excited about after Lucas repeated attempts to bastardize his own creation a decade prior.
While the newest trailer for “The Force Awakens” hits the sweet spot that I was desperately hoping it would nail ever since the release of the initial teaser nearly a year ago, I can’t help but feel a twinge of worry for Disney’s handling of this franchise ever since it has taken hold of the reins.
From a filmmaking perspective, I’m positively ecstatic about the slate of movies that are currently in production. J.J. Abrams knows what the fans want and is bringing back the best elements of the setting en masse, with a great crew of writers and directors ready to succeed him for the future installments of the sequel trilogy. All of this hype doesn’t even factor in the darker and more experimental “Rogue One,” to be helmed by Gareth Edwards for release in 2016, which I am anticipating even more than “The Force Awakens.”
For the first time in decades, “Star Wars” is looking to be cinematically strong. There is, however, an undercurrent to all of these projects along with those in planning stage that seems to be counter-intuitive to the franchise’s very premise and served as one of the many marks against the prequels.
Although I was willing to give Abrams the benefit of the doubt for his work on “Star Trek (2009),” I don’t think I was truly excited for “The Force Awakens” until this recent trailer dropped and the reason why is seeded in the direction that the series is currently moving in to excess; every entry aims to make a nostalgic connection to the same characters.
I’m not claiming that there isn’t a lot to be excited about with “The Force Awakens.” However, how anybody can groan over the inclusion of C3-PO in “The Phantom Menace” while giving Harrison Ford’s presence here a pass is beyond me.
Despite eventually growing into a convoluted web that would make later seasons of “Lost” look watchable by comparison, the “Star Wars” Expanded Universe was great about opening up entirely new opportunities to build on the iconography that the world recognized the franchise for.
Wars is the keyword. “Star Wars” was about a setting; “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away.” This setting, throughout thousands of years is rife with tales of ace pilots crossing the stars for a cause, thieves and bandits struggling to take on jobs that can impact the future of the galaxy, Jedi and Sith locked in combat waging wars to change the flow of history to rule the galaxy with an iron fist or let the people decide their own fate, etc.
There were different stories, different time periods, and they all took place across different mediums, ranging from novels and comic books, to video games and table top games. The Adventures of Luke Skywalker and the cast of the Galactic Civil War received plenty of development but rarely at the expense of budding stories that were new, independent, and unique from the rest of the franchise. So why should this new era be any different.
For the last year, I have watched new Star Wars cartoons and comic books flood the market like never before and while it’s nice to see a series you love getting a new lease on life, it’d be nice to see that lease come with new ideas, rather than selling the same 30 year old story for the umpteenth time. Additionally, even though the franchise carries strong potential with its current slate of green lit films, I can’t help but fear the creative foundation of their planning if they intend to seriously bank on a Han Solo origin story as a film.
I’ve watched “Star Wars” rise and fall from highs to low my entire life. I love that the franchise is in a position to get the care that it desperately needs but it would be really nice to progress with something new rather than dredge up and parade the old. There’s iconography to be respected but hopefully by the time Episode VIII rolls around, we’ll be using John Boyega and Daisy Ridley as selling points rather than Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher.
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