Disney’s Star Wars.
Think about that for a second.
“Disney’s Star Wars”
That is what it will be known as from now on. This will be a day long remembered.
With the exception of the existing six episodes in the
current saga, there will no longer be the iconic 20th Century Fox
logo with Alfred Newman’s trumpeting fanfare preceding “A long time ago in a
galaxy far, far away…”
Instead, the curtain on Star Wars will now open with the
Magic Kingdom to the tune of “When you wish upon a star” as it transitions into
that galaxy far, far away.
I am indifferent about Lucas selling out to Disney. Frankly, I’m over all of it. If nothing else and for no other reason, I am
just glad that he has finally let it go and moved on. He will no longer be able to get his
meddling hands on the Original Trilogy again and tinker with the films my
generation saw when we were children.
There’s a good chance that Disney will resurrect the Original Trilogy and
restore them back to their unaltered theatrical versions because they know
there is a demand for it and a market potential to sell more DVD’s and Blu-rays to appease the older fans as
well as indoctrinate the younger generations who only grew up with the Lucas
imposed Special Editions. It’s no longer
Lucas’ to say which version we can or can’t watch. For that I am very hopeful and thankful. Enjoy your retirement George. I’d only wished you had done this 20 years
ago. Perhaps my faith in Star Wars would
still be intact and the Prequels and Special Editions wouldn’t have soured and
tarnished my enthusiasm at the prospect of new Star Wars films on the horizon.
The news that Episodes VII, VIII and IX are finally going to
happen fills me with ambivalence. After
the dismal and disappointing Prequels, I’m really not excited or hopeful at
all. Granted Lucas isn’t writing or
directing them which can only be a sigh of relief for most fans. The damage has already been done. Things couldn’t possibly get any worse,
right? There will be stories told from a
fresh new cadre of filmmakers with their love of Star Wars but it still won’t
be the same as the trilogy that I grew up with.
I feel that Lucas has already diminished the magic that those films held
for me as a child with the infuriating Special Editions and cringe inducing
Prequels and the “Disneyfied” Clone Wars cartoons that paved the way for the
Mouse’s acquisition of the Star Wars brand into their mega-monopolistic
IPO. Disney is a company bankrupt of any original
ideas of their own, incorporating and assimilating the intellectual properties of everyone else to
keep their imperialistic machinations prospering under the reign of Emperor
Iger. If you thought that George Lucas
and Lucasfilm were the Evil Empire, you haven’t seen anything yet.
After mismanaging the potential epic science fiction
franchise-in-the-making that was Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter, I really
have no faith that Disney will act as responsible custodians and caretakers of Lucas’
franchise under the auspices of Lucas’ self-appointed chairman, Kathleen
Kennedy. Ironically, there would be no
Star Wars at all if it wasn’t for John Carter.
Disney should have been more respectful of what they had and treated John Carter
like a precursor to their premiere of Star Wars films.
Unlike the misfired and mis-marketed John Carter you had better believe
though that they are going to exploit Star Wars for every last penny of their $4
billion dollar investment and that means milking it even more than Lucasfilm
ever did with their omnipresent merchandising and media. I really don’t want to be greeted at the
gates of the Magic Kingdom by Princess Leia, Snow White, Goofy, Jar Jar Binks
and Mickey Mouse. Too much Star Wars is
not a good thing. It’s overkill. It diminishes and dilutes the magic of the
original films as they become lost in the middle of two lackluster trilogies
whose sole purpose is to profit upon the artistic integrity of the original
mythos by waving it incessantly in your face.
Really, what more can be told about Star Wars that we haven’t
already seen again and again and again?
Joe Johnston's proposed Boba Fett movie? The thing is, Boba
Fett's mystique and appeal comes from being a mysterious character who
appeared only briefly onscreen and had only a couple of lines of
dialogue. He was cool then. The Prequels already told us too much
about him that we didn't really need (or want) to know. Lucas says
there is 20,000 years of stories in the Star Wars universe
waiting to be told that hasn’t already been explored and beaten into the
ground
by the Expanded Universe in the comic books, video games, novels and
cartoons. Who are the characters in this
new trilogy going to be? Will we see Old
Mark Hamill appearing as Old Luke Skywalker in an Obi-Wan Kenobi type role
overseeing a new generation of Jedi Knights protecting the
New Republic from the tyranny of a new Darth Wannabe? It’s more of the same-old-same-old. I
know the lightsabers are going to be out
for me on this one, and I don’t really care, but I’m sure the majority
of devout fanboys out there will lap it up and willingly shell out their
cash for the
toys and line up to be among the first to see the new films but my
enthusiasm
for it all is gone. I said my goodbyes
to Star Wars with the end credits of Episode III in 2005 and found
closure. Like Lucas, I closed that
book. That story was told. The door is opening for a new generation and
new stories and endless possibilities but it’s just not my Star Wars. Lucas said Star Wars films can continue on
now for a hundred years. I’ll be
long dead. There comes a point where you just
have to cherish the ones you love and preserve that sense of nostalgia and let it go.
To evoke the words of Bill Murray, “Star Wars. Nothing but Star Wars.”
There’s just no stopping the juggernaut. Star Wars is forever. Yay.
May the Force be with you. Always.