My Thoughts On Star Wars And The New Franchise · 1:38pm Dec 23rd, 2016
It's unpopular opinion time! So grab the butt balm, because this is bound to chaff a lot of booties.
Today's subject is Star Wars. I am already preparing for the inevitable mob that is going to come after me for writing this with pitchforks. Sounds like fun! So let's begin.
I'm probably in the minority, but I am not the biggest fan of the new Star Wars movie franchise. I feel that it lacks the magic of the original films. The original films had a sort of mysticism and wonder to them. The various origninal book series in the franchise really capitalized on that.
Then the prequels came along. And while I didn't like the prequel films as much as the original trilogy, I did enjoy the books that helped to expand the universe and such. Well then these new movies started being released. And all of the expanded universe books have to be ignored now, which I don't like. So I'm not too happy about that. I'm also not happy about Han and Leia being divorced and their son being an emo Sith lord. But hey. I guess the emo gene runs in the family. Just look at Anakin Skywalker for proof.
In short, I prefer the original trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return if the Jedi) to any of the other Star Wars films.
There is a certain nostalgia I have for these movies as I grew up watching them; both the original theater releases and special editions of the films.
They had a certain essoteric and mystical charm to them that none of the other films have ever been able to capture in the same way.
I do enjoy both Clone Wars animated television series and other animated series attached to the franchise (even the really cheesy cartoons about the Ewoks and droids). The games (tabletop rpgs, card games, board games, video games, etc.) are pretty fun too.
But in terms of live action movies I'm not really too interested in seeing anything else.
More cartoon series would be cool though.
In regards to the prequels, I think that George Lucas should have had someone look at his scripts, edit them and such. I saw fan edits of the films that actually made them good. So I prefer to think of the fan edits as canon. Editing goes a long way both in writing and visual mediums like television and movies. At the end of the day, George needed people telling him to cut out unnecessary things. But they didn't.
I've also never been a fan of the whole midichlorian thing. I like the force being a magical energy. It gives the film a fantasy element. The midichlorian thing ruined the fantasy element.
The force void of a concrete or scientific explanation left more things up to the imagination and made the force accessible to anyone; as seen in the original books.
I think that if George had edited the films to keep the mystical aspect of the force, it would have made a big improvement in itself.
This might sound weird, but the use of puppets in the original film (for aliens and such) also gave it a fantasy element. The cgi in the following films made them too much like a generic science fiction franchise. And the handbuilt sets, explosions, models, etc. made the original films look real.
All of that being said, I don't blame George for the quality of the prequels at all. I blame the greedy corporate people for draining the creativity out of his films.
George expressed multiple times that the scripts he used for the prequels were actually drafts he had in mind for his original films. It would take a lot of time to rework them and turn them into a fresh and innovative product. But George was pressured to release the films in a certain time frame. So he wasn't given the opportunity to flesh out all of his ideas.
The reality is, Disney had been pressuring him for YEARS to sell them the rights to the franchise. I think Disney was instrumental in sabotaging George in many ways (especially with the prequels). He had to follow the rules of where the money came from. Well guess where a lot of that money came from? Then, they pressured him to sell the franchise after they knew the prequels would fail.
Hence, they would be the ones who would "Save Star Wars" and take all the credit for it while leaving Lucas to bear the cross of it's fall in the first place
Then when George expressed his frustration, the media made him out to be the bad guy. You can pretty much assume the great majority of people the media shits on aren't bad.
Just remember that all the news stations are owned by five (more or less) corporations which are all politically motivated. And not in the right way. In fact most of them believe in population reduction and other new world order BS. The heads of these corporations have been quoted in interviews talking about the new world order. Its creepy shiz. As for Disney, both they and Google own just about everything. And are run by the same types of creepers. Surprise surprise eh?
Oh course this isn't always the case. All companies, corporations, and organized groups are filled with both good and bad people. Jedi and Sith lords if you will. It's just that the Sith, more often than not, end up being in charge. But I digress.
I kind of side tracked there but you get the point.
If I had to choose some live action Star Wars films for Disney to make, I would love to see them remake the prequels with better actors, scripts, and keeping the force as a mystical concept.
But I know that Disney will probably never do this. So I will be waiting for new cartoons and such to surface so I can return to ignoring the live action films and keep going about my day.
More power to all of the people who enjoy the prequels or the new franchise. That's perfectly fine. They just aren't something I personally enjoy as much as the original trilogy. We all have our preferences. And I prefer to enjoy the original Star Wars movies and books. But that's just me. I am a very small fraction of the population.
In time, I suspect that people will probably forget the original trilogy or various books written about that universe even existed with the release of all of these news films and related entertainment.
The memory will exist in the hearts of those who loved it in it's original form. We too one day will pass carrying the charm of the original films with us to a galaxy far, far away.
4352125 Lol Oh you.
For the moment, at least, the popular opinion seems to be "shit on it because it's not the originals", but I digress. Fair enough, but I actually like the new movies (Disney era) the same as and slightly more than the originals. The prequels were shit though, with only Revenge Of The Sith being good in my eyes.
This is not a valid criticism of anything.
Of course you don't. No one likes it. This still isn't a reflection on the new movies.
1) All Sith are emo.
2) Even in the books, their kid turned out to be a Sith.
3) I don't really care if you prefer the original trilogy (even if you've yet to provide a valid reason as to why) over the others. For the most part, I do tol. But I have always, and WILL always object to these very clumsy and irrelevant criticisms of Kylo Ren. He is an awesome villian, and once you realize what's ACTUALLY going on with him, he turns out to be one of the deepest and interesting characters in the history of the franchise. So there.
This is not a valid criticism of anything. Honestly, I'd complain a lot less if you just went, "Eh, I prefer the originals because that's what tickles my fancy," instead of just saying things that have very little meaning behind them.
Which one? There are two.
Speaking as someone who likes the Prequels, I can agree that if they had cleaned up the dialogue, they would have been immensely better movies.
Agreed. Among the many, MANY awesome things that the Force Awakens did, returning the descriptions of the Force to it's roots was definitely one of them.
So... Disney's evil?
IN OTHER NEWS: Water is wet, Death is fatal, and Ice is cold.
But here's the thing: The Prequels had amazing actors. Liam Neeson, Ewen McGregor, Mace Windu (can't remember his name), Palpatine (his name neither). These were all great actors.
Even Hayden Christensen. Yes, I know. But in his defense: NO ONE gave a good performance in those movies (save McGregor in Sith). It was mostly due to the awful dialogue and misdirection that things ended up the way they did. But when Hayden actually got to emote, instead of just spouting corny lines, he was absolutely TERRIFYING as a young Vader.
See, it's this kind of shitty dialogue that kept the Prequels from being amazing.
4352132 Excellent observance of the matter. On YouTube, I posted a comment on the trailer for THE FORCE AWAKENS where I predicted that a commentator would invoke my disability and call it THE AUTISM AWAKENS (because "autistic" is unfortunately being used a pejorative term the same way that "retarded" was once used for the same purpose).
Here's my own thoughts on the type of reaction folks have to Episode VII; basically I not only embedded the video but also my comment on it: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/691354/blacknerd-on-star-wars-episode-vii
4352132
I don't know. I recently gave Menace a critical viewing, and I honestly believe that that movie is severely overhated.
Still, I also enjoy these new movies slightly more than the originals.
4352132 I think that the prequels are a good concept. They just need a better direction. This is something I would actually love to see Disney remake.
4352142 If something has a magical feeling the first time you see it, it's hard to replicate it after watching the thing you originally liked. Which is why people rarely like remakes of things. Although sometimes the remakes are actually better. That was the point I was trying to get across.
Kylo Ren is a whiny baby. But it runs in the family so I'm not going to hold it against him. It was bad genetics. :p
I was referring to both of The Clone Wars Series. I am going to edit my post to make that more clear.
I personally enjoyed the dialog of the original trilogy. The dialog of the prequels sucked though. Especially the dialog between Padme and Anakin. Good God was that a trainwreck.
4352144 Thank you for sharing the link. I will give your journal entry a read. :)
4352150
No, he really isn't. For one thing, he whines a LOT less than Luke or Anakin ever did. For another: No, he really isn't. It's an act.
4352152 Hey, if you like Kylo Ren more power to you. I don't necessarily dislike him as a character. I thought it was a bit cheesy to make him a villain. Almost kind of predictable to be honest. It also raises a lot of questions. Like, are people in the Skywalker bloodline just evil? Because even Luke and Leia have had to fight very hard to keep their good side, as chronicled in the original books.
I'm not going to stop watching the new films. I like keeping up to date with that stuff. I just don't think I will ever have the same passion or enthusiasm for them as I did for the original movies and books.
Part of my attachment to the old series were the original characters. And there haven't really been too many new characters in the franchise that I have gravitated to. Unless we are talking about The Clone Wars television series, but I kind of think of the cartoons as being their own connected universe.
I don't dislike the new films in any way. I'm just not enthusiastic about watching them. I think to myself, 'Meh, I'll download it and watch it later," when I see the trailers. They are entertaining for sure. They just don't have the same magic for me as the original films did.
But that's just my perspective.
What really burns my gears is that they just nuked the "canon" of all the previous books, but still cherry pick the best bits. While, yay, that's a good idea, there's still a lot of material in there that I'd love to see. Mara Jade was one of my favorite characters and I doubt I'll be able to see her now.
And I never hated Lucas for the prequels, he did the best he could, but he's not a good actor director. And, you know, how do you live up to the hype of 20ish years of one of the most famous movie series on the planet? While the prequels were not good to me, I still enjoy them and I get to see Ewan McGregor kick ass as Obi Wan. I'm cool with that.
4352156
Have you considered the fact that he's not a villian? And I'm not talking about points of view here. Have you considered that Kylo Ren is not on the side of the First Order?
4352158 I completely agree with you about Maria Jade. She kicked so much butt. They could have at the very least kept her in the new universe. Oh well. Opportunity missed. At least you can still play her as a character in the Star Wars: Masters Teras Kasi fighting game.
I pretty much ignore their instructions to ignore the books. I'm going to read them anyway. So there. Disney can kiss my shiny behind. :p
I enjoy watching the prequels every once in a while. But I always fast forward through the Anakin and Padme 'love' scenes. Lol
4352164 haha I tend to just re-read the Heir to the Empire trilogy. I love when she first meets Luke, they got a great bond, I suppose XD
And the worst part is, I wouldn't mind that much if the newer books weren't crap haha. The few ones I've skimmed through just aren't that good. I have the one that sets up the Force Awakens and have read Ahsoka, and just ain't a fan.
If you fast forward fast enough, it's almost as if they don't exist XD
4352159 I think Kylo Ren will end up being a misunderstood type of character. Similar to Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender. In fact I see a lot of similarities between the two. But that doesn't change the fact that he's perceived as being evil and is going through an emo phase at the moment. :p
4352166 OMG That comparison cracked me up. Lol Poor Kylo Ren.
4352173 I am more of a fan of the original books as well. They seemed to have a lot more depth and they expanded on the universe quite well. That being said, there is the occasional book or series in the new line of novels that turns out being good every now and again.
4352174
Wrong. But whatever.
4352179 Agreed, although the old books didn't have bad moments, I'm looking at you Vong, but it's rare for the new books. Although I did enjoy Catalyst.
4352181 I tend to like the evil characters more anyway. Which is why I loved Darth Vader in the original series.
And you have a bit of a crush on Kylo Ren don't you? XD
I personally think Lando Calrissian is the hottest Star Wars guy.
Also, this.
66.media.tumblr.com/f657636325ff8c64dd02807178bb5701/tumblr_o1la1loeRj1qgju0ho1_500.png
4352192 The new books are hit or miss. But when they get it right, they really knock it out of the park.
4352198
Of course not. I'm gay.
I'm just able to observe the evidence, and come to conclusions based on said evidence.
4352206 oh yeah, and honestly, I enjoyed the attempt Rogue One made. I was pleasantly surprised with the ending, never expected Disney to allow that.
4352214 I'm just teasing you. ;)
I'm straight but I still find girls attractive. *Shrugs.*
Like Korra from The Legend of Korra for example. ;)
4352215 I haven't seen Rogue One yet. But I am hoping to see it soon. I like keeping up to date with the new Star Wars films even though I prefer the original trilogy. I still find the new films to be entertaining and fun to watch.
4352218 I enjoyed it, but I can see why princess bagged on it haha. It definitely had some problems.
4352224 Who bagged on it? I am not familiar with that reviewer.
To be honest, I was huge Star Wars fan as a kid. Now a days however I find it a guilty pleasure at best b/c of how as you put it streamlined it is. I totally agree with you, Star Wars is in when step back and look at it from a glance is a mess.Even the original trilogy had problems(*cough* Ewoks *cough*). There is better sci-fi franchises out there like Star Trek and Doctor Who. Back to what you were saying, Disney had the opportunity to make new prequels non-canon , but they didn't and, instead, ended 30 years of history off of the map, the Star Wars EU. My personal Star Wars EU book was Plageuis . It fixed sooo many problems that prequels and now its not canon anymore...go figure. This is why Im not a huge Star Wars fan as you Lyra.
4352225 the critics, at first, and I have a few friends that like to bag on it.
4352227 I still enjoy watching the new Star Wars films. I am just not as big as a fan of the new films as I am of the original trilogy. The original films will always be the best movies/ books in the franchise for me.
I completely agree with you about Darth Plagueis. It would be really cool to see more of the quality newer generation books turned into prequels/ in-between films.
And I would love to see episodes one, two, and three completely remade with new actors and a new script. I think that could potentially help to fix a lot of the problems that the unedited prequels caused in terms of continuity and poor plot elements.
4352234 Oh I see. What didn't they like about the new Rogue One film? I'm just curious.
4352237
Have you considered that you might be somewhere on the bi spectrum?
The first half dragged a bit. That's really the only major flaw I could find.
4352251 I'm not bi because I couldn't see myself dating a girl. But I do find certain girls/ women to be attractive. Which seems pretty common for most people. Guys who are not on a bi or gay spectrum can find other guys to be physically attractive or handsome. There are scientific reasons for this. Both men and women compare physical aspects of potential 'competitors'. It's a dominance thing. In the wild, two women would probably fight to be alpha female, and men would fight to be alpha male. A male that is physically attractive and appears to be healthy is instantly noticeable because it is an immediate thread for dominance. The same as noticing a female that is attractive. Subconsciously, your mind wants to fight the 'challenger' for dominance. So you recognize the beauty/ physical appearance.
Korra can be my competitor any day of the week. ;)
And I don't mind movies that have slow areas. That often helps to build up the suspense of set the tone. That's what is missing from a lot of movies these days, to be honest. It's nice to see it making a comeback.
4352257
You really need to see Rogue One. I have a funny feeling that you will absolutely love it.
4352261 I definitely want to see it. XD I've heard good things about it. And I like to keep up to date with Star Wars. So I'm making it a goal to watch. In one form or another. :P
Can't disagree that the original trilogy is very good, best of the arcs so far. I think the new one has potential, I was a fan of Force Awakens and I'm hard pressed to decide if it gets spot #3 or #4 in my favorite SW movies list. (It's fighting with Jedi)
My list goes:
#1: 5, Empire Strikes Back
#2: 4, New Hope
#3/4: Force Awakens vs Return of the Jedi
#5+: Can't "Force" myself to watch the prequels enough to rank them other than a collective "last."
On the midichlorian debacle: I have taken it into my own personal headcannon that midichlorians do not control the Force at all. They are a side effect of heavy Force ability, like ectoplasm with spiritual stuff. Ectoplasm isn't the cause of spiritual phenomenon, it's a side effect. Same thing with midichlorians, think of them like bacterial that feeds on excess Force energy. So, Force sensitive person is going to be loaded with them. Whatever Quigon said can be accredited to his last name, Gin. Too much Gin and you'll start spouting nonsense about bacteria controlling your destiny too.
4352298 You know, I really like that theory about midichlorians. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
And Qui-Gon Jinn probably WAS on a lot of gin. That would explain why he took whiny Anakin on as an apprentice in the first place.
4352237 the pacing was all over the place, everyone was at each others throat it's a surprise anything got done, there's one character that was over the top
4352132
4352151
So in the end Disney is evil, and no one in their mind had the guts to contradict George Lucas. (Despite the fact that that contradicting, and the people he worked with are the reasons that the Original Star Wars films where so good.)
Yep.
4352145 It's overhated, but it's still bad.
4352149 That's why TFA was so similar to A New Hope. They wanted to do the original goal of the prequels: Same basic themes, but with some nuances and a different setting.
4352311
It also explains his penchant for gambling large sums of money/people and his complete disregard for authority. It also explains his... less than stellar performance against Darth Maul. Strike, strike, parry, parry, thrust... Oh I should have parried again.
Not a fan of TFA either. It's trying too hard to be A New Hope, and they didn't really stick to what lots of fans considered canon. Also, if you're going to make the sith lord emo, make him accurately emo. Give him a decent haircut, and make him actually care about how he looks. Can't really complain about him being a whiney little bitch and throwing temper tantrums, because this scene was hilarious.
4352333 Ah I see. Well I still want to see the movie. XD I want to see what they did with the concept.
I'm not a big fan of Star Wars, but I agree that the original trilogy was awesome.
4352452 I wouldn't say Disney is evil per se. I think they are greedy though. They saw that Star Wars was a franchise that was going to earn them a lot of money and they did whatever they felt was necessary to make sure they would obtain ownership of the franchise.
I do feel bad for George in many ways. He's a visionary directory. He should always be the person working behind the scenes, dolling out ideas for how he wants his films to run while a head director/ actor director are working with the script concept and to coach the actors into portraying their roles correctly.
This unfortunately didn't happen with a great deal of George's work after the 90s. Steven Spielberg is the same way. He is good at coming up with concepts and ideas, but he should always get a head director/ acting director to help him with the script and coaching the cast members. I think this is why we saw the train-wreck we did when the two of them were brought together to make the fourth Indiana Jones movie. I actually do enjoy the fourth movie. But it's another example of a time when Lucas and Spielberg should have kept their roles behind the scenes and acted as visionaries on the project. The film might have avoided the alien angle if that were the case. And it might have been a lot better by doing so.
A lot of people like to give Lucas shit about his fantasy film Strange Magic. Yes, I agree that it is cheesy as heck. But it actually does a lot of stuff right. Including the sympathetic villain. Again, Lucas is a visionary. He's good at thinking up ideas. And he just needs more of a balance of directorial powers on his team to get to the level he used to be at again. He needs to stop trying so hard to prove things to the critics and let his ideas shine behind the scenes. But that's just be two cents.
4352476 Yep I noticed that as well. I do enjoy watching the movie. It is entertaining. And it has it's funny moments along with more serious ones. I just prefer the original trilogy because that is what I grew up with and I have the most nostalgia for. That being said, it's always fun to watch or read anything that expands the knowledge about the universe. So it's always fun to watch the other incarnations of the franchise, however they surface.
4352483 He needed to go back to the lightsaber training institution. lol I completely agree with you there.
4352540 Every time Kylo Ren freaked out I honestly thought it was hilarious. I'm not sure that it was supposed to be. But it cracked me up every time.
I don't dislike TFA. It's entertaining to watch. But I just don't enjoy the new franchise/ films as much as I like watching the original trilogy. One critique I will give TFA all that being said, is that a lot of the characters seemed two dimensional. They were either 'good' or 'bad'. Kylo Ren was sort of in the middle. Until the end of the movie where he solidified his position as a Sith lord. I guess you could say that Finn was 'sort of' a middle of the road character. But he seemed suspiciously good for being a stormtrooper. And there was never enough reason given in the film to why he switched sides so easily.
In the original trilogy there were plenty of grey area characters like Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett, so on, so forth. Even Luke had his battle with the dark side that was very apparent to see.
But other than that (and the obvious fact that it was a near copy of A New Hope) I still found the movie to be entertaining. And it is definitely a lot easier to stomach than the prequels which I can only bring myself to watch every once in a while. I always fast forward past the Padme and Anakin love scenes. That's the only way I can survive. lol
4352569 I could view the original trilogy over and over again and never get tired of watching it. There is definitely something very magical and special about those films. And they've held up very well with time.
4352562 I'd recommend it, it was a lot of fun haha.