A New Hope?

Growing up with Star Wars and the new possibilities that Disney brings.

When it was announced that Disney would be purchasing Lucasfilm I felt something for the first time that I hadn’t felt since I saw the trailer to Phantom Menace, I was excited about the future of Star Wars. I’m 36 so I was born the year Star Wars came out and vaguely remember seeing Empire (what were my parents thinking?) and definitely Jedi in the cinema. I grew up on Star Wars, it was the holy grail of all fantasy escapes for me.

There are a lot of reasons why Star Wars is beloved but I want to talk about an angle rarely explored. One of the things that made the Star Wars franchise so special to me was its scarcity. Besides borrowing the 3 films on VHS from time to time and waiting for it to show up on local TV, all you had was your imagination to fulfil your fantasies. Every time we re-watched the movies it was an event to be savoured. We of course had a ton of Star Wars action figures and we acted out many of the famous scenes from the movies. I look on with envy at what my kids can now buy, Lego Star Wars was a fantasy of mine that sadly didn’t become reality until well past the age where it’s acceptable to play with them.

I still remember walking into my local comic shop and seeing a new story set in the Star Wars universe for the first time, Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. It was a revelation and I didn’t realise until then how much I hungered for new stories set within the Star Wars universe. That first book opened the floodgates and over the next few years I devoured every new Star Wars book that came out, whether they were good or completely rubbish.

With the reissuing of the original Star Wars series to celebrate the 20th year anniversary I finally had a chance to see the movies as an adult, as they were intended and I was there with my future wife. It was her first taste of the franchise (I know!) and I was excited to share it with her. It was during this period that the first niggles, the first questioning of George Lucas and Star Wars began. The changes and additions Lucas made to the trilogy annoyed a lot of loyal fans but it didn’t really bother me that much at the time. I was excited to see the new stuff and completely trusted Lucas’s vision. He hadn’t steered me wrong yet.

I remember I was in my first job when the prequels were announced. To say I was excited would be a massive understatement. I spent long hours finding every little bit of info on the new prequels as I could. When it was announced that the first trailer was to be released with A Bug’s Life I bought a ticket even though I didn’t want to see it. I must have seen that trailer 50 times before the movie came out. It wasn’t just me, I remember having to man our company’s stall at a trade show and we had the trailer running every 5 minutes on one of our computers. It was amazing how many people would stop and watch it. It didn’t even cross my mind, not even for a second that the movie would be poor.

When the first reviews started trickling out I was shocked and dismayed at the very negative opinions and my doubts began. I dismissed them at the time and eagerly awaited the first showing. It’s hard now trying to remember what I felt after I saw Phantom Menace for the first time. Over the 13 years since then I lot of opinion has coloured my own. But I do remember that I was thrilled with the end lightsaber sequence, something I think I had played in my mind for at least 20 years before the first prequel came out. I think at the time I was just happy that there was a new movie but I couldn’t ignore the criticism forever and eventually it took a toll on my own opinion of Star Wars and George Lucas. Again thinking about it now so much of what we think is influenced by others, in a vacuum would I still look so unfavourably on The Phantom Menace? I’m not sure. My (still) girlfriend dismissed it immediately declaring it has horrible and swearing off the prequels all together.

I was less enthused but still anticipating the sequel Attack of the Clones and I hoped it would be better, thinking maybe it was a once off and the second one would fix the issues with the first. The reviews were just as negative second time round so I went in with low expectations, a first when it comes to Star Wars. Maybe those low expectations or my blind fandom stopped me from seeing the shortcoming with Attack of the Clones, I’m not sure. But I came out enthused thinking it was a much better movie than the first. I was in the minority and only blind fans like myself thought otherwise. I forgot about Star Wars and wasn’t really thinking about the final one until I saw the first trailer, seeing the Emperor pulling out a lightsaber brought out the inner fan again and I went in excited. Again the reviews called it rubbish but of all the prequels I enjoyed Revenge of the Sith the most. This time I wasn’t convinced by others arguments that it was poor. Of course I could see the bad wooden acting but thought the story and action scenes made up for it.

Looking back now I’m surprised how much I did initially enjoy 2 and 3, what is it that has harden my heart to them? It could be things like this <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI</a>. In the years since Sith I’ve come to realise how poor the prequels really were. Not because they didn’t fulfil some fantasy I had of an adults Stars Wars just for me as so many complaints have been. I think that line of thought is ridiculous. Star Wars was always targeted at children and young adults and I don’t begrudge Lucas continuing that tradition. But the plots and characters were poor and there was no hiding that, even from a previously blind fan like myself. The more I’ve come to know about Lucas the more I’ve come to realise that he was the made culprit to the demise of the the Star Wars franchise.

I began to forget Star Wars, what the prequels had done was dim any excitement or enthusiasm with the entire universe of Star Wars. It also could be because I’ve grown up, had kids of my own and daily responsibilities don’t leave much time for fandom.

This all leads back to the first paragraph and why I’m again excited about Star Wars. Without the main obstacle of George Lucas the opportunities and new story directions within Star Wars are limitless. It’s strange that a beloved franchise is sold by the once beloved creator to a huge corporation but yet I think most have welcomed the news.

Finally, thanks George, you did create this universe that I grew up with and love so much but I’m looking forward to the next chapter and what someone else can do with it. A new hope indeed.