The Force is Strong in This One

In retrospect, George Lucas should have done all six movies at once. But he did not.

If A New Hope (1977) was a flop, there would not have been the Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). But it was not. And there is where things went off the rails.

GL originally shilled his beloved Star Wars to nearly all comers. Before the mighty merchandising machine, the was a Wookie Christmas special (November 1978 famous for the first appearance of Boba Fett), Marvel comics and novels. All of this (the good and bad) comprises what we fans call the "Extended Universe." It also became a real nightmare for the making of the first trilogy.

You see, ultra passionate fans are hard to please. Through various novels, the Star Wars saga was heavily fleshed out. Han and Leia get married, have three kids (twins and a boy named Anakin). Luke takes the assassin Mara Jade as an apprentice, then as his wife. A good summary is at Wikipedia. In summary, the EU created a storyline that Lucas had approved, but is now not necessarily consistent with the movies. And also created expectation in fans about what they were going to see.

But we are not impossible to please though. But George has never "liked" Star Wars fans. We stole his baby and made it our own. Papa George could not let that stand. But the problem is that Pandora's box was open, the fan base had created a myths, legends and rumors that made sense and reinforced the fans' view of the Star Wars universe.

Then. Finally. Episode One.

In Episode I, Lucas thumbed his nose at the fan base repeatedly. In particular, speculation is THE favorite pastime of Star Wars fans and GL's job (IMAO) was to give us a little of want we wanted, but leave us wanting more. But he didn't. To wit:

The Virgin Birth of Anakin? That is the implication of Anakin having no father. Come on. What pseudo-religious drivel. Anakin/Vader as Christ? This is particularly galling because speculation on who or what is Anakin's father would have been great. And easy to do. Not knowing Papa Skywalker was also quite easy to leave in the script.

Nope. Instead, we get virgin birth.

Mitaclorians? This is a TOTAL BETRAYAL! The Force was always something Zen-like to be learned and practiced over years. Mastery of your base instincts and emotions was difficult, but attainable.

Nah, the Force is just a bunch of bugs in your blood stream. You are either born with it or not. Like money, good looks or the ability to hit a curve. All you losers with a low mitaclorian count are out of luck.

I will see Episode III as soon as it is out. I am hoping George "redeems" himself with a compelling story and a plausible connection to Episode IV. (For example, Darth Vader CLEARLY did not know he was a father. How will that be explained?) But I am not invested in this anymore.

The ride is ending and I am not as thrilled as when it started.