The Force and The Future

From one fan to all the others out there:

As we celebrate the 49th anniversary of the phenomenon that Peter Mayhew—the man known as Chewbacca—told a panel at a comic book convention: “Did we think we were creating a legend? NO! We thought we might be making a delightful ‘B’ movie.”  

74, 80, 83 and 89.

Saw “The Mandalorian and Grogu” over the weekend and it struck me that out of the 11 previous movies, there was always a mention—direct (first trilogy ) or indirect (the rest) to the first movie –especially for the two stand alone movies (“Rouge One and “Solo”).

This was the first big screen movie of the Star Wars series that you didn’t have to see “A New Hope” to understand (and appreciate) the movie.

For some “Comic Book Buy” types, that has them wetting the seats of their computer chairs in their parent’s basements.

“HOW CAN YOU HAVE STAR WARS WITHOUT STAR WARS?!?”

Believe it or not, it’s pretty easy.

Mando and Grogu is a lot of fun—it’s “Star Wars” meets “John Wick” and is perfectly set up for additional movies—if the people who last liked Star Wars in 1977, 1980 or 1983 will allow it.

The people who last liked Star Wars in 1977, 1980 or 1983 have made it clear that those are the only big screen versions they will accept and on the small screen the only series they’ve liked is “The Clone Wars” which is ironic when you consider that it involves the further adventures of prequels  THEY CAN’T STAND.

A good movie series—and Star Wars is a movie series, as George Lucas hoped it would be—cannot remain static because of the enemy that all us humans have:

Time.

We all grow old. If our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are going to enjoy some of the special cinematic moments we grew up with, they should be able to watch both something old and something new.

Welcome to “The Mandalorian and Grogu,”

Welcome to “New Jedi Order” the next big screen movie in the series,

Welcome to the future.

Once upon a time—even Star Wars (and it will always be Star Wars to me) received bad reviews—one of which I think carries through 49 years later to some of the “fans.” It came from The New Republic:

“unexceptional and aimed strictly at adolescent males who carry a “chalice of a Self that was Better Then, before world’s affairs… intruded”

Once upon a time a bad review was a bad review: read once and quickly forgotten.

Of course that was before the toxic presence of social media.

Now a bad review from one of those adolescent males goes out to thousands who were never planning to see the movie, but love to “put it to the man” whoever that “man” is.

Worse yet, their invectives—and the invective of others—infects the entire franchise.

Those of us who enjoyed “The Acolyte” have felt the brunt of their peculiar “love.”   

There’s a difference between “Only Sean Connery can play Bond” or “There’s only one Han Solo” and some of the unique perspectives that are now part of the Star Wars universe.

What these undergrown adults refuse to accept is that for the kids going into the theater for the Mandalorian—or any other Star Wars movie—this is their “New Hope,” the movie that will excite their imagination for the future.

At the end, movies like The Mandalorian are supposed to be fun. That is what George Lucas intended 49 years ago and that is what (whether you like Disney or not) is intended today.

Unfortunately, it’s us adults who decided to make it a phenomenon—with all of the baggage it carries. But I think one of the performers in the second trilogy has captured the essence of what this series means to so many—even after five decades:

“What we didn’t hear at the time was people your age. We meet people now who really love our films, but it’s taken us, like, fifteen years to hear that. It’s so nice. It’s really nice, and it’s changed my outlook on my relationship with Star Wars.”

— Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi)

BTW—the numbers at the start: a reminder that no matter how much you want it—there can never be another “Star Wars.”

Why?

Because those are the ages of the last of the primary cast of “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”

Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams.

The rest are gone.

It’s time to let them hand it off—whether you like it or not.

Keep watching the old ones—I do all the time—but if you continue being a scruffy “Nerf herder” and crying about the next generation of films “ruining your childhood,” be prepared to have people watching future versions of “A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away” calling you something from another film series:

FOSSILS

Until Next Time

Or perhaps I should say:

This is the Way