Well, here goes…
I drew this picture of Ray back in 2019, before The Rise of Skywalker came out, back when I was still excited about Star Wars. Don’t worry, this is not a ranty blog post about how Star Wars sucks now. But I will be taking down a few sacred cows here and there, so bear with me.
I’m one of those guys you meet old enough to remember going to see one of the original trilogy (Return of the Jedi, my favorite…fight me nerds). Like many who grew up in the eighties, it was one of the cornerstones of my imagination (the other three being Nintendo, Sega, and Transformers). As I became an adult, and saw the prequels, I remember being angry about two things: 1. The prequels were a great idea that was squandered by a man who hadn’t been told ‘no’ about anything in almost thirty years; 2. Everything seems great when you’re a kid…because you don’t know any better.
That’s not to say that all of Star Wars is bad. The original trilogy changed cinema forever, the prequels had some brilliant design choices thanks to geniuses like Doug Chiang. Even the sequel trilogy has its redeeming values (again, fight me nerds).
But we live in this weird time where everything we loved as kids was just SOOO much better. I’m sorry, but it wasn’t. To quote South Park…
Everything is affected by this. EVERYTHING. All your favorite books, video games, movies, toy’s, etc., are affected by the dreaded ‘member berries.’ And it’s all because of one simple word: ignorance. You simply don’t know any better as a kid. You haven’t experienced enough of the real world yet. Everything is new, shiny, fun. Just like your first love, you never forget your first video game, your first big movie, your first Christmas when you got exactly what you wanted.
But then you get older, you’ve hopefully seen a few Oscar winning films, read some of the classics, and stopped playing with toys (ok, some of us display them on our desks instead of play with them, but that’s besides the point). And that’s where things can get dangerous for both society, and individuals.
Which leads me back to Star Wars. The prequels were HATED by almost everyone. Red Letter Media made the infamous 90 minute take down of Episode 1. I watched that video many times, agreed with it, and laughed just as hard at the other critiques they did of episode 2 and 3. And yet, it’s come full circle now. And entire generation of young adults loves them.
“But no,” you say. “The original trilogy is a masterpiece and will always – “
Gonna stop you right there, it’s not. Any adult honest enough to remove themselves from their ‘member berries’ and look at these movies with an honest lens will see the flaws right away. Even I, who loves Return of the Jedi more than anything Star Wars, can admit it’s a problematic movie (beyond the Ewoks, which I love…fight me nerds).
Will the same happen for the Disney Era of Star Wars? I think yes, despite the best efforts of online critics like the Critical Drinker and others. That’s not to say Critical Drinker is wrong about his critiques, just like Red Letter Media were wrong about the prequels. Nobody can ultimately defeat that one thing that tends to redeem almost anything: time.
But it does lead me back to the headline of this post: Who would want this job? Who want’s to take control of an IP as big and somewhat damaged as Star Wars? Would I do it (in the very highly unlikely chance). Sure, I guess. But I would do so with the full knowledge that no matter what I did, there’s a good chance I will feel the full wrath of the internet.