Today is the annual Star Wars Day, celebrated by geeks like me, who think it is hilarious today is May the Fourth – because it sounds like the start of the Star Wars line “May the force be with you,”.
So I am pondering the legacy of the sale of the franchise rights by its creator George Lucas. Warning – SPOILERS ahead.
When Disney purchased the rights to Star Wars, I was not sure if this was the bargain of the century or a massive overpayment for a much loved – but old and well watched already – set of film rights.
Looking at the kind of money they have made from the five movies they have pushed out since that acquisition, I think they probably did get a bargain.
The final three films in the nine sequence core Star Wars movies, referred to as the Skywalker cycle (incorrectly in my opinion, as they are very much the Palpatine chronicles, as he it turns out, is somehow the ever present evil) have made a bucket load of money and shown us the death of Luke, Leia and most poignantly, Han Solo.
Whether or not you find them satisfying ends to the saga or not, they are the official conclusion. It may not be the best praise, but they are superior in many ways to the prequal trilogy, so we have that at least.
While Disney will have achieved one of its goals by concluding the nine movies Lucas had promised, yet never quite got round to delivering, the legacy they have created it best seen outside of these core movies.
Rogue One is an amazing film – the movie of the 11 released so far I love the best – yes, even more than a New Hope and Return of the Jedi (the first film I vividly remember seeing at the cinema way back in 1983). I was never much of a fan of Empire Strikes Back, which perhaps will get discussed in a blog post another time.
The start of Rogue One is so different from everything which went before – the rules are completely different in the non core movies (see also the conventions between Doctor Who characters and those in its spin off, Torchwood, which again I may blog about in detail another time).
There is no set of words scrolling through space, so hilariously and famously lampooned by Space Balls.
The Imperial Commander at the start of the movie is properly evil, having Jyn Erso, the main character’s, mother shot within moments of the film kicking off. turns out storm troopers can occasionally hit their target.
The other hero of the movie, Cassian Andor, within minutes of appearing on screen has killed the man passing him information. A much more pragmatic approach to the reality of rebellion against the empire.
Speaking of which, the Rebellion is not one big happy group fighting imperial rule, but a splintered set of factions, seemingly akin to Monty Python’s People’s Front of Judea and Judean People’s front. Except not so funny.
Rogue One shows us a much more real war than the nine movie cycle did. Here the battles are not glorious as portrayed in the main cycle, heroes make poor decisions and kill their allies in order not to get caught themselves.
The other thing Rogue One does is it closes a massive plot issue which had existed since the 1977 opener – why is the Death Star so easy to destroy?
The whole movie’s premise is to explain that one away – and it does so successfully, which is to say believably.
As for the ending – sublime, doing things no Star Wars movie before even contemplated and that cameo from Darth Vader is worth the admission price alone.
Then there is the Solo movie, which has had some criticism. While not as complete a movie as Rogue One, I felt a lot of the criticism of Solo was unfair.
Again this movie attempts, these two films are like Disney’s Sam Beckett of Quantum leap, to put right what once went wrong all the way back in that classic first movie.
Th Kessel Run in 12 parsecs – if you haven’t seen the Family Guy take down of this scene, then go find it as Peter Griffin absolutely destroys this concept.
What Peter decimates, Disney has rebuilt into a firm concept explaining how a 12 parsec Kessel Run was totally an achievement.
What I have always assumed was a misunderstanding of a concept in the first movie’s script is now a solid gold reason to show us the origin story of Han.
The film gives us an understanding of why Han knows shooting first keeps you alive – another important element of the original film.
I suspect the subtext in the movie is also showing us the concept many have believed that Han takes care of Chewbacca kind of like a pet is not the case and the reverse is true. The long-lived Chewie is keeping Han safe as his pet is very much what the film suggests to me at least.
So I think the Disney purchase of Star Wars has been both a giant commercial success, but also, particularly in the add on movies, a story-telling success too.
We hear the next film may well be an exploration of what Obi Wan Kenobi did between Episode III and IV. Time will tell how this pans out.
An honourable mention should go out to The Mandalorian. While a TV series, rather than a movie, Disney have extended the Star Wars universe in a thoughtful – and faithful way – with this show.
To date I have only seen the first series, which I enjoyed for the most part. It certainly feels like it is building to something. My understanding from those who have seen season two, is this show gets better and better.
The launch of Disney+ has, to my mind, cemented the strategic use Disney have in mind for the Star Wars brand. It sits alongside it’s Marvel and Pixar universes as a pillar of the modern Disney offering.
Edd Keating 