By Jake BOWMAN

Since the release of ‘A New Hope’ in 1977, Star Wars has become a powerful force in the lives of many. After three movies, Star Wars didn’t see the big screen again for almost 20 years. In 1999, the franchise was expanded upon with what we now refer to as ‘The Prequel Series.’ ‘The Phantom Menace,’ ‘Attack of The Clones’ and ‘Revenge of the Sith’ helped introduce a new audience to the magic of space travel and galactic conflict. Though I personally am not as hard on them as others, the general consensus among Star Wars fans is that these prequel movies were bad and did a lot of damage to the Star Wars brand. If Star Wars was going to make a comeback in the hearts and minds of the masses, whatever happened next had to be great.

In 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm and depending on who you ask, that has been the best or the worst thing that could have happened to Star Wars. Disney immediately started making changes, including making the expanded universe non-canon. The expanded universe was the massive number of books and stories written to help flesh out the original Star Wars trilogy and expand upon the lore and making them non-canon was basically saying they never happened. The prequel trilogy and the original trilogy were now considered the main Star Wars canon and development began on the sequel trilogy. Up until that time George Lucas had been solely in control of the development of the franchise and though he had plans to create a sequel trilogy, they were not realized until Disney took over. ‘Episode VII: The Force Awakens,’ opened in 2015 and, in my opinion, did a fantastic job of revitalizing the series. Though it was basically a retelling of the first Star Wars film, ‘A New Hope,’ the movie did a great job of introducing a new audience to the nostalgic characters we know and love and the new characters that we are going to follow for years to come. For the first time in a long time, fans of the series had hope that this time they would get it right. The next installment came in 2017, the second film in the sequel trilogy.

‘Episode VIII: The Last Jedi’ had so much going for it as the release approached. Coming off the success of both ‘Episode VII’ and the fantastic Star Wars Anthology film ‘Rogue One’ which came out in between ‘Episode’s, the creators of the movie had so much leeway and good faith to really make something special. Unfortunately for me and for many other fans of the series who share my opinion, it just didn’t hit the mark. This movie shattered the will of the fanbase and split us down the middle on those who liked the movie and those who hate it. Though there was another anthology movie released the next year, ‘Solo,’ to generally positive reviews, it underperformed at the box office and it’s hard not to believe that the reception of ‘Episode VIII’ was to blame. After the failure of the prequel series, every new Star Wars released had to be up to par and the moment we, as fans, felt that we were let down, it was going to be hard to get that good will back. Without diving too deep into why ‘Episode VIII’ was such a letdown, let me say that the main reason so many were disappointed is that it didn’t do what it should have.

The movie had so much room to take some of the themes and story arcs from the expanded universe and bring them into the main canon. Something like this would have done so much to make the fans feel like the books and stories they grew up with weren’t forgotten. Instead we got a movie that does nothing to call back to its origins and, in fact, goes so far as to ruin some fan favorite characters. There are enjoyable moments in the movie and some of the set pieces are truly gorgeous, but the movie feels like it was written and directed by someone who doesn’t care about Star Wars. Anytime something truly special happens, the next scene often leaves you with the question “why would you do that?” There is an entire side story arc in the movie that, if taken out, would not affect the overall plot in the slightest. It felt like the movie was trying to send a message instead of just being a cool Star Wars movie. Whether or not the reception of this movie affected the sales of ‘Solo,’ I don’t know for sure, but I will say that the release and reception of ‘Episode IX’ coming in December of this year will do a lot to either permanently hurt the franchise or to win back some fans. If this movie ends up being truly amazing, then it can retroactively make ‘Episode VIII’ and the other recent films better by association. Fans will then judge the sequel trilogy as a whole and not just by its not-so-great second part. J.J. Abrams, the director of ‘Episode VII,’ returns to direct the upcoming final instalment and that’s a good sign. ‘Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker’ has a lot going for it, more even than other Star Wars films because people are cautiously optimistic. The trailer looks amazing and there are hints of the return of some iconic villains. I don’t know if they can pull it off but if they do, Star Wars will remain in the spotlight for many years to come.

  Jake BOWMAN