"I have a bad feeling about this."
When Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, that summed it up for me. I tried to stay optimistic, reconciled to the facts that the original cast would be back, and deep-pocketed Disney would spare no expense. I was hoping for an adaptation of the Timothy Zahn trilogy with Admiral Thrawn, which I vaguely remembered liking when I read them in my teens. At the very least, I hoped for something I wouldn't hate.
30-some years ago in a theater an hour's drive away, I got to see Return of the Jedi on the big screen, and being 9 or 10, I thought it was the greatest thing ever. Nothing stands out memory-wise about first seeing Episodes IV or V, but they must have been on cable TV. I had the Death Star play set with the foam pieces for the trash compactor, vehicles, and about 30 figures (including 3 Lukes, one from each movie). Being from an ass-backwards town I couldn't wait to leave, I really identified with Luke Skywalker, and he was my favorite, but the whole cast was great.
Years later, working at a movie theater turned me into a Disney hater. On top of trying to usher all those obnoxious kids and clean up the huge messes between showings, I had to walk the aisles and experience the movies. I saw parts of everything they put out from 1990-2 and 1994-6, and nothing all the way through. Still haven't seen The Lion King (any of them now) because it looked like a Shakespeare ripoff. Pocahontas looked like cultural appropriation. So it's difficult to get excited about Disney when you associate them with cleaning up puke and exploiting any story they can recycle.
Thankfully, George Lucas had already cushioned the blow. The special editions came out, which seemed great, but really weren't. Then the Prequels got announced, which seemed great, but turns out it really wasn't. We left the screening of Phantom Menace speechless in the worst way, and the first words spoken were probably either "I hope they get better" or "WTF?!" And with each one it was...just...whatever. Fandom Erosion had left little behind by the time the Mouse sunk his claws in.
Hating Disney and hating giving money to Disney, I was just going to stick with the trilogy at first, but I bought a copy of Rogue One and then it sat for months. Like I lost interest once I got it home. It was pretty good when I eventually, but I thought there were supposed to be Bothans in it. Maybe my memory is fading.
Then came Force Awakens, which confused me right off the bat. First Order? Who are they? How did the New Republic already crumble and why are they the Resistance when 30 years prior they were the Rebellion? Then to find out Han and Leia split up and were in one scene together. There was still Luke, tho.
"I better pause it and step outside for a smoke. They haven't even gotten to Luke yet." I distinctly remember thinking those words, and when I set down the remote and glanced at the progress bar on the TV screen, it hit me. Maybe 10 minutes left, including the credits. So I sat back down. Hit play. Luke Skywalker was there. He was looking old and gray like me. I smiled at the flood of memories. Then he was gone.
Are you fucking kidding me? 5 seconds? Han getting killed made sense, especially if Ford wasn't into it, but Luke barely in it, except for the very end, made it an easy break. Haven't seen Episodes VIII or IX and probably never will unless I'm in a hotel room and they're on cable. No way I'm paying Disney another dime for Star Wars.
And in a way I'm glad Star Wars turned out the way it did. Consumers flexed their muscle, as 2/3 of the economy should. It also points to the dangers of too few entities owning too much.
So shout out to George Lucas, who got me hooked, weened me away, and ultimately allowed me to laugh at dumbass Disney.
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