Originally Posted by
godisawesome
Again, I think a lot of it comes down to how much one values certain things. I’m overall happy with the current situation… but I’m still disappointed that the current status quo involves an abysmal, pathetic ending to the foundational story of the franchise, and that while the Live Action shows have ambition and wisdom, most of the printed media seems to be written by creators walking on metaphorical egg shells to avoid possibly getting in the way of any live action stuff.
Like, on the one hand, it’s amazing that we can see Star Wars be a prestige format TV machine, and that The Clone Wars Legacy is continuing strong. That is a definite improvement from the Lucas age, since I think that his mix of perfectionism but sometimes flawed approach likely wouldn’t produce either as much or as good content as we have with Favreau and Filoni.
…But, well, The Skywalkers mean more than the other IPs of the franchise, and they got trashed enough that both they and the characters who were supposed to take their place need rehabilitation to maximize appeal and creative energy going forward.
And I do almost singularly blame this on The Last Jedi screwing everything up because neither Rian Johnson nor a bunch of lifelong LFL employees got Star Wars *enoigh*. If The Force Awakens had a competent follow-up from someone who genuinely understood the appeal of the OT (all of it, including ROTJ) *and* the potential of the new characters and factions (as derivative as they were), I think we’d be looking at a beast of a continuing franchise larger than the MCU, rather than a fairly distant, currently TV-locked second. Solo could be shaken off… but even though all three ST films made over a billion dollars, having half the audience run off by the last one is far worse.
Star Wars is an inspirational and escapist adventure story designed for as many people from as many walks of life as possible to enjoy it - something that I believe Lucas was always certain of, especially as a businessman. The Last Jedi, in contrast, is a film that holds both certain segments of the audience and the franchise in contempt as childish or bland - it’s contemptuous of people who want an inspiring female hero, a black hero, and even just fulfilling escapist storytelling.
If everything were great, we’d be looking at spin-off D+ shows with Rey, Finn, Poe, and maybe even a living Ben Solo… and instead, half the new actors don’t want to return, and Mark Hamill has to be told to watch his opinions about Luke.
I like the current generations of Star Wars because of The Mandalorian, but in spite of LFL’s Adam Driver obsessed would-be pretentiousness.