I've been an obsessive Star Wars fan for almost my entire life, but lately, I've been surprised at where my thoughts have led me and I've literally wrestled with a crisis of my own fandom.
I should be over the moon, a new Star Wars trilogy is underway and they did what I never thought I'd see. Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are back in their iconic roles and working with a talented cast and group of film makers. However, the decisions leading up to this event have me wrestling with a few things, which have me asking do I need to get over myself and just have fun with it or do I have a legitimate beef. Would jumping for joy cause me to lose some self respect. Am I part of the old guard, who needs to step back for the young whippersnappers to have their fun.
So what's my problem? For years, a sequel trilogy was never going to happen. Lucas swore it was never happening. As of the release of Revenge of the Sith, it looked like the future of Star Wars would be on television and Expanded Universe products. Rumors of spin off films sounded like an intriguing idea, but not a lot of movement happened in that direction until the Disney deal
I was at peace with the idea that the story Lucas had told with his films were completed. How many times did fans declare when Episode III came out that "The circle is now complete." It never really made any sense to me that a sequel trilogy would be necessary. Regardless, of one's opinion about their quality and their annoyance at Jar Jar Binks, the six films didn't leave dangling plot threads to be picked up later. When you place the two trilogies together their is a poetic symmetry. There is a cycle of corruption, fall and redemption. The new generation redeems the next. While there are lots of EU stories set between the movies they didn't necessarily add to or take away from how the six films were designed to work together.
So I wake up this morning and I notice my Blu-Ray set of all six films. The package reads "The Complete Saga." As of today, its clearly not complete anymore. And, I ask myself is that package somehow retroactively dishonest. Then I notice the cover of "The Force Unleashed" graphic novel. It says on the cover "The Next Chapter in the Saga of Star Wars." And I think about the recent statements about the status of Expanded Universe materials and clearly that can't be the case anymore and if the book was reprinted now it would have a "Legends" banner on it. Even though it was sold to me as a part of the continuity.
So where I am going with this?
Well, the understanding that there would not be a sequel trilogy ever, informed the way licensees worked with Lucasfilm, it informed what products were made and how those projects were marketed and sold to fans. For three years straight at San Diego Comic Con, the Force Unleashed was touted as the next big thing. I think of stories that were labored over by writers and artists for years and fans who kept supporting the franchise whether there were movies or not coming out. When I'm told that material was never meant to be on the same level of canonicity as the films, I find the argument not entirely valid because for decases there wasn't any intention to make new films either until two years ago. Had a known would have read 19 books about the Yuuzahn Vong war over a period of five years if I had known the story would be superseded by a new trilogy. I don't believe I would have. My bet is Del Rey and Dark Horse would have produced different stories if they had known as well.
So now like many fans who felt they supported the franchise through good or bad, thick or thin we are told its too bad we got attached to the New Jedi Order, or Jaina Solo or Cade Skywalker. I feel like I've been falsely advertised to and told to sit down, shut up and enjoy the magic, that my interest in the franchise all these years has now put me at a disadvantage.
I do believe there was a way for Episode VII to exist and be respectful of fan's devotion over the years. Not all of the Expanded Universe was very good and I could understand not wanting to be beholden to all of it, but not all of it was given the same weight, I'm thinking of projects like Shadows of the Empire and some if it would not have been bought by fans if it had been marketed to them as random flights of fancy that had no bearing on the franchise. Rather than weeding the garden they burned down the field and I feel they strong armed this new trilogy into being.
So now I look at the future and I find it very exciting but I have this nagging feeling I plunked down my money and spent my time on this once before only to feel like I got marginalized and told my supprt never mattered or was appreciated. I'd feel really dumb if it happened again.
I've really wrestled with this and thought I ought to process it, write it down and put it out there. So what do you all of you think. Should I get it over it and enjoy the ride or is my problem one others feel as well.