The New Era Of STAR WARS, And Why I Parted Ways With It

On October 30, 2012, four years (and 1 day) ago, the new era of Star Wars began.

On this day, the big news was announced to the world: Disney had bought Lucasfilm, and a sequel Star Wars trilogy was confirmed, without George Lucas at the helm.

I think it's fair to say that almost everybody's mind was blown upon receiving this news. Disney buying Lucasfilm probably wasn't a huge surprise, given that they owned Marvel and Pixar at this point, but the real big news was the sequel trilogy announcement. Why?

While evidence points to George Lucas originally planning to tell his story in nine episodes, ever since Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was released in 1983 he had consistently stated that the Star Wars saga ended with that film, and if he made any more films, they would be prequels. After Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was finished in 2005, Lucas stuck to his claim that the saga was truly complete now. As late as January 2012, he pushed this assertion once again: "Why would I make any more, when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?"

From what I've seen throughout the Internet, Lucas's quote is a very mild representation of the words that have been thrown at him since 1997. Although that isn't the point of this post, suffice it to say that I, as a longtime defender of Lucas's decisions in regards to the special editions and the prequel trilogy, was rather disheartened to see the Internet explode with mostly positive reactions to this sequel trilogy announcement, simply because it would be made without George Lucas at the helm.

My reaction to the Disney deal, however, was certainly not positive. I wouldn't necessarily say it was negative either(we'll get to that later), but more apprehensive than anything else. I truly felt that the Star Wars saga ended with Return of the Jedi, (even before the Disney deal, I never got into the Expanded Universe. I knew some of the stories, but I pretty much disregarded them from my head-canon) and I believed the story told over the six existing Star Wars films (at the time) would inevitably be tarnished in some way by a sequel trilogy, regardless of what the story would be. I actually initially considered boycotting the new films, but my family helped me to realize that that would be somewhat hypocritical of me. Without knowing anything about the sequels other than the fact that they were being made and George Lucas's part would simply be the story consultant (or so I was led to believe), boycotting them would essentially be me prematurely judging them because they didn't line up with my personal vision of how the Star Wars film saga should go.

Gee, that sounds awfully familiar...

I've seen multiple negative reviews of the prequels on IMDB with the prime justification for the negativity being "It should have been told this way!" So, you can see why I was convinced that boycotting the sequel trilogy would essentially make me a hypocrite, since the opinion I got from a lot of anti-prequel comments online was that the dislike stemmed from the films not aligning with the commenters' head-fanfiction, which was, in some cases, developed over the sixteen year period between Return of the Jedi and Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

It was only the moves Disney made after buying Lucasfilm that drove me to boycott the sequel trilogy for good.

It started in January 2013, when they cancelled the 3D releases of Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith scheduled for that fall. I mentioned in my earlier post that I got rather angry about this and, for a time, fell into the "overly aggressive prequel fan trap": I wrote multiple essays on my Facebook in which I urged readers to follow my lead, and claimed that prequel fans were the "TRUE Star Wars fans." As I mentioned in my post from last month, unlike the sequels, the 3D releases were the ones I was actively looking forward to. At that point, I decided that if Disney was going to cancel what Lucas promised earlier and publish a BS reason behind it (I know that there likely were some proceeds and distribution issues between Disney and Fox, but their official statement that "100% of our efforts will focus on the new Star Wars trilogy" didn't fly with me given the circumstances: JJ Abrams had been announced as the director  of Episode VII only a few days before the 3D cancellation, and he was still busy promoting his latest Star Trek movie at the time, the script wasn't even close to being finished, the movie didn't begin production for another year, and both films were practically finished with their conversion process), I wasn't going to support their new Star Wars projects.

This decision was reinforced in the years leading up to Episode VII thanks to more actions on the part of Disney and the production crew of the film. After the 3D cancellation, they cancelled The Clone Wars show, then it was announced that George Lucas's story treatments for the sequels had been scrapped (meaning he had literally 0 say in how his story would continue), then the marketing campaign for the film kept harping on about how "This is true Star Wars, don't worry, we're not the prequels!" in some only slightly more subtle ways, then Simon Pegg, who publicly stated he has no respect for prequel fans, was revealed to have been the creative consultant... if just the 3D cancellation was enough to turn me away from the sequels, I felt even more justified in my decision after all that went down.

In spite of my reasons for doing so, maybe I am still a hypocrite for boycotting Episode VII. To this day, I have not seen the film and don't plan to. Maybe, much like those negative prequel reviewers on IMDB (and other places), I got too emotionally invested in a certain trilogy of films to really give the new era of Star Wars movies a chance. Maybe my refusal to watch Episode VII because of a few decisions made by the powers behind the film is no different that some people's refusal to buy Episode IV: A New Hope on DVD or Blu-Ray because Han doesn't shoot first. In my defense, however, I have not made any negative comments about Episode VII itself, or people who ended up liking it. This applies not only to this post, but to all Star Wars-related words I have said either online or in person since its release. Although I do know the basic plot summary of the film, I don't plan on revealing any of my thoughts on it. Those thoughts are severely impaired, because knowing the plot summary and seeing the movie for the whole experience are two different ballparks. At this time last year, I reflected on some of my aforementioned aggressive responses to Disney's actions on Facebook, admitting that urging fellow fans to boycott Episode VII and claiming myself to be a "true Star Wars fan" were the wrong things to say. I also wished my many friends who planned to see the film an enjoyable experience. You will never see me write a word of criticism about Episode VII (or its sequels and the Anthology films, as I'm not planning on seeing any of those either) and the story it tells. Who am I to judge a film I haven't seen?

I admittedly wish that none of the events of this new era of Star Wars had ever happened, but I've stopped being bitter about it. I've simply contented myself with the knowledge that I still have six excellent (in my eyes) films that tell a story that is already complete (again, in my eyes). Basically, I've moved on.

Did I still "allow this Dark Lord to twist my mind until I became the very thing I swore to destroy"? I think my arguments against that notion outweigh my arguments for it, but what do you think?

Mmm, Dissen Loverly

Jar Jar Binks.

These three little words have been used by many people as a summation of everything wrong with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and in some cases the entire prequel trilogy. The mere mention of these words can cause some people to cringe in disgust. A certain YouReviewer has claimed that these three words set black people back 50 years, and these three words alone earned The Phantom Menace 100 "sins" in CinemaSins's "Everything Wrong With" episode devoted to the film.

For me, though, those three words were in the top tier of my "favorite things about Star Wars list" for several years. I was ten years old when I first saw The Phantom Menace in 2005, and although I didn't completely understand the finer points of the plot at the time (this was also true of my first few viewings of A New Hope, FYI) I distinctly remember loving the new worlds of Naboo and Coruscant, the epic Podrace, and especially the new characters. And I remember even more distinctly what I claimed my favorite element of the film to be for at least a year afterwards:

Jar Jar Binks.

Blasphemy, I know. And while he is no longer what I love most about The Phantom Menace, I haven't lost any of my love for this klutzy Gungan more than 11 years later. Even when I watch the movie now, good ol' Jar Jar still brings out my inner 10-year-old who loved him to death from the beginning.

Why?

First off, I was the right age to find him quite funny. I loved his design, I loved his movements, and I sure as heck loved his pidgin-speak. This style of speaking was, in my eyes, a great form of world (or in this case, galaxy) building. While the original films include some characters who speak alien languages entirely, in most cases they clearly understand the Basic English being spoken to them by the humans, and said humans clearly understand their language as well. To me, Jar Jar and the other Gungans represent people in the real world who may learn and understand another language, but will never be completely comfortable speaking that language fluently. How do I know Basic English is not the Gungans' first language? Because when Jar Jar first takes Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn to the underwater Otoh Gunga city, the camera explicitly shows two shocked Gungans exchanging the words: "Hu me gusa?" "Hata hata."

Does the pidgin-speak make Gungans racist? The answer will vary depending on who you ask, but I say, "Heck no!" Yes, the actor playing Jar Jar just happens to be African-American, but that is pure coincidence. There is sufficient filmmaking evidence to show that George Lucas liked Ahmed Best's voice for the character, and also chose him for the part because of how well he was able to physically portray the character in motion capture. Like I said above, I see the pidgin-speak as a more realistic portrayal of the relationships between various alien species in the Star Wars galaxy. (Anakin communicating with both Watto and Sebulba in Huttese improved this interspecies relationship as well.) And while the Gungans may not have a thriving city or connections to the Republic like the humans of Naboo do, they have their fair share of talents that they are in no way prevented from exploiting (unlike many slaves in the real world's history). Their underwater technology, their unique plasma weapons, and their army are clearly thriving freely even before they make their alliance with the Naboo at the film's climax.

What I really love about Jar Jar Binks, though, is the type of individual he represents. He is in many respects a fool, but not by choice. The accidents he causes are clearly accidents, and his curiosity certainly gets him in trouble on multiple occasions, but at his core, he's just an outcast from his society, looking to be useful to anyone in some way, shape, or form. By telling Qui-Gon about the Gungans, he ultimately gets him to Theed in time to rescue Queen Amidala. He helps Anakin prepare his Podracer, despite having no experience with the technology. He offers a friendly ear to Amidala when the pressure put on her overwhelms her. And most importantly, Jar Jar Binks "bring ussen and da Naboo together." Out of loyalty to his new friends and his desire to help, Jar Jar returns to the society he was banished from.

Jar Jar Binks is clearly a very loyal friend, even if he's not the best in a fight or his clumsiness causes unintentional accidents. The same devotion to both of his planet's societies and the Republic in general carry into Attack of the Clones, as he pretty clearly believes giving emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor is the only solution to saving the Republic, when in reality it brings said Republic one step closer to destruction.

I love Jar Jar. I still think his lines are funny, I love the type of person he represents, and I admire his devotion, even if it can get manipulated. The dude may not be my favorite element of The Phantom Menace for me, but he's still a major highlight.

(NOTE: If you're wondering whether I believe the "Darth Darth Binks" theory that went around last year, I don't. While the whole Emergency Powers thing did help Sidious in the long run, let's not forget that his contributions to the Battle of Naboo temporarily defeated Sidious's major threat to the Republic and set him back a good ten years. As a fellow blogger has also pointed out, Jar Jar Binks set the stage for Sidious's ultimate defeat by simply being himself. I still consider Mr. Binks a foolish hero, and not a secret Sith Lord.)

So all I can say to Jar Jar is what his boss said to him: "Yousa doen grand!"