May the 4th Be With You - Free For All #3
Welcome, fellow Star Wars geeks (and even those of you who aren’t!), to another episode of our general discussion podcast, the Free For All with Jacob, Mike, Josh, Kristal, and Keona! This week on the show, we dissect the Rise of Skywalker even further, dive deep into Captain America: Civil War, chat about Universal’s troubles with the North American Theater Owners (NATO), and we talk about the relevance of the Simpsons in today’s world. It’s a long episode, guys, but well worth a listen!
So, originally I was going to use the show notes to express my appreciation for the shows, movies, comics, and games that have kept me going throughout these odd pandemic-y times we’re living in, but instead, I’ll express my appreciation for something that marks today as a special occasion. Yes, friends, here comes yet another perspective on Star Wars. Get those S-foils in attack position!
Star Wars and I have a long history. I was born in 1981, so I’d just missed the original trilogy’s final installment in theaters, but I grew up with the movies on VHS and on TV. Those were probably my most-played VHS tapes as a kid, along with the Transformers animated movie from 1986. I loved the mind-blowing special effects, the lightsaber battles, John Williams’ absolutely spectacular musical score, Han Solo, Darth Vader, Boba Fett… there wasn’t much I didn’t like in the original trilogy. So let’s take a look at ‘em!
Star Wars, as it was known back in the day, was the great introduction to characters who have become part of the pop culture lexicon. Luke Skywalker, the young man who yearns to discover his purpose, embarks on a journey, and becomes the hero we all know and love. Han Solo, the lovable rogue who puts up a gritty, tough guy facade but has a heart of gold. Princess Leia Organa, later revealed to be Luke’s sister, who is kind, compassionate, and tough as nails. And, of course, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi Knight whose adventures took him around the galaxy, and whose final days were spent watching over and training Luke. These characters were so vibrant and well-defined that I think it really points to the effort and time that George Lucas put into his story. Star Wars was special, and you knew that because of the way these characters—nay, these people—were able to latch into your mind and heart and just stay there. Well, for me, anyway.
It also helped that the original trilogy had some of the greatest villains ever! Who could forget the dark menace of Darth Vader, a seemingly ruthless and calculating figure who held mastery over the Force, but misused it for his own violent purposes? Or the silent presence of Boba Fett in Empire Strikes Back? Or the pure evil that seemed to emanate from the Emperor himself? Indeed, Vader was the kind of evil that also seemed really badass and cool. That’s all due to David Prowse’s excellent physical performance and body language, as well as James Earl Jones’ spectacular vocal performance and, of course, the design of his suit and helmet by Ralph McQuarrie and John Mollo.
Of the original films, Empire Strikes Back remains my favorite to this day, but A New Hope and Return of the Jedi are right up there with it. There are just so many cool things in the original films. The Death Star trench run. The Cloud City of Bespin. Lando Calrissian himself. Yoda! The hum of a lightsaber’s blade. “I am your father!” R2-D2 and C-3P0! The roar of a Tie Fighter as it speeds into battle. Chewbacca!! It’s so much to cover, that I don’t really have room here, and I do want to talk about the prequels and sequels, but these original movies still mean a lot to me, and they are the reason I’m a huge sci-fi fan to this day.
Of course, as time went on, other franchises captured the spotlight, and while the Expanded Universe kept Star Wars alive in other media, there didn’t seem to be anything new coming to theaters. Until George Lucas unleashed the Star Wars prequel trilogy on the world. Now, admittedly, I didn’t particularly like these movies all that much, but it’s George Lucas’ story, and he told it the way he wanted to. I do recall that The Phantom Menace came out when I graduated from high school, and the first time I saw it, I was impressed by the visual effects. And Darth Maul. He was cool.
Attack of the Clones had an intriguing Obi-Wan investigation subplot that introduced us to the bounty hunter Jango Fett (and, *sigh*, baby Boba), but a really annoying love story at its core. And I don’t mean to place the blame on the actors for it, though most of the performances in that film were pretty wooden. It was the script. God, that script. “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough…and it gets everywhere.” GOOD LORD, ANAKIN. I wouldn’t have slept with you, either!
Ahem. Anyway, Attack did have a decent if totally video game-lookin’ final battle between the Jedi/Clone army and the Separatists. It was cool to see a bunch of Jedi characters kick ass and Mace Windu gets to look all cool and be more Samuel L. Jackson-like for a brief moment. Other than that, AotC resides on the lower tier of the Star Wars movie list for me.
Revenge of the Sith was a big movie that had a lot to do, and while George Lucas still loved to slow things down for a good ol’ walk ‘n’ talk scene or two, I felt that the film did a decent job depicting the fall of Anakin Skywalker. It certainly was operatic and larger than life. It wasn’t perfect by any means (“It’s over, Anakin! I have the high ground!”), but it was the best of the prequels. And Ian McDiarmid is the MVP of MVPs. He held this trilogy together.
Which brings us to the Disney era, and while I don’t have the space to cover everything here, I do want to discuss the sequel trilogy, as we did in the podcast. First off, The Force Awakens brought me back to the fold as a full-fledged Star Wars fan after the prequels had curbed my enthusiasm a bit. For me, JJ Abrams did a good job handling the nostalgia factor here, while introducing us to some cool new characters like Rey (a scavenger), Finn (a Stormtrooper who defected), Poe Dameron (an ace X-Wing pilot), and Kylo Ren (a masked Dark Side Force user who felt pulled back to the Light). These were heavily archetypal characters and the main conflict felt like a retread of the original films, but it felt like the foundation of something new, coupled with the return of fan favorite characters like Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa. It seemed like Disney was on the right track, and while some people disliked the movie or thought it was too derivative, others enjoyed it.
This is Tallie. She had about ten seconds of screen time in The Last Jedi, but I love her already.
Then came The Last Jedi, the most divisive movie in the Skywalker Saga. While I’m a fan of the film, I understand why it has its detractors, and I certainly don’t believe the movie is perfect. However, I liked it. The direction that Rian Johnson took the film in was unexpected (and some of the humor is…an acquired taste), but it’s a beautifully shot movie with some of the best performances I’ve ever seen in a Star Wars film. Mark Hamill’s turn as a despondent Luke is brilliant, and Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver brought a palpable chemistry to Rey and Kylo that ultimately resulted in the two of them having a deeper connection than we realized. It may have divided the fanbase, but The Last Jedi was also the most complex Star Wars film since Empire, and I appreciated that. Whether you like it or not is entirely up to you, dear reader, and as a fellow fan of Star Wars, I respect your opinion.
I always did love this shot of Leia.
Finally, we have the Rise of Skywalker, which is unfortunately not one of my favorite Star Wars films. Don’t get me wrong, after all the behind the scenes drama with Lucasfilm losing Colin Trevorrow as director of this movie, and the division in the fandom that came about in the wake of the Last Jedi, I appreciate the dire straits that both Disney and JJ Abrams were in. Directing and co-writing this film must have been a monumental task, and the fact that Rise of Skywalker is even half as watchable as it stands is an accomplishment.
However, that doesn’t make it a great ending to the Skywalker Saga. There’s way too much in this movie that’s simply thrown in to make the audience feel nostalgia for the old movies. If the Last Jedi was questioning our devotion to the past installments of the franchise, or even an outright rebuttal of the Jedi Order, the Rise of Skywalker was the opposite. It didn’t bring any new perspectives to the franchise. It simply presented more action sequences, and more familiar characters, and less stakes to the battles than ever. There are fake deaths, cute puppet characters, and oh, yeah, the Emperor is back, and he has a space force and an army, and was actually behind everything this whole time. Whoop de doo.
Oh, and there’s this.
I actually didn’t hate it.
