So just a little over two years ago now I wrote this four-part post about how I think The Empire Strikes Back is a little overrated, and how some of its story choices might have led to more bad than good for the Star Wars franchise longterm…
A lot has changed for me since then, with perhaps the biggest thing being that I’ve now self-published two space opera books of my own; Next Star Over and Sunrise Order. As a matter of fact, I recently tried writing a sequel to Next Star Over in particular, setting out to do exactly what I said Empire should’ve done. My sequel was going to be self-contained, light on its feet, and not “rock the boat,” or change the status quo of things too much… And you know what happened? I got bored. I got really, really bored… Now, before I go any further, let me make one thing clear; the Next Star Over sequel might still happen. I just still need time to try to get the story right, is all.
But anyways, around the same time my sequel ideas collapsed, I also came down with the flu (been going around here, lately). While I was sick over the weekend, I decided to turn on the television and saw that the TNT channel was marathoning all the Star Wars movies in chronological order. At that very moment, I told myself “Screw it, I haven’t seen any of these films in awhile, and I’m not gonna do anything else this weekend while I’m sick. Might as well watch this whole marathon!”
…And I ended up enjoying The Empire Strikes Back way more than I expected to. Mind you, there are still some small aspects of it I felt could’ve been better (3PO is more annoying than he needs to be, for instance). Additionally, I still feel that a small part of what Star Wars truly is was lost forever starting with this movie. That said, the combination of my regained appreciation for Empire and my own sequel collapsing around the same time got me thinking. Furthermore, I was reading through some Star Wars forums recently, and came across this comment that peaked my interest (I’m paraphrasing here):
“Yes, it’s true that Star Wars started as simply The Adventures of Luke Skywalker and then ballooned into the Skywalker family soap opera. But it’s also true that Middle-Earth started as a simple children’s fairytale with The Hobbit and then ballooned into a more serious war drama with The Lord of the Rings. Stories balloon all the time. That’s not the problem. The problem is that George Lucas denies it and then gaslights people when they try to call him out on it.”
This person is right about everything (including that last part, by the way, but that’s neither here nor there). So, with that all in mind, I decided to go back and read my big four-part post from 2020. Upon this re-read, I noticed how my main argument was that Empire “locked” Star Wars into too narrow of a direction by bringing in fixed episode numbers and retroactively making this all about just one family. And that this was the starting point as to why Star Wars is now “dead” post-Rise of Skywalker… Here’s the thing, though; Star Wars has “died” before, and it always comes back.
Starlog magazine had a whole article about Star Wars being “dead” way back in 1986 (shortly after the comics ended and there was nothing going on apart from the Saturday morning cartoons, which themselves didn’t last long). Then in 1987, someone from West End Games asked their boss if they could court Lucasfilm into letting them turn Star Wars into a table-top RPG, and their boss supposedly replied with “Why? That’s a dead license!” Mind you, they ended up agreeing to it, but that’s besides the point. The late 2000’s/ early 2010’s saw a similar “dead” period in between the prequels and the sequels. The Clone Wars was considered a joke by many at that time. It wasn’t until the third season of that show when fans started taking it seriously…
For about a decade or so, IV-VI were simply known as “the Star Wars trilogy,” and then got rebranded as “The Original Trilogy” and were grouped with the prequels as “The Complete Saga,” and then all six of those movies eventually were grouped with the sequels as “The Skywalker Saga.” The franchise is always rebranding itself. We’ve already heard rumblings about some kinda “Episode 10” being written by Damon Lindelof. When that project eventually gets officially announced, I wouldn’t be surprised if they include some kinda tagline like “the Skywalker saga may be over, but the Star Wars cycle continues.” And then all Star Wars films with episode numbers in their title (including I-IX) will be known as “the Star Wars cycle,” or something to that effect.*
So little-by-little, I’m starting to become glad again that Star Wars evolved into “something grander” beginning with The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, some bad came with it. The fanbase is way too generational now, and everyone takes the franchise way too seriously. That said, it’s equally true that the alternative would’ve been more boring. In hindsight, I was probably too harsh when criticizing certain aspects of Empire (the Han and Leia romance, the love triangle in general, etc.).
In addition, as I read back through those old connected posts of mine, I found myself regretting a few other things here and there that I had said. As a matter of fact, I look back at all those old posts of mine from late 2020/ early 2021, and they kinda make me cringe. My rhetoric was pretty over-the-top back then, and I complained too much (still do). In my own defense, however, it was simply a different time, and I can only rewrite my own history so much. I was in between jobs, new to blogging, and hadn’t started self-publishing my own stories yet. I’ve learned a lot since then, and hopefully, I keep learning more…
Peace!
UPDATE: I also think I’m starting to grow out of the mindset that Star Wars always has to be for kids first and foremost. Different age groups/ generations can get into it through different entry points.
*2024 UPDATE: Called it! Fucking called it!!
