The new "Star Wars" trailer

The last I read of the EU before they decided to wipe it out, Han was alive and he and Leia were raising their grandaughter together. This was the daughter of Jacen, who was killed after turning to the Dark Side.

 

Well, they've wiped all that stuff out.

 

Eh, I see it as the equivalent of an alternate reality in comic books. Or better yet, the existence of one history in the comics and another in the movies. The MCU and the history of the X-Men in movies are very different from the stories in the comics. Both exist.

The old EU in Star Wars was one path. Now they are doing another. You could say all the EU stuff "didn't happen" in Star Trek as well given the new timeline in Abrams' movies. The difference is the creative folks behind Star Trek weren't so insistent upon saying that stuff didn't happen.

Some folks will buy into the idea that Disney can pick and choose what is "real" and some won't. Put me firmly in the latter category.

 

The Star Wars movies exist unto themselves. Period. You cannot expect to sell 100,000,000 tickets to Episode 7 if the homework to see the movie consists of reading novels and comic books.

Star Trek is different, they gave the audience a plot device to explain any difference between the Original Series/Movies and the reboot. As a fan of the original Star Trek series (had a Capt Kirk poster in my room in 6th grade with Farrah Fawcet and Alan Page) Abrams nailed it. I expect Star Wars 7-9 to be better than preceeding SW movie

 

It's remarkable how, even after the three prequels were duds, people are still this excited about the new trilogy. Moreso, I think, than they even were with "Phantom Menace." Obviously it is because of the old favorite characters in action again, along with, I think, a feeling that they are unlikely to repeat the mistakes of the prequels.

I wonder if any of the new characters will seem indispensable to the franchise by the end of this. I can't think of one from the prequels that joined the first tier.

 

It shows just what a great, well-liked phenomenon the original Star Wars movies were. It's hard to describe to people who weren't around to experience it.

The staying power of both Star Wars and Star Trek is true thanks to their long-established fan bases, and all the alternate histories, universes and adventures continued in hundreds of books beyond them. Makes it so the shows/movies don't get old.

The fact that they usually feature basic human relations, common moral and ethical issues, and an idealized view of the world(s) also is widely appealing. They use space and alien worlds as a vehicle, but the formula is a winning one. It always has been and always will be.

 

The three prequels averaged $800 million at the box office. SOMEBODY was buying tickets.

FWIW, ROTS scored 80% on RT and 7.7 on IMDB, while ROTJ scored 78% and 8.4.

This concept that the prequels all sucked and are universally reviled by all fans is a crock of crap.

 

But none of the prequel story lines or characters have become part of "Star Wars" lore.

 

Which may just be the nature of prequels.

 

I think Mace Windu and Qui-Gon are at least on the radar screen for most fans.

And Darth Maul for a brief moment -- and of course Jar Jar in a bad way.

And I think most fans think of Ewan MacGregor at least equally as Obi-Wan. If you think about it in the OT, he didn't have much screen time, or do much while he was on screen.

 

I grew up on the original trilogy, but I think of McGregor moreso than Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, probably for the reasons you just mentioned. McGregor's performance was one of the best parts of the prequels.

They weren't all awful. There are parts of the first two that I enjoy and Revenge of the Sith was good.