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STAR WARS: Once the BEST Now the WORST | Disney's SW Biggest Failure Yet | TLTS013 CWP070
How Star Wars, once the best and most beloved, has become an embarrassment of failure and mediocrity felt (or ignored) around the world.
What happens when your childhood passion collides with unexpected changes? From playing with X-Wing and Millennium Falcon toys to camping out for The Phantom Menace, my love for Star Wars has been a defining aspect of my life. However, the Disney era brought challenges, especially with the novel "Aftermath" by Chuck Wendig, which included a gay character and disrupted my sense of escapism. Despite these hurdles, my excitement for "The Force Awakens" remained, clinging to the hope that Disney could recapture the franchise’s magic.
Beyond the realm of Star Wars, we delve into the profound connection between myth and truth, contrasting the fantastical with deeper spiritual teachings. By drawing parallels between iconic heroes like Luke Skywalker and Aragorn with Jesus Christ, we explore how stories can guide us toward spiritual enlightenment. Curious about Orthodox Christianity? We invite you to visit a local parish and speak with a priest. Tune in to Cloud of Witnesses Radio as we uncover the truths that lie beneath our most cherished myths.
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I was raised a Star Wars kid. Though I don't remember it, save a vague memory of standing in some very long line as a child, I am told that my parents took me to see Empire Strikes Back in the theater For many Christmases, year after year. All I ever wanted after that day was the next Star Wars toy, from the X-Wing fighter, my favorite, to the Millennium Falcon, everyone else's favorite. I stayed a fan for years, years and years into my adulthood, even while in law school. I even took time out of my studies to camp in line at the Newport Beach Big Newport movie theater. It was going to be the release of the Phantom Menace. This was going to be the first Star Wars release on the big screen since the originals. If you don't count the special editions, it was a madhouse. Count the special editions, it was a madhouse Star Wars fans for a week living in tents on the lawn of this movie theater in Newport Beach, california. That was me. I was there. If I remember correctly, my friends and I were even interviewed by this director who was making a short film on the line, and a year or two later that film debuted at a number of film festivals. Evidently, our appearance in that film was not a small part of the story. I still haven't seen that short film as the years went on before, way before Disney ever purchased Lucasfilm.
Speaker 1:I found continued enjoyment in reading Star Wars novels. There were no movies to be seen after all, just the original trilogy and the prequels, if you so liked those. Now, the novels were never really earth shattering they were. Often they were a bit too contrived, but just the feeling of being in the Star Wars world was enough of a feeling to keep me. Coming back to the novels Now, you may have noticed I didn't speak kindly of the prequels. After having seen them and being such a diehard quote-unquote truest for the original trilogy, I had my own headcanon that the prequels basically didn't exist. They had never been made. I was happy living in the original trilogy as gospel canon and exploring the extended universe through the novels.
Speaker 1:You see I wanted to care Like Lord of the Rings. Star Wars was my thing, my connection to a larger community of diehards. Star Wars, trivial Pursuit Yep, I was that guy who knew most of the questions. I liked caring. My friends and I had a running joke that the events of Star Wars were real, had a running joke that the events of Star Wars were real and that Lucas had not created Star Wars. He merely uncovered the all-too-real history and presented it to us in a movie form. Yeah, I know sounds ridiculous, but that was all the fun of it, you see, because back then to be a Star Wars fan was to rule the world. To be a Star Wars fan was like being a Patriots fan. During the 20 years of Brady's reign, you were the boast of the town. As a Star Wars fan, you could talk about George Lucas as one of the greatest directors of all time no-transcript. So one could rest in the confidence that Star Wars was king, not like those sorry Trekkie fans who had to put up with some new mediocre TV show or other. Star Wars fans were the big kids on the block, and for good reason.
Speaker 1:And so the years went on and one fateful day the news that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm was announced. Like many, I was excited by the news. This was before Disney was known to be the pandering, woke shell of a production studio that it is now. This was the emperor of emperors, this was Disney. This was the emperor of emperors, this was Disney. And they had the money and the creativity we thought to take the Star Wars extended universe onto the big screen. I was hopeful, excited and optimistic. Oh, to be back in those naive days.
Speaker 1:Then, in 2015, something happened. During the build-up to the upcoming the force awakens, anticipation was at a fever pitch and I picked up a novel that was a lead-up to the force awakens. It's a novel called aftermath star wars novel by a man named Chuck Wendig. In the story there was a character who expressed homosexual tendencies I can't forget the double take that I did in my mind A gay character in Star Wars. This was unheard of and it was so unnecessary, so forced and so obvious in its intention to normalize homosexuality, even in space, even in Star Wars. You see, star Wars real Star Wars had never had much sexuality at all, though there was romance and beauty and, yes, princess Leia, you know, in the Return of the Jedi outfit.
Speaker 1:But the Star Wars universe was free, generally speaking, of politics and agendas. Well, wendig's aftermath changed that and a chill of portent crept down my back, realizing that it wasn't just Chuck Wendig, it was Disney that okayed this decision to inject a gay character into the main storyline, into the Disney Star Wars canon line, into the Disney Star Wars canon. I'll just say it. I was pissed, not because I'm a bigot, but because the injection of modern, social, political messaging completely took me out of the Star Wars world. It took me out of the story of the imaginative world. It reminded me in that moment, like the lights turning on full bright in the middle of a movie, showing that I was reading a story, a made up story by some author who had an agenda, and it very quickly and all of a sudden ceased to be Star Wars. It became a mere vehicle for a message. I held onto my optimism. However, I didn't completely abandon Star Wars. I simply was a bit more cautious in my reading.
Speaker 1:My excitement for the Force Awakens continued to grow. My excitement for the Force Awakens continued to grow as we began seeing the trailers leading up to it. My thoughts were Lucasfilm certainly had learned its lesson from the prequels. I thought we're not going to have any Jar Jar Binks in there and they've had so many years to plan for this release. And this is Disney and its new Star Wars content. It had to be good, I thought, and honestly it wasn't too bad.
Speaker 1:I enjoyed the Force Awakens. It wasn't, you know, changing the world, but it gave me the sense of the Star Wars universe and I was genuinely intrigued to see where we would go with Rey and Kylo and, of course, luke. The epic scene where Rey is holding the lightsaber out to Luke Skywalker in the closing scene of Force Awakens filled me with an excitement that I had not felt for many, many years. That was the epic Star Wars feeling I had been waiting for. I had no idea that it was all being set up for the biggest disappointment, the biggest offense in the guise of a Star Wars story I was ever to view, in the guise of a Star Wars story I was ever to view.
Speaker 1:When the Last Jedi came out, I was there opening night, heart pounding all the expectation in the world I couldn't wait to see, and Rian Johnson's despicable mind had Luke Skywalker toss the lightsaber over his shoulder without a care, with disdain even. I felt something break inside of me. It was as if Luke was throwing all of Star Wars fandom over his shoulder over the cliff, without a care. Something inside me broke in that moment, began to evaporate and continue to evaporate throughout the course of that wretched film and the abomination that followed the Rise of Skywalker. By the end of my one and only viewing of the Rise of Skywalker, I had in essence ceased to care about Star Wars. I was so offended by the utter mediocrity that those films were. It was an affront to all that makes fantasy storytelling good and important and even vital. It wasn't just a slap in the face, it was a spit in the face and a kick off the cliff. And it was in this apathetic world that I have lived now since those forgettable closing scenes of the Rise of Skywalker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I watched Solo. Yeah, I watched Rogue One pretty good, but I didn't really care anymore. Yeah, I watched the first season of the Mandalorian. But truth be told, and you know, if you know, for all the hype and for as good as some of the Mandalorian was, even it had many cracks and shortcomings I often left those viewings unsatisfied and just eh. I watched a couple episodes of the Book of Boba Fett and saw quickly it was an utter waste of time.
Speaker 1:Yes, a bitterness still resides within me. No doubt I feel it even now telling this story to you, but before I didn't let it show, I kept my mouth shut and my pocketbook to myself. I don't read Star Wars novels anymore. I don't watch anything Star Wars anymore. I don't subscribe to Disney Plus. Why? Because I know it is subpar, I know it sucks. I know that I'll be appalled by every languishing scene after languishing scene.
Speaker 1:Somewhere during the pathetic attempts of the Obi-Wan show grown men, trained hitmen, couldn't catch a small child in the forest and the even worse, ahsoka, so utterly stupid, thrown as the biggest idiot ever. My apathy started to turn to mockery. I began to enjoy seeing how bad the writing had become. How bad the writing had become. So I began to turn my attention to outlets like the Critical Drinker, nerdrotic, disparoo and others. My new Star Wars-related entertainment was their deft criticism of one Disney failure after another. And boy, disney did not disappoint, did they? I could relate so well to the Critical drinker and nerd-rotic in Disparu their criticisms. Very often their criticisms mirrored my own thoughts. And this brings me to season one of the Acolyte Slow dialogue going nowhere, idiotic, slow establishing shots, boring slow shots of people walking and an utter disdain for the true storytelling core, which requires traditional values that made the original Star Wars so great.
Speaker 1:And instead the acolyte Lesbian space witches, ritualistic pagan ceremonies, gender pronouns in space, physics-defying stupidity, tropes so old and tired now that it screams Disney has simply run out of ideas and I just can't anymore. Yes, my love of Star Wars died when Luke Skywalker threw the saber over his shoulder, but the corpse of that love is now just being flogged to the point of unrecognizability. Star Wars doesn't exist anymore. There is no Star Wars For the Star Wars that I know and will always love is saved in those three original movies. Thank you, george Lucas. And everything else just isn't Star Wars. It's not my Star Wars, at least Not in the slightest.
Speaker 1:So, as an Orthodox Christian man, star Wars, like Lord of the Rings, is a story safely tucked in the past and it cannot be touched, no matter how many Disneys or Jeff Bezos come along to vandalize the remains with new concoctions of modern messaging wrapped in the veneer of lore, somehow sort of resembling Star Wars. Oh look a lightsaber. Oh look the Force. Nope, sorry. There is a real Force. It's the Holy Spirit. There is a real Palpatine with his stormtroopers, satan and his demons.
Speaker 1:The myth that I now occupy my time with is the myth that tells the truth, not myth boldly lying to my face, telling me that two female witches can procreate two children using the thread. Nope, whether Luke Skywalker or Aragorn, son of Arathorn. My heroes resemble Christ Jesus and they point me to him, the way, the truth and the life. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening to my story of Star Wars. I would love to hear your thoughts. Agree, disagree, let's talk about it. If you're at all curious about Orthodox Christianity, find a parish near you, go talk to a priest. And thank you for listening to Cloud of Witnesses Radio.