"Has the Star Wars Universe lost its Lustre?" Topic

It's now the Summer of 2018 – what is your attitude towards the prospects of more Star Wars projects whatever they may be?

The spin off set in the original era seem to be the best of the Disney Star Wars movies, the least said about the main movies the better.

Star Wars 1977

all down hill from there

No but with all the media saturation we are experiencing Star Wars fatigue.

The first three were great. Fun, original ideas, suspenseful. The new stuff is just politically correct cliche.

Long ago and far away…

Needs more Christmas specials.

I lost interest sometime in the second set of movies. Star Trek is just as bad. We need a new SF movie that can grab our attention as the first in those series did.

Etotheipi: "Needs more Christmas specials"

You might be right:

YouTube link

Dan

etotheipi you're just mean

So much lustre <3

Also, there is another.

Another Star Wars TV Special!!!!
YouTube link

I barely made it through the second trio of films, haven't bothered with the new ones. They are trying to squeeze as much money as they can out of the franchise.

I would be very reluctant to spend time and money on another Star Wars project. For the first three movies, Lucas showed a grasp of story construction and the rules of melodrama. Nothing I've seen since--four movies, and two TV specials, I think--has gotten that much right. The special effects are state of the art. The acting is usually competent. But the scripts wouldn't pass muster in a studio "B" unit, back in the day. Neither ASTOUNDING nor PLANET STORIES would have printed anything so poorly constructed as post-Return of the Jedi Star Wars scripts.

I've got plenty of good space opera on my shelves, and I'd much rather re-read the good stuff than spend money just to confirm that Disney doesn't know the rules of the game.

I'm with Robert and USA, if you lose sight of the stories and pickup an agenda, it's a fail.

Battle Phlox has it right. For the last four years, we have had unending Star Wars market saturation. I am a long time Star Wars fan, Carrie Fisher will always be my Princess, and I was so sick of eeeing Star Wars everywhere that I didn't see The Last Jedi. Everyone says it's not worth seeing, but I'm old enough now to decide that myself. I just can't. Not even on Netflix. I want to, I really do.

I just can't. Too much Star Wars is too much.

Never was any luster, out of all the movies only one was good (empire) still by far the best incarnation of star wars is Knights of the old republic, far better story, dialog characters than any of the movies.

I hate any type of prequels for any genre. You always know how it will end.

They won't be as good. Too much Hollywood group think and marketing interfering with the story. After Last Jedi I'll wait for them to come to Netflix.

A new hope was brilliant. ESR was okay. Ewoks killed off the universe for me. I watched the prequels becasue my daughter wanted to (be nice, she was too young to know how awful they were) and have taken a pass on everything else.

I have no problems with the continued release of Star Wars films. Unlike many who grumble about them I've actually seen them all. They are fun big budget B movies, which is all the original was. The technology was always better than the stories and the scripts. The dialogue was always cliché and the situations ridiculous, but that made them fun. I don't understand all the gripe about "modern political correctness". All I can see is that the series still features strong women, just like the original trilogy and has actors from different ethnic backgrounds – big deal. As for marketing saturation, Star Wars virtually invented this, and it has been out there ever since the 1st started to make money.

Star Wars had one fun space adventure, a decent bit of drama and about 3/4th of a decent movie in the prequels. And the Disney stuff is one reboot, a muddled follow up, a lackluster war movie and an anthology answer to a question nobody asked.

I blame the fans, the ones that turned fandom into zealotry, the a-holes who didn't understand that George Lucas just wanted to tell a Buck Rogers style serial and because of some personal catharsis tried his hand at making the prequels on his own and crashed headfirst into his own limitations and a venomous fandom.

And now that they are middle-aged old farts they start to imagine that a story about space wizards is actually some kind of cultural genocide, while in reality Disney simply ran polls and discovered that minorities liked Star Wars but complained about not being represented. And they figured that adding coloured faces would mean bums on seats, but some paranoid schmucks got triggered …

But no, it has to be an evil conspiracy designed to spite you personally, yes, you the "fanboy" and imploring Saint Lucas to come and save you won't work, the guy is sick and tired of you, especially because you accused him of raping your childhood ! He walked away, pocketed the money and sure he has seller's remorse, but he'll get over it when the whole thing implodes anyway.

And if you still believe it's all a dark plot by the Wicked Cultural Marxist Third Wave Feminazi SJW Kathleen Kennedy, then to paraphrase William Shattner and Robin Williams : Get a Life people, it's just some movies and if you have a problem with that you're in more dire need of a b---- than any white man in history …

It lost it with the Ewoks. Star Wars (no bloody 4, 5, 6…) was an eye opener and Empire was even better.

I'm still going to see them all – except the Ewok stuff. The Cartoon shows have been very good and Rogue One is my third favorite SW movie. Solo wasn't bad but it wasn't great either.

Yep. All downhill after 1977, for me.

The PC agenda in the newest one was horrible. Solo was bad too. The whole "Rich people are evil" thing was over the top, but not as bad as "Men are evil women are good." thing in "The Last Jedi"

> "Men are evil women are good." thing in "The Last Jedi"

I keep hearing this but it was not there on the screen. If anything EVERYONE in that one was an idiot.

Yes, it has. Never even bothered to see Solo.

I thought that Solo was a good movie (even though we knew that he or Chewie weren't going to die). Also, I thought that Rogue One was excellent – better than most of the pre-Disney movies (and far superior to any of the prequels).

But then I've been jaded on SW for a long time, not just with the latest iterations. Return of the Jedi was middling and the prequels were just dreck. As a result, my expectations for the Disney movies weren't very high to begin with. I certainly don't expect them to capture the lightning in a bottle that was the original Star Wars.

I'm also burned out on the merchandise. FFG wants me to buy Skirmish Star Wars, and I'm just tired of watching Darth dominate the field. I look through the newer X-Wing ships, and don't recognize most of them.

Out of all the recent SW films, I too thought Rogue One was excellent (up there with TESB for me), but the rest were underwhelming at best & I couldn't care less what happens to the idiotic heroes. Solo could have been so much more, but was just so forgettable.

May I say a kind word for the ewoks? If the whole thing had just stopped with Return of the Jedi, they'd have been fine. And what was wrong with the exploitation movies and the cartoon would have been equally bad if the characters had been human, wookiee or gungan. If you don't believe me, watch the Holiday Special--if you dare.

It's not the little fuzzballs' fault that Lucas turned out to only have about three movies' worth of idea.

But if I'd walked out of the theater about the time the Jedi began discussing the Trade Federation, I'd be a marginally wealthier happier man on balance. Nothing after Return of the Jedi has been worth the price.

Rogue 1 was just boring, total jawnfest.

I like the original trilogy. The prequel trilogy I don't have much affection for, the new movies I like a lot. Both the "main story" – Force Awakens and Last Jedi – and the side stories. Rogue 1 was a complete joy, Solo I liked but a little less because I knew the ending – but then that's true of every Marvel film I see (except Logan).

Oh – and if it needs saying, I really have no problem with non-white and non-male characters joining the Rebellion. Droids are fine too

Greedo was green. Han the white man shot him! Han fired first!

"watch the Holiday Special--if you dare"

I would, but alas, the bootleg tapes making the rounds are all Beta, and I only have VHS machines now… :-(

What Patrick R said…

I watched Rogue One again the other night, and it really is a pretty good film. So was Solo. But the most recent installments in the main story line are just dross, and I find myself agreeing with the whining cultural armageddon middle aged white male zealots. Just for different reasons.

They should ditch the trilogy concept and just release a stand alone film every 2 or 3 years.

"Has the Star Wars Universe lost its Lustre?" Never!

Yes

What Lustre?

After New Hope and Empire Strikes Back we had the Muppet Show in Space (AKA Return of the Jedi) and then I lost all interest.

I did try and watch 1,2,and 3 but these were nearly unwatchable dreck. Lucas made some damn dumb decisions with his universe, but it's his universe so none of my business, but I won't pay to watch it.

For space opera I recommend Space Battleship Yamato:2199 and:2205.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's anime with subtitles and girls with big eyes, but story telling is top-notch,not to mention that Lucas obviously took some inspiration – especially the Death Star's armament, and the robot navigator Analyzer – from the 1974 original.

The original Trilogy were pretty good, but I am speaking with major childhood-movie memories going on.

When the first trailer for Ep1 played in the theater, you could hear the cheering outside the building.

Then we got Meesa Darth Jar-jar. *puke* Not to mention that horrible fascination of a 13yo girl with an 8yo boy.

Ep2 was better than Ep1, but not up to the hype. The scenes with the Republic Dropships were straight out of We Were Soldiers.

Ep3 sucked so bad I wish I could get those hours back.

Then there was Ep7. That largely renewed my faith in the Magic of Star Wars.

Rogue One was pretty awesome, up there with Empire Strikes Back.

Solo was better than Ep8, but that's a bar so low that it's a trip hazard to mice.

I liked "Empire Strikes Back" best and "Rogue One" second, New Hope is a solid third.

I do not care so much for the rest, with "The Last Jedi" an all time low.

Has Star Wars lost its "lustre"? To me yes, mostly because of the deconstructionism TLJ revels in.

Most of the Star Wars movies have built myths and symbolism I could draw inspiration from, that would fire up my imagination.

The consumerist product we've been served lately cut away with the initial foundation to deliver a story re-actualized to today's views(?).

I don't relate. I do not know anyone (of any age, sex, sexual orientation, skin color … as if it mattered) that relate either.

So yes, it has lost its lustre, and by the neck of my wood which has no particular political leaning, we see this new direction for "Star Wars" as a Hollywood exercise driven by self-entitled people living in their own bubble.

Honestly, it doesn't talk to me or anyone I know.

Luckily, we still have HBO and Netflix TV series that are way way above this self-righteous hubris and deliver solid entertainment if not social insight.

They've gotten so bad I didn't even bother to see Solo.

Zephyr1: The Holiday Special is on YouTube, we watch it on Wookiee Day each year!!!!

Looks like I'll stick to the four movies of the original trilogy. It will always be a mistery why Lucas started with Star Wars part 2 and never bothered with part 1. Yes, Rogue One has been embraced by me as the long overdue SW part 1.
The sequel trilogy looked good with TFA, even being pretty much a remake of Star Wars (no, A new hope doesn't exist, it's Star Wars) but TLJ killed it off for me and I didn't bother with Solo.
For me it is the OT and the EU from the pre Disney novels

Like Carrie Fisher, I think that the Holiday special serves a very fine purpose.

When you have a party at your place and it's all over and you want them to leave, put this on, and stand out of the way.

Call the police on any that won't leave (unless they live there already).

I use ep1 when I have trouble sleeping (because I don't own LOTR which serves the same purpose.)

In retrospect, the franchise jumped the proverbial shark when Vader was revealed to be Luke's father. This blew massive holes in the plot leading to either badly written attempts to ret-con over them (e.g. Obi-Wan's "a certain point of view" line) or even worse plot decisions (e.g. Leia being Luke's long-lost twin sister).

Face it folks, George Lucas never had any story arc when the first movie came out, and he banged the rest together, without any regard for what happened previously, as he went along.

The current Soy Wars trilogy is hard to watch.

I've seen all the films and enjoyed some more than others (of the recent ones Rogue One and Solo were great), but in general I prefer the comics, books and computer games as they are more internally consistent even if some do manage to perpetrate even more cheesy dialogue than the films.

So yes, SW continues to delight, a big fan of Marvels 'Darth Vader' series atm.

The Disney reboots are quite funny, perhaps we'll get toasted Ewoks in the next one:)

Never been a rabid fanboy of the Star Wars movies or universe enough for it lose any luster personally.

As a casual fan I don't get offended by any real or imagined feminazi SJW "injustices" Disney's purportedly perpetrating against the SW fan base.

I agree with Patrick R that those who feel differently need to get a life.