I’ve been a fan of Star Wars since my father showed me A New Hope on VHS, and in a brief handful of days, the ninth instalment in the series will arrive to thrill us all again.
I still remember sitting on the couch all those years ago, eyes glued to the action on the screen. Star ships, laser swords, mystical space wizards and an evil empire complete with a planet killing battle station all seemed new and exciting to an impressionable young boy and I’ve had a great affection for science fiction ever since.
Shortly after, I watched and enjoyed the rest of the original trilogy, then jumped into the expanded universe. I particularly liked the X-Wing series and the various Tales From series and I have revisited those novels many times.
You could imagine my surprise and glee at the announcement of a new prequel trilogy. I was really excited and couldn’t wait to see what modern cinematic technology could achieve with the franchise.
I wasn’t disappointed. The special effects were fantastic. The lightsaber duels were mind blowing. The story fit in with the rest of the universe and sure, some of the acting and dialogue was a little off, but overall the prequels felt like the Star Wars of old.
Fast forward to the Clone Wars animated series which did a great job of filling in the gaps between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, but it wasn’t a full length live action film in the continuation of the Skywalker saga.
Then Disney announced the sequel trilogy to be set after Return of the Jedi. All of a sudden I was excited to be a fan again after a decade of waiting.
The Force Awakens promised to be everything I’d ever want in a Star Wars film. Even though story wise it seemed like a rehash of A New Hope, it was a breath of fresh air with new characters and new adventures to be had, but still a nod to the legacy of the existing movies and the fans.
And then The Last Jedi happened.
There were a lot of things wrong with this movie that as a long time fan made me angry. But as a storyteller, I think the most grievous sin was committed when the movie became less about the epic hero’s narrative and more about how much virtue signalling could be achieved in two and a bit hours.
So here we are one year later going in to The Rise of Skywalker and I can’t help but wonder, are we going to be treated to an explosive epic finish, or a wet fizzling firecracker? I am still excited to be going to see a new Star Wars film, but help us J.J. Abrams, you’re our only hope.