Let me start from the beginning
Walt Disney is one of my all time heroes (see my post from 2012 ‘Walt Disney – Through My Eyes’), along with Bruce Lee, Captain America (The Comic Book version), George Lucas and John Hughes
He was the epitome of ‘Imagination’
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Growing up in the 70’s-80’s, Disneyland was truly ‘the happiest place on earth’
The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was my favorite, but I also enjoyed the Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain
But more than that, the whole feeling at night
And the Disney Movies, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ was my favorite and when ‘Aladdin’ came out, I’d never in my life laughed harder in a movie theater that one of the Genie scenes
Robin Williams was a genius, I will always love him
Then Disney picked up ‘Pixar’, which was brilliant
Their animation department was flailing, so it made perfect sense to pick up the future of animation…
Pixar
Next came Marvel, we’ve all seen how that has turned out
And last, but not least, ‘Lucas Films’…
Once again, brilliant
Most importantly with ‘Lucas Films’ is, the original first two ‘Star Wars’ films/George Lucas were the reasons I became a Filmmaker…
…so this was a big deal for me
And the reality is, George Lucas isn’t going to live forever, so I thought Disney was a perfect place/home for the ‘Star Wars’ Franchise
The difference between me and a lot of people who loved the first and second installment of the ‘Star Wars’ films (Chapters 1-6), is I never called myself a ‘fan’
I’ve always been a filmmaker first
I simply felt ‘Star Wars’…
…and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ were brilliant (They’re my two favorite films of all time)
I wasn’t much of a fan of ‘Return of the Jedi’, I wasn’t an Ewok fan, but all of the Luke and Darth Vader scenes still felt like ‘Star Wars’ to me
The films in 1989, 92 & 95 were their own thing
I felt Lucas got slammed pretty hard for ‘Phantom Menace’, which likely lead to ‘Attack of the Clones’ being so great, as well as ‘Revenge of the Sith’
But unlike a ‘fan’, I had no expectations going into those films, so I truly enjoyed them for what they were
Chapters 7, 8 & 9 (Also ‘Rogue One’, and ‘Solo’) were also their own thing
‘The Force Awakens’ surprised me…
…although J. J. Abrams, did not
He’s great… he’s a force
I was so happy with ‘The Force Awakens’, even though SPOILER ALERT Han Solo died
Rey was a great two dimensional character (Focused on what was in front of her)/Never stopped running/Typical ‘Star Wars’ character in a good way
Poe was awesome, but I’ve always loved Oscar Isaac
He’s brilliant
But to my surprise, Finn was my favorite character in ‘The Force Awakens’
I didn’t really care for ‘Ben Solo’ in ‘The Force Awakens’, which was a big deal because ‘Darth Vader’ is my favorite villain of all times
But in Chapter 8, ‘The Last Jedi’, Ben (Adam Driver) is brilliant
And Rai was awesome… Their characters made that film
Mark Hamill (Luke) was also a welcome ‘Star Wars’ contribution to the general vibe of the film
Plus his final scene was brilliant
‘Rogue One’ was literally the best possible prequal to ‘Star Wars’ Chapter IV
Brilliant, a stand alone film for sure
Some say it’s their favorite all time ‘Star Wars’ film
I don’t blame them
But Chapter IV & V are my favorites, followed by Chapter II
When I was a kid, Han Solo & Darth Vader were my favorite characters in the original ‘Star Wars’…
…and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was Han Solo’s/Harrison Ford’s ‘swan song’ (It was his best ‘Star Wars’ film)…
These characters and films changed my life
With ‘Solo’ (The film), once again, I entered with no expectations
And in the end, I liked it
But more than that, a sequel should have really been made… This film was truly built for it, and it would have likely been an even better film
Also, Lando was great
SPOILER ALERT I wasn’t thrilled to find out Darth Maul was alive (The dude was cut in half in ‘The Phantom Menace’), but I guess they brought him back before this film in another project
That I’d call a mistake/attempt to bring back what ended up being a fan favorite from ‘The Phantom Menace’
But ‘Star Wars’/George Lucas made his own mistakes/’what I considered a lackluster decision’ by killing Boba Fett in that pit in ‘Return of the Jedi’…
SPOILERS But Disney brought Boba Fett back to life too in ‘Mandalorian’, also a bad move in my opinion… But also based on his popularity I think
And now he’s going to have his own series… Ehh not so thrilled
Finally, the final ‘Star Wars’ film, Chapter IX (The Rise of Skywalker), no expectations once more (The world on the other hands had huge expectations), they destroyed the Finn character sadly, having him run around after Rey the whole film, but the chemistry of Rey and Ben Solo was awesome (Once more)
All and all, I was happy with that film (I’m not sure many were, but I was
The reality is, there was no way to meet the expectations of the whole of the ‘Star Wars’ audience (Perhaps if my bro and I filmed it, lol), which is already largely broken into at least to parts anyways (The die hard fans of the original films, and the fans of the second group of films, not to mention the new fans from all over)
Lets move on/back to Disney
First with the creation of Disney+, which is awesome…
…Disney old movies, Marvel Movies, Pixar Movies and ‘Star Wars’ movies and series all in one place
I was in
Also, making it just $6.95 made it a no brainer
And if that wasn’t enough, galvanized with the creation of ‘The Mandalorian’, which in my opinion truly gave me hope that the original ‘Star Wars’ feeling from the original ‘Star Wars’ films, was alive and well, and more than that, had a future
Thanks largely to Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni and Pedro Pascal
Each, indispensable
SPOILERS I’m not going to even tell you what happens at the end of Season 2 if you haven’t seen the show… If you’re ‘Star Wars’ fan, just check out both seasons
This post was going to be even longer (I wrote much more), but I feel it’s long enough as it is
I will end with this
To the Disney Execs;
- I really hope that what you do isn’t all, or even 80% about making money, and that’s it… Try to keep the spirit of Walt Disney himself in your ranks
- Steer clear of all of this ‘cancel culture’… Stop giving so much power to the trolls/haters out there, and that goes for all major corporations
- Tweet happy birthday to George Lucas from now on, once again, if the trolls steered you away from it, you’ve given them too much power… Respect the creator of ‘Star Wars’, or sell Lucas Film
- Yes, Disney+ out performed your expectations, even before the pandemic, but don’t expect that growth rate to continue, it’s not natural/possible… Appreciate and maintain the followers you already have, sorry corporate america, it’s not all about growth, it’s also about maintenance
- You’re making great shows, don’t let greed cloud your vision, nor destroy everything positive that you’re achieving
- Break the mold over and over again, don’t stick to things that extinguish the souls of your employees, and leave your fans hanging dry
- Greed is wrong… Be the change
Nuff said, thanks for listening/reading
And ‘May the force be with you…’
DarkJade-
The Written Word 