Rogue One

April 6th, 2017 by Proprietor

Watched the Blu-Ray last night of the most recent Star Wars movie. It was not horrible, but probably the weakest of all the movies to have come out. Granted, it was exciting to see the events that lead up the Episode IV: Star Wars A New Hope, and it was thrilling to see Princes Leia speak those words at the end of the movie when the Corellian Corvette dropped from the larger ship and flew off as Darth Vader tried to get to the ship. Probably the most dramatic and thrilling event, even though anyone who was a fan of Star Wars knew the rebels would get away.

What disappointed me was how the movie rewrote or retconned the premise that had been laid out in Star Wars. Bothan spies had managed to steal plans to the Death Star, not a bunch of rogue rebels. Though the skullduggery of some alien beings whom slip Princess Leia a data chip under the table is not as thrilling a story as having the daughter of the builder of the Death Star redeeming his name because the man managed to create a way for the battle station to be defeated. In attempting to redeem her father’s name, the heroine has to go through a personal crisis, and decide to sacrifice herself to get the information to the rebels.

The movie did not state that the Death Star was being built based on plans outlined and designed by the Genoshans in the prequel trilogy as well. That is not necessary, since it would not really propel the story in any direction.

Since Disney has taken over the Star Wars franchise, the return to finishing the trilogy of trilogies was what I most wanted to see. My own theory here. Lucas had no desire to finish off his magnum opus so rather than die, have his family sell the franchise for a quick couple of bucks to someone else, Lucas decided to sell, knowing that Disney would at least not recast familiar faces. Disney had the clout to get Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hammill back together. Harrison did not want to spend three more movies being Han Solo, so, kill him off. Sadly Carrie Fisher passed, so there will have to be some changes in the final movie. Hopefully Mark Hammill does not run into health issues.

Disney is free to do with the Star Wars franchise as it wants once the final movie of the last trilogy is done. Disney is already showing that it wants to use the Star Wars universe as a background for other stories. Eliminating all none cannon fodder of the expanded universe, Disney is free to create anything it deems official and control how the universe will work.

2018 is Episode VIII. 2020 is Episode IX. Disney should have done things the way Peter Jackson did the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Spent a year filming the entire three movies, then edit them for close continuity. Might have allowed Carrie Fisher to be in all three.