ST Every Episode since 1980 has relied on ANH as a crutch. Is IX the first to walk totally free?

We are finally in new terrain heading into IX. That's what feels different. Every film since 1977 has relied on our connection to ANH as a crutch.

TESB directly follows ANH and enriches it.
ROTJ resolves the conflict set up in ANH.
TPM is the setup for the main players in ANH.
AOTC is the setup for the war that will precede ANH.
ROTS is the fallout of Obi-Wan and Vader, and the birth of the twins, to set up ANH.
RO is the mission to learn of the Death Star's weakness and leads directly into ANH.
TFA was seen by many as a soft reboot of ANH.
TLJ starts taking its first steps beyond TESB and ROTJ and ends with the story for the first time ever... heading to brand new terrain.

Every single Star Wars film past 1977 has in some ways relied on ANH to prop itself up -- either by continuing the story established, or leading up to it, or being a soft reboot of it. Except for IX. Doesn't it seem like IX is truly the first film in Star Wars history that can be anything from here on out?

We have finally reached a point on screen where the brand can finally exist outside of the enormous 40 year shadow of ANH and all stories connecting into or out of it. We have reached a point where a villain has done what Vader didn't and who has a soft spot for the hero for reasons that aren't familial. It's understandable why after 9 films of feeling like everything has to connect into or out of ANH on some level some are nervous. We are finally in new terrain. I love nostalgia as much as the next person but I'm excited that they have finally cast aside the crutches and are intending to show that Star Wars can exist into the future on the big screen for reasons beyond nostalgia.

 

I think you're right...and that's why it took a few viewings for me to truly appreciate TLJ. It had to be done to keep the franchise fresh...we can't keep having "remember when" in the episodic films. That's what the Star Wars Stories are for...

 

The ST is the third act of the Skywalker Family Saga...I wouldn’t call it a “huge shadow” so much as “the starting point for the story that’s still unfolding”...

I also don’t see TLJ as a break from the other Saga movies, aside from how staggeringly meta the dialogue is.

I am very curious what RJ’s new non-Skywalker trilogy will be like, though...

 

I've said it several times that IX feels like it's going to be somewhat of a soft reboot.

But really, I think that IX will still have to answer to TFA in a way that TLJ did not.

 

Beyond the KOR aspect... it seems like it answered most to me?

 

Theres going be an entirely new set of movies with nothing to do with theses trilogies. Why what would be the purpose of "walking free" of everything that has been set up so far? Its the last movie of a trilogy. Its a bit late for that. Was the first Harry Potter book a "crutch" for the ones that came after it? Seriously we'e already getting a brand new story. Let's give a proper ending to this one. ​

 

Oh, I want a proper ending. Don't misunderstand that.

I'm just saying that for the first time in decades it feels like an upcoming episode of Star Wars is far enough away from IV, by not needing to build up to IV, or immediately follow IV, or immediately follow a film like TFA which was largely a soft reboot of IV. It's truly new terrain. We never saw Vader and Luke team up and fight. We never saw Vader becoming the emperor. We've never seen a villain that wants to bring the hero to his side to essentially become a power couple unrelated to parent/child and all that comes along with that. This is new terrain for Star Wars and none of us knows how it will end for the first time in decades.

 

Could you be so kind and send me the version of TLJ you watched?

 

I honestly thought we'd get about as much history in this trilogy on Snoke as we did the Emperor in the OT. We perhaps had a little less since he died sooner.

 

9 has to wrap it all up.
It has to be about New Hope and the Skywalkers and tie a neat bow around it all. That will be JJ's success or failure.

I think this movie has to engage more with the past that the other movies had, and is a big danger for it. No matter what happens in it, fans will be angry that the conclusions it reaches are not what they imagined.

So... Star Wars Fandom Hell, as usual.

 

Depends on how Luke is integrated into 9, and if Darth Vader gets brought up at all.

Kinda, though, yeah.

 

The only movie that has really used ANH as a "crutch" is TFA.

The rest of the saga movies have been "remakes" in one sense or another using Lucas' rhyming scheme. From TESB to ROTS.

TLJ did this as well. R1 also pulled many things relate to that sensibility.

IX is still going to relate to ANH in some way but possibly a new interpretation such as ROTS did which was an inversion remake about Anakin's fall compared to Luke ascending to a hero.

 

Yep. They are supposed to tie in the whole saga in 9 so they say. So I say 9 can use 4 if they need to for however they intend to.

I get that every movie plays off ANH, but I feel like every movie plays off another movie in the saga to in some regard.

I feel like ANH is the one that connects the trilogies together the most, though I maybe saying that because it came first.