ST Three years ago, the franchise was on its last legs...

...and I was, admittedly, beginning to lose interest in Star Wars. Then Disney bought it and the rest is history!

I watched TFA last night and it didn't just revitalize my love for the franchise. It saved the franchise. No, it wasn't a perfect film and I wasn't happy with everything they did. But overall, it was a good film and they breathed new life into Star Wars. Some people talked about how the film "played it safe," but even if they did, its no matter. The franchise needed to be saved and that's what the film did. Its opened up so many opportunities, opportunities that never existed under George Lucas.

There's so much I wish to say about it, but I'm not much of a writer, so I'll simply leave it by saying that I felt something last night I haven't felt in many years. I fell in love with Star Wars all over again and am very excited with what the future holds in store. Its a shame so many people feel otherwise, but to each his own. I look forward to discussing Star Wars extensively once again!

 

To me personally, each set of trilogies stand alone from each other. That being said, typically the first movie in a franchise is all about setting up the next films, which I think was well played in TFA. If we were left with complete resolution to everything there would be no hype for the next films. I saw the movie two nights ago and I'm still shaken up about all the excitement, I can hardly stand it! I agree with you, I haven't felt something like this in a very long time.

 

In my view, the best days of Star Wars are still ahead of it. And I think anybody who had high expectations from this film don't appreciate just how low the franchise was when it was purchased by Disney. Nobody cared about Star Wars anymore. But now they do. TFA was all about "awakening" - awakening the franchise, the fans. You don't fix a problem with one film. But TFA put us back on track.

 

It was hardly on it's last legs 3 years ago.

Clone wars was going strong.
Star wars toys were still huge sellers.
The blu Ray set released the year before was a huge hit.
1313 and a live action series were in the works as well.

 

there going to be quite a few case studious on this business deal and its execution in Universities the next few decades.

 

I'm glad to be out of the prequel era and into a new era of Star Wars!

 

I agree it was not "on its last legs", a better way to say it would be a franchise in steady decline with no planned future events to change this pattern.

 

It was doing fine. And it's the opposite for me. Awakens made me more disinterested in the franchise.

 

I think it will be interesting to see what happens next.

I predict that after the the intial rush of TFA is over, the PT will rarely get a mention in the media again. Just the occasional mention. Focus will be on the ST, and OT that preceeded (classic OT Star Wars will always be a thing, especially with the Anthology movies coming). This will upset the hardcore PT fans tremendously, and I actually have some sympathy. It will be hard for them.

 

Absolutely. I had high expectations and they're were definitely met and I think we have two more great films to look forward to!

 

Star Wars, was far from being on "its last legs" three years ago.

 

Oh look it's mr sunshine and lollipops

 

The franchise wasn't on its last legs. It had completed its task of creating 6 films and was content with that. On its last legs would be if Lucas had said, "I'll make an episode VII and whether or not I make an episode VIII and IX depends on how VII does."

Disney took a good thing and made it even better, which isn't the same thing as saving something from ruin.

 

Disney didn't breathe life into Star Wars, they breathed "money". Life is what is lacking. It had little heart. Disney knows how to sell brands to people. The majority of people. It's hard to believe so many people are defending a re-do of ANH. It was basically a reboot, without the reboot. If anything Disney killed Star Wars and taxidermied it so it will last forever.

 

Abrams could easily have stuffed this up however much money was thrown at it.

A lot was loaded on 2 relatively unknown actors shoulders and they pulled it off. Infact the best bit of TFA is we have 4 new solid characters to get behind. Ridley, Boyega, Isaac & Driver all played by talented people.
And BB-8 could easily not have worked, but it worked so much I know it's blasphemous to say it but I didn't miss R2 or C3PO at all.

I've seen mixed opinion about Kylo Ren, but for all the accusations of this movie playing it safe - they could have just gone for another Vader clone but personally I think they hit the jackpot with Ren.

Star Wars has actually been well set up by JJ, but we do need to see new stuff. They have a blank script now, no need to fill in gaps like the prequels. No more super duper weapons or deathstars please.

 

ok. that makes no sense. what about what you used to like, you like less now because of new content?

I love the Wizard of Oz. Wait what they made a remake for it that I did not like. I now hate the Wizard of Oz.

 

Can't take this seriously with your signature!

 

While not necessarily on its last legs, this all started with the movies. Judging by the world-wide box office totals so far, good movies in the series are what is most important to the fans. I like the books, tv shows, games, toys, etc., just fine, but the movies are the most important thing to me. I think most fans would agree. I think this is kind of what the OP might have meant.

 

I completely agree with this. The only valid criticism I've scene (I've seen a lot of basement fanboy griping, but that's what they do) is about it being a 're-boot' of Ep4. It kind of was, but it was beautifully done. The thing about it is, the franchise NEEDED to be re-grounded and start over by establishing new characters to carry the torch. TFA did that brilliantly. The PT was horrendous. All the way through. It was so bad it tainted, if not almost destroyed, legendary characters. The first thing TFA had to do was bring the series back to life. Now here we are. The series is good and it could go in virtually any direction. That's a feeling that we haven't had since our first viewing of Ep.5 (as the PT was both terrible and we knew the outcome beforehand).

 

I guess that TCW was on his best season, the toys were selling and the comics, books and video games were happening.

If I remember correctly, the lowest point was from 88-91 and that the Thrawn books sparked the fire again with SW and also added fuel to GL to start the prequels.

 

If you googled "Star Wars" during the summer of 2012 the majority of the news results would be about either the Detours cartoon or the Angry Birds stuff. Yeah, we were close to going back to the dark times. Thank you Mickey.

 

I loved it. I wasn't sure I'd be able to see this weekend and did & am SO glad. It left me awestruck and ran the gamut of my emotions while watching. I'm still awestruck it was a beautiful movie and am so happy the franchise is back on track, in fact this movie has encouraged to dive into the new Cannon and appreciate all facets of GFFFA.

 

I am a first generation fan. The Clone Wars series, while good in their own right, didn't speak to me like the OT. While I liked them well enough, the prequels didn't give me that feeling either. The Force Awakens has rekindled that nostalgic feeling for me. Star Wars Rebels is closer to the OT too. My point is I think we're on our way to something special again.

 

It wasn't on its last legs, and I didn't even want new movies, but I am happy it revitalised Star Wars for some. Either way we can all hang out and talk about it. It's no different than people liking or not liking the OT or PT. I find it sllly some people are swearing off Star Wars when this is just one part of a monumental franchise. I think it is good to have something in it for everyone, and whether that's the ST or OT or PT, or even something like TCW, I am most of all glad to have new fans!!

 

Star Wars would have inevitably survived, and even find new successes. But nothing could compare to the amount of hype and revitalized interest that a new Star Wars film would bring. The fact that the film was ultimately well-received validated a lot of fans' wishes and really solidified this new era.

Disney wasn't exactly off to a great start. Canceling the Clone Wars, as well as the rest of the five films' theatrical re-release is still inexcusable to me. But they did do right with this film.