ST The Sequel Trilogy: A Retrospective - Where Were You?

I heard the news at work and my first thought was that it was a hoax. But a few minutes later a bunch of coworkers were all talking about the news and potential.

I spent the next few weeks imaging what how the next episode could go and made up some posters:

Right from the start I was thinking that Luke would be MIA. The new Yoda. He'd find the first Jedi Temple, which was in ruin, and looked like the ruined death star from EP 6 (visual link) and whereas Palpy wanted to build the ultimate weapon of destruction, Luke set out to rebuild the ultimate force for peace and justice, the Jedi Order. The trilogy would start with new Jedi hopefuls hearing the call from the force and seeking him out for training. There would be a few Jedi already traveling the galaxy doing good, but they haven't seen Luke in years and pretty much think he's dead.




My version of Old Luke, decked out in old (ancient) white Jedi robes that take a cue from Padme's style of dress, to honor her memory.


And then I started this one, once we knew who the cast was going to be (but before the title). I thought that Ridley would be the New Luke, new Jedi student/heroes Journey. DG and OI would already be Jedi Knights.

 

I did not expect anything: I thought Lucas would never bring back Luke, Leia and Han. So the announcement in 2012 was a major surprise. I was at work and thought that those were the greatest news in a long time, movie-wise. I told my two kids about it as soon as I got back home and, during the following week, we watched Episodes I to 6, one per night. Good times.

I had the chance to watch all 3 sequels with them as they were 8 and 10 (Episode VII), 10 and 12 (VIII) and 12 and 14 (IX).
The hype and anticipation were so strong for the first two. TROS was more of a letdown for all us three in every aspect.

 

i have no idea where I was when I heard the news that Disney were the new owners but I remember chatting about it at the pub. I'm not a big Disney fan - I find a lot of their output too saccarine for my taste - so wasn't anticipating anything great. When they announced that they were producing the sequels I was more intrigued than happy as the ending to ROTJ was already perfect.

I did end up looking forward to TFA. I had to abandon the first viewing as I had tinnitus, but the second visit was a great night out with friends, some of whom I'd seen the prequels with. I really enjoyed it. Still do.

When I saw TLJ I hadn't been well and honestly felt a bit numb afterwards, although I told myself it was great. The second viewing was better, maybe because my daughter kept chuckling at bits and that cheered me up.

TROS - After the lack of a cliffhanger to TLJ I wasn't really feeling positive or negative about the upcoming last episode of the saga. I spoilt myself silly here, which turned out to be the fun part because the movie was not good. It didn't help that the cinema screen had issues. My wife said I seemed unusually quiet afterwards. I've still only seen it twice.

 

I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was the morning and I was ready to go to class (I was a freshman in high school) and I saw the news on Facebook. At first I thought maybe the Sequel Trilogy news was a rumor, or a hoax or something because I had no idea that another trilogy would ever be made. I was honestly hesitant for quite some time, if I remember correctly the Trilogy news dropped in 2012/2013 I wasn’t really excited until we got the first teaser trailer in Nov if 2014. I even remember I was in film study (I was a sophomore at this point) and the title of episode VII was released, I HATED the title felt so corny, but I did warm up to it once I realized if I can like the title of Attack of the Clones I think I can get over “The Force Awakens” When the second teaser came out for SD Comic Con I liked the trailer but I wasn’t over the moon about it. It showed enough but not enough if that makes sense. It wasn’t until the final trailer came out for Monday night football that trailer still gives me goosebumps such a well done trailer. Then the movie came out, it was fun but I was more excited to see where Episode VIII would go.


For those two long years all I did was theorize and honestly that’s what ruined TLJ for me, I was just so attached to my theories. Anyway, I remember I was in civics when the title was released for VIII “The Last Jedi” I said “Simplistic, yet perfect.” IMHO the entire marketing for TLJ was perfect every trailer, the toys, and the posters, all the posters especially the character posters. (Oh dear God the teaser poster, still one of my favorite SW posters of all time.) I was counting down the days for TLJ. Then I saw the movie and I was so disappointed and hated the film, however, after a couple more viewing and letting go of my theories it’s one of my favorites in the saga. In short from Dec of ‘15 to Dec of ‘17 was the most fun I’ve had waiting for a Star Wars film ever.


I don’t have much to say about TROS I really didn’t care about the movie tbh. It had nothing to do with TLJ it was just Collin was fired from the project, rewrites after rewrites, so many production problems and after the backlash from TLJ really put a sour taste in my mouth. The fandom was split and it was no longer fun to talk about SW anymore honestly, it was just such a weird time. So, I wasn’t at all excited for TROS. It took forever for official news to come out, I mean my god we had to wait till the first teaser to get the title. The title is meh at best even almost a year later. The first teaser didn’t do much for me and it definitely didn’t build the hype for me. Anyway final trailer came out and yeah still didn’t do much for me and obviously I didn’t like the movie either. Then in January Collin’s script was leaked and it made me mad and sad, what an awesome script what a great conclusion. Oh well, can’t have that film anyway.

So that’s my shortened walk through memory lane, there are more details but why bore you?

How was your experience?

 

I heard the news on the radio, while I was getting ready for work, and I was both flabbergasted and overjoyed... 'new Star Wars films'... what's not to love (especially given the possibility of Luke, Leia and Han's return)? I was even mildly excited (when the news broke) at the prospect of Abrams being involved... as back then there was an assumption that Lucas would still have creative control, but 'younger' directors would come in to give the new films a more contemporary feel. I even maintained positivity when Kennedy came in as head of Lucasfilm (she had the corporate knowledge after all). But when that relationship between Lucas and Disney increasingly looked fragmented/broken, my optimism started to wane. Without doubt, IMHO, the biggest self inflicted wound was alienating George Lucas, and removing any direct influence/input he would have had on the ST. There could have been a middle ground that should have resulted in a trilogy which united fans/audiences, and that would have left Star Wars in a better place today.

 

I was shocked when I read that George had sold Lucasfilm and retiring I think I first saw it online it was only when I read about it in a newspaper that it finally sunk in and that it was true. My first thoughts were could Disney really make Star Wars films as good as Georges ones. I actually like the sequels and the two anthology films which Disney have done a lot, though whether they are as good as the GL ones is another debate

 

Okay, I'm going to be COMPLETELY honest.
I didn't know anything about the prequel, EU, or the new trilogy.
I only knew the Original Trilogy.
So, when I saw the big advertisement in Walmart for the BluRay/DVDs for TFA, I was like, okay, that's a creepy mask (Kylo Ren's). We didn't realize that it was Star Wars... It hadn't clicked. At all.
Weeks later, I think my mom said she looked it up and it was a new movie set after Return of the Jedi.
After that, we were at home, talking about it. My sisters and I decided we should DEFINITELY get it!
So we went to Walmart on Friday night, which we never do. Bought pizza for it. I remember jumping up and down (I was seven) in the living room since I was so excited waiting for my mom and older sister to come home and pop the Blu-Ray disc into the dvd player.
It was awesome!! We all loved it! My mom isn't that big of a fan like I am. Before Star Wars The Force Awakens came out, my sisters and I had just watched the Original Trilogy for the FIRST Time. It was really big for us...
And for me,
It still is.

 

I remember hearing 'Disney' and thinking 'Oh, you've got to be kidding'. I ... er, had a bad feeling about this. However, on this side of things, I was wrong to be concerned.

 

I was pretty young when Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, and the marketing leading up to the film's release was pure excitement. I felt like a lifelong fan, in spite of my only true experience of the Star Wars galaxy being The Force Unleashed, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, The Clone Wars film, and Star Wars Rebels. And Finn was a big deal! Seeing a black Stormtrooper-turned-Jedi hold a lightsaber was inspiring, especially as a kid growing up with hardly anyone else sharing my physical features.

The release of the movie wasn't bad. Kylo Ren was compelling, Rey was mysterious, and Finn was brave. Though the plot itself was kind of disappointing. My talks with friends gave me the realization that it just retread old ground.

In short, my hardly pubescent friends and I all disliked the plot and structure of the Sequels, but came to appreciate the more minor details and broad concepts.

 

I remember I was hugely disappointed that Disney closed down Lucasarts, Cancelled 1313 and first Assault and gave Star Wars license to EA.

As for the TFA, I was a little hyped but when I watched it, it was kind of disappointing for me.

I also didn't care about clone wars that much so the news of it's cancellation wasn't a huge deal for me.

 

I was blown away when I heard that there will be a ST as I had all but given up hope from what GL had said that is was EP1-6 and that was it but looking back unfortunately Disney did not give us a perfect ST cause the backlash of especially EP8 and 9 is quite painful

 

I think I was with some friends. Mind you this was hard to remember as Lucasfilm was sold when I was just 13 or maybe 12 I don’t remember the exact date. I do know I talked to my therapist a lot.

Not because it made me anxious or anything both me and my therapist just liked Star Wars. It was how we took a bit of a break from some serious stuff. I remember I was hopeful. Now looking back not so much. I hope things pick back up again but I think I have just become way more jaded with it all.

I actually like the ST, but man the fandom has turned me off from it a lot.

 

I had mixed feelings when I heard the news, but overall I was mostly devastated. I think I heard it on the radio on my way home from work and was initially in shock.

I thought more movies was cool, but not having Lucas involved anymore didn't seem right. I also didn't like how many fans were excited just purely because Lucas was gone, as they thought he had ruined star wars.

My fears were further realized when they canceled 1313, cancelled the clone wars, and did all their marketing for TFA based on nostalgia for the OT and PT bashing.

I did however see all five movies on opening day, and I've watched all of rebels, mando, and the new season of clone wars. I haven't watched Resistance though.

 

I think I had just gotten home from work when I heard the news. I was pretty upset. I couldn't imagine SW without George. Honestly, my initial reaction was "I don't think Disney knows anything about Star Wars." Then I figured maybe I was underestimating them.

 

I vividly remember my friend texting me those surreal words in Oct 2012, "Disney bought Lucasfilm and they are making 7,8,9!" I firmly believed after 2005 that we would never see another SW Saga film, let alone one with Han, Luke and Leia. I'll be honest, it didn't sink in until I was in the theater and read that crawl, "Luke Skywalker has vanished!" Just seeing Luke Skywalker's name for the first time in 32 years. I thought to myself, "This is really happening!"

I had a roller coaster ride with the ST. TFA really brought me back to being a kid again, as the franchise felt fun again. Maybe because I was sharing it with my nephews, but it felt like a passing of the torch from one generation to another. I was Luke, Leia and Han, and they were Rey, Finn and Poe. I saw TFA 4 times in the theater, and it was the closest thing that the fanbase had united since the OT. It was the first time the positive conversations outweighed the negative conversations in SW land. 2016-17 were just pure fun speculating about Rey's heritage, who was Snoke, and what was Luke doing by himself? I followed all of the podcasts as Collider was my goto every week, and the builtup to Episode 8 was crazy.

Then.......The Last Jedi came out. I was crushed that night, as it was probably the worst SW movie experience I ever had. My friends and I walked out and it felt like a bad dream. I was furious, I was mad, the goodwill that Disney built up with TFA was gone the second Luke flipped that lightsaber over his shoulder. What I did next was the smartest thing to do as a lifelong fan of SW, I walked away and took a break and didn't engage in the civil war between the fans. It was the first SW movie I didn't see in the theaters twice, and waited a few months to cool down give it a 2nd chance on Blu-Ray. 3 years later, I still have my problems with TLJ, but I do enjoy it more than I did that opening night.

I really enjoyed TROS, but I don't think the ST ever recovered after TLJ where I was crazy hyped like I was before Episode 8. I think TROS did it's best to close the ST and gave Luke/Leia/Han a respectful sendoff, but the return of the Emperor just screamed a franchise out of ideas (in fairness, this is why Snoke should have never been killed off in Episode 8). So it was an up and down journey for 5 years, but I still wont forget the TFA days (before and after) as that was still the most fun I had as a SW fan since 1983.

 

It was fall of 2012, 8 years ago when I first heard the news. I was on my computer and I couldn't believe it when I read it and saw that video of George and KK there. It was pretty surreal. Trying to take it all in while a friend was talking to me and trying my best to listen to her while lost in my own head. Star Wars was coming back.

Obviously we all had our visions of what a 7,8,9 would look like but after years of Lucas dismissing it, I thought those days were long gone and I gave up hope. And when I heard the big 3 were coming back I was so ecstatic. Probably the most I've been excited for my whole life. A fantasy was becoming a reality. And this was just a year after Phantom Menace was re-released in 3D. So I was still on the SW wave, and now I was riding it high.

The buildup to TFA was incredible to say the least. Talking to numerous fans about the speculation, to seeing the first teaser trailers, to going to ToysRus at midnight for Force Friday to get the wave of new TFA merchandise made me feel like a kid in the 90's again. Going to the same TRU that I went to buy original toys. It was a surreal and great experience and I applaud TRU for doing such a great job with that event and others.

Specially with my Grandma, who took me to see the OT and PT movies, I was the one to finally take her to see TFA. I went to the midnight showing of TFA with out her though since she was too old to be up that late and she insisted I go without her first. I wound up going with a few friends. I saw it multiple times. I liked the movie a lot despite the obvious rehash deal. I liked the potential to where it could go from here and I was excited for new characters and the return of Luke Skywalker.

I went to SW Celebration in 2017. After Carrie passed, I couldn't pass up the chance to meet Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew, etc just in case something would happen to them. Plus my SW fandom was at an all time high. To be there and see the Carrie tributes, the excitement from fans and all of the Episode 8 stuff. It was a great time to be alive. But when I saw the first trailer and saw Luke say "it's time for the jedi to end" I was like what.......

Then the actual movie came out. I wound up buying ten tickets because I knew so many people who wanted to see it opening night. We did and all of us after the movie were like ehhhhhhhhhhh........obviously I won't get into all the backlash with it. But it just wasn't an enjoyable and really engaging film from start to finish.

With Luke, I didn't mind the deconstruction to reconstruction element as someone here puts it, but I do feel like they waited too long in the movie for Luke to turn on the force and get back to his former self. Then Luke dying, or becoming one with the force. Something I was afraid would happen before the movie. But here's the deal, I may have been ok if I felt Luke was fulfilled.

I wanted to see Luke have more character interactions with former characters, like Han got to in TFA. I loved the Carrie and Mark scene, probably one of the best but I feel like we should have gotten more. I wanted to see Luke and Rey actually develop a connection and train, even if it didn't pan out in the beginning fine keep Luke alive to finish the deal in 9. Also would have loved to see Luke wield his green blade in a real lightsaber fight one last time, or even some amazing force powers. The illusion was a cool trick, but at the same time I felt like we were robbed. Maybe it was just the Luke fanboy in me, but obviously it turned a lot of people the wrong way when the movie came out and even to this day.

Also with Carrie passing a year before and knowing Leia wouldn't be the focus in 9 anymore made me really hope they would keep Luke around. But they didn't and when he passed in the movie it was like ok....now it's like both of those characters are really gone. I would have bene ok if the new characters were developed more in this movie, but outside of Kylo they really weren't. I didn't feel good about the new characters, and not many did. Rey was ok to me, but her character felt stagnant and didn't really grow. Poe and Finn felt pushed to the side. I would have loved to see a Finn and Luke exchange or even training. Wish Finn followed Rey to the island.

Then the whole Holdo fiasco, was just idk weird. I get RJ's vision. But the movie tried to do too many things will accomplishing very little story wise and build up. The movie alone felt like a good stand alone movie but a terrible middle of a trilogy and more like the conclusion to a saga story of its own. It very well could have been the end of the ST if it really wanted to. I think Luke fading at the end would have been so much more fitting for the end of 9.

But here we were. The fandom pretty much torn apart and so much hype down the drain. No one was looking forward to SW and there was so much backlash that it all became toxic really fast. I went and saw Solo which I thought was a good movie on its own, but no one seemed to care for SW much and wanted it to fail.

With Carrie gone, Luke out of the picture, and the new characters feeling lackluster, I was with everyone else with little excitement for episode 9. I couldn't believe the feeling I had and still have thinking about that time period. It's like LF passed the torch to the new characters too quick without developing them or having a good story. LF and Disney really did make history with SW but not in a good way.

Then SW celebration 19 happened. With the first trailer to 9. Seeing the Death Star in the water got me hyped. I overall liked the trailer, then that Palpatine laugh at the end. It caught my excitement again sort of. Then promotion leading up to the movie was really focused on Palpatine. He really came out of left field. Well they honestly just put him in to build hype and what not. I think if there were previous hints that he survived or if he showed up randomly, I would have been all for it. But the fact that they advertised him being back just was like eh......

And this time around, there were no Force Fridays, (TRU is gone at this point), and there was very little promotion. Didn't see any new toys or much merchandise this time around after Disney seemed to over saturate the market with the previous films with too much merchandise. Really the only things I could find for TROS were Happy Meal toys at Mcdonalds, which weren't even that impressive.

As far as the movie itself, I saw it opening night. Overall they did a good job, but I wasn't blown away with it. It was great to see Lando, I liked the new characters shown, but obviously the damage had already been done. The movie seemed to course correct itself from TLJ the best way it could, causing pacing issues, and really showing that the company had no idea what to do with this ST to begin with. It was cool to see Palpy back, a more positive Luke Skywalker, and the new 3 shined in this movie imo. But it just didn't sit right with me. The celebration at the end felt like a rehash of Endor. It really was actually. But none of our favs were there to really celebrate with us this time.

So overall these movies did bring a lot of great memories from the Force Fridays, to the build ups, to the toy collecting, etc. The fact I was able to bring my Grandma to these movies was surreal. To say that she saw all of SW with me is something I will forever cherish in my heart. As far as the movies go? I mean, I think the majority of us agree with what they are. There are parts I really do like a lot. From returning characters to new characters. But for me they are just bits and pieces. I think majority could agree that this trilogy was overall a missed opportunity and a mess. I think the part that upsets me the most is just the higher ups doing what they wanted without cherishing Lucas' vision and yelling back at fans who just wanted good movies with a good story. Obviously it's a lesson learned and they have sort of course corrected itself with the Mandalorian and I have faith they will do better down the road. There's just a sour taste in my mouth still that they chose the Skywalker Saga, and more specifically Han, Luke and Leia to use as cash cows/retread and to mess around with the story and lore more than anything. If it was another trilogy and they pulled this stuff off I would kind of feel better.

So overall good and bad with this era. But I appreciate the good a lot.

 

I was at home eating bananas. I was very excited and hopeful about the new trilogy. Eventually when the trailers came out they were amazing. But then...