What can be said about the original Star Wars trilogy that hasn’t already been said before? Well, allow me to answer that: In Layman’s terms, it’s still THE best of all the Star Wars trilogies combined and many fans hold it in such high esteem that we love every moment of it, myself included.
And call it what you want, I don’t see what the fuss is about the Prequels, I personally enjoy ’em. Sure, there ARE things that could’ve been better, like getting rid of Jar Jar Binks from day one or trimming down the stereotypes, but I won’t deny the simple fact that we must acknowledge when all is said and done: They DO set out to tell a decent story of how one person (Anakin Skywalker) was that so loved by those around him, even if some have a hard time showing it, became an agent for evil. That, and the fact they are miles better than various other movies out there, especially the Sequel Trilogy.
That said, this brings me to the reason why I brought you all here and why you clicked on this link:
I, Max Parker, being of sound, mind and body: 100%, absolutely, entirely, unequivocally, hate…
Let’s see, despise? No. Abhor? Nein. Detest? Non. Ah, here we are: I, Max Parker, being of sound, mind and body: 100%, absolutely, entirely, unequivocally, loathe the new Star Wars trilogy in all its glory!
And not just The Force Awakens, but The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker too. They’re like really bad fan-fiction, and heaven knows I’ve read my share of bad fan-fiction… So, yeah, I guess loathe isn’t the right word after all. There’s no way around this, I… I, uh…
So you may be asking me, “Why do I detest the Sequel Trilogy?“. Simply put, I just DO.
From the very moment Disney announced the Sequel Trilogy was in the works and they DIDN’T allow George Lucas to be anywhere near involvement on working on them, I lost my faith not only in the franchise in general as a whole. But that all changed when the second teaser to The Force Awakens arrived, not only did I sense a spark of hope, but I believed there may be SOME hope yet. I was dead wrong. Not only did The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker fail to make me happy, they took a once beloved franchise and made it a mockery of what it USED to be, much like how Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ruined Harry and his friends reputations.
Now it’s not too say all of the new things from Disney have turned out with Star Wars is awful, in the end, there ARE things I DO like: Such as Rogue One, Solo, The Mandalorian, the 7th and final season of The Clone Wars CGI series and Rebels follow-up spin-off series, plus there are little touches about Episodes VII, VIII and IX, I DO, in fact, love. But that’s another webpage for another time.
So sit back, and relax as I answer what I consider to be, in my opinion, the top 11 biggest mistakes of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. That said, onto the countdown:
11) Revealing stuff that the films could have easily answered by giving the answers in the novelizations:
It’s safe to say that the Prequel Trilogy got their share of flack when they originally were released, but thanks to deleted scenes and novelizations of the films, more details have come into light expanding details, thus making the stories more tolerable, I tragically CANNOT say the same about the Sequel Trilogy, even if they are now correcting the error of their ways now. And I say that it’s too late for the trilogy progressed, they beckoned more questions than they answered.
When something like this happens, it goes to show you when you DON’T plan something in advance, your story is not only gonna fall apart, but you’re gonna lose the best interests of both critics, your audience/fans, and when you realize it was too late, yourself as well. This can also happen to beloved characters and amongst other things. Even the most brilliant of stories, no matter how beloved can fall apart.
You want a good example of beloved literature which has gained a cult following that I’ll never, EVER, love? Adding to that, I say ‘heaven help’ the poor soul who actually DOES love the same book in question? J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. I mean, for Pete’s sake, have you ever seen such a more banal, mundane and disgusting book such as this? If you haven’t, then keep your distance from it, it’s got one of the most vile and despicable characters (Holden Caulfield) to have ever walk the face of the earth and waste a lot of tree just to be published. Heck, it was even given a scathing review upon its release on July 16th, 1951 by “The New Republic” magazine.
A book so god awful that Hollywood has refused to adapt it to the big screen since 1951.
So that goes to show you, as I said, even if you DO work out a good story, or even leave out important details and answer ’em a little too late: your story is not only gonna fall apart, but you’re gonna lose the best interests of both critics, your audience/fans. And when you realize it was too late, you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself.
10) Putting Rian Johnson in charge of making The Last Jedi instead of J. J. Abrams or someone else instead:
There are many directors who will go down in history for movie lovers and myself as the best filmmakers who’ve ever lived and just to name a few, here are some: Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg and of course, George Lucas.
And you know what? I agree with what everybody says, those four examples are the best at what they do! True they too, have had their share of duds, but they always managed to bounce back and that a good sign of commitment for them. Same to be said about actors.
Rian Johnson, however, will NEVER be considered one of THE best, in my book, if anything, it should be the reverse. I’ve also seen his other well known movie Knives Out and I DON’T get what all the fuss and excitement about that film. Granted, I love a good ‘whodunit? mystery’ as much as the next person and there WERE funny bits, but that film was… okay at best compared to Clue, Murder on the Orient Express, or even Murder by Death.
Anyway, I have to admit The Last Jedi was THE sequel in the Sequel Trilogy I was look forward to the most and showing Mark Hamill being an excellent teacher to Rey, just like how Qui-Gon did to Obi-Wan and the other Jedi Masters that came before him. But did Rian do any of that? I can safely say, “Oh hell, NO!“
Not only was Episode VIII Star Wars gone horribly wrong, it was if Star Wars was meshed together with all of those bad films I have seen released previously: Gus Van Sant’s remake of Psycho, Catwoman, Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender, Old Dogs, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Disney’s CGI remake of The Lion King… You get the idea.
But still, that doesn’t excuse the monstrosity of this film. Even Mark Hamill himself agrees that the movie assassinated Luke and made him a mockery of his former self. Do yourselves all one major favor and the next time you fix to watch Episode VIII (or the entire Sequel trilogy in general), or watch it for the first time, watch the various interviews where Mark Hamill expresses his disgust in regarding how Luke was handled in this movie if you don’t believe me afterwards, and trust me, you WILL thank me later on.
9) Not making Snoke his own unique character despite him being built up that way:
If there’s ONE character who I wanted to know more about as the films went on (outside of Rey, Finn or Poe), it was without a doubt Snoke. From the very moment he appeared on screen, he looked like he was frightening enough to be the next Palpatine or at least, the next big bad. Then The Last Jedi happened and not only was he wasted as a character, but he also got even further wasted when we learn in The Rise of Skywalker that he was NOT his own being, in the end, he merely turned out to be a clone of Palpatine.
Safe to say, that was a twist that was as stupid as having the Emperor in question clone himself in the Expanded Universe during the infamous Dark Empire duology story line and believe me when I say ‘It was a handled better years ago.’ So yeah, killing off Snoke early on was just a pretty risky move, but certainly was not the right one (at least in Last Jedi), especially considering when Rise of Skywalker revealed his true identity, it was too little too late for me.
8) Wasting the entire Canto Bight and Admiral Holdo subplots in The Last Jedi:
If ever a subplot was more wasted in an entire Star Wars movie, it would have to be what I just mentioned, in fact looking back on it, had Rian Johnson not took over directing Episode VIII, I have a pretty good idea as to who Finn and Rose were supposed to meet originally on Canto Bight: The way I figure, probably either Lando or Wedge… Or both. Adding to that, they would show some tricks of the trade to Finn and Rose how to deal with the First Order as they know from years of experience what it’s like to face a dangerous and lethal threat. But alas, as I said, it never happened.
Having a random nobody like DJ was pretty lame, even lamer was the fact he was portrayed by Benicio Del Toro, who actually is a good actor, but 80% of the time for this movie, I don’t think he realizes that he’s in a Star Wars movie, which is even sadder when you take into account Toro was originally in mind for the role of Darth Maul. If anything, DJ’s character felt like a mix between Tommy Wiseau and Bob Dylan’s intergalactic nephew who was dropped from the balcony and landed on his head when he was younger.
Then we have the second culprit in our corner, Vice Admiral Holdo, played by Laura Dern: Not only was she not good at being a terrible second in command for the Resistance, she was just lazy, which was just as infuriating. If you want a good idea as to how well she can be as a nurturing mother figure, check her out in both Jurassic Park and Little Women, with roles like it goes to show you she can play nurturing in roles, which is what I wanted Holdo to be, that and a Mon Mothma like figure while Leia was unconscious.
But because Holdo was none of those, it made me think that SHE was the spy for the First Order in Episode VIII, which turned out NOT to be the case. I don’t know what was worse, the fact Rian Johnson had her do nothing except on her lazy butt and just buy the Resistance time to escape using the transports. And if that alone is not proof how lazy new characters can be upon introduced without proper development, I DON’T what is. This is why when you don’t experiment with ideas and ask for help, its a safe bet your story will collapse in on you and you will easily lose your audience.
7) Relying on TOO much nostalgia as the films went on:
Now don’t get me wrong, nostalgia CAN work for a good story in order to make something to feel classic while bringing brand new stuff. A good example of this is the way Skyfall balanced out all the old stuff from the previous James Bond movies and throwing in new. Granted, Die Another Day tried this same approach, but its story was one I could NOT get behind, simply because it tried perhaps a little too hard, well, that and was quite clear from us Bond fans that Pierce Brosnan could never quite duplicate the success of GoldenEye back in 1995.
When The Force Awakens took its approach to be a unique Star Wars film, it started off pretty good, but the instant I learned that Luke gave up the Jedi ways because Kylo/Ben destroyed everything that he built up after the Battle of Endor, more on that later, I began to lose hope. As the films went on, they felt more like a rehashed retelling of the Original Trilogy gone horribly wrong.
Episode VIII (as I have established) was THE biggest sinner of the bunch because it took apart what made the Rebel Alliance freedom fighters and turned Luke into a laughing stock. Even bringing back Palpatine at the last second for Episode IX (which I’ll explain later) was a little too late for me, adding to that, when it was announced to be in the works, it was the first time I was NOT looking forward to a Star Wars movie, even the trailer didn’t ‘WOW‘ me enough. “But what about individual times where I’ve watched it on my own?” you might be asking. My answer is as follows: Even then, it was too late the damage had been done. So, now matter how many times I re-watch Episodes VII, VIII and IX, they are ALWAYS gonna at least leave a bad taste in my mouth.
6) The final battle between Rey and Ben vs. Palpatine and its aftermath:
When you come right down to it, final battles between good vs. evil are always fun to watch. But here’s the thing, if you DON’T build up to them so well or just make the battle anti-climatic and don’t put effort into showing how awesome they are, they can easily go awry. This, of course, was the case The Rise of Skywalker.
“So where did the build up go awry?” you all ask, allow me to explain: Because we were not given any build up previously from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi to indicate how Palpatine is still alive after the events of Return of the Jedi, it doesn’t work out well. Granted, we all knew that cloning was a possibility in the Prequel Trilogy, but because that was never discussed in the Original Trilogy, outside of mentioning the Clone Wars by namesake.
Furthermore, I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the last lines Palpatine and Rey share or “I am ALL of the Sith!” and “I am ALL of the Jedi!” rips off the last bits of dialogue ripped off Avengers: Endgame, there’s further proof how rushed and lame the final battle was.
And don’t even get me started on the kiss that Rey and Kylo/Ben share in the end. Granted it’s nice to see one person live, but in doing so, you’ll have forced something else besides the final battle that doesn’t feel well earned: When we saw Anakin’s story from Episodes I through VI, which shows him both selling his soul, having it be torn apart, all the way to his redemption, it feels well earned, because he was shown compassion by one who came to accept for his heroics, Anakin was conflicted sure, but it’s the love Luke had that saved him, Kylo/Ben’s redemption doesn’t work because Disney didn’t plan it in advance.
And if you’re still not convinced how a final battle can easily go awry in film, look at the one between Liu Kang vs. Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, with little to no strong build up to show Shao Kahn means business and the whole cast of the film (save for Robin Shou and Talisa Soto) recasted, the film fails on being a good movie, plus, I envisioned Shao Kahn being just as deadly as his game counterpart, he was not.
5) Not turning to any of the Expanded Universe for guidance and help:
At this point, I have made it no secret that before Disney bought the rights to Star Wars that the Expanded Universe has had some great stories to tell: Shadows of the Empire, the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight franchise, The Clone Wars, Rogue Squadron, Luke creating his own Jedi Temple on Yavin IV, etc. But like any beloved piece of of artwork, the Star Wars Expanded Universe wasn’t without its share of hiccups: Masters of Teräs Käsi video game, The Force Unleashed duology, Luke having a evil clone battle him named Luuke who was made using his cut off hand, etc.
So when both George Lucas and Disney announced the Expanded Universe was no longer canon, a large part of me felt so angry, that my anger was only increased when I learned that the Sequel Trilogy would borrow little to no ideas from the Expanded Universe for inspiration on telling their new trilogy’s story. There are things there sure, but its very minimal, the only examples that come to my mind are Kylo Ren/Ben Solo being based off one of Han and Leia’s children Jacen Solo and Rey being based off Ken, and the less I speak about them both, the better, as those two were NOT some of my favorite Expanded Universe material.
The original Ben Solo/Kylo Ren from the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
The original Rey from the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
The only things I will say are as follows: Ken was a Jedi Prince and it’s revealed that he is Sidious’s grandson, much like how Rey was his granddaughter in the films. He was never seen again after 5 stories, all of which he was attached to the appropriately named Jedi Prince series. As for Jacen Solo, he was one of three children Han and Leia had in the Expanded Universe, the other two were named Anakin and Jania. It’s said said that, like Ben, Jacen turned to the Dark Side and became a Sith Lord named Darth Caedus, furthermore, unlike Kylo/Ben, Jacen did not return to the Light Side, he was defeated in combat and died as a Sith at the hands of his sister, also, Ben was the name of his cousin, who was Luke’s son in the Expanded Universe.
Anyway, because Disney didn’t learn how to look for inspiration, I think it’s safe to say they had only so much to go with when they thought up the new Sequel Trilogy films one by one.
4) Having Palpatine come back as the main villain right the **** outta nowhere at the last minute:
Like I said with Snoke, I had HIGH hopes for him to be his own character, but all of that was shot to Hell when the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker reveals that he was merely a clone created by and of Sidious himself. So when it was said during the making of that movie that Palpatine was going to be coming back one last time, my natural reaction was something like THIS:
Anywho, there are ways to cheat death as seen in pop culture, such as Sauron having forged the One Ring in the Middle Earth series or the countless Horcruxes that Voldemort made in the Harry Potter series. But that’s not the point, the point is with NO logical explanation be made, Palpatine’s return makes as much sense as, say, the idea of how Lisa fell in love with Johnny the first place in The Room.
In all of the times I’ve watched film, there’s a classic rule all filmmakers must follow, ‘show, don’t tell‘, in this case, it would’ve been nice to see this. And because we are not given ANY explanation to this, Sidious’s return does not feel well earned. He was one character who we briefly got hints about in A New Hope, he was one bad mother who I was under the impression that I wouldn’t want to mess with him. I was right.
When we finally saw him in action during Episode VI, he was one of, if not the scariest, and at the same time, one of most vile villains pop culture had build up, even the Prequel Trilogy did this well, as Ian McDiarmid loves every minute he’s one screen, you can tell he’s having a freaking ball. But when you don’t build up to reveal how dangerous a polar opposite can be to a hero, something easily goes to Hell at once.
You want to know a good example of how to build up and reveal what a sinister villain should be like? Take Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Fire Lord Ozai for an example: He has three goals in mind… 1) Win the 100 year old war by slaughtering all of the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe and the Earth Nomads people. 2) Silence anyone else (including his son Zuko and his brother Iroh) who stands in his way. And 3) Bring about the death and destruction of not only Aang, but the whole Avatar circle. He was built up big time, and when we DID finally see his face, all the build up on getting to know him and our patience had 100% paid off, plus it helps that Mark Hamill himself has said he loves playing villains as much he plays heroes.
Again, because this wasn’t done justice for the most dangerous Sith Lord in the galaxy to reappear in the Sequel Trilogy, I was easily disgusted that I wanted the whole new trilogy to at least have one more film to explain it all. But as the Sequel Trilogy is now over, I think it just goes to show you, the writers were very lazy when planning these 3 new movies. Plus, it completely undoes Anakin’s sacrifice in Episode VI, which is wasted because of his unexplained return.
Throwing things in at the last minute is something many consider it to be…
Unnatural.
So yeah, without that buildup, Palpatine’s unexpected return in Episode IX was and will still be, in my book, lazy writing 101. You done royally ****ed up, Disney, you ****ed up big time!
3) Not allowing in George Lucas at all to oversee work on the movies being made:
It goes without saying when you’re handling a beloved masterpiece such as Star Wars (or any other beloved franchise thereof) and you’re giving your own input as to how a story should be told, you need to have many things that connect the dots. But through it all, the main thing you always need do when adding your own input is always ask yourself this one question, that being “What Would the Original Creator Do?” or “WWTOCD?” for short.
And there have been adaptations that have shied away from their material and some actually do work, like the first Mary Poppins movie or even Batman: The Animated Series taking several creative liberties, such as making Tim Drake the second Robin instead of Jason Todd, and those were changes that made sense seeing as both pieces are considered to be beloved media in our pop culture.
The same, however, could NOT be said when Disney announced what they were gonna do for the Sequel Trilogy, and boy, oh boy, was I mad. The fact that Disney decided not to bring in George Lucas was a pretty bad idea right from the start. Granted, the man had a little TOO much power and free will when he worked on the Prequel Trilogy, but remember, Lucas had an idea of how he wanted them to be told.
Safe to say, I wanted Lucas to both come back and work on these new movies, or at the very least, give them his blessing. And when he saw the footage, he was probably asked the same thing again and again by Mickey Mouse:
Mickey: “What do you think, Georgie Boy, is this nothing like original creation? Are we destroying your beloved franchise?”
George: “Yes.”
Mickey: “GOOOOOOOD!“
But here’s the catch, it was not Mickey who showed him the footage, it was Mickey’s rival Pete in disguise as the mascot.
And NO-ONE, not even that pipsqueak of a mouse or George Lucas can stop me!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!
And when the REAL Mickey Mouse saw how the Sequel Trilogy turned out, he was obviously heartbroken, wept and asked his friends:
If there IS a Hell, guys, I’m sure Walt would want us to repent for our sins before it’s too late.
I’m sure Walt would forgive you and the others, Mickey, as I have. In the end, you’re not entirely to blame. Think on your sins, Pete, you have disgraced and unsanitized the good Disney name! So yeah, the very idea of not hiring George Lucas to work side by side with Disney was blasphemy.
2) Royally screwing up Luke big time and not just as a character:
Look, I will understand why many fans say Han is their favorite character of the Original Trilogy, I do. ‘Cause without Harrison Ford, Star Wars would’ve failed as a franchise, same to be said about Leia and Carrie Fisher. But when you come right down to it, I have my reasons why more or less we need a little push to have something keep the franchise going, and to me, Mark Hamill as Luke WAS that push. So when it was announced these new movies would continue after Episodes IV, V and VI, a part of me was both excited and nervous to wonder what direction they would go in.
We learn in The Force Awakens Luke went looking to find the first Jedi Temple and started training a new generation of Jedi, immediately I thought to myself, “Hey, THAT sounds promising. Maybe Luke will continue teaching what Obi-Wan and Yoda did to him years ago.” But then, Last Jedi came along and they turned Luke into a grumpy and suicidal hermit, I then thought, “Wait a minute! Are you telling me that Luke Skywalker, THE Luke Skywalker I grew up with years ago, who was the same man that destroyed the Death Star, who also redeemed his father, Anakin, who helped the Rebel Alliance do other great things has now given up hope because his nephew who is the son of his best friend and sister slaughtered the New Jedi Order, something he worked so hard to create? That’s the route Luke Skywalker you’re going for, Sequel Trilogy?”
The sad answer was ‘yes’, and naturally, THIS was my reaction…
I had EVERY reason to be angry, I thought it was some cruel joke and an April Fool’s Day prank, but alas it was not: Not only did was Star Wars ruined forever after this revelation, but Luke Skywalker was ruined too! Before these new movies were in the works, I always imagined Luke having founded a New Jedi Order, kind of like what we saw in the games of Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy video games, but when they reveal what really happened, I lost my temper.
As far as I was concerned, THE Luke Skywalker that I (and so may others) knew growing up would NEVER give up hope, especially seeing as he WAS a sign of unlikely hope that the Rebels desperately needed during A New Hope. To see my favorite character be so out of character made me SO mad, I found that it was just as disgusting and perverse as seeing Aang out of character during the infamous “The Great Divide” episode from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
And like I said earlier, even Mark Hamill himself hates what Luke became in The Last Jedi. Who can blame him? I don’t. Just Seeing my one of heroes become a mockery of what he used to be and what he stood for was just down right wrong on so many levels. Furthermore, don’t get me started when he says to Rey “A Jedi’s weapon deserves more respect.” when she tries to burn it.
If there’s one thing I CAN’T stand than a character being out of character, it’s a hypocrite. To have Luke say that is both calming and anger inducing at the same time, but mostly the latter as he tossed the same Lightsaber aside like a piece of garbage in the last movie, even if he does learn the error of his ways. So yeah, if there’s one character who I wanted to be the best as he was before in this new trilogy, but all of that was dashed to pieces, it would have to be Luke.
Bad movies, bad! Go sit in the corner, right now!
I’d also like to take this time to throw in two quick dishonorable mention:
Dishonorable mention 1, no more godforsaken Death Stars:
It’s high time address the big elephant in the room… The Death Star was scary as hell as far fictional weapons of mass destruction go. Safe to say, I
Dishonorable mention 2, failing to make Rey an interesting heroine:
You know what makes a hero/heroine or anything else relatable? If they have a great story, we can somehow, or another find ourselves relating to them. But at the same time, they need to have flaws to show their struggles and that it shows us they are human.
Sadly however Rey is just too perfect, so because of that, we can’t help but lose interest in her as time goes by. We as an audience, let alone, lovers of a great story have a term for that, I believe it’s called “Mary Sue” (or “Gary Stu”, for the male equivalent). Now a Mary Sue/Gary Stu, for those of you don’t know, is an original character in fiction who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. They’re said to be exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting, they also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws.
And because Rey has NO flaws whatsoever, it makes her journey as a character all the more boring, that it’s safe to say that Luke and Anakin’s journey were all the more exciting, which let’s face it, they were. “Why?” You ask, it’s because they learned from their mistakes, and they had human flaws that made them special. You want a better idea of what some great female heroes who are 100% better than Rey? Look at any of the following:
- Hermione Granger from Harry Potter
- Wonder Woman from her own comic book series
- The animated version of Disney’s Mulan
- Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Samus Aran from the Metroid games
- Chun-Li from Street Fighter
- Heck, even Princess Leia Organa herself had a great character arc
- So did her and Luke’s mother, Padmé.
Trust me when I say, you’ll find these heroines much better than some random heroine who has never used the Force that tries to win us over or even touch a Lightsaber before… BOOOOOOOOOO!
Remember, people: Heroes, heroines, antiheroes, antiheroines, villains, and villainesses are NOT supposed to perfect, they need to have flaws in order for us to relate to and love/hate them a whole lot more.
You had one job, Rey, just the one!
And the number 1 sin that Disney had the Sequel Trilogy commit is as follows:
NOT HAVING THE ORIGINAL GANG AND THEIR FRIENDS REUNITE AT ALL!
Where in Sam Hill do I even begin with this one?! The original trio were so well-crafted and handled with care, that you feel in love with Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie and the rest of the gang as if they were family. So you’d think that Disney, being a company that reminds of us all about family could’ve done some well earned service and show a well-earned reunion between our heroes. Right?
WRONG!
Disney instead completely missed that memo when they started off by killing Han in The Force Awakens, it got worse when they murdered Luke in The Last Jedi and it barely made a lick of sense when they executed Leia in The Rise of Skywalker, and I say it ‘barely’ for Leia because Carrie Fisher was already dead 3 years before The Rise of Skywalker was in the works. So yeah, I HATED how wasted the potential of the original trio was underutilized.
Now before you leave me comments and tell me that the Sequel Trilogy was more centered around and focused on Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, I get it, I really do, what I DON’T love about them is how they were just carbon copies of the older characters that came before, except with NO character development: Rey was the new Luke, Leia, Yoda and Obi-Wan (gone wrong), Finn was the new Han and Chewie, Poe was the new Wedge and Lando, and of course, Kylo/Ben was the new Anakin/Vader.
But luckily, in an effort to keep my sanity, there IS one character who I did love against all odds from the new trilogy: BB-8. Not only was he more likable in many ways, he kind made me wish one of his kind existed so I could adopt one, much like Grogu from The Mandalorian, my only nitpick towards BB-8 looking back on it, is that I wish J. J. Abrams had stuck to his original plan by making him a girl droid.
At the risk of saying it again: You had one job, J.J. Abrams, just the one!
So all in all, yeah, no matter how you look at it, the Sequel Trilogy had much promise, and yet at the same time, the films did NOT have to exist, but if they did, they could’ve been SO much better than the final products that we actually got.
As for me, I will always have the 6 original films, the 3 spin-off films, both versions of the Clone Wars cartoon series, the Rebels cartoon series, The Mandalorian and a great chunk of the Expanded Universe. Until the next article (whatever it may be) comes out, I’m Big Max signing off…
Big Max's Site of Insight 