Fans in the Star Wars community are often divided about almost every single issue; however, there is one thing that is almost universally agreed upon: Episodes VII to IX — Disney’s sequel trilogy — are full of inconsistencies in plot, terrible character continuity and disregard for the incredible galaxy that Lucasfilm had cultivated over the past 30 years.
Starting in 2012, when Disney purchased Lucasfilm and the rights to the Star Wars franchise, Disney has consistently produced terrible — disgraceful, honestly — shows and movies, effectively ruining it for millions of fans.
Disney cast away old Star Wars canon for something that no viewer wished for
The original trilogy — “A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi” — tells the tale of Luke Skywalker, who trains to become a Jedi Knight and defeat the oppressive Galactic Empire. The Empire is led by Emperor Palpatine — an evil Sith Lord otherwise known as Darth Sidious — and Darth Vader, a fallen Jedi who Palpatine corrupted.
After engaging in a fierce lightsaber duel in “The Empire Strikes Back,” Vader asks Luke to join him, revealing arguably the greatest plot twist in the history of cinema: Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. Despite the atrocities that Anakin has committed as Palpatine’s apprentice, Luke vows to bring Vader back to the light.
Luke’s persistence eventually causes Vader to redeem himself, and he betrays and kills the Emperor, throwing his former master down a reactor shaft; however, Vader sustains fatal injuries in his redemption. With Vader’s sacrifice, the Empire falls apart, and a new Galactic Republic founded on the principles of peace and democracy forms.
Luke’s story is continued beyond movies, with Lucasfilm releasing comics depicting his journey to becoming Jedi Grandmaster and leading the galaxy to an era of peace and prosperity.
With Disney’s acquisition and the release of the subsequent sequel trilogy, Disney expelled these comics from the Star Wars canon. This change could have worked, but Disney botched the job.
The sequel trilogy — “The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker” — is nothing short of sacrilegious. “The Force Awakens”, the first of the three, revolves around Rey — a force-sensitive girl from a scrap planet — and her search for Luke Skywalker while the First Order — a cheap Empire knockoff — hunts her down.
The First Order’s coming to power is a plot hole in itself, as it doesn’t make sense that a galaxy that had just spent decades fighting against an Empire would just let another one take over.
When Rey eventually does find Luke in exile on an obscure planet, Luke doesn’t express any resemblance to his character in “Return of the Jedi.” Instead of being a compassionate, unwavering hero and Jedi Grandmaster, Luke is now a weak, cranky old man living on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. Why is he here in the first place? He tried to kill his nephew after having a nightmare. I mean, seriously?
Luke refuses to help Rey. Why? To him, there is no more hope for her and the resistance movement against the First Order. Finally, at the end of the next film, “The Last Jedi,” Luke uses the Force to project himself in front of the leader of the First Order for a couple of minutes, then just dies on his island without any explanation. Supposedly, he “overdosed” on the Force and gave up on living.
This version of Luke is a disgrace to the image of Grandmaster Luke Skywalker, who would have never had the capacity to degenerate into such a disgraceful character. His death enraged millions of Star Wars fans, who had just watched the central character of the original trilogy die a shameful and pointless death.
However, perhaps the most egregious of Disney’s sins enacted on Star Wars has to be the revival of Emperor Palpatine. In the trilogy’s finale, “The Rise of Skywalker,” Palpatine returns from the dead, and the only explanation as to how this happens is, infuriatingly, the line “somehow, Palpatine returned.” Palpatine’s revival not only does not make any sense at all, but it also invalidates all the Star Wars canon of the first six movies.
The prequel trilogy depicts the story of Anakin Skywalker — the Chosen One prophesied to bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith — and his corruption to the dark side by the hand of Palpatine. It is only with Luke’s help in the original trilogy that Darth Vader redeems himself and kills Palpatine, putting an end to the Sith once and for all, fulfilling the prophecy and his role as the Chosen One.
Palpatine’s return makes zero sense and invalidates Anakin’s final sacrifice to fulfill the prophecy and end the reign of the Sith. As Anakin Skywalker is the central character of Star Wars, I find “The Rise of Skywalker” to be the greatest disgrace of them all.
Ironically, several of the characters in the sequel trilogy existed in George Lucas’s Star Wars universe, and in the comics, all of them had engaging character arcs, with some of the “good” ones even falling to evil. However, Disney’s portrayal of them and their stories are plot-hole-ridden and uninteresting, unable to give these characters the justice they deserve.
Disney ruined the significance of Lightsabers
Lightsaber duels have always been my favorite part of Star Wars. While filming the prequel trilogy, the actors spent hundreds of hours choreographing and practicing each lightsaber duel. The effort of the choreographers and talent of the actors helped produce some of the most epic scenes in all of cinema.
Disney seems to carry this mindset forward since the lightsaber duels featured in the sequel trilogy feel as though they can be better produced by two elementary schoolers wielding sticks and hitting each other with them. The characters’ strokes are blunt and unwieldy, nothing compared to the elegance and swiftness of the lightsaber duels in the prequel and original trilogies.
Furthermore, the image of the lightsaber, the elegant weapon of the Force attuned Jedi and Sith, has also been tarnished. In the past, the lightsaber was a weapon designed to be used by those trained in the Force, but with Disney, any character, even a stormtrooper, can use it to battle a trained Sith — which, by the way, aren’t even supposed to exist anymore. The fact that anyone can pick up a lightsaber and use it tarnishes their significance in the Galaxy as a whole.
Lightsabers also don’t seem to do as much damage as in the older films. Previously, if a character was stabbed or cut by a lightsaber, they would sustain life-threatening, and often fatal, wounds. However, more than just a couple of Disney characters have developed an uncanny ability to survive multiple lightsaber stab wounds through the chest.
Disney’s lightsabers not only go against everything that was presented to us fans from every single Star Wars movie and show prior, but they also ruin the mystical aspect of the lightsaber, a previously deadly, legendary weapon carried by only those strong with the Force.
One of Disney’s leading executives for Star Wars, Kathleen Kennedy, recently announced that she would be departing, news that the Star Wars community greeted with glee.
Memo to Disney executives: Please listen to your fans and produce content that is engaging and coherent with the original timeline and story arcs, or risk further tarnishing the Star Wars franchise.
