Growing up, I was a huge Star Wars fan. I had all the books, knew all the character backstories, and spent several hours drawing and creating my own characters and storylines. I even "wrote" my own short novel, starring a Boba Fett-style bounty hunter I created, complete with his own worlds and everything. I think I still have the story somewhere, written in pencil on paper ripped from a school notebook.
Over the past few years, at least since Disney acquired the series, the fanbase has grown "toxic" (yuck, I hate using that word), and the whole thing has become too much. There are now a million shows, movies, comics, and cartoons that are all considered cannon, and it's just too much to keep up with. I've seen the latest movies, and we tried watching The Mandalorian for two seasons or so, but it got confusing fast. I felt that rather than just creating a good story, you had to know all the history and lesser-known side characters to "get" it. Too many easter eggs and not enough effort into just creating a fun escape.
It's kind of the same with the Marvel Universe. I tried keeping up with the movies in the beginning, enjoying watching the X-Men and Spider-Man movies. I'd check them off my list as I kept up with the story, but sometime around The Avengers, it all went into fan-service money-making overload, and I gave up on Marvel as well. I was always a DC Comics kind of guy, anyway, but admittedly, the majority of those movies are just plain awful.
But back to Star Wars and May the 4th. If you've lived under a rock or aren't a sci-fi fan, over the past few years, "May the 4th" has become the unofficial "Star Wars Day worldwide as fans celebrate the franchise.
Back in May of 2020, we all had nothing to do as we watched those 15 days to stop the spread turn into years. When I was young, I had a book that included all of the characters and backstories seen in the films, so I thought as a fun little article for the old Retro Network (now called "Geekster"), I would go over all of the different creatures Luke encounters in the Mos Eisley Cantina.
That article also appeared here. To help you get into the Star Wars mood, please head over to THIS LINK and check it out!
"May the 4th (Force)" be with you!
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Comments
Aw shucks. Missed this one when you posted it (you and your tricky Friday posts!). Hope you enjoyed Star Wars day, Jeff.
ReplyDeleteI was a fan as a kid, but really got into it when I was in college and beyond. Star Wars (A New Hope) was the first movie all my kids watched. Literally. The day they came home from the hospital, I plopped them down on the bed and played ANH on a portable dvd as they were swaddled and couldn’t move or turn their head. My wife wouldn’t let me do any Star Wars themed names, though.
I really miss the midnight shows, as usually only the hardcore fans would bother coming out to those, so you were almost guaranteed a fun audience (which, to me, was the best part of those experiences in the prequel era). I don’t even know if most people go to the theaters now days - the last time I went to see a movie in the theaters it was less than half full, so that was kinda disappointing/sad for me.
As a teacher, I’ve seen that most of the kids don’t really care about Star Wars. They know what it is, but aren’t really into it. Sometimes there are a few exceptions, so I can get into a playful argument/debate with those ones. Last year I had a student who was a huge fan… of the sequel trilogy. So naturally I then referred to it as “the Fan-Fiction Trilogy” for the entire school year. That was fun. Don’t even get me started on when I have a student who’s a Trekkie…
Anyway, thanks for the special update. I came here expecting to read one article, and now I gotta read two more! (The cantina characters article you linked and the May article I originally came here for)