Why The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars movie ever

No, really. I mean it. Despite what I said in my previous entry after watching the movie, the problems of which I think still hold true, this past year, I have come to reflect on the direction that the franchise is currently moving in with the new creative leadership. I have realized that this is the exact direction they need to go.

I’ve been thinking about this blog entry for a long time and have finally been prompted to force myself to sit down and write it due to a comment made that I saw on Facebook regarding the current season of Doctor Who and how after several decades, the program is becoming more PC (politically correct). Now I have a lot more to say on that particular topic, but that’s worthy of a blog entry all its own. No, this entry is going to be about how Star Wars needed to change and The Last Jedi was exactly the change that was needed in order to cast off the anchor that would otherwise be holding it down. That anchor being the old school Star Wars fanbase.

There are several franchises in the movie/tv and book genres that have gotten large followings and have a dedicated fanbase over the years. I am a fan of several of those – Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who. To a lesser extent, Battlestar Galactica (the original series), The Wheel of Time Novels, and the Sword of Truth novels. There are also those lesser known franchises, like Firefly that have achieved cult-like status with a large fanbase. But let’s look at those Big Three, because they are the most well-known and arguably have the biggest fanbase, and have been around for many decades at this point. What has given them that longevity? What has brought those franchises to the point where millions of people enjoy immersing themselves in that universe? I think there are many reasons that taken as a whole can explain how a franchise gets to be so big, but let’s boil it down to one simple reason.

The reason that Star Trek, Star Wars, and Doctor Who are in the place that they are is because there were compelling characters whose lives were told through compelling stories that made people want to care about those characters, and even live in that universe that the character occupied. I experienced this to a high degree with the movie Avatar, and after doing some internet searching, found that I wasn’t the only one affected in such a way by the movie. It comes to the point where we immerse ourselves in these stories to such a degree that the worlds become real to us and become a part of our lives and a part of our psyche. Oftentimes, our experiences with these stories shape our lives as kids and give us a sense of belonging to something greater than we are. Not one of these three franchises would still be around were it not for the hardcore dedicated fanbase that developed around them in their early years.

And that’s exactly why franchises like this need to shed the weight of their long time fans. We are the ones who generally get so steeped in the lore and nitpick everything that is wrong when new stories come out within that lore. As a creator and writer myself, I have always been one to believe that when creating a story in an established universe, first and foremost you must follow along with the “rules and regulations” that were established in that universe. Again, after all, it is because of the fact that these universes are almost as real as ours due to the depth of the lore that the stories presented to us, for anything that goes against what is already established breaks that immersion for the fans of that franchise. It’s akin to an episode of the Lone Ranger that turns the protagonist hero from Good Guy into the leader of an evil gang that is the true antagonist in the series, with little rhyme or reason for doing so. It simply doesn’t make any sense and ruins the history and concept of the universe of the Lone Ranger. And if that were to happen, the classic show would have died a quick death not long afterwards.

However, I have seen countless times where writers who have been engaged in telling stories in these various famous franchises have bemoaned the fact they feel their hands are tied by the weight of all that lore that was established before them. I always found that puzzling, as for me, both a writer and a fan of these franchises, the lore offers countless possible stories that can be told to expand upon what is already there. But for some reason, the hubris of the writer prevents them from working within the confines of what has been established in that world and what is presented lessens the impact of that world and of the story itself simply because the writer was fixated on telling one specific scene in a way for the most dramatic impact possible. But the problem with that can be shown in this following example:

The movies, Star Trek II and Star Trek III both had dramatic impacts and situations on the world of Star Trek. Star Trek II is still considered the best movie (in my opinion) out of the entire franchise because it enhanced part of the lore that was established in the original series without having to rewrite that history for dramatic effect. But the true impact of both movies were the loss of things that became highly important to the fanbase – a beloved character and a beloved Starship, respectively. Those moments had tremendous impact because we as long time fans had developed a relationship with Spock and the Enterprise and to see them lost was profoundly moving, the same could be said of the loss of Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. Now let’s say that in every single Star Trek movie, the Enterprise is destroyed and one of the main characters is killed off. How long would that shock value last? How long before we would begin to lose interest in watching movies in that series because there would be no point in making a connection to anyone or anything in the movies? Each movie would be a stand-alone story with no relation or connection to the ones before it, or to any that would come afterwards. One of the things that made these franchises as popular and long-lasting as they have been has been because of the concept of growth within them. There obviously have been many instances where pre-established rules and lore have changed in them, but for the most part, they continued to grow and we followed along with that growth. It’s one of the things that helps to keep us immersed in those universes. And it is something that is totally lost when each story becomes an island in and of itself with no impact on all the other islands in that universe. It essentially becomes meaningless.

 

Thus when we see dramatic changes in these franchises, we see such a pushback from that dedicated fanbase. The worlds and characters that we have become such a big part of our lives get changed for what we deem little more than for a dramatic effect because the writer of said story lacks the ability to work within the established parameters of the universe. Therein lies the problem for Hollywood, and more specifically for Disney and the current crew that has creative control over the Star Wars universe. Hollywood, with rare exception anymore, is more interested in creating movies where the buddies of the producer and director are given cameo parts and what they want to show on the screen are spectacular storyboard moments. The actual story of the movie is simply a means of getting from one storyboard moment to the next. And that poses a problem for those in charge of the franchise right now, because us long time fans expect and demand more from our Star Wars stories.

For a case in point, Billy Dee Williams, our second favorite scoundrel in the form of Lando Calrissian expressed a desire to return to the franchise when it was announced that a new series of movies were being made. At some point, the thought of bringing the character back in The Last Jedi was considered, but they couldn’t figure out a way to do it and do the character justice. I believe at one point they considered making Benicio del Toro’s part that of Lando, but (rightfully so) realized that the character would not betray our main protagonists in such a way. And so we see where the ability to think and write creatively gave way to the desire to want to tell the story in a very specific way, so it can lead up to the grand storyboard moment on screen, as well as ensure that the cameo and bit part appearances to the buddies of the creative crew, would also remain intact.

The perfect opportunity was presented in this movie to bring Lando back, as well as potentially give him a grand send-off (or just as good – give Admiral Ackbar a much grander send off than what he got), by revealing the Codebreaker that Finn and Rose went off to find as being Lando Calrissian. I’m not going to rehash the absolute stupidity shown by the characters by taking some unknown guy to infiltrate a First Order Star Destroyer and trust him to shut down the hyperspace tracker. Again, that poor bit of writing and plot line resulted from the need of showcasing a storyboard moment on screen. But the whole climax of the movie could have been re-written to give Lando his due as well as set up a much better moment of dramatic tension that leads up to the final denouement. But only us long time, die hard fans who don’t care about storyboard moments would have thought of that solution.

The Star Wars Creative Force way of thinking nowadays is no longer compatible with what made Star Wars compelling and popular back in the 70’s and early 80’s. The things that kept the franchise going through the long drought leading up to the prequels in the 1999-2002 period simply do not mesh with how Hollywood wants to tell its movies stories today. I believe I said this in my prior entry about The Last Jedi – on its own, the movie was entertaining. As a generic Sci-Fi blockbuster, it fit the mold perfectly. However, Star Wars as an entity does not work well with the Sci-Fi blockbuster method of filmmaking, nor is that how it reached its pinnacle of popularity and longevity. But in order for the Creative Force and the New Hollywood to keep making the movies in the mode that best suits them, they need to rid themselves of the fanbase that demands a Star Wars movie be made and the story told in a way that made the franchise what it was and continues to be up to this point.

That’s why The Last Jedi has become the best movie of all the ones released thus far. It is so antithesis to how we are used to a good Star Wars story being told in movie format, that it ejects the long time, and most demanding fans from the fansbase, leaving the Creative Force free to continue to tell the new stories in the way that suits them the most. In order for the franchise to continue forward in such a manner, the fans like me need to be left behind and stop caring about the franchise. The Last Jedi has become the catalyst for that to happen.

The movie is the only Star Wars movie that I have watched one time and one time only. I really have no desire to watch it again, even though I bought the Blu-Ray version on the day of release with every intention of re-watching the movie in anticipation of writing this blog entry. It still sits on the desk, unopened and likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future. It is also why Solo is the first Star Wars movie that I have never watched in the theaters. It is also likely to be the first Star Wars movie that I will not buy on Blu-Ray, and thusly most likely the first Star Wars movie that I will never watch. The Last Jedi will also be the reason why Episode IX may very well be the first Star Wars movie in a main storytelling trilogy that I will not go see in theaters and most likely, like Solo, never watch at home either. Like the reboot of the Star Trek franchise, and the new era of Doctor Who, long time dedicated fans such as myself are dinosaurs (sorry Peter), and are no longer compatible with the current desires of the creative people behind those franchises. We, therefore, must be left behind to only enjoy those old stories that made us love those franchises decades ago.

The Last Jedi is the greatest Star Wars movie of all time because it did the exact job that was necessary in order for the new Creative Force behind the franchise to continue telling these stories the way they want to tell them – it stopped me from being an ongoing Star Wars fan.