This article contains spoilers for any and all movies in the Star Wars Saga including Episode IX: The RIse of Skywalker.
So is part 3 of 3 in the How Disney Ruined Star Wars article series. I will also be doing a 2-3 part series on “The Best of a Disney Run Star Wars,” but back to this issue. In the first two parts, I touched upon a few major issues with Disney running Star Wars. In this issue, I will talk more in-depth about that but also bring up a few more problems.
A very large problem with the sequel trilogy especially, Episode VII: The Force Awakens and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, is the tremendous amount of non-fulfilling, empty, fanservice. Why don’t we take a trip down memory lane? Who pops up in Force Awakens? First Han Solo and Chewbacca show up on the Millennium Falcon and Han says “Chewie, we’re home.” That is straight-up just Disney using Han Solo to play on all the fans’ nostalgia. Then C-3PO shows up later with a red arm and Chewie hugs him. And after that, General Leia Organa, leader of the knockoff Rebel Alliance known as the Resistance, lands her ship and starts talking to Han. Then to top it all off the whole movie revolves around finding Luke Skywalker! Uh.
I’ll give credit where credit is due, and that is too Rian Johnson for relying as heavily as J.J. Abrams on fan service, cameos, and callbacks.
Then we get to fan service the movie. Aka J.J. Abrams Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. Oh, God. We get the return of Lando Calrissian played by the legendary Billy De Williams, The Sullust alien Nein Numb who helped Lando pilot the Millennium Falcon in Return of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine (who should’ve stayed dead.) Then we get to all the Jedi who spoke to Rey when she was about to kill Palpatine. Yoda (not the baby) Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan-Kenobi Ewan Mcgregor version, Obi-Wan-Kenobi Alec Guinness version, Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jin, Ahsoka Tano, Kannan Jarrus, Ayla Secura Clone Wars Version, Luminara Unduli Clone Wars version, and last and certainly least Adi Gallia also the Clone Wars version. And that’s only the ones I know of.
Another big issue is the Merchandising Characters. The biggest examples of this are the Porgs and Babu Frick. The porgs small, flat-muzzled avians that flock about the rocks and roost in the cliffs of Luke Skywalker’s island on Ach To. In the run-up of Last Jedi, you couldn’t see anything related to that film without seeing a porg. And Porg toys flooded the toy shelves long before the film hit theaters. Then we reach dear Babu Frick. What is his point in the film? Selling toys. But J.J. Abrams had to give an excuse so he said that Babu Frick was the only alien in the galaxy who could cut into C-3PO’s protocols and get him to translate the text inscribed on the sith dagger.
The last problem I will discuss is solely related to the Rise of Skywalker. I am talking about how nothing in the film sticks. Rey kills Chewie. Nope on another ship. C-3PO loses all his memory. Nah R2-D2 has a backup in his drives. Emperor Palpatine has all his power back. Once again no. Rey says “I am all the Jedi” and kills him. Rey dies. No Ben Solo gives his life energy to her and he dies.
So that is all the problems I found in a Disney run Star Wars franchise there are many more that I would still like to cover, but who knows maybe a will do a part 4 in the future. Until then, “May the Force be with You.”