“Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge”

I had the opportunity to visit the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge theme park in Disney World last December, just a few months before it closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a lifelong Star Wars fan, it was an incredible experience. I cam away extremely impressed with the attention to detail and the quality of the merchandise, food, and other amenities. Disney’s Imagineers went the extra mile to make the park feel immersive; once you enter, you can’t see anything to remind you that you’re still on Earth.

I had read Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire novel and the Galaxy’s Edge comics before I went, so I understood the importance of Batuu to the Resistance and the First Order. I loved having read about Dok-Ondar and then seeing him. My wife and I had fun trying to identify the Resistance spy.

Unfortunately, the park itself doesn’t make that backstory accessible to most visitors.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

As a kid, I always saw myself as Luke Skywalker, but I always wanted to be Han Solo. As I wrote when The Last Jedicame out, I identified with Luke’s awkwardness and compassion, but envied Han’s charm and natural skill. It wasn’t until later that I began to appreciate the complexities in Han’s character arc. Han Solo isn’t simply a walking bundle of swagger. Over the course of the Original Trilogy, the character overcame his insecurities and learned to trust people. In many ways, Solo: A Star Wars Story, the latest Star Wars film from Disney and Lucasfilm, builds upon this and enriches the character arc. However, in attempting to provide a backstory for Solo, it also removes some of the mystery and possibly smoothens the character’s rougher edges.

The Last Jedi and Me

In the weeks since I shared my first impressions of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Episode VIII has become the most divisive film in the Star Wars canon. Professional reviewers, who tend to prioritize the acting and themes in a film, have overwhelmingly praised the way director Rian Johnson deconstructs Star Wars tropes and subverts expectations. By contrast, fans, who often care more about the characters and story continuity, have been much more mixed in their response. Some love that the film takes the franchise in new directions, while others complain about the self-aware humor and the slow middle act. The Last Jedi has become a sort of Star Wars Rorschach test in that each viewer’s response says as much about that person’s relationship with Star Wars as it does about the film.

First Impressions of The Last Jedi through other Sci-Fi

One of my biggest critiques of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was that it relied too much on nostalgia. At times, it seemed like a soft reboot of A New Hope. Naturally, this led me to worry that Disney was too reluctant, too concerned with profits to take risks with the franchise. When promotional images for The Last Jedi included vehicles that looked suspiciously like AT-AT walkers, I worried that Director Rian Johnson’s new Star Wars film would again play it safe by retreading the plot of The Empire Strikes Back.

I was wrong. I am glad.