The Star Wars Problem: How Disney Created A Monster

a beloved series once adored by millions is now loathed by many how could one giant corporation breathe new life into a stagnant universe only to be accused of killing it at the same time the world of Star Wars has only seemed to grow over the years but now its growth has turned it into a monster many may pinpoint the development and release of the last Jedi as a turning point of the franchise but signs of trouble appeared much sooner so what exactly went wrong and what can Disney do to fix it with some patience and effort fans can once again become interested in the stories and characters from a galaxy far far away [Music] never ever have fans been more angry and split than they were with the last Jedi the mere mention of the title will garner groans high rolls and the endless debates we've heard over and over again for more than a year now but how did we reach this point we must first travel back to a long long time ago or around six years give or take a few months the year is 2012 rumors have been swirling for a while but many assuming Star Wars fans are still enjoying both trilogies and getting their new content fixes through novels comics or TV shows like the Clone Wars and then the house of mouse strikes down faster than a Death Star attack Disney is purchasing Lucasfilm and the whole Star Wars franchise it was a move people should have saw in the making Disney had recently acquired Marvel The Muppets and were not only looking to expand their home entertainment options but their amusement parks as well acquiring Star Wars was a smart business decision on Disney's part but with the MCU just getting off the ground the Star Wars fan base in 2012 was a whole different beast to take on yet Disney wasted no time developing the new Star Wars content before anything new was announced the company made plans to start destroying everything Lucasfilm was currently working on the beloved animated series Clone Wars was cancelled South Koreans comedic Star Wars detours had 39 completed episodes which were never released and probably never will be another series the dark and gritty Star Wars underworld had a nearly 50 episodes scripted but Disney pulled the plug on that too one of the most controversial decisions and one which still has fans talking about today is the way Disney just dismissed a ton of Star Wars content deemed to be part of the lore which Canon the majority of Star Wars books and comics were deemed to not be a part of the official Star Wars Canon anymore relegated to nothing more than professionally produced fanfiction a backlash may not have been building yet but the anger was starting to rise from the depths of the fans Disney was opening up a space to build their own future with the next trilogy and didn't want content they deemed his spotter to get in the way or ruin their vision so some of Disney's very first moves in the realm of Star Wars was to remove Star content from fans who feasted on the content they could when the six live-action movies were just not enough the move was bold but Disney knew what they were doing as a major announcement quickly followed and would eclipse any of the cuts they'd previously made episode 7 was going into production ever since the 1980s George Lucas had always talked about how he envisioned the Star Wars series as three trilogies the first trilogy was the middle of the story produced the prequel trilogy starting in 1999 and now Disney would helm the highly anticipated trilogy which followed the events of Return of the Jedi famed right director and producer JJ Abrams was on board to helm the film bringing his love for everything Star Wars and sci-fi to the helm with lost super 8 and Star Trek under his belt Abrams was one of the most creative minds in Hollywood after months of hype and pre-production fans learned the title of episode 7 the force awakens Abrams brought an old-school approach to the project while Lucas's prequel films were filled with an abundance of CG characters Abrams mixed the mediums well with CG practical effects and the rolling droid bb-8 with returning veterans like Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Harrison Ford as Han Solo there was a lot to look forward to in the sequel newcomers like Daisy Ridley John boyega and Adam driver were set to join the ranks of the veterans it seemed like Disney was on the right track to delivering the Star Wars content fans craved and wanted for now and then came even more projects and more projects the new trilogy was not enough a prequel and spin-off movie wrote one was announced with a tagline a Star Wars story Clone Wars was replaced Disney's rebels and the Disney Channel cartoon Phineas and Ferb even had their own Star Wars special this was just the beginning of over saturation in the market but fans were still on board and eagerly anticipating the force awakens release the force awakens had a lot on the line characters we loved would return and everything needed to flow right it's only natural Disney played it safe in the end plenty of fans were happy with the force awakens shirt the plot was very similar to a new hope with some gender swaps but new characters like Rey and Poe were well-received along with the scene stealing bb-8 we said goodbye to Han Solo and the saw the evil rise in his son kylo Ren a new trilogy had begun lots of questions were presented and the Luke Skywalker cliffhanger left us wanting more and then none of our questions were answered Disney had a game plan for the sequel but it turns out the game plan was nothing more than a 2017 release date [Music] JJ Abrams backed off handing writing and directing roles to Rian Johnson Johnson had a lot of pressure to deliver a knockout sequel and Star Wars Episode 8 the last Jedi made its premiere on December 15 2017 and boy was the reaction strong despite great box office numbers and another successful Christmas release for the franchise Disney clearly had a problem on their hands fans weren't just angry they were revolting and threatening to give up on the beloved franchise after the mess of a movie when your director has to explain defend and do extensive interviews about a film there are clearly some problems the last Jedi does not stand on its own Rian Johnson's main goal was to subvert expectations but the pendulum has obviously swung way too far he basically took everything JJ Abrams set up and treated it like Badr who were Ray's parents doesn't matter why was Luke are heroic Jedi who rose above the Empire isolated on the island so he could deliver sitcom style jokes nOCA creature and introduced us to ports who was the true identity of Snoke he'll never find out because we just killed him off truthfully after the last Jedi premiered we should have all been talking about the epic return of Yoda in puppet form no less instead we were talking about what a waste of time the kanto byte scenes were rules were changed the Skywalker saga didn't seem to matter and Rian Johnson was given free rein to basically destroy the new trilogy there's nothing wrong with subverting expectations or building on the initial films with new twists quite a twist the force awakens was criticized for following too close of a blueprint as a new hope but there were still questions to answer a direct sequel is not the place to subvert the Canon that was just reintroduced taking well-known characters and having them do things we've never seen or expected it's not subverting expectations it's going completely against the lore and mythology of the Star Wars universe Leia could have developed force powers or showed some type of transition but it was pretty jarring to see her flying through open space if these things were done in the force awakens then the modern-day universe could have been understood a little bit more but JJ Abrams showed us what the new universe was like how characters acted and presented mysteries that should have had proper answers ryan johnson basically hit the reset button on the reset button and fans were not happy but Disney and Lucasfilm like what Johnson did and how his vision played out despite the critics and there were plenty of them Ryan is now taking control of a whole new trilogy set in a different time into place than the Star Wars saga this should have been something he did in the first place his vision for a drastically different Star Wars would have fit better in a whole new trilogy not with established characters locations and rules the problem was not exactly Ryan Johnson's vision but how it was executed the newest films were supposed to be a trilogy but the force awakens and the last Jedi feel extremely disconnected from each other Ryan basically went in with a blank slate and did what he wanted when George Lucas planned to both trilogies he had a set path to follow and the character journeys made sense just look at other franchises and how drastic changes set them off course Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns connect in many ways but when Joel Schumacher brought his own vision the movies went off the rails and do not feel like the same Batman can you imagine if Christopher Nolan directed Batman Begins and handed out the Dark Knight to someone else the Jurassic world franchise may have had a different director for fallen Kingdom but Colin Trevorrow was there for the production and guidance as he wrote the screenplay and helped develop the story the same goes for George Lucas different directors helmed bolt the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi but Lucas guided them along the way in the original trilogy very much feels like a complete story for the current Star Wars trilogy there were just too many cooks in the kitchen and then they made Ryan Johnson the head cook for just one movie and things kind of became a big mess Disney should have followed the same game plan as their other giant franchise the Marvel Cinematic Universe they had a ton of different directors writers and far more films than Star Wars but it is all under tight control like Kevin Feige Lucas Films Kathleen Kennedy let too many others take control without honing in ideas and presenting a clear narrative structure Disney didn't have a plan in place didn't have an end game and kind of just let the story unfold like an unhinged reality-show of course the results and fan reaction was not what Disney expected well the backlash against Disney and the last Jedi may seem like something the Star Wars franchise has never dealt with before it's actually nothing new the harsh criticism and fan outrage has been seen before just under different circumstances after the darkness and epic conclusion to the Empire Strikes Back fans felt a little underwhelmed with Return of the Jedi the goofy nature of the Ewoks then there's the prequel trilogy and more specifically Jar Jar Binks besides the bad acting stale writing and overuse of CG effects no one took the brunt of the prequel trilogy criticism more than Jar Jar Binks the character was annoying filled with slapstick comedy and quickly became the target for Star Wars related jokes the main problem with Jar Jar Binks the children who grew up watching and loving Star Wars were now much older and the character of Jar Jar Binks didn't appeal to them but that George Lucas's point the Ewoks jar-jar binks and the modern-day pork were not created to appease the mature Star Wars fans these characters are made for the main Star Wars audiences younger children the same fans who jeered at Jar Jar were waking up Saturday mornings and watching Ewok cartoons the generational shift is something longtime franchises have always had to deal with old school wrestling fans who once laughed at high jinks of doink or the bushwhackers rolled their eyes at newer generation stars as the simpsons fans grew more mature the comedy remained the same and the audience is left the key point is that even though the original fans get older the demographics for Star Wars the WWE or even the Simpsons do not change the content cannot cater to the same generation as newer and younger generations discover these franchises not only are the Star Wars movies catered towards young children but so is the merchandise even if the collectors fandom has grown over the years the majority of toys and products are catered towards children and being played with by children exactly how George Lucas intended and speaking of George Lucas the main visionary of Star Wars was often most criticized for running his franchise into the ground with poor decisions or just a plain lack of movies but at the end of the day George Lucas is the mind and vision behind warps he created the characters invented lightsabers and brought r2d2 s language in our homes the anger would only reach a certain point because ultimately Star Wars was his creation his baby how could you argue with the man who created it all in the first place who are we to tell him that Darth Vader shouldn't sit up and scream no it was a whole different ballgame when Disney took over who does the house of mouse think they are messing around with the Star Wars franchise the collective group of dedicated Star Wars fans feel just as much ownership over the direction of the franchise as Disney many fans feel that just because Disney owns the rights to Star Wars doesn't mean they can turn it into anything they want Disney obviously isn't out to get fans either they tried to take care of the fan base as much as possible for years fans wanted more Star Wars movies in theaters but Disney may have over delivered on that wish just one year after the force awakens was released Disney released robe one a Star Wars story based off the scrolling text of a new hope the film follows a group of rebels as they attempt to steal the plans for the Death Star despite multiple character deaths and a lack of known characters fans enjoying a refreshing take on the Star Wars universe the Darth Vader attack scene also helped a lot as well fast forward another year and the last Jedi is hitting theaters and we cannot forget that between each film are countless teasers trailers interviews merchandise releases and fan theories then Disney threw us a curveball while fans were still reeling over the last Jedi solo a Star Wars story was set to premiere in May 2018 the film was a prequel with Alden Ehrenreich playing a young version of Han Solo just five months after the last Jedi came out solo got a lot of undeserved criticism before the movie was even released it doesn't help that Sola went through its own behind the scenes drama as Ron Howard stepped in the director's chair after Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left due to creative differences either way the last Jedi left a bad taste in the fandoms mouth and Solo suffered because of it no matter how entertaining you thought the movie was box office numbers were pretty disappointing and led to Disney completely re-evaluating the spin-off films altogether so why wasn't there this kind of panic and Shaye king of positions when the Phantom Menace began losing fans and Jar Jar Binks was a worldwide joke simple the rise of the Internet [Music] it's one thing to read a newspaper article man print or talk to some friends about how dumb jar jar's antics were the last Jedi it was released in the modern era of the internet we are no longer just consumers of content we are creating content all the time within minutes after the last Jedi premiere you can read reviews watch reaction videos and see countless social media posts or memes about the movies then the movie sinks in more reactions are posting and the backlash is snowballing we get depth analysis of how scenes didn't work or how the last Jedi has a countless number of plot holes the video bloggers with millions of followers who spend months posting videos about snoke's true identity are now posting videos about snoke's death the absurdity of the scene and how the last Jedi is a piece of garbage the instant reactions and access to this content makes any type of criticism stand out like a sore thumb and quickly builds more favorable reviews or cast off or go unwatched so we can see a guy in a Jedi robe rant about the costumes or how the force was improperly used to communicate Disney is up against a whole fanbase with the ability to speak back and there's nothing they can do about it after the last Jedi and Solo a Star Wars story were disappointing for completely different reasons Disney tried to go back to the drawing board to make things right again but is it too little too late JJ Abrams has been brought back for episode 9 and the conclusion of the Skywalker saga he has a number of challenges to overcome including Ryan Johnson's story decisions the real-life passing of actress Carrie Fisher and fans who have huge expectations for the story's conclusion after another disappointing film they are slowing things down a bit before things get out of control and at least there's some promise in the future Disney needs to realize fans don't just want Star Wars content as quick as they can they want good content no matter how long it takes the new Disney Plus streaming platform will showcase a live-action Star Wars show entitled the Mandalorian the Clone Wars is coming back for a sixth season after it was unceremoniously canceled a couple of more cinematic trilogies are in the works taking place in the same galaxy but involving very different characters and stories Disney may be skating on some pretty thin Hoth ice here but they still have a chance to redeem themselves and turn the fans around the good movie could quickly send the last Jedi into the past as we move on to bigger and better things but the films and TV shows may not be Disney's only problem if you thought oversaturation was getting bad in the media things were even worse in the world of Star Wars merchandising in the months leading up to the force awakens Star Wars merchandise went into full throttle September 4th 2015 was dubbed force Friday and included a huge onslaught of new products with the upcoming movie the event and release of products in itself was nothing new for Star Wars movies toys almost became the backbone of these films but the Disney connections started becoming a little too much there was Mickey dressed as Darth Vader Miss Piggy as Princess Leia and Pixar's Cars redesigned as beloved to Star Wars characters Walt Disney World is planning a whole star wars section there are all kinds of food tie-ins and you can even own boxes of Star Wars tissues Star Wars was not just over filling our movie theaters but you couldn't escape the franchise in the store as well the toy aisle has gone way beyond just the classic figures there are multiple types of lightsabers collectibles ranging from Funko pops and who can forget the Chewbacca themed Furby doll with so much market saturation it's hard to get excited about releases and the next thing you know the toy clearance bin is filled with robe 1 action figures when coveted Star Wars figures used to be swooped up all the time if there's one successful branch of the Star Wars merchandising it would have to be Lego Star Wars the brand has differentiated itself from all other Star Wars products and has a whole life of its own along with all types of building sets the Lego Star Wars franchise includes movies books and all types of videogames the themes perfectly encompass the Star Wars universe honoring its legacy while providing tongue-in-cheek humor for both younger and older fans to enjoy besides the lego franchise Disney should take a step back with their Star Wars merchandise just like 2015's Force Friday the release of new Star Wars toys used to feel like a huge event now it's every day and the ability to find most toys has become easy nature one of the reasons because of so many movies coming out with each new movie comes a whole new set of figures giving toy companies very little time to sell products before new ones premiere it's a never-ending cycle and fans can only handle so many new products without getting a break at some point by spreading out release schedules and cutting down on the spin-off films there will be a direct impact on the merchandising as well eventually fan interest will perk up enough to provide all new toy releases and create the excitement for Star Wars merch once again has Disney made mistakes with the Star Wars franchise absolutely do they have a chance to fix things and turn them around absolutely Star Wars is not going anywhere without Batman and Robin we wouldn't have Batman Begins without the Justice League we wouldn't have Aquaman without died another day we wouldn't have Casino Royale sometimes it takes a little stumble to reinvigorate a series get fans excited again and allow them to let go of the past for all the complaints about Lucas's prequel trilogy fans have actually warmed up to them a little more over the years this may not happen with the last Jedi but we do have hope that episode 9 can bounce things back and end the Star Wars saga with proper fashion once the Skywalker saga does end we will have a whole new chapter to write with a blank canvas in a lot of innovative creators at the helm there are a ton of options to consider the Star Wars franchise will not be tied to older characters or actors with worlds and Technology set in place we can see new characters thrive new stories get old and changed the way we see the whole Star Wars universe and it's all thanks to Disney Disney is a company known for learning from their mistakes just look at their animation division after Walt Disney led them through classic titles like Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan there were some low points with the Great Mouse Detective and the Black Cauldron then the 90s came and Disney improved with Beauty and the Beast Aladdin and the Lion King a lull in the early 2000s saw average fare like Bolton Chicken Little then came frozen and Moana Disney knows how to create hits and they may have messed up majorly with Star Wars but give it five years or so before we are thanking them for keeping Star Wars current and in our lives Disney may not be on the dark side after all so mark your calendars on December 20th 2019 fans will be holding their breath in anticipation for the Star Wars movie that will end a saga and to give a glimpse the future not only the Star Wars future but Disney's reputation with the franchise so what do you think Disney's biggest mistake with the Star Wars franchise was can they make up for it are you still on board for episode 9 let us know in the comments section below don't forget to like this video share it and subscribe to Screen Rant on YouTube so you can stay up to date with our awesome videos thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: Screen Rant

Views: 521,182

Rating: 3.7963746 out of 5

Keywords: Screen Rant, ScreenRant, Star Wars, Disney, Last Jedi, Rian Johnson, Force Awakens, Episode 9, JJ Abrams, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Clone Wars, Star Wars TV shows

Id: I2DXorOK-K0

Length: 21min 57sec (1317 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 20 2019

Reddit Comments

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[u/LastSkywalker01]

The optimistic conclusion seems a bit out of place considering the 20mins the leads to it. The reset they reference where Disney improved all involve Disney making better, yet very different movies that were not related to each other. Of cause the change in corporate mentality also involved many changes in the organisation. Thats yet to be seen in anyway in relation to SW.

I wonder if whats happening to SW is more like this article suggests happend to PIXAR? - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/how-pixar-lost-its-way/524484/

[u/accersitus42]

An interesting video.

It spends most of it's time blaming TLJ for what is happening to Star Wars, but it sneaks in many of the Pro TLJ arguments as one liners (maybe to get TLJ defenders to agree with the premise of the video by having them recognize their own arguments in there).

[u/DeoGame]

A warts and all look from a larger network!

[u/[deleted]]

Great video

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I don't think most people here have a problem with Rey being a nobody or the concept of her being a nobody. It is just that her actions at odds with her being a nobody.

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