There’s a disturbance in the Force. Years ago, fans used to believe Star Wars could never be as bad as Anakin Skywalker complaining about sand – but Disney sure proved us wrong. Fast forward a few years into the future, and The Last Jedi was the franchise’s worst. But wait, The Rise of Skywalker was even more of a dumpster fire. Interest in Star Wars films was at an all-time low. Star Wars sucks.
Is Disney To Blame?
Disney found a way to sink the franchise even lower. We all loved The Mandalorian‘s first season. It was finally a return to form for classic Star Wars – and then some. In many ways, The Mandalorian reached cinematic heights that not even the original trilogy could achieve. The blend of sci-fi with Spaghetti Western proved Jon Favreau knew what the fans wanted. For a while, at least.
As we learned from Game of Thrones, franchises live or die depending on how much creators respect the series’ legacy. Just one flawed entry can be enough to ruin an entire franchise – just ask how Star Wars felt after Attack of the Clones. Now that we’ve had Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and The Acolyte, we can safely say that Star Wars as a series is at the lowest point it’s ever been. Star Wars sucks.
Quantity Over Quality
A common problem with modern Disney franchises is their fixation with flooding the market with content. We’ve seen the same thing happening with the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-Infinity Saga.
With Disney+ now the third biggest streaming platform, the hunger for new content puts Disney between a rock and a hard place. New subscribers demand new content – the only issue is that the company relies too much on its legacy franchises to fulfil the need for new shows.
This results in shows that appear completely disconnected from the source material. While the MCU includes the shows in their mainline narrative, Star Wars doesn’t have the same luck. The Galaxy Far, Far Away now appears more disjointed than ever, with timelines that make little to no sense, and Star Wars characters that completely contradict the series canon.
And then, we have The Acolyte.
The Death of Canon
The latest Star Wars show to hit Disney+ might be the worst one so far. The Acolyte goes against everything George Lucas worked so hard to establish across two legendary film trilogies.
While Disney’s erasure of the Expanded Universe caused an uproar among die-hard fans, The Acolyte will make fans of the films question the narrative cohesion of the whole franchise.
Seemingly small details like stripping Anakin of his unique conception by the Force and diminishing Darth Plagueis’ role as a legendary Sith Lord don’t make The Acolyte special – on the contrary: they damage Star Wars‘ mythos beyond repair. In an unbridled attempt to be unique, Leslye Headland and her team destroyed a legacy decades in the making.
Some would say that it’s unnecessary (or perhaps even dumb) to criticize shows like The Acolyte and the effect they have on fictional stories. After all, Star Wars fans are clearly not Disney’s target demographic anymore. The issue here is that, for us fans, Star Wars meant more than just another sci-fi franchise. It was a way to disconnect ourselves from the limitations of our average lives – to travel beyond the stars to a galaxy far away.
Now, with creators that don’t have the same love and appreciation for Star Wars as some of its lifelong fans do, the franchise’s reputation has lost its lustre. It just goes to show that you can have too much of a good thing – and that the greatest stories are those that know exactly when to end.
Tell us, do you believe Star Wars sucks?
Also read: A Star Wars & Aliens Crossover Could Happen Soon and Guardians of the Galaxy Tells The Best Disney Star Wars Story.
The Acolyte |
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An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master against a dangerous warrior from his past. As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems… |
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| Creator: Leslye Headland |
| Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Amandla Stenberg, Manny Jacinto, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson |
| Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama |
| Number of Seasons: 1 |
| Streaming Service: Disney+ |
