I did a couple of polls a week or so ago.
Those polls had meaning and I’m sure most of you picked up on it.
But with them, I think I figured out the problem with new Star Wars content that has been released
since the special editions.
The poll questions were, “How old were you when you got into Star Wars?
And “What attracted you to Star Wars.”
There has been a lot of talk back and forth as to how Star Wars isn’t the same.
These debates have been going on since the Special edition releases of the Original trilogy
and the Star Wars prequels.
It’s nothing new.
The biggest difference is the internet and now EVERYONE can display their voices.
Not just on Star Wars, but anything they feel passionate about.
And that’s what I’m calling this, passionate fans discuss Star Wars.
Not hate…or toxicity.
Because those terms are being overused and can come from both sides.
I’ve been guilty of it, myself.
For that…I apologize.
What I’m going to do is present my thoughts on why we feel Star Wars is no longer the
same.
Why we feel like we’ve been betrayed.
Not just by Disney, but by George Lucas as well.
And it all starts with those two little polls.
The Star Wars polls, along with an enlightened viewer or two, helped change the direction
I was heading.
So…thank you!
You’re right, I was starting to get too deep into the negative stuff.
The reason I wasn’t going to do this video was because it seemed like that same path.
Star Wars shouldn’t be negative.
I know emotions get high and we tend to lean on the things we love about Star Wars and
reject the things we don’t.
Not just reject but disagree with completely.
But why?
What makes us like certain aspects more than others?
Sure, we can debate all day long as to whether the newer stuff has bad writing, bad acting,
plot holes, and all the other grown-up things we tend to see from the newer Star Wars shows
and movies.
Maybe even the books.
I don’t know.
I haven’t heard much criticism about them.
Maybe because it’s mostly the die-hard fans that read them?
Who knows, maybe there are criticisms just as harsh as the Star Wars series and I just
haven’t noticed.
You can leave a comment and let me know differently.
But this isn’t about the hate.
This is more about why we tend to hold the things up on a pedestal that we consider original
Star Wars.
Now…I grew up with the Original Trilogy.
I saw each of those films on opening day.
Yeah…I’m that old.
But there are those who were raised on the prequel trilogy.
Those who didn’t get the Darth Vader reveal from the Empire Strikes Back the way we did…with
a 3 year wait to see if Darth Vader was lying.
If you were raised on the prequels and they were your first experiences with Star Wars,
then you knew going into the Original Trilogy that Darth Vader wasn’t lying and when you
go to the Empire Strikes Back, it really wasn’t a big deal.
For us, that moment made that movie special.
But for you in the prequel generation, it may have been that moment that Anakin turned.
You could have been yelling, “Don’t do it Anakin!”
But you still probably knew what the outcome was going to be.
Unless you had never heard of Darth Vader at that point.
I know this will scare a lot of people, but there are those being raised on the sequel
trilogy.
Some that will love them because of the magic they felt as a child when they first heard
Rey is a Palpatine.
Even though they may have asked…what’s a Palpatine?
I can’t say that it will be as deep of a love as we shared in George Lucas’ vision,
but it will be there.
One criticism us old farts gave the prequels was that it didn’t feel like Star Wars.
I’m not saying it’s a fair criticism, because it absolutely is not.
They were very much Star Wars, as much as the original trilogy.
Just told a different way.
My son and I used to argue about the prequels.
To him, they are the greatest Star Wars stories ever told.
I questioned it…why?
How?
He was almost 4 years old when the Phantom Menace came out.
So, it dawned on me…almost an epiphany.
So, I started asking myself, how do I find out if my theory is correct?
And it dawned on me…take polls.
Do the same thing news outlets do during an election.
And one thing that drives me insane about other YouTube channels that I’ve seen take
polls…they never discuss the results.
So, that’s what I’m going to do…and I’ll try to do it in the most positive way
imaginable.
The first poll was “how old were you when you got into Star Wars?”
And I am pretty sure I knew what the general outcome would be.
I just needed to confirm it.
With 940 votes, as of the making of this video, 70% of Star Wars fans said they were between
the ages of 3 years old and 8 years old!
That’s a huge number.
I did not expect it to be that high.
I really didn’t.
The next age group was 9 years old to 12 years old which 17% of you said you were.
Nowhere near as big as the younglings but still pretty good.
8% said they were 13-18 years old.
4% Said they were 18-25 years old, and 2% said they were old as Hell.
That means anything over 25.
So, to break that down, out of 100% of the people polled, 87% were 12 years old and younger.
95% were younger than or up to 18 years old.
Only 6% were over 18 years old.
Remember, that’s out of 940 people that responded.
If you feel your demographic wasn’t represented fairly, please go back and show it to your
friends so they can vote too.
You can only vote once, and I couldn’t vote at all.
Also, once the poll was put up, there was no way to edit it.
So, these are real numbers.
I know I’m boring you with numbers and so on.
But I promise there is a payoff to this.
Please stick with me.
The second poll was “What attracted you to Star Wars?”
I won’t go through all the numbers on this one, but I will say only 29% of the people
polled said it was the story.
The other 71% were things like Lightsabers, Characters, visuals, and ships.
With the characters being the top at 41%.
If It would have let me add more options, I would have.
I’m sorry for those who feel disenfranchised.
It really wasn’t by design.
Remember, these numbers are from 916 respondents.
Now, here’s my epiphany.
Some of the complaints to Star Wars more recent releases is that the story has plot holes.
Or it isn’t well written.
Or that the acting isn’t good.
Those are fair enough arguments and you’re not wrong.
But think back to your first experience with Star Wars.
I don’t mean how you view the movies now, but your very first experience.
Afterall…most judgements of anything is made from your first experiences of those
things.
When you were a child, “Darth Vader is so cool!”
As an adult, “I saw the Rise of Skywalker once and I hated it!
The story was all over the place and there was no plan.
I’ll never watch it again!”
Fair enough…and again…you’re not wrong in your opinion.
But what were you more interested in the first time you watched A New Hope…the Phantom
Menace…or Revenge of the Sith?
Was it the story?
The Writing?
Or was it that you wanted to see more lightsaber action or more Darth Vader or Darth Maul?
Remember…70% of you were between the ages of 3 years old and 8 years old.
A compelling, well-written story to you was the wheels on the bus go round and round at
that age.
It wasn’t the story that got you into Star Wars.
It wasn’t the well-written dialogue, or the believability of the whole plot.
It was something that caught your eye…coolness!
It was your imagination.
I’ve said countless times, your opinions of the new stuff aren’t wrong.
But what I challenge you to do is go back and rewatch the first Star Wars movie you’ve
ever seen.
Take away the nostalgia, take away the rose-colored glasses.
View it as you are watching it for the first time.
You’ll see, Star Wars has always had clunky dialogue, horrible acting, plot holes, and
a story that was not very well planned out.
Star Wars is as it always has been…made like a soap opera in space.
That’s what it was meant to be and continues to be.
But it isn’t made for a 25+ year old to get into for the first time.
Otherwise the numbers on the poll would be different.
If you don’t think it was made for kids and the next generations, look at the poll
numbers.
87% of people that got into Star Wars were 12 years old or younger.
The exact age group George Lucas intended it for.
The exact age group Disney markets to with 90% of their products.
There is enough adult entertainment in Star Wars to keep the adults coming back…but
they are bringing their kids for the experience.
We get upset that Star Wars didn’t grow with our own developing minds.
So, when it boils down to it…Star Wars hasn’t changed.
Not one bit…we have.
We rely on nostalgia and a want to get that feeling back that we had the first time we
watched Star Wars.
We say it doesn’t feel like Star Wars.
What does that mean?
Well, it isn’t that hard to explain anymore, after I saw the poll numbers.
Star Wars is supposed to feel the way it did when we were between the ages of 3-12 years
old.
But we aren’t that age anymore.
Yet, we expect the same “feeling.”
The problem with that is, we will never get that feeling again.
Instead, we can pass that feeling on to the next generations and teach them what it means
to grow as a Star Wars fan.
The sooner we come to terms with who Star Wars is for and that we are the ones who have
changed, the sooner we can start enjoying Star Wars again.
This is Gerald from Star Wars Fanatic signing off, wishing you all great health, happiness,
and peace.
Thank you for watching and remember, this is the way…the only way!