Sorry fans, we need to face it: the SW saga might have come to a dead-end, and it is not a once-off consequence of the latest Episode's failures (on this, more below). It is rather the opposite: the failures are the logical consequence of the saga reaching its limits. Yes, the arguably most famous franchise in the world (and not only in cinema), after creating a mythology that fascinated millions of fans over the last forty years, has demonstrated that the universe is finite.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Quick flashback. In Episodes 1 to 6, George Lucas created a simple but strong concept, uniting three themes: filiation, the Force and good versus evil. (As a reminder, Lucas directed four of the six Episodes and wrote all of them.) In summary, how a father Anakin and his son Luke dealt with the bright and dark sides of the Force. The main character of Episodes 1-3 is Anakin, while in Episodes 4-6 it is Luke, with Anakin's strong presence despite his relatively limited appearances.
All other themes are secondary, notably the struggle between the Empire and rebels: it is a background story. For instance, we never see how inhabitants of the galaxy live differently before and after the Empire seized power. SW is not about politics, the marginal exception being the Senate debates in Episodes 2 and 3.
The strong backbone built on the three themes provided unity and progression to the former six Episodes, as we followed Anakin's iconic story throughout: childhood, training, relationship with Padme, marriage, turning to the dark side, Luke's and Leia's births, discovery of filiation, parent-child relationship, redemption, death. These events echoed everyday life, transposed to an epic level: for instance, everyone has a bright and a dark side; here it is dramatically depicted in the flesh (detractors will say naively). With Anakin's death, the destruction of the Empire and Luke being the ultimate Jedi defending the bright side, the saga was over.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
The main issue with Episodes 7 and 8 is they recycle the original concept, developing no new form or, if they do, overplaying it.
However copying previous Episodes does not exclude superficiality. Regenerating a saga requires more than a lazy script.
To be fair, Episode 8 does have a few qualities.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Strategically, the studio only has three options to expand the saga:
1. Continue in the tradition of the former six Episodes. This will likely result in going around in circles, because we have pretty much exhausted the original three themes.
2. Find a new style, for instance political fiction, comedy or tale. But would it still be SW or something else?
3. A combination of the two above, which Episode 8 partly is: on top of reprocessing the saga, it includes some politics (casino, arms business, female hero), comedy (dialogues, situations, porgs) and tale (fathiers, crystal wolves, the ending with children). Yet cinematographically it is very difficult to successfully mix styles, as the relative failure of Episode 8 proves. Commercially however it is a smart move, because the studio can target new audiences, notably children with comedy and tale, thus ensuring long-term revenues, like the original SW fans provided for the last forty years.
Apart from expanding the saga, the studio can deep-dive into former Episodes with spin-offs on how the rebels found the plans to the death star ("Rogue One"), about Han Solo's life, etc. So instead of going broad, they can go deep. Naturally to make money by seducing new audiences without repelling the original fans, they will do both. The former SW created a myth and a business; it now is a business about recycling the myth.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Quick flashback. In Episodes 1 to 6, George Lucas created a simple but strong concept, uniting three themes: filiation, the Force and good versus evil. (As a reminder, Lucas directed four of the six Episodes and wrote all of them.) In summary, how a father Anakin and his son Luke dealt with the bright and dark sides of the Force. The main character of Episodes 1-3 is Anakin, while in Episodes 4-6 it is Luke, with Anakin's strong presence despite his relatively limited appearances.
All other themes are secondary, notably the struggle between the Empire and rebels: it is a background story. For instance, we never see how inhabitants of the galaxy live differently before and after the Empire seized power. SW is not about politics, the marginal exception being the Senate debates in Episodes 2 and 3.
The strong backbone built on the three themes provided unity and progression to the former six Episodes, as we followed Anakin's iconic story throughout: childhood, training, relationship with Padme, marriage, turning to the dark side, Luke's and Leia's births, discovery of filiation, parent-child relationship, redemption, death. These events echoed everyday life, transposed to an epic level: for instance, everyone has a bright and a dark side; here it is dramatically depicted in the flesh (detractors will say naively). With Anakin's death, the destruction of the Empire and Luke being the ultimate Jedi defending the bright side, the saga was over.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
The main issue with Episodes 7 and 8 is they recycle the original concept, developing no new form or, if they do, overplaying it.
- Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is the new Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vador (note they both have two names), moving between the bright and the dark sides.
- To a large extent, Rey is the new Luke, orphan wondering about her parents, learning about the Force and being unsuccessfully appealed by Kylo to the dark side.
- Rey and Kylo distantly communicate as Luke and Anakin did in Episodes 5 and 6 (note the similarity between the names Rey and Ren).
- Luke is the new Yoda, exiled on a remote planet and teaching Rey about the Force.
- Side themes are similar: First Order is the new Empire; Snoke is the new Darth Sidious; the good guys struggle but eventually win or escape at the end.
- Scenes are similar. Darth Vador brings Luke to Darth Sidious in Episode 6: Kylo brings Rey to Snoke, down to details (e.g. Snoke undoes Rey's handcuffs, for no reason actually). Battle on the white planet Hoth where the Empire's AT-ATs face the rebels' stronghold in Episode 5: battle on the white planet Crait where First Order's AT-ATs face the rebels' stronghold (the only difference is snow is replaced by... salt!). Ewoks from Episode 6 are replaced by other silly animals (porgs, fathiers, crystal wolves). Etcetera. And then of course space battles, ground battles, lightsaber fights, etc. but that is part of the standard SW catalogue.
However copying previous Episodes does not exclude superficiality. Regenerating a saga requires more than a lazy script.
- Luke is just a grumpy old man, while Yoda was an intriguing character, funny yet powerful.
- We don't know anything about Snoke, while we followed Palpatine/Darth Sidious for a long time. So when Snoke goes down, we don't feel it is an important victory.
- The relationship between Rose and Finn is shallow despite its length.
To be fair, Episode 8 does have a few qualities.
- Landscapes are gorgeous notably Luke's island.
- The final battle on Crait in white and red is spectacular although flawed.
- When Holdo crashes her spaceship into the First Order spaceship, the resulting images and silence are stunning (silence at last as it should be, since there are no sounds in space).
- The connection between Rey and Kylo is convincing.
- Some dialogues are good.
- CGI is better as ever, but then it is not a sufficient quality nowadays.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Strategically, the studio only has three options to expand the saga:
1. Continue in the tradition of the former six Episodes. This will likely result in going around in circles, because we have pretty much exhausted the original three themes.
2. Find a new style, for instance political fiction, comedy or tale. But would it still be SW or something else?
3. A combination of the two above, which Episode 8 partly is: on top of reprocessing the saga, it includes some politics (casino, arms business, female hero), comedy (dialogues, situations, porgs) and tale (fathiers, crystal wolves, the ending with children). Yet cinematographically it is very difficult to successfully mix styles, as the relative failure of Episode 8 proves. Commercially however it is a smart move, because the studio can target new audiences, notably children with comedy and tale, thus ensuring long-term revenues, like the original SW fans provided for the last forty years.
Apart from expanding the saga, the studio can deep-dive into former Episodes with spin-offs on how the rebels found the plans to the death star ("Rogue One"), about Han Solo's life, etc. So instead of going broad, they can go deep. Naturally to make money by seducing new audiences without repelling the original fans, they will do both. The former SW created a myth and a business; it now is a business about recycling the myth.