Star Wars: The Next Generation

No, that isn’t a typo. No shade to any Star Trek fans out there, but this article is about that OTHER science fiction cultural colossus, Star Wars. As we close in on 50 years of Star Wars, I wanted to take a look at the different generations of Star Wars movies, and the fans that go with them.

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy

Allow me to date myself, and to take my place in the Star Wars Generations. I was 4 years old when the original Star Wars movie was released, and it’s no exaggeration to say that it profoundly changed my worldview. My mum describes how my brother and I didn’t blink for two hours, and from that moment until this, in my mind everything is cooler if it’s in space.

So I had the privilege of living through the first days of Star Wars – the action figures and toys, the games and lunch boxes, the musical score you could by on double LP and set up on the turntable and relive the movie through its soundtrack.

I lived through the cultural crisis of The Empire Strikes Back, when evil wins, when Darth Vader reveals his true identity and when we all were left hanging, wondering what happened to Han Solo. For anyone who grew up later, it’s hard to describe the shock we all felt as we left that movie, as well as the agony of waiting three more years to find out what happened next.

Return of the Jedi hasn’t aged as well as the other two originals, but in 1983 it was exactly what we all wanted. It was fun, exciting, silly, profound and thoroughly, thoroughly entertaining. The entire theater audience alternatively cheered and laughed every few minutes throughout the movie, and rose as one to give a standing ovation as the credits rolled. For anyone who grew up later, you missed an amazing moment in movie culture, and I will defend Return of the Jedi as a triumph forever. Because I was there.

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Where do you go from perfection?

I get that a lot of Original Trilogy fans are grumpy about everything that came afterward. Fine, whatever. I’m not. But I do understand the attachment we feel to those three crazy, genre-shattering movies that helped shape our lives and the world we lived in. Star Wars changed movie-making forever. Empire was the most astonishing sequel ever. Jedi was the most perfect conclusion ever. At least, that’s how those of us who experienced them in real time felt. The later movies (and TV shows) are different, and some folks don’t like “different”.

Some of my peers seem to wish that Star Wars existed only those three movies – I guess when you’ve achieved perfection, nothing else can measure up. That’s how some of my peers feel. I respectfully disagree. But I do agree with the feeling of absolute wonder that the Original Trilogy delivered – and that is a hard act to follow.

Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy

I remember the excitement when Star Wars Episode 1 was announced. I remember seeing the first trailer in the movie theater, with the Imperial March playing as ominous-looking droid soldiers deployed. Natalie Portman dressed as a queen declaring “I will not choose a course of action that leads to war.” The promise of learning Darth Vader’s origins, of seeing Obi Wan Kenobi at his height, of seeing the Jedi Order as it once was. Oh, we were ready.

And boy, did we hate the next three movies. We were like vicious schoolyard bullies, just tearing into anything we could find to criticize. Why? I’m honestly not sure, looking back. I still don’t like the Prequels as much as the Originals, but they’re not bad movies. We can quibble over the wooden dialog, the retconning, the overuse of CGI… But to be honest, if we step back and look, the Originals were just as guilty of all those sins.

But my generation saw the Originals when we were kids, and we didn’t notice those flaws. Now, as adults in our late twenties and early thirties, we knew all the words to offer scathing criticism. No one dared criticize the Originals, but the Prequels were fair game.

I think, deep down, we were disappointed because the Prequels didn’t evoke in us the same sense of wonder that we’d felt when we first watched the Originals. But the reason for this disappointment wasn’t just the movies – it was because we, the audience, weren’t kids anymore. We’d lost the ability to be swept away by our own “grown-up” jadedness. That’s on us.

A new generation rises

I didn’t realize this for about a decade, and I fully admit to (and apologize for) being a Prequel-basher for a long time. But eventually, with full-hearted thanks to my Original Trilogy peers at the wonderful Star Wars podcast Force Center, I came to realize that there was an entire new generation of Star Wars fans who grew up with the Prequels, and loved them.

They didn’t just like the Prequels: they loved them. Just as much as I’d loved the Originals.

Huh. That took a bit of processing. And many of my generation still haven’t done so, and continue to sling mud at the Prequels.

But I recognize now that there’s a whole generation of people who grew up in the Prequel era, who love Star Wars just as much as me. And to them, the Prequels are Star Wars – and the Originals are something extra that they love too.

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Passing the torch

I remember when I decided it was time to introduce my sons to Star Wars. They were 5 and 3, straddling the 4 I’d been when I saw the first movie, and one Saturday afternoon in 2012 I sat them down with no build-up and just explained that there was a movie I wanted them to watch with me. I read the opening crawl to them, just as my father had done for me, and from the opening moment they were hooked. As the star destroyer loomed through the shot, my eldest whispered to himself, “That’s a big ship…”

The youngest started to drift a bit in Obi Wan’s “Hut of Exposition” scene when there was a lot of talking, but as soon as that lightsaber was lit, both boys were riveted to the screen for the rest of the film. I didn’t comment or encourage, but let them take it in without prejudice. But when the final credits finally rolled, I glanced down at my eldest, who was still staring at the screen.

Then, finally, he said to himself, “That was a good movie.”

Yes!!!!! I had triumphed as a parent, and fulfilled my destiny!

Of course, I very nearly destroyed it a week later when I showed them The Empire Strikes Back. Pro tip: don’t show a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old this movie. The younger son ran out of the room crying during the scene on Dagobah with the tree of evil. The older son managed to stick it out until the carbon freezing scene, then ran out crying.

It took me nearly a month to get them over their trauma and convince them to watch Return of the Jedi. Which we eventually did, and all was right in the world again. And then I introduced them to the Prequels. And, son a gun, they liked them! They thought Jar-Jar was the funniest thing ever. They loved little Ani. They loved the clones. They were sold. And I clearly had some reflecting to do.

Star Wars: The Sequel Trilogy

I’ll come right out at say that, overall, I like the Sequel Trilogy and the new age of Disney Star Wars. I don’t like everything about it, but on balance I’m happy it’s there. But it wasn’t always the case. When The Force Awakens was announced I felt the old, childhood excitement ignite, but it was quickly tempered by the memories of disappointment from the Prequels. I wanted to like these movies, but old scars made me guarded.

When the credits rolled on Force Awakens, my first thought was relief: that did not suck. And when I went back a couple of weeks later to watch it again, I finally let myself relax and just appreciate the fact that I had enjoyed a Star Wars movie again. My boys loved it as well, and we were in a bright new dawn.

A year later, Rogue One – which is the best Star Wars movie in existence – only added to the joy. And thinking about it now, one of the reasons I love Rogue One so much (not the only reason, but a profound one) is precisely because it did such a good job at capturing the magic and wonder of the 1977 original. The two movies are intimately connected, and all the Easter eggs are a delight, but Rogue One did more than just pander: it took me back to that theater when I was 4 years old, and made my heart sing the way it had when I was a kid. Rogue One did for me exactly what I now realize I’d hoped the Prequels would do. It reignited the magic and made fall in love with Star Wars all over again.

After the highwater mark of 2016, Star Wars in the Disney era has struggled. The Last Jedi split the fan base (I love the film, personally), Solo disappointed and The Rise of Skywalker was a hot mess that, among its various failings, cheapened the victory our heroes won in Return of the Jedi. I get that some people are furious with the direction Star Wars has gone, and I agree that some decisions are questionable. But I think the magic is back, and I’m very glad for it.

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The next generation?

The Sequel era is barely a decade old, so we haven’t heard much yet from the generation of kids who grew up with it as their Star Wars. Nowadays there is a lot of retrospection on the Prequel era, and those movies are getting a much better rap than they did in the early 2000’s. I think this is because the Star Wars fandom is now no longer solely composed of Original era fans like me. We now have to share the space with fully adult Prequel fans, who are more than capable of standing up for the Star Wars they love.

Some haters are even saying these days that Star Wars is dead, that Disney has killed it and that everything since 2015 should be erased, leaving only the purity of the “six real Star Wars movies”. But those self-righteous pundits seem to have forgotten that in 2004 my generation was shouting across the internet about how the Prequels had destroyed Star Wars and all we needed were the perfect “three real Star Wars movies”.

So, forgive me if I call bullshit on the haters. The Sequel era hasn’t destroyed Star Wars. Sure, some of the outings haven’t been the best, and the recent attempts to recreate the magic on the small screen haven’t always landed. But some of the finest parts of Star Wars are from the Sequel era, such as:

• Rogue One
• Rebels
• The Mandalorian
• Andor

Look me in the eye and tell me that those parts of Star Wars are garbage. I’ll give you Rise of Skywalker, and The Acolyte wasn’t my favorite, but I’m mature enough to separate the good from the bad, and still love Star Wars.

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I’m looking forward to hearing from the next generation of Star Wars as they come of age in the next decade and start talking about their own sense of wonder as they grew up with Rebels, were awed by Force Awakens, and introduced their younger siblings to Young Jedi Adventures.

Star Wars is bigger than any of us, and with a whole galaxy of content to explore, we can all find our happy place and rest there. None of us have to sling mud, and none of us have to hate on people for enjoying something we didn’t like. If you love Rise of Skywalker, that’s awesome. I don’t, but I’m happy that you do. And, just because the written word can lack nuance, I really mean that.

So let’s celebrate nearly a half-century of Star Wars. Love what you love, leave others to love what they love. And let’s welcome the latest generation as they start to come online.

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning, best-selling author and ghostwriter of science fiction and space fantasy series. His newest novel, Light in the Abyss, is now available here.