When Did Star Wars Go Wrong? And Best Medieval Weapons | Ep. 24.5 | Campfire Council Podcast

[@WaywardFanboy]

Ooh, where Star Wars started going downhill is a tough one for me to think about cause my mind goes in like 500 different directions on where it might have gone wrong. I know some people primarily blame the downfall on Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm while others blame it on the prequel trilogy. I have several thoughts on this: For the prequels (particularly episodes 1 and 2 since I think 3 was actually good), I think the romance plot involving Anakin and Padme was a contributing downfall, which if you ask me personally I did find some of that plot to be unconvincing, though I will admit it did come together in episode 3. Now the reason I'm bringing up the prequel trilogy is because I think how the producers and Lucasfilm reacted to the reception of the prequel trilogy may have impacted on how they approached the sequel trilogy. Unlike the sequel trilogy and other future Star Wars installments that came after it (video games, animated shows, Disney+ shows, etc.), the prequels at least tried a different approach in how they wanted to tell their story and expand on the Star Wars mythology. For example, look at what was done with episode 7, most of the plot points from that movie were re-hashes from the original trilogy. Now while I think The Force Awakens was pretty solid overall, the producers may have approached the sequel trilogy with nostalgia bait because it felt safer than trying something new like they did with the prequels. To their favor, it did benefit them with episode 7 doing very well at the box office, which may have lead them to continue down this path. This was further exacerbated by the time we get to episode 9 and the return of Palpatine, which had no prior build up whatsoever and again relied heavily on nostalgia baiting. In episode 7, one of the more innovative storylines that was introduced was the unknown origins of Rey's parentage and the abandonment of her parents. Episode 8 revealed that her parents were nobodies to further the feelings of loneliness Rey experienced most of her life, allowing some character development for her outside of her being a Mary Sue and really good at everything, but when it's revealed in episode 9 that Rey is actually part of Palpatine's family bloodline, it undid the storyline that episode 7 and 8 already tried to set up, resulting in a rushed storyline that seemed more like an after-thought. Episode 9 basically contradicted the implication that Rey's origins may be more ambiguous and less tied to legacy characters from past movies. Since episode 8 tried to take a more introspective and subversive approach to the story, it didn't help seeing a sudden pivot for episode 9. Now yes, it's true that Star Wars has had a few major hits and successes under Disney's acquisition (The Mandalorian seasons 1 & 2, Andor, season 7 of The Clone Wars, etc.) but keep in mind, those successes are more geared towards those already invested in the Star Wars universe. For a general audience who primarily may only be watching the main lineup of movies, the mixed reception of the franchise may discourage new fans from becoming invested in some of the other media Lucasfilm is currently putting out. Again, that's just my thought process on where Star Wars MIGHT HAVE gone wrong.

[@CampfireCouncilPodcast]

@@WaywardFanboy those are some great thoughts for the downfall of Star Wars. Hopefully they can get back on track and give us the Star Wars we want and deserve! Thank you for sharing that. We appreciate all the comments!

[@jsteffen2709]

52:06 jed from the gym does Medieval combat/ AMMA or armor combat

[@CampfireCouncilPodcast]

@@jsteffen2709 that’s awesome!