As many of you may know, the Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for over $4 billion today from George Lucas and have announced plans to release a Star Wars Episode 7.
I am intimately connected to this event in 4 ways:
1. I am employed by the Walt Disney Company.
2. I happen to work full-time at Star Tours, the one and only Star Wars themed attraction at Disneyland.
3. I was born and raised in Modesto, CA, which is also George Lucas's hometown and where his first film, American Graffiti, was set, and
4. I am a huge Star Wars geek. Like, a "I own not one but TWO Star Wars shirts and I also know Star Wars Battlefront 2 inside and out because I played it all weekend every weekend in high school instead of going out" geek.
So I know my opinion doesn't count for literally anything, but I'm going to give it anyways. I don't mind the permanent marriage of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Disney, three things I love immensely. This is all well and good. But the announcement of an episode seven is highly diconcerting. The insisted continuation of a franchise we all know peaked in 1983 with The Return of the Jedi is, I feel, a mistake. Sure, the last three made were exciting for me as a kid. I still remember my father pulling me out of school early on the day of the release of Revenge of the Sith to go see it at the Brenden Theatres in downtown Modesto together. But one can only take so much cheesy Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen dialogue (love you guys, huge fan xoxo), and the amount of energy we had to put into pretending to like The Phantom Menace alone was frankly exhausting. The classic Star Wars is the Star Wars we all love, in all its primitive greenscreen glory and Harrison Ford sex appeal. We didn't really need episodes 1 through 3, and we definitely don't need episodes 7 through 9. I plead with you, Disney, for the love of all that is intergalactic and holy, let Star Wars rest in peace.
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