Star Wars died to me when they broke from the original story. I haven't read all the novels (who could, there's so so many), but I read enough to know that wasn't when and where Han was supposed to meet his end.
I can appreciate wanting to shake things up a bit, but if that's the route they wanted to take they should've started a beginning to end (from the Sith being a species) anthology and just remade episodes 1-9 later, or picked another trilogy to lead with (Darth Bane would've been my wet dream come true).
Instead they butchered an amazing story that deserved so much better. I'll never forgive Disney for what they've done or Lucas for letting them do it.
R.I.P. Star Wars. The Force isn't with us anymore.
I have heard that Harrison ford begged Abrams to let Han die on screen. Rumor has it that it was a condition of ford returning. Personally I think it was one of the most heroic deaths I have ever seen on screen. Han is my favorite character ever. That movie was a love letter and a goodbye to him. He went out trying to save his son to the very last...
I do not dispute that it was a heroic death for one of the greatest causes of all, but that isn't my complaint. Star Wars is a vast and rich source to draw from to reboot the series. I get that the last 3 episodes needed to be made to finally bring a long awaited close to the story so many of us have waited for, some pretty much our entire lives. My complaint is there are resources available to breath new life into it without deviating so severely from the story.
Spoiler Alert
It was the wrong son that turned to the dark side and not for the right reason, which I felt was also somewhat heroic in a sad way. They altered the entire family structure, and the lives of all the main characters and in doing so cheated Luke out of some of his greatest moments, as well as cheating Leah out of her birthright.
The entire thing gave me the impression that Disney just didn't want to pay dues to all the independent authors who have collaborated over the years to make this amazing universe the marvel of storytelling and community it has become. I concede that I often have a skewed outlook towards corporations, especially those as gargantuan as Disney, so it's possible, maybe even likely that there's a lot I'm not taking into consideration regarding that line of thought, but I still stand on the principle that the story deserved to be told in it's original form, saving room for minor tweaks along the way to pay homage where appropriate.
I could likely rant on this for hours, but I won't. I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate your reply, respect your perspective, and hopefully offer a little bit of insight as to why I felt this just wasn't the way to go with it. Thanks for the exchange and please accept my gratitude.
I completely get where you are coming from. I am a HUGE fan of the Timothy Zahn books especially. If they would have simply made the Thrawn Trilogy into movies I would have been thrilled. I actually do think the new team was influenced by several authors including Zahn. Ben turning to the Dark Side may be a shout out to Jacen Solo in the books. I am also impressed to see Thrawn in the Rebels TV show. I think he will make his way into a movie or two before it is all over. And with the universe as huge as it is, I wouldn't be surprised to see some Anderson, Jeter and other authors' ideas worked in. They are going to making these forever. We may all get to see our favorite stories told at some point.
Always happy to converse about different points of view about Star Wars! Thanks for taking the time to share yours.
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