asically, they released Episode 7 without a plan for 8 and 9, and just let the individual directors have at it. So you have Episode 7 from the master of setup with no idea on how to pay it off, Episode 8 with a guy that wants to shatter audience expectations, and Episode 9 with them frantically scrambling to make it all work.
I just think that it could have been so much better, and now we have lost the chance.
I get all of that, and I don't disagree that they did a massive disservice by not working out a three movie plan and letting two conflicting visions of the franchise ping pong back and forth.
I also get the frustration with not having the original trio reunite on screen, but I feel like that's partially a result of the lack of planning.
My issues with the ST hate boil down to a few things.
First, I was there was TFA was released. Saw it in theatres with a few different friend groups and my family and the experience among everyone I talked to- both IRL and online at the time- was positive. People were EXCITED for Star Wars again and left TFA excited to see where things could go. So much eager fan speculation about Rey, Snoke, Luke... it all stemmed from the positive reception that movie got. And for good reason. It's a good movie.
And then I saw a certain class of internet YT
grifters critics decide it was Bad Actually. I watched a movie everyone seemed to agree with was a good time turn into a vector for toxic fan discourse because a bunch of faux intellectual who thought pontificating on a movie series about space wizards was Important Public Discourse decided pushing back against a broadly enjoyed movie made them the Smartest And Bestest Boys.
Then TLJ comes out and, due to that lack of any planning, it's allowed to actively reject and ridicule the fan speculation that seemed to make initial TFA discourse so fun and suddenly the entire ST was marred in toix bulls**t that Star Wars as a whole still hasn't pulled itself out from. TRoS was a noble attempt to salvage things, but between trying to speed run an alternate Ep VIII as well as be Ep IX on a time crunch, it just had too much it had to do. Still, like I said above, I like its big swings. Rey being a Palpatine is 100% fine by me, and the idea of people realizing they're stronger then an authoritarian regime if they stand as one is a good message. It's a flawed movie, but I do respect its ideas and what it was able to do with the crazy restraints placed on it.
Also, the "DECANONIZE THE SEQUELS"/"KATHLEEN KENNEDY KILLED MY DOG"/"REY IS A MARRY SUE" discourse is so dumb and childish that I roll my eyes any time we start approaching that. Of course the ST is flawed, and ofc you can criticize it legitimately, but the well has been poisoned to such an extent that I just have very little desire to engage with it. That's the thing about toxic fandom. It makes having good faith discussion nearly impossible.
In relation to the PT? I think the ST, flaws and all, laps it. While the ST is made up of three movies that are the result of poor planning, competing visions, and too much focus group corproate-driven decisions, they are on the whole very competantly made movies. Meanwhile of the PT, only Ep I actually feels like a proper movie. II and III are so reliant on green screen tech that they feel like actors moving through PS3-era games. The writing is stilted and embarassingly bad. And the direction is uninspired and dull. Attack of the Clones might have the most incomprehensible plot I've ever seen in a big budget tentpole blockbuster.
My final thoughts on the ST are that the fandom as a whole and the franchise will be just fine if Disney just goes "hey, like it or not, they're done, we're moving on." The PT was universally ridiculed until the zoomers who grew up with it got old enough to share their opinions en masse and change that discussion, and the same thing will happen to the ST in 10-15 years. Additionally, new content if done well can make up for a lot. Star Wars needs to leave PT and OT-era stories behind. Commit to stuff that takes place after Ep IX. Make the Rey movie. Maybe a show about what the Galaxy is like now that both the New Republic and First Order are gone. Move forward, and a lot of ills will be cured.
