![]() In reality, they kind of suck and have always sucked. The Jedi as a whole are supposed to be the keystone of the Star Wars universe, idealized space wizards who solve problems for the good of everyone. This undermines Luke's entire journey of becoming a Jedi Knight. The stories Obi-Wan told Luke were lies, and not just about his father. Again, this totally sets up the state of the world in the original trilogy, but again it destroys the idea of the Jedi as heroes. Meanwhile, they're blind to the Sith Lord literally running the Republic and are completely useless at stopping him, and their screw-ups push Anakin into that Sith Lord's arms. The Jedi Council then further screws things up by vacillating on what exactly Anakin should be to the Jedi because of a prophecy and his potential, while trying and failing to instill fanatical rejection of personal attachments. That's really dramatic and tragic for Anakin's story, but it makes the Jedi look beyond useless. And the next time Anakin sees his mother is never, because she's sold to a family (who later raises Luke) and then killed by Tusken Raiders. They leave behind his mother, who's a literal chattel slave, which they can't do anything about because it's legal on Tatooine. They find this brilliant, Force-sensitive child in the desert, who could help them accomplish their mission, and they take him away to train to be a Jedi Knight. Then Anakin showed up, and the Jedi botched his life from the moment he met Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. At least, that's what they were supposed to be. In the prequels, the Jedi were still depicted as heroic figures who served the greater good, fighting for peace and justice across the Republic. Despite what haters of The Last Jedi might think, the image of the Jedi as these legendary paragons of virtue implied in the original trilogy wasn't destroyed by a disaffected Luke Skywalker throwing away a lightsaber. It started in the prequels, where the vaunted Jedi were revealed to be ineffectual religious zealots that basically served as a semi-detached paramilitary organization that brainwashed children. That might be part of it, but now that the sequel trilogy is "complete," I can confidently say that what really turned me off of Star Wars was not what was left out, but what was filled in. (If you ever read some of George Lucas' original ideas for Star Wars, you might be thankful for that). The books, comics, and games all varied wildly in quality, but some excellent storytelling and worldbuilding really fleshed out a fictional universe that, while visually striking and with some strong tentpole concepts, really wasn't developed particularly well in the films. I really liked the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU), and for a long time, I thought my cooling down on Star Wars was because Disney declared it non-canon. It was some great movies and video games, but I'm just not a fan anymore, and I think I can explain why. Now I don't really feel anything for Star Wars. I even liked Star Wars: The Last Jedi, even if it was structurally flawed, and was excited to visit Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in a Disney park before the pandemic chilled my enthusiasm on that. I collected helmets and lightsaber props (both Master Replicas and Hasbro ForceFX and third-party lightsabers from UltraSabers), and thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Even with the arrival of the prequel trilogy and its terrible aesthetics, I still loved the original trilogy and the Expanded Universe around it. I played the games, read the novels, and served as vice admiral in a TIE Fighter fan fleet online (shout-outs to any remaining Star Vipers). I was a hardcore Star Wars fan through the 90s and early aughts. Sadly, I think I'm done with Star Wars, and if you knew me "back in the day," you'd know how much that means. But maybe it no longer needs a "day" about it semi-formalized by huge marketing and social media pushes. ![]() We're celebrating Star Wars and everything around it, and that's nice. How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.
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