The Saga Ends — Reactions to Rise of Skywalker

Photo by Andrew Wulf on Unsplash

I watched A New Hope on television because I was far too wriggly a child to sit through movies yet. I watched The Empire Strikes Back in my home town’s tiny and long gone theater, with intermissions and an ice cream cart (American readers — Brits, at least at that point, ate ice cream instead of popcorn. It’s a thing).

I watched Rise of Skywalker in a stadium seating theater down the road, at a relatively quiet time.

Theaters have changed a lot, although I didn’t watch it in one with leather recliners…because all the good seats were taken.

The saga ends where it begins. On Tatooine. And it ends with fans much more divided. I remember the arguments about which movie was better (Return of the Jedi, sorry). But back then we didn’t have the internet and we didn’t have rapid communication fanning the flames.

Star Wars then vanished until 1999, when the first of the three prequels showed up. These movies did divide people. Most fans hated them. A few adored them.

Photo by Cade Roberts on Unsplash

And then it vanished again until 2015. And things and times have changed. Luke was replaced by Rey (Daisy Ridley). Our other hero was a black…