Is There Such Thing As Too Much 'Star Wars?'

By Cindy Davis | Star Wars | January 26, 2016 |

By Cindy Davis | Star Wars | January 26, 2016 |

***Spoiler Warning: This post may contain photos or gifs from The Force Awakens and other Star Wars movies, as well as mentioning characters who’ve appeared in them; if you’ve not seen the films, you may wish to slowly hit page back.***

Here’s something we should really think about, maybe even a little beyond what Disney has or will contemplate: Is there such a thing as too much Star Wars? Coming off the high of The Force Awakens your first response might be:

but then you might remember the prequels again, and be like:

(or you could be like my two younger kids who’ve watched Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith so many times it would make your head spin).

Most of us are already planning our seats for the upcoming Rian Johnson directed Episode VIII, Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, Colin Trevorrow’s Episode IX, and possibly the Han Solo and Boba Fett untitled anthology films; are we prepared to think beyond that?

Bob Iger, Disney’s chairman and CEO, says the company is prepared to see how much we can handle; they plan to keep churning out new Star Wars films, perhaps ad nauseam.

“There are five Star Wars films - four more with Episode VII: The Force Awakens - that are in varying stages of development and production. There will be more after that, I don’t know how many, I don’t know how often.”

Keeping in mind that Iger helped the conglomerate acquire Lucasfilm and Marvel (as well as Pixar), meaning that many of the things you love are already being pumped out to the maximum, just how many do we want rammed down our throats (okay, okay, not rammed so much as willingly bought)? For example, as much as I’ve loved hanging out with the Avengers, I have to admit I can see the whole MCU thing becoming a bit much for me, especially if the ever-increasing, over-the-top explosive superhero fights continue. Then again, to me Star Wars tends to feel more personal somehow. Where the Avengers often interact in a lighthearted, humorous way, in between beating the shit out of each other or their foes, Star Wars feels intricate and reflectively familial; perhaps the tendencies swing differently for you. As Iger also recently mentioned, “Marvel, you’re dealing with thousands and thousands of characters - that will go on forever.” Well, perhaps there’s one hero I wouldn’t mind watching train on a loop…

There’s something to be said for leaving a good ten years between trilogies, for giving your audience a necessary breather and a chance to truly miss a particular universe and the characters we love. Think about the emotions that flooded to our hearts when we first saw Solo and Chewie together (that cheating Wookiee showed up in RotS) again in The Force Awakens trailer; that was thirty-two years of pent up nostalgia busting out of our hearts. For many of us, part of the joy surrounding The Force Awakens was directly a product of that long break after Revenge of the Sith; will we have the same appetite or fondness if new films are churned out year after year?

Cindy Davis, (Twitter)