The problem with Star Wars is that it’s really a small universe and the prequels and later Disney trilogy really hammer this home. The entire galaxy revolves around the Skywalker family and their drama.
This is the thing that ultimately kills any possibility of my being interested in the setting. I think there are hints of really cool things there, and I only recently watched the original movies for the first time in order to have context for all the other stuff in the universe, of which there is a lot. But when I looked into what all that other stuff was about, I realized that it's all either retellings of the same events, or expansions on the same events, or about the consequences of the actions of characters we've already learned all about. Like, I just want to see what life was like for a normal Jedi, for example. For someone who wasn't "the chosen one." Why can't there be even a single story in this entire universe about that?
Same here. I grew up on Star Wars and am still fond of the OT, but it wasn't until I was older and started reading book series and going through Marvel/DC comics, I realized how small and lifeless the Star Wars universe truly is. I could give you examples about how small it is based on the Expanded Universe all following formulas, but I'll do you one better -
Look at The Empire Strikes Back from beginning, middle and end. It's the best movie of the entire franchise and this isn't a knock on it, but that movie really proves how small the universe is. The entire middle act of the film has nothing to do with the galactic civil war and we don't even know what is going on with the rebellion during that time. After the battle of Hoth, we see Luke go to Dagobah to train with Yoda, meanwhile Leia, Han, Chewie and C-3PO are on the Millennium Falcon being chased by the entire imperial fleet.... Meanwhile, where is the rebel fleet??? Where is the rest of the Rebel Alliance?
This also brings up two huge questions - how long did Luke train with Yoda on Dagobah, and how long did Vader and his fleet chase the Falcon around? Was it a few days? Weeks? Months? We don't really know. It goes to show how small the universe is in those movies. The entire middle act of that movie has nothing to do with the galactic civil war going on, and it all eventually comes down to the Skywalker family and their drama. The more I thought about this stuff, I realized how small of a universe Star Wars truly is.
After the battle of Hoth, we see Luke go to Dagobah to train with Yoda, meanwhile Leia, Han, Chewie and C-3PO are on the Millennium Falcon being chased by the entire imperial fleet… Meanwhile, where is the rebel fleet??? Where is the rest of the Rebel Alliance?
Considering how poorly the sequels trilogy handled your criticism of Empire Strikes Back; maybe it was a good thing. In The Last Skywalker, the rebel alliance is essentially paralyzed in fear and unable to respond - no daring raids, no freeing of slaves or imperial outposts, no additional recruiting. It's just "what do we do, what do we do?!"
Yeah, I wasn't knocking Empire Strikes Back, was just pointing out how small of a universe it is. Star Wars really is more of fantasy/mythology than Sci-Fi. The original movies do a pretty good job with the Hero's Journey, but that's about all they do right.
Fans have always argued about Boba Fett just being a character that looks cool with no personality or characterization but this same thing can be said for literally all the characters in the background minus the main cast and villain (Vader) and possibly Jabba the Hutt (and that's only cause he was mentioned briefly in ANH and ESB). We don't even know much about the Emperor in the old movies. Every side character is just some cool design that will look striking and cool, but it's a small universe as there was never really much focus put on fleshing that stuff out and adding life to it.
This is the thing that ultimately kills any possibility of my being interested in the setting. I think there are hints of really cool things there, and I only recently watched the original movies for the first time in order to have context for all the other stuff in the universe, of which there is a lot. But when I looked into what all that other stuff was about, I realized that it's all either retellings of the same events, or expansions on the same events, or about the consequences of the actions of characters we've already learned all about. Like, I just want to see what life was like for a normal Jedi, for example. For someone who wasn't "the chosen one." Why can't there be even a single story in this entire universe about that?
Same here. I grew up on Star Wars and am still fond of the OT, but it wasn't until I was older and started reading book series and going through Marvel/DC comics, I realized how small and lifeless the Star Wars universe truly is. I could give you examples about how small it is based on the Expanded Universe all following formulas, but I'll do you one better -
Look at The Empire Strikes Back from beginning, middle and end. It's the best movie of the entire franchise and this isn't a knock on it, but that movie really proves how small the universe is. The entire middle act of the film has nothing to do with the galactic civil war and we don't even know what is going on with the rebellion during that time. After the battle of Hoth, we see Luke go to Dagobah to train with Yoda, meanwhile Leia, Han, Chewie and C-3PO are on the Millennium Falcon being chased by the entire imperial fleet.... Meanwhile, where is the rebel fleet??? Where is the rest of the Rebel Alliance?
This also brings up two huge questions - how long did Luke train with Yoda on Dagobah, and how long did Vader and his fleet chase the Falcon around? Was it a few days? Weeks? Months? We don't really know. It goes to show how small the universe is in those movies. The entire middle act of that movie has nothing to do with the galactic civil war going on, and it all eventually comes down to the Skywalker family and their drama. The more I thought about this stuff, I realized how small of a universe Star Wars truly is.
Considering how poorly the sequels trilogy handled your criticism of Empire Strikes Back; maybe it was a good thing. In The Last Skywalker, the rebel alliance is essentially paralyzed in fear and unable to respond - no daring raids, no freeing of slaves or imperial outposts, no additional recruiting. It's just "what do we do, what do we do?!"
Yeah, I wasn't knocking Empire Strikes Back, was just pointing out how small of a universe it is. Star Wars really is more of fantasy/mythology than Sci-Fi. The original movies do a pretty good job with the Hero's Journey, but that's about all they do right.
Fans have always argued about Boba Fett just being a character that looks cool with no personality or characterization but this same thing can be said for literally all the characters in the background minus the main cast and villain (Vader) and possibly Jabba the Hutt (and that's only cause he was mentioned briefly in ANH and ESB). We don't even know much about the Emperor in the old movies. Every side character is just some cool design that will look striking and cool, but it's a small universe as there was never really much focus put on fleshing that stuff out and adding life to it.