I have mentioned more than enough times how I wasn’t certain if I wanted to see Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Of course I was planning to see it because, well, it’s Star Wars, and I grew up with it.

As it so happens, the other site that I write for, The Gospel Herald, wanted me to write about it. You can read what I wrote about it here, but there is a warning about spoilers.

I will have to say that I loved this movie. I will have to say that I started making comparisons of this film with the original trilogy as I watched. Yes, there is some originality in it, and it does take the story of Star Wars after Return of the Jedi pretty well.

Here is something that I have to say about Star Wars: it is a legacy. When it first hit theaters in 1977, it changed everything. The Lucas made a sequel which was considered even better. Personally, I didn’t really like it back in the day, but I loved the toys and trading cards. Then I loved Return of the Jedi, and I loved just having the closure of the trilogy.

I said that I was going to do this review without spoilers, and I will say that I will have to say that some bad stuff went down after the Ewok party. Remember how it felt like “Vader is in his heaven, and all is good in a galaxy, far, far away” at then end of Return of the Jedi?

Yeah, that didn’t take. Instead, the First Order is now the Imperials, but there is a Rebellion…I mean, Resistance. There is kind of a new Darth Vader named Kylo Ren and some other new characters like an ex-stormtrooper named Finn and Rey, a kind of Luke Skywalker character.

Then the older characters are back with Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, C-3PO, plus the Millennium Falcon. Yeah, the last one isn’t a character, but dang it, it might as well be.

Yes, there is a lot to like in this film, as modern day special effects make the space chase scenes look absolutely terrific. Then there is also a scene that happens that is tragic, actually, there’s a few of them. I can’t spoil it, but nothing in Star Wars will ever be the same, and Disney reboots that pesky Star Wars Expanded Universe.

In short, The Force Awakens is a great film, but to compare it to the original trilogy just doesn’t work. Things have changed with 30 years of film, but it’s okay to start something anew.