Yesterday, I mentioned that I was trying to be a bit more serious on my technology reporting, but I couldn’t help reporting on the finding of E.T. Atari 2600 games. I guess I have too much of a personal connection to them, just like I have with Star Wars.

In case you haven’t heard, Disney bought Star Wars for about 4 billion. The first thing that they want to do is make Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, and J.J. Abrams is planning on directing the first of these films. It seems like everyone wants to hear more about the production of this film, and the cast has finally been established. I honestly say I haven’t heard of some of these actors but they are John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, as well as these two I have heard of Andy Serkis (Gollum from Lord of the Rings) and the famous Max von Sydow. Original cast members will return to their roles, and these included Carrie Fisher (Leia), Mark Hamill (Luke), Anthony Daniels (C-3P0), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), and at long last, Harrison Ford (Han Solo).

I realize that most have been following this news closely, and I think I know why. If you are old enough to remember when Star Wars came out, then you have your own memories associated with it. As for me, I first saw the original in the theater in 1977, and I was in kindergarten. After that, I had to get all the toys because my friends had them. When Empire came out, I had to get all of the toys for that. By the time Jedi came out, I just wasn’t really interested in collecting the toys, and was in the 6th grade.

I loved the story of Star Wars, and the universe it presented was just unlimited in its possibilities. It was like it mixed in all the cool stuff of speculative fiction: aliens, lasers, robots, all wrapped up with a magical religious creed of The Force. Once the trilogy came to VHS, Star Wars became a pleasant reminder of epic, special-effects filmmaking.

For years, a copy of the trilogy was on everyone’s shelf, and I always admired the closure of it. I never really wanted to see more of Star Wars, even though I loved the characters and setting. I just felt there was a mortality of its story that shouldn’t outlive the first three films.

Unfortunately, the revised editions came out, adding more special effects and even deleted story elements. It was what I wanted, as it was Star Wars reborn. The problem was these films didn’t need to be updated because a lot of the effects still looked pretty good.

Then there came the prequels, and I really don’t really have to mention the mediocrity of Episode I. It only became a landmark because it unleashed CG in every other film after it. Episode II was a darker offering, and I believe that Episode III is the best of these trilogy of prequels.

Now there are Star Wars books, the Clone Wars TV series, and the universe is so detailed that I actually want to see less of it instead of more. It is sad how something so good just became so bad, and I honestly am not looking forward to these new Star Wars movies.

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