i know some people would probably rebut by saying star wars is a classic that's strong enough to riff off by itself at this point and - in the hands of a different director, *maybe*; like i do feel like that's what the old EU's strength was - remixing it with other genre high points that all the various authors knew best (would you say that Thrawn has a bit of a bond-movie vibe?). but at the hands of disney... alas, destined to mediocrity by the masses.
frankly to your last point about directors going their own way, i feel like Lucas riffed off of vietnam-era pulp for the prequels too which is why the prequels have a startlingly solid anti-war/imperialism streak that i doubt he wholly intended, but it's what made them (and films like full metal jacket) genuine classics versus being xeroxed from the original trilogy, as rough as parts of them were.
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i know some people would probably rebut by saying star wars is a classic that's strong enough to riff off by itself at this point and - in the hands of a different director, *maybe*; like i do feel like that's what the old EU's strength was - remixing it with other genre high points that all the various authors knew best (would you say that Thrawn has a bit of a bond-movie vibe?). but at the hands of disney... alas, destined to mediocrity by the masses.
frankly to your last point about directors going their own way, i feel like Lucas riffed off of vietnam-era pulp for the prequels too which is why the prequels have a startlingly solid anti-war/imperialism streak that i doubt he wholly intended, but it's what made them (and films like full metal jacket) genuine classics versus being xeroxed from the original trilogy, as rough as parts of them were.