I hate Disney.
At least with George Lucas at the helm, I knew what I was getting at all times. There were never any illusions about that. And STILL even HE released the GOUT.
Disney is trying to pretend like the OUT doesn’t even exist. George didn’t gaslight us like that. He totally acknowledged it and was merely upfront in admitting that his new cuts were the real deal as far as he was concerned, and didn’t really care that many fans fell in love with the original cuts. But again, STILL he released the GOUT.
Somehow Disney has both managed to make films (at least in the case of TROS) that are WORSE and MORE insulting to the Star Wars universe than the prequels ever were, AND to be even worse than George when it comes to satisfying fans who grew up with the original theatrical cuts of the OT. This is a TRULY impressive feat, in the worst way imaginable.
I had such high hopes that they would be better than George after the initial sale – after all, it seemed like an easy opportunity for profit, and who doesn’t love profit more than Disney? – and yet they have managed to do the inconceivable and make the situation WORSE on all fronts than it was before.
This truly is the worst timeline.
What makes it even more insulting is that the whole world could literally be on the brink of its worst existential crisis in about a century or more, and yet these assholes can’t even give us the comfort of legally indulging in our preferred space fantasy escapism. Despite having every right and capability to do so.
Disney deserves to lose all the profit it’s losing right now. They have fundamentally misunderstood Star Wars and its appeal from day one – another failing George didn’t share despite his many others – and I am glad their pathetic attempt to make a theme park out of it crashed and burned. Too bad they employed “geniuses” who went out of their way to exclude every recognizable and beloved character or icon from the OT as much as possible in their design! Who could have possibly foreseen the outcome from that aside from oh, I don’t know, any random Star Wars fan they could have pulled off the street?
While Disney deserves this reckoning, Star Wars does not. That’s the real shame. Star Wars is likely going to enter a steep decline and never again have the multigenerational appeal it once did, all because of how atrociously Disney has botched their handling of the franchise they were entrusted with.