Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker and the entire Saga

Spoilers, Spoilers, Spoilers! For Rise of Skywalker and all of Star Wars!

Also, it sucks that I have to say this, but here we go. This is my opinion. It's valid. Your opinion on Star Wars is valid too. If you like something, great! Enjoy! If you don't like something, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Your experience is valid either way.

Part 1: My thoughts on the Saga and Rise of Skywalker

After seeing Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker twice, I can confidently say this: I'm relieved the saga is over. I'm glad it's done. Frankly, I hope I never see another Skywalker, Solo, or Palpatine on screen ever again in new films. That's not to say I don't want more Star Wars. Rogue One gave me some hope and the Mandalorian was something Star Wars definitely needed. And I adore plenty of the main films. The Last Jedi, warts and all, proves that we can indeed improve our collective cultural myths. We can tell better stories. The problem with TLJ, and I think this might be a factor, retroactively, in why some people have issues with the movie, is that it doesn't fit with the rest of the saga. It doesn't fit with the movie before or after it. Conversely, Rise of Skywalker feels almost like a direct sequel to Force Awakens. Those two films, filled with nostalgia and call backs, wild plot leaps and enough fan service to choke a horse, they feel like they are from the same trilogy.

But look back at each of the three sets of films independently and it's not hard to see that they are all very different, very disjointed from each other. It would be lazy to call the first trilogy full of originality. It was the series that used Death Stars as the primary macguffin two thirds of the time. By Return of the Jedi a deep sense of cynicism and commercialism had seeped into the series along with a very uneven tone. With Jabba, you had slavery and sexual assault while simultaneously plying small children with the cute, cuddly Ewoks and the avalanche of toys that came with them.

Then you had the prequels. (sad trombone)

Years later, we got the Force Awakens which so desperately wanted to capture the feelings and fuzziness of the original trilogy it just straight up copied it. I honestly wish that they'd either given all three films of the new trilogy to JJ Abrams or all three films to Rian Johnson. For fucks sake, I wish they'd actually written out the story for all three films when they first decided to move ahead with creating a new trilogy. By the time they shot Force Awakens, Disney had owned Marvel for years. The MCU movies aren't perfect, but they have an absolute through line across multiple properties and are tonally consistent on many levels. There just isn't an excuse to give Rey flashbacks about her mystery parents and not know exactly who those parents are from the very first draft of TFA and how they will affect her arc through all three films.

I mentioned earlier that The Last Jedi didn't feel like the films before and after it. Personally, I love the film, but I also get why so many don't like it (For valid reasons. You racist, bigoted small minded assholes will always be wrong.). It very specifically calls out nostalgia as something to be abandoned and yet it's surrounded on either side by films that absolutely rely on it. The Last Jedi is weakened drastically by Rise of Skywalker. That said, it has some of my favorite all time Star Wars lines in it and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention them here.

• We are the spark, that will light the fire that'll burn the First Order down.
• Luke Skywalker: Breathe. Just breathe. Reach out with your feelings. What do you see?

• Rey: The island. Life. Death and decay, that feeds new life. Warmth. Cold. Peace. Violence.
• Luke Skywalker: And between it all?
• Rey: Balance. An energy. A Force.
• Luke Skywalker: And inside you?
• Rey: Inside me that same Force.
• Luke Skywalker: And this is the lesson. That Force does not belong to the Jedi. To say that if the Jedi die, the light dies, is vanity. Can you feel that?
• Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.
• Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you were meant to be.
• When I served under Leia, she would say, hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you’ll never make it through the night.
• That’s how we’re going to win. Not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.

Which brings us to the final film in the Star Wars saga. The Rise of Skywalker was okay. It had some exciting moments and some fun set pieces. It had lots of 'awwwww' and moments to sniffle at. But it also had more WTF moments than probably anything outside of the prequels. This film felt like JJ had a checklist that was something like this:

• Death Star time a thousand billion!
• Nostalgia bad guy since that other guy killed Snoke!
• Undo as many things as I can from the last film!
• Kill lots of folks =Tragedy!
• Un-kill lots of folks! (literally, we lost Chewbacca, C3-PO, Kylo, Rey, Leia, none of whom stayed dead, we even got some more Han Solo) = Happy!

I'm not going to nitpick the entire film here. Star Wars has always been fantasy. If you start getting into things like how the hell they managed to build and man all of those Star Destroyers while also keeping it secret from the entire galaxy, you'll go insane. You have to let that kind of shit go at a certain point or these movies just aren't for you.

All in all though, the saga is a mess. It left tons of things hanging, awkwardly explained or not explained at all. It gave us confused moral messages, unfulfilled prophecies, contradictory philosophies, inconsistent characters and brought it all together in a film that really just wanted to be more of a highlight reel, than a meaningful conclusion to a trilogy or a saga. What can you do but shrug and go re-watch the Mandalorian? Like I said, I'm glad the saga has concluded. It took 42 years, but we made it.

Part 2: Kissing (and sex) in Star Wars

Let's talk about sexuality in Star Wars. It's some weird fucking shit, can we all agree on that? In Episode IV we get our first kiss 'for luck' from Leia. She kisses Luke just before crossing the bridge. It's cute and fun in the moment. It feels like a serial adventure thing. But retroactively, it's creepy. They're brother and sister. That's it for Episode IV.

In Empire, we get Leia kissing Luke to show up Han, which is funny, but again awkward retroactively for incest reasons. Then we get Han kissing Leia. I know many, many women, who quote this as one of their formative, hot, steamy, kissing moments in film. But damn, watch it again. She calls him a scoundrel. Says “stop that” – twice. She's literally pressed into a corner and trying to push back away from him. I realize Han is a bad boy, but that scene could have been flipped to have Leia take charge in a way that made it more fun and less gross. It hasn't aged well.

In Jedi, we finally get a decent kiss from Leia again when she kisses Han in Jabba's chamber after freeing him from carbonite. It's a passionate kiss. And pretty much the most passion we see in Star Wars. There's a deserved feeling of desperation about it. We later get the sweet kiss from Leia on Endor towards the end. Han is stunned (and hopefully grossed out) at the revelation that Leia is Luke's sister. It's cute and heartwarming.

But that's pretty much it for the Star Wars films. There's not even really an intimation of sex or sexuality (outside of a bit of bow chicka bow wow from Lando) and the vague insinuation that Jabba got off on half-naked women from other species.

The prequels go on to be one of the most un-arousing films in cinematic history. Wooden performances take us through all of Phantom Menace without a hint of sexuality. Literally everyone in the film could be asexual and that would play out just fine.

The Clone Wars gives us creeper Anakin who stares and says inappropriate weird shit. Anakin would likely be blocked on social media by a lot of folks in our world and probably have a few restraining orders out on his ass. Then we get that weird Yes!/No! Kiss where we hear about how Jedi's aren't supposed to love and Padme can't because she's a senator or some shit? What? Who said anything about love? It was a kiss. And why can't senators kiss people? Also why are you attracted to this whiny little brat you used to babysit and call Ani? Same goes for the kiss just before the gladiator fight. Just cringey. Then we wrap it up with another kiss at their wedding. I felt like we were watching two strangers being forced into marriage because they belonged to some strange Christian cult.

I guess there had to be sex happening there at some point since we got Luke and Leia. Although, I'm not entirely convinced since apparently Anakin was a virgin birth. Was Palpatine his father? Does that make all Skywalkers actually Palpatines? All aboard the incest train! These movies have the most f-ed up family trees. The prequel kissing scenes and their handling of sex, love and sexuality all felt like they were written by fifth graders. Not for fifth graders. By them.

Anyway, no kissing in Force Awakens. No sex. But hot damn do we finally have some chemistry again! Finn is cute with Rey, endearing really. But it's Finn and Poe that got it going on. PaPow!

On to the Last Jedi. I love me some Rose. And I hope she gets her own show. That would be rad. But I felt zero chemistry between her and Finn outside of friendship. And I think that they should have either skipped that kiss entirely or made it more clear it was a kiss of friendly affection.

Then we have Rise of Skywalker and the Rey/Kylo kiss. Ugh. Not as awful on the surface as the prequel kisses, but come on. Bond or no, connection or no, Kylo Ren is a mass murdering asshole who cut down untold numbers of human beings without a thought. I don't give two flying fucks if he gave his life to save Rey. That's not redemption. That's not sacrifice. That's literally the bare minimum human decency demands. And you don't reward the bare minimum of decency in your movie with it's only kiss among main characters.

Then two women kiss for 1.5 seconds.

It's not really sexuality, but I do adore the hug at the end between the three main characters. It felt real and in that moment, I ached because I actually do really love Finn, Poe and Rey. They were characters that were worthy successors to Luke, Han and Leia, and they deserved more.

We got some more creeping from Lando there at the end.

Also, I guess Palpatine stuck his dick in someone about 40 years ago? Somewhere around the time of A New Hope? I mean...was she like his girlfriend? Someone he just picked up at a bar and didn't wear a condom with? A fourth ex-wife?

don't hate the playa

I guess that's one of my biggest problems with the saga. Not that it's a 'sexless' 'for kids' series, because it's not. It's that it treats sex and sexuality as something darker and creepier than the dark side of the Force. Most Star Wars characters are completely devoid of personal sexuality. I don't need Star Wars to have a ton of sex in it. But it needs to have love and vocal expressions of it. It needs to have broken hearts and yearning and occasionally a really great kiss. The only one that ever really did it for me was the one Leia gave Han at the beginning of Jedi. And we never really get to see a healthy relationship in action in Star Wars. Not a single one. Everyone is either single or pursuing someone with a couple of notable exceptions. We get Han and Leia finally realizing things at the very end of Jedi. And we get creeper Anakin whose relationship with Padme is never healthy. That's it. Nine films and those are our romantic relationships. Star Wars can do better.

Part 3: My Take on Rise of Skywalker

Please forgive me. I'm going to do what half the planet has already done. I'm going to share with you how I would have done Rise of Skywalker. They missed some really good opportunities that frankly seem obvious. Yes, it's a bit fannish of me, a bit indulgent. But I'm also the guy who re-wrote Episode 1 to my own tastes a few years back prior to the Force Awakens. My goal here was two-fold: To give Rey, Finn and Poe, satisfying and concluding arcs and to wrap up the entire saga in a meaningful way, especially Leia's role.

So, here's my alternate take on The Rise of Skywalker! Take this for what it is: A thought experiment. Keep in mind, I'm mostly just expanding on what Rian and JJ set up and didn't spend more time on this than it took to write.

Opening Crawl: Former Rebel General, Lando Calrissian has heard Leia's call for help against the First Order and has begun rallying new supporters. A fledgling new Rebellion is rising! General Organa has also reluctantly agreed to pass on what Jedi knowledge she has to Rey, who is learning quickly.

Meanwhile, The First Order is in disarray. Emboldened by stories of Finn defecting and standing up to Kylo Ren, and their defeat at the hands of Luke Skywalker at Crait, more stormtroopers have abandoned their posts, some even fighting against their former masters. As Kylo Ren rages, searching desperately for Rey and the traitor, Finn, General Hux doubts Ren's ability to lead the First Order and begins a covert search for a new source of power, one that lies deep in the past...

Opening on a Star Destroyer over a planet we learn is called Korriban, Hux has discovered the original Sith homeworld. Below a very old temple, deep underground Hux finds a decrepit being, kept alive by machines but imprisoned. It's Darth Plagueis, who we learn was Palpatine's former master. Plagueis reveals that Palpatine tricked and imprisoned him here decades earlier, using him as research on Force based immortality. Plagueis tells him that Palpatine had been obsessed with immortality since he'd heard that Jedi's had found a way to live forever. Plagueis tells Hux he will help bring power back to the First Order in a way that Snoke couldn't and that there is a sleeping clone army on Korriban that he knows how to control if released and allowed to build a new cybernetic body. Hux releases Palpatine on the condition that he kill Kylo Ren..

Meanwhile, the new Rebellion is under-staffed. After decades of war, there just aren't many people able and willing to fight. Lando and Leia have assembled a rag tag little fleet of civilian ships, some with makeshift weapons, led by a team of mechanics including Rose and Chewbacca. Poe is training pilots as best he can and is attempting to step into more leadership duties at Leia's side. They've become closer.

Finn, meanwhile has become a commander of ground forces and has bonded with a number of First Order deserters, especially Jannah. He sees that his decision to desert his post was the right one.

The Rebellion receives two important pieces of news. The First Order has had to divert security away from a shipyard that is building a new dreadnought, like the one destroyed at the beginning of The Last Jedi and now would be a perfect time to strike it, while it's inoperable. Simultaneously, word has arrived that the Rebellion may have a powerful new ally on Correllia that might be able to provide something massively important to the cause but they want to meet in person.

Leia considers both options and in the end decides to initiate two operations. The first is sending Poe, Chewie, Rey and what few ships they have to attack the First Order shipyards. The second is to lead a team to meet with this mysterious new potential ally on Correllia, led by Finn and Jannah.

Before the missions launch though, Rey is haunted by visions of something happening to Finn on Correllia and she receives Leia's blessing to let Rose cover for her on the attack so that she can go with Finn.

Rey, Finn, Jannah and a small group of rebel commandos travel to Correllia. There they meet Qi'ra (from Solo), who in her later years has become an influential leader in Correllian business. She tells them she has plans for a new ship based on the YT-1300, the model of the Millenium Falcon, but that is built for fighting and troop transport and that she'll produce hundreds of them to fight the First Order, but only if she becomes the exclusive warship dealer to the Rebels. She also implies that she has serious pull with other major galactic level companies and that working with her could help sway corporate influence away from the First Order.

Rey has been getting closer with Finn since the end of TLJ and continues to do so. Jannah also seems like she might be flirting with Finn. Finn seems torn. The Force connection that Snoke established in TLJ lingers between Rey and Kylo, but it only comes in moments when their guard is down, often while sleeping.

In a dream, Kylo sees Rey on Correllia and he orders his Star Destroyer there. His officers balk considering they've just gotten word that their shipyards might be a target. Kylo instructs them to ignore the shipyards and pursue Rey and Finn.

Meanwhile, Poe, Rose, Chewie and their tiny fleet arrive at the First Order shipyard to start their assault. They quickly find though that even a weakened First Order is far tougher than their well meaning but inexperienced group of ships. Poe is about to call off the attack when Rose makes a suggestion. The dreadnought is in a floating dockyard held in place by thrusters. If Poe can destroy the thrusters, two of the Rebel ships are old converted tugs. They can latch onto the dockyard and drag the entire thing, dreadnought and all, down into the planet's atmosphere. But one of the tug pilots has been killed and Chewie has to make a daring, mid-dogfight transfer of Rose to one of the tugs so she can pilot it.

Kylo's Star Destroyer has arrived at Correllia and he has gone down with troops to the capital and hopefully find Rey and Finn. A fight erupts between the First Order and the Rebellion in which the Correllians refuse to partake, not wanting to take sides yet. Qi'ra watches closes, her hand on a concealed double bladed lightsaber. Kylo and Rey separate from the battle to continue their own feud. Lightsaber battle! And now, Rey has a yellow saber! Meanwhile, despite being a good leader, Finn's troops are outmatched by the sheer number of First Order.

Facing defeat, Finn calls out to his opponents, pleading with them to switch sides, understanding what they've gone through and that they can beat their conditioning. He stands up, no weapons in hand, and is shot in the stomach by a trooper nearly point blank. He flinches backward, drops to a knee. Fighting is about to start up again but Finn stands definantly and extends his hand in friendship to the trooper that shot him. The trooper takes off his helmet and shakes Finn's hand. The rest of the troopers put down their guns. The trooper that shot him says, “Some of us didn't think you were real. Just propaganda. Sorry I shot you.”

Rey, with more training, is holding her own against Kylo. She keeps trying to get into his head, convince him to calm down, but he's too angry. Then Leia's voice is in Kylo's head. She says, “I love you. You'll always be my son. Your father loves you too.” He falters and Rey cuts right through his hand and his saber hilt, destroying both.

Kylo is captured. Rey, Finn, Jannah and the troops, including the converted First Order, sneak back onto Kylo's destroyer and take the bridge, hoping to commandeer the vessel. But there are just too many loyal officers and soldiers. Jannah makes a desperate plea to Qi'ra on the planet and just when it looks like they'll lose, a swarm of of Correllian security ships arrive and surround the destroyer, threatening to open up if they don't surrender to the Rebels. The destroyer crew surrenders, with some converting. The surrendered First Order are shuttled off the ship to Correllia. The Rebels now have a skeleton crewed Star Destroyer.

With Poe's attack successful and the dreadnought destroyed, the Rebellion has two victories to celebrate. But it's short lived, as all the galaxy receives a message from Hux, broadcasting live from Korriban. In dramatic Hux fashion he announces that he is now Supreme Leader of the First Order, that Kylo Ren has been excommunicated and that the First Order is now being reinforced by the power of Darth Plagueis the Wise, Palpatine's master and his clone army, more than a million strong. Korriban, once a hidden Sith secret, is now the new HQ of the First Order and the new center of the galaxy, according to Hux. Soon, decades old Star Destroyers will be filled with awakening clones and launched throughout the galaxy.

Poe and Finn call Leia for orders but, strangely, she doesn't respond and no one knows where she is. Poe takes leadership of the Rebellion and makes the call. There has to be a last stand at Korriban before Hux, Plagueis and their army can mobilize and spread out. He orders every last Rebellion ship and Lando and his allies to rally just outside the Korriban system. Calling back to Correllia, Finn asks for help from Qi'ra and other corporations. They say they back the Rebellion in spirit and will start a manufacturing effort, but that they cannot help in a direct attack at the moment.

Rey is worried that something has happened to Leia, but can feel she's not dead. She goes to Kylo and they talk, separated by a force field cell door. She shares her positive experiences with Han and Luke and Kylo shares his anger and pain and his inability to let it go. Both agree that the continual battle between Jedi and Sith has to end, that it isn't good for the galaxy. Kylo points out that Rey took the moment of weakness he experienced with Leia to cut off his hand. It was an act of anger that she used to her advantage. But Rey responds that he wouldn't have been distracted if he didn't still care for his mother.

Kylo says that Plagueis won't let either of them live and Rey agrees. They form a pact to face Plagueis together and she sneaks him out of his cell. Then she hands him Luke's/Anakin's blue lightsaber. She says, “Now that I've built my own, I want to forge my own legacy. You should have this.”

Rose realizes that the First Order will likely head immediately to Korriban to help defend their new forces and may expect an attack from the Rebellion. Since the Rebel ships and Lando's group may not arrive for awhile they have to take advantage of the fact that no one in the First Order knows that they've commandeered Kylo's Star Destroyer.

Finn and Jannah plan an attack on Plagueis' underground lair while Kylo's Star Destroyer hides behind a moon of Korriban based on Rose's idea. The First Order ships arrive at Korriban and Finn and his crew quietly merge with them. An officer calls over and asks about Kylo Ren. Finn, pretending to be a First Order officer, tells them that Ren was killed by the Rebels on Correllia.

The attack team on Kylo's destroyer heads down the moment the Falcon and the other Rebel ships arrive. A space battle! A ground battle! Pew Pew! Star Wars!

Finn realizes that Rey broke Kylo out and he's furious, heartbroken and betrayed. But he and Jannah and the others push on toward Plagueis. The Rebels are fighting the First Order, but Plagueis' troops are boarding old school Star Destroyers on the ground and Poe has to stop it before it lifts off and enters the fight. He sacrifices his X-Wing, flying it right into the bridge, but ejecting first. Once on the ground, he joins Finn's crew.

Rey and Kylo face off against Plagueis. He tries to get in their head, but they both aren't buying it. They both tell him that his way of doing things – Luke's, Vader's, Palpatine's, the Jedi and the Sith – they're dead. That way is gone. It's too binary, too black or white.

They can't be turned by Plagueis. But Rey and Kylo can't seem to find a way to defeat him either as he's protected behind force fields that they can't get through. Then they hear Leia's voice. “Walk away. Let it be. Get the others and get off the planet.” They both choose to trust Leia and find Finn's group. Plagueis is using his machines to assemble a new cybernetic body and will soon be loose.

Finn's angry and doesn't want to leave. He wants to believe Rey, but she's standing there with Kylo. Kylo puts away his saber and says, “Leia wants us to leave and I'm trusting her.” Finn punches Kylo, knocking him down. Meanwhile Hux is still sending out a live signal across the galaxy, grandstanding on a podium as troops file onto antiquated Star Destroyers and the battle rages in the space high above.

The heroes see that Plagueis is now mobile, having built a monstrous, deformed body. Kylo steps up to Rey and says, “You go. I'll hold him off.” She reluctantly agrees and they share a meaningful glance. They all leave Kylo to fight Plagueis. The platform their ship is on though has taken damage and is collapsing. The pilot starts to take off and Rey makes an incredible leap to the ship and turns uses the force to suspend the platform in the air, hovering next to the ship long enough for Jannah and Finn to board.

They rocket back into space just as Lando's ships arrive to help even the odds against the First Order which is beating down the Rebels. But then Leia interrupts Hux's speech, breaking into his channel unexpectedly. Where is she broadcasting from? “I've used the force to hide myself and my intentions from the sight of Plagueis, General Hux.”

“It doesn't matter. Your Jedi powers are nothing against the might of the First Order and Darth Plagueis!”

We cut to Leia, standing alone on the bridge Kylo's Star Destroyer. She's evacuated the remainder of the crew. “I always preferred the title, General. You have a good friend of mine to thank for teaching me this move.” Leia hard turns the Star Destroyer into the atmosphere, bringing it down in a massive explosion, tearing apart the clones, Hux, and the smaller, older Star Destroyers. We glimpse Plagueis being torn apart in a fiery blast. The Rebels stare in shock and wonder as their leader and friend, Leia, finally ends things.

Using the transports channels, Finn broadcasts to the First Order. “It's over. Hux and Plagueis are gone. You're free. Turn on your enslavers. We're your liberators, not your enemies.” All of the stormtroopers turn on the officers. The First Order is defeated.

Jannah flirts a bit with Finn and Rey and Poe are in earshot. Finn sighs, “I'm really flattered, but I think I have feelings for someone else.” Rey raises an eyebrow, but Finn looks to Poe. Poe does a comedic double take. “Me? I thought it was totally one-sided!” The two men laugh and hug.

Insert some cute moments with 3PO, R2 and BB8 throughout the film.

We cut to Rey, going deep into meditation. She hears Kylo's voice and says to him, “I could feel that you didn't die on Korriban.”

“I managed to escape,” he says. “But this is the end for us. This is goodbye.”

“It doesn't have to be. Let's find a new way.”

“No. There's no atoning for what I've done, for all of those I've hurt. Thank you for the offer, but your way is the new way. In the end, I was the one holding onto the past and you were the one truly forging ahead. I'm on a path for one now. Goodbye, Rey.”

Finally, we see a scene with all of our heroes. Lando says that he's finalized the new business help and that planets are coming together to form a new cooperative republic. Poe says he only wants to be a general until the fleet gets back on its feet so he can get back to a cockpit. Finn, sitting next to Poe and Jannah says he's excited to stay a General and train a new generation of Republic soldiers. Rey says she wants to open a new school for learning about the force. She wants it to be on a beautiful planet, out in the open, where everyone can see it and things aren't kept secret. No more orders or sects or arcane laws, she says as she tosses the Jedi texts into the fireplace they're all sitting around. Rose pipes up and says, “Hey with all the new money coming in, I know the perfect planet with an awful casino we could buy out.” The talk fades and we see what might be the ghost of Luke, Leia and Yoda watching over them from a distance.

Later, Maz calls Rey and says, “I sense Leia has passed to the other side of the force. And with her death and Plagueis', I sense a certain balance has been restored. Will you be training more Jedis, Rey?”

“No,” says Rey, “That's over. I'll be teaching something else now. A balance. Compassion, empathy, strength, love.”

Fade to black...almost...Fade back in

To a very much older and changed but still recognizable C3PO and R2. They are in an unfamiliar place surrounded by children, sitting listening to them. One of the children pipes up, “And she was the first Skywalker!”

3PO points to him and says, “That's right! She was the start of something entirely new.” He looks down at R2 as wistfully as a droid can. “But that's a story for another day.”

“Awww!” the kids shout in unison. “Don't worry children,” 3PO says cheerfully. “That is but one of the many stories I have for you. Isn't that right, R2?.” R2 whistles happily.

Fade to black

If you got all the way through this, what can I say, but thanks for listening to me blather about 40 years worth of pulp entertainment. I took the time to write this because I love Star Wars and I'm excited at the new stories we can all bond over in that galaxy far far away.