Today is the 12th anniversary of Disney buying Star Wars, and it's been a wild ride. I was trying to think of the scope of the two years of lead-up and ten years of actual content, and it's a lot of content. So much that unless you're a YouTube channel like Star Wars Explained or something where it's your day job to watch every Star Wars, it's pretty much impossible to consume everything. Because of that, there is something I think we should normalize more going forward:
It's okay not to like everything in Star Wars.
I wrote about this topic last year, but it's always good to have a refresher course. I would say it's something that some fans seem to struggle with, but the way social media is nowadays, that's a grift which you can read more about here in point #3.
In the last 12 years, Disney has given us as followed:
- 5 feature films, with The Mandalorian & Grogu as the upcoming sixth
-14 television series with animation and live action (counting Season 7 of The Clone Wars in this)
-7 micro-series including a short from Studio Ghibli
-1 excellent game show starring Ahmed Best
-7 documentaries including the upcoming John Williams special
-Well over 1,000 books, comics, audio dramas, and short stories
-Multiple video games like Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequels, mobile games like Star Wars Hunters, and the recent release of the first open-world game of the franchise, Star Wars Outlaws.
-Don't forget about Galaxy's Edge in the Disney Parks
And this isn't even counting the plethora of non-canon LEGO series like The Freemaker Adventures, Rebuild the Galaxy, and the holiday and Halloween specials. If you're an Extended Universe fan, there have been stellar re-releases, including special editions, and the current canon is always pulling from their lore. Also, there are official conventions celebrating Star Wars Legends, so it's a great time to try the EU for the first time if you haven't (like I have!).
And I know I'm forgetting something somewhere.
There is so much Star Wars. It's totally okay if you don't like everything. That's normal. I have a friend who has only seen Andor because they were reading about the quality of the show. They are the biggest Andor fan and don't really care about watching the rest of the stuff. We need to normalize not liking everything in the fandom. Because Disney has given us so much to celebrate, so much to analyze, and so many choices as to where we can decide if something is for us or not.
There is something for every fan of Star Wars, whether you're a pre-schooler watching Young Jedi Adventures or an adult diving into Death Troopers for the first time. Like a great writer once wrote on this site, all of this Disney Star Wars is going to outlive us. So you might as well find what you love and enjoy the ride, ups and downs, and with those you care about.
And for the stuff you don't like? Follow the golden rules to be respectful and don't yuk on other people's yums. At the end of the day, it's fake and in space. There's no reason to attack another human being over a magical space wizards and pew pews.
Because Disney Star Wars is not going anywhere anytime soon.