Welcome to the Deep Dive. This is where we take
those huge cultural forces really shaping our
world and we try to break down the history, the
strategy, all the surprising details you kind
of need to know to be fluent in the conversation.
And today we are tackling a franchise that's,
well, it's less a movie series and more like
a modern mythology, isn't it? Oh, absolutely.
It's way beyond just films. It's become this
defining piece of modern culture and understanding
its sheer scope is pretty key. We're talking
about an American epic space opera created by
George Lucas. It all kicked off, of course, with
that that groundbreaking 1977 film. Yeah, the
original. Right. And since then, it's just exploded.
It's grown into one of the highest grossing media
franchises. ever the money involved is just staggering
when you look at it i mean the films alone they've
pulled in over 10 billion us dollars that puts
it right up there third highest grossing film
franchise and that's just the films exactly when
you add in everything else the games the tv shows
all the merchandise the whole thing is estimated
to be worth what north of 70 billion dollars
it's incredible it really is and that first film
the one that later became Episode 4, A New Hope,
it set up this core identity, this foundation
that allowed for that massive expansion later
on. How so? Well, it gave us this universe set
a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. That
little phrase right at the start. It's crucial.
It immediately tells the audience, OK, this isn't
hard sci -fi. This is myth. This is an epic fairy
tale. That makes sense. It sets a different expectation.
And what a rich setting he built. I mean, the
galaxy itself is just so incredibly diverse.
Totally. You've got humans, obviously, but then
this amazing variety of alien species, often
humanoid, which helps coexisting with droids.
And the droids do everything, right? From helping
around the house to... Fighting massive battles.
And the planets themselves. It's not just one
type of place. Not at all. That's the genius
of it. You have these planet wide cities like
Coruscant just gleaming with wealth and tech.
And then, you know, right alongside that, you've
got forgotten desert wastelands like Tatooine
with like. Primitive tribes barely scraping by.
It covers pretty much any Earth biome you can
think of, basically. Exactly. It gives you this
incredible canvas for telling almost any kind
of story you want. Fantasy, war, political thriller,
Western. It all fits. It feels like this perfect
blend, then. High fantasy elements mixed with
sci -fi tech. That's a great way to put it. The
technology is sophisticated. Right. You know,
space travel using light speed, hyperspace. That's
just common. They've got fancy telecommunications,
holographic projections, hyperspace transmissions,
and, of course, those absolutely massive spacecraft.
The Star Destroyers, the Death Stars. Yeah, planet
killers the size of moons. But it's important
to remember the physics are, shall we say, flexible.
Right. Rule of cool applies. Pretty much. The
drama and the story come first. It allows for
these really imaginative, visually spectacular
battles that, you know, maybe bend the laws of
real world physics quite a bit. OK, but beyond
the spaceships and the aliens, the thing that
really makes Star Wars the element that lifts
it beyond just space fantasy has to be the spiritual
core, right? The force. Absolutely. That's the
secret sauce. A lot of people just treat it like,
you know, space magic. But the source material,
it's actually pretty specific about what it is.
it is, isn't it? It is, surprisingly so, especially
early on. Back in the original film, Obi -Wan
Kenobi gives us that foundational definition.
He calls the force an energy field created by
all living things. That surrounds us and penetrates
us. It binds the galaxy together. Exactly. So
it functions almost like a kind of pantheistic
deity, you could say. This omnipresent connecting
cosmic energy field. Okay, so it's everywhere,
connects everything, but not everyone can use
it. Right. Only a few individuals are force sensitive.
And even then, Usually through really rigorous
training and intense meditation, they can learn
to tap into it. And when they do, they exhibit
what look like superpowers. Like moving things
with your mind. Telekinesis, yeah. Limited precognition,
seeing glimpses of the future, telepathy sometimes,
even manipulating physical energy like absorbing
blaster bolts. Obi -Wan basically says nothing
is impossible for the force. So it's this spiritual
energy, but it demands discipline. It's not just
waving your hands. Precisely. And that idea of
discipline, of different approaches to wielding
this power, that's where the central conflict
comes from. You get the two major knightly orders
embodying this duality. of the force. The good
guys and the bad guys. Essentially, yeah. You
have the Jedi. They're the peacekeepers, the
guardians of the galaxy serving the Galactic
Republic. They follow the light side, focusing
on non -attachment, wisdom, peace, arbitration.
And then you have the Sith. The Sith. They're
the flip side. They harness the dark side. They
tap into and manipulate intense emotions. Anger,
fear, aggression, hatred. Their power often seems
more... immediate, more destructive, maybe. But
it comes at a cost. A huge cost. It's inherently
corrupting. And this leads to one of the most
interesting bits of Sith lore, the rule of two.
Ah, right. There can only be two. Exactly. Sith
Lords are strictly limited just to master and
an apprentice, one to embody the power, the other
to crave it. This structure ensures they're always
secretive, always plotting, incredibly powerful,
but also constantly locked in this, well, fatal
struggle for dominance between master and apprentice.
It's a stark contrast to the Jedi Order, which
used to number in the thousands. And when these
two orders clash, they don't just use regular
weapons. They have the lightsaber. The lightsaber.
Probably the most iconic piece of Star Wars tech,
right? This brilliant plasma blade. It can cut
through almost any surface, deflect energy bolts.
It's elegant, requires immense skill. It's really
a specialized weapon, pretty much reserved for
these powerful force practitioners. Which creates
this nice visual contrast, doesn't it? It really
does. The lightsaber represents skill. Focus,
mastery, the hallmarks of a Jedi or a Sith. Meanwhile,
the rest of the galaxy, the soldiers, the general
population, they're using mass produced, less
refined plasma powered blasters, simple firearms,
essentially. So that visual difference reinforces
who has this special connection to the force
versus who relies on just technology or brute
force. Perfectly put. And all of this drama,
this conflict between light and dark, plays out
against this backdrop of just constant galactic
conflict. You see republics fighting empires,
like the rise of the truly evil galactic empire.
But it's not just the big armies fighting, right?
There are always those shadowy elements operating
in the... The margins, the criminal underworld.
Oh, definitely. The crime syndicates are a huge
part of the texture of the galaxy, especially
groups like the Hutt cartel run by, well, giant
slugs. They dominate the lawless outer rim territories.
And they use their own specialists. Yeah, they
employ bounty hunters. Figures like Boba Fett
became iconic. And they're involved in all sorts
of deeply illicit activities. Smuggling, spice
running, and disturbingly, even slavery. It adds
this layer of like moral grayness and danger
to the galaxy beyond the more black and white
fight between the Jedi and the Sith. OK, so we've
got the galaxy, the force, the conflict. Now
we need to talk about the core story, the family
drama that really sits at the heart of the main
films, the Skywalkers, and how that story is
told. Well, not exactly in order. Right. The
non -chronological structure is key. And Lucas's
own journey to even create this epic is pretty
fascinating in itself. His first idea wasn't
even Star Wars. What was it? He really wanted
to film an adaptation of the old Flash Gordon
serials he loved as a kid. Yeah. He couldn't
get the rights. They were tied up. So plan B
was invent his own space opera. Pretty much.
That failure pushed him to do his own research.
Yeah. He looked into other old space operas,
things like Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter
of Mars series, and he started synthesizing all
these influences, pulp fiction, samurai films,
westerns, mythology into something new. And he
started incredibly small, didn't he? Just a couple
of pages. Yeah. After he directed American Graffiti
in 1973, he wrote up just a two -page synopsis.
He took it to 20th Century Fox. And honestly,
they weren't expecting much at all. They thought
it was a gamble. A huge gamble. A weird space
fantasy. They gave him a relatively low budget.
They even made him move production over to Elstree
Studios in England, partly just to cut costs.
They really predicted, you know, maybe a modest
success at best, maybe even a flop. Which makes
what actually happened even more spectacular.
Absolutely. When the film finally came out, May
25th, 1977, it was just an immediate overwhelming
phenomenon, a massive hit, and that sudden huge
success. That's what allowed Lucas to realize
his vision was much, much bigger than just one
movie. That's when the trilogy idea solidified.
Well, he started thinking bigger. He retroactively
subtitled the first film, Episode 4. A New Hope
in 1979, and started talking about it being the
middle part of a larger saga. Eventually, this
evolved into the idea of trilogy of trilogies,
nine films in total. The Skywalker Saga. Exactly.
That became the collective title for those nine
main episodic films. And, you know, just to underline
their impact, every single one of those nine
films was nominated for Academy Awards. The first
three actually won Oscars for effects, sound,
score, art direction. Okay, let's break down
the structure of those three trilogies then.
The first one out of the gate, the original trilogy.
Right, episodes 4th, V, and 6, released between
1977 and 1983. This is the classic heroic foundation.
It follows Luke Skywalker's journey, the quintessential
hero's journey, as he develops into a Jedi. Fighting
the Empire. Fighting Emperor Palpatine's oppressive
galactic empire, yeah. Alongside his sister,
Leia, who turns out to be Force -sensitive too,
and Han Solo, the cynical smuggler. It's about
rebellion, hope. and discovering his family legacy.
Key films here are A New Hope, The Empire Strikes
Back, and Return of the Jedi. Then, almost two
decades later, Lucas finally goes back to tell
the beginning of the story with the prequel trilogy.
Episodes four and third, from 1999 to 2005, this
is where the depth and tragedy of the whole saga
really come into focus. It's the origin story,
but it's a tragic one. We watch the promising
young Jedi, Anakin Skywalker. The Chosen One.
Supposedly the Chosen One, yeah. We watch him
get slowly seduced and corrupted by Palpatine,
who's secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, and
ultimately transform into the iconic villain
Darth Vader. Lucas himself said the first six
films together are really one big story. He was
very clear about that. He called the first six
episodic films, viewed in order I through VI,
the tragedy of Darth Vader. which is structurally
brilliant when you think about it. How so? Because
the audience goes into the prequels knowing the
destination. We know Anakin becomes Vader, so
the tension isn't what happens, but how. We're
watching the sad, seemingly inevitable fall of
a hero, making your main villain the tragic protagonist
across two whole trilogies. That's pretty unique
in blockbuster cinema. What actually prompted
him to go back and make them, though? Because
after the stress of making the originals, he
seemed done for a while. Yeah he definitely needed
a break. It was really about technology catching
up to his vision. By the late 80s, early 90s,
computer -generated imagery, CGI was starting
to get really sophisticated. Right. Films like
Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park were showing what
was possible. Exactly. Lucas saw those advances
and realized he could finally create the kind
of vast, visually complex worlds and battles
he had imagined for the Republic in its prime.
The Jedi Order at its height. Things that would
have been just technically or financially impossible
back in the 70s or 80s. Okay, so original trilogy.
Prequel trilogy. Then finally, the sequel trilogy.
Episode 7th, 8th, and next, released between
2015 and 2019. This picks up the story about
30 years after the Emperor's defeat in Return
of the Jedi. It focuses on a new generation of
heroes and villains. We follow Rhi, this young
scavenger who discovers she's strong with the
Force. Right. And the main conflict revolves
around her and Kylo Ren, who's actually Ben Solo,
the son of Han and Leia, who tragically fell
to the dark side under the influence of Supreme
Leader Snoke. It climaxes with them kind of uniting
against a resurrected Palpatine, wrapping up
the nine film saga. That's the shape of it. But
the whole development of that sequel trilogy
is completely defined by that massive corporate
earthquake. Yeah. The sale of Lucasfilm to Disney.
October 2012. A huge moment. Monumental. So Lucas
sells his company. And apparently as part of
the deal, he handed over story treatments he
prepared for Episode 789X. His ideas for where
the story would go next. But Disney didn't use
them. That was the bombshell. A few years later,
Lucasfilm, now under Disney leadership, revealed
they had decided to discard Lucas's sequel outlines
entirely. Why? What was the reasoning? The official
line was that it was to give maximum creative
freedom to the filmmakers they were bringing
in, like J .J. Abrams and Rian Johnson. And also,
perhaps more pragmatically, to preserve an element
of surprise and discovery for the audience, who
wouldn't know what was coming if they weren't
following Lucas's known plans. Wow. That must
have been a massive decision. And it had huge
consequences for everything that came before,
right? The books, the comics. Oh, absolutely.
Catastrophic consequences for the existing continuity.
That decision to ignore Lucas's plans was really
the final nail in the coffin for the Star Wars
Expanded Universe, the EU. Explain the EU for
listeners who might not know. So the EU was basically
everything else. All the officially licensed
novels, comics, video games, and stories that
were created between, say, 1976 and 2014, filling
in the gaps and continuing the story beyond the
movies. For decades, Lucasfilm sort of managed
it as a secondary level of canon. Until the Disney
sale. Until the sale and the decision to make
new movies that wouldn't follow the EU's established
post -Return of the Jedi storyline. So in April
2014, they made the announcement. The entire
expanded universe was being wiped clean, rendered
non -canonical, rebranded as Star Wars Legends,
essentially saying, these are great stories,
myths, legends, but they are not the official
history of the galaxy anymore. The only official
canon going forward would be the six Lucasfilms,
the Clone Wars animated series he oversaw, and
anything new produced under Disney. That must
have caused chaos for the hardcore fans who'd
followed those stories for years. How did they
try to manage that transition? They created the
Lucasfilm Story Group. This group's job became
overseeing and maintaining the integrity of the
new unified canon across all platforms, films,
TV, books, comics, games. Everything had to align.
So a clean slate, essentially. It's a clean slate.
But, you know, the debate still lingers in the
fandom. Was discarding Lucas's outline really
about creative freedom? Or was it more of a strategic
move by Disney to clear the decks, simplify the
timeline, and make the franchise more accessible
to a brand new mass audience without decades
of potentially confusing backstory? It's a core
tension of the Disney era, for sure. Okay, speaking
of that Disney era, let's broaden out from just
the nine Skywalker films. Let's talk about the
expansion of standalone movies and this explosion
of streaming TV shows. This is where it really
starts to feel like the Marvel Cinematic Universe
model, right? Very much so. The initial strategy
involved what they called anthology films. Standalone
stories set within the Star Wars universe, but
outside the main numbered saga, often filling
in backstory or exploring side characters. Even
before Disney, we had... the Clone Wars animated
movie in 2008. Right, which is basically a theatrical
pilot for the very popular animated series set
between episodes 10 and 3 during the Clone Wars.
Lucas was heavily involved in that. Then, after
the Disney acquisition, we got the live -action
anthology films. First up was Rogue One, a Star
Wars story in 2016. And Rogue One was a huge
hit, both critically and commercially. It told
that gritty, boots -on -the -ground story of
the rebel spies who stole the Death Star plans
right before the original movie, a new hope.
Yeah. Show the potential for different tones
within the universe. But then came the second
one, Solo, a Star Wars story in 2018. Yeah, Solo.
This is the origin story for Han Solo, set about
10 years before we meet him in the cantina. And,
well, Solo's performance at the box office was
underwhelming, certainly compared to expectations.
And that underperformance had real consequences,
didn't it? Immediate and massive consequences
for their strategy, yeah. Because Solo didn't
hit the numbers they wanted, Lucasfilm apparently
got cold feet about standalone origin story movies.
The biggest casualty was the planned Obi -Wan
Kenobi movie. It was going to be a film. It was
originally developed as a standalone film, but
after Solo, they scrapped the movie plans and
immediately pivoted, redeveloping it as a limited
series for their new streaming service, Disney+.
And that pivot really marks the beginning of
this huge push into live action television. Absolutely.
That's when the streaming era truly kicks off.
And the first big undeniable smash hit was The
Mandalorian, launching with Disney Plus in 2019.
Set after Return of the Jedi. Right. In that
chaotic New Republic era between the fall of
the Empire and the rise of the First Order. The
Mandalorian proved, without a doubt, that you
could do high budget, cinematic quality, serialized
Star Wars storytelling on television. people
would flock to it. And its success wasn't just
standalone. It became the anchor for a whole
interconnected universe of shows. Exactly. The
Mandoverse, as some fans call it, very much mirroring
that MCU model. It spawned multiple live action
spinoffs. all set in roughly the same time period,
dealing with the struggles of this fledgling
new republic, trying to establish order while
imperial remnants are still causing trouble.
So we got the Book of Boba Fett in 2021. Yep,
bringing back the iconic bounty hunter. Then
Ahsoka in 2023, continuing the story of Anakin's
former apprentice from the Clone Wars and Rebels.
And there's Skeleton Crew announced for 2024.
And the plan is, all these threads are apparently
building towards a big theatrical climax movie
directed by Dave Filoni. was a key creative force
behind this whole streaming initiative. But the
streaming shows aren't just focused on that post
-original trilogy era. They've also filled in
gaps elsewhere. Right. They've used Disney Plus
to explore other crucial periods, too. We got
the Obi -Wan Kenobi series in 2022, set right
between the prequels and the original trilogy,
showing his life in exile. And then there's Andor,
also in 2022. Andor, which was critically acclaimed
for being, well, very different, much darker,
more grounded. It follows the character Cassian
Andor from Rogue One during the height of the
Empire's power, showing the grim, morally complex
reality of building a rebellion from the ground
up. It felt much more like a political spy thriller
than typical Star Wars. It really did. It explored
political corruption, sacrifice, mechanics of
resistance. Yeah. A far cry from the more swashbuckly
adventure tone of the original films, but it
showed the narrative flexibility of the universe
again. And they're even reaching further back
in time now, establishing whole new eras. Yes,
into the High Republic era. This is set centuries
before the Skywalker saga even begins. It's often
described as the golden age of the Jedi and the
Republic. a time of great exploration and peace
before the decay set in. That's where the new
show, The Acolyte 2024, fits in. Exactly. The
Acolyte is set right at the tail end of the High
Republic, focusing on a series of Jedi murders
and hinting at the resurgence of the dark side,
the Sith, operating in the shadows, setting the
stage for the conflicts we see later in the prequels.
So looking ahead, Lucasfilm announced a new strategy
in April 2023. It seems very focused on diversifying
the timeline even more, right? Moving beyond
just Skywalkers. That's the clear message. They
want films and shows set across the entire spectrum
of galactic history. We know The Mandalorian
and Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau, is slated
for May 2026. That's going to be the first film
release in this next wave, directly connecting
that successful streaming world back to the big
screen. Then there's Star Wars. Starfighter,
planned for May 2027. Sean Levy directing, apparently
with Ryan Gosling and Mia Goth attached. But
the really big timeline expansions are the other
announced films. Right. James Mangold, who directed
Logan and Indiana Jones 5. He's set to direct
a film going way, way back into the dawn of the
Jedi era, exploring the very first fourth users,
how the Jedi Order even began. Wow. The deep
origin. The very origin. And then jumping far
into the future, Charmaine Obay Chinoy is directing
a new Jedi Order film. This one will focus on
Rey, Daisy Ridley's character, as she works to
rebuild the Jedi Order about 15 years after the
events of the sequel trilogy. It's interesting
how that mangled Dawn of the Jedi idea sounds
quite similar to a project that was announced
years ago but never happened. You mean the one
from David Benioff and D .B. Weiss, the Game
of Thrones guys? Yeah, they were supposed to
do a trilogy about the first Jedi, weren't they?
Before they exited the project. They were. It
seems the core concept, exploring the absolute
beginning of the Jedi, was compelling enough
that Lucasfilm kept it in their back pocket.
It just goes to show, strong ideas within this
universe tend to resurface, even if the specific
creators change. Okay, with all these new shows
and films jumping around in time, deep past,
far future, in between the trilogies, we really
need that master map. How did Lucasfilm finally
decide to officially structure this vast galactic
history? It took a while, but yeah, in 2021 and
then refined in 2023, Lucasfilm laid out nine
official canonical eras. It provides a much -needed
framework to understand where everything fits.
It's pretty essential now, given the sheer volume
of content. Let's walk through them, starting
right at the beginning, the absolute earliest
point. Okay, that begins with the dawn of the
Jedi era, the deepest, earliest known history.
focuses on those first force wielders. That's
where Mangold's upcoming film will be set. Then
comes the Old Republic. Right. This is a vast
period where the Galactic Republic is actually
founded. The Jedi Order formally emerges as Guardians.
But it's also where the first major schism happens,
leading to the creation of the Sith. Now, most
of the stories from this era, books, comics,
the famous video games like Knights of the Old
Republic, those are all technically legends now.
But there's one exception. There is. The massively
multiplayer online game Star Wars, The Old Republic,
is still active in producing new downloadable
content. And that content is considered canonical,
making it this unique ongoing bridge to that
very popular but largely non -canon era. Interesting.
Okay, moving closer to the films we know, we
hit The High Republic. The High Republic. This
is positioned as the Golden Age, centuries before
the movies. The Republic is at its peak. The
Jedi are numerous, respected, exploring the galaxy.
It's meant to be a more optimistic, prosperous
time. This era covers the Acolyte series, the
kids show young Jedi adventures, plus a lot of
books and comics. But that Golden Age obviously
doesn't last. The next era is the fall of the
Jedi. Yeah, the decline begins here. This era
basically encompasses the entire prequel trilogy.
Episode slightly third. And the animated The
Clone Wars series. It details Palpatine's incredibly
intricate plot, how he manipulates the Clone
Wars, undermines the Republic from within, gains
emergency powers, and crucially, corrupts Anakin
Skywalker to become his Sith apprentice Darth
Vader and executes Order 66. Wiping out the Jedi,
which leads directly into the reign of the Empire.
Exactly. The Empire is now firmly in control,
Emperor Palpatine rules with an iron fist, and
the few surviving Jedi are ruthlessly hunted
down. This is actually a very crowded era in
the current canon, timeline -wise. It includes
Solo, Rogue One, the Obi -Wan Kenobi series,
Andor, plus the animated shows The Bad Bash and
Rebels. Lots happening under the Empire's shadow.
Then we finally reach the period of the original
films, the Age of Rebellion. The classic era.
This covers episodes thick feet and sixth. The
Rebel Alliance grows from scattered cells into
a force that can actually challenge the Empire.
Luke Skywalker emerges, discovers his heritage,
trains as a Jedi. This is also the era where
Lucas deliberately introduced that used universe
aesthetic. Right, you mentioned that. What did
that mean visually? It meant things looked lived
in, dirty, functional. Ships were dented and
greasy. Technology wasn't sleek and perfect.
It was a radical departure from the clean, almost
utopian look of a lot of sci -fi before it, like
Star Trek. It made the galaxy feel more real,
more tangible. After the Empire finally falls
in Return of the Jedi, we enter the New Republic
era. Correct. This is the period right after
Episode VI. The Rebel Alliance tries to rebuild
the Republic, reunite a fractured galaxy. But
it's a difficult, messy process, constantly threatened
by Imperial remnants who refuse to give up. This
is the primary setting for The Mandalorian and
all its interconnected spinoffs like Boba Fett,
Ahsoka, and the upcoming Skeleton Crew. It's
the main focus of the current TV shows. Leading
eventually towards... The rise of the First Order.
Yeah, this is the era of the sequel trilogy,
Episode VII -IX. Those Imperial remnants lurking
in the unknown regions coalesce into the militaristic
First Order. They build Starkiller Base, challenge
the New Republic, and battle the resistance led
by General Leia Organa. It culminates in Rey
confronting and ultimately defeating the resurrected
Emperor Palpatine, seemingly ending the Sith
threat. And the final future -looking era. That's
the New Jedi Order, set after Episode IX. This
is where Rey begins the task of building a new
Jedi Order from scratch. It's the setting for
that upcoming film directed by Charmaine Obey
-Chinoy and presumably the Starfighter movie
as well. It's about looking forward, rebuilding
hope. Okay, we keep mentioning the expanded universe,
the EU, and how it became legends. We should
pause and really unpack the significance of that
body of work. For anyone listening who wasn't
deep in the fandom before 2014, what exactly
was the EU? Right, it's a crucial context. The
EU was basically the official Star Wars universe
outside of the main films for almost 40 years.
It was everything else. Hundreds of novels, comics,
video games, source books, all licensed by Lucasfilm.
And it was considered canon. It had a kind of
tiered canon system, but essentially, yes, Lucasfilm
tried to maintain internal consistency. It allowed
fans to follow the adventures of Luke, Leia,
Han, and their children, like Jason and Jaina
Solo, for decades after Return of the Jedi. It
introduced major new threats, new characters,
explored Jedi and Sith history. It was vast.
Until April 25th, 2014, the day the EU died,
essentially. That's how many fans saw it. Lucasfilm
announced that to make way for the sequel trilogy
and ensure creative freedom, the entire existing
EU was being designated non -canonical. It was
all swept aside and rebranded as Star Wars Legends.
So great stories, but not what actually happened
in the official timeline anymore. Exactly. It
was a painful decision for many longtime fans
who felt decades of character development and
world building were just discarded. But... From
Disney and Lucasfilm's perspective, it was strategically
necessary to give the new films a clean slate,
unburdened by potentially contradictory or overly
complex established lore. But the legacy of Legends
isn't entirely gone, is it? We see ideas pop
back up. Oh, constantly. That's the fascinating
thing. Even though Legends isn't canon, the Lucasfilm
story group clearly mines it for popular characters
and concepts. The most prominent example has
to be Grand Admiral Thrawn. Right, the blue -skinned
imperial mastermind from the Timothy Zahn novels
in the 90s. Precisely. Thrawn was arguably the
most popular character to originate in the EU.
He was a huge part of Legends. Then years after
the canon reset, Dave Filoni officially brought
him back into the new canon through the Rebels
animated series. And now he's a major antagonist
in the live -action shows like Ahsoka. So even
when the continuity gets reset, the really good
stuff finds a way back in. It really seems that
way. Characters like Thrawn, concepts, ship designs.
they often returned adapted for the new canon
it shows that those legends stories still hold
a powerful resonance and lucasfilm knows it okay
let's shift gears now and talk about the star
wars empire beyond the screen starting with print
media novels and comics which kind of amazingly
actually started before the first movie even
hit theaters yeah that's a great trivia point
the original 1977 film faced production delays
but the official novelization of star wars ghost
written by alan dean foster though credited to
George Lucas, was actually released in November
1976, a good six months before the movie came
out. So people were reading the story before
they saw it. Somewhere, yeah. It definitely helped
build initial buzz and anticipation among sci
-fi readers. And then in that long gap between
Return of the Jedi in 83 and the prequel starting
in 99, when the franchise was sort of dormant
on screen, print media basically carried the
torch, right? Absolutely. Kept it alive and thriving.
The early 90s were pivotal here. The key moment
was the publication of Timothy Zahn's novel trilogy,
starting with Heir to the Empire in 1991. The
Thrawn trilogy. The Thrawn trilogy. These books
are widely credited with single -handedly revitalizing
the entire Star Wars franchise. They showed Lucasfilm
and Hollywood that there was still a massive,
hungry audience for new stories set in this galaxy.
even without movies. And they introduced iconic
characters. Huge ones, yeah. Grand Admiral Thrawn,
obviously. But also Mara Jade, a former Imperial
agent who becomes a complex figure and eventually
Luke Skywalker's wife in the Legends continuity.
The first book, Heir to the Empire, hit number
one on the New York Times bestseller list. It's
a genuine phenomenon and proved the franchise
had serious legs beyond the original films. Lucasfilm
then got even more ambitious with multimedia
projects. Tell us about Shadows of the Empire.
Shadows of the Empire in 1996. That was a really
interesting experiment. Lucasfilm decided to
create a major story event set in the gap between
The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi,
filling in what happened while Han was frozen
in carbonite. But it wasn't just a book. No,
that was the hook. It was released simultaneously
across multiple platforms. There was a novel
by Steve Perry, a popular comic book series from
Dark Horse, and a major Nintendo 64 video game.
They even released a soundtrack for it, all telling
different facets of the same overall story. Introducing
the new villain, the Faleen crime lord, Princey
Zor. So an early attempt at a coordinated, multi
-platform story launch. Exactly. A precursor
to the kind of transmedia storytelling we see
all the time now. And it's pretty successful,
showing they could create a major event feel
even without a movie. The history of Star Wars
comics specifically is also pretty dramatic,
isn't it? It goes way back. It really does. Marvel
Comics got the license right at the beginning
and started publishing a Star Wars comic series
in 1977, adapting the film and then continuing
with original stories. And those comics were
huge sellers back then. Massive. In fact, Marvel's
former editor -in -chief, Jim Shooter, has set
on record that the incredibly strong sales of
the Star Wars comics basically saved Marvel Comics
financially in 1977 and 1978. Wow. So the franchise
wasn't just saving 20th Century Fox. It was propping
up Marvel, too. It really puts the initial impact
into perspective. The license later moved to
Dark Horse Comics in 1991, and they published
tons of acclaimed series during the EU era, like
Dark Empire, which brought back The Emperor.
Then, after Disney bought both Marvel and Lucasfilm,
the license returned to Marvel in 2015, where
it remains today, with all the new comics being
fully part of the official canon. Okay, let's
shift from the page to the ear, the audio landscape.
Music is obviously huge here, dominated by one
name. John Williams, the maestro. He composed
the iconic, unforgettable scores for all nine
of the main episodic Skywalker saga films. His
music is the sound of Star Wars for most people.
And even though he suggested he might retire
from the franchise after The Rise of Skywalker,
his influence just keeps going. It does. He still
came back to compose main themes for things like
the Solo movie, the Obi -Wan Kenobi series, even
the theme for the Galaxy's Edge theme park land.
He remains the definitive sonic voice, even when
other composers step in. And we have had other
great composers adding their own flavors, too.
Definitely. Michael Giacchino did a fantastic,
very Williams -esque score for Rogue One. And
Ludwig Göransson created that. instantly iconic,
more stripped -down, Western -influenced sound
for The Mandalorian, which felt really fresh
and different. Beyond the scores, there's also
the fascinating history of the Star Wars radio
dramas. Oh, yeah, the radio dramas are fantastic.
Back in the late 70s, early 80s, George Lucas,
who was a fan of old -time radio from his youth
and had directed American Graffiti, which used
radio heavily, licensed the radio adaptation
rights for Star Wars to KUSC -FM, an NPR station
in Los Angeles. And he licensed it for... practically
nothing. Famously for just one US dollar. It
was more about getting a quality adaptation made.
And they really went all out. The 1981 adaptation
of the first film wasn't just a reading. It was
a full cast, 13 episode audio drama. And they
got some of the original actors back. They did.
Mark Hamill reprised his role as Luke Skywalker
and Anthony Daniels came back as C -3PO. They
expanded the story, adding scenes cut from the
movie. giving characters internal monologues.
It was incredibly well produced and hugely popular
on NPR. And they did the sequels, too. Yep. Its
success led to adaptations of The Empire Strikes
Back, ten episodes in 1983, and eventually Return
of the Jedi, six episodes in 1996. They essentially
created this entire... rich, alternative audio
version of the original trilogy for listeners.
Okay, from audio to interactive video games,
this is another huge part of the Star Wars empire,
and its history seems to mirror the different
eras of the franchise itself. It really does.
You can basically break it down into three main
eras of game development. First, the early licensed
era, roughly 1979 to 1993, when Lucasfilm licensed
the rights out to various companies like Parker
Brothers and Atari. Then the LucasArts golden
age. Right. From about 1993 to 2014, when Lucasfilm's
own game division, LucasArts, was the primary
developer and publisher known for innovation.
And then the current era, since 2014, sometimes
called the EA Star Wars era, although that exclusivity
is ending, where games are part of the official
Disney canon. So what were those earliest games
like? Pretty primitive by today's standards.
The very first licensed electronic game was actually
a tabletop game by Kanner in 1979. The first
proper video game was The Empire Strikes Back
for the Atari 2600 console in 1982. Simple 2D
shooter stuff, mostly. But there was that iconic
arcade game. Ah, yes. The 1983 Atari Star Wars
arcade game. That was a breakthrough. It used
vector graphics wireframe models to simulate
the first -person experience of flying an X -Wing
down the Death Star trench. It had digitized
voices from the movie. For its time, it was incredibly
immersive and a massive arcade hit. Then Lucasfilm
decided to take control and founded LucasArts
in 1982. What were their big innovations? LucasArts
really pushed the boundaries. Their first self
-published Star Wars game, Star Wars, X -Wing
in 1993, was huge. It was the first proper space
flight simulator set in the universe, letting
you pilot rebel fighters. It basically defined
a genre for a while. And they didn't just stick
to flight sims. Nope. In 1995, they released
Star Wars Dark Forces. This was the franchise's
first real foray into the first -person shooter
genre, which was exploding thanks to Doom. And
it introduced a really popular original character,
Kyle Katarn. Who is he? Kyle Katarn started as
an Imperial stormtrooper who defects to the Rebellion,
becomes a mercenary, and eventually discovers
he's Force -sensitive and trains to become a
Jedi Master over several games. Oh. His arc,
former stormtrooper becomes a hero of the light
side, is actually remarkably similar to Finn's
journey in the sequel trilogy decades later.
Another example of ideas from the older legends
material influencing the new canon. Exactly.
It shows how these successful game narratives
still resonate. So since 2014 and the Disney
acquisition, the games are now officially part
of the canon timeline. That's the standard now,
yes. Electronic Arts, EA, held the exclusive
license for a long time, though that's opening
up now. The games developed during this period,
like the Battlefront reboot series, the Jedi,
Fallen Order and Jedi, Survivor games, and the
space combat game Star Wars, Squadrons, are all
considered part of the official story. And they're
developed with more input from Lucasfilm? Generally,
yes. There's much more collaboration with the
Lucasfilm story group and sometimes even the
filmmakers to ensure the narratives fit within
the established canon and sometimes even seed
ideas or characters that might appear elsewhere
later. Fallen Order, for instance, gave us a
really detailed look at the survivors of the
Jedi Purge. Okay, we absolutely cannot talk about
the financial power and the sheer scale of Star
Wars without digging into the merchandising.
This story is legendary in business circles.
It truly is. It's considered one of the smartest,
most prescient business decisions in movie history.
Back when George Lucas was making the original
1977 film, the studio, Fox, was nervous about
the budget. So he made a deal. He did. He agreed
to take a significant pay cut as director, foregoing
$500 ,000, which was a lot then. in exchange
for Fox granting him two things, full ownership
of the sequel rights and, crucially, full ownership
of the franchise's merchandising rights. Which,
at the time, the studio probably thought was
worthless. Pretty much. Movie merchandising wasn't
really a big thing before Star Wars. Studios
made their money from box office tickets. Giving
away the toy rights probably seemed like a safe
bet to them, a way to save cash up front. It
was a massive gamble for Lucas, banking entirely
on his vision and the appeal of his universe.
And the payoff was... Well, astronomical. Beyond
astronomical. Yeah. By 2012, just before he sold
Lucasfilm to Disney, estimates suggest that the
first six Star Wars films had generated something
like U .S. $20 billion in revenue from merchandise
alone. Far, far more than the films themselves
made at the box office. It started with the action
figures, right? Kenner products. Yes, Kenner
got the toy license. But they were famously caught,
completely unprepared for the massive demand
after the first movie hit. They couldn't manufacture
figures fast enough for Christmas 1977. So they
sold an empty box. Literally. Yeah. They sold
an early bird certificate package, which was
basically a cardboard display stand with a mailing
certificate promising to send the first four
figures, Luke, Leia, R2 -D2, Chewbacca, once
they were actually produced in early 1978. And
people bought them. Those empty boxes are now
incredibly valuable collectibles. That just shows
the level of frenzy. And the licensing power
just kept growing. Lego is a huge part of it
now. Oh, yeah. Star Wars was actually the very
first intellectual property that Lego ever licensed
back in 1999. It was a huge step for Lego, moving
beyond their generic themes. And that partnership
has been immensely successful, spawning countless
Lego sets, animated parody specials, and a whole
series of critically acclaimed, best -selling
Lego Star Wars video games. And Hasbro has the
main action figure rights now. Hasbro holds the
Master Toy license currently, yeah. Continuing
that multi -billion dollar action figure legacy.
And this universe hasn't just stayed on shelves.
It's become a physical place you can visit in
the theme parks. Right. That started relatively
modestly with the original Star Tours motion
simulator ride, which opened at Disneyland in
1987. It was hugely popular for decades. But
that evolved into something much bigger recently.
Much bigger. Into Star Wars. Galaxy's Edge. This
is a massive, fully immersive themed land that
opened in 2019 at both Disneyland in California
and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. It's
designed to make you feel like you've actually
stepped onto a remote planet, but to on the edge
of the galaxy. It's an incredible achievement
in terms of theme park design and world building.
The level of detail is amazing. It really is.
You can build your own lightsaber, pilot the
Millennium Falcon. It's meant to be a fully interactive
experience. We should probably note, though,
that not every theme park venture has been a
slam dunk. You mean the Galactic Star Cruiser
Hotel? Yeah, the Star Wars. Galactic Star Cruiser.
This is an incredibly ambitious, premium -priced,
two -night immersive hotel experience like a
live -action role -playing game on a starship.
It opened in 2022, but it closed permanently
in late 2023 after only about a year and a half.
Why did it close so quickly? Primarily the extremely
high price point, it seems. It limited the audience
significantly. It showed that even with an IP
as powerful as Star Wars, there were still commercial
limits, especially for very expensive niche experiences.
That makes sense. Okay, so we've covered the
films, the shows, the games, the merch. That
brings us to the deeper layers. Why does Star
Wars have this relentless cultural pull? Let's
talk about the themes, the history, the mythology
baked into it all. Right, because underneath
the lasers and spaceships, the saga is built
on some really fundamental... ancient structures.
It draws heavily, consciously from mythology,
particularly from Joseph Campbell's work on the
archetypal hero's journey. The monomyth. The
monomyth, exactly. You can clearly see that template
applied with variations, of course, to the main
protagonists. Anakin Skywalker, whose journey
is ultimately tragic until the end. Luke Skywalker,
the classic hero. And Rey in the sequel trilogy.
They go through those familiar stages, the call
to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting the
mentor, crossing the threshold. And Lucas himself
was pretty clear about the core theme. wasn't
he he was he stated multiple times that the central
overarching theme of the entire six film saga
he created is redemption the possibility of coming
back from the darkness we see that most powerfully
with darth vader at the end of return of the
jedi absolutely and that moment is tied into
another key step in campbell's hero's journey
the atonement with the father luke discovering
vader is his father in empire strikes back That's
arguably one of the most famous and influential
plot twists in all of cinema history. It makes
the conflict deeply personal. And the sequel
trilogy played with that theme. darker way didn't
it deliberately inverted it yeah you have kylo
ren being actively encouraged by his dark side
mentor supreme leader snoke to kill his father
on solo as a way to supposedly solidify his commitment
to the dark side it's presented as this fatal
rejection of the possibility of atonement a stark
contrast to luke's ultimate success in reaching
anakin the saga is also just packed with other
religious and mythological references oh everywhere
You've got elements of knighthood, chivalry,
samurai codes, and the Jedi Order. There's the
very direct reference to Christianity in Anakin's
backstory, conceived without a father. Hale is
the prophesied chosen one, this messianic figure.
But unlike Jesus, this messiah falls. Right.
He falls spectacularly from grace and brings
about galactic tyranny before finding redemption
right at the end. It's a fascinating twist on
that archetype. And even the character designs
borrow heavily. Darth Maul's look, with the horns
and red and black markings, is drawn directly
from traditional depictions of the devil in Western
culture. Yet, amidst all the darkness and mythic
stakes, the saga also tries to maintain this
sense of maybe democratic optimism, like anyone
can be a hero. I think so. That final image in
The Last Jedi is quite telling, I think. You
see those poor servant children on Canto Bight,
playing with a makeshift Luke Skywalker toy,
and one of them subtly uses the Force to grab
a broom. The message, as director Rian Johnson
explained it, was that the force isn't just for
skywalkers. It can be found in people with humble
beginnings. That heroism isn't tied to bloodline.
Okay, let's move from the myths to the real world
history. The political and historical parallels.
This seems like another area where Lucas was
very intentional. Extremely intentional. The
entire saga, particularly the prequel and original
trilogies, is structured around the struggle
between democracy and dictatorship. And Lucas
drew directly on 20th century history and even
ancient history for his models. He talked about
Vietnam War parallels, right? Yes, particularly
in battles where you see technologically inferior,
seemingly primitive societies take on the might
of the empire or the trade federation. Think
of the Ewoks with their spears and traps fighting
stormtroopers on Endor, or the Gungans with their
energy shields against battle droids on Nobu.
Lucas saw these as representing the clash between
a decentralized indigenous force and a technologically
superior invading power, much like the Viet Cong
versus the U .S. military. And the parallels
to Nazi Germany and World War II are almost impossible
to miss. They're blatant and absolutely deliberate.
It was shorthand for evil for the audience of
the 70s. Darth Vader's helmet design, while George
Lucas often cited samurai armor as the primary
inspiration, clearly incorporates the shape and
menacing look of a German Stahlhelm military
helmet from the World Wars. And the names. Stormtroopers.
Straight out of history. The Empire's soldiers
borrow their name directly from the elite German
shock troopers of World War I, known for infiltration
tactics, and the Imperial officers' uniforms.
They bear a very strong resemblance to Nazi German
uniforms from World War II, especially the SS.
The cut, the colors, gray and black, the rank
insignia plaques, the peaked caps. Some Imperial
security officers even wear black uniforms with
stylized silver deaths head insignia on their
caps, which is a direct visual echo of the Totenkopf
symbol used by the SS. Lucas originally conceived
of the Sith in the very early drafts as explicitly
serving the emperor in the same way the SS served
Hitler, though that role was later condensed
primarily into the single figure of Darth Vader.
It's an instant visual coding. You see those
uniforms, you understand this is the totalitarian
bad guy force. Exactly. It tapped into established
cultural iconography of fascism and military
oppression. And the political storyline of the
prequels is basically a lesson in how democracies
fall. It's explicitly modeled on the fall of
historical republics. Palpatine's calculated
rise from seemingly benign chancellor to dictatorial
emperor in episodes first, ten, and over is a
direct allegory for how dictators seize power.
Lucas himself drew parallels to Adolf Hitler's
rise to furor in Germany, manipulating crisis,
the separatist movement. the Clone Wars, to consolidate
power through emergency decrees. But not just
Hitler, right? No. He also cited Julius Caesar's
subversion of the Roman Republic and transformation
into an empire, Napoleon Bonaparte's rise after
the French Revolution, and even drew parallels
to Richard Nixon in the Watergate era, particularly
concerning the expansion of executive power and
government secrecy during times of perceived
crisis. The whole arc of the Galactic Republic's
decay and corruption is meant to mirror the fall
of the Roman Republic. And Palpatine uses specific
historical tactics like manufacturing crises.
Yes, the separatist crisis allows him to push
for the Military Creation Act, granting him emergency
powers and control over the newly formed clone
army. It's a classic playbook. Create or exploit
fear? centralized control, erode democratic norms
and institutions piece by piece, all under the
guise of security and order. And then there's
the great Jedi purge, Order 66. That sudden,
brutal, systematic elimination of the Jedi Order
has clear historical parallels too. Lucas specifically
modeled it after the Night of the Long Knives
in Nazi Germany, where Hitler ordered the purge
of his political rivals within the SA to consolidate
his absolute power. Order 66 serves the same
function for Palpatine. eliminating the only
group powerful enough to challenge his imperial
rule. Even the villains in the sequel trilogy,
The First Order, have a specific historical inspiration.
They do. Director J .J. Abrams talked about how
they conceived The First Order. The question
was, what would happen if the Nazis who fled
Germany after WWII, say, escaped to Argentina,
regrouped, and started plotting their return?
That idea of the remnants of the old evil regime
hiding. Nurturing their ideology and re -emerging
was the direct inspiration for how the First
Order rose from the ashes of the Empire. And
even the space battles. Modeled directly on World
War I and World War II, aerial dogfights and
naval battles. Lucas studied footage of those
conflicts to choreograph the X -Wing and TIE
fighter battles. Even some planet names, like
Kessel, referencing a WWII battle, and Hoth.
possibly linked to German General Hermann Hall,
have wartime echoes. It's incredible how layered
those historical and political analogies are.
It's not just background noise. It's baked into
the structure. Absolutely. It gives the fantastical
story weight and relevance. It's political science
fiction disguised as a space opera in many ways.
Which brings us finally to the massive cultural
legacy Star Wars carved out. It didn't just entertain.
It fundamentally changed Hollywood. Oh, profoundly.
Star Wars, along with Steven Spielberg's Jaws
a couple years earlier, is widely credited with
inventing the modern summer blockbuster phenomena.
What did that mean practically? It meant moving
away from platform releases, where a film opened
small and grew. towards opening wide on hundreds,
then thousands, of screens simultaneously, backed
by huge marketing campaigns. It also cemented
the idea of the profitable, repeatable franchise
as the holy grail for studios. And the impact
on special effects was revolutionary. Absolutely
revolutionary. Before 1977, visual effects technology
hadn't really advanced all that much since maybe
the 1950s. Star Wars demanded effects that simply
didn't exist. Lucas had to create his own effects
house, Industrial Light and Magic, ILM, to invent
the technology needed. This created a massive
boom in state -of -the -art special effects that
benefited the entire industry. It also showed
the power of mixing genres. Right. It wasn't
just sci -fi. It blended in elements of fantasy,
westerns, war films, samurai epics, fairy tales,
creating this high -concept genre mashup that
became a template for countless films that followed.
And as we discussed with that merchandising deal,
a $500 ,000 pay cut. Yeah. It proved definitively
that the intellectual property itself, the toys,
the T -shirts, the lunchboxes could potentially
generate vastly more money than the film ever
could. just from ticket sales. That realization
completely changed the financial model of Hollywood
and the importance of owning and exploiting IP.
But not everyone saw this as a good thing, right?
There was critical backlash. There definitely
was. While many hailed it as a technical marvel
and a return to pure cinematic fun, some influential
critics blame Star Wars and its imitators for
ruining Hollywood. Ruining it how? The argument
was that its overwhelming success shifted studio
priorities away from the more complex, adult,
character -driven auteur films of the 1970s,
you know, the era of The Godfather, Chinatown,
Taxi Driver, towards simpler, more juvenile fantasy,
spectacle, and the relentless pursuit of four
-quadrant blockbusters aimed primarily at younger
audiences. They saw it as the end of a golden
age of serious American filmmaking. But its influence,
positive or negative, is just undeniable. That
used universe look alone had a huge impact. Huge.
That gritty, lived -in aesthetic where technology
looked functional and worn, not sleek and pristine,
directly influenced a generation of filmmakers,
especially in science fiction. Ridley Scott explicitly
cited it as an influence on the look of both
Alien and Blade Runner. And beyond the professional
industry, the fan community it inspired is massive.
Absolutely massive. Star Wars arguably created
modern media fandom as we know it. It inspired
countless fan works, fan films, fan fiction,
art, costumes. To their credit, Lucasfilm eventually
recognized this creative energy and even started
sanctioning things like official fan film awards,
allowing non -profit fan creativity to flourish,
as long as it didn't try to compete commercially.
It's even found its way into academia. It has.
The films are used in university courses all
over the world. Film schools obviously study
its structure, effects, and impact. Literature
classes analyze its use of mythology. Psychology
professors have even used the contrasting philosophies
of the Jedi, light side, and Sith, dark side,
to teach concepts in psychopathology. And its
place in film history is secure. Utterly secure.
The first three films, Star Wars, A New Hope,
The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi,
have all been selected for preservation of the
U .S. National Film Registry by the Library of
Congress. Recognized as being culturally, historically,
or aesthetically significant. They are permanent
fixtures. So to wrap up this deep dive, we've
really traced the incredible breadth of this
franchise. From those core nine Skywalker films,
it's exploded into this vast network of canonical
stories across streaming, games, books, comics,
all mapped onto this complex multi -era fictional
timeline. And it all seems held together by George
Lucas's original vision that dual focus on timeless
mythology and using real world political history
as powerful allegory. It's a perfect summary.
And thinking about those deep historical parallels,
Lucas deliberately wove in, you know, connecting
the rise of Palpatine's empire directly to the
failures of real world democracies, Rome, the
Weimar Republic, Nixon's America, and looking
at how conflict just keeps recurring across the
entire Star Wars timeline. You know, the Sith
rise, they fall, the empire rises, it falls,
the First Order rises from its ashes. It really
does force you to ask a pretty profound question
about the whole saga's ultimate message. Well,
given those historical echoes and the cyclical
nature... Does Star Wars ultimately suggest that
galactic democracy, like its real -world counterparts
perhaps, is fundamentally fragile, almost destined
to eventually collapse into dictatorship? Is
the dark side, in a societal sense, just an inevitable
recurring structure? Or does Lucas' personal
insistence that redemption is the central theme
mean that hope, embodied by characters like Luke
and Rey, the constant effort to rebuild the Jedi
Order, the fight against tyranny, is the truly
perpetual force? Is the struggle itself the point,
with the possibility of redemption always present,
ensuring the galaxy eventually rights itself?
Leaves you wondering about the balance, doesn't
it?