Star Wars has always been dear to me. It’s the fantasy side of Star Wars that appealed to me, growing up. The epitome of the hero’s journey of the original trilogy. The much hated, but still interesting story (when combined with The Clone Wars) of the prequel trilogy. And the resuscitation of the series with the final trilogy.

I was very excited with the reboot. I looked forward to the setup of new stories in the fantasy world that I spent countless hours across multiple mediums in.

However, the latest trilogy has left me more disappointed than anything else. I was personally disappointed because I was expecting the stories to be designed for me. Be more complex than replaying the same story from the original trilogy.

In fact, my own rating of the latest trilogy keeps the final episode, The Rise of Skywalker, as the nadir of the trilogy, often competing with Attack of the Clones (Episode 2). However, over the holidays, with time to ruminate, I think Star Wars hasn’t changed. I think I’ve changed.

Star Wars has always been designed for the young generation to get excited about space fantasy. And in that mission, a look around the younger generation attending the movies is a very clear reminder that they are successful. They don’t worry about the plot holes (yet) and don’t worry that Rey as a Palpatine is a missed opportunity from The Last Jedi. They just enjoy the fun camaraderie between Rey, Poe and Finn. They are fascinated by the Jedi powers of force healing and force-time.

So, from that perspective, I am genuinely happy for them. For me, though, The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian have presented far more interesting plots than the latest trilogy of movies did. The books have always been a good source of complex plots and experiments on storytelling in this fantastic world.

Onwards.