Not About Spaceships: Why "Rogue One" Shows that Disney and Fans Just Don't Get it.

Away put your lighsabers and blasters fellow nerds, I mean you no harm! I absolutely loved Rogue One; A Star Wars Story. In fact, I just got back from a second viewing. Gareth Edwards has given us the most visually stunning Star Wars film to date. The cinematography is fantastic, the story is well developed and the battle scenes are hands down the best in any Star Wars movie to date While the characters lacked in some areas, they drew me into their story (or stories) and yes, I got all choked up when (Spoiler!) a certain droid died. I loved it, and I recommend it (I also commend the Rogue One team for producing a movie that is gritty, intense and "realistic" but devoid of nudity and language)

But.

Something was missing as I watched this movie. For lack of a better words, it didn't quite feel like Star Wars. I mean, there was the Deathstar, stormtroopers, X-Wings and Y-Wings, TIE Fighters- even cameo characters like Tarkin, Leia and of course, a certian Lord of the Sith [que the breathing SFX]. But it didn't matter. I couldn't put my finger on the issue at the time.

The music perhaps? Yes, I thought to myself, Star Wars Music is as much a character as anything else. None of the soundtrack stood out except when it used themes from previous movies like "The Imperial March". But it's not the music. Sure, it would have helped but it's not the music.

Then it must be the opening crawl! Yes, without that iconic body of yellow text set against the stars, this movie felt odd. Well, maybe they can fix that before releasing the home media. But, no. Rogue One is not suffering from a lack of an opening crawl. (Sidenote: I think they should have begun with the crawl from A New Hope and zoomed in on the part about Rebel spies stealing the deathstar plans).

What then?

Family. Specifically, the Skywalker family. Star Wars is not about lightsabers, spaceships, the Force, alien lifeforms, rebels, stormtroopers- none of those things are what makes Star Wars "Star Wars". George Lucas himself said in an interview with CBS:

"People don't actually realize it's actually a soap opera, and it's all about family problems; it's not about spaceships."

It's not about spaceships.

Rogue One has some family elements, mainly in the relationship between Jyn and her father. But for the majority of the film, its about friendship. Lots of movies are about friendship and Rogue One did a decent job with this theme. But friendship is not the story of Star Wars. And even supposing they did give the father/daughter element more focus, it wouldn't matter. Star Wars is about the Skywalkers, not the Ersos.

Rogue One shows why Disney and frankly most fans don't get it. They want the spaceships. They believe recreating the world and visuals of that magical 1977 movie will somehow give them the same feeling A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back gave them. But it won't. It's almost like an old family recipe for grandma's apple pie. You love it, and want to make your own apple pie based on hers but you try to make your culinary piece by the visual appearance and decorations of Grandma's pie and in the process you don't put in her special ingredient. You might get a delicious apple pie, but it's not grandma's apple pie.

That ingredient for Star Wars is the struggle of the Skywalkers, of a husband who fears to lose his wife as he hides his worries and secrets from his "brother", and ultimately loses them both; a father who seeks to draw his son into evil, but is instead drawn by his son back to the light; a brother and sister who progress from fondness to familial love; a scruffy nerf-herding loner with no family of his own who is brought into this other family when he finds love; a brother who struggles with arrogance, suppressed jealousy and then guilt (Obi-Wan). Even R2D2 and C3P0 are Skywalkers (Threepio even loses a hand). Perhaps that's why K2S0 is like the best part of Rogue One.

This is why fans hate the prequels. They wanted action and another taste of '77. Lucas gave us the completed saga, showing how we get from a little kid who, despite his annoying qualities, just wants to help people to the evil Lord Vader who is complicit in mundacide, and how the fate of the galaxy has fallen into the hands of the Skywalkers. This is incidentally why it absolutely matters who Rey's parents/ grandparents are. She has to fit into the Family saga, either as a Skywalker or as a Kenobi (because Obi-wan is part of the family by "adoption" as it were). We already have a Skywalker (Kylo-Ren) but remains to be seen just how Rey fits in.

Rogue One proves this family story is the real Star Wars element because it has all the trappings, the action, the eye-candy that was the original but without any Skywalkers (that cameo of Leia doesn't count and Vader is barely in it). And yet it is lacking.

Does this mean I want Lucasfilm to stop standalones? Not at all. They can be good movies and can even still tie into the Skywalker story. I do believe the saga movies ought to conclude after Episode IX, but the Skywalker story presents many facets that go outside the saga. Here are few ideas:

- The story of Shmi Skywalker, perhaps set during her childhood and focused on how she became a slave and eventually gave birth to Anakin (even bring in a Force user for romantic involvment to challenge her narrative)

- Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine. Duh

- Palpatine's origin (George Lucas had a script for this in his proposed live-action TV show) which connects to Darth Plagueis and the origin of Anakin Skywalker.

- Assuming Rey is either a Skywalker or Kenobi, there will be plenty of movie material with her after the saga.

- Also assuming that Kylo Ren returns to the lightside, the same applies to him (or maybe a movie with both of them? #Reylo )

Those are just a few potential ideas. Disney, you are welcome to them.