Red Letter Media’s final thoughts on the state of Star Wars were pretty insightful: It’s become a container with a very specific aesthetic that Disney can pile an infinite number of things into: multi-quadrant science fiction blockbusters, preschool cartoons, carnival rides, political dramas, kids adventures, whatever.

It’s since stopped being a finite thing anyone can love anymore. When something becomes everything, it loses distinctness. That distinctness, whatever it was, is what early fans originally fell in love with.

Of course, those original objects still exist, but you have to specify them. You’re an “original trilogy” fan or an Andor fan or the made-for-TV Ewok movies fan†, but saying you’re a Star Wars fan is basically meaningless now. And for people who proudly wore that mantle, through eyerolls and ridicule, that’s a genuine loss.

† Teek from Battle for Endor has a posse.

I really liked Andor, but that's because it was trying to be a political spy thriller first, and a star wars show second.

Most Disney Star Wars is really in love with the fact that its Star Wars, to the point that it feels like a child smashing their toys together, than an actual show or movie

I don't think anyone hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans.

The sequel trilogy sucks. Nothing they (Disney) come out with comes to par with TOR which was for the few trailers it had, were the only thing that captured the essence and vibe of Star Wars since the original 2D Clone Wars animated show. The Mandalorian is alright but it has too many Disney aspects to it that remind of how they mucked up sequel trilogy. GL failed us and sold the franchise to this realms Jabba The Hut.

honestly, Disney's treatment of the franchise killed my life long love for it

Star Wars isn't good, Andor and Mandalorian S01 are good.

Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC; it's all creatively exhausted corporate entertainment product at this point.

Trek, baby.

I absolutely love the Republic/Imperial Commando series by Karen Traviss which ended in a massive cliffhanger because Disney took over and didn't allow her to continue.

Fuck Disney, all my homies hate Disney!

You know it's even better, realizing that other people's opinion doesn't matter about Star wars only what you feel about it. I don't give a fuck that somebody doesn't like something that I like because guess what I like it so y'all can fuck off.

I can't believe I am saying this, but I am starting to enjoy Star Trek way more than SW (and I really was a fan of SW in my childhood).

Not hating on Star Trek, because I love both franchises.

What's a Star Wars?

All facetiousness aside, I liked the movies, but they're not my personality.
Same with Sherlock, Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings, Critical Role, Apple products, Wie Is De Mol, etc.
I like them, may even love them, but my whole world does not revolve around them.

Most of these nerd fandoms are desperately throwing money at endless inept projects until it finally gets less shitty.

There’s so much SW stuff that is complete trash.

I don't care if it's shit. I'll pirate and watch every new show or a movie once, because that's what I grew up with and that's what comforts me

Fuck giving money to Disney though

;_; Star Wars legends fan, I will continue to resent Disney forever for blighting one of my favorite franchises. But yeah new “Star Wars” content has ceased to excite me. When the acolyte came out and I saw the reviews I was completely unsurprised.

The original trilogy is enjoyable, and The Empire Strikes Back stands out as the strongest of the three.

Andor is top tier, with Rogue One serving as a decent conclusion.

Beyond that, nothing else really leaves a lasting impression for me.

I've actually come to dread when they add a sequel to a good movie.

For every Terminator two there's a Phantom menace.

I have watched every single Star Wars movie in theatres since I was a kid and they released the special editions in theatres. But last Jedi was so bad that I didn’t even bother to go see rise of skywalker. Not just in theatres, i still haven’t watched it to this day.

Me thirty years ago. In 1977 my entire life revolved around Star Wars. Still haven't seen the last movie

[The new crap] Helps to reveal it never really was "good".

Helps to revisit the old stuff to start seeing the flaws...

The comedian Stewart Lee (not to be confused for the Steward Lee involved with Star Wars), had some astute observations in some interview, pointing out the confusion in it, like around princess Leia... She's a princess, but helping the rebels, but also racist against the wookie... XD

It's very freeing to realise how much it does not make sense, riddled with inconsistencies, a hodgepodge of ideas copied from far superior sci-fi, cinema, and literature.

The last Star Wars movie I enjoyed was Jedi: Survivor.

Ironically, the last Indiana Jones movie I enjoyed was Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

It's sad. For almost ten years people have argued about what went wrong with Star Wars.

Too many genres? The EU was scattershot and unfocused at times, but never hurt the brand in a significant way. In fact, it led to some great books and games

Too much politics? The villain of TPM is named after Newt Gingrich, and nobody really cared. ANH was inspired by Vietnam, and was still a box office hit.

The fanbase hates (insert minority)? While the internet has magnified the extreme weirdos, all six films have some mix of assertive female leads and non-white characters. Lando blew up the Death Star, Mace Windu was considered second only to Yoda. Every clone, etc. Still had a successful brand. Clone Wars focused hard on the clones and is put above the prequels by many of the hardcore fans. This isn't to say there aren't awful people who acted unhinged, but that goes for basically every large group of people in human history, let alone fandoms on the internet.

The answer is quality of writing. The originals were written well, and had coherent world building. The prequels struggled with character writing and general complexity, which is why they are more divisive. Good writing is the difference between the comedy of C-3PO and Jar Jar. It's the difference between Luke and Rey. And it's the difference between soul and slop.

The people at Disney either don't understand this, or don't care. It is an organization of Nico Harrisons who don't understand the fundamentals of their industry. This pattern has been repeating across pop culture since the 2010's, and was blamed on culture war instead of the real issue. It's a miracle that something like Rogue One or Andor was ever greenlit.

Also, did you know the box office drop-off between 4 and 5 is the same, down to the percentage point, as the drop-off between 7 and 8? And yet, 5 is the most beloved, while 8 had so much backlash that Disney panicked and turned 9 into damage control, instead of working off of 8.

The difference? ESB is well written. TLJ broke space combat entirely for a cool visual. I don't want to absolve TFA, which gets off way too easy because of what followed, but this comment is already too long....