The Star Wars saga has always moved in quicksand, about to be devoured by a sarlacc, that creature that lurks in the dunes and subjects its victims to a thousand-year digestion. During the filming of the first part of the series in southern Tunisia, some actors, including Alec Guinness, objected to what they thought were ridiculous lines from the script. Around this time, Harrison Ford, who would become world famous through the character of Hans Solo, declared: “I’m not interested in science fiction. And fighting and running through corridors of special ships was not my thing at all. The film seemed crazy to everyone at first.” It wasn’t, not at all.
This mix of sci-fi and westerns, war cinema and romance, worked far better than anyone could have imagined. Several generations hold happiest childhood memories of the moment they discovered RD2D2, C3PO, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia or Obi-Wan Kenobi. They filled their homes with space dreams, stick figures, toys and models of the Millennium Falcon.
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From that distant moment when the yellow title intro “A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away” first emerged from a black screen, to the symphonic music of John Williams, until now, space has been filled to the brim : with series, movies that no longer know if they are sequels or prequels, cartoons, sprawled characters like chewing gum, spaceship battles, asteroid fields, lightsaber duels, villains that sometimes turn out to be ridiculous – especially compared to Darth Vader – always growing monsters and names of planets that have lost their meaningfulness. Of all that burden, so far the pair that formed the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda were almost the only thing saved, retaining some of the grace and charm of the original trilogy.
The Force is very powerful, but not that powerful. Even for the kid who keeps rediscovering the original trilogy, as happens to the author of these lines, the third installment of The Mandalorian, which launched this Monday on Disney+, is disappointing. There is nothing new, nothing surprising, nothing that will change the history of the galaxy. It’s not even funny. I think I’ve seen every product – it’s hard to use the word movies – that’s come out since George Lucas returned to the galaxy with The Phantom Menace. Even back then I interviewed him in London and saw him several times in different cinemas until I was convinced that the magic had ended with Return of the Jedi. And I kept trying and I found another flash in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, in Rogue One or the very strange Andor. But they’re all set in a galaxy far, far removed from the original trilogy.
After watching the first part of The Mandalorian I went back to the origin, to the scene from Star Wars where Luke Skywalker looks at the dawn on Tatoine with two moons on the horizon while the music is played by John Williams. The force is capable of bringing back childhood feelings and memories again and again, but I’m afraid it can no longer bring the galaxy to life.
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