A Disturbance in the Force

Well.

By now the word has gotten pretty effectively distributed, so I can't really call this a news article. Maybe it's an editorial, or a diary entry, or just a monologue uttered on the windy plains of the cyber-frontier. I dunno. What I do know is that when I heard that Disney had bought Lucasfilm, I was pretty excited, but I know not everyone shares my enthusiasm. It seems like just yesterday Disney bought Marvel (something I never saw coming, not in a million years) and just before that, Pixar. Both times Disney bought another company, people were blown away. This most recent one has a lot of people utterly baffled – and one of my favorite comments I’ve yet read was “I sense a great disturbance in the force. Though for good or bad...I am not sure.”

Just so. Looking objectively at this, I’d say it’s 50/50.

The Pixar buyout resulted in a lot of Pixar’s keenest minds being integrated into Disney itself and subsequent Pixar films therefore falling short. I doubt it’s a coincidence that the Disney theme parks have seen a jump in quality over the past few years (they were always great, but they seem even better now) with John Lasseter as the Head Imagineer, but Pixar’s last couple of films have been...well, not up to par. This, regardless of the improvements I’ve seen around Main Street USA, makes me resentful.

Why...

Next came Marvel, and what a knockout that was. I remember seeing a newspaper with a Mickey Mouse in a Spider-Man suit, and listening to all the folks at work moan about how Marvel was going to be driven into the ground. I thought the prospect was exciting, but I too wondered how two ideologies, so markedly different, would mesh. With the recent release of The Avengers, I think we can rest assured that Disney’s backing of Marvel might be the best thing since sliced bread – so long as they continue to let Marvel do their own thing and fork over the funds to do so.

So, we’re at one positive change and one negative change. What’s it going to be with Lucasfilm? We already know that a new Star Wars is coming out (for those who haven’t heard, yes, Star Wars Episode 7 is coming in 2015 and bringing back the original heroes – Luke, Leia and Han Solo - with it.) and that George Lucas will be a “creative consultant," whatever that means.

Personally, I’m excited. I was skeptical when I first heard that they were revamping the Star Tours ride in Disney Hollywood Studios (I’m a traditionalist, what can I say) but when I went on it last fall, it was like the entire Star Wars universe had been reinvented before my very eyes. For those who haven’t ridden the new ride in Orlando, you really should. It’s fantastic. I remember being on that ride and wishing that someday we’d see a new Star Wars movie with a...ahem...fresher director at the helm. With this merger, we might get just that.

Disney and Star Wars have been very tight for a long while, and while the bond wasn't quite as close with Indiana Jones, it was still definitely there. The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular has been running in Disney World since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Same jokes, same stunts (though for some reason it closed in the middle for a while there. Never did figure why.) and same jam packed crowd every time. With this purchase, we might see a new Indiana Jones movie, too. Hopefully, the next one...well, let’s just hope the next one doesn't nuke the fridge.

What’s most encouraging in the end, I think, is that it seems like we are in an era of cinematic revitalization. What I mean is that we've seen a lot of re-envisionments lately, with Christopher Nolan re-inventing Batman and his nemesis, The Joker. We watched as Martin Campbell picked up James Bond, dusted him off, and turned him back into the gritty, murderous womanizing bastard that Ian Fleming intended for him to be.

Hell yeah.

Maybe Disney buying Lucasfilm was exactly what two great franchises (Star Wars, Indiana Jones) needed. Maybe instead of being a catastrophe, we could see these wonderful worlds re-envisioned, redesigned, reinvented to inspire us and entertain us and amaze us once again. That’s what we stand to gain, anyway. What with Hurricane Sandy and the election and the war...well, I like to think positive once in a while. Regardless, either way, it’s done.

Star Wars Episode 7 is on the way, by God.

May the force be with us.

Check out the Yahoo! article here.

Check out the Walt Disney Company statement here.