May The Fourth Be With You
Published: Monday 4th May 2020
It's Star Wars Day - May the Fourth - in which much of the world celebrates the pop-culture phenomenon, and British comedians take the mickey (well, it is now owned by Disney).
The Skywalker saga has been a bit contentious recently - or ever since Revenge Of The Jedi was renamed in the mid-80s, really - and the last two movies, The Last Jedi and The Rise Of Skywalker, really caused ructions. Although Jon Favreau's Disney+ show The Mandalorian is a bright new hope.
So we asked a few cult-keen comics how they're feeling about Solo & Co now, and rounded up our favourite Star Wars Day tweets, too, which pepper this piece like rogue Ewoks, annoying the Empire on Endor.
Tim Vine kicks off those tweets with a mixed message...
See X post
Comedy writer Sarah Dempster adds some useful info.
See X post
And Andrew Collins takes us back to the buzz of seeing Star Wars as a teen.
See X post
They may have overdone it though. Fantasy-game fanatic Chris Purchase tell us that he's now Wars woozy.
"I'm kind of Star Warsed out. I've watched everything up to Solo and I've not been that fussed over the newer stuff. They're great action movies but there's a load of fan service and they've all obviously been rushed out.
"We got Disney+ for our daughters while the lockdown is on and I'm going to get round to the Mandalorian at some point but there's so many other things that are great (Tim Minchin's Upright, Amazon's Upload, The Witcher, new Brooklyn 99 etc)...
"What I'd do next if I was Disney is leave Star Wars for a while then bring out a series set decades from the last movie with a heavy focus on how the movies impacted the Universe. We've not seen much of the Force and what it actually is, it'd be nice to explore that."
Sooz Kempner and Edgar Wright are like minds, actually tweeting stills from Flight Of The Navigator and Battle Beyond The Stars respectively.
See X post
See X post
Jake Lambert's joke got a virtual round of applause.
See X post
And Jarlath Regan has a very firm best-film opinion.
See X post
Now, what does our regular Lando-to-Mando expert Tiernan Douieb make of it all?
"Quite a lot of the Star Wars films just seemed to make it clear that the reason we only saw chapters 4-6 before was because the rest of the story wasn't very good. If anything The Mandalorian proves we probably should've spent a lot more time seeing what everyone else in the galaxy far, far away was up to, except anyone to do with the Skywalker family.
"I hope Disney realise this and what we get next are a whole slew of exciting adventure stories about anyone else at all in the cavalcade of exciting creatures that exist in that world; anyone, at all, that has never even heard of the Skywalkers. Really, anyone. Even Greedo, or the Gonk droid, or that really old Ewok or that thing that sits next to Jabba.
"I'll take any of that. But if instead we get 'The Adventures of Kylo Ren as a baby with a rattle lightsaber' or something, then I'm done."
Just to illustrate Tiernan's point, Olaf Falafel retweeted his telling re-edit of the unloved Phantom Menace...
See X post
Alistair Green also harked back to his Star Wars-related back catalogue.
See X post
And Paul Sinha came up with a model gag.
See X post
Let's conclude with Rik Carranza, who graced our very first Rogue Pun piece, back in 2017. He actually began here by bemoaning recent movie plots too, but hey, space issues - we join him in positive mood.
"...The Mandalorian and Rogue One are some the best things to happen to the Star Wars universe, since Jar Jar Binks' role was cut to a single sad look in Episode III. Baby Yoda has stolen everyone's heart and 'forced' us (see what I did there) to see how good the Star Wars could be when you leave behind the Jeremy Kyle mess of the Skywalker family.
"The recent trilogy started with such a high in The Force Awakens, but every rewatch had me thinking I was just watching a Star Wars covers band. All the hits, just not quite as good as the original. The Last Jedi, like the prequel trilogy tried to do something different but split the fanbase harder than Hayden Christensen being CG'd into the end of Return Of The Jedi. Finally, Rise Of Skywalker spent so much time on fan service and retconning the previous movie that it left Death Star-size plotholes on an already thin story.
"Yet I still enjoy them all, such is the power of Star Wars. If Rise Of Skywalker is, in fact, the end of any Skywalker related stories in the Star Wars universe, then good. The Mandalorian, Rogue One and even Solo, showed that there are more interesting stories to tell out there. But let's try and avoid Star Wars Episode 19: Attack of the Covid."
Indeed. And if you wonder what that Rise Of Skywalker stuff is all about, here's a little bonus bit of fan fiction from Joz Norris:
Help us publish more great content by becoming a BCG Supporter. You'll be backing our mission to champion, celebrate and promote British comedy in all its forms: past, present and future.
We understand times are tough, but if you believe in the power of laughter we'd be honoured to have you join us. Advertising doesn't cover our costs, so every single donation matters and is put to good use. Thank you.
Love comedy? Find out more