In former Disney boss Bob Iger’s memoirThe Ride of a Lifetime, he recounts the first time the studio screenedThe Force AwakensforStar Warscreator George Lucas: “Just prior to the global release, Kathy [Kennedy] screenedThe Force Awakensfor George. He didn’t hide his disappointment. ‘There’s nothing new,’ he said. In each of the films in the original trilogy, it was important to him to present new worlds, new stories, new characters, and new technologies. In this one, he said, ‘There weren’t enough visual or technical leaps forward.’”Lucas’ disappointment withThe Force Awakensreflects that of manyStar Warsfans. With its Death Star plot, desert scavenger versus masked villain conflict, and galaxy-wide civil war between a struggling rebellion and an evil empire,The Force Awakensis little more than a shallow re-tread of the 1977 original with updated visual effects. It introduces exciting new characters, but confines them all to overfamiliar narrative territory.RELATED:Star Wars: George Lucas Wanted A Familiar Face For The Sequel Trilogy’s VillainThe Rebels’ victory inReturn of the Jedipaved the way for the New Republic and for Luke to rebuild the Jedi Order. To have another Sith puppet-master atop a throne manipulate another Skywalker to don a black mask, kill some Jedi younglings, and take over the galaxyfelt like a step backward. It’s perfectly understandable that the creator of Luke, Leia, and Han was dissatisfied when he sat down to watch their next adventure and saw them all regress back into their initial characterization (Leia as the leader of an underdog rebel force, Han as a self-centered smuggler, etc.).By contrast, Lucas was much more laudatory about the storytelling in Mel Brooks’ classicStar WarsspoofSpaceballs. Brooks secured Lucas’ permission before making the movie, and Lucas gave it the greenlight with one condition: Brooks couldn’t merchandiseSpaceballs, because his action figures would look too similar to the authenticStar Warsones.Brooks honored Lucas’ condition not to produce anySpaceballsmerchandise, although he created plenty of fakeSpaceballsmerchandise for the movie’s meta-commentary on the primary commercial purpose of blockbuster franchises. WhenSpaceballshit theaters in 1987, some critics felt 10 years on wastoo late for aStar Warsspoof, but since theStar Warsphenomenon has proven to be timeless, so has Brooks’ send-up of the original trilogy.It’s been re-evaluated as one of Brooks’ funniest movies, as well as a pitch-perfect parody of a galaxy far, far away, but Lucas felt thatSpaceballswas notable for more than just its lampoon ofStar Warsiconography. According toJoBlo, Brooks said that Lucas “was so complimentary about [Spaceballs]. He said, ‘Take out the comedy and it really works as an adventure.’” While Lucas didn’t believeThe Force Awakenshad a strong enough narrative backbone to carry theStar Warssaga into its next chapter, he did believe that the farcical tale of Lone Starr and Barf rescuing Princess Vespafrom the clutches of Dark Helmetwould hold up as a tightly structured space opera if Brooks removed all the jokes, sight gags, and meta winks to the audience.Lucas’ own narrative work in the originalStar Warsmovie has been wildly influential on cinematic storytelling. He studied Joseph Campbell’s writing on comparative mythology and used the “monomyth” – commonly known as the “hero’s journey” – to formthe basis of Luke Skywalker’s arc. This influence caught Hollywood’s attention when studios learned there was a blueprint for creating the nextStar Wars, and development executive Christopher Vogler distilled it into a book calledThe Writer’s Journey.The Force Awakenswas just the beginning ofthe sequel trilogy’s narrative problems. It may have rehashed the original movie’s Death Star plot, but the cliffhanger ending made it seem like the Mouse House had big things planned for the trilogy’s future. Two movies later, it was abundantly clear that there was no plan at all.The most egregious thing about the fact that Disney’s sequel trilogy wasn’t planned from the beginning is that Lucas already planned it out for them. To sweeten the deal when he was negotiating the sale of his studio, Lucas tidied up the treatments forEpisodes VIItoIXthat he’d been working on for years and included them in the package. Iger noted in his book that when he described the plot ofThe Force Awakensto Lucas and it dawned on him that they’d thrown his treatments out the window, the series creator “felt betrayed.” Thinking they could come up with a betterStar Warsstory than George Lucas himself was arrogant enough, but expecting that story to work itself out along the way is even more astounding.The only positive thing aboutthe flaws in the sequel trilogyis that they’ve given Mel Brooks plenty of material for aSpaceballsfollow-up.Spaceballs: The Schwartz Awakenscould revolve around an older Lone Starr teaming up with a bunch of new heroes to destroy yet another Mega-Maid.MORE:Star Wars' George Lucas Stole Film So Warner Bros. Couldn’t Change It
