Rogue One … From A Certain Point Of View

KLAXON KLAXON KLAXON goes the alarm in the collective geeks heads … OMFG THAT TRAILER! … AT-ATs and Gonk Droids and TIEs – oh my! … Curse my metal body, will it be any good?

Phht. Whatever. When it comes down to it, we’re entering a new phase of expanded universe.

My favourite back when it first kicked off properly was the Dark Empire graphic novel – Luke becoming Supreme Commander, World Devastators, and Byss. Sweet, sweet Byss. But Disney kiboshed all that and are now starting again.

When they bought Marvel people freaked out, but it’s turned out to be perfect. I’m sure there’ve been compromises behind the scenes COUGH*ANTMAN*COUGH but they have realised one thing: keep the fans happy.

I loved Force Awakens. It followed the template of the previous two trilogies (orphan leaves on quest from desert planet, their mentor is killed, evil super weapon is blown to bits), and I’m sure the rest of the new trilogy will be just as good.

And now we have “Star Wars Stories” – OH YEAH BABY! Boba spin-off, Obi-Wan trilogy, Han solo! And now some spy action (will we see Bothers?)!

Mendelson looks awesome – especially the shot in front of the Death Star “window”; is that an Inquisitor kneeling or Vader? And Yavin base! Woot Woot! Of course we’re drooling – the little bonuses for fans are terrific (damn, Mon Mothma looks wicked).

There are fans, there are super-fans, there are über-fans, and there are the freaks … but the majority of the audience are normal kids and normal families who just want to be entertained. If Rogue One doesn’t entertain them well enough, will they second guess seeing Episode VIII?

Don’t get me wrong, this will be a Star Wars / heist / infiltrate the enemy movie. It may even be The Great Oceans 12 Escape Strikes Back. But it’s still going to be good.

Because Disney knows if they fuck it up, it will damage the brand for a long, long time.

I’ll just leave this here…