A LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY . . . WELL, THIS GALAXY, SO VERY, VERY NEAR . . .

THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY:

I have been a Star Wars fan from the beginning, from that magical, surreal summer of '77. We kept hearing about this fantastic movie with robots and spaceships and stuff, and about a month after it opened, my sister and I coerced my long-suffering dad (bless him - never a complaint, even when I made him take me to the Ice Capades - yeah, I was that little girl) to take us to see it.

I remember standing in line and waiting over an hour to be seated, and I remember being about eye-level with the velvet ropes. At such a young age, I was no stranger to waiting in long, blockbuster lines, having seen Jaws a couple of years before. As a result, I was very much enamored of a very hungry shark and held simultaneous, prepubescent crushes on both Richard Dreyfuss and John Travolta (who visited me every week in the form of Vinnie Barbarino on Welcome Back, Kotter,) and from all the talk and hype regarding this new movie, I was ready to fall in love again. And, boy, did I!

I remember the excitement of the people in line. I remember my dad bought us each a box of popcorn. If the theatre still existed, I could point out our exact seats - last row, last 3 aisle seats in the middle section on the right, my sister and I flanking my dad with me on the aisle seat because I was small enough to still have to duck out to go to the bathroom during movies - but not this one. (BTW, back then, a kid could actually go to the bathroom without a hovering parent and nobody called Child Protective Services on them.) We were packed in there like sardines. And then it started and all the excited chatter cut off, as if someone had thrown a switch. There, on screen, was the 20th Century Fox logo, followed by that one line . . . A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Then there was that bam of music as the words STAR WARS appeared, followed by that scroll that my dad had to read to me (I could read, it just went by too fast for me to keep up.) My mouth dropped open at my first glimpse of a planet with a spaceship screeching by overhead. All of our mouths dropped open because we'd never seen anything like it. I promptly fell head-over-heels in love with it, and I remember it all, because you always remember the moment you fall in love.

That summer, my (awesome) dad bought me my first Tiger Beat Star magazine because Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were featured on the cover along with a quiz: Space Farmboy or Space Pirate? (much to my frustration and despite my mini crush on Luke Skywalker, I got Space Pirate - a precursor to my future major crush on Han Solo.) For my birthday that year, my mom ordered me an R2D2 cake, and I even remember watching the famous, cheesy Star Wars Christmas Special in 1978 while my mom wrapped presents in the dining room. It was pretty sweet.

My love for Star Wars has remained over the years, and I have a particular fondness for Han and Leia. I have almost every toy and product imaginable (alas, no famous Boba Fett action figure), and have shared this love of SW with my family, friends, spouse, children, nieces and nephews etc . . . and have turned them all into fellow fans. No one escapes the power of the Force - mwahaha! (twirling evil imaginary mustache.)

THE PREQUEL TRILOGY:

I enjoyed the Prequels, but I think the problem (aside from Jar Jar and all the talk of treaties) was that you knew going in that these were not going to be happy movies, because you knew how they were going to end - that sweet little boy was gonna grow up to be Darth Vader.

And since the prequels took nothing away from the OT, I have no problem with it. Except maybe the stiff dialogue.

DISNEY'S SEQUEL TRILOGY:

Please note: I do not consider Disney Star Wars as the same real Star Wars that George Lucas created. Because it's not.

(Heavy sigh.) Disney, we have a problem. Make new SW movies? Okay. Disrespect and crap on the OT? Oh, hell no!

They can do whatever they want with their own characters, but now they're messing with the OT trio, and I won't have that. I've loved these characters and story for 40 years, and Disney is not going to now change things and write books about these much beloved, legendary characters as if they're adding meaning and motives to the story. Really, they're just trying to sell stuff.

Let me explain - when The Force Awakened came out, I was horrified. Horrified that this is the life they imagined for Han and Luke and Leia. This? This is what Disney thought people would like? This is how they thought they'd end up? Han doesn't even know Luke anymore and he and Leia are estranged??? Well, they did buy the franchise, and they are trying to promote their own story, BUT they forgot the legion of fans who love the franchise as it is, fans from the beginning.

Two years ago, I was able to separate Star Wars and Disney's Star Wars (I consoled myself with the fact that at least they kept Han and Leia married, but I'm sure that was part of George's deal), and recently, with the release of some new books, I had to remind myself of a few things.

I went on some forums to see why people actually liked these new books, and then it hit me: This isn't my Star Wars that these fans are discussing. This is DISNEY'S Star Wars. This is DISNEY'S canon, because everything must serve their own canon of events - they are, after all, trying to sell merchandise, right? And lots of people like it and that's fine. If they like it, they should because it gives them joy.

But I don't. I don't like it at all. If I were younger, this Disney SW franchise wouldn't interest me at all. It wouldn't capture my imagination either. Because it has no heart. There's nothing in there that touches me in the way George Lucas' Star Wars does.

So I asked myself, what was it about George's SW that captured my heart? The answer is that I saw a story of 3 lonely orphans who came together and found something in each other that changed them and they formed a family. Luke is a lonely, goofy farmboy (who gets made fun of by his friends in the book) who longs to be away from his (understandably) overbearing uncle and craves adventure (Mark didn't really need a backstory for his character because it's pretty straight forward.) Leia is a lonely Ice Princess, totally immersed and committed to the Rebellion, who's never been allowed or had time for personal pursuits (Carrie's own description of her character and the way she played her.) Han Solo is a lonely, cynical, space pirate loner who (Harrison's backstory) was abandoned at age 5 and doesn't trust anybody. And then they find each other through fate or circumstance or the Force. Together, they fight evil. Luke joins the Rebels and becomes a hero (blowing up the Death Star) and a respected pilot. Despite himself, Han stays with the Rebels without actually joining, not just because he finds himself caring about things other than himself - Leia, most obviously, but also Luke and the cause. And despite her total commitment and focus on the all-consuming cause, Leia finds herself falling in love (much to her irritation) with the unlikely, totally inappropriate, ill-bread, half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerf Herder - it's something unexpected and had never happened to her before (Carrie would often refer to Han as Leia's first boyfriend.) By the time ROTJ rolls around, Luke is a total zen-like Jedi Knight who conquers hate and evil with love and faith. He actually redeems his father with his love - how beautiful is that? Leia has finally come full circle after declaring her love for her scoundrel, and taken time off of the Rebellion for her own needs - to save the man she loves. The Ice Princess's heart was melted and she finally realizes that her life isn't just about her duties - it's about living for herself, too. And Han finds that his friends will always come for him and help him and that he can trust people, and he finally, officially joins the Rebellion as a General and becomes a part of something bigger than himself.

At the end, when they're all dancing and laughing around the Ewok village, George envisioned a happily-ever-after, like all good fairy tales. George's canon is the EU (minus the dead kids - I hate that part), but if you want to know how George felt about it, just read the EU books. He envisioned his characters to have a 'normal' life as a family. Han and Leia get married and have kids and balance their lives together, and Luke, the brother and friend, finds his own purpose as a Jedi Master teacher.

Now, with all the change and character growth in the OT, why would it make sense for Han and Leia to live separate lives? They changed. Han became a part of something and found a family; he left his old life behind and committed himself not just to the cause, but to Leia the minute he declared his love for her. Leia realized that her own personal needs mattered, too, that her life didn't just revolve around the cause. And Luke found a sister, a family, a purpose.

But Disney's SW undoes the OT. I know why. It's THEIR story now. Han and Leia are estranged because keeping them apart is the reason Leia can hide the fact that she had a baby (Rey) without Han or anyone else knowing. (It might be cute for a 20-30 year old Han to be running around the galaxy with Chewie, but not a grown, married man, and certainly not a 70 year old man. Also, really? Is Leia destined to have the most miserable life ever? She doesn't get happily ever after. According to Disney, she just reverts to her old, cold-hearted ways - still fighting, still alone, husband killed by the bad son. And, yes, Rey is Han and Leia's daughter - mark my words. She had to hide her away from Snoke.)

Anyway, that's why Disney's Star Wars and George's Star Wars are 2 separate things.

Disney can have their canon, but that doesn't make it Star Wars.

It's not the Real Star Wars from 40 year ago. I used to buy every magazine those 3 were featured in. I used to watch every interview, from the Mike Douglass Show to the Tonight Show, every time those 3 were on. There were comic books, and Del Rey paperbacks and action figures and it was complete.

Then Disney comes along, and let me be clear:

Disney DID NOT reboot Star Wars. They DID NOT resurrect the franchise. The original New Hope came out 40 years ago and is still going strong, thank you very much. People still buy Luke Skywalker bed sheets, Princess Leia Christmas ornaments, Darth Vader bath towels, toys, shirts, books, etc... This franchise is ALIVE and WELL.

Diz simply wanted to make it their own, and I don't have a problem with that, as long as they use their own original characters. But you don't mess with the OT or the Big 3.

CONCLUSION:

So, where does that leave me and my love of SW, especially Han & Leia? Fully intact. Because I do not consider the Original Trilogy and Disney's Star Wars to be the same franchise. And really, it's not, because it has new owners. This is not the Star Wars universe George Lucas envisioned. SW as George envisioned it is the EU. That's his canon. Disney has their own canon.

I totally respect the people who love Disney Star Wars, because it's captured their own imaginations, like the real, original George Lucas Star Wars captured mine. And we love what we love, right? Fortunately, we can have it anyway we want it.

As for me, my fanfic will feature the OT as George intended them. Since I wrote a lot of it as it pertained to the AU (or is it EU?), it has a lot of those elements in it. I consider it the TU (True Universe) although it is, of course, fictional, but I don't suppose I can call it the FU (fictional universe) for obvious reasons.

I still question the people who are writing Ben/Rey romance fan-fic, only because they may turn out to be related (seriously, they're brother and sister. Think about it. Han and his daughter unknowingly had an adventure together, he rescued her from Star Killer Base, just like he rescued her mother all those years ago. Leia has time to hide a pregnancy. Gives the baby to the Damerons who strangely have their own backstory - it all fits.) That could be upsetting to some fans who have their hearts set on these two. Maybe wait and see.

Carry on, fellow SW fans. Keep writing, and of course, May The Force Be With You!