Lightsabres and After

One minimal consolation in the face of seemingly too-frequent collisions with unexpected off-topic slams on the new Star Wars movies is to suspect that, for all the strident declarations about "the real movies" there's a terrible shallowness to just how the "four-plus good, one-on bad" crowd think of their chosen numbers. A mixture of "cool" design work, Han Solo, and special effects produced using old-fashioned technology does just seem a thin gruel to venerate to me; at times I've actually yearned for complaints different from flat dismissals, whether they be annoyed or just smug. However, through a twist of fate a little more elaborate than usual, not that long ago I did happen to see someone holding up "Luke casting his lightsabre aside" and in the next breath dismissing the new movies as "settled with just lightsabres." As if to prove you should indeed be careful what you wish for, I have to admit a "thrill of terror" coursed through me that maybe this criticism did have some bite... ( and then I started thinking about it. )