You turned Lucasfilm against me! pic.twitter.com/epkRjxadAi
— Prequel Memes (@PrequelMemesBot) May 25, 2017
Lost in the shuffle of Star Wars’s 40th anniversary, the Vanity Fair stuff, and Darth Real Life was the admission last week that Lucasfilm’s marketing department now refers to the lightsaber that once took out a roomful of younglings as “Rey’s lightsaber.” This means not only will there be no products indicating it’s Anakin’s lightsaber any time in the near future if ever, it seems to reinforce the perception that Lucasfilm is trying to bury any meaningful reference to the prequels. As you might imagine, this hasn’t sat well with some prequel fans out there. Is Lucasfilm just recognizing the reality of where Star Wars is today or is this like hauling down statues and blowing up ancient sites? Or something in between?
I’ll concede the following points:
*It was also known as Luke’s lightsaber for years. The lucky bastard had two of them: the blue one he was given in ANH and the one at controversy, and the green one he built himself in ROTJ. Since EFX got the license some years ago, it’s been marketed as Luke’s lightsaber again. So the whitewashing started even before the Disney handover.
*Until Rey builds her own, it is in the current canon her lightsaber. From a marketing standpoint, kids are more likely to associate the lightsaber with her than with anyone else. Though the pricier EFX versions aren’t for the small fry, it remains a reality that most new products are there to promote what’s out now.
*TFA does (briefly) mention the lightsaber’s line of ownership even if it does not specify Anakin by name.
All of that said, it looks like Rey has basically inherited the Falcon too and I have to wonder if the Millennium Falcon, forever associated with Han Solo, is now going to be marketed as “the S.S. Rey-Mo-Bile.” (I doubt it.) While the marketing department has also scratched Luke from what was for two movies his lightsaber, it’s obvious from TFA that the fact he’d once possessed is what leads Rey to him. Plus, Luke has a backup, the cool green one from ROTJ. Nobody’s taking that one from him. I hope.
It might seem like a small thing and in the grand scheme of things, it is. Yet there’s a perception of slighting the prequels that Lucasfilm’s regime hasn’t quite shaken. This doesn’t help.
Maybe I need to start marketing t-shirts, buttons, and stickers that say: “Anakin is the Chosen One and that’s his lightsaber.”
Tags: Saga
starwarsprequelappreciationsociety.wordpress.com 
May 30, 2017 at 7:08 pm |
Just wait on the Falcon – there’s already the picture of her in the pilot’s chair and I’m sure it’ll be her voice for the Falcon in Star Wars Land. She got Chewie too. It’ll be her ship by 9.
So what will she get from Leia? The necklace from Yvan IV? Threepio?
May 30, 2017 at 7:31 pm |
Can we not get so aggressive? Please? It’s not slighting the Prequels. It’s just passing on from one generation to another.
This is just getting as aggressive and defensive as that Chosen One line from the episode of Rebels that made it look like they were changing canon, when they’re really not and just providing Obi-Wan’s fricking POV. Of course they know Anakin is the Chosen One. Even Filoni said in 2014 he wanted to do in Clone Wars what he did with the Maul/Kenobi episode of “Rebels” was provide a different stance on what it means to be the Chosen One and bring balance to the Force.
This is not changing canon. It’s just passing on to the next generation, even if they could make it look like that just a little better.
As much as I respect your opinions, forgive me for saying this and I don’t want to get blocked for this, but, to quote Woody Harrelson’s Colonel from “War for the Planet of the Apes”, “you’re taking this all much too personally. SO EMOTIONAL!”
Can we just wait and see if Rian Johnson shows Anakin is still the Chosen One when TLJ comes out in December before raising alarms? I would rather do that than lose my head.
Forgive me for my comments, but, I must show my neutrality and defend what Disney’s doing but with reason and with what people like Dave Filoni have said about the Chosen One.
Also, I’d just refer to that lightsaber as the last lightsaber of the Old Jedi Order.
May 30, 2017 at 7:39 pm |
You’re way more emotional about this than I am.
May 30, 2017 at 7:44 pm
We’re all emotional about too many real world or fantasy world things these days. But, what can we do?
BTW, after June 7th, I’ll be going dark for 3 weeks. Good luck with the blogging. 😉
May 30, 2017 at 7:33 pm |
Also, speaking of the Prequels, since the 2020 standalone movie will be decided sometime next month in June in a few weeks and if it’s likely announced at D23, cross ur fingers and write letters to Lucasfilm and politely beg them to make it it the Ewan McGregor Obi-Wan movie.
May 30, 2017 at 7:38 pm |
Also, these two quotes from Rian Johnson and Pablo Hidalgo that make me believe TLJ will be as experimental as GL’s 6 films and gave us a reason for the lack of familiar aliens in TFA, R1 and TLJ:
http://furiousfanboys.com/2017/05/rian-johnson-absolutely-understands-star-wars/ – How Rian’s Quotes Are Like GL’s
http://furiousfanboys.com/2017/05/star-wars-fans-triggered-lack-alien-fan-service-last-jedi/ – Pablo’s Defense for why no Saga Aliens are yet seen in the Sequel Trilogy
May 30, 2017 at 7:47 pm |
I got tagged in that Twitter back and forth. Honestly I thought the fan who first brought it up was respectful and didn’t expect Johnson to reply.
I don’t think Furious Fanboys was being fair in characterizing it as fan service. Lucas was always introducing new aliens and that’s fine if they want to keep doing that. On the other hand, in the prequels there were familiar aliens around too just to remind you it’s in the same universe. Would it kill them to throw in a Togruta, an Ewok, or a Twi’lek every now and then? My bigger issue with the aliens is that I don’t think the creature/alien design is all that hot.
May 30, 2017 at 7:53 pm
To be fair, Lazy Padawan, they did have an Ithorian in The Force Awakens, although it was a much different design than what we’ve seen in the previous 6 films, Clone Wars and even Rebels as well.
May 30, 2017 at 7:55 pm
This is the Ithorian I’m talking about: http://pop.h-cdn.co/assets/15/19/1430745986-screen-shot-2015-05-04-at-92441-am.png.
Also, if you pay close attention to Rogue One, they did have a hologram of a Twilek dancer.
May 30, 2017 at 7:53 pm |
PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE!!!! Make buttons, shirts & stickers!
I don’t actually care what the Disney AU does in regards to the lightsaber. It’s the Skywalker lightsaber- first Anakin’s, then Luke’s and then Mara’s 😉
May 30, 2017 at 7:56 pm |
Mara Jade’s not canon. It never was to George either when he told Seth Green on the Robot Chicken DVD after he brought up Mara Jade “I want YOU to get out of this office right now. I don’t want you here. Out.”
May 30, 2017 at 8:06 pm
I don’t care if she’ s canon or not. I like her character. And since we don’t have Lucas’s stories for 7-9, I will take the EU over the Disney AU any day of the week, with the exception of Rebels.
Sorry for the rant, LP 😛 🙂
May 30, 2017 at 9:01 pm
i agree with ljs in the old eu leia eventually became a jedi (which will likely never see in the new trilogy) is happily married to han (despite the deaths of chewie and their two sons) and luke was successful in bringing back the jedi order that’s what should have happened n the new trilogy (minus the deaths of chewie and anakin and jacen solo of course) hope we can agree to disagree may the force be with you
May 30, 2017 at 10:40 pm
Old EU/Legends is beyond vile, and I’m glad it was tossed in the circular file. It was unbelievably insulting to see the insufferable Mara Jade receive Anakin’s-then-Luke’s lightsaber, as if she was even remotely worthy of it. She showed how much she respected Anakin when she snarled at one of Anakin’s childhood acquaintances, “The Dark Side is the Dark Side. If you’d known Anakin later in his life, you wouldn’t be so quick to defend him.”
Uh…shrew…you were an Imperial assassin who slaughtered any number of people, then went off to a ritzy spa to get your little tootsies massaged (while minor, lazy people like Leia — who you treated like something on the bottom of your shoe — lived in barely habitable conditions to bring down the murderous Sith you gladly served) so where do YOU get off being so holy?
Boy did I loathe her. I cheered when she croaked, and I cheered again when she was kicked to the curb like the trash she was. One of the few times I agreed with Disney’s decisions re: SW.
May 31, 2017 at 1:06 pm |
Really maychild? You’re going to throw shade on 40 years of books, comics, tv shows and video games all because of one character? Did it ever occur to you that Lucas borrowed some ideas from the EU for the prequels and the Clone Wars? That he approved the storylines for the New Jedi Order series? And Shadows of the Empire? And the Force Unleashed?
May 31, 2017 at 1:44 pm
now now let’s cool it before this gets out of hand
May 31, 2017 at 1:59 pm
I agree. Not relevant.
May 31, 2017 at 2:00 pm
Joe’s right.
May 31, 2017 at 2:40 pm
In a word, Marshall: Yes.
May 31, 2017 at 5:50 pm
Then stop trashing the EU. It’s bad enough we still have to put up with garbage from the anti-prequel crowd. We EU fans and PT fans are pretty much in the same boat now, thanks to Disney.
May 31, 2017 at 6:29 pm
Okay, STOP. This means both of you Marshall and may child. Read the rules of the house.
June 26, 2017 at 7:55 pm
You’ve allowed this before LP. You even defended someone’s right to bash the 2003 Clone Wars series. This is the final straw. I no longer will visit this site.
June 27, 2017 at 1:51 pm
Hmm, not really sure what I did wrong and I’m sorry this was enough to keep you away. Few have any idea how hard it is to run a site like this one and make everyone happy. Thanks for the flounce weeks after I posted this.
May 30, 2017 at 7:59 pm |
Listen, I could talk about this all night, but I gotta go to bed now. I don’t wanna wake up cranky the next morning. Peace out, homies. MTFBWY.
P.S. Lazy Padawan, if ur interested in putting it up on SWPAS tomorrow, I have a Rebels story relating to how Clone Wars character, Ahsoka could make her return to Rebels next season and how it may tie in to a Clone Wars arc from Season 3. But, I’ll get back to u on that tomorrow. Good night. MTFBWY. Always. ✌️
May 30, 2017 at 8:50 pm |
I understand it being dubbed Rey’s light saber for a toy line specifically based on the new films, but other than that, it’s Anakin’s saber.
May 31, 2017 at 5:19 am |
That will always be true. Though, I refer to it as the Old Jedi Order’s last lightsaber.
May 30, 2017 at 8:52 pm |
I’m not sure how I feel about Anakin’s lightsaber becoming known as Rey’s lightsaber. I think it’s necessary for the franchise to move on into Star Wars’ future and making Anakin’s lightsaber officially Rey’s is a good way to do that. However I do not like the thought of them slighting the Prequels.
I was actually thinking about what this change means recently, and it came to me that Rey is like a new Anakin. I mean, she’s not literally Anakin, and she is different from him in many ways, but she is quite similar to him in other ways. She may not have been conceived by the Force (well, I don’t think she was, at least), but she was chosen in a sense by Anakin’s lightsaber, and appears to be extremely powerful in the Force even though she’s just been introduced to it and has seemingly never been trained before. Not to mention their promotional images are also very similar. They even have the same lightsaber, unless Rey is forced to make a new one for whatever reason.
So Anakin’s lightsaber becoming officially known as Rey’s may not be as bad as we think. It may not be that Lucasfilm is trying to bury meaningful references to the Prequels, but that they’re just being more subtle about referencing the Prequel Trilogy. There were quite a few Rey-Anakin parallels (and also Rey-PT!ObiWan parallels) in The Force Awakens, and I’ve seen quite a few gifs pointing out parallels between the Starkiller and Mustafar duels. So there’s that.
May 31, 2017 at 7:32 am |
Honestly can’t see what the problem is here. The Lightsaber reshuffle is purely a marketing venture. As Lazypadawn’s article correctly points out, Anakin is mentioned (albeit indirectly) as the weapon’s original owner in TFA. The decision is highly unlikely to be anything more sinister than an attempt to avoid confusion in Toys R Us.
May 31, 2017 at 9:23 am |
For me, perhaps, the problem isn’t so much “whose lightsabre it’s called” as that it was brought back in the general flood of nostalgia. Now, I do have to admit that once upon a time “the blue lightsabre” seemed “cooler” to me than “the green one,” and it did amuse me when “The Last Command” brought “the blue one” back, although nowadays I think I could critique that whole sequence… but I guess I’ve got to the point where “being handed your father’s weapon” is one thing, violently losing it in the moment before a staggering revelation is another thing, and being forced to face the lightsabre hadn’t been safely handed over before everything went wrong was yet another, even as Attack of the Clones for me somehow intriguingly demythologized the whole “ritual construction” business the spinoffs spun Return of the Jedi’s dialogue into. Unfortunately, “bringing it back” to me just seems to amount to one more “isn’t nostalgia great?” moment.
May 31, 2017 at 12:39 pm |
i bought the vanity fair on episode 7 i should have read through it because there were a few jabs at the prequels they could have been classy but no they jumped on the prequel hate band wagon they didn’t pull this crap when lucas was around i’ll be more careful this time if they take shots at the prequels again i won’t buy it i did get the issues on 2 and 3 back in the day
May 31, 2017 at 1:59 pm |
There’s a reason why I don’t buy those things anymore. I can look at the pix on the internet for free.
May 31, 2017 at 1:59 pm |
Well, there were no Prequel jabs from what I read in the Vanity Fair article for The Last Jedi, which is relevant given Rian Johnson’s love of the Prequels and Clone Wars.
May 31, 2017 at 3:12 pm
that’s good to know
May 31, 2017 at 7:35 pm |
Hey, Lazy Padawan, remember when I told you last night that I’d get back to u on a story I suggested that u put up on SWPAS soon regarding how Ahsoka’s return in Rebels Season 4 could tie in to an arc from Clone Wars Season 3? Well, I’m about to pass on to you the story, but, I have to do it here because I don’t have enough space on my phone to send it to u in Messenger. I apologize in advance. I hope u don’t see this as thread-jacking/getting off-topic (even if it seems like it is) because this was the only way I could pass on to you the story/stories.
The theory on how Ahsoka’s fate may have been hinted at in the Rebels Season 4 trailer: http://www.slashfilm.com/ahsokas-fate/
Comments from Dave Filoni talking to IGN that pretty much confirm Ahsoka’s return is tied to this Clone Wars arc from Season 3: http://m.ign.com/videos/2017/04/21/how-ahsoka-thrawn-and-x-wings-play-into-star-wars-rebels-final-season
Hope this doesn’t titliate you. MTFBWY.
May 31, 2017 at 7:38 pm |
However, if I may get back on topic of The Last Jedi, Lazy Padawan, Rian Johnson made another comment today, continuing to assure us The Last Jedi won’t be a copy of The Empire Strikes Back and will be an original story, unlike how The Force Awakens was criticized for being a copy of A New Hope: http://furiousfanboys.com/2017/05/last-jedi-not-copy-empire-strikes-back/
May 31, 2017 at 7:39 pm |
I wish to God that Abrams and Kasdan had never brought that damn lightsaber back into the story. Why couldn’t they have left it lost to all eternity and found another way for Rey to become aware of the Force? Why on earth did they use a lightsaber in the first place? A lightsaber? A weapon? What were they thinking?
May 31, 2017 at 7:50 pm |
i wish they never had been involved in the first place all they did was crap all over the six movies that lucas poured his heart and soul into he even offered laurence an opportunity to write for the prequels he turned him down and with lucas out of the way he destroyed everything that the characters in the first six films went through making vader’s sacrifice meaniless this is coming from someone who hasn’t seen tfa yet i will eventually i might like it but i won’t considerate and it’s sequels canon
June 1, 2017 at 5:49 am |
Until LP pointed out how Rey now has the Falcon in addition to Luke’s (Anakin’s) old lightsaber, I never realized how Frankensteined she was as a character. It is like Disney ran a focus group and determined that some like Luke the best and others think Han is the coolest. Well, why not just give her the Falcon AND the lightsaber and she can be Luke and Han all rolled into one.
June 1, 2017 at 8:25 am |
By the way, I always thought that that particular lightsaber was sort of cursed. Anakin used it in a pyrrhic victory over Dooku (win the battle, lose your soul) and in a catastrophic defeat on Mustafar. Luke only used it successfully against the Wampa and in a catastrophic defeat at Bespin. I looked at it a metaphor of the inauthentic (Anakin) or undeveloped (Luke) personalities of the wielders at the time. It was only when Luke became his own man (with his own lightsaber) that he succeeded. Luke and Rey might do well to throw it off of that big rock into the ocean.
June 1, 2017 at 10:48 am
interesting
June 1, 2017 at 5:38 pm
Good theory.
June 2, 2017 at 2:16 pm
Great observation, Moose. It got me thinking – Luke receives Anakin’s lightsaber and is given an idealized description of him by Obi-Wan, so from Luke’s point of view the lighsaber represents his dreams about his father, and later he loses both at the same time. The lightsaber is still symbolically tied to Anakin – Luke uses it when he is trying to live up to his father’s legacy (or what he thinks it is) and when he comes into his own, he builds his own lighsaber as you pointed out. And I’m not sure how Rey fits into this, unless some connection between her and Anakin will be revealed.
June 3, 2017 at 12:40 am
I love that idea Nariel about the weapon being tied to the idealized version of Anakin. I do not know how this fits in with Rey, if at all. My fear is that, to them, it is just a cool prop from the “coolest Star Wars movie”.
June 3, 2017 at 4:38 am
Thanks! Yes, that’s what I’m afraid of…