I have to admit that I learned a lot about myself last weekend that has caused me to re-think some of my opinions on things. For years, I have been angry that Hollywood never comes out with any original movies. Everything Hollywood does is either a remake or a reboot to something that has already been done.

Then the Godzilla reboot came out and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I realized that I also enjoyed the movie about the A-Team, Star Trek, and all of the Batman movies by Christopher Nolan. So that got me to thinking that, maybe instead of being a hypocrite, I should give things a chance.

I still carry the opinion that reboots are better than remakes. For example, the latest Halloween movies were remakes of the original. The story was a little different in spots, but it was basically the same story with a few added details thrown in. The Star Trek and Godzilla movies were reboots. These were completely new story lines using familiar characters to get a popular franchise up and going again.

So, to be clear – I like reboots, but I am not a big fan of remakes. I think that makes sense and is a fair statement to make.

That brings us to the new Star Wars movies. Anyone who thought that Disney bought Lucasfilms and all of the Star Wars movies just to preserve them for posterity was kidding themselves. I thought that Disney was just going to follow through on Lucas’ promise of releasing all six of the movies in 3D. But it looks like Disney is ready to go a big step further and create a new trilogy of movies. The question is: why?

The reason is simple; every Star Wars fan knows that George Lucas has always talked about nine movies. Lucas, in creating his mythology, felt that three movies would not be enough to create a counterculture based on his vision. He, of course, was wrong. The three original Star Wars movies created such a dynamic counterculture that “Jedi” is an accepted religion in Australia. When you can create something that another country recognizes as a religion, then you have done something pretty spectacular.

But Lucas always mentioned nine films and that is what Disney is going on. But here is the rub to these three new films that I actually kind of like; George Lucas is not writing them.

Any fan of the Star Wars franchise has to admit that the writing in the movies has been horrible. The dialogue is nonsensical and it sounds like two 10-year-olds talking whenever Jedis get together. Some would argue that the clunky dialogue was one of the things that made the Star Wars films so appealing. I would argue that, even as a nine-year-old seeing Episode IV for the first time, even I was annoyed at the crappy dialogue and the abuse of the word “complete.”

So, are these new Star Wars movies reboots or remakes? They are neither. They are continuations of a series that started in 1977 and has gone on to develop a life of its own. So, is it safe to look forward to these movies? Absolutely.

The only problem people may have with the new Star Wars movies is that J.J. Abrams is writing and directing them. Abrams is not known for his originality, but he is known for sticking closely to a plot line that has already been established. That means that Star Wars fans will probably get a movie that looks really familiar, but does not offer much of anything new. We always looked forward to seeing something new in each Star Wars movie. So the idea of not having something new could be discouraging.

All in all, this is much better than Disney deciding that the first three movies needed to be completely remade, which it could have done. Besides, George Lucas already completely altered the first three movies to the point where they are hard to recognize, so there is no need for Disney to mess with them any further.

Here is the part that I really like about Disney buying Lucasfilms; Disney also bought the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise. I am not hoping for a remake here, but it would be awesome to see Disney reboot the series and get it going again. No matter what is going on around us, we should never get tired of Indiana Jones melting Nazis and getting chased by huge boulders.

Movies were meant to be fun. Let’s hope that Disney takes its new toy and uses it to entertain us, instead of simply trying to drain our wallets. As long as they are reboots instead of remakes, everything should be fine.

Nick Oliver is a Niagara County resident and a reboot of his parents. His column appears every Wednesday and is often considered to be a remake. Go to the movies!

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