Quit Your Whining and Enjoy the Fact That We're Getting at Least Five New 'Star Wars' Movies

Over the next few years, we're going to not only get an entire new Star Wars trilogy, but we're also going to get standalone films that focus on specific characters, with Boba Fett and Han Solo being the rumored first movies. Amazing news, right, Star Wars fans? Not according to the blogs, websites and Twitter feeds that spent the past few days protesting the idea of spinoff Star Wars fans. Here's what I have to say to anyone against Disney's plans for expanding our favorite galaxy far, far away: Quit your whining.

Just three months ago, we were living in a world where there were only six Star Wars film. There was the Original Trilogy, released between 1977 and 1983, and the Prequel Trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005. That was it. Over the course of almost three decades, George Lucas only gave the world six Star Wars movies. For comparison, we were granted eight Harry Potter films over an 11-year period and punished with five Twilight movies over a five-year period. And no matter what the Internet or the rumor mill whispered, we were never going to get another Star Wars movie. The saga was finished, Lucas swore over and over again. The Complete Saga blu-ray set that you purchased a few years ago was the end of the line for Star Wars.

Then came Oct. 30, 2012. The news first popped up on Twitter. Disney had bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion. Star Wars: Episode VII was happening. Wait. The entire Sequel Trilogy was finally happening. And that three-year gap between films that Star Wars had strictly adhered to for the previous trilogies? How about a new Star Wars movie every two to three years instead? When Revenge of the Sith, the last  new Star Wars movie, was released we weren't living in the world of social media. There was no Twitter to break news or take the collective pulse of pop culture. When news of Disney's purchase and Episode VII and everything else hit the Internet, Twitter was in a state of shock. Was this really happening? Was this a joke, some elaborate prank that somehow suckered in every major media organization?

One second we were living in a world where a new Star Wars movie would never again grace the big screens. Sure, there were 3D re-releases, but never again would a kid get to sit in the movie theater with his dad by his side, hear John Williams' score blare to life and watch that iconic title scroll creep across the screen while waiting in anticipation for a new Star Wars adventure to begin. All of sudden, the world was different. We would not only get Episode VII in 2015, but now Disney was promising a new trilogy. And spinoffs. Spinoffs? Like that Boba Fett film that director Joe Johnston had been dying to make for years? 

Yes. Disney made that idea official this week when the studio announced that it was officially working on two standalone Star Wars film that would focus on the adventures of classic character beyond the Sequel Trilogy. The Internet once again sprung into action, passing along rumors of a Yoda movie or a Darth Maul movie. On Wednesday, Entertainment Weekly broke the news that Han Solo and Boba Fett would be the characters featured in the first two Star Wars standalone movies. Boba Fett, the character whose Kenner (and later Hasbro) action figure every single Star Wars fan just had to have when they were a kid, would get his own movie. 

My cocoon of nerd bliss was cracked open when I started to see people gripe online about these standalone movies. Did we really need them? Why can't Disney just leave these characters alone? Why are we clinging to the past?

Let me reiterate what I said before. Three months ago, Star Wars was over. Done. Finished. Like a rancor that had a giant gate come smashing down on his skull. Now Disney had come riding in like a white knight to not only rescue Star Wars from Lucas, the man who gave us The Phantom Menace and lines like "I don't like sand," but to announce plans to produced at least five Star Wars movies over the next decade ... and people are complaining about it? 

I sincerely don't believe Disney is going to screw this up. They've invested too much in Star Wars to blow this opportunity. With Kathleen Kennedy in charge and JJ Abrams directing Episode VII, Disney has already demonstrated they know how much is riding on what comes next for Star Wars. They even have Lawrence Kasdan, the man who wrote The Empire Strikes Back, working on the scripts for these spinoff films. If Disney wants to make a Han Solo movie and a Boba Fett movie, I believe they'll do it right. 

And you know what? I they do it in a way that you don't agree with, it doesn't change your life at all. It doesn't lessen your love of the Original Trilogy or even the Prequel Trilogy, if that's your thing. On Oct. 29, 2012, the opportunity to complain about future Star Wars movies didn't exist. Now it does. And if you love Star Wars, you should be thankful for that.

Think of all the kids that will now get to experience seeing Star Wars: The Digestion of Boba Fett or Star Wars: Parsecs Are a Unit of Distance Not Time, Han Solo in theaters with their dad or mom. Think of the parents who grew up loving Star Wars who will now get to share that experience with their children. If you were lucky enough to see any of the current six Star Wars films like that, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Stop your whining. If you don't want these standalone films, don't watch them. They aren't going to tarnish the legacy of Star Wars. They're going to strengthen it in a way that the franchise hasn't been able to in a long time.