We’ll give Rian Johnson credit for one thing: people are still talking about Star Wars: The Last Jedi three years later. Of course, the conversation usually centers on just how much many fans hated the film, so perhaps the Episode VIII director shouldn’t be that proud. Sadly for Johnson, though, is the fact that it’s not just the casual fan taking aim at his work. Now even a beloved Star Wars author has taken his shots at TLJ in a recent interview. The problem here, however, is that his answer to the film isn’t any better.
Fans of the old Expanded Universe (now Legends) will immediately recognize the name Alan Dean Foster. He penned Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. He also wrote the novelization for the original Star Wars (a New Hope) and The Force Awakens. He knows a thing or two about Star Wars writing. We’re sure there are a lot of things he has to say about The Last Jedi with which some fans will agree. Notwithstanding, the Star Wars author goes a little off the rails with his suggested retcon for the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Star Wars Author blasts Rian Johnson film, suggests major Star Wars retcon
Episode VIII was out, it was a done deal. And I went and saw it. I thought it was a terrible film. I thought it was a terrible Star Wars movie…. I thought, ‘How can this be retconned? How can we fix as much as possible from Episode VIII in a proposed Episode IX?’ And I wrote a partial treatment for that, attempting in that storyline to explain a lot of the really silly things that happened in Episode VIII.”
~ Alan Dean Foster
As it turns out, despite being a Star Wars author in his own right, Alan Dean Foster didn’t have anything constructive to add. His answer to why Rey is so strong in the Force after her minimal training with Luke Skywalker?
Brain implants.
Wait, what?
Yes, you read that correctly. His idea to recton the Rian Johnson entry into Star Wars was to give Rey cybernetic implants. As he explains it:
That gives her the ability to learn remarkably quickly and also enhances her existing Force powers, and that’s how she can throw boulders around at the end of Episode VIII. Also, it allows her to be instantly simpatico with other droids. I thought this would be a really fun story element, as well as explaining why and how she’s able to do these remarkable things.”
Okay Alan, you may be a beloved Star Wars author, but… no. That’s not how the Force works. Rey having brain implants is not in any way better than what you call the “silly things that happened in Episode VIII.”
Look, Rian Johnson happened. The Last Jedi happened. It’s as much Star Wars canon as The Empire Strikes Back. You don’t have to love every single aspect of the franchise in order to appreciate it as a whole. So let’s be clear, here and now: the sequel trilogy isn’t going to magically disappear. Deal with it, and move on. We are, after all, finally getting to see Boba Fett in all his glory next year.
But brain implants? Come on.
Source: Moveiweb; Midnight’s Edge
