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Lightsabers, Death Stars, Jedi, an Ewoks: who doesn't love Star Wars? And with Episode VII, The Force Awakens, coming out this December, there's reason to be excited. As one of the movies that has inspired technological innovations, I can't help but wonder if the next one in the series will be remembered as fondly.

Some controversy has arisen because the new trilogy will be somewhat of a reboot since it will not follow the storylines and characters given by the Star Wars Expanded Universe, including Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy. At the same time, everything indicates that the new movies will continue the plot and respect the basic premises of the first two trilogies.

The question remains, though: What to think of these sorts of reboots in science fiction franchises?

Star Trek seems to have successfully pulled it off with Star Trek (2009), and Into Darkness (2013), if you judge by the numbers or the reviews, but not everyone agrees. In spite of having a long Star Trek timeline to uphold, I thought they did a great job. I personally loved Nolan's Batman reboot, but I should admit that I didn't really have any previous exposure to Batman, so for me it was kind of like "the original" (and that's probably part of what producers are going after with these sorts of reboot series: newly converted or young viewers). And yet, you kind of worry that the only thing producers are really doing is squeezing every last penny out of what was once a great story and surrounding universe, but that they ultimately ruin the magic with these reboots. I mean, it's certainly happened before. Cough, cough: Fantastic Four, Jurassic World, Terminator Genisys...

I believe it's important to keep our sci-fi franchises alive to inspire and strive for technology that might not actually exist today. You know the saying "If you can imagine it... it can happen!"

Here's three angles to consider when evaluating a reboot. After them, my own opinion about Star Wars. Hint: much like the force's light and dark sides, it's hard to trace clear-cut boundaries here. (I'll be commenting mostly with Star Wars in mind, but you could really say similar things about all sorts of science fiction franchises.)

Authenticity

By making a reboot of a series or movie, producers risk departing from whatever made the original good in the first place. In the case of Star Wars, this wasn't so much a problem with Episodes I, II and III because George Lucas himself still directed them. But with Disney purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012, and J. J. Abrams replacing Lucas in the director's chair, you could worry that whatever they come out with in The Force Awakens, it might just no longer actually be Star Wars. Wouldn't that be ruining the magic?

Keeping the Star Wars world alive

I think that the reason so many of us love Star Wars so much is because it creates a different world. It's just nice to suddenly find yourself in a world full of droids, podracers, stormtroopers, and Gungans. The idea of a universe where a great struggle between two different sides of the force takes place is somehow enthralling. But the memory of the movies that inspired that world in our imagination starts to fade as the movies begin to get older, and the universe too begins to disappear. Of course, there's things like Star Wars's Expanded Universe, where fans and independent producers write comic books, novels and even videogames amplifying and developing the parts of that world that Lucas himself left open. But at the end of the day, the thrust of that universe, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away is those movies that we all saw in the big screen. With a new trilogy coming out, we can be sure that that universe will continue to exist.

Consistency with the Expanded Universe

From comic books to video games to novels, franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, Spiderman, and so many others are more than just the movies that originally inspire them. In a way, the fact that a bunch of fans and other people not directly connected to the original production contribute to imagining these worlds is what makes them worlds. But by rebooting these storylines and characters, the movie kind of betrays the fans. At the same time, because the Expanded Universe was produced by a bunch of independent fans and producers, their stories are not quite consistent with one another. In order for the whole thing to work, you need for this world to be coherent, and that's what you get when an official reboot comes along and says, "This is THE one and actual sequel to Episodes III-VI."

My Take:

A sequel reboot can ultimately be good because it keeps the alternative worlds that drive us to the movies in the first place alive. But it needs to be close enough to the previous storylines, characters, and themes that it remains the same world. So for example, in the new Star Wars trilogy, the storyline is supposed to be a continuation of Episodes I-VI, although it will ignore most of what the Expanded Universe had previously imagined.

But at least this means that we will be able to watch all 9 movies one day (anyone else into binge watching TV?) and still get one coherent and roughly continuous narrative. If they really pull this off, then I'll be happy with this reboot series. We'll have to wait and watch the movies to find out, but I can at least say that I'm excited to go watch the premiere in December! What's your take?