Is It Really The Holidays Without Star Wars?

I absolutely love this time of year. It stems from my childhood. I've always been a big "event" person, and the weeks before Halloween through the end of the year are packed with them, especially for me as a Sagittarius. If you grew up in the 80's, and this doesn't stir something in your soul, you're not human:



Depending on which fourth quarter month it was, it could mean you were about to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving or A Charlie Brown Christmas (or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, The Year Without a Santa Claus, etc., etc.). Regardless, it was an event. Then of course when you get a little bit older, the greatest team sport also kicks in this time of year. It's as if all the good things are condensed into these few months as a consolation prize for the weather tuning colder and the sun going into hibernation (and when you're a kid, stupid school starting back up).

If you grew up during the vintage Kenner days, the holidays were inextricably linked with Star Wars. Now you might be saying, "Hold on a sec, professor. The Original Trilogy movies all debuted in May." Well, you'd be right of course, but things were different during that era. Home video wasn't a thing back then. You had to wait for a theatrical release to watch Star Wars, but you could recreate Star Wars with the toys. For many of us, the big ticket world-building items like the Death Star Playset, the Millennium Falcon, or the AT-AT didn't come in to our collections until Christmas. This was the equivalent of our home video release.

Of course since Disney has taken over, they have cemented the correlation between Star Wars and the holidays. It wasn't entirely intentional, as The Force Awakens was intended to be released in May, but production delays caused it to be bumped to December. Then for the next two years, the pattern repeated with December releases for Rogue One and The Last Jedi. Starting in 2019 the pattern was put on steroids. The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 ran from November 12th through December 27th, and October 30th through December 18th respectively. Season 1 even had the theatrical release of The Rise of Skywalker sandwiched between chapters 7 and 8. I can't be the only one who feels conditioned to expecting Star Wars this time of year.

For that reason I'm a little saddened that Star Wars is going to virtually miss this window in 2021. The Book of Boba Fett only has a narrow toe hold on the season with a December 29th debut. I don't expect Disney to care about this in the slightest, but I do feel like there's a slight bit of tradition being broken this year (and yes I know it was also broken in 2018, but I think we welcomed the break at the time). Nonetheless, I like tradition and events.

---

comments powered by Disqus