Disney Bought the Star Wars franchise. Then they made “The Force Awakens,” that the fandom generally went nuts, with some “hey, wait, isn’t that the *exact* same plot as ‘A New Hope’?” complaints in the background. Then they made “Rogue One,” and everyone pretty much loved it. Then they made “The Last Jedi,” and the fandom turned inside out because it was a flawed and to many an insulting take on Star Wars. Then they made “Solo,” and the fandom freakin’ hated it.
Four datapoints is not enough for a detailed and accurate trend analysis, but it’s enough to get a sense of where things are going. And the sense is that things are trending downwards, which Disney has recognized by shelving a whole bunch of announced and rumored projects. But there is a *fifth* data point: “Vader Episode 1: Shards of the Past.” This is a 15-minute fan-film released about three weeks ago. From what I can tell, the fandom *loves* it. Me… I guess I liked it ok. It was well produced, had some interesting ideas. But I accept that the rest of the fandom thinks it’s the greatest thing since sliced Jedi.
Here it is:
So… how does Disney respond to this highly popular fan film? A fan film where the creator had spoken to the right people and made sure to not step on any toes and didn’t even crowdfund it? Does Disney applaud this labor of love? Does Disney recognize it as a worthy effort? Does Disney at least leave it alone?
Nope. They copyright-struck it on YouTube, and now it is monetized via intrusive ads… and the money goes to Disney.
So… like with Star Trek/CBS/Axanar, here we have a labor of fan love being mistreated by the IP holder in such a way as to turn off the love of the fans.
BRILLIANT.
On the other hand: Disney is making bank off this fan film. Does that now make this fan film canon?
UPDATE:
It seems someone at Lucasfilm spoke to someone at Disney and made them see the light. the “Dude, we have trouble enough with the fans as-is due to the crappy produce you are releasing, don’t make it worse.”