Star Wars Day

Jon Solo Sebastian 05/04/2025:

Today is May the Fourth which has been adopted by Star Wars fans to be called Star Wars Day. Many will argue that May 25^th is the “real” Star Wars day, and I can’t argue with that considering that is the date in 1977 when cinema changed forever. I feel like any fan can celebrate either day or both days because why not? Just have fun with it!

I took a holiday for the holiday AKA Easter, and then was off this past week as well. If you’re here expecting my usual cryptid/high strangeness posts… don’t worry, I’ll be back to those next week! Hint for what’s to come: One of the most popular Arnold Schwarzenegger films might have been inspired by this particular creature, so “stick around” for next week’s Return of the Cryptids!

Now, back to Star Wars! Last weekend, I went to see Revenge of the Sith in the theater for its 20^th Anniversary—20 years already!? It’s my favorite film of all the Star Wars movies, and if my memory serves me correctly, this was the eighth time seeing it in the theater. Yes, I love this movie that much. Since then, I’ve watched it at least one hundred times. Seeing it in the theater twenty years later, it still captured that magic. Of course, I know the movie well enough to know what happens, but I was still glued to my seat—no bathroom breaks, and no peaking at my phone. Another cool part of going to see it this time around was that I went with three of my friends who were with me at the midnight release back in the day; there were ten or twelve of us for that one. This time, there were five of us… the one friend hadn’t been able to join us twenty years ago, but it was a great time, and I’m glad I got to see it with those guys.

Up until recently, I was a Star Wars super fan, and even ran my own podcast based on the franchise for about three years (150-ish) episodes. I still love it, but got hit with fan-fatigue along with questioning the direction some of the stories in their streaming series have been going down. They’ve been sort of all over the timeline going from stories taking place before A New Hope to five years after Return of the Jedi to two hundred years before The Phantom Menace and back. A lot of it has been solid, but some of it has been lacking in the quality of storytelling we’ve been used to. Some of the standouts have been The Mandalorian and Andor.

The Mandalorian, at least season’s one and two, delivered classic Star Wars in so many ways that it felt like George Lucas was still at the helm. It had the vibe of the old serials George was such a fan of before he created Star Wars. It’s like the Old West in space with action, compelling characters, a smaller story fit into a bigger picture, and a lot of callbacks to the older Star Wars stories on film and in novels.

Andor is Star Wars for a more mature audience; I think. In a lot of ways it feels like Game of Thrones in space. It’s still Star Wars, but with some dark and gritty sprinkled with backdoor dealings, spies, treason, and some of—if not, the best acting and dialogue in Star Wars. Season one of Andor didn’t resonate with me my first time viewing it, but I was running my Star Wars podcast at the time, and we were doing “Andor After Shows” where we discussed the new episodes of the season each week as they aired, so that might have hampered my appreciation for what was happening on screen. I rewatched it last month to get ready for season two of Andor and I loved it so much. As much as I appreciate the weekly episode drops, I feel like Andor is better suited for watching it in three episode blocks… which is likely why they’ve opted for that format in season two. So far, season two of Andor is off to a great start.

In past Star Wars Day celebrations, I’d be hosting my podcast. We usually played a game or did trivia for those episodes. We always just tried to make it a fun time for us and our listeners.

Side Note: As much as I think I know about Star Wars, I’m not the greatest at trivia. My mind goes blank—ha ha.

Now that I’ve been away from the podcast, it’s more of a chill day. Last year, I wrote about my Top 5 Star Wars Books, which you can read here: Star Wars Day 2024. This year, I kicked it off with my return to the theater to see Revenge of the Sith, we’ve got Andor season two running at the moment, and I’ve started re-reading the Darth Maul “Son of Dathomir” graphic novel. I’m sure I’ll pop in a movie this evening—any suggestions? I’m leaning toward A New Hope, or Attack of the Clones.

Thank you for allowing me to ramble about Star Wars for a little bit on this day of celebration. There are a lot of new and interesting stories coming soon, and I’m really hoping they’ve found a way back to the solid storytelling us fans love to sink our teeth into.

Coming soon for Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld (which I believe released today) is an animated short series following two characters from The Clone Wars Era—Cad Bane, and one of my favorite characters, Asajj Ventress. In 2026, another animated series kicks off titled Maul: Shadow Lord, which of course, will be about Darth Maul and what he’s been up to after The Clone Wars. Also slated for 2026 is the return to the movie theaters for new Star Wars in the form of The Mandalorian and Grogu—this should be a fun time. Along with that film, we get season two of Ahsoka, which sounds like things will really be heating up for the New Republic.

If you’re a Star Wars fan and you’ve made it this far, how do you celebrate Star Wars Day?

May the Fourth and the Force Be With You!