May the 4th be with us. That rallying cry was recently heard widely in public, on the lips and in the posts of the massive legion of Star Wars fans in our midst, in anticipation of the first new film in the franchise since the 2019 pandemic. For one very local example of Star Wars lore, the cheeky punk band Nerf Herder takes its name from an obscure reference in the franchise.
With the landing of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, number 13 in the filmography going back 50 years, there is more ripe fodder for fans to talk and post about.
Not to belabor the personal angle, but I was one of those geeks — more generally cinephile-oriented than sci-fi obsessed — who trekked down to the Grauman Chinese Theater in Hollywood with pals to catch George Lucas's new sensation in the summer of ‘76. And it was sensational, although I've only seen a few of the subsequent models in the series. This makes me a Star Wars agnostic: let that be a disclaimer for the review to follow.