Star Wars . . . it’s everywhere! Even if you somehow managed to defy everything and haven’t actually seen any of the Star Wars movies, you already know it on a quotable level through parodies, references and chatter you have overheard. There is no escaping its gravitational pull on pop culture.
Absolutely Everything Needs a Backstory and Name!
The defining aspect it seems is that its fan-base has an extreme attention to minutia. Dating back to the old “Expanded Universe”, now called “Legends,” you could read books on every tiny microscopic detail about this franchise to learn more. This reached hyper-drive level speeds in the Disney era with the new canon.
Even such essential elements like the Force itself has been expanded upon thanks to the prequels. “Midi-Chlorians”, yikes… How do you walk back that one?
From guidebooks to Wiki, articles are everywhere, making every insignificant item or character in Star Wars lore bigger than it should be. This is exacerbated by having “A Star Wars Story” films as an actual regular thing now; and the need to fill in Death Star-sized plot holes, (A.K.A, the Death Star’s literal Thermal Exhaust Port plot hole).
Adding Crumbs Of Information Everywhere
For casual fans, we don’t need to know the name of the creature living on Jabba’s hide! It’s officially Salacious B. Crumb by the way. His species? Well dude, he’s a Kowakian monkey-lizard. Is he a really close friend, or just an animal eating crumbs Jabba drops from his meals, hence the name?
Uhh, maybe, but he has an actual 9-5 job (and sleeps at work on his boss’s back…is that considered overtime) as a court jester. That thing is on the clock. It laughs at everything and seems to nail it. Did this go a touch too far? Yeah, probably. However, it probably goes deeper in terms of available details, so much so that there is a book detailing it’s first day as a Jester and the crazy murderous stuff it’s seen and laughed at.
If the name IG-88 rings a bell as well, and you know the exact film it was spotted in, and the full backstory, you probably are way, way into Star Wars. You probably also know the names of all the companies who made all the Star Wars universe crafts, the exact names of the vessels, their speeds, weapon capabilities and the actual specific designer? That’s cool, no judgment. Most folks would give you a blank stare though, if it all came up in everyday conversation.
It’s understandable that the fan-base would do that! Star Wars is an exciting vast universe, and it’s been explored greatly by its marketing empire, spanning countless books, comics, video games, animated series, toys, action figures, etc.
 
What is worrisome is the long time need to name, label and give a backstory to absolutely everything in the universe. This has not only robbed the franchise of any mystery, but reached feverish levels that even an off-comment by a smaller character is taken as biblical.
It’s All About That SuperFan Supremacy
Let’s talk about Snoke. He seems to be the one character in Star Wars that could have used a backstory was not given one. Shocking, right? Well, he’ll likely get one for years to come. For fun, just google search his giant “compensating for something” ship “The Supremacy”, and you’ll be in for a treat.
 
A Boudoir is a Woman’s private sitting room or salon
Basically, in “The Last Jedi” the hacker DJ refers to the ship fleetingly as “Snoke’s Boudoir.”
Hmm… does French exist in Star Wars? A Boudoir is, at least according to Wikipedia “a woman’s private sitting room or salon in a furnished accommodation usually between the dining room and the bedroom, but can also refer to a woman’s private bedroom.”
A Little Mystery Can Be A Good Thing
So first, it’s a little weird to put that wording in the film.
Second, Wookieepedia went ahead and made that term the universal understanding of the excessively massive ship.
To quote the site: ” the Resistance nonetheless suspected the existence of the ship, nicknamed “Snoke’s Boudoir” and tried to investigate the veracity of its rumoured existence.”
Look guys, a single eccentric hacker said that, it’s not the universally known nickname of the ship. Relax!
Star Wars is awesome, but without any mystery and leaps to explain everything, including assertions like that, it’s no wonder franchise fatigue will hit this series in a matter of Parsecs! Yeah, for the record, a Parsec is a unit of length and not time.
Why 12 Parsecs, what does that mean?
Of course, the upcoming “Solo” film will explain that apparent plot hole made back in 1977. How did he make the Kessel Run in only 12 Parsecs! That’s like saying a runner made the 100 meter dash in only 12 meters! Madness! Well, 12 parsecs works out to 39.6 light-years, nerd glasses on, so we’ll have to wait and see. Come to think of it, a “Parsec” is the only thing in Star Wars that was probably not made for Star Wars, it’s an actual scientific term dating back to 1913. Neato!
No matter where you stand, the beauty is that you can stay surface level with the franchise or go way deep. It’s totally up to you.
Just remember, all the current expanded universe stuff will probably have to be removed from cannon at some point, when it becomes inconvenient noise in the way of more movies. And we’ll be getting more movies regularly until “A Long Time Ago” needs to be replaced with “This happened on Tuesday”, so everyone might want to chill a bit.
What’s your take on Star Wars?
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