By: Dave Gremillion
Had Shakespeare lived in 2014, I'm sure one of his sayings would have been "Cry Havoc and let slip the fanboys of Star Wars!"
For
the first time since Disney acquired the franchise, we have a major character announcement. Not the confirmation of Artoo or the Big Three,
but an actual central character that will become part of the Star Wars
franchise for all time.
"Kanan", described by Dave
Filoni as a "Cowboy Jedi", is the head of the "Ghost" crew. He looks
similar to "Sokka" from the Last Airbender series. He's a no nonsense
type of character who is clearly haunted by his past, having locked his
lightsaber away long ago. He is voiced by Freddie Prinze, Jr, a long
time actor who is no stranger to voice acting. His credits include
several episodes of Robot Chicken as well as Mass Effect 3 and Mass
Effect: Paragon Lost.
The fanboys erupted...and not in a good way.
"That loser from Scooby-Doo?"
"Noooooooo!"
"Well this is shaping up to be a total crap fest (sic)."
"Why Disney? Why are you ruining my life?"
Those
are actual quotes I scraped off of Facebook. I was too sickened to look
at Twitter, G+, or Reddit. Parts of the fanbase have become so jaded,
or immature, that any announcement of any cast member for any part of
Star Wars for the foreseeable future will be given the same disrespect.
In 2013, it was announced that Ben Affleck would be the
next Caped Crusader in the upcoming Batman/Superman movie. The Internet
nearly exploded with negative criticism. I recall Heath Ledger getting
the same treatment, as did Christian Bale, as did many others who came
before them.
You want to spew hate on Ryan Reynolds for
being a lousy Green Lantern? Sure, we can do that now that the movie has
been out for a few years. You want to fill the Internet with negativity
about "Batman and Robin" because of...everything? Sure, go for
it...after witnessing its horrors.
But surely, as human
beings, we can have the decency to not belittle a show we haven't seen,
an actor whose voice hasn't been aired, simply because of our own
internal prejudices. Not long ago, I started watching the Clone Wars
(2008) for the first time. Prior to that, I'd heard some nastiness puked
onto the web from "fans" about various characters including Ahsoka
Tano.
I kept my mouth shut.
I hadn't seen the show yet, had met Ashley Eckstein only once, and had the
maturity to understand that every series has fans and haters...after the
show had aired.
Casting announcements for Episode VII
will be released over the coming months. I pray those of you with a
keyboard take two seconds to think before becoming heartless Keyboard
Warriors.
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