I suspected as much: “The initial reaction [to] The Empire Strikes Back is eerily similar to that of 2017’s Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi,” writes Zachary Sosland in Looper. “Both middle chapters of their respective trilogies tried to take the Star Wars franchise in exciting new directions, and both receiving mixed receptions from fans who were initially displeased with being knocked so far out of their comfort zones. Of course, the backlash against The Last Jedi was much louder, but the point still stands.”
The Backlash Against The Empire Strikes Back
Jonathan Crowe
Jonathan Crowe blogs about maps at The Map Room and writes and reviews science fiction and fantasy; his work has been published by AE, The New York Review of Science Fiction, Strange Horizons and Tor.com. He lives in Shawville, Quebec.
That’s pretty much what I imperfectly remember from being alive during those times. We didn’t have the Internet to amplify the volume of the rage in those days.
Interesting article. Thanks for the link. I read some of those Starlog letters back in the day — I was right there with that fellow who doubted that Vader was telling the truth that he was Luke’s father. One curious omission was the Starlog letter, one I recall distinctly, which correctly guessed not just that Leia was Yoda’s “another” but that she was Luke’s sister, citing stories in the Arabian Nights where lovers discover that they are siblings.