VIEWPOINT | Help me, Bob Iger. You're my only hope.

Column by Erick Erickson

On Oct. 30, 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and, with it, “Star Wars.” Since then, Disney’s stewardship of a property George Lucas himself often failed to steward wisely has descended into farce.

There is an old joke that the proof time travel is not real is because George Lucas did not die after the release of “Return of the Jedi” in 1983. Lucas went on to continually re-edit his famous movies in ways that left fans cold. Then, he made the prequels and introduced characters like Jar Jar Binks and bad dialogue. Selling to Disney seemed like a blessing. Now the fans are ready for Disney to surrender the properties back. Lucas may have made us suffer with Jar Jar, but Disney has foisted “The Acolyte” on us.

Currently, the latest “Star Wars” offering, available for streaming on Disney Plus, is rated by the audience at 14 percent on the film review site Rotten Tomatoes. That is far less than even the widely hated “Star Wars Holiday Special” from 1978, which gets a 25 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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