Star Wars Ripped Off 

 In the summer of 1984, we were all waiting for a possible Star Wars sequel. It was said that George Lucas had already conceived all nine parts. We assumed that the scripts were ready and just needed to be realised. But there were no signals from the official Star Wars forge that could shorten our waiting time! We longingly played with our Star Wars figures, had learned the names for individual robots or spaceships and were well informed about the politics in that distant galaxy. In our worst dreams, we never imagined that we would have to wait not only for the entire 80s but also for the entire 90s. Sure, in 1984 Lucasfilm released The Ewok Adventure. The following year, Ewoks: The Battle Of Endor. But we understood that these were by no means full-fledged Star Wars episodes. It may even have been the first time we kids understood how to make real money from a franchise! It wasn't until 1988 that we heard from George Lucas again. He emerged as the writer and producer of the fantasy saga Willow. Willow offered all kinds of Star Wars qualities! And it was said that Willow was also to become a multi-part cinema series! Unfortunately, George Lucas could not repeat the Star Wars success with Willow. As a substitute drug, we began to watch the many, many Star Wars clones. First up was Krull, which was released in 1983 - the same year as Return Of The jedi. With scathing reviews - but we didn't care! We discovered Battle Beyond The Stars, which didn't look quite as splendid, but seemed to be set in a similar galaxy. In the same year - 1980 - Hawk The Slayer saw the light of day. A pleasant experience, as it more or less retold the Star Wars story. And in 1983, an unofficial sequel even appeared with Space Raiders! We tried The Black Hole, a Disney Star Wars imitator. At the time, the Disney corporation was doing badly, one far from buying the original Star Wars (as later happened). Even more remote seemed the possibility of Disney snatching Star Wars from creator George Lucas! On the contrary, in 1979 the traditional corporation tried to build its own Star Wars vehicle. With much, much less success! Nevertheless, The Black Hole was a big budget production after all! In 1984, The Last Starfighter followed, which was incredibly fun! It may be that The Last Starfighter is set on Earth, but this spin-off offers very early CGI effects! The years went by without us ever hearing anything new from George Lucas. Numerous Star Wars video games appeared and rumours were heard that Lucas could finally continue his saga. This promise was only fulfilled in 1999! George Lucas himself directed The Phantom Menace! The prelude to the Star Wars prequel. We no longer very young children could hardly wait and went to the cinema. But what a terrible surprise! Nobody liked Lucas Episode I! Even the animation was criticised! Fans HATED Jar Jar Binks and young Annakin Skywalker, who turned the venerable saga into a children's car race. Or had we misunderstood something? I think our memories of Episodes I-III seemed clouded over the years. Star Wars, after all, offered family entertainment from the start - which included pesky creatures like the Ewoks! Even the classic episodes were not serious. We had simply grown older and so George Lucas surprised us with his child-friendly ideas. Over the Christmas days I watched the so-called new episodes from the early 00s again. All directed and produced by George Lucas (unlike Episodes V and VI). And lo and behold! I enjoyed the three episodes! Nevertheless, the general disappointment of the three Lucas episodes cleared the way for postmodern imitators. Welcome to the year of the Star Wars bows! In the 80s, people tried to cash in on the Star Wars hype on a low budget. During the 10s, however, fans created reminiscences of the original. The likes of Guardians Of The Galaxy or Luc Besson's Valerian! By the way: Unlike us fans, Guardians Of The Galaxy and Valerian understood that the typical Star Wars swing had to be light and easy. In keeping with the spirit of George Lucas, not that of Kubrick or Tarkovsky. In 2015, the Disney corporation finally surprised us fans by concluding Lucas' nine-part saga! But without George Lucas. Exactly ten years after Lucas made Episode III, Star Wars disciple J. J. Abrams took over. Unlike the original Lucas, Abrams offered everything we fans wanted. Malicious tongues spoke of him simply producing a copy & paste of Episode IV. The artwork had been snatched from Lucas the artist, to be completed by the fans. A project that is still in its infancy. And we, now very grown-up children, who have enjoyed the first two seasons of The Mandalorian and are now eagerly awaiting the third (and all the series that have also been announced!) - we have learned one thing in the past: the waiting is always the best... If you have too much time on your hands and want to put yourself in our shoes, check out the many free youtube streams in this list. So you get an overview of the many Star Wars imitators of the 80s. A nice project!