The 2010s were dominated by the MCU, along with two other franchises that either have come or will come to an end in 2019: “Game of Thrones” and the “Star Wars” movies. Their example is one of how things used to be, not a sign of changing times. As Kylo Ren says in “The Last Jedi,” “Let the past die.”

A few months ago, I was asked if “Star Wars” was an American franchise. It was a fascinating question and my reply via text was novel-length.

Cadenza is always excited about pop culture, but 2016 has promised us more than a few fragrant gems to drool over. Here are the shiniest apples of our collective longing eye.

Disney announced on Tuesday that it had acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion but more importantly that Episode VII was coming in 2015. Naturally, people on the Internet ran around like someone had announced that their entire family had been run over by a pod racer. What if this turned out just like the prequels did?

With the recent 3-D re-release of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” I’m sure many of us are thinking back to our childhoods as a new generation of “Star Wars” fans get hooked. As a child, I enjoyed all of the cool new things in the prequel, especially Darth Maul.

With recent news that a 3-D conversion of “The Phantom Menace” will be released next year—and really, is anyone surprised that George Lucas has latched on to yet another way to sell more copies of the same movies––I thought maybe we could focus on one of the few good things that sprang from the “Star Wars” universe: “Knights of the Old Republic.