Rise Of Skywalker Wins 5 Saturn Awards

Every year The Saturn Awards celebrate the best of genre film, television, and theater. It’s a chance for the horror, sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, all the fun stuff to get its moment in the sun. And this year at The Saturn Awards, Rise of Skywalker cleaned house. Whatever your feelings on the cap to the Skywalker saga, it’s worth taking a second to visit what about this movie worked well enough to merit 5 awards this season. 

What Awards Did Rise of Skywalker Win?

Rise of Skywalker came into the Saturn Awards with a trail of bad reviews and left carrying the award for Best Science Fiction Film. It also took away Best Director, Best Music, Best Make-Up, and Best Special Effects. While some maybe–probably–disagree with those first two awards, it’s hard to argue that it didn’t earn those music, make-up, and special effects credits.

The score for ROS had two things going for it. First, it played off the music from the old films well. We got thematically modified versions of a couple character themes to fit with how their legacy was playing out. Second, and more importantly, this movie was a Star War. Where this particular Star War lands on your list is immaterial because it’s still the end of a saga that’s been going since Jimmy Carter was in office. The resolution to that much buildup leaves a mark, and that may also be why Rise of Skywalker took home Best Sci-Fi and Best Director. 

Image via Disney

How Did Rise of Skywalker Win So Many Awards?

Say what you will about the Sequel trilogy, the make-up and special effects were on point. You could see the moisture in Admiral Ackbar’s giant fish eyes in Last Jedi, and Chewie looked phenomenal right before he fake-died in ROS. The sequel trilogy special effects also brought to life a lot of the things we knew about Star Wars but haven’t had the chance to see as much. 

Image via Disney

Lightsabers seemed genuinely destructive, not just slicing neatly through everything like in the prequels or flying through forearms without a stutter in the originals. Rey Stabs Kylo Ren in the gut, and it’s a juicy, disgusting burn wound. I could watch that scene of Kylo Ren getting stabbed all day, just that good. That plus all the setting details, the scale of Palpatine’s secret Sith bunker, and every other visual detail that helped distract from the flaws of the story earned Rise of Skywalker another Saturn Award. 

For more Star Wars news, check out our post about Hayden Christensen’s future in the Ahsoka series! 

What do you think about Rise of Skywalker’s Saturn Awards success? Tell us in the comments! 

Featured image via Disney

Jessica Kanzler is a freelance writer and editor who lives with her wife and cats. Jessica has bad taste in tv and an MA in Rhetoric, Writing, and Digital Media studies. Talk to her about Frasier on Twitter @Jessicaakanzler