After 18 years, the set of the profitable 90s-early 2000s sitcom, That ’70s Show, has gotten some use. In Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty Forman’s (Debra Jo Rupp) world, it has been 15 years since their home has been stuffed with dumbass youngsters. Red has been happy, however Kitty decidedly has not. On January 19, the extremely anticipated That ’90s Show premiered on Netflix with Smith and Rupp reprising their roles as Red and Kitty and cameos from a number of different authentic solid members (Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, and Wilmer Valderrama).
In the primary episode of That ’90s Show, viewers are launched to Eric and Donna Forman’s daughter, fittingly named Leia (portrayed by Callie Haverda), as a tribute to Eric’s love of Star Wars. She is 15-years-old, having been born in 1980, someday very shortly after the top of the That ’70s Show. Eric and Donna, now residing in Chicago, go to Point Place for the 4th of July weekend with a plan for Eric and Leia to go to Father-Daughter Space Camp shortly after. Instead, Leia makes mates with the neighborhood children and decides to stick with Red and Kitty all summer time.
Leia is lovable and awkward, like Eric, however finds herself falling for Jay Kelso (Mace Coronel), who, unbeknownst to her, is the son of her mom and father’s childhood mates Michael Kelso (Kutcher) and Jackie Burkhart (Kunis). Leia navigates Point Place, decided to have a quintessential teenage summer time, very like her mother and father did when rising up there, besides within the 90s. The present makes a number of 90s references for these sufficiently old to recollect, like the recognition of Raisin Bran, the maintain mini cereal containers had on children, and the maintain Zima had on our mother and father.
That ’90s Show conjures nostalgia for individuals who bear in mind That ’70s Show, and though it aired practically 20 years in the past, many nonetheless bear in mind the present’s particulars, each good and unhealthy. At the top of Season 7, Eric leaves for Africa to show and, thereby, pay for his faculty tuition. In actuality, Grace left to pursue different performing choices. Regardless, showrunners solid Josh Meyers because the character Randy Pearson instead of his absence. Then, as hardcore followers might bear in mind, Kutcher additionally left the present halfway by means of Season 8 whereas his character obtained a job at a membership in Chicago. Meyers’ character then functioned as a placeholder for each characters. During Season 8, Randy turns into Donna’s major love curiosity.
Here’s the place issues get iffy: In the place the place all theories potential start, Reddit, followers began to debate in regards to the risk that Leia’s father is Randy and never Eric. But in fact, this principle is simply Internet rubbish, proper? Right? There merely isn’t any approach that Leia could possibly be something however a product of the Pinciottis and the Formans, for positive.
Well…actually, it is not a completely inconceivable thought. Here’s why.
The Timeline Adds Up
Randy was not significantly standard with followers, partially due to his character’s try to fill two areas by being each witty like Eric is, but additionally a women’ man, like Kelso is. Randy is a type of antithesis to Eric as a result of he is extra clean and helpful. Even Red likes him, and albeit, the chemistry simply didn’t mesh nicely with the remainder of the group. However, the very fact nonetheless stands that earlier than Eric makes a shock return from Africa on the 2 hundredth episode, set on December 31, 1979, and will get again along with Donna, she has a romance with Randy. Like any romance, a shock child is rarely out of the query.
The complete premise of this principle rests on the truth that the timeline of those relationships runs intently collectively. It’s simple that they do practically overlap, and, in consequence, each Randy or Eric may have feasibly fathered Leia, regardless of what number of followers might hate to confess it.
The Star Wars Connection Between ‘That ’90s Show’ and ‘That ’70s Show’
It’s a working gag within the present that Eric loves Star Wars. As said, his daughter’s title is a tribute to some of the important and outstanding characters within the legendary franchise, Princess Leia Organa (the dearly departed, and sorely missed, Carrie Fisher). Of course, that is all her title features as — a homage. Or is it? It is not too far out of the query that her title is a double entendre that references the Princess’ storyline.
Throughout the primary three movies within the Skywalker Saga (or, Episodes 4-6 if the story is instructed so as), Princess Leia doesn’t know that Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) is her father. In truth, Leia doesn’t discover out till Return of the Jedi, when her brother, Luke, divulges the id of their organic father to her mid-battle. Luke himself came upon within the prior episode, The Empire Strikes Back, which premiered in May 1980. Could the That ’90s Show creators be making an attempt to arrange a reveal later within the collection, and in the event that they did, wouldn’t it not be one of many coolest call-backs to an iconic second that occurred throughout Leia Forman’s canonical delivery yr?
Verdict: Possible, But We Hope Not
All theories apart, the thought of Randy being Leia’s organic father, whereas shocking and believable, isn’t engaging for the collection’ legacy. Given the shortage of Randy Pearson’s recognition, a twist like this is able to be a shocking episode, however not essentially a likable improvement. Despite his efforts, Meyers’ character is extensively generally known as one of many worst characters within the collection, and thus far, the persevering with storyline appears well-received. Also, poor Eric Forman could be heartbroken, much more than when Leia canceled their Space Camp plans.
That ’70s Show was important to late-90s and early 2000s popular culture. The present ran for eight years and lives within the reminiscences of 90s children fondly as a option to join with their actual 70s children mother and father. Who is aware of? Maybe That 90s Show can be simply as integral to the popular culture of the 20s, however one factor is for positive: If this principle about Leia’s parentage involves fruition, that will not even be an possibility.
That ’90s Show is streaming on Netflix.