I'm going to go ahead and hope that there will be more/better Star Wars stuff at Disneyland. Aside from that...
You mean like the Thrawn trilogy? If they would bring that to the big screen, it would also mean that we get largely the same old characters again. I'd prefer a completely new group, perhaps even within a completely other time frame of the universe. The extended universe has explored the Old Republic quite a bit.
Star Wars is too broad a universe to be putting into a movie anymore. One of the main complaints from the previous trilogies is that they couldn't develope many of the characters because of time constraints of a movie. Books and video games has been the best route for it.
I never read any of the Star Wars books. But going by the summary on Wikipedia - no, nothing like that. That's just regular Star Wars again.
They've needed new franchises because their characters like Mickey Mouse, etc., will be moving into the public domain as Disney's copyright protection eventually ends. Disney hasn't messed up Marvel, from what I can see. No reason to think they'll louse up Star Wars. I have no affinity for that series so it really doesn't matter to me, but Lucas is 68 now and he could have made a far worse decision than this one. I think Star Wars is in very good hands, frankly.
http://www.eonline.com/news/358685/...m_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories Looks like Episode 7 will be an original story....
The main issue to consider here is that the series is hardly untainted by stinkers at this point. The worst thing that can happen is that Disney will add a few more stinkers to the collection.
I do wonder if Lucas will use some of that dough to make a few more personal movies away from the franchise that has held him hostage for three decades. Provided he has anything left to say as an auteur.
Star Wars games could come out far worse than Episode 7 from this deal. It sounds like Disney would rather sell the StarWars license to outside developers/publishers than have LucasArts make the games. Say what you will about the quality of LucasArts StarWars games but at least they've been willing to go beyond just the movie stories, which is something I don't really expect other companies will do. At least for now 1313 is still on track for release.
When I first heard that Lucas planned a Star Wars TV series my reaction was great use the X:Wing book series and you are golden. Those books are amongst my favorite SW reads, excluding the Heir to the Empire trilogy and Hand of Thrawn duology
Let be honest. Lucas made an iconic film Star Wars, a great film, Empire and then completely lost his ability to make films. Anyone over the age of 18 when Return of the Jedi came out felt very uncomfortable watching what is a little kids film. Episodes 1 thru 3 were terrible. The writing was terrible and the acting was laughable. So all this talk about one's childhood being raped is ridiculous. After all, the sale of Lucasfilm just took place today. Lucas may have had a vision, but his failure was in the execution. After episodes 4 and 5 it was all abject failure. I'm looking forward to someone injecting new life to the Star Wars saga.
Shouldn't more credit be given to Irvin Kershner director of Empire Strikes Back? Lucas might want to downplay his contribution, but the reality is George Lucas did not direct Empire and he didn't write the screenplay. Incidentally Empire is the best film. I really loved the Star Wars films as a child, but as an adult I've come to be of the opinion that Lucas is just a bit of a hack who got really lucky and was in the right time and right place.
He had made another commercially successful feature in "American Graffiti". It's an exaggeration to say that he lucked into Star Wars. A more significant change in his career is probably the period before and after his divorce from Marcia Lucas. He's hardly unique in that respect, Bogdanovich never reached the heights of his early career, and this is mostly attributed to him divorcing Polly Platt. Those relationship were professional as well as personal.
Opening scene: Mother at a Doctors office Mother Tantacle Head: Dr Bulbous-Head-and-Bum-Chin, I think my Son may be strong in the force and would like to verify it with a Midiclorian test. Dr Bulbous-Head-and-Bum Chin: Midiclorian test madam? Ho ho ho! Why those were debunked years ago! The force is a spiritual thing, which can't be measured by a mere blood test! Just prior to the Clone Wars, a vast quanitity of people were apprenticed by the Jedi based on what turned out to be Type 1 Diabetes. Second scene: An Imperial Officer walks into the bathroom and Darth Vader (in full original trilogy glory) steps out of the shower. Officer: I just had the weirdest dream. You were some pretty blonde sap who couldn't act his way out of a paper bag, Boba Fett sucked and R2D2 could fly! Oh and you got that way by having all your limbs chopped off by Obi-Wan in a volcano! Vader: Hahahahahaha! R2D2 can't fly! Plus we all know I'm a rugged, grizzled type under all this and that my acting ability is Denzel Washingtonesque! And fancy Obi-Wan cutting off my limbs! We all know I lost those due to my uncontrolled diabetes. Do you know I was such a severe case that the Jedi thought I had "chose one" levels of Midiclorians! Of course we can laugh about it now...
Yes, thanks for clarifying that. Kirshner directed the Empire Strikes Back and I agree it is the best of the first two films. Everything after is total crap. As to other films, Lucas made THX1138 which was a good sci fi film and of course American Graffiti and that is what stands out. All other good projects were collaborations made with other more talented directors and writers. Honestly, Lucas can't write a compelling script to save his life. Lawrence Kasdan wrote Empire. That's why it was so great.
Frankly ALL the Star Wars movies were kids films at heart. The fact that the Ewoks looked like teddy bears just brought it home a little too hard for some. Being a few days short of my sixth birthday when it was released, it didn't even occur to me. But then, as irritating as Jar Jar Binks was, it exposed the same thing: he was there for the kids and from my understanding, he worked on that level. You'd think the awkward, gold slapstick moron, C3PO didn't exist in the original trilogy. Note the scene in the classic "Empire" where Chewbacca, who is frequently seen performing maintenance on a the Millenium Falcon, struggles to attach 3PO's limbs correctly. While the prequels made some storyline missteps (midiclorians, the virgin birth), featured some appalling acting (Haden Christensen makes the decision to turn to the dark side feel like a man deliberating which topping to have on his pizza) and screwed up a movie moment that should have been the epitome of "cake" ("Noooooooooooooo!!!!"), I question how the originals would have fared if they had been approached with the level of overexpectation and cyncism that only two decades of geekdom could muster. I mean, look at the central premise: a man turns to the dark side and becomes the epitome of evil, his twin offspring are hidden from him and never told the truth. Princess Leia is shipped off with a new family, new identity with no hint of her beginnings. Luke Skywalker moves in with his uncle, a stones throw from the place his Dad was born and raised, and retains his surname. It takes almost two entire movies before Vader decides that he wants Luke to turn and reveals his parentage, waiting until such time as he's already joined a rebellion and feebly tried to off him. This is a guy (apparently the guy as far as the force is concerned) who can predict the future, read thoughts and emotions and presumably, look up the name "Skywalker" in a Tatooine telephone directory. Lucas clearly made the stuff about Vader being Luke and then Leia's father up as he went along, because they made dramatic plot twists. But we let all that slide because the original films captured the imagination and we (at least those of us young or open-minded enough to not let one teddy-bear-inspired plot element define an entire movie) wilfully suspended our disbelief. Once the prequels were released (which many people didn't even consider wouldn't be awesome until they saw Episode I) everything from Jar Jar Binks to the fact that Jango Fett was played by a Newzealander who had committed the prior crime of appearing in daytime Hospital drama "Shortland Street", was a source of outrage.
barrolinho, you have a good point, but the prequels suck on their own (de)merits. Overexpectations and cynicism aren't needed.
Exactly, the expectation levels for episodes 1 thru 3 cannot change the fact that the movies are terrible.
I didn't think baroldinho's point was that 1-3 aren't terrible, rather I thought it was that 4-6 are kind of a little bit terrible too.
The bottom line is that the original trilogy, whatever its flaws, was underpinned by a very strong plot arc and group of main characters that locked the watcher into the journey. If the prequels had been underpinned by the same basic story strength then it probably would have got away with a lot of the other crap. But it didn't, so it didn't. I think it's a pretty interesting question as to whether the basic plot of the prequel trilogy is actually capable of being made into a good story. For sure Lucas ********ed it up, but I do sort of wonder if he wasn't basically on a hiding to nothing before he started.
Lucas had approximately 20 years to come up with the prequels. Probably the worst thing he ever did professionally was admitting his story arc contained 9 films. He should have said he added that episode IV as a homage to serials from the 1930's and 40's like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.