Future of Star Wars?
- Thread starter Tom
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There's also some sort of comedy show coming from the makers of Robot Chicken.
Personally I'm glad to see more TV stuff, I'd love to see a take on the material in the vein of nuBSG. Star Wars isn't all Ewoks and Gungans, you know, there's room for some serious material in the franchise.
Personally I'm glad to see more TV stuff, I'd love to see a take on the material in the vein of nuBSG. Star Wars isn't all Ewoks and Gungans, you know, there's room for some serious material in the franchise.
Latest on the live action series from George Lucas, May 2010:
Question: How are things going with the live action TV show?
Answer: The live action TV show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don't know how to do 'em. Because, they literally are Star Wars, only we're going to have to try to do them...a tenth the cost. And, it's a huge challenge...lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be.
link
So don't hold your breath.
Question: How are things going with the live action TV show?
Answer: The live action TV show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don't know how to do 'em. Because, they literally are Star Wars, only we're going to have to try to do them...a tenth the cost. And, it's a huge challenge...lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be.
link
So don't hold your breath.
Yes, just as I feared, Lucas is placeing his bets on CGI to save the day. I guess the big L hasn't learned anything from, in my humble opinion the SW debalcal. Lesson being strong and solid writing is what will make this project work. Lucas took 7 yrs to write the orginal SW, and it was brillant (even though he borrowed from almost everywhere as inspiration & homage). He needs to do that again, or find someone who will, you simply can not just put this together over a couple of yrs and say 'well the special effects will fix all of this / have it make sense / carry it'
That's why it is called DRAMA!
My 2c
-The Shatinator
Do we really need more Star Wars? 
It's perfectly fine as it is. It was perfectly fine already after the first trilogy, it was more than enough after the second trilogy.
Do we also need more Lord of the Rings? I keep wondering how everything went down in Middleearth years after Frodo left and Aragorn died. Somebody just has to do a series about that.
It's perfectly fine as it is. It was perfectly fine already after the first trilogy, it was more than enough after the second trilogy.Do we also need more Lord of the Rings? I keep wondering how everything went down in Middleearth years after Frodo left and Aragorn died. Somebody just has to do a series about that.
>vader< NOOOOO!!! >vader<
Do we really need more Star Wars?
Do we also need more Lord of the Rings? I keep wondering how everything went down in Middleearth years after Frodo left and Aragorn died. Somebody just has to do a series about that.
Of course we don't need more Star Wars, but that doesn't mean more couldn't be fun.
As for the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien actually wrote the first couple of chapters of a book set a few centuries after the death of Sauron. But, like so many of his works, he never finished it. The fragment was eventually published in The Peoples of Middle Earth, Volume 12 of the History of Middle Earth.
Practical answer: you stylize it. Animate battles, green-screen lots of backgrounds, sets and even characters at a Clone Wars level. (I seem to recall some short-lived UPN show similarly switching between photography and anime.) Sure, it might take the audience some getting used to, but the PT's spectacular visuals haven't exactly led to the movies being fondly remembered. After all, what's more important, photorealism or story/dialogue? Well... with PT-era Star Wars... that question might answer itself.
As for the OP, yeah, there'll be more CG stuff, more parody deals with Family Guy, video games, novels, comics and the like; content produced for the stake of staying current, and keeping the cash flow. The 3D OT (don't think anyone would bother seeing the PT in theatres again, even in 3D). Maybe a CG Shadows of the Empire at some point.
But so long as they cling to the PT aesthetics, wherein even the Old Republic era looks more advanced than the OT, I don't think the franchise will be able to recapture the zeitgest. (The only reason audiences put up with the PT aesthetics in the first place, imo, is because we were given Obi-Wan and Yoda and promised Darth Vader.) Don't get me wrong, the PT art design was fantastic, but it never fit the scrappy serial tone of the OT universe.
Furthermore, now that JJ is giving us a Trek that is just as spectacular as the PT and closer in tone to the OT than the PT was, Lucas (with the help, ironically, of ILM) has been beaten at his own game critically, if not financially. But unless he caves and licenses future live-action SW movies (Old Republic, Tales from the Jedi Archives - it's not inconceivable), Trek movies will be making the bigger cultural and monetary splashes for the foreseeable future.
The thing about Star Wars is, it's always been a labor of love/hate for Lucas: it's fundamentally about him; whereas Trek was always more collaborative, and is going strong long after Roddenberry's passing. Trek wasn't about Gene so much as his humanist philosophy, and what's more, it's always been rooted in its own present, whereas Wars is pretty well anchored to Lucas' childhood and 1940-50s pulp sensibilities. What with the PT over with, Clone Wars chugging along and a possible Indy 5, Lucas has other priorities, and who knows, maybe someday he'll actually close the book on SW as he's always threatened to do.
"Do we really need more Star Wars?"
No, but that isn't the question. The question is, does George? And for now, the current crop of novels, games and Clone Wars is your answer.
George Lucas can only redeem himself in my eyes if he hires good actors next time. Revenge of the Sith had the potential to be good, except for the fact that it was written for four-year-olds and had craptastic actors like Hayden Christensen.
MeanJoePhaser
Admiral
Years ago I said that the live-action series wouldn't happen, and people scoffed at me. Years later, no real progress has been made on it.
I'd say we'd sooner see a remake of A NEW HOPE. And by the time that happens, Ewan McGregor won't need aging make-up.
I'd say we'd sooner see a remake of A NEW HOPE. And by the time that happens, Ewan McGregor won't need aging make-up.
The actors weren't the problem with the prequels...it was mostly the writing and direction. I'm enjoying "Clone Wars" right now and reading "Star Wars:Legacy" (looking forward to it's finale) but have kind of los t interest in the novels particularly with Legacy of the Force. They really lost me at the start by having them all in hardcover. How ironic that the recession happened like a month after they announced that.
Well at least Lucas has the sense to admit that he can't write worth a damn or even figure out how to hire people who can write worth a damn, and on a TV budget, you can't hide behind CGI. That spares us the pain of watching him frak up Star Wars anymore than he already has.
Now if only he'd have the sense to realize that there are plenty of other people who can produce, write, direct, act in, etc, a perfectly good live-action Star Wars TV show, where the characters and plotline are the stars and fancy-schmanchy CGI isn't an absolute requirement. But he'd still have to have enough insight and good judgment to know what other people to hire to take over from him, and if he can't even do that, then there's no hope.
Now if only he'd have the sense to realize that there are plenty of other people who can produce, write, direct, act in, etc, a perfectly good live-action Star Wars TV show, where the characters and plotline are the stars and fancy-schmanchy CGI isn't an absolute requirement. But he'd still have to have enough insight and good judgment to know what other people to hire to take over from him, and if he can't even do that, then there's no hope.
There are several worthwhile elements that could be resurrected in Star Wars (only if Lucas keeps his paws off it). Here are a couple:
-The sense of adventure, humor and fun of the OT, which ultimately derives from old space operas - Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Lensemen. I like the idea of sci fi with a nostalgic feel.
-I think there's something interesting in the notion of a society that has a priestly caste that "knows the mind of God," yet that society is trying to be a democracy. The mere existence of the Jedi negates the notion that "all sentient beings are created equal." How do they overcome this contradiction? Vader and Palps taking over and instituting an authoritarian empire might be a more "natural" system of government for them.
-The sense of adventure, humor and fun of the OT, which ultimately derives from old space operas - Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Lensemen. I like the idea of sci fi with a nostalgic feel.
-I think there's something interesting in the notion of a society that has a priestly caste that "knows the mind of God," yet that society is trying to be a democracy. The mere existence of the Jedi negates the notion that "all sentient beings are created equal." How do they overcome this contradiction? Vader and Palps taking over and instituting an authoritarian empire might be a more "natural" system of government for them.
By mind-tricking everyone who asks such questions into thinking it's not a big deal.
Wait, that's not right...
Rii
Rear Admiral
I know the EU has toyed with such notions in a desultory fashion; Timothy Zahn's Hand of Thrawn duology springs most immediately to mind. I agree that something interesting could be made of it ... I just don't see it happening.
Certainly I can envision entertaining stories being told within the Star Wars framework, but for the most part not necessarily within that framework. So I'm not really bothered if the franchise never rears its head on the screen again. If it does, and it's good, that's cool too.
I love The Clone Wars cartoon and I think LFL has a great future in animation. The sky is the limit there. As for the live-action TV show, I hope that gets under way. Who knows if it will though.
The bottom line is, without another live-action movie, SW is never going to be as popular as it once was. It still is very popular and always will be. But without another film to look forward to, it's just not going to be big as it once was. I don't think we'll go back to the dark days of SW fandom. From 1987-1991, you couldln't find anything SW. Save for a few roleplaying books.
The bottom line is, without another live-action movie, SW is never going to be as popular as it once was. It still is very popular and always will be. But without another film to look forward to, it's just not going to be big as it once was. I don't think we'll go back to the dark days of SW fandom. From 1987-1991, you couldln't find anything SW. Save for a few roleplaying books.
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