To anyone. It produces a product. Purchase it or don't. That is the nature of the relationship. If one objects to Coruscant's use one is just as well to demand Lucas prove himself, since he used it first.
So why don’t we call it the Star Wars Microcosm? It’s certainly not much of a universe since every single person and story in the entire galaxy revolves around the Jedi and the galactic empire and the republic. It’s old. Time to explore the rest of the universe. I don’t need yet another bounty hunter/spy/Jedi/Sith story about saving the galaxy. it’s called a universe for a reason. Let some other characters get a moment in the spot light that won’t directly involve all that and maybe I’ll be interested.
I believe the "certain point of view" books might be of interest. But, I am taking notes to send to Lucasfilm.
All im saying in that regard is that there are still plenty of interesting stories out there that could based on the EU framework such as sabacc tournaments on Cloud City, spacer bars, Twi’lek clubs, whatever. Let’s see a COPS: Coruscant in the lower wards. Lmao
I think it's safe to say Disney wants to prove to the die-hard fans exactly the same thing Lucas wanted to prove to them; which is, was and always shall be priestly fuck-all, and that's how it should be. Despite what some might think; die-hards aren't what keeps a franchise (any franchise!) alive and vibrant. Indeed they're more often the cause of stagnation and impenetrable insularity. What keeps it going is new fans, and the only thing that needs be proven to them is that this is something worth engaging with. If the older fans can't get on board with that, then that's their own damn problem. They'll be left behind in the dust, and good riddance!
Spoken without a trace of irony, on a board dedicated to a franchise literally saved by…wait for it…die hard fans writing in to Paramount and starting a campaign to save it. I think the people have spoken about Disney: the parks and cruises are showing record low numbers and Disney+ showed a huge loss of subscribers and various boycotts. Their movies have all been box office losses lately—including Star Wars movies. So let’s not pretend there’s not serious discontent brewing for the sake of cynicism.
There is not. Only that they're under no obligation to cater to all the fan wishes. They are not obligated to the fans at all. As one of my friends put it after arguing about The Phantom Menace with another friend who was angry that all the trivia and books he memorized was for nothing: "George Lucas can do whatever the hell he wants and doesn't owe me a damn thing. "
It's cute that you think that's in any sense a "gotcha", let alone a remotely valid point. Star Trek has died back and resurged over and over again, and each time, the thing that kept it going and gave it new life was the new fans that discovered it along the way, not the obsessive old trekkies; we mostly just got to come along for the ride. Or do you think the bulk of the ratings and home video sales for the unbroken run from TNG, through to ENT was down only to aging fans that watched the original show in 1966? If you only focus on what the die-hards want, then that's death for any creative endeavour. A slow death sometimes, but a death nonetheless. They're a finite and inherently ever-diminishing pool. Star Wars is no different.
If the die hards hadn’t brought it back originally, there likely would have never been all the rest, and it would have gone the way of all the other shows of yester-year. Also, you’re right that they have the choice to do whatever they want, and they’re hemorrhaging money. If it hadn’t been for international sales on most of these movies, they would have been complete losses. Disney is under water and sinking. $900 million so far and counting.
And when those old die hards are gone? My parents generation is aging. I guess SW is done then. There is still no obligation to the fans. They got what they purchased; a movie. That's it.
And they have the right to go bankrupt and get sued by their stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty. As is happening to other companies who FAFO’d.
Still not an obligation to fans. None. It's just business. And if fans drove the business the PT would have been removed and remade after Lucas sold the company. That was fun times in fandom.
And when it’s gone, the die-hards will get blamed for not doing enough and blah blah blah. Bob Iger even admitted he oversaturated the market. All he really had to do was let it coast while Chee continued to prune out the ridiculous. You build a universe with actual depth, and then bitch and moan when the fans who contributed money so you could continue doing so get mad because you want to keep beating the same subject matter to death? How many different ways do we need to see the galactic civil war unfold?? How many times do we need a rehash of a bounty hunter getting involved in saving the galaxy? I want back the old “Han shot first” and gritty bars full of unsavory types that my kids don’t get but are subtle enough for the adults to enjoy the hinted contexts, i.e., we all know Han was a womanizing drug mule but we loved him anyway. He was a gentleman scoundrel. We all knew Jabba was an empire building drug lord and influence peddler who running a den full of whores and murderous thieves and mercenaries. No one complained. Now…yeesh. Bring in HBO directors and give us gritty gangsters and all the glory of the underbelly of Star Wars. Some of us like the villains, especially when they finally get their comeuppance Bib Fortuna-style.
Nope. I'll simply say, "That's business. " And enjoy what I have. I've been there and done the angry fan path. It achieved nothing. I wish you better luck then me and my friends achieved in trying to eliminate Ewoks and The PT.
Solo made sabacc totally uninteresting, just poker in space. Oh, the cards are a different shape, we changed it up, awesome. It already wasn't that interesting in the EU but the movie was like "hold my menkooro, it could be worse".
So I say, a sabacc tournament in Cloud Coty and your takeaway is, oh it’s just World Poker Championships. What, we can’t have an Ocean’s Eleven in Star Wars?
If given enough time and space, sure there will be plenty of things that are also Star Wars. Just Star Wars is expensive to make, and thus Disney and Lucasfilm will go with what they think will make a profit, or be part of an existing series that will continue sales. Now in novels, short stories, and roleplaying games they can get more and more kinds of tales. Computer games as well but those are potential expensive. The show Rebels is clearly based on the West End Games era Star Wars Roleplaying Game. It has the classic party structure of six players operating out of a light freighter. Typically with a Jedi, a bounty hunter, an alien, and a pilot. Sometimes even a droid depending on your GM.
One other point I want to make about this is that while there might have been die-hards, those fans were new fans, the show was only 2 years old, there were no old fans.
That's a fun theory, but the basis of it is actually an early pitch they made for Clone Wars when they mistakenly assumed Lucas wouldn't want them to overuse the legacy characters. So they had a rag-tag group on a small ship, with a pair of Jedi as tag-alongs. Ahsoka (named 'Ashla' at the time) as the young padawan was the only carryover into Clone Wars proper. Any similarity with the WEG party structure is most likely just the result of the narrative practicalities of a group dynamic. The structure of the Ghost crew was clearly modelled on an almost sitcom-esque family unit, with the mum & dad, two teenagers, the crazy and/or grumpy uncle, and the semi-feral house cat. Interestingly, going by the concept art it looks like Kanan & Ezra were the first to fully crystallise, while several ideas were batted around for Zeb including a buff Ithorian, and a Snivvian before settling on the McQuarrie Wookiee design. Chopper seemed to mostly be locked in early, only to get a last minute head switch from an R2-style dome to the more distinctive R5 inspired tapered cylinder. The most interesting part for me though it that Sabine & Hera switched places in the mother/daughter dynamic during this iterative exploration. Several pieces of early art clearly have the mando merc/bounty hunter character* as the adult woman of the group, while the flightsuit wearing Twi'lek pilot was the teenage girl character (though seemingly with a much more cartoony manic or "cute" vibe depending on the artwork in question.) * Supposedly spun out from the then unused 'Rook Kast' design, which makes me wonder if casting Vanessa Marshall to play her when they finally got around to making the CW finale was a nod to this. I hope the "buff Ithorian tough guy" makes it into some other project eventually. He looks like fun.