TO BE HONEST WITH YOU WHAT TERRIFIES ME MOST IS THAT THE NEW FILMS MAY TOTALLY TRASH THE EXPANDED UNIVERSE, WHICH I LIKE MUCH MORE THAN THE MOVIES ANYWAY AND ARE PROBABLY THE REASON I'M SUCH A HUGE STAR WARS FAN.
I'M PRETTY SURE THAT EVEN WITH HIM AS CREATIVE CONSULTANT A SOULLESS CORPORATION COULD STILL CHURN OUT A BETTER MOVIE THAN LUCAS ON HIS OWN.
True, they'll be afraid to recast, it will be established characters. God knows they need to keep Yoda relevant for selling Vodafone.
My best hope is that maybe they won't be as completely shit as the three prequels because hopefully Lucas will be kept out of the story writing department.
But I am unsure how to feel, anlthough I have lots of feelings. Here are some feelings and thoughts:
What happens to the supposed Star Wars live-action TV series now? Do we get a Star Wars world at Disneyland now? Maybe we'll get a new Star Wars Battlefront game? Or more Star Wars computer games full stop? You know Disney now own Indiana Jones, Labyrinth and Willow too, right? As well as owning Pixar, the Jim Henson Company and the Muppets? New Labyrinth? New Willow? New Dark Crystal? New Muppets? New Fraggle Rock?
See, I think that's a large part of why I'm so nervous - I'm part of a minority of Star Wars fans that cares far more about the tie-in expanded universe stuff than the actual movies, and Star Wars is unique amongst big name media franchises in that it actually keeps track of this stuff, so like, characters introduced in young readers books for seven year olds grow up and keep on featuring in dark gritty novels for growed upses about death and Sithery and stuff, so if they reboot or relaunch stuff or write stuff that hugely contradicts the very complicated and detailed universe/timelines they've established, then I've...pretty much lost the unique thing that made me adore Star Wars like a fannish geek as opposed to kinda liking it because it's glowy space swords and that's awesome?
But that's also like...me and 1% of people who like Star Wars. :(
As to the live action series, they actually have like 50 completed scripts for that, they just decided it was too expensive to film. Possibly with Disney money behind it it wouldn't be, but also TV just isn't as lucrative as movies, and I think Disney'd be more interested in breaking The Clone Wars' cartoons' links with Cartoon Network and showing it on Disney instead? I wouldn't be surprised if they DO do tv shows, I'm just not sure whether it'll be Underworld (I think it was called) like they originally planned?
A Star Wars world at Disneyland would be pretty sweet...
As to the rest, well we already got New Muppets - at least in movie form, and I'm pretty sure they're working on a sequel to the Dark Crystal?
Disney said in a statement that they basically didn't really consider Indy into the valuation at all. Poor guy's sorta like a freebie I guess...
Well, Lucas himself basically hated the Expanded Universe stuff and ignored it when he was making the Prequels (see: midichlorians, clone troopers, mandalorian history), which makes me think, well, it can't be worse under Disney. We will see, we will see. I am very curious. And hey, at least we'll get some new films now! Never thought that was gonna happen.
Lucas' attitude to the EU is actually weirdly inconsistent. Basically it seems to be that he likes the idea of it and wants it to exist, except where it gets in the way of him doing whatever the hell he likes, and then he doesn't understand why fans can't except this state of limbo whereby he can stomp through it with a machete but no one else can.
So like he actually incorporates pieces of the EU he likes into his work. The name Coruscant and Aayla Secura are both Expanded Universe characters/ideas that he ran with, for instance. In The Clone Wars, the Witches of Dathomir are from the Bantam era novels, albeit in a butchered format, and Quinlan Vos, a comic book character, appears essentially unaltered in a few episodes. It's like a weird grab-bag.
Which like, in some ways is worse because it's not straight up "this is all non-canon AU" or "this will fit together as best we can make it," it's like...I'll take the stuff you love and...possibly mangle it... :/
On the other hand, I really WANT to be excited about this. I mean, new Star Wars. From a company that has shown when it wants to be, it can read its audience and tonal expectations quite well. From a woman who executive produced ET, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, a bunch of the US Studio Ghibli releases and some real indy stuff like the adaptation of Persepolis?
That's the painful part - I really think these might be good Star Wars movies, full of adventure and spectacle - I just really, really hope it doesn't come at the expense of the reasons I love that universe?
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no subject
Date: 2012-10-30 10:22 pm (UTC)ALL I CAN THINK IS THAT THEY CANT POSSIBLY FUCK IT UP AS MUCH AS LUCAS HAS ALREADY!
BUT THEN I READ THAT THEY ARE KEEPING HIM ONBOARD AS A CREATIVE CONSULTANT!
no subject
Date: 2012-10-30 10:25 pm (UTC)I'M PRETTY SURE THAT EVEN WITH HIM AS CREATIVE CONSULTANT A SOULLESS CORPORATION COULD STILL CHURN OUT A BETTER MOVIE THAN LUCAS ON HIS OWN.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-30 10:29 pm (UTC)AND THE MIGHT, JUST MIGHT, GO AND GIVE US THE GRAND ADMIRAL THRAWN TRILOGY!
SO I AM TENTATIVELY EXCITED!
CAPS LOCK FRENCY!
no subject
Date: 2012-10-30 10:39 pm (UTC)(A) THEY'LL BALK AT RECASTING THE MAIN CHARACTERS
(B) IT'S SETTING A PRECEDENT OF FILMS IN A CONTINUITY-HEAVY PERIOD WHICH WILL BACKFIRE WHEN THEY MAKE EPISODES 10+ (WHICH YES, THEY PLAN TO DO)
(C) LUCAS' ORIGINAL 7 - 9 PLANS WERE APPARENTLY SET FURTHER INTO THE FUTURE.
SO I'M HOPING FOR SOMETHING SET 100 YEARS AFTER EPISODE VI.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-30 10:59 pm (UTC)My best hope is that maybe they won't be as completely shit as the three prequels because hopefully Lucas will be kept out of the story writing department.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-31 10:44 am (UTC)But I am unsure how to feel, anlthough I have lots of feelings. Here are some feelings and thoughts:
What happens to the supposed Star Wars live-action TV series now?
Do we get a Star Wars world at Disneyland now?
Maybe we'll get a new Star Wars Battlefront game? Or more Star Wars computer games full stop?
You know Disney now own Indiana Jones, Labyrinth and Willow too, right? As well as owning Pixar, the Jim Henson Company and the Muppets? New Labyrinth? New Willow? New Dark Crystal? New Muppets? New Fraggle Rock?
no subject
Date: 2012-10-31 06:58 pm (UTC)But that's also like...me and 1% of people who like Star Wars. :(
As to the live action series, they actually have like 50 completed scripts for that, they just decided it was too expensive to film. Possibly with Disney money behind it it wouldn't be, but also TV just isn't as lucrative as movies, and I think Disney'd be more interested in breaking The Clone Wars' cartoons' links with Cartoon Network and showing it on Disney instead? I wouldn't be surprised if they DO do tv shows, I'm just not sure whether it'll be Underworld (I think it was called) like they originally planned?
A Star Wars world at Disneyland would be pretty sweet...
As to the rest, well we already got New Muppets - at least in movie form, and I'm pretty sure they're working on a sequel to the Dark Crystal?
Disney said in a statement that they basically didn't really consider Indy into the valuation at all. Poor guy's sorta like a freebie I guess...
no subject
Date: 2012-10-31 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-31 07:41 pm (UTC)So like he actually incorporates pieces of the EU he likes into his work. The name Coruscant and Aayla Secura are both Expanded Universe characters/ideas that he ran with, for instance. In The Clone Wars, the Witches of Dathomir are from the Bantam era novels, albeit in a butchered format, and Quinlan Vos, a comic book character, appears essentially unaltered in a few episodes. It's like a weird grab-bag.
Which like, in some ways is worse because it's not straight up "this is all non-canon AU" or "this will fit together as best we can make it," it's like...I'll take the stuff you love and...possibly mangle it... :/
On the other hand, I really WANT to be excited about this. I mean, new Star Wars. From a company that has shown when it wants to be, it can read its audience and tonal expectations quite well. From a woman who executive produced ET, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, a bunch of the US Studio Ghibli releases and some real indy stuff like the adaptation of Persepolis?
That's the painful part - I really think these might be good Star Wars movies, full of adventure and spectacle - I just really, really hope it doesn't come at the expense of the reasons I love that universe?