This. Lucas mentioned that he was “passing the torch” and I think that’s the best thing that could happen to the Star Wars franchise at this point. In my opinion, a large part of why the prequels were so bad was that Lucas had complete creative control. The problem is that filmmaking, like so many things, is a collaborative process. Minds come together, brainstorm, decide what works, and throw out what doesn’t. The way I understand it, while making the prequels, Lucas was saying “I want to do this, I want to do that” and the entire rest of the production team was replied “You got it, George.” If Star Wars Ep VII ends up with a competent group, perhaps keeping Lucas on as a consultant but not letting him control everything, it might really surprise us.
Although, I have my doubts that Lucas is really “passing the torch” as opposed to “delegating the work.” He’s always shown to be immensely protective of his IP, and I think that no matter what happens, he’s going to try to exercise as much control as possible over the finished product. I wouldn’t be surprised if whatever contract he signed with Disney was tailored to allow him that freedom.
I didn’t say 2001 or other SF movies of its era didn’t have special effects. I said they weren’t about special effects.
Nor am I saying post-Star Wars movies don’t have any story or characterization. My point is that the first thing about SF movies used to be the story or the characters; special effects was just an add-on. In SF movies now, the special effects are generally the first thing, with just enough story or characterization thrown in to get by.
I think that’s part of the reason that some of the best SF being made now is appearing in television. Television series can’t afford the special effects budgets that movies have so they have to rely on old-fashioned stuff like good writing.
Yes, I totally agree. Fantastically detailed CGI allows the director to create excitement by ramping up the images rather than the story. So they make the explosions bigger and the monsters stronger by just doing a resize +50% on the computer models, rather than trying to think about how to make the story 50% more interesting and exciting.
I think they could very well refine their explanation of cause/effect re: midichlorians and say that a high midichlorian count is a side effect of force sensitivity.
That Midichlorians are attracted to high force sensitivity like moths to a flame or that they thrive in force rich environments like algae in notrogen rich water.
I like that idea too. It just doesn’t make sense to me to have the Force abilities dependent on a microscopic critter in the body. How did they get there? Why would they be in one person’s body as opposed to another? What if I cut them out and swallow them? Will I get more Force powers? What if I take some of mine out and put them my dog? What happens if a Jedi is eaten by a trash compactor monster? Does the monster get the Midichloridians? Do the little critters grow, reproduce, and spread? Trying to make a scientific explanation of a mystic force is too wonky of an idea.
Yeah, you could say that the little test that Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan do with Anakin is like detecting a disease by the presence of antibodies, rather than by detecting the actual disease mechanism.
What story are they going to try to tell here? Episodes I - VI, for better or worse, tell a complete story. If they’re going to create an Episode VII, does that mean telling a story that necessarily follows Episode VI and would use Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, the droids, etc., somehow? The story is over – they won, they’ll live happily ever after. What happens now? It all starts to go to hell again?
Or do they just start from scratch at another point in time and create new characters? And what is the central conflict? Episode IV was a really simple story about a kid from a small town getting thrown into a huge conflict and having adventures beyond his wildest dreams, thrilling and terrifying at the same time. The other five movies just expanded that original story, telling us what came next and then showing us how it got that way.
I’m reading these threads and thinking of the guys (and they are almost entirely guys) in The People vs. George Lucas, which you probably ought to see if you haven’t already. I wonder what those guys would propose be done with these new stories.
Supposedly, the basic outline of a script was already done by Lucas before all this. But I have a feeling it’s the same outline he had for the prequels, the one where he had ideas for 12 films and was like seven pages long.
I’ll also point out that the best film in the Star Trek franchise was made because they had little money for effects after the first movie.
Finally, I’ll say my Facebook friends assume it will be crap, shouting “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” when they heard the news. I tried to get them to be optimistic because Lucas isn’t directing or writing. (He’s the “creative consultant.”)
I’d prefer it be set 25 to 50 years after the end of RotJ to allow some of the original cast to make an appearance. This would be best because I really don’t want to see any recasting of the human characters with younger actors or the awkward overuse of CGI to make them look younger. Due to the time gap, I think it would be better if the old guard aren’t main protagonists in the new series, but instead show up in supporting roles and cameos. I’m fine with the non-human characters being recast if the original actors aren’t up for it.
Luke is probably the only must. At the end of the original trilogy he is the last Jedi, so any story should involve him and touch on the rebuilding of the order. Every Star Wars movie needs an old master, so he can now serve in a Yoda/Obiwan role. Plus, I think Mark Hamill is up for it. According to him, Lucas approached him and Carrie Fisher this year to say he was making a 7th, so its very likely he’ll still be involved even with Lucas not running the show.
I’m not sure Harrison Ford would really want to reprise his role beside maybe a very brief cameo. I’m fine with this since I think Han Solo would have either died early or retired from adventuring and politics a long time ago. Han Solo after the war would just be too rich for rogueing around and he seems like he doesn’t have the personalty for politics or long term military leadership. The new series probably doesn’t need him.
Leia would definitely be cool to have if Carrie Fisher wants to. She was apparently with Mark when they met with Lucas so its definitely possible.
I think it would be great to see Lando as a major political player in the galaxy. The guy had the personality and charm for politics and seemed like he was heading that direction in RotJ. Plus he blew up a freaking Death Star. That buys you a lot of political capital and makes for great campaign slogans. Billy Dee apparently does voice work for Star Wars cartoons so I can’t imagine him passing on a movie.
I think episodes 7,8 and 9 were written at the same time as all the other episodes.
[SPOILER]Its been over 30 years since I dicussed this with friends on the playground but, I think the last three episodes have to do with the aftermath of killing the emperor. Some military general steps in his place and looks for Sith to fight on his side (to help him against the Jedi (and because the emperor was using the force to hold together the empire)) and it turns out you can’t really rely on a bunch of Sith to exhibit teamwork and things don’t go well for him. Hilarity ensues.
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The Midichlorians were an almost deliberate fuck you by Lucas to his fan base. The concept was inserted long after the stories were written.
I really don’t know how they could pull this off. However, there’s money to be made here, and Star Wars is a big universe… so, maybe they could come up with something.
I can’t decide whether it would be in their best interests to just re-cast Luke and Leia et al, and just shoot the Thrawn books to film… This series was not weak on plot, but was fairly deep with unfilmable details, lots of people sitting around and thinking things to themselves - plus you’ve got a plot that’s been sitting on a bookshelf already for 20 years, not much mystery there for people to look forward to. The Thrawn trilogy, along with the Hand of Thrawn duology, in my opinion, amounts to the closest thing that Star Wars fans have ever been able to hold up as a “third trilogy”. I think this would probably be their best bet, though not without its drawbacks.
Or, they could stick with the later EU stuff and keep Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher and whoever else they can dig up, in limited “mentor” roles appropriate to the actors actual ages, while the main characters consist of the Solo-Skywalker kids and the next generation of Jedi, drawing from the New Jedi Order series. The plot during this EU series was not necessarily BAD, but convoluted, to say the least, and the writing ranged from decent to awful. Also a lot of unpopular plot advances - Chewbacca’s death, Han and Luke are comparative senior citizens, while most of the action is centered on the next-gen Jedi, many of whom are young teenagers - which works fine on paper but would likely be scoff-worthy Starship Troopers-esque on film.
If they venture much past the New Jedi Order era, then you’ve got dead Solo kids and Skywalkers littering the galaxy… Yea, no. Not going to work.
Maybe make the whole thing animated? Just have Hamill and the rest of the original cast contribute the voices?
I don’t know why people get so hung up on fucking Midichlorians.
Midichlorians were just an explanation as to why familial bloodlines mattered when it came to accessing the Force. It didn’t change what the Force was; it remains a mysterious energy field that surrounds everyone, penetrates everyone, and binds the Galaxy together.
For some reason, though, only some people can tap into it. What is that reason? A genetic factor called Midichlorians. The more you have, the stronger it is with you.
Personally, what I want is a completely new story with completely new characters - nothing that has ever appeared before in a movie or a book. A clean slate. The SW universe is a terriffic setting, with room for plenty of new stories. No need to keep going back to the old Luke & Han, light side/dark side well.
As my user name suggests, I’m a big Star Wars fan, especially of the BioWare sort.
I’d LOVE The Old Republic movies, but I’d rather they be stand alone, not 7-9.
I’d also LOVE a new story with competent writers, actors and directors.
And yes, I’d like the movies to not have “shot, counter shot” conversations on sofas. Or everyone “power walking” when the universe is desperately in trouble. Nor do I want everything CGI because yes, an entire set of CGI and just the actors as real does not make me happy.