# Is Star Wars dead?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 17, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540 "2004-04-17T17:08:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/1 "2004-04-17T17:08:30Z")
Forgive me, I follow this just about none at all.
Will there ever be another Star Wars movie? The last one (Episode Dueax) was so bad that it seemed to drive the stake into the heart of the franchise.
It made my jaw drop. Really bad. Showgirls bad.
On the other hand, there may be a major movie ready to be released next week for all I know.
What’s the word?
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### Author:  [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/2 "2004-04-17T17:12:34Z")
The movies are usually released three years apart. Episode Three should grace the silver screen sometime in 2005.
[IMDB has decreed it](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121766/)
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/3 "2004-04-17T17:15:01Z")
Next one is coming out next year [http://imdb.com/title/tt0121766/](http://imdb.com/title/tt0121766/) hopefully that’s it
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### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/4 "2004-04-17T17:15:17Z")
Thanks, although I was hoping to play Captain Typho.
So there is life in the old girl yet, huh?
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/5 "2004-04-17T17:15:26Z")
I’ve heard May 19, 2005 as the release date. The title hasn’t been decided yet.
I’m hoping it’ll be better than the last two.
At least the classic Star Wars come out on DVD this year. 😃
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### Author:  [@Lux\_Interior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Interior)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/6 "2004-04-17T17:17:36Z")
> [@roxx222](#):
>
> At least the classic Star Wars come out on DVD this year. 😃
You mean George Lucas’ digitally altered versions.
Not the classics. :mad:
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/7 "2004-04-17T17:24:17Z")
> [@Lux Interior](#):
>
> You mean George Lucas’ digitally altered versions.
>
> Not the classics. :mad:
You’re right. But as long as they’re Jar-Jar free, I’ll take them.
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### Author:  [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/8 "2004-04-17T17:44:42Z")
I thought the cartoon series _Clone Wars_ showed the promise of what could be. Of course it didn’t really have much in the way of dialogue or character development, either, but at least it didn’t get hung up on whatever “message” Lucas is trying to send (the Force, Merchandizing, Ewoks, what have you). I predict that in the not too distant future (maybe after Lucas has left his corporeal body), some young, brilliant director who grew up this stuff will remake these movies into something coherent and beautiful. Or at least try.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/9 "2004-04-17T18:23:47Z")
Yeah, it’s dead. Or dying, at least. I went to DragonCon in Atlanta this past summer and there were a few SW people… a few stormtroopers, that’s about it. OTOH, there was almost NO Star Trek representation among either the audience or the vendors.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/10 "2004-04-17T18:55:41Z")
I’m baffled as to why you would even ask whether Episode III (the last of the _Star Wars_ films, which will come out next year) will be made. The most recent _Star Wars_ film made a lot of money:
> **[Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121765/)**
>
> Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones: Directed by George Lucas. With Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Christopher Lee. Ten years after initially meeting, Anakin Skywalker shares a forbidden romance with Padmé Amidala, while...
It may have gotten poor reviews, but it’s clear that George Lucas doesn’t care about reviews anymore. In any case, all you had to do was search on the IMDb and you would have found that it was already mostly filmed and now in post-production.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/11 "2004-04-17T19:54:35Z")
> [@roxx222](#):
>
> The title hasn’t been decided yet.
Given the titles of the previous two, it’ll probably be something like _Captain Zebulon meets the Death Ray of Doom!!_ .
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/12 "2004-04-17T20:02:45Z")
I thought this was about a global missile defense system. And _iI’m_ the FilmGeek.
Lucas had planned to make six movies, but after Phantom Menace, he cut that back to three, AFAIK.
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/13 "2004-04-17T20:19:37Z")
Yeah, I read someplace Lucas claimed there were never any plans to make a sequel trilogy to Episodes IV-VI, but then later, after the disappointing numbers from Episode I came it, it was leaked he had grander plans for the franchise all along.
If Lucas would simply stop directing and writing the scripts, he could make five trilogies if he liked, and people would probably adore them. He clearly had some decent ideas to set the whole SW phenomenon in motion, but, man, as far as directorial credits go, he really should have quit while he was ahead LONG ago. I was pretty turned off by Ep. I, and actively _hated_ Ep. II. That was an abysmal fucking movie in nearly every respect. I feel like such a douchebag for fostering this insane hope that Ep. III will somehow right all the wrongs, put things back on track, make me care again. But it’s another all-Lucas deal, like the last two, so we know how likely any real improvements are going to be. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@dal\_timgar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dal_timgar)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/14 "2004-04-17T20:55:08Z")
I wish!
I think STAR TREK is played out but at least it was decent for most of its run.
Dal Timgar
> [@Paul in Saudi](#):
>
> Forgive me, I follow this just about none at all.
>
> Will there ever be another Star Wars movie? The last one (Episode Dueax) was so bad that it seemed to drive the stake into the heart of the franchise.
>
> It made my jaw drop. Really bad. Showgirls bad.
>
> On the other hand, there may be a major movie ready to be released next week for all I know.
>
> What’s the word?
---
### Author:  [@wildcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wildcat)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/15 "2004-04-17T21:03:47Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#):
>
> I thought this was about a global missile defense system. And _iI’m_ the FilmGeek.
>
> Lucas had planned to make six movies, but after Phantom Menace, he cut that back to three, AFAIK.
Wasn’t the original Star Wars (1977) subtitled, “Episode IV: A New Hope”? Nonetheless, if he was planning to make 6 movies prior to that classic, what would be have? Episode 1.5, 2.5, etc? Lucas wouldn’t be THAT greedy (at least I hope he wouldn’t… ☹ )
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### Author:  [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/16 "2004-04-17T21:39:58Z")
Re: ep4, this has been debated endlessly, but according to the official Star Wars magazine I have, from 1977, issued shortly after the release, there is no hint of any such thing. IIRC it turned up for the re-release which was made to spike interest for ‘Empire’.
Actually, I think it went seriously downhill in RoTJ. A recycled death star, Ewoks and a man eating vagina in the desert. Empire is by far the best movie in the franchise, scripted by Larry Kasdan, and it shows. Lucas didn’t even direct it.
Back when Empire was released, there was talk about it being the middle of a nin movie franchise. I think it would’ve been better if Lucas made sequels, not prequels. Filming the backstory which is usually dropped to cut to the chase, so to speak, is a very bad idea. Since everyone knows what’ll happen with Anakin, all the tension is gone. All the continuity errors show up too. With a sequel, Lucas could’ve just picked up where he left off.
Basically, he had one story to tell and it’s being stretched way too thin. I’ll see ep III when it comes out and I’ll bitch about it afterwards, but I just have to see how he intends to fit it all together.
I don’t know why he does it though. It’s not like he doesn’t have any money.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/17 "2004-04-17T21:40:09Z")
> [@Loopydude](#):
>
> Yeah, I read someplace Lucas claimed there were never any plans to make a sequel trilogy to Episodes IV-VI, but then later, after the disappointing numbers from Episode I came it, it was leaked he had grander plans for the franchise all along.
Yes, the numbers for Episode I were absolutely _dreadful_. It was only the fourth highest grossing film of all time. How could anyone involved with it live with themselves?
This whole one movie / one trilogy / two trilogy / three trilogy / a new hope / not a new hope argument is old and tired. I think the basic consensus among non uber-geeks is that it was supposed to be one movie, then quickly turned into a trilogy, then slowly turned into two trilogies. Pay no attention to the fanboys and that’s the story you’ll eventually uncover.
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### Author:  [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/18 "2004-04-17T21:47:35Z")
George Lucas wrote an introduction for the first Star Wars novel - _Splinter of the Mind’s Eye_ by Alan Dean Foster - released in 1978. I’m not exactly sure, but I believe the introduction was written just as Lucas was beginning to write _The Empire Strikes Back_. Nonetheless, here’s how it starts…
> [@](#):
>
> It wasn’t long after I began writing _Star Wars_ that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell - three trilogies - and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to write the middle story.
Anyhoo…
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### Author:  [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/19 "2004-04-17T22:08:10Z")
> [@Beauty Personified](#):
>
> George Lucas wrote an introduction for the first Star Wars novel - _Splinter of the Mind’s Eye_ by Alan Dean Foster - released in 1978. I’m not exactly sure, but I believe the introduction was written just as Lucas was beginning to write _The Empire Strikes Back_. Nonetheless, here’s how it starts…
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > It wasn’t long after I began writing Star Wars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell - three trilogies - and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to write the middle story.
And clearly George Lucas hadn’t gotten very far by the time Alan Dean Foster started writing, given that the storyline of _Splinter_ has Luke and Leia falling for each other and Han nowhere in the picture, sometime after the events of Episode IV. Imagine my surprise when Leia and Han became an item in Empire, and Luke and Leia were revealed to be siblings in RotJ. 😛
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-star-wars-dead/240540/20 "2004-04-17T22:16:16Z")
The story that SW had a possible 9 movies in it was out in 1977, however the original movie didn’t have any of that “episode 4, a New Hope” crap that the fanboys seem to want. The second movie, Empire Strikes Back, opened with the movie proclaiming it was the “fifth” movie in the series, which started this whole idiotic mess.
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