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View Full Version : May the Force be with It: New Star Wars Films on the Way



BarristerCat
10-30-2012, 08:57 PM
Disney purchased Lucasfilm today and immediately announced Star Wars Episode VII for 2015. Here is a news piece about it. (http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/tvguide/article/Disney-Buys-LucasFilm-Slates-Star-Wars-7-for-2015-3994553.php)

As a Star Wars fan, I'm cautiously optimistic. I thought Lucas really blew it with the prequels, but apparently he will have very little involvement with the new films. If they take these things in the direction of the recent Marvels movies and the Christopher Nolan Batmans, I will be very pleased. This reaction piece sums it up pretty well for me. (http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/30/14810805-star-wars-7-will-need-the-force-to-be-with-it?lite)

CitizenBBN
10-30-2012, 09:20 PM
As long as George Lucas isn't involved there's at least hope.

How a man can go from Star Wars to Jar Jar Binks and it not involve freefall without a helmet I do not know. Raiders with aliens, the Phantom Menace. You worry about what Disney will do to it but Lucas was making film decisions based on how well stuff fit in the Happy Meal box.

Now if they'd buy the Star Trek franchise and do a new series I'd be one happy man. That's a super valuable property Paramount has no idea how to utilize.

BarristerCat
10-30-2012, 10:09 PM
^You didn't like the 2009 Star Trek? I thought it was brilliant and I'm a pretty hardcore Trek fan. I can't wait for the next iteration of that series.

From what I have read about the creation of Star Wars, the original trilogy was Lucas' baby, but he had a lot of input and polishing work from other people on those films. In fact, Lucas brought in other people to write, direct and produce The Empire Strikes Back -- which it seems is generally the fan favorite of the films. The prequels, by comparison, were almost entirely done by Lucas. THAT was the problem. The happy meal idea was a huge part of it, too. They weren't stories, they were marketing vehicles. Have you ever watched the Red Letter Media Mr. Plinkett reviews of the prequels? They are excellent.

CatinIL
10-31-2012, 07:30 AM
Lucas took one of the greatest villains in movie history and turned him into a wimp!

KSRBEvans
10-31-2012, 11:36 AM
I admit I'm biased because I'm a Disney geek, but I'm also cautiously optimistic. Disney's acquisition of Marvel hasn't hurt those movies, IMHO, and anything has to be an improvement on Episodes 1-3.

CitizenBBN
10-31-2012, 05:31 PM
Barrister - I don't have issue with the latest movie, but there hasn't be a Tv production in a long time. I like Enterprise but I had to overlook that they jumped the shark immediately with the crutch of time travel. Enterprise ended in 2005. 7 years without a series is long enough. If you count from Voyager, the last 7 year run and show with a strong following, it's since 2001, 11 years.

A movie every 3-4 years from a franchise that has the strongest following in all of the entertainment industry is a huge waste and loss of billions in potential income.

Heck, they wouldn't even have to pay the production crew. I could get an all volunteer group to do everything but the acting, and there would be a huge line for that open audition too. Mind you the grips would show up for work in Klingon battle armor but that's not a deal breaker.

ColonelSteve
10-31-2012, 07:26 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRLjxjS72Gg

ColonelSteve
10-31-2012, 07:27 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUbH1SEsqiE&feature=youtu.be

BarristerCat
11-01-2012, 12:06 AM
Barrister - I don't have issue with the latest movie, but there hasn't be a Tv production in a long time. I like Enterprise but I had to overlook that they jumped the shark immediately with the crutch of time travel. Enterprise ended in 2005. 7 years without a series is long enough. If you count from Voyager, the last 7 year run and show with a strong following, it's since 2001, 11 years.

A movie every 3-4 years from a franchise that has the strongest following in all of the entertainment industry is a huge waste and loss of billions in potential income.

Heck, they wouldn't even have to pay the production crew. I could get an all volunteer group to do everything but the acting, and there would be a huge line for that open audition too. Mind you the grips would show up for work in Klingon battle armor but that's not a deal breaker.

Ohh, I'm with you now. I totally agree. They lost me during Voyager. I just never liked the concept of a series that took place outside Federation territory. I'd love to see an Enterprise C era series.

CitizenBBN
11-01-2012, 12:32 AM
Capt. Janeway saved Voyager for me. Her interaction with everyone was very interesting to me. Also the Borg, which has a lot of stuff you can explore. I wasn't in love with DS9 when it came out but came to really appreciate it. I thought Cisco was the weakest of the captains but other aspects made up for it. TNG of course set the standard for the new series.

I thought Enterprise had the best initial character depth but jumped the shark in season 1 with the temporal cold war concept and the Suliban. They made it nearly impossible for the cast to carry the show. The Vuclan/Terran tension was good IMO. You do that time travel stuff at the end of the series when you're out of ideas, not at the start.

I will say I thought Enterprise's Through the Mirror Darkly episodes were the best of the franchise. They didn't step through, the show was just about the mirror universe and really got into more detail and fleshing out of that universe.

I could go with Enterprise C, my first thought is a step forward from the TNG timeline, say 10-20 years.

Darrell KSR
11-01-2012, 06:38 AM
Star Wars is the movie adaptation of Start Trek, right? Same thing.

BarristerCat
11-01-2012, 03:31 PM
Capt. Janeway saved Voyager for me. Her interaction with everyone was very interesting to me. Also the Borg, which has a lot of stuff you can explore. I wasn't in love with DS9 when it came out but came to really appreciate it. I thought Cisco was the weakest of the captains but other aspects made up for it. TNG of course set the standard for the new series.

I thought Enterprise had the best initial character depth but jumped the shark in season 1 with the temporal cold war concept and the Suliban. They made it nearly impossible for the cast to carry the show. The Vuclan/Terran tension was good IMO. You do that time travel stuff at the end of the series when you're out of ideas, not at the start.

I will say I thought Enterprise's Through the Mirror Darkly episodes were the best of the franchise. They didn't step through, the show was just about the mirror universe and really got into more detail and fleshing out of that universe.

I could go with Enterprise C, my first thought is a step forward from the TNG timeline, say 10-20 years.

I think jumping forward from TNG is the other really good option that is out there.

It is hard to argue that TNG isn't the best series, but I really, really liked DS9 once it found itself. I was unsure about it at first, but I really came around. I enjoyed its darker, more serious tone as compared to TNG. Sisko wasn't Picard, of course, but that show had some great story lines.


Star Wars is the movie adaptation of Start Trek, right? Same thing.

You serious Clark?

CitizenBBN
11-01-2012, 09:50 PM
Star Wars is the movie adaptation of Start Trek, right? Same thing.

Anybody got about 50lbs of feathers? I found a source for the tar.

Doc
11-02-2012, 05:56 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRLjxjS72Gg

I think Chewbacca was lip synching and the Ewok was playing "air guitar".

Doc
11-02-2012, 05:58 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUbH1SEsqiE&feature=youtu.be


Disney has had a "Star Wars" ride for years at MGM Studio (now "Hollywood Studios).

As others have stated, it really went downhill with the prequels however I noted the big change in "Return of the Jedi". It got to "cutsie" with the Ewoks then spiralled downhill from there.

CitizenBBN
11-02-2012, 06:41 PM
Return of the Jedi is a pretty OK movie, as long as you stop it after they blow up Jabba's pleasure barge. In the good version of the Director's Cut it then jumps to "It's a Trap!" and cuts out any ewok footage till the Death Star blows up then rolls the credits.

I agree the Ewoks were the tip of that awful iceberg that was Lucas writing the movie around what fit best on the lunch boxes. Same thing they did to the Conan movies. Going to be a new Conan movie btw, hope it's not a disaster.

SalsaKat
11-06-2012, 11:50 AM
I think some new blood in the franchise is a good thing. Lord knows it had gotten stale with Lucas running the show. The man is an excellent filmmaker but can't write his way out of a paper bag and will even admit he doesn't like writing. Someone else needs to take his great ideas and make them into a script.

@Citizen: I agree with you, Star Trek belongs on the small screen. I loved ST09 to death and I am barely containing my anticipation for Into Darkness but ST is a thing that was meant to be a weekly adventure.

@Barrister: Have you checked out the "Lost Era" book series? They take place aboard the Enterprise-B and Enterprise-C. I haven't read them myself but they look intriguing. It seems to be a really interesting time in Star Trek history, with the Federation transitioning from "explorers on the rugged frontier" to "dominating power of the Alpha Quadrant" and it's too bad it's all but forgotten.

@CatInIL: As much as I despise teenybop-Anakin, remember that Adolf Hitler was once a whiny emo art school dropout. That said, I don't know if it was the scriptwriting or Chrstiansen's performance (hint: both) but Anakin's descent into evil was never very convincing to me. It seems like he would have shown a little more initial resistance to so readily going to the dark side.

CitizenBBN
11-07-2012, 02:04 AM
Agree Salsa. Great Scifi often is used as a way to address modern social issues and questions, a way to look also at the more cerebral (less action) part of the genre. A movie can't really do that b/c you only have one "episode" and it will have to be an action adventure. No movie company will make an hour and a half Star Trek feature film where no shields are raised and no phasers locked. You can't do the character or story development you can in a series.

TNG when Data is in a JAG hearing to determine if he's a person, Worf's discommodation, Voyager with the imprisoned Q or the episode with Icheb's parents, any number of DS9 stories just could never be done. 100s of them. A feature length movie about Quark being closed by the FCA? lol.

I'm grateful for them, but they can't explore the questions or challenge the imagination or just be humorous like the series have done.

It is quite simply the most loyal and largest fanbase of any TV franchise or entertainment franchise in the world, and they basically sit on it.

CitizenBBN
11-07-2012, 02:11 AM
Also with you on Anakin's conversion to the Dark Side. I don't know that I have a vision of how to do it differently but the final confrontation with Palpatine didn't work for me.

Honestly a Sith Lord as Chancellor working with the Jedi so closely and them never being able to sense it didn't work for me either. The power he would have to have to control is emotions and cloud their vision standing in the same room with them would have been extraordinary, more than a match for Yoda or any other Jedi master.

Not sure I have enough time to fully expound on the other failings, lol. The basic concept of the clones and the Jedi as generals of the clone army works for me, and even the Sith starting the war so the Republic establishes an army, but a lot of contrivances were built up around that basic idea.

UKHistory
11-07-2012, 01:48 PM
My great second love/passion next to Kentucky Basketball is Star Wars. Love Star Trek too. Excited about the prospects of expanding the further adventures of Luke Skywalker. Luke was the lead; the hero--the new hope that started it al even if Han was way cooler.

Barrister wrote how Lucas got a lot of help from others with the original movie and he is correct. Alec Guiness had input about his character and so too did Anthony Daniels. Harrison Ford asked the fundamental question of how he was to fly the Falcon. All made significant contributions to their characters and as a result the story as a whole.

Lucas' exwife played a huge role editing the film and helping him with dialogue. She never got the credit she deserved for making that story better. Along with plot, dialogue was one of the weaker aspects of the prequels. Another important person who made the original story come to life was the late Ralph McQuarrie. His drawings and practical application (breath mask for Darth Vader since he was moving from one ship to another) of his own knowledge of science and aero engineering was huge in creating a world that people loved.

Lucas really changed ( we all do) but the fact that he had surrounded himself with yes men along with losing perspective-Han shot first damnit! He just did--doomed the prequels. Some of it was merchandising--the multi-colored clones an example--but a lot of it was a person who lost touch with what his original story was all about. Star Wars was nominated for best picture in 1977.

I do hope that Disney releases the original movie with better sound quality and brighter picture minus the special edition scenes and effects.

CitizenBBN
11-07-2012, 02:09 PM
Han not shooting first sums up everything Lucas did wrong in the prequels and re-releases. Sums up everything he's done wrong in everything he's touched since Empire. Disney may not make it right, but I don't see how they could mess it up any more than Lucas.

What could be worse than Jar Jar Binks, armies of droids more useless than C3P0, the whole transformation of Anakin (minus his mother being killed, that had potential to kick off a decent story line), and of course Han shooting first?

The Clone War/Stormtrooper part was good IMO, which is why the animated Clone Wars is so successful. Still have those moronic droids, that's annoying, but the concept is at least sound. Of course I'm an Empire man myself.

UKHistory
11-07-2012, 05:29 PM
Citizen,

The cartoon is cool. I would have preferred the clones be mandalorians (limit the battle droids altogether) but I can live with that. On one hand it is hard to criticize George too much because the original Star Wars and Empire were so great (Jedi is fair and his divorce really shows in this one) but no way do I care about prequels or buy one thing if it were those movies with those actors saying those horrible lines.

I watch all kinds of science fiction and I find myself saying about even the worst of the movies--"that dialogue is better than the prequels".

The 30 minute cartoons put Lucas' last three movies to shame in terms of character development, plot , the whole 9 yards.

CitizenBBN
11-07-2012, 06:50 PM
The 30 minute cartoons put Lucas' last three movies to shame in terms of character development, plot , the whole 9 yards.

Agreed. Clone Wars is a good series. I can only assume Lucas isn't involved. ;)

Yeah give him credit for the whole Star Wars world, but dang what was he thinking with Phantom Menace? Just say "no" George.

BarristerCat
11-07-2012, 07:49 PM
Thanks for the tip on those books, Salsa. I'll definitely check those out. Right now I'm reading the Star Wars Thrawn series. I have high hopes for it.

BTW, on the issues of a weekly Star Trek show: I can't believe I forgot to mention it earlier, but apparently there is some type of new Star Trek web series in development. My cousin is going to be handling some of the special effects. I'm not sure how far along they are at this point, but I'll let you guys know when I find out anything about a debut.

Also, I agree with everything said in the last few posts re: Star Wars. My friends and I used to make a yearly sci-fi movie when we were in high school. Honestly, the dialog in those movies -- though not perfectly delivered -- was better than the dialog in the prequels. I don't mean that as a brag, it's just true.

CitizenBBN
11-07-2012, 08:40 PM
Barrister, would it be Star Trek Renegades? every once in a while I poke in on memory-alpha.org , a wiki of star trek, and they mentioned it. They did Of Gods and Men. There are some good fan fiction series out there too, a pretty good one that continues where Voyager ended. Renegades is the only major one I've heard about, but I'm not deep into the fan fic world.

I googled and they're raising money for the Renegades pilot! This is what I'm talking about, fans who will outright pay for a new series, volunteer, whatever it takes. It's like UK basketball deciding to not bother having a team one year.

Renegades has picked up steam since I first read about it. From their site I see several Voyager crew are signed on to it, including Tim Russ directing. For $10,000 you can name a ship, name a recurring character, or be a producer for a day. or a featured extra.

Here's the Renegades link to donate:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/145553614/star-trek-renegades

Don't think I can kick in $10K, but I could give a little something to the cause. Vote your dollars they always say.

CitizenBBN
11-07-2012, 08:43 PM
Forgot to mention, Renegades is set about 10 years after Voyager's return, so a small jump forward but basically extending the TNG timeframe. That would be my preference, I guess I'm just really attached to TNG, DS9 and Voyager from that time line.

UKHistory
11-07-2012, 09:21 PM
Barrister,

You will love the Thrawn series. Also if you have not already read these before my favorite expanded universe star wars books are written by the late Brian Daley. They are: Han Solo at Stars' End; Han Solo's Revenge; and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy.

Those three adventures are in one book for a relatively low price. Daley also wrote the NPR radio version of Star Wars that aired in the 1980s. Mark Hamil and Anthony Daniels reprised their roles for Star Wars and Empire radio versions. I love those.

BarristerCat
11-07-2012, 11:55 PM
History, I'll definitely check those out. I didn't know there was a radio version. My wife is going to be thrilled to find about that when I play it on our next car trip. I can't wait to give it a listen.

CBBN, I'm pretty sure that isn't the series my cousin is working on. For one thing, I don't see the name of the one guy that I remember him saying was going to be a part of it. For another, I don't think the series I'm talking about has any connections to the fan fiction world. I'll send him a text in the morning to find out, though.

CitizenBBN
11-08-2012, 12:56 AM
Would love for there to be a high level effort for one. Renegades is viable, they did God and Men and have support from a lot of the cast and other ST people but clearly one financed by a real production company would be awesome.

One good thing about the fan fic stuff is the top ones are very well thought out. They're anal about not ignoring cannon and keeping a consistent story and science.

Web series are the future of sci fi IMO. Obviously we're all proficient and comfortable with watching shows on the computer and word of mouth is how those shows get fans now even with TV slots. Trek, Warehouse 13, a range of shows could do well on a web only basis as long as the ad revenue could support the production costs. I don't know the numbers there but I know a TON of W13s uncounted viewers are watching on the computer. The torrent volume for the shows is insane.

BarristerCat
11-08-2012, 10:49 PM
THIS (http://www.startrekcontinues.com/wordpress/) is the series my cousin is working on: Star Trek Continues. The idea is to pick up where the original series left off. Re-casting the original crew could be a gamble, but I know that it will be a quality production.

CitizenBBN
11-08-2012, 11:24 PM
Cool Barrister. Looks like part of them are from the group that did Farragut. I know about that project but haven't watched it.

This is the amazing part. Look at the depth of fan fiction out there. Star Trek practically created the whole concept, largely b/c the owners of the franchise have been so reluctant to do anything with it with the exception of the burst of TNG/DS9/Voyager/Enterprise. "Except" isn't fair, that's 100s of episodes, but then the switch gets turned off for 10+ years.

Hidden Frontier, New Voyages, Farragut, now Continues, Of Gods and Men, hopefully Renegades. Seriously how much market demand does there have to be?

BarristerCat
11-16-2012, 11:24 PM
Oh. Oh no. Oh dear god no. Please make this not happen.

RUMOR: Disney May Resurrect Darth Vader (http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57550457-1/scary-star-wars-rumor-disney-to-resurrect-darth-vader/)

CitizenBBN
11-17-2012, 12:23 AM
Oh. Oh no. Oh dear god no. Please make this not happen.

RUMOR: Disney May Resurrect Darth Vader (http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57550457-1/scary-star-wars-rumor-disney-to-resurrect-darth-vader/)

that cowl is going to look funny with Mickey Mouse ears.

bigronhahn1011
11-17-2012, 08:04 AM
I have also read where Harrison Ford, Carey Fisher, and Mark Hammel have all entered talks with Disney to reprise their roles in the new Star Wars Episode VII move.

CitizenBBN
11-17-2012, 05:05 PM
I have also read where Harrison Ford, Carey Fisher, and Mark Hammel have all entered talks with Disney to reprise their roles in the new Star Wars Episode VII move.

THat I could live with as long as they don't contact Jar Jar.

Harrison Ford is no problem, he's brilliant, but has Hamill worked in acting since Corvette Summer and Return of the Jedi?

UKHistory
11-19-2012, 04:21 PM
A few movies and a gues spot on a 1990s voyage to the bottom of the sea omage starring Roy Schneider and one of Dom Delouise's kids.

Not sure how I feel about extending the saga at this point with the original cast. But will be in line when the movies hit.


THat I could live with as long as they don't contact Jar Jar.

Harrison Ford is no problem, he's brilliant, but has Hamill worked in acting since Corvette Summer and Return of the Jedi?

CitizenBBN
11-19-2012, 05:28 PM
A few movies and a gues spot on a 1990s voyage to the bottom of the sea omage starring Roy Schneider and one of Dom Delouise's kids.

Not sure how I feel about extending the saga at this point with the original cast. But will be in line when the movies hit.

Looked it up on IMDB and he's done more voice work than you can count, but not really anything else. Ideal for the animated sequels. lol