VIDEO Lucasarts to be shut down by Disney

Oh boy.

I love SW too, EU and all, but this is nothing like taking away people's freedoms.

Give this some time, man. It's a big switch - takes some time for them to regroup, reorganize, and execute the new plan (whatever it may be).

 

I'm not an OT snob...as I had previously stated I devour everything Star Wars: Books, comics, games, The Clone Wars, all era's included. Nor am I a Lucas hater, and I in fact defended a lot of his decisions when it came to the PT. I am quite delighted that some of my friend's kids and my younger cousins now like Star Wars. I would just rather have a new movie, and a lot of effort put into that movie, instead of another mediocre game or cartoon (that's you Detours) etc. What I was merely wondering was, because my childhood Star Wars was a couple of movies, some comics and an Atari game does that make me desire a movie MORE than younger generations that became aware of Star Wars while there was already a ton of product out there.

I'm not sure where you are getting this idea that there is going to be NO Star Wars product at all in 2013-2014?? There are still a slew of comics, novels and reference books being released this year and next (although personally after Crucible is released I think they should reorganize all plans for further prose fiction).

Now you say "the dark times" was from 1987-1997 which was the time from the last cartoon until the SPECIAL EDITIONS came out, you are already giving more weight to the importance of a Star Wars movie over any other content, yet you are trying to argue how important having a glut of novels, comics and games is to you. I myself stated the dark times was from 1986-1991...1991 being the year that Heir to the Empire and Dark Empire came out...to me that meant that Star Wars was "back".

So please don't try to label me as a PT/Lucas/EU hater when I'm clearly not. However I can recognize that the future of Star Wars was not exactly bright with a cartoon like Detours coming down the pipe and the live action show stuck in development hell. George was becoming incapable of making smart and hard business decisions with regards to problems at Lucasfilm (specifically at Lucasarts). Almost any CEO would have given the ax to a division (Lucasarts) that was not working anymore and producing poor quality content that customers weren't happy with. Instead he just let it fester and hope the problem could repair itself without any adjustments at all? I work in QC for a manufacturer, if there is a problem with a product you try to rework and adjust it, if it can't be fixed the product is scrapped.

 

Maybe the old "dark times" were a depression... the new ones are proving to be a recession; we know we'll be spending many months without much of anything, at least (and the potential release of comics and books which will also be cut off mid-series*). Where it goes from there, we don't know yet.

Kev: I don't think anybody's saying you're a hater. I think some are just bent on explaining why, at this point, they feel the books/comics/games have outpaced the films, in their personal opinions. Not saying you don't like them. I think some of us are hesitant about what the new films will do (wiping out canon, for instance), and would be much more prone to turn a blind eye to the films' faults if we have a steady stream of other content to focus on in the meantime. Ultimately, I think many of us want to like Episode VII, but if we feel that it comes at the expense of the universe at large, we'll have a harder time doing that. It'll be like the Tyrion Lannister of Star Wars... the problematic baby that turned out to be a pretty cool guy, but we can't get over losing the mother who bore that baby. And if you'll excuse me, I'll be claiming my trophy for Most Morbid Analogy, 2012-2013 Season.

This is pretty much just a matter of opinion re: content priorities, though. There's no right answer.

*EDIT: Yeah, rereading your post... the slew of comics and novels coming out isn't exactly consolation, because it's almost guaranteed that it'll all either be wiped out from canon, or series will end mid-story once DH or Del Rey potentially lose the license.

 

Well, I would definitely take the books and toys over a new movie, personally. And when Lucasarts were good, I'd take their games over a new movie. Honestly, I was more excited about 1313 than I was about Episode 7. I wasn't much of a Clone Wars fan, so I'd rather have a film than that, I suppose, but I would definitely rather have Underworld as it was conceived than new films... (I'm 39, btw. Love the OT, the PT, and the EU.)

 

Phatdude1138 said exactly what I was thinking, he posted: "Again I have to say was all this worth it? Closing Lucas Animation? Closing Lucas Arts? Canceling all shows? All 3D releases? Just for the sake of "Episode 7 being great?" If your answer is "yes", then you are very naive. Even if you are the biggest J.J. Abrams fanboy, to put all your eggs in the "Episode 7 Basket" is pretty risky as a fan. It's like Disney is "starving" us of Star Wars so when EP7 is released, we'll be so deprived we'll think anything turned out is great.

The darktimes are here folks. Get used to it."



I get the feeling Disney is looking at Star Wars the same way they have looked at their other aquisitions. If you look at them, like Marvel you will notice of course there is no continuity and not even an attempt at continuity. Everything they release is in conjunction with the time and vision of the films; they are all tie ins. And then later when they are done it will all go in the infamous Disney Vault. I think the the blanket I had when I was six years old, got lost in there. Given Disneys track record, "Ive got a bad feeling about this," all we will get is each time one of the movies is released there will be a surge of tie ins, books, video games, etc, and not much else. I don't see a continuation of Star Wars games and books that jump all over the timeline (which I like). It seems like they have tunnel vision for only the films and their merchandise. Think about it. Why would they shut off all those projects? When Lucasflms released the prequels in the early 2000s, they still had Star Wars games coming out that were unrelated to them. Disney on the other hand.......

 

My very strong feeling is this: Star Wars continuing the way it was going under George's direction meant it was going to die, or at the very best become a huge irrelevant joke. When I saw the Detours trailer my heart sank, I felt if this is what we have to look forward to...an effing cartoon bobblehead sitcom...then Star Wars is surely dying, it has become a bloated beast content on devouring itself, and I don't think I can support this any longer. Then we were given 4 episodes of the Clone wars featuring Droids and a damn frog, then 4 episodes of padawans trying to build lighsabers....yup the show sure is at a high point now, lets give it another 3 or 4 seasons to rot Star Wars some more please.

Underworld as it was conceived....was it not just a bit alarming to you that this show was in development for 7 years, yet NOTHING came out of it and what we were given to swallow was Detours instead? That was the future of Star Wars.

Take novels over a new movie...another series like Fate of the Jedi is a good approach? NO new ground was broken there, nothing, a total re-hash of previous ideas and a return to some downright AWFUL ones, total garbage. I can't handle anymore of that. Now we at least have some people willing to give Star Wars a breath of fresh air.

 

Well, then might I grant you a hearty mazel tov, sir. You win this round of Star Wars, because these new developments are good for your particular set of opinions. However, the opposite is true for some, and there's no reason to respond with such incredulity to that fact. Yunno, think about this: for several years, Dancing With The Stars was the #1 TV show in the United States. If that doesn't make a case for absolute objectivity, I don't know what does. Star Wars has a huge fanbase. Tons of opinions to go around. I think the key is to express them in a way which stimulates conversation... not just continue to quantify what's good and bad. Otherwise, it's a neverending back-and-forth of people simply stating their opinions, and nobody gets anywhere.

Anyway, as far as the density of opposing opinions... well, you're on a Star Wars message board, right now, at this present day. You should probably expect there to be lots of people around who, yunno, appreciate what's come out of the universe for the past few years... and specifically that time period. Sure, there are some old holdovers and some people here to gripe, but in general, people become less active in the community surrounding a thing when their interest in that thing wanes, meaning most of the people who remain are still invested in it. Some people didn't think it was in the tailspin you thought it was it. It's a matter of opinion. End of story.

Now, back to LucasArts.

 

I'm not American, whatever the #1 show was for your country is irrelevant to me

 

1313, as it was originally conceived, was intended as a tie-in to the live action embodiment of Star Wars on the small screen. When it was decided that the show's production value would be too astronomical for even Lucasfilm to swallow the show was shelved rather than dilute the intended product. The intent, at least according to Rick Macallun, was always to keep Underworld on the back burner until a way could be found to make the show's production value cheaper, i.e. making the special effects cheaper to produce (my pet theory is that Lucasfilm's animation studio would have played a huge part in this, as would have ILMs involvement with 1313).To say that NOTHING came our of would be to deny the very genesis of 1313, which, even with the various changes of directions it underwent throughout its development, only saw the final nail put in its coffin this week with Disney's announcement.

Detours, at least as far as I understand the project, was not a replacement for Underworld. We've been hearing about some for of animated "Squishies" project since we first heard about the Clone Wars, Detours most likely being the result of those endeavors. Like The2ndQuest said, the show was essentially looking like one big long Star Wars parody, only produced in-house by Lucasfilm. If you're not a fan of parodies and spoofs that's fine, but what I really thing Detours represented was the ability of Lucasfilm, and George himself, to laugh at Star Wars along with us fans. If anything is demonstrated a "loosening up" of the corporate decision makers and a willingness to explore new kinds of directions relating to Star Wars media. Either way, we're not going to be able to see what Detours was actually going to be in its fully realized form.

Just my two cents.

 

I enjoyed the Robot Chicken specials by the way, but an entire "in-house" show devoted to parody is a mistake. But hey that's just my opinion, and the discussion HAS gotten off track of the subject, for that I apologize

 

But it IS relevant to the conversation, because it's a sample of the tastes of people who most of us completely disagree with... but, somebody likes it, so it continues to exist, for better or worse.

 

I have viewed the EU as something separate from the movies for years (being a former extreme continuity stickler), I still enjoy it on average but I had to recognize how out of control and problematic it can be.

I would welcome Peter Dinklage in the ST lol

 

I meant it more as a cultural reference it doesn't have much relevancy to me, as Hockey Night in Canada is almost always the highest rated show here lol

 

Thank-you for saying my opinion is "silly". I would expect a forum manager to be the ones to respect varying opinions, not insult them.

 

Yeah, the re-done opening of ANH was AWESOME!! The Star Destroyer was super detailed and on a legit IMAX screen (not one of those wannabe regular theaters, but we're talking the vertical seating kind) was off the hook. Also they showed the SE version of the "looks sir, droids" scene and it had the troopers with their helmets off. I wish that would be shown again.

 

The only two things on the list I have issue with are 3D releases cancelled and the Dark Horse contract expiring.

3D releases being cancelled aren't a big deal, Disney will re-release the SW movies in 3D at some point, they're not strangers to re-releasing their own stuff in 3D.
Dark Horse contract expiring- at this point in time we have no idea what will happen with this. Just gotta wait and see if Dark Horse get renewal or not.

Rest of it, like you stated yourself, good corporate business moves, considering how bloated the Lucasfilm franchise has gotten over the years.

 

Dancing with the Stars was never the no.1 show on TV, American Idol was

As for the topic, I really don't see the need for all this doom and gloom. Star Wars wasn't going down under Lucas and it isn't going to go down under Disney. Just because some things aren't continued doesn't mean that nothing will ever happen in the future. Things getting cancelled happens all the time. Why bother getting ready to jump off a cliff if you can just wait and see what will actually happen?
Cancelling something can be done quickly, but you don't announce things right from the get go, you wait till there is actually something to show. There is no reason to suspect that there won't be any comics, books, games or new tv-shows. Disney didn't spent 4 billion Dollars to not cash in on merchandise and other additional stuff. Heck, they specifically said that future games would be developed out of house, which doesn't sound like much will change, apart from taking out the middle man and the odd in-house production by LucasArts.

 

Well, under Lucas, there never was any of that "minimal risk, maximum output" bull$#!t. He was intimately involved in pretty much everything, and yeah, blah blah, he's a greedy supercapitalist yada yada yada, but he also is (or was, I guess) an independent filmmaker. Disney is a behemoth of a public company. Whoever thinks that's good has a notion of "good" that's very different from mine.

 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe shows they're willing to take risks. They started with the safe bets like Iron Man and now they're getting ready to make Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. I reckon we're going to see the same thing happen with Star Wars.

 

http://www.jedinews.co.uk/news/news.aspx?newsID=11208

Is this relevant?

 

Well, you knew this was coming sooner or later: