Discussion Disney buys Lucas Films - Star Wars 7 announced

In retrospect, I should have suspected something was up when I saw Kevin Graham doing more Disney art...

 

In retrospect, I shouldn't have laughed at people who said, before october 30, that there was going to be an ep 7 one day.

In retrospect, I should have bought shares in Disney.

 

I realize this post is in very bad taste, but . . .

 

WHAT???

How many decades have I been listening to Tom Lehrer and I have NEVER heard this song before??? Geeeez, don't ever think that there are never any surprises left.

Otherwise, it's a reasonable sentiment.

I was just noticing that Disney bought Jim Henson Studios a few years back and I don't recall seeing this much uproar about it.

I sure would like to see Kermit as a Jedi someday. . . .

 

Gotta love Tom Lehrer. I have a lot of friends complaining about George Lucas selling out. I'm like: this is George Lucas. He INVENTED selling out. 'Integrity, whats that?' -GL

Mark Hamill was a guest on the Muppet Show once. It all make sense now.... EP 7 is going to star Mark Hamill, Micky Mouse and Kermit the Frog.

 

Before we bash George we should consider that we don't know what goes on behind closed doors--there could be many reasons for his selling of Lucas films. Maybe as he gets older he wants to be 100% sure that his legacy will live on. Or he could be ill and knows he won't be able to work on a sequel, or maybe after the Jar Jar fiasco he thought that maybe he doesn't know what kids want in a movie anymore, or maybe he went and saw The Avengers and thought it was freaking awesome and decided he would be putting his company in good hands. The bottom line is, "If he didn't sell the company...would we be getting EP7?" If the answer is no, then I say we will be no worse off with Disney. A crappy Star Wars movie is usually better than no movie (TPM is the exception )

What I would really like to see is the books declared AU or Infinities. This way we are not tied down to a storyline we already know. I would like to see some new plots. But, I also would like to see some of the most popular characters in the EU incorporated into the movies in some way. Maybe we don't introduce them in the same way, but it would be nice to see Mara Jade, the Solo Kids, Talon Karrde and other favorites. So maybe Luke meets Mara, but not in the TTT storyline...some other way. The reason I say this is people are used to having Luke married to Mara and Leia married to Han. If you keep the characters but change the story lines I think that would be a good compromise.

We do it all the time in fanfiction. But if you notice if a person writes a Luke/OC fanfic it doesn't get the same reception as a L/M story even if Mara was a Jedi Knight and Luke was the Dark Sider. We like the characters.

 

George is donating all his money to education. He can sell out all he wants.

 

Donating all the money is good of GL. I don't really mind that he sold it - give it to the next generation who's going to make it new for the next generation, rather let it sit on a shelf and die when he dies. I just find it funny when people complain about him selling out, like it's something new for him.

 

This reminds me a quote from Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of South Park)...and I am paraphrasing, "Some people accuse us of going to Hollywood and selling out. That's not true. We went to Hollywood TO sell out!"

Some people make movies for the art and some make movies to earn money. Neither one is wrong.

 

I haven't seen the answer to this anywhere - has there been any official indication of whether Episode 7 will be live-action?

 

Hmmmm, I hadn't even thought of that. I guess everyone is just assuming that Ep 7 will be live action. I don't know anyone who expects it to be animated except for the massive amounts of special effects.

 

I was kinda wondering that too. If it was animated would give them a lot more freedom timeline wise. If they wanted to do it 10 years post ROTJ, they could and they wouldn't have to worry about getting new actors to play the original characters. I'd like to think if it was animated, they'd get Mark Hamill back to do Luke's voice. Though, I don't think it will be, just because the Clone Wars isn't called EP 2.5 Calling it EP 7 makes me think it will be live action. When I think Disney, I think animation, but they do just as many live action movies.

There hasn't been much official indication to much, besides the fact that we are getting these movies and they are original stories.

 

I would add Wedge Antillies to the list of characters I'd love to see... he was in ALL 3 original movies, it'd be a shame if he wasn't in any after RoTJ, even if he remains a minor character... he's become a tradition.

By extension, I would love to see Wes Janson along with his buddy, Kettch.

Oh, and as for the supposed sell out... Star Wars was George Lucas' creation. He had the RIGHT to sell it. There were many people who kept yelling at him for every friggin' thing. Geesh, he couldn't turn sideways without running into some criticism or other. Can you blame him for selling it? Now, like he said, he gets to be a fan. Do you think he'll yell at whomever takes the reigns when they do something he doesn't like?

 

I personally think animation would be the best option. Not cartoony, like the Clone Wars, but ultra-realistic CGI. Then they could have the original actors doing voice work and wouldn't have to worry about aging.

Also, does anyone else wonder if there is a clause in the contract forbidding Disney to ever even mention the Christmas Special?

 

I wouldn't mind having it CGI like Final Fantasy 2001 if they wanted to do something 10-20 years post RotJ. Though I'd think I'd prefer it live action if they are doing it farther in the future.

I don't think Disney even wants to acknowledge the Holiday Special was even made (who does). It's like the ewok movies. Yeah, they are out there somewhere and we'll just leave them alone.

 

I am a stickler for traditional and tangible special effects. I would rather see less involvement of CGI and more focus on motion-control, stop-motion, puppetry, and models. But, I know that won't happen. Not in mainstream cinema.

 

According to this article, Lucas will be a "creative consultant" for SW. Given that Roddenberry was kicked upstairs into the position of Executive Consultant where he was pretty much out of the loop in Star Trek, I'm not sure if this actually means anything.

 

CGI is probably the best option seeing how there are so many aliens in the SW universe. As long as it is good quality. When I watched the recent Starship Troopers movie I kept thinking it was like watching my boys' video games. It was hard to get lost into the storyline because I kept getting distracted by the animation. But when I watched Avatar I didn't have that problem. Mainly because we were looking at Aliens most of the time, but over all I think they have a mega budget that allowed them to do quality work. It would be nice to be able to see the storyline continue after ROTJ. It would be great to see Leia and Han court each other and for Luke to find love (hopefully with Mara).

 

The thing about Avatar was that it was an entirely animated movie, with live actors tossed in.

But... if they can still pull off rubber-headed aliens, I'd rather they stick with rubber-headed aliens.

 

I'm pretty sure GL will have SOME input, even if it's only veto-ing ideas he hates. SW is his baby. Unless he dies in the next few months, his name will be in the credits, somewehere.

I think there will be so much cgi in EP7, it will be like Avatar all over again. Gone are the days of the amazing Frank Oz and the Yoda puppet

 

Gone are the days of stop-motion and animatronics, for that matter. Real sets and shooting on location are becoming endangered. Soon, real actors will follow suit. Who needs people when they can be made on a computer? No Screen Actors Guild to go through... Just get some voice actors and you're good!

The future will be insufferably dull.

 

Hehehehe . Now I know why Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney. He will have the Dark Legion of Lawyers scour the globe to hunt down and destroy every last copy of the Holiday Special.

 

They can't have my copies! In the meantime, I'll make a dozen more...

 

Send me a copy... i'll produce more. I don't care how bad something is, there is always something worth redeeming. I mean, that's why Luke saved his daddy, right?

 

Oh god. My friend managed to find a copy of it online around Christmas last year. He forced me to watch it with him. It was BAAAAAAAD. Fresh out of surgery Mark Hamill, stoned Carrie Fisher and a budget of $12.98. We fast forwarded through most of the weird side performances.