Saga What is the Skywalker Saga?

Its a new term created on the official site, but I'm a lil confused what they are calling The Skywalker Saga.

 

George Lucas' Skywalker saga is the story of Anakin Skywalker.
The website is probably talking about this - people like Nat Skywalker, others in the extended family, etc. won't really show up in official company copy.

 

Star Wars Episode I - VI.

 

I mentioned this in another thread, but I think Skywalker Saga is meant to include VII-IX. The new title is meant to separate it from the spinoff films that were also announced. If otherwise, why call it the SKYWALKER Saga instead of the ANAKIN SKYWALKER Saga? Or even the DARTH VADER Saga, as Lucas kept going on and on about as his, "vision?" No, I see this as GL changing his mind and, with the new trilogy, refocusing the intent and meaning of the films.

 

I take it as Episodes I - IX, everything after that probably will not include the roman numerals with it, nor feature the Skywalkers.

 

The Skywalker saga is eppys 1-6 now and then the ST. There might eventually be more down the road but 1-6 is where we're at now with at least 3 more to follow.

 

Everything onward from TPM is more or less the Skywalker Saga, in my estimation.

 

I disagree, I believe the 'Skywalker Saga' will most likely refer to Eps I-VI only, otherwise why not simply continue calling it the Star Wars Saga?

We don't know for sure that Eps 7-9 will be presented the same way, or even necessarily called Episode VII, VIII & IX. There mightn't be any Skywalkers in them, either. This new term seems to suggest that the ST will be somewhat separate.

 

I agree that the name change means a game change.

Be prepared, these movies are going to be inherently different because they're being made by entirely new people. I-VI is finished as it is, but the elements of the series can repeat in a different direction.

 

Exactly. The Force, Jedi Knights, lightsabers, hyperspace, weird aliens, droids - we'll see them all again. The soap opera of the Skywalker family, however, is over. It's had its six episode saga, time to start something new in the same setting, and I'm convinced that's what'll happen. Star Trek did it and it worked, Star Wars can do the same.
There'll probably be cameos and references, but Disney didn't buy LFL to flog a dead horse for a couple more years, they want to get the machine going at full whack again, not just exhaust what little worth remains. It's going to be effectively a reboot, with the original Saga existing as backstory.

 

Star wars is not a Soap Opera? Space opera, yes!! Soap opera, noo!!!

 

They are. Believe me, they wouldn't through out that term so carelessly. And that's why it has caused so much speculation. It's not like they have announced a spin-off or whatever...

 

The second GL/KK clip on the official website makes it rather clear that they're basing the ST on GL's old treatment, which is full of gaps that they have to fill in. It's also widely known that he planned sequels that would feature Luke as an old man already in the seventies. Later on, he testified that any plans for a sequel trilogy was mostly an idea of bringing back the old cast for the fun of it.
Considering that he stuck to his original vision for the PT, it would surprise the hell out of me if his vision of the ST has changed drastically.
The ST will be a part of GL's story and "The Skywalker Saga" is meant to separate this particular movie series from all other Star Wars stories. That is my firm belief.
I wouldn't rule out the possibility of LFL extending the Saga beyond the ST, BTW, with one new trilogy coming out every 10-15 years or so.





"They'll soon be back - and in greater numbers"
/LM

 

They're basing it on something from Lucas. We don't know what that something is. Around the time of ESB, he seems to have seen the saga as truly three loosely connected trilogies, and the Sequel Trilogy of that time had its own themes and potentialities - though these, by Lucas's own descriptions, were "out there somewhere," meaning they were very vague, even to him.

The version with the cast of the OT back for a reunion is a post-ROTJ conception. With ROTJ, he decided to close off the saga in some ways, and definitely was sick of Star Wars for some time. The 'OT reunion' was a way to both leave his options open and diminish the importance of any Sequels the fans may have heard of/been expecting.

(Though Luke might have figured as an Obi-Wan/Yoda character even in the "original" concepts.)

I'm sure there will be some connection to his own speculations of what might happen post-OT. However, as I said the "real" sequel trilogy existed for a short time generally around the making of ESB. The building of the six-film-saga into The Tragedy of Darth Vader (rather than the 9-film "Trilogy of Trilogies" that would have been the model around the time of ESB) would, I think, necessitate major changes to whatever Lucas's sequel ideas and notes from that time were.

Plus, Lucas himself said of the prequels that 80% of his story notes and ideas went into ROTS (which would seem to be confirmed by the material in The Making of Star Wars). That means that only 10% of those "original" ideas ended up in each of the first two prequel films - and Lucas had always described the Sequel films as more vague in his mind than the Prequels. So I'm very curious what could possibly be left, after Lucas changed the entire structure of the saga, intentionally left himself fewer routes for expansion (like the Other may have originally intended to be, circa ESB), and then seemingly crammed most of the leftover ideas into the prequel films (small stuff like air whales, planet names intended to be used since the first drafts of ANH, etc). There probably is some stuff remaining. Maybe even a lot. But I doubt it can bear a whole lot of resemblance to whatever was planned circa 1979.

 

I'm not referring to the sequel plans from 1979. I'm talking about his post-ROTJ sequel ideas. They might have been altered since the PT, but they were probably basic enough to withstand just about any changes to the rest of the Saga. They've just had to fill in the blanks.

One question: Why on Earth would GL try to concoct an entirely new scenario and paste it onto the rest of the Saga? Surely, he understands that both Disney and the general audience will be very interested in seeing the OT heroes again, so why not just stick with the original idea? In this case, staying true to the idea and giving people what they want happen to be the same thing, so why mess with it?





"Change is a natural part of life"
/LM

 

Ah.

With your clarification in mind, yeah, maybe they are basing it on whatever GL developed between 1983 and 1994. But even with that, he was concurrently downplaying the ST, and it seems that the biggest concept may well have been "hey, let's do a reunion." Story and thematic things from the real original ST might be retained into the reunion concept, but they're pretty general (rebuilding the Republic, Luke passing on his teachings). I guess what I'm saying is, it's possible this new Episode VII will be based on something GL came up with in the Intertrilogy period, but we don't know if he did develop anything beyond the very basic concepts he's already talked about in interviews. For all we know, these new films will necessitate as much "filler" as the first two prequels - not just because GL changed his mind at random, but because it's possible there just really was never very much there, and/or much of what was there is now unusable. We have no way to really know until there are Making Of books or other information dumps. Which I look forward to eagerly.

 

It seems like we're pretty much in agreement on this. That feels good
I suspect that this trilogy does necessitate about as much "filler" as TPM and AOTC, like you said.
It would be interesting to hear their story conferences, to put it mildly.





"They want me to spy on the writers?"
/LM

 

I really can't see this new ST being the reunion version, because, to put it bluntly, the cast all look too old to sustain a whole SW trilogy, and recasting the roles defeats the purpose. Cameos maybe, perhaps even a solid role for Mark Hamill, but I just can't see it happening across three films.

That said, I agree that it could have some basis on what storylines or material GL might have come up with in between ROTJ & TPM for any post-ROTJ adventures - except that I don't believe he came up with anything beyond it being a reunion of the cast of the OT. Certainly not new outlines.
If he ever gave the ST any thought during this period, he probably figured he'd apply a reunion theme to whatever structures he came up with for the 1978/79 model - which probably didn't amount to much at all.
If anything particularly concrete was ever dreamed up for the ST between 1978 & 1994 (plots, characters, planets etc), I'm convinced GL would have poached them for the PT, simply because he was desperate for material. For example, my theory is that Count Dooku could have been based on what might have originally been a vague idea for the villain of the ST - a charismatic ex-Jedi, actually a Sith Lord, wages war against the rebuilding of what was a corrupt institution to begin with (this is pure speculation on my part).

The overall themes mentioned about the original ST(s) - rebuilding the Republic, passing on what you have learned, Jedi Knighthood, moral decisions etc - well, maybe they'll come up, but they're broad themes, not outlines. They could be applied to anything developed at any time, and set during just about any timeframe. Bit different from saying "there's outlines for Eps 7-9".

 

As far as I can recall, noone has said anything about Luke, Leia and Han being main characters throughout the trilogy. Obviously, they will pass the torch to the next generation, much like Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan did.





"Pass on what you have learned"
/LM

 

That's true, but I always took the comments specifically about the later reunion vision of the ST to imply that they would be. GL usually made offhand remarks about "it could be fun to bring everyone back when they're older" (paraphrasing), which I took to mean that it really was just about revisiting the original cast, not embarking on something completely different - which this new trilogy definitely will be. It's pointless otherwise.

Whatever material GL has handed over for Eps 7-9, however minimal, I do believe would be about 99% new, i.e. thought up in the last 5 years or so. It's quite possible it includes some very broad strokes from either the 1978/79 or reunion visions, but not to the extent that what we see in 2015 will really reflect what GL pictured back around 1978-1983.

 

I can hardly disagree with that - except that I think EpVII will reflect what vague ideas he had about it in the eighties/nineties. It was probably little more than "Older OT characters passing on what they've learned, rebuilding of the Republic, philosophical and moral problems concerning the Jedi".





"Just...images, really - feelings"
/LM

 

Tend to agree. The vague mentions we did get hinted at something a bit more philosophical - I can't see Disney making a particularly thoughtful film, as opposed to an adventure movie, but such concepts might have influenced what GL recently put together, at least.

And yeah, it'll most likely be just for Ep 7. I imagine whatever involvement the OT cast will have in the new films (if any) will be to quickly pass on the torch in the first instalment, then make way for the next generation - much as George Lucas is doing so himself.

Mind you, this is still speculation. We don't know when this new trilogy will be set, what characters are in it, or, as per the thread title, if it's a direct continuation of 'The Skywalker Saga'. It could just as easily relate to Eps I-VI the same way Star Trek: The Next Generation does to the original series - being set decades or even centuries later - and I'm inclined to lean towards that being the case. I'm starting to warm to the idea of the first one containing the theme of passing on the torch, for the audience's sake as much as the story, but that could simply involve the Force Ghost of a long-dead Luke Skywalker.

 

I agree with Dath Nub: I don't think Disney is interested in just extending the Saga using as many elements from the OT as they can. I don't think Luke, Han and Leia will be main characters again, because that's just beating a dead horse: it would appeal to old SW fans, but wouldn't work for a younger audience who doesn't have a conection to those characters. An in any case, I fail to see how reuniting the original cast again will be anything but a parody of the OT. I really do not want it.

Lars_Maul: the thing is I don't believe Lucas has ever writen detailed outlines for the ST, not even in the lat 70s,but much less during the 80s. Remember that he's never writen three treatments at once, for example, when he was about to make the PT. He knew the broad strokes and that was it. Therefore, I don't believe he has actual treatments from the past that can be used (also, Lucas clearly said that there WEREN'T any treatments, barely a decade ago).

Any new material he has created in the last few months, to give the new writer a basis to work with, is 99% new material.

 

I never said that he wrote a detailed outline years ago.





"Your mind can deceive you, don't trust it"
/LM

 

I thought you were talking about his plans from 1984-1994 to justify that this new trilogy is still part of the same saga.

I just wanted to state that, it can't be said that this new trilogy is part of the same Saga because it's based on the storyline Lucas wrote years ago (which a lot of people just WANT to believe because they've never accepted that there was NO sequel trilogy). I think it would be a mistake to believe otherwise, because it would make the history behind the saga much more confusing, with people claiming that Lucas wrote all nine episodes in 1970 and now they're finally making them.

Part of the Skywalker Saga or not, this new trilogy will be 99% new material created in the last few months, and with Lucas merely serving as a creative consultant and providing a few ideas and (maybe ) outlines.

For me, that fact only is enough to consider the new movies as a different thing from George Lucas' Star Wars Saga (i.e. Anakin Skywalker's story, aka. the John Williams Symphony).