Discussion Does anyone know what role will Bad Robot play in this film?

When I said that he's working on the story with other writers at Bad Robot I mean they're, like, physically at the same building. And Abrams is contributing to the story with those writers, that's how it works, not just sitting back and nodding. Also, one source from HitFix pointed out that "Simon Kinberg, Lawrence Kasdan, and voices you aren't even aware of yet are all contributing to the conversation" so you never know exactly who or what those other voices entail.

 

Is there some kind of occult ritual we can perform to bar Orci/Kurtzman/Lindelof from EVER writing anything SW related ... EVER?!?!

 

Sure there is. First, we need the blood of a virgin. But where can we find one of those? After all, this is a SW fanboy forum!

 

Well, being physically in the same building with the writers and actually writing the script are pretty different things. I'm sure many people are "contributing to the conversation". Obviously Abrams is contributing, and I'm sure Orci, Kurtsman and Lindelof have popped in and given their two cents. People have conversations about creating things all the time. I've given my brother advice when he was writing his film script, but that doesn't mean I wrote it.

At the end of the day, Arndt is writing the script, with Abrams, Kasdan and Kinberg officially advising. He was actually hired by Lucas Film to turn Lucas's outline into a script before the Disney buyout, and Disney is contractually obligated to follow Lucas's general outline, which Abrams and Co. can do nothing about. So, I like to think Abrams is simply here to do a job. He has Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light and Magic at his disposal, a script written by Arndt and based on Lucas's outline, and Kathleen Kennedy, CEO of Lucas Film, producing. If Orci and gang somehow do get involved, an occult ritual may indeed be in order

 

Although, Abrams will make many decisions. We can assume casting, editing, set design, costume design, lighting, creature design, CG...is he going to be able to alter the dialogue to any degree? Will these pieces be explicit in the script? These are all the decisions Lucas made when he directed. My best hope is that it's a pretty straightforward shoot. Let Abrams direct good performances from the actors and tell the story that is stylistically congruent with SW. I hope Abrams asks Lucas questions. I'm cautiously hopeful.

 

Abrams is open to improv, the "out of the chair" line in Star Trek from Spock to Kirk, or Old Spock's final line of "Thrusters on full", were spur-of-the-moment bits in "Star Trek", kind of like Han's whole "B.S. the comm officer" bit in ANH. Or Kirk munching on an apple when taking the Kobiyoshi Maru test wasn't in the script, I think Abrams just flat-out gave Chris Pine an apple to make him seem more irritating in the scene. (Works great, too, he crunches the apple with mathematical precision timing to seem really cocky, it's awesome)

 

LOL nice!

 

Prometheus is a very polarizing film, and I'm one of those who's in the pro-Prometheus camp, so I don't have the problem with Lindelof that many people do. I also quite like Abramstrek, so Orci and Kurtzman don't bother me. If there's anyone from the Abrams/Lindelof orbit I'd love to see working on Star Wars, however, it would definitely be Kitsis and Horowitz - Once Upon A Time is definitely a bright spot in a pretty dismal TV landscape. And frankly, if they brought Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle with them for roles in the new films, I'd be pretty happy with that, too.

I don't have any problem with that. Lucas has always been a great "big picture" guy and a lousy "small picture" guy. He's great at creating universes and overall stories, and horrible at dialog, casting, and working with actors. If you want evidence of this, look at Clone Wars, where the same "big picture" ideas that fizzled and characters who people didn't like in the prequel films all worked great when Dave Filoni was the guy handling the day-to-day details. Lucas is right where he probably needs to be - in the background whispering overall concepts at people who are way better at executing than he is.