Pretend you are the writer for the Star Wars TV show

I think it boils down to three different answers. 1) The general public that will be the deciding factor in the success of the show does not care about the "fringe" of the Star Wars story. Vader, the Emperor, and such are the elements that most consider Star Wars. To do a series that does not at least involve them indirectly and finish their story won't appeal to anyone other than "geeks" like us. 2) Lucas has always stayed within the confines of his movies. With Driods we saw 3PO and R2, Clone Wars was characters in the PT, and Ewoks had Wickett. He never expands his vision beyond what we can go back and relate to on film. 3) $, plain and simple. Why start a series in the middle of a story where so many authors would give their spleen to go play in? A series at the end of all the novels would close doors that would affect continuity even more than it has already and seal off a future in books that could run further than a series ever could.

 

Star Wars continuity (which would be after the NJO).


No, it would be after ROTJ not some lousy EU.

ROTS_Obi1

 

I would definatly keep the show centered around five or six main characters.

 

I dunno. I think George could do a lot for his own image, which I'm sure he cares about, if he shows that he is still as revolutionary as he was back in 1977 when he began Star Wars.

Aside from the money factor, I believe that if you got one shot to do something, you might as well take full advantage of it instead of maintaining a "safety zone." All you have to do is look at many successful current TV shows and a lot of them really went far out and that's why they're successful, not because they decided to stay in their familiar surroundings.

 

There's no way that he will step out of the box like he did in 77. I think he has the whole if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality when it comes to all things Star Wars. Plus, I don't think that a new facet of the GFFA is something that the average viewer wants to see. It will be hard enough to see SWTV without OB1 and the rest of the "main" characters.

I would like to be amazed like the first time I saw SW, but I think GL is going to stay within the safty zone that he knows will bring viewers, money, and longevity to Star Wars.

He'll save the foward thinking for these new movie projects that he'll do that he seems to think no one will like.

 

And that's probably the irony of it all. When he had nothing, Lucas look a giant leap. But when he does have it, he retracts. Funny how things work out like that.

 

Indeed

 

Well, I guess we can always hope that Lucas will have a change of heart. If not, I'll just be the World's Greatest Star Wars Fan and take it for what it is: Star Wars.

 

I think that's what we have to do as fans. Even with RotS, it didn't live up to the expectation that I had in my mind. I had been waiting 25+ years for The Duel to happen and it was great, but not what I had pictured. we have to understand that the basic fact of the matter is that this is GL story and if you don't like it, he's not going to get too upset about it.

I know that since the days of Star Trek on TV I always wanted to see the continuation of some side of SW thru the TV in my den. When it was announced, I was still dissapointed that it wasn't going to take place after RotJ. But I know that that time has passed. Honestly if Carrie Fisher tried to play Leia in front of the camera again, I would be ashamed that I was a SW fan.

The timeline that GL has chosen is perfect because it doesn't have to live up to big expectations, it just has to be entertaining. To stay in the confines between Ep. III-IV still relates to a story that we all know, but it allows for the opportunity to see SW from a certain point of view.

With that I go to pray for GL and his SWTV programming.

 

i've been thinking what if a jedi survived the attack on the temple-but at the end vader has to kill him

 

I feel that way exactly, Stench. We may not like it, but Lucas has shown us the fans he doesn't care about us as long as he turns in a profit. It's not cool, but we have to take it for what it is. Love Star Wars, but despise the man. LOL

If it is indeed to take place between Episode III and Episode IV, I would hope for a Battlestar Galactica-style show that showcases the Rebels playing hit-and-run against the Empire, maybe a dramatization of Keyan Farlander's story in the X-Wing game.

As for the "Hunting Down the Jedi" concept, it sounds good, but it's an idea that has a definite end. The surviving Jedi all get killed or run away, never to be found again, like Quo Rahn. When it comes to creative concepts, you want an end, but you don't want it to be something that completely shuts the door.

 

I don?t think he doesn?t care about us, look at the way he scaled Jar-Jar back. He listens to us but isn?t afraid to tell everyone that this is his story and he?ll do it the way he wants to do it. If he was worried about money, we wouldn?t have had TPM and parts of AotC to deal with. George loves us; he just doesn?t love us enough to marry us.

As far as I know GL said at CIII that the show would be between II & IV. This would set up the rise of the Empire, Rebellion, and show how the GFFA evolved under Palpatine?s rule. With that you could see aspects of Battlestar Galactica and could keep the general idea of SW.

We have almost 20 years to cover. That?s more than most series on TV ever show. The Death Star has to be built, Vader must purge Jedi, and the first attacks on the Empire must start.

With all the cuts to the script and in the films, we could see Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, possibly Garm Bel Iblis, Tarkin (too cool), and others that have impact on the films but aren?t main eventers like OB1, Yoda, and the rest.

I think the best time will come when George steps back and lets others and maybe fans like Kevin Smith take these stories in new directions.

Just my opinion though?

 

See, I was never one of those who were pissed at over Jar Jar. Maybe it is because Star Wars Is My Life and I am the World's Greatest Star Wars Fan, but I never understood why everyone was so down on Jar Jar. I didn't care for him much, but as long as he was in Star Wars, he was as much Star Wars as anything else in the universe. I was also not that down on TPM like so many people were. In fact, unlike most people, I had pretty much no expectations, except that it would be Star Wars and not contradict anything. Both wishes were granted and I was happy. Again, that's probably because I'm the World's Greatest Star Wars Fan.

Despite that, a lot of what Lucas did leads me to believe his love for the fans ended long ago. In many ways, I feel like he may be a bit jealous and jaded that his licensing material has gained such a strong following, sometimes moreso than the films. That's his fault, though, he should have made more movies then! LOL

That said, in regards to the TV show, I think they will pick a focus instead of turning in a widespread documentary piece. It's got to be engrossing and has to present something new for the audience. These are possible story arcs that should be utilized:

- Hunting down the remaining Jedi, the survival of some Jedi.
- More space battles between the Rebels and the Empire in the early years.
- Shady dealings between the Rebel Alliance and "creepy" groups in an attempt to destroy the Empire.
- Contrevorsial and atrocious activities by both the Rebels and the Empire.
- Keyan Farlander's story, as told in X-Wing.
- Depiction of how close the Rebels came to being completely crushed by the Empire and how difficult it was to even score small victories against the mighty Empire.
- Rebels handling limited supplies and fuel.
- The complete secrecy and confidentiality the Rebels had to live under in order to survive, and traitors and espionage.
- The search for the Death Star, how desperate it was, it's extreme danger and difficulty, and the sense of urgency that surrounded the search for it.

How about it?

 

I could care less what characters are in it or what the story line is, as long as its good. I don't want it to suck.

 

So you're more of a Lucas fan than you are a Star Wars fan. NP. It may sound strange, but I like his work more than I like the man.

 

I have never given Lucas any less credit than he deserves. In fact, I think I may have even given him too much credit at times. But I am not questioning his prowess as a filmmaker or his immense contributions, I'm just questioning his attitude nowadays. To me, the attitude is sometimes more important than his actions. If I were managing a baseball team and had a guy who was a devestating hitter but a complete jerk otherwise, I would try to find a way to get him off the team. I'm not saying George is a jerk, but you get the example.

Besides, why would I be jealous of the guy who gave me the best thing in life, Star Wars? If anything, those who don't like Star Wars should be jealous.

 

Personally, I think George is a good guy. However, I don't like his whole "I'm not a good story-teller, so I'm not gonna try" attitude. I also don't like his "I'm gonna stay in my world" attitude that I mentioned earlier. It seems so contradictory for a guy who revolutionized the industry by being (you guessed it) a revolutionary.

Basically, he's so excited about advancing the technique of visual storytelling, but he's so withdrawn in the other, more important aspects of telling a story.

 

I agree with most of what you suggested. I think that some of the X-Wing stuff doesn't need to be fleshed out because it's not important to the timeline regarding the films. The great thing about this TV show is that we have at least 100 episodes to deal with all of the situations that you listed as well as many more.

I think the shady side of things is a great idea. We have the opportunity to see alot of the fringe here, and maybe be able to see why bounty hunters are referred to as scum.

The hunting of the Jedi is a given. Got to see Vader kick @$$ in the suit.

The search for the Death Star is interesting. I would like to know how Leia got her hands on the plans. But save it for later, we still gotta build the thing.

The rest seems like the Civil War movies that are out now. Instead of North v. South, we've got Empire v. Rebels. I'm not comparing The Civil War to the GFFA, but in movies regarding the Civil War we always see the struggle of everyday people and how they made things work during bad times. Guess that's why Lucas refers to it as the Galatic Civil War (duh).

But you see Life, we have the ablilty to touch on so many subjects and I think that their stories can be told without shorting them of a really good thing. Rome wasn't built in a day and this GFFA still has a lot of growing to do.

EDIT: By the way, I was one of those guys that wanted to shoot Jar Jar directly in the face. I just never liked him. I felt dumber just by hearing him speak.

 

I wold show a lot of Vader and Palpatines rise, but thats me

 

The hunting down of surviving Jedi, with assistance from Boba Fett, who has a natural hate of the jedi with Windu decapitating his dad in Ep 2.

Formation of the rebellion, with all the secondary characters that we would know.

Explanation why they stop using clones.

What happens to the separtists droid armies

More of the dealings of Jabba the Hutt

Really show the oppression of the Empire, since their reign is relatively short (bout 25 years) get across the fact of how bad and feared they are very convincingly.

Thats some, I'm sure I'd think of more if given the time.