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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

TV Discussion The dry years for Star Wars TV: 1987-2003

Discussion in 'Star Wars TV- Completed Shows' started by Kez-Iban, Aug 20, 2015.

  1. Kez-Iban

    Kez-Iban Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    After Return of the Jedi, it seemed that LFL had plans to keep Star Wars going on TV, producing two Ewoks movies and two TV series (Ewoks and Droids). But then everything stopped. There probably isn't a definitive answer out there, but I'm wondering why there was such a drought over the following years. Did all of the first TV shows do so poorly that Lucas thought that a TV series wouldn't work? Was he just tired of Star Wars? Had the public simply lost interest in Star Wars? The strange thing is that even in the excitement leading up to Episodes I and II there was still no original Star Wars content on TV. Nowadays, Star Wars on TV seems like it's here to stay. Are things really that different now, or did LFL just fail to realize that with the right kind of show, they could have had success on TV in those drier years?
     
    whostheBossk likes this.
  2. Vorax

    Vorax Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jun 10, 2014
    Wasnt really dry, we had video games, comics and toys kicking in the early and mid-90's. Dark Empire was massive as was Tales of the Jedi.
     
    thejeditraitor likes this.
  3. Jedi Knight Fett

    Jedi Knight Fett Chosen One star 10

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    Feb 18, 2014
    Well for TV it was dry as can be compared to the past 12 years.
     
  4. Jedi_Kenobi32

    Jedi_Kenobi32 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    I think the OP meant that Star Wars had a dry television run during the late 80s through the 90s. Yes there was plenty of EU comic books, SW video games, and toys during that period but only two television shows: Ewoks and Droids. Plus while Ewoks and Droids has its fans I don't think it has the same popularity and fanbase that Clone Wars '03, TCW, the Star Wars Lego specials, and Rebels has.
     
  5. Kez-Iban

    Kez-Iban Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Yes, I meant dry in regards to TV. With how important TV is to the franchise now, it just seems odd that LFL didn't give it another try for so many years. I remember the whole Shadows of the Empire campaign with a novel, game, music, toys, etc., but no TV special or series. Even the time leading up to or following Episode I seemed like a prime opportunity for a TV series, but again, nothing was done. I'm guessing LFL would say it just wasn't the right time.
     
  6. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014

    There was no internet. Other than that, we're not few...especially not in Europe and Southern America.
     
  7. Obi-John Kenobi

    Obi-John Kenobi Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 30, 2012
    Yeah, as a kid in the 80's I was kinda baffled. You wake up one morning and it was like "Star Wars is over now. No more toys. No more cartoons. No more Ewok movies. No more (Marvel) Comics. Have a nice life!".

    I had known that Uncle George had declared an extended hiatus for Star Wars and that he did indeed intend to return to it someday. But the Lucasfilm attention began being spent mainly on Indiana Jones (which wasn't bad for me, since I loved that franchise too) and it did feel like SW was dead & buried for a good 7 or 8 years.

    Maybe it just seemed longer than it was. But as a kid I remember feeling like "Why isn't there more Ewok movies? Or Droids cartoons? Why can't they make more action figures? We don't have Tarkin?!?" It all sorta happened overnight,circa 86/87.
     
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  8. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

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    Sep 2, 2012
    It was around about 87 that the Star Wars Roleplaying Game came out.
     
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  9. Jedi_Kenobi32

    Jedi_Kenobi32 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    And? Shows like The Simpsons were wildly popular back in the early 90s and the internet wasn't exactly mainstream back then either. The internet really didn't become mainstream and connect people to a wide variety of topics and interests until either 1997 or 1998.

    I'm not saying that TCW and Rebels is as popular and well known as The Simpsons. Heck if you ask the average person what is their first thought when they think of Star Wars they are probably going to mention something from the OT or the OT itself. They're probably not going to mention something from the Clone Wars or Rebels unless they are a kid, teenager, or a Star Wars fan that watches TCW and Rebels. I'm just saying that stuff like TCW and Rebels has become more mainstream than Ewoks and Droids. Internet or no internet.

    Personally I blame it all on marketing. While TCW, Rebels, Ewoks, and Droids are all kid's shows the people behind TCW and Rebels still marketed the show to a wide audience as possible. In contrast Ewoks and Droids were basically marketed to a younger audience and were only marketed to a younger audience back then. It would be like trying to market stuff like Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu to teens and adults today. Is there anything wrong with teens and adults liking stuff like Ewoks, Droids, and Ninjago? Nope. But let's face it no matter what people's views on these shows are (frankly I have no issue with Ewoks and Droids but I can't stand Ninjago :p) they were/are still marketed strictly to a children's audience.

    So yeah if Ewoks and Droids were marketed the same way the movies and shows like TCW were marketed than they probably would have enjoyed more mainstream popularity with the general public.
     
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  10. GGrievous

    GGrievous Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Nov 6, 2005
    Star Wars never had any dry years, other than pre-Bantam deal in the early 90s. The explosion of the WWW brought fans together. News sites and obscure conventions were brought into the spotlight as time moved on.
     
  11. Kez-Iban

    Kez-Iban Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Again, I want to emphasize, that when I say dry years, I am not talking about anything else other than TV. That is why I posted this in the TV section of the forum.
     
  12. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    You have to understand that, in some of the places where these things were really popular and are now a part of popular culture more than they are in USA, there were only 1-2 public TV channels when Ewoks and Droids were aired. I know it sounds odd, but that's how it was.

    I only knew of The Simpsons from merchandise. Yup, we had merchandise, but not the show, unless one was super-lucky to have a roof antenna to catch the experimental third channel of national TV. #FML

    This, however, I absolutely agree with. I was surprised when I realised that, as an adult, I like both shows and that they hold my attention; but even more surprised when I found people from age 40 to 75 watching and enjoying as well. While the narrative may be simple, the themes are pretty universal, the animation is cool and yup, it could've been marketed to teens and adults, absolutely. Plus, the amount of mature humour they managed to sneak in into the otherwise seemingly childish second season of Ewoks is quite huge.

    Now I need to find out what Ninjago is. :p
     
  13. Jedi_Kenobi32

    Jedi_Kenobi32 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    Ewok Poet

    Ok I now see you're from a different country. Yeah in the 80s and 90s the US obviously had a lot more television channels than just two public television stations. I think there's many different reasons why Ewoks and Droids failed to attract a more general audience in America aside from marketing. I think ABC had too much of a grip on it judging from the insane S&P rules these shows had to follow. Insane even by normal American kid's TV standards.

    As for these shows popularity in other countries well I really can't speak for that. What may be popular in one country may not be popular in another and vise versa.
     
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  14. AniSkylover

    AniSkylover Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2001
    I think it was a personal decision from George, wanting to distance himself from SW for a time ? And maybe the licensing fees, without new films to support it, became less interesting for the people at Marvel, Kenner, or ABC.

    It seems weird anyway, who has an IP like SW and dont use it ! So maybe it was because the fans were now teens or young adult and weren't interested in SW anymore. The cartoons and toys were marketed to children, even the comics. When Lucasfilm launched the new "adult" novels in early 91, it was a huge success.
     
  15. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Dem 'Muricans always assume everybody's from 'Murica. :p


    Ewoks survived for one more season but the censorship was...crazy. Look: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...analysis-thread.50028975/page-3#post-52341727
     
  16. Obi-John Kenobi

    Obi-John Kenobi Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 30, 2012
    It seemed to me that they didn't really know what to do going forward. That's why Marvel ended their run. Perhaps Lucasfilm said. "The line is drawn here-no further!" :)D Oops, wrong Sci-Fi franchise) Because I'm sure there was enough interest in SW that they could've gone on indefinitely. (Heck, look at what they did with the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon over at Archie comics. It was an insanely popular,one season cartoon, and they are STILL continuing the stories started there,some 20 years later!) So I'm guessing Lucasfilm made a conscious decision to cool it down with SW in media altogether.
     
  17. Davak24

    Davak24 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 15, 2015
    2005 to the present has been dry to me.
     
  18. Todd the Jedi

    Todd the Jedi Mod and Loving Tyrant of SWTV, Lit, & Collecting star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2008
    I think you can get a cream for that.
     
  19. Davak24

    Davak24 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 15, 2015
    ^Nah man. Ole' Cowboy took them all way. ;)
     
  20. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

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    Jul 31, 2014
    When your sole driving force for posting on a message board is hate towards one specific person, you have an obsession going on. He's controversial, he's made controversial decisions, but you're turning every single random discussion into a thread about how much you hate him. o_O
     
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  21. Jedi_Kenobi32

    Jedi_Kenobi32 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    [/Redneck voice] Hey it's my God fearin' gun totin' flag wavin' corn syrup right to believe everyone's from 'Murica. *bald eagle soars overhead* [face_flag]:p

    I read you post on Ewok's censorship. It looks like Donald Wildmon and his ilk were the only ones complaining about the content in cartoons like Ewoks and Care Bears. I think they went after Mighty Mouse too. Yeah his group makes the Parents Television Council look sensible in comparison. But one part of your post in that thread caught me eye:

    To answer your question I don't think regular American parents were complaining/losing their minds over stupid claims like Carealot being a replacement for heaven (how absurd) and the fact that the Ewoks used magic. From the looks of it only Donald Wildmon and his organization were making those complaints. To compare: 99% of complaints to the FCC are done by the PTC.

    None of the things that they complained about in Ewoks and other cartoons offended me. In fact I'm sure that most Americans, including parents, would have no issue with the content in Ewoks. Actually the one thing that parents in the US were complaining about across the board was how the 80s kid shows were just 30 minute commercials used to sell toys. Those complaints had merit. And honestly if toy companies still had a stronghold on the animation industry then we probably wouldn't have the cartoons that we had/have in the 90s and today.
     
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  22. vong333

    vong333 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 18, 2003
    The problem was that it wasn't dry. You see from a different perspective, GL wasn't into the animation thing. It was all about novels, comics books, video games, and the role playing games. That was star wars from 1987-2003. The only difference was the movies that came out in 1997 (Special Editions), and 1999 (TPM), and 2002 (AOTC) along with the different spoofs. It wasn't until the micro Clone Wars series came out and did well along with the awards and the Knights of the Old Republic video game (2003) that things started to change. Gradually, but things moved in that direction. From TCW series to Family Guy and Robot Chicken, and then Phines and Pherb and the Star Wars Lego. Then it was almost Star Wars Detours (that is still not final) and Rebels along with whatever they have. As we move into the future, I expect that animation, live action television, along with video games will take over the bulk of story visual telling. Comic books will also be in their also. I'm not saying that the novels aren't going to be there, but expect to have that visual explosion that star wars did not have before.
     
  23. Jedi Knight Fett

    Jedi Knight Fett Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2014
    GL was not into Novels and the EU that was more just Lucasfilm and not him.
     
  24. KING_KENOBI

    KING_KENOBI Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 19, 2004
    Movie spinoffs series wasnt yet that big of a thing yet..there WAS "Droids" and "Ewoks" that must have been the late 80's early 90s?

    EDIT:also ewok movies they were pretty much TV movie MOW type stuff
     
  25. Jedi_Kenobi32

    Jedi_Kenobi32 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    KING_KENOBI Droids and Ewoks started the mid 80s. 1985 to be exact. So borderline late 80s cartoons. :p
     
    whostheBossk likes this.