The Flanneled One Speaks: TV Guide Interview

Amen! I would also love to see some droid sidekicks. I think we'll see plenty of them on the show since they're as much of a part of Star Wars as Jedi and blasters.

 

That's an interesting point about droids. The PT and OT are all tied together through the droids. They are the only common denominator for all of the movies...R2D2 especially. I'd think that the same storytelling method will exist in the series...told through the eyes of the droids.

 

I'm sure George wants to avoid having the series be called an exact replica of the movies as far as the characters go, but that's part of what's so great about. When your archetype characters and roles are good, there's no problem with repeating them. I'm sure he doesn't want another R2, but I think it would add a lot to there series to throw in a droid sidekick.

 

You see and thats the problem. While most people here want the live action to be good, all indications are showing that the animation series will be tops due to the characters from the prequels being in them. The war stuff is truly secondary, but the characters from the prequels are all in it. This will have the potenetial to craete even more comic books and way better novels. The live action, won't have any charatcers from the prequels, no Darth Vader or Emperor appearances, so what do you have? Bounty Husnters hunting what? GL syas that he can now go down 10th street and see whats out their, but for the last 16 years, the EU has gone down 9th and 11th street and explored everything down there with the characters of the movies and then some. With the exception of the animated series and the video game next year, I'm more excited by what Dark Horse, Scholastic, and Del Rey have to offer in the near future.

 

The animation may be tops to some, but to me, it's going to be about the 30th time now we've seen the Clone Wars. We've seen 20 episodes from the first season and a bunch in the second that were longer in duration. We had Attack of the Clones. There were some scenes in Revenge of the Sith. There were tons of novels covering it. Now we're going to get 100 MORE hours on top of it!

I believe the cartoons will reach a limited audience - one that won't consist of many new fans. It'll be people like us. What I think is that the TV series, if it's picked up on a major outlet, has all the potential to put the franchise back on the map for years and years. That's where you get all the kids into it. If we have some familiar characters, not necessarily Chewbacca, but a Wookiee, then I think that may be enough of a familiarity for the viewer.

 

I was hoping we would see Anakin's apprentice as the main character who goes up against Vader's new apprentice.

 

Which is why we need to wipe away all the EU stuff with the exception of a few things like the Thrawn Trilogy and Shadows of the Empire. lol

Seriously though, I've got all the faith in the world that this is going to be good stuff. I'm not drawn to SW just because of the Skywalker clan and their buds, but also the entire universe. So far we've witnessed the story of about 10-20 major characters among hundreds (even thousands?) of planets.

I hope we get a gang (like what we had with Luke, Han, and Leia or Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme) with an alien sidekick and a few droids to keep them out of trouble. Almost every incarnation and story (from comics to video games) in the universe has had the alien and droid sidekicks to some extent and I don't think it would feel very Star Wars-y without it.

 

Uh, when did Anakin have an apprentice?

 

^
It could say he just got a secret one for himself since the council wouldn't give him one.

 

Yeah, I am confused about Anakin's apprentice too. Vader has a secret apprentice in The Force Unleashed but I am unaware of Anakin ever having an apprentice. Of course, I don't pay too close attention to the EU since I believe that a lot of it is drivel.

In a sense, I really hope that George creates a gritty existence for this time period. Part of the story should show some sort of devolution from the slickness of the PT to the OT world.

 

vong333
The live action, won't have any charatcers from the prequels, no Darth Vader or Emperor appearances, so what do you have?

Uhh, maybe new characters? How about that?

Is that so hard to imagine?

 

He's fighting alongside other Jedi for most of the Clone Wars, and they'd have noticed something like Anakin training a Padawan.

 

The character of Asoka from the new The Clone Wars series has been said to be the apprentice of Anakin. I believe that info came from Lucas himself in an interview from a few months ago.

 

If that's the case, they had better have a good explaniation because that's a huge plotline for it to not show up at all in the movies.

 

Yeah.

 

No Jedi at all isn't Star Wars. I don't think anyone from the movies should be in it, but i never expected him to discount a new Jedi character all together.

IMO, leaving Jedi out of it entirely is as stupid a mistake as having too many Jedi would be. They are one of the big things that make star wars "Star Wars." I can only hope he means Jedi as a power base.

As per the argument about the Skywalker clan... where did that come from? I'm sure there were Jedi that never even laid eyes on Anakin, there were 10,000 of them after all. Having Jedi does not mean having any connection to the Skywalkers whatsoever.

Having characters from the movies would be overkill, IMO. For starters the actors are either too old or too expensive for TV. I could see Darth Vader, because JEJ actually does TV voicework and anyone can be in the suit as long as they are tall, but anyone else? Makes no sense. And why have Vader in it at all if he's not a focus of it?

To me, no Jedi = you might as well make Firefly. Heck, i'd RATHER them put firefly back on the air than a no-Jedi sham Star Wars series. It's not like you can't have ONE Jedi character and have it still be gangster/Bounty-Hunterish/rebellion/et all...

I realize some people think nothing GL can do is wrong but this is a terrible, terrible mistake, in my opinion.

 

^
I agree,no Jedi/lightsabers is basically Star Trek.I was hoping for a new Jedi character too,and seeing a suited Vader hunt other new Jedi characters.

 

Honest'y i'm not as worried about what i was hoping to get, as i am now worried about what i'm pretty sure i won't get.

Sure i had a few pipe dreams even i was sure wouldn't be a part of the Live Action Series, but i was pretty sure i'd be able to watch some lightsaber action. Not that that has been pretty much shot down i'm just not all that excited about it. I mean, i miss BSG every week even though i keep making plans to watch it (now i'm pretty much relegated to buying the DVD's when i get time, since i've about missed out on the whole series). Didn't see Firefly AT ALL while it was on TV. Caught about two episodes in total of Enterprise, and only discovered Farscape because i was sick over the weekend one time and Sci-Fi had a marathon of it running. (I loathe Stargate in all it's forms, so that's probably not the best example) The SW fan that i am i probably would have made the effort to catch the LAS, but if it's just a carbon copy of all of the above shows i foresee myself making plans to watch it and never doing so. I hate to admit it but the Force, the Jedi, and the Sith/Dark-Side is what make Star Wars for me, and i suspect there are a lot of fans that feel as i do (Though i must put forth that there are probably a lot that do not).

I shpuld probably get a Tivo, but i keep putting that off as well.

 

Its all about context. I don't think Lucas means "No Jedi, period, under any circumstances," he just means its not ABOUT them. In the same interview, he also basically says that Darth Vader is not in the original Star Wars film!

If you look at both quotes, I think there could still potentially be a Jedi or two make an appearance and I don't think it's too unreasonable to still hold out hope for some lightsaber action. It just won't be the focus.

 

if there is no jedi & no rebellion, I wonder what kind of fugitives the "group of bounty hunters" could be hunting down? corrupted accountants? unsteady husbands? speeder thieves? I am not sure they could touch the 100-episodes mark with this kind of stories. The audience would desert soon

 

The Bounty Hunter will probably hunt down rebel factions and common criminals (murderers, thieves)

 

the first-ever starwars TV-series would be about ordinary mercenaries hunting common criminals?

 

Well I mean common in rarely force powered.

 

I can't see how there won't be any Jedi at all. There still are hundreds of Jedi at the end of RotS. As he Empire crushes and strangles freedom across the galaxy, the Jedi can either make a final stand, go into complete exile, or blend in. If we see Jedi, which I believe we will, it'll be from the standpoint of their fires going out of the universe.

 

I think we'll see both of those options. But I honestly do not think they'll be in every episode.