"This deal is getting worse all the time!"

Although I'm not particularly thrilled by Disney's handling of LucasFilm so far, I'm still willing to wait and see how Episode VII turns out.

 

Lucasarts closed to be replaced by EA...this deal keeps getting worse!!

On the other side, Ep VII starts production in 2014, hopefully it all turns out great.

 

If you don't like the Prequels that's fine. But please stop being annoying to the people who do.

 

Well today's news about the new animated show is good news. I guess there are advantages for not having an Imperial garrison in Bespin.

 

One cool thing that has been hinted at Disney is that they might make a Star Wars theme park. Growing up with Star Tours, I for one would love to see this happen.

 

We are getting 3 new movies in the next 6 years, how can anyone be depressed about that? All of the other stuff is interesting (if you choose to follow it), but SW was made for the big screen, and there is nothing better then the anticipation of a SW film. Just think of all the lost years that we could have had more SW films because Lucas retired after ROTJ? Just think if Disney bought Lucasfilm in 1983, and we got the ST with Han, Luke, and Leia still in their prime? Maybe they would be making Episode 10,11,12 right now with the Skywalker Grandkids?

Now of course not everything will be great, and there will be some hits or misses, but nobody is going to remember the Clone Wars Cartoons 15 years from now, and EU books are there for a niche fanbase of readers. SW is like James Bond, they are made for the big screen, and if Disney didn't buy Lucasfilm, then we would have never seen the ST.

And for the all the fans saying that the ST doesn't interest you, how do you even know what the story will be about? That is the beauty of the ST that sort of hurt the PT, the ST brings a trilogy of suspense that the PT could never be, and we haven't had a sense of suspense for a SW movie since 1983.

 

Doesn't the fact that Lucas was writing the ST treatments mean that sooner or later either he or one of his protégés would make them?

I'm not enthused because the chosen showrunner is a flake who thinks "sexed up and dumbed down" is what sells franchises, and whose directorial style is a melange of cinematographic errors that he thinks look "cool".

Give me Clone Wars any day of the week over JJ Abrams. Why couldn't they convince a REAL filmmaker who knows how to treat the source material with respect like Peter Jackson to take over?

 

You could be right and Abrams screws it up, but he could also do a great job like Peter Jackson did with the Lord of the Rings. No one knew how Peter Jackson would fare as director of Lord of the Rings, because his work before that was nothing stellar. And I think Peter Jackson bloats up his movies too much, as King Kong did NOT need to be 3 hours long, since the original was a classic at less then 2 hours! And did The Hobbit need to be stretched out to 3 movies when it was essentially 1 book?

Also, who would thought that Kershner would have done a great job with ESB back in 1980, as if the internet were around then, we all would have been saying, "Who the heck is Irvin Kershner, and why he is filming a sequel to the most popular movie of all-time?"

Only time will tell....

 

We can tell a great deal already about the difference in attitudes. Jackson approached LOTR (and the Hobbit, for all it's flaws) from a position of great respect and dignity. JJ treated Trek with neither. JJ is all about "hey, look at me being 'cool' ", not about serious filmmaking. All you need do is watch the various "making of" documentary pieces from LOTR then Trek 09 to see the difference: JJ is a smarmy, smirking showboater who pops in, shoots, then scoots off to the next thing. Jackson was so moved by the enormity of his work that he kept retaking and retaking and retaking the last scene (the Frodo writing scene) because he just couldn't bear for it to end.

 

GL always said that there's two universes, one that includes the EU and one that doesn't. I wonder which universe(s) post-sale to Disney material is part of.

 

Old Trek didn't work financially because nobody wanted to watch it and the shows were canceled. Therefore, to have Trek survive as a franchise, it had to be reinvented. Abrams was the man who successfully reinvented it.

And JJ did treat the old Trek with respect, he didn't put in all those cute homages for nothing. He couldn't do the social commentary and exploration thing because again, people were fed up with it. To survive, the franchise had to undergo the major transformation, which involved remaking it into an action SF franchise.

And for the record I hate LotR with its cardboard cutout characters. If this is nowadays regarded as quality standard count me out.

 

Sorry, what are these cardboard cutout characters? Were they in the actual movie or are you talking about the ones in the movie theater that advertise the movie?

 

Pretty much all of them? From slimy obvious traitor to the ever-loyal sidekick to noble pretty-boy warrior to boisterous dwarf to wise old wizard to unfathomable goddess.

Hell, one of the characters even carries the name Grima Wormtongue. But I guess tastes can differ. I still find it extremely ironic to bash Trek while LotR is held up as epitome of cinema.

 

I'm sorry, I'm laughing SO hard here. I could write a 1000 page essay about how ridiculous that statement is, but it would probably just be pointless. Like old Star Trek!

 

LOTR made how much again? Vs how much nuTrek made again?

Game. Set. Match.

Forgot to add, if ever there was a definition of "cardboard cut out" character roles it's Star Wars. The whole dang franchise is BUILT on trope after trope after trope.

Which doesn't make it bad, but it sure isn't innovative cinema in that department either.

 

I guess then the Twilight novels or 50 shades are also perfect literature because they sold like hotcakes. You're arguing from the appeal to popularity fallacy. LotR is very successful from a financial point of view but that doesn't mean I have to like the movies or find them any good.

 

Watch the personal remarks-mod edit.

 

fixed

 

You know, I don’t mind that one bit at all. At least Lucas didn’t mind the EU and actually delved into a part of it with Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed; Lucas was brave enough to explore television and video games as a major media journey. I ain’t so fond on Disney and its possible plans with the EU. I don’t care about those movies one bit; six movies was quite enough, and these new movies, no matter what anybody thinks of them, don’t fit in with me at all. I’m reading Hier to the Empire in my spare time and I’d like to keep the EU untouched completely—except for the New Jedi Order (why kill Chewie?)—because I feel overriding these stories would be to disgrace what these authors have donated to Star Wars. Right now, I'm working on a few myself and I really hope that they are good stories and people like them. I hope to take control of Disney and Lucasfilm one day and run things the way I want them to go.

 

Yeah, exactly. I’d like to take control of Disney and LucasFilm and have them reestablish LucasArts and create twentieth or thirtieth anniversary editions of some of the old games and bring them up to date for our generations, but not at the expense of watering them down. Boy, I’d love to get Disney’s head in the right place with films, books, television, anything it creates and have it actually mean something. And I’d like to keep LucasFilm separate from Disney too.

 

Well, you know, the deal' getting better now...

Battlefront III, sequel trilogy, new games from Bioware and Visceral, Star Wars: Rebels...

I mean, i feel horrible for anyone who lost their jobs out of this deal, but I'm assuming anybody in LucasArts that got canned was probably absorbed by these new teams.

 

ST, we already knew about. Battlefront and Rebels, I'll give you. I'm not sure what you're referring to with Bioware and Visceral.

 

Bioware is part of EA. That they'll be doing a new SW RPG before too long seems kinda inevitable.

 

I'm wondering which versions of I-VI Disney will consider canon.