Speculation Will the new trilogy try to match the tone of the OT or PT?

I was wondering if the new films, including Episode VII, would match the classic trilogy more or try to emulate the prequel trilogy.

This is a question that relates to production values (CG vs. conventional effects, or CG that emulates the feel of conventional effects), directorial style (Irvin Kirshner vs. Lucas), casting (original actors and their syles vs. more "contemporary" 21st century styles) and tone.

Any thoughts?

 

I don't understand the question. I think the PT and OT have the same tone other than there's more sense of despair in the OT because the galaxy is run by an evil jerk.

 

I want something fresh. Recycling is boring.

 

I'm not sure I agree that the OT has a sense of despair. I think the OT is (mostly) lighthearted adventure (but with a good sense of storytelling), whereas the PT is more procedural and plot-heavy. I also think that the OT is more tonally consistent, whereas the PT is a bit all over the place.

I hope that the new trilogy will be closer to the OT, but of course with some new nuance added by the new director.

 

Based on the nature of each of the first two trilogies which have a Star Wars feel with unique flavors in their own right, I expect the ST to have a SW feel, but with a unique flavor.

I-III: Rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker, fall of the Republic, fall of the Jedi Order, rise of the Empire, birth of (new hopes) Skywalker children, freedom removed from the Galaxy. Shiny and new.
IV-VI: Rise of Luke Skywalker, fall of the Empire, return of the Jedi, redemption of Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and freedom mostly restored to the Galaxy. Worn and old.
VII-IX: Rise of (insert latest Skywalker here, Ben? or Jaina Solo?), rebirth and rise of a new Jedi Order, rebirth and rise of the New Republic, remnants of the Empire defeated, Luke as Jedi Master, defeat of as yet unknown darkness, and freedom secured for the Galaxy. Worn but also shiny?

 

Just as long as there's not a lot of handheld shakey cam, green filters, or bullet time type garbage, we should be fine.

 

I think they will use the OT as a base to design the look for the ST, seeing as it was the most recent. That said, 40 years or so will have passed so a certain degree of originality and uniqueness would be best, so I voted it will go its own way. It's only logical from a creative perspective.

 

What I want from the Original Trilogy: Lived in Look, Actual Sets, Cast, Space Battles
What I want from the Prequel Trilogy: Added Alien Species, Growing Jedi Order, Lightsaber Battles
What I want in the Sequel Trilogy: All the Above, EU cameos from fan faves (Horn, Katarn), Better Acting

 

A family theme is something I think would work great for the Sequel Trilogy... not so much Disney fluffy but as a thematic element to use a lot... I personally would like to see the whole Skywalker and Solo families relatively intact at the start of the Sequel Trilogy, so I'd like to see Chewie, Mara, Ben, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin alive and relatively well at least at the start.

 

The problem with the family as primary cast is the same problem you have with the NJO books. The lack of focus due to a huge cast. Think about it.

1. Luke
2. Mara
3. Ben

4. Han
5. Leia
6. Jacen
7. Jaina
8. Anakin
9. Chewie

Then you get threshold villians and big bads. Then you get supporting characters and romance characters. Romances alone for the 4 Skywalker Solo kids, double to 8.

Now you are looking at 13 or more... within the first film, plus R2, 3P0, 15.main characters

With current EU

1. Luke
2. Ben
3. Han
4. Leia
5. Jaina
6. Jag

Three of those, if family is noted but downplayed, can be background characters. Plus R2 and 3P0, anywhere from 5 to 8, characters

Think about the cast of OT.
1. Luke
2. Han
3. Leia
4. Chewie
5. R2
6. C-3P0
7. Obi Wan/Lando
8. Yoda (in one film)

Prequel Trilogy Main Cast
1. Anakin
2. Padme
3. Obi Wan
4. Qui Gon/Yoda
5. Jar Jar/Mace
6. R2
7.C-3P0

It almost seems as though the Skywalker Solo families were pared down to one child each to set up for a ST

 

That won't be a problem if they just ignore the EU.

 

Who do you propose lead the ensamble cast? Lando and Windu's secret love child's child?

 

THIS.

 

Just invent a son for Leia and Han, you don't need a hundred offspring of every OT character.

 

Nope they were all celibate, since there is only one woman in the OT galaxy, (aside from mon mothma), it stands to reason there can only be one child in the ST galaxy.

 

I think they should put a limit on the kids to 2-3 at the absolute most. And Han/Leia's offspring are the only ones that are really mandatory and the audience expects it. You also don't really need to give Luke a brand new family at all (in fact, it would be less awkward to introduce characters if you just make him a hermit). Have Han and Leia have twins, a boy and girl, then perhaps add in one new character to join them. This can ultimately be a love interest eventually. Chewie, R2 and C-3PO would have the same roles they always have had: somewhat scenery and comedic. There's really not a lot of 'character' to handle there. Lando might be used as a political figure or a buddy of Han's. Largely keep his character the same as supporting cast or somewhat minor, I'd say.

Basically, you can get down the core cast to Luke, Leia, Han, kid, kid, possibly a new character, old sidekicks that have proven they aren't intolerable and don't have to be introduced from scratch.

I'd also cast the kids with 20-somethings (30 would be the limit just due to the math), but with fairly mature actors (see Carrie and Mark) despite their ages. Note that any male Solo offspring probably should avoid casting of dorky, comedic actors (this goes for everyone cast, actually)--let's remember that he's going to be compared to Harrison Ford. All of them need to have explosive charisma and presence. Perhaps go a bit older (not as old as the parents, but not as young as the kids) on a new character who will join the kids (see Harrison). Avoid too many irritating kid Padawans. And if you need Luke to have a young child (the father/son thing really should stay), cast someone very mature who looks perhaps to be in their teens or get one of those actors who are older but look really young--they need to have the dramatic acting chops of a mature adult. It's almost a reason to keep Luke's new Jedi training program still somewhat in its infancy or smaller in size. I would rather the New Republic and Jedi haven't rebuilt themselves to the level that they were in the PT. The Empire's mass-destruction should still be felt.

IGNORE THE EU!

I'd prefer to have real sets, real actors, Muppets, latex and prosthetics used for aliens. One can and should use modern levels of competence in set-building, model work and physically-there creature design, but do not make it look like a CGI video game.

All lightsaber battles should be performed as much as possible by the actors so that the fight scenes will be more about the dramatic content and less about acrobatics and hopping around. Note that all OT fight scenes of this nature were almost completely focused on the dramatic content and none of them were just there to be showy. All of these battles should involve a huge plot point being revealed to a main character or a death that actually matters (Dooku and Grievous should never have made it off the page). Note that the only time Luke ever did anything acrobatic outside of the training scenes was when he NEEDED to in order to escape something (fly out of the carbonite chamber or launch himself back onto the sail barge from the plank). I don't want to see anyone spinning in the air with a lightsaber or hopping around like frogs. Real actors with their real strengths and weaknesses need to be allowed to have the fights more focused on their acting and facial expressions. I've seen people complain that Alec Guinness' fight with Vader was boring and underwhelming. No, it wasn't. If the character is letting another kill them on purpose, he's not going to give it his all. The acting in that scene sold that he was letting Vader kill him--anything defensive beyond half-hearted sparring would have made you think he wasn't planning to be killed. Pay attention to the story and what is occurring with the characters during that meaningful fight. The fight coordinator needs to be a storyteller with the actors, not someone trying to visually impress with the stunt people's physical abilities. The stunt people are there to take falls or get thrown, not to do all the acting and then have the character actor's face pasted over theirs.

 

Sir, you seem like an OT purist. I can respect that. I, too, lean toward the OT, with EU in second, followed by PT, then TCW in last.
Lightsaber battles are inevitably going to be similar to the PT. Once you go two blades/double blades you don't go back. Expect to see some of the PT species. Thought I don't like the idea of a whole new slew of species added.

Yet it seems like you want a direct follow up to EP 6 like 20 years after, but probably want the orignal cast, which I totally agree with. This means galactic politics hasn't been on pause for the last 40 years. Luke has had 40 years to establish a Jedi Order. I wouldn't be adverse to a small order under 50, 200 at most, where every Jedi knows every other Jedi's name. I would like cameos by Horn and Katarn.

 

It needs to be 30 years because of the ages of the OT actors. This also tells you how old the kids need to be (20-30). If they're 30, they were pretty much conceived in the Ewok hut!

Yes, Luke will have built something of a Jedi order and the Rebel Alliance will have had time to rebuild the Republic, but the Empire's purging and destruction still needs to be felt as an issue and hindrance. Imperial sympathizers could still be out there after 30 years (for example, a lot of the Nazis ran down to South America, including the likes of Joseph Mengele) and the government would very much feel new. The British didn't concede that they had lost the American Revolution and tried to regain their colony in 1812-1814 (they even burned down the White House--hence Dolley Madison's famous rescuing of the Washington portrait). 1776 to 1812 is a pretty big gap of one side not accepting their loss.

30 years of rebuilding should not make all the mass-destruction and Jedi purge problems go away. They should not make everything look like it was just built yesterday everywhere. Relics of the Empire should be everywhere like you still see in Eastern Europe from the Soviets. They're *still* using a lot of Soviet-era technology in that part of the world and the old Soviet stuff is what the Middle East is largely equipped with. The old stuff doesn't all cease to exist decades later when people were decimated for a long time.

 

Depends on how much time has passed going by ages of OT actors you need 30-40 year time jump which means we should end up somewhere in the middle but closer to PT then OT.

 

Here's the deal--

Original Trilogy:

- Well-worn universe theme symbolized the decay of the republic and disorder of the galaxy at war
- Hyperspace = stars pulled long as they "jumped"
- No rails on anything
- Large scale

Prequel Trilogy:

- Shiny, new universe theme symbolized the order and harmony of the Old Republic before falling
- Hyperspace = ships pulled long before they "jumped"
- No rails
- Large scale

So as you can see there are some thematic style elements that GL used in OT and then flipped in the PT while maintaining certain others. What I suspect is we'll now see a conglomeration of thematic style choices IE both starfield stretches as well as ship stretches. I think we'll see old decayed ruins and ships as well as new stuff as the Republic attempts to rebuild. Finally, we'll see the same kinds of details that we always saw IE no rails, large scale etc...

These are just some quick examples I could think of but it's getting late and I'm sure everyone here will think of more but I suspect to see every kind of familiar SW element and detail used to set the tone for the ST.

 

While I agree, the EU gives that in the Imperial Remnant, from captiol Bastion. A militarized world. It wasn't like the Empire went down without a fight. I would be more interested in a semi established Republic having to deal with exteremist terrorists (perhaps Imperial), whilst the Remnant and New Republic fight a cold war over bordering systems between the two. All the while a new Sith lurks bidding his time.

 

Why are people often so adamant that everything in the OT was "well-worn" and everything in the PT was "new and shiny"? Of the environments in the OT that I'd call "well-worn," the only ones that come to mind are Tatooine and the interior of the Falcon; the interiors and both Death Stars and Cloud City are brand new and shiny, as is Echo Base; the Dagobah and Endor dwellings don't really count. Of the PT, the Tatooine settings look just as lived in as in the OT; Mustafar too looks old and used; Coruscant and Naboo look, shall we say, old and lived-in but well-maintained, and the only ones that come to mind that look "shiny and new" are Polis Massa and Kamino (though Kamino probably isn't).

At least that's how things look to me, and I can't imagine why they should look any different...

 

Coruscant was all CGI, and probably will be again. Echo base had wires everywhere, like an actual military outpost, the death star had chasms, as opposed to Grevious ship where they got caught in a force shield? that is only seen once. Which raises the question, "Hey Darth Vader, you have a Jedi, a wookiee, a princess and two guys with blasters running around your death star, "what you gonna do?" uh duh, "not use that machiene that basically prevents them from going anywhere and puts them in Jain where they stand."

 

Well since the Empire has been defeated (most likely) I highly doubt the technology will look outdated or primitive for our heroes anymore. Then again, that doesn't mean that there won't still be outdated/primitive looking tech at all since worlds we may be visiting could still have such technology (ie. a possible return to Tatooine).

 

I don't think, I believe it's going to be as fresh as possible.