ST If you were a fan in the 1980s, who did you think the villains of the sequel trilogy would be?

Yes to all this. Which is why I don't think I have a problem with the ST not leaning harder into the Chosen One/Anakin story that was (as you describe) retrofitted onto the OT with the advent of the Prequels. Like many, I was surprised/delighted that we got any Star Wars after the initial 3. It's all gravy to me...

 

I am waaaaay unqualified to answer this question...Born 94 (Yet i'm gonna post something here anyway)

But i guess one could argue that the first few Post Endor stores are kinda the general idea of what people thought the Villain would be post 6

Imperial Remnant officer
Vader/Palpatine wanabee
Palpatine himself.
Other Aliens.

 

I had no expectations of other films let alone who would be the villain in them. If I knew then that sequels were coming I would not have expected Palps because he was dead.

 

If I was a fan in the 1980's, I would've assumed the villain of the ST would be Darth Vader Jr.. Some punk kid who took up the mant-oh wait that happened.

 

Palpatine had to come back due to the utterly pointless Snoke. Snoke could've been so much more, he's really only there to sell Kylo Ren. May be the worst part about Snoke is when it's revealed to be one of many clones, nothing at all comes of it. Kylo is the only genuine villain in the whole trilogy, Phasma could've been more and certainly making Hux the comic relief was bizarre after the set up in TFA.

I wonder what if Phasma was an ex-Mando, in effect a mercenary loyal to the FO as long as they pay her???

 

I remember being sure that there would never be a Sequel Trilogy before the sale to Disney was announced. I created this thread to ask about fan speculation prior to Lucas denying that there would ever be a Sequel Trilogy.

 

I heard that Lucas planned on making 7,8 and 9, and was in the middle of early stages of figuring out studio space stuff. Then iger brought up the idea of selling to Disney. George wasn't sold on the idea at first but had a think about it and decided to do it. It would allow him to spend more time with his new born child.

Originally George wanted to take a little longer before selling to Disney but if he waited too long the price he asked for Star Wars would have gone down.

I do think george thought he would still be involved creatively in making star wars. But he started to feel like he was being pushed out. So he made the tough decision to walk away from it for good.

 

If by that you mean they threw out his treatment for episode 7 and didn’t even bother to tell him they had done so which effectively ended their relationship as far as George was concerned, then yes.

 

Dak's family

Sent from my IN2019 using Tapatalk

 

I was always opposed to the idea of wizard Luke having children.

 

Aha. Prior to the Prequel era then? I suppose I thought the sequels would get more into where/what the Emperor was and where he came from, the sith, etc...

 

Back in the 80s, I didn't think there were any baddies afterwards. It was a fairytale ending and they all lived happily ever after.

 

Imagine if they'd just left the "there is another" a complete cliffhanger in Episode 6, never even addressed it, then just had the battle, ended the Empire, and wrapped it up. Then they do the Prequel trilogy. Then, way later, they start Episode 7, with a wizened, older Luke, leaving his new Jedi Order and seeking out his sibling. Never liked the last-minute addition of Leia being his sister. Lucas really painted himself into a corner with that one.

 

I wish I could find it... but I'm convinced I had an interview recorded with Lucas from circa 2004/2005, where he stated that *if* he were to make sequels, the villain of it would have been a character from ROTS. At the time, when Grievous was due to be the next 'big thing' (but was somewhat of a damp squib), I felt sure it was going to be him (maybe they rescued his brain or something)
But then after the Plagueis novel, I thought 'cunning little Lucas', as Plagueis is technically a character in ROTS too. But of course after TROS, Lucas could have meant Palpatine all along (although I doubt it)...

 

Me too. And then the addition of the PT on to the front end of the Saga did nothing to change that assessment. Plus, despite what Lucas may have said in the past about 9 or even 12 episodes, it was clear that he decided after that to compress it all together into a big finale conclusion with ROTJ.

 

I don't know what I thought back in the 80s but when I'd play with my figures, my consistent sequel story arc was Luke becomes the villain (I used my Marvel Secret Wars Dr Doom figure for Luke's Darth form), Boba Fett and Wedge were the main protagonists, with Wedge essentially going through the hero's journey and beginning a Jedi. Han Solo and Chewbacca died early on, and Admiral Ackbar and Lando took over the Millennium Falcon. My dad never bought me any of the Leia or woman figures so I essentially had to work on my personal biases as a kid.

So be glad I didn't end up doing movies and making the sequel trilogy folks.

 

I'm guessing really the issue was that the anti prequel culture was so strong by that point that Lucas's involvement would have hurt the films marketing although honestly I think thats the kind of role he's always been best suited to after ANH and it does seem like they used some of his ideas.

The basic setup for the sequels villians really wasnt that far from what I imagined personally, ex Imperials mixed with a skywalker child or student of Luke's gone bad maybe with some ancient Sith involvement.

Really I think that had the sequels been made in the late 80's then it would have made sense to make Leia the centre of them, I think her character still had more dramatic conflict post ROTJ than Luke and Han did personally.

 

^ In an interview when ESB came out in 1980, GL said the ST would be about rebuilding the Republic, making tough choices, a lot more thoughtful and less action than the originals. That kind of story might suit Leia as a political leader.

 

I hope by "tough choices" he meant something along the lines of "what color tie should I wear for this dinner?"

 

A real, real shame that this wasn’t pursued for the ST. In the difficult times we live in where representative democracy is actively under threat, it might’ve both struck the zeitgeist AND been a useful guide for younger generations.

 

A Leia centric story post ROTJ would have been welcome.

 

2 things always stuck out to me from ROTS. Palpatine speaking about people being able to cheat death and the Chosen One prophecy maybe being misread.

This always made me assume that Palpatine would be the bad guy in the ST. I assumed he would be a spirit in 7 and 8 and then finally return in physical form for 9.

I guess I wasn't far off, all things considered.

 

This thread is centered on my 1980s ST thoughts so my post PT thoughts would not relate here. But they would involve Plagueis which is why that was such a hot topic.

In the 80s we all thought about post ROTJ the most even though by that point we knew Ep. 1-3 were next possibly. I didn't think the ST would never be made. Every now and again you'd hear rumors and wonder.. What adventures would Luke have? Leia and the Republic? Han , Chewy and Leia all one family? Droids? Imperial Remnants? I appreciate hearing everyones Kenner figure stories. I like Kenner's desperate pitch to Lucasfilm about making Altha Prime the villian. A clone master who rose to power after Palpatines death to reveal his Clone warriors. Although leave Tarkin surviving out.

Luke starting his own Jedi academy seems to be the most logical choice with Leia and Han getting married and having kiddos with Force powers to train with Luke. This is what we got (partially) although the story fast forwarded 30 years so we could have present day OT3. I believe Lucas was flirting with the ideas and just really was pushing Disney to make an offer. I don't think Lucas was seriously going to do the ST.
And as this relates to the 90s PT hype, I think we started to do a lot more reading and remembering the OT which lead to thoughts on post ROTJ. Then Lucas changed Force ghost Anakin and put in Plageuis info to make us think he was giving Disney something to play with. Lucas's ST was Darth Maul reborn with Talon at his side against Luke, Han and Leia. Disney threw out all of it except keeping grumpy disillusioned Luke on Ach To.

 

Grumpy Luke on Ahch-To wasn't part of that treatment. In that treatment Luke has a New Jedi Order he is trying to build in the beginning of his ST, and that ends with a functioning New Jedi Order he leads.

But to add, I always assumed that Luke would build his New Jedi Order, Leia would train to be a Jedi. There would be a functioning New Republic that Leia would be elected to lead. There would be Solo/Organa Force Sensitive kids, and Luke would have some cool kids as well.

Oh, and there would be fighting various other bad guys, criminals like the Hutts, and/or the leftover Imperial types. But that they would ultimately live happily ever after.