So it is official, or at least as official as anything George Lucas actually says. (He has this habit of saying one thing, and doing another.) Star Wars will be coming to a small screen near you in, probably, two years or so.
No name has been given to this latest addition to the Star Wars universe, but a few things have become known.
First, George Lucas will be an executive producer, but he will not be on the creative end of things.
Second- Ah, who cares about anything else! Let’s talk about THAT!
I grew up with Star Wars, and some of that magic was lost after the last two films, The Phantom Menace and Clone Wars. Honestly, besides the last half-hour of Clone, those movies have, well, sucked the big one. That said, the release of the original trilogy on DVD has renewed some of my passion in Star Wars, enough that I am (kind of) actually looking forward to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith coming next May. (Yeah, I know it, too, will suck, and it is really only about selling more Happy Meals and Hasbro Toys than actually making a good movie. But still- Can you say SUCKER!)
With Lucas turning over the creative control of the television series to someone else, well, that is just fantastic news! Imagine someone who actually cares about Star Wars (which Lucas does not insofar as characters, story, acting, and anything else not related to merchandising) in charge of creating new stories set in the Star Wars universe.
This could be an amazing thing. If each Star Wars movie is roughly two hours long, and there is six movies, that is twelve hours of content, total. If a television show is set for, say, twenty episodes at one hour each (okay, forty minutes after commercials) that is MUCH more time to delve into the Star Wars mythos.
What time frame the show will be set in is also open for debate right now. Before episode 1? After episode 3? During the original trilogy? Or perhaps post-Empire? (As in after the Ewoks saved the day, not after Empire Strikes Back.)
Personally, I think a show set in the same time frame as the original trilogy would work best. You could, potentially, have cameos by Chewie, the droids, Darth Vader, Yoda, Boba Fett, and others. That would rock. You could also have Storm Troopers as the bad guys, the modern day Nazis. The Empire makes a much, much better protagonist that any of the bad guys in the newer movies, such as the Droid Army or the lame Trade Federation.
Who would be the main characters? A young Jedi? Could be done, though it would require some explaining. A very slow build-up of his powers would be in order. A Han Solo smuggler would also work well, and would give the added benefit of traveling to different planets and settings.
Mostly, though, I think that the Rebel Alliance would be the best choice for our hero’s to be affiliated with. Sure, we all know that it is Skywalker, Solo, Leia, and company who finally defeats the Empire. That does not discount good pre-Return of the Jedi stories, though.
They could also set the show in the immediate aftermath of Return of the Jedi as well, or perhaps a decade later. (Discounting the better-than-the-movies Timothy Zahn The Thawn trilogy of books.) This way you could actually have an older Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hammil, actually training Jedi, going on adventures, and going after remnants of the Empire. Could be great! (And yes, I think Mark Hammil would JUMP at the chance for a project like this, and it would make the television series an instant hit!)
So, your thoughts?
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