Disney is paying $4.05 billion to buy Lucasfilm Ltd., the production company behind “Star Wars,” from its chairman and founder, George Lucas. It’s also making a seventh movie in the “Star Wars” series.
This will not end well.
"Worrying that Disney will ruin Star Wars is like worrying that a second iceberg will dive down to hit the Titanic." - Zach Weiner I kinda agree with that :)
I feel so abandoned. I feel betrayed, on the worst possible level. The imaginative wonder that captured my dreams as a child, way back when, is dead. But I had not known it was dead. When Attack of the Clones came out I was as happy as I was when I discovered Star Wars. When the Clone Wars mini series was on television, I felt as if I was living in a magical garden paradise where all is given to you on jewel encrusted golden platters. When I watched Revenge of the Sith on the silver screen I knew that I had something special, something real. There were dissenters, of course, there always must be. These, "Lucas Bashers", they were angry. They hated George Lucas. I could not understand. I was too young. "The Prequels are trash, a joke, blasphemy to what once was holy. George Lucas is a bastard." "How could you say that?" I would ask. Lucas gave us this gift! This treasure of the imagination! I would not let these older, jaded voices ruin what was precious to me. I say, once. For now I know what they knew all along. George Lucas does not care about Star Wars. He is blind to the legacy that he created. Yes, it started with him, but it became something far bigger than George Lucas. His name may be all over the merchandise, at the beginning of each film and game, but Star Wars does not belong to him. This, this transaction with Disney, DISNEY! is the final nail in the coffin. Star Wars is dead. Has been dead. I can see it now. I am being dramatic, but dammit George... I once cared.
I disagree, I think George Lucas really does care a lot about Star Wars. I don't think he's so cynical to only care about money, I just think his tastes have aged poorly. Lucas is like that guy that gets a laugh for a joke and then keeps telling that same joke over and over and over again. He is a bit of a one trick pony, but I do think he cares deeply for the legacy of Star Wars, how could he not? My guess is that he knows he's getting too old carry-on Star Wars probably doesn't have any family that are interested in doing it and realizes he can make a boatload of money and keep the legacy of his creation alive for many years to come. I'm also going to go out on a limb and suggest that perhaps Disney will do some great stuff with the franchise. It really could not be any worse. It all depends on how much control they want to have over the films. If they hire a very capable director and let him have carte blanche it could be a fantastic new chapter. I'll admit that about 90% of what I just wrote is conjecture and me playing devils advocate
I know he probably cares deeply about Star Wars, it is his brain-child after all. It's just that as a fan I am incredibly sceptically that the upcoming movies will be made with any serious intent at going for some serious artistic integrity. I wonder that that would be most of our concerns over this whole situation. But you know what? You could be absolutely right. Perhaps a really competent director with really creative writers who are all really loyal to the Star Wars legend, and not just the Star Wars franchise will take the helm and take it all new heights. I really hope so, but I just can't help but maintain a high level of cynical skepticism. And I swear, the minute I see one family-friendly-antics-loving-allaroundgoofy-sidekick I will formally condemn this unholy union and damn it to the deepest pits of Tartarus.
Like I said, I'm basically just playing devils advocate. You're probably right that there will not be any serious artistic integrity. Think about it, Lucas did have a personal connection and Disney doesn't. It's an investment for them. That said, if they put out a turd of a movie, but it has a ton of Jar-Jar-Ewokiness it will not have staying power. They're in this for the $ no doubt about it but that $ will disappear fast if they're not able to keep the hard core fans at least somewhat engaged. The hard core original fans are the parents that buy the toys etc. for their kids. It's a delicate dance to keep them happy and keep the movies accessible to a 10 year old kid. I'm honestly no that hopeful, but still I'd rather be excited about it even if there's only an 8% chance the movies will be cool. Who are we kidding, all of us are going to go see it.
Stop. Fucking stop. No more Star Wars. No more shitty movies or shitty MMOs or shitty TV Shows or novels or comics. Just fucking stop. I feel like I had this really beautiful wife, she was super nice and hot and did everything right. Her only flaw was her love of midgets in furry costumes used to sell toys, but it was REALLY fucking minor so I overlooked it. And for a long time we just got to chill and it was awesome. Sometimes we'd make stupid stories and films together, and we played some video games together but it was all pretty simple. Then George Lucas came the fuck out of nowhere and stabbed her in the brain with a rusty knife and she became a comatose hospital patient for fucking YEARS. And then George came back and was like "Shit dude I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, lemme come visit and try this meeting out again." AND THEN HE FUCKING STABBED HER AGAIN. And he came back AGAIN and then once more with a shitty CGI cartoon knife and just kept fucking stabbing my comatose wife. And now he's telling me he's giving his rusty knife to someone else and I'm supposed to be okay with them coming over and apologizing? No, fuck you. No more Star Wars. Its over. It was great. It had its run. Let it be finished, for god's sake. Just let it end. I can't take it any more man. This shit is getting fucking ridiculous. And its going to be terrible, and we all know it. If its mediocre people will defend it but it'll just be another shitty movie. Just fucking let it die already. I've got my original copies of my wife's photos and their really cool to look at but she's been stabbed like three times and its pretty much over. Please dear god, make it stop, make it end.
I created a webcomic that sums up my reaction to the sale of star wars to Disney. http://step3comics.tumblr.com/post/35305835453/the-comic-say...
Star wars was never good anyway the only thing that made star wars good was the Sets the costumes and the props all made at pinewood studios in England. the plot was stolen from other films like always and the acting was average at best but there is something about the universe and the characters that engages us. Its a classic story maybe we can give lucas credit for that
I was in 4th grade when Star Wars came out and was a big fan as a kid. After the sour taste in my mouth after the prequels, I'm actually looking forward to new movies and I imagine Disney will do a fine job. My bet is the next movies will take place after episode VI and focus on Han and Leia's kids.
I predict 3 better movies if George is promised not to be involved.
I don't think I can add much here, but I suspect that Lucas never felt about Star Wars as the fans did. IMO it was probably just a movie to him from the very beginning. When he found that it was going to be a valuable franchise, I doubt he had qualms about artistic integrity. I did grow up playing with Star Wars action figures, and I appreciate that. However, it's a shame that Lucas never seemed to care much about the non-monetary value of the Star Wars canon. In fact, I bet he has a love/hate relationship with it. However, it perfectly filled a cultural void and captured the imaginations of so many. One only wonders what could have been done with it with a purity of vision. Disney will milk it to death, skin it, butcher it, then boil the rest for glue.
Wikipedia has a pretty good treatment of the history (of course): I doesn't seem to be completely so: At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to become part of a series. The fourth draft of the script underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-contained film, ending with the destruction of the Empire itself by way of destroying the Death Star. However, Lucas had previously conceived of the film as the first in a series of adventures. Later, he realized the film would not in fact be the first in the sequence, but a film in the second trilogy in the saga. This is stated explicitly in George Lucas' preface to the 1994 reissue of Splinter of the Mind's Eye:
It wasn't long after I began writing Star Wars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of the Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell—three trilogies—and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to write the middle story.
The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about "The Princess of Ondos," and by the time of the third draft some months later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him rights to make two sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired him to write these two sequels as novels.[25] The intention was that if Star Wars were successful, Lucas could adapt the novels into screenplays.[26] He had also by that point developed an elaborate backstory to aid his writing process.[27]George had the story written long before A New Hope was made.
In 1971, Universal Studios agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picture contract, although Star Wars was later rejected in its early concept stages. American Graffiti was completed in 1973 and, a few months later, Lucas wrote a short summary called "The Journal of the Whills", which told the tale of the training of apprentice C.J. Thorpe as a "Jedi-Bendu" space commando by the legendary Mace Windy.[22] Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand, Lucas then wrote a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars, which had thematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress.[23] By 1974, he had expanded the treatment into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and a protagonist named Annikin Starkiller. For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and introduced the young hero on a farm as Luke Starkiller. Annikin became Luke's father, a wise Jedi knight. "The Force" was also introduced as a supernatural power. The next draft removed the father character and replaced him with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been prepared for principal photography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke's name to Skywalker and altered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.[24]
Of course Lucas didn't know if it would be a success so he had to plan for a single film, but as he says above, he thinks three trilogies is the whole story. Episode IV turns out to be the most convenient movie as a stand alone. That's why that segment was pursued first.
I know of a storyline that will make Star Wars much more interesting: After Luke and Han have a falling out over his incestuous relationship with Leia, he gets very depressed and goes over to the dark side. Leia becomes an alcoholic and Han leaves with Chewie and crashes his Millenium Falcon into the wreckage of yet another death star. Meanwhile the Empire experiments with democracy and ends up electing a president who crowns himself another emperor. Out goes all the fairy tale bullshit and in come real characters with real emotions and difficult decisions. And some side role is reserved for a scientist who finally explains how FTL travel and light sabers work.