Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Stop compiling those exhaustive lists of your favorite Star Wars books: A Lucasfilm source tells EOnline’s Leslie Gornstein that Episode 7 will be “an original story.” Gornstein goes on to say that “Episode 7 will literally be nothing you’ve ever seen or read before from the Star Wars universe.” Not surprised. Not surprised in the least…
I’m not going to be the first person to say this, and I certainly won’t be the last: Don’t expect the sequel trilogy to follow the existing Expanded Universe. We know that George Lucas has done story treatments for these films that he’s handing over to Kathleen Kennedy and Disney’s LFL, and Lucas’s take on the EU has been, for most of its existence, that they’re an alternate universe. He has been a distant and uncaring god, at least as far as post-Return of the Jedi is concerned. He has used things from the EU occasionally, but I wouldn’t expect straight adaptations of any of the existing books or comics – at least not as actual episodes.
Now that the dust is settled a little from yesterday’s bombshell, we can all take a deep breath and… Continue to freak out about how there are going to be more Star Wars movies. Um.
A good place to start would be Slashfilm’s roundup of yesterday’s conference call with Russ Fischer. It addresses and expands (and yes, in some cases, speculates) on some of those lingering questions you may have on Indiana Jones, Episode VII, Industrial Light & Magic and more.
One thing I haven’t seen widely reported – though I may very well have missed it in the conference call – is Bleeding Cool’s report that Fox retains the distribution rights to the existing films.
One take I found rather interesting – if a bit paranoid – is from The Daily Intel’s Kevin Roose. He speculates that the deal is a financial dud and that Disney is getting Lucasfilm “for a steal.” I doubt this is the last we’ll hear on the financial side of this – and it’s clearly written from the perspective of a Star Wars cynic – but it’s something to keep in mind, at least. In another corner of New York Magazine, Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan and Margaret Lyons have 7 questions about Episode VII.
But overall, I think the reaction has been fairly positive, as Disney is able and – apparently – willing to let fresh eyes take on the franchise
Of course, there’s speculation on the new trilogy everywhere. ThinkProgress’ Alyssa Rosenberg weighs in on how Disney could make Episode VII awesome with 5 ideas plucked from the pages of the Expanded Universe, while Forbes’ Alex Knapp has three options and AMOG’s Keith Veronese has five. (IGN even pulled one up from their archives.) I’m sure we’re going to be seeing everyone and their vat-grown clone throw their favorite book/comic/Boba fetish into the hat for the foreseeable future. We talked a bit about this on Tosche Station last night, but you’ll just have to wait on that one!
Outside of the news sites, we’re seeing lots from the fans – and pros! – on this as well. Author Jason Fry took to Tumblr, as did Bria and Jay. Fansite proprietors at Geek My Life, NJOE and Knights Archive. And, of course, SF/F godfather John Scalzi had some thoughts as well.
Yes, it’s official and it is 100% for real: Disney has acquired Lucasfilm. (Here it is on StarWars.com.) We’ll know more details in a few minutes but some of the points from the press release and conference call:
Here’s a video where George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy talk about the future of the movies:
Per the release employees will be remaining at their currently locations, so hopefully this is all great news for our friends at Lucasfilm. On the official blog, Pablo Hidalgo writes a bit about the winds of change; Steve Sansweet has weighed in as well, and J.W. Rinzler looks at the ‘history’ of Episodes VII-IX.
Top-notch reporting! TMZ harassed George Lucas in Los Angeles yesterday to learn what (almost) every Star Wars fan already knows: There will be no more Star Wars movies. “Never,” you can barely hear Lucas say over the ‘reporter.’ Just let the guy have a visit with his daughter, jeez.
On that note… Forbes’ Roger Friedman says that Lucas lost more than $60 million on Red Tails.
Games. For those who roll their eyes at the very mention of Kyle Katarn, stop here: Gaming media are theorizing that LucasArts may revive a certain first-person shooter. Whatever.
Tours. ‘Where Science Meets Imagination’ is still out there, and its next stop will be the Indiana State Museum in our beloved Indianapolis.
I have no idea if this is authorized (very probably not) but there’s no denying that the Artoo swimsuit is pretty neat. But since it’s a bit late in the season for swimming, perhaps galaxy leggings are more in order. (Only if you can accept that they are not pants, ladies.)
Women in Star Wars. MagnetGirl hijacks our pal Mandy’s blog to talk about Ahsoka and last week’s episode ‘Assassin.’
Craftacular. The Millennium Falcon apple pie, because edible crafts are the best crafts. And you know what this cries for? A lightsaber pie cutter.
Fanboy corner. Gizmodo’s Joel Johnson says it’s time to let the prequel butthurt die and forgive George Lucas. Yes, boys: You don’t have to love the prequels (Hell, I don’t) but just accept them as they are (until George SEs them) and move on. And on that note, Cracked has five reasons for Hollywood to stop making prequels.
It will not die. The rumor is still getting batted around, so Underwire brings us five reasons Lucas should film a new trilogy.
Now bastion of fanboy ‘journalism’ Harry Knowles is claiming that a sequel trilogy has been in the works all along. Poor Lucasfilm… They just can’t win for losing, huh? (And their poor PR people, having to handle it on a Saturday!)
In any case… Do you believe IESB? Answer below the cut or on sidebar. Continue reading “Poll: Do you believe there will be a sequel trilogy?”
Is it ridiculous rumor time already? IESB is reporting that we could see a (sigh) sequel trilogy after the 3-D rereleases. Since IESB seems down at the moment, here’s Bryan’s report over at the Examiner.
Am I skeptical? Of course. Do I really want to hear people squeeing over how this is totally going to be [insert favorite EU thing here] on film? Hells no. Y’all should know better by now. (And IESB is also saying – per io9 – that the trilogy won’t be about Skywalkers.)
Is a sequel trilogy possible? Of course, even taking into account George Lucas’ frequently stated lack of interest in sequels or further movies. But the man has also shown an inability to let go of Star Wars in recent years: Witness his continued involvement in The Clone Wars .
But I’m a cynic, and this whole thing sounds like every single rumor and report about the live-action series thrown into a fanboy’s wet dream blender. I don’t doubt there are folks backstage at Lucasfilm pressing for more movies – who wouldn’t want that job security? – but the trick is whether they will or can convince George. We can’t be sure of until he – not the rumor mongers – comes out and says it. Don’t hold your breath.
UPDATE: Lucasfilm denies the report at Underwire:
“This is, of course, completely false,” Lucasfilm spokesman Josh Kushins told Wired.com in an e-mail Saturday about the report. “George Lucas has plenty of projects to keep him busy right now — including plenty of Star Wars projects — but there are no new Star Wars feature films planned.”
Namesake corner. Topps is saluting the ‘Women of Star Wars‘ in their Galaxy 5 line. And since you can only have so many slave Leias before the theme gets tired, there’s an Adam Hughes Mara Jade card. Granted, it’s Adam Hughes and thus total cheesecake, but we’re used to that.
Visions peek. I can’t believe there’s, like, war and battle and stuff in the Star Wars art book. Ugh. (P.S. If we’re going there, I would love something ROTJish in the style of The Death of General Wolfe. And prints, because I would so totally buy prints of that if it was done with a stylistically straight face.)
Would you like some false hope with that? IGN has ‘thoughtfully’ compiled all the leading candidates for the totally nonexistent, never-going-to-happen (except for probably that bounty hunter thing in the live action series) additional Star Wars movies. Basically, what I am saying is, no matter how good the effects on Avatar are, don’t hold your breath. (Yeah, I am a little sick of this topic and Dark Empire? Are you kidding me? …Sorry.)
Crosscurrent. Check out chapter two of Paul S. Kemp’s upcoming paperback. Meanwhile, the first review has surfaced over at Stomping on Yeti.
The Old Republic. NJOE’s Rogue77 found a brief summary for Sean William’s The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance.
Steve Sansweet was on the Forcecast live tonight and announced that The Clone Wars will be moving back to the 9:00pm slot as of this week.
He declined to say anything besides ‘”soon” on the CV announcement, and once again denounced the latest sequel trilogy rumor as “so ludicrous.”
