Mighty God King asks the question that has been floating in the head of many Expanded Universe fans. (Or is it just me?)
If we’re going to get an animated Star Wars film, why on earth are we getting the Clone Wars, which has already had live-action movies and an animated series and potentially a live-action series in the future about it – instead of, and this is just off the top of my head, an adaptation of the Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn, AKA “the only good Star Wars novels ever?”
We know the answer: Because George Lucas loves his shiny new Clone Wars, and it’s not like folks aren’t going to watch it. But really, why can’t we take the post-ROTJ books and feed them into the animation mill? By end of LOTF, we’re going on 40 years worth of raw material. True, they aren’t all the Thrawn trilogy, but even the worst could hold a glimmer of possibility in the hands of a competent scriptwriter. And it’s not like other endless franchises haven’t been doing it for decades.
I’ve nothing against The Clone Wars in theory – but didn’t we just leave that party? Maybe I’m just a sad old-school fan who simply isn’t all that interested in further exploration of the prequel era (okay, drop the ‘maybe’) but… Seriously. Forty years of imperfect but infinitely useful raw material with established movie characters that people actually mostly like and have fond memories of. And starting off with the Thrawn trilogy will bring in a lot of people who just weren’t feeling the prequels and other casual fans who might not make the time for The Clone Wars. (Plus, it would probably boost book sales. Books that are already written, edited, and sitting around in stores.)
I’ll keep holding out hope it happens eventually. You?
