Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Star Wars Is Back For More


Anyone who knows me knows how dear the Star Wars franchise is to me. Since I first saw “Star Wars” in 1977 at age 11 (17 times in the theaters), it's been my favorite movie, and I have seen it literally over 100 times. The movies that followed subsequently became my favorites as well. In the years since, they became a world wide phenomenon, and grew into an industry. Movies, books, video games, TV shows, toys, role playing games, you name it. In 1999, Lucas released a new Star Wars movie (something I thought would never happen), the first in a Prequel trilogy. It's well known that I liked those movies more than most. Yea, I am very forgiving of George Lucas.

In 2012, George Lucas did something I never thought he would do. He sold his company, Lucasfilm and all his other companies to Disney, thus giving Disney complete control over all Lucas properties. George had come to the conclusion that Star Wars should continue, but under the care of someone else. Disney immediately announced that “Star Wars:Episode VII” was planned for release in 2015, with episode VIII and IX to follow. As much as I thought “Return Of The Jedi” would be the last Star Wars movie, and was surprised by the prequel trilogy, I never in my wildest dreams ever thought that a sequel trilogy would see the big screen.

So now comes the task of actually making these movies. Michael Arndt (“Toy Story 3”, “Little Miss Sunshine”) is writing the script. This is a screenwriter who gives lectures on the art of storytelling, and particularly why Star Wars works so well. So that instills me with a lot of confidence that Disney is taking this new venture very seriously. Then today I hear that director JJ Abrams will be in the chair for Episode VII. At the time of this writing, that has yet to be confirmed by Lucasfilm and Disney, but it's looking like it is going to happen.

NOTE:It has been confirmed that JJ Abram is indeed directing Star Wars Episode VII

Now, finally onto the point of this article...the future of Star Wars.

While it seems like for the time being, Star Wars is in good hands, I do have concerns. Disney has announced their intentions to release a new Star Wars movie every 2-3 yeas, and possibly even every year at times. On one hand, it is a Star Wars lovers dream, I know I can and never will get enough Star Wars (precisely why I hang my head in shame that I haven't really watched much of the animated Clone Wars series). But that also concerns me, and not in a totally positive way.

That much planned output could be a recipe for disaster.  As much as I would love to see a Star Wars movie every year, or every other year, I want quality movies. I don't want something rushed out with the Star Wars brand slapped on it. Now I would think that Disney would not allow that to happen. They have acquired two movie making giants in the past few years (Pixar and Marvel) and both studios have produced quality work, without interference from Disney. I hope that trend continues with Lucasfilm. As long as the movies are of top quality, keep making them I say. There seems to be no doubt that the new trilogy is being handled with great care, but is that just to pull us in? Again, I would hope that isn't the case, but with so much planned, it could be very easy for quality to suffer. Of course, if the movies fail to turn a profit, as unlikely as that seems, it could spell trouble.

I think the focus should be on quality, NOT quantity. As much as I'd love to see a Star Wars movie released every year, I’d rather wait a little bit longer and get a better movie in return. One of the big complaints about the Prequels was the writing, which honestly, was at times good, but most of the time, not so much. The stories are the heart and soul of these movies, and to me, that should be one of the top priorities with the new movies. Also, top directors need to be doing these movies as well. JJ Abrams is a good start.

Now, beyond the new trilogy, what does the future hold for Star Wars? In a word....anything. There are so many stories in the comics and books in the extended universe, that take place at so many different times in Star Wars history. Personally, I would love to see a series of movies based in the Old Republic, taking place decades before the events in all the movies. As much as I love the established characters of the Star Wars universe, I would love to see an entirely new set of characters. The rise of the Jedi, the Sith wars, the early Jedi masters and Sith lords, the possibilities are endless.

There are also a lot of great stories that take place after the events of the original trilogy, and I am interested in seeing what will be done for the new trilogy. It's been said they they will try to get the core three from the Original trilogy...Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to reprise their roles. That's both good, and not so much bad, but not great either.

Harrison Ford is 71 years old, and while he is still making movies, it is doubtful he would be on board for three more movies, despite his saying he is open to the idea of playing Han Solo again. I can only realistically see him doing one movie.  Mark Hamill and Carrie fisher are not much younger, but I think they could make three films if they so choose to. But I really think as much as I wanna see them reprise their roles, maybe they shouldn't be the stars. Maybe the focus should be on new characters. Perhaps their children. Both Luke and his wife Mara Jade (from the Zahn trilogy of books) have a kid, Ben, and Han and Leia also have Jedi twins Jacen and Jaina. Of course those are characters from the books, and we don't yet know if they will be including characters from the extended universe.

Episode VII could be used to introduce new characters that would be the main focus of episodes VIII and IX. Like I said, the possibilities are pretty much endless.

There has also been talk of stand alone movies being made, movies that would be just one story told in one movie. That also could be very interesting, there are a lot of characters in the Star Wars universe that could easily carry an entire movie. Boba Fett....Darth Maul...heck even a movie about Chewbacca's days before he met Han Solo could be cool, I would love to see a movie take place on his home wold of Kasshyyk.

As of this writing, it has indeed been confirmed that in between the films of the new sequel trilogy, Lucasfilm will release stand alone movies. So far, they have a Han Solo story in mind (centered around a young Solo, and possibly a young Lando Calrissian taking place between Revenge Of The Sith and Star Wars) as well as a Yoda movie.

Now as good as all of this sounds, I am a bit worried that they could possibly end up diluting the brand. A Star Wars movie every year? Sure, I would love that. But sometimes anticipation is better than being given a constant flow of new movies. Obviously, I am very conflicted on this.

Part of the whole Star Wars experience is the waiting in between movies. The first two trilogies had a 3 year break between movies. Now I don't know how much of a gap there will be between Episode VII and Episode VIII, but there should be at least a two year gap. These stand alone movies will be filling that gap in between episode installments. I am worried that people may tire of Star Wars movies. It sounds incredible to say such a thing, but too much of even a good thing can be bad.

The James Bond movies have been a popular series since it started back in 1966. 23 movies over a 46 year period. That averages a movie every two years. Some didn't do as well as others, but they always did well enough to allow them to keep being made. That could work for Star Wars, but if they release a movie every year? They run the risk of overkill.

This of course, is all speculation. The prequel trilogy, as much as they were not nearly as good as the original 3, still made a ton of money. So if movies are released that are clearly better, there is no reason to think that they wouldn't do well.

All I know is that as a Star Wars fan, this is more than I could have ever asked for. Even if they only released the sequel trilogy, I’d be thrilled. But the ideas that they are throwing around are very exciting, and I really hope that Lucasfilm does the fans proud, and gives us top notch movies.

Star Wars is very dear to me, please Lucasfilm, don't let me down.

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