Next up... Episode 7 Star Wars: The Return of Jar-Jar and the Ewoks

[Silverfyre]

Rim shot first!

[NotoriusBEN]

The good

Kingdoms hearts on Tattoonie, hell yea!

Not that I have played many of them since the first one.

if I can cut off a disney character's (mickey's) head with a lightsaber i will condone this merger

[SinXAzgard21]

All faith in humanity lost....

[LunarSage]

I loathed Jar Jar... but I swear I'm the only fan in the world who actually liked the Ewoks.  Then again, Return of the Jedi was one of the first movies I remember seeing in a theater.

[Callie Del Noire]

I loathed Jar Jar... but I swear I'm the only fan in the world who actually liked the Ewoks.  Then again, Return of the Jedi was one of the first movies I remember seeing in a theater.

It was the animted series that brought on my loathing.

[Will]

I loathed Jar Jar... but I swear I'm the only fan in the world who actually liked the Ewoks.  Then again, Return of the Jedi was one of the first movies I remember seeing in a theater.

I don't mind them, really.  Even if they do look way too much like George Lucas.

[Chris Brady]

Sadly?  I'd heard that Zahn's books in particular were pretty good.

They are, they've also been retconned out because they go against the movies.  Namely how the clone wars really happened.

I'm of two minds of this.

First is that yeah, this is the beginning of the end, because Lucasarts the video game studio was part of the deal.  Not to mention Lucas' ideal of having Star Wars appeal to the children.  After all, boobs don't jiggle in Star Wars.  Not to mention the Clone Wars computer animation series.

The other side is that Disney has always aimed at entertaining everyone, after all the first Pirates of The Carribean was a pretty good and adult film.  The reason they made the Avengers cartoon was to try and grab the teen demographic, not to mention their Tron Uprising, so they do TRY to do good work.  Not to mention, the Lucas is now in a consultant role for it now, and although he can craft worlds, stories are not his forte.

Cautiously optimistic.  Here's hoping.

[Kunoichi]

I think 'cautiously optimistic' is a pretty good approach to this whole situation.  It's certainly way too early for all the doom and gloom to start, at least.

[Callie Del Noire]

You know.. it does bring up a good point.. which secondary character in the Saga would Joss Whedon kill if they put him at the helm?

[Oniya]

That depends - how long do Gungans usually live?  If the mutant Muppet is still around, it's a no-brainer.

[Callie Del Noire]

That depends - how long do Gungans usually live?  If the mutant Muppet is still around, it's a no-brainer.

Nah.. he kills LIKEABLE characters.. Andrew lived through Buffy remember?

[Chris Brady]

That depends - how long do Gungans usually live?  If the mutant Muppet is still around, it's a no-brainer.

Actually, according to the game Force Unleashed, by Lucasarts, Jar-Jar is currently frozen in Carbonite in Darth Vader's chamber.

[ForAlbion]

To be honest, I would love to see the Zahn books get made as films. They've got a sense of unity and scope that fits the original trilogy perfectly, it gives Luke a love interest, so he's not some self-righteous chaste monk for all time, Mara Jade is a great character, as are Winter and Thrawn... to be honest, the biggest problem would be the fact that, if they were going to do the Thrawn trilogy, they would have to recast Han, Luke, Leia...and basically every other character that has a major part in the original trilogy. They'll never do the Vhong, they're way too dark for Disney...

One other thing to think about...Disney has the rights to the Star Wars IP...but do they have the screen rights for any of the expanded universe novels? Because if they don't, I don't see them dropping more money for them if they've just paid 4 billion for the movies.

But seriously, if they did do the Zahn trilogy, who would you pick to play Luke, Leia, Han, Mara, and Thrawn?

[Kunoichi]

Darth Vader: What Are You Going to Do Next?

[Liayra]

Star Wars: The return of Mickey.

Star Wars: The attack of the Plutos.

Star Wars: Scrooge McDuck menace.

~giggles~

[Koren]

Im fine with them aquiring the rights to a publishing company like LucasFilm and all that. Its all the littler companies that I'm terrified about.

I swear, if they mess around with ILM I'm gonna go on a rampage

[Callie Del Noire]

Im fine with them aquiring the rights to a publishing company like LucasFilm and all that. Its all the littler companies that I'm terrified about.

I swear, if they mess around with ILM I'm gonna go on a rampage

Are you kidding? ILM is only going to get bigger. No movie man worth his salt is going to kill THAT goose. ILM, even more than the IPs, is all but a license to print money. I'd doubled their budget, staff and floor space if I could in their place. EVERYONE wants to use them.

[Chris Brady]

Because, unlike Lucas, they know what they're doing.

[Callie Del Noire]

Because, unlike Lucas, they know what they're doing.

I think that is unfair. Is Lucas a bit possessive of his baby. Maybe. Did he create and build on ILM. Definitely. He probably had more to do with the industry changing to digital than anyone. EVERYONE though he was crazy to do so but he got YEARS worth of lead  on it. He has a lot more savvy than most give him credit for. Revisionistically minded he might be on his movies BUT he is good at spotting technical innovations.

[Chris Brady]

I don't think it is entirely unfair.  He may spot the innovations but he doesn't design them, the crew at ILM does.  Mr. Lucas has two major talents, creating settings(not just Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series was his as well) and promoting the right type of special effect for what he's trying to achieve.

And as a 'consultant' he can focus on that.

[Will]

"Revisionistically minded" is putting it very mildly.  I think it would be more accurate to say that he is a terrible screenwriter and a control freak.  The original trilogy went through a lot of hands besides his to become the great stories that we all remember.  Because of that fact, he was obviously never happy with them, and as soon as he was able, he went back and effed them up as much as he could.

I'm pleased that the franchise is out of his hands.  But I don't know how excited I am, really.  I'm just not as invested as a fan as I used to be.  I believe Disney could make some great movies, and I'll be in line to see Ep 7 when it comes out.  But unless they decide to retcon the prequels, and all the crap they introduced (midichlorians?), I'll never be more than mildly enthused.

[Callie Del Noire]

Still.. George might be a control freak... BUT this..

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/11/01/george-lucas-disney-money-charity/

Bravo George.. bravo.. nice to see some folks with LOTS o Money can be kind and not hide it overseas.

[Chris Brady]

I would like to point out that although I believe that Mr. Lucas cannot write his way out of a wet paper bag, at no time have I said he's a bad guy.  By all accounts, that sort of philanthropy is normal for him. 

I admire the man for his PLANS, his execution of some of them have, no pun intended (but laughter is accepted), less than stellar.

[Harlequinade]

My partner and I discussed this at great length yesterday, and we feel like this could be beneficial to the saga. Another one of my favorite franchises is the Iron Man franchise, and Disney has made incredible films so far and IM3 looks astonishing! I agree with Chris completely, most of Lucas' writing is awful, and though the idea is there, it's not done well. I'm still holding out hope! lol

[Funguy81]

When I heard the news, I was stunned. I've been a life long star wars fan since I first saw return of the jedi when I was....shit, I think 5.

I also understand why he sold it though. I have seen fans online, personal debates, and in a couple of conventions how they say that Lucas sold out when he made the new trilogy, or the new indiana jones movie. The fact is it was his baby, and he could do what he wanted with it. The whole line that came out with the movies, the cartoons, games, and books he gave the ok on how the universe played out to entertain the fans. Of course what he made as the years go by not everyone will be a fan of. Not everything will please everyone.

Imagine how it could have been if FOX had decided to keep partial merchandising rights to the saga instead of leaving it completely to Lucas when they both thought the first movie would only made a small profit at the time.

Well guess what, he did exactly what those people say he did years ago. He sold out and now a large company can decide how the rest of the story goes. To be honest I don't like that idea, but I don't blame him either.

Now as for episode seven, I doubt it would be based anything from the novels. Though I will be there when it comes out on theaters and see how it will turn out. Hehe, its the star wars fan in me that wants to rush the theater when it comes out.

Just my two cents on this.