Horror Beyond Imagination

Sorry folks that I have been off the bloggers chair for such a long time. Watching the World Cup has been taking away most of my free time and I haven't had the right motivations to finish my piece on the Jedi Order which will be coming on it's way. Anyway let's cut the meat. 

Of all the rumors that we have seen of Episode VII, their have been some stinky ones, but none that come close to my fears of what I absolutely DO NOT want to see in the upcoming Star Wars Trilogy. This one really came close to terrorize my sanity and at the time of release and made me not want to even care about the future of Star Wars anymore. But how can I divorce myself from that? It would be like ripping a hand or something out of me. Thankfully, a well known guy from a respected Star Wars website debunked the most chilling part of the rumor. 

But anyway, here is why I consider it to be Horror Beyond Imagination, the rumor that the Inquisitors would be the villains of Episode VII, that they would try to resurrect the Sith, and that our heroes are still the Rebel Alliance and have been fighting a war for 30 years: 

1. The Prophecy of the Chosen One: Folks the truth is that whether you like this prophecy or not, it's pretty much the equivalent of Holy Trinity importance in the Star Wars universe. It's what the first six films rotated around and what arguably two of the most important arcs of the Clone Wars one way or another touched upon. This is one of the most important cruxes of the story that very few fans really understand, one which the EU certainly never did and decided to massacre it by bringing back the Emperor as a clone, having another Sith Empire take over the galaxy centuries later and so forth. So please JJ, for the love of Yoda and the Whills, DON'T BRING THEM BACK!!!!! Reducing Anakin's sacrifice to merely saving his son reduces the importance of the hero as a World Redeemer and merely makes it a family drama. It really reduces the weight and the importance of the character's act. 

2. So, Luke isn't very strong in the Force?: Here's the thing. The war between the Rebels and the Empire took about 4 years to be, in which they managed to destroy both Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, two of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. Are you seriously telling me that Luke Skywalker, a fully trained Jedi Knight, couldn't defeat a group of Force users that where probably weaker than Vader? AFTER 30 FREAKIN" YEARS? Talk about a Plot Hole the size of Jabba the Hutt. Talk about lazy and weak storytelling. 

3. What the hell was everyone Celebrating For?: So yeah, we all know that at the end of Episode VI a bunch of planets (including none other than Coruscant!) where celebrating the demise of the Empire, going so far as to bring down the statues of the Emperor and easily get rid of whatever Imperial  security was stopping them at the time. Sure, it's fairly possible the Empire didn't fall entirely, but not even in the EU did they last that long. With the Balance of the Force, it would be nice to think that the galaxy is a more peaceful and enlightened place, where war isn't breaking the toll everywhere and planets aren't getting destroyed and such. Which brings me to my next point...

4. Star Wars IS NOT meant to be a dark and depressing story at the end of the day: So you know, the generation of people in the prequels faced in the end something worse than what they could have imagined. The galaxy was left in a state of despair. But despite the fact that Star Wars deals with complex and dark issues, Star Wars has always been about seeing the goodness in people and having an optimistic outlook on life. It's very telling that when compared to many blockbusters of the last decade, Star Wars is one of the few that is life-affirming and has been for the most part, family friendly entertainment with only one film having a PG-13 rating. And contrary to many people who are so obsessed with violence and darkness, I commend George Lucas for having done that, which is something Steven Speilberg identified as what made Star Wars special, mainly it's "marvelous innocence and naivete". Making Episode VII having an apocalyptic backdrop makes the accomplishments by Luke and the Rebel Alliance worthless, ruins the beautiful ending of Jedi, and most of all isn't in accord with what Star Wars should be about. Having Luke's generation go through something just as bad, if not worse than the previous generation, is such a huge letdown and perhaps the biggest reason why the EU post Jedi was such a massive failure. 

5. OT 2.0 and so much for "Moral and Philosophical Issues": Basically what this argument amounts for is saying that if this rumor would be true, it would be basically another version of the Original films, with little regards to change the story or make it original, or even throw curveballs. It throws into question if Lucas's ideas for the Sequels are even being applied to this new series. Worst of all, it makes you think what exactly JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan have been doing for this past year writing that script, considering the fact that this plot is basically an EU fanfic. I mean, why would I even want to watch another film series about the Rebel Alliance destroying the Empire, when that is literally what we saw previously in the other trilogy?

The good news, as I guess could be said is that Eric Geller from The Force.Net was informed by an unnamed source (probably Pablo Hidalgo or someone at Lucasfilm) that the Inquisitors hell bent on resurrecting the Sith would not be the villains. However, it still leaves the Empire part of the story unknown. Several other rumors have been pointing towards the direction that an Empire, albeit changed stylistically and more modern, might be the villain of the film. This could only work within the context of the story if it is a) a New Empire inspired and created from the previous one or b) a Remnant that went into hiding until the time was right. So you know folks, let's not give up hope yet.

JJ Abrams Wants it Both Ways

So once again JJ Abrams has talked about Star Wars in an interview that was conducted recently in The Times. He had a couple of things to say about the hateboy produced "Dear JJ Abrams" video:

“I would say that (the website conveys) a feeling that we share very much… I loved how Star Wars had that sense of a world far beyond the borders of what you can see and have been told – it’s one of the things it did so brilliantly.

If you watch the first movie, you don’t actually know exactly what the Empire is trying to do. They’re going to rule by fear – but you don’t know what their end game is.

The beauty of that movie was that it was an unfamiliar world, and yet you wanted to see it expand and to see where it went.”

Any self respected Star Wars fan who reads this at first might feel like they want to cry their eyes out in a bench at their local park, but reading things further will make you reach a different conclusion.

"Abrams is eager not to criticize the more recent movies and suggests that he may need to tread a careful line not to alienate fans of the originals and the younger fans of the prequels. 

He said: A lot of kids who grew up with the prequels when they were young really do identify with those movies as much as my generation identified with the originals."

So there you have it: JJ Abrams wants it both ways. And it doesn't really surprise me. 

For starters, we realize that the hateboys count on Abrams on bringing him the Star Wars they want-which probably includes his friends Damon Lindelof and Simon Pegg. On the other hand, the younger fans (including his kids) and GL himself, are keeping a somewhat close eye to see that the film is a valid continuation of the saga. With that type of pressure, he has the unimaginable task of having to, you know, please everyone. And that obviously is something that remains to be seen until the film is released, but meanwhile, he is walking in the thin line that both sides of fandom are standing on.

Will he be able to pull it off? Nobody knows. What we do know is that if we analyze these recent comments with ones he made previously, we see the parallels and get to understand Abrams' point of view better.

Abrams: Well, I’m just a fan of "Star Wars.” As a kid, “Star Wars” was much more my thing than “Star Trek” was. If you look at the last three “Star Wars” films and what technology allowed them to do, they covered so much terrain in terms of design, locations, characters, aliens, ships — so much of the spectacle has been done and it seems like every aspect has been covered, whether it’s geography or design of culture or weather system or character or ship type. Everything has been tapped in those movies. The challenge of doing “Star Trek” — despite the fact that it existed before “Star Wars” — is that we are clearly in the shadow of what George Lucas has done.

Abrams: It's funny how in a weird way sometimes by demystifying a character it takes away from some of the fun that you felt about that character. It takes the mystery out of it. Sometimes a character is more interesting when you don't know everything about them. Even someone from my generation -- and I'm ancient compared to so many of the Star Wars fans out there -- for me the character of Darth Vader was always so compelling because you were putting together all these thing in your head and making all these assumptions, that to get to know Anakin as much as we ultimately did changed the way you consider Darth Vader. It's crazy that my kids relate to Anakin; which to me is criminal because I grew up believing Vader was a bad guy. I related to Luke and Leia and Han Solo. You just don't relate to Vader! I still think it's wrong to be on Anakin's side. So I guess there's no one character I can point to and say that I want to know more about him or her, it's just that Star Wars is so vast it would be great to find new characters that have that level of emotional intimacy.

Here, we can see that Abrams not only had admiration for the prequels in terms of the ground it covered and the places it visited, he also conveys a similar feeling of what he said about the video: primarily that he likes the idea of mystery that existed with the original films, but at the same time realizes that his kids and others relate to the characters of the prequels. 

See folks? There's nothing to worry here. I'm fairly positive Episode VII will deliver. Whether or not it will please both fandom's, is something less than likely since it seems pretty clear that he is following GL's advice, at least as far as Jett Lucas is concerned. 

On JJ Abrams and Episode VII: Take 2

The last time I talked about JJ Abrams as director of Episode VII, I was quite optimistic in his delivery of the film, saying that he understood that their children related to the newer Star Wars films, and even if he didn't like everything about them, he at least respected the films and George himself. I forgot to mention that time about how Abrams probably had not that much saying as far as the film went, since George and Michael Arndt probably figured out how most of the film would turn out long before he came on board. 

Since the picture above pretty much shows we shouldn't worry too much about him, at the same time, it's important to take notice that until very recently, George Lucas hadn't really commented that much on JJ being on board as director. Some of the news of last month point out that he is optimistic: 

“Yeah, J.J.’s a great director and we’re friends. I think he understands the whole thing and how it works.

“And if he doesn’t, Kathy [Kennedy] will keep it straight.” he added with a laugh.

As for his own involvement in the next three films, George said he won’t be doing “much.”

“If they need help or anything, they’ll give me a call,” he said. “Otherwise, I’m off on my own.”

Additionally, the legendary director said that no matter how good “Episode VII” is, there will always be critics.

“No matter how you do it, it’s a complicated cultural icon. Therefore you’re always going to be in trouble no matter what you do,” he said. “So, the best thing you can do is just plow forward and try to do the best story you can.”

What this reveals is that George's involvement in the next film will be somewhere around his involvement in Clone Wars in the sense that he gave the basic layout of the story and the rest of the crew figured it out on their own. 

It still however begs for the question of how the film will be. It would certainly anger a lot of fans if the hateboy of Simon Pegg lands his way in a role in this film. And I'm not sure about other Star Trek actors landing roles in Star Wars. As much as several of them are good, they wouldn't really work for this type of film (not to mention that JJ has to really lower down the pacing of his films). 

Besides the point it's important to note that the most notorious hateboys in the Internet, including Simon Pegg, Damon Lindelof, Mike Stoklasa (the guy behind Red Letter Media) and Mike Ryan from the Huffington Post have all been lauding about how JJ will bring back Star Wars and other BS, when these guys will likely hate this film like they hated their predecessors. As George said it before, no matter how good Episode VII is, their will always be a bunch of moronic trolls over in the Internet nitpicking over every freakin' second of the film. So I wouldn't be surprised if by 2015, these guys turn their backs on JJ and hopefully leave Star Wars for good. 

As far as what JJ brings to the table in the next Star Wars film, it's difficult to predict at this point. Not enough news has leaked about Episode VII since January when Abrams was hired as director. But now that were getting closer to shooting, I believe that we may find out more about the film, and what exactly JJ intends to do as a director. 

Simon Pegg and his annoying Star Wars bashing.

Notorious hateboy Simon Pegg has recently been interviewed about the film in which he appears, Star Trek: Into the Darkness. Of course in one of his interviews, he talked about how wonderful JJ Abrams is and how he was going to restore Star Wars to its ''former'' glory. Simon can maybe make himself more clear: 

“And I think if anyone can pull [Star Wars] out of the mire, it’s J.J. He’ll bring the fun back. Lucas seemed to misread what made the first ones great, and concentrate on things that people didn’t really care about, or wilfully ignore the things that people cared about. Whereas J.J. will embrace them all.

“We’re going to see the Millennium Falcon again. We’re going to see those characters again. All the things that we loved about the first three, we will see again."

So Simon, why is it that after getting a chance to voice Dengar in the Clone Wars, the only notorious hateboy to have done so in The Clone Wars, you bash the guy who hired you?  

Fortunately, The Bearded Trio had the guts to confront him on Twitter. This is his response:

"Please don't take it personally. I'm only angry because I care. Towing the party line would be hypocrisy.''

I don't get it. You are angry about what Simon? About the fact that Episodes I-III didn't live up to your expectations? If that's the case, you should have left Star Wars fandom a long time ago pal. Because even after you make an appearance as a voice actor in the Clone Wars, you continue to bash the creator  because ''you care'' simply doesn't make sense. If you are trying to influence the way you want Episode VII to be like, good luck pal. Millions have tried before you and they didn't succeed. Why should they now? And simply because the Millennium Falcon and the original cast are likely to return, it doesn't neccesarily mean that you are going to like it. 

The worst part of what he says is that it proves he doesn't understand Star Wars. Star Wars isn't in its mire, and you strangely didn't notice how energetic the fandom is after being part of the Clone Wars. Lucas NEVER misread what made the first ones great. Their is nothing wrong with the fact that he concentrated on topics like the midichlorians and on immortality. They were his films, after all. What did he willfully ignore? I'm sorry pal, their was no way the Millennium Falcon could have featured in any bigger role than a cameo in Sith. These episodes had to tell a different part of the story and as we know Lucas's involvement in the story of Episode VII and beyond, these ones will be different as well. 

On another note friends, we simply don't know enough about what JJ Abrams will do in the next film in order to know what his take on Star Wars will be. He apparently said in an interview that it was important that the film standed on it's own terms, and had to satisfy a bigger audience than the fans. For the most part he apparently has some respect for Episodes I-III (lets remember that his kids relate to Anakin, so he gets what the younger fanbase likes). 

Speaking about Star Trek, I will be seeing the next itineration of Into the Darkness tomorrow with my friends. I saw the first one from JJ, and I thought It was a good film. What I didn't like in particular was how fast the camera moved and you weren't very well introduced to the planets that were visited, contrary to how in Star Wars, their is a sense of setting and introduction. Overall, I don't understand why the tension between Star Trek and Star Wars fans exist. I prefer Star Wars obviously, for a series of reasons I won't go into detail right now. 

So for now, I will see the next Star Trek film in order to know more or less what can be expected from the next Star Wars film. Simon Pegg at the same time, has to stop being a basher, and a hateboy.

Happy Birthday, George Lucas!

George Lucas, the greatest filmmaker of all time, turns 69 today. I want to take this time to say, Happy Birthday to George, I really hope that you enjoy your retirement and your marriage. 

George, you created two of my favorite film series, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and certainly without those 2, our lives would be much harder to deal with. You have revolutionized the film industry in more than one way, and ultimately, you have been one of the most influential people in my life.

It's great to see that you stood up against the hateboys and did Episodes I-III the way you wanted them to be. It's also sad to think about how hard it must have been for you to have sold Lucasfilm, but I know that you made the best decision for Star Wars and for you and your family. 

So, at the end of the day, I simply want you to have a Happy Birthday George. May The Force Be With You.

The Death of the Main Villains Part 1

One of the often most criticized parts of Phantom Menace, and that of Episodes I-III in general, has to do with the appearance of the villains, in particular the Sith. The hateboys often times will go on record to say that they liked the fact that Darth Vader was a recurring villain in Episodes IV-VI, and that Darth Maul should have been the recurring villain of Episodes I-III. Here is why that was and is not a good idea. 

For starters, the idea of having Maul run away from a Padawan, just after he killed his own master, completely destroys the legitimacy of Episode I, and his own character. Maul's ''death'' brings closure to the film itself, and allows to elevate the character of Obi-Wan. A great part of the reason why I love Obi-Wan Kenobi, and why he has been my favorite Star Wars character ever  since I was a 5-year old boy who watched Phantom Menace in theaters, has to do with the fact that yes, he ''killed'' the supporting villain of the story. We obviously know that Jedi are only supposed to kill in self defense, and that is exactly what Obi-Wan did, which brings to show you how much he personifies the Jedi Code itself.

Going back to Maul, even if you find a way to keep him alive while not destroying Episode I, you still have to face the fact that it's going to be difficult for this guy to be running around from the Jedi for a decade until the Clone Wars start. He would have been more of Obi-Wan's foil than he ever was of Anakin, since well, Anakin only knew Qui-Gon for like a few days, while Qui-Gon had been Obi-Wan's father figure. Bringing Obi-Wan towards the dark side simply isn't how the story goes, nor is it in the nature of his character. And besides, a duel between Yoda and Maul simply won't work: Yoda would kick Maul's ass in five minutes similar to how Sidious kicked his ass in the Clone Wars. Having Maul die at the hands of Yoda would force Sidious to get some kind of apprentice to run the Separatists for him, and that villain would have had only minor screen time in Revenge of the Sith. So in the end, it was a wise choice to have Maul ''die'' in Episode I, and have Count Dooku be the villain later on. 

In Part 2 of this series, I will discuss about Maul's return in the Clone Wars, and how his return is different from that of other Star Wars characters. I will see if I can also talk about why Count Dooku is a great Star Wars villain. 

The Top 100 Greatest Star Wars characters- 100-91

I wanted to create a list of what I personally considered to be the Top 100 Greatest Star Wars Characters. This particularly came to my mind once I saw the Top 100 Star Wars Characters in IGN and I noticed the prevalence that the EU and Episodes IV-VI had over the Clone Wars and Episodes I-III was astonishing. It seemed to me as if they were pleasing the hateboy nation by NOT including Jar Jar, and such. So, in order to bring more justice to this ranking, I decided to create my own, one in which the characters of both trilogies are of equal consideration, and have a level of prevalence to the Clone Wars, due to the fact that well, they ARE the films. One thing you will not see here will be EU characters set in the times of the Old Republic and characters set after Return of the Jedi. I want to concentrate on the time-period close to the films as much as possible.

Anyway, it is very likely that you will not find some characters that maybe you think deserve to be on the list, and others that you think don't deserve to be in it at all. And even though this is a personal list, I in no way tried to be biased by my favorite characters and such when making up this list, but tried to follow them more on story importance and other factors. If you disagree with any ranking, feel free to discuss it here, respectfully of course.

The Style and Tone of the next Star Wars films

One of the biggest questions that come up with Episode VII and beyond, have to do with how the style and tone of the next films will be. And this question folks, may be one of the most important. Let me explain why. 

Pretty much ever since this film was announced, several fans have wanted the next trilogy of Star Wars to be basically, a repeating formula of the Original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back on steroids. Even in this article from USA Today, the presence of that feeling is evidently clear: 

''"Abrams is a better marketer than he is a filmmaker, and he has very specific ideas about how to market his stuff," Faraci explains. "They will want to re-assure audiences that Abrams is doing old-school Star Wars, not the prequels, and they'll need to release lots of information for that to happen.''''

This is the stuff I talk about, folks. About the moronic hateboys who call themselves ''Star Wars fans'' but don't like half of the films in the saga, and who don't even understand what Star Wars is about. A particular portion of the Star Wars fans, ACTUAL fans who also have blogs similar to mine, have shared the fear that Lucasfilm ''postponed the release of Episodes II and III because everything else that is coming now will pretend as if Episodes I-III never happened.'' While I understand their paranoia, at the same time, the hateboys dream is not likely to come true. Here are the reasons why: 

George Lucas cemented early in the making of Star Wars that each trilogy would encompass different themes. Episodes I-III were going to be mainly about politics, Episodes IV-VI about a hero's journey and Episodes VII-IX would be about moral and philosophical problems. Already two-thirds of this statement has become true. Episodes I-III, besides focusing on Anakin's transformation into Vader, focused on how the Sith, in particular Palpatine, managed to manipulate a series of events in the galaxy that leaded him to go from Senator to Chancellor and eventually, as Emperor. Episodes IV-VI focused on the journey of Luke Skywalker, from a simple farm boy to a Jedi Knight, while at the same dealing with Darth Vader's redemption. Perhaps the single biggest thing we know about the next trilogy is that, since the story treatments will come from George, he will likely stem the details and the story from this general idea. So, at the end of the day, the next series of Star Wars films will be neither the originals nor the prequels, they will be the sequels. They will be their own thing. What moral and philosophical problems will the films center on, is the question. 

In fact, if you were to ask me simply based on the general idea of what the films will be about, I would say that the most interesting of all the topics would be the one of the final trilogy. So, who knows, only time will tell if it lives up to being part of the same universe we have grown to love in Star Wars, but at the same time, be unique and tell a different story.

JJ Abrams will direct Episode VII

Well, my friends. The wait is finally over. Lightning has struck. 

After months of speculation, Lucasfilm has announced that JJ Abrams will be the director of the 7th episode of Star Wars. 

I think I need to know more about what exactly is going on, in terms of story development and such, to know for sure if this was a good move. Besides the fact that I absolutely hated Cloverfield, according to our friend Lazy Padawan from the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society, Abrams has said before that he didn't like the prequels. Of course, I am not sure of the legitimacy of such claims, for two reasons. First, it doesn't make sense that George Lucas would hire a director to run his beloved Star Wars, if he has no respect at all for half of the franchise. Second, according to a recent interview from Grantland, his relationship to Episodes I-III isn't neccessarily that he hates them: 

''Abrams’s life spans Star Wars’ originals-prequels divide. Born in 1966, Abrams grew up “basically relating to Luke Skywalker,” and thought of Darth Vader as “evil incarnate.” His kids, however, grew up with the prequels. They related to Anakin. “If you had said during Christmas of ‘77 that when I had kids they’re going to be raised by Darth Vader,” Abrams said, “I would never have believed you.”

“The lessons I’ve learned from George, as a filmgoer, that have informed how I approach movies, as a filmmaker, are legion,” he continued.''

This clearly shows that Abrams has not only great respect for George but also has some understanding of the fact that their is a generation of people (including myself and Abrams kids) how grew up with the prequels and realizes how important both are to the franchise. He may not like certain aspects of the films, which is perfectly understandable, but saying that he ''doesn't like them'' is a bit of a stretch. 

On the other hand, he realizes he is going to have to deal with the hateboy nation's rage at some point: 

''What were the lessons of the Lucas vs. fanboydom? I asked.

“I think that you can’t always please everyone,” Abrams said. “And it is for me a heartening lesson to see that George has had his battles before, during, and after making films. When you see that you can’t please everyone, that includes studios, actors, the audience ... You’re always trying to do the best you can.”

The Star Wars people were pretty brutal, I said.

“It’s like, please,” Abrams said. “You’re having this conversation because the Force is with you.” Now — allegedly — it’s with him.''

The good thing about all of this, is that not only does Kathleen Kennedy have the support for Abrams, but also the support of Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood and Dennis Muren, all of whom have worked on previous Star Wars films, whom apparently will work in the next Star Wars film as well. This gives me optimism in the sense that the next Star Wars films will be worked by the guys who made the previous 3-6, although I would like more guys to return for the next film(s) such as John Knoll. 

More importantly however, than who will direct the next film, is the plot. And as far as that goes, the  future remains impossible to see. The dark side of the force clouds everything. 

Hopefully, if they start casting soon, we will get an idea of who is coming back, who is new, the time period it will take place, and somewhere along the way, we have to know how it will adhere to the next six films, and whether or not it will continue the established Expanded Universe (highly unlikely). 

Adressing the Hateboy Nation

One of the main reasons I founded this site was due to an inspiration I saw within a series of fellow Star Wars fans, particularly owners of certain Star Wars fan blogs, into defending Star Wars from the hateboy nation, who have done nothing but ruin the fun of Star Wars for the rest of the fans who like it. Their hatred for anything George Lucas has done ever since 1997 is something unparalleled in movie history, which is rather sad considering the fact that the Star Wars Saga is arguably the greatest film saga ever made. It's sad considering the fact that Star Wars was the pursuit of one man's dream into creating a film without the influence of movie corporations thumbing over every decision he made.

Now that where getting a new set of Star Wars films over the next decade, speculation has been gone wild ever since October 30th. One of the most famous hateboys, or hategirls in this case of the Internet,  Alyssa Rosenberg, apparently was pretty dismissive of Steven Spielberg directing the next Star Wars film (which he isn't going to by the way):

 "After George Lucas, Spielberg is probably the most 'Star Wars'-knowledgeable filmmaker out there. I imagine that few others have as much insight into what Lucas originally conceived for 'Star Wars' than Spielberg. That's not good. The most exciting thing about Disney purchasing Lucasfilm is the prospect of evolving the 'Star Wars' franchise with some new creative energy, and Spielberg doesn't bring that."

So, Miss Rosenberg, please tell us what would you consider as ''new creative energy''? Perhaps a peak at her own website will allow us to see what she means:

While this opens up a new chapter in the cinematic development of the Star Wars universe, that doesn’t mean Disney will be flying off into uncharted territory. The Star Wars Expanded Universe includes a huge number of licensed books (not to mention video games, comic books, graphic novels, and animated television series) that lay out the story of the franchise’s main characters, and in some cases, their distant descendants. Given that Disney will need to woo legions of long-term fans who love the larger Star Wars universe and were burned to greater or lesser extents by the awfulness of the prequels, and will certainly want to keep monetizing the expanded universe, I expect they’ll preserve that continuity. The question is just which stories they decide to use as source material.

Oooh, how surprising. So, according to Miss Rosenberg, the ''new creative energy'' should be adapting an EU novel into a film? Tell ya what: IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.Here's the reason(s) why: 

It has been confirmed by Disney and Lucasfilm that Episode VII will be an ''Original Story''.

 ''And now there have been novels about the events after Episode VI, which isn't at all what I would have done with it. The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story. Once Vader dies, he doesn't come back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned and Luke doesn't get married..."-George Lucas

The good news, is that contrary to what hateboy nation wants, the next set of Star Wars films, will be made according to the vision of George Lucas and his story treatments, and they might not fit into the picture of what everyone thinks it should be. As hategirl Alyssa pointed out, Spielberg knows very well what vision George has for the next film, and sadly he won't be involved. It is only just for the man who created the whole thing to pass on the next set of films to a person(s) who will stay true to his vision, just like how Dave Filoni has stayed true to George's vision of the Clone Wars . Even Timothy Zahn, the writer of much of the bulk of the EU post-ROTJ, has said that if George gets the EU out of the way in order to make the next set of films, he is fine with it. I accept the next treatment of Star Wars films for what they will be, even if I don't agree 100% with everything. 

Oh, and another thing, why do you generalize about how the fans were supposedly ''burned'' by the ''awfullness of the prequels''? If so many people hated those films, then why did Episode I as it got released in 3D, make 103 million dollars?