Loose Lips Sink Starships

The last time I wrote on this blog was on the leading up to the release of Force Awakens- Obviously, in the near 3 year-gap that has occurred since I wrote here, much has changed with Star Wars and Disney (and rather dramatically I may say). While I could go in the future and talk about the positive, today I'd rather discuss a disturbing turn of events that has taken place in this very medium...

Hayden Christensen to return as Anakin?

Thanks to a blog dedicated to Hayden Christensen we managed to find out that Lucasfilm has been promoting the Saga via China's CCTV-6  channel in a special 30 minute interview with Hayden Christensen and Anthony Daniels (voice of C-3PO). George Lucas, JJ Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy and a couple of others make appearances in that and other videos that can be found in the link below: http://www.m1905.com/video/play/728583.shtml 

Besides the fact that it's great to see Hayden again talking about Star Wars, it also brings to mind a couple of other things that are going on inside the mind of Lucasfilm. As China has become an increasingly more important country in terms of box office results, this special was probably a move by Lucasfilm in order to bring the Chinese up to the hype of Episode VII and get those who haven't seen the films interested about it. And what better way to introduce Star Wars than to bring the main character into this special? 

Despite the fact that Hayden said his appearance in the upcoming film was "unlikely" let's remember also that JJ Abrams denied his involvement in Episode VII only to later appear as director 2 months later...so how knows? 

So even if Hayden doesn't make an appearance in Episode VII, it's good to see that Lucasfilm hasn't forgotten of seeing the importance of the saga as a whole, despite what some may be led to believe. And who's to say that we won't see Hayden again as Anakin in the future? 

The Lucasfilm Story Group

One thing that recently hit waves within fandom was a series of tweets that Leland Chee sent talking about how canon would be handled as things move forward. He basically said that what is determined as canon will now be decided by a group known as the Lucasfilm Story Group of which Leland and Pablo Hidalgo are members of. Now that George is retired it will seek to eliminate the hierarchy that currently exists and give everything the same level of canonicity. 

Of course, many interpretations could be given to this, and many people have already given ridiculous reactions to this set of news. But their are a couple of things we can know from the new Lucasfilm Story Group: 

1. Their creating some sort of master story plan: At the end of the day, what this all bogs down to is that most of the future content that comes out of Star Wars will be created by them. This will obviously eliminate the possibility of EU writers going into whatever direction they want, and giving us sometimes disastrous decisions in return. It will create a more cohesive version of the universe and one that doesn't fall apart the way the previous one did with its contradictions and over saturation. 

2. Various Unknowns will now determine the future of Star Wars canon: Let's face it, the problem with this is that many are uncomfortable with the idea of someone new dealing with Star Wars canon, but it's somewhat safe to assume that guys like Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg could be a part of the Story Group.  In that case, we can be sure that much of the integrity of Star Wars will be repsected far into the future. 

It's too early to tell how exactly this is going to impact everything but it's still safe to assume that a big chunk of the EU is going by the wayside (and some still are in denial about it). 

The End of Dark Horse

As was predicted since the acquisition of Star Wars by Disney, Marvel is now going to be the helm of all comic books Star Wars starting in 2015. Dark Horse will be allowed to end it's current wave of comic books this year, and as stated by Big Shiny Robot, it is currently unclear if Disney will purchase the rights to reprint the comics made by Dark Horse.

Many fans were seemingly upset about the whole thing, despite the fact that it was something almost everyone saw coming (including myself). Personally, it's something that doesn't really affect me as a fan.

For starters, I never grew up reading comic books, and I was never really around them. Part of it has to do with my lack of interest in superheroes, but it also stems from the fact that Dark Horse failed to impress me as far as Star Wars is concerned. Not only because of the crappy storylines that were utterly predictable, boring and a 100% ignorance of the mythology of Star Wars (I'm looking right at you, Dark Empire and Legacy!) but also because the artwork was largely devoid of any resemblance to the characters of the films.

Of course, I'm the first to admit that I haven't seen everything these guys made with Star Wars, so there might be a few gems I'm not really aware of. One of the few things that Dark Horse published and that I have to say they've done a magnificent job with is the adaptation of George Lucas's first rough draft of Star Wars. Mike Mayhew's artwork is absolutely fantastic, and I think that they've really captured the essential origins of Star Wars before it even turned into a film.

However, before Dark Horse steps away from producing comics for Lucasfilm, they will produce a 4 part adaptation of what would have been the final Darth Maul arc of the Clone Wars. The series will be titled Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir and will likely end the arc of the character, once and for all. I still think that the fans should petition to see this adapted to the screen someday. Let's revive the Save the Clone Wars campaign folks!

We can conclude the end of Dark Horse by saying that the future of Star Wars comics remains uncertain (I've heard many complain about Marvel but like I said, I have little knowledge into anything superhero-related). But we can also be optimistic because the stories that will be adapted into comics will likely come from the Lucasfilm Story Group (more on that in a later post), so it's possible that we won't see weak stories developed into comics in the future.

The Future of Indiana Jones

Jedi News reported in early December that Disney had managed to acquire the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise from Paramount, whom will still receive a financial participation from any Indy film that comes out in the future. 

This was accompanied later by a couple of statements from Alan Horn, Disney's Chairman, whom had the following to say about our favorite archaeologist. 

Disney's Alan Horn on Indiana Jones: "We need a story." Guesses it will be another two to three years before we see a fifth movie.

“There will surely be new Indiana Jones movies in the future, be they sequels or reboots, and when they do come to fruition, Lucasfilm will be producing.”

Around the same time, producer of the last 4 Indy films Frank Marshall gave an interested tweet saying that it was "A bit strange sitting in the Indiana Jones office in the Lucasfilm office on the Disney lot, but I'm sure I'll get used to it." 

Of course, it's anyone's guess what exactly this tweet means, but it's probably a safe bet to assume that Frank Marshall is back as producer of the next Indy film which is only a few years away. Having another adventure with Harrison Ford back in the hat would be a delight, but it also begs to question if Spielberg and Lucas will return as they are both essential to the franchise. 

Having a 5th Indy is honestly not surprising nor anything bad to be honest, since in the original contract with Paramount Pictures, we were meant to have 5 Indiana Jones films, so it would be nice for the dream to finally be fulfilled and have one final adventure with Harrison sporting the hat before he gets too old. 

What worries me though is the idea of a "reboot". A reboot in the James Bond style isn't desirable and is something that would have unimaginable fan backlash, given the hater culture that currently exists today. It would be almost impossible to accept another actor as Indy, given the fact that Harrison has been Indy for the best of 4 decades now, when each James Bond had only a decade to be Bond. So while James Bond is more open to interpretation, Indy is more tied to a particular time period and a particular actor.

The best way for a future for Indy under Disney would be to fill in the gaps between The Indiana Jones Chronicles and the films with different actor(s) and could be interpreted via animated series or films with younger actors. Even a series of Mutt Williams films would be possible, even if some folks may not like Shia LaBeouf. I know I do. 

Casting Call from Episode VII Confirmed

Bryan Young from Big Shiny Robot and Eric Geller from TheForce.Net have officially confirmed after contact with a Lucasfilm employee that the casting call the website Schmoes Know leaked is the one from Episode VII. It's one of the very few rumors confirmed to be true of the film. 

Let's take a look at it: 

Tuesday, Jun. 18, 2013, 9:00 AM Pacific UNTITLED STUDIO FEATURE Feature Film Walt Disney Pictures/LucasFilm/Bad Robot SAG-AFTRA		Executive Producer: Tommy Harper Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk Director: JJ Abrams Writers: Michael Arndt Casting Directors: April Webster, Alyssa Weisberg & Nina Gold Casting Associate: Jessica Sherman Casting Assistant: Rachel Dill Start Date: Early 2014 Location: UK
SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY ASAP VIA BREAKDOWNS! ABSOLUTELY NO PHONE CALLS OR EMAIL PITCHES PLEASE!!!!

[YOUNG MAN] Early 20s.  Not classically handsome.  He is witty and smart.  Physically fit. [MAN] Late 20s.  Physically fit, handsome and confident. [YOUNG WOMAN] Late teens.  Physically fit, independent and with a great sense of humor. [YOUNG WOMAN #2] Late teens.  Tough, smart, physically fit. [MAN - 40S] Physically fit, military type. [MAN - 30ISH] An intellectual. [MAN - 65-75] Tough and opinionated.

We can infer a couple of things from this casting call:

1. The story treatments and characters likely came from George Lucas, given the fact that none of those descriptions fit already established EU characters.

2. The EU post ROTJ is essentially toast at this point. Not only do none of those descriptions fit the children of Leia and Han Solo, but also none of them fit the description of Luke's wife, Mara Jade. It is either because they have already cast an actor to play the role of Luke's wife (be Mara Jade or not), she is not going to show up in the film (either Luke is single or a widow) or her character's description is simply not on the casting call.

This is good news I guess, in the sense that the EU won't be a determining factor in the plot and story of the films, and is instead a product of George Lucas's imagination and possibly Michael Arndt. Here we only have 7 roles on a movie that will likely have as cast leading roles of anywhere from 12-19 actors. With Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford having all but confirmed their roles, and with the extremely likely possibility of the Droids being back, including maybe Peter Mayhew and Billy Dee Williams, we have approximately 14 characters in the can. So, from the looks of things, Mara Jade is not likely to be in the film.

However, their is one thing that worries me from the casting call, at it's the fact that their is no female role that could be considered for the Nightsisters. So it does beg the question: Who the hell is going to be the villain? A Sith can't be, or else you are destroying the purpose of the previous films. Something's got a give folks. At the same time, we don't know if they have already cast the female villain that would be the role of the head Nightsister.

Let's just hope that the villain issue is figured out, and that somehow, in someway, we are NOT throwing out the Prophecy of the Chosen One out the window. Or else, Michael Arndt and JJ have some explaining to do.

Does anyone have any idea of a male villain that could work and NOT be a Sith? Share your thoughts. 

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is an excellent film. Perhaps the best of the prequel trilogy. No really, it is. No apologies to the hateboys.

George Lucas decided to start writing the new Star Wars trilogy on November 1, 1994. The screenplay was adapted from a 15-page outline written in 1976. Ultimately he was aiming for a story set in the same universe as Episodes IV, V and VI, but he obviously needed to tell it from a different point of view. The same thing that inspired him to make the previous films helped make this one. 

We are introduced to the source of evil that manages to manipulate the events of the entire saga. Although explained in greater detail in Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, We learn that Palpatine secretly the evil Sith Lord Darth Sidious is instigating an evil, very evil plan that has been in the making for a millenia: To crown himself as ruler of the galaxy, and destroy democracy and the Jedi Order from within. This film makes it much more clear that the ''Wars'' in the ''Star Wars'' title is far more than simply droids vs Gungans, droids vs clone troopers and stormtroopers vs rebels: The real fight is between the cosmic forces of the dark side and light side of the force, more specifically, the most powerful users of each, the Jedi and the Sith.

The Jedi are at their height, but at the same time, they have little understanding of who or what is behind the Trade Federations motivation to invade Naboo. After a short, but intense confrontation between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul, Qui-Gon comes to the unequivocal conclusion that the mysterious tattooed zabrak warrior is indeed a Sith Lord. The Jedi Council at that moment, realizes that this trade blockade, is much more serious than they had first thought. Ultimately, they know it's a Sith who was behind everything, they just don't know which Sith.

That's when we turn to Palpatine. He has only one goal in the entire film: to go from being Senator of Naboo to Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. Queen Amidala, as said by Sidious himself is ''young and naive'' and will do what it takes to save her people. Sadly, saving her people ended up making possible a scenario beyond the worst fears of any of the heroes.

Despite the mysterious dark forces that are conspiring against our heroes, hence the title ''The Phantom Menace'', the galaxy still has hope of being saved, by none other than the hands of a 9-year old slave  named Anakin Skywalker, whom lives with his mother in the backwater and hostile desert world of Tatooine.

Qui-Gon is the Jedi who realizes not only that the Sith are behind the entire blockade, but that this boy is the prophecied ''Chosen One''- an ancient Jedi prophecy that spoke of a being that would bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith. The rest of the Jedi Council is nevertheless skeptical of Qui-Gon's claims, fearing instead the clouded future that is in store, and not realizing that they could have stopped this menace if their minds had been on the ''here and now''. It does bring to question what would have happened had Qui-Gon not died at the hands of Darth Maul. Would he have stopped young Anakin from becoming the fearsome Darth Vader? Would he have seen that Palpatine was a soul of irreparable evil that really didn't have the best interest of the people? The only thing that we know for sure is that Qui-Gon knew the outcome of the entire thing before it had even begun.

The beauty of Phantom Menace lies on the fact that it deals with an incredibly evil plot from the side of the villain, yet it tells a relatively straightforward and fun adventure. That is perhaps one of Lucas's greatest gifts: despite the fact that Star Wars deals with complex and dark themes, it ultimately is a story that is engulfed with a hopeful and positive message. Few other franchises manage to have that chemistry and in fact, most tend to slip towards the side of darkness too far in.

The story introduces us to great villains, Sidious and Maul, a wise and powerful mentor, Qui-Gon, a arrogant yet far more mature for his age Obi-Wan Kenobi, a beautiful and strong willed Queen Amidala, a young and nice Anakin and the stooge that is Jar Jar Binks. I do have to admit however, that Obi-Wan became my favorite Star Wars character when I first watched this film in 1999, primarily at that point because he defeated Darth Maul. Nowadays, my reasoning is more complex.

Ultimately, we all knew that Phantom Menace was going to be huge from the day it got announced, even if today a portion of Star Wars ''fans'' (hateboys), apparently have nothing better to do and continue to bash a film they should have moved on from a long time ago.

For the fans who actually liked this film, and to the new generation that was introduced to Star Wars by this film (including myself), Phantom Menace stands as proof that Star Wars is a multi-generational film saga, something that can't be said for other franchises.

Finest Moments of the Film:

1. The beginning of the film: When Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon talk about the Living Force, and Nute Gunray, petrified, talks to Sidious about the Jedi who have come as ambassadors. The action that follows sets the film to a great start.

2. The introduction to the underwater city of Otoh Gunga. Truly one of those Star Wars moments when you ''experience the wonder''.

3. The Podrace. One of the most memorable moments of the saga.

4. Anakin's farewell to his mother Shmi. It stands out as one of the saddest moments of the film, and also one of the most tragic in retrospect, if we know what happens later.

5. The Duel with Darth Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Probably the best lightsaber fight of all six films.

Rating: 10/10

Star Wars, the Road to Hell and Heaven

Friends, this past couple of weeks have been largely insane in terms of the amount of things I have to do in order to graduate (the reason why I haven't written since God-knows when), and the shockwaves that have hit the Star Wars community. They have been in a mix: some have been good others have been bad, and others ugly. Let's take a look folks at what has happened, now that I have the first day off since...well spring break.

For starters, Rumors went on and off about layoffs in Lucasfilm Animaton, Lucas Arts, and about how much ''bonus content'' of the Clone Wars might get released. The pessimistic Star Wars fans basically painted Disney like an evil corporation alla Koch Brothers, Exxon Mobil type of guys, whom we're going to destroy Star Wars and everything left in Lucasfilm. While they have been partially right about it for a couple of things, the ''I Told You So'' type of attitude doesn't really help, and it only fervents the anger of some folks. 

Disney did fire some folks at Lucasfilm Animation, how many we do not know, and well Lucas Arts is now for licensing only. Still that DOES NOT mean that Detours, the remaining Bonus Content of The Clone Wars and the videogame 1313 won't see the light of day. On the contrary, the possibility still remains for all of them to be released in some way, shape or form. 

On another note, Dave Filoni is going to helm the upcoming animated series coming from Lucasfilm Animation, so that should leave fans hopeful. Let's not forget that way back in Celebration VI, Dave Filoni said that he was being prepared in order to continue the creative part of Star Wars once George passes further into retirement. We will have to wait and see if the fate of Darth Maul, and that of other characters is sealed with the remaining bonus content. 

Let's also remember the good things that have come out of Star Wars recently... The original Star Wars story treatment from 1973 will be turned into a comic book, Return of the Jedi will celebrate 30 years on May 25, ''Kenobi'' the novel about Obi-Wan during the dark times recently got a blurb, and JJ Abrams plans on having John Williams score Episode 7!! Exciting friends. 

So, dear readers, please even if you are going through hell, do not loose hope on Star Wars. Because great things are coming right next door. 

And, another thing...a late May the 4th Be With You, and also Happy Revenge of the 5th. ;)

Top Star Wars Characters 70-61

Sorry folks, but I have been extremely busy lately and I haven't made it back to this blog in a while.In order to calm our own minds from Disney's not very wise decisions that are rumored to be occurring regarding the Clone Wars and the destruction of Lucas Arts, I now have the list of Greatest Star Wars Characters 70-61. Enjoy folks.

To see previous parts of the Top 100 characters, click here: http://thestarwarsdefender.blogspot.com/2013/03/top-100-star-wars-characters-80-71.html
here:http://thestarwarsdefender.blogspot.com/2013/02/top-100-star-wars-characters-90-81.html
and here:http://thestarwarsdefender.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-top-100-greatest-star-wars.html

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.

Lucasfilm postpones Episodes II and III release date in 3D

Well my friends. Some fans in the internet are angry, myself worried. See for yourself.

FOCUSING ON STAR WARS: EPISODE VII, LUCASFILM POSTPONES EPISODES II AND III 3D

January 28, 2013

Lucasfilm has decided to postpone this fall's scheduled release of Star Wars Episodes II and III in 3D. Given the recent development that we are moving forward with a new Star Wars trilogy, we will now focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: Episode VII in order to ensure the best possible experience for our fans. We will post further information about our 3D release plans at a later date.

The question rages on: are they trying to ignore Ep. I-III now that Disney bought Star Wars? I sure hope not. I sure hope that George Lucas has protected his art sufficiently well to prevent that from happening. And I really hope that it is postponement, NOT cancellation. 

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). 

ABC considering a Star Wars live-action series

Well, my friends, now that Disney owns Star Wars, the prospects of the live-action show have moved from HBO to ABC. ABC is apparently interested in making a Star Wars show, whether it's the live-action show currently on hold because of budget costs or another live-action show involving the Star Wars universe.

The show is undeniably going to get a bigger audience now that it's going to be possibly broadcasted on ABC, but still, I'm not sure what those 50 scripts that are already written will be exactly about. The show is meant to portray the Star Wars Underworld, since I believe that is even the title of the show, and is set to take place between Episodes III and IV. The only character confirmed to be on the show for now will be Boba Fett, and apparently the Main characters won't be the focus of the show. They might go on and explore characters like Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, Hondo or even Bossk in this show, so it might turn out to be quite interesting. For that we will have to wait and see.

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? 

The Clone Wars: 100 Episodes

I honestly don't think that anybody even imagined- let alone dreamed off.-the kinds of things we have seen in the 100 Episodes of the Clone Wars,way back in August of 2008, when the Clone Wars film was released. The movie received mostly negative reviews from movie critics, for mostly unfair reasons, and few people thought the show would be much of anything or that it would ever take off. Ahsoka's character was hated by a lot people, (something the actress who portrayed her, Ashley Eckstein was aware off) and the hateboy nation criticized George Lucas for supposedly, exploiting the franchise. It was a dark time for Star Wars, indeed. But I kept my faith in George. I was one of the few who thought the movie had been great, and was looking forward to when the series would air.

After seeing the past four seasons, and the first half of the second season, I can honestly say that I have seen one of the best shows on TV that I have seen in my life.Every season has gotten better and better in visuals, in storytelling, in the inclusion of new characters that are now fan favorites, etc. Dave Filoni has done a tremendous job at portraying Star Wars for a whole new generation of kids, while at the same time staying true to the vision of the man himself, George Lucas. I look forward to seeing the rest of the show, and to see how this will eventually fit in to the events of Revenge of the Sith.

On an ending note, besides the fact that I want to congratulate everyone who has made the show possible: From George, Dave, the amazing crew of actors, the designers, and everyone else in Lucasfilm involved in the story, I also want to share a quote said by Dave Filoni a couple of days ago:

"These characters are meant to go along with these movies … who knows if it will show up in future movies" 

A couple of things we can infer from this statement: 1. The next set of Star Wars films probably won't be directed by Dave Filoni, which, saddens me. 2. He isn't aware of the story, so almost no one knows it. 3.Ahsoka might show up in the next Star Wars film, or some other Star Wars character introduced in TCW. Keep your fingers crossed people!!!!!

My Biggest Fear Part 2

One morning, I believe it was the first of November or so, My friends were asking me about what I thought of the upcoming Star Wars Episode 7. I told them that I was worried that the movie might end up screwing up everything, and one of my friends went ahead and decided to say, ''they can't screw it up like they did in the Prequels. Doing it more horrible than that is almost impossible''. Obviously I ignored his blatantly ignorant comment, since in all honesty, the arguments of why the Prequels were bad are so filled with nonsense, that they get to the point of annoyance. If any of you don't like the prequels I respect your opinion, but seriously, don't bring up arguments about Jar Jar Binks, or the acting, or anything subjective that has been said over a million times before. 

Anyway, the main reason why I feared for my life the EU being adapted into the Sequel Trilogy is pretty simple: Those stories depress the heck out of me, and honestly they have so many plot holes and bad stories in them that if they were to be adapted into the movies, I would probably not even show up at the theatre. The stories depicted in the books, comics, video games and other media set after Return of the Jedi, Are in general stories that aim at violating the fundamental principles of Star Wars that George Lucas set up in the first place. 

The prophecy of the Chosen One, as said by the movies and by George Lucas himself in the commentaries of the DVD's in Revenge of the Sith, explained that even after Anakin turned himself into the Sith Lord Darth Vader, that he indeed fulfilled the prophecy by destroying the Emperor and himself, and therefore, the Sith were set to be destroyed. Which pretty much means that the Sith should not come back. But hey, they did in the comic series Dark Empire, in which Palpatine is reborn in a clone of his and Luke turns to the dark side!! So much for the prophecy. 

And anyway not only does Emperor Palpatine come back, but so do the Sith in general, I don't know how, in the stories and books that follow starting with Han and Leia's oldest son. So pretty much that is enough to have gotten plenty of fans of the movies (guys like me) extremely angry. Not only that, but the fact that the Empire somehow never collapsed (don't ask me) and somehow stormtroopers are running around well after the destruction of the Death Star in Endor. Why didn't they sign an armistice, for crying out loud? 

I don't think that going further into all of this is actually going to satisfy anyone and it will only upset me even more. Their is one more point I would like to make anyway: 

I don't hate entirely the EU. I think that a lot of the things that appear in this books are very interesting, but in particular the interesting stories are the ones which are set either in-between or before the movies do to the fact that George Lucas vision is far more closely seen and it's somewhat significantly valued. I don't see that in the EU set after Episode 6. I've never read any of it, but simply by taking a glimpse at Wookieepedia to see what it was about is enough to have depressed me for a long time. 

For a long time I was happy about the fact that their would be no Sequel Trilogy, and that apparently if George Lucas hasn't changed his mind, then perhaps, we won't see any of these fetid feces adapted into any movies: 

 "I've left pretty explicit instructions for there not to be any more features. There will definitely be no Episodes VII–IX. That's because there isn't any story. I mean, I never thought of anything. 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, Total Film, May 2008.

The good news that came out recently, is that, As I said before, Lucasfilm and Disney have apparently both confirmed that the next series of movies won't be based out of any work in the EU, but will instead be an ''original story''. 

The only thing that I think still floats inside my mind like a gigantic question mark is what will happen then to Heir to the Empire, and all of those books and comics made in that time period? Will they be deemed as non-canon, in order to give space to what actually happens in the movies? Or will they end up creating an alternative universe, in which all of these stories are considered canon but simply are all automatically divided into two universes, one in which all the EU stories before this decision of new movies finds itself, and the other in which the movies and related content to those movies take place? The latter I think would be a best choice since it wouldn't get as many EU fans angry as would the other choice, and it would allow for much more space and freedom for George Lucas to set up those stories like they were originally intended it to be, not what the EU intended it to be in the first place.

Future updates and continuous speculation will come as we get more information.

My Biggest Fear Part 1

I remember that it was a normal Tuesday afternoon, the day before Halloween. I had been reading on my bus that day, the continuous blog posts that the keeper of the Holocron Leland Chee had been adding which listed the show of Star Wars: The Clone Wars in chronological order. I was worried about the fact that my Senior class had decided to dress up as clowns for Halloween, and since I hated clowns, I wasn't sure If I would present myself for Halloween the following day at school. But then, something happened when I opened Twitter that day. Something that would change my life.

I clicked on the link of the tweet without reading exactly what it said, something about 2015 and Disney and Lucasfilm... When I realized it, I was in the fan-based blog TheForce.Net and I was looking at a picture of Disney's CEO Bob Iger shaking hands with George Lucas. Then I happened to read what the post and the picture was all about:

Disney Buying Lucasfilm, Plans New Star Wars Film 

When I first saw all of this and the long thread that followed, talking about the deal and everything, I could not believe what I was seeing. I literally thought that this was some kind of April Fool's Day Thing, and that it wasn't real. Then I went to check on Google-the News was basically everywhere. I literally had to re-check everything to see if it wasn't some kind of joke. I thought that this was all some kind of nightmare and it wasn't true that this has to be some kind of dream. But no. It was all too damn real. I spend the next few days trying to figure out what the deal exactly meant.The worst part of all of this is that  I came to realize, that my worst fear, now had the possibility of becoming a reality: That the stories told in the Star Wars Expanded Universe would end up adapted into a new trilogy of Star Wars films. 

My mind had, for a very long time, settled with the idea that Star Wars was meant to be a Six-part movie series, and that the end in Return of the Jedi, with the Ewoks, the redeemed Anakin Skywalker and the victorious Rebel Alliance was all their would be and that they would live happily ever after. Now I know, that it isn't the end of the story, and that the beautiful ending was only truly the ending for the first six films.  

Thankfully as has been confirmed by Lucasfilm and Disney, the next set of Star Wars films will be an original story, and they won't be based on the books and comics that took place in that time period. In a later post, I will explain why the adaptation of these novels and comics, was and in some ways still is my biggest fear for Star Wars.