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 future of Star Wars: Are we headed for doom?

Is Star Wars heading for a nasty place???

Folks, as Mace Windu once said, our worst fears have been realized. The Clone Wars as a television show, has been cancelled.

It was a ride I never thought I would see, way back in 2008 when this all started. And after 5 great years in which the show kept getting better and better, it's sad this all bogged down to this. After the emotional ending of Season 5, I had been so moved that for some  reason, I wasn't shocked when I saw the news that The Clone Wars was ending. For some reason, I kind off saw that coming.

Ultimately, the only logical explanation as to why this happened, bogs down to the fact that Papa George is no longer running the company he once made. The Disney executives figured out that they didn't want a distraction to be in place when Episode VII gets released, so they decided to cancel the show. Not only that, but also Detours is getting moved into a future release, proving that the whole ''Disney hates the prequels'' is pure nonesense.

At the same time, all of this gives reason for pessimism, despite how optimistic the crew of the CW might sound, on the future of the franchise. Even though we are going to get a couple of more arcs (like the Anakin, Clovis, and Padme one) released in some way, shape or form, it does bring to question: Will the arcs be able to conclude the fates of Ahsoka, Rex, Darth Maul, Ventress and Bo-Katan? Even though the show managed to break through the 100 episode goal, I feel as if it could have accomplished so much more. All of things brings down to the fact, that as I mentioned earlier, the future of Star Wars is uncertain and not looking very good under the wing of a corporate animal.

I really hope that at the same time I am writing this piece, that George Lucas is simultaneously in Skywalker Ranch sitting with Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt, Simon Kilberg and JJ Abrams, telling them that they can't go ahead and screw up the next trilogy of Star Wars. I hope he is telling them that they need to keep the prophecy of the Chosen One and NOT include a Sith as a villain, that in his view, peace has existed in the galaxy since the Battle of Endor, and so on. Or else folks, if this next installment does not adhere to the vision of the man himself, and is instead thumb nosed by Disney executives just like how the Clone Wars was, I might as well file my divorce of the Star Wars fandom. At least, the things that Disney ends up releasing.

It breaks my heart that what has become an integral part of the greatest film franchise of all time, is now not ending the way it should have. At an end note, I do wish to clarify that I am looking forward to the next arcs that will be in some form released, which will hopefully wrap up The Clone Wars somewhat nicely.

On the other hand, I also wish to take this time to thank George, Dave Filoni, Joel Aron, Killian Plunkett, Ashley Eckstein, Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Catherine Taber, Sam Witwer, the late Ian Abercrombie, Stephen Stanton, Jon Fravreau, Jaime King, and everyone else involved in all of these seasons, bringing us great episodes of Star Wars goodness. 

May the Force be With You.

New Star Wars spinoff films announced

Well, my friends, the rumors have finally been debunked. Lawrence Kasdan, the writer of Episodes V and VI in the Star Wars saga and Simon Kilberg will be writing two spinoff films apart from the main saga films announced to be released. As Bob Iger, CEO of Disney said: "We are in development of a few standalone films," he said, "that are not part of the Star Wars saga...there are now creative entities working on developing scripts for what would be those standalone films." 

Know that this is official the question is: On which characters will the films be on? Some rumors over the Internet are saying that it will deal with Boba Fett in one film, and Han Solo in the other. Others say that one spinoff will be based on Yoda, and another on Jabba the Hutt. I have an idea: Wouldn't it be awesome if the next films would be based on say, Clone Wars characters, like Ahsoka and Cad Bane? Wouldn't that be awesome!!

Obviously, the likelihood of either of these happening is anyone's wild guess. It's ultimately the decision of George Lucas, and I sure do hope that the stories come from the man himself.

It would be interesting for a spinoff centering Ahsoka if she survives the Clone Wars, to depict what happens to her after the war and how she survives. A Cad Bane one would be probably the first Star Wars Western film, which would honestly be unbelievably cool. 

But yeah, I said myself, the next spinoffs don't have to center around those characters-but it sure would be fun if they did!!