Upcoming SW Live-Action TV Show Discussion!

[Darth Depressis]

personally i think this and animated adaptations of the eu can probably be expected after lucas bites the dust.

under lucas these will most likely be focus group driven episodes featuring what the highest majority of starwars fans buy.

[Brian]

A little bit of info on the live action series from an interview with Rick McCallum in the latest issue of Insider (96) - here's the highlights:

Q: How ambitious is the project going to be?

A: It'll be darker and more mature, and very character based.  The idea is to do, say, 13 to 16 episodes over one or two years - we haven't quite figured that out yet as television is changing so dramatically worldwide.  After the 2nd or 3rd year, one of the characters from the first series could move on to his own series.  Then, by the fourth or fifth year, we would love to have four or five seperate TV series of 13 episodes each running.  That's a pipe dream right now of course!.....

Interesting to see that they have hopes/plans for multiple TV series - I wonder how that would work.  Anyways, just wanted to pass along the info, there's more in Insider, if interested.

[Darth Depressis]

so there either planning on milking starwars to death on TV....or there hoping we can stomach more clone wars with the threat of more wooden live action on the horizon....

why can't they just give Mark Hamil a starwars show based at the Jedi academy? or hell start adapting some of the books into final fantasy VII: advent children style animated movies?

hell they could even make a kotor esque show and dump it on sci-fi...and as we know people will watch anything they play on that waste of airtime...

[Jeff]

A few tidbits from the TV Guide Interview are below.  Sounds like they really want to get to 100 episodes... probably so it can stay in syndications after it's run is over.   



TV Guide: What about your Star Wars live-action series for TV?

Lucas: Yes, I'm working on that. We're just going to start writing it in about a month from now, start doing scripts for it.
 

TV Guide: And where will that live in the Star Wars continuum relative to Clone Wars and relative to the films?

Lucas: Well, Clone Wars has got all the characters in it — Yoda and Anakin and Obi Wan and the Emperor and all that — so it's basically the movie. The live-action [series] is not the movie. It's the Star Wars universe, but it's characters from the saga who were [previously] minor, and it follows their stories. It's set between [movie episodes] III and IV, when the Empire has taken over. It's like Episode IV in that the Emperor and Darth Vader are heard about — people talk about them — but you never see them because it doesn't take place where they actually are. There are storm troopers and all that, but there are no Jedis. It's different, but I think it's very exciting because I get to explore a part of that universe that I haven't been able to explore. Once you have a saga, it's got a lot of requirements because it's about a particular [thing] — in this case, Darth Vader — and so it's his story from the time he's 10 to the time he died. You really can't go off that track because that's the story. Whereas now, I can make a left turn on 10th Street and go down there and see what's going on.
 

TV Guide: And how are you going to produce this one? Are you going to film a certain number? Are you going to have a deal with a network before you go ahead with filming?

Lucas: No, we'll do it just the same way that we're doing the animated series, which is we usually write a whole year first, and then we'll start shooting, and then we'll shoot the whole year and then once we've got [something to show], we'll see where we can put it. We're going to do a hundred of them, too. [It should be] easier [to place] than the animated one because it's live-action.


TV Guide: So you'll film before you get a commitment? Or how will that work?

Lucas: Well, we're doing these before we get a commitment, so we're just doing them on the faith that we're going to [sell them]. I mean, we're doing them ourselves, so we can finance them, we don't need to have a commitment of any kind. We're simply going to sell them.

[Jesse James]

Anyone else liking how we keep hearing the following things...

-Very adult atmosphere...
-Very dark and "PG-13"...
-Very much like one of the films...
-Not focused on main characters at all, and instead on secondary characters we saw in the films (and maybe EU)...

These things all make me think "Rogue Squadron, the TV Series".  Maybe that's premature but I really just am giddy at the thought of fighter battles once a week with X-Wings and Y-Wings and such, and the sight of Wedge Antilles and other Rebel Pilots...  Maybe big ass ground battles with the Rebs/Imps too as the Empire encounters a growing and organized resistance.

I'm anxious for this even more than the cartoon, which has me anxious itself...  But this live-action show could be the kidn of thing that makes people beg for new films NOT about the Skywalkers at all.

[Matt_Fury]

It is sounding good, I can see a story arc about an imperial officer ala Crix Madine that becomes a rebel.  Hell, maybe Kyle Katarn could make an appearance or two!

[evenflow]

I was never a fan of the Rogue Squadron comics so i wouldnt be crazy about it for the show. I love the way the description sounds though. I dont really know what i am hoping for. Part of me wants Bounty Hunter tales and antoher wants EU. I just want it to be good.

[Jesse James]

The comics lack something, and I think with Lucas's personal involvement they'd be dramatically different.  The comics attempted a less structured military, more akin to the concept that the Rebels are truly the definition of "ragtag" with mismatched unifroms and crap.  I always had a dislike for the RS series because of that.

The games, I felt, took a more structured and (due to the medium) action-packed approach.  I think if you had something akin to BSG in Star Wars setting, you'd have something of a hit...  Not exact of course, but with that same flare.  Though for me, I'd prefer if they took the final seasons of DS9 or ST:TNG as their sort of springboard for creativity.  DS9 was all warrin' and whorin' in its final seasons though, so that's my preference.

[Nathan]

You realize, of course, that Rogue Squadron didn't exist until after ANH--prior to that it was just Red Squadron. And most of the "hero" pilots like Wedge didn't join up until relatively shortly before ANH.

No, I'm guessing this will be set closer to Ep III--perhaps 5-10 years after--because the production "infrastructure" is already in place. The EpIII miniatures, CG models, etc. are easily reusable instead of having to reconstruct, say, the Yavin hangar from grainy on-set photos. And they can reuse prequel actors like Bail Organa and Mon Mothma without tons of age makeup, and avoid recasting established parts like ANH-era Wedge.

(Although I'm not sure how much of a consideration this will be for Lucas, the era from 10-0 years before ANH is pretty well-trodden in the EU already. Thus it doesn't seem like there's a lot new to offer for that period unless they just disregard what came before ... which is certainly possible.)

[Matt]

Anyone else liking how we keep hearing the following things...

-Very adult atmosphere...
-Very dark and "PG-13"...
-Very much like one of the films...
-Not focused on main characters at all, and instead on secondary characters we saw in the films (and maybe EU)...

These things all make me think "Rogue Squadron, the TV Series".

It's screaming "Boba Fett" to me. . .

[Jesse James]

True, Fett's "no disintegrations" still hasn't been explained really.  

About RS...  I think there's room to play with the Squad's origins.  The origins post-ANH are tied mostly to the radio dramas, which can be side-stepped easily.  The "red squad" at Yavin was one of many squadrons the Alliance surely had...  I think with Lucas's involvement, that any direction could occur, but I am fairly certain the "action" of the era is going to be important to him.  Pilots/Fighters are a good way to go then, especially since Lucas himself is an admitted aviation/WW2 fan who I think would be chomping at the bit to exploit that aspect of Star Wars.  I could be wrong, and they may not be called Rogue Squad even, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's a direction it takes...

Lucas did say somehwere too that there could be spin-offs on certain characters...  I know I read that somewhere, where new series spawn from individual character's and their storyline's, so maybe Fett's part of it and gets his own story, etc., etc. 

I'm excited for this really...  To me, this is as good as a movie's anticipation.

[Matt_Fury]

Until we realize we've all speculated wrong and it's about Jar-Jar and the plight of the Gungans!   

[Jesse James]

And just like my 1999 level of anticipation, I'll leave (well, I guess my living room instead of a theater) with my head full of doubts about what I just saw.  I'll only be pissed and critical a week or so later.

[Brian]

AICN has posted some rumors about the upcoming live action series, including which movie/EU characters may appear - as well as some other details.

[evenflow]

If thats true abotu Thall Joben, it is perhaps the coolest news i have heard yet. I hope they inlcude more of the Droids charatcers. Bring on the Fromm gang and VLIX!!!!!