Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Speculation

[efranks]

Even though it's possible that we could see the Skywalker and/or Solo kids in the movies, I think everyone may be sticking with the (possibly incorrect) assumption that ANYTHING we know about the EU will, in any way, be used or even kept as we move forward into these new films.

While I like some parts of the EU, there's so much contradictory stuff out there, some generated by new EU stories and some by Lucas himself as he made the prequels and The Clone Wars, that I won't be surprised if they dump all of it.  Or most of it, and start over with a clean slate.

I would like to see Fisher, Hamill and Ford at least have cameos in VII to kind of pass the torch, but them move past that and not see them again in the new trilogy.  But I don't really want any of them to be part of the main plot. 

No matter what they end up doing, I have to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to these new films.  I'm especially not looking forward to a film every year.

   E...

[CloneF13Y35]

there is so much speculation about what *will* happen vs what us fans *want* to happen. I can definitely see Luke/Leia/Han as realistically older versions of themselves with their respective children - Jacen/Jaina/Anakin Solo and Ben Skywalker.  As long as the actors cast are halfway decent and JJ can write a decent story and dialogue, I think we'll all be 'relatively' happy with it. 

[JediJman]

  As long as the actors cast are halfway decent and JJ can write a decent story and dialogue, I think we'll all be 'relatively' happy with it.

Well, not everyone...

No matter what they end up doing, I have to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to these new films.  I'm especially not looking forward to a film every year.

Why? 

[efranks]

No matter what they end up doing, I have to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to these new films.  I'm especially not looking forward to a film every year.

Why? 

Because I was content to think that we had the "whole" story according to Lucas.  That from here on out we would have the Clone Wars, for some period of time, a live action TV show (also from Lucas) and that everything else fell into the EU which I could largely ignore since my opinion has always been that if it wasn't in a film from George, it didn't really "count."

Now we have a new trilogy plus some other one-off films, which may or may not have much input from Lucas, that will be considered (at least for the trilogy) canon.  Love him or hate him, the six films plus The Clone Wars all came from Lucas and his vision.  Now, we have someone else doing it and I can't seem to get excited for it.

Did I like Abrams' Star Trek?  Yes.  But other than character names, it didn't feel a lot like the Star Trek that I grew up loving; which was mostly created while Gene Roddenberry was still involved.  The Original Series, Next Generation, the movies up to The Voyage Home (The Final Frontier was an exception), even Deep Space 9 which came on the heels of Next Gen.  Most of the stuff through the rest of the 90's and 2000's?  Varying degrees of crap.  So Abrams may have given me a good movie, but the fact it was Star Trek was almost incidental. 

I'm worried I'm going to feel the same way about future SW films.

And from a strictly collecting standpoint?  I'm out.  There are still things that I'd like to see made to be purchased, but even thinking about collecting stuff from these new films leaves me shaky.  I don't have the room, don't want to invest the money and from the work side of things, can't imagine what it's going to be like trying to cover it for a collecting website.  That thought alone is almost so overwhelming that I'm seriously thinking about either closing my whole site or moving to a straight pop culture site, covering everything, so that I don't feel that I have to cover everything.

   E...

[JediJman]

Fair enough, but I still don't understand why you wouldn't be looking forward to new flicks.  You have a no lose scenario with your approach IMO: Either they knock it out of the park with some great new movies/characters and you really enjoy it  OR the new movies suck and you continue to think of the new stuff as EU based.  It isn't a "George Movie" just like Clone Wars, Novels, Video Games, etc., so you're free to ignore it if you like and the biggest harm for you is that maybe you wasted $10 on a movie ticket.  I don't see a downside...

[BillCable]

If they're awful they tarnish the brand.  The Prequels did that to the OT.

[JediJman]

If they're awful they tarnish the brand.  The Prequels did that to the OT.

Hmnn.  Not for me.  That's like saying Cinnamon Toast Crunch doesn't taste as good now that they released Peanut Butter Toast Crunch.  Or the Ford Mustang somehow became less cool once they released the Ford Fiesta.  It really is okay to like one and not the other.

[EdSolo]

Saying that Lucas "finished the story" isn't entirely true.  No matter how many times he has denied it, Lucas stated in the past that he had planned twelve or nine movies in the saga, depending on when he did some interviews.  It is pretty well documented that he has stated both before his statements that he only ever planned six movies.  Lucas was involved in the Clone Wars cartoon as well.  Heck, the articles on the Disney sale said he had story treatments for the sequel trilogy and that he would be a consultant.  Honestly, I think that the PT shows that Lucas lost his touch.  They were poor stories with poor dialogue for the most part.   I don't see how these movies will be any worse than TPM or AOTC.

[Jesse James]

I don't see the PT as poor stories, just overly long, drawn out...  and poorly directed.

See OCB's idea of how the PT should've gone, which basically condenses 2 and 3, with "The Clone Wars" more or less tucked in as well, to 3 movies...  TPM's the odd man out.  The rest...  not so bad.  Not well acted, and shoddy dialogue, but it fits.

[EdSolo]

I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

[McMetal]

I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

Seconded, what an abysmal mess that was.

[Phrubruh]

I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

Seconded, what an abysmal mess that was.

Yet we all loved it and bought every toy related to it.

[EdSolo]

I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

Seconded, what an abysmal mess that was.

Yet we all loved it and bought every toy related to it.

It wouldn't say everyone loved it.  I would attribute a large portion of its success on the fact that it was the first Star Wars movie made in 16 years at the time it was released.

[Nicklab]

I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

Seconded, what an abysmal mess that was.

Yet we all loved it and bought every toy related to it.

It wouldn't say everyone loved it.  I would attribute a large portion of its success on the fact that it was the first Star Wars movie made in 16 years at the time it was released.

Then where was that criticism at the time?  For some time, the only thing SW community was outwardly critical of in The Phantom Menace was Jar Jar Binks.  And then when Episode II finally came out, THEN the floodgates opened and people were hating on TPM more outwardly. 

Personally, I've found the delayed criticism of the prequels to be more objectionable than the movies themselves.  And I've always looked at that criticism through the filter of an audience that saw the OT as kids, and they wanted to relive that level of excitement as 20/30/40 somethings.  That was never going to happen, and no filmmaker could live up to expectations that high.

[Qui-Gon Jim]

HERE HERE!

Prequel Bashing is SO 2003.