A big
bombshell exploded today in the SFF world – Disney purchased LucasFilm and allthe rights to Star Wars. The press release includes a reference to Episode 7,
which is already in the early stages of development and is slated for a 2015
release. It sounds like it’ll be a trilogy format with Episodes 8 and 9 to
follow. They say they expect new movies after that to come out every 2 – 3 years.
Fandom has
gone ape-shit. Most of the people I follow are presenting this a bad thing.
Presumably they want to preserve the magic of the original trilogy they
experienced as kids (or younger people) while forgetting about the prequels.
They don’t want any further missteps with the franchise and don’t want to see
the Expanded Universe of the books and comics thrown out the window. I can see
that, part of me agrees. But it’s a small part.
First, I’m
excited about new movies. Truly, honestly, and happily excited. I was raised on
Star Wars and I want to see more. I’ve read much of the Expanded Universe and I
think that will be a great place to mine for ideas. What if the new trilogy is
Thrawn? Throw in the development of the Jedi Academy. Or perhaps the X-Wing
adventures. Those could be awesome! And we could get a whole new set of heroes
to love.
But, as
excited as the geek in me is, I’m more excited as a father. I have a 5-year old
son. He’s only seen small bits of Star Wars so far (we feel the movies are
still a bit to violent for him to watch – though, admittedly, I was only 3 the
first time I saw Episode IV), but he’s already a fan. He plays lightsabers at
school. He obsesses over his star wars legos. He can’t wait until we let him
watch the movies. And he knows that I’m saving boxes full of EU books for him
to read. What I’m most excited about is watching that new Star Wars movie with
him. Disney says that they are doing Star Wars for the next generation – my son
is that generation. And I can’t wait share it with him.
Note: I
speak of my son because of that special father-son bond that is so important.
But, I also have a 2-year old daughter. I certainly hope she’ll be a part of
all this too - after all, there is a wonderfully special father-daughter bond to consider as well.
4 comments:
"Most of the people I follow are presenting this a bad thing."
I think there's a lot of, "This can't possibly be worse than Episodes 1-3" sentiment out there as well. A lot depends on:
1) The writer they choose.
2) The director they choose.
3) Their attitude to the Expanded Universe.
If they negotiate these minefields well, they could end up with something very interesting indeed. If Episode VII ends up being set 500 years after Luke's time, they completely negate all of the issues and everyone will be happy. Right up until the announcement that Michael Bay will be directing.
I agree that there is a lot of room for error (shudders the thought of Michael Bay, or worse, Michael Bay and Shia Lebeof).
But I'm taking it as a positive thing. And I can't wait to see the wonder in my son's eyes.
I balked at first, but I've come around the more I've thought about it. This is really just a great thing, MORE LIGHTSABERS!
Well, Disney has demonstrated some ability to make kid-friendly entertainment that isn't totally stupid (i.e., not Jar Jar Binks). This *could* work as long as they assiduously avoid any mention of the prequels.
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