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Star Wars Episode 7 - Thread of Pre-Production
- Thread starter Ape Gone Insane
- Start date
Harrison Ford to direct!
That's quite a bit different then magically deciding the EU is canon. His rejection of doing episode 7-9 was more out of laziness, he was gung-ho about doing them during the 70's and 80's. He has always dismissed the EU as alternative universe fan fiction.
You aren't going to get Jania & Jacen (you might see Solo kids since that makes sense but you aren't seeing those EU characters), or Zahn, Mara Jade, etc. Hell George Lucas outright rejects the idea of Mara Jade and other famous EU stories:
And it is Lucas who is writing the story treatments for 7-9 still that are the outlines for the scripts being written.
Sir Hamish
Member
That's true, but he's not exactly in charge anymore.
I doubt the EU is going to play a large role in the story but I also doubt they're going to go into it with the 'there can be no EU' attitude a lot of people seem to have, yourself included.
If Han and Leia have a daughter in Episode 7, why not call her Jaina? What's the point in inventing a brand new character. As long as the OT is given priority both it and the EU can be catered for.
People aren't going to go into these films and get confused because Han and Leia have a kid and she's called Jaina. You could even fit the other two kids in there
since they're both dead
He is still involved in these, he did the outlines for 7-9 being used for the scripts. He'll be getting a story by credit and all that. Seems to be more in the role he had on the Indiana Jones films than the prequels, not the screenwriter or director but the plots still coming from his story treatments.
Sir Hamish
Member
Yeah I read that and it seems like the best fit for him since he has good ideas, but his scripts were rushed and lacking.
I think any outline he does is going to be subject to some change. He might not see the EU as anything other than fan fiction but I doubt he'd ignore some of the basic developments such as the kid's names.
These characters are fairly old and completely replacing them with almost identical characters with different names is going to alienate a lot of the fan base for no real reason.
A middle ground would be easy to achieve and I think Jaina would be interesting as the main character in these films. She's the daughter of Han and Leia, and can be the Jedi apprentice of Luke. Her development as a character could be the product of her interactions with all three of the main OT characters. Her Jedi training from Luke, her humanity from her father and her ... something, from Leia.
Lucas reserves the legal right to steal ideas from the EU (same way he might steal ideas from anything else he watches), but he can and will ignore basic developments and alienate a lot of the fan base for no real reason. He's done it before, he'll do it again.
When writing the prequels, it would have taken very minimal effort to simply "not contradict" various things that were established in the EU, but he outright refused to let that be a factor in his writing. The EU will not have any say in the George-canon. The EU may as well have never happened. George's own movies don't even have power over George-canon. Only George (in his current state of mind) has that.
shira
Member
Fixed
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Lucas is going to have zero control over these movies.
The Star Wars fanbase is so used to crediting/blaming everything on Lucas and his decisionmaking whims that even when he's removed from the equasion, people still default to "But George says.."
Those notes Arndt got? I guarantee they've been expanded/revised drastically - and will be expanded/rewritten even moreso as the already expanded/revised treatment is turned into a full-fledged screenplay. And when a director gets in there? They're going to be worked even more. And Kasdan as a producer isn't going to adhere to "George's Vision" if he thinks it's going to make a better movie otherwise. Neither is Kennedy.
All that said - no fucking way they use the EU. It's merchandising. It's a lunchbox with words.
The Star Wars fanbase is so used to crediting/blaming everything on Lucas and his decisionmaking whims that even when he's removed from the equasion, people still default to "But George says.."
Those notes Arndt got? I guarantee they've been expanded/revised drastically - and will be expanded/rewritten even moreso as the already expanded/revised treatment is turned into a full-fledged screenplay. And when a director gets in there? They're going to be worked even more. And Kasdan as a producer isn't going to adhere to "George's Vision" if he thinks it's going to make a better movie otherwise. Neither is Kennedy.
All that said - no fucking way they use the EU. It's merchandising. It's a lunchbox with words.
I wouldn't trust his judgement.
shira
Member
I think "director" is Hollywood speak for salary.
yeah good point, he hasn't picked a good movie to star in a decade or more.
Edit* in fact looking at his filmography and I've liked maybe five of the movies he's been in since 1989.
Yo I heard Thrawn was pretty good.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Thrawn Trilogy is pretty decent, yes. (there's two other books that come after that, they're not as good as Thrawn Trilogy, but okay reads)
Dark Horse Comics has had some fun stories come out of their run with the license (which goes away soon) - mostly in their Star Wars Tales anthologies.
Extra Sauce
Member
Ford was the bomb in Cowboys & Aliens yo.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Nope.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Control? No. Influence? Likely.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Doubtful. Unless the influence you're referring to is the overall look of the universe, which he established.
But other than that, I'm pretty sure the title of "Creative Consultant" is, as most applications of that term, honoriffic.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I'd be surprised if it ends up that way. Not that I'd be able to confirm to you one way or the other during production anyway.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I'd be surprised if it ends up that way. Not that I'd be able to confirm to you one way or the other during production anyway.
Oh, come on. I'm super-duper discreet
EVERYONE knows that.SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Oh, come on. I'm super-duper discreet
That's what you said before I told you about my crush on Anita Jennings. Grade 3 through 6 was hell for me, you sonuvabitch.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Not necessarily Episode 7 related, but still pretty damned nuts.
You know that Star Wars TV series? The one that has 50 scripts in the can but is still unproduced? ABC talked about it today. Turns out one of the guys who wrote a lot of those scripts?
Ronald D. Moore.
You know that Star Wars TV series? The one that has 50 scripts in the can but is still unproduced? ABC talked about it today. Turns out one of the guys who wrote a lot of those scripts?
Ronald D. Moore.
Anticitizen One
Banned
Disney might as well greenlight the show now that there gonna be racking in the dough from Pixar, Marvel, AND Lucasfilm.
Holy crap. Greenlight this shit.
Discotheque
Banned
Omg wat? I want it now
Because you want a season's worth of really fantastic work and then 4 seasons worth of slow but inexorable decline into nonsense and pseudo-religious drivel?
Angry Fork
Member
I really really hope they don't screw up original trilogy characters. Only Ford still has a resemblance to how they used to look.
I'm just not sure if they're ONLY concerned with money, or if they want money + an actual great movie that does justice to the universe. You can make a great blockbuster that makes a lot of money I don't know why they have to insist on stupid shit that could turn out terrible like bringing back old characters.
I'm just not sure if they're ONLY concerned with money, or if they want money + an actual great movie that does justice to the universe. You can make a great blockbuster that makes a lot of money I don't know why they have to insist on stupid shit that could turn out terrible like bringing back old characters.
A season's worth of really fantastic work is much more than I would ever expect to come out of that live action Star Wars TV show idea.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I feel like there's a lot of mandate with the Lucas purchase to make something that really deliver on the promise of Star Wars.... to go beyond what we got in the prequels.
But that doesn't mean they will actually deliever.
I don't really see bringing back characters as intrinsically money grabbing, though.... seems just as well to be a fan-appealing move.
I trust Disney to can the show after 52 episodes.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
You stole my post. Though I didn't mind S2 of BSG. Everything afterward was pure garbage.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
What. That could be excellent. If anyone can bring some moralistic complexity to the dynamic of the SW universe while constructing fuck-off space or otherwise battles and enjoyable characters, it's RDM.
After Caprica (RIP), all is forgiven.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
.
Wait, that was actually good?
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Good, but cancelled before it really got going (thirteen episodes?). Not in the same league as Terriers for a one-season wonder. A definite improvement on the last few seasons of BSG though.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Caprica was decent.
I really, REALLY don't understand people who shit on BSG after Season 2. Especially on a rewatch. Everything is there from Season 1 on. I mean - EVERYTHING. It's RIGHT FUCKING THERE.
The shit isn't even that subtle.
ESPECIALLY if you came to the show versed in what DS9 did. (I didn't - I caught up later)
I really, REALLY don't understand people who shit on BSG after Season 2. Especially on a rewatch. Everything is there from Season 1 on. I mean - EVERYTHING. It's RIGHT FUCKING THERE.
The shit isn't even that subtle.
ESPECIALLY if you came to the show versed in what DS9 did. (I didn't - I caught up later)
I will never forgive All Along The Watchtower not having a point as a song from real history. Thought that was actually going somewhere as far as BSG's universe went.
It took too long to build up steam IMO. By the end it was great.
Yep, it turns out the nonsense was all there right from the beginning. Isn't that wonderful? None of that excuses the absolutely awful character heel turns in the finale, though, anyways.
Of course, a lot of the things people point to for saying "it was all there all along" are actually contradicted in The Plan so lol. The whole thing was just a mess, and hindsight only makes it moreso.
Caprica's just as bad, only got there even faster. Surprise,
Willy Adama's not Bill Adama!
I'm gonna stop there, though, since this is a severe derailing in the making.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I'm with you on that. That was Moore's weird fetish through and through. The music was perfect. It simply didn't need words. Especially since the only reason it HAD words was for that coda at the end of the series that turned out to be utterly unneccessary.
That said - the reveal, and that music leading to the reveal (and at least 2 other reveals afterwards) was pretty phenomenal.
maharg said:
Lol indeed. Nobody counts that shit. It's patchwork from Espenson and masturbation by Olmos. It's utterly forgettable and easily ignorable. It's retconning for retconning's sake (and Sci-Fi's need for extra content)
The biggest problem w/ Battlestar Galactica is that Moore/Eick and Sci-Fi decided upon 20-24 episode seasons, instead of sticking w/ 10-13. It should have been a 40-45 episode series. Tops. Nice. Clean. Tight. Instead, there's all this bullshit bloat, bottle episodes, and running in place.
But the religion/allegory isn't the problem. Not in the slightest.
DiipuSurotu
Banned
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles also had about 50 complete but unproduced episodes. The series was canceled before Indy got to meet characters from the movies, such as Abner Ravenwood, Belloq, etc. I wonder if Disney will ever consider ressurecting this.
Discotheque
Banned
Eh I think the music is so good that it makes up for the shortcomings of the latter two seasons. Plus while I kind of hated where the plot was going I really still loved the characters so the finale really worked for me.
But forreal that ost is so good it holds up to some of the best film soundtracks.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
There was a blurb somewhere yesterday with the head of ABC mentioning looking into the SW TV series, and how licensing fees and such could be cheaper since it will all funnel in-house anyway.
I've never seen Battlestar Galactica, but I can help but think of this episode from Portlandia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob42vhhtw7A
Ronald D. Moore, LOL.
I was wondering what happened to "Star Wars Underworld".
They keep pushing it back, stating they were waiting for the effects to be more feasible. Then it just vanished. I guess now with Disney in the mix, it's closer to being made now. Now that I think about it, Disney will have a Star Wars TV show, and S.H.I.E.L.D. from Marvel. Holy schmowzow...
Edit: Oops, ILM is still around, but I really hope Disney utilizes the talent pool in Jim Henson's Creature Shop. They did a great job on Where the Wild Things Are.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
No closer than it has been at any other point in time really. There's just been talk of ABC looking into it now is all.
a secret-boss
Banned
Wait ILM is seperate from the Lucas deal?
No, Disney owns ILM now too.