[ort888]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-buy-lucasfilm-405-billion-384448

No, this isn't April Fools Day.

[ort888]

Huh? Never thought I'd see this happen. I guess the movies can't really get worse, so, uh, good? Maybe?


Or possibly a big fat who cares.


One thing for sure, I think it's a safe bet that we'll be seeing a new Star Wars movie every 3-5 years from now until the day we die.

[The Final Dakar]

Are you... responding to yourself?

---

Regarding the article...

[OAW]

A positive development indeed. Looks like we'll finally get a chance to see Episodes 7 - 9.

OAW

[Thorzdad]

Let's see...Disney now owns Henson, Lucas, and Marvel.
Soooo...Muppet Star Wars Guest-Starring Wolverine?

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Let's see...Disney now owns Henson, Lucas, and Marvel.
Soooo...Muppet Star Wars Guest-Starring Wolverine?

[Thorzdad]

FunnyJunk don't allow no hot-linking.

[The Final Dakar]

Eh, I don't care.

(Thanks for the heads-up though)

[Thorzdad]

So, copy the pic onto your drive, then put it into your post..

[olePigeon]

Maybe we can finally get the original theatrical edition on DVD and HD. Oh, maybe they can hire Simon Pegg to direct the new movie. Seriously. He understands what made the original Star Wars so great and (used to be, anyway) a huge fan of Star Wars. He's a competent director and writer. I think he'd do a great job.

[Spheric Harlot]

So George Lucas has given up the rights to **** up my childhood even further?

I'm all for it.

[OAW]

That being said .... we probably ought not expect any major changes to the "style" of future Star Wars films. A lot of us who saw the original Star Wars films were kids at the time. I know I was 10 when the original came out. Not only were we enamored with the storyline but the special effects introduced a new era. By the time the prequels were released we were adults ... and top notch special effects had become commonplace in big budget filmmaking. So we were left to recapture that "magic" of our youth primarily on the storyline. And many of us were disappointed when we had expectations of a "grown up" version of Star Wars but ended up seeing movies whose target audience seemed to be kids. Disney, being the worlds leading purveyor of "family entertainment", is not likely to stray far from this model. Something tells me we will see plenty of silly stuff like this for some time to come ....



OAW

[olePigeon]

Help us Disney, you're our only hope.

[olePigeon]

Could be a double-edged sword. Lucas was really good at letting people make fanfilms and stuff. He actually embraced it, holding several official Star Wars Fan Film contests. Disney is one of the ring leaders for the MPAA and are ruthless with their copyright. Could mean the end of Star Wars fanfilms and fanedits.

Then again, Lucas isn't involved in Star Wars anymore.

Don't know what to think.

[subego]

Is it all their copyrights, or just the mice related ones?

[ort888]

Originally Posted by OAW 

Something tells me we will see plenty of silly stuff like this for some time to come ....

OAW

The sad thing is, those robots were amongst the least offensive of the new things in Episode 1.

[mindwaves]

I'm surprised at the price of the deal. I thought that Lucasfilm would be worth more than that.

[Eug]

I thought Lucasfilm would be worth less than that, given that the last few Star Wars movies really fscked up the original franchise. Personally I have no interest in Star Wars anymore... Well, almost. I'd be wiling to invest in Blu-ray copies of episodes IV, V, and VI, if Disney released the original theatrical release, remastered. I have no interest in anything else Star Wars though.

[Shaddim]

Really liking this development, I guess we'll have a new LucasFilms theme park.


$4B is very reasonable, considering it's Indy too.

[ort888]

Thinking more about it, I've circled back around to thinking this could be cool.

My son will be 6 in 2015, and now I'll be able to take him to a new Star Wars movie. Sure, it might be a shitty new Star Wars movie, but whatever. CIrcle of life and all that stuff.

[The Final Dakar]

I"m not a Star Wars fan, but after the prequels I really don't think they could do much worse.

[andi*pandi]

The Clone Wars cartoons are better than the prequels.

The hardest thing about doing ep 7-9 (I haven't read them) is introducing new characters. Vader's dead and done. Who will we care about?

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

The Clone Wars cartoons are better than the prequels.

I don't think any of the Clone Wars cartoons comes close to Revenge of the Sith, which was the third-best Star Wars film (over the silly Return of the Jedi).

The hardest thing about doing ep 7-9 (I haven't read them) is introducing new characters. Vader's dead and done. Who will we care about?

If they are sensible, 7-9 will focus on the next generation of characters, and Luke, Leia, and Han will become supporting/cameo characters. That probably means a story built around Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo. Jacen eventually goes to the Dark Side. It will be exciting to see who they cast as Mara Jade.

Will they re-cast Han, Luke, and Leia? I say re-cast all of them or none of them. If Ford, Hamill, and Fisher come back, then they need to be very small cameo roles only. And they'd need to place the trilogy 30 years after RotJ.

They should bring back Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett, and could consider Nathan Fillon as Han Solo, who is 41 while Ford is 70. Ford is probably not interested regardless.

I'm not interested in the Thrawn story line, but can you imagine if they brought back Ewan MacGregor as the insane clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi? Or did they ret-con that out of the novels? I read the first Thrawn novel, and didn't care for it. I'm also not interested in any story line following the novels about the resurrected Emperor and Luke turning to the Dark Side.

Since Disney bought Marvel, and Marvel hired Joss Whedon to direct The Avengers, I think there's a good chance that Whedon will be tapped as director / exec producer for Episode VII, which is probably the best possible outcome from this.

[ort888]

They've already announced that the next movies won't have anything to do with the Thrawn Books. No Mara Jade.

Also, Revenge of the Sith was the worst of the Prequels. Yes, I said it.

Sure, it was probably the best standalone movie of the three, but the amount of damage it did to the mythology of Star Wars is unforgivable. Anakin's fall from grace was so laughably terrible, so utterly inept and ham fisted, that it pretty much ruins the entire series unless you pretend like it didn't happen... (which I can do)

And no, I'm not talking about any one scene, I'm talking about the entire last half of the movie.

[imitchellg5]

I'm willing to bet that they won't, for better or worse, use any Expanded Universe characters. George has said many, many times, that while the EU is part of Star Wars, it isn't part of his vision of Star Wars. As much as I'd love it.

I also thought this was some April Fool's sort of thing, but I actually think it makes a good deal of sense. In George's video on YouTube he explains that he wants Lucasfilm to be safe after he's gone, and Disney certainly sounds like the one who can do that. He's also spoken before about how he thought Disney has done a good job of keeping Pixar alive in spirit well past its merger, which I imagine was a major factor for him as well. As a fan, it's an odd move with much uncertainty, but from George's perspective, I think it makes a lot of sense.

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by ort888 

Also, Revenge of the Sith was the worst of the Prequels. Yes, I said it.
Sure, it was probably the best standalone movie of the three, but the amount of damage it did to the mythology of Star Wars is unforgivable. Anakin's fall from grace was so laughably terrible, so utterly inept and ham fisted, that it pretty much ruins the entire series unless you pretend like it didn't happen... (which I can do)
And no, I'm not talking about any one scene, I'm talking about the entire last half of the movie.

Do you mean the acting and directing were bad, or the fundamentals of the story were bad?

If you don't like the film, that's fine, everyone is entitled to their own tastes. But when I hear people say they don't like Anakin's fall, they usually complain it happens too fast, that Anakin turns absolutely murderously evil in an instant, and they don't buy it.

Anakin's turn to the Dark Side is instant because "the Force has a strong influence on the weak-minded." Anakin becomes instantly evil because he has mystically handed over his will to Palpatine and/or the Dark Side. I wish this were made clearer in the turning scene: Anakin has a hypnotized look on his face, but they should have made his eyes briefly turn Sith-yellow to make it clear that what is happening here is not simply a voluntary switching of allegiance, but a Force-powered mind manipulation. Like Obi-Wan says, "you allowed this Emperor to twist your mind."

I can understand someone not liking the hypnotism element of it all, but I find that people who don't like the instant turn to evil don't really grasp that hypnotism is happening at all.

Turning to the Dark Side is kinda like being possessed by the Dark Side of the Force. Like someone possessed by a demon, they aren't in control of what's happening to them. You might say, Anakin has been possessed by a demon called Vader. That's why Obi-Wan tells Luke "the good man that was your father was destroyed." Vader isn't Anakin, Vader is what is left of Anakin after the Force has suppressed everything good. There's parallelism here too: Palpatine destroyed Anakin's mind, and Obi-Wan destroyed his body.

Turning to the Dark Side is also meant to resemble a severe drug addiction or mental illness. The person has changed dramatically from who they used to be. (Not instantly, of course, but it makes sense in a mystical sci-fi universe.) You might say Anakin is possessed by a severe anger addiction, and it controls him.

There's another interesting parallelism here too: Anakin turns to save Padme from death, and Vader turns back to save Luke from death. The corny message here is family bonds are stronger than anything. When people face challenges like mental illness or drug addiction, family is usually the key to managing the crisis.

My only wish was that Anakin should have spoken more like Vader after the turn. Vader had a regal, haughty speech pattern, while evil Anakin was just angry, angry, angry.

[andi*pandi]

He was hypnotised? That would make him an innocent, if that had been communicated.

What we instead saw was someone tempted, and tricked, and generally acting like a spoiled stupid brat. If someone gives in to temptation, that doesn't make them innocent, it makes them flawed. Which could have been played interestingly, I've seen lots of movies with powerfully flawed hero-villains, dark heroes, etc, that are redeemed through acts of valor. This wasn't it. Even Han Solo is flawed in this way. Saving Luke later on doesn't redeem Vader for all the padawan deaths.

Also, why Padme loves that spoiled brat is beyond comprehension.

The general story could have been redeemed, if it had been better written/acted/everythinged.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

Anakin becomes instantly evil because he has mystically handed over his will to Palpatine and/or the Dark Side. I wish this were made clearer in the turning scene: Anakin has a hypnotized look on his face, but they should have made his eyes briefly turn Sith-yellow to make it clear that what is happening here is not simply a voluntary switching of allegiance, but a Force-powered mind manipulation. Like Obi-Wan says, "you allowed this Emperor to twist your mind."

I can understand someone not liking the hypnotism element of it all, but I find that people who don't like the instant turn to evil don't really grasp that hypnotism is happening at all.

[…]

My only wish was that Anakin should have spoken more like Vader after the turn. Vader had a regal, haughty speech pattern, while evil Anakin was just angry, angry, angry.

The real problem with the prequels is that they should have ****ing used ACTORS to play the parts.

It is quite possibly to cast a character such that he has the layers, depth, and believability of an actual human being, while *still* being clearly understandable for kids. Alec Guiness as Obi-Wan never confused me as a kid, and never annoyed me as an adult. Same with most of the remaining cast. Wicket W. Warrick, maybe. But RotJ is kind of the break-out of the first trilogy, anyway.

But one of the things that make me so angry at the prequels is the fact that this goddamn insipid, empty shell of a cushy youth being told to play angsty teenager in love is just So. ****ing. Empty. that even the flattest, plumpest, and most emotionally laden cliché-dripping dialog drops with as much lasting resonance as him blowing his wad in a fistful of Star-Wars merchandised tissue paper.
(Edit: andi's "spoiled brat" is an apt description.)

The prequels are one of exactly two cases* I've seen so far where the dubbed German version was actually SUPERIOR to the original, simply by virtue of the fact that they used actual ACTORS to dub the voices. The main characters actually have emotions in the German version, rather than pretending like they might be capable of them eventually.


Arr Gah.

#gRDMANNSNsdkjölaslsjöahjaklfgrmbmbmlblbl.

****.






*) the other being the British series The Persuaders, which is really lame in English, but turned screamingly funny in the second attempt the Germans made at dubbing it (the first fell flat). Tony Curtis spoke some German, and he loved it. He and his German voice actor became good and lasting friends over the years.

[raleur]

I've long held the opinion that the Star Wars films of my youth were good precisely because the technology of the time did not allow Lucas to fulfill his vision. What we saw, instead, was better than what he intended. I think it's clear that the soaring mythology of the first three- especially Star Wars and Empire- benefitted from the fact that he couldn't pull off pod races or Gungans.

I don't know whether Disney's purchase will be for good or ill, but I'm of the opinion that the whole 'universe' needs a reboot- the novels, from Zahn onwards, have been poorly-written and derivative, full of Mary Sues and trend-driven knock-offs. Of course, the fan base can be blamed for a lot of this: the majority of people whining about Jar-Jar got exactly what they wanted- but it's clear that marketability is the only "vision" to guide the development of the franchise for quite some time.

[Waragainstsleep]

Kevin Smith had an interesting take on the purchase, more from a Disney point of view. Disney has had a massive market of selling princess-related stuff to little girls for as long as anyone cares to remember but very little to offer boys. Now they have Marvel and Star Wars.

The price still seems very very low to me. The original trilogy made that much each when you factor in all the merchandise. This purchase will pay for itself in no time.

[Shaddim]

I believe the sale is as much about passing on the legacy in an ordered way as it is the money, without crippling Disney in the process. $4B or $14B (which would be a more accurate valuation of the companies and IP), it makes little difference. That's easily enough to keep Lucas in projects for the rest of his life, and allow for insane amounts of fun and philanthropy.

[cjrivera]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUbH1SEsqiE&feature=player_embedded

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

I believe the sale is as much about passing on the legacy in an ordered way as it is the money, without crippling Disney in the process. $4B or $14B (which would be a more accurate valuation of the companies and IP), it makes little difference. That's easily enough to keep Lucas in projects for the rest of his life, and allow for insane amounts of fun and philanthropy.

Well lets not forget all the money he already made from Star Wars too. The original trilogy must have raked in over $10 billion+ over the years. That was hardly his only profitable venture either. I imagine ILM has done good business too. Did they go in the sale as well?

[Shaddim]

Yes, ILM and Skywalker Sound are both included. It is, quite possibly, the corporate deal of the decade, in terms of value.

[BadKosh]

I wonder if Disney can own without ruining ILM.

[The Final Dakar]

I don't understand why Lucas sold the company, and seeing him donating 99% of it to charity leaves me equally perplexed.

[olePigeon]

Disney should concentrate on Old Republic, make some movies about that. I really liked the intro movies for the game.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

Yes, ILM and Skywalker Sound are both included. It is, quite possibly, the corporate deal of the decade, in terms of value.

They'll start making money after only a few years of merchandise sales from Star Wars alone. It's a crazy good deal.

[ort888]

They sell $250 million dollars worth of merchandise per year. It would take a while.

This whole charity thing is really screwing with my burning hatred of George Lucas.

The one thing that I care about, the one thing that would make all of this okay, is for them to just put out the f***ing original non-special edition movies on Blu-ray.

[SegNerd]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Maybe we can finally get the original theatrical edition on DVD and HD. Oh, maybe they can hire Simon Pegg to direct the new movie. Seriously. He understands what made the original Star Wars so great and (used to be, anyway) a huge fan of Star Wars. He's a competent director and writer. I think he'd do a great job.

Um... the original theatrical versions were released on DVD in 2006.

I liked the prequels, but I just can't believe this. Maybe it could ultimately have some positive effects, but on some level, I still feel like it has to be a joke.

I think it has always been clear that there are six episodes. I might be able to live with more "side movies" like The Clone Wars, but there are no more genuine episodes. Period.

[ort888]

Originally Posted by SegNerd 

Um... the original theatrical versions were released on DVD in 2006.

Non-anamorphic poo-poo versions.

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by ort888 

The one thing that I care about, the one thing that would make all of this okay, is for them to just put out the f***ing original non-special edition movies on Blu-ray.

I think this is very likely to happen. Disney's home video business is all about re-releasing old, limited availability films, and then locking them up again in "The Vault."

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

The real problem with the prequels is that they should have ****ing used ACTORS to play the parts.

All the actors in the prequels are perfectly capable. Christensen displayed quality acting chops in Shattered Glass and My Life as a House, and of course Portman, Neeson, and MacGregor are well-regarded actors by virtually everyone. The problem is Lucas, and always has been. He is simply incapable of drawing out high-quality performances from his actors, because he gives them little or no direction at all. And then he gives them terrible dialogue on top of that.

But one of the things that make me so angry at the prequels is the fact that this goddamn insipid, empty shell of a cushy youth being told to play angsty teenager in love is just So. ****ing. Empty. that even the flattest, plumpest, and most emotionally laden cliché-dripping dialog drops with as much lasting resonance as him blowing his wad in a fistful of Star-Wars merchandised tissue paper.

I agree. They should have modelled the Anakin-Padme romance on the Han-Leia romance. The decision to go with a teenage romance instead of an adult romance was a terrible, terrible fnck-up.

That said, I thought the romance scenes in Revenge of the Sith (except the balcony scene) were considerably better than the intolerable romance scenes from Attack of the Clones. And as I understand it, the balcony scene was shoe-horned in at the last minute during post-production because the transition from Padme-tells-Anakin scene leads too quickly into Anakin-has-nightmare scene. Without the balcony scene, Anakin and Padme wouldn't have a single happy moment together in the entire film, so they threw something together at the last minute, and it really fncking shows.

Natalie Portman also looks very different in the balcony scene from the rest of the film, and it's very jarring, because several years have passed and her face matured a great deal in that time.

[P]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

All the actors in the prequels are perfectly capable. Christensen displayed quality acting chops in Shattered Glass and My Life as a House, and of course Portman, Neeson, and MacGregor are well-regarded actors by virtually everyone. The problem is Lucas, and always has been. He is simply incapable of drawing out high-quality performances from his actors, because he gives them little or no direction at all. And then he gives them terrible dialogue on top of that.

Lucas is simply not a very good director - at least not any more. An actor like Liam Neeson who has been around the block a few times can do it anyway, and Ewan MacGregor is clearly better in Ep 3 and in Ep 1 - I guess he learned how to do it - but Christensen and Portman need good direction. I've noticed this with Portman in some other movie as well - she takes direction very well, but it seems that she really needs it as well.

The other flaw is that each movie is a snapshot of a period that is not connected to the ones around them. It's OK to have the floating into text in a movie that is supposed to be Episode 4, but what other stand-alone or otherwise "first" movie has that? LotR did something like it with a speaker voice over short scenes, but that was because Tolkien included a massive foreword that somehow had to be covered without introducing 10 characters that are never seen again. Can you imagine Batman Begins starting with a few screens of floating text explaining the death of his parents instead of just showing it?

A much better way of telling it would be to nuke the silly Episode 1, make the old Episode 2 into the first movie (with some cutscenes about about what happened on Tatooine) and then include one movie about the Clone Wars in between the current 2 and 3. I'm told that the story of Anakin falling is better told in the computer game that covers this era, ironically enough.

As for my opinions... After Ep 1, my expectations for Ep 2 were so low that I truly enjoyed that movie. Ep 3 is a hack job that could have been done so much better, but the basic idea is not bad.

[subego]

Did you see "What if Episode One was Good?"

[lpkmckenna]

Does anyone else think Darth Maul will survive Clone Wars and be the main villain of Episode VII?

I think an older (bearded?), robot-legged Maul would be the best possible choice. He is unanimously liked even among Phantom Menace haters, and it would better than dreaming up a new Sith from nowhere.

People generally liked Grevious, and the robot-legged Maul is pretty much the perfect synthesis in concept.

Have Maul as the pseudo-master Sith, Mara Jade as his apprentice, and Jade's escape from the Dark Side be a prominent plot point.

I think everyone wants to see a young Mara Jade, and see Mark Hamill as an old Luke, so the romance/marriage angle would have to go.

But don't leave out Boba Fett, Disney!

[Stogieman]

Didn't Boba Fett fall and die into a big Thorny Sand Vagina at the beginning of Return of the Jedi?

[ort888]

No body no kill.

That said, let's move on past Boba Fett.

It's so funny that he ended up being so popular and such a pop culture icon. He has like 5 minutes of total screentime in the original trilogy, says about 2 lines and does practically nothing.

His big badass moment was secretly flying behind Han Solo. Wow! He secretly followed someone!

[raleur]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

People generally liked Grevious, and the robot-legged Maul is pretty much the perfect synthesis in concept.

Yeah, but Jar-Jar was a synthesis of things people generally liked, too.

[The Final Dakar]

Two words: Darth Ewok