Lucas Confirms Star Wars spin-off TV series

Mictian writes "In a rare public appearance at the Star Wars Celebration III (his previous fan event appearance was in 1987), George Lucas confirmed that he's working on two TV series. One will be a full 3D animation series (with 30-minute episodes) of the recent Cartoon Network Clone Wars shorts, and the other a live-action series, that will be set in the time between Episodes III and IV, but won't feature the main characters. Production is expected to begin in about a year."

first groan

fg

Re:first groan

You may have the first groan, but it definately will not be the last.

And don't forget, while everone here is groaning at hearing there childhood classics being flushed, Lucas is bringing another huge wad of money to the bank.

Re:first groan

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force...as if a million voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

Final Movies

Rather than all this peripheral shit, why doesn't he crank out the last three movies?

OMFG

Rather than all this peripheral shit, why doesn't he crank out the last three movies?

I have never heard anyone wish that Lucas would make *more* Star Wars movies.

Re:Final Movies

It's because the Star Wars universe consists of more than just the movies. After the original trilogy many novels have been written about what happens to the characters after "Return of the Jedi." All of the plotlines in these novels are approved by George Lucuas himself. Therefore, if he were to create sequels, they would either A) make the novels no longer relevant since he's making movies that don't reflect those stories, or B) He would just be making the novels into movies. (Timothy Zhan's sp?) Admiral Thrawn series would be excellent.

While all of these novels were being created, Lucas publication arm would not allow any to be made Pre "A New Hope" because he always intended to make movies out of the back-story. Therefore the new movies haven't bungled up the universe or plotlines (at least not much). In fact the only books I recall that centered around pre-episode 4 content was the Han Solo trilogy that is a pretty good set of books that tells Han Solo's back story from about age 17 to right about the time he walks into the cantina in episode 4.

I hope this helps.

Re:Final Movies

" Rather than all this peripheral shit, why doesn't he crank out the last three movies?"

Are you kidding? Have you seen how badly Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill have AGED. I definitely don't want to see her in that gold bikini again....not as grandma Leia....

:-)

I'd think they later movies would have to have the original actors in them to some extent...but, man, they'd have to spend a lot of $$'s on makeup for those two...Harrison Ford could probably still be on film and look ok..but, whew..those other two...

Re:Final Movies

Rather than all this peripheral shit, why doesn't he crank out the last three movies?

He promised in a recent interview on Sixty Minutes, that there will be no more movies after Episode 3.
Whether he will keep that promise is anyone's guess.

Re:Final Movies

As far as I know, there are no parts 7,8 and 9 to be filmed. :) Indeed there are such rumours, but that's a common mistake. Lucas originally thought he'd need 9 films to tell the story, but already before he finished filming all 3 of the original movies, he concluded that 6 would be enough. Some form of draft was made for 7, 8 and 9, but they date back from before 5 and 6 were filmed and have now become obsolete. Some of the things were already used in the plots for part 4, 5 and 6, and some of the events described in there have become overruled by what happens in 4, 5 and 6. Think of the original drafts as being a short paragraph each; just a brainstorm for some important events. Oh, sure if you do a Google for those scripts you'll find a lot of stuff. But don't let yourself be fooled, that's all fan fiction or wishful thinking. See also these pages: http://scifi.about.com/library/starwars/bl-sixorni ne.htm [about.com] http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/gary_kurtz_re veals_original_plans_for_episodes_19_80270.asp [theforce.net] Conclusion: even if Lucas *wanted* to make parts 7, 8 and 9, he'd have to go back to the writing table and work out all new stories. He used the best parts from the original drafts to write the scripts for part 5 and 6, and what he didn't use was appearantly rubbish, or has become obsolete and unusable in any case.

Re:too much star wars is not healthy

I am afraid too much star wars and it might kill the interest of it completley. Nope. Just having the show air at 7:00 CST Friday night on UPN is all that you need.

Re:Go retire I say!

You know the topic is STARWARS when all the trolling is rated "informative" or "insigthful"...

Re:Go retire I say!

No, don't retire. Pick up the THX 1138 thread and run with it. Make the movies Star Wars prevented you from making.

Re:Go retire I say!

What, Star Wars is some trap Lucas fell into, which drew his life into a spiraling spiral (heh) of decay and torment, as each time he drew away Star Wars brought him back?

No thanks. Indiana Jones was Lucas' idea. He started Pixar, ILM, THX, led the way for special effects, worked on stuff like Radioland Murders or something, redid THX 1138 in a new edition, and has generally done what he wants to. Star Wars hasn't prevented him from doing anything, except maybe avoiding the verbal abuse of countless Slashdotters who feel offended because he somehow ruined their childhood.

As long as he makes money, what does he care?

It is always painful to see an artist / athlete or whatever keep trying when they no longer appear to measure up to their prime.

But even if the artist's talent is no longer what it was, or the athlete is past their prime, its their choice to keep going or not. If the artist continues to enjoy performing, let him perform. If the athlete wants to keep playing, let him keep playing.

So as long as George Lucas is enjoying what he is doing, and making money at it, he should probably keep going. And if you dont like it, dont pay to watch it.

I for one admire that Lucas has kept creative control of his creation and is in a position to still profit off of it. I may not have liked the Phantom Menace, but its my fault for watching it, not his fault for making it.

END COMMUNICATION

Kevin Smith

If I remember the previous round of rumors correctly, wasn't Kevin Smith fingered as a writer for the SW TV seriers?

Re:Kevin Smith

Yah, we'll get Jay Jay Binks and Silent Darth.

Re:So.

The books for Episodes 7-9 have been out since 1992-1993: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command. That trilogy takes place 5 years after ROTJ and further, authorized books go out 14 years after ROTJ. There are two problems with making sequels: There's way too much new story and background to pick from for new films. And, the sequel books are written by Timothy Zahn et al and not George Lucas...so George might not want to make a Star Wars film out of something he didn't write.

Re:So.

The books for Episodes 7-9 have been out since 1992-1993: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command.

And even if they weren't there are a lot of fanfics on the internet for George to pick and choose. There are some pretty interesting crossovers as well. My favorite is a Harry Potter/Star Wars crossover. But he'll have to cut out the naughty parts. We all know Ron and Lando had those inclinations but the rabid fans might not appreciate the irony of it.

And he'll have to cut the author-self-inserts as well.

... Hehe... "self-inserts"...

First the Prequels and now a TV series?!

First they spoil the Trilogy with the awful Prequels, and now they're considering a lurid TV series and animated cartoons?!

They've ruined the Star Wars of my youth. Why can't they just leave well alone?

Re:First the Prequels and now a TV series?!

Ah yes, who among us does not fondly remember Ewoks [imdb.com], or the Star Wars Holiday Special [imdb.com]

Search your inner child, you know it to be true.

God willing we will all be around for

Star Wars episode 3.5......the search for more money.

perfect way out

...so when we have all these unanswered questions from Ep 3, Lucas can just say "it will be answered in teh series" and then he can let someone else worry about it.

awesome

Oh christ, this'll be good.

Goofing on Star Wars is like the /. knock-knock joke

I have a bad feeling about this...

Someone had to say it.

Re:I have a bad feeling about this...

I sense a great distrubance in the force...it is almost as if a million voices around the world crying "don't do it, George!" were suddenly ignored.

Re:I have a bad feeling about this...

put enough coke through your nose, and everything will get real serious...

George Lucas

He just works.

Re:George Lucas

He just works.

You mispelled "wanks".

Where does the line start?

Star wars fans, confused and bewildered, have begun huddling around random television sets not sure where they are supposed to be in line at to eagerly anticipate the new t.v. show.

Re:Where does the line start?

And in other parts of the US, Star Wars fans have remained huddled around their analog televisions since January 1, 2006, watching the snow and claiming to see Chewbacca.

in other news...

several dead tauntauns were found in the desert of tatooine, having been beaten to a pulp after dying of starvation.

(does it translate? :p)

Not another one!

"several dead tauntauns were found in the desert of tatooine, having been beaten to a pulp after dying of starvation."

I can see it now - CSI: Tatooine.

Aren't there enough spinoffs already?

It's a LARP!

> and the other a live-action series, that will be set in the time between Episodes III and IV, but won't feature the main characters [ emphasis added].

I just had a nightmare vision of FRAPS [fraps.com] video captures from within Star Wars Galaxies being re-enacted by a bunch of LARPers.

I mean, it'd definitely fit within the Star Wars Canon:

This is not the Holiday Special [ohthehumanity.com] you were looking for.
I've got a bad feeling about this.
It's worse.
It's a LARP!

Won't feature any main characters will be tough

"...but won't feature the main characters."

This will be tough thing to avoid. I've ready quite a few Star Wars novels in my day and all of them have noteable characters from the movies sprinkled throughout the plotlines. I could see how they might avoid using main characters if they set the television series Pre-episode I or pretty far past episode 6 (post new jedi order?) but for the series to take place between episodes 3 and 4 would require a few staple characters to make regular apperances in order for the audience to become grounded.

I recently watched that amateur Star Wars fan film "Revelations" and without an appearence by Darth Vader, it wouldn't have seemed like Star Wars. The sets and sabers alone just don't draw me in like the cast of characters that everyone is familiar with.

Here's hoping that is an overstatement and we'll see a few familiar faces in the series.

Re:Won't feature any main characters will be tough

his will be tough thing to avoid. I've ready quite a few Star Wars novels in my day and all of them have noteable characters from the movies sprinkled throughout the plotlines.

A friend let me borrow the first two seasons of Voyager on DVD and I fail to understand why a "spinoff" that doesn't have any characters from the main franchise makes a difference in the quality of the story.

I don't care about you Star Wars bashers

The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network was awesome. That's what I want in a cartoon and it's what I want in Star Wars. Shitpan Star Wars all you want, I want Genndy Tartakovsky to make more!

And considering Lucas is not specifically directing the cartoons, I figure the mouth frothing Star Wars critics would actually enjoy them :)

Star Wars TV

When I started the article, I was kind of hoping it would be based off this spoof. [shockwave.com] Ewoks are still funny.

I'm confirming right now...

that I don't give a rusty fuck what George Lucas says, does, produces, or otherwise shits out onto the screen.

C'mon people. He's not been behind a great movie since "Empire", and notice that he didn't write the screenplay for or direct that one. Yes, he made a few classics. He founded what is still perhaps the world's best FX shop (ILM). He got thousands of theaters to upgrade to a better viewing / listening environment with the THX certification program. However, he's crashed and burned badly since. Why keep giving him so much attention?

Not exactly true

As Lucas (and the article) said, it's not exactly true that no main characters are going to be in the TV series (I think his exact words were "Well, that's not strictly true now that I think about it"). He didn't clarify what that meant though.

Also possible in the future is either a new Willow movie or TV series, and another thing for sure is an update of the decrepit Star Tours ride at DisneyWorld (in Janurary next year).

Re:Excellent News

Well if it doesn't show "Written and Driected by George Lucas" at the end of the show it could be good. ie Lucas lets other people write and direct.

You know how many people love the star wars movies when they were kids and are now experienced Actors/Directors/Writers? Lucas had Speilberg and Samuel L Jackson begging to be a part of star wars. Imagine handing over starwars to the best creative teams out there and just letting them go.

It could be very awesome if Lucas can just put his ego aside and let someone else give it a shot. Nothing against Lucas the man's a genious at coming up with ideas, and doing special effects, but he can't write dialog or direct actors worth shit.

If Lucas comes up with the general ideas, and does the special effects, and gets the best and the brightest to take over writing and directing, it could work very well.

Star Wars part deux

I quote from me:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=142927&cid=1 19 78190

"You might have thought that it was going to all be over on May 15 with the release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith."

I don't know anybody that is foolish enough to believe that this was over. As long as there is an interest and the opportunity to make some money, it isn't going to be over. Many folks thought that Star Wars would end in the 70s. It is still around decades later and still making a profit. You don't get rid of a profitable interest.

If the entertainment factor is there, I'll go see more. Will the market of 'Star Wars Enthusiasts' allow more movies to be made? Will we see different plots in the future? Will we see more 'enhanced' versions? I'd think probably. They may suck, but I would bet that we are not done with 'Star Wars' for quite a while. I hope that what comes out is good.

When are we going to get sick of it?

What's the hoopla?

Why do I so often hear tons of noise about the Star Wars story beyond XI? It was my understanding that the story was about Anakin Skywalker - his origins, growth, corruption, and, finally, redemption. What more is to be told?

Re:What's the hoopla?

Back in the early days of ANH, before it was renamed as episode 4, I heard stories that the entire saga was meant to be 3 trilogies. The first trilogy focused on the boy who would become Vader, the second 3 focused on his downfall, and the last 3 focused on the rebuilding of the republic and the final defeat of the Empire. I also recall being told that the only characters who would exist in all 9 episodes would be R2D2 and C3PO. I have no idea if this is based on fact or not but there is a synopsis of episodes 7-9 [starwarsse...rilogy.com] supposedly written by Lucas himself.