Starting to get scared of what is going to happen to Star Wars

[barbzilla]

So I've been playing a lot of Marvel Games since Disney's acquisition of Marvel, and while I don't have a clear idea of how much of the game is based on their influence, I do think these games are looking more and more like cash-outs at every possible turn. This is starting to worry me a bit about the future of Star Wars.

Having always been a Star Wars fan, even though the bad times (hey, its hard to get good space action any more), I feel as though a story is coming to its close. One of the things I've always loved about Star Wars is how open the universe is, and how welcoming of different stories it can be (when it wants to). Yet Disney is pulling this big cash out with marvel, and I have to wonder if the same is being done to Star Wars.

How does everyone else feel on this correlation, and does anyone have any real info on how involved Disney was with the recent Marvel Releases (Deadpool, Marvel Heroes, Ect).

 

[Flames66]

I suspect it will end up like the new Star Trek films, hollow imitations of a bygone age, still entertaining in their own right but lacking the spark that made StarWars great.

 

[Bobic]

Star wars has been selling out since after the second movie. I don't think you need to worry about Disney's treatment. It's not like Old Georgie was treating it with all that much respect.


Are there any depths for it to further fall?

 

[shrekfan246]

How does everyone else feel on this correlation, and does anyone have any real info on how involved Disney was with the recent Marvel Releases (Deadpool, Marvel Heroes, Ect).

Apart from licensing, I doubt Disney had anything to do with those games at all. They've never really been that involved in video game publishing even for their own properties (and those which they do publish have generally always been shovelware), and they're pretty high up the corporate ladder to be caring about what happens to their IP from a video game standpoint when they can delegate it to many other companies.

Also, I fail to see how Deadpool was a cash-in, unless you're just taking the average review scores and judging your opinion on them.

Also also, have you seen what Star Wars has been putting out for the last decade? There aren't really any deeper depths for it to fall down.

 

[Jacco]

Star wars has been selling out since the second movie. I don't think you need to worry about Disney's treatment. It's not like Old Georgie was treating it with all that much respect.


Are there any depths for it to further fall?

I just watched that whole video in morbid fascination and could literally feel my brain cells immolating themselves.

That video is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with licensed video games. I don't think you need to worry, OP. That is as low as it can get. It can only go up from there.

 

[Clowndoe]

No where to go but up. There is such a thing as rock-bottom after all. At any rate, I don't believe they can possibly *ruin* it for me. They can make all the bad movies and games they want, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying the original trilogy and mentally blocking out what I hate.

 

[barbzilla]

How does everyone else feel on this correlation, and does anyone have any real info on how involved Disney was with the recent Marvel Releases (Deadpool, Marvel Heroes, Ect).

Apart from licensing, I doubt Disney had anything to do with those games at all. They've never really been that involved in video game publishing even for their own properties (and those which they do publish have generally always been shovelware), and they're pretty high up the corporate ladder to be caring about what happens to their IP from a video game standpoint when they can delegate it to many other companies.

Also, I fail to see how Deadpool was a cash-in, unless you're just taking the average review scores and judging your opinion on them.

Also also, have you seen what Star Wars has been putting out for the last decade? There aren't really any deeper depths for it to fall down.

Deadpool I consider a cash in for just being exceedingly average in every way possible. It has nothing to do with scores, as I pre-ordered the game and made my own mind up. That is an opinion though, something to which we are each entitled.

 

[Gatx]

Star wars has been selling out since after the second movie. I don't think you
need to worry about Disney's treatment. It's not like Old Georgie was treating it with all that much respect.


Are there any depths for it to further fall?

I still don't get how there's so much hate for this specifically, with cries of selling out and what not, and then you have this event that's evidently acceptable for what it is - good, clean hilarious fun.

 

[Lilani]

So I've been playing a lot of Marvel Games since Disney's acquisition of Marvel, and while I don't have a clear idea of how much of the game is based on their influence, I do think these games are looking more and more like cash-outs at every possible turn. This is starting to worry me a bit about the future of Star Wars.

Having always been a Star Wars fan, even though the bad times (hey, its hard to get good space action any more), I feel as though a story is coming to its close. One of the things I've always loved about Star Wars is how open the universe is, and how welcoming of different stories it can be (when it wants to). Yet Disney is pulling this big cash out with marvel, and I have to wonder if the same is being done to Star Wars.

How does everyone else feel on this correlation, and does anyone have any real info on how involved Disney was with the recent Marvel Releases (Deadpool, Marvel Heroes, Ect).

New movies aren't going to delete the old ones, you know. It's not like as soon as the new Star Wars films come out every copy of the classics will spontaneously combust and erase off the Internet. And even if they do turn out good, they'll still be radically different from the films made in the 70s. Why? Because those films were made in the 70s. A very specific time in film with a very specific set of people, working under very specific conditions. That will NEVER happen again.

I'm a fan of a lot of DIsney's animated works, and you well know Disney had a long run of unnecessary sequels several years ago. That was mostly the fault of Michael Eisner, but still we ended up with a Bambi II, Cinderellas II and III, Hunchback of Notre Dame 2, Mulan 2, and some more I don't even remember. Does that change the beauty of the original films? Hell no. While the magic made by a certain film can never be fully recaptured in a sequel or a spinoff, it also can't be corrupted. That is one great aspect of films as a medium, and most mediums of art when you think about it. People will make their own variations and re-imaginings of things over time, and no matter how successful or unsuccessful or exploitative they are, the original will always have the same integrity. So I say bring on the Star Wars universe as imagined by J.J. Abrams. At best, we'll get a new and fresh film in a franchise whose recent installments have been a...mixed bag. At worst, we'll get another sub-par film that people can feel free to ignore if they don't like it. Just as people are free to ignore the prequels.

 

[Bobic]

Star wars has been selling out since after the second movie. I don't think you
need to worry about Disney's treatment. It's not like Old Georgie was treating it with all that much respect.


Are there any depths for it to further fall?

I still don't get how there's so much hate for this specifically, with cries of selling out and what not, and then you have this event that's evidently acceptable for what it is - good, clean hilarious fun.

To be honest, I mostly agree with you. I thought the internet blew its lid to way too high a degree over what was a light hearted joke. But, using that one video perfectly illustrated my point, and meant I didn't have to list a bunch of lesser known things, which would have made my argument much less snappy. Of course, I could have thrown an image of Jar-Jar up there, but the OP mentioned games specifically.

 

[Glongpre]

I gotta say that this thread was worth it just for the stormtroopers+vader dance in that vid.

On-topic: Relax.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Star wars has been selling out since after the second movie. I don't think you
need to worry about Disney's treatment. It's not like Old Georgie was treating it with all that much respect.


Are there any depths for it to further fall?

I still don't get how there's so much hate for this specifically, with cries of selling out and what not, and then you have this event that's evidently acceptable for what it is - good, clean hilarious fun.

To be honest, I mostly agree with you. I thought the internet blew its lid to way too high a degree over what was a light hearted joke. But, using that one video perfectly illustrated my point, and meant I didn't have to list a bunch of lesser known things, which would have made my argument much less snappy. Of course, I could have thrown an image of Jar-Jar up there, but the OP mentioned games specifically.

After seeing both, I'm going to say the difference is the quality

 

[barbzilla]

So I've been playing a lot of Marvel Games since Disney's acquisition of Marvel, and while I don't have a clear idea of how much of the game is based on their influence, I do think these games are looking more and more like cash-outs at every possible turn. This is starting to worry me a bit about the future of Star Wars.

Having always been a Star Wars fan, even though the bad times (hey, its hard to get good space action any more), I feel as though a story is coming to its close. One of the things I've always loved about Star Wars is how open the universe is, and how welcoming of different stories it can be (when it wants to). Yet Disney is pulling this big cash out with marvel, and I have to wonder if the same is being done to Star Wars.

How does everyone else feel on this correlation, and does anyone have any real info on how involved Disney was with the recent Marvel Releases (Deadpool, Marvel Heroes, Ect).

New movies aren't going to delete the old ones, you know. It's not like as soon as the new Star Wars films come out every copy of the classics will spontaneously combust and erase off the Internet. And even if they do turn out good, they'll still be radically different from the films made in the 70s. Why? Because those films were made in the 70s. A very specific time in film with a very specific set of people, working under very specific conditions. That will NEVER happen again.

I'm a fan of a lot of DIsney's animated works, and you well know Disney had a long run of unnecessary sequels several years ago. That was mostly the fault of Michael Eisner, but still we ended up with a Bambi II, Cinderellas II and III, Hunchback of Notre Dame 2, Mulan 2, and some more I don't even remember. Does that change the beauty of the original films? Hell no. While the magic made by a certain film can never be fully recaptured in a sequel or a spinoff, it also can't be corrupted. That is one great aspect of films as a medium, and most mediums of art when you think about it. People will make their own variations and re-imaginings of things over time, and no matter how successful or unsuccessful or exploitative they are, the original will always have the same integrity. So I say bring on the Star Wars universe as imagined by J.J. Abrams. At best, we'll get a new and fresh film in a franchise whose recent installments have been a...mixed bag. At worst, we'll get another sub-par film that people can feel free to ignore if they don't like it. Just as people are free to ignore the prequels.

I quite agree with you that it will not erase the old films and current content. What I do fear is a lack of good future content. I mean the content over the past 10 years hasn't been great, but we've gotten a few gaming gems, and some really good books out of it. My fear isn't that the name will be tarnished and forgotten, but that nothing new will come of it if they move for a cash in.

 

[Waffle_Man]

Since no one has posted this yet, I feel obliged to.


While I know that Star Wars is a pop culture icon and the original films were genuinely good, it's had the shit mined out of it already. Try thinking of a single product that any given franchise can be used to market and I guarantee you that there is a Star Wars version.

 

[culpeo]

Star Wars has and will continue to be a money-making beast regardless of how these new movies turn out. My concern is that this will limit the incentive for Disney to take the risks I think would most benefit the franchise (for example, movies that take place during a completely different timeline). The involvement of JJ Abrams doesn't abate my concerns about this, either. He's a perfectly safe choice and an adequate director, but not any kind of visionary.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

He's a perfectly safe choice and an adequate director, but not any kind of visionary.

Star Wars does not merit a "visionary" director. It needs a competent, meat and potatoes director who can run more than two cameras, and a competent, meat and potatoes script writer who can pen dialogue that doesn't sound like it was written by a coked out six year old.

Star Wars is space opera, not 2001: A Space Odyssey. You don't want monkeys throwing bones or catalysts standing on Citadels blathering about synthetic singularities. You need space ships going "pew pew" and roguish do-gooders dead-panning their way through fire fights and a sprinkling of menacing Sith.

No visionaries, please.

 

[Thaluikhain]

He's a perfectly safe choice and an adequate director, but not any kind of visionary.

Star Wars does not merit a "visionary" director. It needs a competent, meat and potatoes director who can run more than two cameras, and a competent, meat and potatoes script writer who can pen dialogue that doesn't sound like it was written by a coked out six year old.

Star Wars is space opera, not 2001: A Space Odyssey. You don't want monkeys throwing bones or catalysts standing on Citadels blathering about synthetic singularities. You need space ships going "pew pew" and roguish do-gooders dead-panning their way through fire fights and a sprinkling of menacing Sith.

No visionaries, please.

Well...it was somewhat visionary at the time. The story was fairly ordinary, if done well, but the visual style didn't really look like anything that'd been seen before (a bit like 2001, yeah, but more explosiony).

Anyone can do a space opera, but not anyone can do a space opera like Star Wars.

 

[hermes]

You mention you were always a Star Wars fan, so this should come to no surprise:
- Star Wars is not above selling out cheap products for profit. In fact, most of the franchise revenue is based on cheap merchandise a lot more than the movies, and movies are usually modified and catered to sell more cheap merchandise.
- Disney is not really interested in managing the Star Wars games. They even closed the internal games studio and outsourced all their game projects to other companies.

So, no need to worry... Star Wars are going to be just as full of cash-in product placement as it has always have. In fact, now that we have DICE and some more professional studios handling the properties, maybe it will get better.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Well...it was somewhat visionary at the time. The story was fairly ordinary, if done well, but the visual style didn't really look like anything that'd been seen before (a bit like 2001, yeah, but more explosiony).

Anyone can do a space opera, but not anyone can do a space opera like Star Wars.

I guess I don't see Lucas (or Spielberg, for that matter, his oft time partner in crime) as "visionaries". Spielberg is ALL meat and potato, and Lucas is incompetent and had his lack of ability covered up for years by the talented people surrounding him. James Cameron is another example of a man who I'd never dream of calling "visionary", but who makes a rollicking science fiction action adventure.

It's possible I'm being too stingy with the term, but "visionary director" has long been colloquially applied to either A) ridiculously high concept art film directors, or B) directors who absolutely no other accolades, so they have to invent some for themselves. "Visionary" is usually at the top of that list. See Snyder, Zack.

Restore the brand to respectability and then you can start taking risks with it. Until then, a "safe" director was a prudent choice.