The Big Picture: That's No Moon

[Evil Smurf]

I trust Disney, they made The Lion King. the Best animated film in the ever. James Cameron shut up. They have make the movies that people hail as the best animated movies for decades. If they can uses that talent and imagination on a new Starwars film, I don't mind what they do.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

"Hey guys! Avengers was the greatest goddamn movie of all time, and they were under Disney, so Episode VII must be good!"

"Hey guys! I have a built-in cynicism towards Disney for an as-yet unspecified reason, and Disney is Disney, so Episode VII must be bad!"


You see, it works both ways =P

 

[Jennacide]

Honestly, I think too many people have been all doom and gloom over this. Let's be honest here, after the prequels and the new Indiana Jones movie, do you really view being in the hands of Disney worse than being in the hands of Lucas? The man has seriously lost his marbles at this point. I'm still waiting for him to announce a reboot to American Grafitti or something completely idiotic.

The whole secret things can't stay as secret for long, really? If that's the case wouldn't we have leak info on Half Life Episode 3 by now (I'm pretty sure Valve employees are tight lip about that game).

Anyway, the only time I would start to doubt or be against the whole thing is once we actually seen development of the upcoming film.

That's because Valve has been too busy trolling us with the HL:Ep3 t-shirts last year, or the /v/ interview revealing Ricochet 2 is actually going to be a thing, or that Source 2.0 is finally coming.(for 'next gen' consoles -_-)

 

[Draconalis]

I hate star wars... so much...

 

[Baresark]

I for one am ecstatic that Lucas will no longer be involved with the SW Universe. They can't do worse than what Lucas has done in the last 15 or so years. And even after what Bob said, there is still way more likelihood of them acknowledging at least some EU content as part of the official SW Brand than there ever was with Lucas in charge. I won't hold my breath, but I'll be a little less surprised about it.

Edit: Maybe Karen Traviss will come back and finish her Commando series. Awesome series that was never finished because of Lucas. And one of the best Star Wars authors around. She is doing some Halo books, but I don't have the same attachment to them.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I really wish they'd make a movie based on the Thrawn Trilogy, it was the only Star Wars EU I read but it was REALLY good!

 

[Saltyk]

Dear Bob,

Thank you. You said the one thing I've been saying since this was announced. Disney made the Marvel films. At their worst, they were still watchable and entertaining. I'm not a comic reader, and I loved them. And the Avengers felt like the comic book movie we've been waiting for. Simply because that film existed The Dark Knight Rises lost a lot for me, as I kept comparing the two. And if anything, I am a Batman fan (years of quality Batman shows) and only knew of the Avengers.

So, thank you, Bob. Finally someone else said what I was thinking. Disney could very well make these films worth watching. Especially if they place them in the hands of people who WANT to make these films as they are fans of the source material. I'm not saying Episode VII will be a masterpiece, but it may well be entertaining.

Also, Holy crap. This was a year in development and no one talked? I did not know that. I suppose Disney has some just plain evil nondisclosure agreements. I'm not sure what to make of that. Kinda cool, I suppose.

Sincerely,
Saltyk​

 

[Tohron]

Hm... yeah, Star Wars is guaranteed to earn you some money.

Tell that to Bioware and EA...

 

[iblis666]

Damn this could be good if they make a new willow movie

 

[Daria.Morgendorffer]

"Hey guys! Avengers was the greatest goddamn movie of all time, and they were under Disney, so Episode VII must be good!"

"Hey guys! I have a built-in cynicism towards Disney for an as-yet unspecified reason, and Disney is Disney, so Episode VII must be bad!"


You see, it works both ways =P

Yeah, well, I'm also the only person who didn't like "Disney's The Muppets". Glorified fan-fiction.

The Avengers? Really, how WAS that anything special?

As for Star Wars, it's going to follow a rigid formula, you can bet your ass on it. Now, I've always said that Pixar tends to be formulaic as well, but they have an extremely high concentration of creating and thoughtful people that make up in heart what they tend to lack in originality.

Do I think lightning will strike twice, as far as brands go? Nope. Pixar has the freedom to create what they want without having to fall into some sort of canon to please anyone. Established characters? Disney will rob them of what made them so great in the first place.

So, color ME cynical. But then again, check the username.

 

[Olas]

So you think they'll stop at three movies?
Or you think they'll milk it further?

Like comic book superheroes, IPs never truly die. They just go into periods of hibernation until someone decides they want to bring them back. Even The Wizard of Oz is getting a bloody prequel.

So yes, just keep waiting and someday I swear on my mother's (still empty) grave you'll see a trailer for Star Wars Ep 10.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I would love to see a new Star Wars movie, but I'd like to see the EU stay intact. It took a lot of work to get all those characters set up and evolved. The authors had to do some serious rearranging when the prequels came out, but the pulled it off. I just think it'd be such a same to have all that go to waste. No Jania, no Tenel Ka, no Zekk, no Wraith Squadron, no Mara Jade...

So, the only ways I can see that happening is if they decided to follow one of the books, maybe not exactly but close, or set the movie after all the EU stuff. Make the movie about their kids, Jania and Ben. Luke, Leia, and Han can have minor rolls, but don't have to be the main characters. of course, since the kids also play a big role in the books, it'd have to be set after all the stuff in the books involving them is done too. But that can be done. After all, isn't that what happened with A New Hope once all the prequels were released? There's a huge time jump and stuff happened between that time jump. The stuff is never shown, but it's talked about enough that we have a basic idea of how things came to be. The main characters in the prequels are no longer the main characters in the originals. New cast and, amazingly, two of the heroes turn out to be children of the 'hero' of the prequels. I just don't want to start treating Star Wars like I do with comics: Okay, this happened in universe A, but not in universe B, and something completely different happened in universe 1 and so on.

Still, I am excited that they'll be making more movies, and I will see them no matter what. I just hope that they try to merge everything together. And if they don't, I hope the EU will continue on anyway without trying to fit into the new films, because all the characters I love are there.

And the CIA joke. Amazing.

 

[kburns10]

Anything is going to be better than the last three episodes! Like Bob, I didn't think I'd care if I ever saw Star Wars again. I'll give these new ones a chance.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The security around the acquisition should be no surprise to anyone familiar with the kind of PR security Lucasarts has been running for the better part of the last 15 years.

In brief, it's a standard that casino security and maximum security prisons would be envious of.
And it's backed by some of the most tenacious lawyers on the planet.

There's a reason nobody, least of all journalist snoops, have fucked with Lucasfilms' behind the scenes.

As for the acquisition itself, I'm maintaining my "Guilty until proven innocent" stance on Star Wars.
The prequel trilogy was a colossal success in spite of its exploitation agenda, and it'd be the height of stupidity to waltz right back into hopeful naivety.

However, I'm with Bob on this one point all the way: No Expanded Universe.
As much as I enjoyed the X-Wing series, Shadows of the Empire and Crimson Empire, it just isn't going to happen. There's no reason for it to happen.

Enjoy the books for what they are; some of them are the last place (chronologically) you could find the tone of the original trilogy (and if you're hoping for a return to the gritty tone of the originals, well, I anticipate your whining come a week after Episode 7 premiers).

 

[exobook]

For those arguing over the EU universe, I do agree that the movies are not going to follow the EU, however how much they deviate does depend on when they set the movie. If they set it shortly after return of the jedi we're in trouble, however from what I understand only harrison ford is interested and I dont think they want to risk the controversy of casting new actors in the role of luke and leia. This may mean they set the movie next generation style some years afterwards. If they do this then we might be able to salvage bits of th EU, the Hand of Thawn for example is self-contained enough that we could salvage it.

Thats what the star wars EU is going to be like during episode 7, a major restrucuting in which some bits like Yuuzhan Vong War (as a possablity) will be removed to make way for the movie and anything else they want to do while things that still fit with the continuity will be retained.

 

[Flatron W2241S]

Given what Lucas did to the prequels, I'm not going to shed a tear over his big "Independent" studio.

Yeah, I don't think Lucas understands the flaws of the studio system and the benefits of the independent way of making films. He essentially created his own studio system with Lucasfilm, it's a matter of size, an independent film maker has a small and flexible organization, doesn't risk as much money, doesn't have to make a bajillion dollars in profit etc. All those things went out the window as Lucasfilm grew in size.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

I'm more concerned towards how they'll handle Indiana Jones as a franchise...I don't want to see a movie with Shia Lebouf as kid Indy based on the TV show.

 

[atomicmrpelly]

I like the fact that all the clips used in this video come from the original films, not the special editions. Nice one Bob, and bring on those remastered originals!!!