Star Wars Television Series Moving Forward

merg717 writes "George Lucas has confirmed that work has begun on a live-action Star Wars television series. This is the companion piece to the Clone Wars animated series, focusing on entirely new characters outside of the frame of the six movies. 'Lucas joked that the series would be about "the life of robots" but wouldn't let any details slip about the true premise. The "extended universe" of "Star Wars" has come to life already in Lucas-sanctioned novels, comics and games that chronicle the history of the Jedi and tell the tales of bit players in the films, such as the bounty hunters from "The Empire Strikes Back."'"

Comments

Robots

[Anonymous Coward]

Lucas joked that the series would be about "the life of robots"
Considering the way Lucas directs actors, I would say that most of the Star Wars movies have been about the lives of robots.

Great!

[Hawthorne01]

More marketing opportunities for LucasFilm! More toys! More action figures! More breakfast cereals!

People who think this was about things like "artistic vision" or "extended storytelling possibilities" probably like Jar-Jar Binks as well.

Expect lots of gratuitous cameos

[DrXym]

Young Indiana Jones used horrible contrivances to get Indy to meet various famous historical figures. Expect any Star Wars TV series to do the same with characters from the movies. Oh and lots of phony CGI.

Re:Expect lots of gratuitous cameos

[_Sprocket_]

Of course not. That would be silly. It's going to follow a young Chewbacca; his awkward years. The humiliating defeat and associated downfall that drove him out of the Wookie Chess Club. The evening of the horrible swirlie at the hands of the lacrosse team. His attempts to prove himself by hand-building R2D2. And that pinnacle moment in his life when he joins the gun club and picks up his first bowcaster.

It's not all crap

[PlatyPaul]

As was briefly touched on in TFS, the stories of the bounty hunters from ESB actually make for an interesting read. Skip all of the "Expanded" crap, and take a look here:

Tales of the Bounty Hunters
ISBN-10: 0553568167
ISBN-13: 978-0553568165

"No Luke" FTW

[Interl0per]

Not that I don't love the iconic characters from the OT, but this is exactly what I've been hoping to see in live action. If Star Wars Revelations is any indication, these kinds of stories could be done on a modest budget with talented and under utilized actors that could elicit the fan response of a Han Solo -ish character while staying low-key enough to allow viewers to be swept up into the absolutely huge and mysterious setting. I think it would be an absolute blast to throw some of the Empire's more obscure minions into the spotlight as a foil to some rebellious or independent spacers on the fringe (a la "Firefly"), similar to some of the plots in the old animated "Star Wars: Droids" from the 80s.

Oblig Quote

[Anonymous Coward]

"Pray that I do not alter it further." - George Lucas

Cry some more

[ObiWanStevobi]

Cue the whining! Oh no, Lucas is making a TV series I don't have to watch, and wouldn't have to pay any extra money for if I do watch it!

Whatever. What is with everyone thinking Lucas should never do anything Star Wars again because it won't be as good as the originals? So he isn't going to top his early work, so what? I'm sure it will still be better than most the other crap I'd normally watch. Personally, I think some of the other works have had great plots. In some cases, poor execution, but the good far outweighed the bad.

Re:Cry some more

[andphi]

Enormous Plot Holes? (The Jedi are mysterious, subtle, mystical monks in 4, 5, 6, and 1 and target practice in 2 and 3.)

Inverse Ninja Effect? (Two Sith vs hundreds of Jedi.)

One and Two Dimensional Characters?

Insipid Romance?

Huge CGI sets which swallow the cast?

Battlestar Galactica

[SpectreBlofeld]

Battlestar Galactica has proven that it's possible to create cinema-quality special effects and atmosphere on a TV show budget these days.

Unfortunately for Lucasarts, anything they're likely to produce probably won't turn out half as good as Battlestar - which is kind of ironic considering that the original Battlestar Galactica really began as a Star Wars ripoff (or at least was discounted as such by critics at the time).

Really, though, BSG really beat the Star Wars prequel at their own game - the vintage tech and mannerisms give the Battlestar Galactica universe the old-school, 'epic' feel that the original SW trilogy had and the prequels lacked.

The kid in me really wants to see some Star Wars in the flavor of the original trilogy, though. Perhaps being constrained to a TV budget will actually help it meet that end - real props instead of 100% CGI backgrounds and 50% CGI characters; plot-and-character-driven instead of flashy lightsaber battles, etc.

Re:Battlestar Galactica

[rehtonAesoohC]

Battlestar Galactica has proven that it's possible to create cinema-quality special effects and atmosphere on a TV show budget these days
Firefly too; Man I wish that show hadn't been canceled.

Re:Battlestar Galactica

[jollyreaper]

Battlestar Galactica has proven that it's possible to create cinema-quality special effects and atmosphere on a TV show budget these days. Visually, I'll have to agree with you. The whole bit about having to use wired phones and paper printouts on computers is a bit silly but the overall look of the show is polished and competent. The space CGI is breathtaking. The actors also managed to portray themselves and deliver lines with convincing aplomb. But, and this is key, BSG demonstrates that you still need writers and a frickin' plan to avoid going off into stupid land. As has already been demonstrated, the Cylons did not have a plan because the writers themselves never knew what it was. You don't start writing a murder mystery without having already worked the crime out in your head so you can lay the proper clues leading up to the killer. Work without a plan and you wind up with surprise Cylon sleeper agents listening to Bob Dylan on their toaster ipods.

Unfortunately for Lucasarts, anything they're likely to produce probably won't turn out half as good as Battlestar - which is kind of ironic considering that the original Battlestar Galactica really began as a Star Wars ripoff (or at least was discounted as such by critics at the time). That's the funny thing. The best stories come when one or more people say "Damnit, I've got a tale that needs to be told. Who do I have to beat over the head to make this happen?" The worst stories tend to happen when a suit says "It's about time to crank another one off, I want some money." Sometimes the suit can find someone with a story worth telling and put them in charge but not often. The suits don't care.

Really, though, BSG really beat the Star Wars prequel at their own game - the vintage tech and mannerisms give the Battlestar Galactica universe the old-school, 'epic' feel that the original SW trilogy had and the prequels lacked. The worst kind of writing is where characters feel like they're jerked along through a plot because of what's written on paper. The best kind of writing lets you feel like everything has already happened for real, true and human reasons and the writer is just letting you in on what happened, recording it as it occurred. The same goes for directing. The nuTrilogy looked like unconvincing cheesy greenscreen because it was unconvincing cheesy greenscreen and the actors just couldn't sell it as anything but. Compare this with actors in a theater who can convince you anything is happening when standing on a frickin' stage. It's not a failure or limitation of the craft, it's a failure of the director to make the magic happen.

The kid in me really wants to see some Star Wars in the flavor of the original trilogy, though. Perhaps being constrained to a TV budget will actually help it meet that end - real props instead of 100% CGI backgrounds and 50% CGI characters; plot-and-character-driven instead of flashy lightsaber battles, etc. The only thing that could save a new Star Wars project is if you could get someone with a big brassy set of balls in charge, like a Joss or a JMS, give them the budget and authority to make it happen, stand back and let them go to work. But that's not going to happen. What you're going to get is a Lucas or a that idiot from Paramount whose name I'm blocking out who ran Trek into the ground after Rodenberry died, you'll just get some talentless hack or minion of Satan like Uwe Boll involved and it will turn into another festering, rotting, diseased pile of sludge with the Star Wars label affixed to it like an olive on a toothpick poking out of the top of a turd sandwich. Bon appetit, bitches.

Re:Battlestar Galactica

[andyh3930]

The reason why Firefly and BSG works so well is that the episodes are character driven first, great plots second and cemented with FX. You get to know them, hate them, love them, feel for them, with Firefly who wouldn't would to travel aboard Serenity. Joss wrote them as people you'd meet down the street, Star Wars and the Trek canon, its all to black and white goodies and baddies, life ain't like that. Picard trolls around the galaxy with his shiny Starship that can blow nearly anything out of the black, so they can afford their Prime Directive and when they can't they, the writers use some Dues Ex Machina to get round the problem. Thats turns boring real soon. In BSG and Firefly you have to fight, fight or die. It becomes interesting, right and wrong are shades of grey and you might think that some of the things the 'good' characters do are wrong and the 'bad' characters good. Mal shot First!! (Shiny)

Uh oh....

[Sneftel]

Lucas joked that the series would be about "the life of robots" but wouldn't let any details slip about the true premise

Ten years ago, I would have assumed he was kidding.

Re:Starwars: the series: The Holiday Special!

[Ngarrang]

Lucas is pretty much denying that The Christmas Special even existed. But we, the fans of Star Wars, never forget.

Another Oblig Quote

[myawn]

"I've got a bad feeling about this"

Re:Starwars: the series: The Holiday Special!

[techpawn]

Lucas is pretty much denying that The Christmas Special even existed. But we, the fans of Star Wars, never forget.

No matter how much therapy we get, we will never forget. Once it has been seen, it can not be unseen...

Color me "who the fuck cares anymore"

[jollyreaper]

I'm not going to say George Lucas raped my childhood. That's hyperbolic and silly. What he did was run a very fun series straight into the ground. As a kid I was "yay, Star Wars!" As a teen I was still "yay, nostalgia!" Right up until the CGI-addled re-release I as "yay, I could watch these movies once a year and never get bored." Then Phantom Menace came out. "Huh, that was Star Wars?" By ROTS I'm "Meh, Star Wars." Watching the movies once a year around Christmastime was a family tradition. Well, I'll pick up the DVD version of the untouched original trilogy -- used, so Lucas doesn't make any more money, but that'll be my last Star Wars purchase. The expanded universe is boring, the games are uninspired, the "property" is being treated like a "franchise" and I just can't work up a shit to give about it.

Firefly was like the new Star Wars, a wild west space opera. That's the kind of wit and energy that should be brought to a new Star Wars project and it's just something we're not going to see. Lord of the Rings is now my big epic trilogy to watch over the holidays.

Re:Starwars: the series: The Holiday Special!

[attributed insanity]

20 minuets of wookies

I'm envisaging wookies dancing to stately music in 3/4 time. Thanks.

CSI: Tattooine

[erroneus]

"Look sir, Droids!"

Re:CSI: Tattooine

[gotem]

"Forget it, something tells me these are not the droids we are looking for"

I'll just wait and see.

[Amazetbm]

Instead of ranting, I'll reserve my judgment until I see what they've developed. The animated series looks like it could be half-way decent. But then again, that was only a trailer.

The Right Solution

[TheRhino]

McCallum is interviewing writers for the live-action series. Here's a tip for you, Rick: Stop the interviews. Hire Timothy Zahn as the head writer. Then hire any combination of Michael Stackpole, A.C. Crispin, Kevin Anderson, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch as his staff. There. Done. Let Lucas cast the vision, but leave the rest up to Zahn and his team. And for the director, get Joss Whedon. Seriously. I can't stress this enough. He would do it exactly right.

Re:The Right Solution

[San-LC]

Kevin Anderson? Really? You DO know he wrote Darksaber, right? And made Palpatine rise from the dead? And made a new Death Star? Good lord, if we had KJA writing for a TV show, it might as well be called "The Young and the Alliance." We'd have Admirals having amnesia every few hours and random people coming back from the dead to try and TAKE OVER THE GALAXY. Space Soap Opera, Ahoy!

Re:The Right Solution

[jjohnson]

You actually want Kevin Anderson to leave his poop trailings all over a Star Wars TV show? His rape of the Dune universe wasn't sufficient?

Well, after the first three I suppose the whole property can't be any more degraded...

Re:Cue cynicism in 3 . . . 2 . . .(1)

[bigstrat2003]

Oh, ok, I must've misread. My bad.

For the record, I really did find the prequels interesting. The plot of the original movies is, in my opinion, incredibly boring and cliche, what saves them is their great setting, and great action scenes. In the prequels, on the other hand, there was a story I could actually really get into, and wrap myself around: the slow descent of someone who was innocent and good into evil. It really caught me. Of course, the amazing battle scenes didn't hurt either.