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Star Wars To Air As Animated Sitcom

The Bastard writes "As if the Star Wars Holiday Special and Jar-Jar weren't insulting enough to fans, George Lucas has decided to turn the franchise into an animated sitcom. I have a bad feeling about this." The article says that Seth Green is involved, which either sets off your late April Fool's Day alarm, immeasurable dread, or excitement.

44 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. I Guess That's About All That's Left by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From the official site there's an announcement from April 5th. Probably not a late April Fools joke.

    After Robot Chicken and Family Guy's parodies of Star Wars, I guess Lucas knows what the fans want: humor. And let's face it, they were funny. At least for me anyway. Star Wars used to be a religion to me until Phantom Menace. I distanced myself and have since had plenty of time to recover. Even though I had read all the expanded universe material in my youth and could recite from memory more about an Aqualish than even Wikipedia would tolerate (hooray for retroactive continuity!), I found Robot Chicken's sketch of Ponda Baba's Bad Day hilarious. Laugh for ten minutes hilarious. Re-enact for my friends hilarious.

    And it saddens me that all he has left is humor. I mean, I'd rather see both serious material and humor. Futurama had a great way of making fun of itself but also baking in really serious themes that made me love it. I hope Star Wars manages to maintain some sort of integrity through all this. I agree with what the quotes said about this being a large intricate universe with a lot to work with. And I had always been hoping for a TV show similar to the Tales from ... series in both short story and comic book form. I mean, you have a whole invented universe just sitting there waiting for writers to discover new intricacies with it. And, aside from the expanded universe, all we've gotten in approved cannon is three really bad movies and some decent kids shows. Where are the Grand Admiral Thrawns and Admiral Daalas? Where is the fleshing out of a background story for each of the aliens you see in Mos Eisley and Jabba's Palace? Confined to books I guess. I just don't understand why TV writers haven't been solicited to explore the Star Wars universe in the same way the expanded universe books have. Sure some have been trash (Barbara Hambly's Children of the Jedi) but you'd think someone could write a really neat story line with new villains, new force sensitives and new characters that are distantly related to the movies.

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by the+Dragonweaver · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The comic books Star Wars Tales are pretty good; for example, one did a spoof of Judge Judy with the Emperor in the judge's seat, Darth Vader as the bailiff, and Hans Solo on trial for shooting Greedo. If they went that way, I could see it as being good.

      That being said, the chances of them doing comedy in a way different than, say, Jar Jar are slim to none. That's not comedy as much as really bad slapstick, and given recent history, that's what they'll go for. Pity.

      --
      Actually I am a lab rat in an elaborate plot to take over the world.
    2. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by e2d2 · · Score: 2

      Your lack of faith in the star wars franchise is disturbing. [force choke]

    3. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      After Robot Chicken and Family Guy's parodies of Star Wars, I guess Lucas knows what the fans want: humor.

      What the fans want is the prequels rewritten and refilmed with good actors, compelling storylines, characters you can give a shit about, and most importantly, no Jar-Jar or midichlorians. As well, to reverse the pathetic attempt to rewrite Han as a total good guy be reinstitating the wanton and totally justified murder of Greedo (if anyone short of Jesus Christ was in Han's shoes, they would have shot first too).

      Star Wars was an incredible space opera-fantasy mashup universe that has always had a serious flaw, and that's Lucas himself. As a sort of idea man, he's pretty good, but he's always had this knack for soiling his own bed, and the prequels are by far the best example of how Lucas just screwed the pooch. The latest animated series is bad on every level. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he was completely selling out now.

      What Star Wars really needs is for Lucas to give up control, let someone else take over, and maybe bring out a new trilogy that returns the movies to the feel of the original trilogy.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by commodore64_love · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I suspect Star Wars during the Republic years would make a good Star Trek-style TV show, however television execs seem to have turned against science fiction. Ever since Star Trek was canceled they act as if audiences are sick of scifi, and now the only people producing new stuff is Syfy(lis) Channel.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    5. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Where are the Grand Admiral Thrawns and Admiral Daalas?

      More importantly, where is Mara Jade in a skimpy kick-ass undercover dancer's uniform? Don't get me wrong, Leia looked good in gold, but you just can't beat the idea of a piss-and-vinegar redhead in similar attire.

      For that matter, let's throw Admiral Daala into that skimpy dancer's uniform mix too. Just for good measure.

    6. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What the fans want is the prequels rewritten and refilmed with good actors, compelling storylines, characters you can give a shit about, and most importantly, no Jar-Jar or midichlorians.

      Uh yeah, good luck with that.

      Don't get me wrong, I was as annoyed at the prequels as anyone else who had an actual social life, but shit, man, let's move on. The prequels sucked. It was almost a decade ago. Let it go.

      --
      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
    7. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by FrigBot · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hmm, I read most of that stuff too. Gave up about 10 years ago as it was getting to be too much.

      Anyway this announcement reminds me of the South Park episode from last year, or the year before, about the new Indiana Jones movie. With George Lucas and Steven Spielberg butt-raping Indiana Jones. This new sitcom is all that this is about: raping the franchise for whatever more profit they can squeeze out of it and dumping the carcass.

    8. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well if you took off the nostalgia blinders you can see that episodes 4,5,6 were bad too. Campy acting and a basic storyline... Heck I would credit the fall of the empire not to Luke Skywalker but to Admiral Ackbar for his keen military leadership.

      Part of the problem is after people became nostalgic to Star Wars the new stuff just didn't seem up to par. Jar-Jar wouldn't be so bad if R2D2 and C3PO wasn't there. Also I think if Anakin Skywalker was more like Kirk in the new Star Trek movie, (where you can sence a dark side but you still root for him)

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    9. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think it was David Brin who tore Lucas a new one over the (lack of) plotting in Episode VI. Episode IV, if approached as a campy 70s film with awesome special effects and a kick-ass space battle, is pretty good. Episode V, if for no other reason than the whole "I'm your father" aspect is still the dramatic high point of the series, though on rewatching, I find the first half of the film really drags and my temptation to fast forward through the whole Hoth sequence is very great. Still, it's a lot more even an affort than any of the other films.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    10. Re:I Guess That's About All That's Left by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Except the old Star Wars was not nearly as bad.

      Plus, as George freely admitted to 40 years ago the middle trilogy represented a "simpler and more commercial storyline".

      Thus the fall of the Republic requires a more Kazdan and less Lucas.

      Many of us were expecting this.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  2. There is no match by sjonke · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... for the comedy that is Episodes I, II and III.

    --
    --- What?
    1. Re:There is no match by Palshife · · Score: 3, Funny

      NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

      --
      Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
    2. Re:There is no match by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 2, Informative

      DO NOT WANT!!!!!!!

      Does anyone have a torrent or nzb to the chinese translated english subtitled version of Star Wars? From the screen caps they look hilarious.

  3. Yeah... by Spatial · · Score: 5, Funny

    George Lucas has decided to turn the franchise into an animated sitcom.

    Slashdot is so far behind. The Episode 1/2/3 movies have been out for years!

  4. Penny-arcade already covered this. by Kenja · · Score: 4, Funny
    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Penny-arcade already covered this. by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In fact, they covered it in more general terms some five and half years ago.

  5. I Sense a disturbance in the Force! by The+Assistant · · Score: 2, Informative

    Or at least an imbalance in Goerge Lucas!!!

  6. Yeah. by dangitman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The article says that Seth Green is involved,

    I'm going to go with "immeasurable dread."

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
    1. Re:Yeah. by clone53421 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wired reported that he’ll be “steering” the sitcom...

      Dread Pilot Seth Green?

      Pfff. No one would surrender to the Dread Pilot Seth Green.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  7. Robot Chicken vs Clone Wars? by lorg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Concidering we already have Star Wars - the Clone Wars do we really need another one? I doubt a "playful and irreverent tone" is what the fans want. I don't really want Yoda to start cracking wise about force.

    As much as I think Seth is funny I do hope it won't be Robot Chicken - Star Wars episodes on steroids. Those little bits are very hit and miss and once a season is quite enough.

  8. I think I speak for everyone when I say... by Facegarden · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its a Trap!

    --
    Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
  9. And Mike of Milwaukee releases his AoTC critique by rolfwind · · Score: 2, Informative

    just in time.

    http://www.movieline.com/2010/04/attack-of-the-clones-eviscerated-by-famous-phantom-menace-hater.php

    (1st of 9 parts is pulled for copyright, but rest are up)

  10. The world just sucks by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Good men die every day. And yet Lucas keeps on living and living. If there is a god, he's not even *trying* to be fair.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:The world just sucks by blair1q · · Score: 2, Funny

      >> And yet Lucas keeps on living and living. If there is a Chthulhu--wait, no, i mean, AIEEEEEEE!

      > Fixed that for you ;)

      And yours.

    2. Re:The world just sucks by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 2, Funny

      Get a life, or just stop trying.

      Hehe, that was a rather belligerent statement for someone whose UID starts with the word Zen. =P

  11. Re:Lucas just wants more money by ElectricTurtle · · Score: 4, Funny

    Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.

    --
    I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
  12. "isn't going to suck as much as you think it is?" by aapold · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seth Green says:

    "Let us assure you this isn't going to suck as much as you think it is."

    It couldn't possibly.

    But it could still suck a great deal without reaching that level.

    --
    "Waste not one watt!" - CZ
  13. Maybe a cross of "Happy Days" and "Star Wars" by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

    The Fonz tells Darth Vader to "sit on it." Yoda as Arnold the wise force wielding burger flipper. Joanie Loves Chewbacca. Maybe a bit of "Gilligan's Island" on the side . . . the Skipper and Gilligan as Storm Troopers . . . the Skipper pulls off Gilligan's Storm Trooper Helmet and whacks him over the head with it . . . Princess Leia arrives by train in "Petticoat Junction" to flirt with all of the "My three Ewok Sons."

    With Colonel Klink and Schultz behind the wheel of the Death Star, what couldn't be funny?

    "Two and a half Jar Jars?"

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  14. Re:See... by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While Indiana Jones may be REMEMBERED, I don't think it's too often associated with George Lucas. As a matter of fact if you told 20 people on the street that he was even involved with that franchise at all I'd bet that 18 of them would be incredibly surprised to find that bit of info out.

    The reality is when people think George Lucas they think Star Wars, and not much else.

    --
    "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  15. Re:The Fonz may have been the first... by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It hit rock bottom with the souped-up 1990s rereleases of the first three films. The alteration of the Han Solo-Greedo sequence was a clear shot across the bow that Lucas was going to supremely fuck things up, and he certainly didn't disappoint. Episode I is a trainwreck, Episode II... fuck, I have to think for a minute to even remember what Episode II was about, and Episode III managed to find a way to make Anakin's fall from grace both boring and unbelievable. Capped with probably the most stullifingly dull saber duel in the entire series.

    Lucas sucks, plain and simple.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  16. Re:"isn't going to suck as much as you think it is by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Funny

    All Hail the Star Wars Comedy Suck-tacular.

    Many Bothan spies died to bring us... Whookie porn!

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  17. Re:on the up side by oracleofbargth · · Score: 2, Funny

    If it's bad enough, I'm sure they'll add it in retrotemporicontinuitively. The time line can only take so much abuse without modifying itself to make fun of something that horrid.

  18. Re:Obligatory... by DarKnyht · · Score: 4, Funny

    I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of fanboys suddenly cried out in terror

    --
    Voting them all out of office, now that's change I can believe in.
  19. Re:Wait... by Locke2005 · · Score: 2, Funny

    There you have it: positive proof that R2D2 was built by Sony! As if the extremely bad user interface, static-filled, flickering 3D video and product overall shape stolen from a vibrator weren't big enough clues...

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  20. Re:Lucas just wants more money by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think we need a Spaceballs: The Flamethrower so we can torch the idea of a Star Wars sitcom.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  21. Futurama could have fun with this. by The+Bastard · · Score: 2

    Could you see Bender in a crossover episode?

    Solo yanking open floor panel: "The hyperdrive isn't working again!! What's wrong!?"
    Bender under panel: "Hey, we're cuddling in the afterglow here!"

    or

    "Bite my shiny metal hyperdrive."

  22. Re:See... by Keebler71 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's odd... I think of "Howard the Duck"

    --
    "It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." - Thomas Sowell
  23. Do Not Want! by icannotthinkofaname · · Score: 2, Funny

    Never has the donotwant tag ever been more appropriate. Not only do we not actually want this, Star Wars is the origin of the phrase.

    I'm not sure if this is "ironic" or "inevitable".

    --
    Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
  24. Re:Nope, all wrong by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This has long been Lucas's problem. The best of all the films, Episode V, was the best in large part because Lucas was relatively uninvolved. Kershner had a lot more independence, and thus could mute the Lucasisms. As well, there was some outside writing talent on that film which allowed for better dialog and tighter plotting. You get to Episode VI, and all of sudden we're seeing the worst Lucasisms creeping back in; the Ewoks, the crappy plotting which means when you actually see who did what, Luke had dick-all to do with the second Death Star's destruction (I recall the novel tried to explain this by making Palpatine into a Sauron-like figure who dominated and controlled his servants, and his death released that control).

    In fact, look at Episode VI, it has a second Death Star. Lucas has such a famine of ideas that he tends to repeat the same Macguffins; Episode IV - Death Star, Episode V - Super Star Destroyer (which really played no meaningful part other than giving Vader the biggest ship), and then another Death Star for Episode VI.

    His theme worlds are another big gripe. Frozen world, forest world, gas world, metal/city world, fire world. Lucas is like of those pre-Renaissance painters who could do faces okay, but couldn't do hands and screwed up body proportions. He only knows how to paint in broad strokes, which means that the more involved he is in the writing and directing aspects, the more caricaturistic it all becomes. The plots became pointless, the characters one-dimensional, even the worlds lack any kind of depth. The prequels suffer the most because he was basically running the whole show. Star Wars was better when other folks had some say and could moderate him.

    Another aspect of the differences between the two trilogies is the gap. The George Lucas who created the first three films wasn't the same guy who made the last three. The first three had a more mythical quality, the good father turned to evil, the Arthurian son who seeks to reclaim the sword. You could put up with Ewoks and the goofy comedy interludes involving the droids, because there was some sense of a great story unfolding. The prequels were hamfisted attempts at political analysis. The mysticism is mythic qualities are largely sacrificed, and the characters and the story line lose their depth. There's nothing wrong with using SciFi to make comments about politics, Gene Roddenberry did and often did it with great success. But Star Wars wasn't that way in the beginning, and there is a profound thematic break between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  25. Re:Oh Boy! Comedy! by Lunoria · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Jar Jar may have been annoying, but he had more personality then almost anyone else in the prequels.

  26. Re:If wishes came true... by BobMcD · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Joss Wheedon's Star Wars is NOT something I'd want to see. Have you never noticed how all the characters with lady parts are awesome, and all them with man parts are tragically flawed? In every single Joss production? Skywalker would be a total train wreck, Amidala would end the Clone Wars single-handedly, and Yoda would be an impotent clown.

    Joss's work can be great, don't get me wrong, but he selects the stories he does for a reason. There's also a reason why his stuff gets canceled. It simply strains disbelief for too long for general consumption that the genders would be so lopsided and the characters so one-dimensional.

    If he does go on a gender-bending spree, it would easily make his version of the Star Wars prequels WORSE than Lucas's, and that's saying a lot.

  27. Don't blame the actors by jamrock · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What the fans want is the prequels rewritten and refilmed with good actors, compelling storylines, characters you can give a shit about, and most importantly, no Jar-Jar or midichlorians.

    Everything you said is spot on, except that the actors aren't bad: their performances were. All the leads in the prequel trilogy have proven in other films that they are in fact quite talented. I've posted a couple times in defense of Hayden Christensen, who showed off his acting chops in "Life as a House" and "Shattered Glass", and it's a shame that he turned in a crappy performance in such a high-profile film. I also posted about the fact that Lucas is not an actor's director. Blame him for their performances as well.

    The best actors in the world couldn't have saved those turkeys. The story, script, and direction were insulting, laughable, and incompetent, in that order.

  28. Re:Nope, all wrong by ErikZ · · Score: 2, Funny

    The elusive "Platinum cat" market! No one has managed to crack that nut yet.

    Find a way to sell to them, and the world is your oyster.

    --
    Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.