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Lack of Technology Puts Star Wars Series On Hold

adeelarshad82 writes "It was back in 2007 when we first heard about George Lucas making a live-action TV series focusing on characters from Star Wars. Almost four years later, it seems the idea of ever seeing this live-action show is still living in a galaxy far, far away. In a recent interview, George Lucas mentioned that the technology to produce the show in a cost-effective way doesn't exist yet, and that the cost of producing an episode is about ten times of what it should be."

13 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. Funny by msobkow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Funny how other Science Fiction series manage to incorporate all the special effects they need to tell a story without blowing the bank's budget. Apparently George wants movie-grade FX on a TV budget.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:Funny by webdog314 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, other Science Fiction series have actual plots and don't rely on special effects tricks to hold your attention.

    2. Re:Funny by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Star Trek, Farscape, BSG, SGU, SG1 etc all were "Starship Corridor Shows".

      90% of the show takes place in a hallway. Alternately it takes place in: A pine forest, Rock Quarry, City or Desert.

      Star Wars is often in exotic and expensive locales and outside of a starship hallway.

    3. Re:Funny by Calydor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's strange.

      I recall scenes from the three original Star Wars movies set in starship hallways (star destroyer, Vader), a pine forest (moon of Eldor), desert (Tatooine), city (Coruscant) and rock quarry (Mos Eisley surroundings). Corridors? What were they flying along on the outside of the Death Star?

      If you want to remove forests, cities and desert variations as possible scenes, along with the interior of space ships you are very quickly running out of options.

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    4. Re:Funny by wertarbyte · · Score: 4, Informative

      Check out the excellent Plinkett reviews pf the prequels: http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/

      --
      Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh.
  2. All I can say is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thank God for that.

    1. Re:All I can say is by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Informative

      Damn right. I'm convinced Eps 4-6 were only made good by accident. The chances of George Lucas accidentally making something that is not utter shit again are quite slim.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    2. Re:All I can say is by geminidomino · · Score: 5, Informative

      And I'm pretty sure ESB was actually in someone else's hands (Different director or producer or something. Can't remember).

      Just sayin'...

  3. Can't fully replace people yet George? by jandrese · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm guessing the holdup is that there still has to be people involved in the production at some step and he was hoping to do it all with robots. Simply treating actors like robots didn't work out in the prequels.

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  4. And Nothing of Value was Lost... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok, let's think for a second here: back when the only Star Wars movies/media that were any good at all were produced, visual effects were both vastly cruder and more expensive(per unit bang, I'm sure the ceiling price has continued to climb...).

    Therefore, if they are "too expensive" now, either Lucas has wandered off the ranch, so to speak, and is insisting that it be shot in 100053459348p 512Hz 3HD or and vastly more likely the plan was to shovel a bunch of straight-to-TV/DVD kiddie-schlock and they aren't sure that they can recoup the cost of visual effects that wouldn't be laughed at.

    It sounds like the world is on track to be spared an atrocity here.

  5. He still doesn't get it by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He still doesn't get it. For whatever reason, he continues to equate incredible special effects with incredible results. Even if he were to spend that massive budget for each episode, I strongly doubt the result would be anywhere near as good as something like Battlestar Galatica, Babylon 5, etc.

    If you somehow haven't seen them, I recommend Red Letter Media's review of the Star Wars: Episodes 1-3, which does a better job of explaining why those films are miserable piles of crap than I could ever hope to do myself. Also relevant clip from an episode of South Park.

    1. Re:He still doesn't get it by Brett+Buck · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He still doesn't get it. For whatever reason, he continues to equate incredible special effects with incredible results.

              He has made an obscene amount of money and gotten a whole generation of geeks to worship his half-assed "space opera" special effects films and treat them as if they had some deep meaning.

        Star Wars (even the originals) are almost completely special effects extravaganzas. It wasn't Shakespeare and it certainly wasn't good science fiction.

                What doesn't he get?

  6. Hey Everybody - Remember Me...? by Leo+Sasquatch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's all this is. He can't need the money. He's desperately trying to pretend he has still got something to contribute to the arts.

    Pioneer One tells a compelling story with essentially zero FX and a budget that wouldn't pay for nose-candy on most movie sets. Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning was rendered in the film-maker's kitchen. The Hunt for Gollum manages to produce a digital Gollum (ok, for a few seconds...) that's not too far off the best results of WETA Digital. Give Seth Green a handful of Star Wars figures and a digicam and he could probably come up with something that stayed within canon in about 20 minutes.

    But George Lucas, with all his years of experience, skill, contacts and vast gobs of cash can't make a couple of seasons of a watchable TV show because the technology's not there yet? Absolute bollocks.