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Star Wars Television Series Moving Forward

Posted by Zonk on Fri Oct 19, 2007 09:43 AM
from the seems-like-it-started-a-long-time-ago dept.
Media Movies Star Wars Prequels Sci-Fi Television
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."'"
+ -
story

Related Stories

[+] George Lucas To Quit Movie Business 520 comments
CaroKann writes, "Variety is reporting that George Lucas is getting out of the movie business. Mr. Lucas laments that today's big-budget franchise films are too expensive and too risky. He believes American audiences are deserting their movie going habits permanently. Instead of making major films, Lucasfilm will instead focus on television. Lucas states that for the price of one $200 million feature movie, 'I can make 50-60 two hour movies' that are 'pay-per-view and downloadable.' Notably, he does not plan on distributing movies online, calling online distribution a 'rathole.'"
[+] Lucas To Make New Live Action Star Wars Films 371 comments
DrNASA writes "George Lucas says that he will make two more live-action films based in the "Star Wars" era. "But they won't have members of the Skywalker family as characters," he said."
[+] CG Television Clone Wars Trailer Released 201 comments
Ant writes "The official Star Wars site has up the one minute and 50 second trailer for the upcoming computer rendered Clone Wars." I'm still not sold on the CG, but the models seem to be somewhat based on Genndy Tartakovsky's designs from the original Clone Wars series. Wikipedia offers a bevy of details on the series.
Submission: Sometime soon on a TV set nearby -- Stars Wars by merg717 (1167523)
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  • Robot Chicken and Family Guy beat him to his own punch!
  • If I'm subjected to another 20 minuets of wookies talking to each other as the ONLY dialog I swear to the FSM! I liked the clone wars animated series, but the TV holiday special still gives me horrible flashbacks.
  • Merchandise - where the real money from the movie is made!

    Oh, and the sequels, and the repeat fees, and the spin offs ...
  • I really wish this weren't happening. Like Star Trek after Nemesis, the franchise needs to be given a rest on the big and small screens.

    After I, II, and III, I'm not at all excited by the prospects of Space Balls: The TV Show

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Frosty Piss (770223)

      ...the franchise needs to be given a rest...
      Like many people in the "entertainment" world, George Lucas is a megalomaniac, and needs constant "action" to feel personally validated. At a certain point these guys didn't really need any more money, but a fate worse than being poor again would be to fade into the past. These people live exclusively in the Here and Now, the past is death.
      • That's what drives me nuts. Homeboy had already secured his place in American culture and the history of filmmaking. Then he ran roughshod over his old stuff in the interests of money, a new vision, and the like. Once upon a time, he was a decent filmmaker. Now he's just a pseudo-spiritual windbag. If I hear about the mythical or historical underpinnings of Star Wars one more time, I'm going to gag. (The obvious exception to this being later editions of The Hero With a Thousand Faces)

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by ultranova (717540)

        Like many people in the "entertainment" world, George Lucas is a megalomaniac, and needs constant "action" to feel personally validated.

        Or he could be an artist who's not willing to retire and stop creating the second he got enough money to spend the rest of his days in comfort. Or he could be mindlessly greedy. Or he could just be bored. Or whatever.

        Calling someone a "megalomaniac" just because they keep on coming up with plans well within their capability to implement is hardly justified.

        At a cert

      • > maybe the series will climax with a series finale where an army of ewoks break the fourth
        > wall, leaping through television sets at Skywalker Ranch

        If only. It would be just enough like the end of Blazing Saddles to be really, really funny and circularly referential.

            • Re:Cue cynicism in 3 . . . 2 . . .(1) (Score:4, Interesting)

              by bigstrat2003 (1058574) on Friday October 19 2007, @11:54AM (#21044027)
              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.

              • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

                by andphi (899406)
                No problem.

                I can see your points. The core of the story is an interesting one: as you said, the slow descent into evil (via initially non-evil motives). It's a story I myself have thought about telling, though as horror fantasy rather than science fantasy. It's the details of execution that bug the hell out of me, so much so that I find it hard to get past them to appreciate the central story. Some people relate to Tolkien and LoTR the way I relate to the prequels. I love LoTR and see mostly flaws and squan

  • Robots (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 19 2007, @09:49AM (#21041659)
    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.

      • Except for the guy who liked to wear a lot of gold and the short guy who cursed a lot.

        Mr T. and Tattoo were in Star Wars? Man, I picked the wrong week to stop huffing glue.

  • Great! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Hawthorne01 (575586) on Friday October 19 2007, @09:52AM (#21041699)
    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 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DrXym (126579) on Friday October 19 2007, @09:54AM (#21041747)
    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: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      As opposed to real CGI?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by MontyApollo (849862)
      At least it is not going to be the Adventures of Young Luke Skywalker.

      • Re:Expect lots of gratuitous cameos (Score:5, Funny)

        by _Sprocket_ (42527) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:32AM (#21042429)
        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.

  • "No Luke" FTW (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Interl0per (1045948) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:01AM (#21041869)
    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 [panicstruckpro.com] 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 (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 19 2007, @10:02AM (#21041875)
    "Pray that I do not alter it further." - George Lucas

  • Cry some more (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ObiWanStevobi (1030352) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:03AM (#21041897) Journal

    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.

    • Whatever. What is with everyone thinking Lucas should never do anything Star Wars again because it won't be as good as the originals?
      you haven't seen his later movies have you?

      • Well done lightsaber duals? Check.

        Cool looking robots fighting? Check.

        Chase scene through asteroid field? Check.

        Space battles? Check.

        Wookies fighting robots? Check.

        Yoda decapitating whatever is in his way? Check.

        Excellent CGI? Check.

        So there was some weak lines in it and Jar Jar was poor comic relief. Still way better than most movies.

        • Re:Cry some more (Score:4, Insightful)

          by andphi (899406) <phillipsam@gmail . c om> on Friday October 19 2007, @10:51AM (#21042855) Journal
          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?

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by oatworm (969674)

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

            It's not like Episodes 4-6 were light on the plot holes, either. "Empire" is almost completely isolated from Episode 4 - suddenly, Leia goes from cute girl that Luke kisses to being his sister while Vader goes from being a completely mysterious bad guy that has some relation with Obi-Wan and killed Luke's father to being Luke's father. Oh, and, apparently, the Empire has enough resources lying around to not only ward off an insurrection but build a second moon-sized Death Star? Perhaps if they just spen

  • As a long time Star Wars fan, I was badly disappointed with the prequels. I'd like this to be good, but I'll watch it with low expectations.
  • I have to wonder 'cause I know it's not a "reality show"... at least I hope not. "Who wants to be a Jedi?" would be a snazzy title though...

  • Battlestar Galactica (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SpectreBlofeld (886224) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:06AM (#21041957)
    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 (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rehtonAesoohC (954490) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:09AM (#21042009) Journal

      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: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by andyh3930 (605873) *
        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,

    • Re:Battlestar Galactica (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jollyreaper (513215) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:35AM (#21042487)

      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.

  • Uh oh.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sneftel (15416) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:06AM (#21041961)

    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.

  • Ladies and gentlemen, uh, we've just lost our happy memories, but what we've seen speaks for itself. The Star Wars universe has apparently been taken over -- 'conquered' if you will -- by a master race of lucky pseudo-talented hacks. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether the leader George will consume the captive audience or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping him; the hack will soon be here.

    And I, for one, welcome our childhood-destroying overlords. I'd li

  • There is nothing funny down this road. No good can come of this. Let's the franchise become a classic by doing no more in it instead of raping it to death over and over and over.

    And over.

  • Color me "who the fuck cares anymore" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jollyreaper (513215) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:13AM (#21042097)
    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.
  • Knights of the Old Republic 3. Don't tie the story to the first two and add a few more bells and whistles and I'm happy.
  • What made the original Star Trek was the fact they had some of the best science fiction writers of the day doing stories for the series. The later series began using a team of staff writers and their incestuous and gratuitous ideas ultimately killed the franchise. A series like Star Wars can work, as the Star Wars universe is so large, but it has to have good stories. Soliciting from a number of writers from the upper ends of the sci-fi writing community would be great. A stable of hacks, not so good...

  • CSI: Tattooine (Score:5, Funny)

    by erroneus (253617) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:22AM (#21042245) Homepage
    "Look sir, Droids!"

  • I'll just wait and see. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Amazetbm (1087099) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:48AM (#21042799) Homepage
    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 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TheRhino (87111) on Friday October 19 2007, @10:59AM (#21043049) Homepage
    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 [wikipedia.org], A.C. Crispin [wikipedia.org], Kevin Anderson [wikipedia.org], and Kristine Kathryn Rusch [wikipedia.org] 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 [wikipedia.org] Whedon [imdb.com]. Seriously. I can't stress this enough. He would do it exactly right [wikipedia.org].
    • 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 (Score:4, Insightful)

      by jjohnson (62583) on Friday October 19 2007, @11:26AM (#21043497) Homepage
      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...

  • done in 97 thanks to Troops (Score:3, Insightful)

    by tyroneking (258793) on Friday October 19 2007, @11:31AM (#21043571)
    http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/shortfilms/troops/ [theforce.net]
  • Guaranteed highest rated show on TV if jar-jar dies an appallingly brutal death in the first 5 minutes.

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